Fenton and The Rock had a very long conversation on the way back to his apartment. He bought himself a red and white patterned bandana, and covered his face with it, trying to avoid the smoke inhalation, the wind blowing the smoke downwind from the various fires in town towards his destination.

He took his time, walked instead of hiring a teleporter or taxi, and oddly he and The Rock became amicable with each other, or as best anyone could communicate through signals using colors and the sound of an easy bake oven’s timer repeating itself.

Turning the corner, praying his building was still standing, Fenton relaxed once he saw it was fine. Climbing up the steps, annoyed that there was no elevator in his complex, Fenton and The Rock had come to a conclusion after their discussion on his way to his apartment, but it wasn’t what he wanted.

“Are you sure you want your name to be… Paul? I said that as a joke!”

The Rock let out a few dings, signaling yes.

“I think Meteora is a cooler name since you used to be a meteor,” Fenton replied.

The Rock sent a quick telepathic message to Fenton, saying that Paul sounds so much more exotic than Meteora.

“If you really feel that way... Paul… ?”

Happy dings rang out as Fenton put his key into his door, turned the knob, and slowly opened it, worried another magical pair of shoes or belt would try to kill him. His apartment was exactly as he left it, the lights were even still on.

Blood was on the carpet, on the walls, and Fenton had confirmation that Levi died, he wasn’t crazy, but it didn’t change the fact that what Paul told him was true as well. He walked into his bedroom-living room and found the outer shell of Paul, the inside hollow, and several tiny, glowing, dark gems inside of it.

“These can give you powers? Can I choose which one,” Fenton asked.

Paul turned red.

“Dang. At least I have proof.”

Fenton’s eyes flickered purple, and out from underneath his sink came a plastic bag, floating into the living room and he filled it with the remains of Paul’s old shell.

He decided to get a backpack of clothes and other things he would need- he didn’t want to return to his apartment anytime soon, paranoid and looking up from his shoulder every few minutes while searching for what to wear.

While stuffing as much as he could, he got a call from Ace, and he could barely keep up with him. Fenton ran out of his apartment, almost falling down the stairs, holding Paul close, because he was told that assassins were out to get him.

Ace popped out at the corner light in front of his apartment complex and grabbed him by the shoulders, and Fenton punched him in the jaw, a knee-jerk reaction.

“Oh, oh I’m sorry,” Fenton mumbled.

Ace grabbed Fenton’s arm, and in another blink, they were back at Levi’s yacht, in his lounge, and someone new was there. She was asleep on a white couch, in a red bikini, her black hair splayed everywhere, and Fenton chuckled, because she slept in an odd pose, just like Ace did.

Then he paused and felt gross because she had an uncanny similarity to Santos.

Levi groaned, his head thumping, the cold wood of one of the tables helping it relax. Little sleep past the few days was starting to take its toll. Out of his own free will, he was wearing a dollar store grounder, a pack of one hundred he bought, afraid of another crying bed, and a dancing lamp.

Ace brought Fenton over to where Levi was sitting, hands over his head and groaning, wondering if all inanimate objects were alive but he was too preoccupied to notice.

“What happened,” Fenton asked.

“My dad is trying to kill me, or maybe just Ace. I’m not sure,” Levi replied.

“That makes zero sense,” Fenton replied.

“Yeah, it does. He’s trying to make a person and put them in a ring or something, I don’t know, Levi made a lot of sense when he explained it,” Ace said.

“Oh yeah, I know what you’re talking about,” Fenton replied.

“You do?”

“Yes. It’s the mind...reading…”

Ace didn’t like the mind-reading but he also liked Fenton’s nosiness a lot less, so Fenton chose the lesser evil, and no one questioned his answer.

“He won’t listen to me either when I told him that Atlaan will be invaded by the Empire,” Levi shouted.

“ What? No way, no one’s heard from them in ages,” Fenton flippantly replied.

Fenton then sat down, left twice to get two beers, and listened to a story about Ace’s evil twin, a very emotionally distant mother, and prophetic dreams. The Rock sometimes gave its own two cents with random dings and flashes of light, most quips not adding much to the conversation.

“Let’s go tell The Board of the Defense Program since your father refuses to listen,” Fenton suggested.

“I emailed them earlier when I got the chance, and apparently my dad told them that I’m trying to steal his job and I’m making up lies,” Levi scoffed. “ Who wants to lead a dying company?”

Everyone nodded glumly.

Their business model had worked too well, there was too much peace and prosperity, very few missions to go on anymore.

“I planned a party for the Night of Sin, so I guess I could take as many people as possible away from the city. Saying it out loud though, it feels a little silly,” Levi said.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“You think people would rather come out for a party than leave for an invasion,” Fenton chuckled.

“People are still here while half of Atlaan has burnt down thanks to one dude, ” Ace said.

