TITLE: Crossroads
AUTHOR: William Rayne
EMAIL: knytmare@yahoo.com
RATING: Unsure at time of writing
SUMMARY: Chloe takes a trip to the 'real world', our world and now has to deal with the information she has learned. Also has the theme of free will versus predetermination.
SPOILERS: Set after "Whisper" and contains some parts of
"Delete"
PAIRING: Clark/Chloe maybe?
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, email me
DISCLAIMER someone else owns 'em, I'm just taking them out to play. Don't sue me, I have no money
FEEDBACK: Desired like none other.
NOTES AND NEWS: Thanks to Deia for being a great beta reader and having better editing skills than I. I'm not sure how the fanfiction.net chapter thing works, so I'm writing this in a separate file to be safe. Also, fixed some of the first chapter, intersect, some. Read: found some grammar errors, no plot update. I will always post in my latest update any changes to previous chapters, most are made to avoid contradictions. I'll try to keep such updates at a minimum. And I owe Deia my soul AND my firstborn for writing a better part of this while I had writers block. The word 'hunked' is Deia's doing so let me know if I should forward complaints to her. Deia' been itching to write the 'Chloe finds out about Clark' scene since episode 1, so I let her have at it. As always, Italics denote thoughts or voice-over depending contextually. Underlines denote disgust or sarcasm depending contextually. Bolds are stressed.
Crossroads
Act 2 - Parallel
Chapter 1
Denial is, perhaps, the most interesting of human emotions. Denial is what brought her to this point, in so many ways. Of course, it was possible that this was the way it was meant to be. Then again, it was equally possible that this was the price to be paid for free will. Thoughts of Sartre, Kant, Free Will and the events of the last week tumbled through her head like a cacophonic maelstrom. She had gotten over the denial and wishing things could be different. Now she wanted to figure out how to make things right. She tried to recall the events in the hope that in doing so, she'll find a solution to her current dilemma. After all, hindsight is 20/20, right?
It started the moment she pulled the DVD box-set out of her bag and, for a while, it ended with that moment as well. Oh my God. It's real…it can't be real. This isn't happening. This can't be happening. I mean it is, so it can, but it shouldn't and…arg, why can't this just be dream.
OK, Chloe, calm down. First things first, never refer to myself in the third person ever again. That's not only unhealthy but tacky. So what do I know? One, those memories have to be real or I'm hallucinating this DVD set. Two, well…uh, um…k, no two. So what does this all mean? Glancing down at the evidence, she massaged her temple and put the box back in the bag. Can't think with that out. The fact that the set exists proves one thing: parallel universes exist.
That doesn't mean everything about Clark that it claims is true. It can't be. If it was, then that would mean that our lives are being decided for us. Not by God but by writers, ratings and a TV audience. Unless this is someone's fanfic…dammit I'M REAL. I have to quit seconded guessing this, that'll just leave me running thought circles.
Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself and not hyperventilate from the shock of her worldview shattering, she thinks, Clark is only a superhero in that DVD and those stories, not here. Well, he is a hero here, but not super. Clark is the key. I prove he's not a strange visitor from another planet, I…what am I thinking? That line of thought is what got me sitting in this bed. Besides, I promised myself I wouldn't investigate Clark again, no matter what. I know if I do, I'll lose what little friendship we have left and that little is a lot to me.
A tear streams down her cheek as she makes her decision of how to deal with the days events. Her mind catches up with her body and she falls asleep, tired.
A few days later, she had almost managed to push the whole incident to repression except the déjà vu feeling she got when she talked to Max and gave a penname. She had the same feeling as she was talking to Pete in the office but waved it off then as well. It was until it hit her, well almost hit her as in the truck that Clark was driving, that she knew she couldn't shove the issue away like she did with the DVD box-set into her underwear drawer.
As she lied to the sheriff in the hospital about what happened with the truck and Clark, she made the decision that would send her down a long, unknown road. She tried to find him after the sheriff interrogated her more on the events that night but he had left already. So much for cheating fate. Soldiering through the madness and not quite ready to confront him just yet, she went home. Making sure not to wake anybody up, she crept into her room, got her laptop, headphones and a pot of coffee to prepare for the long night ahead. Okay, Chloe, enough procrastination, she thought to herself as she steeled herself up, walked to her underwear drawer, pulled open her underwear drawer, got out the DVD set and watched.
Chapter 2
The next day, Clark walked into the loft to his parked truck and took his schoolbooks and his laptop from the passenger seat and closed the door unhappily. The front end of the truck was completely smashed. Clark turned around and drops his books onto a nearby table as he sees Chloe enter.
