fic: Freefalling

[xparrot]

SV's been giving us angst, but not the fun kind. So. Totally gratuitous Clex angst, written at gnine's plea, thus I disavow any responsibility. It's set in the Subterfuge universe, after the death of Superman and before Kon's birth, as mentioned in "A Constant Struggle". Right now this is less a complete story, more a couple snapshot moments. See, I've never read those comics, am just going by Wikipedia and a few random tidbits I've picked up, so...do any of you comic fans want to point me to summaries/scans/collections to buy? Please? As this 'verse is all about reinterpreting canon, I need to know what canon is, in order to warp it! Any help you can offer, I'd be much obliged.

Warnings for cliche and unresolved aaaaangst (it does have a happy ending, as it's a prequel to the other Subterfuge stories - that ending's just not written yet, is all), and AU Kents - in this 'verse, Jonathan never died.

Smallville: Freefalling {8,997 words}
PG-13, Clark/Lex, AU futurefic, angst
The death of Superman, and Lex deals. Or not so much.

Read it on AO3

Comments

Oh, that's so wonderful...

[greenlady2.livejournal.com]

... and so real. I'm glad I already knew beforehand that Clark/Superman comes back to life, or I wouldn't have been able to read to the end. But poor Lex. He doesn't know.

And you have it just right about grief. Everything does seem fake, as if it's a game, or something. It takes a while for the truth to hit.... But enough of that....

I'd love to read the story about when Clark comes back to life and to Lex. Soon, I hope. :-)))

Re: Oh, that's so wonderful...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's cheating angst...Lex is suffering while we all know it'll be okay! But...he suffers so beautifully...!

The sequel would be about the creation of Kon and Clark's return, but might be on hold until I have more info on what actually happened in the comics...I'm not planning on following any canon exactly, that's the fun of an AU, but I'm awfully curious how it really went down...

Re: Oh, that's so wonderful...

[greenlady2.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love AUs, and writing them myself. It's fun to take canon and warp it, to create something new, but still recognizable. I think of these kinds of stories as kaleidoscopes. Just turn the tube, and a new form appears. :-)))

I hope I didn't come across as pressuring you into writing the sequel in my first response. It was late last night, for me, and I wrote it just before I went to bed. I should have been in bed earlier, but I checked out your LJ, and there was a new story, so I had to read it and tell you how much I liked it.

There is lots of info available online about The Death of Superman, and I think it was all reprinted as a graphic novel. It's a great story, actually. Have fun picking out ways to warp it... especially since it's all pretty warped to start with. :-)))

I just checked...

[greenlady2.livejournal.com]

... and yes, The Death of Superman is available in Graphic Novel form. I requested a copy from my own library, so you could probably do the same. :-)))

Re: I just checked...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I might have to buy it, in that case! (don't think the local Kyoto libraries will be able to obtain it so easily, and I don't have a card to them anyway...)

Oh, and please don't worry about pressuring me into a sequel or anything like that. I'm always thrilled to know people would like to read more of my writing - and besides, you weren't pressuring. I know pressure - I live with gnine, after all, who threatens me if I don't write her stories (this one being a case in point) and is in a position to carry her threats out!

[hils.livejournal.com]

*wails*

Oh, I really hope there will be a sequel where Clark comes back

*hugs Lex*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Aw, Lex does need a hug! And I'll about that sequel...

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

And again you make me cry! Agonizingly beautiful, and just the way I imagine Lex would feel under these circumstances. Creating Kon will give him a goal, once he focuses on it, but for now he's so terribly lost.... I'm glad the Kents know what he and Clark were to each other; this would be unbearable if they could only see Lex as Clark's triumphant enemy. *wails* It will take a while for me to recover from this one, but I'm so glad you wrote it!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Aww...I didn't mean for it to be this sad, really, it's just that I don't know enough about Kon's creation to write the second half. So poor Lex gets stranded in misery, even though the future will be far happier.

