Part 9

i"Love vanquishes time. To lovers, a moment can be eternity, eternity can be the tick of a clock."

Mary Parrish /i

A long time later Lex Luthor leaned back in his chair and stared steadily Chloe Sullivan, whose only movement was the regular swallowing and faint breathing. Her eyes rested on the frozen holographic image of a thought projection that was downloaded into the disc by some million years long dead alien whose final words were to convince them that the hoax was real.

"Poor girl," she finally said.

Lex closed his hand around hers. "Chloe."

Slowly, as if moving in slow motion, she turned to him. "No," was her only statement.

"What do you mean, no?" he demanded.

"Whatever you're thinking, it's impossible," she clarified tonelessly.

He shook his head. With the light of the fire glowing against her skin like this, he could see the resemblance. Her hair had started to curl and touch her shoulders. The red glow bouncing off the blonde locks made it look auburn. "Are you really going to start talking normal people logic with me, Chloe?"

She snatched her hand away. "I don't appreciate the patronizing tone, Lex," she bit out. "And if you're actually going to try to convince me that I'm some alien chick you knocked up and got killed—"

Chloe caught her breath when Lex grasped her shoulders. "Don't," he said quietly, in warning.

She softened her voice. Chloe gestured to the disc. "Look, Lex, I understand that this can be upsetting—"

"Tell me that you're seriously shutting down this idea, Chloe."

"I have no choice. It's impossible!"

"Then who was in your house tonight, calling you Caelie?"

She looked away from him. When her eyes fell onto the disc again, she shook her head. "Lex, even if this has any shred of truth, and I'm not saying it does," she blurted quickly. "What do you expect to happen? This is the first time we've talked in more than half a year and then we learn that what… we're some otherworldly Romeo and Juliet?"

He walked over to where she sat, then knelt in front of her. He cupped her chin, then turned her to face him. "Whatever happens, happens," he told her. "All I want is the truth." Just as they did on the street in front of her house, Chloe's eyes reflected the explosion of billions of shattered pieces of light when they was no sky to mirror. Lex felt the cold tingling running from his spine to all the pulse points of his body. "I want to affirm what I know you know, Chloe."

"Then what?" she whispered, captivated by blue gray eyes that shimmered with a supernova.

"Then anything you could possibly want," he promised.

Chloe licked her lips. "Even if what I want is to have nothing to do with this insanity?"

His nostrils flared. "Even if what you wanted was everything and more," he returned.

She nodded. "I want to see the rest of the thought projection."

"Caelie," he said to the hologram, "please continue."

The hologram blinked up at the two. "Are you sure about this?"

"I thought your soul purpose is to force the story down my throat?" he retorted.

Chloe grinned when the holographic image appeared to blush. "Lex-ar, what's become of your manners?" The hologram glanced at where Chloe sat. "And in front of Caelie? You have always ever wanted to show Caelie how upstanding you are."

"He's shown me plenty of times how not upstanding he is," Chloe assured the hologram, not noticing the way he had begun to answer to the alien name. From the corners of her eyes, Chloe saw how Lex frowned at the words. She continued, "And I may not remember the Lex-ar you're talking about, but I think I appreciate that this Lex can show me more than his upstanding qualities. Makes him more real, you know."

The hologram nodded. "Had you seen Lex-ar after your expulsion, you would have been terrified. He had become manic and driven only by his anger and hurt. You would have not recognized him."

"We were hoping you could show us," Lex intoned.

"Caelie, your new husband Mag-el had taken you to the capital since you wanted to see Lex-ar. He was a fine man, your husband. All the men from the House of El were. I so wish you would remember him," the hologram began.

"How I wish he had not been so kind and accommodating to your request, Caelie. You see, Mag-el had known since you were children that you are Lex-ar were inevitable. He should have known you were also unstoppable. Had he acknowledged it, he would not have left you when you saw Lex-ar."

iShe ran towards him and the moment they were within arms' reach, she wrapped her arms around him. Lex-ar held her close to him as he captured her lips. He buried his fingers in her flaming hair and dissolved into her. His eyes closed, he kissed his way down her neck. With one hand he undid the ribbons of her bodice and licked a burning path to her aching breast.

Caelie gasped. "I had thought I lost you. Lex-ar, the days without you—"

"That was not the end. A happy ending, Caelie. I promise you."

The door burst open to reveal a stone-faced officer who focused his cold gaze on Caelie's tousled look and undone bodice. Lex-ar stepped in front of Caelie to give her privacy to fix herself up.

"Lex-ar, you are free to present your treacherous proposition to the Council."

He closed his eyes in relief. Lex-ar grasped Caelie's hand.

"Mrs Mag-el, you are under arrest for adultery."

In surprise, Lex-ar looks down at Caelie's wrist, where Mag-el's bracelet was.

