Crystal, by bloodymary2
CHAPTER 3:
The apartment was gloomy, only the faint light from outside preventing it from being completely overtaken by darkness. On the sofa sat a pajama clad Lois Lane. She had her blond hair up in a messy ponytail and her lower lip trapped between her teeth. She was worried and curious and contemplative. All because of the strange, clear stone she now held in her hands.
A crystal.
For some reason, she was sure it was a crystal.
The place was empty save for her; Lana and Chloe at the Isis Foundation for time undetermined. It was also official, too. Lana and Clark were no longer together. Nobody had taken the time to inform her, of course, but she knew. How else could she interpret Lana moving out of the farm, if not for that.
The crystal didn't shine.
It was strange how her thoughts couldn't stray for long from the object. It was cool to the touch, no matter how long she held it in her warm hand, the surface was smooth and it didn't shine. No matter how light struck at it, there was no reflection, or glimmer or small rainbow, as one would expect from a clear crystal.
Lois twirled it, holding it with one hand and then another.
"What are you, anyway?" She ignored the reason for her impromptu conversation with an inanimate object and focused her eyes on the core of the stone. "Why did Chloe pale when she saw you?" Another twirl. "And why do I feel as if you are more than a simple paperweight?"
It didn't answer and she berated herself for expecting it to.
Lois sighed and leaned back on the couch, watching for a moment how the shadows danced on the ceiling.
"I'm crazy, paranoid and now, apparently, a thief!" She was being overly dramatic, of course. In her life, there had been moments when borrowing and theft hadn't been two different things. The tank at prom. Her dad's cigarettes when she was thirteen. Files relevant to her investigations. The list went on and on.
"What do I do with you anyway?" She shook the crystal and was prepared to place it on the coffee table for Chloe to find, when something happened.
It warmed.
And not the kind of warmth one would come to expect from an object held by a hand. No, it warmed like a pot on the stove and it came dangerously close to being too hot for her fingers to bear. Lois frowned.
"What? You decided to manifest yourself now?" Instead of marveling at the wonder of a crystal that rapidly changed its temperature for reasons unknown, Lois continued talking to the crystal as one would with a pet. "What does getting all warm mean anyway? And what am I supposed to do about it?"
As if finally answering, the crystal illuminated from within, blue and red lights dancing so brightly, the apartment was no longer dark. "This looks like a police has just descended upon the place. Can't you do another set of colors?" She snorted. "Bet you are Clark's. Weird and way too fond of primary colors."
At the mention of the farmboy's name, the crystal shone even brighter and started to vibrate, a low hum filling the silence of the night. The creepiness factor rose to such heights that Lois abandoned her flip approach and invested into some uneasiness.
What had she gotten herself into?
And, just like that, the room spun in a vertiginous manner, making her feel rightfully dizzy. She tried holding on to the armrest of the sofa she presently occupied, but the furniture didn't seem exempt from the spinning. Closing her eyes helped as much as a leaf of paper in the midst of a torment. The last thought she had before unconsciousness claimed her, was of Clark Kent dressed in that red shirt, blue jacket combo he seemed so fond of.
"Smallville…"
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Clark looked around uncertainly, a bit overwhelmed by the excessive use of pink in the decor of the Isis Foundation. Perhaps the fact that his now ex-girlfriend – if it was possible to attach labels so soon after the whole fiasco – was the owner of the place and one of the two people he was there to see, helped with the feeling of displacement. He still couldn't completely wrap his mind around it.
They were over.
After all these years and everything that happened, how could it be so simple to break up? Would they orbit around each other until they reunited again or was it really the final straw, he wondered. Relief and sadness swam within him in equal parts.
Clark sighed; there were more pressing matters to devote his thoughts to. Like the mysterious crystal. Chloe had called earlier to say the crystal had appeared in her desk again and urged him to meet her at Lana's new workplace. He had hesitated, understandably, but had eventually conceded. This was a situation he could ignore. Only problem was that Chloe couldn't seem to find the crystal, though she swore it had been in her bag.
