uwu

It was a cold winter night, the snow falling heavily and coating the roads and houses like powdered sugar.

A lone man dragged his feet through the snow, holding two bundles. The street lights provided no assistance in illuminating the way to his destination, as all they did was make the snow brighter, but he continued on, pausing in front of a house with red brick on the front, though he could barely tell through the storm.
One of the bundles moved and the man looked down, seeing deep blue eyes stare up at him. He smiled sadly.

“Almost there…”

He looked to the other bundle, seeing the other infant sound asleep. He took a few deep breaths.

“I’m so sorry…”

He trudged up to the front door of the red brick house and set the two children down, ringing the doorbell.
When he heard footsteps from inside the house, he disappeared.

The door opened.


*****


Elaina woke up to the sound of their alarm.

The white-haired enby groaned and rolled over, turning it off and rolling out of bed.

"Time to wake up…."

They got to their feet and made their way down the hall to wake up their younger sister. They were always the first one up in the morning and that never changed, but they didn’t mind; waking her up was a normal part of their mornings.

They made their way into her room; it was painted dark blue with her bed in the corner and a desk at the other end, stuffed animals and clothes lying everywhere where her two bookshelves didn’t stand. Their younger sister was currently under the covers, made obvious by the human-shaped lump under the green blanket, and had a pillow shoved over her head to ignore the ringing of her alarm clock.

Elaina couldn’t help but sigh, as they did every morning.

Fate never woke up on her own.

“Faaaaaaaate… C'mon, wake up…”

Fate let out a groan and rolled over under the covers, facing away from her older sibling, and Elaina took a deep breath.

Every morning…

They ran across the room and belly-flopped right on top of her.

Fate let out a scream and Elaina started to giggle as they rolled over, giving their younger sister air after completely winding her. The silver-haired girl appeared from under her blanket, lying on her back next to her sibling, and they both stared up at the ceiling that was covered in glow-in-the-dark space stickers.

They both had blue eyes, though different shades.

"What time is it?" Fate asked sleepily, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Elaina let out a yawn just as someone called from downstairs.

"BREAKFAST!"

They turned their head to look at their younger sibling, who was already looking at them, and they grinned.

"Time for breakfast."

Breakfast on weekends was always awesome.

Fate climbed over Elaina at the same time they tried to get up, causing them both to break down in rifles, but they eventually got off of the bed and made their way downstairs.

Waiting for them was a mountain of chocolate chip pancakes with bacon and eggs and hash browns, all on separate plates. Fate wasn't a fan of eggs but the other three members of the household were fine with them, so they compromised by using separate plates.
Taking their seats on one side of the table, they were joined by a tall man with black wavy hair, blue eyes, tan skin, and a tattoo of a carbon atom on his right forearm - Elaina's biological father, James.

They all sat there in silence for a moment, waiting for the last member of their family; after a few minutes, a taller man with pale eyes covered in freckles, bright ginger hair with a stubble along his face, and dark brown eyes in dark blue scrubs with obvious bags beneath them joined the other three at the table.

"You're late, Owen," James pointed out as all of them began to dig in.

"Yeah, well it's hard being Head of Trauma, James," Owen sighed, pouring an unhealthy amount of syrup on his pancakes. "Being a surgeon is hard."

"Everything is hard, Alvarez."

"Yes, it is, Lorence."

"Do you guys need an adult?" Fate asked with a small giggle. Elaina was trying their hardest not to burst out laughing at the obvious tension between the two men.

"No."

“It seems like you do...” Elaina said softly, taking a bite of their pancakes. "You're like a married couple…"
Fate let out a snort that dissolved into giggles as she put her head down on the table, unable to face their parents.

Things went silent after a few moments, none of them daring to say anything else until their food was done.

"So," Owen spoke up. "I fell asleep in my scrubs, but I have the day off."

"I don't…" James grumbled as he leaned back in his chair. "Xenon said a raid is supposed to happen today…."

Though the legality of James's job was most certainly questionable at best, his boss - who he called  'Xenon' -  always made up for his long irregular hours.

"Well, that sucks for you, then," Owen said, bringing the dark-haired man to narrow his eyes at him. "I was going to take the kids somewhere and thought we could have a day, but if work calls, I guess… I'm just the better dad."

"OWEN-"

"Shh, it's okay. Just admit it."

James sighed. “Really? Are we really going to fight over this so early in the morning? In front of the kids? I can leave work, but-"

"Xenon won't be happy," Owen said with a frown, sounding legitimately concerned for a moment before giving James a smirk. "Plus, shouldn't the better dad show a good example by doing his work?"

Fate let out a groan. "I'm gonna get dressed."

She got up from her chair and made her way out of the kitchen, heading back upstairs to her room.

"Owen I swear to god-"

Elaina got up from their seat next. "I'm also gonna get dressed." They followed their sister in heading upstairs.

