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Nightmare


England, 1600

Amelia was practising her magic under the watchful eyes of her mother, using her emotions to move the feather about. Though she was moving the feather she was writing her name on the parchment, finishing off with a curly 'S'. She took a deep breath, it had taken her a lot of energy to write but she had succeeded, and looked towards her mother who pick up the parchment and looked over it. She smiled at Amelia and Amelia smiled back.

"Well done Amelia, soon you'll be writing letters without lifting a finger" Amelia's mother said enthusiastically.

"You think I did well?" Amelia said.

"You did perfectly" Amelia's mother reassured her daughter.

"Lilly where are the candle's?" Amelia's grandmother shouted through the house.

"In the Cupboard mother, second self" Lilly said then looked down at her daughter and whispered "I think the old bat needs a memory spell" smirking with her daughter mischievously.

"And like an old bat I can hear you well Lilly" Amelia's grandmother shouted "I do not need a memory spell"

"Oh grandmother…" Amelia began.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" Amelia's grandmother said "You either call me Nanny, Nanna or…"

"Or old bat?" Amelia said, then felt a sharp pain in her tongue "ow!" she cried holding her mouth, as it swiftly left.

"Mother that was uncalled for" Lilly said "I deal with her my own way"

"In my day I held respect for my elders, especially my grandmother" Amelia grandmother said as she came in with five black candles "I never dare utter a single cheeky word to her"

"That's because she turned you into a toad, mother" Lilly said.

Amelia's grandmother looked stunned for a moment before she asked "How did you know that?"

"Grandmama told me all about it" Lilly said "Said she had a huge argument with her and had to wade in a pond just to find you all because great grandmother couldn't remember which toad you were"

"Whatever did you say to her?" Amelia asked.

Amelia's grandmother face went pink "Better be off, have to get the coven ready for tonight's event" she said quickly and speeded off out of the room.

It always amazed Amelia how fast the old bat could move despite being that age and amazingly when she was in a tight spot. Both physically and theoretically speaking. Lilly chuckled quietly at her mother's reaction.

"What did she say?" Amelia asked her mother.

"It is best I tell you when your older" Lilly said.

"That bad huh?" Amelia said.

"Yes" Lilly said then there was a knock on the door "Amelia be a dear would you check to see that is?"

Amelia sighed, she couldn't really be bothered to do that but since it was her mother she got up and answered the door. She looked shocked at the stranger in red, who wears the colour red

"Can I help you?" Amelia asked the stranger in the red cloak.

The woman pushed her hood away from her face "I have journeyed long and far from France and I need a room for the night"

"And you are?" Amelia said

"Isobel" the lady said.

"Please come in" Amelia said with a smile.


Lois walked into her dorm room, placing her keys in her pocket as she closes the door. Her roommate sits on her bed studying when she looks up to see Lois heading to kitchen area.

"Nice hair, when did you get it done?" Sarah asked.

"Excuse me?" Lois said.

"Your hair colour" Sarah said.

"What about it?" Lois asked.

"It's gone this really nice auburn colour" Sarah said.

"What!" Lois said then rushes to her roommate's mirror and her eyes widened "Holy crap!"

"Let me guess. You had no clue about it" Sarah said.

"Well duh!" Lois said.

"Man you must have been really wasted at your cousins party" Sarah said then smirks "I'd look for tattoo if I were you"

"That's not funny!" Lois said.

"Well I'd going around to find what the hell happened" Sarah said as she got off her bed "Starting with your cousin"


Chloe was researching some things when Lois walked in.

"Hey cuz" Lois said.

"Lois!" Chloe shouted clutching her heart "You scared me"

"Sorry baby" Lois said "So how are you enjoying eighteen?"

"It's nice" Chloe said "I am now officially an adult"

"What about the party?" Lois asked smiling.

"Lois you know as well as I do how that went" Chloe said.

"Really?" Lois said "Cause I don't remember"

"Really?" Chloe asked, confusedly.

Flashback

Chloe was sitting in the Talon. She looks at her coffee as she stirs it before a shadow covers it. She looks up to see Amelia looking back.

"Lois I thought you were going back to Met U" Chloe said.

