Chapter Text
The last memory Lex remembered was seeing that helpless man strung up on a cross screaming for Lex to help him.
Lex had become frightened, and then ran deeper into the cornfield away from that man.... then there was a literal rain of fire, spreading destruction everywhere.
He wondered why he was even bothering running for his life. There was no way he was ever going to get out of this alive, now that it seemed that God himself was determined to strike him down where he was. And one couldn't even run from God, right?
He slowed down, panting loudly. He then dropped to his knees, looking up into the fire-filled sky.
He forced himself to smile weakly as he tried to find the positives in being dead soon. The only things he could think of is that in the afterlife he maybe wouldn't have to deal with the red hair he hated so much, and he would no longer be weak nor unhealthy.
The hail of fire stared raining down all around him, and he whimpered as he covered him face with his arms but it still didn't protect him as the heat blast engulfed him.
The third positive thing about being dead he had thought of, before being interrupted by the meteorites, was to sleep outside of time forever unburdened by Lionel Luthor's lofty exceptions of him that he could never seem to live up to. But now he realized that he was quickly changing his mind.
He realized that he really didn't want to die at all, no matter how many positives there could be for being dead. He wanted to live a very long time, even if it meant having to put up with Lionel Luthor for a whole lifetime.
But it seemed as God had plans for him even if Lex didn't want to die. So with that final thought, he reluctantly embraced oblivion.
~~~~~~~~~
He woke up in a sterile-looking white room with bright, glaring overhead lights. It smelled just like a hospital, which had him wrinkling his nose in distaste.
Lex was familiar with hospitals, having visited mom before in the past while she was at metropolis general hospital for her chemotherapy. Because of that, he had never been a big fan of them.... they reeked too much of medicines and cleaning products. There was also this other certain lingering smell that he couldn't identify that just made his skin crawl for some reason. That smell often came from the rooms of the recently decreased, so it probably had something to do with death.
No, he definitely did not like hospitals at all. But on the bright side, he hadn't died after all... Much to his relief. He looked around some more, looking for signs that his parents had been here.
He knew for sure that his mom would had been over here all the time, not willing to leave her precious son all alone after he had such a close shave with death. After all, Lillian Luthor was the one he could always count on to be there for him... his father, not so much.
He chuckled weakly at the thought that his dad was probably feeling so disappointed in him for being so weak right now. He coughed, and then frowned as he realized that his throat was very dry.
He looked around for a glass of water, and frowned again when he saw none. In fact the room was pretty much empty-- no plants, no chairs and the only thing on the table next to him was a jar of Vaseline. He stared at it, wondering why it was there.
He quickly disregarded it, as he called out for somebody. “Hello?” His voice came out in a rasp.
He then tried to get up, but discovered that he couldn't move at all. He had IVs running into the backs of his hands, taped in place, and he couldn't raise his arms when he tried. He could only move his hands but that was it.
He felt a strong surge of panic upon discovering this little fact. What if he ended up having to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life? What if he was one of those para-ple-gics or whatever they were called?
He struggled some more as he attempted to move, but to no avail. He then started sobbing after he gave up on that. If he was one of those people, then his father would really have no more use for him at all. After all, a Luthor wasn't supposed to be weak and crippled.
He looked down, and that was when he noticed a remote near his left hand. He let out a loud raspy breath of relief, now that he knew he had a way to summon somebody to his side.
With enormous effort, he was able to flop his hand towards the remote control, and after five tries he pushed a flat green square that said "Call Nurse" on it.
He waited 20 minutes, and just as he was about to give up on anybody ever coming by, a nurse finally came into the room.
“Now what are you...” The nurse looked annoyed, but her eyes widened as soon as she realized that Lex was awake and staring at her.
“Oh lord!” She exclaimed, and ran out of the room as if the hounds of hell was right after her.
Lex scowled, personally offended by her behavior. All he wanted was a glass of water, damn it!
At last, the nurse returned with another woman, this one wearing a doctor's coat. She hesitated just inside the door, then walked quickly to his bedside and started checking the equipment he could hear bleeping behind his head.
"Hello?" he squeaked.
"Hello, Lex," she said as if he were a very slow child. He resisted the impulse to roll his eyes. His mother always said that good behavior was important, never more so than with one's social inferiors.
"May I please have some water?" he asked, so hoarse that he was just mouthing the words by the end of his question.
The doctor hesitated, then turned. "Gina, would you please get Lex some water?"
