Slumber – Thirty-First Chapter
Lex's Mansion, that night
Sam sighed as he slid off Rory. His whole body felt rubbery from being pushed through the air faster than it was supposed to.
"I thought you didn't have invulnerability," he complained to her. "How do you take it?"
"I have tough skin," Rory replied. "Comes from the superstrength – I couldn't punch through walls or lift cars if I'm just going to start bleeding or have my arms or legs break."
Sam grumbled quietly, "Yeah, well, you could at least go a little slower."
Rory laughed. "You would have been so much better off here with Clark. He can't run nearly as fast as I can."
Sam and Rory had spent the rest of the day telling each other everything they could possibly remember about themselves – it beat being bored. By now, Rory thought, Sam probably knew her better than anyone else in the whole world.
"Isn't it strange," she ventured, "that sometimes, you won't tell the people you love best about your problems, but you can tell a complete stranger?"
Sam considered this for a moment. "It's probably because the people that care about you will be concerned and upset about your problems, but a stranger, especially one that doesn't exist," he winked at her, "won't give a damn."
Rory nodded pensively as they followed Clark through the hallways of Lex's mansion.
"So this is the famous Luther mansion," Sam said, looking over the architecture. "Kinda gloomy, isn't it?"
"Says the guy who hunts ghosts for a life," Rory replied smilingly.
They entered Lex's study, Rory murmuring to Sam, "This is Lex's study. We normally see him in here. Isn't it pretty?"
Sam did have to admit that it was beautiful, with large stained glass windows, an open area paneled in wood with richly coloured rugs over it and an aura of wealth hanging over it.
"Lex?" Clark asked. "Your message sounded urgent. Something wrong?"
Lex was sitting in a seat, staring contemplatively at a sifter of brandy. Sam walked around to the other side of him to examine him as he said, "I'm not really sure. I'm having a rather strange day."
Sam's first impression of the billionaire former playboy was that he was a snob. The way he sat, spoke, looked at the brandy… the aura of wealth didn't originate from the room, but from him.
He was bald, of course, famous for it. But at the same time, he was still handsome, and the fact that he didn't attempt to disguise it with a wig or toupee would make him more attractive to some women (Sam supposed).
He glanced up at Rory, trying to gauge her feelings towards this strange man in front of him. She, however, was studiously ignoring his inspection, concentrating on Clark, who had responded with, "Join the club."
"I was hoping you could help me with a problem, Clark," Lex said, rather loftily.
"Actually, I was hoping the same thing," Clark said sheepishly. "Do you remember Rory?"
"Remember?" Lex asked, a small smile playing around his lips. Rory no longer bothered to hope when Clark asked people about her. "I can't say I do, Clark, I've never heard that name before."
Clark sighed in exasperation. "Did she set you all up to play some kind of huge practical joke on me? Cause it's not funny."
Lex shrugged casually. "You must have just dreamed her, Clark. She pretty?"
Sam scowled at him and Clark said softly, "Yeah, she is."
Rory walked around Clark again, hoping to get through to him. "God, I wish I could just touch something! Anything!"
"Anyway," Clark said, "what did you need?"
"It's so weird, talking and not being heard," Sam said contemplatively.
"Would you hand me that sword?" Lex asked, pointing to one on the wall.
Clark pulled it off the wall and examined it closely. "Is it new?"
Lex finally got up from his seat, saying, "Depends on your definition. It was a ceremonial weapon used by a group of 16th century Samurai warriors. The Katai. Ever heard of them?"
"Japanese history really isn't my strong suit," Clark said with a grin.
"Let me give you your first lesson," Lex replied. He held out his hands for the sword and Clark handed it over.
"Legend has it that the sword was forged in the fires of Mount Fuji," Lex explained. He unsheathed the sword and continued, "The blade can cut through anything. The Katai never took it into battle." With a half smile, he added, "They never had to."
Walking past Clark and going on, louder than before, "Until the day the strongest Katai turned against his own. One by one, the Katai fell at his hands."
He stopped in front of the fireplace, holding the sword in both hands.
"Nothing left to lose, the last Katai lunged at the warrior with this sword. The blade cut him clean in two. But when the warrior's armour fell away," Lex's voice dropped to horror story tones, "the Katai saw he wasn't even human."
