Forbidden Love

Forbidden Love

Flora Winters

I do not own Smallville or any of its amazing characters.

Summary: Kal fell in a crash of booming thunder and hisses of lightning but he was not the only being to fall from the heavens on that night. This takes place at around and about the beginning of Season Four.

Chapter Fifteen

“It’s about time,” Bart said to the man in the glasses who finally got off his cell phone to pay him some mind.

“Well,” the man in the glasses said, “I had some business to take care of.”

Bart rolled his eyes when the man told him that when he grows up he’ll see how real men conduct business, like he had never heard that boring line said to him before. He pulled around his backpack and pulled out the manuscript page and unrolled it for the man in glasses to see.

“Is this grown up enough for you,” Bart asked in a bored voice. Why did these little transactions seem to always take forever?

“It is a start,” the man in glasses said looking it over just as a limo pulled up to the entrance of the warehouse.

Bart spun around to look only to cry out when he was smacked across the back of his head by the man in glasses body guard.

A bald dark figure walked through the plastic curtains that reflected the light and the man in glasses along with his body guard made their way to him.

“Mr. Luthor,” the man in glasses said, “Me thinks this little something might belong to you.”

Lex looked both of the goons over and then saw the kid lying on the ground. He walked between the two of them to see what this “dangerous” criminal looked like. He really was nothing more than a kid. He looked a few years younger than Clark.

“Is this the “scary” criminal that you warned me about,” Lex asked even though he was wondering why the kid had a hoody on in this temperature. Was that a sweater he had on underneath?

“He is not your concern,” the man in the glasses said, “Let’s talk about this finder’s fee of yours.”

“He is just a kid,” Lex hissed turning to look at the four eyed fool, “Let him go.”

“No,” the man in glasses said, “You have no idea what that little freak is capable of.”

“If I were you,” Lex smiled viciously, “I’d be more concerned about the police, Hanison.”

Hanison cocked his head to the side and began his advance on the bald man, “What did you do, Luthor?”

“In about five minutes, my good man,” Lex said watching the other man with the gun, “This lovely little place of yours will be completely surrounded by men in blue.”

Hanison nodded, “Well then, I guess we had better hurry this up,” he said and then turned his back to Lex, “Tony.”

Tony held up his gun to Lex who quickly knocked his arm to the side, gripped his wrist, spinning around to elbow him in the gut twice, which knocked him back. Lex then quickly proceeded to head butt him and then promptly kneed the bigger man in the balls. Tony went down and Lex pulled a round house and kicked him across the face which knocked him out.

He took a moment to catch his breath to turn to the side just in time for Hanison to ram into him with his fist. Lex saw pretty twinkling stars and fell into darkness before he hit the cold ground.

Hanison looked down at Lex who was out cold and then looked over at Bart who was now moaning in pain. He walked over and Kicked Bart in the legs yelling, “Look at the mess you made, kid! I should have killed you after I was done with you!”

Bart’s eyes widened in fear as those memories flashed through his mind. His cries, his fear, the tearing, the street…it all came back to him. His eyes burned with fear and rage when Hanison pointed the gun down at him.

“It was you,” Bart cried.

“Yeah,” he said and cocked the gun with an evil grin, “Now, let’s see if you’re faster than a speeding bullet.”

He moved to shoot only to have the gun pulled from his hand.

Bart looked up to see that it was Clark holding the gun.

Hansion was grabbed by the front of his shirt and he was now looking into the most frightening green eyes in all existence. It was like looking into the face of the Medusa.

“I am,” Clark smiled and tossed him through the roof.

He spun around to look at the other man, “You really don’t want to be here right now!”

Tony ran from the wrath that was burning in those scary acid green eyes.

Clark looked down at Bart and knew that he and Lex had been hurt and yelled, “You still think what you do never hurts anyone, Bart?”

He quickly went to Lex and gently turned him over to see if he was still breathing. He was so scared, he almost cried, but the older man was breathing.

