Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville or any of its characters. I am not making money off this... blah blah.
Authors note: This part of the story is much more exciting that the first part. In my opinion anyway. It has more action and if you like the drama part, just wait till next chapter.
Raina's ship glided downwards toward a group of mountains called the Appalachian Mountains. The reason it had taken Raina so long to find Clark was because he had been living out of a cave. It was one of the worst case scenarios she could think of. He was alone. When he arrived he was probably cold, hungry, and longing for Raina to be there with him. Heck, he probably would settle for another Merdan to be there with him. Here he was all alone, without anyone to hold him at night and tell him everything was going to be ok. He was almost a grownup now at the age of 17. I wonder what he's like, Raina thought. Her only hope was that he still possessed a little bit of the quality of his boyhood, his innocence and his trust.
Raina's ship landed on a rock outcrop that was only a short distance away from Clark's hiding spot. The vegetation here was somewhat similar to that on Quatar but in other ways it was different. It was a greenish color, where on Quatar it was much more beautiful, its grass and plants coming in various shades of red and blue. Raina climbed down the steep incline that lead to Clark's domain, dreading what she would find, and wondering how Clark would react to an intruder. She stepped lightly down onto a lower rock that led to Clark's cave.
There was a man deep inside the cave who was working on a carving of wood. Raina couldn't exactly see what it was from her angle but she could tell it was well carved. The man had long black hair and wore raggedy clothes. There were two boys in the back of the cave that were tied at the wrists and their feet with a material that seemed quite strong as all the boys' efforts to get loose were in vain. One of these boys has to be Clark, Raina thought; they were all about the right age, but which one? It couldn't be the one holding the boys captive, that just wasn't like Clark, but the other two boys didn't look a thing like the young Clark that Raina knew. One of the boys had dark brown hair cut short and dark brown eyes and the other had short blonde hair and penetrating blue eyes. Suddenly the boys looked up and an expression of surprise came across their face. The blonde one began to call out to her then realizing his mistake quickly shut his mouth. But it was too late. Their captor spun around and this was the first time Raina had gotten a good look at his face. Her eyes widened and she seemed to stumble backward. It was a grown up version of Clark, except not with the sweet innocent smile Raina remembered but with an evil grin. Clark lunged toward her and in Raina's shock she could do nothing to protect herself. Clark held her down and tried to turn her around Raina guessed so he could bind her like the boys, but he hadn't anticipated Raina's strength which was a great advantage to her as she knocked Clark flat. It stung her to treat him this way, but he definitely wasn't himself, or what Raina knew of what he used to be. Clark used every bit of power inside himself as he lashed his arm out against Raina, but it didn't do what Clark was hoping it would do, which was fling her out of the cave. Raina had much more experience using her powers than Clark did as he wasn't used to fighting someone with his own capabilities.
Realizing his obvious weakness against Raina, Clark grabbed the dark haired boy from the floor by his hair and got him in a choke hold before Raina even realized what was happening.
"Who are you?" Clark asked. His fascination with someone with the same strengths as himself seemed to get the better of him. He was speaking in English, which was the native language of this part of earth. Raina's translator kicked in as Clark posed his question. Raina didn't answer him but began slowly stepping closer to him. As she did however Clark tightened his grip on the now frightened teen. "Don't get any closer freak," he sneered. "Or this little NORMAL will get it." His voice seemed to echo the hatred for the humans he seemed to have. "You may be as strong as me, but this kid ain't!" To prove his point he smashed the kid's head into the rock.
"Jesse!" The blonde haired boy called out, the fear in his voice evident as he watched blood cascading from a gash in his now unconscious friend's head.
"Shut up!" Clark yelled. "Or your next."
Raina's eyes filled with tears at the prospect of what Clark had become. There was obviously someone here on the planet that had caused Clark to become how he was. Someone who pushed him to the edge. A person that had made him hate the entire race of humans. Raina knew that all humans weren't mean, but Clark was so young, maybe that was all that he remembered. "Clark." Raina choked out. This was not how she had envisioned her first visit with Clark. The sweet little boy that had loved her so dearly.