Lex tilted his head, cracking his neck. Worried, Sam looked at Rory, who had a concerned frown on her face.
"Sam, his mind's all blurry-"
Without warning, Lex whipped around and brought the sword down onto Clark. Instinct taking over, he raised his arm to protect himself. Rory gasped in horror and Sam leaped forward before remembering he couldn't do anything.
The sword smashed down onto Clark's upraised arm and shattered.
Lex stared at Clark, breathing heavily. Rory was almost in tears as she ran to him, trying to touch him, but her hands always stopped just a few inches away from him.
Yelling her frustration, she turned and swept her hand towards the collection of glasses and brandy on a nearby table.
Blue energy burst from her hand, smashing into the delicate compilation of glass. It shattered all over the floor.
Lex and Clark's heads turned instantaneously to see the destruction. Lex walked over to it, dropping the useless sword hilt on the ground and crouching.
He looked back to Clark. "The irony is, Clark," he whispered, "I was your friend. If you'd just told me, I would have kept your secret upon pain of death. But I couldn't be trusted. And now," he stood and faced him, "I'll make sure everyone knows your secret."
Sam and Rory were still in shock.
"My powers..." Rory whispered. "And why can't I touch Clark?"
"It's just like the people at school," Sam realized. "Objects in the first dimension must hate contact with things that only exist in the second."
"What about the truck?" Rory asked.
Sam shrugged. "No idea. Maybe because it's so much bigger than us, it doesn't even realise we're there."
Lex left the room and Clark yelled after him desperately, "Lex!"
Shaking his head, he ran out. Sam sighed and shook out his limbs.
Rory grinned at him. "Off we go!" she trilled. Sam hooked his arms around her and lifted his feet tentatively, still surprised that she could carry his weight.
She supersped them in an instant down to the truck and they both got in the back, waiting for Clark. He arrived after another minute, got in and drove them away.
Kent Farm
Clark got out of the truck and headed for the house, yelling, "Mom! Dad! We got a big problem!"
Sam got out of the truck and helped Rory down. She saw Sara standing near the gate and cried, "Look!"
Sara looked up and saw her.
Rory and Sam were both shocked. Her eyes hadn't just looked past them; her face had registered their existence.
"She's on the second plane, too," Rory whispered.
"Sara?" Clark asked in surprise, oblivious to the epiphany his unknown companions were going through. "What are you doing here?"
Sara still looked troubled and frightened as she said, directly to Sam and Rory, "Who are you?"
Clark looked back, confused. "Sorry?"
"I'm Rory Kent, and this is Sam Winchester," Rory said unsteadily. "I'm Clark's sister."
"Then why can't he see you?" Sara asked, sounding upset.
"I don't know," Rory said, sounding just as upset.
"Sara, who are you talking to?" Clark asked.
Sara ignored the question, looking at the flowers near the fence. "Lilacs," she said, and her face relaxed a little. "I haven't seen them in years. They're my favourite. My mother used to grow them for me," she said, slightly panicky.
"Where is your family?" Clark asked her.
"Sara? What's going on?" Rory asked.
Sara walked straight past Clark, right up to Rory and Sam. "Please don't let him take me again," she pleaded with them. "You have to help Clark stop him!"
"How do you know my name?" Clark asked. "Who are you talking to?"
At the same time, Sam asked her, "Who's taking you, Sara?"
Her eyes focused on him. "The Traveler, Sam."
"My name's Clark," Clark said, almost going insane from the confusion. "What the hell is going on?"
Rory had a sudden brainwave. "Sara! We can't communicate with Clark," she explained. "He doesn't know we're here. Can you tell him? Tell him that Rory's here, he'll understand. Don't tell him about Sam, that'll just confuse him."
Sara turned to face Clark. "Clark, um, she said – she said to tell you that Rory's here."
"Rory?" Clark whispered. "Here? Where!"
"You can't see her," Sara said, shivering. "But she has to help you, her and Sam."
Clark frowned. "Who's Sam?"
Sara looked over his shoulder and screamed, shrinking into Rory and Sam. Horrified, they saw a huge figure, wearing a long red cape. It had no face and its horrible skeletal arms were outstretched.
"You cannot escape me, Sara," it said commandingly in a deep male voice.
