When Clark finally came to, the first thing he noticed was that there was no blood on his hands, his face, or the floor. There were no black sores on his body and his eyes were just fine. He got up and walked downstairs, deciding on the way that he would not tell his parents – he didn't want to upset them over something that had probably been a figment of his imagination.

Clark Kent's life was one big drama – and it was one he did not often enjoy acting out. For three years, he'd seen fellow students around him drop dead, mostly because of the negative effects of the meteor rocks that had been embedded in this town. The meteor rocks were like his prison – as long as they continued to affect the people in Smallville, he would feel too guilty to leave and always remain here.

That, and his parents' trouble with the farm were the ball and chain that kept him in this small town. Why else was he having so much finding the 'right' college to go to? MetU, NYU, Miami University, Princeton – pick one, dammit! But for Clark, making the decision was not easy, and he harbored the desire to just go to some local community college.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and almost yelled – for a brief moment, he thought he saw his parents lying on the floor, unconscious. But the moment passed and the image faded – there was nothing.

Clark spent the Saturday morning outside doing his chores, like a good son should. When he was through with that, he headed over to the Talon to help his mother. As always, though – he had an ulterior motive. Sure enough, when he entered he could see Lana Lang chatting with his mother at the counter while they put away pastries in the display for customers to gaze at. Briefly, he had another flash – Lana Lang standing over him with a Kryptonite shard in her hands, reading to strike him.

He tried to tell himself that it had only been a vision from last week, when he'd been temporarily affected by the scare toxin. But part of him still saw Lana as this vengeful witch, angry at him for bringing with him the rocks that killed her parents…

Lana spotted him and though he wanted to talk to her, he couldn't handle the conflicting emotions inside of him. So he walked out.

He ran as fast he could back to the barn to pick up a familiar octagonal silver object he'd found years ago. From there, he ran to the Kawatche caves that he'd discovered in his sophomore year. Back then, it was a frequently talked-about place. Several teens hosted a rave there; Lionel Luthor acquired it from his son and conducted several tests there but found nothing. Lex always had a silent fascination with the caves but since their discovery, he'd found very little and deciphered almost none of the symbols on the walls.

Time passed, and now only Clark ventured down to the caves, with maybe an occasional visit from Lex. Down here, in the furthest, deepest section from the entrance, Clark had found a movable cave wall that led into a secret chamber. He pressed his hand on three different symbols on the wall, which formed a triangle and watched as his handprints glowed red, blue, and yellow. The symbols shifted and rearranged themselves. The wall opened.

Inside was a sort of round, flat slab with several more symbols on its surface and in the middle was a sort of diamond-shaped indent with one sole crystal resting in it. Clark lifted his octogonal key and put it into a slot on the slab. There was a bright beam of light that shined on him and the crystal. He heard the now-familiar voice of his biological father, Jor-El.

"Kal-El. It has been four earth-months since I presented you with your crusade for the three stones of knowledge. Another stone has been since revealed and you did not bring it, or any other stone, to me. Have I not expressed the urgency of this mission? If the Earthlings are to get their hands on those stones, the Earth will fall under its own greed."

Clark spoke, "Jor-El—I told you I don't want to have anything to do with you or your crusade! I just want to live my life with my friends and be normal!"

"You have expressed as such."

Clark faltered, "But things… things are different now."

They were. It seemed to him that everyone had moved on. Pete was gone. Lana was with a new man, Jason Teague, whom she'd met while in Paris. Though he had always known it, Clark had begun to realize that Chloe really was going to be a crack journalist for a major metropolitan newspaper and he wouldn't be able to keep up with her, or any of his friends. He felt like he'd really be doomed to live his life on the farm, worrying about the harvest and outliving everyone he knew.

It wasn't the life on the farm that had him worried so badly. But he'd always pictured his friends to always be with him – or at least until their mortality caught up with him. He'd never expected to lose them so quickly…

"I don't know what it is you have in mind for me," stated Clark. "But I'll finish the damn crusade! I'll find the stones, just… give me a better idea as to how I'm supposed to find them!"

"You disappoint me, Kal-El."

"No, wait—I heard the ringing I always do when someone has the stone this morning, but it was different this time. I didn't have a chance to follow it—I passed out!"

For a moment, silence.

"Have you been feeling ill as of late?" asked Jor-El.

Clark was caught off-guard. "I guess."

The one crystal Clark had successfully retreived began to rise into the air, glowing and humming. Clark held out a hand for the crystal to jump into.

Jor-El continued, "You will use this to aid your search, Kal-El. Once you retrieve the stone you've recently detected, you will bring it here immediately. I suspect there may be more to it than even I anticipated."

"Any ideas as to what the problem is?" Clark asked.

"I was not the only Kryptonian to ever visit Earth, Kal-El."

The glowing stopped, and the beams of lights disappeared. Clark walked out of the chamber, with the crystal and the key in his hands.

When Lex woke up that same morning, he felt excellent.

He took the chopper to LuthorCorp and arrived a couple of minutes early. Excellent, he thought to himself as he settled down into the comfortable chair behind his desk. It's not every day I can feel good about running an empire built and murder and lies by my father.

Work went as usual. Sign a couple of papers, oversee a few projects. Smile like a little school boy at seeing the stock steadily go back up. Sauveur de LuthorCorp? Lex thought. Indeed.

It was only on his way back to LuthorCorp, via his Porsche, that something went wrong. He was driving too fast—again—when he saw something in the trees leap out in front of his car. Lex slammed the brakes and screeched to a stop, quickly jumping out to see what he'd hit.

There was no damage on the front of his car, and now that his mind stopped swimming and the thoughts in his head cleared – he could have sworn that whatever it was he almost hit had jumped up and over the car, thereby avoiding getting hit.

And what was it, anyway?

Lex thought hard. It had been big and dark with fur all over its body. It had landed and jumped on two legs, like a human, maybe. But humans don't have fur. And now that he thought about it, when it landed, it didn't land very realistically – it sort of bounced.

Lex looked at his hand and watched in shock as his driving gloves began to envelope his hands and arms. Black leather bit as his arms, swallowing him and knocking him to the ground. The last thought in his mind before passing out was… a feeling, really.

The feeling of running through the woods on all fours, fangs bared, and the smell of blood in the distance mixed with a primal rush. The same kind of rush you get from running an empire built on murder and lies… The rush of getting 'away with it'.

He passed out.