Sorry I've been kinda late updating the past few days. Aside from homework I'm also trying to make a bunch of origami roses for my mom for Mother's Day and it didn't help that ittook me a whole day just to learn how to do it right. lol
Thanks so SO much for the reviews guys!
When they finally reached the home of Viren's parents, Clark silently thanked whoever had destined Lana and him to find that elf. Without him, Clark didn't know how he would've ever managed to find his way in Semprob Wereld. Every fork in the path or tunnel they went down looked exactly like the others. For a time, Clark felt as though he wasn't going anywhere - just walking down the same path forever. His only glimmer of comfort was Viren's knowledge of the place.
It seemed like an eternity before they finally came across a tunnel with a round wooden door set between two torches on the right side. After Viren hopped off Anstice, Clark did the same on Elsu and the elf eagerly knocked on the door.
A short, cheerful looking female elf with a striking resemblance to Viren opened the door. She greeted the visitors at first with just a happy grin, but then realized who they were.
"Oh my word!" she exclaimed with glee. She leaned around the door behind her, speaking to someone in the house. "Emmet! They're here!"
After she spoke, she quickly rushed to Viren, hugging him tightly. "Well, it's about time my baby boy came home to his mommy!"
"Mother, please!" Viren protested with embarrassment. He then pointed at his fellow travelers. "These our the humans that have arrived – Master Clark and, the one sleeping on Elsu, Mistress Lana."
"Actually, it's just Clark and Lana," Clark corrected for the millionth time.
"Oh yes! Please, tie the horses onto the torches out there and come in!"
Viren and Clark quickly followed the woman elf's words and secured Anstice and Elsu to the two nearest torches. Clark also carefully slid Lana into his arms and carried her into the home.
The place looked remarkably like Viren's on the inside. Because they were underground, it too did not have windows nor any form of sunlight. Instead, it had a few candles lying around on small wooden stools. A large fire roared and crackled angrily to the side and a few comfy-looking chairs were spread out among the area Clark guessed was a living room.
To the left of him he noticed a small set of kitchen cabinets and an old gas stove which had a long, twisting brass pipe poking out of the back and running up into the mud ceiling. There were also a few wooden doors that dotted the walls, probably leading into other various parts of the underground home.
A few seconds after Clark took in the features of the house, he noticed Viren's mother standing next to the fireplace with an arm wrapped around an older looking male elf. She smiled broadly.
"We greet you very humbly, Clark. My name is Wenda. I'm Viren's mother," the female elf exclaimed cheerfully. She then looked down at the tired elf next to her. "And this is Emmet - Viren's father."
Emmet's facial features were almost the exact opposite of Wenda's. The many wrinkles he earned from old age covered his face and small, weakened arms. Thinning white hair sprouted out of his balding head and his set of wings seemed worn-out and tattered like two pieces of crinkled trace paper.
On the other hand, Wenda looked quite good for her age. Her face wasn't filled with too many wrinkles, and her curly red hair was thick and bushy. Her constant smile made Clark feel very welcome.
"Nice to meet you," Clark stated, putting on a smile of his own.
For a moment, they stood in silence, as if not knowing where to go from the greetings.
"Um…" Clark said to Viren, acknowledging the girl in his arms, "when should we wake Lana?"
"What happened to her?" Emmet shrieked, a sudden look of worry on her face.
"Nothing, father. She was a little hesitant about coming into Semprob Wereld, so I put a sleeping charm on her," Viren explained calmly.
"Sleeping charm! My boy did a sleeping charm on this attractive young maiden?" Emmet asked suddenly in a rough yet squeaky voice. "Who gets to kiss her!"
"Father!" Viren snapped, giving Clark a quick, awkward glance. He obviously didn't want that piece of information to cross Clark's ears.
But Clark had perfect hearing. And he heard Emmet's every word.
"Wha – kiss? What's he talking about, Viren?"
"Nothing! Nothing! J-just lay her down in that room – "
Clark's eyes grew wide when everything started to come together in his head. "That sleeping charm works like a Sleeping Beauty deal, doesn't it? She won't wake up until someone kisses her?"
Sighing, Viren tried to keep is uneasy gaze on the ground.
"And I suppose you were planning on waking her up then, huh?" Clark suggested angrily.
Viren's head shot up, taken back. "No! Of course not!"
"Then who – " Clark's words got caught in his throat halfway through his sentence. He swallowed uncomfortably. "Viren…I-I really don't think I - "
"It's the only sleeping charm I'm familiar with, Master Clark. I sincerely apologize, but I'm not going to kiss her and my father is definitely not going to – "
"Why not!" Emmet squeaked, waddling towards Clark and Lana.
"Emmet!" Wenda protested, grabbing her husband. "Clark will do it, won't you dear?"
He sighed loudly, partly as a release of the anger he felt that Viren hadn't told him the whole story earlier, and partly as a weak attempt to stop the funny, nervous feeling in his stomach.