"That's the thing from the school!" Sam yelled in Rory's ear.
Its face turned in her direction. "You!" it said, sounding outraged. "How dare you interfere!"
Clark went to the figure and tried to punch it in the stomach. It did nothing and the Traveller threw him back.
"No matter where you hide, I will always find you," it said in a horrific voice.
"Help me!" Sara cried, turning her agonized face to Rory. "Please!"
Rory stood in front of her and raised her hand. However, before she could release the energy the Traveller raised his own hand and whipped it to the side. Rory's head turned as though he'd hit her and she fell to the ground.
"Rory!" Sam cried, dropping to the ground himself and pulling her head into his lap. "Rory!"
The Traveller advanced on Sara as Clark got up. He wrapped her in his cloak and bent over, covering her. Clark ran to them and grabbed at the cloak, but they were both gone.
"No! Sara!" Clark cried.
"Rory!" Sam almost sobbed. She stirred, her eyelids fluttering and her face twitching.
"Sam?" she murmured
Clark punched his fist into the ground and opened up a huge hole. He pitched into head first and somehow it swallowed him.
Rory was yanked from her place in Sam's lap. She reached out frantically, trying to find something to hold on to, trying to find him, but couldn't.
Until suddenly, she was sitting bolt upright in the loft, gasping for breath, Clark next to her doing the same thing.
"Sam!" she cried.
"Rory!" Clark cried, nearly strangling her in his effort to hug her. "You're real!"
She hugged him back, almost sobbing in fear and panic.
Footsteps belonging to voices calling their names ran up the stairs. Rory looked up wildly. "Sam?" she asked, already having registered her mother and father.
"Thank god!" Martha sobbed, pulling Rory to her. "We were so worried!"
"What happened?" Clark asked.
"Where's Sam?" Rory asked at the same time.
"You fell asleep studying for your history exam," Jonathan told them. "That was a day and half ago."
"Who's Sam?" Martha asked in confusion.
"Yeah, who's Sam?" Clark asked, turning to her.
Rory didn't even know how to begin. 'My new best friend' sounded weird, as did 'A guy I dreamed up who "isn't real" but actually is'.
"Sam is… I met him, in the dream," Rory said, confused herself.
"What dream?" Jonathan asked.
"Yeah, what happened to you, Rors?" Clark asked.
"Well, I know what happened to you, Clark, we were there the whole time," Rory told them.
"We?" Martha asked.
"Me and Sam. See, I'm not sure when reality ended and the dream began, but it was before Clark went skinny dipping out at Crater Lake, w-"
Clark shook his head furiously.
"-ithout me," Rory finished. "So I walked away. Next thing I knew, I'm in some other forest, at nighttime, I've missed out on ages, and I'm meeting a guy who calls himself Sam Winchester. He claimed he was real, but I'm sure he's made up.
We walked back to the farm, and found out that nobody could see or hear us. We worked out eventually – at least this is what we think happened – that there are two planes or levels to the dream. You were on the first, we were on the second.
And I didn't exist. So I was freaking out, and we decided to follow Clark around, did everything he did. By the way, school is incredibly boring when no one can see you.
Anyway, we went to the Torch and saw the Wall of Weird, went to the mansion and saw that, came back to here and saw Sara again. And that's all," Rory finished.
"Sara?" Jonathan asked in confusion.
"Sara Conroy," Clark told them. "In the dream, she was in trouble." He looked back at Rory. "So it was you that shattered that glass?"
Rory nodded.
"Conroy," Martha said thoughtfully. "Isn't that the name of our new next door neighbour?"
"Yeah, and doesn't he have a teenage daughter?" Jonathan asked.
"They moved into Lana's old house?" Rory asked. Clark got up and went to the window.
"There's been a moving truck there since yesterday," Jonathan told them.
"How could we dream about someone we've never even met?" Clark asked, turning back to them.
Rory looked down at her hands.
"Rory, this Sam guy. Why don't we look for records? You know his last name – you could know for sure whether or not you just made him up," Martha suggested.
Rory was already shaking her head. "I know he's real, Mom. He told me not to look for him. He made me promise, just like I made him promise." She blinked and said stonily, "I'll probably never see him again."
Martha put an arm around her shoulder while Clark and Jonathan just watched her in confusion.
