"What's the point of all this?" I ask Reed.

We were both sitting on the edge of the roof again, the earlier tense air between us now completely gone.

Reed raises an eyebrow at me, I point at his suit.

Reed rearranges his tie after I'd messed it up earlier and absently pats at his shoulder to get invisible fake lint off.

"To be honest? I don't even want to go" Reed says in a bored tone.

"Whozawhatit?" That shocked me. "You and Susan are the ones organizing it!"

"Susan is. Just Susan" Reed stresses. "I wanted no part of it"

And that ticked me off. Big time.

"So you're such an unemotional unfeeling bastard that you can't even be bothered to go to your ward(hell she was basically a Goddaughter to you)'s funeral!?" I spit out. I grit my teeth as I look down at the New York streets, busy with traffic several hundred feet below.

"I'm not going cause I don't believe she's dead." he says flatly, practically unaffected by my insults. Reed then gives me the side eye, "But unlike you I actually have facts to go by and not plain dump puppy dog love"

And that made me not only want to bite my tongue, but to rip off the damn thing, eat it and swallow the rest whole.

"Y-you don't think...she's dead?" I stammer in surprise.

"Uhm-mhmm" Reed shook his head, and his face grew thoughtful.

Something warm began growing inside me, something small and joyous. Is this what hope felt like? It was...bliss. Who knew having hope could be so...blissful? Would explain why a lot of people fought so hard for it, because of it. Right now it was the one singularly bright atom in my otherwise dark existence.

"Explain," I ask swiftly but firmly of Reed.

Reed eyed me from the corner of his vision, summing up whether or not to dish out the harsh truth to me. Right now I'd walk over glass, heck, crawl over it with my tongue if I have to just to see that girl and have her annoy me one last time.

"Well the good news is she's on this plane of existence," Reed says solemnly. "But we just can't see her."

"Come again?"

"When she decomposed into materiality, her basic molecular components reconfigured itself into a more suitable state of matter to support her state of consciousness"

"So...Vick...caved in on herself?" I tried my best to reach out and understand atleast 5 words the dude was saying in succession.

"Yes and no" Reed replied, he used his fingers to draw a circle on the roof.

"What I believe happened is that Vick just...turned into energy." He finishes simply. "Just billions of little energized atoms, scattered and floating around everywhere"
"So...she's..." I lift up my fingers and look at them, at a loss for words.

"Yup," Reed look back in front of him, with the whole city of New York stretched before his feet. "She's literally everywhere and nowhere at the same time" he mused to himself. "Have to remember to congratulated her when she gets back"

I nearly tip over the edge of the roof.

"G-g-get's back?" I sound like a freaking cracked CD.

"Uhm-hmm" Reed agrees....awh man, if Vick were here she'd totally say something cute to that...l-like "That rhymed!" or something.

I take a minute to ponder Reed's words, although I've never pondered about anything or anyone a day in my life so I really don't know how the heck to even do that.

"How exactly is she gonna get back" I then later ask.

Reed raised his brows at me.

"Right, dumb question. It'll be too technical for me ever having a hope of understanding," I reason. "B-but, atleast...try to dumb it down for me?...please?" I don't think I've ever said those words in my life, and if I did I didn't mean it.

The things I do for Victoria.

"Well," Reed looked at the sky, like he was mentally reviewing his answer. "The reasons stems back to our powers," he begins.

I nod in encouragement.

"Well as we got our superpowers in space due to cosmic ray, she got hers through the same method...but her on earth" he emphasizes. He turns to face me completely, tucking and folding his legs under each other. "I believe that's why she had that white energy, the one that deconstructed her-"

I couldn't suppress the blood curdling chills that followed.

"-that white....light, to simplify things for you, is a form of cosmic energy. When we got infected in space it sort of balanced itself out, the environment was conducive and we, aside for getting our powers, walked away unskaved."

The gears where beginning to turn in my head, and it's been such a long time I can feel the dust and cobwebs shaking off. The last time I used my brain was when? The Hospital. Ohw, not too long ago.

"But in Vick's special case the radiation from the cosmic rays had nowhere else to go, she wasn't in space. So instead of floating out like it did with us...it went within"

I gasp.

A golden light bulb went off in my head.

"That also explains the darkness in her!" I jump up and yell. "It wasn't some ominous darkness that wanted to consume her! It was the vast empty void of space that was spreading within her!!" I looked around with new enlightenment. "But space also contains blackholes, which is why she felt so cold and that like she was falling into something! It all makes sense!"

"Well duh," Reed said uncharacteristically.

"Huh?" I stop mid jubilation.

"I've already said all that about the darkness and blackholes"

"You did?"

"Yes!"

"When?"

Reed gawks at me. "Seriously? You even caused a fuss cause Vick told no one?" "She stood in a tube naked?" "Nothing!?"

I shrug.

