Fic: Fate of Awakening Love
Series Title: Love Stoned
Part 1: Fate of Awakening Love
Disclaimer: Superman and Batman belong to DC Comics, not me.
Pairing: Bruce and Clark as friends
Rating: PG-13
Notes: This was written for the World’s Finest Gift Exchange! Hope the requester likes it! Keep in mind this is the first of a three part series, and turned a little more serious than I intended. This fic is also un-betaed, so I apologize ahead of time for any grammar or spelling mistakes.
Prompt F05: Superman and Batman (or Clark and Bruce) find themselves thrown backwards in time to a historical period you find fun and interesting.
Summary: When Superman wished for a vacation, he didn’t realize it would come true in the form of time travel.
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It was a typical-scratch that-it was not a typical day on the Watch Tower, because so far there had not been an emergency Superman was needed for. That alone put him on edge, and kept him in the monitor room pacing in anticipation for when some disaster would occur.
“What is it?” Batman suddenly asked. He was also in the room, and had tried to enjoy the silence, but his friend’s pacing was too hard to ignore.
Superman stopped to look at his friend, and decided to just be frank, “It’s too peaceful.”
“Mm, you have a point,” the Dark Knight replied, and began typing away furiously on the computer for any recent break-outs.
Clark smiled at his friend’s turned back. If it had been anyone else, they would’ve asked why wasn’t he enjoying the peace and quiet or why was he being a cynic like the man before him.
It wasn’t that he was being cynical, he just knew better than to trust the absolute calm to stay that way. Things always had a habit of changing, especially for him. And it wasn’t just world disasters or villains attacking. Sometimes, sometimes it was something much worse.
His dad had died on a peaceful day. Meanwhile, he had been on his first date with Lois. Needless to say that put a damper on the event, and indirectly led to the end of their relationship.
Now Clark wasn’t usually the type to believe so strongly in karma, yin and yang, or seeing signs, but after Jonathon’s death, Clark did a lot of thinking about them. He already knew and had come to accept that evil had to exist in order to balance out the good in the world, but he had not realized this balance of force was a cycle performed every single day until he observed it for himself.
And since the day so far had been so calm, he just knew something big was going to happen.
“Fortunately, or unfortunately, none of our rogues are out and about,” Batman finally said.
“Is it wrong of me to wish for an earthquake?” Superman replied back, trying to be humorous.
“Depends on your reason. Are you bored?”
“With you here to banter with? No, it’s just a full day with nothing bad happening is impossible for me.”
“What about all those dates with Lois?”
“We only completed about three dates, the rest were ruined by my rogues, her skipping out on it for a story, or me needing to be somewhere else,” Superman explained vaguely.
“Mm, sounds like you need a vacation.”
Snorting, the Kryptonian replied, “I wish I could have a vacation, but no matter what, something always comes up.”
“If it’s your rogues you’re worried about I can easily assign others to handle them, and John can handle any earth disasters.”
“I know that, but still there are some things I have to handle. Besides, why should I leave you here when we both know you work just as hard as I do?”
“I don’t do vacations,” Batman said curtly.
“And that is exactly why I won’t,” Superman replied smugly and sat next to his friend.
There was a brief pause before the Dark Knight asked, “So no vacations for Superman?”
“Not unless Batman’s there too.”
“Aw, that’ll make the trip even better!” a new voice suddenly exclaimed.
Both men quickly turned to where the sound came from and found to their shock Mxyzptlk floating about in the room.
Superman made a quick dash for him, but as always the little imp disappeared just in time and then reappeared on the monitor screens.
“Tsk, tsk, is that any way to treat the one who’s giving you a vacation?” Mxyzptlk said before teleporting them out of the Watch Tower.
The two heroes suddenly found themselves in what appeared to be New Zealand or some place similar.
“Mxyzptlk, where have you taken us?!” Superman demanded.
“To a time when things were simple, the strong and noble were rewarded for good deeds, and where the fate of your awakening love shall blossom!”
With that, Mxyzptlk was gone, leaving behind one confused, if not worried, Kryptonian.
“I take it we’ve been sent back in time,” Bruce said more than asked.
About to reply, Clark stopped as he finally noticed their uniforms had been changed into some sort of medieval garb. Both wore matching navy blue tunics with beige pants and shirts underneath, and each seemed to have a sheath with a missing sword. But Bruce had a silvery dragon embroidered on the front flap of his tunic, as well as a black cape. Clark on the other hand had a gold phoenix on his flap, and a red cape.
Bruce started to feel a little uncomfortable with the intense scrutiny his friend was now giving him, and also began to worry about the last part the imp had said to them. He already figured Mxyzptlk wanted them to perform according to their surroundings, and the two of them would most likely have to find the missing swords to their sheaths. Yet when he said ‘awakening love,’ did he really mean…?
Suddenly they heard the distinct sound of horsemen approaching them, and fast. There was no place to run and hide though, since they were surrounded by fields of flat grass and stone.
“Do they look like a threat?” Bruce asked as Clark stared off into the distance.
“They appear to be thieves or raiders, and they look drunk with victory.”
“Ah, should be easy to take them down then.”
“Yeah, and then we can return them to the village they had attacked,” Clark replied, looking further away.
“And thus begin our little ‘vacation.’ Fantastic.”
