Weeks. It had been weeks since the Time Twins crashed into the mysterious time period. Acronix’s wound was healing enough for him to be able to walk around now, but it seemed to have been slightly infected, so it still stung. Specially to put pressure on. He had started going out with Krux on his missions to find supplies and stuff, but took it easy. Well, he was more or less forced to, but that’s beside the point. The two had managed to catch a few fish in the stream the day prior, so at the moment, they weren’t starving any more. But they were pretty small, so it didn’t do much for them; however, it was better than the nothing they had gotten used to. So, they were grateful for it nonetheless. The brothers made there way through the wilderness, deciding to leave the Iron Doom behind for the time being. If there was anything out there, they wouldn’t find it sitting around feeling sorry for themselves. Acronix watched his brother’s cape sway behind him as they walked. “Krux? If we find someone…? What do we do?”

“I… Well… *sigh* We- ask for help I guess. Even though I hate the thought of it. We don’t have much longer out here, unfortunately. Yes, we’re still breathing, but who knows how much longer our bodies can handle? Yours especially.” The older twin gave Acronix’s tattered, dirty bandages a worried glance. The younger sibling looked away like he was fed up with receiving that look. That’s the only way Krux had looked at him ever since they crashed here.

Pity.

Like he’s expecting him to fall over at any given second. Or that he was a helpless, wounded child that wasn’t expected to make it. Truth be told, part of Krux didn’t. He wished every second of the day that the thought of his poor brother giving out would stop badgering him, but it wouldn’t. Almost every day, he’d have a nightmare about waking up to find him dead. He absolutely hated it. There wasn’t a worse thought in the universe. Acronix was all he had, if he ever were to… ya know… then he’d be alone. Completely and utterly ABANDONED. No one would even know if he died. Or miss him for that matter. It was a terrifying anticipation. No.
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
He refused to think on it any longer. He tried desperately to banish the thought before it ate at him further. Acronix suddenly stopped walking and shakily called out for his brother. Krux whipped around and jumped to his side. “What’s wrong?! What hurts!??”

The younger sibling pushed him away from the frantic check up he was starting. “First Spinjitzu Master, I’m fine! I was just going to tell you to look up in the distance!” Acronix groaned as he grabbed his brother’s head and aimed it toward the direction he was referring to. A light.

A bright light.

A city.

‘Oh, great… A bright, neon city.’ Krux died a little bit inside. “We’re in the future.”

Acronix’s eyes lit up like the glistening city he was admiring. “But how far in the future?”

Krux shrugged while he let out a defeated sigh. “Only one way to find out I suppose.” He had to admit, he was definitely bummed about the time period, but seeing Acronix as happy as he was right then made him crack a slight smile. The young twin excitedly rushed ahead towards the city with a nervous brother telling him to take it easy while following closely behind. By the time they were close enough to see the individual buildings, Acronix suddenly collapsed. Krux frantically reached out and grabbed him before he could hit the ground. “I told you to slow down!” He scolded. “See? You hurt yourself, didn’t you?!”

Acronix looked away, almost ashamed. His breathing was heavy and he could feel his heart racing. Okay, fine- he admits it. He pushed himself too hard. “I… I’m fine. I just need to relax for a second, that’s all.”
Krux shot him a disbelieving glare, but agreed and sat down beside him. Acronix had no idea what had happened, but when he woke up, it was morning. They had just been relaxing last, and supposed it must have been later than they thought- because apparently, they fell asleep. He tiredly opened his eyes and let out a little yawn, then looked to his side to see his brother cuddling up against him; smiling softly. Wow. The younger sibling couldn’t remember the last time he looked so contented. He was usually some form of irritated or something negative like that. He smiled lovingly at him for a moment before waking him up. Krux yawned and stretched out. As he did, they could hear several joints popping and cracking. He noticed how close he was to his brother and immediately jumped back. Cause of course, God forbid he was caught showing any form of affection or care towards anyone. He got up and cleared his throat like he was trying to act professional.
“Anyways, we clearly overstayed our welcome here in… this….. lovely field.” He glanced back towards the city. “But we really should get going.”