"So, Jor-El said that the crystal wasn't meant for you." Lana said. "Maybe it has a mind of its own." She shrugged, giving of an air of indifference to Clark's presence and the crystal that she didn't truly feel.
"So, what?" Chloe intervened. "Is it trying to tell me that I'm supposed to have it?" She didn't sound at all convinced.
"Maybe. This is the second time the crystal has mysteriously popped up in your desk, Chlo." Lana argued.
"But where is it now? It escaped during Jor-El's watch and I had it with me minutes before I got here and then I couldn't find anywhere!"
Clark crossed his arms and fixed his gaze in the distance. "Jor-El said that if it became needed, it would find the right person. But he was vague and cryptic, as usual." He paused. "What if… it's not Chloe?"
"But the Planet?" Chloe added, her head bobbing up and down in agreement.
The tall man shrugged. "Maybe. It's all speculation at this point."
"You may be right, Clark. We assume this has something to do with us, because we are in the know." Chloe made sure to use air quotes. "If it's popping up at the Planet, maybe it's meant to be found by someone else."
"Yeah, but who? We can't just let it go and trust that the crystal won't fall into the wrong hands." Lana's voice had that patronizing tone she had always used when talking to people she considered slower than her. Chloe had never been fond of it. With exasperation, she turned to face Clark and found that he was staring off into space, a look of pure concentration on his face.
"Clark?" The blonde's question alerted Lana that not all was well.
"Clark? Is everything okay?" When silence continued being the only answer, Chloe reached forward and touched his arm, which was still crossed over his chest.
"I… There's this drumming in my ears." Chloe shared a glance with Lana, both clearly worried.
"Since when?"
"I don't know. I guess I didn't really notice it… not until that day at the dam." His gaze grew even more distant. "Now, it's always there, at the back of my mind."
Chloe's head tilted sideways, her eyes closing into slits. "Why is it bothering you now? It's been months since the dam broke."
"I don't know. I guess… it just seems amplified, somehow." He breathed in deeply and refocused his attention on his two companions. Offering a smile, he dismissed his earlier thoughts. "Well, there isn't much we can do about the crystal if we don't know what it is or where it is. There was no trace of it at the Fortress and Jor-El refused to answer any question about it."
Clark uncrossed his arms.
"I agree." Lana complied, eyes fixed on Clark and the way he seemed to avoid meeting her gaze.
"Okay." Resigned, Chloe fetched her bag. "But if it shows up again…"
"You call me and don't touch it." Clark finished. The cub reporter nodded.
"I'm going home now, still a long drive ahead of me."
"Chloe, I can take you! It's not safe to be driving so late." Clark's worried face had always been a weakness of hers. Chloe had been successful in putting her crush in the past, but no woman with a beating heart could deny how gorgeous he looked and how cute his expression could be. She sighed, feigning defeat.
"If I must." Then she grinned. She always got seriously dizzy when taking a ride in the Kent Express, but the rush was unbelievable!
Goodbyes were said and Lana found herself staring at the spot where her ex-lover and her best friend had just disappeared from. The wind Clark's fast moving had created lingered in the office a bit longer and she hugged her slender arms around her body. Feeling alone and chilled, she couldn't help the treacherous thoughts running through her mind.
What if letting him go had been the worst mistake of her life?
xxxxxxxxx
The first thing they noticed when the world stopped rushing around them was that the apartment above the Talon was utterly dark. That, in itself, wouldn't have been surprising. It was rather late. The lack of lights, however, made the glow of the crystal they had been searching for stand out that much more dramatically.
Eyes unwavering from the stone, Clark placed Chloe back on her feet. There was something else, too, that caught his attention. The drumming he had been living with for the past few months – annoying and comforting at the same time – was louder than it had ever been. The kryptonian couldn't understand why that felt so right.
