Enjoy <3(No Art this time sorry :])

Suffocating. They couldn't breathe. It was like all they could inhale was dust. They couldn't cough. Their lungs just slowly filled up with sut and dust. 'I need to get out.' They thought. 'I need to breathe.' Their hand reached around hoping to find something, anything. Suddenly their finger brushed against something hard. Rock. They repeatedly pushed up against the rock. 'Air, please.' In one hard shove, the rock flung from its place. Their hand shot up, quickly trying to break out from where they were. As the heavy feeling of rumble slowly crumbled off them, there was a sense of relief and freedom. They took a deep breath of air... and then the pain began.

Stress's eyes shot open in a panic. Sweat ran down her cheeks as she sat panting in the silence of her room. Stress covered her eyes with her hands, why does she have to have these terrible nightmares. This was the second one she had had since the Mangler had shown up at Bdubs apartment. The first was right after Bdubs left after making sure she was ok, and now this. As she moved her hands from her eyes, Stress saw a quick flash of a distorted cut up face. She moved back in horror as her vision unblurred, taking the face with it. Stress threw her hands down onto her sheets in a panicked annoyance.

"God! Why does this keep happening?!" Stress shouted to herself. Now sitting in an awkward silence, not really wanting to fall back asleep, her eyes landed on her phone. She quickly reached over to her night stand and grabbed the device from its place. She needed to talk to someone. Stress paused as she held her finger over her contact list. 'No one's awake.' Her brain remembered. Despite that fact, she quickly scrolled to the very first person that came to mind.

Stress: Hey Iskall, you awake?

Iskall: Hallo! And ya, got stuck at a super late shift at the arcade. Everything ok?

Stress: Not really..Can you talk for a bit?

Iskall: Of course

Bdubs sat on the roof of his apartment building, his legs kicking back and forth against the hard brick. The hero anxiously waited, looking down at the streets below.

"Come on Come on give me something," Bdubs said in annoyance. It had been a week since he had gotten to do anything hero related and it was killing him. The beginner hero sighed as he folded his hands together, making a small light orb. That was truly all he could figure out how to do with his powers. Besides the additional energy boost and advanced movement, Bdubs didn't know what he could do. One day he hoped to make the orbs explode, he thought that would be cool. The hero squished the orb between his palms when he heard a loud explosion from a distance away. Bdubs stood up in excitement, quickly making sure his eyes were their tinted white shade. It was hero time. As Bdubs ran up towards the building, his eyes widened as he took in the scene. It was a mechanics and technology store. In the front there was a large hole blasted into it, with debris covering the floor. The hero stood as someone rose from the dust, when Bdubs saw who it was he smiled. The Mangler, who had been terrorizing the city for a while, stared back at the hero, his hands full of mechanical parts and a bag across his side possibly filled with more. The Villain did not look happy to see him.

"Oh... It's you again." He said in a low, annoyed voice. Bdubs smirked as he stood proudly.

"Because clearly no one else can do it." The hero said. The Mangler rolled his one human eye, as he set his bag of stolen items aside.

"Now, you're going to let me walk away, or I could just kill you." He bargained. Bdubs leaned forward in a taunting manner.

"You could try!" The hero said, summoning a single orb in his hands. The Mangler stepped down from the pile of debris. Confident, Bdubs ran full speed at the villain. The hero shouted in alarm as he was knocked to the side by an invisible force. The Mangler held his hand out and threw it to the side, causing Bdubs to go flying into one of the building walls.

The hero stumbled up, trying to ignore the throbbing in his head. He looked up at the Mangler, who gave him a victorious and snarky smirk as he picked up his bag. Bdubs frowned as he summoned a small orb in his hands. He threw it as hard as he could, the orb bursting as it crashed against the Manglers back. It caused the villain to stumble forward, quickly turning around as his shoulder began to singe. Bdubs took that moment of shock to launch himself forward, tackling the large cyborg to the ground. His move backfired as the two went tumbling straight into a wall, Bdubs head slamming against the brick. When his eyes opened, the Mangler was leaning above him.

"Wow, well you managed to hit me this time." The villain said. Bdubs face went dark as the villain moved closer. "Too bad it backfired." Bdubs looked at the villain's intimidating eyes. Wow his eyes are kinda pretty 'Wait why did I just think that-' Bdubs thought, trying to snap out of the villain's gaze. The Villain just kinda sat there, looking at the hero for a moment. He feels warm. Bdubs leaned up against the brick, trying to not be so low to the ground. As he moved, the Mangler stayed where he was, the space between them smaller.

"Aren't you going to move?" Bdubs asked, his face now inches from the villains. The Mangler just smiled a bit, inching closer.

"No," Then...

"Ah-" Bdubs screamed as he woke up. His face went bright red as he stood there recollecting his dream. He didn't remember that encounter going like that. His eyes looked dazed around the room until they landed on the blue colored alarm clock next to his bed. "9:10 am" His shift had started 10 minutes ago. "Ah Dang it-" the man said as he dashed out of bed. "Dang it Dang it Dang it!" Bdubs quickly grabbed his shoes, now fully dressed, and booked it out the door.

Bdubs opened the door of the Pesky Bird, quickly stepping into the establishment. Keralis looked up from the counter and smiled.

