Wow, Yay, and Hooray! *Two* parts!
Comments for part 15, and I'm warning you that I tend to go on and on...
Displaying a bravado that belied the sheer terror that she was feeling, LL turned to study both Kryptonian versions of the man she hated most in the universe and tamped down the ever present waves of terror that had assaulted her as soon as she had been forced to endure their presence.
It would be hard to relate to her sheer terror - her worst nightmare in front of her, doubled. Talk about immersion therapy.
If she trusted any Kryptonian, it was Zara. Zara had well earned her trust and her friendship.
I'd really like to hear the backstory on this sometime. Is it just that Zara got LL out of the palace, out of the evil Kal-El's reach? Are there other reasons that LL trusts Zara so completely? Trusting
any Kryptonian must be a huge leap of faith for LL.
...the Kryptonian who claimed to be married to this version of her, a thought which made LL sick to her stomach...
I can see how LL would see the Lane-Kent marriage as some sort of nasty perversion, given her experiences with Clone-El. I like how, pretty much in the very next line, you show LL realizing that Lane and Kent have a loving relationship.
This other Lois didn't seem to mind the contact [with Kent], even though she was under an emotional attack from a version of Kal-El who had raped and tortured her.
That's very moving. Lois, the damaged Lois (and I really like that description, because it's so true) has healed enough to tolerate and even want the touch of a Kal-El. I wonder if LL can ever heal that much. LL seems much more damaged than Lois. And, expanding on this theme, what about Lane? She's never been abused by her Kal-El, but wouldn't seeing the other two Loises perhaps make her wonder about the strangeness of the universes? Why did Lane end up with the good-guy Kent? (Or course, damaged Lois ended up with in-a-sense-damaged alt-Clark too.) And I'm not really sure where I'm going with this paragraph.
There was such weird intimacy between the mismatched couples that a nervous thought ran through her mind. Do they ever swap partners?
The idea made her want to throw up and brought to mind new fears. What if they ever confused her for one of these others? She would have to do something to her appearance to make it vividly clear that she was not one of the ones who would ever accept that kind of relationship with them.
Oh wow, what a wonderful little bit. It immediately started at least two trains of thought. And yes, one train of thought was nfic fodder. But the other was about sadness - if LL persists in this thinking, she won't ever get together with her soulmate, the real Kal-El.
They were handsome men when their faces weren't shaped by haughty arrogance and cruelty, and to see them looking at the women with such love and concern - it was enough to slightly penetrate the bitter cold around her own heart. That kind of love was rare, and the idea that these two had found it with Kal-El seemed inconceivable. Yet the proof was right here.
I love this bit. Seeing the way that the "good Clarks" look at their women must really up-end everything that LL thought she knew about Kryptonians.
LL felt tears burning under her lids. The idea that these four shared such a warm camaraderie cut her to the quick. Love and friendship had never come easily to her, and now she felt sure they would never come again.
I'm hoping very much that as this fic progresses, you'll show us the change in LL from a bitter, tortured (literally) soul into the great Lois Lane that we know she can be.
But they had shown compassion, love and tenderness to the other Lois Lane when she was suffering under the onslaught of Lord Kal's sending. And it was this that tipped the scales in their favor. While LL would always find them utterly terrifying to be around, she knew that they had honor and decency and they would commit themselves to freeing her world. She knew this, because she too was Lois Lane, and as sick as the idea made her, they probably would do it for her.
Oh, well-written! They have a task that none of them looks forward to. But a task which must be done.
