[ Disclaimer: Superman: Man of Steel belongs to the Warner Bros. and whoever came up with DC Comics. The song "Kiss It Better" is owned by the duo He Is We. I own nothing ]
Kiss It Better
Eve swayed on her feet. Her eyes raised to stare at this man—this...thing in front of her who she could only guess to be Zod. She'd never seen him before, at least up close, and wishes she never had.
An acid feeling churned in her stomach and bubbled up her throat into a cough. She saw red speckle the side of Zod's face and began feeling a little nauseous.
'So that's why my stomach hurts so much...' Oddly enough, the realization didn't cause panic.
Eve's body jerked feeling the long sword yank from inside her. Blood gushed out from her stomach onto the floor, already creating a dark puddle.
Kiss it all better,
I'm not ready to go.
The scream Clark gave was horrifying. His body straining on the floor as he watched her stabbed, screaming, watching his beloved murdered in front of him, caused unearthly chills to run up the spines of those remaining behind the mirror. To those who hadn't ran, cringed.
To Clark, it was too much to bare. Not again. Not twice.
'Not her!'
All the while, Zod stared coldly down in her dark gray eyes.
Another animalistic growl came from somewhere deep in his chest, and against better judgment, Clark struggled to stand. His muscles protested and his spine screamed as he pushed up on his arms into a mishap push-up position.
Zod turning from the small, dark skinned woman, looking down at the broken man. He sneered.
Eve collapsed to a heap on the cold floor.
He noticed she had been standing tall one moment, and in the next she suddenly slumped to the ground.
Clark watched in horror.
Zod blinked, astounded; the injury to Clark's spine should have rendered him paralyzed.
Clark strained, blood inking out the sides of his lips and staining the inside of his mouth. He somehow, painfully, rose one leg to hold under his beaten body. His hair was matted from a wound somewhere underneath his hair; clothes were dirty, burnt and ripped; the structures of his back and chest showed noticeable dents and bends where bones where broken and bent inward.
He gave an incoherent call that could only be the name of the woman at Zod's feet. The look of rage, of hurt, terror and plea in Clark's remaining eye mirrored that of Eve's.
Kryptonians go thru a mating cycle every few years, beginning at the age of maturity. It is when the urge to mate has built up and becomes overwhelming to the point where the said Kryptonian, male or female, feels the strongest—senses are the most heightened and dominance becomes priority to where most to all other needs are improbable. This is when 30%-72% of Kryptonians, depending on the year/sun cycle, usually find their life-long love.
Although the instances when the urge is resisted; it doesn't matter when it happens. When a Kryptonian finds a mate, whether during the cycle or not, the two are not only joined 'til death and can share more than emotions and similar interests, but the two join almost psychologically. There had been some instances when the two could mirror each other perfectly, when emotions and expressions began blurring together to symmetrically. There was no knowledge of this sort of phenomenon occurring outside the Kryptonian species, let alone with a Kryptonian and completely different species, until now.
It was not expected for the other species to be able to feel such strong sparks when their skins caressed or to feel the happiness of a combined accomplishment so strongly. It was not expected for the other species to feel the pain, the hurt and exhaustion of their Kryptonian mate.
But Eve did.
She could feel her blood pumping from her stomach and knew how terrified Clark felt. The tears that weld up in Clark's eye when his leg finally collapsed under him, it bending at an odd angle, fell from Eve's.
He couldn't move his feet; he couldn't feel his legs. But the pain that shot up and down his back blazed hotter than fire, and he couldn't suppress the sob that escaped him watching Eve lie helplessly.
Eve squeezed her eyes shut and held her stomach in pain. He watched as her smaller body wracked in violent coughs that created a thin stream of red onto the broken, white floor from her lips. Those lips had once been soft, plump and flawless, sometimes bruised and swollen. They had never been pained and stained with blood before.
Clark looked up at Zod, his expression borderlining pleading, watching the general stride slowly to him.
Zod's expression was as arrogant and blank as Clark remembered.
Clark gasped—surprised tasting blood rise up his throat and how speech became difficult. He opened his mouth—probably to curse Zod, probably to plead—a hard, bone-breaking kick to the jaw stopped him.
