:D Thank-you, everyone.

"Hologram" by Katie Herzig, would be a nice little song to go with this chapter. :)

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Enjoy!


Lois Lane and Clark Kent were falling.

Falling.

Falling.

F a l l i n g.

Not a spectrum of thought entered Lois' mind as they shattered through the air, momentarily free of reality. Clark was but a few breaths away from her, wearing a blank, unrecognizable expression, countless droplets of his own, scarlet blood staining the lens of his glasses. They were falling to their apparent death, and he seemed barely aware of it. Clark. Superman.

She still couldn't believe it - that Kent...that he was the Man of Steel. It didn't seem to be possible - it couldn't be possible -

but right then and there, in that very moment of falling and falling and falling, what was possible and impossible did not matter. Only then, did it truly sink in. They were going to die.

Holy shit. They were going to die - but the man she had always loved still spoke to her lovingly.

"Lois... ...look at me... ..." There was only a few heartbeats left before they would hit the ground, hit it hard, and vanish from existence forever - but Lois Lane looked. Clark's eyes opened, revealing pain, love, fading life and a goodbye, a farewell, a last apology - all before he summoned up the last reserves of his immortality and did something he had never attempted to do before.

Using the alien warmth that had always surrounded his flesh in the past, Kal-El willed the energy of his powerful aura to leave him and protect the woman in his arms. Glowing yellow light erupted on the instant he called upon his strength, and weaved itself into a thin cocoon of solitude around Lois Lane. Her multi-hued eyes went wide with shock, and, just for that moment, they shifted in color and began to shine a radiant, shimmering blue - the same exact shade as Clark's, Superman's, Kal-El's.

A euphoric feeling of power and strength flooded into her, and Lois was suddenly no longer so tired, exhausted, or weak from lifting Clark and inhaling the poisonous smoke of the flames that they had escaped. In that very minute, Miss Lane understood what it was like to hold so much power. She could comprehend what it felt like to be a god - a goddess - and to exist as an entity like no other. It was a breath-taking feeling - but also terrifying. She was beyond horrified that Superman had done this to her - that he had taken everything that made him who he was, and poured it all into her.

"... ... ..." And three seconds before they hit the earth, Lois heard Clark say what she had been dreading. "Miss Lane...good...bye..."

Anger ravaged her mind, and the scent of blood filled the air as she embedded her fingernails into his now-vulnerable skin, piercing him as easily as fire would melt ice. How dare he! How dare he leave her like this! He had no right to poison her with such a sacrifice! He had no right to give up his life for her!

"NO!" There was practically no time left, but Lois still gritted her teeth and screamed to the heavens, using her new-found strength to amplify her voice. At her command, the golden light exploded into sight once more, and then, with all her emotions and might - love, strength, sadness, worry, adoration, confusion, rage, defiance - she slammed forth Clark's life-force and force-fed it back into his system. Shimmering yellow burst and raged around them, swirling like smoke and mist and golden fog. It was working - Kal-El was beginning to stir - she could hear his heart beginning to beat again -

but she didn't have enough time to return all of what was rightfully his -

because just then, the ground rushed up to meet them.


...

...

...

"Beep...beep...beep...beep..."

...

...

"Beep...beep...beep...beep..."

"Luthor...fi...fire... ... death... ... ..." Blackness was overwhelmingly omnipresent - but it was a weightless blackness, so breathing and speaking words of pain was not difficult. His throat felt extremely dry and cracked and exhausted. "Lo...Lois...no... ... ... don't...too much... ... pain... ...hurting...you..."

Warbled images of fire, blood, destruction; flickering visions of Jimmy Olsen reaching out to him, cameras flashing, hot smoke everywhere; revived memories of the agony, the love, the whispers, the secrets. When he tried to move, everything burned and ached - so he only opened his eyes. His first impression was darkness. Panic flooded into him when he believed that he'd gone blind, but, eventually, reality gave him a good, hard slap in the face.

"Clark." Familiar brown eyes locked onto him. "How're you feeling?" Richard White was sitting right next to him, his expression that of a stoic's. Never before had Clark seen this man look so...betrayed.

"Richard...?" He said, lacing his words with feeble conviction. "Where...where is -"

"Lois is fine," Richard answered. The man had already guessed what Mr. Kent had been about to ask. "She's in the next room, down on the left. You two both are in the hospital, for third-degree burns, broken bones, severe abrasions, exhaustion, and possible shock."

A heavy silence lapsed into existence.