He stepped forward.
The crystal's glow faded.
Frown firmly in place, Chloe ran to the wall by the door and hit the lights. There was nothing amiss about the place. But something was wrong. Something was missing.
"Lois." A quick perusal of the apartment she shared with her cousin proved that her keys were on the table by the door and her bag hung in the tall hook near the counter. Trading worried glances with her friend, Chloe went to check the bedroom. She didn't reach her intended destination, however.
She halted, eyes wide with worry.
Lois was lying behind the couch, pajama's almost completely shredded, hair in disarray and eyes firmly closed. With her heart pounding furiously, she reached for her cousin. Her skin was cold, but her chest still rose and fell with each steady breath she took. Chloe sighed with relief.
"Her vitals are regular, but her body temperature is way below normal." Clark's troubled voice so near behind her made Chloe jump.
Hand over her racing heart, Chloe chided her friend. "Jesus, Clark. Warn a girl before sneaking up like that."
Clark's gaze didn't waver from Lois, though. He passed by Chloe and gently cradled the woman's unconscious frame in his arms. As he rose from the floor, Lois firmly held, he looked at the now dull crystal.
"Lois' desk is right next to yours, isn't it?"
Chloe's eyes grew big. "You think the crystal was after Lois?" Clark nodded. Anxiously, she worried her bottom lip. "What do you think happened?"
Clark's expression was somber, his jaw locked in place. "I don't know. But we can't take her to a hospital." They couldn't risk it, not unless absolutely necessary.
"Someone has to stay with her, though." He nodded in agreement.
"We'll take her to the farm." There was absolutely no room for arguing in the tone of voice he used and Chloe could do nothing but nod. There was no place safer than under Clark's watchful eyes anyway.
xxxxxxxxxx
Clark placed Lois gently onto his bed, and then stepped back. He took solace in the way her face seemed so peaceful, but the tension in his shoulders didn't diminish. After a second of contemplation, he left the room, so Chloe could change her out of the torn clothes she wore. They had checked for injuries and found none, which
made the gaps in the cloth of Lois' cowboy PJs that much more puzzling.
Swiftly, he zoomed back to the Talon and retrieved the crystal; it remained quiet in his hand for all of the two seconds it took the super powered man to place it on the low table in front of the couch. Clark fell ungracefully onto said couch and buried his face in his hands.
Would the problems never cease?
It seemed that every time they overcame a hurdle, another mountain loomed in the distance. He heard Chloe softly clicking the door to his room shut and waited for her footsteps to sound off the end of the staircase before he spoke. "Any changes?"
"No." The word escape along with a sigh. Eyes on the crystal, Chloe came to sit by his side. "Do you think she's going to be okay?"
"Of course." He had answered too quickly and Chloe knew that the words represented more his wish than his certainty, but she wasn't being picky. Lois had to be okay. She just had to. A tight feeling of dread surrounded her chest.
"I've been horrible to her lately." She played with her fingers. "Even after she almost died at the dam, I couldn't…" Chloe choked a sob. "Why couldn't I treat her better? Told her how much she meant to me?"
Clark's strong arms offered her refuge from her doubts and her pain. He offered no platitudes – couldn't think of anything to say -, but his silent support went a long way to help appease Chloe's fear. He would fix it. Clark always managed to make things better in the end.
"What do we do now?" Her voice broke.
"If the crystal is meant for Lois, perhaps this is part of whatever it's meant to happen." He sighed. "I'll go to the Fortress and try Jor-El again." Though he didn't hold any hopes his father would be any more forthcoming with information than he had been this afternoon.
"Okay. I'll call in sick for her at the Planet. You know, so no one worries or tries to find her."
"I'll take care of her in the meantime." Up and down, his hand caressed her arm. "We'll figure things out."
Brownies for those who reviewed. And hugs for those I haven't replied personally to. Review!