AN: I didn't find 'Requiem' as offensive as 'Power,' but I'm still not completely satisfied with the manner in which Lana left. I would have liked more closure for Clark rather than just, "oh, you can't be with her," but at least Lana's gone, right? Thoughts and comments are definitely welcome. This chapter continues on with my own personal rewrite of the Lana episodes with the time travel twist of Lois. Enjoy and review!

*******

Chapter Four: Too Many Folks from the Future

"I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person." ~Og Mandino

"Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit." ~Napoleon Hill

"Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer." ~Denis Waitley

*******

Lois stared up at Clark.

She was powerless to do anything else. She had seen him in the barn before, of course, dancing with the younger version of herself, but that had been some sort of strange dream. It had been a moment from her memory and his presence in it seemed like just another part of the memory. But this moment, holding his hand and gazing up at him, this had never happened before. This was the first time she had seen him, talked to him, or touched him in nine years, seven months, and three days. Her hand involuntarily went to his cheek, where she ever so lightly brushed her thumb along his jaw line. She could hardly believe he was real. His eyes were mesmerizing and it had been far too long since she had felt their warmth directed towards her. That familiar feeling of being safe and on the tip of scared washed over her. She didn't think that would still be possible. She whispered his name, almost too quiet to be heard, but finally allowing herself to accept that he was alive and standing close enough for comfort.

Her hand still rested in his, but neither one drew away. He didn't quite seem to know what to do, either. She knew that her face reflected how dumbstruck she was at actually interacting with him again. Her lips curved into a goofy grin that he returned. She knew she looked older, she could tell that he knew something was different, but she wanted to believe that Clark could still connect with her as Lois Lane. She was still Lois and he was still Clark, after all. How much did time really matter? How much could she convince herself that it didn't matter?

"Lois? Are you all right?" Clark said, looking intently at her.

"Yes, Clark, I'm fine," Lois said. She wanted to curse herself for sounding so breathless.

He continued looking at her carefully. She could only imagine how he was trying to ask her about her different clothing and visible age. She didn't know how to help him out, either. She was still trying to deal with his presence, after all. Plus, she was waiting for some sign of his superpowers to leak out. Remembering that fact certainly made her reluctantly bring her hand down from his cheek.

Oliver came running up to them through the crowd of people that was fleeing outside. He saw their hands together and gave Lois a quick glance before addressing Clark. "Chloe's gone. Lois called the police and they're sending ambulances--"

He was cut off by a strangled cry from Jimmy. "Chloe!" Jimmy yelled before pushing himself off the floor and running out of the barn at a faster speed than Lois thought he was capable of.

Lois and Clark reacted at the same time. They dropped each other's hand and went racing after Jimmy. He was headed for the fields that the monster had disappeared into. Clark must have been controlling his speed because he and Lois reached Jimmy at the same time. Although he flailed his arms and struggled against Clark, they pulled him to the ground and managed to subdue his escape with the help of someone else in the dark.

When he had finally calmed down and was simply breathing heavily on the ground, Lois and Clark stood up. Lois was a little surprised to see that young Lois had been the one to help them in the dark, but she shouldn't have been. Even back then, Lois had started to regard Jimmy as a brother if Chloe was like a sister. Lois smiled at her younger self, who shrugged and joined Clark in watching Jimmy with worry.

"He should be ok," Clark said. He looked at Lois and then young Lois, doing a series of double takes between them. "What? Lois? What's going on?"

Young Lois looked at Lois and Clark followed her gaze. Lois smiled a bit sheepishly. "Uh, I'm not really sure there's an easy way to tell you this, Smallville, but I'm actually from the future."

"The future?" Clark looked at young Lois again, who nodded slowly. "I'm not sure I follow."

"Join the club," Oliver spoke up, joining them again. "Why don't I take Jimmy to the hospital to get him checked out? You've got enough to handle here with two Lois Lanes, plus Chloe and all." He gave each Lois his signature grin. "I'll take care of him until…until you bring Chloe back."

"Thanks, Oliver," Clark said. The two men lifted Jimmy up and Oliver led him away. "Jimmy will be ok," Clark said to the two women.

"And Chloe?" young Lois asked slowly. "What happened to her? Where is she? Why do all these terrible things keep happening?"

Clark pulled her into a tight hug. Lois remembered a similar conversation in a very different setting, but was determined not to ruin the moment by drawing attention to herself. It still felt disconcerting to be back with her friends at the Kent farm. She was much older than them and had gone through so many different things, but she still felt connected to them. In the future, she was the only one left. Here and now, everyone at least was alive.

