So I had this stroke of inspiration when I read this story: Blindsided: A One Shot Fic by Sunrei (who, by the way, has written some amazing fics if you're interested) and I decided to give it a go and see if it worked. Please review honestly so that I can decide whether it's worth continuing, which I will do after I post for my other fic Friends First. Okay, now to get on with it.
Sirens wailed and screeched as the whole of Smallville was thrown into panic. Fires blared, roads were blocked and the streets were crammed with citizens heading for underground cover. As was the usual case during natural disasters, everyone lost any common sense they once had and let the primitive beasts, that were supposed to have disappeared after millions of years of evolving, take over their minds and bodies. The only rule anyone abided by was this: survival of the fittest. And oh boy was it a stupid rule. People pushed the elderly and the infant aside, only caring for their own selfish survival. Except for a small minority of the town, that chose to help those who were struggling. The occasional adult that found a screaming child or grabbed a bewildered grandparent and took them to safety. It was obvious to say, that Clark Kent was one of those people.
He carried six children, all clinging to various points of his body: his arms, his shoulders, his back, and returned them one-by-one to bawling mothers or fretting fathers who thanked him gratefully before taking them to find shelter of their own. Clark felt proud to finally be doing something to help people after all of these years of hiding in the dark, and while he was only using is super-strength, super-hearing and occasionally his super-speed, it gave him a warm tingly feeling inside, as if he had finally found his calling.
A huge tremor of thunder momentarily brought silence and stillness to the crowd, before everyone's adrenalin kicked in immediately instituting thousands of 'flight' responses. At least once a decade, Kansas was hit by a Wizard of Oz style storm, it always seemed to pass through Smallville but usually just the edge of it, so fleeing to the other end of town was always a possibility. This time, however, the tide had taken an unexpected turn, the storm chose it's course directly through the middle of town, which of course meant that the entire population of Smallville had chosen to panic.
Clark sighed and ran off towards the cries of a little boy, who was cornered up against the empty Talon building. Today was going to be a long day.
She ran with all of her might, having abandoned her car miles ago after realizing that the sideways-parked truck had no driver. It was lucky that she ran frequently, since anyone of a lower fitness level or determination would have given up. But she ran with a purpose, a purpose that kept her going, because that was always the main motivation with people like Lois Lane.
Finally, she arrived at her destination: The Kent Farm. At which point she hoped to find out if they needed any help in packing, so that they could go over to her place until the storm passed through. Metropolis was safer than Smallville, and the general had agreed to sending over some military helicopters to help transport the Kents over the traffic. The storm looked like it was gunna be a big one though, and luckily it was still an hour away from the other side of town, so they had plenty of time before it got here.
"Clark? Mrs Kent?" Lois went into the house, perspiration making her shimmer in the sudden light after having come out of the shadow of the looming clouds above. "Cla-ark? Mrs Ke-ent?" She continued to call out their names, going into every room of the house. Well, almost every room. She considered it courtesy to avoid Mrs Kent's room altogether, it just didn't feel right. Going in there. She had grown up learning that parents' rooms were off limits, so, even after all of these years away from her parents, she couldn't break what had been hammered into her as a child.
Feeling satisfied in the house's vacancy, Lois continued to search the rest of the farm, mainly the storm cellar and finally the one place she could count on Clark being if he was at the farm at all: the barn.
She found it, to say the least, odd that someone could spend such a large amount of time in the same place. Not that Lois could understand, she moved around so much when she was younger, even in Smallville she'd lived in more places than most. She couldn't stay in one place for too long, it wasn't natural to her. But as she stepped into the familiar wooden structure of the barn, she could see its appeal. It had a warm feel to it, it was homey, friendly and so completely Clark.
Lois didn't know why, but something drew her up those stairs and into Clark's 'fortress'. The space in which she'd referred to as his 'grown man's clubhouse' was definitely just that at first glance. But to a trained eye, you could see the space was so much more. It was like an untarnished store room of memories that had been built as much from wood as it had from Clark himself. He loved the barn and, though Lois didn't know everything, she could tell that it meant more to him than any penthouse condo in Metropolis would.
She walked around the room, her fingers tracing the seemingly random items located around it. Upon reaching the desk, she stopped, taking time to look at the photos on the desk: Clark with his parents, smiling and happy; Clark, Jimmy and Chloe, both beaming up at the camera; Clark and Lana, completely and utterly happy. All proof of how much life has changed.
The last picture made Lois stop dead. It showed Clark's birthday party the previous month. On the far left there was Oliver, who grinned sheepishly as he laughed at the scene before him. Mrs Kent stood between Oliver and Clark, her son's arm draped across her shoulders, facing Oliver and smiling. Clark stood in next to Lois, him beaming at her while she was in the middle of a laughing fit, hanging onto him to stop herself from falling over. Chloe was next to them, facing Jimmy, who was a little red in the face after having raced into frame after setting up his camera. Lois couldn't even remember what they were all laughing about, but what stroke her so much was how happy everyone looked.
Her eyes moved from the photographs to a leather book. Its familiar red leather cover took Lois by surprise and her fingers subconsciously went to the 'C.K.' etched in on the cover. "No way." She flipped through the pages, noticing the familiar handwriting varying in neatness across the pages. It was the diary she had gotten Clark for the birthday after his dad had died! Lois couldn't believe that he'd even opened the thing, let alone used it!
A loud crash made Lois snap into reality. She'd completely forgotten about the storm! Grabbing the diary and the photo of everyone, she raced down the steps and wrenched open the barn door. Only for it to be sucked shut again by the powerful storm raging outside. Looking for the only cover she could find, she hurtled behind the nearest pile of hay bales, moving them around to form a kind of barrier all around her, boxing her in. Lois desperately tried to regulate her breathing, subconsciously clutching the photograph to her chest. It was all in vain though, because as Lois rocked back and forth calming herself, the core of the storm hit the barn head on, making it collapse in on itself.
Lois coughed as her box of hay and debris filled with dust. She pushed against the 'roof' but it seemed as if the entire upper-story had fallen on her DIY shelter. Reaching into her pocket, she took out her keys which sported a small torch, that was powered by turning a handle on its side. She turned it on and quickly found the picture and diary in a moderately good condition.
"Well, while I'm here, I might as well do some light reading..."