By the time the nurse was back with the water, the doctor had finished looking at whatever she was looking at. When Lex tilted his head up, the machines looked strange, too small and too flat for a real hospital room. He knew; he'd seen when his mom had to stay overnight for tests.
"What's the last thing you remember, Lex?" the doctor asked when he'd finished about six sips of water, all that he really felt that he could take. Now that she was close, he could see that the name "Dr.Kane" was sewn onto her white coat.
He frowned. "I was with my dad. We were going to take a helicopter ride to see a plant he just bought, outside the city. Can I see my mom?"
The doctor looked over his shoulder quickly, then back. Something's wrong, his father's voice whispered in his head. She's nervous. "I've called your father, Lex, but it may take some time for him to get here."
"What happened?"
She swallowed. Lex screwed up his face in what he knew looked like a temper tantrum in the making. It worked as well as it did with any of his nannies - she started to talk. "You were caught in a freak meteor shower and, though you weren't struck directly, you went into a coma."
That certainly explained why there had been balls of fire raining down that dreadful day. But, since he'd already survived it, also pretty cool. "Meteors? Really?"
He didn't really register the “coma” part fully though, until the doctor kept on speaking some more.
"Really," Dr. Kane confirmed, sounding a little shaky. "Lex, there are other things. Some of which your father will tell you, but - Somehow, as a result of the meteor shower, you lost your hair."
Lex didn't understand at first. It didn't make any sense. Kids don't just lose their hair, meteors or not.
He looked upwards, puzzling over what the heck this weird doctor was telling him. His eyes came upon a corner mirror that had one of those cameras hidden behind it, and he realized it was true. For in his reflection, he was truly bald.
"Is it gone forever?" Now that he knew, he could feel the air circulating over his naked head.
"We don't know." She paused, looking away from him again. "Now, this is difficult to understand, but - Oh dear. The year is 2001."
He looked down at his body, mostly hidden under the hospital sheets except for his left arm.
"Is this your idea of a joke?" he asked flatly, “After all, if what you're saying is true, I should be all grown up and stuff. I'm still a little kid!”
Dr. Kane was twisting her hands together, almost at Lex's eye level. "I'm sorry, Lex, I'm not. We don't exactly understand it either, but you ... didn't grow while you were in the coma. You've been this way for twelve years."
It was too much. "I want my mom!" he said, his voice small and even more babyish than was usual when he was scared.
Dr. Kane flinched. "Your father will be here as soon as possible. In the meantime, just - try to stay calm. I'll send Gina in to keep you company until he comes." Without giving him a chance to ask more questions, she hurried out of the room.
Gina did come back, after a while, with a bunch of books for little kids and one she said she'd read to him that he demanded for himself. It was about a boy who thought he was nothing special but turned out to be a wizard. Lex thought it was okay, though he didn't really understand what was wrong with the boy's guardians when he was so clearly marked for destiny. When he finished it, he stared out the window, where a sunset was. The sky outside darkened, transitioning to night-time.
Fast, angry footsteps in the hallway alerted him that his father had arrived. The door swung open and he stalked in. His face was different. His hair was really different, longer and more dangerous-looking. Lex struggled to keep from cringing back into the bed. Dad despised that.
"Lex?" his father said and hurried to the side of the bed. Bending, he caught Lex up into an embrace so tight Lex could barely breathe. The IV lines pulled painfully at his skin. His father was shaking, and Lex realized that it was with tears. "Son," his father said, not as if he were a disappointment for once but as if he were a blessing.
"Dad," he snuffled and hugged back.
Eventually, his dad let him go, but still stood over him, just looking down with a smile so wide that it looked like it might crack his face. "When is Mom coming?" Lex asked, hopeful.
His father stopped smiling. "Lex, I have some bad news...."
Lex's heart seized up at this. He's known for a long time that mom was sick, and she had still been going to chemotherapy last time he saw her. But. He had never really thought that she would die. As a kid, he still couldn't imagine life without mom. He had promised her that they would get it though together, and beat the disease away....because that's how it worked in those movies and inspirational speeches about beating cancer. He froze, as a horrible, irrational thought occurred to him.
What if it had been his fault that his mom died? After all, he had fallen into a deep sleep and hadn't been there for her like he had promised, and now she was dead.....
“No....” Lex whimpered, his eyes shone with moisture, and he turned his head away so that Lionel wouldn't see him cry.
