It was almost night-time and the sun was finally setting but Lara and Martha Kent still waited for Clark by their house's patio. He still hadn't come home after running off that afternoon after school. They were finally getting worried when suddenly; a tiny figure appeared from beside the corn field.

Lara gave off a sigh of relief when Clark stopped in front of them. She kneeled in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders. With a worried voice, she began, "Clark Kent! Where have you been? Do you know how worried we've been?"

"Clark, we told you before, it's never good to run off like that without telling us." Martha told him, "God forbid, something could've happened to you and we wouldn't know where or how to find you."

"I'm sorry," Clark's head was down, "it'll never happen again. I was just too upset about what happened…."

By the sound of his voice, both Lara and Martha saw how Clark did regret his actions and how he was too upset about them.

"That's okay," Martha kissed Clark on the forehead, "just make sure not to do that again, okay? If you're running off suddenly, you have to tell us."

Clark looked up to them and nodded, he smiled as he said, "I promise."

Both Lara and Martha looked at each other in confusion when they saw Clark's smile. Normally, when Clark got into trouble with his parents, he would remain upset and in guilt for the rest of the night; but that time, Clark was already smiling.

"Did something happen Clark?" Lara asked.

At that moment, Jor-El and Jonathan exited the house to greet Clark.

"I told you," Jonathan began, "it's not like Clark to stay up late. He was bound to come home sooner."

"You both worry too much." Jor-El gave a smile.

"Clark's still a child," Martha argued, "of course we'll still worry."

Lara ignored the conversation behind her and proceeded to ask Clark again, "Clark, what happened?"

"I met someone!" Clark grinned.

"Someone?" Jor-El asked, "Where?"

Clark pointed at the direction of the woods, "Out there in the woods."

Jonathan leaned closer to Clark, "But Clark, I've never heard of anyone living out in those woods before; I don't think there's even a cabin there."

"But someone does!" Clark argued, "She said she lives there with her mother, Philippus and her friend, Mala."

"Who does Clark?" Martha asked.

"Diana."

"Clark we told you about talking to strangers before right?" Jonathan reminded him, "You have to be careful who you talk to. Besides, we warned you to stay away from the woods as much as possible."

Clark furrowed his eyebrows, "But she's not just a stranger! I want to be her friend."

"How old is she?" Jor-El asked.

"I don't know," Clark shook his head, "but I think she's the same age as me. I'm going to meet her again tomorrow."

All four adults looked at each other with worry and confusion. But Lara sighed and kissed her son on the cheeks and told him, "It's almost time for dinner, go clean up and get ready for dinner."

"Okay!" Clark grinned then ran towards the house.

"A little girl in the woods?" Jonathan scratched his head.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Martha said, "How can there be a little girl in the woods by herself?"

"Whoever she is," Jor-El said, "Clark seems to think that she's a nice person."

"As unusual as his story sounds, I believe Kal. But the question is… should we let him go to the woods by himself again and meet this 'girl'?"

Jor-El placed his hands on his wife's shoulder and told all of them, "I believe we should let him. It definitely hasn't been easy for him lately- forcing him to hide who he is. So if this is the only thing that's making him forget his problems and making him completely happy, I think we should let him expand his horizon."

Jonathan continued, "He's right, there's so much more out there; we can't keep him here all the time. He needs to explore."

"I know…" Lara said, "I just hope it'll all be okay for him…"

Clark ran through the woods, almost out of breath, and his legs finally tiring out. He passed by several trees as he ran; his eyes fixed on what was in front of him and dodging every tree that he encountered. He ran as if his life depended on it but he was finally out of breath that he couldn't push himself to run any further; so he stopped.

He leaned on a tree with his right hand as he tried to regain his breathing. His heart was pounding and his mind swirled while he took in a huge breath of air. Clark was a child with a lot of stamina and energy; he was fast and strong; so much so that he always won in races in schools; but reality struck him when he found out there was someone faster and stronger than him.

"Ha! I beat you again!"

Clark turned around and saw Diana, her hands on her waist as she grinned at him. She had ran further than him in their race but she showed no signs of tiring. Clark was both embarrassed for him and amazed at her.

"Not fair!" Clark argued, "You had a head start!"

"No I didn't." Diana replied, "You just can't handle the fact that I beat you in every race that we've had."

"Another one!" Clark demanded.

"Aren't you sick of losing?" Diana said, "what about we do something else?"

"Okay," Clark nodded, "but can we rest first?"

Clark finally admitted defeat and sat on the ground beside the tree. Diana looked at him then sighed and sat next to him.

"How are you so fast?" Clark asked, slightly embarrassed, "I mean I'm fast but not that fast."

"Training." Diana replied.

"Training? What sport do you do?"

"Combat training."

Clark looked at her in confusion, "What do you need combat training for?"

Diana shrugged her shoulders, "As far as I can remember, my mother and Philippus would always train me to fight. Every day I have to train until I'm tired."

"That sounds tough… Normally, I only have to go to school and help out my parents with farm work and chores."

"It's not really tough; I'm just used to it now." Diana then looked at him, "Did you go to school today?"

Clark nodded.

"What did you do? Did you learn anything new?"

