AN: Ok, here it is, what happens after my version of 'Power.' I wouldn't say it's 'Requiem,' since the actual events from that episode don't really happen, it's just a good way to break up the end of LL and LL. Enjoy!
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Chapter Seven: Ditch the Requiem
"In the night of death, hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing." ~Robert Ingersoll
"What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise." ~Oscar Wilde
"The time is always right to do what is right." ~Martin Luther King Jr.
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Lana lay on the floor screaming as flashes of blue electricity flickered across her skin. Lois put the gun back in her purse slowly; making sure that the suit had been removed. Clark took a step towards Lana uncertainly. He looked back at Lois and their eyes met with an understanding. Before they could do anything else the door to the lab burst open and Lex Luthor from the future ran into the room.
"Lana!" he yelled as he ran to her side. He took her in his arms, ignoring how the electricity sometimes transferred to his own skin. He caressed her cheek, pushing her hair out of her face and inspecting the damage from the gun.
Clark finally found the ability to move forward to Lana's other side. Lois walked forward a bit as well, hovering a few feet away from Lana and the two men. She could finally see the full effect of the removal of the suit. Lana's skin was raw and red. It looked like every vein and capillary was glowing a bright electric blue. She barely looked human. Her breathing was ragged, but she seemed to know where she was. Her eyes were wide with pain and she squeezed them shut every few seconds. When she did, her veins glowed brighter.
"Lex?" Lana said groggily. "Lex, it hurts."
"Where?" Luthor said, trying to draw her closer to him.
It would have been sweet if it hadn't been future Luthor and Lana.
"Everywhere," Lana choked. She began to cry. "I can't feel the power anymore. The suit must be gone."
"We'll fix that, we'll fix everything," Luthor said.
"Lana, can you still move?" Clark said. He took the hand that Luthor wasn't holding. Lana didn't seem to have the strength to pull away from him, but she didn't look pleased that he held her hand. Clark noticed this and his face fell.
"I can move," Lana said. "But I want that suit back. I need it back. Lex, we can get it back, can't we? I don't want to go on without it."
"We'll run some tests to see if it will still work," Luthor said. "But hopefully everything will check out and we can get it back for you."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Lois spoke up.
Luthor finally turned his attention on her. "You could have killed her! Playing around with technology from the future that you don't even understand. Are you really that selfish?"
"If I'm from the future too, how am I not fit to handle future technology?" Lois said. "I came back for a reason, Luthor, you came back by accident. Which one of us is selfish in trying to affect the future? This had to happen. Our future is wrong."
"How can our future be wrong if it happened?" Luthor shot back. "The future is whatever we make it to be. I have the power to make the future greater than anything else we've ever known. Just because you're on the losing side you think you're justified."
"You're wrong. I won't be losing this time. I've already made sure of that," Lois said.
Luthor shook his head. "You can't honestly think this little delay will stop me for good. After all I've done in order to keep the future my way? Lana will get the suit back. Things will work out my way."
"You've gone too far this time, Lex," Clark said suddenly. "This has to stop."
"Decided to speak up, have you?" Luthor said. "I thought Lois here was calling all the shots. After all, it's not like either one of you can stop me in the future, either. Clark's not even around, or have you not told him that?"
"Only because of what you and Lana did to him," Lois said. "What did you do to him anyway?"
Luthor smiled evilly. "Lana sweet-talked him into a nice big Kryptonite cage. It's encased in lead a mile underground. He might still be alive down there. I should check when I get back." Clark glared at him but Luthor just continued smiling. "Necessary precaution, you know."
Lois shook her head. "I can't understand you. I never could fathom the steps you took."
"And that's why you will always fail against me," Luthor said. "The future will be the same. I will make sure of that. I can still set everything back. I will be getting my ending." He pulled a gun out of his jacket and trained it on Lois. "No Lois Lane in the future should help."
"Lex!" Lana called out. "I can't see! Oh my God, I can't see!"
Luthor lowered the gun and turned back to Lana. "It's ok, Lana, it will be alright."
"I don't want to be just alright," Lana cried. "I want the suit! I want the power! You promised it to me! This is my destiny! I want the future you told me about!"
Lois could only believe what Lana was saying because she had gotten so used to knowing what had to be done about her. Lois glanced at Clark, knowing this was convincing Clark to fully be on her side.
Clark finally dropped Lana's hand as he put his hand in his pocket. "Here," he held out the Phantom Zone crystal. Lois quickly looked in her purse to check, and sure enough, Clark had taken the crystal from her without her even noticing. "This will help her." He tried to give it to Lana but Luthor took it from him roughly.
"You aren't needed here," Luthor said sharply. Clark nodded and took a step away to stand beside Lois. "Lana, just relax. This is Kryptonian, it will help."
Luthor held the crystal in his hand and moved Lana's hand on top of it. Lois took a deep breath, hardly able to believe how perfectly this had worked out. Clark squeezed her hand as the crystal started to glow. For an instant she thought he would continue to hold her hand, but he dropped it quickly.
"Lex…I can feel the power," Lana said with awe.
"All for us," Luthor said.
