Lana was really into the fight. She was pummeling a particularly horny demon – okay, so maybe that wasn't the best of describing it - left and right, letting out every move that she had in her arsenal. The demon finally went down, and Lana moved to behead him when he disappeared.

As did all the other demons around her.

As the fissures in the earth started to close up and the thunderstorm lessened into becoming a gentle rain, Lana turned to Dr. Fate, whose expression she couldn't make out because of the helmet.

"What happened?" Lana asked, letting her weapon fall at her side.

"Blood has been spilt," he replied quietly, his voice stiff, formal. "A life has been taken." He gently jerked his head over to where Zatanna and Bart were. She saw that they were standing over someone, and briefly wondered who it was before she realized the only person it could be.

Clark Kent.

Clark. Was it his blood that had been spilt? No…that was impossible. Clark was kneeling on the ground, bent forward. The person that had died, were they in front of him?

Lana dropped her weapon and ran over to where Zatanna, Bart, and Clark were, trying to figure out who it could be that died.

She halted in her tracks, though, when she saw a wisp of blonde hair and heard Clark's anguished scream.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Chloe? Had Chloe Sullivan bit the dust?

No. It couldn't possibly be Chloe. What would Chloe be doing here in Salem? And why would Clark have brought her here?

She lightly jogged up to them, hearing Clark's racking sobs as she came up right behind Zatanna and Bart. She peered over their shoulders silently, and saw Alicia Baker's head cradled in Clark's lap.

Alicia.

Lana's mind was bombarded with thoughts. Was it Clark who had brought Alicia here as a sacrificial lamb? Impossible. Clark couldn't have known of the hell spawn that they had been fighting. And even if he had, he wouldn't have killed another human being. To do something that dark wasn't in Clark's soul. Besides, he wouldn't be that torn up over Alicia's death if he had brought her over to be killed. Unless he suddenly realized his mistake.

But no…killing someone, that wasn't in Clark's heart. Which could only mean that Alicia had come with Clark. But how? Alicia had been in Belle Reve. Had she escaped? Did she follow Clark here? She was dead, now, though. So, really, did any of Lana's questions even actually matter?

Her thought process was interrupted by Zatanna, who, feeling a presence behind her, turned around and said, "Lana."

Lana tore her eyes away from Clark to meet Zatanna's gaze. "What's going on?" she asked. "What happened? What's...what was…Alicia doing here?"

"Now's so not the time for this, Lana," Zatanna replied softly, indicating Clark, who was sobbing uncontrollably. Bart, whose hand was on Clark's shoulder, turned to give Lana and Zatanna an uneasy look, unsure of what to do.

Lana nodded slowly. "Of course." Lana moved to comfort Clark when Dr. Fate appeared behind them.

"Perhaps we should take this inside," he quietly suggested. Zatanna nodded in agreement. She and Bart quietly helped Clark up and helped him carry Alicia's body towards Dr. Fate's tower, with Lana following the three of them, confusion and pain etched onto her features.

Moments later, the small group of friends was seated in a spacious, tastefully decorated living room. They had placed Alicia's body in a nearby room, while Dr. Fate checked up on her. Zatanna sat on a love seat with her arms around Clark, soothing him and trying to calm him while Bart tried to find out why Lana had suddenly retreated inside herself.

Clark sobbed into Zatanna's shoulder as she held him tight, and the young woman had half a mind to use some sort of spell on his mind to ease his pain but decided against it. He was her friend, and the last thing she needed to be doing was playing with her friends' minds.

Inza Nelson, Dr. Fate's wife, entered the room, with a tray that bore upon it a tea pot and several tea cups, as well as some sugar, honey, and cream. Her striking green eyes glittered from beneath long lashes, and Zatanna was instantly charmed – and calmed – by the woman's warm, charming, and kind smile. The smile wasn't one of happiness though, it was one of welcome, and of sorrow. She understood the pain that Clark was in, and yet sought to welcome the four teenagers into her home, to ease their collective pain in some way.

