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Thread: A Fractured Fairy Tale (R)

  1. #1
    Canon Whore Not An Addict's Avatar
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    A Fractured Fairy Tale (R)

    Title: A Fractured Fairy Tale
    Author: Not An Addict
    Rating: R (primarily for language)
    Category: Romance/General
    Pairing: Chloe/Lex, of course
    Spoilers: Specific spoilers for Obscura, but if it’s aired it’s fair game.
    Summary: Chloe is stuck in a fairy tale world until she can make her way through the story. But her hero isn’t who she expected it to be . . .
    Disclaimer: Frankly, recent episodes have seriously cut down on my desire to own this show. But then again, there is Lex . . . damn. You know the drill. I don’t own them in real life—only in my fevered imagination.
    Author’s Note: This fic has been a long time coming, and is dedicated to a few people. To Kris and Fiona for their wonderful stories ‘Beloved’ and ‘The Reluctant Queen’ which helped inspire me to write this story. And to Sabby, for being a wonderful friend and beta even in the midst of her own hectic life. Hang in there, monkey. Ok, timewise this is taking place . . . I’d say in their senior year. However, we left the show history sometime in early Season Two (i.e. no Helen, ever ever ever, no witches, etc. etc.). All that being said, I have to warn you that the second chapter of this story has some . . . we’ll call them “adult themes”. HOWEVER, the story does NOT have any smut. Ever. That’s right. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.



    Chapter One: Always Promptly Return Lost Property



    “I’m telling you guys, there’s something weird about her.” Pete and Clark, far from agreeing with her, simply rolled their eyes.

    “Chlo, if you don’t stop walking backwards like that you’re going to run into something,” Pete warned. Chloe just glanced behind her and, seeing that the way was clear, turned her attention back to her friends.

    “Come on. Are you honestly going to tell me you don’t think there’s even the slightest possibility that the meteors gave Ms. Short some kind of enhanced ability to withstand boredom? How else do you explain her staying awake through all of her classes?”

    Clark didn’t bother to suppress his grin. “Maybe she actually likes what she’s teaching, Chloe.”

    “Right. I’m sure that’s it. If nothing else, you’d think her fascination with the initials J.C. would be a sign that she’s tipped a little too far towards crazy.” Chloe stopped at her locker and twisted the combination lock with an expert series of flicks. As she started grabbing books, Lana walked up. Chloe saw the careful distance the brunette put between herself and Clark and rolled her eyes.

    “Hey, guys. What’s up?” At Lana’s question Chloe turned her attention from the books she was pulling from her locker.

    “I’m being unfairly persecuted for my keen observational skills.”

    “Story drought,” Clark said by way of an explanation. “Chloe’s been grasping at straws lately. Her latest theory is that Ms. Short is some kind of boredom-immune meteor mutant.”

    “Ok, you guys don’t want to believe me, that’s fine. But don’t blame me when the next issue of the Torch is completely blank.” Her statement was punctuated with the slamming of her locker door.

    “Don’t be mad, Chlo,” Pete grinned. When Chloe’s irritated expression didn’t fade, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Tell you what. I know you’ve been majorly stressed lately, so why don’t you come to the Talon with us and have a latte? My treat.”

    “You know, Pete, you can’t always appease me with coffee.” Despite her efforts, her face broke out in a wide grin. “But you can this time. Let me grab some stuff from the Torch and I’ll meet you guys there.” She tossed a wave over her shoulder and started walking off before she had completely finished her sentence. Weaving a path through the leering jocks and vacuous cheerleaders, Chloe had nearly made it through the hormone-laden gauntlet when she heard a timid, high-timbred voice call out her name. She turned and offered a smile in greeting.

    “Margot, what’s up?”

    The girl hugged the thick, hard-bound book she carried closer to her chest and shifted her sharp shoulders, redistributing the weight of her backpack.

    “I have that article on the Homecoming assembly, if you need me to turn it in.”

    With her slightly nasal, youthful voice, big eyes and long, thin body, Margot had the air of a particularly timid child. Not wanting to frighten her, Chloe made a concentrated effort to tone down her normally effusive personality and gave her a reassuring grin as she pushed open the door to the Torch office.

