Rosetta – Eighteenth Chapter
Shhhh... I'm flying...
Picture this. You're flying through white clouds. You get past them, and you see rows of corn spread out over the ground. You speed towards a group of rocks with a small hole in them. You shoot through the hole, take a couple of turns in a rocky maze, ending up in the Kawatche Caves, in front of the paintings with the octagon groove in the middle. Now onto the parts I can really explain.
Clark and Rory floated over the ground, both staring at the octagonal groove. In unison, they floated forward, touching the symbols around it, neither of them speaking. One symbol in particular seemed to call out to them, a circle with a line through it and a diamond to each side.
Clark held out the key for her to see. Checking the symbols around the edge, she noted that one of them was identical to the one on the wall.
Still moving in unison, they came into an upright position and stood on the ground. Linking their hands together, Clark pushed the key into the groove in the wall. He slowly took his hand away and waited.
Nothing happened.
They exchanged a look full of meaning, and without using their connection, they held their linked hands up towards the key, each with one finger extended. They touched the key, and a blast of energy came out, causing everything to go white.
And that's when they woke up.
Rory woke up, something digging into her back. She groaned, rolling over and realizing that she wasn't in bed.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Clark sitting up too, then heard a screeching sound coming from behind him. Turning to the source of the offending noise, she saw that a car had stopped inches from Clark's face.
Clark looked at her, confused, and they both stood. Turning back to the car, their eyes widened in surprise as they saw Lex get out of the car.
His face bore surprise too, as he said incredulously, "Clark? Rory?"
Kent Farm, morning (that last bit was night)
Clark and Rory entered the house as quietly as possible, still in their pyjamas and barefoot. Rory supersped up the stairs, leaving her brother behind to notice that their parents were waiting for them.
"Where have you two been?" Jonathan asked, making sure to speak loudly enough that Rory could
hear.
She came back down the stairs, fully dressed and kissed him on the cheek. "Morning Dad," she said brightly, turning to her mother and kissing her too. "Morning Mom."
"We were looking all over for you two," Martha said. "And you are not off the hook, Rory."
"We were out," Clark said shortly. He started up the stairs.
"Hey, hey!" Jonathan stopped him. Looking at both of them, he asked, "What is going on with you two? You've both been acting strange all week. It's like your mind's somewhere else. What's up?"
Clark sat down on the stairs and motioned for Rory to come sit next to him. She did so and Clark said, "When we woke up this morning, we were in the middle of Route 8."
"Actually it was night, but hey," Rory added.
"How did you get there?" Martha asked, taking it in her stride.
"We don't know," Rory answered. "Lex almost hit Clark with his car. He gave us a ride home."
"Lex," Jonathan said, angry and suspicious.
"I told him we were sleepwalking," Clark said. "He wanted to know how it was that we'd both ended up in the same place, and we tried to pass it off as one of those, you know, super-attuned to one another twin things."
"Lucky he doesn't know just how attuned we really are," Rory said quietly, leaning on Clark's arm.
"And besides," Clark continued, looking at his sister than back at his parents. "I'm not sure how much walking was involved."
Jonathan and Martha looked at him in confusion.
"We've been having this dream all week, both of us, exactly the same dream. It's like when we were kids and we used to sleep in the same room, and have dreams together. Part of the twins-from-another-planet gig," Rory told them.
"What dream?" Jonathan asked, a little impatient.
"Flying over Smallville," Clark answered. "We always end up at the cave, like it's calling out to us."
"Like it's trying to give us answers," Rory added.
"Answers to what?" Martha asked.
"We don't know," Rory said. "In the dream, Clark has the key, and he puts it into the slot in the cave wall."
"Then we link hands and touch it together, and there's this white light," Clark continued.
"And?" Martha inquired.
"We don't know," said Clark.
"That's when we wake up," Rory added.
Jonathan shifted uneasily before saying, "You know, dreaming about putting that key in a rock wall is one thing, but we have absolutely no idea what would happen if you two actually did that."
"Dad, the dreams are getting more intense every night," Rory tried to explain.
"Who knows where we'll wake up tomorrow?" Clark muttered.
"It's too dangerous," Jonathan told them sternly.
"Dad, that cave could have all the answers that we're looking for," Rory said. "Why are you so afraid to let us find out?"
