Chapter 9: A Welcomed Visit With a Friend
Clark feels the quivering in Alicia's body, her body starting to shake. He then saw it, Alicia's face turning from her beautiful smile to a sudden shock, the searing pain hitting her system, he smelled it, the burning smoke from the gun, and then he heard it. The laughter. The sickening sound of something evil, something who's plan was a success. Clark looks at Alicia's hands. They're quivering, and her blood veins expand, her own poisoned blood running through her system.
Alicia tries to hold down the blood that is moving up her throat, and Clark takes notice. Torrents of tears fall down Clark's cheeks and the whole world seems to stop. Throughout the pain, Alicia moves her hands on Clark's back, and they hold each other in an embrace.
Clark continues to hold Alicia, and starts to speak.
"Please, Alicia. Please don't die. I love you. I love you with all my heart. Please don't leave me."
Through her coughing, the blood leaking out from the corner of her mouth, she manages to speak.
"I...love...you too, Clark...We will...always be...with you..." Alicia states, before the blood starts trickling more out of her mouth. She starts to cough, and Clark holds her close. She holds him, her arms on his back once again, but this time, he can feel her arms go limp. Clark continues to hold her in his arms.
Her heart starts to slow down, until it stops, and then Clark hears the small beating of his baby's heart. He watches as it stops. He holds Alicia's body tightly, horribly sobbing as he does so.
"NOOOOOO!" Clark screams, but no one is there to hear his pain and rage.
"It should have been me, baby. It should've been me..."
As Clark sits, holding Alicia's limp body, more tears flow out of Clark's eyes. His arms start shaking from the shock that his only true love has been killed. As he holds Alicia's body, a bloody, purple hole shows from where she was shot. Her eyes are sunken, the same with Clark's. Her face has started to turn ghostly pale, and her golden blonde sways from his movement. Her lips have turned dark, and dead, as tears from Clark fall across her face.
The world around him is dark and dank. Alicia's body disappears from his arms, and Clark is left alone in his own darkness. His sobs are heard by no one, the echo of his sobs fill through what is Clark's mindBright light shines down from above Clark, showing his anguish and depression. The large pool of blood that once belonged to Alicia gradually increases in size, and now covers the floor. Clark continues to kneel in the blood, not noticing that he is gradually sinking into it. His pants start to seep it in, turning them from a faded blue to a deep red blackish color. His knees are now underneath the surface of the blood, but Clark doesn't care. He lets the blood take him in, and he starts sinking faster and faster. The blood now reaches Clark's chest, still warm from it's host but he can't feel it. Tears continue to fall, landing in the large pool of blood, separating it. Clark continues to sink in the blood, his body becoming numb as it slowly rises to his mouth. As it passes up his nose, one last tear escapes his left eye as he is swallowed up by Alicia's blood. Two bubbles hit the surface, popping upon impact. Blood splatters all over the place, and laughter fills the air. A familiar voice, old, crackling, maniacal laughter from a deranged old man, the Satan of Metropolis fills the emptiness of Clark's mind. Ths sound of the gun, the weapon used to take Clark's soul mate away from him, fills the emptiness, and Lionel laughs at his triumph over Clark.
Clark jerks awake again, as the early morning sun reaches in through the dark tinted windows. He is clutching Alicia's green scarf tightly, and dried tear stains are shown under his eyes. The familiar buildings of New York City surround Clark. The Batmobile rockets through the streets of New York City, cars driving off onto the curb as it slows to a stop in front of Dr. Swann's office.
DESTINATION RECEIVED, MR. KENT. WELCOME TO DR. VIRGIL SWANN'S OFFICE.
Clark opens the door, and jumps out, landing on the pavement. His new black cape flails in the wind, and his utility belt shines in the sunlight. He flips his hood on, hiding his face, and he walks up the stairs to the front door. He looks at the buzzer, and reaches out, his hand shaking from what he might find. He presses the button, the loud buzzer behind the door rings loudly.
"Hello, Kal-El. It has been a very long time. Please, come in." Says the familiar voice of Dr. Swann from the speaker.
Clark opens the door, and walks inside, closing it behind him. The place looks exactly like it was two years ago, when Clark and Alicia came here to hide out from Lionel's men. No one is in the room, and Clark starts to walk up the long set of stairs, and enters the room where he and Alicia stayed in. The bed sits exactly where it was before, the place where they made their baby. Memories flood over Clark, what Alicia looked like, in all her glory. How her eyes shined silver for a split second, letting Clark know that she had climaxed along with him. He closes the door quietly, and turns his head when he hears the familiar sound of a electric wheelchair at the foot of the stairs. Slowly, Clark walks down the stairs, and sees Virgil at the foot of the stairs, looking content.
"It's been a long time, hasn't it, Kal-El?"
