Miles to Go Before I Sleep

[thisislexluthor]

Who: Lex Luthor, Superman/Clark Kent
What: Amends
Where: Arkham Asylum

"I wouldn't normally allow this," Dr. Leland said, leaning on the bars of Arkham's gate and scanning the sky, "but, well, he's Superman."

"Yes, he is," Lex said, resting his forehead against the cool metal of one of the bars.

"Do you know how he managed to get back?" Leland asked,

Comments

[theactionace]

Seconds later, the blue dot reconstituted itself in Superman's form, and he dropped to his feet. "Hello, folks," he said, but he wasn't smiling as he strode forward.

The pale figure leaning against the bars was barely recognizable as Lex Luthor, shrunk in on himself, seeming to barely hold up his own weight. It was truly outlandish to think that the same person could have cut such a swagger across anyone who got in his way, or imposed his will upon hundreds, let alone a stick of celery. Lex, in the madhouse. A year ago Superman would've said that Lex was finally where he belonged.

Today, he didn't know what to say.

[thisislexluthor]

"Hello, Superman," Leland said with a smile. Lex just stared. Leland saw him too, which meant this wasn't a hallucination. So far, so good.

"Okay, so you have the rest of the day clear, but I'd like him back by the end of the night," Leland said, resting a hand on Lex's shoulder for a moment before heading into Arkham

"Hello, Clark," Lex said, after a moment of silence.

[theactionace]

"Lex," he said, hand outstretched in a purely perfunctory gesture of friendliness. "I'm not going to beat around the bush. What happened to you? Scratch that. I don't care what happened to you."

His gaze was cold and harsh. "What I'm interested in is why you've let yourself fall so far. Explain."

He stepped back, arms crossed over his chest, and waited.

[thisislexluthor]

Yeah, that's definitely Clark, Lex thought, and for just a moment, things felt normal again.

"It wasn't just you, you know," he said, closing his eyes. "I mean, it wasn't just that you were dead and that I was responsible. That was bad, but I could have lived through it. I would have been all right."

He looked up at Clark. "But it wasn't just you. It was...the Legion was falling apart, and I didn't want to stop it. I wanted to destroy everything, and I wanted you to come back to me. I can't be one of the good guys, and I can't be one of the bad guys, and with you gone..."