"Clark, it's time to get up," said an angelic voice.

Slowly Clark opened his eyes greeted by the sight of the clear blue sky with a cool breeze blowing across his face. Propping himself onto one of his elbows Clark rubbed his eyes and looked around him at his surroundings. In every direction all that could be seen was rolling meadows of lush green grass going on for miles on end. A gentle breeze causing the grass to bend and sway to look like a ripple in a pond. "Clark," the voice said again, tearing his eyes away from the portrait landscape in front of him. Looking for the source of the voice Clark's eyes rested on a single raven gliding down from the skies and landed on his shoulder.

"Were you the one calling to me," Clark asked.

"Yes. Follow me," the raven said and with that it flew off of his shoulder and through the sky away from him.

"Wait!" Clark exclaimed, "Where am I and who are you?"

With no response Clark sighed and began to run after the raven, watching it as it soared above him and led him down from the hill he was resting on. As he ran after the raven the landscape around him slowly began to change, the thick grass was replaced by cracked cement and rubble. The clear blue sky became covered by gray menacing clouds blocking out the sun and causing an uneasy feeling within Clark. Swallowing his fear Clark looked back out in front of him in the direction the raven was leading him, to see the outline of a city coming over the horizon. "Is that where you're leading me," he asked.

Diving down close to Clark's head the raven spoke, "Yes, I was sent out to bring you here."

"Sent?" Clark asked, "Who were you sent by?"

"Patience, you will see soon enough," the raven said before it flew off ahead of Clark again. Looking back at the nearing city Clark could see mountains of rubble and streams of smoke rising from the city. Above the shattered city the smoke seemed to swirl together in a massive vortex spreading out across the entire city. As if it was a sign to turn back and forget about this forsaken place, but still Clark pushed on following the raven to wherever it was taking him. After a short period of silence the two reached the edge of the city and Clark had a feeling of dread spread over his entire being, stopping him dead in his tracks in the middle of some scattered rubble. Kneeling down to get a better look at a sign hidden in the rubble, he brushed off a layer of dust to reveal three small worlds that chilled him to the bone.

Welcome to Metropolis

Clark slowly raised his head to look at the raven perched on top of a pile of rubble, watching him with a hint of mockery in its eyes. Finding his voice again Clark asked in a sorrowful tone the one question that he could think of, "What happen here?"

Without a response the raven took flight again going further down the road without giving Clark a second glance, knowing that he would follow. "Wait," Clark yelled as he started chasing the bird again. The chase took him down dozens of streets all covered in rubble of places he had seen on his many trips into Metropolis. Seeing all of this destruction of a place he basically called home cause Clark to become filled with emotions of rage, sorrow, and confusion. The only way that he was going to get any answers about what had happened was to follow the raven and hope that there was at least something left here. Suddenly the raven swooped upwards along the side of a tall building that seemed to be untouched by the plague of destruction that had fallen upon the city. Looking up at the raven as it flew Clark saw where the raven had led him to the one place that he was hoping he could avoid, the Watchtower.

Hesitantly, Clark slowly ascended up to the top to see what the raven wanted him to see. Each step he took as he reached the top, Clark's heart began to feel heavier and heavier from the emotions that clouded his mind. Guilt being one that felt the most appropriate for all the pain he had brought to here to his friends. So many times before he had dragged them into his fights because he was too weak to finish what he had started and needed them to clean up the messes that he had made. Almost every time that they did help him, every last one of them came close to death because of him. Putting them out of harm's way was one of the reasons that he had decided not to return here, yet here he was again seeking help.

Finally reaching the top floor Clark stood in front of the doors with his hands shaking down at his sides for what seemed like forever. Taking a deep breath he grabbed the handles and opened the double doors to see the room was almost completely vacant. All of the computers, couches, medical supplies, all of it was gone the only thing that was there was a woman stroking the raven, perched in front of the huge stain glass window directly opposite from Clark. The woman was draped in a long white cloth that cut off just above their feet and they had long blonde hair that went beyond their shoulders. "Hello Clark, it's been a while," she said in a calm angelic voice, like the raven.

