Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Ghost Of A Chance 15/20?

Little bit of a twist here, finally, that I've been waiting and waiting to reveal.

Hope you all enjoy! (Or at least, bide your time before coming to kill me.)

Wow.

A lot has happened in this chapter; Lois' disappearance, Tempus revealing himself and Doomsday! But this is what floored me:


Tempus ended Lex? Amazing. Of the two, I always thought Lex was a lot smarter than Tempus.

On to the next part!

I loved you're insight into Clark's perspective here. That conflict. On one hand, he does want to believe her feelings were real, that that would make things better. But on the other, she went in intending to hurt him, and would have done it either way. Obviously she would have never done it if it would have hurt Clark in the long-run, but she still put his public well-being over his personal one. He didn't get a say. I like that he does still love her, because her intentions were good, and I think he knows now how much hurting him hurt her regardless of whether those romantic feelings were real or not.

At the same time though, it's interesting to see Clark's confusion over Lois being the person he fell in love with. We know she is, and I think it's Clark's little glimpses of that Lois as she told her story (that she did have good intentions) and walked off crying and needed to be in the know that gave him those hints that maybe things are better than he's assumed. But Clark knows Lois better than anyone, and just as Lois understood Clark without realizing it for some time, I think Clark knows Lois enough to understand on a level (even if only subconsciously) who she really is.

It's just a big sloppy mess. I'm sure you have good things in store, but right now it hurts my brain trying to sort it all out!

Uh-oh.
This is so heartbreaking, so hopeless. I love that Clark's doing what he can though! He's being the best hero he can be, but the chances aren't good and Lois is nowhere to be found and these people need him. It shows his true colors very well.

I can't help but feel like Tempus's visit with Lois into the future, with his intentions, created that world she saw-that she saw the effects of all of this. That because of Lois, there was a Utopia, but that this mess with Doomsday would create that one time Clark wouldn't be able to save Lois. On that note, how did Clark know who Tempus is?

The dichotomy of this chapter is striking. In the first half, I can almost feel Clark's anger and pain at Lois making decisions about his future (ironic, isn't it, Flyboy?), making decisions on which part of him is worth saving, and coming up lacking. How can there be a Superman without a Clark, who loves and trusts and has optimism for the future? He senses Lois's regret (even if she tries to hide it from him), but he doesn't even pity her after all the pain she has caused him. He's so far gone that he doesn't care about what Perry thinks about him or if Clark's disappearance will lose him his job at the Daily Planet.

In the second half has Clark in a battle of wills against Tempus. What brings Tempus back? Had he not thoroughly destroyed Clark enough that Utopia still exists? What makes him bring Doomsday in to finish the job that neither he nor Lois could? Using the Kyrponite cage to protect himself again is symbolic. A cage Luthor used (in other dimensions) to destroy Clark, here Tempus uses to save himself. [Annie L, I believe Tempus destroyed Luthor by having the investigation of him happen earlier.] When Tempus says that Doomsday knows where Lois is, it made me wonder if Tempus has done something to make Lois into Doomsday. The one creature who can destroy Clark. Again fraught with meaning.

So, we have a Clark at the beginning of the chapter that wants nothing more to do with Lois and by the end, he is having to fight for his life (and that of Metropolis's citizenry) in order to save her. He still loves her, even if it merely an echo of memory of the woman she once was.

Bwaaahaaahaaa! Classic Tempus! And, yet, this Tempus is slightly crueler than the one we saw on the show. He didn't need to emotionally torture Clark by tricking Lois into betraying him. If ultimately he was just going to make Clark confront Doomsday, he could have sprung that on Clark by surprise at any time. No, manipulating Lois into causing Clark's heartbreak was extra emotional torture. Clark has a massive task ahead of him - save Lois, save his heart, save the city, save the future, save himself. Good luck with that!

On a level playing field, I think Luthor could probably take Tempus, Morgana, but since Tempus knows everything about him from the future (and other worlds) and since he came in with all the evidence needed to get Luthor tied up in courts, Luthor's not even anywhere near the actual fight. Tempus does give him his due, though, at least as much as Tempus ever does!

Thanks, Annie! I've read (and enjoyed) so many stories where Lois discovers CLark's Secret and then tries to piece together who he is, if he's two people, which was the liar, etc and I really loved and wanted to explore the idea of Clark having to be the one probing that dichotomy. Lois has always been so easy to read to him, since he saw behind her masks in the Pilot episode (though the closer he gets to her, the harder she is to read, I think), so it throws him that she's been living such a double-life. People sometimes gloss over Doomsday, as if just because he's not smart, he's not dangerous, but I've always thought Clark immeasurably brave to throw himself at something that only wants destruction and death.

Love your summation, Virginia! That's actually exactly what I was going for -- to have Clark face Lois first as the woman he's not sure he even wants in his life anymore, and then as the person he has to risk his life to save. As much as Clark is human in his hurts and broken heart, he is a hero in that he won't allow that to stop him from doing the right thing.

I loved writing Tempus, groobie, so I'm glad he sounded in-character. But yes, I did intentionally try to make him crueler, more brutal, less concerned about the game and more interesting in the end result. This is a Tempus who's been doing this for so long that he doesn't revel as much in the in-between moments but goes straight for the throat (AFTER destroying him in every other way). He could have saved himself a lot of trouble, but Tempus is as much about destroying the ideal of Superman as he is about killing the hero, so his attacks are two-pronged: first he destroys (or attempts to destroy) Clark's spirit, then he kills him. And of course, he makes sure Lois falls too.

Thanks, everyone!

Whoa! I did NOT see Doomsday coming! Nice twist!

Yikes, is this Tempus particularly cruel. Any chance Diana and Bruce might suddenly appear and help? No? Okay, how *will* Clark find a way out of this? For all of Tempus' ramped up cruelness, I actually like it. He's world weary and scarred from all of his previous battles with Clark. His losses have hardened him more than he ever was. Rings true to me.

One other thing. I loved the line about needing to name the threat when Clark meets Tempus. I never quite thought about it that way but it feels so *right* that I can't imagine why I never saw it that was before.