The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen

Flora Winters

I do not own Smallville or the Snow Queen, but my friends do call me the Snow Queen.

Summary: Winter has taken a life in Smallville and everyone thinks Clark has become colder than ice. MM, Language.

Chapter One

Lois was looking out the window to see that it had started to snow again. It had been doing that on and off all day and it was starting to grate on her nerves. She looked down at the dishes in the soapy water and started washing them again. She felt like doing something and it was helping Mrs. Kent out. She and Clark had enough food to last them for the next month and the phone kept ringing off the hook for Mrs. Kent. Lois thought that if Mrs. Kent kept going like this, she was going to faint not just from emotional but physical exhaustion too.

She turned when she heard footsteps to see that it was Chloe coming down the stairs with the tray of chicken soup Mrs. Kent had fixed for Clark’s sick friend. She took it from Chloe to find that the young man had eaten it all.

“How is Clark’s cute friend,” Lois asked as she began to clean the bowl.

“Bart is feeling a little better,” she said moving to stand beside Lois with a towel in hand so she could dry the dishes, “Apparently he was already a little under the weather when he got here.”

Lois nodded and handed her another dish, “Where’s Lana?”

“Still asleep on the couch,” she said turning to place the dish in its rightful home, “She tends to sleep a lot when she is depressed.”

“Really,” Lois asked, “I just eat.”

“And this is why Lana is so tiny,” Chloe said.

“Are you saying that I’m fat,” Lois asked with pinched brows.

Chloe snorted, “Exactly.”

Lois rolled her eyes, “Bitch.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know,” Chloe laughed and it felt good. She had not laughed all week. This was nice.

“Hey,” a tired voice said and both girls turned to see Lana walking in looking around as if she were lost, “How long have I been out?”

“Long enough for your Aunt Nell to give me this note,” Chloe said as she dug it out of her pocket, “She didn’t want to wake you.”

“Oh,” Lana said while taking it from her, “I’ll just read it later then.”

“Okay,” Chloe said as Lana took a seat at the table, “Are you okay?”

“I’m not sure,” she said honestly which caused Lois to frown in concern, “I hate winter.”

“Oh, come on,” Lois said turning from the dishes, “We can have a snowball fight later.”

Chloe smiled, “That sounds exciting.”

Lana cocked her head to the side and slightly grinned, “I’ll win.”

“Why’s that,” Lois asked already feeling a challenge coming on.

“Because,” Lana said softly as Chloe took a seat next to her. She reached out and began to twirl a blonde strand of hair around her finger, “I’m wonderful.”

“You’re on,” Lois said, “Just as soon as I’m done with these babies.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, “Oh dear.”

“What,” Lana asked.

“Lois loves competition,” she said, “Are you sure you can take her on?”

Lana giggled, “I have a secret weapon.”

Chloe narrowed her eyes, “And that would be?”

“You’ll see,” Lana said innocently.

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Clark was sitting at his desk in his room while Bart was snoozing away in his bed wrapped up tight in his covers. The medicine and chicken soup had knocked the young man out. Clark leaned back in his chair to look over at his sleeping friend and found some comfort in having someone who was like him around.

He closed his eyes and began to listen to the rhythm of Bart’s heartbeat. It was strong and steady. He wanted his friend to get better so they could go running together again. Maybe the two of them could run back down to Miami and sit on the beach again.

Bart could be a lot of fun to be with when he was not up to something mischievous or planning on robbing the world blind. Clark had no doubt in his mind that if Bart wanted to he would be swimming in the crown jewels tomorrow. He could see Bart wearing the Queen’s crown and waving around the royal scepter laughing evilly as he bopped somebody on the head with it. That thought and image almost made him smile.

Bart rolled over on the bed which made the covers fall off of him. Clark got to his feet and silently walked over to tuck them back around him. He looked so innocent in his sleep and almost angelic in an impish way. Clark could not help but think that Bart reminded him of Puck from a Midsummer’s Night Dream. He was running around all over the place playing humorous tricks on people and laughing through it all.

Clark reached out with a pale hand and pushed some of Bart’s hair out of his sleeping face and whispered, “I’m glad you came back. Chloe knows my secret now, but she doesn’t understand how it feels to be so different, but you do.”

His super hearing kicked in and he silently went to the window to see Lois chasing Chloe with an armful of snowballs. Lana was just chucking one right after another at the two of them from some kind of fort she had somehow constructed. They looked like they were having a lot of fun. He listened to Chloe shriek when Lana snuck up behind her and dumped snow all down her back.

