Title: A Whole New World
Author: Dhrelva
Rating: PG
Spoilers: concepts from Skinwalkers, Rosetta, Relic, and Talisman
Category: pre-Smallville, Alternate Universe
Summary: Young Lex is abducted. By aliens.

Note: I just want to clarify a few things about the universe in which this story is happening. So I'm going to give a really brief timeline. I make no claim as to the accuracy of this in canon.
A really really long time ago: A Kryptonian or Kawatche prophet/timetraveller/druggie experienced the Naman/Segeeth future. They told others about it , and the Legend of Naman and Segeeth was born.
A really long time ago: The Kawatche and Kryptonian people met. The legend spread to whichever didn't know about it beforehand. The Palac dagger was given over to the Kawatche and Skinwalkers were created.
A long time ago: The Kawatche wrote the legend on a cave wall.
Some time ago: The Kawatche lost their cave wall.
Less time ago: Jor-El was born, then, as a young Kryptonian, visited Earth briefly.
Recently: The events in this story.
In Loving Memory of
Alexander Joseph Luthor
Beloved Son of Lionel and Lillian Luthor
1980-1984
Fly high on the wings of greatness, Lex
From lofty heights, may you find your way home

Lionel stood over the ornate but empty grave. The model of the Trojan horse that he had brought sat among the flowers delivered for the anniversary of his son's disappearance. Lillian stood several feet away, the infant Julian in her arms and tears on her pale face. It had been four years. If he was still alive, which seemed unlikely, Lex had lived with his kidnapper for as long as he had lived with his real parents. The police case was never closed and his own men still looked, but Lionel did not expect to ever learn what had happened to Alexander.

He took a few minutes to lecture about Helen of Troy and made one or two correlations to the present time and LuthorCorp, but that was secondary. He just wanted to give his dead son a toy horse. He brushed the dirt from his knee and returned to Lillian's side. He kissed Julian's head. "Don't ever leave home without your mother or I, Julian. You don't want to disappear like Lex did."

Julian just gurgled and pulled his father's hair.

The first three years after finding Se'geeth had been busy. The scientific community had only barely managed to find the massive amount of pressure building in the planet core in time to do anything about it. It had taken the combined effort of everyone on Krypton to find a way to release the pressure without causing the world to explode prematurely, and then execute the appropriate course of action.

The council was too swamped with the imminent end of the world to bother dealing with the little detail of what to do with Se'geeth himself. Consequently, he was left in cryosleep until such a time as they were able to deal with the problem. In a top secret military lab, a cryochamber sat in the corner of a little used room which only one lone doctor had access to. He came by twice a week to check that the human boy's vitals were still strong.

Even after the disaster was averted and Naman was identified as the young son of Jor-El and Lara, Se'geeth was left to sleep on. It might have continued indefinitely, but six years after Se'geeth's arrival on the planet, the military doctor came before the Council.

"If you want the boy to wake, you are going to have to do it soon. His life signs are beginning to falter. Human children are not meant to spend more of their life in stasis than alive."

The debate was fierce. Three distinct schools of thought emerged on the matter. The first wanted to let him remain a frozen body for eternity. Another wanted to wake him and return him to Earth. The last wanted to integrate him into Kryptonian society. The first group was the smallest minority. Se'geeth might be a danger in the future, but his very existence had allowed them to survive a geothermal event that would have killed all of them; they felt they owed him some gratitude for that. Besides which, the Naman-falling-to-Earth-in-a-rain-of-fire part of the prophesy was now impossible, so it was entirely possible that Se'geeth may never become dangerous anyway.

That, and he was just a boy. The Earth may have orbited nine times around the Yellow Sun he was born beneath, but the child's development had been arrested in his fourth year. He was effectively the same age as Naman.

The third group argued that returning him to Earth would put him back on the path that would lead him to become the Bearer of Darkness. The second group said that better Earth deal with him than Krypton. The third group argued back that they couldn't return a four-year-old back to Earth when Se'geeth should be nine; humans were notorious for treating people they didn't understand badly. Someone suggested they ask Se'geeth what he wanted to do. Another debate raged over whether they should do what Se'geeth requested or the opposite, but just when they decided they would follow the boy's wish, came the observation that the futures of two worlds rested on the whim of a four-year-old.

The original debate broke out anew.

Finally, a vote was taken. By the slimmest of margins, it was decided that Se'geeth would be kept on Krypton where he could be monitored. As the doctor was sent away to rouse him, a related debate broke out that was even more fiercely argued than the previous one.

