For Anatoly

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Totally forgetting what he'd been heading to the Compound for, Lex could only think to return to the hut after assuring Kon that he was fine. Or at least, outwardly he made it look like he was fine so the teenager would leave him alone so he could fall apart in peace. Even knowing it was an island trick, he couldn't get the thought of Clark dead in his grieving mother's arms with his blood on Lex's own hands.

He walked into the hut and didn't even look to see if Anatoly was there or not before sending everything on the dresser and center table to the floor with a sweep of his arms and a frustrated cry. He leaned against the now clear dresser, breathing heavily as he started to shake with fear and frustration from being unable to shake said fear.

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[chesspolitik]

Anatoly had been dozing on the bed, book of Russian poetry balanced on his chest. The sounds of someone entering woke him up, and the book fell to the floor as he sat up.

Whatever he was expecting, it was not to see Lex visibly uncollected and sweeping everything off the dresser. In a moment, he was on his feet and had his arms around him, holding him as tightly as he could.

"Sascha? What happened?"

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"This fucking island is what happened." Lex said from behind clenched teeth, his hands clenching on the dresser so they wouldn't find something else to break. To crib his urge to destroy and thus prove the island right. Again.

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"What happened?" Anatoly asked gently, stroking Lex's back softly. There were a few possibilities that could make him react so and they all did not bode well for their continued idyllic existence. "Is... is your father back?"

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"In a sense." Lex replied in the same tone as before before finally taking a deep breath. It didn't stop the furious shaking but at least his knuckles weren't white anymore. "I take it you haven't walked though any of the mysterious clouds dotting the island today?" Lex would like to think he'd known if Anatoly had, since if the nightmares was tearing him apart, he didn't want to think of what it would do to the kind hearted Russian.

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"I haven't been out yet today," Anatoly admitted guiltily. "I am getting the impression that is a good thing for once. What is they are doing? Sending you back to Smallville?"

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"I would only be so lucky." Lex said as he closed his eyes, but only for a moment as the image of his nightmare came back in technicolor. "They make your deepest and darkest nightmare come true." He looked down at his hands, still able to see the blood stains despite the fact that all evidence of the nightmare had disappeared when Kon had pulled him from the cloud.

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Anatoly took a deep breath, squeezing Lex's waist tightly. His own nightmares revolved around Molokov and a gun or his children despising him and he could only begin to imagine the sort of nightmares Lex must have.

"What happened?" Anatoly asked quietly. "Or do you not want me to ask?"

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

Lex was very tempted to keep it to himself. To lock Anatoly out from his nightmares that only illustrated again why he'd try to leave the Russian earlier in the year. But...it hadn't done him any good then and perhaps this nightmare would finally be what made Anatoly see reason, that Lex was dangerous.

He turned in Anatoly's arms, putting his hands around the other man's waist so he could lean their foreheads together. "I didn't even see the cloud when I walked in. I didn't even know anything was wrong until I tripped over the dead body of Jonathan Kent, Clark's father. Then I was surrounded by bodies, Clark's friends, my mother and brothers...practically everyone I'd ever known, all dead from violent means. Finally, I saw someone alive, Martha, Clark's mother. She was cradling Clark's dead body in arms. When I asked her what happened..." He paused to take a deep breath and he couldn't help but start shaking again. "She said it was my fault. That Clark, and everyone else, was dead because of me. That I'd become great like I wanted, a great murderer and monster. My...my father stood over me and told me how proud he was of me. It was at that moment that I looked down to find myself covered in blood and surrounded by all of the means to cause the death I'd seen. The memories came and..."

Something rare happened then, as Lex's voice broke and he just couldn't go on, especially into when Kon had joined him and the things Clark had said, condemning him even more. Lex clung tightly to Anatoly, so close to falling apart and hanging on by a thread.

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Anatoly listened to Lex's story with horror, gripping Lex tightly as if by holding on to him close enough, he could banish the haunting scene from Lex's memory. It was cruelty of the sort only the Island could do so well and in this particular moment, he hated the place for it.

"Whatever the cloud showed you," he said softly, pressing a gentle kiss to Lex's forehead. "You know it does not matter to me. It can't change how I feel about you and it can't make me leave. I mean this. I am not going anywhere."

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"Tolya..." Lex's voice was unusually rough, both from retelling the nightmare and the effect Anatoly's words had on him. Just when he thought he couldn't love this man anymore. He pulled him into a desperate kiss, needing to tell him so.

It was when they were both distracted by the kiss that a fog began creeping through the door of the hut.

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Anatoly didn't notice the fog either, being much too intent on returning Lex's kiss and holding him tightly. He was so afraid that Lex would try to leave again if he let go, and he couldn't let such a thing happen, not again. Neither of them could surely survive such a thing.

It was only when he heard a very familiar laugh that he broke the kiss, looking over at the doorway in horror. Standing there was Molokov, looking entirely too pleased and beside him was Lionel, looking just as pleased.

He stared at them, too stunned to move or speak. The only thing he could do was grip Lex's arm tightly. They were clearly trapped and had to get out - but how?

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The laugh made Lex's head turn with a snap and he glared at the two men who now stood in the door of their hut. As if today couldn't get any worse.

Lex moved to stand in front of Anatoly, facing them with a stand-offish expression. "Mr. Molokov." He replied to the Russian first on purpose. "Dad. What do we owe the honor of this visit?"

Lionel smirk turned disapproving. "Lex, Lex, Lex. And here I was so proud of you earlier. And now look at you. Giving into your petty emotions. You clearly are a disgrace to the Luthor name, to give into the charms of a man who can't even get you an heir or blackmail later."