Jonathan didn't answer, and Clark stood, saying quietly, "I gotta get dressed for school."
"And I gotta have breakfast," Rory added. Clark went up the stairs while Rory went into the kitchen.
Jonathan and Martha looked at each other, troubled.
School, later that day
"What a lame assignment," Chloe said contemptuously as she, Clark, Pete, Lana and Rory walked down the corridor towards the Torch. "Family trees are so 20th century."
"Just look at it as a mystery, Chloe," Pete said, grinning. "You never know what you're gonna uncover."
"Why are you so excited about this?" Clark asked Pete teasingly.
"Because it's gonna be a piece of cake," Pete said confidently.
Rory laughed. "Yeah, cause your family's been in Smallville since the Jurassic era."
"Well, what are you guys so worked up about?" Pete defended himself.
As they entered the Torch, Chloe complained, "There's just so many variables to take into account, like what if your mother abandoned you? Is that branch of your family tree technically cut off?"
"Yeah," Lana agreed, adding, "and what if your biological father comes back into the picture? Which family do you claim?"
"What if you're adopted?" Clark and Rory said in unison.
They all laughed, and Pete said as he backed towards the door, "Okay, I get the point. But is it my fault I'm part of a nuclear family? Is it?" Rory shook her head, smiling, and Pete grinned. "Later."
"Unfortunately for the rest of us, the nuclear family was nuked years ago," Chloe said in a martyred tone.
"We should probably get together at the Talon tomorrow and figure out a game plan," Lana thought aloud.
Suddenly, there was a high-pitched, screeching sound. Rory gasped and covered her ears, trying to block it out. Dimly she was aware that Clark was doing the same thing.
"Whoa. The Wonder Twins don't like that idea," she heard Chloe say hazily.
Faintly she heard someone laugh, then the noise stopped and everything was normal again.
"Did you guys hear that?" Clark asked, looking pale and shocked.
Rory nodded but Lana just said, "Hear what?"
The noise began again and Clark and Rory covered the ears once more. It stopped again.
"That!" Rory exclaimed.
"Well that's one member of your family tree we can cross off the list – you two are definitely part canine. We can't hear anything," Chloe said, laughter in her voice still.
The noise started up and Clark groaned while Rory squeezed her eyes shut.
"Guys, are you okay?" Lana asked, concern registering on her face and in her voice.
"We gotta –"
"Go," finished Rory, her voice just as strained as her brother's. They ran out.
Kent barn loft, not long after
Clark and Rory ran into the loft just as the noise began again. Trying to track it back to its source,
they followed it to the side of the loft where a cupboard was.
Clark opened the cupboard and Rory grabbed a tackle box out, putting it on top of the cupboard. Clark broke the lock off and opened it. A golden light shone from the box.
Rory leaned over it, moving a few things out of the way until she found the octagonal key at the bottom, giving off the golden light. She grabbed it, smiling, and the noise stopped along with the glow.
She showed it to Clark and he grinned back at her.
Kawatche Caves, again not long after
The siblings stood before the cave wall, exactly as they had in their dream – only without the floating.
Clark looked at Rory and she looked back at him, nodding. He reached out and grabbed her hand.
With his other hand, he held up the key, turning it this way and that, trying to match the symbols to the wall.
"Here," Rory spoke for the first time since leaving the Torch. "Let me."
He handed her the key and she rotated it until the symbols on the key were in line with their counterparts on the wall. It flew out of her hand and into the wall.
Clark looked around to make sure no-one was watching, and when he returned his attention to the wall, the symbols had begun to glow.
He was vaguely aware of Rory staring, transfixed, at the key, but he was too involved himself to look away. The symbols on the top were glowing red, the symbols in the bottom left corner were green and the ones in the bottom right corner were blue.
The symbols on the wall began to move around, each circle of symbols in alternating directions. The disk suddenly opened up through the middle. Clark and Rory both leaned forwards to look into it.
Two streams of energy shot out of the gap, one striking Clark in the chest and the other Rory. The streams continued as they rose into the air, trembling with eyes and mouths wide open and their arms spread to either side, still holding onto each other tightly.
The energy grew brighter and brighter until nothing could be seen. Then, for the teenagers, everything went black.
A little while later, still in the caves
Lex entered the caves, looking around. No matter how many times he came here, he couldn't get over how majestic they were.