    “Sure, that’d be great. Thanks again for covering that; if I’d had to actually write about that in addition to sitting through it I guarantee the results wouldn’t have been pretty.”

    “Oh, well, I didn’t mind,” Margot shrugged, a hint of pink tingeing her cheeks. She set down the book she was holding and slid her backpack off, setting it on a chair so that she could root around for the disk. Still trying to put her at ease, Chloe tried a different track.

    “So what prompted this sudden interest in the fascinating world of journalism?” Margot glanced up, her long, stick-straight brown hair partially obscuring her sheepish expression.

    “Principal Reynolds,” she admitted. “He thinks that I should branch out more. I guess he kind of . . . suggested . . . that I should maybe try working on the paper.”

    “And by ‘suggested,’ you mean told you what you were going to do?” Chloe guessed. Margot colored again, and Chloe just grinned, slipping some folders into her bag. “He can be kind of insistent. But hey, it’s a good deal for me. Your writing’s great, and I don’t have to cover the antics of the pom-pom brigade anymore.” A shy grin passed over Margot’s face, only to be replaced by a frustrated frown as she dug deeper into her bag.

    “I know I put it in here somewhere . . .”

    “If you want to just give it to me on Monday, that’s fine,” Chloe offered, idly picking up the book that the other girl had put down. She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like anyone else has turned in their articles yet. And the paper doesn’t get printed until next week.”

    “No, I have it. It must’ve just slipped out of the pocket I had it in. I guess I have too much stuff in here.” Chloe just nodded absently, studying the blank, battered cover of the book in her hands. She opened it up and glanced at the title page. Her eyebrows raised in interest.

    “So you’re back to the Grimm Brothers. I thought you were still going on Hans Christian Anderson.”

    “Oh, no, I finished up with that a while ago. Here it is!” Her hand whipped from her bag, triumphantly holding the small, green disk. She handed it to Chloe and zipped up her backpack. As she shrugged it on she took the book from Chloe’s hands, offering her a rare bright smile. “Grimm stories are my favorites; I’ve probably read this book about a hundred times. Sometimes I feel like I could just slip into them.” Chloe raised one inquisitive eyebrow.

    “They’re kind of . . . well, they’re kind of morbid, aren’t they?” Margot just shrugged.

    “Real life isn’t always pretty, either. But you still have a better chance at a happy ending in the fairy tales.” Her timid grin was back. “I should get going. My mom’s expecting me home.”

    “Ok. Well, I’ll see you Monday, then?”

    “Yeah, I’ll see you then.” Her gaze diverted down to her feet, Margot walked quickly out of the office. Chloe shook her head and gathered up a few more folders; no sooner had she picked them up, however, than they slipped from her hands and tumbled to the floor, scattering papers left and right.

    “Damn it,” she muttered, dropping to her hands and knees to pick them up. As she shuffled the papers back into their proper places, a flash of gold caught her eye. Brow creased in a curious frown, Chloe reached out and picked up the small bracelet lying half-hidden under the desk. She stood to hold it in the light, turning it this way and that, watching the small charms glitter in the sun. It was a cheap piece of costume jewelry—large metal links with chintzy charms hanging off of it, houses and cats and ice cream cones, and all of it covered in a coat of gold paint.

    Chloe vaguely remembered girls wearing similar jewelry back in elementary school, a trend that she had scorned even as she had secretly wished she could have one of her own. Her father, unable to understand the workings of a third grade girl’s mind, had never caught on to her hints. She knew for a fact that it wasn’t hers; in fact, she was sure she hadn’t even seen a piece of jewelry like this one in years. Her mind flashed back to Margot rifling through her bag; perhaps it was hers and had fallen out when she was looking for the disk. Chloe glanced at her watch and shrugged. Margot was probably gone by now, and if Chloe didn’t show up at the Talon soon, there was no guarantee that Pete and Clark would wait for her.