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"A man who is a traitor no less," Molokov chimed in, his expression very mild and pleasant. "To his country, to his game, to his wife... it is so sad to see. What am I to say to Svetlana, Anatoly Valeriovich? To your two beautiful children who haven't seen their father in years?"

Anatoly flinched as he stepped back, pulling Lex along with him. If they could get past the doorway, then perhaps they could get out of the cloud... but even if Lionel was not armed, he knew Molokov certainly was. Would a shot hurt? He wasn't sure he wanted to find out.

"I am sure you will say whatever you want, Molokov," he said, trying to put on a show of bravery. "Whatever suits your aims at the moment, as you have always done."

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Lex was having the same thoughts. They had to get out the door and in fact, he pushed Anatoly back further into the hut, hoping to draw the two men towards them and give them an opening. Because while before Lex knew it was the island...he couldn't be sure this time, since it was just the two of them.

"You won't say anything because they aren't here and smarter people then you haven't figured out how to communicate off the island so don't make threats you can't keep." Lex retorted snidely, clearly not impressed by the bolstering Russian. "And dad, since when do I ever take relationship advice from you? It's strange, me being with someone you can't corrupt isn't it?"

Of course, the snide smirk on his face only lasted until the two men drew guns. Instead, Lionel stole it. "Well Lex, I've taught you never to leave loss threads and I'm going to demonstrate. You've proved what a worthless heir you are so I'll take my chances elsewhere."

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"This is a man I can do business with," Molokov said easily, his aim on his gun never wavering as he focused it on Anatoly. "We share the same methods when it comes to disposing of... things that have outlived their usefulness."

All of these threats, Anatoly had heard before, though never stated quite so baldly nor followed up with an actual gun. Rushing them was inadvisable, especially if this was not a nightmare, but their worst fears come true but neither was staying where they were.

"That is your answer? Both of you? I thought you two were supposed to be intelligent," Anatoly said. If he angered them enough to split away or turn on each other, than they might just have a chance. "But I see this is not the case."

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Lex stiffened a bit at the drawn guns and moved more completely in front of Anatoly again. Real or not, he wasn't going to take the chance and he'd been shot before. Even without his healing, he'd get over it but he wasn't about to put Anatoly through that pain.

His eyes narrowed and his head cocked back at Anatoly for a moment as he tried to figure out what Anatol was doing by antagonizing them, but then he understood. His smirk returned and he let his posture ease a tiny bit. "Yeah Dad. This isn't your usual style. Kind thuggish don't you think? Something you'd hire someone like him for." He nodded to Molokov, using his voice to imply that he and his father were clearly better then the KGB agent.

Unfortunately, his father called his bluff. "Come now Lex. Haven't I always told you that the important things are better left done yourself?"

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"We are wasting time here," Molokov said, sounding very much annoyed. "Just shoot him and be done with it. This American sentimentality of yours is all very touching but it gets us nowhere."

Anatoly held his breath, his hand on Lex's waist and ready to pull him down should the bullets start flying. He's managed to annoy Molokov and surely his preemptive tone would annoy Lionel in turn...

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Lionel raised an eyebrow as he looked at Molokov with mild annoyance. "I don't see you shooting either. Perhaps I want to saver the experience. After all, I put a lot of work into the boy. I should get to enjoy his end." But of course, a Luthor didn't like being questioned so Lionel pulled the trigger, shooting Lex in what what would have been the stomach, except Lex twisted towards Anatoly to make sure he was protected and instead got it in the side.

But even though it didn't hit anything vital, it hurt like a fucking bitch and Lex cried out, only remaining standing because Anatoly was right behind him. But despite the pain, he couldn't resist a taunt through clenched teeth as he cradled his side. "That's the best you got dad?"

[chesspolitik]

The shot was fired and the only thing Anatoly could feel was pure, unadulterated rage. He was tired of this - tired of being frightened and manipulated by these men and the island. Lex had gotten hurt again by coming to his defense and this was going to end now.

Heedless of his own safety, he darted around Lex to grab one of the chairs by the chess board and threw it at Molokov and Lionel as hard as he could.

"Get out," he said as he picked up the other chair, completely unaware he'd slipped into Russian in his fury. "I have had enough of the both of you."

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

Molokov and Lionel, being the self preservationists that they were, split as they dodged the thrown chair, leaving the door open. Anatoly was too angry to see it but despite the pain in his side, Lex hadn't taken his eyes off his father.

"Anatoly!" He shouted to get the Russian's attention before grabbing his arm with both hands to get him to drop the chair. Then he hauled Anatoly behind him and through the door, out into the sunlight.

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Anatoly raced out of the hut, not daring to look back until they had cleared the immediate area. When he did so, he was shocked to discover that Molokov and Lionel had disappeared so completely as if they had never been.

He turned to remark on this to Lex and found that his injury too was wiped away. They had been caught in one of the clouds, then and it all had been a nightmare.

He slowly sank to the ground, putting his head in his hands, feeling very much overwhelmed by everything that had just happened.

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It took Lex a moment to realize the pain in his side was gone and a sick feeling started in the pit of his stomach as he looked back and saw not Molokov and Lionel in the door but a cloud hovering over their hut. A very familiar cloud.

"FUCK!" Lex said out loud as he took a few deep breathes to settle his homicidal urges towards the island. As it was, he kicked at the sand, sending it spraying towards the ocean.

When he was calmed down a bit, he sat down next to Anatoly and wrapped his arms around the Russian's shoulders, resting his head against the curls, just holding him.