Falls on Deaf Ears - Book 1

 The next morning —

---

I was in a daze; I thought I was imagining things. The moment I blinked my eyes, I saw my Wife standing over me, then after I opened them, I could see I was in a field much similar to my parent's summer house. The breeze was gently bowling in my face as the sun's rays were shimmering through the open field.

'Wait a minute!' I thought to myself as something strange was happening here. I looked around and everything seemed so real, I thought I passed out from the sleeping pills. I pinched myself to check if I was sleeping. That hurt, so I was feeling some sort of relief, which brought fourth more questions.

'How did I get here?' I began my train of thoughts with questions that mounted up at an alarming speed. 'How am I still awake after the pills? Did I teleport myself here on my own? Why is my wife like this now? Did she have a secret that I didn't know about? Did...'

I shook myself silly to stop and take a breather. I know I needed it. Sighing to myself, I continued to marvel at the beauty of the landscape when I suddenly spotted a shadowy figure off in the distance. I could tell it took the shape of a child, so I called out to it, but with no response. All this while I was focused on the shadow, I didn't realize I was sitting, so I slowly stood to the point when I noticed my aching legs. Pain cursed through my body as I realize I'd been teleported. One question answered and many more formed. Still, I had to get to that figure, as it had appeared to be waiting for me.

I slowly started to walk, trying my best to cope with the constant pain, as my legs had seemed to be asleep for quite some time. I was glad, in a way to be feeling pain. It meant I was alive, for the most part. As my pace began to get quicker than a snail's crawl and a limp, the pain began to lessen. I had been too distracted by the pain to pay attention to the shadow. When I looked at the same spot, it was gone, but on the porch of a house by the lake that looked very similar to my parent's summer house. The closer I got to it, the more I realized it started to look more and more like I was actually there. It sort of felt like I had been teleported to my parent's summer house in Italy. The summer house sits near the shore of a very nice lake in the mountains. It is quite peaceful there and a sight to behold. The house was a two-story log cabin that had 3 bedrooms, two baths, a large country kitchen and living room. I would have lived here all year long and forever if I wanted to, but it was not so.

I kept my eyes fixed on the shadow as I neared the house. Puzzled, I wondered if it was actually a shadow-shaped figure or a person wearing very dark clothes.

When I finally reached the deck, the shadow began to take form of a young boy, about 13 to my guess. I really couldn't tell since the lad was only in the shape of a boy, but appeared as a shadow.

When I was about to ask who he was, he already beat me to my first unspoken question. "Who I am isn't important at this time, but you will get your answer later. I know you have a lot of questions, but there are more important things for you to do. I was secretly sent here to protect you and watch over you. Your questions will be answered in time. For now, you will remain here learning a few things. That is up to you to find those on your own. Only you will know when you are ready to face your wife, but I must warn you this: If you take longer than you should, everything will fall apart. Time is in your hands."

It took me a while to absorb everything I had just heard, but I wasn't sure how to go about doing it. My unsure-ness was evident and it had caused the shadow to resume his lectures, causing me to sigh.

"How do you think you got here? You teleported yourself here, not me." I was somewhat puzzled by this, but the shadow continued anyway, "By just thinking of this place, you managed to do it without shadow-teleportation." Again I just looked at the shadow like he was talking in Greek to me, causing him to sigh. He continued once again, "Look, I don't think you will accomplish much on your own, but there is an ancient scroll in the house. I'd suggest you read it and get familiar with it. Use it as a guide to sharpen your skills as you go. I gotta go before I get discovered. Only you know of its location." With that, I watched as his shadow dissolved to the floor and disappear.