Acronix agreed and followed his brother to their destination. When they finally arrived, the young twin was in full glory. The city was glowing in every way possible. Neon signs, and floating, holographic billboards were everywhere. If this place didn’t scream ‘future’- no place did. The two brothers soon realized how out of place they must have seemed amongst the inhabitants. For one, they were an absolute mess; with Acronix only having ripped pants and a bandaged torso. Krux, at least covered his filthy outfit with the cloak. They tried their best to remain in the shadows and stay out of sight, but a few people noticed them sneaking around. However, the citizens seemed not to care very much about it. Eventually, they stopped behind a building to figure out what their next move was. Then, Acronix suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. “We must be behind a restaurant or something! It smells delicious in there!” His mouth watered while he took in the scent of something being cooked inside. Krux snapped at him to focus, but admittedly, the aroma was distracting him too. They finally agreed to- against Krux’s better judgment- approach someone and ask for help. But who?

The younger sibling looked down at himself, then his brother. “Maybe we can just locate the nearest homeless shelter.” Only a slight part of him was joking.

Krux snapped at his brother. “That is the one thing that we AREN’T doing! First Spinjitzu Master, where’s your dignity?!”

“Of course! I left at our house…. Oh, that’s right! WE DON’T HAVE ONE!”

Krux growled. “I know that, you moronic leach! But we can’t just- I mean, we… *sigh* There’s got to be a better way to deal with the situation.”

“Like what!? Sit back here next to the dumpster and wait for someone to find us? Are you SURE you’re not playing homeless?”

Krux growled as he pinned his brother to the side of the building. “WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!!!??”

“Hello?” A new voice questioned. It sounded soft and caring; it clearly belonged to a young woman. The two twins froze as a blonde girl in her early 20s walked around the corner and made eye contact with them. She looked on at them in shock. “Oh my goodness! You look horrible! Are you alright?!”

Acronix stared blankly at her. “No.”
His brother shot him a death glare.
“What?! You said we needed to find someone to help us- so here’s someone!”

“Goodness! You- you need help? I suppose I could be of assistance. My place isn’t far from here. I could get you something to eat and a place to stay for awhile. If that’s what you were referring to.”

No… That look. The look she’s giving him. It was the look of pity. Krux already hated that they had to be asking for help in the first place, but knowing that she was seeing him as helpless was infuriating. He wasn’t HELPLESS!!! He was a mother flipping elemental masters that could control the fabric of time itself!!!!

Well, he WAS an elemental master that could control the fabric of time itself…. He was livid to admit it, but he was powerless now. They were both destitute. Krux glanced over at Acronix, who looked extremely exhausted and desperate. There was no way he’d let that go on for any longer. He COULDN’T. Even if it pained him, that young woman might be the only thing standing between them, and him possibly losing Acronix. Krux despised the thought so badly; recalling how empty he felt the past 40 years without him. He turned to the girl with a sigh of defeat.

“Yes. We… we would love it if you could assist us. As you can see, we’re not exactly from here. We’re a bit... turned upside down at the moment.”

The girl nodded and motioned for them to follow her. “Alright then, no worries. We’d better get going. It looks like it’s about to pour at any moment.” She chuckled. The two followed her, and were soon left in her apartment while she ran out to buy them something new to wear. She had instructed them to take a shower while she was out. The twins both stood at the entrance to the bathroom, unsure. “Go ahead. You first.” Acronix stepped back from the doorway and motioned for his brother to enter before him.

“No, no- you first. You smell worse.” He said it with such a straight face at first, but couldn’t help but smirk.

His brother chuckled. “Is that so?” he countered. The younger sibling rubbed his hand on his brother’s arm like he was spreading something on him. “There! Now I got my stink all over you! You first!”

“Well, jokes on you, because I was lying before. I smelled worse. You just got my dirt all over YOU!” Countered Krux with a playful smirk.

“Gasp! How dare!” Acronix and his brother tackled each other to the ground in a playful manner. The two of them wrestled around until Krux managed to pin Acronix down; the younger laughing his head off. He was having fun. Actual, genuine fun!