Clark froze, unsure of what to do. Slowly he stepped forward hoping to see the face of the woman before him so that he could try and make sense of what was around him. With a small giggle the woman turned to face him revealing her to be none other than Alicia Baker. "I have to say it's good to see you again."

"Alicia?! What are you doing here, I thought you were dead," Clark said as the confusion he felt began to grow even more.

"Based on what's outside, I don't think it matters if I'm dead or alive. There's no one left out there."

"What do you mean there is no one left," Clark asked the concern in his voice raising. "How do know that? They could have just evacuated or something."

With a smile Alicia turned back towards the window and resumed petting the raven and continued speaking, "I mean there is no one left. This is what I wanted to show you so that you could try and learn the cold hard truth of this world," as she spoke the last part her voice had an icy chill to it that sent shivers down Clark's spine.

Reluctantly Clark asked the question that he was afraid to ask, "What truth?"

"You need to learn that it's hopeless, everything you do no matter how noble, it's all for nothing. No matter how many lives you save or criminal you put away, the cycle will continue and the fight will continue to rage on. That's what happened here."

Somewhat shocked by this response Clark pushed some more hoping for more information and a clarification of what had happened. "What fight? Alicia, what happened here?"

"This is the aftermath of the fight between good and bad, your friends did so much but in the end it was all for nothing since everyone else was killed in the crossfire. This would have been the outcome whether you were a part of the fight or not and in both cases you would still be put to blame."

"Why would I be blamed?"

"All of this came to be from your arrival to Earth, you set the gears in motion for this to occur and in the end everyone realizes that," Alicia said as she held out her hand for the raven to hop onto. Stroking its chin lightly and turning to face Clark, "Here let me show you."

With that she lifted the raven and it took flight circling them for a moment, but as it flew it left behind a layer of black. It circled the two of them until they were completely surrounded by darkness and landed back on Alicia's finger. The only light in the black oblivion seemed to come down on Clark like a spot light forcing him to shield his eyes until they adjusted. But as he covered his eyes he heard whispers all around him, for a few minutes they were too quiet for him to make out but soon they rose in volume.

"If it wasn't for you my parents wouldn't be dead!"

"I could live my life in peace if it wasn't for you!"

All of the voices began accusing him, whether about him robbing them of their future or being the cause of their unease. Uncovering his eyes Clark could see the sources of the voices, white apparitions stepped out from the darkness some of them were people he had never seen before. Others were people that he had saved either from a meteor freaks, gang members, or from an accident, the last batch of apparitions were the ones that struck closest to Clark's heart. The loudest accusations came from these spirits that belonged to Clark's closest friends and family, dead or alive. Pete, Martha, Lana, Lionel, Bart, Victor, Lois, Jonathan all of them were there, and each of them had a reason to blame Clark.

The torment was too much Clark tried to block out their cries but couldn't so he turned to Alicia to get her to make them stop, only to find her and the raven had disappeared. Clark's heart fell even lower; he was stranded in an unforgiving sea with no hope of mercy forcing him to fall to his knees with tears streaming down his face. "Please," he whispered, "make it stop. Please."

For what seemed like an eternity the screams continued, burning their hateful messages into Clark's brain. Suddenly there was a hand on Clark's shoulder and the voices became silent and the apparitions faded back into the darkness. Confused yet relieved Clark looked up at the face of his savior from this nightmare only to be shocked yet again. "Chloe… what are you doing here," he asked.

Without a word Chloe took his hand and brought him to his feet with a broad smile across her face that he usually saw from her. Her eyes conveyed a sea of warm emotions that drew him closer to her; slowly he leaned down closer to her hoping to steal a kiss from her as thanks for saving him. Also hoping that he could finally explain his feelings for her with this kiss, as he got just an inch away from their lips meeting he felt a sharp, blood boiling pain in his stomach. Clark suddenly found it hard to breath and his mind became clouded, looking down at his stomach he saw a glowing green, kryptonite dagger lodged into him by Chloe. As the pain spread throughout his body he fell to the floor where his blood slowly slipped out from him.