After that meeting, I did just what he told me to, read the scroll. I wasn't sure if there was such a thing in this house. When I entered the house, I searched and searched till I came up empty handed. I wasn't sure what he meant by scroll, till a faint childhood memory popped up in my mind suddenly. At first, I thought there was no way my parents could have known about me by the way they looked at the scroll. I remembered hiding behind their master bedroom door watching where they removed the scroll from and placing it back in a secret compartment in the headboard of their bed. I chuckled to myself and made my way upstairs towards their bedroom. It was mine now, that they had already passed away, but I still see it as theirs. When I entered, I made a beeline towards the bed and began to feel for anything that acted like a switch or button to press that would open the compartment, but no such luck. Somehow, I let out a loud sigh, fell back onto the bed and pulled some sort of wire out from under the boards on the floor. This was when I realized I heard a click and the compartment opened, revealing the scroll. I chuckled to myself at my luck and clumsiness then slowly reached for the scroll, as if it were fragile as decaying leaves. As gentle as I could be, I opened it and held it at an arm's length, and tried to read it. At first it was tough to understand, but once I tried something with my mind, I quickly understood the scroll's purpose. For the two years I was at the beach house, I learned a lot about my surroundings and myself. I found I could teleport myself anywhere I wanted, but it came at a price. I lost an ability that I recently learned and it took me another year to attain it again, so that marked the end of my teleportation days. I mentally told myself that my other abilities were too precious to lose, but I also made a mental note that if I ever got in trouble and needed an emergency means of escaping, then I'd be forced to teleport to safety.

During the three years I was at the summer house, I made sure to keep track of my wife's movements every time she was around society. I learned so much and I was mentally prepared to make my move. It had been too long to be away from my boys and I knew first hand that they weren't in a loving environment. First came the planning. My first objective was to infiltrate the place where my boys were staying. Thanks to being able to gain the ability to shape shift at a simple touch, I managed to first find the place where my wife 'secretly' works at. While I was doing this, I also set up a digital recorder and hid the camera in my glasses. It would wirelessly record all data to a small disc in my pocket, which I carried with me.

I spent a few weeks being invisible and observing the people entering in and out from a secluded spot. The invisibility was a really nice ability to have, but not to be used to spy on others' privacy. This ability was learned from countless hours of reading the scroll. The scroll explains very little on how to become invisible, among many other abilities. Unfortunately, it took a year for me to master this ability, and several cuts, bruises and black eyes.

I was going to take no chances with this and only hoped for the best. I knew I was ready to make my move, so I followed this one tall guy, who looked like one of those guys from the movie "Revenge of the Nerds", the full pocket flannel shirt with horn rimmed glasses and slick wet hair that had too much gel in it. I somehow decided to follow him as I had a feeling he would be going out tonight and to my luck, he was.

The nerd first went home and showered. While he was in the shower, I went through his wallet, looking over various things to see what he had. After I was done looking at it, I walked about the house trying to search for anything I could use to further gain any kind of information about this man. I nearly gave up when I finally spotted a secret room hidden behind the TV's entertainment center.

'Jackpot!' I thought to myself excitedly. I had to walk through the wall while invisible to be able to get into the room. Feeling excided, I looked through the room and found various weapons that I have never seen before and a computer at the center of the room. It was dimly lit and other than the weapons on display, there seemed to be an AI there as well. That could have complicated things, but considering several of my newfound abilities have yet to be tested, I decided to push the limit and try to obtain information from the computer's hard drive without booting it up.

As I knelt in front of the computer and placed my hand on the case, I began to reel in information. This guy had everything on his drive, all the way down to a classified file titled 'Experiments'. I was tempted to open it, but I continued on absorbing all the information I needed. When done, I made sure to store it in a safe place in my head where only I could access the information. When I stood and turned, I was face to face with the nerd!

He was staring directly at me with his horn-rimmed glasses. For sure, they seemed like special glasses and while I was invisible, I moved to his side, to which his head turned and followed me. I started freaking out when I noticed him go for one of his weapons; I shot out a burst of energy from my palm, which was immediately deflected by him.

So he sees me, ok, but I decided to become visible, but a bit of information I had absorbed on his hard drive told me not to and I searched for that file. As I read it over, I quickly realized his whole room is rigged to alert the nerd and the place where my boys were. I didn't need to take this risk and decided to quickly finish things here. As I began to move in a faster speed than a normal human could move at, the nerd had already turned to fire the weapon at which it vaporized a shelf of computerized parts directly behind where I was standing. When I finally appeared behind the nerd, I quickly decked him hard, sending him flying across the room, instantly killing him.