"Yes, it has. I'm sorry I never contacted you, but I was... in a rut."
"If killing innocent people and fighting yourself halfway across the world means you were in a rut, than I dare say you deserve some time to yourself. Come, lets have breakfast."
Clark walks alongside Virgil, staying at the same speed as Virgil. They enter the dining room, the familiar spot where Alicia sat next to him before. Clark sits where he sat before, and Virgil goes around the other side of the table. A door opens to Clark's left, and Dr. Crosby walks in. She has aged considerably, and notices Clark, his face hidden behind the hood.
"Hello, Kal-El. Please set back your hood at the table."
Clark pulls back his hood slowly, revealing a deeply depressed, sleep stricken young man. His once blue eyes are now laced with red blood veins, a sign that if he got any sleep, his dreams were terrible. Dried tear stains sit underneath his eyes, and his hair is a mess, a matted, knotted mass of black curls. Waiters enter and bring out scrambled eggs and hash browns, along with milk and apple juice. Clark reaches for the eggs, and Dr. Crosby catches notice of a kryptonian tattoo on is left arm.
"How did you manage to make a tattoo on the impregnable skin of yours, Kal-El?"
Clark looks at Dr. Crosby, and smiles slightly.
"I didn't. One morning I woke up, and it was on my arm. It's a sign."
"A sign? From what?"Crosby asks.
"Not from what. From WHO."
"Well, who was it from?" She asks.
"Alicia Baker." Virgil states.
Crosby looks over at Virgil, and Clark looks back at the eggs he has taken.
"Am I right?" Virgil asks, his face content as always.
Clark nods, and pulls out the green scarf that he had stuffed in his back pocket.
"I got this from my last dream. It appeared in the car, along with the lip smear. It appeared out of nowhere. She still loves me. I can tell. She told me that she was in your dreams too, Dr. Swann. Is it true?"
"Yes Kal-el. It is very true. A month after she... died, I started getting the dreams. She told me that I had to create a machine that could help you. A machine designed just for you. After I woke up, I started working on it. I was making designs for the machine for many months, and I put hundreds of scientists to work on making a prototype. Finally, after a year of countless failures, we built the prototype. Dr. Crosby, if you will, please give Kal-El the box."
Dr. Crosby walks over to a cupboard, taking out a key, she unlocks the cupboard, and pulls out a metal box. She picks it up, and gives it to Clark. Clark opens it, and inside is a gold watch with a matching key chain. Clark opens the watch, and a digital clock sits inside.
"A watch? What am I supposed to do with a watch?"
"It's not a watch, Kal-el. What you are looking at is the machine that will help save Earth."
"How is this going to help me save earth?"
"Because Kal-el. That is a prototype time machine."
Clark stares open mouthed and wide eyed at Virgil, and looks back at the pocket watch.
Could this really be a time machine? If it is, then I know now what Alicia was talking about...
He flicks it closed, and looks back at Virgil.
"How do I activate it?"
"Just press the button below the digital clock, and speak what date you want to go to. It is a prototype, so there might be some glitches."
Clark watches Dr Swann.
"What do you mean, glitches?"
"Well, I've set in the main time periods that set this off, but it will send you do these different times infinitely, until you fix the problem."
"So, I'm gonna be stuck in these repeats of the worst moments in my life? Is there no way to fix this?"
"If you do get to the right moment, than you can fix everything. Time, Kal-El causes ripples, and the bigger splash you make, the bigger the ripple. Just find the right moment, and you can fix it all in one move." Virgil states, and looks over at Dr. Crosby.
Dr. Crosby walks back over to the cupboard, and pulls out a gun. She checks the cartridge, and sets it on the table, and slides it to Clark. He picks it up, and hides it between his waist and his utility belt.
"We pray that you fix all this, Kal-El. Make sure that it's the right moment and at the right place. Sometimes the smallest thing can lead the biggest impact."
Clark stand up, contentment on his face. He puts his hood back on. Clark gulps, and pulls out the watch. Flipping it open, he presses the small red dot, and moves it to his mouth.
"Thursday, May 25, 2005" Clark says, as the watch glows to life. It glows blue, and the world around him starts to ripple, like liquid water. Time itself seems to rip apart as the scene behind him explodes into a million different pieces. In an instant, the scene comes back together, except that he is in a cemetery. The rain pounds down on him, and he begins to ascend a large hill. He suddenly remembers where he is at. The Smallville Cemetery. Sure enough, he is standing in front of Alicia's grave, her angel headstone seeming to pray in midair. Clark picks up the note that his past-self left, and reads it. He smiles slightly, and picks up a rose.
"Indeed you will, Clark. Indeed you will."
Clark walks back down the hill, his robes and cape moving in the slight wind. He exits the graveyard, and heads towards Smallville, his destination in hand.