TV Show: Smallville
Genre: Action/Adventure
Author: DCForever
Feedback: Honest feedback is definitely welcomed and appreciated.
Archiving: Archiving is permitted as long as I know where it will be posted and that all the above info stays intact.
Pairing: Clark/Chloe
Rating: PG/PG-13
Spoilers: None, AU even
Disclaimer: Let's get this straight...I'm not affiliated with anyone...don't have anything of major value.
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"Have you ever felt truly alone? Ever been a time in your life that you wish you could erase...an occurrence or event that you wish you could reverse or alter for the better...for you and for others? I'm sure we've all felt this way at least once in our lives. I feel it...and am forced to relive it every single day that I remain on this Earth. It's a curse. A curse I wish no man, woman, or child must ever bare."
"It all started back a few years ago, 12 to be precise. High school. Smallville High School, home of the Crows. A last second hail-mary pass into the end zone of the school's biggest football game in recent years. Divisional Champions rung out from the stands as cheers exploded. I felt like a king, maybe a god even. I was on top of the world. My teammates hefted me up on their shoulders. Girls flocked to my sides, dropped their numbers in my helmet among other things. Lana, the first love of my life, clapped in the distance. Chloe, my second love, cried as she ran across the grass, camera and legal pad dangling from her hands, sporting a smile I had seen countless number of times. She was always the more dramatic of the two girls."
"For that briefest of times, I felt I could do no wrong. That win alone had made me great. Parents were proud of me, though dad still insisted I shouldn't have played...not just the game, but the season. Though we were at odds with each other, I knew deep down he was a very proud man...and I helped him become that man, making me a proud son. The day was perfect."
"Then it happened, out of the blue, perfection went awry. At least I was given 24 hrs of pure happiness and bliss; Chloe saw to that personally. It shocked me that she was willing considering on the outside we were only friends, but on the inside we harbored deep feelings for the other, each scared to let the other know...to let them in. The game was special on so many accounts, but that night...nothing could top that. Chloe wanted me and I her. We were attached."
"The following day, in the halls, all day I received high-fives, congrats, hugs, kisses,...you name it, I pretty much received it...even a few evil stares that I just shrugged off knowing those stares belonged to those that were jealous of what I had obtained...what I was feeling...they were the old me. Now I was the jock with the golden arm. I was the one all the girls wanted to call their own. I was the one that could pick and choose who I took to a dance or took back to the loft in my family's barn. Hands down, Chloe would the girl every time. I was on top of the world. The King of Smallville High and nothing could or would ever be able to take that away from me."
"Kent," I briefly heard as a faint yell and then there was the game winning football being hurled over my head. Jase Wise, star wide receiver, never had much for accuracy, but he was a blur on the football field when the game was on the line and my butt was being put on the ground. Surprisingly Chloe reacted before I did, pushing my waist. My smile arose as I took two steps back and dived backwards. The leather of the ball grasped my out reached hand. Then it happened. In a split second the smiles of my fellow students and girlfriend turned to horror. The sound of glass shattering rung through ears as the outer brick wall of the school came in sight, followed by Chloe almost throwing herself out the window after me. Someone held her back. The look on all those faces, many I knew, others I didn't. I never even turned to look down, there was no need to. I knew the second story fall wouldn't even give me a scrap, but it would change my life forever. After I stand up unscathed, everyone...Chloe most important...would know what I was...a freak, at least that is how they would see me. I would be outcast as the alien I was, my image emblazoned on my girl's wall of weird; maybe even worse. The time had come. The moment I most feared in my youthful life. My secret would be out."
"Time seemed to freeze. I knew I should have felt a crater forming around me as I disturbed the ground below, the impact alone should rattle the school's foundation. Only, it never came. The look on the faces from the window told it all. Were they horrified? Confused? Bewildered? Amazed? I couldn't tell. All I knew was the day and moment had arrived. Maybe by freak incident I could have pulled off an odd occurrence or something when I picked myself off the ground, but this, no, there was nothing to explain. There would be no easy...no, there was no way out period. How could I possibly explain how instead of crashing to my death some two stories below, I was floating mere inches from my demise? I didn't feel an impact of a crater, no, what I felt was something I had never felt before. A gush of wind held me hovering above the ground, the grass blades all around bent falling away, nearby trash can flying into the brick wall. There was no other way to say it...I was flying. What a time for a new power to fully kick in. What a time indeed?"
"What could I do? Nothing. It was out. Everyone that saw this miracle, as it was called throughout the school year, knew I wasn't like them, I was different. I wasn't the King of anything anymore, except for disappointment. Chloe took it the hardest. My friend for many years...and girlfriend for a night; a friend I dearly loved, yet was never able to fully appreciate in a way she deserved...or needed to be deserved. I had withheld a secret, my secret, thinking I was doing the right thing by not getting her in harm's way, but there wasn't anything I could say or do to make her realize what she meant to me."
"After hearing of the Smallville miracle, the league decided that it was best for the league and the fans that they strip the championship from us and offer it to the rightful, non-cheating Lightning Bolts. The team was hit hard by this news. I was dropped from the team immediately and after hearing that none of our hard fought victories and records set over the season would be allowed in the record books, my family, friends, and I were the recipients of constant hazing, school and county wide. Fans and supporters alike took their shots when they had the chance. I hadn't just hurt myself and my team, but I had scorned those closest and most dearest to me. Lana stopped talking to me, wouldn't even look my way when we crossed paths. Chloe cried and retreated to The Torch, using the school's newspaper as a vehicle to express herself...more so than in the past. I could feel the hurt and pain through each of her articles as I'm sure others..."