"Well we learned about some of the Presidents of United States." Clark informed her, "George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt… It was very interesting. You would've liked it."

"Have you never thought about going to school?" Clark asked.

"I haven't… not until you told me about it anyway."

"Do you want to go?"

"Honestly… I think it sounds amazing. But I have to talk to my mother about it…"

"I wish you could go," Clark said, "then we can go to the same school together."

"Why do you want me to go?"

"Because…." Clark blushed, "…because… I want to go to school with you… I want to be your friend."

Diana smiled, "…I'd like that too…"

Diana held out her hand, "Do you want to shake on it?"

"Why don't we just high-five on it?"

Diana was confused, "High-five?"

Clark held up his hand- the palm of his hand faced Diana. She wasn't sure what Clark exactly meant but she simply copied him and clapped her hand on his. As if to confirm she did it right, Clark grinned to her and nodded.

"Great!" Clark beamed, "Do you want to play something else then? Another race?"

Diana stood up and dusted off the grass on her skirt, "How many times do you want to challenge me in a race? Why don't we do another one?"

Diana looked around for any ideas of their next challenge. She looked up and suddenly, she got an idea. She pointed at the tree beside them.

"Whoever can climb the tree the fastest wins."

Clark's smile widened. Somehow, he felt confident of the challenge Diana gave him. So with his head held high, and his chest puffed out, he rubbed his hands together to make sure it wasn't sweaty and hugged the tree in front of them. He began, "Deal!"

He waited for Diana to be ready as well and as soon as he saw that she was ready, he shouted, "Ready… get set… GO!"

Diana climbed the tree with ease as she searched for protruding woods and branches in the tree- something to hold onto. Her climb was almost flawless and smooth; and she moved faster than she ever did before. Her confidence touched her and she smiled, confident that she was going to win when-

Creak!

Snap!

"AHHH!"

Diana stopped and turned. Her eyes widened at the sight of Clark on the ground, on his back and unconscious. She looked up to where Clark fell from and saw that a tree branch broke from when Clark was holding onto it. She let go of her grip from the tree and jumped beside Clark.

She gently shook him, eagerly anticipating for him to wake up but he didn't.

"Clark? Clark wake up!"

There was no reply.

"Clark!"

Diana was at a loss. She didn't know what to do. She needed to take Clark to a healer or to a safer place in order to get him healed. But without any help, she wasn't sure where to take him. For some time, she debated whether to take Clark back to her house but she wasn't sure how her mother was going to react to the fact that she brought a boy over to their house. She looked for possible answers until-

"Princess!"

Diana immediately recognised the voice- it was Philippus. She turned around and looked for Philippus but couldn't see her. So she shouted, "Philippus I'm in here!"

"Diana?"

Finally, Philippus appeared. Her towering figure and brown eyes looked down on her and Clark with confusion.

"Diana? What happened? Who is he?"

Philippus kneeled beside her and touched Clark on the forehead.

"His name is Clark and he's my friend," Diana explained, "we were climbing a tree when he suddenly fell. Please help him Philippus!"

Philippus looked at Clark for a while, as if she was trying to deduce whether to help the boy or not- as helping him may alert the outside of their presence in the woods; and if they do, how will they help the boy?

Philippus checked for any signs of bleeding or swelling on Clark's head but thankfully, there wasn't. She turned to Diana and asked her, "Do you know where he lives?"

"He told me he lives on the house next to the cornfield outside of these woods."

"Listen Diana," Philippus placed her hands on Diana's shoulder, "we need to get him back to his house so someone can properly look after him. I will carry him, but you'll have to help me lead the way as to where you think his house is… Do you understand?"

Diana furrowed her eyebrows and nodded to Philippus.

"Good," Philippus carried the small boy on her arms and told Diana, "Diana, you lead the way."

Diana did as she was told and the next thing they knew, both she and Diana were walking past the woods, as Diana looked for the exit.

All throughout, Philippus kept an eye on the small boy on her arms. He was a tiny boy, around the same age as Diana. He looked different than the men she remembered- the men that betrayed her and her kind. There was so much potential on the boy to become the same type of man that caused for their civilisation to retreat away from the Man's world ; however, as the boy unconsciously kept his eyes closed on her arms, she couldn't help but think just how innocent and harmless he was.

But there was another thought that itched in Philippus' mind; and that was how Diana and the boy managed to have stumbled towards one another and became… friends? If they had been back in Themyscira, the story that the Amazonian princess became friends with a boy would've been unheard of. But seeing as how they were stuck in the Man's world, it wouldn't be impossible for Diana to have met a man. Both she and Hyppolyta just didn't realise how soon she was going to meet one.

"Philippus I found it!"

Philippus stared at the house that Diana pointed at. Diana was right; the house was surrounded by a large area of yellow cornfield. It was a simple structured country home, with another large red wooden building- A barn? Philippus thought- next to it and a towering, water dam. It sat in the middle of the field so peacefully… as if it didn't have any care of the world outside it. It was a wonder how Philippus still hadn't seen the house before…

…That house in the countryside… where Diana's new friend lived…and where maybe, just maybe, their princess' life may change…

Hi guys! I hoped you liked this chapter! Please leave a review as they are greatly appreciated!

Stay tuned!

:D