Hm… overalls? Yeah, overalls…

Wait a minute…

“Faaaaaaaaaate! Did you take my YEET shirt!?”

No response.

“... Fate!?”

“... I’m keeping it!"

“You have violated the law! Pay the court a fine or serve your sentence. Your stolen goods are now forfeit. Then pay with your blood!”

Elaina made a mad dash into Fate's room and immediately tackled her to the ground, starting to tickle her.

"EL, NO! STOP!"

"Not until you give my shirt back!"

"NEVER!"

And so, there were a few minutes spent with tickling and laughing and playful arguing.

Until a plastic cup unexpectedly fell across the room, having slid across the desktop and fallen to the floor with a bounce.

Both siblings stopped what they were doing and stared. They spent a minute or so lying on the ground in a twist, starting at the little green cup that had fallen to the floor with seemingly no explanation, and then -

"Elaina! Fate! You have five minutes!" Owen called out.

The siblings both jumped and scrambled to get out of their twist so they could finish getting ready, Elaina's stolen shirt and the unexpectedly fallen cup left alone for the time being.

It was rare they had family days together, after all.
Six minutes later, Fate and Elaina were ready to go - dressed for Fall weather, bags packed, hair tied back. Elaina puts some star earrings in.

"You're not even wearing the YEET shirt."

"It's still mine. I'm gonna wear it to bed tonight."

Owen and James both rolled their eyes - the one thing they agreed on was that siblings could be a handful sometimes, but they were still loved unconditionally. The two men went ahead of them to get the car ready and warmed up for when they were finished shouting across the house and getting their somehow previously lost shoes on.

"Hey, do you think-"

"Good morning."

Both men screamed

They turned around, expecting some sort of intruder who was going to try stabbing them or something of the sort, only to see the man - with short white hair that had red roots, and one green eye and one gray eye  - holding up his wrist to show off a familiar-looking tattoo.

James calmed down considerably, but Owen's face was stilled as he reached across the car to slap James' arm.

"Why is your work so damn weird!?" He almost demanded, climbing out of the car to go get the kids, slamming the door behind him for extra measure.

James watched the redhead go with a sigh before turning to the man in the backseat, who gave him a nod.

"James," he addressed.

It took a moment, but James had a thought.

"... Xenon?"

The white-haired man grinned. "How are you doing?"

"... Fine. I thought you said I had the day off - you pushed to give me the day off."

Xenon pursed his lips and seemed to let out a quiet sigh. "... I know… but there's something I need to tell you, and you need to listen very closely."

James didn't speak.

"It-"

At that exact moment, the doors opened and Owen climbed in with the kids not too far behind.

Despite the interruption, Xenon had the goofiest grin on his face when the kids greeted him warmly, remembering him from a while ago, and sat on either side of him like little cushions.

He and James stared at each other for a moment before Fate spoke up, bringing them to tear their gaze away from each other.

"You never said he would be joining us," Fate pointed out as she buckled herself in.

"We didn't know…" Owen mumbled as he adjusted his seatbelt to better fit.

James turns his eyes to the road as the kids began to talk excitedly about where they were going with Xenon and what he was doing here and how they all were.

This was sure to be an interesting day.


***


Being the nerdiest family in the world, the Lorence-Alvarez family plus one made their way to the local science museum.

It wasn't long before they made their way into the main room, and Elaina and Fate ran off to go mess with things while Owen decided to go get a drink from a nearby vending machine.

That left James and Xenon to stand near the corner of the big room in awkward silence.

"They've grown a lot since I last saw them," Xenon finally spoke up.

James couldn't help but bite his lip. This was his boss and someone he couldn't remember ever seeing before, only talking to over the internet, and yet the encounter was… well, like this.

"What did you need to talk to me about?" James asked as calmly as he could. There was a horrible feeling in his gut like something was awful or wrong, but things seemed fine - more than fine.

Xenon tilted his head a bit as he watched Fate dash across the room to give a ball to a slightly younger kid - part of some contraption to do with water physics - and a small smile pulled at his lips for just a second.

"It's about Elaina and A- Fate," Xenon replied. "It's nothing to be terribly worried about, but it's something… you should definitely know."

James watched Elaina as they touched a small plasma ball in one of the other corners of the room. "... What is it?"

There was a pause.

"They have powers."

Another pause.

"What!?"

Xenon shushed him, giving a cautious smile to all of the people who were passing by and giving them odd looks.

"What the hell do you mean!?" James whisper-yelled at his boss, who seemed to glance around nervously.

"They have powers," Xenon repeated in a whisper.

"I heard you! I'm asking, what the hell you mean by that."

"I mean they have powers, damn it! Similar powers, too, but not the same."

"I know what similar means."

