It all happened very quickly, way too quickly. Anders had been pouring himself a drink when the loud sound of smashing glass resonated through his house, and he had flinched, causing the drink to be spilled all over the table. He quickly put the bottle on the counter top to see what the hell was going on, but he was quickly silenced by a punch to his gut. He fell backwards only able to catch a quick glimpse of the man who had punched him, before another bout of searing pain went through his body from a second punch. He was left on the ground for a moment, and he could hear people quickly making their way through his belongings. Anders struggled up, using the couch nearby him for support as he watched a man kick in the glass of his fish tank.

"Hey, that was expensive you know." He coughed out, still winded from the punches to his stomach.

The attacker turned around with a scowl on his face. "The answer to the question we didn't ask, pretty boy. Keep your mouth shut or we'll give you something to really complain about."

Anders rolled his eyes at the man. He was the same kind of generic bad guy from any story you'd read. He managed to pull himself up onto the couch to be more comfortable as he regained his breath. He even smiled a bit, because he knew he could just talk his way out of this, just like he always did. But it seems that the thugs were thinking otherwise, because as soon as the small grin appeared on his face, they seemed to grow more angry. Anders was able to count how many there were now, from the looks of it they were five guys. They seemed to be about the age where they'd be in university. They were probably trying to show off the fact that they could break into a house or something.

"It'd be great if you could just not touch that stuff, and be on your way." He said suddenly, with just a hint of whisper to his voice.

The two who had been collecting the alcoholic beverages stopped, setting down the bottles and nodding at Anders, which caused the fish tank smasher to grow even more angry. When he whirled around Anders was expecting to get punched in the face, or kicked. Something violent. What he didn't expect was for the man to pull out a roll of tape and shut his mouth. He called over another man to hold down Anders as his hands were tied together painfully. His eyes widened slightly as the panic started to truly sink in. He was nothing without his powers...He didn't know how to fight, or to escape anything really. He had always relied on the power of Bragi to get him out of any sticky situation that he got himself into (which was often). He couldn't even call Mike, Ty, or even Axl. He struggled, trying to kick at his captors.

That only resulted on him getting a couple of kicks and punches back, and they were painful. As much as he hated to admit it, these guys were a lot bigger than him. He was short, and they were at least a foot taller than him and with more muscle.

"Stay quiet and we won't have to hurt you, pretty boy. We just wanna take some stuff for ourselves. And you'd better not report us to the police, because we'll find you and really hurt you." The man sneered.

"I dunno, it might be fun doing it anyways. He's so small. Easy to beat up." One of the others said.

Anders had closed his eyes and gone limp, hoping they'd just leave him there. It seems that they were leaving, because the footsteps were growing faint and he was sure that he heard the sound of a door opening and closing. He ached all over as well, and he just wanted to get out of these restraints so he could call up some people to replace his things. He didn't want to call his brothers anymore. He could bet that they'd end up lecturing him about not being careful, or how this was going to end up happening sometime because of how Anders acted. Because he was the dumbass of the family. The short dumbass who couldn't do anything just because his mouth ended up getting taped up by some dumb university students who thought breaking into a house would be fun.

Anders didn't hear the footsteps returning until he was slapped upside the head. His eyes flew open as he stared into the eyes of the fish tank smasher.

"You didn't think we'd leave you just like that, did you?" Anders couldn't even make a sound.

He just went limp and closed his eyes as his body was pummeled. He didn't even bother fighting back. And for a split second he really did wish his brothers were there to get him out of this mess. He couldn't use Bragi without his voice, and he wasn't even sure he could speak. He could just make strangled noises at the back of his throat as he was repeatedly punched and kick. He felt himself being picked up, and carried to his room and thrown onto the bed. They were slashing at his clothes, and he felt his hands going numb. The last thing he could really remember was having his head colliding with wall before he went unconscious.

000

Mike watched silently from the doorway of Anders' hospital room. His younger brother was looking at him, but out the window with a sad expression. Something he rarely ever saw on Anders. He didn't know what to think when he had gotten a call from the hospital about the blond, and he largely suspected that some of the women Anders had slept with had finally decided to hurt him in some way, only this time succeeded because Axl wasn't there. Ty, Axl, and Olaf were all waiting nearby when the doctor came up to speak with Mike. He turned away from Anders to face the doctor, who had a bit of a grim expression on his face.

"He's going to heal just fine physically, but there have been other complications that we noticed about Anders."

"What is it?" Another glance back at Anders.

"Do you know what Hysterical Aphonia is Mr. Johnson?" The doctor ask, and when Mike shook his head he continued. "Essentially what happened to Anders had enough impact on his mental state that he caused himself to go mute. There's nothing physically wrong with his vocal chords, but he can't speak. He hasn't uttered a single word since the ambulance picked him up from his house when he was attacked."

Mute.

The entirety of Anders life had been centered around his voice, it was where his powers were. Anders becoming mute was practically losing his powers all together and becoming mortal like Ty. With therapy he could gain his voice back, but the chances were slim. Mike looked back at Anders, who hadn't moved since the last time Mike had seen him, he was still looking out the window. Mike took a few steps into the room, and Anders turned his head and actually looked at Mike, and it nearly scared him seeing such an unfamiliar look on Anders' face. It was like looking at a frightened small child.

Anders opened his mouth for a moment, as if he were going to say something, but he didn't. He stayed silent.