My take on the rift. The characters are not mine, they belong to DC comics, the WB and just about whomever else wants them accept me. The lyrics are from Switchfoot's song. We were meant to Live. I know I have another smallville story, but this has been brewing in my head for the last week.
The story of Lena Luthor
Fumbling his confidence
And wondering why the world has passed him by
Hoping that he's bid for more than arguments
And failed attempts to fly, fly
Lena Luthor was a beautiful girl, standing at only five foot four she was slender with dark blue, almost sapphire, eyes and long brown hair. She was the spitting image of her mother and father, the perfect amalgamation of the Luthor patriarchs. She had beauty and brains, ambition and a heart, strength and vulnerability. This is not a story about her looks and personality. This is about the young woman that brought so much richness to one mans life only to take it with her in her passing and create the now best known rivalry in history.
From the moment she was born Lena adored her brother Alexander. Some people referred to him as Lex but she thought the nickname was too curt and harsh a way to describe the boy she called big brother so she referred to him as 'Alex' she was the only person in the world to do so but no one ever questioned it. And in reciprocation for her adoration Lex was absolutely taken with his little sister. Sure they had their obligatory bouts of sibling rivalry but maybe it was the five year age difference, maybe it was the heartache that they shared or maybe it was a sense that their time together was short, whatever it was they never stayed mad at each other long and if it weren't for the fact that they looked alike and shared the same last name you'd have mistaken them for best friends rather than brother and sister. They were quite complimentary to each other, where one lacked the other picked up the slack, and they were constantly learning from one another. She brought a sense of fun and silliness to Alex's otherwise stifling existence. He protected her from all that he could in an effort to preserve some sense of normalcy.
We all know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside
Somewhere we live inside
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside
----Starting at the end of the story doesn't ruin it. It just makes the rest that much sadder----
Metropolis in the not too distant future
Dreaming about Providence
And whether mice or men have second tries
Maybe we've been livin with our eyes half open
Maybe we're bent and broken, broken
Lex Luthor and Superman stood toe to toe on the top of what was now Lex Corp., the most successful company on three continents. Lex had inherited everything after his father died, after all he was now the sole heir. Clark's Superman persona and primary colored 'disguise' didn't intimidate him a bit. He stared bitterly into the eyes of the man he once called friend and considered a brother, hell he'd even let the guy take his baby sister out on a date once. Well not anymore. Now all he saw was an adversary, and Lex destroyed adversaries. Superman may have been standing in front of him but tonight all Lex saw was an old film reel in his minds eye it happened years ago but it was still fresh to him and it always ended the same, with is baby sister laying dead in his arms as the rain poured out of the sky.
Clark stared back trying to conjure up something to say to the man he once revered. Lex was still striking as ever and still in peak physical shape, he hadn't aged a day past 25 and probably never would. But Clark could see it in his features and the lifelessness of his eyes he was a changed man older on the inside. He knew this was his fault, that was never going to change and he gave up on the hope of forgiveness long ago. He gave up on forgiveness when he held Lex in place instead of letting him go to his sister while one of Smallville's meteor mutants killed his sister. Clark didn't want either of them to die but she never had a chance, she was good as dead when they got there, all he could do was keep Lex from meeting the same fate. In the end all it got him was expulsion from Lex's life. It was Clark's cross to bear and he did it well.
We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than the wars of our fathers
And everything inside screams for second life, yeah
"Don't you ever talk like you knew anything about her. You gave up that right a long time ago Clark." Lex was harsh.
"I know you don't believe me but I had to choose and I couldn't in good conscience let you go after her. You'd be dead too."
"Next time do me a favor and let me die. Get off my roof before I have you arrested for trespassing."
Clark was about to respond with a remark about which one of them the police preferred but thought the better of it. Not tonight, any other night but tonight. Because six years ago tonight Clark Kent had a choice to make save one friend and lose another or lose two friends. If you ask him is he would change his decision knowing what he does today you'd get a solid 'No' because to him an angry Lex is better than a dead Lex.
Lex turned around and walked away.
Far off in the distance you could hear the light hearted laughter of a girl as the Kansas wind blew her hair on a spring day in a town called Smallville. A moment frozen in time, a day to remember forever. Even more faintly you could hear the conversation.
"Come on Kent, don't tell me you're afraid to go skinny dipping."
"No I'm more afraid that your brother will kill me."
She chuckled at that. "Don't worry about Alex."
"Isn't that what girls with overprotective brothers always say just before the brother beats up the guy they're seeing?" Clark retorted.
"Well come in and we'll see." She said with a wink before disappearing under the water.
Clark shook his head as he shed his clothse and dove in after her.
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live
We were meant to live
TBC