A/N: This is one of my ten Patreon-Funded stories. Currently up to date with all my other public websites, with four chapters of advance content always available on my Patreon at all times. Updates once every two weeks. Enjoy!

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“S-Shit! F-Fucking-ack!”
 
A series of coughs explodes from his throat as he staggers forward, his feet barely wanting to move beneath him. And yet, he forces them to, even as explosions sound overhead and the ground shakes beneath his feet. Fissures are visible in the concrete, and at any moment he imagines that the earth might split open right between his feet and swallow him up. Not much he can do about that though.
 
His every movement is a jittery, spasming mess as he uses a cane of all things to prop himself up while he staggers and stumbles onward. One might think, all things considered, he was an old man at the end of a long life. But this was not the case. He hadn’t even seen a full twenty-four years on this accursed planet yet.
 
Lucian had always known he was going to die young, to be fair. Born sickly, he’d not exactly been set up for success in life, and that was in spite of being the bastard son of THE Lex Luthor. Of course, being Lex Luthor’s flesh and blood only gets you so far when you don’t live up to the man’s expectations. At least Lucian could say he’d been consistent. It might have been the only reason his father let him live and didn’t arrange for an accident instead.
 
From the very beginning, he’d been little more than dead weight. Born to some no name woman (or so his father had always said) who he’d killed in childbirth, Lucian had been on the cusp of death all his life. His health had always been shit and being exhausted twenty-four-seven did not help him with his studies either. He’d tried to focus on mental pursuits, seeing as physical pursuits were closed off to him, but in the end he couldn’t even do much there. He’d managed an above average 3.5 GPA, but of course, that wasn’t good enough for his father. HE wasn’t good enough for his father.
 
When Lucian turned eighteen, Lex had cut him loose. Disowned him. As far as his father was concerned, he’d given Lucian chance after chance and at every single turn, his bastard son had failed him. Ever since, Lucian had been on his own. It’d been hard, but he’d managed to get by. Living with the health problems he had didn’t make it easy by any stretch of the imagination, but on the flip side it was the only life he’d ever known.
 
And now it seemed it was a life that was about to come to an abrupt end. Despite knowing he was going to die young; he’d always assumed it would be in a hospital somewhere, seeing as he’d spent a good third of his life in such facilities over the last twenty four years. But he should have known better. In all honesty, it was a wonder he survived as long as he did in a place like Metropolis to begin with.
 
Metropolis might have been the shining jewel of the Eastern Seaboard, lifted up as an example of what a true city should be when compared to a shithole like say, Gotham… but it was also the home of Superman. And strength demanded challenge. How HAD Lucian managed to survive every alien invasion and knock-down, city destroying fight that had ever happened throughout his life? How had a sickly fool like him lasted through every single one of Superman’s insanely powerful villains?
 
Maybe he was luckier than he gave himself credit for. But much like his health, it would seem said luck was finally failing him. Letting out a rasping cough, Lucian is forced to come to a stop as he damn near doubles over his cane. He tries desperately to catch his breath, knowing that standing out here on the sidewalk in one place was signing his own death sentence. Any moment now, the ground would break open under him and swallow him up if he didn’t keep moving.
 
C-CRACK!
 
Unfortunately, it seemed his incredibly limited stamina and piss poor health had at long last failed him. Funnily enough, it’s not the ground swallowing him up that kills him. Instead, Lucian finds himself looking up just in time to watch a massive piece of building fall down upon him. In the split second before contact, he wonders if the afterlife will hurt as much as life did.
 
Then, he wonders nothing at all.
 
-x-X-x-
 
… Huh. He hadn’t actually thought there was an afterlife. That had been a bit of wishful thinking at the end of his short and altogether pathetic life. And yet here he is. It’s strange. Only now that the pain is gone does he realize how debilitating it is. Only now that every breath isn’t a struggle does he find it startlingly easy to just lay there and relax.
 
A smile spreads across Lucian’s face, and it doesn’t leave even as a set of slender fingers runs up and down his bared chest. A pair of soft lips brush across his cheek, down his jaw and to his neck. He groans at the incredibly sensual touch from the woman laying beside him. He’d died a virgin, unfortunately. He’d never known the touch of a woman in his entire life, mostly because there was some concern that even the gentlest of sexual acts would result in broken bones or his heart giving out on him.
 
He was a frail, sickly thing after all. But not anymore. It almost felt like a dream, if he was being honest. A soft chuckle sounds out in his ear, followed by a beautiful, silken smooth voice.
 
“My brother is not here. I am. Shall we?”
 