It was one thing to decide to keep him on Krypton. It was entirely another to decide who would be given the responsibility of raising Se'geeth, the prophesized Bearer of Darkness. It was still a third to decide whether everyone should know Se'geeth was Se'geeth or if it would be better to let him fade into anonymity. Without the Yellow Sun to strengthen them, Kryptonians were not significantly different than humans. It was possible he could blend in with them. At least, it was possible so long as the Council did not announce that Se'geeth lived among them.

Lex groaned and shivered. "C-cold," he stuttered, gratefully grasping at a blanket that someone placed over him. He pulled it tightly around himself and curled onto his side. Well, he tried to curl onto his side. That didn't work though, because he appeared to be in some kind of box, and he banged his knees against its side instead. That unexpected jolt made him snap his eyes open, which was a big mistake because it was very bright in the box. He squeezed them shut again with a pained whimper.

A large hand rubbed his shoulder, and that felt good. Not only was a massage welcome against the aching muscles there, but the hand warmed him, too. A voice spoke to him, but he didn't understand the words. No. That was wrong. He knew one of the words. Dread and fear rose in him as that word lifted the memory of the last few days to his conscious mind. He'd been kidnapped. Kidnapped and held in a cave. Then other people had come. And those people and his kidnapper had all called him by the same name this guy just did. Se'geeth.

Lex pulled the blanket over his head and tried to will away the world. It didn't work, but he did manage to fall back asleep, which was close enough for the time being.

When he woke again, he was in a real bed. Granted, it was a hospital bed, but it was better than a cold box. There were a bunch of grown-ups standing around him, looking very official and a little nervous. He picked out at least two that had to be security. That made sense. Daddy had found him and had set bodyguards. Lex smiled and relaxed into the mattress. "Where's Mommy?" he asked drowsily, his eyes darting between the people, trying to pick her out but she wasn't there.

Lex started to get another bad feeling as the grown-ups started shifting uneasily and looking at each other. Then one of them spoke to another angrily, and the words were not in English. Somebody hurried out of the room, and then returned a few minutes later accompanied by the kidnapper.

That couldn't be a good thing. Lex fumbled for his inhaler, but couldn't find it. Desperately, he turned to the one man he knew spoke English. "Inhaler?" Already his breaths were coming in shorter and shorter gasps, and his growing panic wasn't helping at all.

His kidnapper snapped at a man who was probably a doctor in that other language. A few moments of controlled chaos later, and the doctor had maneuvered through the crowd of people, grabbed some kind of breathing mask, and fitted it over Lex's nose and mouth. "Hold that there," the kidnapper instructed. Lex nodded and held that there while he breathed. He hated asthma. Hated it.

Crisis past, one of the grown-ups spoke to the kidnapper, and then the kidnapper sat down on the bed next to him and spoke to him, "Se'geeth, the Council has decided to keep you here on Krypton."

Lex lowered the breathing mask to scowl at all of them. The other people were obviously part of 'the Council' that Daddy wouldn't pay ransom to. Stupid kidnappers. Stupid LuthorCorp policy. Daddy would find him, though. At least they weren't killing him. "Where is Krypton?" he asked, because if he did manage to sneak out of the hospital, he'd have to find his way back to Metropolis somehow and he didn't remember ever hearing 'Krypton' mentioned by anyone. It probably wasn't even in Kansas. Daddy owned most of Kansas so he'd know it if Lex were in a hospital anywhere in the state.

The doctor said something that prompted the kidnapper to push the mask back up over his face. Stupid asthma. "Keep that there, Se'geeth. And Krypton is a planet a long way away from Earth."

Lex frowned and had to work his mind around that one for a minute. He lowered the mask again, "You mean I'm in outer space?" When his kidnapper (an alien?) nodded, Lex gave the only possible response under the circumstances, "Cool."

The kidnapper smirked a bit at that, and pushed the breathing mask back up over Lex's mouth. "Glad you think so, kid, because you're living here now."

Living in outer space? For a moment, excitement bubbled up in him, but then he realized the problem with it. He lowered the mask again. "Daddy can't find me here." If he'd been on Earth, Lex was sure it would only be a matter of time before he was brought home, but even LuthorCorp's reach didn't extend to other planets.

"I'm sorry, kid," the kidnapper said, pushing up the mask again. Stupid mask. "Keep breathing, please." Stupid lungs. Stupid eyes. "C'mon, no, Se'geeth, don't cry."