"I'm sorry, son." Lionel actually sounded grief-struck, and he could feel his father's warm hand lighting upon his right shoulder.
That tore down the last of Lex's barriers and he couldn't help but break down. “D-dad...” He bawled, “What are we going to do without her? We're supposed to be a family together...”
Lionel then pulled Lex back into his arms, cradling him as he cried into his father's arms.
Lex's surprised that Lionel was being so affectionate towards him...and in a way it was a very bitter pill for him to swallow. It was due to the fact that Lex had always sought out his father's affection and love, yet Lionel had always been so cold to him in the past. Yet all it took for Lionel to show some semblance of fatherly love towards Lex was Lillian's death and a freak meteor storm.
In a way he supposed Lionel had been right that day when he lectured Lex about getting your heart's desire. You don't get everything you ever wanted in life without some sort of price being paid for it. He just wished he had known this was the sort of price he would have to pay for having his father's love...he could had retracted all of his wishes before it was too late.
He could easily put up with Lionel's aloofness if it would get his mom back... but now it's too late to do anything about it. All he could do is accept what was being given to him now.
Lionel held on to his son until he was worn out from all the crying, and he gently placed Lex back in bed. He then sat back on the edge of the bed, watching his son fall slowly asleep.
He grinned, his smile resembling a shark's smile more than that of a father who was relieved to have his son back in the land of the living.
He spoke aloud, not really caring if Lex was listening or not.
"Obviously, your return to the land of the living will require some explanation about why the son I had in 1980 is still nine years old. Probably best to put you forth as a by-blow from some years back, newly discovered. Set you up with tutors, private nurses - Smallville, yes, there's a research facility so we can continue looking into the secret of, ah, eternal youth, and plenty of privacy to keep you from attracting too much attention. It remains to be seen whether you'll start to grow again - a terrible irony if you didn't, I'd say. Eternal youth in the body of a grasshopper, that's not right. Not fit for a Luthor.”
He shook his head at the last part, as if truly dismayed that his son might stay a kid forever.
"Well," his dad said and rubbed his hands together, "there are so many plans to make. We'll have you up out of that bed and walking in no time. I'll hire a staff and have the mansion set up within a day. I have a business meeting this afternoon, so I will see you later tomorrow, in Smallville. It's good to have you back, son."
He didn't wait for Lex to say anything back, just marched out, a swing in his step that Lex had only seen previously when his father had destroyed someone else's company.
Lex didn't really understand much of what Lionel had said, and the parts he had understood seemed almost too impossible to be truly real. His eyes closed fully, as he fell back into slumber.
Things kept flickering in his head. Mom. Twelve years. Everyone at school, gone. Mom. He was going to be kept secret from now on, because he was a freak and a mystery. Tests, needles, to explore the mystery of "eternal youth" - Lex already knew it: like Sleeping Beauty or Rose Red, you could stay the same age forever as long as you lay there and everyone else moved and died around you.
He had a strange nightmare that night, where he was in a dark twisted fairytale. He dreamed he was a prince in a castle, and went riding outside. He came upon that guy on the cross, and he begged to be set free. Lex rode away instead, and the guy got angry, cursing him. The man somehow freed himself, and he aimed his hands at Lex. Hails of fire shot out his fingertips and rained down on Lex. The man turned into a grotesque monster, laughing wildly. The monster then kidnapped his mother... saying this was what he deserved for not trying to help him. Lex tried to rescue his mother like a good son should, but as he reached out to grab his mother, she moved out of reach. Mom only shook her head, looking at Lex with a disappointed expression. “You promised you would be there for me in my time of need. Why weren't you there for me? I died thanks to you!”
She then started melting, as if her whole body was nothing but candle wax. When she was done melting, all that remained of her was a skeleton. Lex's stomach lurched at the sight, and he was startled awake.
Lex trembled, as he mentally went over his nightmare. He curled up in his hospital bed, wondering if he was in hell. Maybe he was really dead, and this was God's way of punishing him for something he had done. Maybe he had been supposed to help that man back then... or something like that.
He didn't cry again, although he did wish his father would come back and hold him until he fell asleep again. Needless to say he didn't get much sleep that night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later, people arrived to put him in a wheelchair, then in a car, then a wheelchair again, up gray stone steps to the huge house. It hadn't been fully furnished when they came out to Smallville the other day - nine years ago, he had to remind himself.
