Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic The Roads They Walked Alone Part 70/71 - Comments

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Rac

OMG! OMG! OMG!

Please tell me Zara isn't really dead!!

Yikes! You should have written for the old movie serials where they let the audience sitting on the edges of their seats and chewing their fingernails up to their elbows at the end of every chapter!

Let Lok Sim and Enza live!

Lady Mirth asks a very good question. If Zara is dead, can Clark still abdicate in favor of Ching? That would leave the colony with no experienced chief administrators, and I'm not sure Ching would want the job if his lady is a crispy critter.

Rae Et is completely nuts. If she destroys the colony's infrastructure, there won't be anyone to make oxygen, grow food, refine fuel, repair electronic systems, or do anything her Royal Pain-in-the-buttness needs. Her vengeance will be her own undoing if Jen Mai doesn't take her out first.

Will Trey's message get through before he's burned down? Will the soldier Lok Sim spoke with be able to arrest the traitor? Will Clark be able to administer justice without resorting to vengeance? And will Talan still play a vital role in thwarting this last gasp of rebellion?

Yow. This is even more intense than I expected it to be.

You are the queen of tension! Long live Her Majesty!

Assuming, of course, that the next chapter is as good as the rest of the story.

Still reading, Rac.

But have no idea what to make of this last part - had been hoping to see Clark actually going home and then - bam!! Is it now time to abandon all hope of that happy ending?

Your earlier comment on why Lois was no longer thinking about Clark in the present tense, so to speak, made sense to me. Although Lois may not consciously realise it, I think deep down she believes Clark is not coming home - she's finally accepting that and trying to build a life without him. In a sense, I think she's been in mourning, and that's why the parts with her in them have often been so sad.

So bring on that final part - I've never been good with angst and you've left us with so much of it! Right now, Lois and Clark seem farther (and further) apart than ever.

Hope Zara is not a "crispy critter" to use Terry's words. I like her character very much in this story, and truth be told, I'd be more accepting of Clark's dying than Zara. Not sure why that is. Although it'd be nice if Clark didn't die, of course.

c.

Hi,

Great part!

And they all lived happily ever after... oh, wait a minute. I think I got that wrong.

I understand where this is going now. The council would never let Clark leave. The situation is too unstable, and the future too uncertain to allow him to abdicate.

So, instead, Rac just destroys New Krypton. This means that there is no reason for Clark to stay any longer. There's nothing left to rule over, but a few pathetic survivors loyal to Nor and Mommie Dearest. A bit extreme, but none the less an effective way to free up Clark from his obligation.

I'll be looking forward to seeing how Clark makes his escape.

Tank (who thinks it might even be better if Clark doesn't make it out and Lois, in her grief, decides to abandon her kid and run away to Minnesota where she can be consoled by a curmudeonly old fellow... with a beard... and lots of guitars)

Hi Rac,

I too am still reading and was on the edge of my seat while reading every line.

I can only echo what the other readers have said. I hope Zara survives because I can't see that Clark could go home otherwise... and he has to go home.

Lois might have begun to accept that she's lost him, but I remember your promise. You said you believed in happy endings, but whatever kind of ending you give us, I doubt any of our heroes, and there are quite a few in this story, can live on in quite the same way again.

Please don't keep us waiting too long for the next chapter.

Yours Jenni

Rac, this kind of ghastly A-plot situation horrifies me too much for me to make any sort of meaningful or constructive comment about it.

Depending on how you resolve this part of your trilogy - i.e., depending on how many people die in the upcoming chapter 71, and depending on who the casualties are, I may or may not comment on the final "Krypton part".

I trust, however, that you will bring Clark back to Lois in the third and concluding part of your trilogy, and I will certainly be interested in reading about that.

Let me say, too, that no matter how this middle part of your trilogy ends, it has been a wonderfully well-written, hauntingly beautiful, agonizingly sad and tender story, which has brought its characters and its settings and its situations to amazing, unforgettable life.

Ann

Hi, everyone. Thanks for all of your comments. I know this section included some serious WHAMs and a nasty cliffhanger, but more is coming up soon.

Lady Mirth, thanks for reading and commenting. I was hoping this particular turn of events would be unexpected, and judging by your response, it was.

Thanks for your very kind words, Terry. I'm glad that the tension was ratcheted up sufficiently in this section. We will see answers to some of your questions in the next part.

Hi Carol. Wow, I was just hoping to make the NKers reasonably sympathetic, so it's great to hear that you're actually invested in what happens to them. I agree that Lois has been in a terrible position all of these years - you can't really mourn if you don't know if someone is actually dead, but at the same time, she's had to learn how to live her life without Clark, and in a sense, that is what moving on is. She doesn't love him any less, she isn't going to stop waiting for him, but his absence has seriously changed the nature of their relationship. When you add Jon into the mix, it's clear that they won't just be able to pick up where they left off.

Hi, Maria. Thanks for the great feedback and for always commenting on each part of this story. You're right that Trey wasn't really a bad person. He made mistakes and he was definitely paying a severe price for them, but in these situations, I think a lot of people get hurt or killed, even if they really don't deserve it. What can I say? Luck can be terribly unkind.

Interesting theory, Tank. Perhaps I have time for a quick re-write before I post the end. Don't worry, if Lois *doesn't* wait for Clark, the only person she would seek out for solace would be the bearded, guitar-playing Minnesotan. But she ain't ditching the kid, sorry.

Hi Jenni. Thanks for your comments. You're definitely right that my broken toys won't be just like new when we're done here. There will be a process of gluing and duct taping some of them back together, but they will be forever changed by the events of the story.

I believe in the heroism of the broken and the flawed. The world won't be saved by the perfect and the all-knowing who defeat evil effortlessly. Instead, it is the good, who have to struggle against enemies both without and within, and who have to overcome fear, anger, and hatred, who will bear the burden of not only protecting the world, but also protecting the things that make the world worthy of surviving.

So, without further ado, here's the very last chapter of The Roads They Walked Alone.

Thanks again for coming along on this trip with me,

Rac