A/N:I know I'm terrible guys I've been worse than TPTB at keeping you all hanging in suspense…Sorry I'm so late with the update I had my hours increased at work and have had considerably less time to write.
31st Century
Lois had fallen asleep on the couch while talking with Rokk. It had taken a number of hours to calm Lois after Rokk explained why she couldn't go back to save Jimmy.
Rokk himself wished it could have been different. But in order to have an effect on the future that they were currently in he had to let the events of the past transpire. If Lois went back and saved Jimmy among other changes, than the future would change in ways that they couldn't control.
Imra and Garth had gone to inform the rest of the Legion about their plans, while Rokk stayed with Lois and worked on presetting the ring to send her home.
At dawn Imra and Garth returned.
"Hey, how did the group take the news?" Rokk asked Imra when she entered the living room.
"Well, they were a little stunned that we're actually working with the legendary Lois Lane. Apparently Garth here isn't the only one with a crush on the woman." Irma joked putting her arm over Garth's shoulder.
Rokk chuckled watching Garth turn three shades of red "Good, lets wake Lois its time to send her home."
Imra sat on the couch and gently shook Lois awake, "Lois it's time to go."
Lois grumbled and turned away, but eventually at Imra's insistence she opened her eyes.
"You're kidding me right! You guys can send people to any time you want, and we're doing this now at 6am in the morning." Lois complained.
"Lois you know the sooner we get you on your way the better."
"Ya, ya lets get this show on the road."
Rokk stepped forward "Alright Lois, I've preset the ring to take you back to one week after the attack and your disappearance. You'll show up in an alley outside Metropolis General. You know the plan, don't tell anyone about the future and whatever you do you have to make contact with the Red Blue Blur."
"We're all counting on you Lois; we know you can do it! You can change all our futures. Good Luck!" Irma added giving Lois a quick hug.
"Thanks, I'll try my best." Lois said smiling sheepishly, "I'd love to say that it's been real but to be honest, this whole meeting has been more like something out of a sci-fi convention. Anyway thank you for everything. Bye"
Taking a deep breath in Lois took the ring from Rokk, she closed her eyes and slipped it onto her finger. Suddenly, there was a blinding purple light and the familiar feeling of the floor slipping away beneath her.
Just as suddenly Lois felt herself falling back down, her feet making contact with the ground as the light slowly faded and the sounds of the city rushed back in to focus.
Lois opened her eyes. An ambulance screeched by in front of her. She was right where Rokk had said she would appear, outside Metropolis General. Finding her feet she strode forward to the hospital entrance.
Inside the emergency room desk attendant didn't even look up when Lois approached. "Nature of your emergency?"
"Um I'm not really sure it qualifies as an emergency. I guess I've been missing."
The attendant finally looked up with interest, "What?"
Lois pointed to her picture on a missing person's board behind the desk. "I'm Lois Lane."
After almost two hours in the hospital, two doctors, two police officers and multiple assurances from Lois that she was perfectly healthy and uninjured, Lois finally convinced the staff that she only wanted to contact her cousin and go home.
"LOIS!" the petite blonde ran throwing herself forward into Lois's arms the moment she saw her. "I thought I'd lost you. I thought the beast had taken you or worse. What happened, where have you been? Are you alright?"
"Whoa, Chloe I'm fine; although, I should be asking you that question. Chloe, I heard about Jimmy. I'm so sorry!" At the mention of Jimmy's name Chloe broke down in Lois's arms.
"Lois it's been so horrible. You were missing, Jimmy's dead, Davis killed him. All of it's my fault. Until now I'd lost everyone I cared about. You, Jimmy, Clark, everyone."
"Clark!" Lois could barely understand the words stumbling out between Chloe's sobs. All except one. Clark. His name rang through the hum of thoughts overwhelming her head. Her heart raced in panic. "What happened to Clark?"
Present Day
"Clark, are you sure you want to do this?" Zatanna asked concerned. "You don't even know for sure that Lois is in the future."
"Yes I'm sure. This may be the only way to bring Lois back. She has to be in the future, she was the last person to have the ring."
"Ok, let's try it." Zatanna reluctantly gave in. She could tell that there was no way she was going to be able to stop Clark from trying to go to the future. "Understand Clark I'm making no guarantees here. Magic is an art form; it takes time and practice, neither of which I've had enough of with this particular spell."
"I understand. I know you can do it, just try your best." Clark anxiously tried to reassure the fledgling magician. He knew she hadn't been studying magic very long. In fact he had just aided her in helping recover the book she'd found the spell in not more than a month earlier. But he needed her to try for Lois's sake, and for his own.
"Alright I think I've figured out the incantation to open a doorway."
"Great open it so I can get going."
"One second Clark this is important. Once I get the doorway opened its only going to remain open for 24hrs. If you and Lois don't make it back to it in time it will close and you'll be stuck in the future."
"24hrs. Sure I gotcha now…"
"No, Clark no matter what you have to come back through in 24hrs. The world needs you here Clark, think about Chloe, your mom. You have to come back through. Lois or no Lois."
"Chloe and my mom don't factor into this. I'm already dead to them. I've cut my ties and to be honest life with out me will be a whole lot easier on them. This is my last act as Clark Kent. I have to bring Lois home and then I'm done pretending to be human. If Lois isn't there than I'm not really sure I even want to come back. But either way Clark Kent isn't coming back through, Kal-El is! Now open the damn doorway!"
Clark had finally lost his patience. He had to go find Lois and he wasn't going to wait any longer.
"Fine, when I tell you to, walk through, but not until then." Zatanna ordered picking up her father's book and lifting her arm out toward the barn wall. "tneserp dna erutuf emoceb eno, rof sith relevart sah gnihtemos ot eb enod."
Blue light shown out from Zatanna's palm and hit the wall with such force that had Clark been human he would have been on his knees. As it was he had shielded his eyes from the impact. Waiting for Zatanna's command Clark stared at his barn wall, which now seemed to shimmer in and out of focus, like waves of heat off of dark asphalt in summer.
As strong as the light came, it was gone just as fast. Once completely dissipated leaving only the liquid like doorway in front of them, Clark heard Zatanna speak.
"Now Clark, concentrate on the date you want to go to and walk though. And remember you only have 24hrs!"
Clark was across the room in less than three steps. Repeating the date May 21, 3009 over and over in his head he shut his eyes and took the final step into the doorway.
Zatanna watched Clark's figure retreat further and further into the magic she had created. First his arm disappeared and then his torso and legs, until with a crack he was gone all together.
Alone in the barn now, Zatanna closed her book and bent her head. She had done what Clark had asked of her. But instead of the thrill of success and the satisfaction of mastery, Zatanna felt wary and unsettled. From her limited experience, she knew that the use of magic almost always carried a cost. And while this spell didn't have a specific price laid out within in its written words, she was sure that somewhere in the blank expanses between letters the magic would ask for its payment from Clark. Her only hope was that it was a cost they could all afford to pay.
A/N: So I know I'm so mean. I don't update for weeks and in this chapter there's still no Lois and Clark. Now Lois is in the present day and Clarks gone to the future just to confuse everyone. I probably shouldn't have posted it as a Clois fic and instead more of a S9 fic, but that wasn't really an option and it defiantly isn't a Clana fic.