When Devils Speak the Truth - chapter three
WHEN DEVILS SPEAK THE TRUTH
By AshtakRa
Fandom: Smallville
Characters: As many of them as possible, from as many other fandoms as I can manage and still keep track
Now known: Bruce Wayne
Genre: Future Fic, AU, slash, whumpage abounds
Pairings: Clark/Oliver, rest are surprises
Rating: R - that means adults only people, you have been informed
Warnings: MM Slash, death, torture, genocide, apocalyptic themes, sex, sacrifice,
persecution, religious stupidity.
Summary: Clark refuses his destiny and is thrust into the future, a future where he never became the hero he was meant to be. He must survive on an Earth that is dying and face friends and loved ones who can no longer be trusted. Reuniting with Oliver tests the bond they once thought unbreakable and Clark must decide what being a hero actually means.
Prior Chapters: Chapter One Chapter two
Chapter Three: Old Flames Leave the Deepest Scars
“Great,” said Clark to himself. “Back in a cave.”
Robby had directed them here, on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean the name of which he couldn’t even pronounce, to a cave not too unlike the Smallville cave. Obvious differences were that the rock was a sandstone colour, made even more orange by the bright fire burning in a deep basin in the middle of the large chamber.
“Oliver is here?” asked Clark, perhaps a little hastily but then he was eager to meet up with his lover. Although on second thought it may not go as well as Clark hoped. For him it had only been a day but for Oliver it had been far longer, Robby had not been too forthcoming but had to be at least twelve years of age. Even if it was only that long Oliver’s feelings may have changed somewhat.
Robby had not answered but instead backed away with a strange expression on his face. Clark sensed more than saw movement behind himself and suddenly he was engulfed by the wall itself. More precisely the cave wall came alive and two orange rocky arms wrapped around him and held tight, Clark flexed but found the arms too strong to break. This was certainly new, he looked to Robby for help but the boy had run to the other side of the fire. Struggling fiercely to no avail Clark felt himself dragged closer to the fire - not that he was worried by that but it seemed the proper thing to try and resist.
Staring down at the fire that was now only two steps away Clark gasped as the fire gusted and a human head formed inside it. A fiery mouth opened and spoke, proving this was more than just an impressive lightshow.
“Stop struggling buddy - my main man could hold you for like, ever… but he has a real patience problem and might decide to squeeze.”
In answer the arms did in fact squeeze and to Clark’s amazement he had trouble breathing. Being unable to break free was one thing but being vulnerable to such a thing was another. He admitted defeat and stopped struggling, the arms relaxed only slightly and the head in the fire smiled. “Very good, now perhaps we can be a little more polite.” The head started rising out of the fire, followed by broad shoulders, chest and an entire body completely encased in flame, seemingly made of flame but solid and very definitely humanoid. As soon as the feet emerged the figure stepped out and the flames simply extinguished, leaving Clark facing a handsome man with short brown hair dressed in a blue jumpsuit of some kind. The smile returned, this time a little more friendly and he walked around Clark, talking to him from behind whatever man-rock was holding him.
“What do you think Ben, should we be more hospitable to our unannounced guest?”
“He did come with the boy I guess,” rumbled a deep baritone, the vibration passing through Clark’s chest. The thing holding him was some kind of humanoid as well, the fact it had the ability to talk seemed to calm Clark for some reason. Perhaps a mindless moveable rock was just scarier than a human in rock form. “But you know me, easier to grab first and ask later.”
“Couldn’t agree more,” said the former fireball and walked back into Clark’s sight. The guy was certainly good looking and filled out the suit well, musculature showing all over and in all the right places. Part of Clark suddenly felt jealous - if Oliver was here this guy may be his current boyfriend. He then cursed himself for worrying about that when he had bigger issues to deal with. Besides, unlike Bruce Wayne, this guy seemed to have a friendly vibe. Unable to pinpoint why Clark felt that he was a good guy and knew that he could like him.
The man must have seen the fight go out of Clark’s eyes and nodded slightly. “Much better.” He stepped up until their faces were only inches apart. “You definitely look like him but the pictures never quite caught those eyes. The seer was right - you really could get lost in them.”