"If you're looking for signs of tampering, I'll save you some time. There's nothing wrong with it. I asked the mechanic."
"There's got to be some explanation," Clark responded as Chloe thought to herself, Why'd I just say that. I watched myself say that last week. Time to change it up. Time to find out whether my life is my own.
"As to why you tried to mow me over?" she responded, "Oh there is."
"Huh?" Clark responded as she turned away and walked out of the barn, "Wait. You can't just…CHLOE!"
"I'll explain in a bit, Clark. First, let's take a ride," she said as she opened the passenger door of her car for him and gestured for him to get in.
*********************************************************
"Why we going to Crater Lake?" asks Clark, still wondering why Chloe hadn't answered him since he got in the car. She just kept driving. If he hadn't recognized some landmarks, he'd have thought she was trying to get him lost.
"Chloe? Why are we going so far out of town?" Clark rephrased his last question as he starts to get a bit nervous but not knowing why.
As she parked the car in the secluded grove most kids use to make out, he became more nervous. Soothing his nerves, he reassured himself that even if Chloe wanted to make out with him, surely she wouldn't want to do it in the middle of the day.
He followed her lead as she got out of the car and met her by the trunk as she rounded about near him.
"We're here. Are you going to tell me what's going on or we going to play Secret Agent some more?"
"It'll all be cleared up in a second, Clark," Chloe wistfully said and then pointed out to the lake in the distance as she pops open the trunk. Clark followed her motion with his eyes.
After a few seconds, he turned his head back towards Chloe and said, "I don't see…"
He never finished the sentence. A baseball bat came crashing down on his face and shattered. Worried for Chloe, he looks to see who hit him then realized that the hands holding the end of the bat belonged to her.
They stare at each other awestruck by what just happened. Chloe dropped the bat and seconds become an eternity as both of their minds process the situation. It is Clark who speaks first as Chloe's eyes speak volumes, almost saying to him, Deny that just happened…explain that to me.
"Jesus! Chloe, what the HELL was that about?" Clark demanded as confusion sets in.
Her normally calm and rational voice trembled with her body as she responded, "Relax, Clark. Unlike you last night, I was fully aware and remember what just happened. It's not like I've gone crazy."
Clark stared at her dumbstruck as she slouched against the car bumper in an attempt to steady her trembling. As he's about to respond, Chloe suddenly leaned down and put her hands to her face. For a split second, the heaving of her body makes him think that she is sobbing until a maniacal cackle erupted from the fragile, young woman.
The words "I'm not crazy" escape with the laughter as Clark's mind reeled from the event of the last few seconds and with his knowledge of the past week, he came to the only explanation for this turn of events.
"Did Lionel put you up to this? Or did you--"
Clark's accusation sobered Chloe up from her near breakdown as she cut it short with a fury that would redefine the adage, "How dare you! We've been friends for, what, four years now? Is that all you think I am? Some sort of spy? Someone who can't be trusted with your secrets? Did you think that once I found out what you were that I'd make it headline news? Tell me, Clark, do you really think that espionage and betrayal is all I'm capable of? Is that really how lowly you think of me?"
With each question, Chloe jabbed her finger into his chest. Clark has been hit with vehicles and explosions but nothing is more painful than the look in Chloe's eyes as she let out her pain from his accusation. Looking into her eyes and seeing the hurt, Clark knew he would rather be shot with a kryptonite bullet again than have the stabbing pain he felt for hurting her. For a second, he didn't know what to say and neither of them have a chance to hear the reply as a gunshot rang out from the woods.
Pete walked out into the clearing with the gun in his hand. His eyes held the single-minded determination of an assassin. He stopped at point blank range from Chloe and pulled the trigger again.
Faster than Chloe's eyes could see, Clark grabbed the bullet mere inches from her face.
"How did you…."
Clark handed her the bullet. "I thought you knew everything."
Chloe sat back down on the bumper of her car and buried her face in her hands again.
Pete's almost forgotten presence snapped the both of them out of their reverie. "How did I end up..? Clark? Chloe? What on earth is going…? Why do I have a gun in my hands??"
Matter-of-factly, Clark replied, "You tried to shoot Chloe."
"I WHAT??"
"We think that someone, probably Lionel Luthor is hypnotizing people to kill Chloe."
Completely out of context, Chloe giggled. "I guess we'll have to finish our conversation later, Clark."
Clark, suddenly remembering that he has two problems at hand, looked at Pete for reassurance. "It's okay, Chloe, Pete knows."
