Chapter 1: Nightmares

"Oh god, oh god he's coming after me!" Lana yells into her phone.

On the other end Clark tenses up, "Lana?" He calls back to her.

Lana looks over her shoulder nervously as she speeds down the road.

Lex chases after her in his Mercedes, he speeds up and gets beside her. He calls out her name desperately trying to get her attention. "Lana! Lana pull over so we can talk!" Lana looks over at him with a terrified expression. "Lana look out!" He cries.

Lana turns her eyes back to the road just in time to see a bus pull out in front of her. She screams and slams on the breaks but she's too late. Her blazer hits the bus at full speed, is T- boned and sent sliding across the road.

Back at the talon Clark drops the phone and super speeds to lobes bridge. He's too late, Lana is laying motionless on the road beside her car. He runs over to her. "Lana!" He cries desperately. He gets down on his knees and cradle's her head in his lap. "Lana! Come on Lana!" He begs. Lana remains lifeless and bleeding in his arms.

Jonathan Kent speeds up to the scene and his truck screeches to a halt as he slams on the breaks. He immediately throws his door open, jumps out and runs over to his crying son. He pulls Clark up off the ground and tries his best to support him. Clark calls Lana's name and tries to push his way back to her but Jonathan holds him back. "No Clark No!" He pleads with his son. "There's nothing you could have done, nothing!"

( One year later)

Clark jumps up in bed drenched in sweat and sore through out his entire body. He looks around trying to establish his surroundings. After a few minutes he realizes what's happened. "Another nightmare." He hears frantic footsteps coming down the hall and his parents run to his room.

"Clark?" His mother calls. "Clark sweetie what happened? We heard you yelling." Clark gets out of bed, walks to his bedroom door and opens it slowly. Martha and Jonathan are standing there waiting for him. Clark looks at them defeated and exhausted .After a moment of silence Jonathan speaks up. "It happened again didn't it son? You saw her didn't you?"

"Yeah dad, I did." Clark walks back over to the bed and sits down on it. "I'm having this nightmare more and more often. I can't keep watching her die all over again. I don't know how much longer I can take this."

Martha sits down beside her son. "There has to be something we can do." She says as she hugs him tightly. "Maybe we could find you a specialist, someone you could talk to about what you're feeling."

"I don't need a shrink mom."

"Clark it's been over a year since Lana's death and you haven't even tried to move past it. And these nightmares you're having are getting worse. Don't you want to put all this negativity behind you? You can't spend the rest of your life like this sweetheart."

"I can't move on! I've tried!" Clark stands up and walks to his bedroom window.

Martha looks over to her husband with a worried look on her face. Jonathan walks over and puts his hands on clarks shoulders. "Son." He lets out a sigh. "Maybe your mothers right. We both know how much Lana meant to you, but don't you think that she would want more for you than to spend the rest of your life locked up in here alone?"

Martha walks over and places her hands on top of Jonathan's. "She loved you Clark. She would want you to live a full and happy life, even if she couldn't be in it."

Clark turns around and embraces both of his parents. "I just loved her so much." Tears begin to roll down his cheeks. "I'd do anything just to hold her again."

Both his parents embrace him. "We know son, we know." Jonathan replies.

Down in the depths of hell a shadowed figure sits on a throne in a large dimly lit room. The figure Is slumped down in his seat and sits completely still other than a clawed finger scratching his chin. His eyes are closed and his head tilted towards the ground. After several moments of silence a voice echoes throughout the room.

" I'd do anything just to hold her again."

At the sound of this the figures muscles tense and a large pair of yellow eyes rapidly emerge from under his eyelids. "Anything?" His voice echoes throughout the room. A devilish smile creeps across his face and he begins to laugh maniacally.

Over the next week Clark tried to get on with his life. He buried himself in busy work on the farm. Doing the same jobs over and over again may be tiring but it helped keep his kind off of his loneliness. Nothing really brought him happiness anymore. Sure he still enjoyed the company of friends and family but deep down inside he was never truly satisfied, never complete. The worst part was the nightmares. It seemed he had them every night now. Every night he had to watch Lana die. He couldn't get any sleep and was exhausted all the time.

"I can't do it anymore." he kept repeating in his head.

It was Friday night. A time when most people Clarks age were out celebrating the weekend. What was he doing? The same thing he was always doing, sitting up in the loft trying to keep his eyes open. He didn't want to fall asleep, he knew if he did he'd probably have another nightmare. After jolting himself awake for what felt like the hundredth time tonight he glanced over at his desk and saw the picture he kept of Lana sitting prominently on it. He pushed himself off the couch, walked over, picked it up then sat back down. He ran his finger over her face.