I had taken my first kill and had some regret in doing so. I had mentally prepared for this during my training, but when it really happens, the feeling is quite different. I almost went into shock, losing control of myself, but only barely. I spent a few moments calming my mind before I proceeded to my next task: becoming the nerd himself.

The nerd was obviously a work-a-holic as he only came home for a small break then was due to head out soon. I quickly walked to his body and touched him on his head. Feelings of disgust washed over me. This man had been experimenting on our own kind, even ones with powers. What alarmed me the most was he had also been enjoying tormenting and experimenting on my sons while they were nude. As I became more and more angry with what I was discovering, I came over a horrifying thought: more boys were found and they had been doing experiments on them for quite a few days and were set to be experimented in harsh conditions that could possibly kill them and my boys were on that list. I had to act fast as I only had a few hours worth of time remaining and this guy was obviously the head of the experimentation department.

I was ready, more than ready to bring them down and turn them in. How I was going to do this would come later, but I had to remove whoever was captured there, as well as my boys. I quickly bent down, removed the Nerd's glasses and placed them over mine. They were no ordinary glasses. I was able to see things that weren't there, including several various moving shadows.

Chuckling to myself at the thought of outing the shadows, I quickly became serious and adjusted my appearance to that of the nerd's. His name was Whitney Coonstark, causing me to laugh as I immediately thought he was simply a coonass, just by his own last name.

I looked for a mirror and quickly found one. As I walked towards it, I gathered whatever belongings I needed that was laying around. Once I in front of the mirror, I checked out my appearance and decided it looked like a perfect match.

I also made sure to change my clothes to match his after searching for his closet. When I finally found it in his bedroom, I had to chuckle to myself as all his clothes were the same in appearance and style.

'Boy, this guy must not go out much.' I heard myself think, but quickly ignored that thought. Once I was dressed and all set, in nothing but white pants, shirt and a white lab coat. I almost guessed the shoes to be white, but they were black. I, then, gathered the briefcase and headed out the door towards the place my boys were being held.

One of the drawbacks of absorbing a personality was I could somehow become lost in that personality without knowing it, if I wasn't careful. I knew my hard training had paid off, but only this time, I was stuck in it for a much longer time than I had trained for. If I became lost, there would be almost no way back and I'd be stuck in limbo for the rest of my body's natural existence. I dwelled on these thoughts while I made my way towards The Institute, the place where my boys were held. As I got close, many people had acknowledged my presence. The coon's personality was overly quiet, except when in the lab. I had to watch myself as I nearly slipped up and spoke a word, but quickly turned and forced myself to focus before continuing.

Once I arrived, I was greeted with the usual security shit. That worked flawlessly. Once in, the coon's personality took control and began giving out orders on instinct. For a moment, I had thought he might have decided to tell about his experience at his house, but I had to make sure that knowledge was not passed on to be safe. It was amusing to see what the whole place looked like; there was nothing but white walls, ceilings, shiny floors and glass windows. I thought it was quite boring, up till I arrived to a window where there were two boys lying on the table. At that time, I didn't recognize them but now that I think of it, it was Will and Ty!

---

Upon hearing this, Barb and Ben gasped in surprise.

"So you were the man who saved everyone from that place?!" Barb started with her hand on her heart.

Ben leaned forward in his chair with his hands on his chin rubbing it. "The boys had spoken volumes about you and have searched for you endlessly, but found nothing! How is it that you have avoided them so well?"

Simon chuckled, "I looked like that mad doctor coon when I released them." Simon paused in thought then continued, "I'll get to that, but the horrors of what the Institute did were... far beyond human torture and animal experimentation. Our kids might have suffered a bit of that, but thankfully not too long term. I couldn't bear to watch that doc do what he wanted to do."

Simon took a sip of the remainder of his coffee before continuing with the story.

---

Simon's POV in the Institute while watching Will and Ty —

As I watched the two boys lying on the tables separately, with wires running all over their naked bodies, I hadn't realized the doctor was holding a data pad that contained the results of his tests on them. When he looked back at them and shifted my eyes, what I saw shocked me. He had an ability and he could see special auroras around the boys. When he looked at everyone else, they all looked normal, no aurora. I had then decided that he must have seen my aurora when I was in his computer room or earlier and had planned to capture me somehow. He failed at attempting so I was able to gain access to the building.

