A/N: I had planned to write this weekend and get at least two chapters done, but... the mass shooting in my hometown on the border really brought everything to a halt. In moments as dark and chaotic as these, you really do start wishing superheroes (faster than a speeding bullet, bulletproof with a knack for being right where they're needed) existed.

I think it's more apparent, more now than ever, that this place, where my stories and the stories of others reside, is my refuge.

Per usual, I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

-AL

Story: Woven

Chapter 3: Butterflies

Lena had never wished more for a spell that could stop the aching in her head. She groaned as the noises around her engulfed her senses and she wished she could just make it stop. Stop the pounding, stop all the continuous beeping sounds and the crushing feeling she felt in the back of her skull. She blinked, the light too harsh to let in all at once and for a moment she panicked that she had caused another catastrophic event.

"Lena?" Lex's voice broke through the cacophony of sounds.

Lena groaned, her head heavier than she ever thought it could be, and winced. "Lex… what happened?"

"Officially or unofficially?" Lex asked with a grin and Lena relaxed. If he was teasing her, then whatever happened couldn't have been that bad.

"Unofficially," she answered.

"Well you saved a man's life. Bruce said you lifted the car, and swung the semi, but you didn't account for its tail end which ended up swatting your car."

"Oh god, Bruce, is he-"

"I'm fine, ma'am." Bruce's stoic voice cut her off. When she turned to the side, she found the man sitting against the wall, arms crossed and a bandage on his jaw. "I should have reacted with you."

Lena's eyes widened; she had weaved a spell right in front of the man. And what did he mean by that? How could he have have 'reacted' with her? She glanced at Lex thinking he might be somewhat disturbed by Bruce's answer, but he wore an easy smile.

"Bruce is like us… I would have told you, but he wanted to assess you himself before outing himself." Lex explained.

"Like us? There are more?" Lena gasped.

"Not quite, ma'am, I'm…" Bruce clenched his jaw and shared a look with Lex, "a failed experiment. Your brother took me in when I had nowhere else to go."

Lena's head whirled with the new information. "I'm not sure I understand."

"Do you remember the second half of the Thorul Tale?" Lex asked gently as he took hold of Lena's trembling hand.

"Of course it takes a turn," Lena rolled her eyes playfully, "when do tales ever end on a happy note?"

"Patience Lena, you never know what lies at the end of a tale," Lex replied with a smirk, "now can I continue or do you have any more cynical remarks to add?" Lena smiled and sat back in her seat. "As the months progressed, and the traveler's harvest continued to flourish, the Mayor grew more hateful and envious. No one came to beg at his doorstep, no one greeted him on his walk to city hall, no one needed him anymore. What was worse was that the traveler invited him daily to the cafe, delivered him tea at his office, and said hello whenever they crossed paths. It drove him mad and one night he set out to the traveler's lands and set fire to his crops."

"God, what an asshole!" Lena exclaimed and Lex raised an unimpressed brow. "Sorry, sorry, continue."

"When the traveler awoke to the smell of smoke, it was too late to save much of anything. The Mayor was convinced he had won and that it wouldn't be long before the traveler and all the rest of the townspeople came begging for food."

"I'd rather eat dirt than beg that fat bastard-" Lena's temper flared and she set a nearby book on fire.

Lex quickly put it out with a pinch of his fingers, "this is almost as bad as the time I read the Last Unicorn to you… I thought for sure we'd be buried underneath what used to be our house."

"Sorry," Lena muttered and Lex only chuckled,

"It was the cutest, most terrifying experience and I wouldn't change a thing," Lex assured her and continued the tale. "Where was I? Oh, right, with the fat bastard," Lena smiled. "He waited and waited, but the traveler never came. So he visited the cafe and much to his horror and surprise, the traveler was surrounded by baskets of food. The townspeople took turns sharing bits of their own crops with the traveler. Before the traveler could offer him anything, the Mayor stormed off into the setting sun. The traveler followed and called out for the man to stop, the sky was clouded and the winds became violent, but the Mayor paid no heed to his warnings. He didn't turn around until he heard a strangled cry behind him. The storm had caused the rocks on the cliff above them to fall and pin the traveler most gruesomely to the ground.

'Please help,' the traveler cried out.

The Mayor approached him and studied his wound. The gash was deep on the traveler's thigh and the large boulder that crushed his chest would keep him locked in place. If the Mayor helped him, he would have a chance at recovering, but if he left him there, he would surely bleed to death. The Mayor laughed and walked back home feeling lighter than he had in days.

Rain poured and the traveler felt his body grow colder and colder.

'Enough, brother, I have seen enough. It is my turn now,' a voice beckoned.

The traveler cried as the voice inside him grew stronger and he knew he couldn't hold on. Unbeknownst to all who knew him, the traveler was not quite what most made him out to be. He was not simply a man, but two.

