AUTHOR NOTE

So sorry it's taken so long everybody. I have no excuse.

I hope at least some of you are still with me.

Grab the tissues. It's a sad one.

It's Not An S - Chapter 25

3rd person pov

Jenny was inconsolable after Lauren had taken her last breath, the beautiful blonde reporter now motionless and devoid of life still trapped under concrete debris.

She had died saving her. She had died trying to save them all.

Secure in Steve's shaking arms as Metropolis continued to burn around them, Jenny could only concentrate on one thing, one face. Perry's.

Perry stayed with Lauren the entire time, kept focused on her as the last tremors of life left her lips. Even now, even now it was too late for her, he was hesitant and reluctant to leave her body behind. Not there. Not in that disaster zone.

Thinking on what to do, how to proceed, he decided to grant her her last wish. He had to find him. Find the alien. He had to tell him Lauren's last words.

Doing their best to be respectful of Lauren and what had happened, Perry, Jenny and Steve removed their jackets and placed them over her grey and cold body, the only part of her now visible being her face.

"How are we going to find him?" Jenny sobbed as they left Lauren behind, now in search of the alien she had been so eager to get to.

"She was heading this way, and I'm sure I saw something crash to the ground in the same direction," Steve pointed directly ahead.

Less than 10 minutes later, the shaking and devastated trio came across a clearing, a space in the rubble that had been completely levelled.

Only one thing could be seen in the centre, one figure, one man. They'd found him.

"You need to get out of the city. It's still not safe," Clark instructed with a forceful yell, three

clearly distraught people heading in his direction from the dust filled smog.

"I have to talk to you first," the oldest man of the group trembled with sorrow filled eyes.

"The emergency services will be on the outskirts of the city. You can tell them everything you need to. Make sure you get your injuries looked at as well. That's a lot of blood."

"It's not our blood," Perry finally broke down, the reserved and controlled air he normally put on now completely gone.

Clark frowned at that, not really sure how to respond. He had a thousand things going on in his head, a thousand more things he needed to be concentrating on right now. These people had obviously lost someone in the battle, in the carnage. How was he supposed to console them? How was he supposed to fix it?

"I'm sorry for your loss. Truly. If there was anything I could have done to save more people I would have..."

"I tried to get her to leave," Perry interrupted with a frustrated cry, just needing to get the words out now.

About to respond to the mans sudden outburst, Clark spotted something on 2 of the 3 people. It was badges, staff badges attached to their shirt pockets. They were from the Daily Planet.

Locking eyes with the man in front of him, a shiver began to rush down Clark's back. It couldn't be. It couldn't be her.

"You tried to get who to leave?" Clark almost whispered, his jaw clenched and his hands shaking in fear for what he was about to hear.

"She was determined to find you. Nothing I could say would make her leave."

They didn't need to confirm who it was now. It was clear from all their faces. It was Lauren's blood on their clothes, it was sadness for her that was etched into their features.

Even with everything that had happened in the last few hours, Clark hadn't been as scared as he now found himself, not ever. Not even when his Dad died. Lauren was his future. His whole life.

"And you just left her? Where is she? She could be bleeding to death?" Clark suddenly burst out, anger and terror filling his voice in equal measure.

"It all happened so...so fast. There was nothing we could...do," Jenny sobbed as she shook in Steve's arms.

"What do you mean there was nothing you could do?"

Taking a slow step forward, his way of showing he wasn't a threat, Perry looked deeply into Clark's frantic eyes. He didn't want to have to say this more than once. He didn't know if he could. The alien had to hear it loud and clear.

"Lauren's gone son."

"No...no she's not. You've got the wrong person," Clark cried as he paced left and right.

He refused to believe it. Refused to take it in. Lauren had been nowhere near there when he last saw her. How could she now be laying dead in Metropolis?

"She told me to tell you she's sorry. She told me to tell you she lov..."

"You don't need to tell me, because you've got the wrong person," Clark continued to protest.

"I'm Perry White. I'm Lauren's boss at the Daily Planet. I can assure you, it is her."