"Do you ever listen to me?"

"Sometimes? No."

Reed face-palmed himself in a show of hopelessness, "When will this nightmare of a story ever end?" he groans to himself.

"Excuse me?" I ask.

He looks up at me with a disgusted face, "Are you trying to tell me all this time you are not aware that you're in the telling of a hormonal XY Chromosomes human, whose sole purpose for writing this anecdote is in nostalgia of past daydreams that involved us at a younger age!?"

I blink at him.

"Haven't you noticed our lives took a turn and is ongoing itself in a near fanfiction type way!?"

"Whoa whoa Dr Reed" I say lightly. "All this thinking must've fried your brain"

Well you can't expect super geniuses not to go off their rocker every once in a while.

Reed sighed and shook his head at me, as if I was a waste of time or something.

"Boys?" Susan's voice, small and weak, calls from behind us.

With a heavy heart I turned and look at my sister, and saw exactly what it was I didn't want to see. Her eyes were huge, red, and puffy. Her skin was slightly paler then usual and she was trembling ever so slightly.

Reed quickly rushed and stretched over to her side, wrapping her whole body completely with his one arm, blocking her from the slight breeze.

"I've been looking all over for you guys" she said through chattering teeth. Even when she doesn't have the energy to, she still tries to get a good nag or two in.

I, might have gotten the worst hit from the whole Vick thing, but Sue came in a close second. Not only was the entire thing making her creep towards mental instability but she was an emotional wreck most of the time, she blames herself for everything and I hear her most nights arguing with Reed about how she doesn't want any kids cause she'd make a terrible mother.

Ben on the other hand just sort of slipped into a silent spell, he was eating less, watching TV less and being an all around human less. I didn't even want to think of the massive train wrecked state Vick's friends were in right now, I thought they were bad when she was in the coma, I had no clue what was in store.

How can one human being have such a mammoth sized impact on so many people?

Infact, now that I think about it, Reed was the only calm cool one among us. I always thought it was due to his lack of basic human emotions but maybe it was the idea of knowing Vick wasn't dead that kept him in one piece. Because despite knowing the facts Reed still wasn't unaffected by all this, he was prone to outbursts more easily, he looked more stressed and he had crow's feet forming at the edge of his eyes.

"I just came up to get Johnny," Reed said to her sweetly, "Let's go inside before you get a cold" he turned her around and headed for the door.

Sue was lucky, she had someone to look out for her and care for her. Even though Reed was an airhead 80% of the time, it was evident, as clear as daylight, that he loved my sister more then all his sciences combined. And what does that say about me?

The one person I ever really cared about I couldn't even protect, I treated like garbage and I overall psychologically scared.

The one person?

I grit my teeth as the unwanted name crossed my mind, Crystallia Amaquelin... Crystal.

Even though I didn't want to, I couldn't help but think of her as my biggest failure. The one time I think of my future not only do I get cheated on but the girl ends up with the person she cheated on my with...and again I get tossed aside and forgotten.

Maybe that's why I'd been so hard on Vick, such an unrelenting jerk, I looked for any opportunity to cause her pain, to make her suffer, to give her a taste of how I felt for being forgotten. She didn't even have an excuse for forgetting me, no amnesia or coma, she just...forgot. And that was the worst part.

"J-Johnny?" Susan calls to me.

I look up, dragging myself out of my thoughts.

"You don't have to come for the funeral if you don't want to" she says quietly.

I open my mouth to inform her Vick wasn't dead, till I get a sharp look from Reed. I rethink my statement mid open mouth. "I'll be there," I resolve.

Dead or alive what kind of person would I be if I didn't go, I didn't care what people would think of me but it sure would hurt a lot of their feeling.

"Good and fine, but don't you dare think of going in that state" Reed gesture to my appearance.

I cautiously look at Reed from the corner of my eye, wondering why he didn't want to tell Sue what he'd told me. Maybe it was because he himself didn't know when she'd get back, and that was more tortuous then accepting she won't be back at all!

But even knowing that I was still glad Reed told me, I'd wait for the next 30 years if I had to.

*******************************************************************

Clean shaven and looking as sexy as ever, I come out of my room with a certain swagger in my step. Vick is alive, she'd alive and well and coming back!

I smile to myself as I fix my suit jacket and I head towards the elevator door. Susan, Reed, Ben and Alicia had already left while I was still in the shower, so we agreed I'd catch up later. I might end up flying there to save time.

Before the doors close I pat my pants for my phone, realizing they weren't there I jump out as the doors shut and hunt for the elusive device that was the electronic version of a damn chameleon.

"It had better not me on silent" I grumble as I look around.

Come to think of it, I hadn't really been using my phone for a long time now. Talking to anyone other than Vick just seemed...irrelevant.

"Maybe I left it on the roof?"