"Why is this happening?" He asked her wishing she could answer him. "You were the best thing that ever happened to me. After all the struggles we went through we were finally going to be together." A tear welled up and ran down his cheek, after a few moments more followed. "Why did it have to be you? I never would have wanted you to pay for my resurrection. Why did the world have to take you away from me!"

"I can change that." A strange voice spoke

Clark jumped up and quickly surveyed the barn. There was no one else present.

"I could bring her back." The voice spoke again.

"Who's there?" Clark called out as he continued to search for the voice's source.

"Someone who can help you." It grew louder.

"Help me with what?" Clark asked hesitantly.

"The girl! You love her, do you not?"

"The girl?" Clark asked. He looked back over to the couch where Lana's picture was now sitting.

He walked back over to the couch, placed the photo on the table in front of him and sat back down.

"I must be hearing things." He said as he leaned back. "Nothing can bring her back."

"Oh but I can!" The voice spoke again.

"Really?" Clark chuckled. "So a disembodied voice I'm hearing in my head is going to bring Lana back from the dead hu? Ok. I must be losing my mind."

"Maybe you are, but that doesn't change the fact that I can help you. You just have to promise to help me with something in return."

"Oh really?" Clark exclaimed. "And what might that be?"

"Lets just say I have a problem that needs solving , your going to help me do that."

"I don't think that's gonna happen." Clark stated as he rubbed his eyes. " I don't know what's going on right now but I know it isn't real." Several minutes passed and nothing else came from the voice. Clark thought it had disappeared. He was wrong.

"Very well then!" The voice called out in anger. "Enjoy spending the rest of your life watching her die!"

Suddenly a white flash blinded clark and a vision came of Lana in the tornado. But this time it was different, he wasn't there to save her. He watched helplessly as she was thrown from her truck by the winds. "No that's not what happened, I saved her!" Another flash hit him and he found himself on the bridge where Emily had tried to kill Lana. Emily pushed her into the waters below. "Where am I? Why haven't I jumped in after her?" He watched as Lana drowned. "No!" He cried

The painful flashes kept coming each one bringing a vision of Clark failing to protect Lana. Every time he had ever saved her was undone and he was forced to watch as she died over and over again. Each time her screams grew louder and louder until they drowned out everything else. Clark buckled over and tried to cover his ears but it was no use, all he could hear and see was the woman he loved in excruciating pain. "Make it stop!" He cried out. "Please!"

"You know how to make it stop boy!"

"No! I don't even know who you are, I won't take your deal whatever it is!"

"Then this will continue!"

The visions kept coming but now they were getting worse. Now Lana herself was speaking in them.

"You couldn't save me." She said in one."You couldn't save me Clark." She cried in the next and the next and the next until she was screaming at the top of her lungs. "You weren't strong enough to save me!"

Clark stood up clutching his head and walked over to the barn window but another especially painful flash hit him and he fell to his knees. "I give up!" Clark yelled out sobbing. "I'll take your deal. Just please make it stop!"

"So that's a yes then?" The voice asked

Clark rubbed his temples. "Yes, but only if you'll show yourself." Several moments of silence followed. Clark remained there on the floor on all fours waiting for an answer.

"Very well then." The devilish voice finally answered.

Clark watched as the shadow of his desk lamp began to grow larger and stretch towards the edge of the desk. It kept going until it reached the floor and began to move towards him still growing in size. It stopped just before it reached him and suddenly started moving upwards towards the ceiling. Clarks eyes grew wide and followed it. When it reached a certain height it stopped and began to change. It slowly morphed and twisted and from it emerged the form of an old sickly man, his eyes glowed a bright yellow. Clark tilted his head up and looked on in shock.

After several moments of staring down at him the man spoke up. "We'll get up!"

Clark quickly stood up and examined the strange being in front of him. "How did you do that?" He asked. "Were you effected by the meteor rocks?"

The man scoffed. "Ha! No, my power comes from a source much older than your stupid green stones."

Clark looked at him confused. "Then how?"

"Ever hear of a little place called Hell?"

"Hell?" Clark looked dumbfounded.

"You know, fire and brimstone. Eternal darkness and all that."

"Yeah I know what hell is." Clark retorted.

"Well, see, I'm sort of in charge down there."

A small smile krept across Clark's face. "In charge? Of Hell?" He chuckled at the thought. "Well then I guess that makes you…"

"The devil, the deceiver, the prince of darkness, Mephistopheles, Lucifer!" The man yelled in a deep demonic voice.

Clark took a cautious step back. "No, there, there's no way that's true. It can't be."

"Really? The man asked. "You mean to tell me that with everything you've seen in this messed up little town, all the strange things you've done in your pathetic little freak life, that you can't believe that heaven and hell, Angels and Devils, actually exist?"