The crystal glowed even brighter and the room began to shake. Luthor looked around, finally noticing that something was off, and his eyes focused on Lois. She smiled and waved as the light from the crystal filled the room.
"No!" Luthor managed to yell before he and Lana vanished from sight.
The familiar square crystal began to fly through the air instead, heading for the exit out of the lab. It flipped a few times as it left, revealing the future Lex Luthor on one side and Lana Lang on the other.
Lois could hardly believe it. They were gone. They were headed for the Phantom Zone. Jor-El's plan had actually worked. She had done what she had come to do. Lana wouldn't negatively affect Clark and Luthor wouldn't be in the future when she returned there. She couldn't keep from grinning. She looked at Clark and then wished she hadn't. He was still staring at the spot where Lana and Luthor had vanished. The crystal was resting on the floor.
"Clark?" she said softly.
"They're gone," he said. "Just like that. It's so easy."
He glanced around the lab, suddenly looking like a caged animal. "I need to get some air."
He raced out of the lab without another word. Lois rolled her eyes. How very typical. She walked over to the crystal, but she wasn't ready to head back to the future quite yet. A stack of papers was sitting on top of a desk. She grabbed a paper and used it to pick up the crystal and drop it quickly in her purse. She wanted to make sure Clark and young Lois were ok now before she touched the crystal herself and found out what had changed eleven years from now.
With that in mind, Lois headed back to the Daily Planet by catching a cab outside the lab. She found her younger self in the bullpen. Young Lois was finishing the end of what sounded like an irritating conversation with a source.
"No, I don't think this will help your business either," young Lois yelled into the phone. "Oh yeah? Not if I see you there first!" She hung up the phone angrily and swiveled to face Lois. "Well?"
"It worked," Lois said, grinning. "Took care of Lana and future Luthor. They won't be bothering us again."
"Great," young Lois sighed. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear. What was Clark's reaction?"
"Actually, that's part of why I'm here," Lois said. She looked around the bullpen. "If Clark said he needed to get some air, where would he go?"
Young Lois thought for only a second. "The roof."
Lois followed her younger self to the elevator, which they took to the top of the building. Lois filled young Lois in on exactly what had happened at the lab, leaving out the parts about Clark's powers. Young Lois readily agreed that the Phantom Zone seemed like a lovely vacation spot for Lana and Luthor, especially with as close as they were sounding.
Sure enough, when they stepped out on the roof, Clark was standing a couple steps away from the ledge looking over the city. Young Lois took a couple steps toward him before she turned suddenly to Lois. She brushed a hand through her hair awkwardly.
"I think you should talk to him first," she said.
Lois nodded and joined Clark. He glanced at her but then continued to watch the beginning of the sunrise.
"For a second, when she had that suit and was talking about the power, I had hope for her," he said quietly. "I knew it was wrong, but a part of me felt that maybe she was more like me now and maybe that would mean she wouldn't be so much of a distraction. She could be a partner and make the world a better place. But then she kept talking and I knew, I knew that she was only interested in her own gains. I knew what I had to do."
"It must have been tough to see that," Lois said.
"It was," Clark said. "I needed to see it, though. And when I did, that hope went away and I knew that I'd been over her for a long time. It was easier than I thought it would be. I knew that we had really gone our separate ways. I knew that I needed to keep her and Luthor from destroying the future. I couldn't let them succeed again."
"I'm sorry it had to come to such drastic measures," Lois said. "But coming from my perspective, I'm just glad everything worked out."
"You saved me," Clark said. He turned to look at her, his eyes full of gratitude. "You came back to save me and the world. That's amazing. You did it."
"It's like I said, Smallville, that's what I'm here for, one save at a time," Lois punched his shoulder lightly for emphasis.
"I know this sounds crazy, but what am I going to do when you go back to your time?" Clark said after a moment.
"Luckily," Lois said with a slight chuckle. "There's another Lois Lane right back there by the door. And she doesn't have the scars of an extra eleven years."
"I'd gotten used to you knowing my secret. It's going to be different now," Clark said. He turned back to the city, unable to look at her.
"Clark," Lois said seriously. "You can tell your Lois your secret any time you want. You don't have to rush it, but you don't have to worry about how she'll handle it. She's in me, but she also has the ability to be so much more than I am. You both will have a better future now. Things can develop how you want them to be. You still have that power. I came back to make sure my future didn't happen the same way, but the future still happens in some way."
"I know, it just felt good to work with you," Clark said.
"She doesn't have to know everything about you in order for her to help you, Clark," Lois said. "You don't have to have someone that can do everything that you can do. Lois may not have superpowers, but she can still help you. Didn't I show you that? You're not alone, Clark. You don't need to worry about that. You have so much capacity to include people in your life; don't limit yourself by thinking that you can't have a life. If you want someone to share your life, well, I know her, and she's not going anywhere." She winked at him and he managed to smile.
"See, how will I know what can happen without the wisdom of the future?" he joked.
"Listen to Jor-El," Lois advised. "He knows so many things. He's the reason all of this was even possible."