I made a note of that and to be sure to look for my boys so I could see if they had auroras around them as well. I really wanted to push his personality aside and run around looking for my boys, but I had to restrain myself from attempting that, do to the excessive security the place had. Even the coon knew where everything was and what it did, it was scary. I also made a note to try and disable that system, at least temporary.

As I watched through my eyes, the coon looked away from the data pad and continued to observe the boys. My next surprise was my ex. She came straight up to the coon, looked in all directions, making sure the coast was clear before planting a big wet one on his lips. I coulda sworn she felt something was different, but I ignored that and continued as normal. Sure, I wanted to jump right out and strangle her, but now wasn't the time.

Once she broke the kiss, she turned to observe the boys. "Those two would make great lab rats, don't you think? It's quite fascinating that their anatomy is the same as any normal human is; yet I still wonder how they draw that power out when they use it. I suppose dissecting them will have to do, wouldn't you agree, Whit?"

I felt my head nod a 'yes' and she continued in gibberish while I tuned my ears out to somehow stop the annoying chatter, but before I did so, I heard her mention our boys, bringing my interest back into the conversation.

I watched as she brushed her hair back with her left hand, still looking at Will and Ty. "I'd feel bad for my own twins to have to undergo what those two are going to go through. It's sad, really. Almost four years of hard work to train them to somehow use their powers then throwing it all out the window. Too bad they can't escape, thanks to your dampening field you recently created. It makes me feel safer. Such a shame I can't live here." She turned to look at me and nodded to which I nodded back and she left. Obviously I was due to check on them next and began walking in the direction my ex came from.

After what seemed like a maze of walls and windows and corridors, I finally came to what appeared to look like a family room of sorts. I say of sorts because it was the only room in the building that had some color in it that also looked like a real living room, fit up with everything else a house needs. I also wondered if the glass was a two way or a one way, with a mirror on the other side. My question was soon answered by seeing the boys stop in front of the 'mirror' and fix their hair before running out the 'door'. My anger intensified as I saw something weird happen. At first it seemed like the room shifted into another dimension that showed the boys running outside towards me...

'Wait a minute!' I thought in shock. 'That guy is me? That fake is me?! I look nothing like that! Fuck! I don't even look like that now nor I ever will!' I almost lost total control with my anger as I watched my boys run up to the man who had white hair and was slightly balding and looking slightly overweight as well. He wore those 80's old type of clothes with bell-bottoms and had sideburns that could make Elvis jealous.

I watched the scene play out for a bit till the coon smiled and walked in the same direction to return to Will and Ty. I made sure to search for the control room on the way back. I also took note of my own boy's auroras. I was impressed by the sheer size of it. It was enough to engulf a small car when the two of them were together. I never thought they could hold this much power and still be a kid at the same time.

Seeing myself enter the control room to check up on things suddenly interrupted my thoughts. It looked very much like the secret room in the coon's house, but only more sophisticated. I made a mental note to find it later as I began to walk out the room towards Will and Ty. I then saw my ex walk right up to me and turn to walk with me.

"The new dissecting room is set up and ready for you. I am not going to be here as I received a hot tip on a possible location regarding my husband. Hopefully we could spare the boys' lives and use his instead, unless of course, we might have to put him down if he is too much to handle." She looked away and continued; "I'll see you later after you finish for the results."

My head nodded, yet spoken nothing. She walked off in the opposite direction as I continued to make my way towards Will and Ty.

Once I got there, there was someone behind the controls observing their status. Finally, for the first time, I heard myself speak.

"Looks like they are finally going to pass this stage at the 200^th attempt? Too bad they don't get to see the end, bring them out and wake them up. It's time we moved them to the dissecting lab. I take it you know how to?"

The man at the control turned and nodded. He had the alternate company logo on his chest that read: 'Area 51 Research & Development'. I looked him over. He had no aurora to speak of, yet there was something about this guy that the coon liked. He had slightly grey hair and small bifocal glasses with a clear frame holding them in place.

