Title: Hourglass
By: gddg3696
Disclaimer: I own nothing Smallville or Superman
Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews! From what I've read I'm guessing you guys don't like cliff hangers. Sorry about that. And I'm gonna apologize in advance, because there's more to come. Anyway, here's the next chapter, and please review! It encourages me to write more
I already see doubt colouring their faces.
"Lois? What…, Chloe gives out a little cough, "What are you talking about?" I now know I should take it slow and reveal things gradually, but…
"I know you thought that he disappeared with Zod and his followers, but Zod had a couple tricks up his sleeve. When Clark went to banish the Kandorians, Zod had brought a Blue Kryptonite knife to keep him human. Clark and Zod fought, Zod ascended with the rest of them, and Clark was stabbed in the stomach." I see them staring back at me with horror at all the events I'm recalling, but it keeps coming up like word vomit.
"Excuse me?" Oliver says, staggering back a little.
"Clark fell… while he was human, from that tower in Metropolis that he always looks off from all stoic-like, and then… Then I found him on the ground." I blink away tears at the memory. I'm surprised I still have water left in me after all the times I've cried in the last couple of weeks.
"I pulled out the dagger, and ran away so he wouldn't see me. He came to, we met up at the farm later and… and talked, and then he left."
"So… So what? How do you know all this…? Where's Clark?" Chloe sputters at me, "Is he just… Just hiding out somewhere? Is he with you?" She doesn't seem hurt, exactly. But shaken none the less. I can't blame her, really.
"Like I told you Chlo, when I woke up, he was gone. When I came back a month later, you told me to check the barn, so I did, and I found a journal with the words 'Kawatche Caves' written in it. I went to the caves and… Jor-El sort of transported me to the Fortress…" Oliver shakes his head, in an effort to clear his mind.
"How much do you know?" Chloe murmurs.
"Everything." I whisper. It's very cathartic, to purge all this knowledge with two of my very best friends. "Jor-El let me train, sort of. During these last couple of months, I've been visiting the Fortress and Jor-El's sort of been… shedding some light on the current situation…"
"Shedding some light?" Ollie asks, succinctly.
"He's been filling in the blanks. To all the things I haven't been here for, things I've forgotten. And just general information on Krypton and Kryptonians. Today, he was revealing to me all the people who knew his secret. Even those who've passed away. I can't believe I'm the last to know. I mean, come on! If Jimmy…" Chloe straightens.
"Jimmy knew?" She croaks out
"Yeah. Would you imagine he practically shoved Kryptonite in Smallville's face right before he discovered it?" I chuckle, at the bittersweet memory.
Reliving the times with people who had passed away were always the saddest. I once asked Jor-El if all Kryptonians were emotional wrecks, and he said it was a result of Clark's overbearing sense of guilt. He said it blossomed from all the deaths he had witnessed; all the people he hadn't been able to save. I'm only beginning to understand. Chloe smiles softly. Oliver speaks up.
"Why would Jor-El teach you everything?"
"I'm uh…, I lift my hands in quotation marks "Kal-El's mate." I gasp of surprise escapes from Chloe. They both look completely startled.
"Oh, what, nobody thought we would last?" I say, throwing my hands in the air.
"No, no, Lois, it's just that… Clark's always thought he was destined to be alone.", Chloe says. My eyes narrow.
"Well when he wakes up, I'll make sure he sure as hell knows that I'm not going anywhere, and if I did, he would be handcuffed behind be, even if I'd have to Green K him."
"Wakes up?" Oliver questions, perplexed.
"Oh. I hadn't gotten to that. The reason he left was not because the book of Rao did it's magic and sent him to some alternate world. He left to finish his training." Oliver smiles.
"Really? Well, finally! The guy's been beating around the bush for- what I've heard from Chloe-, like 6 years!" I laugh a little at the reaction. Talk about a one-eighty.
"Well he's in the Fortress right now. He's training, but he's pretty much in a coma."
"When does he wake up?" Chloe says.
"10 months." Chloe tilts her head, and lets out a sigh of relief.
