kidnapped by Demons: the rescue

[slayers_desire]

after finding Clark Kent in the Nexus, the Lister demon returned to the castle in the Black Forest Mountains, guiding the hero to a servant entrance. It was out of the way, and notice of the dozens of The Scourge soldiers on parade in the main square.

Once inside the castle, the Lister demon took Clark to the kitchen, where other Lister demon servants were working hard at a feast.

From the kitchen, the Lister demon opened a dumbwaiter and gestured to Clark to get in. "This will take you to the dungeon. Where Miss April is being kept."

Comments

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

He doesn't quite pick up on the nuance, knowing that there's something else in what she's saying, just not what. "Of course."

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

Wrapping her arms around his neck, April let the buoyancy of the water just let her float at his reach. "And I would wait for you."

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

And now he gets it. "Oh."

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

Never had so much, and so little been said in one word. April places a soft kiss to his forehead, then letting go of one arm just floats in the water.

"Is looking up to the clouds the same as looking down at the ocean?"

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

He drifts next to her, cheating a little bit to stay afloat so easily rather than let his higher density drag him down. "Not really. When you're down here, looking up, the clouds are just big balls of fluff, and even when it's overcast it looks like a fuzzy cotton blanket. But when you're up there, looking down at the ocean, it's one big smooth blue surface like a polished marble, looking so solid you'd think you can walk on it." He's only seen the world from that high up once, and even though the context of the memory is not a pleasant one, the view of the Earth that he gained still stuns him to think about it.

If April's clairvoyance is working at the moment, she may catch a brief glimpse of Clark, clinging to the side of a nuclear rocket as it launches clean out of the Earth's atmosphere and into the dark canopy of space. Something that hasn't happened yet. But it will soon.

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

"I bet that with your abilities that you could walk on water." April smiled over at him. The small talk helped divert away from the slight awkwardness that had occured.

Then her gift takes her. It catches her so suddenly, that for a moment she almost sinks under the water as she forgets to float. And in the embrace of the watery depths, she can almost feel how Clark would in space.

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"I tried running across Crater Lake once. Fell in halfway through and scared a bunch of fish," he says with a laugh.

His amusement drops away when he sees her eyes unfocus, and he sits up a little in the water, concerned. And reaches out a hand to keep her afloat. "What is it?"

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

"Destiny." April is not quite fond of that word right now. It had been bad enough since she still didn't understand how her destiny could make her go through something so difficult. And now Clark's destiny has interrupted a special moment.

She balances herself. "You clinging to a rocket of some time. Being sent into space."

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

Clark is none too fond of destiny right now, either. And much as he wants to know what it is, why he's hanging onto a rocket of all things, he chooses to focus on the positive aspect of this instead. "Your abilities are coming back?" He's focused on her healing, not on his future events.

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

"Yes. I guess they are." April sense his attempt to be positive. Then chuckles, "Okay I know they are."

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"Good." He's not letting himself think about anything else. No rocket, no destiny, no how. She is getting better, and that's all that matters. Her hair is too wet to run his fingers through, so he strokes her cheek instead.

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

"Making your mind go blank is not helping me ensure I am completely and 100 per cent better." April softly teased him. Closing her eyes to the gentle caress of his hand on her cheek.

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"What should I think about to help you heal, then?" He says it in that same sort of teasing tone, but at the core there's a kernel of sincerity. His thoughts flit across a dozen topics in the blink of an eye, and he settles on none of them.

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

"Something nice. Something that is just for you and me and has nothing to do with either of our destinies." April returns her arm around his neck.

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

Clark thinks about it for a moment, then settles on the memory of the day they sat on top of the windmill in Chandler's field, looking out over the town and the miles and miles of farmland around and beyond. "How about the past?"

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

"I always cherish the past that you and I created." April senses the memory that he had chosen. And smiles.

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

Clark wraps his arms around her, floating in the water together, looking up at the sky. "I wonder how it is you can read my mind and other people can't." He's not upset by it - never that - but very curious. Whether she's just naturally attuned to him, or whether it's a random, special fluke of their natures.

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

Floating in his arms, feeling the water below her, and visualizing the scenery of Kansa in her mind sets her at ease. It completely erases any lingering thoughts of her time in Germany.

"Psychics normally can't touch your mind?"

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"Not most of the ones I've met so far. There was this kid I knew, Ryan. He was like the kid brother I never had. He was always reading people's thoughts and couldn't always block them out. He liked being with me because it was quiet, peaceful." There's a faint undertone of sadness - grief - under his words, but an overall fondness of the boy.

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

The grief from Clark is familiar, like the one she felt when he mourned Alicia. "Oh Clark, I'm sorry."

"It could just be the power of my abilities, in comparing mine to his. It sounds like he had no control. While I do. And touching a person's mind is not all I do. It is also sensing your emotions from your aura."

"And sometimes I know I can do more. So much untapped."

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

Clark's grief for Ryan is not one for an enemy, but one for a dear friend. But it hurts all the same. "It's okay. We did everything we could to help him, but the brain tumor wasn't operable." Ryan, at least, died with what dignity he had, with those people who loved him at his side. And Clark, the beacon of blankness, soothing in his silence. His own personal Warrior Angel.

"It could be an issue of power," he agrees. "He was really young. Maybe he would've grown stronger as he got older. Is that how it's worked for you?"

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

"I first experiences my gifts at 16 years, and they have grown stronger in the last two years or so. So I would imagine so."

"I am not the strongest psychic I know. So your mind might not be totally safe from others." April cautioned him.

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

It's good to know that now, instead of assuming his mind is as invulnerable as his body. "Are there ways to protect myself? From attack, or casual reading from people I don't want in." There's an implicit sense that he doesn't mean keeping her out.

[slayers-desire.livejournal.com]

"I can teach you how to create psychic walls in your mind."

[kalel-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

He smiles, touching the curve of her jaw with his fingers. "You teach me so much." So many things that he's integrated into his trained consciousness. Pressure points, fighting stances, throws, feints, and now psychic shielding. Things that have helped him end fights quicker, with less damage or injury to his opponents.