Inside, it was full of rugs and dark furniture, like all the other houses except the ranch in Montana. Lex wished he'd asked to go there instead. His father was there, talking on the phone and giving orders to three other people. He shooed Lex upstairs, telling him to rest.
His room was like a hotel room. Nothing in it was his. There weren't even clothes for him until the next day. When the new nanny showed up, Lex asked if he could have his books and toys from Metropolis, and she looked at him curiously. That afternoon, his father dropped by the new schoolroom, with its strange small computer and its strange new maps, and warned him that he couldn't act as if he were the first Alexander J. Luthor. He was the second, so his books and toys weren't his. In fact, they'd been thrown out years ago.
There were tests, and later, an operation to give him eyelashes and eyebrows that he was ordered not to pull at too hard. The servants stared a little less then, so he obeyed. He spent most of the night in the bathroom, reading or just staring. Without his hair, the titled walls felt hard and cold. After a few weeks of this, his father called him in for a talk.
"I know you're having a difficult time, son," he said, putting a hand on Lex's shoulder. Lex's arm hurt. They took a lot of blood, and they used that arm because it was easy and his veins were good, whatever that meant. His father smiled at him indulgently. It almost would have been better to be lectured. Lex said nothing.
"I've hired a woman to spend some time with you. Her name is Martha, Martha Kent. I've had some dealings with the Kents in the past, and I think she'll prove ... reliable. But you must be on your guard, Lex. Can you stick to the story? Can you believe it so that she believes it?"
Lex swallowed. "Yes, Dad."
His father's hand squeezed, then fell from his shoulder. "Good. Some difficulty adjusting is only to be expected, if your mother died from terminal cancer a year ago and now you're just dealing with the same disease yourself. Martha will expect that. She'll be in charge of scheduling your tutors and doctors. She'll spend time with you when I'm away on business."
That, Lex knew, was most of the time. He thought, resentfully, that the doctors were allowed much freer access to him than the tutors. They treated him like a freak, whispering to each other as if he couldn't hear or, worse, just outside the range of his hearing. The thought of having someone else to obey, set over all of the other adults, didn't make him feel any better.
And now he was expected to stick with this stupid story about his father having an affair with some extremely ill woman some years back, and only having found out about his son when she died. Now that he literally was bald as a cancer patient only made it worse. He got those pitying stares from the residents in Smallville whenever he went out with his father, which grated on his nerves. Why couldn't his father had gone for something different? Even being an adopted kid from a foster home would be WAY better than playing the role of the littlest cancer patient.
But he supposed that in order to score points with the Smallville residents, they had to play on the sympathies of others, even if it was a total lie.
He was prepared to dislike Martha Kent thoroughly, which made it even stranger when she smiled broadly at him and offered him a sugar cookie. She'd brought a batch over, even though Lex couldn't imagine that her kitchen was anywhere near as impressive as the mansion's.
"Thank you," he said with polite mistrust, and watched his father pull her away for some final instructions. She sent him off to Tokyo with another sugar cookie and a tolerant smile, assuring him that she and Lex would do fine together. Lex's father grasped her hand between both of his as he said goodbye. Lex considered whether outright defiance or sullen noncompliance would get rid of her faster.
**********
“Now it's time to start the next tests.” The scientist said, sounding very jolly. “Be sure to count down for me, okay?”
Lex didn't really share the same feeling, dreading what was going to come next.
Dr. Malhotra turned on the machine and gave him a range-finding shock.
“Ten.....nine....eight...” Lex gritted though the pain, mumbling out the numbers as he was told to do. The first time, he'd been so surprised by the pain that he'd actually jumped, and somehow broken a sensitive part of the equipment. Dr. Malhotra had cursed in rapid Hindi at the discovery, but he'd had a replacement chip by the end of the day and they'd just kept going.
He was ashamed to discover that he had teared up, and now his tears were running down his cheeks against his will. It was probably a good thing that his father wasn't here, otherwise he would be saying that Luthors didn't cry. That he should be ashamed of himself for showing weakness in front of others.
“What are you doing??” Martha's voice rang out, as she walked into the room. She took one look at Lex's tear-streaked face and then narrowed her eyes at Dr. Malhotra.
"We are testing the extent of nerve regeneration. It is most remarkable; the shocks would destroy sensitivity in a normal subject."
"Shocks?" she said, her eyes wide and horrified. "How long have you been doing this?"