"Be kind to them," the stranger murmured; his lips weakly moving. "They are good people."

"'Oh, dear Levi what kind of Thorul have you become?' The voice hissed. 'Playing gardener with these… humans. When we are capable of so much more!'

To which the brother replied, "Lerus Thorul we are no more than humans with gifts, do not forget that they can be taken away just as easily as they were given. I'll unbind your magic, but listen well, only half of all will you ever have. I commit you to these rules, Lerus… commit and I will break the spell that binds you."

'How dare you use my name; such a spell would render my will null!' the brother hissed.. 'Unbind me now or we'll both die."

"Lerus… commit to the rules I have laid before you so that we both may live."

Lerus protested and raged but could feel their earthly tether wane by the second. With burning fury, Lerus agreed to Levi's will. And so with renewed powers, the traveler uplifted the rocks and healed his body, but from then on he spent half the year as Lerus and the other half as Levi. So in every Thorul there is a good measure of light, but without a doubt there is also a raging darkness that threatens to consume all.

"Yes, I recall the second half," Lena spoke softly; she was afraid where this might go.

Lex sighed, "Levi and Lerus are the origins of our family and powers, and each of their essences get passed down to Luthor heirs." Lena paled and Lex was quick to add, "however, Lerus grew impatient with our line very early on… he could not influence us as easily as he wanted, so he ventured out."

"Ventured out?" Lena's eyes widened, "how so?"

"Well, you see-" Lex began.

"LENA!"

Lena paused and glanced out the door of her hospital room to see a mess of blonde hair heading her way in a haphazard fashion. Kara nearly rammed a nurse straight into oblivion before she skidded to a halt and caught her breath on the frame of the door.

"Lena, are… are you ok?" Kara asked, her gaze locked onto to Lena's. "We came because Eliza got a call and they said Jeremiah had been in an accident with a semi and another car, then we rushed on over and Jeremiah was fine, thank god, but he said you were in the other car and that you were whacked by the semi's tail when it lost control, so I just had to find you and make sure you were ok." Kara gasped for breath at the end of her uncalled for explanation.

"This must be the nice girl you mentioned yesterday." Lex spoke up and Kara jumped a bit because she hadn't even noticed Lex was there. "Hello there, I'm Lex Luthor, Lena's older brother."

Kara smiled and shook his hand, "nice to meet you, Kara Danvers." She glanced around the room and spotted Bruce, "oh my god, Bruce are you ok? Shouldn't you be in a hospital bed too?"

"I'm fine," he replied hastily. "Ma'am shall I take-"

"No Bruce!" Lena glared at her driver. How many times was he going to try and 'take care' of Kara for her. And now that she knew he could do what spellweavers could, it was even less comforting.

"Take Kara to get something from the vending machines… is what I was going to say," Bruce added somewhat deflated. "You need to drink something."

"Oh I'll go!" Kara offered eagerly and went to pull Bruce along before Lena could protest. "Lena what do you want, or should I just get everything and let you pick?"

Lena blushed at Kara's attentiveness, "just some kind of fruit juice or whatever they have."

Lex chuckled as Bruce was practically yanked away by the blonde and Lena was looking down at her sheets. "Seems like you weren't kidding when you said you met a really friendly girl."

"She's nice… just a bit strange," Lena muttered.

"Says the spellweaver," Lex teased, "anyhow, I suppose I should wrap up what I was saying. Lerus found a way out by finding a willing host. We still carry a large portion of his essence, but the piece that got away… well, it's caused nothing but despair. My mother was the first."

Lena gasped and reached out for Lex's hand, "I never knew… I'm so sorry."

"Don't be; I admit, I kept it from you intentionally. I didn't want you growing up with the same fear I did. As for Bruce, he was an unwilling host. My mother's been conducting experiments; I've spent a good portion of my life putting an end to her schemes."

"Lex, you should have told me," Lena spoke softly as she gave Lex's hand a firm squeeze.

"I just wanted you to have a better childhood, but Lerus always finds a way. He preys on negative emotions. But… always remember, we are as much Levi as we are Lerus and it's our choice."

Lena gave a soft nod and smiled at her brother. She had never met anyone kinder or stronger than her older brother, and she hoped one day he could lean on her for support. When they had more time, Lena wanted to ask him more about his mother and his childhood; it would probably break her heart, but she wanted to know.

Meanwhile at the juice machine, Bruce was glaring as Kara swiped his card incessantly and bought an apple juice, grape juice and orange juice and then asked if the mixed berry juice was technically a fruit juice or more of just plain old corn syrup.

"What's your deal?" Bruce asked sternly and stared down at the girl as she picked up her fourth bottle.