A woman pushed her way through the bunch of grown-ups and pulled the kidnapper away. She sat down in his place and pulled Lex over into a hug, simultaneously holding the breathing mask in place with one hand, while rubbing circles on his back with the other. She cooed soothingly and it almost didn't matter that Lex didn't speak her language.

"Se'geeth," the kidnapper's dry tone spoke over her, "this is your foster mother, Nora Wes-Ur."

Lex didn't want a foster mother. He wanted his mother. But his mother was on another planet and this lady was here. He clung to her tightly, then pushed the mask away long enough to whisper, "My name is Lex." He didn't think it would change anything, but he wanted to give his real name one last shot. A foster mother might care enough to use it.

The kidnapper seemed to translate what Lex had said, because he heard his name spoken surrounded by foreign words. The foster woman lady brushed fingers over Lex's curls and repeated it in the right places. Her clothes started getting really wet after that, but he wasn't crying because Daddy said Luthors don't cry.

The next time he woke up, he was in a brightly decorated room. Lots of reds and blues and purples. He was also alone. It was the first time he remembered being alone since he was taken out of Metropolis. He got out of bed and immediately noticed he wasn't wearing his clothes from Earth anymore. Alien pajamas were, well, pretty close to normal pajamas, but without the feet and they weren't as fuzzy. They also didn't have any zippers, snaps, ties, or elastics. How he was supposed to get them off, he had no idea.

Deciding for the moment that the window was of more immediate interest than finding a way to undress himself, he crossed the carpeted floor and pushed aside the shade. The sun was large and red, but what really drew his attention was that the whole sky was a light purple instead of blue. Lex stared in open-mouthed fascination at this proof that he really was on a whole new world.

He was still staring at it when the door to his room opened and the woman introduced as his foster mother entered. She said something in the alien language.

This was dumb. Who put a kid with a foster mom who didn't even speak the same language? Despite this failing, though, Lex did like her a lot more than he liked the kidnapper, just on principle. Daddy did say the best way to learn something is by doing. Lex guessed he was gonna learn to speak this language real fast. Best start now. He held a hand over his heart and said, "Name Lex." Then, he reached over and put it over hers. "Name Nora."

She caught on right away and smiled. "Lex," she agreed, repeating his gesture, then brought it back over her heart and said firmly, "Nona."

"Nona," Lex repeated, taking that to be alien for 'Mommy'. He could call her 'Nona'. He couldn't call her 'Mommy', but he could call her 'Nona'. The next few hours were occupied by teaching Lex vocabulary. It was mostly nouns, which was a little frustrating when he wanted to ask questions, but when he found a pen and paper - well, a writing implement and a disposable surface - he figured out how to ask his two biggest ones.

First he drew two large stick figures, then a little one. He pointed to the little one and said "Lex." Then he pointed to one of the big ones, and said, "Nona." Then he pointed to the last one, and looked up at her questioningly.

"Wes-Ur," she told him. "Nopan." She pointed back at the one designated Nona, and said, "Nora Wes-Ur, Nona." Then back at the other grown figure, and repeated, "Wes-Ur, Nopan."

"Nopan," Lex echoed, gathering that was alien for 'Daddy' and his name was Wes-El. Satisfied that he was going to have a foster father as well as a foster mother, he moved on to the next big question. He drew another small figure and looked up at her.

She shook her head. No siblings then. That was probably good. He scribbled out the second little stick figure, and wrote LEX under the first one. He offered the pen to her and pointed back at the paper. "Write Lex," he instructed her, feeling a little frustrated that she probably didn't know what 'write' meant.

She apparently figured it out though, because she made a few symbols beneath where he'd written his name. He took the pen back and copied it over and over until he felt confident he could write his own name in the alien language. Daddy had thought this was very important for him to know in English, so he figured it was just as important in Alien.

These questions answered and that ability mastered, he left the pen and paper behind and led Nona to the kitchen. "Hungry," he told her, holding both hands over his stomach and using an alien word she'd taught him earlier. By the bright and proud smile this caused, he figured he'd gotten it right and hadn't accidentally told her 'stove' or anything.

Nopan arrived as the big red sun was setting. Lex regarded him with uncertainty. In his experience, Daddies were not the nicest of people, especially when they just got home from work, which is where he was assuming Nopan had been. This man was even taller and broader than Daddy was, which made Lex even more wary. He wished he knew how to say 'Sir' in Alien.

