Growing up, I knew my family was a little, let's say, different than other families. That didn't make my family any harder to describe. Grandma is the best multitasker I've ever met, Mom can stop fights by just gesturing, and when Uncle Jack-Jack makes faces, he really makes faces. Vague, obscure statements that barely hinted at the fact that Grandma can stretch herself an, well, an incredible distance (see what I did there?), Mom turns invisible and makes force fields, and Uncle Jack-Jack is a shapeshifter.

Some parents taught their toddlers how to count to ten, or how to tie their shoes, or how to name different shapes and colors. Mine did that too, except Mom also taught Lilah and I how to master our powers (I can make things so bright you're nearly blinded, she could make them pitch-black). Mom and Dad took to wearing sunglasses all the time before I learned how to control that. Now that I think about it, Dad was probably a little leery living with people who defied physics on an hourly (or minutely) basis. To his credit, he hid the unease well, and helped out with the non-super parts of our lives as best as he could.

As I grew older, I began to realize that my twin sister and I weren't merely making the room brighter or darker. Instead, Lilah was kind of harnessing the shadows and commanding them to do herherbidding, whereas I sort of soaked up the sun and then released it. Mom was a good teacher, and Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Dash, and Uncle Jack-Jack helped out when there was something that applied to them. For instance, it was Uncle Dash who took me to what is apparently the sunniest place on Earth (Yuma, Arizona) each day after school so that I could charge up on sunlight, and Grandma who taught Lilah that although controlling the shadows wasn't as exciting as invisibility or super speed, it was still useful, and could very well save her life someday.

Somehow, we made it all the way through school while living double lives as superheroes. For instance, I'm sure everyone knows how difficult school is. Imagine trying to do homework and study for tests while also stopping bank robberies, kidnap attempts, and other crimes. By the time college came around, I was sure I could handle anything. I couldn't.

The first problem was that Lilah and I would be attending separate colleges. Lilah was attending Oceanside School of Fine Arts on an art scholarship (her sketches were beyond compare, they were so amazing), whereas I would be going to The Proud Oaks Institute of Science. Another difference between Lilah and me: she was artistically inclined, whereas I loved science. I was planning to be an astronomer someday, but she wanted to be an artist. To maintain our cover of course, as it could hardly get out that Shadowsun was actually Delilah and Elaine Rydinger.

Anyway, those four years we were apart were really hard. Our cousins Melina (Golden Warrior, with the ability to conjure yellow and only yellow weapons out of thin air (and wasn't that fun to watch her attempt to control)), Gorman (Cobalt Kid, who could make anything blue goop (and I mean anything)), and Rowan (Scarlet Equestrian, gender nonspecific, the power of conjuring solid red horses that they communicate with telepathically, which was kind of freaky, but hey I'm not one to judge) took care of the world in our absence, but they were swamped too. The Trio Primaire was great (that was their official trio name) but superpowers only go so far. Mom, Uncle Dash (the Trio Primaire's dad), and Uncle Jack-Jack (a sworn bachelor and self-declared "cool uncle") were busy too, and Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Lucius (otherwise known as Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and Frozone) were getting older.

Needless to say, when Lilah and I made our way home we started training again immediately and picked up the slack. For the next decade or so, in between selling a few extremely popular charcoal sketches and discovering a few new planets, stars, and comets, Lainie and I saved the world. During this time, Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Lucius officially retired from hero work, and Mom was "crowned" the most experienced super. It was a good decade.

After those wonderful ten years, the bad news started pouring in. Our cousin Gorman (Cobalt Kid) was led away from the rest of his team and killed by a villain calling herself Poison Princess. It took us almost four years to defeat her, and Aunt Anastasie ended up paralyzed by the end of the "climactic big battle".

In addition, a new family of supers was discovered, and so for about eight months, the world was enthralled with this new family, particularly one of the daughters, a super calling herself Lady Ethereal. Her real name was Nora Samuelsen. As fate (or is that luck?) would have it, Rowan chose that year to fall in love. Less than three months after Lady Ethereal (who can hover and turn herself intangible) arrived on the scene, Rowan brought her to dinner and announced they were dating. She grew on Lilah and I very gradually, but everyone else seemed to like her almost immediately. It's really hard to hate someone when they are so clearly head over heels with a close relative. Besides, Rowan deserved to move on from grieving Gorman's death.

I think it was always Lilah and I that had the most trouble adjusting to things. Mom claims that it took her fourteen years to accept her powers, but it was never our powers that we had problems with. Our powers were part of us; they never needed getting used to. But things changing around us? Yeah, we hated that. With our powers (sunlight and shadows) there wasn't much beyond our reach. At least, not to us. We were the only supers ever with powers connected to blending in. Lilah was nearly invisible in the shadows, and I was easily camouflaged by the reflection of light. Because of this, we were nearly unstoppable when we were infiltrating someplace. Hide and surprise was our tactic, and it worked… for a while.

I'm sure that you've noticed that all of this is in the past tense. That's because it is.

Lilah died almost forty years ago, fighting a super villain by the name of Volt. He had fallen in love with her under the name Melvin Clay. They'd even been engaged. The night she revealed to him that she was half of the team Shadowsun, he went psycho. The story goes that he knocked her out, but couldn't bear to kill her himself, so he called one of his buddies to do it for him. I say that's nonsense. It's true he didn't murder her with his own two hands, but he kept all the lights on for days, until she had no shadowstrength left, and then threw her off of their roof. She couldn't even summon a shadow to break her fall.

The only good thing that came out of that was that we finally figured out who his team of super villains were. Even that wasn't good enough, though. But there was nothing I could do about that, because once 'Melvin' was behind bars, the government stopped caring. Yeah, Lilah was a super, but supers were replaceable. Lilah wasn't, but the idea was.

So that's the story of my twin sister and I. After Lilah died, I joined the Trio Primaire. Melina, Rowan, and I made an excellent team. Not as good as Lilah and I, not as good as the original Trio Primaire, but still pretty good. As for why I'm telling you this, well, new supers need to know the risks involved in this profession. You can still back out, if you're scared. No one will judge you. No? Okay then. My job here is done. If you'll excuse me, Rowan is making me meet their grandkids. Class dismissed!

Hey guys. I, uh, I know it's been a few months. I actually finished this months ago, but I kept forgetting to post it. I want to let you guys know a few things:

First, I'm going to be pretty absent this summer. I'm going on a couple of long trips and although I'll be writing I won't have internet access for about a month.

Second, the tentative update date for FNT is August 26, exactly 13 months after I posted the first chapter. I would do it on the one year anniversary, but I'm going to be away then.

Lastly, there's a poll on my profile for which characters you guys want to appear in my series of PJO characters attending Hogwarts that I have not yet written. If you want someone to visit who you haven't mentioned, please PM me. Also, please vote! So far only one wonderful person has voted (shout out to you, whoever you are!). If you guys don't vote, I can't write the one shots (well, I can but I want to write what you guys want because I'm absolutely horrible at taking prompts right now and I want to get better).

Okay, I'm done chattering your ears off. I hope you enjoyed this story; it's my first venture into the Incredibles universe. I'm posting it in honor of Incredibles II, which, as of right now, comes out today! I can't wait to watch it!

-swanglade37