“Oliver’s a seer?” asked Clark incredulously.
The guy laughed at that and looked twice at Clark. “Oliver?” He stepped back and glanced at Robby. “Ah! You thought Oliver is here - no, sorry but we guard another treasure.”
“You can let him go,” said Robby, finally stepping forward. “He is Kal’El, I found him at the Smallville caves and he’s already saved my life.”
“Who hasn’t?” snorted the man. “The kid gets in more trouble than his dad, and that’s saying something.” He stood and put his hand to chin thoughtfully. “Fine, Ben let him go.”
The arms released him and Clark move forward to stretch out the cramps and turned to his former captor. He was indeed made entirely of stone, from head to toe every part of him was pale orange rock, yet malleable as big lips grinned at him, revealing a flash of oversized teeth. A big hand stretched out and Clark hesitated before taking it.
“Sorry,” said the rock. “Never can be too sure you know. Names Ben Grimm by the way.”
“Clark Kent.”
Turning back Clark had the distinct feeling that flame boy had been checking out his backside, and was not trying to hide the fact by the half leer on his admittedly very pretty face.
“Johnny Storm,” he introduced himself and Clark clasped his hand. Immediately their hand were engulfed in flame and Clark had to stop himself from yelping, the fire couldn’t hurt him but it was the strangest sensation.
“Sorry,” said Johnny and the fire went out and they released.
Holding up his hand Clark half expected some kind of scorch mark but there was nothing. “So you guys are what, meteor infected?”
“There are more things in heaven and earth,” Johnny quoted, “Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
“What?”
Johnny clasped Clark by the shoulder. “It means that why does everyone always go on about those damned rocks, sorry man,” he looked at Ben in apology who just shrugged.
“How we are the way we are is unimportant Kal’El.”
“Clark.”
“Whatever,” Johnny guided him around the fire pit and towards the back of the cave where a curtain of glittering metal cloth prevented the view any further. “What we do with our powers is important, not how we got them - a good friend taught me that.”
“And what do you do with your powers - except make grand entrances?” questioned Clark.
“It was cool,” nodded a grinning Johnny, his expression like a naughty schoolboy. “I don’t get to do that too often anymore so that was a treat for us both.” They reached the curtain and Johnny held it open, motioning Clark inside.
“We guard that which is precious, the Seer.”
“What’s a -?” but Johnny had already pushed Clark inside and closed the curtain. He thought himself alone but x-rayed the darkness to be sure. To the back his vision was blocked and it was like a blindspot, the spot moved towards him and he returned his sight to the human visual spectrum. In the dimness a cloaked figure glided forth.
“Clark,” whispered a familiar voice and Clark’s jaw dropped in amazement.
“Lana,” he whispered and rushed forth but she held out a gloved hand, preventing contact.
“I’m sorry Clark, but stay back.”
Gulping down a protest and reminding himself that he had no idea what she had been through Clark nodded and stepped back. “Lana I can’t tell you how good it is to see you - you’ll never believe what happened.”
“You got trapped travelling from the Arctic and ended up here - in your future. To you the past is but yesterday but we are all years older and the world is beyond comprehension.”
“Yeah, but how did you?”
“I am the Seer.” She said it with a hint of the humour that Clark recognised as pure Lana and he guessed not everything had changed.
“By choice,” he asked mischievously, remembering her times as a possessed witch.
“Sometimes choices are forced upon us Clark,” she answered mysteriously. “I have made peace with this cursed second sight I have, much as you will one day make choices that seem unpalatable today.”
She moved back to the wall where two torches ignited, illuminating two soft chairs with a small table set between. He sat after she did and tried to see beneath the hood but there was nothing, not even with his x-ray vision.
“Stop doing that,” she commanded. “It tickles and will do you no good.”
“How are you doing it?”
“I am the Seer.”
“I can see I’m going to hear that riddle a lot.”
She laughed softly and reached out a gloved hand, lightly touching his hand. “I think I miss your smile the most Clark, it always was so open and uninhibited - even when you kept such great secrets.”