    “After all, it’s not like my hair is long and dark enough to gain Clark’s notice for any length of time,” she muttered, shrugging on a coat and wrapping a thick scarf around her neck. She may have given up any romantic hopes for Clark, but it would’ve been nice if he occasionally acknowledged her as one of his two best friends. With another shrug Chloe stuffed the bracelet and the folders she needed into her bag and, slinging the bag over her shoulder, set out to meet her friends.


    ****************************


    “Okay, I was promised a latte. Give.” Chloe flopped into one of the two vacant seats at the table her friends had chosen, brushing snowflakes off of her coat. The Talon was in the midst of its after-school rush, and Chloe spent a moment marveling at the fact that Pete and Clark had managed to save two seats when almost every student of Smallville High School milled around in search of a caffeine fix. Pete’s voice brought her back from her momentary flight of concentration, his tone conversational and overly casual.

    “Hey, Chloe! Nice to see you, too. Me? Oh, I’m fine, it’s so sweet of you to ask.”

    Despite her intentions, Chloe couldn’t quite suppress a grin. “Pete, I just saw you at school approximately fifteen minutes ago. However, I’m very glad you’re doing well, and I hope this is the beginning of a long and happy life for you. Now. Coffee. You promised.”

    “Did I?” Pete somehow managed to keep a straight face, and Chloe’s eyes narrowed at his words. “Are you sure about that? Clark, did I promise Chloe coffee?”

    It was only the knowledge of his own invincibility that had Clark feeling safe enough to grin back at his friend. “Not that I can remember.”

    “Peter,” Chloe glared, her tone menacing. “I’m warning you. A morning cappuccino only lasts so long, and I’m quickly approaching the end of my buzz. Do you really want to mess with me right now?”

    Pete began to look somewhat less than certain, though his words were still confident. “Oh, come on Chloe. We both know you’re not actually going to hurt me.”

    “On the contrary. One of these days Ms. Sullivan is going to kill the two of you, and odds are good it’ll be ruled justifiable homicide.” At the dry, amused voice behind them, Clark and Pete turned to see Lex standing behind them, a hot mug of coffee in each hand. He passed one of them over the boys’ shoulders and offered it to Chloe, who grasped it eagerly. “Lana’s stuck at the counter, so I told her I’d go ahead and bring this over. Mr. Ross, I believe she put it on your bill.” He smirked at the look of frustrated disappointment on Pete’s face. “It seems Ms. Lang has a better memory than either of the two of you.”

    “Mmm.” A pleasant hum started in Chloe’s blood at her first sip of her coffee. She gestured to the seat beside her and Lex sat, his long black coat billowing slightly. “Don’t pay any attention to them,” she gestured towards where Pete and Clark sat all but pouting. “Those peasants don’t understand true humor.”

    Lex smirked and raised his coffee in a silent toast. They lifted their mugs and drank together, Chloe’s eyes closed in pleasure while Lex’s watched her through the steam rising from his drink. Clark looked from Chloe to Lex and back again. There was something in the air, something that he had been noticing more and more when the two of them were in the same vicinity. He couldn’t give a name to it but it made him uncomfortable, like he was somehow intruding on a private moment.

    “So what was it that you had to get from the Torch office, Chloe?” Clark was on the verge of looking around to see who had spoken when he realized that it had been him. Chloe blinked at him for a moment before she registered what he had said.

    “Oh. Just some of my articles that I want to get edited tonight. And Margot Persley dropped by with her Homecoming story. Imagine that, Clark, Pete. Someone actually turning in their work on time.” She fixed them both with pointed stares and her boys shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Luckily for them, another thought occurred to her. “That reminds me. Clark.” She fished around in her bag before pulling out the bracelet she had found. “Do you know if this is Lana’s?”

    Clark took the bracelet from her and looked it over. “I don’t think so. Where’d you get it?”

    “The floor of the Torch office.” She shrugged and took it from Clark to toss it back into her bag. “Must be Margot’s then. I’ll give it to her on Monday, I guess.”

    “Man, I don’t know about that girl.” Pete shook his head. “Her thing for fairy tales creeps me out.”