"I know, I know, it's the listen to your parents speech," Clark laughed. "Same old Lois. Anything else I should know specifically?"
Lois thought for a moment, rubbing her left hand. "Don't screw up this second chance, Smallville. It took me eleven years before I had the chance to fix this whole mess. Let's have a good timeline, instead."
Clark smiled at her, "It's a deal. I'll be around eleven years from now." He paused, looking like he wanted to say more, but then just shook his head slightly. "Are you heading back now?"
"I just need to talk to myself over there," Lois pointed at young Lois by the door. "To make sure the wisdom of the future takes root."
She left Clark at the ledge and pulled young Lois to the side a bit. She knew Clark could hear her no matter how far away she moved, but she didn't particularly care at the moment. "Now, I'm not going to go all Maxima-weird on you, but there are a few things you should know."
"Aren't you messing with the space-time continuum if you do that?" young Lois said.
"No one seems to get that I came back here with every intention of messing with the space-time continuum," Lois said grumpily. "But really, there are some things you should find out for yourself and other things that I would prefer not to have to live with in the future."
Young Lois shrugged. "Ok, but if you start talking about special connections between me and Clark, I'm outta here."
"Relax," Lois said with a touch of humor. "You can convince yourself of those signs without my help." At the look on young Lois' face she proceeded quickly. "Ok, ok. Uh, let's see, oh yeah, that guy from the Sports section, how about we don't go out with him to make someone else jealous? It's just a bad idea. Not doing it would make our life better."
"This is just another fortune telling," young Lois grumbled.
"You mean the flying tights guy?" Lois asked. Young Lois nodded while rolling her eyes and Lois noticed Clark still looking out over the city. Didn't Jor-El say something about how he was supposed to be able to fly one day? "I don't know if I'd dismiss him entirely. He might not be quite what we expect."
"Ooook," young Lois said. "Anything else?"
"I know we don't do patience very well, but a little bit could pay off in the long run," Lois said. "Just trust your gut. You know what I'm talking about."
Young Lois glanced at Clark and then at Lois. "I know what you're talking about. Are you sure, though?" she said quietly.
Lois nodded, "In my old future he hasn't been around for a while. I feel it every day. I miss him every day. I'm not saying that anything specific has to happen, but I recommend that you don't shut down your feelings. This is different."
"We'll see what happens," young Lois said, glancing nervously at Clark again.
Lois smiled and she and young Lois walked back to Clark. "All right kids, let's get this show on the road."
"What happens now?" young Lois blurted out. "I mean, with them gone?"
"Well, since Tess was being controlled by future Luthor, I'm pretty sure there's no deal to merge Queen Industries and LutherCorp. Which means the board won't be blown up," Lois said.
"What?" Clark said.
"Exactly, see how crazy my timeline was?" Lois said. "It's all different now, basically. I can't tell what will happen now. That's the exciting part for you guys."
Clark and young Lois stood next to each other. As strange as it still was for her to see a younger version of herself, Lois still had to admit that she liked how well they looked together. She felt herself tearing up and she hastily brushed at her eyes. "Well, this has definitely been strange. I'll let you two get back to your regularly scheduled lives now."
"Thank you, for everything," young Lois said. She pulled Lois into a quick hug. "I'm still not exactly sure what you've saved us from, but it still feels good to know that things will be better."
"Yeah, thank you," Clark said seriously. He also pulled Lois into a hug. She held onto him for a moment longer than she normally would have. After all, she had no idea what the future would bring. "I'll see you in the future," Clark added as he released her.
"You better," Lois said. She unzipped her purse and could see the crystal inside. "Luthor was right about one thing, though, the future is what you make it."
She grabbed the crystal and drew her hand out of the purse. The crystal began to glow.
"Bye," Clark and young Lois said as they took a step back.
"One-point-twenty-one gigawatts," Lois muttered. "Beam me up, Scotty."
The scene in front of her was fading before her. She smiled at young Lois before her eyes locked with Clark's. As the past vanished in front of her, she was becoming more and more scared about what the future would bring. Clark smiled at her, trying to reassure her even as everything faded around her. She almost tried to reach out and touch him, but held back. She didn't know what she would do if he wasn't there in the future. She had done everything to save him. He had to be alive, right?
Lois was moving off the roof of the Daily Planet into the air. She took a deep breath as the figures of young Lois and Clark against the sunrise dissolved completely into black. She suddenly felt the strange goo surrounding around her on all sides. She pushed against it, fighting her way forward to the future.
The goo released her just as suddenly as it had taken her. She was still in the sky, though, and she was falling. She could see a plane above her and assumed that she had fallen from it.
So this was how the adventures of Lois Lane would end? Falling from an airplane to her death? After everything she had been through? She had just changed the whole past, hadn't she? Had things really turned out better? She couldn't believe it. The plane was getting smaller and she dreaded a gust of wind that would make her see just how close the ground was getting. She didn't think she could possibly survive this.
Except that someone caught her…
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AN: Dun dun dun! One more chapter should wrap up this time-travel fest! Seriously, reviews get me through my otherwise mundane existence! Thank you all for your reading!