How did she become so attached to someone she'd never really met?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country
Sam sat straight up, sobbing for breath. He looked around wildly; no Rory. He was back in the dirty old motel he'd last seen Dean in.
Speaking of Dean…
His brother had been sitting on the other bed, but was now next to him.
"Sam? Sammy?" he asked in his rough voice. "What the friggin' hell is going on? You've been asleep for 36 hours!"
"36-" Sam couldn't believe it. "Where's Rory?"
"Rory?" Dean asked. "Who's that?"
"This girl-" Sam caught himself. "I had a dream, and she was in it, and I've got to go back and find her!"
"Why?" Dean asked. He grinned. "She hot?"
Sam stared at him without really seeing him. "You have no idea."
"She real?"
"I think so…" Sam said. "But –"
"So what happened?" Dean interrupted. "We got a case?"
"I have a case," Sam corrected. "I doubt you'd be able to get in."
"Get into what?" Dean questioned.
"The dream, Dean! Me and Rory, we were on the separate plane to everyone else…" he trailed off.
"Maybe we should look her up," Dean suggested. "You know, check out her files."
"No." Sam's voice was final.
"Why not?"
"I promised her I wouldn't. We agreed that we would pretend that the other didn't really exist for our own peace of mind," Sam explained.
Dean shook his head. "What the hell would you do that for?"
"Cause I know where she lives, her full name, everything," Sam told him. "It would be way too easy for me to find her, and she couldn't ever find me."
"So you go and see her," Dean said, exasperated. "I'm not seeing the problem here."
Sam looked down at his hands and linked his fingers together. "She told me some stuff she doesn't want people to know, and she doesn't want her family to know she told me."
"Like what?" Dean asked sardonically.
"I can't say, Dean, I promised," Sam said, almost angrily. He stood up and wandered over to the other side of the room.
"Dude, what does it matter?" Dean gestured roughly. "She never has to know that you looked her up. Just to see if she's all right. Come on Sammy, don't you wanna know if she's all right?"
Sam turned back to him and said, "Of course I do. But I'm sure if I can just get back to sleep, I'll be able to make sure without breaking any promises."
Sam went and lay back down on his bed. There was silence for a moment.
"So that's it, then," Dean said, evidently mad. "All this effort trying not to sleep, and now you're actually trying to sleep?"
"Guess so," Sam said monotonously, not removing his eyes from the ceiling.
Dean shrugged and murmured very quietly, "This girl must really be something special."
Sam closed his eyes.
The next morning, Kent Farm
Clark sat at the bottom of the stairs outside drinking his 26th cup of coffee.
Rory came out frowning and sat down next to him.
"Nothing," she complained. "I think it was your dream, Clark, and Sara, Sam and I were just… I don't know. There?"
"I can't get over how real it was," Clark said, shaking his head. "It felt like real life, it really did."
"I knew straight away it was a dream," Rory said quietly.
"How?" Clark asked, brow furrowing.
Rory laughed, still quiet, and said, "Even with all the weird stuff that happens in Smallville, no one we know has ever disappeared from one place and reappeared instantly in another time and place."
"True," Clark admitted.
They sat in silence for a few moments, enjoying being together again. It felt good to finally be once again connected the way they'd always taken for granted.
"Maybe we should go visit the Conroys," Rory said suddenly. "I mean, Sara just seemed so afraid…"
"What do we say to them, though?" Clark contradicted. "That Sara was in danger in our dream?"
"No," Rory said, almost offended. "No, we just go and visit, like the wonderful new neighbours we are. See what I mean? They don't have to know we're worried. We can just subtly scope out the place."
Clark looked over in the direction of the Conroy's house.
Conroy's House, not long after that
The door to Lana's old house opened and Rory grinned at the nervous-looking dark haired middle aged man who had opened it.
"Hi!" she said cheerily. "I'm Rory Kent, and this is my brother Clark. We're from next door."
The man smiled uncertainly and said, "It's nice to meet you. I'm Nicholas."
"We brought you and your daughter these," Clark said, holding up a plate of brownies.
Nicholas seemed confused. "My daughter?"
"Yeah, your daughter," Rory said. Noting his mood, she said, "Is there a problem?"
