Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Ghost Of A Chance 10/?

If anyone is still reading, thank you so much! I hope you all enjoy!

You're leaving us with that? After all this time? I want to know what she tells Clark!

Good, Clark. Stand up for yourself-you don't need someone like that in your life. I can't imagine being in Lois's position, but as bad as she has it, at least she has the solace of knowing things will turn out all right for him. Clark's the one who's getting the actual hurt, in this relationship, and he doesn't know why. The pain there from his ignorance of the situation is probably, in many ways, worse.

I've spent a lot of time voicing how difficult it would be to paint Lois in this light, but in the end, this peacekeeper is just like (or better than) Lex, at least manipulation-wise. He has some seriously convincing manipulation going on, if only because he knows Lois so well.
I can see, now, why she wouldn't let Clark decide on this. The future, in her mind, brings him so much more happiness than she would, and if she wasn't supposed to meet him in the first place, I can easily see the source (with his skill) making her see differently. Really, really nice job. I was worried, but knowing what we do now Lois definitely feels in-character.

It's interesting, though, since Lex preyed on Lois's insecurities. Here, the peacekeeper is manipulating the part of her that wants so badly to do the right thing, and that's more
Important to her than any comfort she could get from Lex as a husband. With that in mind, I think it makes her even more vulnerable, since she's struggled a lot with knowing what right is.

I really thought Lois was going to tell Clark! Some Utopian peacekeeper that source of hers is (if he is one at all). He's almost worse than Dr. Deter.

Can't wait for more

It's back! Still reading?! Of course we're still reading - and loving - this story! It's got to be Tempus, hasn't it? He's finally seen how successful Herb is with the 'True course of history' narrative, and is beating him at his own game. Dammit, Lois! You're an investigative reporter! Investigate this creep!

And if you can't investigate him (y'know, what with time zones and alternate dimensions and the fact that he hasn't been born yet and all), how about a dose of that vastly underrated Lois Lane cynicism?

Eeeeeek! You give us floating on cloud nine to start and end with what appears to be Tempus's pipe dream. He's taken Lois into the future to show her what it would be like with her in Clark's life and by telling her that this is the way it's supposed to be -- but leaving out the detail that this is the way it is when they are together -- he tells her that she ruins this future. Only he can't show her a future destroyed unless he's the one destroying it by feeding her this lie. Oh, evil. Pure evil. Yes, Lex manipulated her, but so too is this so-called "Peacekeeper". I believe this is Tempus, who knows that by destroying Clark's hope in love and his future, he's destroying Utopia. The jerk!

Please don't let the next part... or at least the one where Lois can't go through with it, or fixes Clark's broken heart by realizing it's through love Utopia exists... be long in coming.

BTW,

Yeah...defintely, completely, totally still reading this!!! How could I not be?

What a chapter--so much emotion, so gut-wrenching. To be Lois...to have these little bits of what she so desperately wants (waking up in Clark's arms, having him love her), combined with little glimpses of wonderful moments (Christmas at the window with her head on Clark's shoulder, etc), and then to carry this guilt. To know that having what you want, what CLARK wants--the two of you together--will (supposedly) wreck what could be the perfection of a future world. For her to have to look into Clark's brown, beautiful eyes and hurt him, and on purpose. As frustrated as I am with Lois for not diving into Mad Dog Lane-Mode and figuring this out/fighting for herself, I do feel a lot for her.

And Clark. I feel even more for him! To be clued out on all of this. To think he's being played by the woman he loves. To feel so much love for someone and then be yanked around, messed with. The hurt of thinking that you were just a replacement for a job that didn't exists for awhile to someone?

I really feel that you've cemented a lot in this chapter--the time traveler's manipulation, and Lois' desire to do the right thing--I think combined created this horrible situation. It makes sense how this twisted reality could come into play, and I'm very impressed by your creativity in crafting this .

I agree with Virginia...it's gotta be Tempus. He's ready and willing to use what knowledge he gained from Herb, to use Lois to destroy Utopia by breaking down Clark (by breaking apart Lois and Clark).

They need each other to create the ending that Lois is trying to secure...I'm just very much hoping that she somehow can realize this ?