“Aw, come on. A little time away from home will do you good.”
“You’re secretly enjoying this whole ordeal, aren’t you?”
Clark didn’t reply as the horsemen were now in front of them slightly confused at the sight of them.
“And what do we have here?” one of the five brutes asked no one in particular.
“Looks like some noblemen lost their way!” another said as explanation.
“Maybe we should help them?”
“Nah! Lets just take their silken robes!”
Bruce and Clark looked to each other and grinned.
Some time later, they arrived at the village Clark had seen earlier, and had their horses carefully walk on through till someone approached them.
“Did these men attack your village?” Clark asked indicating the men they had tied on the three horses he and Bruce didn’t use.
“Yes, and we graciously thank you for bringing them along with our stolen goods, but would you please, tell us your names?”
“This is Kal from the house of El, and I am Bruce from the house of Wayne,” Bruce stated, and took note of the stunned expressions on some of the villagers’ faces.
“My, then it is as I had thought,” the man said mainly to himself.
“Is there a problem,” the Kryptonian questioned, and wondered briefly why Bruce used Kal and not Clark.
“No, that is not it at all. We’ve just been expecting you. If you would please, follow me.”
Kal was slightly worried, but one look at Bruce told him to just go along with it. So the two of them dismounted, left the villagers to handle the horses and thieves, and followed the old man to what appeared to be the largest house.
Once inside, an elderly woman who appeared to be the man’s wife threw some sort of dust on them, but it wasn’t until it started to glow that Kal realized it was magic, and quickly dusted it off.
“Ah it glows!! They are the ones we were told of!” she exclaimed and wondered to a cupboard to pick up a few ingredients.
“Sir, would you please explain what you are talking about,” Bruce asked almost in full Bat mode. Yet the villager seemed unaffected by his voice and merely took them to a painting on the wall.
Most of the painting was of a large black dragon, but on the bottom corners were two men who appeared to be attacking it. They weren’t detailed, in fact the only thing distinguishable about the figures was the colors of their clothes, but it was obviously Bruce and Kal in the picture. And they each held a blazing sword; one of ice and one of fire.
“A very powerful wizard had told us you would arrive here, and that you would be the ones to destroy this cursed dragon from terrorizing our home. But it will not be possible without your swords, which you do not have at this time.”
“Do you know how we can find these swords?” Bruce asked, wondering along with Kal what the hell Mxyzptlk had been thinking sending them here to do this.
Who sends someone to kill a dragon for a vacation?
The man, who still hadn’t given his name, gestured towards the woman who was stirring something up in a large black pot and explained, “My wife is conjuring up the spell that will show you the location of the first sword. The Sword of the Red Pheasant.”
Both heroes were then left to wait, as it took her a while to create the spell. They took this time to discuss a few things in private.
“Why’d you tell them my name was Kal? Why not Clark?”
“Kal sounds more medieval,” Bruce admitted with a slight smirk.
“Now look who’s secretly enjoying this.”
“You were the one who said it was too peaceful.”
“I’m just grateful this is all we have to deal with today and not something worse.”
“Are you saying this is easy?”
“Yeah, remember last time he turned us into women?”
“Mm, that was a little awkward, especially around Wally.”
“Well you do make a very attractive woman.”
“Thanks…I guess.”
Kal smiled and was about to tease more when they heard a loud roaring outside. Both of them rushed out to see everyone running around in a panic as well as some of the houses burning.
“It’s the dragon!! Run for your lives!!”
It was then they saw the huge black dragon in the sky. The creature itself looked thin, with very thick black scales, red eyes, claws up to four feet long, and what appeared to be Kryptonite protecting its most vulnerable spot.
“You just had to say it would be easy.”
Cursing, Kal did his best to put out the fires the dragon was causing, as well as shoo it away with a little heat vision. This left Bruce to deal with crowd control.
Thankfully the ordeal didn’t last too long as the beast found the heat beams annoying enough to leave. The villagers then became overjoyed that none had been taken this day, and started to praise the two heroes by offering food, clothing, and some their daughters’ hand.
“Sir Kal! Sir Bruce! We have found the location of the first sword,” the man from before yelled.
“I’ll get that, you handle these people,” Bruce said quickly leaving his friend to deal with the crowd.
“That bastard,” Kal muttered before turning his attention back to the crowd.
Back inside the cobblestone abode, Bruce was led toward the brewing pot and saw within it an image of an active volcano. Of course, it made sense that the flaming sword would be in a volcano.
Repressing his frustration, he said, “Do you know of this location?”
“Yes, on horseback it is a two day ride from here. I shall retrieve a map to help you find it,” the man said and slowly wondered off to do so.
That squashed what little hope Bruce had of getting through this whole ordeal within a day’s time, especially since they couldn’t risk Kal flying in the air. The dragon could attack, and with what bit of Kryptonite it had, it could weaken him into falling and killing them both. Then again he could always run…
“Bruce?” Kal asked getting inside.
“Is there any chance that you’ll use your powers to get to the volcano that has your sword and come back here within the hour, thus letting us leave here that much sooner?”
“You know I would if it weren’t for the fact that Mxyzptlk is probably watching us and will not enjoy me using my powers to get us out of here faster. So if I were to try and use them he’d most likely throw as many monsters as he could at me until I was too exhausted and you’d have to come and rescue me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m as sure as that as I am that that nameless old man is really Mxyzptlk.”