    “You live in a town where people mutate into homicidal monsters on an almost hourly basis, and a girl who likes fairy tales creeps you out?” Lex asked dryly.

    “She doesn’t just like them,” Pete corrected defensively. “She’s pretty much obsessed with them.”

    “He’s right. We’ve all gone to school together since the first grade, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her without one of those big fairy tale collections,” Clark confirmed. “She just sits there and reads them in class every day. A lot of teachers don’t like it, but she always knows the answer when they call on her so they mostly just leave her alone.”

    “Yeah, I’m guessing that’s why Principal Reynolds has her working on the Torch now. He seems to think she’s a little bit too involved in her own fantasy world.” Chloe frowned into the last dregs of her coffee. “She’s a nice girl, though. A little introverted, but nice.” She picked up her mug and drained the last of her latte, offered her boys a smile and gathered up her bag. “Ok, I’d better get going if I want to get started on these articles.”

    “Come on, Chloe. It’s Friday afternoon! We have the whole weekend in front of us.”

    Chloe raised a calculating eyebrow at Pete. “Will you buy me another latte?” Chloe could see the indecision in his eyes and was about to stand up to leave when a smooth voice to her right spoke up.

    “I will.” Chloe turned in her seat to see Lex regarding her with a small smile.

    You’re going to buy me coffee? I hate to tell you this, Lex—especially since I’m getting free coffee out of the deal—but supporting the caffeine habits of young reporters doesn’t count as a tax deduction.”

    “That all depends on how much that caffeine habit costs. Considering the young reporter in question I think the IRS might make an exception.” He reached over and lifted her bag off of her shoulder, setting it back down beside her chair. “Relax for a while, Chloe. You can’t work all the time.”

    Chloe snorted. “So says the poster child for Workaholics Anonymous.”

    Lex’s smile widened slightly. “There’s a time and a place for everything. I’ll go get some more coffee.” His smile changed to a smirk. “Anything to keep you off the streets.”

    “All right. But I’m only going to stay for this one cup, and then I’m going home.” Chloe sat back in her chair, pleased with the thought of one more free coffee and an evening of work.


    **************************


    Three hours later Chloe had finally made it back to her house. She had fully intended to leave after the latte Lex had been kind enough to spring for; no sooner had she finished it, however, than Clark returned from the counter with a mocha. When Chloe had said she wasn’t going to drink it Clark had shrugged as if unconcerned and said he would throw it away if she really didn’t want it.

    Well, what was she supposed to do? There were children in third-world countries without any coffee at all; wasting it just seemed like a sin.

    Unfortunately, giving in and drinking that cup had exposed her weakness. After the mocha Lex had immediately placed a cappuccino in front of her, and Chloe had been just as reluctant to see that drink flushed mercilessly down the drain. The only way she had been able to get them to stop was by saying that she didn’t know how well she would be able to drive if her system were flooded with caffeine. Of course, that had backfired slightly, ending in all three of them refusing to let her leave until the buzz had at least partially worn off.

    When she had finally gotten home Chloe was jumpy, had the beginnings of a headache, and had to pee desperately. A shower, a meal, three aspirin, and several trips to the bathroom later she was feeling better, if still slightly wired. She had decided to use the extra energy to her advantage and now sat on her bed, clad in thick blue pajamas adorned with snowflakes, her hair damp and papers scattered over her bedspread. Almost every sheet of paper was heavily marked with red, so that it looked like a crazed axe-man had spattered blood over everything. Sharp, decisive marks indicated where passages should be moved, which sentences should be revised, and which should be cut out completely. Looking over the carnage gave Chloe an almost savage feeling of satisfaction; her writing was good, but it could be better. By recognizing that now she was saving herself from future heartbreak when an actual editor would carve up her article. That was what she loved about the world—as long as you knew enough, you could predict just about anything.

    “Damn . . . I’d swear there was another page to this,” she muttered. Leaning over the edge of the bed she snagged her bag and began rooting around in it. “Hah! Knew it.” With a triumphant flourish she pulled out a rumpled sheet of paper; as she did so, a flash of gold glittered through the air and landed at the foot of her bed, on top of a stack of unmarked pages. Chloe let the bag slip back to the floor and reached for the bracelet.

