"Yo, Martyn, Sam, Grian! Wait up!" Taurtis laughed, trying to keep up with his three friends without using his super speed by accident (again).

Grian cackled and started walking faster. "Don't be so slow then!"

"i'M nOt sLoW-"

Nearly a month ago, two thirteen year olds (Grian and Taurtis Xequela) woke up with the ability to run much faster than normal people should be able to. How the two adoptive brothers got the same powers, I couldn't tell you.

Grian and Taurtis were best friends and (legally and emotionally) brothers. Taurtis' family had adopted Grian when they were both five, and they'd stuck together like glue ever since.

Until the accident.

But, that's for later. What are our dearest Voids doing?

Xisuma looked up at the buildings with a mix of anxiety and awe. Alex had always tried convincing Mum to let them explore the cities of the world, but she'd always said that both of them would have to agree in order to do so. He'd always felt bad for saying no, seeing genuine disappointment on his brother's face each time, but he supposed he made it up a fair amount when he agreed to explore some of London during their time in that Sanctum.

"Holy crap..."

X snapped out of his thoughts and watched Alex carefully so he wouldn't lose him in the crowd of people. He pulled down the hood of his light grey jacket and pulled his brother back by his shoulder. "I get that you don't wanna be around me, but mind not getting lost?"

Giving a lighthearted snort, Alex slowed down to keep pace with Xisuma.

(I'm going to put two links in the comment here, and I want you- yes, you- to play one or both while reading. You don't have to if you don't want to. Thank you, and continue on.)

Once Pungence and Bdubs finished up their Mac n' Cheese with minimal conflict... by Baklo family standards, they did their usual thing of finishing up homework, taking care of their leftover chores, and taking over both the living room and their parents' bedroom (which had a much smaller TV, but neither of them could agree on a show, so Bdubs made his brother take the bedroom) to relax.

At around nine, Bdubs dragged Pungence to bed.

But he would've stayed up all night if he'd known what would happen that night.

Over the past month or so, Bdubs had been feeling a bit sick at random times. He kept getting some of the worst growing pains he'd ever felt, but he assumed it was just something normal. He didn't think it'd mutate into something much bigger than himself.

But it did.

Feeling cold and oddly weightless, Bdubs opened his eyes, and screamed when he realized he hadn't been welcomed with the sight of the ceiling... or any ceiling at all.

He thrashed around as he seemed to float in... space? Wait, did space have glass everywhere?

"WHOA! Wha- What in the- Where-?!"

His voice sounded so small. He felt so small.

He jolted around when he heard faint speaking. He tried to calm his racing heart for a moment before trying to look at where it came from. Bdubs went to stumble back as a shard of glass moved forward. It didn't go close enough for it to hit him, luckily, but now he could see... people.

As he hesitantly got a closer look to watch as two blondes laughed together, their backs to the screen of glass.

"C'mon Zed, it wasn't that bad!"

"Easy for you to say!"

Bdubs tilted his head in confusion and turned to another piece that he heard faint chatter from. It too came closer, and it showed two teenagers, older than he was, standing under mistletoe. 'What's this-?'

One of them had his hair dyed blue, and the other was blonde. The blue-haired one suddenly stopped talking, noticing the mistletoe, starting to blush. 'Oh, okay-'

"You okay, Jev-?"

The blonde asked, raising an eyebrow. 'Wow- idiot-'

"Jev" stuttered a little before silently pointing up at the fake plant. Also turning pink, the blonde's jaw dropped a little in shock. He stuttered about how they didn't have to, and Jev made the excuse that it'd be bad luck. 'If you want to kiss him, just tell him that moron-'

Bdubs didn't know why he'd suddenly stopped panicking to watch two gay teenagers awkwardly stumble over their words (both OBVIOUSLY wanting to kiss), but he wasn't sure why he was able to see this anyway, so might as well.

Blondie basically said that he wouldn't mind kissing for "superstitious reasons", and after saying "it's not awkward", they did actually kiss. 'Finally- great, now go on a date and stop being so obviously stupid.'

Then Jev said, "N-Nah, we're bros."

"Are you kidding me-?!" In his annoyance, Bdubs facepalmed, then questioned why this was the thing he was focusing on. He was in space surrounded by glass, and he was watching two idiots flirt?!

