Furious Angels
            by Nymph Du Pave
 

            CHAPTER FIFTEEN:  Frost Chasm

           Lex took a deep breath, wondering how to tell Clark of the pain and the anguish, the absolute bleakness his future had held without farmboy modifications.  How, for a while, every day in the future looked like downfall, like a daily perdition with no hopes of another savior taking the time to care.

            He opened his eyes, no words there to aid his articulations.  Once again he was silenced by the look in the verdant hued irises.  Clark had almost lost him.  Had almost blamed himself for that loss.  If Lex had, in any way shape or form, been truly able to see Clark's death on his hands, he would have killed himself.  No doubt about it.  Clark was the hero, the silver lining in the murky vapor that made days, weeks and months hard to distinguish.  But it was getting easier, thanks to the last person on Earth he could stand to maltreat or injure in anyway.  If something happened to Clark that would hang on his conscious...  He'd rid himself of a life doomed to cause himself and others nothing but pain.

            He reached out his hand to the point where his ribs would no longer support his arm without pain, and let his fingertips graze Clark's cheek.  The solid but soft texture of the boy's cheek gave him strength, assurance.  Kent was there. He wasn't leaving.

            "I thought he killed you."  His voice was dry and cracking.  Swallowing didn't help as his throat was parched.  "I thought you were cold and alone and... dead."  The familiar warmth trailed down his cheeks without notice as he shook his head.  "He thought he killed you, too, and I can't believe how lucky everyone is that you're still alive."  He swallowed.  "Most of all me."  He sighed.  " 'I would I were thy bird'."

            "Lex-"

            "I wanted to die, Clark."

            Silence and shock greeted his too-blunt remark.
 
            "It's not your fault for not getting here fast enough.  That's not why I almost died.  I gave up on the thought of living.  I didn't want to exist if you weren't there to save me from my life, from my personality.  It's hard enough already, but-"

            Lips silenced him.  At first he was upset because he wanted to explain everything.  Everything that he didn't know how to explain.  He wanted so desperately to try and get it all out.

            So he used the kiss.  He kissed Clark hard, fierce with a passion that was enormously transparent throughout everything.  He let his need, his fears, his love and his vulnerability shine through deepening the emotional impact of the contact for both of them.

            Clark moaned and let his finger caress Lex's abs through the opened sweater and undershirt.  He pushed the ripped material aside and rubbed gently Lex with both hands.

            Lex didn't even notice when the hands left his skin because Clark kissed him harder, becoming more obvious in his own internal sentiments.

            The pain, however, made him pull back and cry out, gasping for breath.

            He held on to Clark's broad shoulders, muscles clenching and relaxing under his fingers as Clark massaged his leg.

            The little sneak, he thought with a surprising amount of humor.  He just wanted to laugh.

            Clark had put the limb back into it's socket while they were kissing and within seconds.  Though the pain was intense, the sharpness of it was short lived.  It became a dull, red throbbing in a little more than a minute.

            "Better?" asked Clark.

            Lex nodded and moved his hands to anchor the back of Clark's neck, pulling the boy down for another kiss.  " 'Thus from my Lips by thine my sin is purg'd'."

            Moments before Lex became lost in the radiance and affection there was a loud sound akin to ripping very heavy denim clothing.

            Lex pulled back from a reluctantly parting Clark and looked around.

            "What was that?"

            Clark, heavy-lidded and thick-lipped, shook his head.  "What did it sound like?" he asked as he nuzzled Lex's neck

            Lex frowned trying to concentrate.  Clark was close, so close to him.  Touching him lovingly.  This was all he'd wanted in the longest time.

            But he'd heard that sound before.

            Where did-

            Clark's hands found their way back to his stomach and the farmboy's tongue found it's way into his ear.

            He breathed in sharply.  "God, Clark."

            The younger boy snickered.  "No quotes for that?"

            He tried to think of one when another thought flashed in his mind.

            Ice.  Skating.  The sound.

            Once he went skating with a female companion for the night.  They'd been fooling around on top of the ice when she'd gotten up, tried to jovially get away and fell on her ass.  Lex laughed for three seconds before the ripping sound filled the air.

            She'd fallen into freshly broken ice and he'd gotten her out.  It was not nearly as dramatic as the movies made it all seem.

            Still, he knew that sound.

            "Ice," he whispered.  "It sounded like ice."

            Clark pulled back, alarmed.  "What?  Sounded like what?"

            Lex took one look at the anxiety in Clark and shuddered.  He looked to the woods knowing that his property's lake was just passed it.

            "Clark?  Where is Shawn?"
 
 
 
 
 

            TBC Tomorrow...