Elixir

by Lener

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

Chapter Nine

        "Clark!!!!!" Chloe screamed, but before she could rush to help him, Sara thrust the meteor dagger at her, and Chloe jumped back. "Move one step towards him and I'll kill him…" Sara threatened.

        "Leave him alone… it's me you want, right?" Chloe gulped.

        "Smart, Sullivan, very smart," Sara brought the dagger to Chloe's neck in one quick movement, then pushed her forward. "Now walk, and if you make any sudden moves, you're dead."

        As she started walking, Chloe gave one last glance back at the inert form of Clark, and felt a stab of fear and guilt pierce her through. Clark had always been the one who rescued her when she got in trouble (which had been a lot of times)- what would she do without him? I'm sorry, Clark, she tried to say, but the words choked in her mouth. Sara gave her another warning push, and they both set off into the woods.

*

        Clark tried to open his eyes, but it was as though someone had glued them tight- they seemed shut forever. Well, either that or he did not want to open his eyes.

        All I want to do is lie here forever, he thought. Where was he anyway? There was darkness all around, and silence reigned in this unknown land. A vague, faraway throb in the distance echoed in time with his frantic heartbeats.

        The far-off throbbing seemed to bring to mind a mental image of a pile of glowing green rocks. The meteor rocks! The dagger that Sara had used to stab him was made out of the meteor, right? So it did not surprise Clark that he had not been stabbed by it (there was no excruciatingly painful areas in his chest). Instead, he was rather astonished that the dagger had not broken into pieces.

        Perhaps because it's made out of the meteor rocks… Clark thought. His legs were heavy, like lead, and his arms felt like they were straw-stuffed sacks of cloth. His chest rose and fell erratically with each difficult breath of air. His head swam in circles, like he was coming out of a deep sleep…

        Clark opened his eyes.

        The night was dark, the moon casting little light on the woody area he was in. He noticed the empty clearing and the traces of trampled grass still wet with night dew leading into the woods, and uttered the first that thing came to mind.

        "Chloe."

*

        A cry of protest escaped Chloe's lips as Sara pushed her against the rough bark of a tree and whipped out a coil of coarse rope at the same time.

        "What do you want," Chloe choked.

        "Don't pretend to be innocent, Sullivan. You know I've always hated you," Sara spat. She unwound the rope and advanced towards Chloe.

        "Way to be subtle…" Chloe muttered under her breath, but unfortunately Sara caught what she had said, and snarled menacingly.

        "You won't have much wit or sarcasm left in you after tonight, Sullivan. In fact, there won't be anything left of you when I'm through," Sara threatened.

        Chloe chose that exact moment to leap at Sara and throw her to the ground. A second later both of them were rolling on the grass, Sara struggling with her dagger and rope, while Chloe struggled to keep the dagger and rope away from her.

        Unfortunately Sara was much bigger in size, and within a few minutes Chloe had been tied to the trunk of the tree, her hands bounded and raised above her head.

        "Why are you doing this?" she said through clenched teeth.

        Sara smiled a mirthless smile and ran a finger carefully over the edge of the dagger blade. "Do you remember the time Smallville High recruited members for the Editing Committee of the Torch?" she said casually.

        Chloe gave an outburst, "That was more than two years ago! I can't believe you'd harbor grudges like this!"

        Sara brought the blade to Chloe's neck. "I was made- no, born for the post of Chief Editor. Besides, I was older than you- I had more experience. But somehow you got chosen instead, and now you're going to pay."

        "You can't kill me, Sara. My father will know I'm missing- he'll call the police and they'll send out a search party to look for you and me. When they find you'll they charge you with murder and then it'll be all over," Chloe bit her lip as Sara withdrew the knife with a chuckle.

        "That's where you're wrong, Sullivan. We're in the past. If I kill you here and now, you're entire childhood- your whole youth will be wiped out from the future. You know what that means? It means that Chloe Sullivan will cease to exist; no one will remember you, the intrepid reporter for the Smallville Torch… pretty neat, huh?" she added, seeing the look of horror on Chloe's face.

