Premonition
by Lener
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Smallville.
Chapter Eight
"You shouldn't have gone after him all by yourself, Chloe," his voice was dripping with unmistakable concern, and Chloe tried not to acknowledge the strange feeling of regret that welled in her chest when she heard those words.
"Oh well, isn't that sweet? Blondie's got a little boyfriend to protect her…" the man had gotten to his feet again, and was leering at her. Beside her, Chloe felt Clark bristle and suddenly a tidal wave of anger and embarrassment washed over her.
"No one gets away with calling me 'Blondie', and he is NOT. MY. BOYFRIEND!" a punch from her fist sent the man reeling to the floor, and he landed on the ground, exclaiming in pain and shock. His hands flew to his nose, and when he pulled them away from his nose, they were covered in a substance that shone crimson in the light- blood.
One of the thugs carrying a knife broke off from the circle and came lunging for her.
"Chloe!" Clark shouted, but she'd already placed her hands on the man's shoulders and shoved him backwards. What she did not expect, however, was for him to fly 20 feet into the air, knocking into 3 others and finally crashing to the ground.
"What the…" the leader's reaction was the same as Chloe's.
"Get Mr. Matthews out of here, NOW!" Clark's voice was suddenly fierce.
"I…"
"NOW!"
She turned and ran.
*
Clark watched as Chloe picked up the inert form of their Geography teacher as though it were a feather, and then walked out of the alley (it was easy since the remaining thugs stepped away once she moved towards them).
The leader of the group hauled himself to his feet, and wiped his hand across his nose, leaving a fresh streak of blood along his skin. He glared at Clark, and took a step forward, closing the distance between the both of them.
"Now I don't know what happened just now," he declared, nostrils flaring, "but I'm going to make you pay for that."
"Please, you don't want to fight me," Clark said, but the man scoffed.
"Let's see what you can do," was the reply.
In a second the man was thrown facedown on the ground, Clark calmly pinning him down.
"Anyone wants a piece of me?" he asked the remaining four who were lucky enough to be standing. They were off in seconds, dragging the inert bodies of their less fortunate partners in crime.
Clark released their leader, who scrambled up and fled in a different direction. When Clark was sure that all the thugs had left the scene, he ran out of the alley to look for Chloe.
*
Chloe dashed out of the alley, her thoughts in turmoil. Visions and premonitions she could handle, but super strength? That was way out of her league. She stopped to catch her breath, leaning against a nearby building and marveling at how light a full grown man felt to her. It was so strange, it was almost unbelievable. Almost. Except that this was Smallville, home of the weird. Anything could happen.
She'd spent almost her entire life searching out the weirdness in Smallville, and somehow Chloe felt that something like this should've happened to her long ago. Something that made her feel unique; special; different. A gift for her to help people.
And now Mr. Matthews was stirring. She placed him down on the ground.
"Mr. Matthews… Mr. Matthews? Can you hear me? This is Chloe. Chloe Sullivan. You're safe now, all right? No one's going to hurt you. Now I need you to tell me the number of your house so I can take you there… Mr. Matthews, can you hear me?" she said.
The man groaned, then opened his eyes.
"Nine.." he managed to whisper before passing out again on the road.
Chloe scooped him up in her arms for the second time and began walking down the length of the houses along the left side of the street. It was darker, now, but the street lamps had been turned on so she could just make out the numbers on the wall of each of the houses. She found Number 9 in no time, and, setting Mr. Matthews upright so that his shoulder was slung against her, she knocked on the door.
There was a shout from inside, and then a woman opened the door.
"Umm… he was attacked. By a gang… but he wasn't badly hurt," Chloe explained straightaway.
"Oh god…"
*
The narrow shortcut opened out into a quiet walk. Clark dashed out just in time to see Chloe hand Mr. Matthews over to a grief-stricken woman, presumably his wife.
"Chloe!" Clark called once the woman had turned back to go to her house.
Chloe turned from the gate and glanced at him, then walked right past him with a "Leave me alone, Clark."
"Chloe, wait," he grabbed her arm desperately.
"What?" she spat.
"Why didn't you tell me? I could've helped you sooner," he said gently, not wanting to act as the fuel for the fire of her already rising temper.
