Chapter Twenty-Six - The Princess And The Purpose

"And I was remembering you, remembering everything about you, and Chloe's words were perfect, capturing you as well as words could ever hope to, and then she played that song…"

Clark paused, wiping the tears away.

"Anyway I had to get out of there. Fast. And so I came here. Don't know why I'm telling you these things, opening up to you when I never did while you were alive. Still can't believe you're dead. Did I tell you that I think I hear your voice at night? Somewhere, far in the distance."

Suddenly Clark's ears picked up a pair of familiar footsteps approaching. "It's Lex," he said, but the cryogenic chamber he was talking to didn't answer.

"I knew I'd find you here," said Lex, making his entrance.

"Come to gloat?" asked Clark, avoiding Lex's gaze.

"Gloat about what? Chloe's mistake? She's as upset about it as you are. If you'd stuck around for a moment longer you'd have known that."

"Was it a mistake? Chloe never liked Lana. Not really."

"Of course it was a mistake, Clark. You know it was. You're just using it as an excuse to see Lana again."

"I've not seen Lana, Lex. Not since she died. I couldn't bare to look at her when Zod first brought her in, and now she's stuck in this cryogenic chamber, waiting until we can get her back to Smallville for a proper funeral."

"Can't you take a peek at her in there with your X-ray vision?"

"Even if I could bring myself to, The Doctor made me promise not to use it while I'm on the Tardis. If I accidentally looked at the heart of the Tardis anything could happen."

"I understand," replied Lex, thinking back to another death that he'd once seen, a death that hadn't happened yet.

"Anyway, if you don't mind, Lex, I'd like to be alone."

Lex looked down at Clark, sitting on the floor. "What, alone with Lana? Stuck here with your ice princess, as she sleeps her eternal sleep, as you keep hoping that one day you'll find a way to wake her up. Don't bother, Clark. It's the stuff of fairy tales. Trust me, there's no happy ever after."

Clark stared resolutely at the floor, trying to ignore Lex's piercing gaze. "So, what if I want to be alone with Lana? Is that such a crime?"

"Lana, Lana, Lana," chanted Lex. "It's always the L word with you, isn't it? I pity you, Clark. You've got X-ray vision, heat vision, and, some day soon, even microscopic and telescopic vision, but you're still blind. Lana's dead, she doesn't need you anymore … it's Chloe who needs you now. She's the best friend you'll ever have … don't lose her."

"What would you know about friendship?" asked Clark coldly, turning to Lex. This time Lex averted his gaze.

"I know that it's not worth losing," he said, with a trace of remorse in his voice. "Don't make the same mistakes I made," he added, and then walked away leaving Clark to think about his words.


"Okay, maybe this memorial service wasn't such a good idea," conceded Rose Tyler, as The Doctor activated the Tardis' console to take them to the next reality.

"Don't blame yourself," replied The Doctor.

"No, blame me," interrupted Chloe, who was sat on the floor, her head in her hands, feeling sorry for herself.

"Well, to be honest I enjoyed it immensely," said Ursa, kneeling down beside Chloe. "Who would have thought that Lana and I had so much in common? All my boyfriends ended up dead or hospitalized too, and my father was killed when a piece of rock smashed into him - although in his case it was repeatedly. And that song at the end - so sad and yet so uplifting."

"Thanks, I'm so glad that you appreciated it," replied Choe, regaining her sarcasm. "It means so much to me."

"Besides, she can have a proper funeral when all this is over," added Ursa optimistically. "Just Lana's family and friends - that'll be a lot easier to organize, less people for a start."

Chloe was about to rip Ursa's throat out or something similarly understated when the Tardis' sudden silence indicated that it had come to a halt.

"So, where are we now?" asked General Zod.

"Back where Lana died," replied Jimmy. "Smallville. 1961."


While it had been only seconds since the Tardis had started to materialize outside Smallville, far away, on the other side of Smallville, there was another Tardis, from their past, that had materialized thirty minutes earlier.

Now the Lana Lang from that Tardis was walking the streets of Smallville. She had a purpose here today: she was going to cheat destiny, and so she found herself standing at the door of her great-aunt's house.

Taking a deep breath she nervously knocked at the door. There was no answer. She didn't know whether to feel disappointed or relieved and then, just as she was about to try knocking again, the door suddenly opened, and she found herself staring into a stranger's face that resembled her own in every detail (although she didn't think it was quite as beautiful).

Louise McCallum stared in shock. She recognized the face at the door immediately but it took her seconds to realize that it was hers (although she didn't think it was quite as beautiful). "Do I know you?" she finally asked, dumbfounded. "With your beauty we must be related."

"That's right," replied Lana, and then, deciding that honesty was the best policy, added "I'm your great-niece from the future, but you won't know me because I haven't been born yet and you're dead. Can I come in?"

"Sure," replied a shocked Louise, displaying a false smile, and then, once Lana had entered the house, and her words had finally sunk in, she added "I'm dead?"

"Don't worry," said Lana reassuringly. "I'm here to stop it."

"You're from the future? Did Jimmy send you?" asked Louise.

"You know Jimmy?" asked Lana, filled with a sudden curiosity.

"Very well," said Louise with a mischievous smile, and then walked over to a cabinet at the side of the room. "He was here in Smallville for a few weeks, only left a day or so ago. Anyway, we got to talking and … well …" She produced a small box from the cabinet and then, from within that box, she produced a letter. "He wrote me this. Such a way with words. Guess he really did work at a newspaper like he said."

"Jimmy Olsen wrote this?" asked Lana in disbelief as she read the passionate words, words she'd read once before, and noticed his initial J at the bottom.

"He did more than just write," laughed Louise. "Actions speak louder than words, if you get my drift."

Lana forced a smile. She didn't have time to hear about Louise's love life (and even if she had she wouldn't want to) - she just had to make sure that a bullet didn't put an end to her great-aunt.

"Let's swap places," exclaimed Lana, suddenly inspired. "You can take my place on the Tardis traveling through time and space and realities while I make sure that you don't die."

"Well, I've always thought I was destined for something more than Smallville," admitted Louise. "Sure, I'll give it a try."

"Great," said Lana. "Oh, wait a minute, our hair's different."

"Don't worry," said Louise. "I'm a big movie fan. I've got lots of wigs upstairs. Trust me, by the time I've finished nobody will be able to tell us apart. So, tell me, are there any cute guys on this Tardis of yours?"

"Well, nobody's as perfect as we are," confided Lana. "There's Clark who's cute in a dumb puppy dog kind of way, Lex who's bald and smoldering, The Doctor who'd be perfectly acceptable if some of his ears were amputated, Jimmy who you already know way too well, and General Zod, who's great for an old guy with a beard. Actually he pretends he's a real bad guy, puts on an English accent and everything, and on the way here I thought for a second he was following me, but I guess that's some of my old Smallville being-stalked-by-meteor-freaks paranoia creeping in. To tell the truth, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Sounds enchanting," said Louise. "I can't wait. But are you sure about this?"

"I've never been surer about anything," said Lana with all the conviction she could manage. "I've had enough of my family die on me to last me a lifetime. Trust me, I'm not going to let the same thing happen to you."