What's In A Name?

by Kathryn

Started and Finished: February 22, 2003

Last Episode Seen Before Writing: Fever

Pairing: None

Rating: strong PG-13

Category: Drama, Future-fic

Spoilers: Any of season 1 and 2 are game.

Summary: Names have a meaning. Sometimes people live up to them, without even knowing what the meaning is. A look on the future of the people in Smallville.

Disclaimer: I do not own them.

NOTE: Hey, Folks. This is *not* a happy fic. I repeat, this is *not* a happy fic. It has hints of Chlark, which is why I posted to those groups. It deals with the future of Lex and Superman and is *not* happy. NO marshmallows and daisies for these characters. Just wanted to warn you! Enjoy!

What's In A Name?
by Kathryn

Have you ever taken a minute to think about a name? "Oh, what's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Is that really true? I took a minute to look up the meaning of my friend's names. And I use the term friend loosely.

Why don' we start with me? Chloe means "blooming." Blooming. Now, how's that for irony? I'm a blooming flower, letting it's petals be touched by the light. But there's something holding me back. See, my last name is Sullivan. Sullivan means "black eyes." There's a reason I have black eyes. No one is what they seem. I've seen a lot in my lifetime. A lot of death. A lot of lies. A lot of secrets. That's what happens when Superman calls you his best friend, and Superman's nemesis considers you an ally. It's stops the blooming. Cuts it off at the bud, leaving nothing but the little black spot where the stem starts to die off.

Superman. That would be Clark Kent. Clark means "scholar." Yes, my friend Clark is incredibly smart. Can do math sums in his head before I can punch the first number into my calculator. He can read books in mere minutes. I like to call it "power reading." But for someone so smart, there's one thing he can't see. His last name is Kent, meaning "border or coast." That's the only place Clark ever is. He keeps his distance. He used to be friendly, compassionate, caring. Then he became Superman, and all he saw was dying, pain, anguish. Now, he sticks to the borders, to the coasts of everyone's hearts. And that's where he makes us stay. He's afraid that if we get too close to him, or he gets too close to us, we'll get burned. What he doesn't see is that it's burning him to keep us so far away.

Then there's the other man. Superman's nemesis. The one who considers himself my ally. Alexander Luthor. Lex. Alexander means "helper and defender of mankind." Oh, and he was. In Smallville he did everything in his power to help his friends, to save the people around him. To defend them from his beast of a father, Lionel. But things change. Luthor means "famous warrior." Lex Luthor is a very famous man. Say his name on the street and everyone will turn their heads with a smile at hearing his name. Smiling. Yes, because they don' know the real Lex Luthor. The "warrior" part. The one who does anything he can to take down Superman. Why? Why would he want to kill our hero? Because, like me, Lex was once Clark's best friend. But
unlike me, when Lex found out that Clark had lied about his origin, Lex became a warrior. Underneath his charming exterior is the greatest warrior the world has known, greater than Lionel, and only Clark and I know it.

Lex was raised by his mother, Lillian, at an early age. Lillian, "lily." I've seen pictures. She was an extremely beautiful woman. Delicate, with flowing red hair. Before Lex became the warrior
he told me about her. How she would sing him to sleep. How she loved her son so incredibly much. How she was only a "famous warrior" around Lionel. To protect Lex from the evil man. But she wasn't around Lex much. She got "sick." The story that Lionel fed everyone was heart
failure. To this day I'm not sure if she died of heart failure, or a broken heart.

Lionel means "like a lion," and rightly so. Lionel hid in the wings of Lex's life, waiting to pounce. Waiting to drag his son down with him. To become that "famous warrior" that Lex is now. Lionel, with his flowing mane that he taunted Lex with. The manipulative bastard that formed Lex. Made Lex what he is today. Ripped Lex apart and rebuilt Lex as a killing machine. A mindless drone, built in Lionel's likeness to carry out Lionel's deeds when Lionel had passed on.

Lucas once told Clark. Lucas, "bringer of light." He joined Lex in a game against Lionel. But Lucas lost. He lost when Lionel won over Lex. Lucas was a brave "warrior." He saw what Lionel was. What Lex warned him of. He saw it and he got too close. Tried to get close enough to the "lion" to bring him down, but instead got caught in the lion's mouth. Got caught in the gruesome game between father and son and was killed for it.

Lucas once told Clark that your parents make you tiny replicas of themselves. I've come to believe that. I've told you of Lionel and Lillian. With Lillian's death, she left Lionel to raise Lex. That was a terrible mistake. Because just as Lionel was a "lion," now so is Lex.

But Clark's parents are different. Sure, they're not his real parents, but they raised him. Jonathan and Martha Kent. Martha, "a lady." She was such a "lady." Beautiful, caring. She loved her family like no woman I've ever seen. Her one mistake was turning down Lionel. The "lion" went after Martha, and she turned him down cold. Soon after, she found she was going to have a child. A miracle since she was never able to before. This made Lionel very angry. Not only did Martha turn him down, but she was having her husband's child. Martha never had that child. She never had a chance against the pack of "lions" built in Lionel's image.

Then there's Jonathan. "God gives." And God did give him to Clark. To raise a wonderful son. He instilled morals and values into Clark that make him the man that he is today. I used to joke about Jonathan's platitudes, but now I'd give my life to be able to hear one right now. After the "lion" went after Martha and won, Jonathan went up against him. With all he had. He was a strong one. A fighter. But not strong enough against two Luthors. Yes, Jonathan was a type of father to Lex, but in that, he was also a father to Clark. And Lex despised him for keeping Clark's secret. Jonathan can't say platitudes anymore. Or instill wisdom in the one who talk to him. The "lion" and the "warrior" made sure of that.

I've seen a lot of death. A hell of a lot of blood. But none so painful, no blood so bright as that of my father. Gabriel. "God is my strength." He was my strength. My strength when my mother left. My strength when I found Clark's secret. My strength that I loved so much and held so dearly. That was my weakness. Letting everyone see just how weak I was without my father to guide me. Lex knew that without Gabe I would need a new strength, and he hoped it would be himself. Take away my pillar, and replace it with himself. Gabe's last name is also Sullivan, "black eyes." And his eyes will be black for the rest of eternity.

That's why Lex considers me an ally. Why he thinks that I am his friend. That I would be friends with such a "famous warrior." In my time of need, Lex was "there." He doesn't realize just how good of a reporter I truly was, and am. He doesn't know that I know who killed my father. Who killed Jonathan, and Martha, and Martha's unborn child. But I know, and that's why I stay an ally. Not too close, like Lucas. Just close enough to make him convince himself that I'm on his side. Instead of where I am, standing strong behind my Superman.

~*~END~*~