Kol Nidre
Spoilers: Hourglass. Have you noticed how many fics out there are based on this episode?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the following Characers, except of Anna,on whom I gladly take charge. Most of the situations described are the figment of my sick imagination and can be seen as an AU for the show.
Reviews are very much wellcomed. So is constructive criticism.Or even a blank review. I don't really mind...
I thank for beta-ing this story Ligia Elena. How she suffered me for so long, I will never know.
Chapter 1: LEX
He always thought that prophecies were a load of bullshit.
Sure, he knew many that believed in them, especially After, but he always doubted.
Something fundamental inside him simply rebelled when confronting them, the birth of his skepticism about the belief that one is not his own master. That we have no control over our fate.
He had an analytic mind, science had him thrilled, not magic. He was born a doubter, one that would never be able to believe in anything, and bring doubt to the world.
Maybe this was his prophecy.
Clark was the first one to believe. Even after all those years he's not sure why it surprised him. Even in his twenties the boy was an overgrown Boy Scout. One who believed in fairy tales and happy endings. One who was ready to believe where Lex couldn't. And to give everything to make it happen.
Sometimes Lex wonders why he did it, was there a hidden meaning, hidden agenda? But he already knows that if there is, he will never find that out. Clark was a too good of an actor. He proved that too many times.
That's why he knows that everything that happened was initially his fault. Because he should have foreseen this. He should have foreseen everything, damn it!
But he wasn't ready to face the facts. He wasn't a prophet. An even SHE didn't succeed saving the world in the end.
When thinking about her prophecy he can't help but to laugh of the bitter irony of it.
All the prophecies he has heard about before were about love, fighting, or both. But this one had nothing to do with love. Nothing his entire life was ever about love.
The prophecy talked about an heir, not marriage or heartbreak. Those are human feelings, warm feelings. How could she know of those?
The prophecy didn't say that the day that Clark stood beside him as his best man was also the day he hated him the most. It didn't describe the first night with his new bride, new scared shitless bride. Or his own fear. Or the days after when the media published their pictures together, always together. All the time. And if one dared to stray from the other, the media knew.
Because it was written that they would always be together, and prophecies must always be filled.
And no one cared that he didn't believe that stupid prophecy, that nothing can save humanity anymore. There was simply nothing humane left. Nobody heard when he screamed that he wanted to go, that he needed to go. Away. Because the wife they forced him to marry was not feeling well. And he was only twenty-four, he wasn't ready. Fuck, he will never be ready.
"Let me go" he begged, and they laughed.
Dad was the only one who fought for him.
The irony.
But even he, the powerful Lionel Luther, couldn't save him. Still, he was his hero for a while, because he tried. And in this new world nobody tried anymore.
But in this new world there were no heroes left.
They got close then, him and his father. Just a father and his son, caring for each other. He confessed his feelings and doubts, and he cried. Because he had no pride left. They took it all.
But in one part his wife came, and they didn't even see her. She heard everything he said about her, and she froze.
"But Lex," she whispered when he realized she was here, her lips quivering, "I truly love you." Then she ran away.
"Oh, Chloe" he moaned, not knowing at whom he was angry. At her, or himself. That he wasn't capable of love.
There was rain that day … night, and thunder. It was too cold to be outside, and he was genuinely worried about her. Maybe he did love her after all?
The next day this was on the TV, on full screen, and his dad was gone. But that was OK; he didn't have anything more to complain about. No, really. Everyone has a destiny; his was simply not in his own hands to handle.
Then Clark came and he saw that his friend hadn't aged a day. Well, that was to be expected being an alien and everything. Clark told him that they'd found Chloe, and that they needed to be together again. For the world.
"Why?" he wanted to scream. What was the point? She was pregnant; this was all that was asked from him, a sperm. The prophecy never said anything about affection; it never said anything about lies.
But then Clark said that Chloe had had an abortion. The baby had died.
He wasn't sure if to laugh or to cry — the baby, his baby, had died. It was now free from the burden of the world. And from him.
He was sure the prophecy didn't say anything about THAT.
Clark said that it did. It claimed there will be obstacles, but the baby that will be born will save the world. It will. You'll see, Lex, it will.
He wanted to say, "Screw the prophecy, screw the world," but in the end all that he said was "Screw you," and he knew that he really meant that. Because Clark was toying with his head again, just like when he persuaded him to marry Chloe so long ago.
Clark turned crimson but at this point Lex didn't care. Clark had Lana. He had love, he had life.
And now he wanted to take over Lex's as well.
"Just get out, please," he begged Clark, and for the first time Clark actually listened.
This, too, was on the TV the next day. He didn't know why any of these things kept surprising him.
So Chloe came and this time he actually paid some attention to her, because she wasn't on Their side, and that was quite rare.
Eight months later the baby was soon to be conceived but love still didn't blossom. But that was all right, Chloe told him one day when he confessed. She wasn't the fairy tale person anyhow.
In a way he didn't know back then to name he sensed she was lying. But that was OK, he was lying, too. He learnt to predict her, to love her in his own way.
The next day the TV talked about the missile catastrophe in Belgium, and he knew she was safe. As long he didn't care, they were safe.
And then the baby was born.
Anna, named after Chloe's mother.
Then she was taken. Yet that was all right, he expected that to happen. She had a prophecy to live up to and a world to save.
He never really believed in prophecies. He always thought they were a load of shit. Because he was a doubter, it was his job to doubt.
And if he could have let the world blow up and keep his daughter, he would have done it.
But he didn't.
Maybe deep inside he was a Believer, too.