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

Interesting! Feels very much like the show in places - the future is already written, so it's not so much the pain and grief that this fic seems to be about but the moral implications for Lex. It's not at all about the what, but about the why.

And Lex being taken care of by the Kents is just always satisfying :)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Heh - I usually write such plot-based stuff that something where in the story is already written is a bit of a challenge...I meant this to be purely emotional but then it ended up being at least as much about Lex's choices, the comfort of his deliberate illusions. His whys, as you said.

And yeah, it was also an excuse to write Kents-caretaking, which is one of my biggest buttons. ^_^

[aerynvala.livejournal.com]

oh wow. that is just. ouch. beautifully painful. definitely the good kind of angst. :)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I can't help myself sometimes, I'm a sucker for angst...

[danceswithgary]

It's a good thing I'm working at home because I look like I've been crying. That's because I have been all the way through this. Heartbreaking words about a Lex that isn't able to be what he once was without his Clark.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you so much for reading! *hands over tissue*

[attaccabottoni.livejournal.com]

Oh Lex... you are not just the role you are playing. But Clark isn't around to tell you that anymore...

I feel bad for relishing in Clex angst, but only because I know there's a happier future (with Conner born and Superman back) ahead. Great fic!

I'm new to the comics fandom myself, so I hope there's someone who could help you with canonizing this AU, because I love it! :D

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Lex is a method actor, definitely. Which isn't psychologically sound, when you're in character almost all the time...

I tend to write 'presumed dead' more than actual deathfics, because I love the angst but love the happy endings, too...hope I can get hold of enough canon to properly finish this story! ^_^

[stitcher2ficcer.livejournal.com]

But while you're waiting to get the canon to finish this, you're gonna work on "All the Difference," right? Because even though we all loved "Contingencies," and we all want the happy ending part of this one, you realize we're all still on tenterhooks waiting to see what happens to Good Lex and Clark in Evil Lex's world and Evil Lex and Clark in Good Lex's... and you don't want to leave us stranded without knowing for too much longer, right? ^__~

[droolfangrrl.livejournal.com]

Awww man. I kept having to stop and dry my tears so I could read.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Awww...but thanks, glad you pushed through! ^_^

[yma2.livejournal.com]

Beautiful, sad and touching and very right. Very, very right. Thank you for putting this up, it was loverly!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! (your icon is terribly, distractingly, adorable!)

[ladydey.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwww,poor Lex - having to be so strong and continue the game (because the game did/does serve a purpose), but so sad and alone, needing to breakdown but not allowed. *hugs*

All those other bad guys are lucky that Lex isn't working out his grief by turning them all into slag.

I don't know if you are going to run through the whole "Death of Superman" stuff - the 4 Not!Supermans, but I bet Lex will love that.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Lex is...er...too much fun, when he's breaking but refusing to fall to pieces. And yeah, the bad guys are pretty fortunate he's distracted!

If I can get hold of the canon, or info about the canon, I'd like to carry this through at least parts of the canon Death of Superman (it leads to Kon's creation, eventually...)

[blue-gold.livejournal.com]

Oh dear the agnst. I actually have the comics (and read them when they first came out) But the sadness the dispair the not knowing in the least what to do with himself and calling it a vacation. The pervasive sadness just wonderful as always.

I know how everything happened and turned out and still it hurt to read this.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Ah, so glad to know it works even knowing the comics, I wasn't sure how far off my canon knowledge was...(Ahh, I need to get hold of the comics to continue this!)

[lapetite-kiki.livejournal.com]

*sobs*
That was so poignant!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *hands over tissue*

[lukita.livejournal.com]

Eeeee~ I had to remind myself that this universe gives us a happy ending before I started reading. Ah, if only the Kents actually treated Lex better in canon. Wibbles at Lex. ♥

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

My problem is that in my mind, the Kents are really like this. I always get surprised when I watch the show and are reminded that they're not...though they should be! darn it!