Clark and young Lois eventually pulled apart. Clark gave her a reassuring smile, which she tried to return but only half-succeeded.

"Jimmy will be ok," Lois said, thankful that she had the opportunity to help Jimmy out. "Chloe will be, too."

"Is that an official prediction from the future?" young Lois asked her hopefully.

Lois sighed. "I really don't know. I've already changed some things by being here. I don't know how much of an impact I've had. But I believe Chloe will be all right." Young Lois seemed to accept this statement.

"Now, why are you here from the future?" Clark said, taking a half step closer to young Lois as if to protect if necessary.

"I'm here to fix something that went wrong. The future's terrible, somehow the timeline got messed up or something, and I'm the only one that could fix it by going back. You've got to believe me, Clark."

To her surprise, Clark turned to young Lois. "Have you talked to her?" Young Lois nodded. "Do you believe her? Is she you?"

"I believe her. She knows things that only I would know. I know it's weird, but believe me, it feels weirder to be me right now. I mean, somewhere down the line I could lose a finger," young Lois said.

Lois held up her left hand before Clark could question her about said digit. "You can ask me anything you think I should know, if you'd like, but I'm not giving away much about the future. All you need to know about my time is that it's wrong and shouldn't be that way."

Clark looked at her thoughtfully. "This feels strange to ask with two of you here, but I do have a question for you. There's something that I'm not allowed to ever tell anyone about, what is it?"

Young Lois blushed and became very interested in the ground. Lois could understand her feelings since this event was a little more recent for her younger self. Lois simply smiled. "You mean the lap dance? I hope you've still got the Elmer Fudd nightlight for collateral."

Clark smiled at her in return, shaking his head slightly. "Some things never change, I guess." He and young Lois shared a glance, too, before he looked at Lois again. "Are you here to help with finding Chloe?"

Lois remembered the dream with Jor-El and decided it couldn't hurt to look for the crystal in the trunk. "I might have an idea about that. Follow me."

She led them back to the barn. When she saw Lana waiting in the doorway, she felt her good spirits that came with seeing Clark deflate. That silly farm boy had once again managed to distract her from her mission. Maybe she didn't have to complete it so quickly, though. Maybe she could help Clark find Chloe and then take care of sending that fake-smiling Lana to the Phantom Zone. Lois didn't want to make herself look bad in front of her younger self and Clark, after all. She needed to make sure she didn't drastically reduce anyone's perceptions of Lois Lane.

"Clark?" Lana said anxiously, her eyes widening as she saw the two Loises walking with him. "Lois? Lois?"

Lois couldn't help smirking at Lana's reaction.

"It's ok," Clark said calmly. "This is present Lois and that's future Lois."

Lana looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Future? Present? That's impossible."

"It's really not that difficult of a concept," Lois said wryly. She kind of wanted to kick Lana in the face.

"Time travel and all," young Lois added, a hint of edge in her own voice. Lois was glad to see that no love remained between her younger self and Lana. But then again, she remembered, Lana had interrupted a very intimate moment between young Lois and Clark earlier that night. Yet another reason to send her to the creepy land of howling wind and washed-out colors.

Clark noticed Lana's injured leg, "Lana, you're hurt. You should get to the hospital." The ambulances were starting to pull up in front of the farmhouse.

"It's not too bad," Lana said. "I'll just go in one of the ambulances. You should start looking for Chloe." She looked at Clark pointedly, probably trying to get him to get rid of the Loises and get to work.

"I think I'll go to the hospital, too," young Lois said abruptly. "I want to make sure Jimmy's taken care of while…while Chloe's gone. You probably can get more help from future me, anyways."

Lois silently thanked her younger self for this idea. It would be a lot easier to talk to Clark about his powers if she didn't have to worry about telling her younger self about them at the same time.

"I'll let you know as soon as I find Chloe," Clark said as Lana and young Lois turned to go. "Just be careful."

"Don't worry," Lana said at the same time that young Lois said, "I can take care of myself, Smallville." They looked at each other, both frowning, and then continued to go.

Lana and young Lois were the last of the crowd to leave, leaving Clark and Lois alone in the wreckage of the wedding. Clark looked around the barn, kicked a plank of wood, and sighed heavily. Lois knew he didn't have a good idea where to start the search.

"Let's see if I can help," Lois suggested. She led the way up the stairs to the loft.

"No offense, um, Lois, but I still don't really understand how you being here is possible," Clark said.

