A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! I really hope you all enjoy this chapter and thanks for being amazingly patient with me.

31st Century

Clark had spent most of the morning trying to track down the Legion and Lois. It had been tedious and slow going trying to find any word of Rokk, Imra or Garth. He figured where ever they were they would have Lois. He was still shocked that they wouldn't have just sent her home.

Additionally Clark was shocked at the state Metropolis seemed to be in. It was as if the world had stopped spinning, especially if the globe on top of the Daily Planet was any indication. The globe had once been one of Metropolis's most beloved landmarks, now it stood dull and frozen a top a crumbling city.

As Clark speed through the streets, he also noticed that the disrepair of the city didn't limit itself to its buildings but seemed to seep into the souls of its inhabitants. Sirens blared down every road. The people in the streets were crazed; women clutched their children and purses close to their person as they walked. No one traveled alone, preferring instead the relative safety of numbers. They were like cows to the slaughter.

All of this weighed rather ominously on Clark's mind. A few months ago Clark could never have imagined this kind of future for humanity. But after Jimmy's death at Davis's hands it seemed more plausible that eventually mankind would find a way to tear itself apart.

He had been raised to naively see only the good in man. Now confronted with such darkness Clark wondered if everything he'd been told by both sets of parents had been misconstrued. Did Jor-El really expect Clark and Clark alone to save a people hell bent on destroying themselves? Hadn't Jor-El tried the very same thing on Krypton and died for it?

But there in lied the real truth. Jor-El had failed on Krypton because he was Kryptonian. He couldn't see the flaws in his own race until it was too late. But Clark wasn't human. He had been raised so, which had given him his own set of rose colored glasses. But at least now the shades were finally off.

A trip earlier to the dilapidated Planet had at least provided him with a lead on where the Legion might be. Apparently the city was at the crest of yet another epic crime wave, and a group of "heroes" touted by many to be nothing more than vigilante menaces had been active in trying to reduce it. Clark had deduced that their activity radiated out from a northeast section of the city.

His plan was to go there, wait and listen for a crime the Legion would interfere with and then pull and ambush of his own. He doubted with current conditions it would take him any longer than another thirty minutes before he came face to face with Rokk and hopefully Lois.

Once in the area, as Clark had predicted it wasn't long before he was taking off towards what sounded like an armored truck robbery. Arriving at the scene he saw Rokk standing off against the two culprits.

Before Rokk could act Clark speed into action, picking up the two men and tossing them into the wall in a black blur.

"Kal-El?" a stunned Rokk asked when Clark came to a stop in front of him.

"Rokk, where's Lois?" Clark grabbed the young hero by the shoulders to shake him out of his confusion.

"Kal, what are you doing here? You shouldn't be here, you could ruin everything."

"I came here to find Lois, now where is she? I know she came here, she got a hold of the ring, you have to tell me!" Clark stepped towards Rokk invading his personal space. "Tell me she's ok!"

"Kal she's fine." Rokk reassured Clark. "She's not here, but I promise you she's alright. Now I need to know how you got here?"

"A friend, Zatanna, she cast a spell opened to a doorway. I have 24 hours to get back there before it closes."

"You mean to tell me you just came through and left a doorway sitting somewhere open. Do you have any idea what could happen. Just you being here is enough to destroy everything we've tried to accomplish. Not to mention what could happen if someone stumbles on that doorway!"

"Zatanna's on the other side waiting; no one else will get through."

"Kal, look around. I'm not nearly as worried about someone coming through from your side as I am someone from here going to yours."

"Speaking of that, what happened here? It's as if the world has been turned upside-down."

It was Rokk's turn to impress upon Clark the urgency of the situation. "Listen I'm not going to talk future with you, I can't. Lois isn't here, and you shouldn't be either. You need to go back through that doorway and get Zatanna to close it ASAP."

Present Day

Clark walked back into his barn through the doorway that Zatanna had opened for him. Rokk hadn't told him any further information about the future or Lois other than constantly assuring that she was alive and well and most definitely not in the future. Whether she was ever there or not Rokk had refused to tell him. In addition Rokk didn't tell him anything about what had happened to the city. They did however talk about why Clark hadn't used the ring to send the beast to the Legion. Rokk was disappointed but he understood why Clark made the decision he did, he was happy though that he hadn't died in the battle.

"Clark where's Lois?" Zatanna asked upon seeing Clark re-enter the barn.

"She's ok, she wasn't there. No one else has come through right?"

"No it's been quiet here."

"Good, close the doorway I don't need it anymore." As soon as he came back through Clark or Kal, as he had now promised himself he would go by, felt the hopelessness of his life creep back in. He hadn't succeeded in bringing Lois back and apparently the future wasn't any better off than the present, leaving even less for him to believe in.

As Zatanna went to work Kal walked towards the loft window. He wondered where Lois was if she wasn't in the future. Deep in depression he didn't notice Zatanna come up behind him until she put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Clark."

"I told you its Kal now and its, well it is what it is..." he let out a long sigh, "thank you for everything."

Zatanna gave him a sad smile before turning and leaving, she could tell he wanted to be alone. After she left, Kal went back to staring out the window, watching the sun slowly set on the horizon. A car tumbling headlong down the gravel drive caught his attention. It wasn't a car he recognized and for a second he thought about taking off before it arrived, not exactly up for any visitors right now. But he decided he best deal with it, put a final end to his past life because tomorrow his new destiny would begin.

As the car parked by the entrance of the barn, Kal turned from the window and walked down the steps. When he reached the entrance, to see who it was he stopped dead in his tracks, his mouth open in surprise.

"Lois." The name tumbled from his lips.

She stood there in front of him, gorgeous in the fading sunlight. His eyes drank her in like a desert traveler staring at an oasis. The last rays of the day caught in her auburn hair, her bright hazel eyes finally locked to his blue. The corner of her mouth turned upward in an amused smile, before uttering his nickname. "Smallville"

With that one word he closed the distance between them in three steps, sweeping her up into his arms and holding her tight against him. He felt her arms wrap themselves around his neck and her face bury itself in his shoulder. He pulled her ever more impossibly close to him, bringing his lips to her ear, whispering the one word that mattered to him anymore.

"Lois."