He’s not sure what she means by that, but he feels this strange desire to find out. Slowly, he nods, not trusting himself to speak. In response, she abruptly swings herself up onto him, straddling his crotch, his cock suddenly pressing against a warm, wet slit. For the firs time, Lucian focuses enough to actually take in the woman he finds himself sharing his afterlife with. The sight of her takes his breath away.
 
Her skin is chalk white, and her hair pitch black. It appears as though she’s wearing thick black eyeshadow and thick black lipstick, but somehow Lucian just knows that’s not actually the case. Her breasts are each capped with a dark grey nipple, which stand on end as she grinds her pussy lips into his cockhead for a brief moment, smirking at him slightly as he takes her in.
 
Almost like she knows the exact instant that he’s finished soaking in her appearance, she drops down onto his phallus, filling herself with his length. Lucian gasps as she takes his virginity, his entire body seizing up for a moment. But it’s not a bad seizure, which he had plenty of experience with in life. No, this spasm is one of pleasure. He groans throatily, as the woman rides him.
 
It takes him some time, but eventually he finds his voice. He can’t help it; his curiosity gets the best of him. His mind, which had been beleaguered by sickness all his life, has never felt clearer. The pain that had such a debilitating effect on his ability to think is gone. Now, his mind is racing. His thoughts are going a mile a minute. Is this what it’s like to exist without pain? Is this what it’s like to have a clear head?
 
“Who… who are you?”
 
She looks at him then and her eyes twinkle. Somehow, only then does he notice the ankh necklace dangling betwixt her bouncing breasts.
 
“You know who I am, Lucian Luthor.”
 
His breath catches. She’s right. He knows who she is.
 
“Death…”
 
Death gazes at him… and also bounces up and down on his cock. It’s a strange moment, to be sure. Lucian finds himself reaching out and grabbing hold of her hips. Not to stop her or even slow her down, but to anchor himself as he thrusts up into her from below. It all still feels something like a dream. But then, after a life lived in pain and exhaustion, anything without all of that would feel like a dream, he supposed.
 
“You’ve lived a hard life, Lucian. Your own nature has not been kind to you.”
 
Blinking, he looks at her at that, caught off guard.
 
“My… my own nature?”
 
She gives him a crooked smile at that, her insides continuing to clamp down upon his member in a quite satisfying manner. Never in a million years would he have thought the afterlife would involve him fucking Death herself. Did all those who died experience this? Without even having to ask, he knows they didn’t. He’s special, somehow. Unique.
 
“My brother Dream has his Vortexes. And I… I have you, Lucian.”
 
That, truth be told, answers less than Lucian would have preferred. But he’s not entirely sure he should be complaining. Especially not to Death, who it seemed would be the arbiter of where he went next. Was the fact that she was fucking him a good sign or a bad one in that regard?
 
Smirking slightly, Death shakes her head in visible amusement.
 
“You’re not going anywhere but back, Lucian.”
 
“Wait, what?”
 
Leaning forward, Death’s pouty black lips part and she splays chalk white fingers along his cheek. In her eyes, Lucian sees stars going out. He sees supernovas and black holes. He sees the death of entire galaxies. It’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever witnessed. SHE is the most beautiful thing he’s ever witnessed.
 
“Your nature will not allow you to move on. Not just yet. You aren’t quite ripe. I am Death of the Endless, and in time I will reap the last living thing and then put the universe itself to rest. You yourself will one day die for the final time… and I will be there to welcome you with open arms.”
 
A little nonplussed, but also slightly surprised he’s managing to follow her explanation so far now that his mind isn’t constantly beset by the pain of his failing body, Lucian nevertheless looks down at where they’re joined together. Furrowing his brow, the young man looks back up into Death’s eyes.
 
“… And what would you call this, if not an open-armed welcome?”
 
She chuckles at that, straightening up and tossing her hair back as she lets out a breathy sigh.
 
“An explanation. Your nature robbed you of your first chance at life. For a being such as you, there can be no true life without death.”
 
Lucian blinks at that, his mind rapidly connecting the dots. Far faster than he thinks he could have before.
 
“You’re saying that I was doing it to myself? That I was sickly because… what, I was sucking the energy out of my own body?”
 
She nods, even as she gyrates her hips upon his cock, riding him towards a completion. But Lucian doesn’t want this to end, so he does his level best to hold back his release, even as it proves harder and harder.
 
“You are more than just your mortal existence, Lucian. But to become more, you had to live that first life. Weak. Alone. Afraid. I wish it could have been different.”
 