"Well over a month," Dr. Malhotra said proudly, not realizing how horrible it sounded to Martha. "Preliminary results are quite provocative."
Mrs. Kent's eyes ran over Lex's body, held still because he was a Luthor and Luthors didn't show weakness. Her face became more serious, and her body shook as if she was restraining herself from committing some bodily harm.
"You're done for the day," she said abruptly.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Kent," the doctor said, raising his finger to her as if she were an errant student, "but I have at least fifteen more -"
"Lionel Luthor put me in charge in his absence, and I'm telling you that you're done for the day. You're welcome to take it up with him when he returns, or you can take it up with the security guards!"
Martha seemed to be growing more angry by the minute, and she was almost screaming at the end of her sentence.
"But the tests require the subject -" Dr.Melhortra started to plead, but Martha cut him off.
"He's not a subject! He's a little boy in pain, and his name is Lex. Now, get out of here before I call the guards!" She was really screaming now.
Lex gaped as Dr. Melhotra began to pack up his equipment.
When the doctor was gone, he stared at Mrs. Kent, still standing around in her yellow pastel suit, one of the three she rotated for days at the mansion. She stared back, her angry shaking body returning back to normal.
"Are you all right?" she asked, now that she had calmed down.
"Sure," he said. He wasn't sure what he ought to say. If Dad got mad and they had to start all over, it wouldn't be good. But - "Thanks," he said, looking away so that he could wipe the tears off his face.
He didn't notice the look of sadness Martha had in her eyes as she looked at Lex. However, She composed herself before he could look back up.
“Lex... does your father know about this?”
“Hmm-mm” Lex nodded, lying quite convincingly for the next part. “He says that I'm sick like my mom was, so we need all the tests to help me get better.”
Martha just frowned at that, as if she wasn't sure that she actually believed that.
A long silence stretched between them, as the two of them lingered around not quite sure what to do or what to say.
Lex started to fidget, and that's when Martha finally spoke. "We should find you something else to do," she said briskly.
"I have a math assignment," Lex offered and dared a look up.
Martha frowned, not at him. "That won't take you very long. Would you like to learn how to make an apple pie?"
That was how Lex found himself watching carefully as she measured, then let him measure his own ingredients. Mrs. Kent promised that no one had to see his pie if he didn't like the way it came out. She sliced all the apples, but she let him lay them in neat overlapping lines over the crust. The smell of cinnamon and baking apples made him hungry, and she made him a sandwich with roast beef left over from last night's dinner. For once, he managed to finish everything on his plate, even the annoying baby carrots that hadn't existed before his coma.
Lex had time to do his math as they waited in the kitchen for the pies to bake. He sat at the table, sneaking glances at Mrs. Kent from time to time. She was reading a paperback novel of her own and didn't seem to notice. Her hair wasn't the same shade of red as his mother's. He found that reassuring.
The pies were done just before Mrs. Kent was supposed to leave. They both smelled good, though hers was much neater than his. Somehow, she'd found a pint of vanilla ice cream, which she promised was excellent with apple pie.
She was just setting his plate down in front of him when a tall, dark-haired teenager barged into the kitchen. "Mom?" he said. "The butler guy said you were in here -" He caught sight of Lex, whose fist had clenched around his fork. "Hey!" He smiled broadly, not a hint of 'freak!' showing in his green eyes.
Lex gaped at him.
"Clark," Mrs. Kent said, smiling. "This is Lex. Lex, this is my son Clark."
"Hello," Lex said tentatively.
"Hi, Lex!" Clark said. "Hey, do I smell apple pie?"
"Two," Lex corrected.
Mrs. Kent just smiled more and went to get another plate. "Lex made his own pie," she said as she poured Clark a glass of milk, which he regarded with evident happiness rather than the distrust Lex always felt for it.
"You can have some. If you want," Lex offered, feeling awkward.
Clark looked up at his mother, and something grown-up flashed between them. "That sounds great." When Clark sat down to Lex's left, Lex could see that Clark's clothes were a little loose on him, and his face had a tight look that reminded him of his mother after she came back from the hospital the first time, like she was done being sick because she insisted on it, not because she was all better.
Mrs. Kent gave Clark about a quarter of a pie and what looked like the rest of the ice cream. Clark bent over the food and started to eat.