    Settling back against her headboard she held the bracelet in front of her face, watching it glint softly in the light. Something stole over her, some strange urge to try the bracelet on, to see how it would look on her. Slowly, almost mechanically, she unfastened the clasp and draped it over her wrist. She blinked once, twice, and shook her head to clear it. Another feeling was creeping through her now, cold and distant. It whispered in her ear not to put the bracelet on, to leave it well alone and give it back to Margot on Monday. Trying it on was a bad idea. She shouldn’t do it.

    For a moment Chloe sat transfixed, unsure of what to do. Then she laughed at herself, and the strange feeling dissipated. It was just a bracelet. There was absolutely no reason for her to be afraid to try on a bracelet. That thought firmly in her mind, she flipped her wrist over and fastened the clasp. Her breath caught for a moment, expecting . . . something.

    Nothing happened. Chloe laughed at herself again, though the sound held a touch of uncertainty this time. She moved her arm, and the charms on the bracelet clinked dully. The metal felt cool against her skin; nothing out of the ordinary in the middle of winter, Chloe thought, glancing out the window where snow was still drifting down. Her eyes returned to the bracelet.

    She frowned, blinked.

    What she was seeing didn’t change. The bracelet looked blurry where it sat innocently on her wrist, hearts merging with candy canes and horseshoes until it was just one big golden blob in her vision. She raised her eyes, and the rest of her room looked equally distorted. Her eyelids were getting heavy, drooping.

    ‘Caffeine crash,’ she thought dimly, scooting down until her head rested on her pillow. Things grew dim and Chloe let her eyes close. She burrowed into her pillow, and seconds later there was nothing but a deep, deep sleep.


    **************************


    Someone was shaking her. That was Chloe’s next coherent thought, quickly followed by, ‘What the hell? It’s Saturday. Let me sleep.’ The shaking persisted, however, growing more and more insistent with every moment that she ignored it. Finally, with a muffled groan, Chloe opened her eyes, prepared to tear into her father or Lana, whichever one of them had dared to interrupt her sleep.

    What came out instead was a high-pitched yelp. Margot’s face was looming over her as she shook Chloe’s shoulders. As startled by Chloe’s scream as Chloe was by her presence Margot quickly let go and jumped back, but her eyes stayed fixed on Chloe, regarding her with a cautious stare.

    “What the hell are you doing here?” Chloe’s heart was working double-time, and she started taking long, deep breaths to try and calm herself. “Why are you . . .”

    Chloe’s question trailed off; with her pulse slowed to a more reasonable rate, she was beginning to notice something odd about Margot. Most obviously, her clothes were . . . well, to say that they were anachronistic would have been a gross understatement. A ragged gray dress laced over a dirty, course-looking shirt, and the whole thing was half-hidden by a dingy brown shawl. On her head she wore a shapeless, dust-colored cap. The little skin visible under the clothes was smudged with dirt; but beneath the dirt her skin was creamy, tinged with a healthy pink.

    Her hair, where it peeked out under the cap, was thick and shiny, with pretty golden highlights mixed in with the pale brown. Margot’s long features seemed to have changed somehow, as well. Their sharp, angular quality was gone, replaced with a delicateness that gave her the look of being willowy instead of gangly. Her eyes had sharpened to a bright bottle green, and they were surrounded by a thick fringe of lashes. It was definitely Margot; but it wasn’t the Margot that had showed up at the Torch office earlier that day. Not by a long way.

    “Hey Chloe.” Well, at least her voice is the same, Chloe thought wryly. Margot still gazed timidly at Chloe, bright white teeth worrying one of her shell-pink lips. “Um . . . ok, I’m really, really, really super sorry. I didn’t know I had lost the bracelet until I got home, and then I thought that no one had probably found it so it would be ok, and I didn’t worry about it, and now you’re here and I’m just really, really sorry.” The words all came out on a single nervous breath and Margot started twisting her hands together, obviously waiting for some kind of a response. Chloe opened her mouth to speak when she finally noticed her surroundings.