"Should I wake her now?"
"Of course, Clark. You can lay her down in here," Wenda exclaimed, guiding Clark through the wooden door closest to the fireplace.
He walked into the small room, which held one double bed with a maroon woven cloth draped over it. Wenda lit the two candles set on each side of the bed as Clark laid Lana down gently.
"When did Viren put the charm on her?"
"This morning," Clark answered, feeling a little nervous about what he had to do.
"Then she will probably be a little weak from not being able to move or eat all day. I'll make some dinner for her," Wenda stated in her mother-like tone. "Is there anything you would like, Clark?"
"Huh? Oh, no. No, I'm okay."
She nodded with a smile. "Then I'll leave you two alone."
The wooden door shut behind the elf and Clark shakily looked back at Lana. She lay there, looking exactly like the Sleeping Beauty of Clark's dreams. He licked his lips and walked to her slowly, kneeling next to the bed.
"Hey Lana," Clark stated, not sure if she could hear him or not. "Um…I know you're still kind of bitter about our last kiss…I just want you to know this kiss wasn't my idea either so…so don't try to kill me or anything when you wake up okay?" He smiled and held her hand. The smile soon faded, however, as he continued to speak. "In all honestly though, Lana…I just…well, I want you to know…I still really do love you. And I know that isn't always evident, but…I do. I…I really do."
He suddenly took a deep breath and leaned forward with closed eyes, kissing the girl he loved once more. What he thought was going to be a small, unavailing kiss turned out to practically take his breath away. Lana's wonderful scent enthrawled him, sending a tingling and passionate shiver up his spine. He would've loved to stay this close to her, but he knew he couldn't. Reluctantly, he tilted slowly backwards, hearing a soft smack of his lips leaving hers.
He sat back on his heels and watched her. Within a few seconds after the kiss, Lana's eyes began to open. He tried to take a few breaths, pretending to feel perfectly normal. It was proving to be a harder task then expected.
Looking utterly confused, she scanned the room until she spotted Clark. She smiled comfortably. "Hey…"
"H-hey," Clark retorted, hoping the feeling in the pit of his stomach would go away. "How are you feeling?"
"Relaxed…a little hungry…where are we?"
"We're a short distance away from the exit of these tunnels – Wenda and Emmet's home to be exact. They're Viren's parents. Wenda's fixing you something to eat."
Lana grinned. "So you got the honor of sitting here, watching me until I woke up?"
Smirking sheepishly, Clark retorted, "Yeah…"
Just then, the door opened and Emmet stepped into the room, holding a small tray with a cup of something, which had a few thin tongues of mist floating out of it. He was smiling widely as he made his way to the bed.
"My, my…you are even more pretty with your eyes open, Mistress Lana."
'Mistress Lana…must be a male elf thing…' Clark thought with a smirk.
"Thank you…and you would be Emmet, right?" Lana said, grabbing the bowl of liquid from the elf's tray as she sat up in the bed.
"That I am. Emmet II to be exact. My father was the first." He noticed Lana sniffing the cup with curiosity. "It's a cup of pollo soep. It'll surely get you ready and willing for the rest of the journey you'll be traveling."
He looked over Clark and smiled. "Did you enjoy waking the Mistress up, Master Clark?"
Clark was thrust once again into the uncomfortable spotlight. His gaze darted from Lana's confused eyes to Emmet's intrigued ones. "Y-yeah…it was…I mean…it went okay…"
The elf only answered Clark with a low, enticing giggle and left the room.
Lana watched the odd elf leave and then turned to Clark with confusion. He was now avoiding her gaze completely. "Clark…why do I suddenly get the feeling that you didn't have to just sit here and watch me wake up?"
"Well…" He felt like a little kid fessing up to his mother. "Um…Viren's charm couldn't be broken unless somebody.." – gulp – "…kissed you." Clark winced stupidly, wishing he didn't have to say this.
Lana's eyes widened.
"B-but it wasn't my fault! It was the only sleeping charm Viren knew, a-and it wasn't my idea to put you to sleep in the first place, remember? A-and I didn't even know about the whole kissing thing until a few minutes ago when we arrived at Emmet and Wenda's house and Viren didn't want to kiss you and Emmet – well, he sort of did, but Wenda and Viren wouldn't let him so…that just…left…me."
Lana just sat there, holding her soup bowl, stunned.
"I'm…sorry?" Clark apologized weakly, not sure what else she expected from him.
"Sorry? No. No, don't be sorry…" she finally spoke up, looking down at her dinner. "In fact, I should say thank you."
"So, you're not mad at me?"
She laughed a little. "Why should I be?"
"W-well, I don't know…I just thought you might…because that's the second time I've kissed you and we aren't even together anymore…" He shrugged. "It's just kind of awkward I guess."