"This is great, Lex," he bobbed up long enough to say, then returned to the serious work of inhaling the rest as Lex took much smaller bites of his own serving. Mrs. Kent was watching Clark with a mixture of pleasure and concern. Lex missed his mother so much that he had to stop eating.
"Are you all right, Lex?" Mrs. Kent asked, noticing that he'd pushed his plate away.
"Yes," he said, looking down at the runnels of melted ice cream working their way through the flakes of crust and bits of apple on his plate. He wished he had somewhere to go.
"Is there any more?" Clark asked, then flushed. "I mean, may I have another piece?"
"Sure," Lex said, forcing himself to smile, then looked at Mrs. Kent for permission. She winked at Lex and went to cut another slice.
"So mom's teaching you her baking secrets, huh?" Clark asked, leaning over conspiratorially. "She must really like you. You know, she won't let just anyone know her recipes."
Lex's smile was a little easier this time. "She's a really good cook."
Clark grinned. Lex thought he'd never seen someone so happy. "I know it. I'm the luckiest kid in Smallville." His brow wrinkled. "Maybe not now that you're here. I mean, you get Mom and a whole castle."
Lex shrugged, having no idea what to say to that.
"When you're done, Clark," Mrs. Kent said, putting another enormous slice of pie in front of him, "why don't you ask Lex to show you around the grounds? It's a beautiful place, and it would be a nice walk for both of you."
Clark grimaced, his rolled eyes inviting Lex in on the joke. "Yes, mom, I'll get some light exercise. You know, I have been doing my regular chores for a week now. I was - sick, a couple of weeks back," he explained to Lex, who nodded.
Mrs. Kent opened her mouth as if she wanted to say more, but didn't. Clark demolished his second serving as fast as he'd put away the first as Lex watched in fascination.
"Would you like to see the grounds?" he asked as Clark chased the last bits of crust around his plate. "The garden really is neat."
"Sure," Clark said, taking his and Lex's plates over to the sink.
Leaving Mrs. Kent to her book, they went out the kitchen door and into the English garden that wound around the back of the house. "There's a folly and a topiary maze further back," Lex said stiffly. "We can go see it if you like."
"What parts do you like, Lex?" Clark asked, sounding truly interested.
Lex was about to respond, when a sudden pain spiked though his head. He grabbed his head in a futile attempt to stop the pain from occurring, but it only worsened.
“Hey, are you alright?” Clark actually sounded worried, and he felt large warm hands holding him up as he had been about to fall.
“I'm fine... it's just a bad headache...” Lex murmured.
Green eyes looked down at him in concern. “Maybe we should go back inside...”
Lex shook his head. “No, I'm fine. Just need a place to sit down for a little bit.”
Clark looked around, and saw a large stone shed in the distance. They moved inside, and sat on some empty wood boxes. The cool air here felt good on Lex's skin, and it was quiet around here.
Lex thought to himself that he might had just found a good hiding spot, for all the times when he needed solitude and a good place to read.
Lex leaned over, letting his forehead rest on his knees as he tried to will his headache away. Clark was sitting awfully close, to the point where Lex could feel Clark's body heat radiating though his clothes. His large hands was rubbing Lex's back, as if that would make the headache go away.
Somehow, Lex didn't mind the contact at all. For some reason, it was all very comforting. And amazingly enough, the pain was actually going away.... so maybe there was something to the back-rub after all. Lex mentally made himself a promise to rope his father into hiring a masseuse for him... because after all he didn't want to be doped up on pills just to make the aches go away.
“Are you feeling better?” Clark asked. Lex just nodded.
"Kent!" An unfamiliar voice made Lex turn. Someone was standing by the door, outlined by the light of the sunset behind him.
"Greg?" Clark asked, sounding befuddled. "What are you doing here?"
"I told you to stay away from Lana."
Clark stepped away from Lex, holding his hands up non-threateningly. "Greg, it's all right."
Lex watched as he edged towards Greg, who slammed the door behind himself without looking back. Greg's features were now visible. He was pale, black-clad, his face set in what looked like a permanent sneer.
Suddenly, Greg was right in front of Clark. Lex blinked, wondering how he'd missed Greg's charge, as Greg drew his fist back and punched Clark.
Clark went flying back, crashing against the back stone wall of the shed. Lex gasped.
Clark got up, shaking his head as he stood. Greg stalked towards him, moving in a strange skittering gait. Lex felt as if he were secretly in a movie, since he didn't think that real people could move or hit like that. "You don't need to do this," Clark warned.