    She wasn’t in her bedroom anymore. She didn’t know where she was, but she was damn sure that her room at home didn’t have stone walls, and she distinctly remembered having carpeting instead of the hardwood floor she could see beneath several massive rugs. The walls were covered in thick tapestries, and a huge fireplace across from the bed contained a crackling fire that seemed to be the principle source of heat in the room. The bed she was in was also unfamiliar; it was deep and huge, covered in soft linen sheets and thick blankets, all in white. A huge brown fur lay across the foot of the bed, and the drapes that hung down from a canopy overhead were drawn.

    Chloe lifted a shaking hand to her forehead and stopped it halfway there, gazing at her arm; her flannel pajamas were gone, and a soft white linen nightgown was in their place. The bracelet on her wrist had changed, as well. No longer cheap costume jewelry, the bracelet she wore now was a fine chain with delicate charms that rang gently every time she moved her arm. Chloe began to shake her head; as she did so, something tickled the back of her neck. Still shaking, she lifted her hand again. Her fingers tangled in her hair—much more hair than she should have had. Her short, flippy cut was gone in place of long, softly curling locks that reached down to the middle of her back. Eyes wide, she returned her gaze to Margot, who shook her head with an apologetic expression.

    “I’m sorry, Chloe. You really shouldn’t have put on the bracelet.”







    TBC . . .

  2. #2
    LarkLuthor
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    Re: A Fractured Fairy Tale (R)

    AHHH!!!! You posted a new fic! I've been dying for a new one of yours for ages and ages... I know I bugged you some about it months ago. I'm so happy I could cry...and I haven't even read it yet...

    I promise, I will leave feedback, but I'm way too excited about this to say anything coherrient for a while!

    Lark

  3. #3
    Nerd-bitch
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    Re: A Fractured Fairy Tale (R)

    I'm intrigued! and excited! More soon, pretty pretty please, with sugar on top!

  4. #4
    I am soooo not an addict tiger04's Avatar
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    Re: A Fractured Fairy Tale (R)

    more more more more. please post more soon.

    AT

  5. #5
    An Accused Heretic Senior Member Kit Merlot's Avatar
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    Re: A Fractured Fairy Tale (R)

    This is an awesome new fic!

    I've loved all of your stories to date, so I am beyond thrilled thst you've started a new one

    Excellent beginning, and looking forward to more.
    KATHY

    "Don't quote me to me!" Detective Danny "Danno" WIlliams, Hawaii Five-0, episode 1.8 Mana'o

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  6. #6
    Spunky Chick Senior Member hfce's Avatar
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    Re: A Fractured Fairy Tale (R)

    Wow what a great start. I love it and I can't wait for more.


    Hope
    "Everyone seems normal until you get to know them. "

  7. #7

    Re: A Fractured Fairy Tale (R)

    Great start! I'm already in love with this fic.

  8. #8
    walking with cavemen Senior Member Zannie's Avatar
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    Re: A Fractured Fairy Tale (R)

    “Come on. Are you honestly going to tell me you don’t think there’s even the slightest possibility that the meteors gave Ms. Short some kind of enhanced ability to withstand boredom? How else do you explain her staying awake through all of her classes?”
    and

    "I’m being unfairly persecuted for my keen observational skills.”
    These are just two examples. Your Chloe dialogue is fabulous--completely spot-on.

    Great start and fascinating premise. Can't wait to see where you take this. Looking forward to more soon.

  9. #9
    seeking a happy ending. meeaz's Avatar
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    Re: A Fractured Fairy Tale (R)

    i'm intrigued! please continue!
    <3 yams.

  10. #10
    NS Full Member star del mar's Avatar
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    Re: A Fractured Fairy Tale (R)

    Oh no! I'm excited, I'm really enjoying this story so far. It's a very interesting idea, I can't wait to see where everything starts to get twisted. And Lex, be still my heart, just offering coffees like they're going out of style Just too cute, update again soon!!

    Steph*

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