Pete looked from Clark to Chloe, shocked. "Chloe knows? How'd she find out?"
"I was kinda wondering that myself."
Chloe gave a small manic giggle. "It's a long story. If I can survive the next few days, I'll tell it to you."
Clark put a hand on her shoulder. She twitched away from his touch. "Want me to drive you home, Chloe?"
Chloe only nodded.
************************************************
That evening, Pete found Clark in his loft, staring at his computer monitor.
"Hey, bud. How ya doin?"
"Just trying to figure out why I tried to run Chloe down with my parent's truck."
"Any luck?"
"One lead. I got a strange email. I don't even remember opening it."
Pete leaned over Clark's shoulder. "From Brainwave?"
"Never heard of them."
"What's the email say?"
Clark tries to open the email. An error message popped up on his screen. EMAIL IS LOCKED. "I wonder if you got the same email. Let's go over to your house and check it out. If you did, call Chloe and tell her about it."
"Why don't you call Chloe? And, seriously, how'd she find out?"
"I have no clue. But it's really freaking me out."
"Why?"
"Have you ever seen Chloe break down before?"
"No."
"Me neither. How would you feel if you were the cause of something so horrendous that it caused her to act like that?"
"Pretty crappy."
"Yeah. So I think distance is best until she processes."
"Your call. But, Clark, I freaked out too, remember?"
"Yeah, but with you it was different."
"How?"
Clark sighed. "Look, can we just deal with the problem at hand here and worry about all that later?"
Pete nodded.
*****************************************
An hour later, Pete knocked on Chloe's door. Lana opened it. "Hey Pete. What's up?"
"Is Chloe in?"
"Yeah. What's wrong with her? She's been locked up in her room all night crying."
"I think she's just shaken up that people are being hypnotized to kill her."
"Death threats never shook her in the past."
Pete shrugged. "Can you ask her to come down?"
"Yeah."
A few minutes later, a splotchy-faced Chloe walked out the front door to stand with Pete. She wouldn't meet his eyes. Pete took a hold of her shoulder. "Wanna go for a drive?"
"Yeah."
As Pete started the car, a heavy silence fell between the two. Pete finally broke it. "Clark and I did some research. We both got strange emails from someone called Brainwave before we, well, went postal."
Chloe only made a noncommittal grunt.
"We think this Brainwave person is behind the whole deal."
"Oh."
Pete stopped the car and pulled over to the side of the road. "Chloe, what's up? Are you mad at me?"
"No, it's just…. Well, this whole Clark deal is freaking me out."
"I feel you there. When he told me, I couldn't process it at first. Eventually, though, with time, things got easier."
"Alien. Clark is a freakin alien. The story of the century literally lands right here in Smallville, and I'll never tell a soul."
"Well, that's good to hear."
"I wouldn't do that to him. It just freaks me out though. I won't ever be able to look at him the same way again. I can't."
"I got used to it."
"How long have you known?"
"A year. The thing that pissed me off the most is that he lied to me about it."
"You know, that's really not bothering me."
"What is?"
"I don't know… He looks so…
normal."
"He is. Well, mostly. He never asked for what happened to him. He just tries to do what's best with the gifts he's been given."
"Gifts."
"Yeah, that's what they are."
"Pete, can you drive me home?"
Pete put the car into drive. "Yeah."
***************************************************
"How is she?"
Clark paced around the loft like a tiger in a cage.
"Freaked out. I think she's just trying to get used to the idea."
"She can't get past the whole alien thing, can she?"
"She's kinda having a rough time with it."
Clark finally stopped pacing, and sat on the couch. "I feel so terrible about all this. My being who I am just brings pain and misery to everyone."
"If you weren't who you were, Chloe'd be dead right now."
"Yeah. But, seriously, except for the fact that I've saved your life…"
"On countless occasions"
"Regardless. Has me being… an alien… brought you anything positive?"
"Well, at least I've got some peace of mind from knowing if there's intelligent life in the universe."
"Haha." Clark's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Seriously, though, me being who I am has only brought pain to the people around me. Chloe's a wreck. I've put my parents through hell, and I'm sure this whole thing hasn't exactly been easy on you."
"Clark, go talk to her. You'll do the both of you a favor by it."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"When she looks at me, it's like she sees through me. She sees me as an alien."
"Well, bud, you are."
"You think this is exactly an easy
thing to adjust to??"
"Probably
not."
"How would you feel if one day your dad came up to you and said you were from another planet?"