Nicholas twisted his face uncertainly and said, "Maybe it would be best if I showed you…"
Clark and Rory stood over Sara. Her face was totally familiar, and yet so calm and peaceful that they barely recognised her. Nicholas touched her forehead affectionately.
"Do the doctors think she'll come out of it?" Clark asked him.
"There's always hope," Nicholas said bravely.
"It must be really hard to see your daughter like this," Rory said, having toned down the happy-neighbour fa cade.
Nicholas looked at her in surprise. "Oh, she's my niece."
"Ohh," Rory said, understanding his reaction outside.
"What exactly happened?" Clark burst out suddenly.
"Clark," Rory hissed at him.
"It's okay," Nicholas assured her. "It's no secret."
Looking Clark in the eye, Nicholas said straightforwardly, "It was a car accident. Sara and her parents went off the Loeb bridge on their way home from a soccer game. The paramedics say Sara was asleep, which is probably why she survived."
"Sara's from Smallville?" Rory asked, confused. She'd never seen her before now.
"Grandville," Nicholas explained. "Just over the county line."
Clark noticed some flowers on her bedside table. "Lilacs," he said, surprised. "Those are Sara's favourite."
Nicholas frowned. "Yes. How did you know that?"
"Really? They're my favourite too!" Rory covered, going a little more back towards chirpy-neighbour. "Must be kismet, living so close..."
Nicholas smiled and leant over to fix Sara's pillows. A gold pendant hung from his neck.
"That's an interesting medal," Clark noted.
Nicholas drew back protectively. "This? Well, it's just good old St. Christopher."
"Patron saint of travellers, right?" Rory affirmed.
"Yes. Yes, I say his prayer every day in the hopes Sara will come back to us," Nicholas said, seeming even more nervous.
"Look, I'm sorry," he said quickly before they could say anything else. "It's, uh, time for Sara's medication. Thank you for stopping by."
Rory smiled genuinely at him and Clark smiled uneasily. They both left the room and as soon as they were out of the house, supersped home.
Smallville High, next day
Clark yawned as he shut his locker. Chloe stood next to him, her usual sardonic smile firmly in place.
"Clark Kent dreaming of the girl next door," she said ironically. "Nice to know some things never change."
They started to walk away as Clark said tiredly, "Right now I'm just trying to stay awake."
"You know, the thing I'd like to know is, are you staying awake to keep Sara out?" Chloe asked, her smile widening. "Or to keep this Sam guy out?"
Clark glared at her weakly and muttered, "It's irritating, not being able to suss him out and see if he's dangerous."
"I knew it," Chloe exulted.
"Besides, does it really matter why? I'm just trying to stay awake," he said, his voice hollow.
"Yeah, even Red Bull has its limits," Chloe remarked sympathetically. "Believe me, I've tested them."
"I think Sara's reaching out to me for help," Clark told her his theory.
"Entering your dreams to communicate?" Chloe considered it.
"How else would I know these details of her life?" Clark asked rhetorically. "Like the lilacs."
They entered the Torch office and Rory looked up to see them, flicking her growing hair over her shoulder.
"Hey," she smiled. "You okay, Clark?"
Clark just nodded and smiled back.
Rory leant back on the desk, folding her arms. "Did he tell you his theory, Chloe?"
Chloe nodded and said, "There is a theory that telepathic receptivity is increased during REM sleep. It has to do with frontal lobe activity."
Rory frowned. "That doesn't explain how I was there, or how a complete stranger from the other side of the country was."
"Well, maybe in reaching out for help, she found Clark, asleep," Chloe thought aloud, "and then she found in his head you, and pulled you in too, and then..." she shrugged.
"Was there anything special about Sam, Rors?" Clark asked.
Rory met his eyes for a split second then looked away to Chloe. "No, nothing I can think of."
"Okay, well, we all know that your minds are both wired on a different frequency," Chloe said wryly. "Maybe Sam's is on the same as yours."
Rory grabbed a piece of paper from the desk and passed it to Chloe. "Add to that, the fact that the river where she crashed is a known source for our favourite green stuff and you have the perfect Smallville explanation."
"You think the meteor rocks gave her this ability?" Clark asked.
"It explains the day and a half sleep fest," she shrugged.
"All right, we have a theory with Sam; what about the Traveller?" Chloe asked.
