Hey! This is my first fanfic, so feel free to comment. AU set thirteen years after the end of the first movie.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Incredibles if I did there would be a second movie.


"Hi, this is Kari. Sorry for freaking out, but your baby has special needs. Anyway, thanks for sending the replacement..." Mrs. Incredible clenched the phone closer to her ear.
"Replacement? I didn't call for a replacement," she said. She and Mr. Incredible shared a worried glance. They rushed out of the limo, Violet and Dash at their heels. Mr. Incredible knocked the door off its hinges. All of a sudden, they couldn't move.
"Shh... the baby is sleeping." A cackle erupted from the speaker's voice. They gasped or at least they would have if they could move. Jack-Jack was in the hands of none other than the villainous Syndrome, and all they could do was watch. He was saying something, but they weren't were much too worried about Jack-Jack. He kept the zero-energy ray trained on them, while he backed slowly away. He took an ibomb from his wrist, lingering over the dot before pressing it. He cackled, madly.
Beep Beep BeepBeepBeeBeB BAM!
An explosion of heat hit their bodies, but that was it. The Incredibles had been freed just in time for Violet to make a force field.
"That's my girl," Mrs. Incredible said, voice cracking.
Pop!

Their heads swung in the direction of the noise. It was just some kid on a tricycle.

"That was totally wicked!" he yelled.

If only it were. Mrs. Incredible leaned into Mr. Incredible and began to sob.

"We'll find him," Mr. Incredible assured her.

Syndrome was long gone and so was Jack-Jack. Their house had been destroyed. All that was left was the family portrait at their feet. They all looked so happy, so whole. They would never be that way again...

13 years later...

Violet gazed at the family portrait that they had taken so long ago. Her mother had saved it despite everything. It gave her hope, just as it it did Violet. It was a reminder of the good times. Helen hoped that Jack-Jack would one day come back. Violet had long since given up that belief. Her hope was that one day the family could be restored.

"Hey, honey. How's it going?" Helen's voice knocked her out of her trance. Violet shrugged. She led her to the couch, where two glasses had been set out. She picked up her a glass of lemonade, and sipped gingerly. It was almost normal.

"Any news?" Helen asked. It was a simple question, but it carried so much weight for Helen.

Violet shook her head, "No."

Her mother seemed to deflate in her chair. Thirteen years and it still hurt when Violet relayed this information. Worry had taken years off of her mother. Her mother's hair was streaked with gray and frizz.

"How is Dash?" she asked.

"Good. He's doing good," Violet lied. Helen knew it, but she never called her out on it. She needed to hear that Dash was doing well. She needed to hear something good. She needed to pretend that there was something good in her life, to pretend that there was any hope that Jack-Jack was alive. That's why she never left her house. Helen thought that if she kept to her house, she would be able to stay away from the truth that the outside world brought with it. Maybe one day she would leave her house, but for now, she was happy just to have Violet visit and play this game of pretend with her. The truth was that Violet needed it too.

"How is Bob?" Helen asked. She took a sip of her glass as though it was normal to ask of her ex-husband.

"He's good. He and Mirage are good," Violet replied. There was a long silence as they both drank from their glasses.

"It's his fault," her mother said, words dripping with venom. Violet remained quiet. She decided it wasn't a great time to tell her that Mirage and Bob were getting married later that day. She knew not to interrupt her mother when she got into these moods. "He just couldn't give it up. He shouldn't get to be good!" She threw her glass at the wall over Violet's head. Violet put a small force field to protect herself from the broken glass. Lemonade slid down the force field's walls.

"He should be gone, not Jack-Jack," she whispered and rolled herself into a ball. Violet knew it was time to leave. It would be hours before her mom got out of this funk. It was times like these when the game of pretend just wasn't enough. Her mother had lost so much. Her husband, her sanity, her home, and her youngest son. She deserved to get something back. What good was being a super when she couldn't even help her own mother?

Violet sighed and slipped on her mask.

13 years ago...

"We found it around the location of the island you gave us. The whole island was coated with lava. The volcano must have erupted," Rick Dicker reported. He had the old men in black vibe going on. His thick eyebrows hung low. He looked older than usual. He sounded almost sad.

Rick held out a singed binky. Helen grabbed on to Bob.

"Well, then we have to go look there."

"We have. For weeks and nothing. The whole island is ruin. We have to assume..." he trailed off. "I'm sorry."

Rick wished it wasn't true, but the evidence couldn't be ignored. He liked the Parr's, always had.

"No! We have to look for him," Helen cried.

"Helen..." Bob started. She broke away from him.

"Don't Helen me! This is our son!" She searched his eyes. "You're giving up, aren't you?"

"Jack-Jack is gone and he isn't coming back," Bob said, not looking in her eyes.

"Who are you? Where is the man who wouldn't give up what he loved even at the price of his family?"

"He's still here."

"No, he isn't. He's been gone since the day Jack-Jack went missing."

She walked away, and Bob let her.


Next chapter we'll see what happened to Dash.