"I will be I just have to check up on you Chloe" Amelia said sitting down in front of her "Heard you were possessed by a…witch?"

"Yeah, but I'm fine, being possessed can really give you a good night sleep for some odd reason" Chloe said "And oddly full stomach too"

"Well it's good to know your alright" Amelia said "No urges or anything?"

"No, but for some reason I don't think I'll be wearing black for a long time" Chloe said.

Amelia smiles at her.

"So when did you dye your hair?" Chloe asked.

End of Flashback

"Yeah, I don't remember a thing and now the hair" Lois said pointing to her hair "My roommate pointed it out to me and I had it for a week. How could I not notice it?"

"Lois, I asked you that" Chloe said "And you said 'You wanted to get back to your roots' cuz"

"Chloe I don't remember a thing" Lois said "Not even when I was supposedly talking to you"

"What's the last thing you remember before waking up?" Chloe said.

"Lana was giving us this weird drink" Lois said "Next thing I knew I woke up at the Kent's"

"Chloe something to Jason at the Talon" Clark said as he rushed in the Torch "Lois what are you-"

"What happened?" Chloe asked as she got up from her chair.


Jason lies on his hospital bed unconscious at Smallville Medical Centre with Lana by his side, sitting next to him as she touches his hand and stroking his face. Tears run down her face as she cries silently looking at Jason's heart monitor on a screen next to the bed before looking back at him. Clark, Lois and Chloe enter the room.

"Hey. How's he doing?" Chloe asked

"The doctors don't know" Lana said as she wipes away her tears "His heart's beating a mile a minute, and they can't get his blood pressure down"

"That's a little bit odd for someone who's unconscious, isn't it?" Lois said looking at the monitor "Especially since he was an assistant football coach too"

"They said he's in some sort of a panic mode, like he's having a severe nightmare" Lana said looking back at Jason.

"What happened?" Chloe asked.

"He, um, came by the Talon to pick me up for lunch, and I ran upstairs to grab a jacket" Lana said.

"And?" Lois asked.

"And I heard a crash. That's it" Lana said as more tears began to stream down her face "He's been-- he's been perfectly healthy, but the doctors say that if they can't get his heart rate down that he could have a heart attack."

"They must have some idea of what caused this" Clark said.

"I wish I could help them" Lana said "But he was just studying all morning before he came to the apartment. The first time I saw him, he was lying on the Talon floor"

"Well, let us know if there's anything we can do to help, okay?" Chloe said.

"They need his insurance card" Lana said as she nods "It's, um, it's in my apartment. Could you guys go get it for me? I don't want to leave his side"

"Yeah, okay" Chloe said.

Chloe touches Clark's arm and starts to leave the room with Lois behind her. Clark looks back at Lana sympathetically for another moment, then follows Chloe and Lois as Lana gazes at Jason lovingly.


Clark, Lois and Chloe look around in Lana's apartment. Clark picks up a framed picture of Jason and Lana and looks at it quietly before placing it down.

"You know this place screams for a designer" Lois said "It's so…green. I thought she's more a…pink girl"

Clark rolled his eyes at Lois before going through another set of shelves.

"That's actually was her signature colour before she left for Paris" Chloe said going through a couple of draws.

"Well the French have style" Lois said "Now if only she used it in here"

"Lois are you helping or do you just want to complain?" Clark said.

"I am helping" Lois snipped at Clark "Don't know why but I am"

"Why's that?" Chloe asked her cousin.

"For some reason I feel I owe Jason for something" Lois said then looks over her shoulder to Clark "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

Clark doesn't respond, knowing fully well Amelia had told him about the book from Jason. Lois spots Jason's book bag resting and walks to a chair where it is. She unzips the bag and looks through it.

"I don't think going through Jason's personal things falls under your snoop jurisdiction" Clark said.

"I'll take my chances with the jury on this one" Lois said

Lois finds Jason's PDA, pulls it out of the bag as she straightens up and looks at Chloe with a knowing look.

"I think maybe if we backtrack through Jason's last couple of days, it might help" Chloe said coming over the Lois as she pushes several buttons on the PDA.

