shattered souls won't mend themselves (supercorp au)

day terrors

And we were met with Lillian's – mom's – severe scowl.

"Lena," she said in a dangerously low tone. "Let go of Lex's hand."

I didn't move. It seemed so silly to me that Lillian (Mom, Lena, call her Mom) didn't want me and Lex to do normal sibling things. I tightened my fingers around Lex's hand and he tightened his fingers around mine. I bowed my head timidly while hiding a smile.

Lill – Mother – drew herself up taller. Her voice dropped even quieter. "Lex, honey, let go of her hand."

"Why?" Lex immediately asked, rubbing small circles on my thumb.

Mother (I got it that time!) clenched her jaw. " Because ," she said through gritted teeth, "we have a guest and it's always good to look your best for a visitor ."

Lex raised an eyebrow. "You're right, Mother," he said. My heart dropped. I loosened my grip on Lex's hand, surprised when he just tightened his. "I should go put on my suit!" He pushed past Mother and dragged me into his room. I glanced back at our mother as Lex turned the corner into the hallway: her gaze (which, of course, was murderous) was trained on me; her lips were pursed into a thin line, reminding me of the simple yellow face on the How Are You Today? chart taped on every person's desk in my class (but in this case, it looked less like Okay! and more like Murderous! ); her footfalls as she walked into the living room sounded exactly like the sharp, angry tick s of a clock attached to a bomb ( I hope to God I'm not here when the clock reaches zero ). I felt like I was standing in front of a firing squad for just an instant....

The moment was gone. Once I was out of her line of sight, I let out a breath I never realized I was holding. I stumbled, but Lex grabbed me by the elbow and managed to guide me into his room. I flopped down onto the bed like a ragdoll as soon as he shut the door. I buried my face in my pillow as Lex changed quickly into his grey suit with his favorite lime green tie. He placed a hand on my shoulder when he was ready.

"Do you want to come with me?" he asked. "You don't have to. But you can still come if you want to. But you'll probably be bored anyway...." He trailed off, unsure of himself.

I turn towards him. "I'll come with you," I said. He looked surprised. "Lex," I said. "I need to show her I'm not scared." Lex just nodded and took my hand.

We walked into the living room together. Mother was sitting in one of the high-backed chairs that stood in front of the giant portrait of the Luthors (it still didn't have me). There was a man sitting on the couch with his back to us. Lex cleared his throat and Mother turned towards him with a triumphant smirk, only for her eyes to narrow into a scowl as she saw me. Nevertheless, she gestured for Lex and I to take seats on either side of her. Lex dragged me over to the chair next to him instead. It was then I got a glance of the man sitting on our couch.

Mother introduced him as John Corben (what I didn't know at the time is that he would be the one my mother hired to assassinate the witnesses of Lex's murder). He shook hands with Lex and then shot a predatory grin at me. Lex bristled, but didn't say anything. I glanced over at my mother; she merely smiled at Corben's actions. I felt a sting at the corner of my eyes. I will not cry , I told myself.

Corben started talking about "business" with my mother and Lex. I tuned it out, partially because it was just boring , partially because I wanted nothing to do with my mother's schemes, and partially because I was still trying not to cry. This was made harder, what with Corben glancing at me like his next meal every time he wasn't being talked to directly . This went on for about twenty minutes before I stood up swiftly.