"Her uncle," Rory said immediately.
"Or a manifestation of fear she has for her uncle," Chloe suggested.
"It's possible, I suppose," Rory allowed. "Clark, maybe we should go check public records, see if we can dig up some dirt on good ole Uncle Nicholas?"
"Okay," Clark agreed. "Chloe, you gonna come with?"
"Sadly, no," Chloe answered. "I have a deadline for the Daily Planet, and shockingly, they're not too fond of my baby."
The twins glanced automatically at the Wall. It was still intact and they both smiled.
"Maybe I'll grab Lana then," Rory said with a grin and a wink at Chloe.
"At least she can provide a constant source of caffeine," Chloe replied wryly.
Clark and Rory left the office.
The barn loft, that night
Rory threw down her current file in frustration and stood up, stretching out her cramped muscles.
"Now I know why public records are public," she sighed, "they're incredibly boring."
Lana sighed too and Clark knelt at the table. "Not all of them," he frowned. "Take a look at this."
Lana took it from him and Rory leant over the couch, reading over her shoulder.
"Wow," Rory breathed.
"Sara's parents were rich," Lana said, sounding impressed.
"When they died she inherited everything," Clark told them. "One guess as to who's in control of the money."
"Saint Nicholas," Rory said caustically.
"As long as she's in a coma, he controls the wealth," Lana realised.
"But he still hasn't done anything wrong," Rory said in frustration. "I mean, taking care of your niece and living a nice life isn't exactly a smoking gun."
"But why is Sara so scared of him?" Clark asked, also frustrated. "I just don't get it."
"Hey, you're tired," Lana said comfortingly.
He sat on the couch next to her and confessed, "I'm afraid to close my eyes."
"I'll go put on another pot of coffee," she said with a smile. She stood up and left, Rory taking her place next to Clark.
She leant her head on his shoulder and he draped his arm over her shoulders.
"Lucky," he murmured sleepily. "You can sleep any time you like."
"So can you, Clark," Rory muttered.
Clark sighed and leant his head on hers. His eyes fluttered shut once – twice -
Rory opened her eyes after a moment, shifting to get more comfortable. She looked up at her brother and saw that his eyes were closed.
Much as she'd like to go back into the dream, she knew that Clark didn't want to, so she should probably wake him up.
"Clark," she said loudly. He didn't stir.
"Clark?" she repeated, poking him this time.
Her finger stopped inches away from him.
Rory realised that they must already be in the dream again – Clark must've fallen asleep. Which meant...
The other side of the country, same time
Sam rubbed his eyes in frustration, sitting up again. "This is so annoying!" he exploded. "Why won't it come back?"
"Maybe it was a one off thing Sammy, maybe you should just let it go," Dean said in frustration. He was bored out of his brain – Sam was hardly fun when all he said was "Shut up" or "Sleeping."
"No, it wasn't," Sam said angrily. "It was too real to not be real."
"Maybe somebody just slipped acid in your drink Sammy," Dean said roughly. He was sick of Sam doing absolutely nothing.
"No, they-" Sam stopped abruptly. Suddenly, even though he'd been sleeping for the past two days, he was so tired he could have slept on a bed of nails.
He sank back into the hotel bed and closed his eyes again.
Kent Barn, in the dream
Footsteps came up the stairs to the barn.
"Lana, have you seen –" Clark started to ask before seeing who it really was.
He couldn't see the man just behind Sara though, or see Rory crying, "Sam!" and running to him.
"Rory!" Sam said happily, hugging her. "Do you know what's going on?"
Rory nodded and said, "The T-man's Sara's Uncle Nicholas. She's in a coma, reaching out to us for help, no idea why you're here although Chloe thinks it's because Sara found Clark, the closest person who was asleep, pulled me and you in because she knew we were the best people to help her out."
"But I've been trying to sleep for days. How come I never dreamed before?" Sam asked.
"It's all Clark's dream," Rory explained. "You and me are just visiting. We can't get into the dream unless Clark's asleep, and he's been staying awake cause he doesn't like it here. He hates not being able to help Sara and –" she hesitated.
Sam grinned. "And he hates not being able to be around you, especially with me here, right?"
"Right," Rory admitted.
"How do you get into my dreams?" Clark asked Sara behind them.