“Lex,” Clark shook him gently, “Lex?”

“I am so sorry, Clark,” Bart said getting to his feet, opening the lead box with the kryptonite in it.

Clark suddenly felt sick and his body felt like it was on fire. He struggled to his feet only to stumble back a few steps to fall down against a tool cabinet.

Bart could see the hurt and betrayal in those green eyes, “This doesn’t change anything.”

“No,” Clark whispered in agony as the green pain got closer, “You don’t understand…it’ll kill me.”

Bart didn’t want to listen as Clark yelled, “I know he hurt you! But, you’re not the monster! That’s not who you are!”

Bart yelled at the memories and pointed at Clark, “You don’t know who I am!”

“Yes I do,” Clark said, “You saved my dad. I’ve seen the good in you, Bart. You’re not a bad person.”

Bart stopped walking away. He was scared. He didn’t want to be hurt anymore. He was not a victim.

“You’ve got to stop running,” Clark said trying to get away from the angry rock, “Or in the end you’ll just be alone. You don’t want that, Bart. I know you don’t want that.”

How does he know that? Could he read minds too? Bart was angry and hurting. He didn’t want to hurt Clark. Clark was his friend.

“Deep down, Bart,” Clark whispered almost passing out from the pain, “We’re the same.”

Tears fell from Bart’s eyes. He and Clark were nothing alike. All they had in common was that they were incredibly fast. Clark was brave and is such a good person to where he was a coward and didn’t want to care about others. People always let you down in the end.

He wiped the tears away and turned to walk over to kneel before the lead box with the green rock that was ever so slowly taking the life of his only friend in the world.

“I wish that was true, Clark,” Bart whispered and wished he could be just like Clark.

Clark just looked at him pleadingly with those big green eyes and Bart reached down and closed the box. Clark could finally breathe, but Bart was gone with the manuscript page.

“Bart,” Clark whispered and quickly made sure that Lex was okay before trying to find him.

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“You have no idea where Bart could be,” Jonathan asked from atop the windmill.

“Lex was out cold,” Clark called up, “I stayed with him until I heard the police sirens, then I went after Bart.”

He didn’t tell his dad how he had held Lex in his arms begging him to be all right.

“By then he could have been halfway around the world,” Clark said as his dad climbed down to join him at the bottom.

“It could be for the best, Son,” Jonathan said.

“Dad,” Clark began wanting to tell him what had happened to Bart while he had been living on the streets.

“I know how much you wanted to help him,” Jonathan said taking off his work gloves, “But you can’t force people to change.”

“He’s not bad,” Clark said, “He’s just different and he’s willing to accept that.”

“Embracing your powers and flaunting them are two entirely different things,” Jonathan told him.

“I know,” Clark said remembering how Bart had danced circles around him on the way to Orlando, “I wished I could be more like him. I hide. I feel like two separate people.”

“You’d be surprised to find how many “normal” people feel exactly the same way,” his dad told him, “Everybody has secrets. Yours are just bigger than most.”

Clark nodded, “I better go check on Lex.”

“Right,” Jonathan said with an eye roll, “Want to use the truck?”

“No,” Clark said and felt a little giddy, “I kind of want to stretch my legs.”

Jonathan smiled and his son was gone in a blur of blue. Now matter how many times he has seen Clark do that, he would never get bored with it.

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“This is so cool,” Jason said shining the light around the cave drawings, “They look so old.”

“When Clark first fell into this cavern, I had no idea why he was so obsessed with it,” Lana said from close behind him, “I always felt like was keeping these secrets because he was afraid how I might react to something.”

Jason turned to look at her and she said, “I don’t want to live like that. I don’t want to be afraid all the time, Jason.”

“You don’t have to be afraid,” Jason said looking down at her, “Not with me, Lana. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I can be afraid enough for the both of us.”