"It was kind of a crazy situation," Lois said, finding his trunk and pulling it out from under a pile of rubble. "I don't fully understand, either. Jor-El opened this portal--"

"Wait, Jor-El? You know about Jor-El?"

"Yeah, Smallville, I do." She started sifting through his stuff and looking for the crystal.

"How much do you know?" Clark said seriously, kneeling next to her on the floor.

Lois stopped her search to look at him. She couldn't tell what he was feeling when he had that anxious expression. Was he relieved or just astounded that she had found out eventually? "I know your secret. I know that you're Kal-El. I know about Krypton. I know about your powers."

Clark took a deep breath. "So that means I told you."

Lois snorted and threw aside his letterman jacket. "Hardly. I wish you had told me. I only found out yesterday from Jor-El before he opened the portal and sent me back in time to fix stuff."

"I didn't tell you?" Clark said, looking shocked. "I…I guess I thought that I was going to tell you eventually. So that means that we're…we're not…" He trailed off, looking away from her deep in thought.

She looked carefully at him. Was he really suggesting what she thought he was? Did he really think they would be more in the future? She smiled gently at him and touched his arm so he would look at her. "Clark, you can do whatever you want. You can tell present me whenever you're ready. My time is already going to be different just because I've changed things. Don't worry about what will happen. You still make decisions about your life."

Clark nodded weakly, still looking distracted. "Downstairs, when I helped you up, you looked so surprised to see me. Why?"

Lois knew she had to be very careful about what she said. She didn't want Clark to know that she had no idea where he was or even if he was alive in the future. She didn't want him going into every situation wondering if it would be the one that he didn't return from. "In the future, I hadn't seen you for a while. It was just a shock to see you again."

Clark seemed to accept this. He loosened his tie and finally seemed to notice what she was doing. "What are you looking for?"

She went back to rifling through his things. "I had a dream where Jor-El told me to find some red crystal shield. I don't know why, but I just need to see if it's here."

Clark reached in, moved aside a yearbook, and pulled out the crystal shield. "Do you mean this?"

Lois scowled, "No fair using x-ray vision."

Clark laughed, definitely looking relieved that he didn't have to pretend he didn't have powers around her. "Maybe this will help with Chloe."

"I think you need to find her first," Lois said.

"Any idea how that happens?" Clark asked hopefully.

Lois shook her head, "I didn't know your secret at this point in the past, remember? I don't know what you did."

"Right," Clark said and sighed. He pulled his suit jacket off and threw it on the couch. "I'll just run around and see if I can find where she went, then."

"Great," Lois said. She stood up and brushed the dust off her knees. "I'll stay here."

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Clark said.

Lois waved a hand at him, "Don't worry about me. I'm going to pick through the remains of the buffet and get some dinner. I haven't eaten in negative eleven years."

Clark laughed. "The chicken was good if you can find some."

"Run along, Smallville," Lois said.

Clark nodded and was gone in a blur. Lois gasped. Knowing about his powers and seeing him in action were two very different things. She couldn't believe she had missed this for all those years. Now, to find that chicken.

She was napping when a gust of wind and papers flying woke her up. She had been dreaming about the Fortress, probably influenced by the half carton of ice cream she had dug up from somewhere in the barn. She had no idea where that had come from. The empty plate with remnants of her dinner was resting on her stomach. When she saw Clark standing over her looking worried she set the plate down on the couch and stood up.

"Any luck?" Lois asked.

"None," Clark said, turning the crystal over in his hand. "I checked three time zones with no sign of Chloe or that creature."

"Do you know what you're looking for?" Lois said.

Clark shook his head, "Not really. I'm only guessing that whatever took Chloe is the ultimate destroyer from Krypton that Jor-El told me about once." He looked at her as if he expected her to chime in with an answer.

Lois shrugged, "That's a better guess than what I know."

She chewed on her lip thoughtfully and was about to mention Brainiac when a bright purple light filled the loft. A man dressed in heavy leather materialized in the loft with a huge axe. He swung the axe into Clark's trunk, which shattered easily. He looked around, swinging the axe slightly.

Clark moved faster than Lois could think. He grabbed her and carried her down the stairs, leaving her in the doorway of the barn before he ran back up to face the axe-wielding man.

"Who are you? What're you doing here?" Lois heard him shout at the axe-man.

The axe-man didn't respond. Instead, he swung the axe and sliced at Clark's side. Lois couldn't see much from her distance, but she saw Clark get kicked in the chest and fall over the side of the loft. She yelled his name and he tried to stand, holding his side in pain. The axe-man was approaching him when a strange light filled the barn again.