“Who’s the old man now, huh?!” Krux teased as he kept his sibling down by tickling him. He only stopped when he noticed their reflection in a mirror that hung on a wall. The older brother stared into the reflection as his playful smile slowly dropped. The younger noticed and asked what was wrong as they both stood back up.

“I’m so old… but you? You don’t look a day older than the day I lost you……. We don’t even look like twins anymore.”

Acronix tilted his head; both still studying the reflection. “I think you still look like you. Just… older. But hey! I suppose you could technically pass as my father if you wanted.”

Krux shoved him away. “Ew! Gross!!! *chuckle* No. You’re not wrong though.”

“Hey, seriously. I love you.”
The elder brother smiled as he stepped into the bathroom and began to close the door behind him. Partly because the conversation was making him show way more emotion than he wanted to. “I… I love you too.” When he shut and locked the door, he focused on his reflection again.

Wow… Where had the years gone? His poor brother just blinked himself into the future; he had no idea what was going on. Because he was still fresh from the past, Acronix falling in love with technology wasn’t something Krux had accounted for, nor expected. It was still rather bizarre to him how excepting he was of the situation. He just joyfully adjusted to something completely unimaginable; something that should have been merely impossible to comprehend. And yet……… well… It was truly something; he’d admit that. He took a sigh of relief as he let the steaming hot shower wash away the bad thoughts. It felt so good to get all the dirt and blood off. By the time he got out, Eva, the girl who helped them, had returned with some t-shirts and cozy pants; so, he changed into those. Acronix did the same, then they got settled in the living room and ate dinner. There were two couches in an L shaped pattern with a TV on one wall and the other a giant window that overlooked the city. The twins did their best to avoid answering questions about what their deal was- for obvious reasons; but also struggled to explain how supposed twins were 40 years apart. Unsurprisingly, technology in that time period allowed for some forms of time travel, so they blamed it on a temporal accident. However, that was all she was getting out of them. They weren’t about to confess to committing war crimes to a person they barely knew. That was common sense. The plan was to get back up to full strength there, then go do their own thing. Even though, truthfully, they didn’t exactly know what that was. But it didn’t matter at the moment, they were finally full, comfortable, and warm. Krux had decided that he’d drag Acronix to the doctors the next morning for a check up. Little did he know that the younger brother was planning on betraying him and getting the doctor to inspect his older brother too. Acronix knew Krux would never willingly let the doctor help him. He could be missing half his body and swear that he was perfectly fine. Yes, it was comforting to know his brother truly cared about him that much, but he took it too far sometimes. One time in the Serpentine War, he’d gotten really badly injured and almost died because he swore that it was just a scratch. For context, he lost a solid 20% of his blood that day. Eva eventually said goodnight and left them to sleep on the couch. Krux got settled on one side of the angled couch and let out a long sigh. It felt so good… His back had been bothering him for weeks now, but with the combination of the hot shower and the beyond comfortable couch cushions, the pain was finally letting up. Acronix cuddled up against the sofa and the softest pillow he could find with a massive smile on his face. Oh, this beat the cold, metal floor of the Iron Doom’s cockpit by a landslide. Being under the cozy warmth of the blanket made him feel like he was in heaven. A taste of luxury. If this was just the couch, then the beds must be absolutely perfect. Krux watched as his brother melted into the sofa with a smile. Again, Acronix was in a completely different environment, unaware of how anything in this time worked, and yet, he could sleep like a baby. Completely unfazed by change. So… adaptable. Something that Krux realized he had trouble with. Like- A LOT of trouble with.

Adaptability….

“Hey Krux?” The younger sibling started. “What’s the plan for tomorrow?”

Krux hesitated. “I don’t know. Other than getting you to the doctors for a check up in the morning, I didn’t really think about it. But I suppose we’ll think of something.”

Wow. Krux hadn’t planned ahead?

KRUX didn’t plan ahead?! We’re talking about the guy who sat down with Garmadon in the Serpentine War and planned out every form of attack imaginable. FOR HOURS.
If he didn’t have a plan…. Maybe the situation was taking more of a toll on Krux as he thought.