“I am not! I’m Kltpzyxm!” said old man exclaimed, gasped at his blunder, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
“You idiot! Now he’ll be gone for three months!” Bruce exclaimed.
“You mean he can’t interfere with our mission for three months. It’s not going to take us that long to get our swords and defeat the dragon.”
“That’s assuming quite a lot, Kent.”
“Hey, it’s Kal, stick to the name you chose for me.”
“Just shut up and let’s get our horses and supplies,” Bruce growled, heading out of the house, and scaring a few villagers.
“Um, you go do that Bruce! I’m gonna find where the second sword is!” Kal yelled in response, and smiled nervously at the old woman who was still next to her cauldron.
“It must take a very brave man to love a person as scary as a dragon,” she stated blankly.
“You have no idea,” he said before fully comprehending what she had really said. And once he did, he felt like slapping himself.
He forgot about his little slip up though, and instead patiently waited for the brew to show the next location, which turned out to be a snowy mountain. Of course an ice sword would be in a mountainous, snowy cave.
But before leaving the elderly woman-who he finally found out was named Aubrey-he asked, “Is there anything else we should know about these swords?”
“Only you can handle the Sword of the Pheasant, and only he can handle the Sword of Drake. And they are powered by your emotions,” Aubrey explained.
“Great, thank you,” he replied, and left to see Bruce waiting outside for him already on his horse.
“Wow, that was really fast,” Kal said nervously noting his friend’s glare.
Bruce merely grunted in response, and waited for Kal to lead the way towards their first destination.
“God speed to you and your lover,” Aubrey said as they started to leave.
“What?” Bruce asked stunned.
“Nothing! Let’s get going!” Kal shouted as he raced away.
Despite the very beginning of their trip, which involved Bruce glaring daggers at Kal’s back, the two men actually found it relaxing to just ride on towards their intended destination. Kal was able to hear if any danger was coming near them and see that they were going in the right direction.
They rode late into the night, but eventually they had to stop and let themselves and their horses rest. Kal then set up camp before Bruce could order him to.
Bruce, meanwhile, wanted to ask about the lovers comment the old woman had made, but at the same time he didn’t, because it would imply it bothered him. What if Kal wanted them to be lovers? Or did he just say it as an excuse so the village girls would leave them alone? The fact was, the comment did bother Bruce, but not in an offensive way.
Instead it really confused him, and made him even more worried about the comment Mxyzptlk had made about awakening love blossoming at the end of this ordeal. If it was to occur between them, then there was obviously something about Kal he was missing.
“Is something wrong?” Kal asked, breaking his thoughts. He couldn’t help but notice his friend’s heart rate change.
“We’re stuck in the past, and we have to kill a dragon,” Bruce half-lied. Those really weren’t his concern, but they were issues they had to deal with, and he refused to discuss what was really bothering him.
“Well, knowing Mxyzptlk, by the end of this we’ll be sent right back to the second we left. As for the dragon? I figure I could just toss you onto it so you can get rid of its Kryptonite shielding and then we can both destroy it,” Kal explained as he went about making a small campfire.
“That’s your plan? To toss me? What am I, some toy?”
“Sorry, that’s just the best plan I can come up with right now.”
“And that’s why I make the plans.”
“Alright, what’s really bothering you?”
“Why should something be bothering me?”
“You’re being snippy like a little housewife.”
The two of them were then staring each other off, daring the other to look away.
Bruce turned away first, and said, “I’m going to bed.”
Kal watched his friend leave, and felt himself too angry to sleep, so he decided to keep watch for the night.
It frustrated him to no end when Bruce got this way and refused to admit he was upset about something. Kal figured it had something to do with what Aubrey said, but he knew better than to press the matter further since it would only aggravate his friend even more. So instead he’d have to wait till Bruce finally decided to talk about it.
“Some vacation,” he said to himself.
The rest of their trip to the volcano was quiet, with the occasional stop to eat or relieve themselves, but thankfully they got close enough to it by sunset.
“Alright, from here I’m going to go on my own to get the sword. I trust you’ll be fine till I get back,” Kal explained, not looking at Bruce. He was still a little peeved at his friend.
About to take off, the Kryptonian suddenly stopped as he heard, “Be careful.”
He smiled back and nodded, and then shouted as he finally flew away, “Don’t get lonely!”
Bruce grumbled at that and went about setting up camp this time. He needed to do something to keep his mind busy. Thoughts of Kal and love kept creeping into his thoughts though.
It didn’t take too long to reach the volcano, and with x-ray vision it was easy to spot the sword embedded in stone inside one of the caverns. Kal was still cautious upon retrieving it though, because there was no telling whether or not the little imp had left a trap for him.
At first nothing happened when he grasped the hilt, and so he allowed himself to sigh in relief, that was until he heard more than saw something try and sneak up on Bruce. Gasping, he quickly flew out of the volcano’s cavern and towards the place he left his friend. But found he was too late.
A large black wolf, with eyes as red as blood, had already succeeded in killing one of their horses, and had injured Bruce’s arm.
It would not do further damage, because without thought, Kal killed the beast with one swift stroke of his sword. The creature then seemed to burst into flames, as the sword continued to glow, and eventually went out as the Kryptonian calmed down.