"Ooh. Jason had a meeting at LuthorCorp this morning" Lois said.

"Why didn't Lana say something?" Clark asked.

"Maybe she didn't know" Chloe said.


Chloe, Lois and Clark walk up outside LuthorCorp. They walk toward the gate that leads onto the company grounds. Nobody else is around.

"This place seems dead" Lois said looking around.

"Yeah. Dad used to work the overtime shifts on Saturdays" Chloe said as she pulls a security card out of her pocket and swipes it through a slot outside the gate "This lot should be full by now" then pushes the gate open and they walk onto the grounds.

"Where do you think everybody is?" Clark said.

"I don't know" Chloe said "But while you're talking to Lex, I'm gonna give myself a little backstage tour"

"Wait for me" Lois said "I don't be around bald wonder"

"Why?" Clark asked.

"Haven't said thank you yet, and it just going to be awkward" Lois said


Lex is walking down a hallway of LuthorCorp in a hurry and seems very on edge and bumps right into Clark.

"Clark? How the hell did you get in here?" Lex asked angrily.

"The, uh, the gate was open" Clark said as Lex walks towards a security phone and Clark follows him "Your security seems a little MIA lately"

"That's obvious, but this is a restricted area" Lex said.

"This'll only take a second" Clark said

Lex stops next to a security phone on the wall. He picks up the receiver and speaks into it.

"I need someone to escort a guest out." Lex said and hangs up the phone before looking at Clark "Look, Clark, I'm sorry, but I just got in from Metropolis. I got a lot to do"

Lex starts walking again and Clark follows him.

"Just now?" Clark asked "I thought you had a meeting with Jason this morning."

"Not with me." Lex said "He was meeting with the head of my HR department"

"You giving him a job?" Clark said.

Lex stops walking and turns to face Clark.

"Just some leads. I felt guilty for getting Jason fired from the school" Lex said solemnly "He didn't even want Lana to know about it. I'm surprised he told you."

"He didn't. Jason's lying unconscious at the hospital, some sort of neurological stress" Clark said.

"Do they know what happened?" Lex asked.

"No. But your HR guy might have been the last person to talk to him" Clark said.

"Look, I'll track him down, but Clark, there could be a lot of reasons for Jason's condition" Lex said and starts to walk away.

"There could also be a lot of reasons why this place is deserted halfway through a Saturday shift" Clark said.

"I'll call in a specialist from Metropolis to take a look at him" Lex said over his shoulder "Assure Lana I'm doing everything I can for him"

Clark watches Lex walk away as a security officer drives up behind Clark in a small cart.


Elsewhere in the plant Lois and Chloe were walking down the hallways.

"How can you not remember your own birthday Chloe?" Lois asked.

"Possessed by a witch remember?" Chloe said.

"I get that but why would did Clark lie to me?" Lois said "He said you had a great time"

"Well Madeline had a great time" Chloe said "But I don't remember any of it, so he could have protection your feeling and you did work very hard for it and all"

"Just imagine what she could have done with your body" Lois said.

A beat.

"Lois, lets not carry on this conversation" Chloe said.

"Agree" Lois said.

They turn another corner.

"Look, I think we could cover more ground if we split up" Chloe said.

"Fine, but call me if you get into trouble" Lois said.

"I won't have to worry, trouble is always following you Lois" Chloe said teasingly.

"Don't push it" Lois said and heads off in another direction.

Chloe watches Lois until she disappeared down another corridor and turns and spots a dark set of stairs.

Chloe shrugs "What the hell"

She walks down them and begins to hear a clanking sound as the electricity surges. Quite suddenly the small amount of light on the stairs goes out, leaving Chloe in almost complete darkness. Slightly startled, Chloe squints her eyes to see better and keeps going down the stairs. A soft blue light coming from a room around the corner from the bottom of the stairs draws Chloe closer as she walks very slowly to the open doorway to look inside.

Chloe peeks into the room anxiously. She sees a woman with short dishevelled hair sitting hunched over in a chair in a straightjacket with her back to Chloe staring at a dark window. The floor is black and white chequered. Chloe blinks several times in confusion and then enters the room, walking toward the woman slowly. Her head is bent over that Chloe couldn't see her face.