Zatanna silently thanked her as Inza seated herself across from the four super-powered teens. Inza nodded and then said, in a rich, calming voice, "Kent will be out to see you all shortly."

"What exactly is he doing?" Bart asked.

"Checking up on your friend," she answered solemnly. "Seeing if anything can be done."

"Done?"

"To save her."

"Wouldn't that reverse everything though? I mean…bringing her back to life…wouldn't that reinstate the curse?"

"Not at all," Inza replied. "But I highly doubt that -"

"Then do it," Clark said, softly at first.

"Pardon?" Inza asked, not quite sure of what she had heard.

Zatanna looked with alarm at the Kryptonian, who was beginning to shake violently as he broke free of her embrace. The whites of his eyes were tinged with red from crying, and his face was puffy. His lower lip quivered uncontrollably as a tear drop from his upper lip onto it, and then into his mouth.

"I said, then do it. Bring her back to life. Now."

"Clark -" Zatanna ventured, hesitantly.

"No," Clark stated, his voice a little firmer. "Bring Alicia back now. Someone do it. Dr. Fate. You. Lana. Someone. Anyone."

"None of us have that sort of power, Clark," Inza replied, her voice still keeping its regal bearing.

"She does," Clark said, pointing at Lana, who was staring at him, bewildered and hurt.

"Clark, what do you mean?"

"The butterfly. In biology lab. You raised it from the dead. Do it again, Lana. Bring someone back from the dead. Bring back Alicia."

"What? Clark, no! I don't have that sort of power!"

"Yes you do!" Clark yelled out, jumping to his feet. His eyes were flashing and Zatanna, worried that he might decide to use his heat vision on Lana, jumped to her feet, preparing herself to use any spell that may be necessary to stop Clark from doing something crazy if he tried.

"I'm telling you, Clark, I don't have that sort of power," Lana replied icily. Zatanna turned to look at Lana, confused. What the hell was going on? Clark's being hysterical she could understand, but why was Lana suddenly running for the office of vapid bitch?

Clark opened his mouth to argue, but he was cut off by Kent Nelson, out of his Dr. Fate costume now, who calmly stated, "She's right, young man. She doesn't have the sort of power that you seek." All heads turned to Nelson, who was standing outside a thick door that he had just closed. The expression on his quite young, extremely handsome face was solemn as he walked over to his wife Inza and stood opposite the four teenagers. "From what I sense about her, she can't bring the dead back to life. Not the human dead anyway."

"So…then…" Clark faltered, unable to say anything more. He couldn't exact vengeance because those who did this to her were dead already. He couldn't feel rage towards anyone because this truly was no one else's fault. All he felt was a deep, underlying sense of emptiness.

"I'm sorry," Nelson said softly as Clark sank back down to his seat, sobbing softly.

Silence prevailed as they all took a few moments to quietly mourn the death of someone who could only be called a comrade.

"I really don't like the looks on either of your faces," Zatanna ventured that night in Kent Nelson's study. Nelson, Zatanna, and Inza were seated around a large wooden table, each of their faces seemingly worn out by the events of the day. Clark, Lana, and Bart had all retired to their respective guest bedrooms, rooms that Inza had prepared for them earlier.

The day hadn't gone well for any of them. After spending the morning mourning and then burying Alicia, Kent had taken Lana in to run some tests on her. What he had found had not only shocked him beyond belief, but it had also terrified him. Kent hadn't come across anything like what he'd found in her ever, and nothing in any of his books indicated that anyone before him had discovered what he had.

After a brief meeting with Inza, it was decided that they should first talk to Zatanna in private and explain the situation to her, and see her insight on the new developments that Kent had discovered.

"You won't like what we have to say, then, either," Inza replied softly.

"Try and shock me," Zatanna said dryly. "Enough's happened in the past few weeks that seriously, nothing would shock me horribly."