“Okay,” she laughed and stepped closer to him, “Do you remember the church we went to in Paris.”

“Yeah,” he said as she walked around him, “I had to go do something.”

“After you left,” Lana said, “I noticed something strange of the tomb of Countess Thoreaux.”

Jason looked a little confused but continued to listen without interrupting, “There were these symbols etched into the rock…like the ones in this cave.”

“How’s that possible,” Jason asked looking around at all the strange paintings.

“I don’t know,” Lana said turning around to look at his confused expression, “And when I touched them, there was this white hot light and then pain, and all I remember is waking up the next morning to you banging on the door.”

She walked up to the wall and looked back at him, “And I had this,” she said lifting up the back of her shirt to reveal the tattoo.

“Okay,” Jason said and looked a little freaked out, “Wait a sec. So, you’re saying that some strange symbol on the tomb of a dead countess gave you a tattoo.”

“I know how it sounds,” Lana said feeling scared, “Why do you think I didn’t want to tell you about it?”

“That’s why you left Paris,” Jason said feeling like the puzzle was making sense now.

“I had to come back to these caves,” Lana said, “I had to find out why I was missing 12 hours of my life.”

Jason was looking into her olive green eyes and she trembled, “But, all I found was more questions.”

She pointed over his shoulder and he turned around to see the same symbol that was on Lana’s back painted on the wall of the cave. He shined the light on is for a better look.

“It’s the same as yours,” he said in a spooked awe, “What does the symbol mean?”

Lana shook her head, “I don’t know,” she said and whispered, “I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

“Hey,” he said dropping the light to hug her, “Whatever it is we will figure it out together, okay?”

“Okay,” she said as she pulled him close, not seeing the way he was glaring at the ominous symbol of the Dark Countess.

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“Clark,” Lex said happily when he looked up from his laptop to see Clark peeking his head in at the door, “It’s good to see that you are visiting during “normal” hours.”

“I came to check on you,” Clark said with a bright smile, “I heard you got into some trouble while in Metropolis.”

“News travels fast I see,” Lex said and Clark winced when he saw the bruise on the side of Lex’s left eye.

“The curse of a small town,” Clark said fighting not to walk around the desk to touch the bruise soothingly. He didn’t like seeing his friend hurt.

“So, what happened,” Clark asked putting his hands in his back pockets to keep them from fidgeting.

“I decided to play ninja warrior,” Lex said smiling, “And got my stars thrown back at me.”

Clark loved Lex’s sense of humor. He could always make him smile in the worse of situations.

“To be honest,” Lex said, “I don’t know why I’m not dead.”

“There must be someone watching over you,” Clark said honestly.

Lex returned it, “In more ways than one, Clark.”

He turned his head from Clark and Clark turned to see that he was looking at the manuscript page. It was back?

“How did you get it back,” Clark asked walking over to it.

“I didn’t,” Lex said, walking up beside him, “It was sitting on my desk when I returned from the hospital. Whoever took it must have had a change of heart.”

“I guess he did,” Clark smiled thinking of Bart.

Lex’s left eye twitched? He? How did Clark know that? Wake up Luthor! Don’t hit him! You love him!

“Look,” Lex said turning to look at Clark with warm eyes, “We’ll have plenty of time to study this thing later.”

Clark nodded.

“Right now, I’m nursing a terrible headache,” Lex said wanting Clark to leave before he attacked him for lying to his face.

“I’m happy you’re feeling better,” Clark said with a smile, “And that you’re all right.”

Clark could see the map as plain as the bruise on Lex’s face. He smiled and moved to make his way from the room.

Lex took a seat at his desk and called, “Clark?”

Clark turned to look at him, “Yeah?”

“I had the manuscript page examined by a team of experts as soon as it turned up,” Lex said opening up his laptop to see it on the screen, “Do you know what they discovered.”

“No,” Clark said, “I can’t read minds.”

Should he tell Clark the truth? No! He’s lying to me!