I jog back up the stairs and make it to the roof, and there at the edge my phone laid. Thank God it hadn't fallen over. I walk over, reach down and pick it up. Straightening I look out infront of me, everything was vibrant and colorful and rich.

The breeze had a sweet fresh crisp to it as I savor the sight before me. Vick was coming back...everything is beautiful again...life was worth living.

I mildly wondered when she would actually be back, even though I said and knew I could wait, she shouldn't make me wait till the second ice age.

BLAAAAAAA

Something exploded in my face and sent me flying back several feet. I land with a crash on my back.

FLASSSSSSSKT!

I look up and see tiny sparks and flashes going off in mid air.

"Flame on!" I yell in anticipation of an attack.

The fireworks continue, in mid air and on their own. It was terrifying to watch, it looked like...like something wanted to come out, it was like something was being created. I should probably blast it, neutralize the threat before it even takes form.

I aim my arm at it, ready to shot scolding hot molten fire, when another sharp explosion took place, momentarily blinding me. I crouch down and cover my eyes with my forearm.

What the heck was going on?

Tiny miniature fireworks began taking place around the bigger one, they began to cluster together, attaching to one another. It had a sort of frightening beauty to it. It was now or never, I had to destroy that thing before the whole of New York gets whipped out be....fireworks?

Even I know there's something wrong with that ridiculous statement.

I tried to take aim again, but stopped myself when I saw the form the fireworks were taking...it looked...human.

My heart slammed against my chest double time as my moth goes dry. Could it be happening? Now!?

I hold my breath as the exploding form hovers afew feet above me, watching with wide eyed wonder. "Flame off" I mutter.

The fireworks combine into one shimmering entity, the lovely form of a female...... and then it shrank to the form of a tiny pin whole. I panicked, thinking she-or whatever it was-had gone away again.

Then an exploding bang of enormous mass with an outburst like a freaking nuclear bomb shock the whole city of New York, causing several car alarms to go off. There was smoke and dust everywhere as I coughed and tried to look up.

Just in time to see Vick's body falling.

*******************************************************************

Vick's POV

As the ground opened and I fell through, with the realization that Tony was my brother and that my parents were probably hiding something, I was confused and hurt and lost. I feel something go off in my head...like a detonation. My whole body, my consciousness, my very soul, was thrown into a state of uncertainty...like I was a fuzzy ball of cotton.

I was disorientated and scared as I feel like my body made impact with a cold body of water, the impact so sharp and painful it felt like I lost 80% of my limbs.

I was nothing, I was everything...I lost everything. I feel every part of me being wiped clean, rebooted.

And as soon as I felt like I was scattered to pieces I was put back together, this time by a searing cluster of heat.

Next I felt a gush of wind, blowing against my naked skin.

Wa-...wa....was I falling?

I can't moving, can't breathe, it even hurt to think.

"VICTORIA!"

Who's that? Who was screaming?

As soon as the voice faded I fell warm arms consume me and hold me close......even that hurt. I want him to let go, I want to keep falling...

"Vick?....Vick?....Victoria!?" the voice sound distant and hazy. Why were they yelling?

My Brian was a blank, my Heart was a blank, my core soul was a blank...who am I...what am I?

*******************************************************************

Johnny's POV

I race forward and catch her, we tumble to the ground together as I gather her close and breathe her in.

She's here....she's back...she's safe....she's mine....

I hold back my tears of joy as I relish in the feel of her and grip her even tighter. The strong and unrelenting tight grip over my heart loosened and I was finally able to breathe like a normal human again.

It took all my will power to tear my face away from her soft hair, to push myself back so I can look at her. She was lovely, as always. Her face was soft and smooth, her lips full and lush, her eyelashes long and curly. He slender nose and face adding to her already defined features...

I love this girl.

More than anything.

And from this day forward, I swear I will do whatever it takes to protect her, even if it means or equates to ripping off my own arm.

"Uuuuh..." the soft groans comes from her.

I look down at her, afraid that she might be in pain. I look down at her body to check for injuries from her sudden fall, what I saw instead made me blush for the first time in my adult life.

She was stark naked.

Like, still in her birthday suit.

Without even thinking I shrug off my jacket and wrap her in it. I try to keep a straight face even though I just saw heaven.

"Aaaaah..." she groans again.

Now I was worried, her skin looked unrealistically pink...like it was still raw. And upon closer inspection....she seemed flawless. Not that she wasn't but this type of flawlessness was that she had nothing. No scar or rash, no bumps or recently acquired bruises cause she never lacked those. Her hair too was unearthly straight, tangle free, and had sort of sheen and rich vibrancy to it that made her look like a Barbie doll straight out of the box.

She looked...new.

"Vick...?" I brushed her hair again, trying to get her to look at me.

She managed to lift her head up, towards my voice, and opened her eyes.

I gasp.