“…they are powered by your emotions,” he remembered Aubrey saying. And Kal found himself not wanting to look too deeply into what he had felt just then. Instead, he sheathed his sword and went over to Bruce to help bandage up his left arm.
“I’m…I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner.”
“Could’ve been worse. How did you get that sword to work?”
Kal hesitated before admitting, “The swords are powered by our feelings. The stronger we feel, the stronger the strike.”
Bruce didn’t know what to say to that, and he along with Kal decided not to speak further on the subject. Mxyzptlk’s as well as Aubrey’s words were now bothering them both.
After dressing Bruce’s wound, Kal went after the other horse and they repacked the tent. They decided it would be best to just continue on to the Sword of Drake’s location through the night.
Surprisingly Bruce did not complain about having to hold onto Kal’s waist as they shared the saddle, but he refused to admit to have drifted off in the middle of the ride. The Kryptonian just shook his head knowing what having his shoulder used as a pillow felt like, and kept the horse at a slow and careful pace so Bruce could sleep more.
The mountain they were headed towards was further north of the volcano, and took them a total of three days to get to. Once there, they let the horse go on its way, and continued their trek up by foot.
At least they intended to, but Kal thought it was too cold and windy for Bruce to handle and so he flew them into a cavern that he believed would lead them to the sword. And then he led the way through the various tunnels inside the mountain.
“Kal, why’d you break up with Lois?” Bruce suddenly asked.
“What?”
“Why did you break up with Lois?”
“It just didn’t work out,” Kal said vaguely, not seeing what this had to do with anything.
“There’s more to it than that and you know it.”
“Why are you suddenly interested in this?”
“Why do you believe you can never have a good day?”
“Because I just can’t okay? It’s just how the world works. Everyday something bad has to happen in order to balance out the good.”
“What happened to make you believe that crap?”
“My Pa died that’s what!” Kal shouted and was stunned at his own admission.
Bruce was equally as shocked, and quickly tried to remember what Clark had been doing that day his dad died of a heart attack. When he did, he waited for his friend to calm down somewhat before questioning further.
“It was on your first date with Lois, wasn’t it?”
“…yes.”
“And that’s why you were really hoping for that earthquake?”
“Yes.”
“It’s also why you’ve been afraid all this time to be happy.”
“No, that’s you.”
“No, it’s us both.”
“Look Bruce, I understand that when you’re upset you don’t really like being forced to talk about it, so I wait, but do you really have to do everything within your power to piss me off?!”
“I’m not trying to piss you off I’m just trying to figure out something.”
“Well what the hell are you trying to figure out?!”
Bruce was about to respond when a loud, familiar roar was heard throughout the cave they were in. Apparently they were in the dragon’s home, and they had woken it up when they were shouting.
Doing a quick scan, Kal located the dragon and cursed at the fact that it surrounded the sword they needed to kill it.
“The damn dragon’s guarding the sword.”
“Use your heat-ray vision to lure it outside. Try and keep a safe distance from it till I get out with my sword,” Bruce ordered.
The Kryptonian nodded, and flew further in to greet the beast. Indeed, it was easy to get its attention and have it chase him, but staying a safe distance from the Kryptonite on its chest proved to be harder. In fact he barely made it out of the cave’s entrance before he felt the dragon snap its jaws near his feet.
Inside, Bruce rushed into the abandoned lair and yanked the Sword of Drake from the rock it impaled. He had to hurry, because there was no telling how long Kal could last before the Kryptonite got to him. And there was no chance in hell that Bruce would let him die just because he was too slow to leave a cave.
As he did so, he tried his best to let go and allow his feelings to consume him since that was what powered the sword.
He wasn’t surprised when the first wave of ice that emitted from his weapon froze nearly all of the dragon’s tail. He just grew frustrated that he was still repressing and that he had missed its vulnerable spot.
Crashing more than landing nearby Bruce’s location, Kal felt a wave of pride as he knew the man wouldn’t miss a second time.
The dragon didn’t really stand a chance as both men allowed the feelings within them to power their strikes. Though it did take quite a few since neither acknowledged it was love they were specifically feeling.
In the end, the creature was defeated, and each man was smiling from both victory and final acceptance of their love for the other. Sadly, before they could admit out loud how they felt, they suddenly found themselves back in the Watch Tower.
“Hey Bats! Hey Supes! Ready to switch? Whoa! Cool swords!” Flash said in a rush as he entered to take over monitor duty. John and Diana were also behind him.
Batman promptly left, and in a hurry, his heart rate being the only thing to betray him.
“Did we miss something?” Diana asked, worried they had had a fight.
“Just Mxyzptlk and a time trip,” Superman replied.
He privately wondered why it took him so long to realize he was in love with Bruce.
Batman wondered how long it would be before Clark realized that he loved him too.
-To be continued
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I'll admit I stressed over this, (like I had 4 stress attacks), because I wanted it done today, which is the deadline to receive prizes, (and I wanted to get at least one prize). And despite my desire for this fic to be fun and interesting, it instead turned into...I don't know, but it wasn't fun. I can only hope the one who requested this prompt enjoys the fic. I'm gonna try and see if I can finish the other two fics today, but it's a doubt. I have some strange muses controlling my writing right now.