"Probably freaked out."
"Yeah."
Pete looked at his friend. "You've never totally gotten used to the idea, have you?"
"Mostly. But, every now and then, I remember, and my stomach sinks. Being around Chloe makes me realize what every single person I know would do if they knew the truth. And it makes me feel lousy for lying to them, and makes me feel miserable because I can never tell people the truth. I'll always be saving people in shadows, running from the police. No one can know, because no one could handle it."
"You could always put on tights and become Warrior Angel."
"Very funny."
Pete sighed. "Clark. Go talk to Chloe. I'm kicking your butt out the door."
Both boys turn their heads as they hear footsteps on the stairs. "No need to." Chloe walked into the loft.
Pete looked at the two of them. "Um, I'm gonna go research. Bye." He scuttled down the stairs.
Clark and Chloe stared at each other for a minute, the uncomfortable silence growing between them.
"So… how long have you been listening."
"Sorry about that. I heard most of it."
"Look, Chloe, I'm sorry I…"
"No, Clark. Let's just put this all to the side until we solve this whole hypnotizing issue. We'll worry about it later. Let's just pretend for a moment that I'm still clueless."
"Chloe, we need to work this out."
"Clark, please. Let me work. I'll feel better if I'm working."
"Well, our first lead is this Brainwave. We can start there."
Chloe pulled her laptop out of her bag. "Let's start with tracking the IP address."
A few minutes later, a message pops onto the screen: Computer registered to Chloe Sullivan, IP address registered to LuthorCorp. "Oh lovely. Looks like Lionel's out to get me again." As she said those words, she knew they were wrong. She tried to remember back to the show. Summerholt, she thought to herself.
***********************************************
The next morning, Clark walked into the Torch. Chloe was sitting at her computer. She smiled, and shook her head.
"What's so funny?"
"The thought of an alien attending high school."
Clark suddenly found his fingernails to be the most interesting thing in the world. "I thought we were putting that conversation on hold."
"Sorry, Clark. Did you find anything out?"
"Yeah, I talked to Lex last night. The hard drive had been taken out of your old computer."
"My hard drive with all my email addresses."
"Right. Lex gave me this surveillance photo. He said her name is Molly."
Chloe took the photo from Clark. "Molly Griggs. I know."
"How?"
"Long story. But," Chloe scribbled down an address onto a piece of paper, "this is where you'll find her." Chloe was impressed with herself that she remembered the apartment number from the television show of herself. As she watched Clark speed out the door of the Torch, she thought to herself, I'm in control of my destiny again.
******************************
Seconds later, Clark knocks on the door of Apartment 927 in the Centennial Towers. The woman from the surveillance picture opens the door.
"Molly Griggs?"
"Who are you?"
"A friend of Chloe Sullivan." Clark looked over her shoulder to see a computer facing a large picture window looking out over Metropolis. Clark walked to the computer and started to bring up information.
Molly grabbed him from behind. "Get away from that!" Her struggles are lost on Clark who kept her away with one hand. A small disk pops from the disk drive.
"This is the program Molly?"
"Give me that!!"
"I'll take that as a yes." Clark looked back down to the computer screen. "You sent an email to my mother??"
"You won't be able to get to her before she kills Chloe. I won't allow you to hurt us."
Clark rolled his eyes and Molly and runs out of the room.
***********************************
Chloe walked into the Kent's barn. "Mrs. Kent? I got your call."
Martha walked out of the shadows. "Chloe."
"Are you okay, Mrs. Kent?"
Martha grabbed a sickle from the wall.
"Oh crap." Chloe turned around to run and slammed into Jonathan. He shoved her against a support beam, wrapping a chain around her neck. "Help!" she managed to choke out. Martha inched closer and closer with the sickle.
Suddenly, the voice Chloe wanted to hear most in the world rung out from the entrance of the barn. "MOM!" Chloe watched as Clark moved from the entrance of the barn to her side before she could blink. He pushed Jonathan and Martha aside and took the chain away from Chloe's neck. "Are you okay, Chloe?"
"Yeah. Thank you, Clark." She put her arms around him. "I'm so glad you're here."
Clark smiled. "I stopped Molly, no one else will come for you."
Suddenly, Chloe felt Clark wince in her embrace. "Clark? What's wrong? CLARK!" Clark collapsed to the floor, and Chloe watched as Jonathan swung at his son with a piece of Kryptonite in his hand.