"Hey look, it's Sara," Rory said.
Sara looked up at Rory and smiled uncertainly. "I don't know," she said, speaking to all of them. "I – this has never happened to me before. Just the other day, suddenly I was – I was in the woods and then at school and then at your house."
"How did we get to that other forest, Sara?" Rory asked urgently.
"It was calling to you," she said, slightly confused. "Couldn't you hear it?"
Rory frowned in puzzlement.
"Sara? Is Rory here?" Clark asked her.
"Yeah," Sara said, seeming even more confused. "Can't you see her?"
Clark shook his head and said, "We think that she's on a different level of your dream. It's like, you have your subconsciousness and then your consciousness, and when you dream that's your subconsciousness, and she's in your subconsciousness with –" Clark twitched a little, "Sam."
Sam laughed a little as Rory said, "Sara, what did you mean, it was calling to us?"
"That place – it's part of your future. It's calling to you," Sara repeated. "Just like you call to each other."
Rory's eyes widened. Clark stood in shock for a moment before saying in an icy voice, "What?"
Rory cringed and muttered, "Oh God, I am so dead."
"We... call to each other?" Sam asked, trying to wrap his mind around this concept.
Sara nodded. "Yeah. The eight of you, you're calling to one another. But you three were the only ones asleep. So you three were the only ones here, I think."
"Eight?" Rory repeated, her voice rising.
"Yeah, eight," Sara nodded. "You didn't know? But the call's just so strong."
"Who are the other five?" Clark asked, intensely curious.
Sara shrugged. "I don't know. But there's already four of you in Smallville. The other four aren't in Smallville, but they're connected to the rest of you."
This mind-blowing revelation had Clark and Rory stunned into silence for a moment.
Sam on the other hand asked Sara, "When did you realise what was going on?"
"When Clark and Rory came to visit me, of course," she replied.
Rory snapped out of her daze and asked, "You could hear us?"
"Yeah," Sara affirmed. "It's like being in a long dark tunnel. I mean, sometimes it's open, but sometimes it's not. I tried to reach out to you."
Her eyes went dark and her voice dreary as she said quietly, "I mean, you don't know what it's like to be locked in your own body, never any contact."
Clark was, for the most part, managing to piece together what the others were saying, and now decided that it was his turn.
"Sara, who's the Traveller?" he asked.
Sara flinched at the name and said nervously, "Oh, w-we shouldn't talk about him. He'll find us."
She backed down the stairs as Rory asked, "Is he your uncle?"
"Why are you so afraid of him?" Clark asked, not hearing Rory's question.
"What does he do to you, Sara?" Sam asked in the voice he reserved for victims of evil things.
"I don't know, what he does," Sara said in a small voice. "I used to be able to hear the doctors talking, and they said I should've woken up."
"Why didn't you?" Clark asked.
"Because every time I do feel just a little bit better, he does something and I get sent back to a deep dark place that's like the bottom of the ocean," Sara said bitterly. "I almost woke up once – that's why he moved us here."
Wind started to blow through the barn and Rory clutched her jacket closer to herself.
"Oh, God, he's here," Sara said, trembling and scared.
Abruptly, she was pulled over the railing. Clark, Rory and Sam ran to it and looked over. Sara was falling towards the ground, screaming, the Traveller underneath her, slowly wrapping his arms around her.
He finished covering her with his cloak and they were both gone.
Clark, Rory and Sam stood in stunned silence.
Rory turned away suddenly and walked back to the couch, throwing herself down onto it with a huff. Sam looked back at her, then started to pace from one edge of the loft to the other.
Clark looked at the seemingly empty loft and sighed.
"We need to find some way to communicate with Clark," Sam stated.
"How?" Rory asked lifelessly. "We're in the consciousness, he's in the subconsciousness."
"And how do they communicate?" Sam asked.
"Through dreams... but we're in a dream."
"Exactly! That means there has to be a way for us to talk to him," Sam said confidently.
Rory noticed all of a sudden that the files on the table had vanished. In their place was plain lined paper and lots of pens.
She sat up rapidly, remembering what had happened in Lex's mansion, and before that at the farm.
"Sam?"
He looked over at her quickly, the urgency in her voice spurring him to go and sit next to her.
"What is it?"
