"Clark? Clark!"

Aelora was frantically slapping the face of the sleeping boy in her arms as he tried to surprises the bleeding coming from his head.

She had been watching from a hidden corner of Clark and Steven's holding cell as a group of men, Jonathan Kent included, threw the boy onto the concrete floor of his quarters. They didn't even look to see if he was okay. They just left him with his head clearly injured. After they had gone, Aelora had to run over and lift the boy so that his gash didn't get infected. She noticed all of the bruises from his newest ordeal and knew immediately that they were going to treat him worse than she imagined.

"Clark!" she cried. "C'mon kid, wake up!"

"Why do you care Aelora?" Steven said from across the room. The entire time, he had his back turned to the wall, attending to his drawings just like nothing had been going on.

"Why don't you just do us all a favor and shut up?" Aelora said angrily as she propped Clark's heavy head on her extended leg. She firmly placed her hand on top of the bleeding spot so that it would not continue. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply before removing her hand from the area that was now free from blood and injury. She sighed and tried to work through the mental anguish she was going through for this boy. It was only a matter of time before he woke up and told her of all the horrible things that had happened to him in the past hour, even though the redness around his closed eyes gave her an idea of that already. Most likely he had forgotten her words to him. It didn't surprise her. Everyone who came through here did. He was most likely going to end up like all the others and just waste away like Steven. There was nothing she could do to help but get rid of small wounds. There was only one thing that could stop this whole thing. However, it had never happened before and she had no reason to believe Clark would be any different.

Just as she was about to drag the boy into the cot after fifteen minutes of waiting, Clark woke up, and within seconds he went into a panic.

"Wha…wha…ahhhhh…AAAAHHHH…" he shouted as he got up and scrambled around the floor on his hands and knees with his eyes shut the entire time.

"Clark," Aelora shouted through the screaming. "Calm down! You're like a chicken with its head cut off."

"No…NOOOOOO. NO MORE! KEEP AWAY FROM ME!"

Aelora got onto her feet and tried to chase after the panicking boy. He eventually got exhausted and couldn't support himself on his hands and knees anymore. He collapsed on the floor and tried to slide across to wherever he could go. He was wincing from pain as he did it, which did not make him any less frightened as Aelora grabbed his hand.

"NO! STOP! STOP!"

"Clark, it's me! Pull yourself together!

"AELORA! IS THAT…? OH GOD…I CAN'T SEE! I…OH GOD NO! YOU'RE IN ON IT! YOU'RE GOING TO…"

"Clark!" Aelora shouted as she grabbed his head and held it in her arms. "Stop cursing and listen to me! I'm not going to hurt you! You're safe now."

Without struggle and with a softer tone, Clark panted, "Why should I trust you, Aelora? The two people I trusted the most are now working against me."

"You know you can trust me." Aelora said softly as she began to stroke Clark's sweaty hair. "I won't forsake you, I promise. I'm risking a lot to be here."

Clark all of a sudden felt comforted as Aelora lifted his head to her eye level. He reached out his hand and waved it in front of him until he found Aelora's face. He felt it and started to breath easier as he recognized her kindness even without his sight.

"I wish I could see your eyes," he said, still without breath. "The last pair of eyes I will ever see are…are…of…oh Aelora…it was so awful…I…just want to…"

"Clark, I forbid you to say 'die'! You can't give up. Just because they took your sight doesn't mean that they can take your will to live."

"Too late," Clark said with a gurgling voice. "I just need…I want someone who loves me…to...everyone who loves me is…I have no reason to…"

"Stop!" Aelora said as she held Clark's head close to her one again. He became silent, as if he was not returning her offer of comfort. "You're wrong, you know. You are still very loved, more than you will ever know."

Without anymore words, Clark threw his arms around Aelora's waist and started to bawl in her arms. Aelora, knowing that this was only the beginning, began to weep with him.

"Knock, knock," said the reverend as he stood watching Martha Kent through the bars of her cell.

The words made her wake up from a not-so-deep sleep to look into his eyes. All she wanted to do was punch him in the face so hard that his face would indent.

"What do you want?" she bellowed.

Rev. Jim got out an oversized key out of his pocket and unlocked the cell before he slipped inside.

"Get away from me!" she shouted as she got up and pressed herself up against the wall.

"I just want to talk, Mrs. Kent."

"No. I'm not going to talk to you until you tell me what you did to Jonathan!"

"Wow. That's the question of the day." The reverend said as he slowly came nearer to her.

"Don't get any closer to me!" she shouted, trying to fight off the urges that were coming over her. They didn't seem to come from her own heart, but from something else, and she didn't have to think too much to find out what that was.

"Don't be so aggressive Martha. You're under stress. Maybe that's the reason you're being so reluctant to take what I'm saying seriously."

Rev. Jim was now so close that his cologne was overriding Martha's senses. He then grabbed her hips and started to give her a long kiss on the lips. The urges that Martha was trying to fight were now surging throughout her body. However, she was trying not to let herself succumb to them. The struggle reminded her of when she was trying to wake up from a deep nightmare, only this was much worse of a struggle than that. She knew that this was the thing that would make her want to hurt her precious Clark. She could never do that. This child was the love of her life. The only reason she felt like she could wake up in the morning besides her husband. She couldn't hurt him. She wouldn't.

All of a sudden, the reverend was off her and backing up against the bars holding his stomach in pain. Martha lowered her knee and breathed a huge sigh of relief as she slid down to the floor. Her will was exhausted, but still intact, which made her feel accomplished and proud. Once again, a mother's love has triumphed over the elements. However, she became very frightened when the men looked her in the eyes once again.

"You'll pay for that, Mrs. Kent," the reverend said in an almost unrecognizable tone. "Mark my words. No one in this church overrides my authority. NO ONE!"

"I'd love to see you try," Martha said as she glared at the man. "You can't keep my husband and son here forever. We'll escape you, whatever it…"

Martha was stopped cold as she felt a surge of electricity course through her body. When she collapsed on the floor, she tried to look around to find out what caused the shock, but nothing was to be found. Martha tried to move her extremities, but they were not agreeing. She feared herself paralyzed as she looked up at the smiling man that was turning a very large ring around his right pinkie.

"Not so defiant now, are we?" he laughed in one of the most evil voices that Mrs. Kent had ever heard.