This is my first fic here and only my 4th fic to date. Not an especially talented writer (dare I even call myself that - LOL) but I wanted to post and get some comments.
Warning, this is a "soft" death-fic for those who prefer not to read such.
************************
I Didn't Know
Lex Luthor had taken his life two days ago. Leaving a seemingly inexplicable last note "I didn't know".
Lois Lane seldom wrote obituaries, but Perry assigned her the task. It provided a sort of closure for Lois in Perry's mind.
Truth be told, Lois would have demanded to do the obituary if Perry hadn't given her the assignment. Closure was just part of it. More important was her knowledge of what "I didn't know" meant. She knew. That knowledge had to be kept secret to protect not just herself, but many others - CJ in particular.
Lois would do an "official" obituary. She'd also hand-write a "real" obituary. That one would explain it all. It would be kept hidden away until she and a number of others had passed. Even then, it would be up to CJ to decide when or even if to release it.
No matter what Lois wrote for official release, the speculation would continue. Especially as, in the past six months, Luthor had taken the most-hands on control of Luthorcorp that he had in years. Aquiring companies worldwide, creating drought mitigation technology for Africa and building a string of critical care medical facilities in the poorest areas of the world.
From all appearance he was at the top of his game. So questions were naturally asked. Was Luthor really murdered? By one of his many enemies? Was it one of his former lovers? Luthor had a way of discarding women "companions" with no seeming respect or concern for them after he tired of them. The scorned lover theory was already in the tabloids - "hell hath no fury" and all. Lois was grateful for all the theories making the rounds. It took the focus further away from the truth.
Lois knew the truth. It was no enemy or former lover intent on revenge. Luthor had indeed killed himself.
Luthor's trust would be kept sealed. The billionaire had seen to that. Speculation would be that whomever got his billions and his empire had maybe killed him. Making it look like a suicide.
If the world only knew - the assets were all placed in a trust to be administered by Lois and a few other specifically named individuals. Luthor was shrewd enough to give Lois plausible deniability if this information ever leaked. The trust contained no specific mention of what Lois and the other trustees were to do with the money other use it "for charitable purposes and causes".
Lois knew Luthor's specific intention and he had given her and the others the control needed to make it happen.
Luthor wanted his assets entrusted to The Superman Foundation.
As Lois started to key in the "official" obituary, her mind wandered. "What a tragedy - if only he had known but, given everything, the history and all, he couldn't have been allowed to know. Ironically, things would have turned out differently if he had known. That was the biggest part of the tragedy - peace had been at hand".