Awesome--Anti-K. Please, more? Pretty, pretty please?
Laura

*goes into Mom-mode*

You get right back here young lady and fix what you broke!!!

Okay, I literally cringed throughout the entire chapter. Clark's not the only one who feels slapped in the face. Lois needs to be taken out back and hit with a stick until she starts thinking clearly. I'm glad Clark had his moments of sticking up for himself, even if he did kind of backslide right away.

For a moment there, when you talked about how Lois wasn't supposed to meet Clark, I thought for sure this was alt Lois who was supposed to have died in the Congo, but had been saved by alt Clark and Herb. But I AM 88% sure this is just Tempus pretending to be a peacekeeper from the future. He's had enough of trying to break the world post-Lois and Clark as a solid team. He knows Lois is Clark's strength, so he's trying to use her more effectively than Kryptonite to wound Clark.

You are a very evil writer, I hope you know that.

More please!

Thank you for all the support for this story! It's one of my favorite premises, though it took me a while to decide to actually just bite the bullet and write it, but I know it's rather depressing at times (not to mention the delayed/non-existent posting schedule :o), so I appreciate those of you sticking with it!

Thank you, AnnieL! I personally feel that Lois is almost as moved by injustice and compassion as Clark, though in different ways, so I really liked the idea of trying to turn that around to be a bad thing. It's done often with Clark (in very good stories that I enjoy reading), but I hadn't really seen any with Lois, outside of course her inability to check the water level before jumping! Ugh, it's hard to be worse than Dr. Deter!

Thanks, Bean22! I love how you mentioned the 'underrated Lois Lane cynicism' -- isn't that just the truth?

I shall certainly try to be more timely, VirginiaR, though I'll have to hold off on saying anything about when it might get happier... That IS an evil plan you outlined...

Thank you, LMA -- I was hoping this chapter would make a lot of things clearer, so I'm glad to hear it worked. I don't even know how I came up with this plot, but as soon as I started imagining it (I think I just started writing the first chapter where she told Clark she wanted to take a chance on him, and as I was writing it, I discovered I didn't really trust her sudden turn-around), I couldn't help but be sucked into it. Though, it did take me quite a while to decide to actually write such a terrible plot!

Umm, sorry, DC! I hate making you cringe (and hate even more ignoring the mom-voice), but it might take a while to fix things. It would have been a twist if it were Alt-Clark and -Lois, wouldn't it? Ah well, I can't think of everything. And I have been told that I'm evil...it does make me think about my life-choices. But only very occasionally.

Thank you, everyone!

The last two parts were painful enough, but the opening on Part 10 was heartrending:


Yup, so real that I'm wondering why Lois does not communicate with Clark about everything that has been happening to her in the past few weeks. Especially these 'timely' visits by this silver-haired man who might either be an ancient version of Tempus or possibly H.G. Wells gone horribly wrong. After all, they are the only ones who know about Utopia.

Those insistent flashes of memory are trying to tell her Clark needs a counterbalance to Superman and she is it.


Why not indeed? This guy is a master manipulator, I can only wonder how this will all turn out.

Next part?

Oh, no! This is gut-wrenching! The scene at the beginning, waking up happily in his arms, then choosing to let it go all wrong...devastating! Clark sees what Lois is doing, how she's intentionally pushing him away, and he calls her on it. It takes a lot of strength to address a problem honestly, but he's just hurt more for doing so. And this is all because of Lois' source, who I do not trust at all! The perils of time travel...how do you know that by changing something in the past, that you're not actually causing a negative change in the future? No good can come from Lois' lies, even if she thinks she's telling them for the right reasons.

This is a very painful story, isn't it, Morgana? I am trying to get to the happier parts, but with a story like this, those come slow! The villain is definitely a master manipulator -- so many villains in fiction always try to make a hero turn evil, but I've always wondered how much easier things would be if they simply convinced them that 'evil' is the right way. Unfortunately, in this story, he's exactly placed to be able to get through to Lois. Thanks!

The wrong things for the right reasons -- I think this is actually one of Lois's major flaws, usually in a small way, like cutting corners on an investigation or stealing Mayson's beeper. Always for a good reason, but not really the right thing. It's interesting to get to explore how that could backfire on her in a big way. Thanks, groobie, glad you're enjoying!