A/N: As usual all disclaimers apply. Thanks for all the great feedback.

Blood Ties: Chapter 5

Clark stood at the bar looking out across the club. The night had gone mostly without incident. There had been one socialite that had drank a bit too much, but that was to be expected. This was a bar after all.

Clark watched as the cleaning crew finished getting the place picked up. He admired the crew for the job they did. Most of them would never see the inside of the club during business hours having been deemed 'unworthy'. There was a double standard that Clark disliked about this place, but one that he could live with. He was just here to keep the peace, not dictate policy. The owner had talked to him about the type of people that were 'Club Panther materiel'. It seemed that most of the people from his hometown would not have fit in here, and that was just fine with Clark. He would make sure that they were safe and that would be enough. If he kept away from them there would be no chance of another accident causing them harm. Instead he would be content to stay here protecting the patrons keeping a safe distance from everyone.

He couldn't afford to let anyone get too close.

"Hello, Clark."

Turning from the scene before him, Clark spun towards the voice. The look of shock on his face told Wil that Clark was having the same response that most of Smallville had had. Several moments passed before Clark regained the power of speech.

"Who are you?"

"Well, that depends on which planet we are on. Here, on earth, I'm William Gibson. On Krypton however I would have been Tor-Ul, Son of Dar and Maia Ul. Cousin to Kal-El"

"That's not possible. Krypton exploded, killing everyone."

"You're here."

"But the ship."

"Yeah I know, the whole last son of krypton bit. Your father programmed the ship to tell you that so you would embrace this world as your own, instead of searching for survivors. Besides at the time he probably thought that you were the last son."

Wil walked up to the rail that Clark had been standing at and leaned on it, resting on his forearms.

"He had published plans for a prototype ship and hyper drive that would allow our race to be saved. The fools on the council branded him a traitor and a heretic. Our fathers had worked on the designs together and my mother was training to be a pilot of one of the ships in the hopes that the few members of the council that saw the truth could be saved. In the end there would be no escape for most of the planet. The council discovered the construction of the lifeboats and sent troops to stop our parents. My mother launched your ship and then piloted mine away from the planet as our fathers fought to keep the troops away."

"This can't be true. None of it makes sense! Why would my father program the ship to make me take over this planet? If he was the man that you describe, then why?"

Clark cradled his head in his hands trying to make sense of it all.

"That I can't answer. Maybe the ships core was damaged or the programming got messed up somehow. Hell, maybe he was some warmonger bent on conquest. Clark I just don't know. What I do know if that the man loved you enough to give his life to save you. That's got to count for something"

Standing there looking at the man in front of him, Clark began to think about all the things that would have been different if they had been raised together. His mind worked frantically trying to make sense of it all.

"If he loved me so much then why did he send me away? He didn't love me. He just wanted to continue his precious bloodline." Clark spat the words as if they were poison. He could feel all the emotions that he had managed to cork up beginning to force their way free.

"Lets put aside the whole daddy did me wrong thing for a sec. What in the hell were you thinking running away from Smallville? I mean I know that you made some mistakes, but there were plenty to go around. Now you have a family that loves you, but you turn and run from them? Jonathan and Martha Kent might not be your biological parents, but that's no reason think that they love you any less. You know how hard it is for your father to ask for help right? He asked me, a total stranger, to come find you and bring you home. That should tell you how worried he is."

"He's not worried about me. He made that very clear before I left." The tears began to come slowly. "I killed their baby. How could they love the alien monster that killed their unborn child?"

"Oh, please Clark. Grow up! Jonathan said some things that he didn't mean, ok? It happens. He was dealing with a lot of grief, and you were the cause of some of it. Of course he was going to be mad. You made a mistake, and it was a big one, but it was just a mistake. You have to quit feeling sorry for yourself, grow the hell up and face this. If you don't you will be running for the rest of your life. "

Turning from the railing Wil faced Clark. "And what about your friends? You just going to throw all that away too? Lana loves you, and Pete and Chloe would do anything they could to help. You might have lost your biological family, but you have another family here that loves you. All you have to do is quit acting like a child that got in trouble and be a man."

Tears began to stream from his eyes as the grief turned to rage. Spinning around Clark grabbed Wil by the shirt.

"You have no right to tell me how to live! I don't care who you are or where you're from, GET OUT!"

The boiling rage rolled across Clark as he sent Wil sailing across the room causing him to slam into one of the steel pillars that reinforced the balcony. The pillar crumpled like it was made from cardboard as Wil hit it. Standing back up, Wil brushed the dust from his clothes.

"So, you want to do this the hard way, Eh? Ok by me, but remember you started this." Grinning like a devil Wil looked around the room for a moment.

"But not here, Too much to break. What do you say we relocate to somewhere a bit less tender?"

Wil bunched his legs beneath him and shot across the room. Landing beside Clark for an instant He launched a viscous backhand strike to Clarks head, knocking his cousin across the room and through the back door of the club. With a burst of speed Wil moved to his side grabbing the stunned boy under the arms. Suddenly jumping skyward Wil and Clark shot into the night high above the city. Angling towards the forest near Smallville, Wil reversed his grip and sped through the air as fast as he could.

"You want a fight, Clark? You got one." Wil stopped suddenly and threw Clark straight up. Speeding above him he executed a sideways spinning roundhouse that connected with Clarks stomach.