Part 1: Fate of Awakening Love
Disclaimer: Superman and Batman belong to DC Comics, not me.
Pairing: Bruce and Clark as friends
Rating: PG-13
Notes: This was written for the World’s Finest Gift Exchange! Hope the requester likes it! Keep in mind this is the first of a three part series, and turned a little more serious than I intended. This fic is also un-betaed, so I apologize ahead of time for any grammar or spelling mistakes.
Prompt F05: Superman and Batman (or Clark and Bruce) find themselves thrown backwards in time to a historical period you find fun and interesting.
Summary: When Superman wished for a vacation, he didn’t realize it would come true in the form of time travel.
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It was a typical-scratch that-it was not a typical day on the Watch Tower, because so far there had not been an emergency Superman was needed for. That alone put him on edge, and kept him in the monitor room pacing in anticipation for when some disaster would occur.
“What is it?” Batman suddenly asked. He was also in the room, and had tried to enjoy the silence, but his friend’s pacing was too hard to ignore.
Superman stopped to look at his friend, and decided to just be frank, “It’s too peaceful.”
“Mm, you have a point,” the Dark Knight replied, and began typing away furiously on the computer for any recent break-outs.
Clark smiled at his friend’s turned back. If it had been anyone else, they would’ve asked why wasn’t he enjoying the peace and quiet or why was he being a cynic like the man before him.
It wasn’t that he was being cynical, he just knew better than to trust the absolute calm to stay that way. Things always had a habit of changing, especially for him. And it wasn’t just world disasters or villains attacking. Sometimes, sometimes it was something much worse.
His dad had died on a peaceful day. Meanwhile, he had been on his first date with Lois. Needless to say that put a damper on the event, and indirectly led to the end of their relationship.
Now Clark wasn’t usually the type to believe so strongly in karma, yin and yang, or seeing signs, but after Jonathon’s death, Clark did a lot of thinking about them. He already knew and had come to accept that evil had to exist in order to balance out the good in the world, but he had not realized this balance of force was a cycle performed every single day until he observed it for himself.
And since the day so far had been so calm, he just knew something big was going to happen.
“Fortunately, or unfortunately, none of our rogues are out and about,” Batman finally said.
“Is it wrong of me to wish for an earthquake?” Superman replied back, trying to be humorous.
“Depends on your reason. Are you bored?”
“With you here to banter with? No, it’s just a full day with nothing bad happening is impossible for me.”
“What about all those dates with Lois?”
“We only completed about three dates, the rest were ruined by my rogues, her skipping out on it for a story, or me needing to be somewhere else,” Superman explained vaguely.
“Mm, sounds like you need a vacation.”
Snorting, the Kryptonian replied, “I wish I could have a vacation, but no matter what, something always comes up.”
“If it’s your rogues you’re worried about I can easily assign others to handle them, and John can handle any earth disasters.”
“I know that, but still there are some things I have to handle. Besides, why should I leave you here when we both know you work just as hard as I do?”
“I don’t do vacations,” Batman said curtly.
“And that is exactly why I won’t,” Superman replied smugly and sat next to his friend.
There was a brief pause before the Dark Knight asked, “So no vacations for Superman?”
“Not unless Batman’s there too.”
“Aw, that’ll make the trip even better!” a new voice suddenly exclaimed.
Both men quickly turned to where the sound came from and found to their shock Mxyzptlk floating about in the room.
Superman made a quick dash for him, but as always the little imp disappeared just in time and then reappeared on the monitor screens.
“Tsk, tsk, is that any way to treat the one who’s giving you a vacation?” Mxyzptlk said before teleporting them out of the Watch Tower.
The two heroes suddenly found themselves in what appeared to be New Zealand or some place similar.
“Mxyzptlk, where have you taken us?!” Superman demanded.
“To a time when things were simple, the strong and noble were rewarded for good deeds, and where the fate of your awakening love shall blossom!”
With that, Mxyzptlk was gone, leaving behind one confused, if not worried, Kryptonian.
“I take it we’ve been sent back in time,” Bruce said more than asked.
About to reply, Clark stopped as he finally noticed their uniforms had been changed into some sort of medieval garb. Both wore matching navy blue tunics with beige pants and shirts underneath, and each seemed to have a sheath with a missing sword. But Bruce had a silvery dragon embroidered on the front flap of his tunic, as well as a black cape. Clark on the other hand had a gold phoenix on his flap, and a red cape.
Bruce started to feel a little uncomfortable with the intense scrutiny his friend was now giving him, and also began to worry about the last part the imp had said to them. He already figured Mxyzptlk wanted them to perform according to their surroundings, and the two of them would most likely have to find the missing swords to their sheaths. Yet when he said ‘awakening love,’ did he really mean…?
Suddenly they heard the distinct sound of horsemen approaching them, and fast. There was no place to run and hide though, since they were surrounded by fields of flat grass and stone.
“Do they look like a threat?” Bruce asked as Clark stared off into the distance.
“They appear to be thieves or raiders, and they look drunk with victory.”
“Ah, should be easy to take them down then.”
“Yeah, and then we can return them to the village they had attacked,” Clark replied, looking further away.
“And thus begin our little ‘vacation.’ Fantastic.”