Death was surprisingly kind. Open. Human, even. He wondered if she was like that with everyone. Somehow, he got the impression that the answer was both yes and no. He was special, after all. At the same time, something won’t stop nagging at him.
 
“… Am I the reason my mother died in childbirth?”
 
At this, Death pauses and gives him a pitying look.
 
“I’d hoped to spare you that realization. It will bring you nothing but pain. But… yes. She gave her life for you, Lucian. She did so gladly.”
 
Lucian can’t help but snort derisively. Yes, it does hurt. Knowing that it wasn’t just giving birth to him that killed his mother, but the fact that he’d straight up… absorbed too much energy from her or something, draining the very life in order to fuel his existence as a sickly man on the cusp of death. Heh, knowing what he knew now, it all much far too much sense.
 
On top of him, Death continues to ride him. Her movements are becoming more and more purposeful… more forceful too. She’s looking at him with intent and he knows he won’t be allowed to hold back his release much longer. The time for questions is rapidly coming to an end.
 
“You said… I’d be going back.”
 
“Yes, Lucian. You will live life again. I have decoupled your soul from its body as is my duty. However due to your nature, when I send your soul on to its appropriate destination, that destination is an earlier version of your body.”
 
For a moment, he feels a surge of apprehension. But Death clearly knows what he’s thinking, because she shakes her head, smiling a rueful smile as she continues to undulate her chalk white abdomen while riding his cock.
 
“Do not fret, Lucian. The worst of your existence is behind you. You will not return to life as the frail, sickly thing you were before. Having lived your first life, your second will be much better. Twenty-four years spent collecting your life force has given your unique nature quite a bit to work with.”
 
Blinking, Lucian licks his lips, curious once more.
 
“Like… like what.”
 
Grinning at him now, Death grinds down on his cock before lifting herself up.
 
“That, darling, is something you will only discover if you stop holding yourself back.”
 
Face aflame, Lucian looks down at where they’re joined together.
 
“But… I didn’t make you cum.”
 
For a moment, Death looks genuinely startled. Then, she lets out a tinkling laugh.
 
“Oh Lucian… perhaps in another thousand years.”
 
Before he can muster a response, Death slams herself down onto his cock one final time and he… he finds his concentration failing. With a low groan, Lucian tips over the edge, spilling his seed within the beautiful entity. As he creampies Death of the Endless, it’s as though something is flowing between them. And then… it’s gone. And so is she.
 
Lucian blinks as he finds himself suddenly alone. He barely has the time to be upset however, because it’s just as she said. Almost immediately after his release and her departure, Lucian finds himself faced with a choice. Before he goes back, he has the ability to… shape the energy he’s been absorbing from himself all of his first life into a Boon for his second life.
 
His mind races as he finds himself confronted with four different choices. He could… do quite a lot with any of them truth be told. Especially if his current mental speed is any indication of how smart he’s going to be when he goes back.
 
It would seem he’d inherited his father’s mind after all. He just hadn’t been able to truly apply himself in his first life, because the pain of his existence left him forever exhausted, and the medicine that lessened that pain impaired his ability to think.
 
But regardless, he had a decision to make. Four choices. Four powers. The most familiar among them was Superman’s own powerset. Kryptonian Physiology. It was certainly tempting. The feats that he’d heard the Man of Steel was capable of made Lucian’s mind go into overdrive at the possibilities. Of course, there was also his father to consider. Lex Luthor hated Superman. His own son becoming a Kryptonian? It would have the man frothing at the mouth when he found out.
 
But did Lucian really care enough about pissing his father off to go that far? And besides… weren’t the other options just as interesting?
 
Alongside Kryptonian Physiology, there was Reactive Adaptation, an ability that would allow him to develop in response to threats. He would grow stronger, faster, tougher, so long as he continued to face worthy opponents. He could become greater than Superman with such a power, though early on he would be no more than a normal human man.
 
After Reactive Adaptation is Biological Manipulation, also known as Biokinesis. He could do just as much with that, really. The applications of Biological Manipulation were endless. He could even potentially augment himself to the same levels that Kryptonian Physiology and Reactive Adaptation allowed him to reach, though he got the impression that it wouldn’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination.
 
Finally, last but not least, was Energy Manipulation. An incredibly versatile power, to say the least. There was all sorts of different types of energy. He would be a walking atomic bomb… and that was the simplest and most brute force application of such a power set.
 
Truth be told, Lucian wanted all of them. But he could tell he could only have one. And in the end… wasn’t the choice obvious? He already knew what he was going to pick. All that was left was to slot it in and see what ‘going back’ actually entailed…