Three people materialized this time, all wearing weird outfits. One of them did something to make the axe fly across the room and into his hand. The girl was holding her hand to her head but Lois couldn't tell if she just had a headache or had some other power. A redheaded guy stepped forward and sent a bolt of energy at the axe-less man, sending him flying across the barn unconscious. The first one pulled a ring off the axe-less man's finger and a flash of purple light took him away.

Lois ran to Clark and helped him up, surprised to actually see his bloody shirt where the guy had hit him. Clark didn't seem to be permanently injured. "I'm ok," he told her. He turned to the other three people. "Who are you and what's going on?"

Although the redhead was bobbing up and down with excitement, the first one, obviously their leader, spoke up. "Kal-El, it is an honor to meet you."

"How do you know that name?" Clark said angrily. Lois guessed that he wasn't so pleased with so many people suddenly throwing his secret around.

"We are the Legion," the girl said.

"We come from the thirty-first century," their leader said.

Clark and Lois looked at each other. "You're from the future, too?" Lois said. There was way too much time traveling going on in this barn.

The Legion looked at each other, also looking puzzled. "Who are you?" their leader said.

"I'm Lois Lane," Lois said. If the redhead had looked excited before, now he was positively glowing. She ignored him.

"Lois Lane," the girl repeated, looking significantly at her companions. "It is an honor to meet you as well."

"Why should we believe that you're from the future?" Clark said, still holding his side.

"Because we know everything about you," the redhead said. "You may be known as Clark Kent now, but one day you'll be known as Su--"

"Garth!" their leader said sharply. "We need to go. We shouldn't waste time here."

"Look, I don't know what's going on, but I'm from the future, too," Lois said, cutting right to the chase.

Their leader stopped moving the other two away. "What do you mean?"

"I'm from the future, maybe not as far as the thirty-first century, but I'm from eleven years from now."

"Rokk, how is that possible?" the girl asked the leader.

"I'm not sure, Imra," Rokk said. "We know who you are, Lois, but we had no idea that you could travel through time. We didn't expect to see anyone else time-traveling like us."

"I can't, well, not without help from Jor-El," Lois said.

"You can compare time travel later!" Clark said. "I just want to know why you're here and who that axe-wielding psycho was."

Rokk sighed. "We came to save you, Kal-El. Apparently, you've got all sorts of people from the future coming to help you out. The guy with the axe calls himself the Persuader. He's part of a human supremacist movement that doesn't like dealing with aliens like us."

"None of us are from Earth, either," Garth said.

"None of that matters right now, though," Rokk said. "Today's an important day for you, Kal. Shouldn't you be going after Brainiac?"

"Brainiac? I've already destroyed him," Clark said.

Imra shook her head. "No, Kal, today's date is well-known as the day you defeat Brainiac once and for all. You use the crystal in your hand."

Clark looked at Lois, eyes wide. "Lois, do you think? Chloe was taken over once, who's to say it couldn't happen again?"

"Maybe Jor-El was helping you by having me dream about the crystal so the Persuader psycho wouldn't smash it in the trunk," Lois said excitedly.

"Where's Chloe then?" Clark said.

"Where would Brainiac want her to go?" Lois said after a moment.

Clark rubbed his forehead. "How could I have been so stupid? If anyone would be in contact with an ultimate destroyer from Krypton, it would be Brainiac. He would head straight for the Fortress. I'll bet that's where that thing took Chloe, if she's been taken over again."

Lois was impressed with this line of thinking. "Really? Wow, that actually makes sense, Clark."

"What are you doing here, Lois?" Rokk said suddenly. They had been quiet throughout Lois and Clark's exchange of ideas.

Lois looked at Clark. "You should probably get out of that bloody shirt before you head up to the Fortress."

"Yeah, I'll be right back," Clark said, understanding she needed to talk to the Legion alone. "I won't listen in."

"What timeline are you from?" Lois said as soon as he was gone, hoping he kept his word. "Because in my time, Clark isn't known at all. He isn't saving the world. The world is terrible and I don't even know if he's alive eleven years from now."

"Kal-El is known as a great hero in our time," Imra said. "We must come from different timelines, then. What were you sent here to do?"

Lois hesitated. "I'm here to remove someone's influence. I'm guessing that your timeline is the correct one, if Clark's a hero. Jor-El kept talking about Clark's great destiny, which he definitely doesn't achieve in my time. Maybe after I fix this then my timeline won't exist anymore and it'll be on track to lead to your time."

"How much do you know about time travel?" Rokk said.

"Absolutely nothing, but I'm up a science fiction buff," Lois said with a smile.