"I don't need any help. You saw me just now, I could handle them all by myself," she retorted.
"That's what scares me, Chloe. That guy flew 20 feet into the air, don't tell me you didn't see that! It's what you could have done to all of them that worries me! Don't you understand?" he probed.
"You think I know what's happening to me, Clark? You think I fully understand what's going on? I don't! Let me just tell you, I don't! And it freaks me out to suddenly have a blackout in the middle of the hallway and experience something so real- so terrifying, that I know will happen. But I have to help these people, because now I can," she broke off abruptly.
"Chloe…" Clark placed both hands on her shoulders, and this time she did not push him away. "Chloe, look at me."
She brought her green eyes to his, but somehow they were different now, always that familiar shade of green…
"It was the meteor rocks, wasn't it? What Sara Parkins did to you?" he asked.
"You make it sound like a curse. What's wrong with seeing the future? What's wrong with being extra strong? I can help people, it's what I've always wanted to do," her eyes seemed to glow brighter, with a passion… and suddenly Clark felt himself drop to his knees clutching his head in agony. The familiar of nausea flowed through his veins as he cried out…
"Clark! Clark! Are you okay?" Chloe tried to pull him to his feet.
He finally found his footing and managed to stand upright,
"You've got to get help, Chloe," he said. Somehow he could not bear the thought of never being able to look into the eyes of his best friend for the rest of his life.
"Help? Come on, Clark, this is my only chance to help people, and you of all others should understand that! Aren't you always going around trying to help people?" she tried to reason.
"But you could hurt people," he countered.
"I can help them. But you… you're just a normal kid, you'll get hurt yourself!"
"Chloe, why are you being so stubborn, I-"
"Just leave me alone, okay, Clark?" Her eyes were shiny in the darkness, "you've done that your whole life, so why is it so hard to do it now?"
And with that she yanked her am away and vanished into the night.
Author's Note: Aww… such a sad ending. Chloe and Clark always seem to be quarreling nowadays, don't they? Well, I certainly hope they'll make up. Hahaha. Anyway, replies to reviewers are below! Thanks for reading!
Sylphide- Yo Syl! First to review the previous chapter! Wassup, girl? Lol… anyway, thanks for reviewing! Lol… yeah Chloe has super strength to add to her premonitions, but Clark is still superior in the… X-Ray vision, heat ray vision, superspeed, invincibility front. DARN. But still, Chloe's strength matches Clark's… it's just that she hasn't developed much of it yet. Drew Barrymore? I don't know if it was her… I thought it was some other girl… who DID act in Smallville! In Season 1, I think… as that sexy reporter who tried to get a story from Lex (I forgot the plot). Lol… hope you liked this chapter anyway, James… LOL…
SeleneA- Hello! Thanks for the review! I'm glad you're a Chlark shipper! Lol… who the heck likes Lana anyway? (I always say this…) YES! My point exactly, she lives OFF and FOR people's sympathy, that lousy good for nothing… creature. Lol…
Michelle- What's it? There's still plenty more plot to go, don't worry! Lol… Don't worry… there'll be a BIG Chlarky goodness thingamajig at the end of this story. I hope I won't disappoint my readers. Anyway, don't make me sound so great. My writing is lousy… heh. And of COURSE this story has to be different from Elixir! Although they're related, Premonition MUST have a different plot. It's a sequel! Lol… I'm honoured you consider yourself a 'fan'!!
LL2- Hey! Thanks for reviewing! Oooh wow… it must have been sheer torture for you to read this fic, huh? A Clana fan… gosh, how do you live? LOL! Just kidding! I'm honoured you read this story! And I'm glad you like it.
Kit Merlot- Hey! Thanks for reviewing! Not many people can get used to the idea of Chloe having super powers now, huh? Haha… it might be a big shock, but there are more shocks to go around, so just wait and read!
Tana-Babie- Hello! Thanks for the review! Lol… your enthusiasm is contagious. Okay, okay… I hope this update was soon enough for you! Well, just hope you'll continue reading, coz I DO get a lot of one-time readers who read until where I've left off and then never come back to continue. Hehe… Haha…