Clark lifted his eyes and stared hard at her. "How do you know my name? Only Raina and I know…" His voice trailed off into nothingness as he fit all the pieces together. "Raina?" His voice was timid now. She nodded and Clark seemed to stare off into space. But as quickly as it had come it was gone and the hardness was back in his voice. "It can't be." He stated matter of fact. "That Raina left me, abandoned me, just like everyone else in my life did. She wouldn't come for me. I'm not important to her." And with that Clark dropped the boy named Jesse to the ground and ran out of the cave. Raina began to follow him but then thought better of it and watched as he trailed off down the steep mountain slope.
Raina turned her attention back toward the two boys as the blonde haired one looked at her with a frightened look then glanced over at his friend. She walked over to where the one called Jesse was lying and bent down to look at him. "You aren't going to hurt him are you?" The blonde haired one asked. She smiled and shook her head. I wonder if Clark knew what he was doing to these boys, Raina wondered. If her theory about why Clark was so mean to humans was correct, and he had been treated badly by them. Wouldn't he be doing the same to these two boys concerning the Merdans? Raina gently laid Jesse out in a more comfortable position than the heap that Clark had left him in as she ripped the rope around his wrists and feet. He stirred and slowly opened his eyes. He started to try to talk but all that game out was a bunch of garbled half formed sentences.
"Shhhh…" Raina tried to calm the boy. "Just lay still." She could understand why he would be frightened after what happened.
"My name's Raina. What's yours?" Raina directed to the other boy.
"M…Mark." He was still terrified of her even though she appeared to be helping them. Raina ripped the roped that bound Mark and he rubbed his hands to try to restore the circulation in his hands. "How did he" she nodded toward the cave entrance from where Clark had left, "get you?"
"We were just exploring this part of the mountain and we thought the cave looked interesting as a hideout. But then he came."
"How did you get this far out in the mountains though? This isn't a place where you would just go waltzing into; it's almost fifty miles from any civilization." Tears started to mount in Mark's eyes and he turned from her. "What? What did I say?" Raina was now thoroughly confused. Mark turned around wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Its not you." He began. "Clark, isn't that what you called him?" Raina nodded and Mark continued. "We came here on a camping trip with our dad. Sort of like a guys week out. My dad always drives us out somewhere where it's just us three. We can do whatever we want. We hike a couple miles a day into mountains nobody has set foot in for years and we camp at each break. The cave seemed like a cool place at the time." Mark's story went on to explain how they had been in here when Clark had come back from wherever he was and found them there. Mark and Jesse's dad wouldn't let Clark near the two boys for fear Clark would harm them in some way. He was correct in the assumption but he had no idea of Clark's strength. He was a father protecting his young. Except in this case it turned out very wrong. Clark was challenged by this human and so Clark killed him. He killed their father as the two boys sat by watching in horror. They couldn't even try anything because Clark was too strong for any of them. By the end of his story, Mark had tears flowing freely down his face. Raina grabbed him in a bear hug and Mark stiffened, but then slowly relaxed into Raina's arm as he realized that she would protect them.
By this time Jesse had drifted back into the dark abyss of unconsciousness and Raina let go of Mark to go check on him. The bleeding from his head still hadn't stopped and Raina was starting to get worried. She wasn't exactly sure of the physiology of humans but having this much blood coming from one individual couldn't be good. "Do you have anything to wrap his head with, Mark?" Mark looked up suddenly realizing that he wasn't alone in his thoughts and Jesse was lying there hurt.
"Um…yea," he walked deeper into the cave where he thought Clark had thrown their backpacks before tying them up. He reached one dark green pack and froze. He eventually forced himself to go open his father's bag. One person very close to him had died; he couldn't let his brother follow. He unzipped the bag carefully and pulled out a small med kit. His dad had always insisted to bring something hiking in case they got lost. Mark could still hear his father saying, "You never know what could happen out there." He shook the memory from his head and trotted over to where Raina was cradling Jesse's head and got out some gauze and medical tape. First Mark disinfected the wound then covered it with the gauze. Next he took off his sweatshirt revealing a short sleeve shirt that had a mouse on it and underneath it said "Mickey Mouse". Raina didn't quite get it, but it must be some type of earth motto or so. Mark folded the sweatshirt and placed it under Jesse's head as a softener against the cold hard rock floor of the cave.
"How is he?" Raina asked.
"He'll be ok for right now, but he needs to get medical attention real soon or I…" He paused, and then continued more slowly. "I don't even want to think about the possibilities."
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