Gradually his eyelids slid open; his head was pounding and his body was drained of all energy. He struggled to open his mouth, to cry out, but it was parched, his lips cracked and dry.

"Hello Mr. Luthor." A voice said beside him and his focus shifted to a woman in blue nurses scrubs "We were all wondering when you were going to grace us with your presence." She poured some water into a flimsy paper cup and held it to his mouth, the cool liquid quelling the burning in his throat. "You've been out of it for forty-eight hours."

"Where—where am I?" He croaked as he surveyed the room. He knew he was in a hospital room; he could see the tube shooting from his arm into the IV stand next to his bed and could smell the sterile scent of bleach seeping from underneath the door, but he had no idea how he had gotten there. Only the briefest images flashed in his brain like a slideshow, but they were too quick and jumbled to make any sense.

"You are in Metropolis Hospital. You were brought here in shock and that's all I'm allowed to discuss with you at the moment." She replied, her voice dropping low and nodding her head towards the door where he could see two men in dark business suits lingering in the hallway. "By the suggestion of your lawyers there, they told me it's best to let them explain everything to you."

"Lawyers? What in the hell has happened to me? Why can't I remember how I got here? Why can't I remember how I got into this condition?" He thought as he watched the nurse scribble something down on a clipboard, adjust the IV tubing and head for the door.

"I'll be letting your supervising physician know you are awake—He'll want to check you out, maybe schedule a few tests." She twisted the door handle and paused. "As soon as I leave this room, those vultures out there are going to ask me if you are awake—they're quite intent on speaking with you."

"Tell them I'm still out then." Lex, said his voice strained but starting to recover some power. "I don't have the energy."

The woman nodded and walked out the door, pulling the privacy curtain as she went. Lex could make out the two men snap to attention and approach the nurse just before the door slammed shut behind her.

'My God what is going on?" He muttered to himself, a sense of dread coming over him.

He closed his eyes and the image began to flash faster, a blur of colors and echoes of screams and dark laughter. Unfamiliar voices beckoned to him, calling out strange words and names.

Krypton, Thiera, Kal El, Ursa, Phantom Zone, Jor El, Zod.

Lex could feel beads of sweat roll down his face as the visions multiplied, and he lost all consciousness of the real world as he lingered in a state of delirium.

Flashes of a shiny metal object overcame him followed by the face of a thin, compact man with an evil sneer, his voice strong in his head.

"But Master, this Earth grants you powers to crush them now!"

He then heard a voice, deep and sinister; it was his own but unexplainably different.

"I could easily kill them all now, but I need time to find those who escaped. They were trusted supporters and will be most useful to me in conquering this planet."

Lex shuddered violently, his temples pounding as he felt a sensation of flying. He gripped the sheets in his clawed hands and thrashed as everything became a dizzying whirl. He could see himself, soaring though the sky.

"This Earth is mine."

"First we find the others—than Kal El."

His own voice echoed even louder in his head; an ugly woman, a large man and a timid young girl appeared before him as a deafening chorus of cheers rang out from a group of strangers.

"I am ready to bring these pathetic humans to their knees!"

"Tonight we recreate Krypton on Earth!"

He could feel the skin underneath his fingertips as he broke the neck of a young man; he could smell the fires burning in the distance as he saw a familiar face charge towards him, picking him up and throwing him with ease.

Clark Kent.

"Kal El—I knew Fine was wrong about you—you do have the desire to hurt, to destroy. You are not weak like the humans you live with."

"You're wrong!" Lex heard Clark's voice, loud and clear and full of hate.

"Join me Kal El—join your brothers and sisters in recreating your Kryptonian home."

Suddenly there were more screams, loud in his ears. He could see people around him being sucked into the black sky, a hand thrusting towards him and a dark stone sticking out of his chest. Lex could hear his own screams of agony and the images replayed over and over, growing in intensity.

"No!" He heard himself scream, the sweat soaked covers of his bed twisting around his body, wrapping him in a cocoon.

'Mr. Luthor!" A voice yelled and he felt a pair of cool hands touch his skin. "Mr. Luthor—calm down!"

"No!" He screamed once more, his eyes snapping open and his whole body bolting upright. His pulse was racing and the nurse grabbed his arm, trying to break him free from his daze.

"Mr. Luthor—can you hear me?"

Lex stared back into her worried eyes but made no reply. She turned and dashed out the door and he could hear her voice calling urgently for a man in a white lab coat across the hallway.

His rapid breaths began to slow as he untangled himself from his sheets. As if someone had flicked on a switch in his brain the memories of the past week flooding back to him. His fists curled into a ball as he thought of his former friend, the mild mannered, unassuming farm boy. The same farm boy who had insisted all these years he was nothing more than he seemed, nothing special. Now, Lex knew the truth.

"Clark Kent is Kal El of Krypton."

The End!

Thank you to EVERYONE who read an reviewed my story! I never intended on it even being half this long ever...But am glad I wrote it. I hope ya'll enjoyed and thanks to everyone who took the time to review!