“Aw, come on. A little time away from home will do you good.”
“You’re secretly enjoying this whole ordeal, aren’t you?”
Clark didn’t reply as the horsemen were now in front of them slightly confused at the sight of them.
“And what do we have here?” one of the five brutes asked no one in particular.
“Looks like some noblemen lost their way!” another said as explanation.
“Maybe we should help them?”
“Nah! Lets just take their silken robes!”
Bruce and Clark looked to each other and grinned.
Some time later, they arrived at the village Clark had seen earlier, and had their horses carefully walk on through till someone approached them.
“Did these men attack your village?” Clark asked indicating the men they had tied on the three horses he and Bruce didn’t use.
“Yes, and we graciously thank you for bringing them along with our stolen goods, but would you please, tell us your names?”
“This is Kal from the house of El, and I am Bruce from the house of Wayne,” Bruce stated, and took note of the stunned expressions on some of the villagers’ faces.
“My, then it is as I had thought,” the man said mainly to himself.
“Is there a problem,” the Kryptonian questioned, and wondered briefly why Bruce used Kal and not Clark.
“No, that is not it at all. We’ve just been expecting you. If you would please, follow me.”
Kal was slightly worried, but one look at Bruce told him to just go along with it. So the two of them dismounted, left the villagers to handle the horses and thieves, and followed the old man to what appeared to be the largest house.
Once inside, an elderly woman who appeared to be the man’s wife threw some sort of dust on them, but it wasn’t until it started to glow that Kal realized it was magic, and quickly dusted it off.
“Ah it glows!! They are the ones we were told of!” she exclaimed and wondered to a cupboard to pick up a few ingredients.
“Sir, would you please explain what you are talking about,” Bruce asked almost in full Bat mode. Yet the villager seemed unaffected by his voice and merely took them to a painting on the wall.
Most of the painting was of a large black dragon, but on the bottom corners were two men who appeared to be attacking it. They weren’t detailed, in fact the only thing distinguishable about the figures was the colors of their clothes, but it was obviously Bruce and Kal in the picture. And they each held a blazing sword; one of ice and one of fire.
“A very powerful wizard had told us you would arrive here, and that you would be the ones to destroy this cursed dragon from terrorizing our home. But it will not be possible without your swords, which you do not have at this time.”
“Do you know how we can find these swords?” Bruce asked, wondering along with Kal what the hell Mxyzptlk had been thinking sending them here to do this.
Who sends someone to kill a dragon for a vacation?
The man, who still hadn’t given his name, gestured towards the woman who was stirring something up in a large black pot and explained, “My wife is conjuring up the spell that will show you the location of the first sword. The Sword of the Red Pheasant.”
Both heroes were then left to wait, as it took her a while to create the spell. They took this time to discuss a few things in private.
“Why’d you tell them my name was Kal? Why not Clark?”
“Kal sounds more medieval,” Bruce admitted with a slight smirk.
“Now look who’s secretly enjoying this.”
“You were the one who said it was too peaceful.”
“I’m just grateful this is all we have to deal with today and not something worse.”
“Are you saying this is easy?”
“Yeah, remember last time he turned us into women?”
“Mm, that was a little awkward, especially around Wally.”
“Well you do make a very attractive woman.”
“Thanks…I guess.”
Kal smiled and was about to tease more when they heard a loud roaring outside. Both of them rushed out to see everyone running around in a panic as well as some of the houses burning.
“It’s the dragon!! Run for your lives!!”
It was then they saw the huge black dragon in the sky. The creature itself looked thin, with very thick black scales, red eyes, claws up to four feet long, and what appeared to be Kryptonite protecting its most vulnerable spot.
“You just had to say it would be easy.”
Cursing, Kal did his best to put out the fires the dragon was causing, as well as shoo it away with a little heat vision. This left Bruce to deal with crowd control.
Thankfully the ordeal didn’t last too long as the beast found the heat beams annoying enough to leave. The villagers then became overjoyed that none had been taken this day, and started to praise the two heroes by offering food, clothing, and some their daughters’ hand.
“Sir Kal! Sir Bruce! We have found the location of the first sword,” the man from before yelled.
“I’ll get that, you handle these people,” Bruce said quickly leaving his friend to deal with the crowd.
“That bastard,” Kal muttered before turning his attention back to the crowd.
Back inside the cobblestone abode, Bruce was led toward the brewing pot and saw within it an image of an active volcano. Of course, it made sense that the flaming sword would be in a volcano.
Repressing his frustration, he said, “Do you know of this location?”
“Yes, on horseback it is a two day ride from here. I shall retrieve a map to help you find it,” the man said and slowly wondered off to do so.
That squashed what little hope Bruce had of getting through this whole ordeal within a day’s time, especially since they couldn’t risk Kal flying in the air. The dragon could attack, and with what bit of Kryptonite it had, it could weaken him into falling and killing them both. Then again he could always run…
“Bruce?” Kal asked getting inside.
“Is there any chance that you’ll use your powers to get to the volcano that has your sword and come back here within the hour, thus letting us leave here that much sooner?”
“You know I would if it weren’t for the fact that Mxyzptlk is probably watching us and will not enjoy me using my powers to get us out of here faster. So if I were to try and use them he’d most likely throw as many monsters as he could at me until I was too exhausted and you’d have to come and rescue me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m as sure as that as I am that that nameless old man is really Mxyzptlk.”