"I've always wondered," Clark whispered suddenly, breaking the speechlessness. Richard looked at him. "I've always wondered which human...which human in this world...could possibly be...a hero...a savior...without the superpowers. Today...I realize...I realize that you - Richard White - are worthier of being...being Superman...than I am." Clark saw that his words had startled the brunette beyond audible response. "Mister...White...I am so...so...so sorry...for everything. All...I can say...now...is...thank you."

And then, out of the blue, both men found themselves embarrassingly close to tears. Clark blinked and pointedly looked away as Richard rubbed his watery, tired eyes with his coat's sleeve.

"So..." Richard coughed, trying to shrug off the awkwardness that had descended upon the two and attempting to recreate a casual atmosphere once more. "Clark Kent is Superman. Really?"

Clark blinked, his eyes immediately going wide with embarrassment at the question. Mr. White couldn't help but guffaw a tiny bit at how...dorky Superman looked. Now that he knew Superman's secret identity, he could see the shocking characteristics of Clark Kent and the Man of Steel mixed together in the same person. It was really quite weird, knowing that he'd been working with Earth's savior and even - damn it - eating burritos with him, without realizing who he was.

"Err - yes, sorry," Clark mumbled, tripping over his own words. "I never...you know, I never meant for you...or Lois...or Jimmy...or anyone, really, to find out this way...I'm really sor -"

"Clark!" Richard interrupted, sounding fairly exasperated. "If you say 'sorry,' one more time, I'm really gonna want to hurt you!"

There, sitting docile and doe-eyed right in front of Richard, the Man of Steel stared at him like a child caught with his hand in a cookie jar. It was just far too funny for Richard not to break into a storm of unmanly giggles. And as he did this, Clark continued to look at him like he was a little child in trouble until Mr. White finally waved his hand and spluttered, "You're Superman! Oh, hahahhahahahhahahahahaha! The irony of it all! Ahahahhahahahhahaha - Clark Kent is Superman! Hahahahaha -"

Clark winced in a mix of fear and pain. "Richard, you're starting to scare me..."

"Oh, stop worrying, Kent!" The man covered his face with two hands, his shoulders bouncing up and down in silent fits of mirth. "I've needed a laugh like this! Hahahhahahahahahhahahaha! Lois - oh, haha - Lois couldn't ever have believed - hahahahaha - this! I even asked her about you! I knew you looked a lot like Superman! Hahahahhahahahhahahahhaha -"

Superman stared at Richard; watched him unblinkingly as he laughed and giggled and chuckled away without a care in the world - and eventually that laughter and giggling and chuckling seemed to become infectious, for the Man of Steel started to laugh as well, not caring that the laughing made his aching bones ache even harder.

"Damn - you - Richard!" Clark snorted, while wiping the tears of joy off of his eyes. It was just a bit of much-needed sunshine for his day; laughing in relief that they were all still alive; that Lois and Jimmy and Clark and Richard and all of them were still here, living, breathing -

"Ahh - is this...Super - Superman's room?" A timid-looking nurse's arrival interrupted their laughter. Clark immediately silenced himself. He stiffened instantly and held himself erect, tall, strong - even though the burns and bruises and cuts lining his flesh practically howled at being moved - and he adopted an expression worthy of a funeral-goer's. It took a minute for Richard to swallow how quickly Kal-El could shift from being Clark Kent to a superhero.

"Yes, it is," Superman replied, looking at the nurse unblinkingly. "What is it, ma'am?"

It wasn't very fair, Richard thought dazedly, for Clark to unleash the full force of his superhero gaze on a single woman. Even he had a bit of trouble meeting Superman's gaze, forget the average bystander. But Mr. White held his tongue and said nothing, waiting silently for the nurse's next, shaky words.

"Miss Lois Lane is having a bit of a - erm - fit, back in her room. The doctors can't control her...she keeps on saying she wants Superman..."

Superman blinked, and, in an instant, was struggling out of his bed, ignoring the searing pain that crisscrossed through his body - Richard stood up, alarmed, and tried to talk some sense into the other man - "Clark, wait, no - you're seriously hurt - you shouldn't be moving - " but it was like speaking to a brick wall until he finally gave up and shouted, "At least put on some real clothes!"

There was a moment of awkward silence. But it was broken when the quiet nurse broke into a fit of naughty giggles.

"I'll - I'll leave," the young woman said, covering her eyes with one hand, backing out of the room, and closing the room with her other, free hand.

"Richard -" Superman started to say, but he sounded a lot like Clark Kent right now, so Mr. White interrupted him, trying to preserve the little dignity both of them still had -

"What size are you?" He asked, coughing and looking away from the - *ah-hem* - sight before him.