300 Years of Solitude

Title: 300 Years of Solitude

Author: Seersha

Rating: K

Pairing: Lois/Clark

Spoilers: Everything up to and including the season 8 finale "Doomsday".

Distribution: Please do not archive anywhere. It will be up at FF if you would like to link to it.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters (obviously) and no copyright infringement is intended. No profit is made from this fanfiction.

Timeline: Veering off from the episode "Doomsday," the story is AU from there.

Summary: When Lois is accidentally sent 300 years into the future when she picks up the Legion ring in "Doomsday," she arrives alone into a strange world. There she meets a mysterious man who seems strangely familiar. So how is it possible that this man reminds her so much of another who couldn't possibly still be alive?

Thanks: to drvr8 for the beta job and general awesomeness. This story wouldn't be the same without your valuable feedback and ideas, I REALLY appreciate all of the assistance :)

Note: I started writing this in May 2009, almost as soon as the season 8 finale aired. It is by far the most challenging story I've ever undertaken, it will span multiple chapters. My plan is to post a new installment weekly. Feedback is welcome and appreciated!

.-.-.

Prologue

Metropolis: July, 2309

"Ow!" Lois screeched, stumbling awkwardly as a passing stranger did nothing to avoid bumping into her. Hard. She rubbed her sore elbow and glared at the man's retreating form. "'Excuse me' would have sufficed!" she called out angrily.

She froze as she took in her surroundings. The Daily Planet building was gone and she found herself on a noisy, crowded city sidewalk. People pushed past her, going about their normal routine as Lois stood in shock, gazing at her surroundings.

The city was completely foreign to her as she gazed up at the skyscrapers that seemed to stretch up into the clouds. The urge to suddenly become a bird and get an aerial view of this strange new Metropolis overwhelmed her. She wondered if she was still in Metropolis, Kansas, or even still on Earth. The buildings were similar to the ones she remembered, but instead of being constructed from steel and concrete, many seemed to be built entirely of glass.

The humming noises she had not really paid attention to, suddenly became clear as a group of vehicles went flying by her at breakneck speeds. They appeared almost like a car but the rate of speed at which they traveled seemed to mock any cars Lois knew of. She wondered fleetingly what it would be like to get behind the wheel of one of them as she felt her heart rate increase.

Lois shook her head, and gazed up at what looked to be a jumbo-sized plasma screen fixed on the side of one of the enormous buildings. Some sort of advertisement for a type of soft drink she'd never heard of danced across the screen. The video appeared almost holographic and three-dimensional, which made it seem like she could reach out and touch the people in the ad. The soda ad was followed by various other commercials for products she'd never heard of. A commercial of a family arguing about where they would go on their summer vacation was playing, and the father suggested his family, in a last ditch effort to maintain family unity, that they all go to the moon. Lois laughed out loud, wondering where the make believe family would really head on their vacation.

To her shock, the entire family agreed to go to the moon for their vacation and the plethora of activities little Billy and his sister Rita could partake in at the lunar resort flashed across the giant screen. Three-dimensional images of the moon and people playing in light looking space suits danced before her as the vacation package plans to take your entire family to the moon listed several rate options. Apparently, an eighteen hundred dollar package per person was practically an unheard of bargain and urged the viewer to act quickly before reservations were booked solid.

Lois rolled her eyes wondering what kind of alternate universe she was in where families embarked on space vacations. Surely she was on some ridiculous candid camera show and this was all an elaborate joke.

As she turned back to the screen she froze and her mouth opened wide in shock. She felt her legs weaken and her head start to spin as she tried to blink her eyes in an effort to remove the unanticipated numeral she was looking at. Lois felt herself losing her balance and falling abruptly as her gaze remained fixed on the lower right hand corner of the screen.

In bright white letters and numerals the date read July 8th, 2309. What the hell, Lois thought, as darkness enveloped her consciousness. A few passerby's stopped to avoid trampling the strangely dressed woman laying face first on the ground. Next to her head lay a ring with an L written on it.

.-.-.

Smallville: Three hundred years earlier (2009)

"Chloe, I've searched everywhere. There's no sign of Lois."

"I saw someone tacking her photo up on a missing person's report and I keep thinking that maybe... you know, maybe I haven't..."

"Lost everyone."

"I always tried to forget I was an alien. Or a creature. I've always tried to pretend I was human. I was raised to believe it was my Kryptonian part that was dangerous, Chloe, but I was wrong. It's my human side. It... it's the side that gets attached, the side that makes decisions based from emotions. That's my enemy."

"So because of some psychopath, you're gonna cut the rest of us out of your life? Clark, human emotion is what made you the hero that you are today."

"They're what's stopping from being the hero I could be. It's what the world needs now."

"What are you saying?"

"Clark Kent is dead."

Clark walked down the staircase slowly. The Daily Planet felt more like home these days than anywhere else. Or at least it had… until now. His last conversation with Chloe still haunted him.

She had tried to call him over a hundred times in the past few days and sent him at least a dozen emails, apparently desperate for Clark to listen. He ignored Chloe's pleas, trying to distance himself as much as possible, even though he knew it was hurting her. She didn't understand what he was going through and she never, ever really did. Only now did Clark truly see that.

Stopping for a moment at the bottom of the stairs, he surveyed the quiet basement. It was late and hardly any of the lights were on. The cleaners had long ago finished their nightly shift, and the long silence was strangely comforting. It was only the second time he had been able to bring himself to come here since Lois had disappeared.

