I know it's been a very long time. Sorry. Man of steel actually got the creative juices flowing again and this is once again the only fanfic I'm writing, so I can give it my full attention. I have no filler, but I am working on it and will post weekly if not sooner.
LL emerged from the room hastily.
Clark and Lois regarded her worriedly. LL was pale and shaking, she wasn't even trying to hide her reaction. Her breath was coming in hard gasps.
“Just give me a moment,” she told them. “I just need a moment.”
“Of course,” Lois murmured and she looked over at Clark worriedly.
She sank down onto the floor, sitting with her knees pulled in, and she wrapped her arms around them self protectively.
Clark was getting increasingly worried and angry. He'd seen his own Lois like this, and it had never been a pretty sight. He wanted to go shake the truth out of Kal-El and demand what had gone on between them in that room.
LL leaned her forehead against her knees, painfully aware that she was having a melt-down in front of people that she was loathe to show weakness to. At least – that was true for Clark. Lois knew far too well the horrors that lurked under LL's seemingly steady surface.
“Lois, do I need to go in there,” Clark finally broke the silence.
She shook her head, not looking at him. She paused for a long moment and turned war-torn eyes his way. His heart broke for her. She looked so lost. But at least she was making eye contact – that was a good sign. He'd learned long ago to read the signs.
“I'm... he didn't do anything wrong, Clark. Thanks for the offer, though,” she laughed – a harsh, mirthless laugh. Very wearily she stood up, feeling the weight of the world on her.
“My tormenter and my ...champions – wear the same faces.”
He winced.
“I didn't meant to be hurtful,” she exhaled wearily. “Before... I know I've been cruel to you. And you've taken it well. I just – I'm -”
“All understandable and no harm done,” he assured her.
“What can we do for you,” Lois asked her.
“Make this invasion never to have happened?”
“Oh. Believe me. I wish I could.” Lois's tone was harsh, forcing the other woman to remember that she too had suffered. That LL had actually allowed it to happen. Lois didn't hate her for it, but sometimes she felt the need to remind her that she wasn't the only one to suffer.
“What happened in there,” Clark asked. “If you want to tell me, of course.”
“I saw him. I saw who he's been... who he is, what he stands for... what he's gone through. I felt his terror – and his anger, and his own suffering... and it humbled me. I've been blaming him, but he's as much a victim as I am, or you are, Lois... he was raped too – in a different way, true, but nonetheless – he was violated. His life was stolen, he was rendered insensate... he was forced to endure his clone's life through telepathic sendings... he's felt the other's sick pleasure at hurting people. At hurting women. And his own moral code has processed what feel to be his own memories. And it's left him soul-sick at the very deepest level of his being. I felt this. Lois, I felt it. Did you?”
“I … did not,” she said. “I felt some of it, but I didn't realize that he'd been under that kind of telepathic assault all these years. Obviously he was calling out for help and I was picking up on it in the other world, even, but... not what you'd described.”
“It's like that disease where you can't move at all, but you're totally aware. It's like he was dead, but his soul was trapped in his body. He remembers the other's actions. I don't know how he can live with himself when this is all over... but I guess I can't worry about him. I didn't do this to him. They did. And... it's his problem and their problem. All we can do is try to free our own world. And then – go back to living life, however we can do that.”
Clark exhaled, feeling sorry for Kal-El, for both Loises and for the human world of this universe.
“Are you willing to trust him?”
“Yes. I mean no. But yes. I'm done. I … vote we – stop poisoning him, and move forward. I'll call a meeting. Be ready to attend.”
Clark nodded.
LL turned to walk away. After she'd moved several feet from them, she turned.
“Thanks... both of you. For everything.”