"My… deal?" Kara repeated. "Whatcha mean?"

"Why do you care so much?" Bruce rephrased his question.

"Oh you mean Lena…" Kara blushed. I doubt he'd be comforted when I tell him I dream about her all the time, have been since I can remember dreaming. Yep he most definitely wouldn't let me near Lena then. "I think she's nice and I know what it's like to be the new kid at school. It's not fair that she's being bullied because she's a Luthor."

"Bullied? Who's bullying her?" Bruce inquired.

"I'd tell you, but I'm afraid you'd 'take care' of them," Kara said in all seriousness, "so I'll make a deal with you instead. I promise to watch out for Lena at school, if you promise not to let any more semis crash into her car."

Bruce held the girl's gaze and was mildly surprised that she didn't look away. He supposed there was some steel to her after all. "Fine."

"I knew we'd be friends!" Kara chirped.

Brusquely he retrieved his card and took all the drinks from Kara's arms before walking away at a brisk pace. Kara chased after him with a "hey!" He ignored her and entered the room, casually lining up all the drinks Kara had bought on the table by her bed.

"This is her doing," Bruce said when Lena looked at him incredulously and glanced at Kara.

"I didn't know which you'd like better," Kara shrugged and leaned back against the wall; the room was rather small for four people. "So are you feeling ok? I didn't really give you a chance to answer last time."

Lena sighed, "I'm fine, just tired. Thanks for the juice."

"Of course, and don't worry about making it to track practice in the morning."

Lex, who had reached out for the apple juice and was a gulp in, almost spit it all over the floor. Startled, Kara asked if he was ok.

"Yeah sorry," Lex coughed, "just went down the wrong way."

Kara nodded and then scribbled on a piece of paper she found nearby. "Here's my number so we can text." She handed the paper to Lena who took it tentatively between her fingers. "Or you can just have it for another emergency, you don't have to text me unless you want to, but it's ok if-"

Kara's phone 'pinged' and when she looked down at it, it read 'stop rambling' from an unknown number. Lena waved her phone to show she had sent the message and Kara smiled wide.

"Awesome sauce, well I better get back to my family, I'll see you around Lena," Kara said and waved at the others before dashing down the hall.

The room was awfully quiet once Kara was gone. Lex smirked and raised a brow, "not to be mean, but has Kara seen you run?"

"Shut up," Lena muttered and sipped at her grape juice.

"How does she run?" Bruce inquired.

"Imagine a velociraptor minus the speed," Lex chuckled.

"I said SHUT UP!"

"Kara, I'm pretty sure they had her assignments e-mailed to her," Alex muttered as she finished up her cool down stretches.

"Even so she'll need hard copies," Kara argued.

"I'm pretty sure she knows how to print attachments."

"What if she doesn't have a printer?" Kara asked.

"Kara she has a mansion," Alex sighed, "look, just don't stay out too late, okay? Mom's all paranoid after what happened with dad."

"Don't worry, I'll be safe," Kara shouted over her shoulder, she was already running in the direction of the Thorul mansion with her backpack in tow.

Lena hadn't come to school today and when Kara texted her asking if she was ok, Lena had texted back that she was fine, but her head still felt weird and she wasn't sure she could handle class just yet. Aside from that Kara hadn't text her for fear of, as Alex put it, 'drowning her in her Kara-ness'. Kara was sure Alex was just being mean, but the blonde didn't want to take any chances. Going over and taking her some missed work wasn't considered drowning her in her Kara-ness since she would be technically drowning her with worksheets; at least, that's what the sunny girl had convinced herself of as she jogged up the hill to the Thorul Mansion.

Lena lay underneath a rather large pecan tree that stood on its own in the middle of a huge field. Lena supposed it might have once been used for farming, but now it just teemed with assortments of flower bushes here and there. She rested her book on her stomach and looked up at the clear blue sky; she should have gone to school today on account that she was feeling perfectly fine.

Except I had that dream.

Lena sighed; dream Kara had come to her late last night when she had returned home. She hadn't had a dream of the blonde since coming to Midvale and meeting the real one, so when it happened she tried to wake up. She shivered as she remembered how dream Kara had grasped her wrist and how warm her hold was. She pulled Lena into a tight embrace, enveloping her in her lithe, strong arms and nestling her face in the crook of her neck.

It wasn't like it was the first time her and dream Kara had touched; they touched plenty, especially when Lena had first awakened to her more carnal desires. She shook her head before she could get lost in those thoughts; it felt ten times more weird now that she was an actual person. What was strange about her dream was how real it felt. When dream Kara held her, Lena thought she could hear a heartbeat and Kara had a scent… the same as real Kara. And that's why she couldn't go to school today because seeing Kara right now would definitely-

"Hey Lena," Kara greeted her casually.

