Disclaimer: Characters owned by various. This work of fiction is written for entertainment.

Summary: A What If? series of vignettes on how Lana Lang dies set in the Smallville universe.

AN: I would like to thank htbthomas for her betaing skills and fictionalknight for her assistance.

No One Lives Forever

A heavily forested area in Smallville

I can't believe I let that happen, Lana thought as she brushed herself off from being unceremoniously thrown from her horse. She never thought that kind of thing could happen, as skilled an equestrian as she was.

Back on her feet, Lana noticed something glinting not far from her. "Maybe that's the reason why I'm no longer on my horse." She brushed back some debris to find a very long blade.

It was a sword. She picked it up and studied it curiously..

"What do we have here?" a voice asked from behind.

Lana turned around to see a dark-haired man. Before she could answer, he produced a sword of his own from behind his back.

With a quiver in her voice, Lana answered, "I just found this sword and…"

"That's a likely story." He raised his sword and swung it at her.

Instinctively, Lana blocked the blow with her newfound weapon. The force of the impact not only sent sparks in the air, but almost made her lose the sword. She knew if she was going to have a chance against this madman, she would need to keep two hands on the hilt.

Lana's foe was relentless. He knocked her down numerous times but was unable to capitalize as she either rolled out of the way or got back to a vertical base rather quickly.

"Why are you doing this?" Lana asked as she blocked another blow.

"You have got to be kidding me!" her opponent told her as he swung his sword. "I've seen others pull this kind of thing before but this takes the cake."

Several minutes had gone by without a victor -- but at last Lana became unbalanced and he slashed her behind her legs. Weakened from that blow, she was not able to protect herself from a slash across her abdomen. Lana then fell to her knees near a very steep ravine, but did not fall into it -- much to her dismay.

"In the end, there can be only one." He made the killing strike -- taking Lana Lang's head.

The force of the blow sent the body and head over the edge into the ravine as the strange man waited for something to happen.

"Where's the Quickening?" he asked, puzzled.

He picked up Lana's sword and felt a presence near him just like when he had met the young lady who just had her head taken.

"Who's… Macleod? Is that you?" the man said in recognition of his friend.

"Methos?! Yeah, it's me." Duncan Macleod limped towards his fellow Immortal. "I see you found Dugan's sword."

"Yeah, but what happened to you?"

"The force from his Quickening tossed me around and must have knocked me out. Never felt one like that before. Anything interesting happen to you?"

"Not a thing," he said, keeping his strange experience with the girl to himself. "Let's get you back to Joe. He's probably wondering what happened."

A Slaying Experience

Early part of Season 8

Metropolis – Late Evening

"You know, Smallville, I'm a big girl and can take care of myself," Lois told Clark for the umpteenth time this past week as they left the Daily Planet.

Clark swiftly responded, "I know you can, Lois, but it's not safe out there this time of night."

"You are not talking about all of those supposed vampire sightings are you?"

The look that Clark gave her meant that he was referring to just that.

"With all the weird things you've witnessed in Smallville, you balk at the possible existence of vampires," stated Clark.

Lois did not have a witty comeback for Clark's last remark because what he said was true. Spending the last few years in both Smallville and Metropolis, she had seen some strange things.

They had walked several blocks when a small group of people emerged from a dark alley.

"Leave the gentleman to me, he's a dear friend of mine," the leader of the group told her companions.

"Lana?" Clark was not quite sure what to make of this unexpected reunion.

"Clark, it's nice to see you again -- as well as Lois," Lana greeted the pair warmly.

"I didn't think I would ever see you again."

Me too, Lois thought, not voicing her opinion aloud. Clark is finally getting over you and you just have to show up.

"I thought that, too, but I have just found a way that we can be together." Lana reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small box. Upon opening, the box contained what looked like a green gem of some sort.

Clark felt weak and realized what that rock was: kryptonite. "Lana… Why?"

"What's going on?" asked Lois as she steadied Clark who appeared wobbly on his feet all of a sudden.

"Nothing that you need to be concerned about, Lois," Lana told her as she got a couple of her companions to get Clark away from Lois and to subdue her.

Lois began to struggle and before she could question further, a quick hit to the back of her head turned Lois' world black.

"What shall we do with her?" one of the men who had Lois asked, as he wetted his lips looking at her neck.

"Nothing, for now," ordered Lana as she turned her attention back to a weakened Clark.

Barely conscious from his exposure to the kryptonite, Clark asked feebly, "Why, Lana?"

"Like I said before, Clark, so that we can be together," replied a happy Lana.

To Clark's surprise, his first love's face mysteriously transformed. Her forehead became ridged while her eyes turned yellow. The most startling change was that Lana had a set of fangs.

"You're one of them now, aren't you?" Clark had a good idea what the answer was.

"As soon you will be," Lana replied as she bared her fangs.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join?" asked a fair-haired girl who seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

She was not alone -- accompanied by a redheaded female about her age and a dark-haired guy who sported an eye patch.

"Who are you?" Lana asked, distracted from turning Clark into a member of the undead.