"Look," she said excitedly, pointing. "Pens and paper. And I just remembered... my powers work on objects in the first plane."
Sam stared at her. "You think you can write messages on the paper?"
Rory nodded and ordered, "Don't distract me. Actually, try and distract Clark somehow."
Sam nodded and went over to the boy still surveying the 'empty' room. He began to try, waving his hand in his face, attempting to poke him, etc, etc.
Meanwhile, Rory concentrated hard on the pen. Using her powers, she picked it up and started to write one word.
Clark.
Sam turned and watched her, his efforts proving futile.
Clark started suddenly and stared at the pen, which was of course moving on its own. He walked over to the couch and sat down, unconsciously next to his sister.
The following message wrote itself onto the paper:
Clark, are you okay?
"Rory?" he asked, looking around.
Who else? slowly scrawled its way into existence.
Clark laughed breathlessly before abruptly frowning. "Where's Sam?" he demanded.
Sam came and sat next to her as she wrote painstakingly, I'm on your right, and he's on my right.
Clark glared at the space next to Sam and said loudly, "Keep your hands off my sister!"
Sam just grinned and said, even knowing he couldn't hear him, "I'm over here, buddy."
Ignoring them both, Rory wrote, What are we gonna do, Clark?
Clark read her message and replied, "The only way we're gonna get anywhere is if we wake up, Rors."
But I don't want to, came the answer.
"Is this because of him?" Clark demanded. "Honestly, Rory, you've never even met the guy! He could be a psychopath for all you know! This is just unhealthy!"
No it's not! He told me everything!
"He could have lied!"
"Much as I love sitting here while you two argue over whether or not I'm a psychopath," Sam interrupted, "I agree with Clark. The only way you can get any more information is if you wake up and go talk to people, look around, see what you can find."
Rory looked at him. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Sam said. "I mean, I'm sure we have to finish this in the dream, right? Cause Sara has to, I don't know, stand up to the Traveller or something, to get out. So we'll see each other at least once more."
Rory considered this for a moment. "Okay."
She wrote on the paper, Clark, Sam says you're right.
"About him being a psychopath?" Clark asked quickly. "Rory, run!"
No! About waking up. But we will be back.
"All right, whatever," Clark said absently, having only read the first part. "Waking up, now!"
Nothing happened.
Clark? How? Rory wrote. Clark was ignoring the paper however. She sighed in exasperation and stood up, walking away. She rubbed her temples – using her telekinesis so much was giving her a headache.
Clark shook his head and sighed in exasperation. "Last time, we went with Sara when she got kidnapped. What do we do know?"
"Let go," Sam said. Rory looked at him and he explained, "See, spirits exist because they're too scared to let go of their life. Sara's got us here for the same reason. But she's not here to hang on any longer. So if Clark lets go..."
"We wake up," Rory said in understanding. "How does he let go?"
"No idea," Sam said with a shrug.
"Aren't you helpful," Rory grumbled. She went back to the paper, wrote on it, You need to let go of the dream Clark.
She then wafted it in front of his face. Clark grabbed it, read what she'd written and frowned. "How the hell do I do that?" he asked the empty room.
There was no answer or epiphany apparent, so he sighed and lay back on the couch. His eyes drifted shut and he felt almost as if he was falling asleep... but that was impossible... he was already asleep... wasn't he?
Clark and Rory both sat straight up, blinking and disoriented.
"Clark?" Rory mumbled.
"Here," Clark replied, discombobulated. "What the-"
"We're awake," Rory gasped, laughing. "We're awake because you fell asleep."
A/N Longest chapter ever... I wanted to finish the episode in this story, but it's not working! I will try my hardest to finish in the next one though, I promise!
And, I'm on my superlong holidays – from what I hear, holidays in Australia are different to those in America and the UK. We start the school year at the end of January and finish at the end of November, and our big holidays are now.
So I'll have heaps of time to write! Although I may be away a bit. I'll warn you if it's gonna be for a long time though.
Question no. whatever we're up to now:
What do you think the title of this fic refers to? Just looking for some speculation, that's all.
Thanks so much for reading! You're all fantastic. Love you!
PS Just to see who's reading these: if you read this AN, put a :o) face in your review and I'll dedicate the next chapter to each one who does it!