Both of the men cringed when Fate almost crashed into another kid, but they just barely missed another. In fact, it was almost as if the other kid slid out of the way…

"... Tell me more," James sighed, wondering if such a thing was true or if his boss was some sort of psycho. "What kind of powers do they have?"

Xenon took a deep breath, his gaze travelling to Elaina as they made their way over to Fate. "Elaina - Advanced Telekinesis and Healing." His gaze trailed towards Fate. "Fate… Telekinesis and something to do with her dreams."

"Very descriptive…" James mumbled, watching his kids as they bumped shoulders and shared information.

"I don't know everything they can do - I just know that they can do things."

"How do you know this?"

Xenon went silent, watching Elaina and Fate intently as they ran across the room to go mess with some of the puzzles that the younger kids could almost never solve.

"... I-"

The windows suddenly shattered.

Everyone began to scream and run, parents for their children, and lovers and siblings for each other.

Amongst the chaos, a man wearing a black leather jacket, black pants, and a red bandana tied around his neck landed on the floor in front of none other than Elaina and Fate. He slowly straightened his body and tilted his head, cracking his neck.

"... Fuckin' kids?"

He tilted his head the other way and his neck cracked again. That had to be bad for him-

"Well…" He sighed, cracking his knuckles. Jesus, his bones, honestly- "Orders are orders."

He started forward towards the siblings, who both took a step back, but both parties only got so far before Xenon suddenly appeared between them. Grabbing Elaina and Fate, and holding them close, the three of them disappeared from where they were.

James was about to yell, but the three of them appeared right at his side the moment after.

"Kids!"

He pulled both of them in for a hug immediately when Xenon let them go, though the white-haired man seemed reluctant to do so.

"Xenon, Xenon, Xenon…"

Xenon turned to face the man who had suddenly appeared. How did he know his name? He did seem oddly familiar… wait a second…

"... Havoc?"

"That's me!" The man responded almost like a child. "The S.S. Havoc! Oh, how lovely it is to see you again after all this time… it's been quite a while since you and the big boss-"

"Are you a fucking boat?"

Havoc had been cut off… and by Elaina, no less. They and their sister were staring at the man like he had five heads and three tails.

"Wh-... what? No! Kid, listen, I'm a villain. I was also in the middle of an important conversation," Havoc turned back to Xenon. "It's been quite a while since you and the big boss have seen each other. We were thinking of paying a visit but couldn't find you with how much you move about, so we gave up… and yet here you are, with our little targets. You see-"

"Hey, why are you wearing all black?" Elaina asked, turning to look at her sister, who began to giggle as she nodded. Had it been her question?. "It's impractical."

James squeezed their shoulders as if to tell them to be quiet, but they only rolled their eyes.

Havoc adjusted his leather jacket with a deep breath. Don't kill the targets, don't kill the targets- "Because it looks cool."

"It looks like you just came out of Hot Topic and you're trying to rebel against your parents."

"It does not!"

"It really does."

Havoc took another deep breath and turned back to Xenon, who was shaking his head and trying his best not to smirk.

"You see, you know better than any of us how much this world needs to be reformed. This city itself must shrivel up and die before it can be reborn-"

"Oh God, he's a theatre kid," Elaina cut him off again.

"-and we will do it. We will succeed in our quest, and if you stand against us, you will fail- JESUS UNHOLY-"

Elaina had slipped out of James' grasp and stormed up to Havoc, tired of his monologuing, and nailed him right where the sun didn't shine with their knee. Fate was laughing perhaps a little too hard as Havoc crumbled to the floor.

"Son of a bitch-"

"That's enby of a bitch to you."

The room began to grow dark around them as Elaina stood over Havoc, who was doubled over on the hardwood floor, and it only took a second for Xenon to realize what was happening.

"Elaina-!"

It was a second too late as Elaina's shadow reached out of the floor and wrapped its hand around their ankle, pulling on it and making them fall face-first towards the ground. They just barely caught themselves before they smashed their glasses, but they were immediately dragged across the floor by the same shadowy hand as they let out a scream.

They weren't the only one screaming.

Havoc was certainly the only one laughing, though.

Elaina was dragged across the room and pushed against a wall, but before any of the other shadows that had suddenly appeared could do anything, their instincts kicked in. They threw up their hands and let themselves focus on what was before them; with a swipe of their hands and the glow of their blue eyes, a shadow let out a piercing shriek and disappeared into nothingness.

Everyone stared in shock - though if you looked close enough, one might see a bit of pride or a smirk.

There was a moment in which Elaina was standing, and then the next… they weren't. They had fallen to the floor, barely able to stay awake, and when James attempted to rush forward, a shadow shot up out of the ground and wrapped around him, preventing him from moving any further.

There was a pause.

