Chapter 10

At that moment, Tess exited the stairwell by the newsroom. She'd expected to hear the sounds of fighting.

Silence deafened the entire area in its place.

"What happened?" She peered cautiously into the newsroom to find upturned equipment and furniture scattered about much as if a hurricane had ripped through it.

A pained sobbing reached her ears.

She quickly found the source. Against the southwest corner, she found Lana slumped against the wall; her face drenched with Mourning's tears. Her eyes followed where the other woman was facing and went wide.

Clark laid pale and still not thirty feet away from his love.

"No!" Tess protested.

That word jarred Lana from her doldrums. She stared numbly at her. "Tess Mercer?"

"This is my newspaper, Lana. Why so surprised to see me?" Tess supposed albeit more sarcastically than she should have. "What did you do? What happened?"

"I…don't know." She ripped off the remains of the headband. "I remember Lex trapping Lois and me in Edge City. He did something to me so I couldn't move. Then he killed Lois in front of me. I…tried to…get away from him. He…violated me, Tess. He did it to me again!" She couldn't stop the next round of tears. "Clark…Clark sacrificed…himself to free me." She smiled wistfully.

Tess nodded. "Wish I could say I was surprised." She fought the urge to roll her eyes. He has bigger responsibilities. Yet he killed himself to do something he KNEW would be fatal. However she also knew that Lex had used some sort of mind control on Lana. Probably in that headband. She reached into her pocket and produced the purple rock. She threw it to the floor breaking it in two. Then she handed Lana a piece. "Here. Try this."

Lana stared at the kryptonite in shock. She handled it almost like a hot potato. "What? Are you crazy? This can't be near him! I….."

Then the rock glowed and something else happened.

Lana glowed bright green, bathing the entire room in her charge. She burned inside as the charge flared higher and higher inside of herself. "What have you done? Tess, why?"

Tess watched, anticipating what would happen next. "Something I wish I could've done before it was too late. I'm sorry, Lana."

The green shifted in color and tone from emerald to deepest plum. Lana felt the burning subsist and then vanish entirely. She watched as the stone surrender its own shading, reverting to a pale white. Then the makeshift aura faded as well. "What is this? What do you mean you wish you could've…."

Tess sighed. "It's an experimental form of kryptonite that was discovered three weeks ago. I found it in my desk just now." She bowed her head dejectedly. "I wish I could've gotten it to you sooner."

Lana put her fist through the nearby wall, cratering it. "You had this and you didn't tell me?"

"Sorry. What would you have done? Go running back to Smallville? Lana, Clark was engaged to Lois. Much as I think it was a poor choice on his part, it was his choice," Tess pointed out.

Lana shook her head sadly. "This is all Lex's fault! So help me when I get a hold of him…." She clenched her fists in anger. Then she forced them to unclench. She kneeled over her Love and caressed his brow gently.

"Lex never stopped hating even after death," Tess surmised. "What a waste." Even as she still held the other half of the purple meteor in her left hand, she rubbed his shoulder. "And so goes the last son of Krypton."

As she did so, the stone glowed in her hand.

Tess felt woozy and almost limp as if the life was being drained out of herself. "What…was that?"

"Did you see that? Clark just twitched!" Lana realized while looking him over again.

Tess considered the glowing meteor in her hand. This started glowing at the same time. I did that. Somehow I charged him with my life force. She took a deep breath. This kryptonite must be a conduit much as the water element was that Lionel used on Clark. She considered him lying there. His destiny is a great one. Society needs him. But can I give myself to let him live?

Lana was too occupied with him to notice her hesitancy or musing.

It seemed that Tess had a decision to make…