Lois had ran behind the fence and when Lana snuck up, Lois gave her a face full of cold snow. Chloe was howling with laughter causing the two of them to turn and look at her. Chloe looked like she gulped and she turned around taking off in a blonde blur with the two brunettes hot on her heels chucking snow at her.

Clark sighed and closed the blinds. How were they able to be so happy? He was envious of them. He wished he could simply forget his pain, his loss, and fly down those steps to show them what a real snowball fight looked like. He remembered how both his parents would gang up on him, but he would win every time by running circles around them. He could see his dad laughing and yelling that he was cheating.

“Clark,” Bart said from the bed and he turned around to look at him, “You could go join them.”

“Someone’s too fast for their own good,” he said returning to his desk to take a seat, “Plus, I’m not in the mood.”

“I’m feeling better,” Bart said with a big grin, “Tomorrow, I’ll have you throwing snowballs at thin air.”

“Uh huh,” Clark said, “And then you’ll be right back in that bed with a runny nose and a fever.”

Bart rolled his eyes and laid back on the pillow that smelled like apple blossoms, “I understand what they’re doing.”

“They’re having fun,” Clark said looking up from his doodle, “To help ease the pain.”

“What are you doing,” Bart asked rolling onto his side and pulled a foot back under the warm covers, “To ease the pain that you are feeling.”

“Not feeling,” Clark simply said and went back to his drawing.

Bart suddenly sneezed and moaned with teary eyes. Clark was at his side with a box of tissues in hand.

“Thanks.”

Clark nodded as he took them, “Looks like somebody needs some more medicine.”

“I’m fine,” Bart sniffed.

“Uh huh,” Clark said and had the medicine ready, “Open real wide now.”

“I’ll punch you,” Bart warned.

“You’ll just break your fist,” Clark smiled and it made Bart shiver. Even when he did smile, there was no warmth in it.

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Clark made his way down the steps to find his mother sitting in the dark living room with none of the lights on. The three girls had made their way home in Lana’s four wheel drive SUV some time ago. They had said that they would be back later when the weather decided to behave. The three told him to call them if he needed them for anything. He had given them a small smile and watched them tell Bart goodbye before the medicine knocked him flat on his back again.

She was just sitting there in what was his dad’s recliner looking at what he thought was a picture frame. He could hear that she was crying again and he didn’t want her to cry. He couldn’t stand it when she would cry. Someone as kind and gentle as she was should never have to cry or feel such pain. She was too good. Why did she have to suffer? It was all his fault. If only he had been quicker.

He watched her touch the photograph and knew that she was touching his dad’s smiling face. It had to be the photo of the three of them together in front of the tractor. It was one of his favorite pictures. His dad had actually managed to bring the tractor he had thrown across Smallville back to life. He had lost ten dollars in the bet with is mom but it was worth seeing his dad smile like that.

“Mom,” Clark asked from the shadows, “Why are you sitting in the dark?”

She looked up from the photo and he could see that her cheeks were stained with salty tears in the firelight, “This way I don’t have to see that he’s not here with us.”

Clark was suddenly kneeling in front of her and she sat the photo down so she could take his hands. His lifeless emerald eyes seemed to burn into her and she felt like crying again for the pain he was not allowing himself to feel.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save him.”

“Oh, my baby,” she said pulling one of her hands free from a big pale hand that felt like ice to push his hair out of his eyes, “I could never blame you. You’re all I have left in this world.”

He actually whimpered, “Mommy?”

“Yes, sweetheart,” she asked in concern because his voice actually held some trace of emotion in it.

“You,” he asked and put his head down so she couldn’t see his eyes glow to burn away the moisture in them, “You don’t hate me?”

She looked shocked. Why on earth would he think such a thing?

“Of course not,” she said pulling him close to her and he rested his head against her warm breast, “Your father and I love you more than anything. What happened is not your fault.”

“Its Lex’s,” he hissed and she felt him tremble and his tone made her blood run cold.

“Sweetheart,” she cooed as she ran her warm fingers through his dark locks trying to soothe him, “We don’t know for sure if it was. The roads were very icy.”

“He was drunk,” Clark snapped, “He knew the weather was bad and that you’re not suppose to drive while intoxicated.”

Martha closed her eyes.