He whipped his head around, looking for some kind of explanation... only to get distracted again. The small teen watched a scene play out on a fragment, where a kid with a pen was saying something frantically to a man in a wheelchair. His attention was diverted again by the sound of his own voice, coming from somewhere nearby. "What the-?"

He glanced at some of the other pieces of glass (showing various scenes from someone with green hair looking shocked at something unseen to a group of friends chasing each other through the woods), feeling a little overwhelmed as he caught several bits of talking from the dozens upon dozens of shattered pieces.

"What has the greater good ever done for you?"

"-Physically, yes. Dignity wise, I don't think I'll recover from this."

"-don't act like this is a civil conversation and tell me where Shishwammy is!"

Bdubs paused, the third voice being familiar, but he shook his head and focused on finding which one sounded like him. After another minute of looking (and starting to figure out how to float around), he was pretty sure he'd found it.

The piece he was looking for floated towards him slowly as he went to reach for it, slightly crooked in the air. Bdubs felt his heartbeat quicken as he heard the voice again, now knowing it was coming from that shard. A small flash shined across its front as it faced flat before him.

After a moment, it went from reflecting his face to showing the inside of a large brick building. A figure slammed backwards into one of the brick walls harshly, wiping off their sweat covered face with their arm, causing the teenager to jump. Bdubs stared at it with wide eyes.

'Is that... me?' Bdubs thought. The two looked awfully similar, though the one in the reflection looked older. He had a red bandanna, not dissimilar to the one Bdubs had started wearing recently, across his face with glowing white eyes that were narrowed in anger.

Bdubs kept staring at him until his lookalike was shoved back up against the wall by a much larger figure. The taller figure gripped tightly to his lookalike's shoulders, seeming to tilt his head to the side in a mocking manner. It wasn't hard to notice the figure's completely robotic face (though it was only because of his perspective that the teenager couldn't see the taller person's human side), with an eerie grin permanently on the left side of his face. That alone was unnerving to the small, floating brunette.

"This is getting old." Bdubs heard the robotic man say, watching as his lookalike smile. He laughed a little, with a little bit of blood dripping from his nose.

"Oh ya? I haven't even gotten- started." His lookalike quickly summoned what looked to be a gleaming forcefield with one of his hands, lifting a foot to kick it forward into the robotic man's chest. Bdubs watched intensely as the man got shoved across the room, landing on his feet with a loud thud.

Bdubs was so caught up in it that he didn't notice the shard beginning to float away.

"Wait-!" He snapped out of his trance, quickly trying to shuffle himself to reach for it. Bdubs felt a bit sad as the shard drifted out of his grasp, now untouchable and returning to the dancing void of glass and leaving him to ponder what he'd just seen.

Then the full weight of the odd situation hit him full force. "Oh god. OH GOD. OH MY GOD-"

Why was it only now that it hit him that he was in a possibly dangerous situation?

After a good bit of panicked cursing and yelling into the void, Bdubs calmed down... somewhat. Until...

The kid's head whipped around when he heard the sound of his mother's voice. "... Mamí?"

Yet another fragment of glass drifted towards him as he called out. A small flash came from it as it faced Bdubs, to show... scientists? He knew his mom worked at a lab, but... this made him feel uneasy. He'd been to where his parents worked, and this wasn't it.

He leaned closer, trying to spot his mom among the group... until he saw the kid strapped to a table, hooked up to two machines. Bdubs jolted back in shock as he heard a heart-wrenching screech of pain come from the shard as the machines shown glowed with what seemed to be electricity. His eyes widened as a few of the scientists took notes before the shard changed scenes. 'What the-?!'

Bdubs didn't realize just how close he'd gotten to the glass until he bumped his hand against it. With that small touch, the next flash of light enveloped him as well, causing him to disappear from the void.

"WHAA- WHERE-?!" Bdubs whipped around in a panic, not sure if he should be glad or nervous to be suddenly away from the glass-filled void. His hand shot to his mouth, seeing other people around... but they didn't seem to notice him. His eyes darted to his hand and he almost screamed again. "WHY CAN I SEE THROUGH ME-?!"