Xenon turned to Fate, who was staring down at her hands in both wonder and… fear. She must have gotten the feeling that he was looking at her because she looked up at him, the fear more evident now.

He kneeled down in front of her and rested his hands on her shoulders, giving her a nod, but she shook her head frantically. He reached up to tuck a piece of beautiful silver hair behind her ear and gave her a smile - a soft one that was rarely seen by anyone.

"You can do it."

There was a pause, and then she turned her attention towards Havoc, who was slowly getting back on his feet. She reached out her hand and took a deep breath, and light gathered in front of her in the shape of a sphere… before it popped into an awfully large colourful animal.

A plump, colourful panda bounded towards Havoc with its arms outstretched as if it was… going in for a hug?

And it was.

It wrapped its arms around him so tight that he couldn't breathe, and the shadows disappeared one by one around them, the light slowly returning to the room. It then slammed him into the floor with all its strength - which was a shit ton - and everyone in the room could've sworn they heard Havoc wheeze like a balloon losing air.

He kind of was at this point…

Fate was so overwhelmed that she had summoned such a creature - one that she had seen in her dreams before - and brought the light back into the room that she lost focus. Her focus turned to Xenon as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gave him a tight hug, beyond overjoyed. Without realizing that she had lost focus, Xenon gave her a big in return.

And then Havoc was laughing.

It was terribly hoarse and sounded like a dying bird, but he was laughing.

James was holding a half-awake Elaina in his arms and Xenon got to his feet immediately, pushing Fate behind him, and she grabbed handfuls of his shirt with all her might.

"... That's a nice trick you've got there, Xenon…" Havoc wheezed, swaying as he stumbled to get onto his feet again. "But these kids… you know as well as I do… they don't know how to handle their powers…"

Xenon swallowed. "... Maybe not now, but they will."

"... And do you really think they'll be able to take down the big boss? They may be able to beat me down… but can they kill-"

"Shut up. Shut up right now if you know what's good for you."

Havoc laughed again. "... Father knows best, does he not?"

With a snap of his fingers, all the shadows in the room began to swirl around Havoc; the sound of his laughter rang in their ears as the shadows swallowed him up and then dissipated, revealing an empty space where he once stood.

The room was silent.

"... who the fuck was that?"


***


Going home was an eventful journey.

Explaining to Owen what happened and trying to make sense of it at the same time was eventful. Getting the kids to change out of their clothes, best, and even talk just a bit after that experience was eventful.
Getting them to sleep, however, wasn't too eventful.
Xenon had gladly taken them into the living room so James could talk to Owen for a few minutes, and when they went to check on the three of them, they found them on the couch; Elaina and Fate were twisted together, snuggling and sleeping on top of Xenon who still happened to be awake.

"... my arm is going numb, but it's okay. Don't bug them."

On behalf of Xenon's request, and because neither of them really wanted to bother the kids after their eventful day anyway, Owen brought a few pillows and blankets over to help them get more comfortable while James brought down both Elaina and Fate's sleeping necessities - for Fate, it was her teddy bear, and for Elaina, it was their stuffed fox.

He could've sworn there was something wrong with that stuffed fox…

Moments after James left, Xenon could've sworn that the fox blinked at him… and then it stood up.

"Heya."

Xenon nearly launched the children off his lap, just barely holding in a scream, and the fox snickered at him.

"Scared of a stuffed fox? Odd for someone like you."

Xenon narrowed his eyes. "... who are you?"

"The name's Reynardine."

"What are you?"

"I don't believe that's any of your concern."

Xenon fought with himself for a moment. Was he really about to glare at a stuffed animal who happened to be talking to him? Yes. Yes, he was. This wasn't the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him but it was certainly up there.

“It's my concern because you are Elaina’s stuffed animal?"

"Why, I'm a guardian angel!" Reynardine said mockingly before somehow rolling his eyes. "What do you want to hear?"

"I want to hear the truth."

Reynardine seemed to roll his eyes again. "... I'm a demon."

"You're what?"

"I'm a demon who was banished and sealed away in this stupid stuffed fox!"

"Wait, shh-"

It was too late. Elaina had been woken up.

"... what the fu-"


***


Sunday morning.

Usually, Sunday mornings were spent sleeping in - waking up at noon with a struggle - for the whole Lorence-Alvarez family, if Owen didn't have work.

That's what it should've been like today, but… well, considering yesterday's events, the whole family was up early. They didn't necessarily get out of bed or off the couch right away, but they were definitely up.

Breakfast was something else. It wasn't out of the ordinary… except there was a plump, colourful animal under the table that looked like a mix of a cat and a dog, and Elaina's stuffed fox had its own seat… not to mention that Xenon was still around.

James and Owen both made breakfast that morning, though there were a few arguments over who was making what, and eventually sat down at the kitchen table that was… something of a mess despite how organized it actually was.

How could one day change so much?