Bring Me to Life (Chapter Nine/?)
Prologue | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Conclusion
Chapter Eight
Frozen inside without your touch, without your love
Darling, only you are the life among the dead
Chloe was relieved to find out that Lana was spending the weekend with her aunt because she wasn’t really ready to deal with her dark-haired friend when she got back to Metropolis just after ten that night. She was tired from the long drive and all she wanted to do was sleep and forget about the past few days.
Dwelling on them certainly didn’t change the facts.
Yes, she’d saved Clark’s life and sacrificed her own in doing so. Yes, Jor-El had brought her back to life, and apparently bestowed her with some freaky alien-ish powers. Yes, Clark was grateful that they were both alive, and he cared very much for her. As a friend.
But Clark loved Lana Lang. Always had, always would. And she’d learned long ago that there was no competing with the nearly perfect, doe-eyed beauty she’d at one point considered a sister.
Letting out a breath, she changed into her pajamas, a pair of silky boxers and a black tank top. And then without waiting any longer, she flipped off the light and crawled under her covers, falling asleep almost instantly.
* * *
All of this time I can’t believe I couldn’t see
Kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me
“What are you doing here?” Clark looked at Chloe in confusion as she lingered in the doorway of his bedroom, her eyes full of mischief. She was wearing only his old football jersey and he couldn’t help but let his gaze slide over her bare legs.
“Coming to see you, of course.” Her voice was light, teasing.
“Uh…” He glanced at the clock by his bed. “At two in the morning?”
“So you’re not happy to see me?” Her lower lip puffed out in a sexy pout.
Oh, God.
Clark swallowed hard, unable to tear his gaze from her. “I…didn’t say that,” he managed to stammer.
She flashed him a grin, and not just any grin. The brilliant, trademark Chloe grin that always, always got to him no matter how much he tried to deny it. And then she began walking slowly toward his bed.
Unable to move, he simply watched her move toward him, an emotion he’d never felt before stirring inside him, somewhere just under his skin. He licked his lips without thinking about it as she slowly sat down on the edge of his bed on her knees, leaning over so her face was right in his. “Hi, Clark,” she whispered.
“Hi,” he whispered back, his heart thudding against his chest. His gaze was drawn like a magnet to her lips and with a soft groan he pressed his mouth against hers.
She smiled, straddling him as the kiss deepened almost immediately and his hands began to wander across her soft skin as though they had a mind of their own.
A fire like he’d never known existed within him and he pulled her closer, needing to feel her, to consume her, to drown in her.
And suddenly she pulled away, her eyes having lost their mischievous playfulness. “Something’s coming,” she said seriously.
His eyebrows furrowed. “What?”
“You need to go.” Chloe moved off him, but her gaze remained locked on his. “It’s time.”
“Chloe, I don’t understand--”
“Don’t wait until it’s too late,” she said gravely.
And then she vanished.
* * *
Clark sat up in bed, his heart pounding in his chest. He looked around his darkened room and realized it had only been a dream.
And yet it had felt so real.
There was a heavy feeling of burden upon him and he didn’t know where it was coming from, but he realized something about that dream had been more than just visions from his subconscious. Dream Chloe had said something was coming.
And she was right.
Clark felt it.
Swallowing hard, he quickly climbed out of bed and got dressed, then sped away from his house, toward Metropolis.
* * *
The sharp, loud knock on her door made her groan, and she opened her eyes to see what time it was. She buried her face in her pillow, willing whoever was there to go away--and mostly because she already knew who was there. The only one who ever showed up at her dorm this late and the one person other than Lana Lang she didn’t really want to see right then.
Despite that, she reluctantly forced herself out of bed and moved to the door, opening it. “What is it?” she asked, rubbing her eyes and not quite meeting his gaze.
Clark moved past her and into the room. There was something different about him, but she wasn’t sure what it was and when he turned to face her, there was something in his eyes she’d never seen before…at least not aimed at her. Hunger.
“Clark?” There was a faint hint of wariness and alarm in her voice and she folded her arms across her chest.
“Something’s happening.”
“What do you mean?” She shook her head.
“To me. Something’s happening to me. Something’s changing. I…” His voice trailed off and he gazed at her intensely.
“Okay, why don’t you sit do--” she began when a sudden, sharp and fierce pain unlike anything she’d felt before ripped through her skull. She couldn’t suppress the scream that escaped her lips as she clutched her head, her balance thrown off. She tumbled toward the floor, but Clark caught her before she hit the ground.
Distantly she could hear his voice calling her name, fear--no, terror--surrounding them both.
And then he faded to black as images she couldn’t control crawled across her mind.
She saw spaceships landing everywhere.
Fire, so hot and intense she could feel it like it was burning her flesh.
Lana dying, Lex kneeling over her body screaming, blood streaming from his ear.
Lois, surrounded by ten, then twenty Milton Fines. Fear in her eyes.
Martha and Jonathan Kent being burned alive in their house, screaming in pain and fear.
Her own father, his car flipping over and throwing him from the vehicle.
Darkness descending.
And then Clark, lying on his back still and silent, his eyes vacant.
Chloe screamed and then the world went black.