Fic-ish

[rivkat]

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A long time ago, I asked for timestamp or DVD commentary requests, and percysowner asked for a coda to Ruat Caelum (now at the new version of my site). I have been thinking about this for a while, and I can say what happens but I can’t exactly write it. percysowner asked: “Did Clark manage to tame Lex and keep him, or did Lex break free? I always thought both Clark and Lex were such messed up control freaks in that and I wasn't sure that Clark's blithe assumption that if he had enough time Lex would cave was right.”

Clark won. They are both messed up control freaks, that’s for sure, but with Lex locked up and unable to interact with other people, he had nothing to push against but Clark, and Clark had the rest of the world to keep him stable. After a few months, Clark’s prediction was proved right: enough people developed an interest in not having Lex around that the rest of the world pretty much gave up on getting him back. Lex saw the world going on around him and it hurt. He couldn’t stand being disposable and he certainly couldn’t stand being uninfluential, even if it had to be by proxy, so he did the scientific work that Clark brought him. And it was extremely comforting to be praised by Clark for his successes, even if he understood that he was being trained. He’d always been tempted to make Clark his whole world, and now it was true.

It took Clark a while to realize that he had done what Lionel had never managed: he’d broken Lex to harness. Lex was still brilliant, charming, and perceptive, but the fire was out. He was—or he seemed—happy, and sometimes that was the worst part of all for Clark. Clark thought he might be able to bring the real Lex back out, but that would require not just loosing Lex on the world but using all Clark’s own powers in Lex’s service. So this was his penance: to come back to Lex at the end of each day and have all of Lex’s attention, but not because Lex had chosen that.

Comments

[percysowner.livejournal.com]

I find that a credible and incredibly tragic ending for the story. Thank you for fleshing it out.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for prodding me to do so!