"He's going over again, Mr. Luthor." A large, stubbly man gestured as he rushed up to the business like dressed, bald man.
"Well the tour is set for certain time frames. Get him to wrap it up. The next tour should be starting soon." Lex looked at his watch and then surveyed the museum floor.
"Will do, sir. Ah, what about her? Should we escort her from the premises, sir?"
"Not this time, Frank. Ms. Sullivan obviously still cares for her freaked out hero. Let her be this time. After all, it is Mr. Kent's twelfth anniversary since joining the museum's exhibit. Let them have this time together. After all, she helped me get him here."
"But sir, I don't even think he knows it's her."
"And that's the way she's wanted it from the beginning. Hurry him up will ya. I've got a thing to get to."
"Of course, Mr. Luthor. I'll get right on it."
Lex nodded his head at the older gentleman, turned and raised his finger to his forehead and acknowledged Chloe's presence. She noticed the gesture and quickly adverted her eyes from the eccentric billionaire's gaze. Lex patted Frank on the shoulder and started for the kryptonite lined glass, front doors. Clark tilted his head slightly to watch the baldness of Lex's head disappear into the daylight, a daylight which he hadn't seen in some time.
Frank walked up to the reinforced glassed case. "Mr. Kent, if you don't mind, time is getting away. The next group will be here in ten minutes so if you don't mind, could you hurry the sad little story along? Your friend Lex would greatly appreciate it."
Clark quickly nodded his head in understanding and turned to the group of third grade students looking back at him. "You heard the man, time is almost up. Guess we'll have to end it here. Are there any questions? If not, then before you leave, be sure to pick up a souvenir in our gift shop to commemorate your visit. And the Metropolis Museum thanks you all for your patronage and support. Please...do come again."
Clark delivered the same speech he had millions of times before, each hurting him greater and greater. He was ready for a short break when he saw a hand rise up from one of the students. He didn't need this.
"Yes young man?" He asked, wondering what rude, harsh thing might come from the young man's mouth.
"Sir, I think you're great, just wonderful and I don't see why anyone would see you any different. Not only are your powers cooler than cool, I mean...that is if you can do everything this video says you can do. You saved lives. You helped people. I'm proud of you."
"Me too."
"Same here." Shouted another.
Clark didn't know what to say. In all his years he had heard the worst of the worst, but never the best of the best since that day.
"Our teacher, Ms. Olsen, says you were the best thing to happen to her, her friends, and this planet. She praises you every chance she gets. We all do. I know you don't want to be behind that glass and we don't want to see you there, but if this is where we must come to see, hear, and appreciate you, sir...well, we will keep coming if that is okay with you."
Tears broke through Clark's eyes as he stood, hands against the glass, his skin rippling as his veins pulsed. Nothing mattered anymore. The kryptonite coursed through his veins at the simplest of touches to the casing. He was who he was. Finally, people were able to see that. There were people, kids even, in this world that cared and believed in him. They weren't turned off by his mere presence. He had to know who this fabulous teacher was. She sounded like friend.
"Son, is Ms. Olsen here...with you today?" Clark asked, dropping his hands from the glass casing, his veins returning to normal.
"Yes sir, she's right over there, standing by the water fountain." Clark followed the young boy's finger and stared at the long trench coated woman. She had a familiar stance...that look...it couldn't be thought.
"Chloe," he shouted through the casing and across the museum floor. The children all turned to face their teacher, each now mumbling to each other, shocked at what they were hearing. Chloe couldn't face him, too long of time had passed, too many mistakes that could never be made right, their day had come and gone. She turned and ran for the front doors, crying tears of guilt and love.
The boy turned and looked back up at Clark as he fell to the base of his glass prison, drained, physically and emotionally. "Is she really...the Chloe...your Chloe? Is she the love of your life?"
"Yes son, I believe she is."
The boy looked bewildered for a second, a tear grazed his cheek as he smiled up at Clark and then took off running for the door, yelling out, "Mom, come back!" The boy stopped just short of the door and looked back over his shoulder, mouthing words of inspiration, "Dad."
Frank walked back over to the children and grouped them together. "Excellent job, Kent. I question Mr. Luthor about many things, but you...there is no doubt you're this museum's main attraction for many long years to come. He sure knows how to pick them." He smirked at Clark as he led the children toward the gift shop. Clark barely heard a word. Had he really understood what the boy had whispered? Maybe there was something to live for in this world after all.
Minutes later, another group of children stood outside his prison, staring in disbelief, mouths aghast, as a tour guide introduced him while a video played, showcasing his many abilities. Was this the destiny Jor El had planned for him? Was there more out there? Could there be a place beyond his prison where he belonged? Yes, he knew there was a place, a girl, and now a boy if no one else. He threw himself at the glass encasement, but the restraining chains yanked him back to the base surface, electric bolts lighting his body as they surged through his body.
Frank watched Clark's struggles and the children's reactions from the edge of the gift shop entrance. "That's it, fight it, fight the confinement...give these people a show they will never forget." He just stood watching, chuckling before he started his security rounds.
The End