“I am not! I’m Kltpzyxm!” said old man exclaimed, gasped at his blunder, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
“You idiot! Now he’ll be gone for three months!” Bruce exclaimed.
“You mean he can’t interfere with our mission for three months. It’s not going to take us that long to get our swords and defeat the dragon.”
“That’s assuming quite a lot, Kent.”
“Hey, it’s Kal, stick to the name you chose for me.”
“Just shut up and let’s get our horses and supplies,” Bruce growled, heading out of the house, and scaring a few villagers.
“Um, you go do that Bruce! I’m gonna find where the second sword is!” Kal yelled in response, and smiled nervously at the old woman who was still next to her cauldron.
“It must take a very brave man to love a person as scary as a dragon,” she stated blankly.
“You have no idea,” he said before fully comprehending what she had really said. And once he did, he felt like slapping himself.
He forgot about his little slip up though, and instead patiently waited for the brew to show the next location, which turned out to be a snowy mountain. Of course an ice sword would be in a mountainous, snowy cave.
But before leaving the elderly woman-who he finally found out was named Aubrey-he asked, “Is there anything else we should know about these swords?”
“Only you can handle the Sword of the Pheasant, and only he can handle the Sword of Drake. And they are powered by your emotions,” Aubrey explained.
“Great, thank you,” he replied, and left to see Bruce waiting outside for him already on his horse.
“Wow, that was really fast,” Kal said nervously noting his friend’s glare.
Bruce merely grunted in response, and waited for Kal to lead the way towards their first destination.
“God speed to you and your lover,” Aubrey said as they started to leave.
“What?” Bruce asked stunned.
“Nothing! Let’s get going!” Kal shouted as he raced away.
Despite the very beginning of their trip, which involved Bruce glaring daggers at Kal’s back, the two men actually found it relaxing to just ride on towards their intended destination. Kal was able to hear if any danger was coming near them and see that they were going in the right direction.
They rode late into the night, but eventually they had to stop and let themselves and their horses rest. Kal then set up camp before Bruce could order him to.
Bruce, meanwhile, wanted to ask about the lovers comment the old woman had made, but at the same time he didn’t, because it would imply it bothered him. What if Kal wanted them to be lovers? Or did he just say it as an excuse so the village girls would leave them alone? The fact was, the comment did bother Bruce, but not in an offensive way.
Instead it really confused him, and made him even more worried about the comment Mxyzptlk had made about awakening love blossoming at the end of this ordeal. If it was to occur between them, then there was obviously something about Kal he was missing.
“Is something wrong?” Kal asked, breaking his thoughts. He couldn’t help but notice his friend’s heart rate change.
“We’re stuck in the past, and we have to kill a dragon,” Bruce half-lied. Those really weren’t his concern, but they were issues they had to deal with, and he refused to discuss what was really bothering him.
“Well, knowing Mxyzptlk, by the end of this we’ll be sent right back to the second we left. As for the dragon? I figure I could just toss you onto it so you can get rid of its Kryptonite shielding and then we can both destroy it,” Kal explained as he went about making a small campfire.
“That’s your plan? To toss me? What am I, some toy?”
“Sorry, that’s just the best plan I can come up with right now.”
“And that’s why I make the plans.”
“Alright, what’s really bothering you?”
“Why should something be bothering me?”
“You’re being snippy like a little housewife.”
The two of them were then staring each other off, daring the other to look away.
Bruce turned away first, and said, “I’m going to bed.”
Kal watched his friend leave, and felt himself too angry to sleep, so he decided to keep watch for the night.
It frustrated him to no end when Bruce got this way and refused to admit he was upset about something. Kal figured it had something to do with what Aubrey said, but he knew better than to press the matter further since it would only aggravate his friend even more. So instead he’d have to wait till Bruce finally decided to talk about it.
“Some vacation,” he said to himself.
The rest of their trip to the volcano was quiet, with the occasional stop to eat or relieve themselves, but thankfully they got close enough to it by sunset.
“Alright, from here I’m going to go on my own to get the sword. I trust you’ll be fine till I get back,” Kal explained, not looking at Bruce. He was still a little peeved at his friend.
About to take off, the Kryptonian suddenly stopped as he heard, “Be careful.”
He smiled back and nodded, and then shouted as he finally flew away, “Don’t get lonely!”
Bruce grumbled at that and went about setting up camp this time. He needed to do something to keep his mind busy. Thoughts of Kal and love kept creeping into his thoughts though.
It didn’t take too long to reach the volcano, and with x-ray vision it was easy to spot the sword embedded in stone inside one of the caverns. Kal was still cautious upon retrieving it though, because there was no telling whether or not the little imp had left a trap for him.
At first nothing happened when he grasped the hilt, and so he allowed himself to sigh in relief, that was until he heard more than saw something try and sneak up on Bruce. Gasping, he quickly flew out of the volcano’s cavern and towards the place he left his friend. But found he was too late.
A large black wolf, with eyes as red as blood, had already succeeded in killing one of their horses, and had injured Bruce’s arm.
It would not do further damage, because without thought, Kal killed the beast with one swift stroke of his sword. The creature then seemed to burst into flames, as the sword continued to glow, and eventually went out as the Kryptonian calmed down.