"I don't know what to believe. I don't know anything anymore."Clark rubbed his temples as he went to sit back down, but before he could Lucifer grabbed his arm and turned him around.

"Well here's what I know boy!" He forced his wrinkly, disgusting hand onto clarks forehead. The second it touched him a bright light emerged from under it and an incredible pain shot through Clark. The self proclaimed price of darkness kept this up as he spoke. I own you now! Until you fulfill our contract you will do as I say!

Struggling to speak Clark protested. "Contract? What contract? I haven't signed anything!"

"Oh but you will! Do you remember what I promised you?" He forces clarks head down to make him look at the picture of Lana. Keep our agreement and you can have her back!"

Tears begin to well up in Clark's eyes. "Agreement? What kind of agreement is this? Feels more like your forcing me!"

"Oh this?" Lucifer removes his hand from clarks forehead. The pain instantly stops. Lucifer examines his hand. "This was just to prove to you that I am who I say I am. I can't force you into anything, but I can see it in your eyes boy." He looks Clark in the eyes and points a lanky finger at his face. You're nothing without her, you would do anything just to be able to hold her again. You've already accepted my offer. Even if you refuse to admit it."

Trying and failing to hold back his tears Clark stares at Lana's picture. " Even if I did want to, I can't. If you really are who you say you are then I can't allow myself to be used as a tool for that kind of evil. You would just use me to destroy people's lives. I won't be a part of that."

"I have no interest in ending their feeble existence, they do that well enough on their own. Believe it or not I want to help them."

"You can't be serious." Clark gives him a confused look.

"Well not exactly. More like I want you to help them, by helping me. See a particularly nasty Demond has escaped from my domain and unlike me he doesn't care whom he hurts or kills. He's just happy to be out of his cage. I want you to put him back in it."

Clark looks at him in disbelief. "A Demond? And how exactly am I supposed to do that? I'm just a man, how am I supposed to compete with a monster from the underworld?

Lucifer chuckles as he walks over to the window. "Oh you are much more than a man."

"I don't follow." Clark replies in a dismissive tone.

Lucifer snaps his head around. "Don't be coy with me! I know exactly what you are, Kryptonian!"

Clark is taken aback. "How? How do you know about that?"

"Oh I know everything that goes on up here. Just because I live underground doesn't mean I don't have eyes and ears. I have them everywhere. There is no hiding from me, alien."

Clark slumps down on the couch and puts his hands over his face. "This can't be happening."

"Well it is." Lucifer exclaims angrily. "So you've got a choice to make. Save a lot of lives and restore life to the woman you love in the process, or watch as your entire world burns to the ground knowing you could have prevented it."

Clark looks out at the night sky and lets out a heavy sigh. "Fine. But I still don't understand how I'm supposed to stop this thing, it's a Demond, like you right? Even with my abilities I never stood a chance against you. How will next time be any different?"

"Don't concern yourself with that." Lucifer chuckled. "The power I'm going to give you combined with the ones you already have should be more than enough. Now get that little green rock out of your drawer and lets sign the contract." As he said this a burst of flames came from his hand and a rolled up sheet of paper appeared in it.

"What do I need the rock for?" Clark asked confused.

This contract requires a signature in blood and I know that's the only thing that can cut you. Now do it!"

"Fine!" Clark yelled and did as he was told. He cut himself with the kryptonite and allowed his blood to fall onto the bottom of the paper. "You said you're going to give me power, what kind of power are we talking here?" Clark asked nervously.

"I said don't concern yourself with that. When the time comes I'll call upon you and you'll see what I mean. Until then," Lucifer snaps his finger and Clark is suddenly wearing the leather outfit he often wore as Kal in metropolis. "Keep these handy, you're going to need them." Clark looks at himself in disbelief.

"Need them for what?" He asked in a weary voice.

"You'll see." Lucifer begins to laugh. "Now, get some rest, it's the last you'll be getting for a while."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Clark asks as he tries to stand up. Before he can the old man snaps his fingers again and Clark blacks out.

(The next morning)

Clark gasped as his eyes opened, he looked around to confirm where he was. "Still in the loft." He surveyed the room, everything seemed normal. "That was one hell of a nightmare." He thought to himself. "It seemed so real." He tried to brush it off but as he rose to start the day he noticed something odd, his photograph of Lana was on the table in front of him, not on his desk where it should be. He picked it up and walked over to the desk to put it back. As he did he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He was wearing Kal's clothes, just like in the dream. "What in the world?" He placed his palm on his forehead. "Come on get a hold of yourself." He told himself. You must have put this on and fell asleep in it. He shakes it off and heads down the loft stairs and towards the house. " get a hold of yourself." He repeats in his mind."