        Chloe struggled with the ropes, but they were wound round her too tightly. So that's why I couldn't find anything about Martin Spout… any trace of him had been totally wiped out… she realized with dawning terror. Was this what was going to happen to her?

        "It's how I killed so many people, you know," Sara continued, grinning insanely, "and sucked their youth into my soul. That's why I've managed to stay so young."

        Oh, I'm going to be sick to the core… Chloe closed her eyes, and then opened them. There was one question nagging her.

        "Well, if you just wanted to take your revenge on me, you could have killed my former self instead of murdering all those people like you did," Chloe argued, trying to stall for time. Part of her desperately wished that Clark had not been stabbed, and that he would come to her rescue. But he was just a human after all- most of the time he'd been at the right place at the right time, but now it seemed that all hope was gone.

        "Ahhh… well you see, I figured there wasn't much fun in just killing your past self. I want you to suffer a little. Besides, killing all the other people made such a lovely little story. I knew our nosey reporter couldn't help but feel the need to investigate," Sara took a step forward, and the knife gleamed under the night sky.

        Chloe strained frantically against the ropes, feeling the hair stand up at the back of her neck.

        "But enough talk for now… let's let me take my revenge, shall we?" Sara smiled.

        This was it, her last moments.

        Her life was going to end with her tied to a tree; death at the hands of a rival, someone she did not even hate or dislike. The worst part was that no one would know this- no one would remember her.

        "I think I'll start with a reporter's most precious body organ… the hands. Then maybe we could go up to the eyes…" Sara muttered, leaning closer.

        Chloe felt the tears stinging the back of her eyes, but she would not let them fall. She thought of her father, and of Pete, and Clark. I never got the chance to say goodbye to them. I never got the chance to tell Clark how I really feel about him.

        "Any last words?" Sara asked.

        Anger and hatred welled in Chloe's chest.

        "Yea, go to hell," she spat out.

        A second later Sara drove the dagger into her outstretched palm, and she screamed as something like an electric current raced through her body, her hands glowing an eerie neon green.

*

        Once the scream pierced through the night air, Clark bolted up from his horizontal position on the forest floor.

        "Chloe!" he shouted.

Author's Note: Ahhh… the suspense. Ouch! Poor Chloe… her hand's gotta hurt! Anyway, I've come up with a really interesting concept for my next Smallville fanfic! So do keep reading this fic to find out what it is! Once again, thanks to all who reviewed the previous chapter. My replies are below!

Sylphide- Hey! Thanks for reviewing! Ahh… finally finished Elixir and am working on the next (interesting concept) thingy whether readers like it or not! It's going to be Chlark, of course. I never write anything else. Lol… nah I wouldn't say this story rocks! I haven't spent as much time on it as I did Kaleidoscope, but I think I have a little more interest in the next story now! Anyway, do keep reading!

Suz- Hey!! Where've you been? I haven't seen you since… Chapter 2!!!! Oh don't worry… I'm not upset about reviews… it's just that I thought nobody was reading my story anymore… lol! Well, I'm glad you stopped by to prove me wrong! Haha… I've never really spotted any big loopholes in the real show! Yes, don't worry, I'll update soon! You just keep reading!

Starburst- Yo! Thanks for the review! It's all right… I'm just glad that you're still reading this story! It would be a shame if everyone were to abandon reading it halfway. I'd feel totally sucky. Hahaha. You know, I always try to put a cliffhanger or a suspense-filled part at the end of every chapter! Haha, thought you ought to know! Thanks for reviewing!

sully vann- Hey! Thanks for the review! Glad you like this story!

Calty- Yo you!!!! I thought you weren't reading this story anymore! Oh well, I guess I'm also to blame for not updating regularly, huh? Sorry to everyone! Oh you won't see more chapters because it's going to END! But don't worry… I'm sure everyone will think the next concept's interesting… I hope! HAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!! The joke was hilarious! I'm gonna tell it to all my friends! Thanks for reviewing!!!!!!!