The Dark Side of the Sun

by Rori Rose

He was soaring through the sky.

No older than five years old and he could already appreciate the gift of flying without wings and parting the heavens with bare hands.

Lois Lane watched as the small boy played in the swing set, his feet lunging straight into the air farther and farther each time he swung forward.

"Up, up, and away!" He would shout in between giggles as he continued soaring.

It was such a peaceful calming sight and as the moment stretched out before her eyes, Lois Lane closed her eyes and careened gently against the wind, allowing the sweet serenity of the moment to envelope her. Gently her lips pursed as she let out a hum to accompany the continuing laughter of the little boy in the swing set.

"It feels like heaven," his soft voice reached her ears just as his arms wrapped themselves around her waist and pulled her back to meet the warmth of his body. "Waking up to the sounds of angels."

Bringing his hands to her lips, she kissed them tenderly as he continued to whisper into her ear.

"He's quite beautiful little boy, Lois," He told her and even though he could not see her eyes, he could feel them light up as a smile grazed her lips. She finally turned around, her hazel orbs meeting his baby blues, and she gently cupped his face with her hands and brought him in for a tender kiss.

"Well, he does take after his father," She whispered as their lips parted. Both returned their attention to the little boy who jumped out of the swing as the voices of his parents interrupted his moment in air.

"Mommy! Daddy! I was flying! Did you see?"

Clark Kent kneeled down and opened his arms as the small whirlwind of a child reached him. He lifted the boy up and squeezed him in a bear hug. "We sure did, buddy!"

"I was flying, daddy! Just like you!" The boy continued, wrapping his arms around his father's neck and hanging on tightly. Lois leaned in and rested her hands on her son's back as she rained gentle kisses on his face.

"You're such a big boy, Connor." She complimented him, as she continued to rub his back. "Are you ready for the big day?"

The little boy nodded his head and proclaimed, "I'm gonna be the bestest big brother ever!"

Clark couldn't help but chuckle at the comment. He bounced the boy softly in his arms, leaned in, and then whispered, "That's my boy. Come next week it's going to be our job to take care of your mother and your little sister."

Above them the sky darkened and sounds of thunder and lightning erupted in the distance.

"There's an eclipse later today," Lois mentioned as she continued caressing her son's face. "Connor's been pretty excited about getting to see it. Will you be around this afternoon, honey?"

Clark shifted the small boy in his arms and said, "I'd love to, Lo, you know I would, but I have to take care of business in Metropolis."

"The city that never rests," Lois said sighing. "You know, as much as I hate having to take a leave from the Daily Planet, this rest has done me a lot of good. Maybe you should consider doing the same. Can't the boys help you out more?"

Clark nodded, "They can and they do, Lois, but it's nearing the holidays and crooks seem to prey on people the most during this time. And Justice League or not, Superman is needed in the city and in the world now more than ever." He paused for a moment and then added, "Look, I'll make it up to you and Connor this weekend. We can go out, do something special."

Lois reached for her son and took him into her arms. His eyes had been slowly closing and as he felt the warmth and comfort of his mother's body, he finally settled down. "You do enough as it already, Clark," She whispered to him. "You don't need to do anything else for this family, but you have been working twice as hard lately as Superman, and I just thought you might need a little break."

"You worry too much." He kissed her softly and Lois shrugged and then laughed as she said, "Motherhood has made me soft. What can I say?"

"Maybe you're right. I guess I can use a little break." Clark finally agreed before kneeling down, gently putting his hands against Lois's belly, and then leaning in and kissing it. "What can I say?" He said looking up at Lois, "I know the feeling."

\S/

Lois's eyes shifted rapidly behind her closed eyelids as a torrent of images flashed through her mind polluting her restful slumber. One moment she was a small girl at her mother's funeral receiving her mother's golden cross from her father and the next moment she was drowning in a dark sea, feeling hands beneath her tugging and pulling her under. A terrible cry of agony tore away from her lips and Lois's eyes flew open and she sat up, her body shaking and her eyes purging away the madness of her dreams through salty tears.

More nightmares…Lois thought as she rubbed her shoulders gently, trying to calm herself down. Before she could reason with her imaginings, the bedroom door flew open and Connor ran inside and jumped on the bed and assaulted his mother with a giant hug.

"Whoa, there baby, you're going to suffocate your mother!" Lois teased as her son looked up and grinned. "Mommy, the clipse is here! The clipse is here!"

Lois yawned as she rose out of bed, lifting her son into her arms and walked lazily across the room to the window and parted the curtains. Sure enough, in the distance, the moon was slowly devouring the sun.

"Do you have your protective glasses, sweetie? The ones that daddy told you to wear for the eclipse today?" Lois asked and her son poked at his pockets and took out the shades used to filter out the sun's harmful rays and showed them off proudly to his mother.

