A/N: My last chapter the face i was trying to show did show and I apologize.
I hope you enjoy chapter 5!
The next time I open my eyes, I'm laying in a room on a bed, and I've no idea whose room it is. I look around and try to sit up, but the dull ache in my side explodes, and I immediately grab it gasping. I try to sit up further, my head protesting, but I manage to succeed my task.
I slowly swing my legs off the side of the bed noticing that someone removed my shoes, I assume Clark, and I sit there for a moment. The room is spinning and so I close my eyes and take in a few deep breaths. In through my nose and out through my mouth. I eventually get to where I can stand but that causes the room to spin again.
"How hard did I hit my head?" I try to recall slamming into the wall. "Potential concussion but I doubt it." I think to myself and shuffle my way towards the open door.
By the time I get from bedroom to living room I feel I need to sit down. Some ibuprofen would be nice but I don't know where I'd find any. I'm almost to the couch when I hear a voice say, "You're awake," and it nearly makes me leap from my skin. I wince, grab at my side, and lose my balance. I nearly smack my head on a small coffee table, but the owner rushes over, and grabs my arm which keeps me from falling.
"Yep," I say with clenched teeth, "I'm awake."
"Sorry," He says embarrassed. "Didn't mean to startle you. Are sure about no hospitals?" Clark asks and I send him a slight glare.
"Yes, I'm sure." I retort. "I just need some ibuprofen and I'll be fine." He helps me sit on the couch and then goes and gets me the ibuprofen. He brings it back with a glass of water and I graciously accept it. "I can't believe The Masked Merchant time guy got away with the cube." I say and Clark agrees.
"We will find the cube, Stiles." He attempts to reassure me. "But Manjaro could have killed you twice yesterday."
"Oh that? That was nothing." I brush it off. "Wait, hold up, yesterday? How long was I out for?"
"Nearly 24 hours." He replies and I feel my jaw drop a bit.
"No, no that cant be right." I say and I force myself off the couch. I clutch my left side and gasp in pain again. I walk over to the window and see the sun is starting to set over Metropolis. "How is that even possible? I didn't even hit my head that hard."
"You hit it hard enough for it to bruise." Clark mentioned and I turn to look at him. I catch my reflection in the glass top of the coffee table and see black, blue, and purple hues on the corner of my forehead leading back towards my ear and hairline. I also notice my face is bruised where the Merchant had hit me. "Besides, you woke up once on the way here but passed out again before we arrived." I didn't recall any of that whatsoever.
I walk back to the couch and sit down gently. My face getting warm from thinking about how ridiculous it must have looked him carrying me around. "What am I going to do, Clark?" My voice is low. "He got the cube and now I can't get back home."
"We'll figure it out." He answers. "While you were out of it I took the liberty of doing some research on this Merchant guy." He turns and walks to a lap top on a table in a nook. There's a manila folder next to it with a bunch of papers in it and he grabs it.
He opens the folder, pulls out a few papers, and hands them to me. "It seems like the Masked Merchant has been suspected of traveling across time. He's been called the Masked Merchant, Time Merchant, and the Ghost Merchant. Masked because he keeps his face covered with the dread doctor looking mask. The Time one you're already aware of, but the Ghost Merchant, that's because of the shrieking he does. Apparently that's what people back in the day thought ghost ships sounded like."
He stands in front of me as I read the papers. Everything he's saying is on it it with pictures and diagrams. "So, if he's been known as all of these things is it possible he's not human?" I ask my thoughts deepening. "And why is he here or why was he in Beacon Hills?"
"I'm assuming he's here because the cube is here. When it brought you here it traveled with you. I don't think the Merchant needs the cube to move around in time, he can do that on his own, which indicates that, no, he may not be human." Clark explains his theory and it sounds fairly legit. "As to why he was in Beacon Hills, I have no clue, I haven't really found anything that would answer that question."
I set the papers down on the coffee table and there's a knock at the door. I look at Clark and he looks at the door. "Smallville!" I hear a recognizable voice holler.
Clark quickly gets to the door and opens it. "Lois?"
"It's about time you show your face!" She scolds and walks into the apartment. "There was another attack yesterday. The museum got hit early evening, and I've been trying to get ahold of you since, but you haven't been answering my texts or calls." She sees me on the couch and squints. "I see you've been occupied."
"Lois, I'm so sorry!" Clark apologizes, "I don't know where my phone is, and yeah, I guess Stiles has kept me a little busier than usual." Wow, thanks for the trip under the bus, Clark.
Lois walks towards me, she's eyeballing my face and head, "What happened to you?" She asks and I don't know what to say. I don't want to blow Clark's cover.
"We were at the Museum when it was attacked. He got smacked pretty hard by Manjaro and I was lucky to get us out of there. Superman helped with that." He fumbles over the Superman part and Lois seems to believe him. "That's probably when I lost my phone, actually."
She looks at him, and then me, and then back to him. "He looks awful! Why didn't you take him to the hospital?" She scolds Clark again and I cut in.
"I told him not to." I explain. "He thought I needed to go, still does, but I just really don't want to be in a hospital. Nothing against them, but please, just, no."
She walks to the refrigerator and opens the freezer half. She pulls out a bag of peas and tosses them at me. I catch them, but at the cost of me yelping in pain, and grabbing my side for the third or fourth time now. She gives Clark a worried glance and makes her way over to me quickly. Lois lifts my shirt and the left side of my abdomen is a gross hue of yellow and purple.
"I may have cracked or broken a rib." I bite my lip when she touches it and she sends Clark another glare.
"You should have called me." She says to him and his eyes are like that of a lost puppy. I find it pathetic how she does that to him so easily. "Phone or not," She says, "you should have called me." She grabs the peas and holds them gently against my ribs and I let a sigh of relief escape.
"I'm sorry Lois." He apologizes again as he walks over to us.
"Yeah, we're sorry Lois." I say and she glares at me too.
"Give me one good reason I shouldn't take you to the hospital anyway?" She asks me and I sink back a little.
"Because they don't really do anything for potential concussions or broken or cracked ribs?" I partially mumble and her glare lessens a bit.
"You two are both idiots!" She scolds the two of us and looks over at the table. "The Masked Merchant?"
"Oh, that" I quickly say, "that's nothing. Just a little proj-" Clark cuts me off before I can finish lying.
"Stiles isn't from here." He answers her. "He was brought here by the cube. We were hoping to get it back, that's why we were at the Museum, but then the Merchant showed up with Manjaro."
She looks at me. "I knew there was something off about you." She says and I bite the inner corner of my lip.
"I just want to get home." Sadness is evident in my voice and she looks at me with understanding.
"We'll get you there." She gives me a smile and I believe her. "One more thing, Manjaro, he's still out there." Clark and I lock eyes, worry encapsulating them, and then we look at Lois.
"That's really great." Sarcasm heavy in my voice.
A/N: Not Manjarooooo!