Lex sighed sadly, “That I paid too much for it.”

If this had been one of those Japanese Animations that Bart had showed him, he would have fallen flat on his face. Clark snorted and then smiled.

“Thanks for checking in on me,” Lex said even though he wanted to get the whip out of his drawer and whip the farmboy senseless, “It means a lot.”

Clark nodded and left as Lex pressed a key on his laptop. The manuscript suddenly revealed the map underneath.

“We all have secrets, Clark,” Lex said and then almost giggled in excitement at his discovery. This stone of power was going to be his.

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“Dude,” Bart said from behind him taking off his backpack, “That drawing sucks.”

Clark rolled his eyes and closed his pad as Bart walked around, “Stick to the hero thing. You’re much better at it.”

“Oh,” Clark snorted, “Like returning what you stole back to Lex?”

“Eh,” Bart said with a shrug of his shoulders, “It would have slowed me down.”

“To a dead stop if I hadn’t found you,” Clark said getting up off his haystack.

“Yeah,” Bart said, “How did you find me? What are you, fast, strong, and psychic?”

“I wish,” Clark said putting the pad down, “I spent a night in suicide slums which took me forever to find by the way to try and convince someone that I had a thousand of these to sell.”

He held up the MP3 player Bart had given him, “A few pointed me in the direction of Hanison.”

“All right,’ Bart said nodding his head, “Channeling your inner criminal?”

Clark smiled and then it became a full on Crest commercial, “So, what are you going to do now?”

“I’m not sure,” Bart said and was grateful that Clark was not bringing up his past, “It’s a big world. I want to check it out.”

Clark watched him slip his backpack back on and Bart smiled, “I want to see if there is anyone else out there with powers like us.”

Clark nodded and Bart saw the sadness in those green eyes, “You could come with me, Clark.”

“Or, you could stay,” Clark offered.

“You have a great life, Clark,” Bart said looking at all the hay, “But, it’s not mine. I have no reason to stay here in Smallville.”

“You have me,” Clark said softly.

Bart smiled. Those three little words meant more to him than Clark would ever know.

“Thanks for being my friend, Clark,” he said and turned to leave.

“Are you sure,” Clark asked playfully, “That there’s nothing I can do to make you change your mind?”

Bart smiled to himself and turned to look at the handsome farmboy, “If you can catch me,” he winked, “I’ll stop and think about it.”

Bart took off and Clark was right behind him. Everything was a blur as the two of them raced from the farm down the highway. Bart turned around and skipped backwards smiling brightly at Clark. He was actually skipping backwards. Clark could not help but smile at the cocky young man.

Bart waved at him and in a flash, he out of sight in a blink. Clark stopped on the deserted road to see that Bart was no longer in sight. He stood there smiling and hoping that he would see his new friend again. He had given Clark a very special gift. He reminded him that his powers were a gift and he was going to use them to protect those that he loved and those that needed him.

Clark did not see the glowing violet eyes watching him as he turned and sped back to the farm.

Loth floated down from the branch he had been sitting on to land in the tall grass with a gorgeous smile on his beautiful face. He stepped up onto the asphalt and looked into the direction Bart had ran in, “Fast little Mortal.”

He snapped his fingers and in a flash, Bart was kneeling at his feet, “Did I do good Master?”

Loth smiled down at him, “You did so well, Bart.”

He smiled and was so pleased with his lovely devotee, “You will never have to be afraid or alone again.”

Bart looked up into the eyes of the Beloved, “Thank you.”

“Now go,” Loth said soothingly, “This world is big and you have much good to do for those less fortunate than you.”

“Yes, Master,” Bart said bowing low to place a kiss on the top of those sneakers that covered his divine feet.

Loth smiled and Bart was gone in a flash once more. Clark was so pure…and Loth loved him even more. Thunder rumbled in the clear sky and Loth gave it the finger.

TBC…

Please review and tell me what you think.

Flora.