"I always thought it would be beyond my lifetime." Ollie moves to… Hold her hand? I smile at them.
"Oh, don't worry. We'll all be around to witness Earth's greatest hero."
\S/
"HAVE NO FEAR, JIMMY IS HEAR, AND WITH HIM SOME BEER!"
Uh oh. I feel like I just walked into a room of tension. Lois is here. Huh. That can't be good. With my luck, I'd just triggered the greatest attempt so far of her murdering me. Not that she hadn't probably premeditated a hissy fit for whenever I enter the room.
"Oh… Sorry guys… I uh… Shoulda called first… Sorry I took so long… It turns out tonight was a 24 hour night, and I had to make a few other deliveries…" I set down the six-pack. I chuckle, thinking back how when Henry wrote down the list of stuff I would have if anything should happen; naturally, his ID was the first on the list.
"Seriously? You work at MetroPizza?" Lois asks, sceptically. "I figured you were more of an action guy. What the most exciting thing that happens delivering pies? You gotta give a guy CPR when he chokes on some pepperoni?" Good ol' Lois.
You can always count on her to diffuse a situation by targeting and humiliating the weakest target. If there ever was a time for you to be back, CK…
"Well, I need cash! I couldn't steal the beer." Oliver raises his eyebrows at me.
"Well, of course you couldn't. Otherwise that'd be 2 crimes in one night. 3, if that fake ID isn't actually a fake, and belongs to who I think it does. Then we're going with identity theft, too." I blush.
"Well… you know, I didn't wanna seem… You know, uncool. You guys are all legends. You don't have to tag me alone, you know, and I'd figured… Why not show you guys my appreciation."
"With alcohol?" Lois demands. I flash her a nervous smile.
"What, do you not want it?" She glares at me and picks up one of the bottles.
"You don't get to drink any." Lois says.
"And Jim, our friendship with you… It doesn't have a price tag." Chloe says, and smiles.
"Thanks guys. I promise I won't go buying…"
"Ah!" I jump. Lois just dropped her beer on the floor, and is clutching her head. Chloe rushes over to her, and Oliver is right behind.
"Lo? Lo, what's wrong?" Chloe asks.
"I have to… I have to go…" She says, through clenched teeth. Olive grabs her arm.
"Legs, you shouldn't be…"
"Ollie, I'll be fine… She takes a laboured breath, "I'll c-call you later" Lois stares at him intently. He lets her go.
"Alright. Call. An hour, Lois. It's already… 1AM" Lois leaves.
"Yeah, maybe… I should head home too. I mean, I already called my parents and told them I'd be out late, but I have to be at the Planet in the morning."
"You could stay in my room here. Sometimes I'm too tired to drive back to the Talon, so there's a bed upstairs." Chloe offers.
"Thanks sis, but I really should get going." I take a breath. "Are you guys sure Lois is alright?" Chloe nods enthusiastically.
"She's hypoglycaemic. It acts up sometimes, gives her migraines."
"Oh. Well, I'll see you guys later. Thanks for offering the hangout, though."
"Sure, James." Oliver says. And they smile at me as I walk out the door. Sometimes I wonder. When they smile at me, call my name, look at my face; do they ever wish I was Henry?
\S/
"Argh, what the hell?" Obviously Chloe, Ollie and Jim didn't hear it. The frequency... This reminds of something… Not something that happened to me, but a memoir of Clark's…
I walk up the barn stairs, the noise growing more prominent. It's changing a little, though… a lower pitch. I look around. It's coming from here.
"Son of an Almeraccian…" I paced around the room, under the couch, by the telescope. What the hell? I feel something pull be to the desk. There's a cabinet. I yank in open.
Sitting there, at the back of drawer, in a simple white box, is a bracelet. Gaping, I pick it up, and hear the frequency dull into a hum.
A beautiful turquoise jewelled bracelet. The bracelet that Kyla had given to Clark. The bracelet that is meant for Naman's soul mate. The bracelet that I now know is and forever will be mine.