"Nice of you to come to work today Bubbles!" The man said, closing the open cash box. Bdubs chuckled a bit as he walked behind the counter to hug his friend. Keralis was surprised by the sudden embrace, but quickly accepted it with a grin. Bdubs let go now feeling a bit better.

"Well I have to keep some kind of normality in my life right?" He said. Grian walked up from cleaning tables.

"Oh hey Bdubs, Happy I won't have to cover both of your guys shifts again!" The short brit said. Keralis looked at the man with a triggered expression.

"Few more times and it would cover all the times we have had to do that for you," The glasses man laughed at Grian's quick change in expression. Bdubs smiled and quickly grabbed his apron off the rack. As Bdubs slowly began to be consumed by the usual drill of work, his mind couldn't help but drift. Why would his brain be dumb enough to have a dream like that. His face went red as he thought about it. He looked up from the counter in a startled motion. 'Stop thinking about it Bdubs.' The man smacked his palm on his forehead in annoyance. He didn't want to see the Mangler for a while. Hopefully then his brain might clear up all this nonsense. The man snapped out of his daze when he heard the loud spilling of a drink on the ground. He quickly spun around to see a coffee machine spitting coffee out onto the floor and all over the counter.

"Oh- no no no no" Bdubs shouted, quickly scrambling for a cup. He jammed a cup under the machine, letting the rest of the coffee that hadn't drained onto the counter into the cup. Bdubs looked at the mess with an aggravated sigh. He picked up a towel and began aggressively cleaning up the counter. Of course this would happen. The man sighed, soon his shift would be over today, and it was clear that working wasn't helping.

Wind brushed against Doc's face as he rested his head back onto his arms, his gaze looking up at the sky above. He laid his back down against the roof on Bdub's apartment complex. In truth, he never actually left the night before. The villain felt compelled to stay close to the hero, not really knowing why, ending up staying there all night long. Doc sat in silence as the noises of the streets below echoed throughout the city. It was nice being able to sit without having to worry for once. He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. It was peaceful.

"Mind if I interrupt your daydreaming?" A voice said, the south african accent stinging in Docs ears. The Villain shot upwards in a panic, quickly stumbling forward in a daze. Canem smiled from across the roof over at the cyborg, slowly stepping off the side of the building and stepping towards Him. Doc's anger rose the closer Canem got. "Oh come on... Aren't you at least a bit surprised?"

"Well usually if someone doesn't die from a collapsing building, chances are it won't kill them the second time." Doc said. Canem laughed a bit. "Now, what do you want?"

"If you are thinking I'm here to kill you then you are largely mistaken my dude. I'd like your help." Canem said. Doc was taken aback by his words, scoffing.

"I'm not helping you."

"Oh come on Doccy! Please?" Canem pleaded. Doc stared at the reaper in front of him. In a second...it was almost like he was Ren again. The villain shook his head. No, this wasn't Ren. When the villain gave no response, Canem snapped out of his act with a sigh. "Fine. Maybe I'll just get LuxShield to do it. Bribing him with one of his friends shouldn't be that hard..." Canem said with a deceitful grin. Doc clenched his fist at the thought. He knew Bdubs would do anything for his friends, he knew that from experience. The reaper looked down at Doc's fist, "Oh sorry, did I threaten something of yours?" Canem said, his smile growing.

"What are you planning to do Canem?" Doc asked with a grim tone. Canem rocked on his heels with glee.

"The Void crystal is quite powerful, you know, with the power to manipulate shadows and...other various abilities, but everything has an opposite. The void crystal has the Sun crystal. And I want it." Canem said, his voice deep and serious. Doc slowly comprehended Canem's plan, He didn't like where this was going.

"And where is this...Sun crystal?"

"Oh please, you know exactly where it is. Concorp! They hired us to steal the Void crystal so they must have the Sun crystal."

"You're a lunatic, you know that right?" Doc said. Canem backed up with an offended face that then morphed into a smile.

"Doc you know you're just as crazy as me, You want it too don't you." Canem said. Doc couldn't lie, knowing now there was an opposite to the crystal that literally revived a guy was pretty intriguing.

"No." Doc said, to himself and the reaper. "You do it, but keep LuxShield and me out of it." Canem sighed as he turned away from the villain.

"Your loss." The reaper said, waving his hand in the air as a goodbye as he turned his back to doc, the shadows swallowing him whole in an instant. Now standing in silence Doc sighed. Canem wouldn't go through with getting the sun crystal. The reaper would be too afraid to break into Concorp on his own and the villain was positive Concorps security would be over the top anyway. All Doc knew now was to keep Canem away from Bdubs, just in case he tried anything. Doc blinked for a moment as the thought crossed his mind. 'Protect? Bdubs?' The villain bent his legs to sit criss cross on the concrete of the apartment roof.

"What has gotten into me." Doc laughed to himself, letting his head rest on the palm of his hand. "Turning down a huge opportunity past me would have taken in an instant, following the guy that I have been trying to kill for over 2 years?" The villain sat as his mind screamed at him, flashes of the short hero dancing in his mind. 'It's almost like I like him or something.' Doc sat up as a wave of panic hit him.

"Shit."

;3