"Well put them on," Lois said as she walked towards the dresser and opened one of the drawers, "And then mommy will do the same, and we can go outside and watch the eclipse safely."

Connor wiggled himself free from his mother's hold and ran towards the door, "Come on mommy, we don't want to miss it!" He called out as he opened the door.

Lois began rushing calling out to her son, "Baby, don't go so fast!"

Outside the world was now ravaged by shadows. Lois adjusted her protective glasses and hurried along to her son's favorite spot, the tree behind the barn where Clark and Connor had built a small tree house over the summer.

As Lois walked to the tree house, she noticed the doors to the barn were opened and a small pool of light had formed in the entrance. For a moment, Lois thought that maybe Clark had returned, but as Connor called out to his mother, Lois pushed the thought aside and hurried to her son.

Lois reached Connor and grabbed his hand tightly and said, "Don't you run off like that again, baby. You know you're mommy can't keep up with you because of your sister." Lois stopped the lecture as she noticed her son's attention on the sky. She joined him for a moment, marveling at the stunning sight. It was a rare and magnificent occurrence to see an eclipse like this, and Lois remembered the first time she had seen an eclipse herself when she too was just a child like Connor. She remembered her mother being alive at that time, and not just alive, but well too, healthy, her body not yet riddle with the cancer that would eventually consumer her life flame.

As Lois closed her eyes and pictured the fading memory of her family, she felt her son tug and free himself from her grasp.

"Let's go up the hill, mommy!" He said rushing forward.

Lois was about to call after him when she felt a powerful bolt of pain surge through her body. Overpowered by the sudden ache, she kneeled down on the ground, shaking so much that she almost lost her balance. She began breathing fast and then kneeled down. As she touched the ground, she felt her protective shades fall down. Slowly a strange dizziness overtook her.

After a moment, the sensation finally went away and she got up and called out to her son. She could see him in the distance, climbing up the hill a few yards away and pointing up at the sky. Lois followed his fingers and stared at the eclipse, now complete, so beautiful and powerful, and then suddenly let out a cry of pain as she felt an intense searing pain in her eyes.

"Shit!" She called out, rubbing her eyes as she remembered that she had dropped her shades on the ground. "Come over here, Connor. I think your mother has just received permanent ocular damage." Lois teased and rubbed her eyes furiously for a moment before daring to look out. When she finally did open her eyes, they were met with a world of darkness.

Lois blinked once and then twice, hard. Slowly a tinted light began to flow into the surroundings again. And that is when Lois saw that Conner was no longer ahead in the distance. The hill was empty and Lois turned around looking for her son. "Connor? Sweetie?" She called out, her chest suddenly tightening.

She rushed back to the porch of the house calling his name out loud over and over. There was no response, only the howling of the wind as the darkness from the eclipse continued to set in.

"Connor! Where are you? You know mommy doesn't like to play hide and seek!" Lois stopped abruptly as she heard the doors from the barn creak. She turned around, her eyes glued to the pool of light she had seen before. "Connor?" She called out once more, her body still paralyzed.

She began to move towards the barn, the world around her seeming to fade, and the moment before her slowing down dramatically. As she entered the barn, all she could hear was the deep beating of her heart.

"Baby?" She called out, her voice echoing within the walls of the large structure. "Baby come out, please." Her voice was now trembling and her eyes were clouding with tears of unknown fear.

In the distance she saw a shadow moving and as she stepped closer she saw a large pool of crimson liquid. "Oh god—!" Her voice was cut off by the feeling of hands grabbing her shoulders and then she was flying backwards in the air.

Her body collided with the ground and her eyes widened as the shadowy figure loomed over her. "Please, where is my son?" She called out as the figure leaned in, its face materializing from behind the shadows almost as if by magic.

Lois did not recognize the face of the man before her, but she did recognize what she saw lurking in his eyes, madness. "What have you done to my son?!" Lois screamed out, pushing her arms forward, ready to attack the intruder when she felt the slick edge of his knife against her neck and she fell back against the ground.

"From this moment on," The stranger said, "The son of Kal-El is no more."

Lois winced at the words as though they were made out of fire that burned at the touch. Her body began trembling, but before she could react, the man brought down the knife to her stomach and pressed it.

"Please, I'm pregnant!" Lois cried out as she felt the point of the knife penetrate her tender belly. But her words merely provided a preset to the howls and cries of agony that proceeded as the stranger plunged the knife deep into her belly and Lois's world fell into darkness.

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Author's Note: This concludes the prologue of "The Dark Side of the Sun." Thank you for reading this far. I have most of this story visually mapped out in my mind, the beginning, middle, and end, but will be writing this chapter by chapter. I will begin writing chapter one tonight and hope to post it sometime this week. Due to time constraints, I will not be updating this fic daily, but rather, weekly. If there is an interest in the continuation to this story, please let me know.