Elixir

by Lener

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Smallville.

Chapter Five

                   "Clark. Clark! CLARK!" Chloe's shout jolted him, and he snapped out of the X-Ray vision to look at the blond. "You won't be able to see the glow through the wall, Kent, unless you happen to have X-Ray eyes," Chloe said, oblivious of how close she'd hit to home.

                Clark got up from where he was sitting, stuffed his hands into his pockets and settled for a polite but clueless, "You're right, what should we do now?" He knew the kind of answer he would be getting, but he never expected it to come from Pete.

                "Well, we go check it out, man!" Pete said like it was so obvious, his pearly white grin almost blinding Clark. Chloe clapped a hand on Pete's back and said, "Now you're speaking my language!"

                Clark felt another stab of jealousy at his heart as he watched them silently. Geez, Clark? What's your problem? He said sternly to himself. Clark knew that Pete had had a crush on Chloe for a long time now, but something was holding his best friend back from making a move on Chloe. And now, secretly, Clark felt grateful for that 'something'.

                Clark Kent, I don't know what has gotten into you but you better avoid this mess once and for all.

                "Clark? Are you coming?" Chloe called. She and Pete were already on the stairs that led out of the loft.

                "Uh… yeah! Coming!" Clark nodded and quickly jogged after them. In a few quick strides, he managed to catch up with Chloe and Pete, who was walking along on Chloe's right. Clark took his usual place by her left, and they headed out to the fields where Chloe had seen the glow.

*

                Chloe parted the bushes near to where the eerie green glow was coming from, and then peered through the leaves and branches to see what was going on. On her left, Clark shifted uneasily while Pete leaned forward curiously.

                "Someone… or something… is there," Chloe whispered. Pete pushed aside more branches so that now the patch of field hidden by the bushes was almost visible. All three of them peered in closer, and Chloe had to ignore the tingly feeling of Clark's breath on her skin. She urged herself to concentrate on the current situation instead.

                What met her eyes made her gasp- there was a large doorway of some sort hovering in the air, and it was glowing such a brilliant green that they could not tell whether it was a solid doorway or not.

                "Someone's coming!" Pete whispered, and sure enough a girl came walking out- right out from the doorway! Her figure seemed to mould out against the filmy green substance, and then she stepped out onto the real field calmly. The girl was holding a dagger, but it was not just any ordinary dagger- it was made completely out of meteorite.

                The girl, who looked about their age, muttered something while holding the dagger aloft, then turned around and disappeared into the night. Suddenly, Chloe felt herself being pulled to her feet. She instinctively grabbed Clark's hand, then closed her eyes as Pete pulled all of them through the doorway before it closed up, shutting out the picture of a serene Kent Farm.

*

                The moment Chloe took hold of his hand and thrust him into the strange doorway, he felt the veins under his skin shift. When his body crashed through the meteor doorway, Clark felt a sharp bolt of pain pierce his head- his stomach felt like it was melting from the inside and his knees gave way beneath him. A second later, Clark stumbled back onto solid ground, tripped over a stone, slammed into someone and tumbled head over heels. When he opened his eyes, breathing hard, he found himself face to face with Chloe. They were lying on the ground in a tangle of arms and legs.

                "Clark… you're squashing me…" Chloe groaned from under him. With a start, Clark realized that he no longer felt nauseas- in fact, he felt a little light headed. Did it have to do with the fact that he was actually lying on top of Chloe Sullivan?

                "Clark!" Chloe finally pushed him off.

                The sound of someone clearing his throat made Clark sit up. "Ahem, when you two are done rolling about in the grass, feel free to take a look at where we are," Pete said, looking a little peeved. What do you expect- a hearty laugh? You were rolling around in the dirt with his crush who also happens to be your best friend.

                "Oh my goodness. We're standing on exactly the same spot," Chloe gaped as Clark stood up and dusted the bits of soil and dried leaves off his clothes. Indeed, the three of them were still on the field belonging to the Kents. It was as though they'd never left the field except for jumping through the air and landing on the grass.