“…they are powered by your emotions,” he remembered Aubrey saying. And Kal found himself not wanting to look too deeply into what he had felt just then. Instead, he sheathed his sword and went over to Bruce to help bandage up his left arm.
“I’m…I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner.”
“Could’ve been worse. How did you get that sword to work?”
Kal hesitated before admitting, “The swords are powered by our feelings. The stronger we feel, the stronger the strike.”
Bruce didn’t know what to say to that, and he along with Kal decided not to speak further on the subject. Mxyzptlk’s as well as Aubrey’s words were now bothering them both.
After dressing Bruce’s wound, Kal went after the other horse and they repacked the tent. They decided it would be best to just continue on to the Sword of Drake’s location through the night.
Surprisingly Bruce did not complain about having to hold onto Kal’s waist as they shared the saddle, but he refused to admit to have drifted off in the middle of the ride. The Kryptonian just shook his head knowing what having his shoulder used as a pillow felt like, and kept the horse at a slow and careful pace so Bruce could sleep more.
The mountain they were headed towards was further north of the volcano, and took them a total of three days to get to. Once there, they let the horse go on its way, and continued their trek up by foot.
At least they intended to, but Kal thought it was too cold and windy for Bruce to handle and so he flew them into a cavern that he believed would lead them to the sword. And then he led the way through the various tunnels inside the mountain.
“Kal, why’d you break up with Lois?” Bruce suddenly asked.
“What?”
“Why did you break up with Lois?”
“It just didn’t work out,” Kal said vaguely, not seeing what this had to do with anything.
“There’s more to it than that and you know it.”
“Why are you suddenly interested in this?”
“Why do you believe you can never have a good day?”
“Because I just can’t okay? It’s just how the world works. Everyday something bad has to happen in order to balance out the good.”
“What happened to make you believe that crap?”
“My Pa died that’s what!” Kal shouted and was stunned at his own admission.
Bruce was equally as shocked, and quickly tried to remember what Clark had been doing that day his dad died of a heart attack. When he did, he waited for his friend to calm down somewhat before questioning further.
“It was on your first date with Lois, wasn’t it?”
“…yes.”
“And that’s why you were really hoping for that earthquake?”
“Yes.”
“It’s also why you’ve been afraid all this time to be happy.”
“No, that’s you.”
“No, it’s us both.”
“Look Bruce, I understand that when you’re upset you don’t really like being forced to talk about it, so I wait, but do you really have to do everything within your power to piss me off?!”
“I’m not trying to piss you off I’m just trying to figure out something.”
“Well what the hell are you trying to figure out?!”
Bruce was about to respond when a loud, familiar roar was heard throughout the cave they were in. Apparently they were in the dragon’s home, and they had woken it up when they were shouting.
Doing a quick scan, Kal located the dragon and cursed at the fact that it surrounded the sword they needed to kill it.
“The damn dragon’s guarding the sword.”
“Use your heat-ray vision to lure it outside. Try and keep a safe distance from it till I get out with my sword,” Bruce ordered.
The Kryptonian nodded, and flew further in to greet the beast. Indeed, it was easy to get its attention and have it chase him, but staying a safe distance from the Kryptonite on its chest proved to be harder. In fact he barely made it out of the cave’s entrance before he felt the dragon snap its jaws near his feet.
Inside, Bruce rushed into the abandoned lair and yanked the Sword of Drake from the rock it impaled. He had to hurry, because there was no telling how long Kal could last before the Kryptonite got to him. And there was no chance in hell that Bruce would let him die just because he was too slow to leave a cave.
As he did so, he tried his best to let go and allow his feelings to consume him since that was what powered the sword.
He wasn’t surprised when the first wave of ice that emitted from his weapon froze nearly all of the dragon’s tail. He just grew frustrated that he was still repressing and that he had missed its vulnerable spot.
Crashing more than landing nearby Bruce’s location, Kal felt a wave of pride as he knew the man wouldn’t miss a second time.
The dragon didn’t really stand a chance as both men allowed the feelings within them to power their strikes. Though it did take quite a few since neither acknowledged it was love they were specifically feeling.
In the end, the creature was defeated, and each man was smiling from both victory and final acceptance of their love for the other. Sadly, before they could admit out loud how they felt, they suddenly found themselves back in the Watch Tower.
“Hey Bats! Hey Supes! Ready to switch? Whoa! Cool swords!” Flash said in a rush as he entered to take over monitor duty. John and Diana were also behind him.
Batman promptly left, and in a hurry, his heart rate being the only thing to betray him.
“Did we miss something?” Diana asked, worried they had had a fight.
“Just Mxyzptlk and a time trip,” Superman replied.
He privately wondered why it took him so long to realize he was in love with Bruce.
Batman wondered how long it would be before Clark realized that he loved him too.
-To be continued
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I'll admit I stressed over this, (like I had 4 stress attacks), because I wanted it done today, which is the deadline to receive prizes, (and I wanted to get at least one prize). And despite my desire for this fic to be fun and interesting, it instead turned into...I don't know, but it wasn't fun. I can only hope the one who requested this prompt enjoys the fic. I'm gonna try and see if I can finish the other two fics today, but it's a doubt. I have some strange muses controlling my writing right now.