Lacking that basic vocabulary, he instead stood up to his full height of whatever his full height was. Something a lot shorter than Daddy. "Nopan?" he asked in his most formal tone.

Nopan just looked at Lex for a moment, then addressed a disdainful question toward Nona.

Her lips pressed together in anger, and Lex got the impression Nopan wasn't happy with him. He knew he should have gone with 'sir'. Stupid aliens who didn't even speak English.

Nona snapped something at Nopan, but Nopan just gave him gave him another once-over of appraisal. Lex had seen Daddy do the same with things he was thinking about buying. If Nopan had been Daddy, he wouldn't have bought whatever brought that expression to his face. Lex bit his lower lip and hoped he wasn't going to be thrown out. He was just starting to get used to the idea that Nona would be taking care of him now. She kinda reminded him of Pamela.

Nopan said something short and dismissive, then went into the bedroom that wasn't Lex's and closed the door as if making a point about it. Lex got the idea that he wasn't welcome in there.

Looking back toward Nona, he found her closing the distance between them, kneeling in front of him, then pulling him into a hug. She said stuff in Alien that he didn't understand. At a guess, he figured she was telling him not to mind what Nopan said, but that was hard because he didn't even know what it was that his foster father did say. Except that it wasn't anything good.

Within two weeks, Lex had come to four conclusions. The first was that days seemed to be a little longer here. Or maybe he just had a later bedtime. The second was that Alien was easier to pick up once he got down a few critical verbs, prepositions, and articles. The third was he apparently didn't have asthma anymore, which was really, really great. He hadn't had an attack since the hospital. And the final conclusion he reached was more a shift in understanding than a conclusion.

He was on an alien world. That made him the alien.

That epiphany had been reached right after he figured out that was what Nopan had been calling him for the last few days. He'd thought it meant 'boy' until Nona lost her temper over it and gave enough clues during her rant for him to figure out its actual definition. While they yelled at each other over it, he ran off to his room, locked his door, and did the Luthor thing of making his pillow wet without crying until Nona came in (he guessed she either had a key or he hadn't figured out the locking mechanism as well as he thought he had) and began rubbing his back.

After that, Nopan didn't call him an alien anymore, but Lex wasn't convinced 'Se'geeth' was much better. He tried to ask Nona why everyone insisted on calling him that, but all she did was shake her head sadly and tell that he was Se'geeth. A repetition of "Why?" only got him that he'd be told when he was older. Lex hated it when grown ups did that to him.

At the beginning of the third week, Nopan came home from work (Lex was pretty sure he worked for the goverment, possibly even for the 'Council' that the kidnapper had mentioned) and immediately declared that Lex was starting school in the morning.

For a moment, Lex could only beam at him and glow with excitement. Maybe Nopan didn't hate him after all. Then Lex threw himself forward and delivered a giant hug and sloppy kiss that even Daddy would have snapped at him for trying. Nopan didn't even complain much; he just picked Lex up and handed him off to Nona who was more than happy to return the exuberant hug and kiss she got.

As they sat around the table for dinner that night, Nopan looked at Lex seriously, and stated, "You have been registered under the name Se'geeth-Lex." Lex wasn't really sure what 'registered' meant, but he was pretty sure he got the gist of what he was being told. Daddy used to use big words on him, too, so it was a familiar feeling of uncertainty. "Your teacher has been informed that you are an alien and don't fully understand our language yet." There was a couple of words he was fuzzy on in that remark, but he got 'you are an alien' so he figured it was a warning of some sort.

"Does everyone know I'm from Earth?" he asked, a little nervously, wondering if this planet had an entirely different take on 'Earth Invaders' than humans did.

For a moment, neither of his foster parents answered. Then Nopan said, "They will as soon as they hear your name." He hesitated a moment, then added, "Se'geeth, there is a famous legend about you. It is not a pleasant story. Try to keep out of trouble and for the love of God" – Lex was a little shaky yet on the alien version of religion, but he figured that was a close enough translation as far as conversational appeals to higher powers went – "stay away from Kal-El."

He didn't know what a kalel was either, but if they were that dangerous, he figured someone would point it out before he did something dumb. "Okay," he agreed, because avoiding trouble and staying away from things that required a parent type person to pray seemed like smart advice to him.

He was curious, though, about the legend. Maybe someone would finally tell him who Se'geeth was. And maybe he'd even figure out why everyone insisted on calling him that. It was almost as much incentive to go to school as learning to read and write in Alien.