He glanced over at the wall which held his interest, the one with the octagonal space in it, and was surprised to see Clark and Rory lying next to it, apparently unconscious.
"Rory? Clark" he called out to them. They didn't stir and he walked quickly over to them, bending and shaking Rory's shoulder.
"Rory?" he asked again. She moved a little and murmured something unintelligible and he turned to Clark, shaking him also.
"Clark?" Lex said as he began to shift. Turning back to Rory, he saw that her eyes were now open. He smiled at her and asked quietly, "Are you okay?"
She sat up, bewildered, and took a look around. "I'm fine," she assured him, smiling back.
Clark sat up behind Lex and looked over his shoulder at Rory.
"What happened?" she asked, eyes on Clark but facing Lex.
"I was hoping you could tell me," Lex replied. Running his hand over her shoulder gently, he asked, "What were you two doing down here?"
Rory looked up at the wall and noticed that the disk was gone. Lex stood and offered her a hand up, pulling her to her feet. He then turned to Clark and said, "Clark?"
Clark looked at him, still disoriented and said, "We were just finishing some work up for Dr. Walden."
"Yeah, we figured we'd do it when it was quiet," Rory added, looking straight into Lex's eyes when he looked at her.
Clark coughed a little and Lex jerked his head back towards him. Rory scowled at him and, ignoring her, Clark continued, "Next thing we know, you're shaking us awake."
"The guard said there was an explosion," Lex said, concealing his suspicion. "You didn't touch any equipment, did you?
"I find it interesting that you two managed to get around the guard in the first place," someone said from behind them. They turned to see Dr. Walden, Lex's language specialist, standing there with his permanent scowl firmly in place.
"What's your secret, Kent?" he asked them angrily.
"Uh..." Rory said, a little unsure what to say. "Lex said weeks ago that the guards were to let us in whenever we wanted, so..."
Walden glared at Lex, who said, "Back off, Doctor. Can't you see they've been hurt?"
"I'm okay, I just need some air," said Clark straight away. Rory checked that she wasn't hurt either and nodded.
They started to leave and Lex followed them. "Rory, Clark," he called to get their attention. They turned to face him and he continued, "First I find you two lying in the middle of the road, and now here. I really think you should go to the hospital." He looked at Rory as he said, "Both of you."
She looked up at him and smiled brilliantly. "We're fine, Lex."
"Yeah, we just gotta get home before our parents start to worry," Clark said.
Lex gave in reluctantly, saying, "Okay. But until we figure out what happened, I don't want either of you down here by yourself."
Rory grinned and said, "Okay."
"Rory."
"What?"
"By yourself also includes both of you coming down here together."
"Oh." Her face fell, and she said grudgingly, "Okay."
"Sorry we couldn't be more help," Clark said, grabbing Rory's hand and leaving.
Just before they left the cave, Rory turned and smiled at Lex. He smiled back at her, thinking, It's really not fair of her to be so... her.
"Why'd you just let them walk out of here?" Walden asked irritably, breaking into his thoughts. "They know more than they're telling."
"Probably," Lex replied smoothly, reverting back to business Lex. "But you've got enough on your plate, Doctor." He smiled and continued, "Let me worry about Clark and Aurora Kent."
Kent Farm, early next morning
Clark loaded hay bales into the back of one of the trucks, just outside the barn. Rory watched, asking suddenly, "You sure you don't want help?"
"Don't you have your own chores to do?" he replied teasingly.
"I'm a lot faster than you brother dearest, therefore I can do my chores faster too," she retorted
cheekily.
He laughed as their father came outside, blinking in the light. "Wow, you two are up early," he said, surprised.
"Don't worry Dad, we both woke up in our own beds this morning," Rory said, a small smile lingering on her face.
"No dreams?" Jonathan questioned, relieved.
"Nope," Clark said as he tossed two more bales into the back of the truck. "I think whatever it is has passed."
"That's good," Jonathan said, grabbing a bale of hay and throwing it into the back. Rory gave Clark her shocked, injured look and he shrugged, grinning.
"I'm taking your mother into town for a checkup," Jonathan continued, ignoring their silent twin banter. "You want a ride to school?"
"Nah, Chloe's gonna pick us up," Rory told him.
"How's Mom feeling?" Clark asked.
Jonathan shook his head happily. "Pregnant. I still can't believe it."
