Destiny

Clark/Chloe futurefic, angst
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.

"I love you, Clark." She clung to him. "Don't leave me."

Clark Kent wrapped his arms around his longtime girlfriend Chloe Sullivan, holding her more tightly. They stood together on a quiet corner in Metropolis, just outside a pool of golden light shed by a streetlight. A light drizzle of rain fell, wetting the sidewalks, but neither of them noticed.

He held her against his chest and spoke into her hair, his voice muffled. "I don't want to leave you again, Chlo. I mean, I just came back. But Jor-El has this crazy idea that you're not my destiny. He says... he says I have to let you go."

"No." She dug her fingers into his jacket and clutched him more fiercely than ever. "Don't do it. I don't care what he says. Don't let me go."

"I won't. I won't ever let you go. Jor-El can't make me do anything I don't want to do." He growled savagely under his breath. "I don't know why he can't leave me alone, damn it. It's not like I'm fighting my destiny any more. I did all the training he asked me to do. I'm ready to start helping people. But I want you by my side when I do it."

"And I want to be by your side," she whispered, her face against his shoulder. "I waited for you, Clark. I waited for two years."

"I know. And I'm not leaving you, damn it. Jor-El told me to kiss you goodbye." He caught her hair, pulling her head back, and stared into her eyes, trying to convey the depth of his feelings to her with the intensity of his gaze. "But this isn't goodbye, Chlo. It's forever."

He lowered his head and kissed her, fiercely, claiming her mouth with his own, in a kiss that proclaimed that she was his, for always.

At last he raised his head and looked into her eyes. She stared back.

"Who are you?" she asked.

He remembered Jor-El's deep, solemn voice telling him to kiss her goodbye, and panic struck him as he realized the AI had tricked him.

Somehow, through Clark, Jor-El had erased Chloe's memories of their relationship.

No, he thought frantically. She can't have forgotten everything. She can't have forgotten me.

"Chloe," he whispered, his voice soft but desperate. "It's me. Clark."

She stepped out of the circle of his arms, looked up at him, and smiled vaguely. "Hi. I'm Chloe Sullivan."

Horror filled him. He'd been friends with Chloe since middle school, had been in love with her for the past four years, had spent the last two years alone in an icy fortress in the Arctic, longing for her, while she remained in Metropolis and longed for him.

And now she had no idea who he was.

"No." His voice quavered. "He can't do this to us."

She gazed at him, tilting her head as if his words puzzled her. "Who?"

He closed his eyes, feeling tears burning his eyelids, remembering Jor-El's implacable words, spoken in a deep, serious voice. I am sorry, my son. But she is not your destiny.

"Damn it," he whispered, and then his voice rose in anger at the unfairness of it. "Damn it! No!"

But she only stared at him, looking a little worried, and he began to realize that fighting it was useless. Jor-El had somehow simply erased every bit of history between him and Chloe.

Everything they had been to each other, everything they'd ever done together, all the years they'd spent as friends and lovers... as far as she was concerned, it was all gone.

He'd lost the woman he loved most, simply because a machine was certain it knew his destiny, and thus wouldn't let him find his destiny on his own.

Chloe blinked at him, obviously puzzled by his angry outburst. She offered him a distant, courteous smile, the sort of cautious smile a woman might offer a stranger she encountered on the dark streets of the city. Then she turned her back on him and began walking away.

He stood frozen in place, watching as she strode away. He wanted to run after her, to beg her to remember everything they'd been to each other, to somehow make her remember.

But he knew he couldn't do that. He had no way of restoring her memories, and after two years spent in the Fortress, he knew Jor-El well enough to know the AI wouldn't back down on this.

He'd lost her.

He stood there in the rain, watching her as she walked away from him. The drizzle turned to a downpour, plastering his hair to his head, drenching him, and still he didn't move.

He stood watching until she was out of sight.

And then, slowly and reluctantly, he turned toward whatever destiny awaited him... without her by his side.

-The End-