Part 3It felt like a gift – a kind of acceptance he’d never received from anyone.
Really nice juxtaposing her with other characters from the show here -- Lana in particular comes to mind.
He realised that even the other Lois had never truly accepted him for who he was. The moment she’d arrived in his dimension, she had made it her mission to mold him into the man she’d loved in her own.
Yay!! What a nuanced revelation!
He realised that even the other Lois had never truly accepted him for who he was. The moment she’d arrived in his dimension, she had made it her mission to mold him into the man she’d loved in her own.
There's the rub.
Her body pressed against his and he had to close his eyes for a second to keep from being overwhelmed by it. Her hair smelled faintly of rain and fresh air. When he opened his eyes, she looked up at him, her own dark eyes wide with nerves and a kind of anticipatory thrill that seemed to run between them like an electric current.
Yeah, the intimacy of this whole section is just overwhelmingly lovely.
Knowing who to trust had to have been a minefield.
That's a universal truth! Love the way you've framed this.
He wasn’t the hero the other Lois had tried to create. He didn’t know where that line was between man and myth. And he would eventually have to break her heart.
This is really like a one, two punch.
But up here, there was just the sky.
This is so simply phrased, but somehow still so evocative.
The silence between them was profound, broken only by the slight movements she made in an effort to be closer, the whisper of the wind against their skin and the rhythm of her heartbeat as it seemed to beat in sync with his.
This is so poetic.
All I know is that when Wells told me he’d found you, I knew I needed to be the one to bring you home.
This is really sweet.
What a hero. It's just so dramatic, I love it.
She had promised to take Jamie to St. James’ park and had invited Clark to come.
This is such a delightfully sweet vignette in the first place. But I love the structure of it in the midst of the war, interrupting the main dramatic drive of the story with the little oasis of relief.
“He seems sad…like he’s lookin’ for somethin’,” Jamie told her.
Well that's unbelievably heartbreaking.
It had barely left his arms since the false alarm.
Poor kid. Nice touch.
The ornamental lake that used to be there was gone – drained and replaced with temporary government buildings.
I didn't know that they'd done this. It had to look so weird.
She wondered if the world had somehow recovered from the devastation that this war had brought and resolved to ask Clark about it later.
This is another bit that feels somehow topical or timely (and hits harder because of it) - I wish we had a time-traveling-Clark that could answer this for us now.
How strange it was not to know if she’d ever been in love.
Not sure if it's sadder than she doesn't know or sadder that she hasn't - either way, this is so sad.
a football, though where he’d found one was anybody’s guess.
...Not in the country?
Jamie had been right – they were similar. There was a kinship there that seemed almost instinctual. She might even envy it if it wasn’t so obvious that both Clark and Jamie seemed so happy together.
This whole thing is just beyond darling.
“He deserves to know what happened.”
It's nice to see him advocating for Jamie this way.
“He asked you not to interfere as well, didn’t he?” Lois asked him, her voice barely above a whisper.
That's awfully clever. And definitely a Lois Lane leap in logic.
OMG, speaking of clever. Absolutely wrenching, too.
You’re just a man. That has to be enough.”
“But I’m not,” Clark said softly, sadly. “I’m different. I have these abilities to help people. I thought it would be simple, but I don’t know how to live with these choices.
Great juxtaposition in this section of her being SO sure and him feeling so uncertain. It really feels like you can see the balance here of what makes them necessary together. She's somehow his foil.
He glanced over to see Jamie was watching them carefully.
Kids are so smart. Fascinated to know what he's piecing together here.
But he still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was Superman in name only – that he was wearing someone else’s borrowed clothes and that eventually he was going to make a mistake so monumental everyone would know he was a fraud.
It was just SO clever to give him imposter syndrome. Like, the evidence is all there for us already (in the series), so it makes this very compelling. But it's not spelled out there - and yet it feels like such an easy, simple leap that it looks obvious the way you've painted it in this story, and at the same time, I feel like I haven't really seen this explored before. Just such an intuitive and dynamic way to deepen this character who is not-quite-Clark, but has been uniquely influenced by him.
“Then I won’t,” he promised, pulling her close once more for a quick, fierce kiss. “But I do.”
This is so incredibly in character, lol. And also, awwwwwww!
She sat up, moving into his lap in between desperate kisses. She needed this. She needed him. She felt like she could do anything when he touched her.
It's really nice the way you marry physical touch to psychological shifts.
“It could,” Wells admitted. “But I can’t help but think that if that young lad was meant to die tonight, how much harm can it be to take him to Metropolis? Maybe he’s just listed as dead because his body is never found. Maybe this was what was intended all along.”
WOW, YAY for Wells! I've really been up and down about this character's competency, but THIS is all-star character behavior. And I like that it just might also be growth to be less obsessed about what Must Be and instead just choosing to Do the Right Thing. Very Superman-coded of him, come to think of it.
Clark, we need to find him before –”
It was too late. As if summoned, the wail of the air raid siren began to sound and she shook with fear.
You really found the way to do this with maximum efficacy.
“Not helping, Wells,” Clark snapped.
Bahahahaaaaaa...
It felt like everything was ending.
This is such a tidy descriptor to put exactly here, since it echos their emotional state, the story itself, their time in the past, living through the war, etc.
He would grieve and mourn later, but he knew he would never question this choice.
Love that this ultimately has stemmed from Lois/his love for her, her love for Jamie. But it's really nice character growth. And of course, it would be a child that would effect Clark enough to put Superman on the right path.
A single paw from Jamie’s stuffed bear Snowy could be seen crushed under the rocks.
That is brutal.
Metropolis - March 20th, 1997
Yayyyyyy!!!
She could only imagine how lonely he must have been.
It was only now she realized how lonely she had also been.
Lovely use of the parallel sentence structure here.
“You gave me the courage to be the person everyone else thinks I am,” he told her simply. “Everyone here calls me Superman, but you taught me how to be him.”
“Lex Luthor,” he told them.
“Always,” he promised her. “Let’s go to work.”
OMG, SUCH a CUTE ending.
Loved this. I do want a sequel where they take down purple-kyptonite-wielding-Lex (and omg, scenes with Grandpa Perry and Jamie), but this story does feel complete, too. What a fantastic journey, with such artistic and well-researched details!