"If you want to remain here, you will change the company logo before I see you next." I turned to walk away, fully knowing I heard a "Yes sir then disappeared behind a corner to listen to his progress."

As I listened in, it appeared he was punching in a few controls. Silence followed but it wasn't long till I heard him cracking up.

"Congratulations, you passed this test after the 200^th attempt. Now, we'll move on to something else!" The man behind the glass window wore white with the company logo on his left chest, 'Area 51 Research & Development'. The boys knew of area 51 extremely well and to say they were surprised was an understatement. The man behind the glass chuckled at their reaction, "Since you finally passed the first test, the next test will be quite painful. We are going to test your ability to regenerate in every way possible."

Next thing I knew, I heard the boys scream 'no' then there was silence. I felt myself smile and that was the last straw. I had to regain control, but only when I was in the dissecting room.

It took patience to get myself under control in order to take back control and kill off the coon for good then rescue the boys. I found it wasn't that simple, as I had been practicing. I never imagined I'd have to actually fight for control of my own body.

Once I found myself standing inside the dissecting room, it just looked like any normal operating room, with the exception of large robot arms that were usually seen in car production shops. At the end of those arms were an assortment of hands that had knives and other popular surgical equipment attached to it. It looked like it could rotate on demand. The boys being wheeled in suddenly interrupted my train of thought as I looked up to watch them. They were frantically looking around for ways to escape, but their struggling was useless. They had been drugged to prevent any means of escape.

I walked over to them and saw them look at me with pleading eyes. "Please mister, don't do this!"

That was all it took. It sent a surge of energy throughout my body bringing my personality back to the surface. As I was beginning to retake control, my body backed up and hit the wall with my hands clutching my head hard.

Suddenly, I found myself stuck somewhere in my own mind. The room was pitch black, up till I saw the coon standing directly in front of me.

"Nice of you to join me here." He spoke, flatly. "Bland, yes, but I wanted you to get a good last look at me before I fully take over your body. For that, I'm quite grateful. It only means I gain a whole new set of abilities, all for myself! Pity, my ability overrides yours. You should have never allowed me partial control."

I struggled as I listened to him speak. It sorta felt like I was in my mind talking to myself, only another personality had taken over. I wouldn't go down without a fight and I wasn't giving up now.

"Do you really think your ability can overpower mine? What makes you so sure?!" I demanded an answer; fully knowing I should still be able to easily handle this guy.

"How well do you know me?"

I figured I knew him pretty well, based on his memories, but he started talking after I didn't say anything.

"Not well, I presume. I'll explain. Like normal, my aurora is low, compared to all the boys we have here. When I want, I can raise it willingly, like now! He grunted and balled up his fists as if he was pushing energy out or taking a dump. Suddenly, I was being overwhelmed by the feel of his aurora as it started to become visible. I knew in my training that I would be able to see it clearly as that shadow told me: "The more the output of energy, the greater the aurora."

I remember testing how big my aurora could get, but I was afraid I'd attract attention. That was then and this is now and it was time I found out the limits of my power.

I crouched in the same manner and pushed my energy up, just like the coon did. He was still standing there with a half crooked grin on his face as he watched my aurora grow. I sorta figured I could somehow trick him into believing his was greater than mine, but I decided to go for the gold. I kept pushing and pushing, now completely aware of my surroundings. When I was done, I stood calmly and looked towards the coon, who was slowly backing up in fear.

"Tha... that's... not possible! I miscalculated! NO! I have never been wrong in my life! How?! How is it possible you are this strong?"

I grinned slyly, "Somehow I see my wife managed to tell you a thing or two. Now fade!"

I held my hand out and a beam of white light shot towards the coon, engulfing him. In just a few seconds, he completely disappeared and the pitch black room changed back into the normal white room in my mind. Quickly regaining control of the situation, I took back control of my body, but left the image of the coon there for some odd reason. I must have forgot, but I realized later that I had to change the 'look' back to my old self, otherwise it would have became permanent.