"Meteor rock really hurts him. Oh God." Chloe ran to a lever, pulled it, and dropped bales and bales of hay onto Jonathan, Martha, and Clark. The Kryptonite rolled to her feet. Chloe looked down at the rock. She grabbed it and hunked it out of the barn.
A second later, Clark heaved a hay bale off of his back. It flew more than 20 feet. Chloe just watched in amazement. A few minutes later, Jonathan and Martha dig their way out of the mess. "What happened?" Martha asked.
"You were both hypnotized to kill Chloe."
"How, son?" Jonathan asked.
"I took care of it."
Martha, her mothering instincts taking over, went over to Chloe, and picked hay out of her hair. "Are you okay, sweetie?"
"I'm fine, Mrs. Kent. Are you okay?"
"We're fine. We're just glad you weren't hurt. Clark, honey, why don't you drive Chloe home? Your father and I will pick up this mess."
Clark shot an anxious look at Chloe. Chloe studied her hands for a minute. "Yeah, Clark. I'd like to talk to you about all this for a few minutes."
*******************************
"Okay, Clark, you level with me, I'll level with you."
"I thought you knew everything already."
"Not all of it. I just know the stuff that happened up until the tornado, and a few things that have happened since you got home from Metropolis."
"How?"
"You tell me everything, and I'll tell you how I know."
Clark nodded. "Start at the tornado?"
"Yeah."
"I don't entirely understand that bit myself yet. It was really strange. I ran into the tornado after Lana, and it was almost like I willed myself to go towards her truck."
"You can fly now??"
"I don't know everything about me yet. There's still a lot, well, um, my life is strange."
"I picked up on that."
Clark gave a small, humorless laugh. "So you know about the x-ray bit, right?"
"Yeah."
"Heat vision?"
"What do you mean, heat vision?"
"I can heat up things, or catch things on fire with my eyes."
"Cool!"
"Wasn't fun at first. I couldn't control it."
"Okay, that would suck."
"Remember the fire at the Talon?"
"Yeah. Ohhhh." Chloe nodded with understanding.
"Then there was the cave. I don't know exactly how, but apparently people from, well, where I'm from have come here before, and wrote the messages in the cave."
"So you can read it?"
"Yeah."
"Where ARE you from, Clark?"
"A planet called Krypton."
"Why were you sent here?"
"I don't know. I just know that this is my home."
Chloe reached out and touched Clark's arm. Alien arm, she thought to herself, I'm touching an alien. "It's so hard to believe."
Clark took her hand. "I'm sorry, Chloe."
"For what?"
"For being what I am. Because of me, you've got all this trauma in your life."
"No, Clark, it's not your fault. You didn't choose this. It chose you." Chloe took her hand away from Clark's.
"You're not used to all this, are you?"
"How could I be? Clark, as cool as I thought it would be to meet an alien, I'll be honest, I'm having trouble with it. I need time to process all of this."
"I understand." Clark replaced both hands onto the steering wheel and stared out to the road. Silence weighed between them. Clark pulled into Chloe's driveway and shut off the car. "I guess I'll see you around then."
"It's time I'm honest with you. Come in."
Chloe showed Clark the DVD set. The two of them watched in silence for the next two hours as their lives played out before them on the television screen.
"Where did you get this, Chloe?"
"Would you believe me if I said from an alternate dimension where we are nothing more than characters on a television show?"
Clark looked at her like she was nuts.
"Oh, come on. Both of us have had to swallow pretty big bites recently. Trust me."
"Okay. How is this possible?"
"A fissure. Created by a Meteor Rock bomb."
"Kryptonite. It's called Kryptonite."
Chloe nodded. "A Kryptonite bomb then. Somehow, it blew me into another world. A world where writers determine our future."
"Not anymore."
"No, we control ourselves now. I wonder what will be on the TV show?"
"Who cares?"
"What do you mean?"
"We can't let anyone else find out about this." Clark reached over and took the DVD out of the TV set. He carefully put it back into the case. With DVD in hand, he walked into Chloe's bathroom and turned on the bathtub. A flash of heat vision later, the DVD case was in flames.
"What are you doing, Clark?"
"There's too much information in there, Chloe! No one else can find out!" He dropped the DVDs into the bathtub, the water extinguishing the flames. "I'll fix the fissure. No one can get out, no one can come in."
Clark started to storm out of the room. "Clark, wait." Chloe grabbed his arm, stopping him. "There's more I need to tell you. Stuff about your future. What you'll become!"
Clark looked into her eyes. "Not now, Chloe. We're masters of our own destiny, remember?" He ripped his arm from her grasp and walked out the door.
*commercial break*