“Yeah, about that,” said Clark, guessing she had to know but remembering that he had never discussed it with her before all this. “You know that back in the past, well this isn’t so easy to say but, well…” How to put it? Lana just sat patiently with her hand still on his and his cheeks reddened slightly. In his mind this conversation would have happened in a quiet café in a normal world where he could see her eyes and a yellow sun shone outside. “I kind of met someone, and it wasn’t someone even I expected - but then everything happened so quickly, and I was going to tell you but you were overseas and,” he gulped and just decided to blurt it out. “I’ve been seeing Oliver Queen, like in a boyfriend kind of way and I wanted you to know that it has nothing to do with-.”
She stopped him with a finger to his lip and chuckled demurely. “Yes Clark, I know and I knew it then - I was hoping you would tell me but then you disappeared and then…” Lana sighed and reached back, pulling the hood back. “The world changed and me with it, and such a thing didn’t seem so important anymore.”
Clark did not allow the shock to show as he saw what had happened to her. Her skin was a ruin, horrible burn scars curled up from her neck and across her face. A wisp of grey hair had escaped the head wrap she wore and thankfully her eyes had not been burned as well. Her beautiful almond eyes stared at him, seeming to dare his disgust to show but instead he reached out and stroked a marred cheek and she leant into it ever so slightly.”
“What happened,” he asked before he could stop himself.
She grabbed his hand and held it, then seemed to gather herself and put it back on the table. “So much death Clark, so much pain and sometimes I hate that I survived when so many burned.”
He remained silent, not wanting to push but mentally pushing her to continue. However painful it was he had to know what had happened in this world, especially if he was stuck here with no return. Lana pulled open a drawer next to her chair and put a photo on the table. It showed a city, dozens of skyscrapers towering up but engulfed in flames and smoke. In the forefront was a sloping white building with a very unique shape and Clark only took a moment to recognise it. It was Sydney, Australia but in the throes of destruction.
“This was transmitted moments before the very air itself ignited, making the fire bombings of German cities in World War Two seem pale by comparison.”
“How?” asked Clark, his voice catching at the enormity of it. Sydney had been a major international city, millions of people lived there and in his world he could think of no reason the city would be destroyed like this.
“He did it,” she said venomously. The he was evident to Clark. Lex Luthor. So destroying the sun had not been his first crime, although it would obviously be one of his last.
“Australia had one of the largest deposits of uranium in the world,” Lana continued. “But they refused to give it to him and he was desperate and had no time for drawn out negotiations or even an invasion.” She absently touched her own face. “Even with Sydney destroyed they refused and vowed to fight him, calling on the world to join them - but it was too late and nobody could fight against his weapons. Their cities burned one by one, then the towns and any region where there was significant population. I escaped but not before…” She did not continue, and didn’t need to. They sat in silence for a while before Clark dared to ask more.
“Why didn’t we stop him, surely America could have-.”
“Clark - he was America, he used our weapons, designed by his scientists to subvert the world to his will.”
Standing and walking around the darkened room he could not help but vent. “This is ridiculous - Lex! I know that he was capable of some bad things but this is pure evil - genocide! All this and you tell me he was what - the President?”
She nodded. “He was vice-President, and when,” Lana hesitated, giving Clark the saddest gaze he had ever seen from her. “When the President was killed he assumed the office and that’s when everything started sliding towards the end of the world. He used fear of alien invasion and survival of the species at all costs to justify his horrors - even when he scorched nations others stood back and did nothing, believing that it was necessary.”
“How could anyone believe that necessary?” questioned Clark. “No-one could justify such a thing.”
“They did Clark,” she waved her hands in exasperation. “People believed his propaganda, they saw aliens in every tragedy - any accident, and anyone that was different was taken away and never seen again.”
“You mean?”
“Yes - anyone with powers or even those that stood by them.”
“How many?”
“No-one will ever know, not that it matters now. He has doomed us all Clark, in his paranoia he has sentenced the Earth to a slow and painful death.”
Sitting back down Clark clasped both her hands in his. “Don’t say that Lana, I can’t believe that - Jor’El wouldn’t have sent me here if there was no hope.”