My first priority became the boys in the dissecting room. I quickly dispatched any intruders and made sure I freed the boys from their restraints. They were still groggy, but barely managed to keep up with me. My next stop was the control room.

Upon arriving to the control room, the doors were locked tightly, but that didn't stop me. I blasted the doors away with a single touch of my finger and entered the room with no resistance. I half expected to see lasers mounted on the walls, pointed at me, but there were none. Ignoring that, I made my way to the controls and first downloaded every bit of information I could get on the company, onto the device I inserted into the control's USB port. Next I initiated the self-destruct sequence and then disabled the shielding. Once I did, I felt some powerful auroras enter the building and I somehow knew they were looking for the two boys that were with me. I informed them to escape and they did so with some hesitation.

As I watched them depart, I destroyed the control room and took off to collect my boys. Upon arriving at the room, every single security guard was there. It looked like a barricade of human bodies lined all around the room, holding some sort of beam weapons. They each were outfitted like any normal SWAT team was, with the exception of the beam guns. When they saw me, they swiftly pointed their guns at me and fired a red beam weapon at me. I crossed my arms in front of my head and erected a powerful barrier around my body, just as the beams had hit. They reflected off the barrier and hit every security member that hit me with such force; it vaporized them all, making my task a lot easier. When I walked around to search for the door, I blasted it off its hinges when I found it. It immediately caused the current program that was running to stop and the boys began to wonder what had happened. When they turned around, their expressions changed to that of anger. Their eye color changed to a crimson red, the other had a lighter shade of that same color. I knew they were going to attack, but I also had to convince them it was their dad.

I tried telepathically, 'Boys, I've missed you, its daddy!'

I got no response out of them as they seemed to ignore that remark. I knew they were communicating with each other, but I had to think of something fast. It was then when I realized I still looked like that damn coon, so I had to change my appearance to myself. When I did, the boys eased up slightly and exchanged looks with each other then turned their attention back to me.

"How do we know..." Julian spoke first as usual.

"...You are our dad?" Alex finished with questioning looks, but still alert.

I had to think of something fast. When I did come up with an idea, it was worth a try. "Boys, open your minds!"

They looked at each other and eased up some more, still unsure whether to trust me or not. When they finally did, I brought up a memory that the boys would never forget and only the three of us knew.

Finally, they looked at each other with growing smiles on their faces then ran towards me, embracing me in the biggest bear hug I've had in years. God, how I've missed them so much, but time was running out as I had less than 30 seconds to leave and yet there was no time. I had no choice but to teleport. I tried while in the bear hug, but I couldn't. The boys sensed what I was trying to do and for the first time, Alex spoke first.

"We can teleport us anywhere, Daddy."

I looked at them astonished as I broke the hug and looked at them from an arm's length away. "Are you sure?"

The boys nodded at me. "Take us to the beach house."

"COOL!" Both boys shouted in unison, leapt towards me before I could speak, and quickly teleported us to the beach house.

I didn't know what else happened next, except for the big explosion reported on the news the next day and there were no survivors. The police somehow received tons of information regarding "The Institute" and its fellow members. They also were out on a manhunt for my wife as she was listed as the co-founder of the place as well. This came as a surprise as I didn't remember giving them any information. I later found out that my boys were able to search my memories and quickly learned of what I had done, then mysteriously caused the 'evidence' to fall in the hands of the police.

Later down the road as we were recovering, I found out that the boys actually lived next door to Will and Ty for a time. My wife had finally been caught and arrested, but somehow she managed to turn things around and say I had planned the whole thing and demanded full custody of our boys for herself. Little did she know, I had two copies of the evidence. The first copy somehow disappeared from the police's hands, while the 2^nd copy still remained in my possession. I immediately called my lawyer and explained my situation and he told me it would be an open and shut case in just several hours, but also informed me that having no witnesses could cause problems. Second, the custody issue shouldn't be a problem since I personally had a tape recorder hidden in our old house. I always wanted to somehow catch burglars in the act when anyone dared breaking into our house. It was good while it lasted, but it ate up tape. I'm glad I didn't remove it from service, but I needed to see if the system was still there. When I informed my boys where I was going and for what, they just smiled and said it had been recovered and was waiting in the den.