"There are three souls battling for purchase over Lana's body," Kent said, point blank.

"Except that. You wanna come again?"

"Lana…her body…there are three souls contained in there, hers as well as two others, and they are all stuffed inside, secretly warring to gain control of her physicality."

Zatanna nodded slowly, one hand instinctively reaching up to grab a lock of her hair. She twirled it slowly, pondering over what Kent had just told her. "I should have figured as much." Zatanna paused for a moment, but seeing the puzzled expressions on Inza and Kent's faces, she continued. "Lana…when Clark, Bart, and I brought her back…she came back different. She was, like, connected to the insect world; somehow…she could control insects. She even brought a dead butterfly in class to life. At first, I merely figured that Lana came back with new powers. But bringing her back to life shouldn't have been able to do that."

Kent nodded silently. "You're right it shouldn't have. What you used to bring her back, it was the soul of an ancient Egyptian goddess, correct?"

"Her essence, yes."

"In this case, it's more or less the same thing, Zatanna. In any case, Lana was somehow able to tap into that essence, which is as yet the most submissive, and utilize her powers without realizing it."

"But what about the third soul?"

"I can't discern what that soul is as yet, but it's old, and powerful. Not as powerful and not as old as the goddess essence, but it's strong. And possibly evil."

Zatanna was silent for a moment, flashing back to events in weeks gone past, specifically the events during Chloe's birthday party. The witch that had inhabited Lana's body then…what was her name? Isobel Theroux. Zatanna was sure that she had completely exorcized the witch's spirit though.

Hadn't she?

"You doubt something," Inza stated, point blank.

Zatanna nodded. "I do. Some time ago, Lana was possessed by the spirit of an ancestor of hers, a witch named Isobel Theroux. I tried to exorcize her from Lana's body…and I thought I had. It was how Lana initially, you know…died. Maybe I failed in exorcizing the spirit?"

"It does seem like it. Unless the spirit waited, and came back from the ether when you brought Lana back. Whatever the case may be, we now have three souls within one teenage girl's body."

"What does this mean?" Zatanna asked.

"Nothing good," Kent replied ominously.

Lana tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep. It wasn't the fact that she was in strange surroundings that caused her sudden attack of insomnia, nor was it the possibility that her bed was uncomfortable, because this bed was one of the most comfortable beds she'd slept in in a long while. It wasn't Alicia's death that bothered her as well.

Oh, but her problem was Alicia-connected.

Why had Alicia come to Salem with Clark? Forget that, why the hell was Alicia with Clark at all?

Lana simmered in her bed, upset. She stared out the window into the night, seeing the stars but not really seeing them.

After all, all she saw at the moment was red. Vivid, violent, Vesuvius red.

Lana sat up and pushed the bed covers off of her. As she slipped on a pair of slippers that Inza had provided, and straightened out her nightgown, Lana made up her mind.

She was going to confront Clark.

Moments later found Lana outside in the hallway. She silently padded down the hall and towards the large, thick door that she knew led to Clark Kent's bedroom. She silently opened the door and stepped inside, shutting the door softly behind her.

Clark gently stirred in his bed as Lana crept up to him. She stood by him a moment, staring at his silent, still face. He looked so handsome in his sleep, peaceful, even though his day had been wrought with pain.

Pain which she was about to add to in a moment or so. Without regret too. Lana knew somewhere inside that she shouldn't be doing what she was about to do, but there was some other force pushing her to wake Clark up and confront him about Alicia.

She gave in to the urge and shook him. "Clark, Clark wake up," she said, not a little gently.

Clark stirred and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Lana," he said softly. "What happened?"

"Nothing happened, Clark," Lana said, sitting down on the bed across from him. "Not at this second anyway. I just needed to talk to you."

"About?"

"Alicia."

"Oh." Clark immediately became alert, and his puffy eyes met Lana's in the near dark. "I don't think I'm ready to talk about her, Lana. I mean, I appreciate -"

"Oh. I'm sorry. I think you took what I said the wrong way. I don't want to console you Clark. I want to confront you."