How dare this...loathsome, lowlife boy... Who did he think he was? Did he think he was better than him, flying around in his inherited suit like a trophy or some toy, thinking he was special. ...Having the audacity calling himself Superman. Kal's parents were nothing but common scientists!, Zod spat mentally. He is as good as a peasant, even if his mother had been granted to stand in the council for a few years until her death!
Zod gave a glare just on the edge of granting heat vision. He watched as his kick rolled Clark over several feet to where he was almost back in the center of the room.
Kal was not going to get the better of him, he was not better than him. And Zod was certainly not leaving without the codex. Not this time...
The long table and small chairs that had been there were now reduced to splintered scrap strewn across the room. Holes and cracks in the ceiling from the fight and heat vision blast allowed sunlight in various corners and areas, along giving the room unwanted shadows. Dust filled the air to where every breath for Eve was difficult and she coughed again.
Clark looked up at her. Her tears that fell were no longer from pain, but fear. Fear, confusion and isolation. But not loneliness.
It's not your fault, love
You didn't know,
You didn't know.
Officer Hunt stood rigid at the glass. The cameras and monitors that had recorded the couple's final moments and Superman's confession—that had recorded everything—had no doubly been crushed by the falling rubble from the fight. Though, none of that mattered right now as Zod stood staring directly at them all in the eye.
Hunt took in a sharp breath seeing the broken, bleeding hero sprawled on the floor. His face was turned away from Hunt and for some reason he was glad. He had seen Clark's—Superman's—glasses shatter and fly across the room from the heat-vision-blast and was now 100% certain. A single tear trailed the curve of Hunt's cheek and disappeared behind his bushy white mustache.
The police woman tugged Hunt by the arm, urging him with her as she followed the rest to flee from the crumbling building. Hunt saw Zod sneer, and he followed her.
Clark watched Eve mouth his name—it wasn't "Clark."
He felt is heart skip as it began slowing down.
The streams of sunlight that strayed thru the cracks illuminated the room, giving it a golden glow. Clark looked around, the room had suddenly taken on an almost dreamy feel and air.
Eve lay on her side, a hand still on her stomach as a pool of red gathered underneath her. Despite, she was smiling. It did not reach her eyes, though.
Clark squeezed his eyes closed—and panicked when he only felt one close completely—feeling pain all over his body. He wouldn't, refused to let himself cry.
He curled into himself a little, his body wracked in silent sobs. He had failed. He had failed his father, Jor-El, and mother, Lara Lor-Van. He failed his parents, Martha and Jonathan. He failed Perry, Jimmy and Pete. He failed Bruce, Diana, Hal and the others. He had failed his family and the friends close enough to be family.
He had failed Lois.
He had slipped up; he messed up and fucked pathetically. He had failed the people of Earth; he had one mission and he screwed it up.
...But he'd save the people of Krypton, right...?
He failed Eve...
Failure.
The sobs strained to become more violent.
Eve whispered, her voice no longer strong enough to rise louder. She called for Clark to look at her, begging, pleading. She glanced up, relieved that Zod's back faced them, and with her final bout of energy stretched to him.
It took him a few moments, but when Clark managed to turn himself to look at her, there was no mistaking the tears in his eye.
He was afraid.
Her smile wavered as another bout of pain shot burned from her abdomen up her throat. She swallowed down the blood that rose again and whispered for him once more.
He saw the hand she was slowly reaching to him had the bracelet still around her wrist.
Stay with me until I fall asleep
(Kiss it all better~)
Even though Clark knew the bracelet made her body durable, bones thicker and skin stronger, she was still human. There was no way she was invulnerable to the poison that lined Zod's sword. She was still weaker than he was...And the thought scared Clark.
He was shocked she hadn't gotten rid of the bracelet.
Stay with me-e~
Zod's eyed dilated watching the last of the humans run from behind the glass. They were heading for an emergency exit. A helicopter was heading their way, probably to pick them up.
More aircrafts were heading for the Metropolis jailhouse, he could hear. Aircrafts like last time.