Several weeks later, we all were in the court first thing in the morning and as the judge went through everything, he thought this wouldn't take longer than an hour and boy was he wrong. Both sides went back and fourth all morning, up till the time Will and Ty entered the room. When it was their turn on the stands, my wife's Lawyer had a hard time trying to get a fabricated story out of them, but the boys won out. Next, the evidence of everything that happened came to light, even at the countless objections of the opposition, but they lost.

"...And as they say, the rest is history." Simon finished, feeling slightly ashamed of himself for telling a fabricated story in the first place. Barb and Ben picked up on this.

"We know you were hiding the real facts of the story here, so please don't worry too much about it." Barb spoke in a soft tone after she set her mug down on the table.

"But..." Simon began, but Barb shook her head.

"Somehow, my wife thinks you should stop feeling guilty. We know you were trying to protect the boys. We probably would have done the same if we were you. I'm just glad you were the one to free our boys. I don't think we would have been able to waltz in there on our own, much less teleport through their barrier." Ben explained wanting to put things at rest and to make Simon feel a bit more comfortable around them. Honesty was key and everyone felt better after a few moments.

Suddenly, 5 boys popped back into the room just as Barb wanted to ask Simon about his abilities, but quickly changed her mind as she and everyone else was startled by the sudden arrival. This caused the boys to giggle some, earning several 'looks' from the adults. Simon could tell that Chad was having a bit of fun and he was happy for that.

"So, did you have fun? Simon asked, wondering where everyone went.

"YEP!" Piped Alex, causing Simon to be a bit taken back by his unusual starting sentences first.

"We went all over the place!" Replied Julian.

"Even that weird place called the white void!" Exclaimed Will.

"That was awesome!" Ty finished with obvious excitement in his voice. "It's like the place where I'd want to hang out all the time!"

"I wouldn't stay in there for too long." Chad warned. "Those that do often lose their minds and become trapped there for all of eternity. This has happened before as a man had entered the void and became trapped in there. He never returned from the void. There is no escape once you lose your mind and a part of yourself. The only way out is by someone more powerful than the Founder Guardian himself... but that is only a rumor."

"So Chad, when were you going to tell me you were encouraging me to go against my ex and that institute?" Simon surprised Chad and himself by asking the question he had always wanted to ask.

"Umm... well... that was for you to figure out first. I'm glad you did." Chad smiled and raised his hand to Simon's forehead. A warm glow emitted from his hand, causing Simon to feel differently after a few moments. When it was done, the glow faded and Chad backed away from Simon with a silly grin on his face.

"I was responsible for removing your powers when you didn't know it, but only the ones you've always had remained. You have earned my trust and your responsibility to control your own powers has matured beyond my expectations as well as the Elder's." Chad stated firmly and to the point. He continued, "You've earned everything back, and then some. You are free to teleport by any means, shadow teleportation or how your boys do it."

Simon was shocked at this. He knew that after rescuing his boys and the other two, he felt he didn't have much use for his powers and thought he would go about his normal life trying to gain some of his life back. "Thanks, I think. I never really thought I'd need them anymore after the Institute incident."

"But your dreams have proven otherwise."

"I know, but are you sure you're really 14?"

Chad giggled, "Yes, but age doesn't matter. The knowledge I gained was from years of training in a different dimension, a dimension where time travels ten times slower than the normal time here does. It works well for training for a battle. I was wondering if I could take all the boys with me to that dimension and train them for the upcoming battle. They will need it. That was why I wanted to see their control of their power during 'hide n seek'." Chad spoke while alternating glances at Simon then Barb and Ben, then returning to Simon.

"Are you sure this will happen, no matter how much we try and change it?" Ben asked wondering if it were possible to travel into the past and destroy the growing army.

"Sadly, no." Chad replied, secretly wishing it weren't so. "The Guardian's brother had foreseen this as well as laid time traps for anyone who attempt's to alter the current flow of time. Falling into the time traps means immediate death. Personally, this house is protected and no one can see or hear what happens in here... except for Simon." Chad nodded towards Simon, causing him to straighten in his chair. "In your vision, we were not here, am I correct?"

