How to Thrive

Title: How to Thrive
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Chlex, hints at past Chlark and Clana
Spoilers/Timeline: Post-Series
Disclaimer: I own very little, certainly not these characters. Please don’t sue!
Author’s Notes: So this may not be what I’m rooting for, but I haven’t been able to get this picture out of my head since certain sidekick comments were posted and retracted. I’m hoping this ficlet will satisfy the evil bunnies in my head for a while.

--
“Think carefully before asking for justice. Mercy might be safer.”
- Mason Cooley
--

It’s a cold universe. It doesn’t care about spoiled little rich boys or perfect small town princesses or lost sons. It certainly doesn’t care about little girls who dreamed big and lost everything, even themselves, somewhere along the way.

She understands loss. She’s been stung by it so many times she’s immune by now, so the loss of comprehension in his eyes doesn’t touch her. Of course he can’t understand.

For Clark Kent, the world is black and white; good and evil. He never could appreciate the grays.

She always did.

As a girl, she humored him because, like his power, his innocence was rare and worth protecting.

That doesn’t stop her from opening the box.

She lost one too many hopes to this - to him - over the years. He never broke her on purpose, and there is no malice in her vengeance. It’s a matter of survival, and she’s thrown in her lot.

He just chose the wrong side.

Clark gasps, and falls back on the crimson cape that’s a fitting tribute to his friend-cum-foe’s childhood obsession. She’s not entirely sure whether the gaping has more to do with the kryptonite in her hand or his first real look in her eyes.

“Chloe…” It’s a horrified whisper, and she can’t hide the smirk.

It’s funny, really. A year into his private war, and he’s only now noticed her. She’s been here all along, helping from the shadows since the day he returned from his training. This is just the first time she’s been forced to reveal herself.

She and Lex are…complicated. They’re both beyond saving, and they know it. It isn’t love, but it’s more than survival.

He gives her something she lost by the pint long ago - a drop of her soul spilled in the woods after a storm, another on a football field. So many over the years that she bled dry before she ever understood what was happening.

After the worst of it - after the passion and the love and the tears and the guilt; after Lana came back and showed her who was important and who was unworthy, it was Lex who picked her up.

She holds no illusions. Knows he did it for selfish reasons. She had her own, after all.

None of that matters.

It was Lex who helped her put the jagged pieces of her soul back together. Into something that wasn’t quite recognizable, but was close enough to resemble humanity. He taught her more than just survival. He taught her how to thrive in the darkness she was cast into.

Clark Kent broke her. She can’t miss the irony that it was Lex Luthor who granted her “Mercy.”

She says it out loud and nods an introduction of sorts to the man who could never grant her that particular kindness.

He blinks.

She lays the stone on his chest with a steady hand and no regrets before dragging Lex toward the helicopter. Her eyes never leave Clark’s. He’s so confused, and the pain etched in his features is as much emotional as it is physical.

She wants to find comfort in the anguish. She can’t, but she will not choke on her own heartache. She’s better than that. More.

She doesn’t just survive like the ghost of a girl she was.

Mercy Graves thrives.

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End