Paul turned green, and Fenton muttered under his breath yeah, and took another sip of his drink.

While Kalei slept, they all decided to tell the rest of Team 57 through emails and group chats their odd plan in the morning, hoping they would believe the truth but a dream was the only proof they had.

Afraid of death once again, they all slept in shifts until the twin stars rose, and another day of dread set in.

Levi was the first to wake.

He smoked, was stressed, pacing the boat, and remembered something important. Ace had let slip that he was married, they never discussed it thanks to their bizarre evening, and he had to do something about it.

He told himself he was an adult.

He didn’t need his mother to hold his hand.

Levi told himself this as he hid in the bathroom again, taking an extra long shower. He brushed his teeth twice, he even flossed, which no one except the very particular or serial killers do, usually both. He exited the bathroom, after stalling, and told himself, he was a man, he wouldn’t be afraid of imaginary rejection from his partners anymore.

Shuffling through his closet, he decided on white Bermuda shorts and a loose shirt with a floral print. While getting dressed, Ace opened the door, gave a flirtatious smile, and said that he didn’t need to get dressed.

Levi scowled.

He wasn’t going to be bamboozled again.

“Ace, why didn’t you tell me about your wife and kid? When did this even happen? ”

“I don’t ask about Mary Jane, so we don’t have to talk about this,” Ace replied.

“Cool. Cool, cool, cool. I see how it is.”

Levi got up in his face, screamed, spit landing on Ace’s face.

“I leave someone I care about, but you get everything!”

He flinched, closed his eyes, and stepped back, but Levi grabbed him tight by the arms and brought him back.

“You don’t have a monopoly on pain!”

“Let go!”

“Fine! I’ll let go.”

He threw Ace onto the bed and started circling it, around and around, grinding his teeth, and scratching the inside of his palm with his nails. Levi didn’t want to end up in the same place he started, spoke quietly, words chosen carefully, and Ace knew, he knew he was serious.

“I don’t want to be—”

The words poured out of Ace’s mouth faster than water out of a fire hydrant. Levi wasn’t going to say the words, I don’t want to be together any longer, he was going to tell Ace, I don’t want to be treated the way I treated her, because that was wrong.

Some missing puzzle pieces fit in together, coming together in his mind. Candice’s obsession , Ace’s sudden reappearance, and looking slightly older after only forty days. His personality became less vibrant, his change in behavior somewhat depressing or erratic.

Levi looked at everything around him, touching the walls, his shirt, the bed, and shivered in disdain.

“This has all happened before,” he asked.

“Most of this, thousands of times,” Ace replied.

Levi was having an existential crisis. Ace had the same emotions when the cursed watch ruined him and tried his hardest to make everything sound a little less dreadful, trying to soften the blow for someone else.

“If this has already happened, then it's okay. None of this matters. We’ll be fine,” Ace said.

He smiled and extended his arms, offering a hug. Levi didn’t know what to do, other than accept it. It had happened before, nothing mattered. He was afraid that nothing mattered, his life always out of control, a cruel god jerking him back and forth at their whim, and now he had confirmation that nothing mattered.

Their fight of the month week day was over, all was forgiven.

Levi sat on the bed next to Ace, soaking it in, nodding, and the two idiots continued their positive feedback loop, never questioning the conclusion that they came to.

“If nothing matters and all of this has happened, then, why bother telling anyone about the end of the week? We’ll be fine,” Levi said.

They would not be.

Only the two months had repeated, over and over, not the past two years, and they were mistaken, or possibly, Ace needed something to justify his monopoly on pain.

“Promise not to tell anyone,” Ace asked.

“I promise.”

Ace held his hand, his favorite part of Levi, and leaned in for a kiss, and it was greedily accepted, sealing the fates and deaths of many with a kiss. Their faces still close together, Ace gripped his hand and wanted to be sure.

He couldn’t handle the betrayal of another lover.

“You love me, right,” Ace asked.

“Yes,” Levi mumbled.

“Say it.”

Levi had never said it, neither had Ace, and it was scary because now their relationship wasn’t something behind closed doors. They had been together too long to pretend it was something for fun.

Levi told himself nothing mattered.

There was nothing to be afraid of.

So he said it.

Ace did not expect him to say it so easily nor quickly.

His back became as hot as his face, the suns now both up, filtering through the sliding glass doors into the bedroom, and he instinctively reached for his bracelet. His security blanket that was no longer there, that he always fiddled with when he was nervous, and looked down in confusion in its absence.

He quietly told Levi the three words back.

He didn’t feel like he needed his blanket anymore when they kissed, holding each other as close as possible, repeating the same three words to each other between desperate breaths.

Ace didn’t want his blanket anymore.

He told himself he had outgrown it anyway.

He traded it for Levi.