Bdubs' attention jolted away from his crisis at the sound of his mother's voice again, causing him to look around. He was in a lab similar to what he'd seen a few seconds earlier, but with different people... including both his parents.

"... Mamí? Dad?"

Neither of them reacted to him talking as they uncomfortably adjusted their lab coats and looked over some files with their co-workers. His mother stumbled a little and bumped into a table with a collection of vials, one of them spilling on her left forearm. Bdubs and his dad both winced at her attempt at muffling her squeal of pain.

"I-I'm fine."

"No, you're not- Someone get her medical attention, it's a hydrochloric acid spill."

Before he could check on her, Bdubs was yanked back by what felt like a string attached to his middle, forcing him backwards, making him phasing through the wall and flying by dozens of prison cells. All he could see of them was their pleading expressions, before-

"BDUBS!!"

'Pungence-?'

"BDUBS PLEASE HE-"

"-BDUBS WAKE UP, WE'RE GONNA BE LATE YOU IDIOT-"

He jolted awake, just barely stopping himself from hitting his head against the ceiling, wide eyed and heart racing. Bdubs looked around to see... his room.

The younger sibling huffed and climbed up the ladder to his brother's bunk. "C'mon stupid, the others are waiting for you."

Pungence then leapt down and ran out of their shared room.

'That was one weird dream... If it was one..?'

Scar quietly slipped his way through the crowded hallway to his next class, not bothering to double check his schedule for once.

It still felt weird. Not having his best friend by his side at all times. Cracking jokes. Some much meaner than Scar felt necessary, but guess that was... had been a part of his friend's charm. God, it felt painful to even think about him. He missed him so much.

Who-knows-how long ago, Scar's closest friend had gone missing. The police said they'd done all they could... but that didn't stop Scar from wanting them to try harder.

He mindlessly apologized every time he bumped into someone until he got into his classroom. 'Just one more, then I can go home.'

"C'mon, Dipple Dop!" Skizz dragged Impulse into his house, laughing at Impulse's annoyed act.

"Skizz, we have homework!"

"Who cares! Let's have some fun!"

"We need to do the homework-"

"It's due in a week, we'll be fine!"

Both brunettes laughed as Impulse got practically thrown onto the couch.

At first glance, it'd be easy to mistake Impulse and Skizz for biological brothers, both because of their similar appearances and because of the way they acted. Skizz almost always seemed to be leaning against the other, with his arm around him as they both laughed at something they'd done last week.

"For real Impulse, learn to chillax!"

"Chillax isn't a word." Impulse chuckled, watching his friend plop onto the armchair nearby.

"Those that deny the chillax need to chillax the most, my friend."

After a few minutes of chatting, the pair picked up their controllers and started playing a video game.

"Go left- LEFT SKIZZ- THAT'S NOT LeFT-"

"My left or your left?!"

"IT'S THE SAME LEFT-"

Then Skizz's avatar proceeded to smack Impulse's.

"SKIZZ-"

"SORRY-"

A small spark came from Impulse's hand, reacting from his frustration. The icon on the TV showed his low-battery controller suddenly at 100%.

"Huh? Dipple Dop, you super-charge your remote or something?" Skizz chuckled, noticing the change. Panicking, the other teenager just stuttered something about the controller malfunctioning. Skizz, slightly suspicious, shrugged it off and responded, "Uh- heh, it's fine man- It's kinda old, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's a bit broken."

Sighing in relief internally, Impulse nodded and tried refocusing on the game. 'That was close... sorry Skizz...'

"AAAAAHHHHH-"

Oh. Yeah, nearly forgot those two were gawking at each other and screaming in terror.

"DON'T EAT ME-"
"eAT YOU??? WHY WOULD I EAT YOU?????"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE UNDEAD???? YOU'RE A ZOMBIE???"

"I'M A WHAT-"

Cleo looked at her arms for the first time and screamed again. Her skin was green and rotting- she could see her own bones. No wonder the brunette kid was screeching.

After a lot of panicked swearing, the redheaded zombie sat down too and took a deep breath. "What is going on-?!"

Looking back and forth between Cleo and the two exits, Joe took a deep breath as well. "Uh... is there a reason why you weren't aware that you were undead..?"

"I mean- kind of?? I did just... wake up? Oh my god, what is even happening right now-???"