“He called me on my cell while I was still at the celebration with you and he sounded really upset over losing to dad,” he said with dark eyes, “He told me that he was going to go for a drive and I knew that he was drunk by the way he was talking to me. I asked him not too but when did Lex ever do what I asked anyway?”

“Sweetheart,” Martha tried but he cut her off.

“So, I took off,” he said, “And that was when I saw Lex speed right through that two way stop right in front of Dad.”

Martha held back a sob.

“I just froze at what I saw happen next,” he said not being able to look at her, “I couldn’t move. I saw Dad swerve so he wouldn’t hit Lex and he hit a patch of ice. The truck flipped over and it continued to flip so many times.”

Clark stopped so he could catch his breath and held back the threatening tears, “I ran to where the truck rested as Lex slammed on his brakes,” he choked, “Dad was laying halfway out the window, cut and bloody. He wasn’t moving, and he wasn’t breathing Mommy.”

Clark looked up at her and she now saw why no tears would fall. He was burning them away so they wouldn’t.

“He was broken,” Clark said and was shaking from rage and fear, “And I didn’t know how to fix him.”

“Jor-El,” Martha asked.

“Said that someone I loved dearly had to die in my place for when he brought me back,” he whispered, “Dad paid for me.”

“And he would do it again,” Martha said to Clark’s surprise, “When you died sweetheart, we were lifeless shells.”

He looked at her, “Mommy?”

“We wanted to die,” she said smiling when she saw some emotion flicker behind those cold eyes, “When we saw Lex crying in the hospital that day, we knew our lives were over.”

“But I’m the reason Dad’s gone,” he said.

“And I’m glad to know that he gave his life,” Martha said and hugged her shocked son tightly, “So that you could live and do great things with the gifts you were blessed with.”

“I’m so sorry,” Clark whispered as he hugged her tight, “I’m so sorry.”

She pulled back and placed a kiss on his cheek, “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I let Dad die,” he cried, “I could’ve saved him if I hadn’t froze! He would be here now if Lex hadn’t been so fucking stupid!”

“Hush,” Martha cooed, not liking such language to be spoken in her house, and Clark’s eyes were glowing red, “Calm down, sweetheart. You’ll make yourself sick.”

“I don’t get sick,” Clark said but he was slowly calming down, “Humans get sick.”

She smoothed his dark hair away from his eyes again and smiled softly, “Things will get better. It will just take time.”

Clark looked at her in awe, “How’re you so strong?”

She kissed his smooth pale forehead and poked him in the nose, “I’m a mother.”

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Lex woke up in a cold sweat and sat up in his bed feeling a chill settle deep in the marrow of his bones. His bedroom was freezing and the fire had gone out sometime ago in the fireplace. He could still see those angry green eyes burning into him with such hatred as he screamed for them to forgive him.

He stood up and wrapped the covers around him as he walked over to look out his frost covered window. He wiped some of it away and saw that the ground was littered with snow that looked like diamonds thanks to the light from the security lights.

Suddenly those lights began to flicker and they went off. He looked up from the ground below to see that the Kent farmhouse had somehow appeared in his backyard.

“What the hell,” he asked in fearful astonishment.

There was a single light on and it was the one in Clark’s bedroom. Clark was standing in front of the window looking all haunted and crystalline back at him. Lex took a deep breath and snow began to fall again.

Lex watched in amazement as the snow began to swirl around in a frenzied dance to become the form of a women floating in front of Clark’s window. She had on a billowing gown that was white as frost and a billowing cloak made from what looked to be snow white swan feathers. Her hair was long and white as snow that flowed down her back and blew in the wind. She was looking at Clark and he was smiling at her evilly.

“No,” Lex screamed and he punched the glass.

The woman turned around in the air to gaze at him like a snake does a baby bird and his breath turned to ice in his lungs. Her beauty was not of this world. It was something cold and terrible, frightening even. Her eyes were like a raging blizzard and her skin was like a frozen wasteland where a man would die in seconds.

She held out her arms and Lex screamed when a massive wave of snow and ice came at him.

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He shot up out of his bed with the sheets flying off of him and screamed at the top of his lungs. He was looking at his arms and hands expecting to see shards of ice sticking out of him. The blinding pain had been so real, and so fast. He could still feel his body being sliced to shreds.

He slowly made his way to the window and peaked out to see that everything was as it should be in his backyard. What the hell had all that been about? He then noticed that he could see his breath and sat about fixing a fire again. Maybe this meant that he should call Clark instead of going to see him in person.

Snow was falling again.

TBC…

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