"Fuck!" Lena shouted and pressed her palm to the ground with haste. Her spell wound into the grass and somewhere in the distance, deep in the forest that surrounded Midvale, a resounding crack echoed in the atmosphere. Lena took a deep breath-she had just cracked the earth in half to some extent.

"Jesus, Kara are you trying to kill me?" Lena furrowed her brows and glared at the girl.

Kara's eyes widened as her mouth fell open slightly; had Lena felt that rumble in the earth just now? She raised both her hands as she apologized and looked at the book Lena had splashed on her lap. The Mists of Avalon… it looked long. The blonde blanked as Lena leered up at her, momentarily forgetting why she had come.

"I… uh, brought you some class work that you missed." Kara held out the worksheets.

Lena softened her hard stare and reached out for the worksheets. She had already completed all the work that had been emailed to her earlier that day, but she didn't want Kara to feel like she had come over for nothing so she kept that to herself.

"Thanks," Lena said and placed the worksheets in her book. "How's your dad?"

"He's doing well, he only had minor bruising from his airbags; he swears the semi was going to ram straight into him, but it must have been the adrenaline that made him see things, or something," Kara rambled and took a seat by Lena. "He might have hit his head."

"I see, well… I'm glad he's ok."

"You should come by for dinner!" Kara almost shouted, causing Lena to jump a little. "If you want… Jeremiah makes these really good sloppy joes and he promised he'd make them on Friday."

Lena watched as Kara bashfully twiddled a blade of grass between her fingers while she awaited her answer. Everything inside of her screamed 'yes' but she felt like it would be wrong of her to give in to that adamant voice. She knew what she was doing; she was projecting all of her feelings for Dream Kara on real Kara, and it wasn't fair to the blonde.

"I think we might be leaving out of town that weekend, Lex has some work in Metropolis to take care of and I asked to go with," Lena lied.

Kara frowned for a second but quickly smiled, "that's so cool that your brother takes you with him; I've only been to Metropolis once to help my cousin move into his apartment. He's a junior at Met U now. Eliza says I should think about joining him, but I kinda want to go my own way."

Lena listened and found herself noting how Kara called her parents by their first name. She really wasn't the expert at having parents, but she knew enough to know that calling parents by their first name was a little odd even for someone as strange as Kara. She let it slide, deciding that it wasn't her place to know even if she was curious.

"Where do you want to go?" Lena asked. She'd just have to sate her curiosity with other facts about the blonde.

"National City University," Kara said cheerily, "they have a journalism program there that I'm super interested in."

"Not for running?" Lena found herself asking questions without hesitation.

Kara shook her head, "I'm good, but not that good." She stretched out and lay back on the grass. "Plus I want to do something that's going to help people."

Lena chuckled good naturedly, "can you get any more perfect?"

At that Kara blushed furiously and hurriedly grabbed Lena's book from her lap and covered her face. Lena yelped at the sudden movement but sat perfectly still as Kara mumbled into the book. Lena had just called her perfect and Kara was sure the term 'having butterflies in her stomach' was an understatement; if anything, there was a storm of butterflies fluttering at supersonic speed in her stomach. Her sister had actually told her butterflies in her stomach was actually her body momentarily not digesting her food because of nerves.

"Well, I should get going, see you tomorrow?" Kara asked sheepishly as she handed Lena her book back.

"Yeah, I'll be there."

Kara smiled, "bye Lena."

"Bye Kara."

Lena laid in her bed, just about ready to sleep and pulled her stuffed lion to her chest. It was no longer the vessel for Lionel, but she was still very fond of him. She nuzzled his mane and then remembered the kind, old man at the cafe. He had been surprisingly easy to talk to, but Lena still recalled the feeling of sadness and the strange reaction she had to the porch swing.

His name was Lionel too.

There was a time when Lena would have just written it off as coincidence, but that time had come and gone. She knew Lex probably had the answers, but she wondered how honest he'd be with her. She internally groaned; she wished he would stop protecting her and just tell her the truth. If she really was susceptible to a dark entity, then shouldn't she have all the knowledge to keep it at bay? Then again what if Lex didn't have the answers; that possibility scared her even more.

Perhaps she should just visit the cafe again and talk to Lionel on her own. For now all she could do was get some rest; after all, she had promised Kara she'd check her out early tomorrow morning.

Not her… the track team.

Lena corrected herself and tried her hardest not to imagine what Kara might look like in short, running shorts.

A/N: And another chapter done!

Next:

Lena meets the track team (for reals this time… I know I promised it in last chapter's notes!) (Kara's legs have her shook)

When it rains it pours (Lena stays at Kara's until the flooding goes down)

And how exactly did Lena end up pinned to Kara's bed?

- AL