Using all the strength he could muster Clark looked back up to Chloe's eyes which had become cold and unforgiving and asked, "Why?"

She simply stared at him for a moment and a smile spread across her face as she kneed down next to him and answered, "You are the reason that so much pain exists, without you there is a chance to stop it and because you've broken my heart too many times."

With these final words Clark succumbed to the darkness around him and let his heavy eyes close to the hell around him.

The sun had just began to rise on the Smallville cemetery as Chloe pulled up in her car, once she parked her car she sprang from her seat in the cemetery to search for Alicia's grave. It had been years since she had been back to the cemetery but she still knew the spot she needed to me at, so as she got five rows away she hid behind a massive oak tree. Slowly peeking out from behind it Chloe surveyed the area ahead of her for any indication that Clark was there. Seeing nothing there she slowly maneuvered around the headstones getting closer and closer to Alicia's final resting place. "Wait a minute; Clark could have heard me coming from a mile away. Why am I sneaking around?" Chloe thought.

With this thought Chloe discarded with trying to sneak around and just walked to the grave, but for some reason even with such beautiful weather, her heart beat harder and harder as she neared the grave. Above her the sky was streaked with an array of colors and spots of clouds blocking out the morning sunlight. The occasional echo of a bird chirping was carried to Chloe's ear by the gentle breeze. In almost every way, this would be a picture perfect day but still there was something off. Walking closer to the grave Chloe heard an unsettling moan come from one of the headstones before her. Taking a cautious step forward Chloe look over to see what it was, the sight before her though was one that almost stopped her raging heart.

Before Alicia's grave was an unconscious Clark holding onto his stomach as if he were in deep pain. He turned restlessly in his sleep and was covered in sweat for the intensity of his dream. "Clark! Clark!" Chloe exclaimed with her voice full of emotion, "Please you have to wake up!"

With no response Chloe got down beside Clark and placed his head in her lap, feeling his pulse at such an elevated rate on increased Chloe's fears. "What do I do? What do I do?! He's not waking up!" Franticly Chloe looked for anything that could help her, anything at all, but her hopes were dashed as she found nothing. Looking back at Clark with tears forming in her eyes, Chloe lowered her head in defeat believing that it was the end of her best friend. "Please, please don't die! I need you!"

"Please," she whispered and the simple word seemed to float through the air and hang there and the tears began to fall from her eyes landing on Clark's face.

"Don't worry."

Stunned Chloe looked down at Clark to see him starring back at her with eyes filled with a strange of mix of sadness and determination. Either way she couldn't have been more relieved, quickly she pulled him up and wrapped her arms around him in a fierce hug, which if he wasn't invulnerable might crack some bones. The tears of sadness changed into tears of joy to have her best friend back safely in her arms again. "Oh my God, Clark! Don't you ever scare me like that, ever again," she warned sternly.

"Chloe I'm glad you're here, there's something I've wanted to give you," Clark said as he reached for something in his back pocket.

Releasing him from her death hug, Chloe looked at him with a confused expression. But before Clark pulled it out he stopped and looked deeply into her eyes. "Actually there are two things," he said as he leaned closer to her.

Before she knew it Chloe felt Clark's lips pushed up against her own, the shocked feeling didn't last long before her emotions got the better of her and she kissed him back with a deep passion that she always had. Sadly, before she could try and move things along to tell him all the things she wanted to say to him Clark pulled back and put something in her hand. Looking down Chloe's heart stopped from what seemed like the one hundredth time that day because of the thin object in her hand. The tears slowly began to pick up pace as she looked at the letter addressed to her. So many thoughts and questions raced through her head that she couldn't keep up with them or find a way to voice them. Bringing her gaze up back to Clark her eyes searched his for an explanation but found nothing; his eyes became hollow voids that seemed to hide so much inner torment that he was holding in.

"Clark what is this," she asked already knowing the answer.

"You already know," he said and with that he rose to his feet and disappeared using his super speed, leaving behind a small trail of dust. But also a shattered Chloe Sullivan.