"I've been waiting for you, Chloe" the woman whispers hauntingly.

"Mom?" Chloe said quietly.

"You can't escape this, Chloe" The woman continued "None of the women in our family ever have"

Chloe continues walking toward the woman until she is standing right behind her. After a long moment of terrified stillness, Chloe reaches out her hand as if to touch the woman's shoulder. When she is about to touch it, she pulls her hand away fearfully. Then after thinking about it some more, she reaches out again and rests her hand on the woman's shoulder.

Suddenly the chair whips around to face Chloe, and Chloe jumps back with a start. Chloe was looking a dark and frightening version of herself with large black eyes and dry crusty lips, an insane Chloe.

"Aaah! Aaaah!" Chloe starts to scream hysterically.

The insane Chloe looks up at her quietly in a deathly way. Chloe continues to scream, suddenly finding herself also bound in a straitjacket.

"No! No!" Chloe screams as she runs from the room, struggling against the straitjacket.

Chloe runs out into a main hallway, Lois comes out of a room spots Chloe and runs after her.

"CHLOE!" Lois screams after her cousin.

But Chloe doesn't hear her as she screams and struggles.

"No! No! Aah!" Chloe cries out.

She keeps screaming as Clark and the security guard come driving toward her in the guard's cart. The guard stops his cart and starts to stand up looking at Chloe strangely. Clark then taps the guard on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. Then he runs to Chloe and catches her in his arms just as she passes out. Clark looked up at Lois who on the verge of tears.


Lex enters one of the rooms of LuthorCorp where several workers, some wearing suits and others wearing lab coats, are busy working on computers and at lab tables. Lex enters an inner office where there are more people working and looks through the window at the room beyond where there are several people lying down on cots and being taken care of by workers in sterile suits and masks.

"With all our safety precautions, how the hell does a lab explode?" Lex asked the man in a suit.

"Well, when you're dealing with meteor rocks, it's very difficult to predict how our chemicals will react" Dr Ford said nervously "Mr. Luthor, we're doing everything we can. After the alarm sounded, we sealed the room. All affected personnel have been quarantined, and we're trying to fix the damaged pipes"

"You mean the bacteria is still leaking out?" Lex said Looking at the man incredulously
"Only in that room" Dr Ford said quickly.

"Once the situation is under control, I want the project dismantled" Lex said starts to leave.

"But Mr. Luthor, your father negotiated this contract with the military" Dr Ford said, stopping Lex in his tracks "We stand to make a lot if we can ever market the compound"

"And exactly what is the market for toxins that invoke a person's worst nightmare before they fall unconscious, Dr. Ford?" Lex said as he turns to face the man slowly.

"Think of the good" Dr Ford said then amended "I mean, we could disable the enemy without ever using violence. We have statistics to prove--"

"Statistics aren't lying in those beds! My employees are" Lex said pointing to them "And I'm afraid they're not the only ones"

"What do you mean?" Dr Ford worriedly asked.

"Someone who was visiting the plant this morning is at the hospital right now with the same symptoms" Lex said, narrowing his eyes at the man "Is he contagious?

"Oh, no, sir. I mean, the bacteria can't be transferred from one person to another" Ford reassured Lex "It has to be inhaled directly"

"Then there's no need to call the CDC and panic the entire town" Lex said, and Dr Ford nods "Where are we with the antidote?"

Ford walks to a incubator sitting on a lab table with several vials of dark fluid visible through the glass door. He points to it.

"This will clarify when it reaches 1000 degrees Kelvin, and then we can test it" Dr Ford said.

"What's the ETA?" Lex asked.

There was a long pause and Lex began to look worriedly.

"Another five hours" Dr Ford said finally.

Lex looks at Ford disbelievingly.


Lois sits besides Chloe as she lays there motionless in Smallville Medical Centre. Lois looks at her cousin, stroking her fragile hands.

"Do you remember when I visited you at Christmas? And I bought you those Santa slippers? That sang every time you hit them together? I'll buy you another pair if you wake up" Lois chuckled hysterically.

Tears began to form in her eyes.