"You need to be careful about what you do here," Rokk said sternly. "Your actions could drastically change things."

"I've already changed my past just by being here," Lois said. She didn't like being lectured by these future punks. "And you don't understand. I came back for the express purpose of changing the past. I may not know exactly what I'm doing, but I know the most important thing I need to do. I'm going to change things as much as I can."

Clark came back a moment later when Lois and the Legion were staring each other down stubbornly. He had changed into his normal outfit of blue shirt and red jacket. He looked between the two sides, reluctant to get in between the two versions of the future.

"Is everything all right?" he said slowly.

"Everything's fine," Lois said. "You should head up to the Fortress and save Chloe."

"We're going with you," Garth said.

"Garth!" Rokk said angrily.

"No, it's a good idea," Imra said, looking at Lois although addressing Rokk. "Kal's influence goes beyond Earth, remember? Without him, humans won't embrace aliens. We should make sure Brainiac is defeated. Things are different."

"If we don't make sure Brainiac is removed from the human host, we won't have a future," Garth added.

"You guys should get going," Lois said. "It's getting late. I'll go to the hospital and wait for you there."

"Catch ya in the air, Kal," Garth said.

Clark looked sheepish, "I can't fly."

"What?" Garth said.

"He hasn't learned yet, obviously," Rokk said dismissively.

"I'll be back, with Chloe," Clark said to Lois.

"Just bring her back to us," Lois said. "I know you will."

Clark nodded. He didn't quite seem to know if he should say goodbye any other way. Lois punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Off you go, Smallville."

The Legion was already outside. Clark and Lois joined them. Clark waved the crystal at Lois, then blurred away. The Legion followed in pursuit in the air.

"Well, that was different," Lois breathed when they were gone. She went to find Clark's keys for the truck.

She didn't know how long it would take Clark to release Chloe from Brainiac's power, but apparently it took about as long as the time she needed to find Clark's keys and drive to the hospital. She had just parked the car when she saw Clark blur up carrying Chloe and followed by the Legion. She ran and followed them into the hospital. The Legion waited outside.

"Clark," Lois called when she entered the waiting room. "Is Chloe ok?"

"She's gonna be fine," Clark said.

Chloe was already being wheeled into a room. Lois stretched to see her. She looked pale and tired, but she was alive and the color was slowly returning to her cheeks. Lois sighed happily. Going back to the past hadn't changed Chloe's fate.

"The crystal worked perfectly," Clark said. He and Lois walked back outside to the Legion. "Chloe was in the Fortress and all I had to do was hold the crystal up and it did its thing."

"What happened to Brainiac?" Lois asked.

"He's right here," Rokk said, holding up a smooth black metallic sphere. "We're taking him back with us to the thirty-first century. We should be able to reprogram him for something."

"As long as it's safe," Lois said.

"And when will you be heading back to your future?" Imra said pointedly to Lois.

"Not quite yet," Lois said, carefully not looking at Clark. "I still have some things to change."

"Good luck, then," Rokk said. "Kal, why don't we see how much of the barn we can fix before we go?"

"I'll be back to check on everyone when I'm done," Clark said.

"Don't worry about us," Lois said. "You've already saved us enough for one day."

Clark smiled and then left again with the Legion. Lois was about to go back inside to find Chloe, Jimmy, and young Lois when she saw a strange flash of light across the parking lot. She started to walk towards it, not able to fight the feeling that light flashes weren't the best signs lately.

"Lois," she heard someone call to her.

She turned around to find Lana running after her. "Lana?"

"Chloe's awake, c'mon," Lana said, pulling her arm. "Everyone's waiting for us. Chloe's already heard about you."

Lois reached for her purse. It would be so easy to send Lana to the Phantom Zone now. She wouldn't even have to explain it to anyone. Her timing must have been off again, though, for as soon as she reached into her purse an ambulance pulled up to the hospital. Forcefully pulled inside by Lana and pushed inside by the ambulance crew, Lois reluctantly closed her purse again. She looked back at the parking lot, but couldn't see anything in the place where the flash of light had been.

She really needed to stop getting distracted from her mission. She needed to get rid of Lana. But what was that light about?

******

AN: I'm going to have to ask you, dear readers, for some patience with the rest of the chapters. I'm going to have to rewatch the episodes that each chapter is going to deal with. I know, I know, it sounds terrible. I will try not to have any sharp objects near me as I watch them. I could be tempted to end my misery. Just be patient as I, like our much-loved Lois, try to fix things. Reviews are wonderful!