She laughed cruelly and pulled her hand away. “Jor’El? He didn’t do this to you Clark - it was an accident, a quirk of nature mixed with circumstance and bad timing.”
“No, he’s done this before - well something similar anyway.” Clark could not face that it was hopeless, there must be something he could do, some way to still save the planet and what was left of humanity.
“Believe me Clark, if he had sent you to stop this you would have arrived six months ago. Now you will be trapped here most of us and all we can do is try to make our last days comfortable while we prepare for the end.”
“Is that the word of a seer? Johnny and Ben stand guard so you can sit in here and give up on the world.”
Another sigh escaped her. “They believe that I will provide an answer, a way to prevent the inevitable but I see nothing but darkness in our future. It is blank, there is nothing but the void before us.”
Trying another tact Clark looked to the curtain. “Robby brought me here - he did it for a reason instead of taking me to Oliver.”
“What’s your point Clark?” She seemed nonchalant, and her eyes had lost any emotion they once had.
“You’re a seer - I don’t know how and don’t want to know.”
“That,” she said with a voice that reminded him of the fire the old Lana would have, “Is the smartest thing you have said since arriving.”
He grabbed her hands again. “You say you see no future but you haven’t checked my future - do whatever you do and tell me what must be done.”
“Its no use, I stopped having visions months ago.”
“Just try damnit, the Lana I know would never give up so easily.”
She bristled at that and her eyes darkened and she turned his hands over, gripping them with just her thumbs. For a while there was no reaction, she just breathed in and out, then suddenly gasped. A little squeal escaped and she opened her eyes wide, a purple light now infusing them.
“Kal’El of Krypton,” she intoned, her voice no longer her own. “This is not the end of your journey. Follow the path laid out and trust only your heart. For all that you have endured, for all that you will face there is but one true path. Two choices you will face, one will see all that you love die and the other will restore your destiny - but beware for what is real can be distorted by that which you hold as truth.” She moaned, the effort obviously taking all that she had but she refused to let go and leaned in, her face becoming a mask of malevolence.
“At the moment of greatest peril you will not know the enemy, only when devils speak the truth can you be sure of the path. Hold true to your love and allow humanity to prevail.” Lana fell back, her breath coming in short gasps and her hands shaking.
In a short time she recovered and looked at Clark with newfound hope in her eyes. “Perhaps there is a possibility all is not lost.”
“Does that mean you will help, that we go to the next step?” Clark asked, knowing he would need her by his side for the coming battle, whatever it would be. She smiled and nodded, the old Lana creeping back in before she replaced the hood and walked to the curtain. Sweeping it aside she walked out, making Clark follow her.
Johnny and Ben bowed their heads slightly but she virtually ignored them, instead holding out her arms to Robby. He did not hesitate to embrace her and she whispered in his ear, Clark resisted listening in.
“Well your Grace?” asked Ben respectfully. “Are we gonna blow this place or what.”
She turned to Clark. “That depends on Kal’El. What say you Clark - where do we go from here?”
He grinned slightly, his heart warming at the thought. “I follow my heart.”
“Let me guess,” said Johnny and walked up, once again ogling Clark. “A certain man with a weakness for green?” He was gazing into Clark’s eyes when he said it and Clark recognised that knowing look. Johnny must have seen his expression for he laughed and got closer, whispering in Clark’s ear. “Relax Clark, the Green Arrow and I do have a history,” his hand brushed Clark’s and he tensed, Johnny continued to speak softly, “but no matter how hard I tried there was this one guy I just couldn’t live up to; this is one minefield I’m going to avoid.”
He stepped back next to Ben who gave him a fierce glare and nudged him softly in the ribs. “Easy big guy,” complained Johnny, “I was just filling Clark in on some important historical matters.” Three soft laughs let him know that no-one believed him. He ignored them and turned to Clark. “So how ‘bout it Kal? Where to?”
Clark didn’t hesitate. “We go to the one person I hope to get some real answers from,” he grinned at Johnny conspiratorially.
“Oliver Queen.”
Tbc…