I had nightmares again. Scarlett said that they are just dreams, but sometimes it felt like I was really there.

One time I had a dream about Scavenger standing on a burning building in his black armor. He barked commands as an army of oscure raced towards a thousand robots and soldiers. I was stuck in the middle, my feet nailed to the ground with black spikes.

I would scream but my voice wouldn't work. I woke up when the two armies slammed together right on top of me. My bed was covered in blood and my feet had never hurt so bad in my life.

The previous night gave me a new type of dream, one I had never experienced. It was one where there weren't any monsters or demons chasing me. It was just a scary story that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

I was walking around a pretty pond. The waters were clear and perfectly blue. The trees were as old as time and as green as my eyes: it was a paradise.

I sat down underneath one of the trees that was closest to the water. I would have liked to stay there and forget about the chaos of the real world, but was no more than a dream.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" an elderly voice asked somewhere behind me.

"It is," I answered, unable to look at his face.

"Only if the world could have stayed this simple," he sighed.

His footsteps stomped on leaves as he sat next to me.

He was very old: his skin was wrinkly and dry. He had a big, white beard that made him look a little too much like Santa. His dark blue eyes were always squinting, like he was hiding from an invisible bright light.

He was wearing a pair of old green sweatpants and a dusty sweatshirt. I thought he might have been homeless.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

He simply chuckled, "Don't you recognize your own family?"

I looked at him unsure of what to say. When his eyes met mine, I could see it. His face looked so much like Clark that I had to second guess if I was actually talking to my brother.

"Clark?" I asked slowly.

"No, I'm your grandfather!" he boomed and laughed so hard that the forest shook.

"You can't be Scarlett's dad. He's in a wheelchair."

He smiled at me with anticipation.

"Yes, yes. Go on."

"You're Scavenger's dad," I came to the realization.

He nodded his head and grinned like a fool.

"Yes, I created Scavenger. I created him as the last test for humanity. I made him a monster filled with rage and hatred, yet here you and your brother stand as a product of love."

He stood up and began to walk into the water.

"I'm sorry. I don't get it. You made him a monster on purpose?"

"And I'm sorry, my dear, but I'm short on time. I just had to meet you and your brother. I knew he wouldn't fail me!" he shouted as the sky turned to black and fire began to fall from the sky.

"Wait, what do you mean? What did he not fail?" I said.

I found myself unable to stand up.

"Ten years. That's how long you have to prepare! The darkness is coming and if you can't stop it, your species will be eradicated!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

A large meteor crashed through the trees and crushed the old man.

That was the last thing I saw before I fell out of bed and crashed into my brother mid-air.

Clark was covered head to toe in sweat.

"You saw her too?" he asked me out of breath.

"Her? He was a dude! He had a huge beard and he looked like you!" I yelled a little too loudly.

"What? No. She had red hair and looked like you!" he yelled back.

The door broke off of the frame with Scarlett holding the other end of it.

"What's going on up here? Are you two okay? I thought I heard screaming," she asked.

She looked back and forth between us while she held our door by the handle. We both stood up, ran to her, and hugged her as tight as possible.

"Did you have bad dreams again?" her voice softly asked.

The door dropped to the floor with a loud thud. We shook our heads yes and she made a pouty face before squeezing us tighter.

"Guess I need to develop stronger door hinges," Archy called.

He was standing behind Scarlett in the hallway.

"Sorry, Archy. I don't know my own strength," she replied nervously.

He smiled and picked up the door. Scarlett walked into the room and we all watched as Archy did his magic trick of fixing everything when we broke it. The hinge snapped back into place with a loud pop and the door was as good as new.

"What were they about tonight?" Scarlett asked.

"A woman with red hair told me the world was going to end. She also said that we were beings of something impossible and unexpected, whatever that means. I think she was our grandma," Clark explained eagerly.

Scarlett's skin looked more pale than usual and she looked like she forgot how to blink.

"And I saw a homeless dude with a Santa Claus beard. He said he was our grandpa and that we had ten years until the darkness will educate us!" I added quickly.

I was hoping to miss the scary gaze of my mother.

"Do you mean eradicate?" Scarlett questioned.

"Yes! That word! It sounded scary."

Scarlett laughed and got down on her knees, "It's not exactly a word I'd use to describe something I love."

Archy's watch began to beep loudly and he looked at Scarlett awkwardly while tapping his foot. His face lost the happy smile he had when he was fixing the door. He looked nervous or scared. Scarlett looked at him and she made the same face.

"I have to go somewhere with Archy, like a secret mission, so I'm sorry that I'm not going to be able to walk you to school today. Your lunches are on the counter and the sitter will walk you to school and pick you up after. And I've asked her to make sure you don't sneak along the ride with us," she said with a look towards Clark's guilty face.

"Are you going to get daddy?" Clark asked.

Scarlett smiled and answered, "I love you both. I'll see you later tonight hopefully."

She hugged us and began to walk out the doorway when I asked her, "Who's the sitter?"

I heard Archy's laugh echo through the hall.

"Good luck escaping her," Scarlett winked.

"Oh no," Clark and I said together as our room began to clean itself.

The day old clothes on the ground were thrown into the hamper and the beds were made in a matter of seconds. My hair was fixed and I wore an academy outfit that I didn't know I owned.

"Ah, that's better. Couldn't handle the mess in here. Now who's ready for school?" Velicity laughed.