"But I want to," Greg said snottily and lashed out again, sending Clark through the stone wall to slam against a thick support pillar. Clark, and numerous chunks of concrete, fell to the floor as the roof moaned in protest. Greg smiled and held up his arms as if a crowd were watching.
Clark wasn't moving. Lex closed his eyes, gathering his courage, then bolted across the floor to where Clark lay. Close up, Lex could see that Clark's eyes were fluttering and he was breathing raggedly. "Clark!" he insisted as Greg - hopped? - towards them. "Get up!" He bent and tugged at Clark's arm.
Groaning, Clark pushed himself into a standing position. He put his body in between Lex and Greg. "There's a little kid here, Greg. Let him go and you and I can settle this."
Greg looked at Lex and sneered. "Another evolutionary dead end. He can die with you."
Faster than Lex could see, Greg moved to stand beside the other leaning pillar. With a kick that made the entire shed shudder, he broke it in half. Greg leapt backwards, out of Lex's sight, as things overhead cracked. Clark pushed Lex onto the floor of the shed, covering Lex with his body. Lex shuddered as the roof groaned like a dying whale and collapsed on them. There was shrieking, thudding, crashing and crumpling. Clark's body shook as something huge hit his back.
It was dark beneath the rubble, and it took Lex a few moments to realize that he was still breathing. Clark's weight on him was nothing like being crushed. The dust was heavy in his nose and mouth, an asthma attack for sure, pre-meteors and coma. He coughed and spat.
"Clark?"
"Lex?" Clark sounded as shocked as Lex felt.
"How come we're not dead?"
Clark paused for a while. "I'm gonna have to get back to you on that."
Then he took a deep breath and began to rise up above Lex, like Atlas. The world, or at least the building, moved with him. Bits of metal and rubble fell on Lex as the ruins shifted, and Lex pressed close to Clark's feet to shield himself.
"Come on," Clark urged. Lex clambered up the rubble. The sun had just gone below the horizon and the only real illumination was from the lights of the mansion, impossibly distant, and the half-full moon. Lex stood wobbly, feeling exposed. Clark joined him, then offered his hand as they picked their way over the remains of the shed onto level ground.
"Do you think he's still around?" Lex asked, as softly as he could manage. His voice was shaking, as were his legs. He was still hanging on to Clark, his fingers hurting with the strain. Clark didn't seem to notice.
"I don't know. We've got to get you back to the house." The most direct route led through long grass, dry and silvery in the moonlight, taller than Lex. Clark hurried them into it. Lex wanted to resist, but he couldn't make himself go spaghetti-legs and he had the idea that Clark would just pick him up if he did.
Greg crashed down into the grass in front of them, hissing. His eyes were glittering black spots in his white face.
Clark dropped Lex's hand and charged forward, knocking Greg to one side and plowing a furrow through the high grass. Greg popped back up, snarling. Lex's stomach twisted and his fingers tingled. The rustling of the grass was loud in his ears, the stalks seemingly writhing with the energy of the fight.
Clark turned to Greg's new position. For the first time, his face was tight with anger. Greg looked delighted, the way Lex's father did when he'd made a CEO lose his temper.
Greg leapt, pushing Clark further away. Clark toppled. If Clark could survive a building falling on him, surely he could fight Greg, no matter how freaky the guy was. "Pussy," Greg said contemptuously. The sound of a boot striking flesh was loud enough to carry over the agitated grass and the high whine that he almost didn't recognize as his own. The grass was like the corn before, the dark squeezing him like a fist, his skin buzzing with terror.
Greg reappeared, smashing through more grass. "Huh," he said, staring at Lex. There was a smear of something, slick black in the moonlight, on his cheek. Lex fell back, trying to scrabble away.
Greg took a step towards Lex just as Clark appeared, surging up like a tidal wave, and hit Greg at waist height, sending them both back. There was a choked scream - whose, Lex couldn't tell - and then a distant crash. Lex stayed there, splayed and cold with fear, for what felt like forever before he made himself inch forward.
Just beyond where they'd been, the grass ended and a hole in the earth, like some kind of quarry, began. The earth at the lip was raw and broken where the fight had collapsed more soil into the chasm.
Lex looked down. The drop had to be forty feet at least, almost straight down. At the bottom, he could see Clark's white face, facing up, on top of - something he didn't want to think about. Strange green lights shone in spots around the bodies.
"Clark?" he yelled down. "Clark?"