"Lex-ar, I was going to tell you!"

The officer sent in two of his men to remove Lex-ar from the confines and then closed it in front of Caelie.

"Caelie," Lex-ar called out as he was dragged away, "I will fix this. I swear on your father's grave, I will fix this." Lex-ar reached for her hand, and brought the tips of her fingers to his lips.

She smiled sadly. "Here we are at the end, my love. Is it a happy ending?"

"It is impossible to repent of love. The sin of love does not exist."

Muriel Spark /i

He had pleaded to the most powerful man he knew. In the end, it was between the two of his fondest desires. He could run to her trial in front of the Kryptonian Supreme Council or he could present to the Council of Five his alternate plan to ensure Krypton's salvation. No one would have to marry into a house like El to survive the catastrophe.

Once upon a time, so long ago it seemed to him now, he had sworn to an innocent and trusting young woman that the planet they so loved to watch would not be sacrificed so that their people could survive. To do it, Lex-ar would not go to Caelie's trial.

There was only one choice. Lex-ar turned over his paper to Jor-el and left for the Supreme Council with Mag-el at his heels.

"No," he whispered as they drew close to the Dome. Mag-el released the door so they could slip inside. He turned furiously to his friend. "The Dome? For a kiss?"

"It was adultery, Lex-ar," Mag-el managed.

"For a kiss," he repeated in disbelief.

"They had detected the life form inside her, and it was not an El."

The implication of the words hit him like the tidal waves that crashed in some worlds he had observed.

Lex-ar stumbled towards the prison shuttle. Inside she slept, appearing so peaceful, almost like she was a wax figure encased forever in glass. She was suspended love meant to be exiled into space. He reached and placed his hand on the cold glass.

The Dome was the place where exiles began. It stored the prison shuttles that had been used by the Council for the years before the Phantom Zone. Now here he stood, once a child well cared for by Krypton's politics, being broken and torn by the same good laws of the land he had always abided by.

"Here we are at the end, my love. Is it a happy ending?" he heard her voice in his head.

As the cold of the glass that parted him from her seeped into his skin, he said aloud, "We are nowhere close to the end, Caelie." He vowed, "I will search for you even in the farthest reaches of the universe. I will not rest."

Lex-ar saw the crystals surrounding the shuttles and knelt down to press a series of codes he had hastily encrypted in his brain. The suspended animation would have an aging reversal effect as well. Even if took him years to locate her, he would not find her aging in an abandoned planet. Caelie would get her chance at life again. Finally, he reached the code for the cleanser, the crystal that would wipe out all of Caelie's memory of Krypton. He would not allow her to forget everything that they were. As he tried to decrypt the cleanser code, Mag-el gave him a warning cry.

The loud noises that accompanied the arrival of the Kryptonian Security Force did not cause him to stumble away and hide the fact that he was illegally inside the Dome. Lex-ar stood there in front of the prison shuttle even as the authorities clasped him by the arms and started pulling him away. Mag-el stood on the far side, the only one who had the right to see the ejection. As her husband, Mag-el would stay inside the Dome and push the button to release her into the sky.

"No, no!" he cried out, struggling against the men who were pulling him away. "Mag-el," he pleaded, "do not allow them to do this."

Caelie's husband and Lex-ar's friend looked down in despair. He then met Lex-ar's eyes and claimed, "I cannot do anything else, Lex-ar. Just be grateful you have escaped your punishment."

Lex-ar grabbed Mag-el's shirt and spit into his ear, "Get me the numbers. Get me the coordinates."

His eyes wide with disbelief and outrage, Lex-ar was pushed out of the Dome's doors. The heavy latch was placed, and Lex-ar pounded on the doors. He screamed against the walls when he heard the Dome's roof part. "Stop them, Mag-el!" he yelled. "Caelie!" His voice was raw then. His limbs melted at the sound of the rocket firing.

The crime and judgment was played for Kryptonopolis. "Judged guilty of adultery and exiled into boundless space."

Lex-ar fell to his knees, clutching his gut as he stared up into the red sky. When he saw the capsule shoot out into the air, he collapsed onto his side. For endless hours, it seemed, he lay on the ground unmoving. When it seemed that ages had passed, Lex-ar picked himself up unsteadily, leaning against the Dome and pushing himself towards the Hall of Worlds.

At the basement of the museum, Lex-ar began his work to follow the trajectory of the shuttle. He would not emerge until he was certain he could locate her again.

Krypton and the rest of the universe could give birth and end to worlds unknown, and Lex-ar would remain isolated in the basement of the Hall Worlds, he created a path to a his own piece of fantasy world where Caelie and their child survived—a world where he could her a happy ending.

i "Love is an attempt to change a piece of a dream world into reality."

Theodor Reik/i

tbc

Next part is the last.