"I- I don't know???"

Joe took a moment to process the ridiculous circumstance: he'd been kicked out, nearly drowned... he'd ran under this bridge of all places... and there was an actual undead person in front of him.

... Okay.

"Uh... let's start over... Miss... Zombie-?"

"C-Cleo. My name is Cleo."

"Zombie Cleo."

"... No. Just Cleo."

The two gave awkward chuckles. Joe shakily stood up. "Well, Cleo: Joe Hills. Nice to meet you... kinda."

The brunette boy offered a hand to help Cleo up. She cautiously took it and stood up. "Thanks... you too. Y'know, despite the... panicked screaming."

They both chuckled again. Joe was having trouble fully processing the sudden strangeness of it all, but Cleo seemed friendly enough. Besides, he could use a friend right about now.

The pair quickly agreed to try getting out of the small town to find better shelter, so Joe gave the undead girl his hoodie and they wandered to the closest bus stop. They also took a few minutes to tell the other why they were under the bridge, and both were quite shocked by the time they finished.

"He did what?!"

"You woke up in a grave?! Actually, that's not surprising-"

Cleo shook her head furiously. "No, no, no- That old man did WHAT-"

The young blue-eyed werewolf scrambled up a tree and thrust himself onto a branch. He took a moment to breathe, looking over the bits of the forest he could see. For a moment, he was calm... but after a few minutes, the shock wore off and Ren realized the weight of the situation.

Good news: he was out of that stupid HYDRA base.

Bad news: he had no clue what to do now.

A few of the other inmates were smart enough to suggest they all grab some money (Ren was one of the lucky ones who was listening: in the rush, most people just continued charging out), so he did have some cash, maybe enough for a bus. But... how the hell was he supposed to hide the fact that he was part freaking dog?!

"Thanks a lot, Nazi jerks." he mumbled, his ears flattening against his head a bit.

God, when did his life become this weird? Why didn't the school think those people were suspicious? Why couldn't he have stayed home all those months ago...? He just wanted to go home, man. He didn't sign up for experiments, almost getting brainwashed, being considered for being turned into a mindless assassin, having to watch a bunch of people his age scream for their parents and beg to be allowed to go home- none of that.

But... he didn't have time to ponder on this quite yet. He still had to figure out what to do next.

So, he slipped down the tree and looked for the nearest bus stop.

'New York, here I come I guess...'

"Crap... we're lost-"

"No, no no no- we're not, it's fine!"

"It's not fine- Very, very not fine!" Alex huffed, glaring at his brother. They'd been wandering for quite a while now, and they've appeared to have lost sight of their destination.

The two, while bickering about where they could possibly be and passed a display of TVs, showing the current news, which they didn't pay any attention to until-

CRSSSHHH!

The sound of shattering glass. A sound that'd haunt their dreams for years. A feeling similar to when the London Sanctum fell... but so much worse.

Alex clutched his chest, nearly heaving as he managed to look at the news screen.

"This just in- WHOA-! What in the-?!" A newscaster stood in front of a body, surrounded by shattered glass. The body... of the Ancient One.

No.

He couldn't believe it. No, he couldn't be seeing right. But... he couldn't say that when his brother recognized the body too.

"Mum..." Xisuma whimpered, his skull aching more than it ever had in his life.

"This is footage from nearly ten minutes ago. We-"

The young brunette was pulled into the nearby alley before they could hear the rest. He didn't fully process what was happening until Alexander held his twin firmly by the shoulders. "I-I'm not the only- You felt that too, right? You saw-?"

He wanted to deny it. Maybe they saw a different person. Maybe some other event triggered the feeling. They couldn't have seen right. No...

After a minute of hesitation... Xisuma nodded. "We're too late. We... She's gone."

"No- No, no no no- She can't have! She wouldn't- She... She can't have..."

"Maybe... She just got injured..?" It was a feeble attempt. Every bit of the two sorcerers knew that only something catastrophic could cause that kind of reaction... like the death of a Sorcerer Supreme.

The Angst Kraken has returned.

Anywho, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Some bits of it I struggled with to be honest, but hey, what's new? That's all I have to say, so have an amazin' day, evening, and night! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD BYYYYYE~!

- CaptainMarra (is just moving along)