*BOOM*

*CRASH*

Several of the Protectors ran out of their guest hall to see smoke covering an area. They were alarmed and on edge until mini Michael and Ritchie emerged from the smoke, soot covering their faces.

"What happened?" Lo Pho demanded of the two little boys.

"Just a failed portal making machine attempt." Michael sighed as he pulled out a notebook and crossed something off a list.

"Why were you doing it outside the guest hall?" Kay asked curiously.

"Cause this is a clear area of space that'll be much easier to clean up than in the guildhall." Ritchie shrugged.

Michael went over to where the smoke was clearing to reveal a bunch of machine parts. He started taking notes of the wreckage even as the smoke continued to clear from the area. He then took a piece of the metal that looked untouched and nodded, looking satisfied.

He then got an idea and walked quickly over to the Protectors, which made them blink as to them he was in one place and then in front of them in almost an instant. He then looked up at them with huge eyes and asked. "Can you help us with clean up, pleeeeeeease?"

The innocence was too precious and Bryan, Jakey, and Kay almost instantly agreed. Lo Pho was tougher nut to crack as he could tell what Michael was up to but he eventually gave in as well and all of the Protectors helped Ritchie and Michael clean up the failed experiment. The two boys thanked the Protectors for their assistance before Michael got to work on his next idea.

And before too long, the sound of another, bigger explosion was heard. This time both the Protectors and the mages of Divinus Magicae came running. Only for the Protectors to sigh when they realized it was just another failed machine.

Michael stamped his foot and growled like a kid that wasn't getting his way. "Why isn't this working!"

"Maybe you should take a step back from portal making, this is your second explosion in a row." Lo Pho told him.

"Wait, second explosion?" Older Ritchie had to ask.

"Aye, we helped them clean up the first but it looks like this one was a tad bit bigger." Lo Pho sighed.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong, all my calculations said that there shouldn't possibly have been a way for this one to explode..." Michael muttered clutching his head even as Ritchie plopped down on the ground looking exhausted.

The twin guild leaders looked at each other before each of them knelt down and picked up one of the cousins, Older Ritchie getting Michael and Brandon getting Ritchie. Michael tried to fight against Older Ritchie's hold but soon enough he stopped feeling quite tired himself.

The Guild leaders tucked the little boys into bed before going outside to see what a mess they had made. Yep, the was one terrible explosion they had to clean up, which both the members of Divinus Magicae and the Protectors did with a sigh.

The boys slept for the rest of the day but that night there was a thunderstorm. No one in the guild was worried about it since they knew that Ritchie and Brandon could control it easily.

Then there was a particularly loud bout of thunder and Ritchie and Brandon were woken up by twin screams of terror. As they were sharing a room as to have space for the cousins, Brandon and Ritchie exchanged glances before running into the cousins' room.

Michael and Ritchie were holding onto each other for dear life but the twins only figured out what they were truly scared of after the next strike of lightning made another echoing of thunder, causing the cousins to scream again.

Brandon was the first to react. He went and sat down on the bed before pulling both of the cousins onto his lap. He quietly started to shush them while Older Ritchie, on the other hand, started clearing up the storm with his magic. While they would have to talk to the cousins about this, neither Older Ritchie or Brandon wanted the pair to be this scared. Period.

Ritchie and Michael were literally sobbing on Brandon's lap. After settling down the storm, but not before there was another bout of thunder, Older Ritchie came to help comfort the two as well. Both boys clung to Brandon though as if he were a lifeline crying their eyes out. 

Both twins thought it was pretty ironic that mini Ritchie was afraid of thunder when Older Ritchie literally controlled it. But they couldn't really think more about it as Ritchie and Michael were still sobbing. They tried a few different things to try and calm down the little boys before Brandon decided to hum an old lullaby that his and Older Ritchie's mother used to sing to them. 

The lullaby made both of the cousins' eyes go wide as if they had heard it before, but they instantly started to relax a bit when they heard it. Though the brothers were surprised as Michael and Ritchie started to hum along before their humming faded as they fell back to sleep. 

"They know mother's lullaby..." Older Ritchie said slowly as Brandon tucked the two back into bed. 

"Maybe one of their mothers sang it to both of them as well." Brandon pointed out. 

"Yeah... maybe..." Older Ritchie said and after a moment of silence, the brothers decided to go back to their own room and sleep.