Taking one look at the man in front of him, his words finally sinking in, Clark felt his whole body start to give out on him. He could handle a lot, he'd proven that in the past. He couldn't however handle what he was about to face. He couldn't handle losing her.

"How? When? Where?" Clark cried, the desperation to find out what had happened now his main focus. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe he could still save her.

"A building started to collapse. She pushed Jenny out of the way and got trapped under the rubble. It was about 20 minutes ago."

"Where?" Clark asked again, his voice now numb and his brain turning hazy. This couldn't be happening.

"Three blocks east. Outside the entrance to LexCorp."

Not wasting another minute, Clark disappeared in the blink of an eye. Every second was precious. Every tick of the clock making the difference between life and death. He just couldn't accept the facts, the reality. Lauren was already gone. He was too late.

Within seconds Clark had reached the LexCorp tower, and it wasn't long before he spotted what he was searching for.

She stood out like a rose in a thorn bush, a glass of water in the dessert, a beacon on the shore. In amongst the twisted metal, debris and sea of grey, lay his heart, his soul, his Lauren.

Reaching her side and unable to look at her face for fear of completely falling apart, Clark concentrated on the rest of her.

Her body was concealed by jackets, their removal showing exactly what had caused Lauren's demise. Her torso was pinned to the ground by a concrete pillar, blood flowing out of her in all directions.

It hadn't hit Clark what he was looking at, who he was looking at. His eyes were on her, but he wasn't really seeing any of it. He'd gone. His whole world had stopped. Frozen.

Ripping the concrete off of her body, and freeing her from the debris, Clark didn't hesitate in getting on his knees and pulling her into his arms, her limp and cold body causing his heart to clench in his chest.

"No, no, no, no, no. Come on beautiful. Don't do this to me," Clark panicked as he finally looked at her serene and still face.

Apart from a small cut above her left eyebrow, her face was completely free of injury, the only sign of her fate being the grey parlour of her skin and the blue tint to her usually blush pink lips.

"Wake up Lauren. Please wake up," he now cried, pulling her securely into his chest and rocking her back and forth.

"I can't lose you. I can't do this without you. Please, please, please come back."

The seconds ticked away, the air began to clear, and it hit Clark what had actually happened. It hit him full force. The scream that left his lips at the realisation being enough to cause earthquakes oceans away.

Lauren wasn't just hurt. She wasn't just in danger. All those things he could fix, save her from. No, this was big, too big, even for him. Lauren was dead, gone.

It felt like hours had passed, but truly it had only been minutes. Clark still sat with Lauren's body enclosed in his arms, his eyes committing every inch of her to memory.

Taking in every mark, every scar, every line, Clark's emotions began to shift. Sadness was no longer the emotion that soaked through every pore. Now it was anger, now it was hatred, now it was rage.

He wouldn't, couldn't accept that this was the end of their story. They'd been through so much together, so many trials, so many life defining moments. He'd be damned if he was going to let this happen. Let her die. Let her stay dead. He had to think of something, something quick.

Looking up at the sky, Clark's way of trying to calm himself down, he spotted the globe on top of the Daily Planet building in the distance. It shown from its pedestal, a bright light in a world of dark. He knew what to do now. He knew how he was going to make it better.

"I'm going to fix this baby. I promise," Clark trembled as he placed his forehead against Lauren's ice cold one, determination now seeping through him and with a clear plan in his mind.

Slowly and with as much care as possible, Clark lay Lauren back down on the ground, the sight of her battered and broken body being an image that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

"I love you so much Lauren."

Peeling his eyes off of her for the final time, he stood up, clenched his fists, tensed his jaw, and pulled forward as much strength as he could muster.

In less than a blink, he was gone.

He shot up into the sky, higher and higher. He was like a ball out of a cannon. A bullet out of a gun.

When Lauren entered his lifeat the age of 17, his whole earth shifted, moved. Now it was time for him to get her world turning. He had to. It was the only way to bring her back.

Please review and let me know what you thought of it. Can you work out what's going to happen?

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