[nerowill.livejournal.com]

*sniff* I only got through it because I know he comes back! Poor Lex! But I love the way you have him bond with the Kents. The section from Jonathon's POV made me feel kindly toward Bo for once--quite a feat.

Have I mentioned how much I love this 'verse? :)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Ee, thank you - I'm happy to know this 'verse is liked, because I'm so very fond of it myself!

I really like Jonathan, actually. The only problem is that the Jonathan I really like is the one who exists in various fic, and only very occasionally appears onscreen...most of the time it's his evil twin! (that's my story & I'm sticking to it!)

[amcnh.livejournal.com]

I read very few AU's. However, your writing always is a winner. So, I read it. Very few fanfic make me cry and boy did I cry. Excellently done, well written, great style and form. Great all over. I give it two thumbs up.

Now where the hell are my tissues? *sniffle*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I don't often read AUs myself...but it's hard to find a happy ending otherwise, in this fandom! Glad you enjoyed it...*hands over tissue*

[morganichele.livejournal.com]

Oooh. That knocked the breath out of me. Hard to read...because it's SO good. I'm all awed and teary. lol. Thanks for sharing this.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reading - I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

[ender24]

first, i wanted to wail and cry for all the grief, but then somehow, i thought, screw it!!!!!!
damn this IS LEX we are talking about, no way he is going to let clark stay dead.
i refuse that reality anyway, or at least accept the end.

the kents should knock some sense into him, and make him work on making a miracle happened.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

It's definitely not the end, considering this is a prequel to the other stories in this 'verse - though Lex's miracle doesn't turn out quite as expected. Still, I don't think he'd have it any other way, since he gets Kon out of it...

In my mind, Lex would never accept Clark as dead. He's Lex flippin' Luthor! There are ways around that little problem! Vice versa is just as true for Clark, too...!

[amarin-rose.livejournal.com]

*sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiff* Oh, poor Lex. Even knowing he gets his Clark back, this is still so...sad.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Awww...but thanks for reading! ^_^

wow....

[kathrynwind.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I've never seen Smallville. But these stories are fantastic.

I love your Lex and love Static (loves me some V/R slash).
This story was really well written and did this ever make me cry!

I actually am a huge nerd, I watched Lois and Clark for pete's sake and know about Superman's death (haven't read it though). Always kinda irked me that Lex wasn't the one to finish Superman off, it was that no-name Doomsday. Bah.

Actually, even if there wasn't really a romantic relationship between Clark and Lex, I've always felt this was how Lex'd react. Empty, lost, and unable to let go.

Question though, about your saga. The story "Constant Struggle" takes place after this right? But how does that happen if Superman is dead? Does he come back to life? I honestly don't know, but please keep writing in this AU. It makes me tear-eyed and giddy thinking about all the marvelous things that could come from it.

Re: wow....

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoy the stories! (including the Static Shock parts - much love for V/R! ^^)

Yup, "A Constant Struggle" takes place about 7 years after this - the immediate sequel to this story would be the creation of Kon, but as I haven't read the Doomsday story in the comics yet, I can't easily AU it. But Superman came back to life in the comics and would return in a similar way in this AU. Sometime hopefully I'll get to that part of the story - meanwhile, thanks for reading!

SOBS & CRIES

[asm613.livejournal.com]

I honestly thought I could read this cold and dispassionately. It's just a story. A work of fiction. A make believe story about make believe people in make believe places, etc...
But; darn it all--I cried like a baby. Wipin' my eyes, blowin' my nose.
Great job with making your readers 'feel' what you write. I don't particularly like to get all snotty nosed and puffy eyed--but the story was worth it and deserved it. Thanks for sharing it. A good story teller.

Re: SOBS & CRIES

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Wow, thank you - this is my favorite kind of feedback, I just love knowing I can provoke such emotion. (As long as you weren't too depressed - Clark does come back, after all!)