'Humans are so irritating,' He thought.
Zod turned to look down at his finally, fallen enemy. He couldn't suppress the smug, proud feeling for himself that threatened to show on his face. The woman was stretched on the floor, Zod saw, her hand outstretching, painfully inching across the floor.
He didn't like see that Clark was starting to do the same in her direction, and calmly walked over and drove his heavy metal heel down into the back of Clark's hand.
Eve gasped, hearing bones snap. She didn't know how Clark could only grit his teeth instead of screaming out loudly.
Clark laid his head down, feeling his eyes burn.
Zod watched in wicked satisfaction at Eve's calling, pleading for him to look up. He turned back to where the humans were fleeing.
'Kal-El is finished.'
Stay with me until i fall asleep...
Stay with me
Eve lay on her stomach, using every ounce of her remaining energy to reach him. She had to, she must, before she...
Clark turned on his side, refusing to give up and reached for her again. He didn't care about the fact that his hand was almost completely shattered; he breathed furiously, straining to pull his body across the floor. His entire body burned, from his skull down his spine; he was now sure he was paralyzed from the waist down as the pain didn't reach there.
They were inches away. Their hands were centimeters apart.
Clark reached his hand closer towards her.
(Kiss it all better~)
Eve smiled at his expression. He dusted himself off, frowning hearing her laugh lightly. It was already freezing outside and he could have gone without having ice sprayed on him. Eve wanted to stop by the outdoor iceskating ring after visiting the hospital, and one of the skiers had made an abrupt turn, showering Clark with snow. Though it was snowing outside, Clark needed nothing more than a good sweater. Eve laughed, not knowing this. "C'mon...let's get you home," she hugged herself, her teeth chattering loudly.
She couldn't stop her jaw from dropping. There was no way...She would never have thought that Clark could beat her. But surely, the score was nowhere near hers on both DDR and Just Dance. ...Boy was she wrong. His smug smile just irked her more.
Clark Kent had always seemed like the quiet guy who kept to himself at the office. He didn't talk to many unless necessary, and when he did, it was very little. He was well known like Lois and was one of Perry White's favorite reporters, but unlike Lois, he didn't force himself onto others, at least not as abrasive as she did, and didn't make sure the entire country knew of his name and title. He just did what was needed to be done and then went about his business.
He was the one you always kept an eye out for. For some, as a competition; to others, to was because of his famed mild clumsiness. To Eve, because he had always stood out to her.
At first, she didn't like him very much for some reason, but then couldn't understand why he chose to be with someone who was so bossy and self-centered as Lois, and she soon began feeling a bit sympathetic. Then they were introduced and quiet jealousy began to brew.
And then the night in the back of the taxi...
Clark knew now that all he had felt was lust back then. He would come to work and his eyes would automatically, somehow, find Miss Lancaster—as he called her then. His selfish acts caused by the kryptonite had made him act on his thoughts. He didn't know if Eve had felt the same and hadn't quite cared then.
Clark moaned. He heard her heartbeat skip; his grip on the mattress tightened. He ignored the sound of fabric shredding.
He felt shameful of his actions.
It wasn't long until he began feeling something other than, more than lust for the short, darker woman. Eve was the only one who successfully picked up that he was spiraling into depression after Lois' death and had been the only one to successfully pull him out.
He didn't like that he had ended up using her for so long. He hated himself that it took a situation as this for him to finally apologize, to finally say "I love you."
Eve shrinked away in the small space the elevator allowed. Clark remained bent slightly for several moments before straightening tall. His hand retreated from cupping her face to hide in his pocket. "I-I can't," Eve placed a hand on her lips. He had been about to kiss her. "This is wrong. Sh-she just died, Clark, and I feel that this—I—- we—are disrespecting her." Clark raised an eyebrow a bit. "I've always told to move on after it's been more than one year. And it's been almost half a year already, Eve," he countered. Eve shook her head. She left quickly, leaving him standing in the elevator and breathed a sigh of thanks that the doors opened then.