"Clark, this place is full of a lot more awkward things then a kiss. I'm almost positive of that." Smiling to herself, Lana blew softly onto her soup to cool it down.
He still loved her – always had, always will. She could tell just by the look on his blushing face. The kiss did mean something to him. It was just incredibly humorous to her how he acted as though his feelings were buried much farther then they would ever be.
Sometimes, she admitted, those feelings she'd had for him a few years back seemed to unknowingly pop out during certain occasions (when he smiled, when he made her laugh, when he walked into a room…). It was hard for her to understand why someone so perfect in every other attractive feature would be so extremely low in the trust and honesty department. Maybe it had something to do with the laws of nature - no one could be perfect.
But if Clark was the closest to it she could find, he certainly was not a bad catch.
Lana ate all of the pollo soep, which tasted strongly of chicken broth with something very original dashed in (she wasn't exactly sure if she was bold enough to ask Viren's family what it had been). After she was finished, Lana felt well fed and ready to continue on to the castle.
Viren and Clark, however, who had spent the whole day traveling tunnels, felt very different. They decided they would spend the night at Wenda and Emmet's, then continue on their way the next day.
The sleeping arrangements in the house were, at first, perfectly fine with Clark. Emmet and Wenda slept in their bedroom, Lana in the same room she'd been placed in earlier, and Viren and Clark were set to slept in the living room. Viren, being a gentlemanly elf, allowed Clark the couch while he took the rug by the fire. When everyone was safely tucked in, the candles spread about the house dimmed slowly and stopped when they were so low, they only seemed like the ghosts of the flames.
Not moments after Clark's mind had settled, he heard Viren. His soft whistling as he slept turned into a fully annoying snore. Clark felt the exact same feeling in his stomach when Ms. Lair would "accidentally" scratch her inch-long nails on the chalkboard at Smallville High.
Clark pressed a pillow to his ears, rolled over on his side, figuring he'd stop eventually. Nothing helped. He never remembered Viren being this loud at Noam's house. Of course, that was probably because Noam himself drowned out Viren as well as every other nocturnal noise in the village.
Clark finally sighed and got up from the small couch. One night of Noam he could stand. Another with a snoring Viren was not going to happen. He picked up Viren, placed him on the couch, and hesitantly made his way to Lana's room, dragging his red wool blanket with him.
He cautiously opened the door about six inches and poked his head through, curious to see if Lana was awake or not.
His heart fluttered more quickly when he saw her ever familiar soft elegant features glowing, even with the small light of the flickering candles around her. She was sleeping calmly.
Smiling, Clark took a breath and squeezed through the six-inch space between the door and the wall, barely making it. When he passed through, he quickly shut the door behind him and began to lay his blanket out on the floor next to Lana's bed.
"Clark…?"
He dropped the blanket and looked up. "Hey."
"Hey, yourself. What are you doing?" she asked, rubbing her eyes as she looked down on him over the bed.
"I couldn't sleep out there. Viren's snoring could've woken up Rip Van Winkle." Clark smiled as her laughter tickled his insides. "I'll just sleep down here if that's okay with you."
"Of course it's not okay," Lana protested, dropping her smile.
Clark looked up at her blankly.
"You'll never get a goodnight's sleep down there." She moved over to one side of the bed and patted the other. "Come up here."
"Okay, either my tired ears are playing tricks on me, or you just told me to sleep with you."
"Oh, come on, Clark. I didn't mean it like that. You think if I wanted to try anything I'd do it in an elf house in a completely different world?"
Clark laughed and gave in, sliding into the bed along side Lana. "Well, it'd definitely be under the Things Lana Would Never Do Unless She Was Under The Influence List in my book."
Lana laughed with Clark for a few moments and then sighed, closing her eyes.
"You know in a way I'm glad Viren snores like a foghorn."
"Why's that?" Clark asked with a grin as he also closed his eyes.
"Because before you came in here I felt so…so lost…so out-of-place. I had this dream while I was under that sleeping spell…and it made me start to doubt if we would even get to the castle…or back to Smallville for that matter."
Clark reflexively grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly. Opening his eyes, he looked at her with concern. "Lana, don't ever think like that. We'll get out of here I promise."
"I know, Clark." Her eyes opened and met Clark's beautiful green ones. "I know. And that right there is why I'm glad you're here. I'd never think optimistically like you do. I mean, if that car had only hit me, and you never jumped in the way, I don't…I don't know where I'd be right now…I'd probably be dead…or sitting here alone…feeling so afraid that I'd never see Smallville again."
Rubbing her hand soothingly, Clark looked at her, making sure she knew how much she meant to him.
"But I know since you're here…right here…next to me…I don't have…anything to be…afraid……about……"
Her eyelids drew over her eyes slowly until her drowsiness consumed her and she fell back to sleep.
Clark smiled at her, happy that his presence calmed her, and he placed a single kiss on her forehead.
"Goodnight, Lana."