"Yes, but..."

"Then we were in the training realm." Chad assumed. "When the Guardian's brother saw you, he knew it was too late to travel back in time on his own and change the events that happen now. Even his own time traps are elusive, even he cannot see where he laid them as they change location quite often, every second. They only affect those who travel in the time stream and to enter that, one must form a ripple in this time frame in order to enter the time stream. In the ancient days, they called it 'The Waves of Time', due to the way the ripple formed and closed. It was also a way of teleportation, but it disrupted time and we stopped using that method of teleportation."

"Makes sense." Ben rubbed his chin as Barb wondered about it.

"Take them training. Even I don't know where they went in my vision, but I know I woke up to an empty house." Simon said, imitating Ben's rubbing of his chin.

"You are correct for the most part. Barb and Ben need to meet with the Elder as soon as I assign a trainer to the boys."

"Whatever for?" Barb asked.

"To search for the Founder Guardian. He has ignored the situation on this planet for centuries and let it linger." Chad explained. "I often wondered if he would one day come back, but legend has it explaining that Barb and Ben would be the ones to bring the Founder back to restore peace."

Simon spoke up before Chad could continue, "Take the boys to the training realm. Barb and Ben already agree. My only concern is, is the Elder capable of destroying his own locket, even at his age?"

Chad chuckled, "Yes, I'm afraid so. Why?"

"That is probably what I witnessed in my vision. You need to warn him not to attempt that. It was disastrous."

Chad hummed to himself, "Will pass the message. Father might stop me from trying, but I will get it through. Times are changing and Father doesn't like change."

"Thanks." Simon stood and stretched and then looked at the clock. It was already noon and time was running out with each passing second. "Lets not waste time. Boys, good luck!"

Julian and Alex walked to their dad and gave him a hug. Simon returned the hug and looked at them in the eye.

"Please listen and behave yourselves. You will do well in the long run when you do. You might age differently, but hopefully will be the same boys when you get back."

Both boys nodded their heads then turned their attention to Chad.

"We're ready." Both twins chorused.

Chad smiled and looked at Will and Ty as if to ask them if they were ready with just his 'look'.

Will and Ty walked towards Barb and Ben, gave them a hug and goodbye and in turn received the same small lecture Simon gave his twins. When Will and Ty were standing next to Chad, Chad simply waved, then morphed into a shadow wave that engulfed the boys and then collapsed to the floor and quickly disappeared.

Moments later, Chad returned and Barb and Ben were ready to go. They also left in the same manner as Chad did with the boys. Simon was now alone in the house, wondering what he should do. A small voice in his head suggested he train on a different realm than the boys, since his powers had been restored and had full knowledge of using them wisely.

Suddenly, a shadowy figure appeared of that of a woman and she held out her hand. Simon didn't hesitate and took her hand. He had to wonder why or how he trusted this woman so much in one look. Maybe it was just a feeling or maybe it was something else. He decided he would figure that part out later. He was quickly enveloped into her shadow and together; they disappeared into the floor, leaving the house empty and quiet.

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To be continued!

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Author's Notes:

Dear readers, I apologize for my lack of activity here and on the forum. Life has been busy and no its not a girl or boy. Just in the process of moving and building a house. I did have a chapter ready to go, so hopefully I can somewhat get it out and ready!

Things are picking up! Oh yes, what about Trish and the boys? Have no fear, we'll get there soon enough! This here is a side story within FODE, that spawned from the short story, "That Place". Part of Simon's history explains what had happened from his point of view. Who knows if we ever will see Will and Ty's point of views to another side of what happened, but basically, some of it happens in "That Place". I realize that the first 10 chapters are somewhat confusing, if you read it all up till the time change or paradox. Perhaps the paradox happened when history had been changed, causing a shift in time. This shift had brought evil to the surface much sooner than anyone expected. The Guardian saw this happen, but like all things, it was a matter of choice. Soooo....stay tuned to the next exciting chapter of FODE!

~Hammy