DC fic

[icarus_chained]

For cold_nostalgia .

Title: Unbowed
Rating: PG
Fandoms: DC
Continuity: Set far-future (hopefully)
Characters/Pairings: Clark, Diana, Clark/Lois
Summary: At Lois' funeral, Clark considers Time
Wordcount: 534
Warnings: Er. Lois' death?
Disclaimer: Not mine.

Unbowed

Diana flew beside him as they cast the ashes out into the winds over Metropolis. Lois hadn't wanted to be buried, hadn't wanted to be made still for all eternity, and she had always ... she'd always loved flying with him, here, over their city. Ever since that first time. Lois loved to be free. So fierce and passionate and questing. No. The earth was not for her. Of anyone he'd known, his Lois had deserved to fly.

Diana touched him, lightly, on the arm, her expression calm and supportive, her eyes sad and understanding. Diana. Ageless princess of the Amazons. How many women like Lois had she seen die? How many had passed her while she endured, unbowed, untouched by the ravages of Time.

What would Lois have been like, if she could have escaped that touch?

For a moment, he could imagine it. For a moment, he could see Lois where Diana was now, see her proud, laughing eyes as she flew beside him, see the sparkle of her wit grow only deeper and more pointed as they moved through the years, her fingers tracing the faint touch of grey in his hair decades down the line, when even Kryptonian biology started to fail. He could see her, unbowed, untouched, laughing as the day they met. His Lois.

And then it faded. The vision fled, Lois disappearing back into his memory with a murmur of reproach, and it was Diana at his side once more, concern in her eyes as she reached out to him, as she pulled him unprotesting into her powerful embrace, gentle and forgiving. Diana, his friend, who whispered softly to him, who shared his grief, who would have mourned with him for no other reason than that she was his friend, but this was more than that. Though they had barely known each other, Diana had respected Lois.

"She is happy, Clark," Diana whispered. "She was strong and proud, and as much a warrior in her way as any of my people. The gods will reward her for that." And she smiled a little, a faint glimmer in her eye that showed how much she had really understood the other woman, and added: "I do not think they will have much choice."

He laughed. Despite the tears, despite the pain in his heart, he laughed for her. For Diana. For Lois. Because she was right. Wherever she was, whatever she was doing, Lois was strong. Unbowed if not untouched, and not even Time, not even Death, could destroy the majesty that was Lois Lane. He could remember that. No matter what happened, no matter how far away she seemed over the years to come, he could remember that, and be happy. Not even Time could beat Lois.

Diana looked at him, at the peace that slipped into his eyes at the thought, at the realisation, and smiled. Deep and true, holding him close like a brother. "Come, Clark," she whispered, supporting him as they drifted, nodding towards the friends and family that waited atop the Planet building. "Let's go home."

And he nodded, feeling Lois' laughter in every motion, feeling her wry prompt in the very air around him. "Yes," he said. "Let's go home."

Comments

[senmut]

Awww.

Kal...Diana....

Sweet!

[icarus_chained]

Heh. I thought it went a little maudlin, but thank you!