She had always been true and he had always lied. When he'd come back from witnessing children burn, from him not have been able to save every person, she was there for him—sometimes waiting, losing sleep at late hours trying to calm his shakes and using words she hoped would lighten the moment.
Through all the lies, the times he'd blow her off ten minutes 'til, when he'd abruptly get up and leave in the middle of the night, Clark was too afraid to tell her he was Superman. So he continued to lie; Eve continued to believe him. And he grew to feeling worse and worse with every moment of opportunity passed.
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both / And be one traveler, long I stood / And looked down one as far as I could..." The book of poems obscured her face. Clark looked up hearing her reading aloud, and he put the rubik's cube he played with on his stomach. It was nearing Christmas time and it showed outside. Clark lay quietly, his head in Eve's lap, and listened as she read the next line and more. "...And having perhaps the better claim, / Because it was grassy and wanted wear; / Though as for that the passing there / Had worn them really about the same,..." She adjusted her hips on the sofa. Clark felt her fingers tangle in his curls. "...Yet knowing how way leads on to way, / I doubted if I should ever come back." For some reason, that hit him. The more he listened the more the words reminded him of them—they were both completely different besides their backgrounds, though she didn't know, and their paths had happened to cross. "I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence: / Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference," Eve turned the page to the next poem. Clark took her hand from his hair and played with her smaller fingers. "What's the name of that one," he asked when she finished. This was the sixth poem she's read aloud. "The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. ...Why?" He put her fingers down. "No reason," he lied, before getting up to make more hot chocolate.
They were two souls who met by fate and chance, who were walking down two very different paths that just happened to cross. Who, by destiny, fell in love and by unfortunate events lay bleeding on the ground.
Stay with me until I fall asleep...
Stay with me.
Rubble caved in the next room. Debris fell from the ceiling as the building groaned. The ground rumbled. Zod's World Engines landing shook the ground in more than seven mile radius.
Hunt and those who had fled the jail now piled in a helicopter outside. That did not stop Zod—with the gifts of heat vision and ability to fly thanks to Earth's atmosphere, he could rid them in five seconds flat.
There needn't be their need to run. They were done anyhow; Earth was finished. The World Engines were in position and it is only a matter of time until life as they knew it—this world—would be gone.
Stay with me until I fall asleep,
Light caramel twined with fair tan.
Eve breathed a sigh.
The familiarity calmed her a bit feeling her hand with his.
The little light that streamed in thru cracks gave the white room a golden hue. The dust in the air looked different and the room reminded Clark of something from a fairytale or dream.
The building grew louder as it fell apart. A chunk of cement fell somewhere nearby.
She looked so beautiful, he thought, with the golden light of sunset in the room lining her, and the way her hair strewned haphazardly. Her bright eyes crinkled in a smile.
He wished none of this ever happened. She was his everything and never did he want anything as this to happen to her. He thought he could fix it. He had thought he could fix himself when he pulled the kryptonite bullet from in his side. He had thought he could fix it like whenever he had on the suit. He had thought he could stop Zod, but foolishly took his eyes away at the wrong time. He thought he could be the one to help her. He thought...he thought...
He didn't think anymore.
Clark twined their fingers together. He was losing his hearing.
I love you.
He didn't try to hide the lone tear that fell. There was no reason for him to hide any longer.
Clark reached and cupped her hand with both of his, his easily overtaking hers.
No words were needed. Unspoken knowing of their fates rendered them silent, along with the pain.
Clark didn't hear Eve's second heartbeat, it too, faint and slowly coming to a halt.
She squeezed his hand.
It is said some feel a final feeling of grief, denial and anger during final moments. Most times, feeling isolated and confused.
Eve smiled—though, it was pained.
My love.
Stay with me.
Warmth and tranquility was all that was felt between the two.
Her lips quivered, and Clark barely caught the words they formed.
She wouldn't say that she was losing her sight rapidly, the alien poison quickly running its coarse thru her body. She instinctly held her stomach.
A large slab of wall fell away.
Eve closed her eyes, her smile serene.
Clark watched her breathing slow, taking in, studying, and remembering as much of her as he finally could.
Both refused for their hands to let go.
His eyes closed minutes after hers.