"What!"

"About Alicia, Clark. I want to talk to you about that. About why she was here with you, about why she was even here at all. About why you're so wracked with pain over her death when she tried to kill me last year."

"Look, Lana…there's no easy way to explain of this. And it's not anything I particularly want to delve into right now."

"Yeah, well that's rough Clark, because I want to. I need to," Lana heatedly said.

Clark sat silently, unsure of what to do. Lana seemed beyond angry at the moment, and he knew that saying anything might just make her angrier, and possibly violent. And with whatever mysterious powers she may have, that wouldn't be a good thing.

"Fine. Talk."

"What the hell was she doing here?"

"She teleported me here, Lana. She came to help out, see if she could do anything."

"So, what…she escaped from Belle Reve? Did you help her?"

"They let her go, Lana. Alicia was cured. Alicia was cured, and she came to see me, to let me know that she was out, and that she wasn't going to pull a Glenn Close on us again."

"And then? That doesn't explain why she was here," Lana argued, getting all the more incensed.

"What is it that you want to hear, Lana?"

"The truth, Clark. The same that I've always wanted. The truth. What was there between you and Alicia to break you down the way you did?"

"I can't answer that, Lana."

"Why not."

"Because it's not something you need to hear."

"Yes, Clark, it is. Do you know why it is? Because only a few days ago, you came out and told me everything about you. You gave me everything that I had asked of you. And then we kissed, Clark. We kissed. You and me, under that tree in the park. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Lana…this topic…this whole conversation…it's difficult. I can't…it's nothing we can discuss without anyone getting hurt."

Lana nodded, and looked down. "I understand," she said softly.

"You do?"

"Of course I do, Clark," Lana said, her voice filled with understanding. "I understand that someone's going to get hurt tonight."

Clark didn't have time to respond as Lana looked up, an odd, hazy golden light simmering in her eyes. She lifted her hand and yelled something out in some archaic language that Clark did not know.

Clark flew off the bed and hit the wall behind him full-force. He stayed there, pinned by magic, as Lana stood up on the bed.

"It really didn't have to be this way, Clark," she said menacingly.

Zatanna, Kent, and Inza were in the midst of discussing Lana's predicament when they heard a loud, resounding bang come from somewhere in the tower. Kent and Inza turned to look at each other as the three of them leaped to their feet.

"What was that?" Zatanna asked as magick began to spark in her hands.

Kent was silent, his face a bearing an expression of deep thought. He was concentrating on something. "There haven't been any breaches opened, and there's no one hiding on the property," he said after a moment.

Inza immediately perked up, her eyes growing wide. "Which means -"

"Lana!" Zatanna yelled out, throwing open the door of the study and running out into the hallway, with Inza and Kent on her heels.

Mere moments later found Zatanna, Kent, and Inza throwing open the door to the room that Inza and given Clark. They saw Clark pinned against the wall and Lana standing in front of him menacingly.

"Lana, what the hell are you doing?" Zatanna demanded as she stepped up to the bed. She looked up at Lana, her facial expression not giving away the tiniest bit of fear that she felt.

Was Lana utilizing her goddess essence right now? How much more powerful than her did that make Lana? And against Dr. Fate?

"Getting some answers," Lana said dangerously, gritting her teeth.

"I think you need to step away from him, Lana, and let him down. Clark's your friend. Your childhood friend. Come on, let's step back and drop the wicked witch act, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Lana nodded. "Or, really, we could do this," she said, stretching one hand out towards Zatanna and throwing her against the wall next to Clark as well.

"Any other bright ideas?" Clark grunted.

"No, but I think Dr. Fate might have some," Zatanna remarked as a golden ankh flew out and collided with Lana, sending her flying off the bed and on the floor. As Lana went down, so too did the crackling magickal energy that kept Clark and Zatanna pinned against the wall. The alien and the sorceress fell on the bed as Lana righted herself.