"How soon can we start telling everyone?" Rory asked him excitedly.
"As soon as your mother says she's ready," Jonathan told her, eyes shining. "Don't worry, guys. This is one secret we can all be very happy to share."
"Yeah," Clark said.
"Dad, uh, this might sound a little weird, but are we gonna tell the baby?" Rory asked.
"Tell it about you two?"
She nodded, and Jonathan continued, "Maybe when it's old enough to understand that it can't tell anyone, we will."
"The baby's lucky," Clark said, a little sadly.
"Look," Jonathan said after a pause, "Having this child is going to be a big adjustment. For all of us. But it doesn't change the way we feel about you two."
"I know, Dad," Clark said.
"What he said," Rory added.
"I'm just glad things are back to normal," Jonathan told them, smiling happily.
Martha came out of the house and yelled, "Jonathan, we're late! We gotta go now!"
She came down the stairs and Jonathan went to join her. Suddenly, the high-pitched noise started again just as Clark grabbed a bale of hay. He dropped it and grabbed the sides of his head as Rory did the same.
Clark's eyes lit up the way they did when he used his heat vision and involuntarily began blasting the barn. The heat forced him to move his head around and the barn wall quickly started burning.
At the same time, several windows in the barn shattered, sending glass all over the ground. A few pieces hit Clark and Rory, giving the latter several cuts. Rory's head flicked moved around of its own accord, staring at the glass. It then began to move.
"Jonathan!" yelled Martha, who had watched the events unfold with horror on her face.
Jonathan turned to see the barn on fire as Clark managed to finally control his heat vision. Rory fell to the ground, groaning. The glass stopped moving.
Clark bent over her. "You alright?" he asked, concern in his voice.
"Uh, Clark? Barn on fire. I'll live till it's out," she said croakily. He didn't move and she said crankily, "Go, go, go!"
He supersped over to the hose and Jonathan yelled from the tap, "I got it! I got it! Go on!"
Clark ran back to the barn and sprayed the fire with the hose. Jonathan ran over to Rory and pulled her to her feet. "You alright?" he asked her, worried.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, her voice back to normal. "Clark, what the hell just happened?"
"I don't know," he answered, still trying to put out the fire.
"Rory," Martha called anxiously. She held out her arms and Rory walked over to her, limping a little.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"Oh, it's just my foot, it hurts a little. I'm fine Mom, really," Rory assured her.
Martha hugged her and Rory leaned her head on her shoulder as they watched the boys trying to put the fire out. A car pulled up and Chloe got out of it, shock and worry on her face. She ran over to
Martha and Rory.
"What happened?" Chloe asked, bewildered.
"We came out, and it was on fire," Martha lied, hoping Chloe would accept it.
"Well, that explains that, but what about the glass? What happened there?" Chloe questioned suspiciously.
"Uh…" Rory didn't know what to say. "It kinda just – exploded. I don't know how."
They turned to look at the barn again, and were shocked at what they saw. The fire was out, and both Kent men were staring at the mark left behind, stunned. Chloe pulled out a camera and began taking photos.
"Guys…" Rory said, attention moving away from the barn. "Look at this."
She pointed to the ground where all the glass was. They turned to look at it also, and Martha gasped. Burned into the barn wall and written in glass on the ground was the symbol of the circle with the line through it.
The same symbol on the wall of the cave and the octagonal disk.
A/N Sorry (again) about the delay in chapters, but I'm on holidays now so I should be able to get a few more chapters up. However I am going away on Thursday but I will definitely finish at least one more chapter before the end of the holidays. The next chapter will still be Rosetta, and maybe the one after that as well.
IMPORTANT STUFF IN THE TWO BELOW PARAGRAPHS. READ.
I have a few more things to say too, IMPORTANT things, so please read. Firstly, I think I may have said that I will explain why Clark and Rory have different powers in Rosetta. I have postponed it to either A) when the Fortress comes in, or B) when Kara arrives because there is really no way I can do it in Rosetta.
Secondly, I'm thinking of doing 'outtakes' of this story, eg. episodes that I have missed that you want me to write. I've put a poll up, so if you want the story vote, then PM me which episode you want. If you want to know why it's got 'Shh… I'm flying…' at the top, watch the commentary for this episode on the Second Season DVD. It's hilarious.
Thank you, and good bye!
Xx.maddy-sparx.xX