This was their territory, their battle ground, where the two of them had waged a war on uncovering the truth together on more than one occasion. Lois Lane had surprised him more then once and she had shown just how dedicated and brilliant she was as a journalist in this room with him. Brilliant. Yes, that was a good word to describe Lois. Why hadn't he taken the time to tell her that he thought she was brilliant?

She would never even realize how big of an impact her story about his life was, and the accolades and acceptance he'd been fleetingly granted in large part to her brilliant writing. He felt overwhelmed again thinking about too many what if moments he'd let slip through his fingers when it came to Lois Lane. What if he hadn't turned back the hands of time and stayed to fight for the truth together with her? He had realized in that moment, watching her fight Linda Lake, saving him, saving the world, how much he did care for her.

Shaking his head sadly, Clark moved to her desk, resting his hands on the back of her chair as he stared down at the oddly neat desk. It hadn't been cleared out yet, even though Clark knew Tess wouldn't let it sit unoccupied forever.

Tess had been the last to see Lois briefly the night of her disappearance, but no one knew where she'd gone. According to Tess's statement to police, nothing unusual had transpired. There were a dozen theories on what had happened to Lois, but the fact was there really weren't any clues, so all anyone could do was guess.

The nagging fear in the back of his mind was that she had tried to make it to that phone booth to meet his alter ego and was now buried under several tons of rubble. Clark sucked in another breath and realized he was choking back a sob that wanted to escape. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to calm himself down so he could do what he needed to do today.

One thing Clark knew for sure was that the Legion ring was also gone. He'd passed through briefly after defeating Doomsday to get the ring only to discover it wasn't anywhere to be found. He had no idea if the missing ring had anything to do with Lois's disappearance, though he doubted it. For all he could guess, someone could have stolen the ring and pawned it thinking it was valuable. He hoped it hadn't ended up in the wrong hands, like someone as obsessed with greed as Linda Lake had been.

Swallowing, Clark pulled out her chair and sat down, slowly fingering a few of the items on her desk. This was the last place she had been, the final reminders of Lois Lane. He picked up a small torn piece of paper, where Lois had scribbled some notes down, then flipped through her notebook. Where these small remnants really the last pieces of Lois he would ever have?

Jimmy was dead. Lois was missing. The fortress was without power and Jor-El could not be consulted to guide Clark towards his next path of training. Chloe had terminated his plan to send Davis to the Phantom Zone. Tess had destroyed the crystal forcing the brutal confrontation with Doomsday. The Justice League had undermined Clark's plan of action, Oliver had shot him with his Kryptonite bolts all in the name of protecting him. His entire world seemed to have crashed down all around him. With a bitter sense of irony, Clark realized that Rokk's forewarning was proving true, as he had effectively died that day.

How had it come to this? Clark wondered. How had he become so isolated and alone? It was because he'd allowed himself to get emotional, get close to people, try and trick himself into believing he was really human. But he wasn't. He was an alien and it was time he accepted that. No more pretending to be normal or trying to have a normal life as well as be the hero everyone expected him to be. How could he ever become a hero if everyone thought he wasn't strong enough to stand by his own decisions? No one understood how much thought and care he had tried to put into stopping Davis without killing him.

Clark realized that trying to buy into Chloe's delusions of saving Davis had cost Jimmy his life. Davis was the killer just as much as the beast inside him was a killer. The beast had been filled with rage and hate just as surely as Davis had been filled with it as he had impaled Jimmy with his rusty pipe.

Well, from now on everything was going to be different.

Standing up, Clark picked up Lois's gold nameplate and ran his fingers over her name. He closed his eyes and set it back down on her desk and moved around to his desk. He picked up his own nameplate, letting his thoughts carry back to when he had revealed to her he would be her neighbor. He opened his desk draw to retrieve the framed page of Lois Lane's Rules of Reporting and further in the back of drawer was a second framed picture.

Clark hadn't shown Lois this picture frame. It was a picture Jimmy had taken of the two of them on his first day, Clark was covered in ash and dirt from the bus explosion and Lois had a smile on her face as she smudged some of the dirt on his nose. Clark stood, arms folded across his chest as he had been soundly teased after his impromptu meeting with their new boss. Clark's exasperated expression nearly hid the grin at the corner of his mouth barely peeking out, as he had to remember to act extremely annoyed with Lois and her merciless teasing. Although merciless teasing seemed to give Lois Lane free license to poke, touch and reveal in his embarrassment all day. Clark's eyes sparkled though in the frame and revealed the truth behind his façade as he gazed down at her.

He tucked all three items into his backpack. He would only take these three objects. They weren't much, but each held such great meaning for him of his time spent at the Daily Planet.

Finally, pulling out a plain envelope from his jacket pocket, Clark placed it into the outgoing mailbox on his desk with the label Tess Mercer clearly visible. Inside the envelope was his official resignation letter.

He didn't want to work there anymore. There was nothing left there at the office to bring him in. What good was the quest to uncover the truth when you had no one to share the truth with? He didn't want to be Clark Kent anymore. Clark Kent was dead, buried, gone. It was time to embrace his powers and do something useful with his life.

One goal, above all else, stood out in his mind as he looked back at her desk and her nameplate: He had to find Lois.

.-.-.

TBC