"I only just found you" Lois said quietly "I don't know why you went to Clark to save your butt because I was the one that did it for you. Free of charge. You don't know how much I love you little cousin but if you do. Don't leave me"

Tears began to streak her face.

"Don't leave me" Lois repeated "You're a Sullivan. You are part of the Lane family. We're fighters, so don't leave me"

Lois's grip on Chloe's hand became stronger.

"I won't let you"

An alarm went off in the hospital. Lois gets up from her seat and walks out of the room wondering what hell is going on. Doctors and nurses came rushing into a particular room making Lois go to it.

"Clear!" Doctor shouted as she places the shock panels against the patients chest.

Beeeeeeeeeep

"Clear!" she shouted repeating the processes again.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeep

"Clear!" she shouted repeating the processes again.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

"Clear!" she shouted repeating the processes again.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

"Clear!" she shouted repeating the processes again.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

"Clear!" she shouted repeating the processes again.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

"Clear!" she shouted repeating the processes again.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

"Call it" she said.

"Time of Death 3:04pm" one of the doctors.

"Lets pack him up and send him to LuthorCorp" the female Doctor said.

"What?" said a nurse.

"Dr Ford orders" the Doctor said "The more infected people he has the faster they'll find a cure for this"

"He's the first out them" the nurse said.

"Let's hope he'll be the last" the Doctor said.

Lois walked away from the window numbly and walk back to Chloe's room. She looked fearfully for her cousin. Whispering four words like a declaration.

"I won't let you"


Clark hangs up the phone as he walks into the Kent kitchen to talk to Jonathan and Martha. Day.

"Eight other people have just come down with the condition that Jason and Chloe have" Clark said.

"The doctors haven't found anything in common?" Martha asked.

"Didn't you say that Jason and Chloe were both at LuthorCorp today?" Jonathon said.

"Yeah, but half the victims at the hospital weren't" Clark said "Whatever this is seems to strike completely at random otherwise Lois would there too. There's no way to tell who's gonna be next"

"Well, it sounds contagious. In the air or the water?" Jonathan said.

"Maybe it'll show up in some environmental quality report" Clark said.

There is a knock on the door and they see Lois through the screen.

"Lois" Clark said in disbelief.

"Come on in" Jonathan said as he opens the door for her and she enters.

"Clark told us about Chloe. Has something happened?" Martha asked worriedly

"One of the other infected people just died" Lois said.

Martha looks at Lois sadly.

Jonathan: "Lois, do the doctors have any idea at all what's going on?"

"Just that a person's body can only sustain a level of panic for so long before their heart gives out" Lois said trying to control her emotions before another wave of tears come "I can't...I can't just sit in that hospital anymore and just... just watch Chloe. I need to do something to get her out of there"

Clark looks at Lois seriously.


England 1600

Amelia woke up sweating in fear. She was dreaming again, she was being burnt by the stake everyone was cheering for her death. Getting up she began to light each candle in her room, tapping each one to exert fire. She didn't hear anyone opening her door to check up on her.

"I never knew…"

Amelia jumped, making one of the candles fall to the ground. She catches it before it hit's the ground and looks at the person that caught her in the act.

"…you could do that" Isobel said.

"Do what?" Amelia said in fear, as she straightens up.

"You made fire out of thin air" Isobel said "How?"

"I didn't do anything of the sort" Amelia said.

Isobel chuckles at her "Please, I'm not obtuse. You performed magic"

Amelia looks nervously at her.

"I promise I woke tell anyone" Isobel said.

"Really?" Amelia said.

"So you did perform magic" Isobel said

Amelia slaps a hand over her mouth, Isobel laughs at that.

"I did make a promise" Isobel said "And I always intend to keep them"

"You won't tell?" Amelia said.

"How about this" Isobel said "If you teach me magic I'll teach you how to fight"

"You can fight?" Amelia said.

"My father believed that even though men go to war it is the women that protect their home" Isobel said "And what good is it if that is the case if the women can't defend themselves?"

"You'll do that" Amelia said.

"As long as you keep your end of the bargain there is no reason why I won't" Isobel said "You and your family have given me a place to stay, it is the least I could do"

Amelia smiled "You have got yourself a deal"


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