Her eyes were empty, devoid of, well, anything. She looked lost and confused. But strange of all, the brown of her eyes seem to be...swirling? Like they were dance around her pulp in a brown, blue and white mist.

Did that make sense!?

"Hey," I say softly to her. "It's me, Johnny Storm" I try to coax her into speaking. "I'm the love of your life," I add cockily. "I am absolutely crazy about you too," I add for good measures. I doubt now is the right time to say the L word to her.

She tries to sit up, and I help her slowly.

"You live with us, The Fantastic Four, at the Baxter Building in New York" I tried to feed her little sips of important information. "You've been gone for two weeks, your bestfriends, David and Sara, have been worried sick, and so have the Avengers" I rub her back soothingly.

She turns her head to me and blinks slowly, like she was trying to clear away cobwebs from her mind. She looked empty, like a blank piece of paper...waiting to be filled.

"You're brilliant, to everyone's surprise. You're beautiful, lovely and kind hearted" I'd be damned if as empty as she seemed I'd fill her up with anything other than sunshine and roses. "And you have by far the best superpowers in my opinion"

At the mention of the word 'superpower' she crinkles her brows.

"Yeah, you didn't know?" I smile at her. "You have ice powers...well ice or snow, that much still isn't clear." I shake my head.

But as soon as the words left my mouth I felt a sinking feeling. I couldn't detect any signs of cold from her. And as the person with the exact opposite of her powers I should know personally.

We could always detect the body temp of the other person without them even being in the room if we concentrated hard enough. I use to do it all the time at night before going to bed to make sure Vick was in her room. It was why I knew she wasn't in her room when she took off with Tony a while back. Whoa, that seems like an eternity ago.

I look as Vick lifts up her right hand and looks at it, she turns it over in wonder and snaps it. Once, twice, three times......nothing.

She lets out a startled scream and gasps, looks at me as shock encapsulates her.

"J-Johnny?" she manages to say, the word sound weird, foreign, like she had no idea what it meant or who it belonged to. "I...I-I don't remember anything!" she cries out in panic.

She violently begins to tremble and shake. I gather her close and try to calm her down.

"Hey, hey, ssssssh...." I rock her back and forth. "It's okay, we'll take it slow. Do you know anything? You don't necessarily have to remember anything, just something you are sure of at this point"

I lean back and look at her, her clear misty brown eyes focusing on me. She then nods her head ever so slightly.

"That's good! That's great, what is it?" And as soon as the words leave my mouth and I see the look on her face, I know everything was about to change.

"Johnny?....I've lost my powers..."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Author's Note

Well I have good news, bad news, and my news.

Good news is that things are changing and we'll be going into a whole 360 degree arch, meaning that things might probably go back and feel like the beginning of this book did...which is a lot less confusing.

Bad news, this is the second to the last story arch I am taking (i.e change and/or surprise). The next one won't be much of a surprise more like a revelation of things, and the last one will be a bang of a doosey.

And finally my news is that I'M IN MY FINAL TWO SEMESTERS OF COLLEGE! I am almost done with school!!! So I'm so sorry if my updates feel as far away as Game Of Throne seasons, that's why I tried to make this chapter as long as possible for y'all so you don't kill me. School has become so hectic that if it wasn't for my principles I'd totally take up smoking right now. Trust me, things are a nightmare. It took me three weeks to do this when normally it takes me less than 5 hours!!

Again, so sorry for the wait. Please bear with me.

Now onto something that's been bugging me. I have two options in courses of action to take.

a) I can cut this story from here, do an epilogue and start a Book 2 for this.

b) Continue on what is already existing and tie up this whole book at the end with a neat bow.

Set backs

For a) if I start a new book I have to build up on all the reads and votes again from scratch for something that might end up being tedious and drag on.(I could make up a 'Vick moves in with the Avengers' story but that has been done on Wattpad over a billion times now)

For b) I feel like this book is too long (or correct me if I'm wrong). I've already written over 520 pages, 137,961 words and counting plus the first 10 chapters of this books are missing from the count. Won't new readers think it's too much?

Please help me out you guys, the ball is in your court. I've been mulling over this for a year and I still can't make a choice. Do I continue pleasing you guys or stay true to my story's integrity and quality?

Oh whao is my problems! And I have so many things on the side I want to do, like be a freelance graphic designer and upload videos on YouTube as a hobby (don't know whether to be doing Top 10 fanarts or critic Wattpad stories).

I can't wait till I'm married and pregnant, so then I can sit around and update chapters every freaking day!

But till then we must settle for what God gives and intends for us.

So don't forget to vote and comment, I know you must have a lot you want to pour out.

And till next time this is your beloved Author- or Writer, since I'm not generally known as an Author and I have nothing published yet. Sending you love across time and space to/till what/whenever point in time you get to read this.

This is me signing off~

~Ya Gal Vicky<3

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