Off to his left, the grade was slightly less steep. Lex forced himself to rise, then started down the slope, slowing his near-run with his hands, half-sliding, hitting his knee on an enormous twisted tree branch sticking out of the dirt. By the time he got to the bottom, his hands were bleeding and his pants were torn.
"Clark?"
Lex could feel his heart thumping in his chest, so big and fast it was shaking his whole body. Even his eyesight fluttered in and out to its rhythm. He moved towards Clark, stepping on something dark and squishy.
Close now, he saw, with less surprise than he would have felt an hour ago, that Clark's pale skin was crawling with blackened veins, pulsing in tune with the glowing green rocks. He picked up Clark's arm and tried to drag him away, but he wasn't strong enough.
He stared at Clark's pain-contorted face, wondering if he could make it to the mansion in time to get help.
Stupid! Lex wanted to smack himself. Instead of wasting the time, he hurried over to the biggest glowing rock and heaved it as far as he could. Again and again, until his hands were solidly dark with blood and dirt and his arms hurt. His back screamed and his shoes were soaked through with the wet stuff that was part of Greg.
Far enough away from Clark, they were just green rocks. Finally, nothing glowed but the moon and the stars.
Lex collapsed to his knees beside Clark. The black veins were already retreating from Clark's face and hands, and he looked as if he was breathing okay.
"Clark?" he tried again. "Please, wake up." Tentatively, he patted Clark's shoulder.
Clark's eyes snapped open and Lex jerked his hand away. "Greg!"
"He's -" Lex considered - "not a problem any more."
Clark struggled to his feet. His clothes were torn and he was filthy, stray bits of grass sticking to him like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.
"What happened?"
"Uh, I'm not sure," he lied. "I think you got him."
Clark shook his head. "I -" He stopped, examined the blown-down grass around them, then looked carefully at Lex.
"We should get out of here," Lex said and turned towards the far side of the hole they were in. Looking up, the black earth surrounding them and blocking out the light, Lex felt as if he'd fallen into a rip in the world, not just some abandoned construction site.
At some point, Lex had twisted a muscle in his thigh. Clark didn't let him limp for more than a few steps before picking him up as if he were a baby. Lex didn't really mind; he slung an arm around Clark's neck, just in case, because Clark still looked shaken up. Clark staggered twice on the way up, grabbing at ordinary rocks to keep his balance, but carried Lex as if he were made of spun sugar.
"What were those rocks?" Lex asked when they were halfway to the main house.
Clark stopped and turned his head to stare at Lex. His eyes were wide and frightened. Lex looked back, trying not to look as scared as he felt.
"Meteor rocks," Clark said at last.
"From the meteor shower in 1989?" Lex asked. He thought he didn't sound too weird.
Clark nodded. "Lex," he said, still not moving, "sometimes, when kids hang around the meteor rocks, things - happen to them. They can - do stuff. Like Greg."
Like me and you, Lex thought, and Clark nodded again as if he could hear Lex thinking.
Lex looked over Clark's shoulder. "I thought we were going to die. I thought you were -"
Clark let him down to his feet and got down on one knee, putting his hands on Lex's shoulders. "Shh, it's all right." He paused, his eyes downcast. "You saved my life. Those rocks - they hurt me. I think they would have killed me if I'd been alone."
Clark's pose reminded him of Warrior Angel after his first rescue. He resolved to collect all the meteor rocks he could and lock them in a safe place, so that nothing like that could happen again.
Clark looked at him, measuring. "We'd better get back to the house. Mom's probably gone nuts by now."
Lex had no idea how long they'd been out, but if Mrs. Kent wasn't worried before she saw the two of them, she would be after. They were both filthy, and Lex could smell them - a combination of grass, meat, and something stomach-churning sweet.
"What are you going to tell her?" Lex asked as Clark picked him up again.
Clark looked puzzled, as if Lex had asked whether he liked to wear pink tutus. "The truth."
Lex had his doubts about whether she'd believe; she seemed so normal. But Clark probably knew his mom, and if he thought he wouldn't get punished for lying, Lex wasn't going to argue. "You saved my life, too," Lex said, considering. "I read that if you save a person's life, you're responsible for them forever."
"I guess we'll have to look out for each other from now on," Clark said at last, smiling, his teeth gleaming white against his dirty skin.
"I guess we will," Lex said, and smiled back.
To be continued in the next chapter.