Summary: Maxwell Lord makes Chloe believe that the entirety of her life is a delusion.
Time-line: Shortly after Hostage, but prior to Salvation

Basis of the fic: "We're not crazy." (Quote by Chloe Sullivan in Labyrinth)

Chapter Two

She woke up, and saw all white. Where was she? What was going on?

"Miss Sullivan, you're finally awake."

Who was that? Miss Sullivan? Nobody had called her that in a long time.

She sat up, and groaned in pain. Headache. Major headache. "What happened?" she croaked

"You started a fight with another patient. We had to drug you."

She looked around. The walls were white, very white. She looked into the distance. Was she…in the Luthor mansion?

"What am I doing at the mansion?" she asked

The doctor chuckled. "The hospital, you mean. Why, Chloe, it's your home."

"Who are you?" she asked

"I'm a new doctor here. Dr. Richards."

She stood up. This was a meta-human. She was sure of it. This was all some sort of trick. "What did you do to me? Where's Oliver?"

"Oliver?" the man asked before he flipped through a thick file "There's no mentioning of any Oliver here. Not during one-on-one therapy, and not throughout your group therapy. Who is Oliver, Chloe?" he asked gently

This man thought that she was insane. Group therapy, one-on-one sessions- what was this?

"Never mind. Just get my clothes, will you?"

"Whatever for?"

"You can't keep me here. I'm out." She told the man "If I checked myself in, I can check myself out."

The man reached into his coat and took out a flashlight before keeping her head still and flashing a bright light into her eyes. "Stop that", she said.

"Your vitals seem normal, but you appear to have some memory loss."

"Yeah? Well, you seem to be out of your mind. So why don't you fill me in on what's going on, here?"

"Do you remember your name?" he asked

"Chloe Sullivan", she answered immediately.

"Good. You are 24 years old, and you live in Smallville, Kansas. You attended Smallville High, where you isolated yourself in an empty newsroom. You thought up conspiracy theories, where you believed that your best friend Clark had supernatural abilities."

Dr. Richards started pacing around the room slowly as he continued.

"You were a fairly popular young woman, Miss Sullivan. Valedictorian, prom queen- everybody had high expectations from you. The pressure was too much for you. You started thinking up ideas about meteor freaks that were out to get you. When you graduated, you started an internship at the Daily Planet."

Chloe restrained the urge to punch this man in the face. "Then, what happened?" she asked, tight-lipped

"That was when your editor started to think that something had gone wrong. You started bringing him stories about so-called meta-humans. You said that they were humans with naturally born abilities. He suggested a psych evaluation, and thank goodness you went along with it, if only to prove him wrong."

"What did it say?"

"You have a very serious case of schizophrenia. When your editor suggested treatment, you made up a very ludicrous story, saying that you caught him making out with your cousin. That he was doing it all to save himself. It was a delusion. That was when he went through with the lawsuit. You were stated legally incompetent due to mental illness."

She sat back down on the bed, attempting to digest all of this. This man thought that she was insane. How could any of this be true?

"Schizophrenia?" she asked softly

Dr. Richards nodded. "It's a genetic mental disorder."

"I know what it is", she snapped.

"Then you know very well that your mother suffered from the same disorder. It took her awhile too, but she accepted treatment. She's cured."

She didn't care if this man was flat out crazy. If her mother was supposedly cured, then that meant that Chloe could speak to her. "Could I see her?" she asked

"I thought you might want to see her. I gave her a call, and she's waiting to talk to you. But you have to stay in bed."

Chloe nodded. "I promise." She would play along with this man's games. All she needed to do was trick him long enough for him to let her out of this place. And if that meant lying about the meteor infected, then that was fine. But she wanted her mother to tell her the truth herself. She wanted to hear her mother speak again.

The door opened, and Moira Sullivan walked inside. She looked so real as she sat beside her. Her mother felt real when she reached over and held Chloe's hand.

"Mom?" she asked

Her mother just smiled at her. "Say something", she begged.

But she didn't. Moira Sullivan didn't say a word.

None of this was real. If this was real, she would be able to talk. Chloe shot up from the bed. "Get away from me", she said sternly.

Dr. Richards hurried into the room. "Chloe, what's wrong? Your mother's here."

"Why isn't she saying anything?" she cried

"Your mother has been mute for the past year. A side effect of the brain surgery."

"My mother would never agree to that surgery, if she knew the risks. You're just trying to confuse me."

"Chloe, we're all just trying to help you. Just let us help you."

"No!"

She dashed out of the room, and tried to get out of the mansion, but the entrance that she knew was missing. Where was the door? It couldn't have just disappeared out of thin air.

She needed to leave through the back. She was on her way, when she spotted a red head of hair. "Tess?" she asked

The woman turned around, and gave her a dirty look. "You want to go for another round, bitch?"

She fought Tess again? She opened her mouth to respond, but she felt a sting of pain from her neck. Someone had injected her with something.

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she fell limp in a doctor's arms.