Newcomer
By Dante
(Disclaimer: Smallville and all related characters are property of Warner Brothers and DC Comics. Alex Byers is not my creation, but my modification of his life is. Apologies to the true Ale X, you know I love ya, man!)
Chapter 10: Calm before The Storm
"This storm is getting pretty crazy here, Clark."
"Yeah, I've noticed."
The Kent pickup was just barely staying on the road as sixty mile per hour winds whipped it from side to side. The ditches on the sides of the road were overflowing and spilling up onto the road. In the seat next to Clark, Alex was slumped in his seat, growing paler by the moment.
"Hey, are you all right?"
"Yeah, I just feel kinda. I dunno."
Outside, lighting lit up the sky and Alex winced in pain. It seemed like the worse the weather got, the more his condition degraded, and Clark couldn't figure out why. A rolling thunder shook the truck as another gust of wind hit hard, sending them careening off the road.
Alex shoved the door open and stumbled out into the field that the truck had come to rest in.
"Something's wrong! This isn't natural."
"What do you mean, not natural? How do you know?"
"I can feel it."
"How?"
"I just can. And this is wrong. It's all wrong. Someone or something is doing this."
"Is there anything you can do?"
Alex looked off into the biting rain, focusing on what seemed to be the focus of the lightning.
"I don't know. But I have to try."
"Why you?"
"I think it's why I'm here."
Something about that resonated within Clark. That sense of purpose, the sense of being able to do something that onl you could do.
"I can help."
"No. This is mine to do. Go home, Clark."
Alex focused within himself and tried to find the strength within. He could truly feel the wrongness of the weather inside him. It was like a burning that was eating away at the core of him. Calming himself, Alex visualized the burning, he called up an image of the wrongness and slowly began to chip away at it. As he did, he could feel himself growing stronger. Just barely aware of what was going on in the world around him, he didn't notice that as he righted things, the rain was easing up, the wind was stopping, and the clouds had begun to part.
Clark scanned Alex again with his x-ray vision and still found nothing wrong with him, but everywhere there was a charge in the air as Alex stood at the center of an ever-increasing calm in the storm. Whatever he was doing, it was working. There was a crackle of energy in the air and suddenly the storm broke. The clouds split and vanished, stars becoming visible in the night sky. The rain had stopped and the wind had become nothing more than the typical night breeze across the plain.
With sweat dripping on his forehead, Alex dropped to a knee on the ground, a slight smile on his face.
"It's over. I think."
"What do you mean? It looks over to me."
"It's over for now. But we still don't know what caused it."
"We? So it's we now?"
Alex looked up, his blue eyes fixing on Clark's.
"Look. Clark. You know my secret now. I'm not quite sure what it is yet, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this. I'm pretty sure that they'd take me away from my mom."
Clark's throat tightened as he heard so many of his own fears being echoed from the shorter man.
"No one'll hear it from me. I promise."
"Thank you. Now um, maybe we should push your truck out of the ditch."
By Dante
(Disclaimer: Smallville and all related characters are property of Warner Brothers and DC Comics. Alex Byers is not my creation, but my modification of his life is. Apologies to the true Ale X, you know I love ya, man!)
Chapter 10: Calm before The Storm
"This storm is getting pretty crazy here, Clark."
"Yeah, I've noticed."
The Kent pickup was just barely staying on the road as sixty mile per hour winds whipped it from side to side. The ditches on the sides of the road were overflowing and spilling up onto the road. In the seat next to Clark, Alex was slumped in his seat, growing paler by the moment.
"Hey, are you all right?"
"Yeah, I just feel kinda. I dunno."
Outside, lighting lit up the sky and Alex winced in pain. It seemed like the worse the weather got, the more his condition degraded, and Clark couldn't figure out why. A rolling thunder shook the truck as another gust of wind hit hard, sending them careening off the road.
Alex shoved the door open and stumbled out into the field that the truck had come to rest in.
"Something's wrong! This isn't natural."
"What do you mean, not natural? How do you know?"
"I can feel it."
"How?"
"I just can. And this is wrong. It's all wrong. Someone or something is doing this."
"Is there anything you can do?"
Alex looked off into the biting rain, focusing on what seemed to be the focus of the lightning.
"I don't know. But I have to try."
"Why you?"
"I think it's why I'm here."
Something about that resonated within Clark. That sense of purpose, the sense of being able to do something that onl you could do.
"I can help."
"No. This is mine to do. Go home, Clark."
Alex focused within himself and tried to find the strength within. He could truly feel the wrongness of the weather inside him. It was like a burning that was eating away at the core of him. Calming himself, Alex visualized the burning, he called up an image of the wrongness and slowly began to chip away at it. As he did, he could feel himself growing stronger. Just barely aware of what was going on in the world around him, he didn't notice that as he righted things, the rain was easing up, the wind was stopping, and the clouds had begun to part.
Clark scanned Alex again with his x-ray vision and still found nothing wrong with him, but everywhere there was a charge in the air as Alex stood at the center of an ever-increasing calm in the storm. Whatever he was doing, it was working. There was a crackle of energy in the air and suddenly the storm broke. The clouds split and vanished, stars becoming visible in the night sky. The rain had stopped and the wind had become nothing more than the typical night breeze across the plain.
With sweat dripping on his forehead, Alex dropped to a knee on the ground, a slight smile on his face.
"It's over. I think."
"What do you mean? It looks over to me."
"It's over for now. But we still don't know what caused it."
"We? So it's we now?"
Alex looked up, his blue eyes fixing on Clark's.
"Look. Clark. You know my secret now. I'm not quite sure what it is yet, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this. I'm pretty sure that they'd take me away from my mom."
Clark's throat tightened as he heard so many of his own fears being echoed from the shorter man.
"No one'll hear it from me. I promise."
"Thank you. Now um, maybe we should push your truck out of the ditch."