This one is already pretty far along, but I got a request to start posting it here as well.
Title: Beloved
Author: scifichick774
Rating: NC-17
Category: Drama/Romance/Angst/Supernatural
Spoilers: Anything through the end of the second season is fair game - but since it’s all pretty much AU, don’t expect too many spoilers.
Summary: Someone comes through an alternate reality portal to kidnap Chloe. Will she be able to adjust to her new life, or will she find a way back home? Chloe/Lucas Chloe/Lex much later on
Disclaimer: Not mine, no infringement intended, please don’t sue.
Feedback: YES!! REVIEW!! Geez, that sounded incredibly needy.
Archival: Sure – just let me know where.
Author’s Note: I’m writing this because my muse wouldn’t let it be. You should be warned: if you can’t stand to see Chloe with anyone other than Lex, then you shouldn’t read this. Seriously. Also, the alternate reality version of Lex in this story is kind of a dark character, so don’t expect a lot of mushy behavior coming from him. This first chapter scene jumps a little, but hopefully it won’t be too confusing.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The hooded figure stood over the young blonde woman’s body and held his fingers out to touch her neck. His head turned slightly to look at the other man in the room and he shook it despairingly.
“She has died, Carrado. What are we to do now?”
Carrado frowned. The princess had been through so much, and although her apparent suicide didn’t surprise him, he was still disappointed. Quickly after the disappointment came the realization that the kingdom she was from and the one they were in would probably go to war with each other now.
The two kingdoms had long been at odds, but the rulers of each nation thought they had come to a reasonable compromise when they agreed to arrange a marriage between the eldest prince of the house of Luthor and the only daughter of the house of Sullivan. The princess had been sent to their kingdom to fulfill the agreement, even though she had been completely against it. Her death would not be well received, and there was a very real possibility that suspicion would arise to whether it was actually a suicide or not.
Carrado got a determined look on his face and gave the younger man a steely expression.
“No one is to know of this,” he said in a gravely voice. The younger man looked surprised.
“Surely we cannot hide her passing for long,” he said.
“No one is to know of this, Nudd,” Carrado repeated in an authoritative tone. “No one.”
“But ---”
“There is a way,” Carrado said, getting a thoughtful look in his eyes. “We will replace her with another.”
Nudd looked at the older man in disbelief. He certainly couldn’t be suggesting what he thought he was suggesting.
“Her other self will never agree to it,” he argued. “And the people here will know it is not she.” He motioned to the body on the bed with his head and Carrado gave him a solemn look.
“They will not. In the two days since her arrival here, she has not ventured beyond the walls of this room. Very few people here know her face, and fewer still with her manner,” Carrado said. Nudd let his eyes fall back upon the lifeless body and Carrado could sense his apprehension. “We have the ability to save so many. We must take our opportunity.” Nudd nodded his head sadly.
“I’ll prepare what must be done.”
~*~*~*~*~
Chloe stretched out her arms and yawned before climbing into her bed and slipping under the covers. It had been such a long last couple of days. Clark had basically used her as his own personal search engine again, Lana had been swamped at the Talon and had begged Chloe to help (which she only ended up agreeing to because her dad was in the room), and then one of the few reporters she actually had on the staff for the Torch had mysteriously disappeared. Chloe had spent the remainder of her time tracking down leads in hopes that they might lead her to a possible freak of the week article, but it turned out that the girl had just run off with her older boyfriend. And although she had managed to get through the last couple of days with a great deal of caffeine, her body was certainly feeling the after effects now. She snuggled her head into her pillow and let her heavy eyelids drift closed with no way of knowing what was to come.
~*~*~*~*~
Carrado held the old book in his outstretched arms and read from it. His deep voice echoed in the princess’s bedroom and a large blue swirling circle of light appeared in front of them. Nudd took a deep breath and then released it as he picked the dead body off the bed. Carrado watched Nudd step through the portal first and he followed quickly behind him, only having a limited amount of time before the circle of light disappeared.
~*~*~*~*~
Nudd’s breath hitched when he saw Chloe’s moonlit face. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady, and she looked identical to the deceased princess that he held in his arms. The portal closed after Carrado stepped through it. He was inwardly pleased that the spell worked and the girl in front of them looked so similar in appearance to the princess. The only thing that concerned him was the length of her hair. They could easily lie and say that the princess kindly cooperated with them by lending some hair for a ceremony or something, but the family and friends that this girl had would know that the corpse they were replacing her with wasn’t her.
He took out a sharp blade from his sheath and took a few steps toward Nudd. The younger man’s eyes grew large until he realized what Carrado planned to do. Carrado looked back at Chloe and quickly judged the length of her hair before cutting into the princess’s longer locks. It took a good hour for them to alter the identities of the two young women. Although Nudd felt uncomfortable, they switched the clothing on Chloe and the princess and laid the princess’s body in the bed, covering her with the blankets that had been wrapped around Chloe when they first came in. Carrado thanked the gods that the princess’s double seemed to be a fairly sound sleeper.
Nudd held Chloe’s sleeping form in his arms and Carrado began to read the chant from the book in a hushed voice so as not to wake her. The portal opened again, allowing them return passage to their own world.
Nudd stepped into the circle of light first. Carrado took one last look at the lifeless female body lying on the bed. He had no doubt that her family and friends would be upset when they believed it was their own Chloe who was deceased, but he truly believed that they were doing what was necessary to maintain the very shaky peace between the Luthor and Sullivan kingdoms. With that one last thought, he turned and stepped through the portal.
~*~*~*~*~
Nudd lay Chloe down on the princess’s bed and covered her with the blankets. She twisted and turned her body as she unconsciously sought to get comfortable again. Nudd turned to Carrado when the portal in the room closed and the only light that shone upon them was from the moonlight shining through the small slits between the stones that made up the window.
“This was not right,” Nudd whispered wearily. “Her family ---”
“Will grieve as any other when they have lost a child,” Carrado whispered back in an almost scornful voice, still trying to convince himself that they had done the right thing as well. “They will not start a war as the princess’s family would have.” Nudd bowed his head in defeat and let his eyes fall upon Chloe, who had finally gotten comfortable and had her legs curled up against her.
“And what of her?” He asked quietly. Carrado came over to him and placed his hand on the younger man’s shoulder.
“We will give her some herbs to help her forget her former life,” he responded, matching Nudd’s hushed tone. “And in time, she will adjust to this one.” He grabbed a satchel filled with a fine powder and pinched a little bit of it between his fingers. Carrado opened Chloe’s mouth ever so slightly and dropped the powder onto her tongue. Chloe yawned and then made a humming sound as she drifted further into her slumber. “Come. It will be morning soon and we will need rest ourselves if we are to help her adjust to her new life tomorrow.”
Morning came and Chloe rubbed her eyes as she woke up. She swung her feet over the side of the bed before complete waking up, and was startled when she felt the cold stone floor beneath her. Chloe eyes shot wide open and she took in the scene around her with confusion. Confusion quickly turned to fear and her features contorted as she noticed the long night dress she was clothed in.
“What the ---?”
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