Slamming into the ground at nearly mach one Clark lay still in the deep crater for a moment before he managed to move. He hurt allover. For the first time in his life he felt pain that didn't have to do with the meteor rocks.

Standing Clark pulled the tattered Flannel rag from his chest. Throwing the shirt toward the ground Clark succumbed to the rage he was feeling. With a nearly feral scream He shot skyward to rejoin the battle

For the first time in his life, Clark wasn't holding anything back. ~*~*~*~

The area around the men was ablaze in fire and wreathed with broken timber and earth. Slamming again into the ground, Clark noticed a strange metallic taste in his mouth. Reaching up to his lip he pulled back his hand to find blood on it. The surreal moment was broken when Wil landed and spoke.

"That the best you got, farm boy!" Clark was strong, and fast, but he didn't have the fighting experience that Wil did. Clark bunched his feet under him and lunged at Wil roaring the whole way. Wil stepped to the side and punched straight down into the back of Clark's head. Clark slammed into the ground as Wil backed up preparing for the next attack.

Wil had done so several times, hoping that Clark would tire himself out after expending most of the rage and self-loathing that he had bottled up inside. Wil knew what he was feeling and knew how dangerous it was. He had felt it for several months after his mother had died. He had been careless and provoked the aliens of the world that they had landed on. Shaking himself from the reverie he focused on the moment. He needed to keep Clark fighting until he was exhausted

Several more exchanges of blows or heat vision flashed across the impromptu battleground until finally the two titans stilled.

Struggling to his feet Clark staggered towards Wil's prone form. As he closed Wil rolled into a crouch and launched himself full force at Clark. Both fists connected with Clarks chin snapping his head back and launching him in the air. Mere moments ago the blow would have shattered a mountain, but now he barley lifted Clark from his feet.

Wil's right eye was swelling and he was certain that he had a cracked rib. Clark was not faring much better. Wil had split his lip and Clark would have several shiners of his own.

Struggling to their feet they began to face off again. Wil looked at Clark and laughed. The laughter caught Clark by surprise.

"Clark, you ready to listen to me now?" Clark answered by swinging at Wil again. The fight had taken too much out of him though and the blow missed by several feet. Overcompensation caused Clark to fall forward landing hard on the ground.

Still defiant Clark began to pull himself to his feet. "NO! You have no idea what I have been through. How can I go back? How!" The exhaustion hit Clark as he fell back to his knees sobbing.

"They can't forgive me for what I've done."

"Can't or wont Clark?"

"What?"

"Cant implies that they don't have the ability to, which is bull. Your parents love you, as does Lana. Pete kept your secret and Chloe, well you'd be surprised how she felt" Wil flopped to the ground beside Clark wincing as he hit. The rib was definitely cracked.

"Won't on the other hand means that they see you as some sort of monster that intentionally slaughtered their baby. Do you really think that the Kent's are capable of that? If you do, let me know and we will keep doing this until you get it through your thick skull that they sent me to bring you back. Do you honestly think that your friends and family see you as some horrible monster? Or is it just that you have been feeling so much grief and pain that you cant forgive yourself. After all if you cant forgive yourself how could they, Right?"

"You don't understand. It was my little brother or sister that I killed. You couldn't possibly know what I am feeling?" Clark looked toward the ground he knelt on. His hands trembled as he thought of the fragile little life that he had snuffed out.

"Don't be so sure about that."

"You killed one of your siblings?"

"No, I killed my mother."

"What?"

"She died because I was careless. The world that we landed on was the home to the Ventree. The ventree are a bipedal lizard race similar to the kimono dragons of earth in heritage.

As I grew my mother and I stayed in an isolated area away from the larger settlements, but contact was inevitable. Some of the lizard men came and tried to kill us, but she was able to fend them off. This went on for quite some time. Each wave would bring more and more lizard men and we would fight them off. I began to get very cocky, taunting the lizards, as they would flee, even going out and provoking them at times.

My mother warned me that they would eventually tire of the game if I would simply let things be. She even disciplined me when I didn't listen. To my shame, I was too stubborn to listen and because of that I wasn't there when the assassin squad came with the Kryptonite spears.

You see, I was too busy tormenting some small family of lizard people destroying their house because I could. And for my sins I lost the only person that I had ever known.

If I had simply listened to her she would be here with me. Don't make my mistake Clark. You can go and ask for forgiveness while all I have are regrets."

Wil stood and offered his hand to Clark. "So, what will it be? Do we go again and hope that we don't kill each other this time, or are you going to go home?"

Clark reached up and took the offered hand.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. The last several weeks have been so trying. Loosing a sibling and my family only to find someone who clamed to be a relative and then proved it by beating the hell out of me." Wincing a bit, Clark stood up.

Thinking for a moment Clark decided.

"I'll go, but if your wrong."

Don't worry Clark, if you get half the reception that I did, you'd likely think that you were going to get a parade thrown any second. Come on, lets get back to the city. We need to get cleaned up before we head home.

Looking down Clark realized that what was left of his clothes were in tatters.

"Oh man, mom is gonna kill me." Clark smiled as the irony of what he had said struck him.

"I think she will overlook it this one time, but we are gonna have to find you something more durable for next time."

"Next time? You planning on doing this again?"

"No, it's just that I haven't told you about the conversation that Chloe and I had earlier."

~*~*~*~

A/N:Thanks for all the reviews all! Please keep them coming. I should have the next chapter done this weekend.