Lana threw out a ball of magickal golden energy at Kent, now in his Dr. Fate persona, and yelled out, "This is none of your concern!"

Dr. Fate blocked Lana's magic, dissipating it with a flick of his hand and a quick flash of a golden ankh. He said nothing as he threw another ankh at her, this one knocking her unconscious.

Zatanna and Clark scrambled off of the bed as Dr. Fate approached the unconscious farm girl.

"She's becoming dangerous," Inza remarked to her husband and the two teenagers.

"Faster than we expected," Dr. Fate agreed. He turned to Zatanna and said, "You know the dangers that she presents, Zatanna. You know what we must -" he was suddenly cut off by a blast of magic that sent him flying towards Zatanna and the others. Zatanna instinctively yelled out a spell to help Dr. Fate ease his landing.

Lana stood up, golden energy crackling around her entire body. "You really didn't expect that to seriously knock me out, did you?" she asked cruelly. "I have more power in me than the two of you combined!"

"This is precisely why I didn't want any drama here," Zatanna shot at Clark as she moved up beside Dr. Fate. She turned to him and said, "I need you to keep Lana busy. I kind of have a plan to take her down."

"What sort of a plan?" Clark asked.

"You'll see," she told him. "I need you to run out of the room, though, now. Without super speed. Inza, I need you completely out of the way for now, and Dr. Fate? I need you to hold her back with magick as she chases Clark."

"And you?" Dr. Fate asked.

"Trust me," Zatanna said, not at all showing off the fact that she didn't trust herself as yet. She only had the merest inkling of a plan, and she prayed desperately to any pantheon that was paying attention to her that her as yet half-baked plan would succeed.

On her signal, Clark ran out of the room. Lana, angered, ran after him, but not before throwing mystic energy balls at Inza, Dr. Fate, and Zatanna. Dr. Fate dived in front of Zatanna and Inza to shield them, and all three spheres of mystic energy hit him. Dr. Fate fell to the ground, unconscious. Inza gasped and fell to her knees, undoing Kent's mask.

"Kent? Kent are you alright?" She removed his helmet and checked his pulse, relieved upon finding one. "He's alive."

"He's made of stronger stuff than some half-baked witch-goddess," Zatanna answered, her eyes opening wide with fear. There went part of her plan.

There was only one thing to do now.

Zatanna told Inza to wait there and ran out of the room, magick crackling in her hands and in her eyes. There was only one thought on her mind, only one thing she could do now, and she hoped that this one thing would end their problems.

Zatanna turned a corner and spotted Lana, who seemed to be getting ready to hit Clark with everything she had. "Dloh ti thgir ereht hctib!" Zatanna yelled out, freezing Lana on spot. The young woman struggled in her place, but she couldn't break free of Zatanna's anger-powered spell.

The sorceress came out in front of Lana and stood in front of her, legs spread wide and a look of confidence on her face. Zatanna had gone somewhere deep inside herself while chasing Lana, and now all the came to the fore was the more warrior side of her magickal personality.

"You can't hold me here long!"

"I don't mean to, Lana. I'm sorry about what I'm going to do…but if the memory of this day ever comes to you, you'll understand why I did what I did."

Lana looked at Zatanna quizzically. "What do you me -" Lana was cut off as Zatanna concentrated and brought her hands up to Lana's head.

Magick pulsated from Zatanna's hands as she touched Lana's temples and played with her friend's mind.

Writer's Note: Hey all, sorry again about the long pause in updating…been one of those months, I guess, lol. So yeah, chapter 27 was incredibly predictable, but I guess it was going to be? Someone usually tends to die in a big war scene…and Alicia, though I love her to death, had to be that girl. It couldn't be any of the main characters for obvious reasons, lol.

Anyway, let me know what you guys thought of this chapter (I personally think it could have been better but...) and keep on reading and reviewing! Until (hopefully) next week!