A blur. That was the only way Clark could describe the world around him at the moment. He kept his eyes closed, firmly, for another moment. Hoping, wishing, that *this* time, the wish would turn out the way it should.

"Clark, you ok?" Lana slipped her arm around his waist.

Clark sighed deeply. "Yeah, I'm fine." 'I hope,' he added in thought. A quick look around told him that they were standing in the barn, in his Fortress of Solitude, enjoying the sunset colouring the horizon.

Clark sighed contentedly, pulling Lana a little closer. This was it. This was what he'd wanted, now - if only it would stay this way without any interruptions and... *mistakes* from the Devil, this would be like heaven.

"I should be getting home before Nell sends out a search party for me." Lana sighed deeply and leaned against him.

"Yeah, I guess." Clark didn't really mind. He was pretty sure that this was the perfect outcome of his last wish. As long as the Devil kept from trying to pair up him and Lex. He let Lana pull him with her down the stairs and across the yard. Before leaving, Lana leaned close to kiss him.

It struck Clark how chaste it was. Soft press of lips, nothing else. And before he could even try to deepen it, she'd pulled back. A whispered goodnight and she was gone.

Clark licked his lips. Hardly any lingering taste, nothing but the memory. A memory rudely squashed by the memory of Lex's lips - and Lex's tongue darting around his own, sliding against it. Clark swallowed hard. Even the long wanted kiss from Lana hadn't moved heaven and earth the way his recollection of Lex's mouth on his did.

Clark shook his head. 'Try to like whatever hand has been dealt.' Besides, he'd wanted this all along. He turned around and went back to the barn. The lights were already out in his parents' bedroom and his watch told him that it was close to midnight.

Sleep came easily, though only for a few hours. Clark awoke with a start, sweating and panting like he'd run a marathon. Not that he'd even break a sweat doing that, but he could imagine what it would do to ordinary human beings.

He became increasingly aware of the erection pressing against his briefs. And then the dream returned, clear as day. Lex. He'd dreamt of... Lex. Touching him, kissing him. Of Lex... Oh God! Clark closed his eyes. He really didn't want to think about where that image had come from.

Clark knew he was beginning to doubt the sincerity of his wishes. He couldn't quite deny that his kisses with Lex had been far more toe curling than the short one with Lana. Hell, even the *looks* Lex gave him were far more arousing.

Perhaps he should go to the mansion and see what Lex was like in this reality. In this wish.

A blink. Clark looked around him, wondering... Oops, he'd obviously forgotten to put a *tomorrow* into that thought, because in front of him loomed the fences of Lex's home. There was something wrong, Clark suddenly realized, once his embarrassed blush subsided some. At least he'd put on a pair of jeans and boots before speeding here.

The place was dark. Clark felt a strange surge in his stomach. Maybe... maybe Lex had gone to bed early. Or... Clark's heart sank. Maybe he was in Metropolis. He gave into the urge and scanned the building with his x-ray vision. No life signs of any kind. Clark turned to the garage. His heart sunk a little lower when he found no cars. Not even one. Nothing, nada, zip.

Clark decided to wait until the morning, then call Lex on his cell phone. An impulse made him turn back though. The basement Lex held the remains of the Spider in. The car with which he'd driven them both off the bridge in, when they'd first met.

Clark felt dizzy when all he could see were empty storage rooms. No Lex, no car, no nothing. 'Lex, where are you?'

Clark sped back but stopped in the middle of the yard. He needed something to drink. Maybe he could make some... hot chocolate.

The lights were on in the kitchen, when Clark entered and the place smelled deliciously of hot chocolate.

"I thought you might need a cup." His mother put a mug on the table, gesturing at the chair.

"How... how did you know?" Clark was slightly puzzled.

"I went to check on you, but you weren't there and the bed looked like you'd tossed and turned for quite a while." Martha smiled at him. "So I guessed something must be upsetting you - hence the hot chocolate."

Clark was amazed of how his mother always seemed to know exactly what to do to make him feel better. It also made him calm down a bit that she didn't immediately ask him what was wrong. Which was probably the reason for Clark surrendering the reasons for his worried state of mind.

"I... Um, Lex is gone." He didn't even blush a little, still far too upset and confused. Why was Lex gone? Where was he? And why did this twist Clark on the inside?

"Lex?" A puzzled expression spread on his mother's face.

Clark caught the - Lex who? - but it couldn't be... "Mom?" Clark felt panic begin to stir in his belly. "Lex Luthor, bald guy, drives like a maniac, who also happens to be my best friend?"

Martha's eyes widened slightly. "But Clark..." She stared at him, her face going unreadable for a moment. "But dear, why are you asking about the Luthor family?"

"Not Luthor," Clark interrupted, growing steadily more and more concerned, confused and annoyed that his mother didn't seem to understand him. "*Lex*."

"But Clark, if you're talking about Alexander Luthor, he died in a car accident, almost a year ago. You remember, right?" Now his mother was really beginning to look worried.

"De...Dead?" Clark stuttered, feeling his entire body shake, afraid that he might collapse like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Yes, he was speeding and didn't stop in time. The car drove over the edge of a bridge, and he drowned. It was all over the papers." His mother reached out to pat his shoulder, but hit nothing but empty air.

Before Clark could fully grasp what was happening, he was out. Running. And running fast. The world blurred around him, and in what might have been a heartbeat or an eternity, the warm Kansas summer air was replaced with chill winds, ice and the sound of creaking snow under his boots as he came to a stop.

His thoughts were still orbiting around his mother's words. Lex was dead. Clark had for some reason not been there, at the bridge, at the right moment. He swallowed hard. God! This was all the Devil's work, it had to be. He'd wished to keep Lex out of it - out of his quest for Lana and happiness. But that would have been impossible if Clark had saved Lex's life. He was suddenly surprised to feel moisture freeze on his cheeks. Clark reached up and wiped away the salty tears.

Clark hardly hesitated, pulling out the pager. The wind around him rose to a crescendo of howling as he determinedly punched in the three well-known numbers. All the while he felt like his heart was breaking apart. Frozen by the ice around him, broken into pieces with the knowledge of Lex no longer... existing.

The winds stilled around him as a familiar voice broke his solitude. "I see you're still not satisfied with your wish."

Clark shook his head. "I know what I need now - I know who... whom I want to be with." Say it Clark!

The Devil lifted an eyebrow, giving him a quizzical look. "And?"

"Lex." There, it was out. Said.

"There is a slight problem though," the Devil interrupted.

Clark shot him a wary look. Well, there was really nothing else to expect, when dealing with the Devil. "Yes?" Clark was sure his heart was beating loud enough to be heard. He'd said it out loud. He'd... admitted it. That he liked Lex. Lex had kissed him, comforted him, held him. And it had taken the absence of Lex to make him realize that.

"You've used up all your wishes." The Devil's grin widened, eyes growing cold and menacing. "Which means that your soul belongs to me."

Clark backed away - or tried to, only to find his boots frozen to the ground. The deep laughter from the Devil was drowned, as the howl of the wind grew again, and ice and snow made heaven and earth inseparable. Clark's pleas were lost in the roar of nature. Tears froze on his face, gale forces tore at his clothes and the rough wind seemed to steal every breath he tried to take. And whiteness turned to blackness.

TBC in Part 6