"It appears they haven't heard about you, Buff," stated the man with the eye patch.

Before anyone could say another thing, three of Lana's vampire minions rushed the newly arrived trio.

"Just like the good ole days right, Will?" the one-eyed man asked the redhead.

"Yeah, Xander, just like," replied Willow, readying her stake.

Willow cast a spell that froze one of the vamps in place which made staking it that much easier. With an easy jab to the heart, she dusted the vampire.

Being the non-powered member of the group, Xander held his own against the vampire he faced. He definitely wasn't like he was when he first started assisting Buffy in her battle against the evil undead. They grappled for a bit until Xander was able to stagger his opponent and swiftly staked his foe, turning the vampire to dust.

Willow noticed her friend still fighting. "Good job, Xand, you think we should help Buffy?"

"Nah, she'd hate for us to interrupt her fun." Xander kept a watchful eye on their friend as well.

Being the Slayer, Buffy had no real trouble dealing with the vampire she faced off with. She was able to use her scythe to quickly cut off the vamp's head to end her fight.

"Piece of cake," she said as she rejoined her friends.

Lana did not like what had transpired in the least. "Get them, you fools, I have other business to attend to."

"Here comes wave two!" Xander exclaimed as he, Buffy and Willow prepared for the next attack.

Brandishing her scythe, Buffy jumped into the middle of the fray, fighting a group of three while Xander fought one hand to hand. Willow used a levitation spell on some stakes and prepared for combat.

"Now, where was I," Lana raised the kryptonite to weaken him and prepared to bite his neck.

Buffy dispatched her opponents with a jab or a slash from her weapon and went to check on the others. Willow didn't have much trouble against the vampires she faced -- her magic made sure of that. The one Xander fought did give him a little trouble; it got a couple of good shots in before the tables turned. A quick strike with a stake ended the fight.

"Will, you go with Xander to help that girl over there while I take care of the one with that green whatchamacallit," Buffy stated as she prepared to fight once again.

"Gotcha," replied Willow as she and Xander went to check on Lois.

Lana was about to bite Clark when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to get a punch to her face. The force of the blow knocked her away from Clark.

"I don't think so, honey," Buffy told her.

Before Lana could put up any kind of defense, Buffy staked her, turning Lana into dust.

Buffy went over to Clark and said, "Let me help you up." In the process, she kicked the kryptonite away, not really knowing its effect on him.

Clark climbed slowly to his feet. "How's Lois?" Clark asked, his voice raspy.

"I'm fine, Clark. Thanks to these three," Lois said as she came over to Clark with Xander and Willow.

As they started to leave, Clark took a look back, not sure of what to think about what transpired. Lois noticed this and took Clark's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze to let him know that he was not going to deal with this alone.

There is No New Hope

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

"Where am I?"

Lana Lang looked around at her unfamiliar surroundings. She got up and noticed that she was in some kind of hallway. Lana felt some jostling and figured that she was aboard a large vehicle but didn't know if it was a boat or plane. She could hear what sounded like gunfire outside -- the ship must be under attack.

Taking a quick glance around a corner, Lana witnessed something that she had never seen before. Several white-armored soldiers were firing lasers at the people who were aboard the vessel. They were not putting up much of a fight.

I need to get out of here, she thought as started to run down the hallway and fell in step behind the others fleeing the armored troops. Unfortunately they were soon overrun by the troopers and were now prisoners. With hands on head, they were being led to a man in some kind of black, flowing outfit.

"Here's the next group of rebels, Lord Vader," one of the troopers addressed his superior.

"Excellent, bring them to me," came the mechanical reply from the Dark Lord.

When the prisoners came to him, Vader chose one who seemed to be out of place amongst them. That person turned out to be Lana.

Darth Vader was about to interrogate her when one of his troopers came up to him.

The trooper told Vader, "The Death Star plans are not in the main computer."

Vader's attention then turned back to Lana. "Where are those transmissions you intercepted? What have you done with those plans?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lana choked out in Darth Vader's tightening grasp.

Vader tightened his grip, "Tell me!!"

"I… don't…"

Darth Vader squeezed even more and then tossed Lana's lifeless body aside. He ordered his troops to tear the ship apart to search for those plans.

"Hey, Mxy, whatcha watchin'?" asked Gsptlsnz, a voluptuous redhead..

The impish Mr. Mxyzptlk turned from his viewing device. "Oh, just seeing to a change in Superman's destiny, sweetheart."

With a wave of his hand, Mxyzptlk changed the scene to one that he recognized as Metropolis. He could have ventured there himself, but staying in the fifth dimension would be ideal for his plans. He watched the view screen intensely and witnessed his most hated enemy, Superman, perform his duties as one of Earth's mightiest heroes.

"No, this can't be right..."

"What is it, sugar pie?" Gspy asked.

"That clod should have fallen into despair without that tart in his life. How could this have happened?"

"Who knows, Mxy."

Mxyzptlk shrugged, already searching his brain for another plan to bring Superman to his knees. "It doesn't matter, I didn't like that girl anyway."