                "Well, so much for an adventure," Pete remarked as they gazed around.

                "It's almost 12 noon… perhaps we'd better get back to the house for lunch," Clark broke through the silence. The others nodded and they trooped back up the field towards Clark's house.

                Strange… somehow some things look different here. Come to think of it, where's the fence that Dad just built a month along the field boundary? It should be right here but I don't see it anywhere. Clark was about to voice his suspicion to Chloe and Pete when suddenly they heard his mother shout, "Clark! Lunchtime!"

                Clark opened his mouth to say 'We're coming!' but someone beat him to it.

                "Coming!" a voice that sounded exactly like his echoed through the house. Before he knew it, Chloe and Pete had their noses pressed up against the side window and were peering into the dining room. Clark ran towards them, and gasped in disbelief as he stared into the dining room. A younger version of himself had just entered the dining room, wearing a red sweater and jeans.

                There was a shocked silence, in which the young Clark kissed a younger looking Martha Kent with a cheerful 'Good afternoon'.

                Pete pulled away from the window and slammed into Clark, stuttering. "O… ok… okay. You're out here…" he turned back to the window and looked at young Clark, then, "and you're in there."

                "I…" Clark shrugged, equally clueless.

                "We've gone back into time! We passed through the meteorite doorway which brought us to the year… I don't know… you look 13, Clark. That would make it… 1998! Hey… that's the year I came to Smallville!" Chloe exclaimed.

                "Back into time??" Pete shrieked.

                "This can't be real," Clark agreed.

                "It is so real…" Chloe argued. She took a step forward and began shouting Clark's name. Clark took no notice of her, but continued to make cheerful conversation with Mrs. Kent. Chloe switched to Martha's name, but Clark's mother did not even flinch.

                "See? If this was the real world they would've heard me a long time ago, but they don't. Or can't. I tell you, we're invisible to them! They can't see us! We're in the past!" Chloe exclaimed.

                "This is so weird," Pete muttered under his breath as young Clark pulled out a chair from the dining table and sat down.

                "Say… why aren't you in school, Clark?" Chloe asked, frowning.

                Clark's heart stopped beating for a moment. He'd never been sick before, considering who he was, and if he had skipped school 'today', the only reason would be because of his powers. Then he remembered- it was the week when he had discovered that he could travel at 60 miles at hour, way faster than the average human. When he had been younger, Clark had always thought he was just faster than other kids his age. But then the speed kicked in, and he knew that he was not… normal.

                Well, if he had super speed now, then he… would definitely be eating lunch at super speed!

                Heart thumping, Clark glanced over at his best friends. Pete was making faces at young Clark, and Chloe was taking in every detail with careful eyes. If both of them found out about his secret…

                He did the only thing possible.

                "The doorway! It's opened again!" he shouted, pointing back to the field. The occupants in his house took no notice of his  shout, but Chloe and Pete whirled around to look. In a flash, the young Clark wolfed down his lunch.

                "Whoa!" Pete exclaimed when they turned back to look in the window. "Where did all the food go?" Chloe wondered.

                "Uh… shh… don't tell my mom but I used to get rid of some in the most unimaginable ways," Clark laughed nervously.

                Chloe grinned, "I can just imagine that."

                Phew.

                He was safe, for the moment.

Author's Note: Okay… so what's up with this time traveling thing? Does it have anything to do with the recent murder of Mr. Martin Spout? Will our three heroes find out and solve this mystery? Find out in the next chapter! Replies are below: 

Sylphide- Hey! Thanks for reviewing! Hey… I'm glad you liked the part about Lex getting Chloe off the hook! And yes, Clark's JEALOUS!! Woohoo!!! Lol… well, I hope you like this chapter! Do review and sorry for making you wait so long for this!

Starburst- Hey… sorry I made you wait a long time before I uploaded this, I've been pretty busy. Well, hope this next chapter satisfies your curiosity for the time being!

Calty- Hey! Thanks for the review! Oh, no Gabe Sullivan is not bad at all! He's Chloe's father… so I won't make him a bad dude! I hope you liked this chapter! Please review!