Chapter One: Cellophane

Sirius slowly opened his eyes as his alarm went off, heaving a sigh as he sat up and stretched before rubbing his hands over his face with a displeased groan. It had been so long since he last had that dream- not since he found the Kragle, at least. "God, I must really be lonely if I'm dreaming about them again," he grumbled to himself as he forced himself out of his cozy bed. It was getting harder to do, anymore. He shuffled through his morning routine, just going through the motions at this point.

The original Octan Tower had finally been torn down, and it was a massive relief to no longer see it looming in the distance. Part of it had been reused to build the new 'Tower' in Bricksburg, though Tower was something of a misnomer as it wasn't much taller than any of the other buildings in the city. He'd been living there for a month now, in his penthouse at the top. He thought it would feel like home, moving back in, but… The place was just so empty. It barely even looked lived in, his robot butler Edwin did such a fantastic job of keeping up the place. Benny's apartment had been almost impeccably neat too, but at least it had the feeling of someone residing there, with all his odd little knick-knacks, and throw blanket that never could seem to stay folded.

Benny's apartment also had the added bonus of another human being. He felt so isolated now. His friends that had remained in Bricksburg had done a pretty good job of meeting up with him on a regular basis at first, but with their jobs picking up and their relationships getting more serious, he'd become more of an afterthought. Forgotten, left by the wayside. Just generally unimportant to anyone. He hadn't seen Benny since he moved into the new Tower; he hadn't seen the others for even longer. The only reason the Cops even still came to see him was because they worked for him.

He paused in the doorway of his closet, running his collection of ties through his fingers. Red, red, red, more red. He debated taking the day off; he really just wasn't feeling it today, but he knew he'd have nothing to do but stew over how miserable he was, otherwise. Not like his friends could just drop everything to keep him company. So he forced himself to get dressed and made his way down to his office.

He was greeted by Velma the moment he stepped out of the elevator. She immediately began to rattle off the reports for the day, though he barely listened. It was nothing new. Octan's profits were slowly rebuilding after the devastating hit they took over the summer, and Bricksburg's trust in him was slowly coming back. Emmet had helped, of course, but he liked to think it had more to do with him restoring order in the city after the Master Builders' disastrous attempts at reintegrating.

Sirius took the offered newspaper and mail and all but locked himself in his office, glad to be away from her- from all the robots still working under him, really. How had he never found their constant marching so disturbing before? He really needed to do some overhauls. Or hire some actual people.


Good Cop sighed to himself, mind wandering as they sat in their car for a short coffee break. It felt like their group was drifting apart. He was certain it had been nearly a month since they had their usual Tuesday coffee gathering, and he couldn't remember the last time they had seen Metalbeard or Unikitty. Unikitty's silence was especially perplexing- sure, they knew she was busy still rebuilding Cloud Cuckooland, but she always made time for her friends. So what was keeping her? It was starting to feel like their responsibilities were taking over their lives, and he was especially worried about Sirius- when was the last time anyone other than them had checked on him?

We should go see him on our lunch break, Bad Cop said, breaking him out of his musings. See what he's up to. I'm worried about him too, he seems more withdrawn every time we see him. I don't think he's doing so well.

"Not since he moved into the new Tower," Good Cop murmured in agreement. "This has just been a miserable month for everyone, I think…"

The Tower was quiet when they stopped by that afternoon. According to Velma, Sirius hadn't been out of his office all day. Good Cop was thoughtfully silent as Bad Cop headed up to the office. He knocked only to announce their presence before opening the door and letting himself in. Sirius glanced up with a startled frown. "Rude."

"I knocked first." Bad Cop frowned back; the President seemed more morose than usual. "You're not looking so well. What's going on?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Thanks for that. Just had a weird dream last night, that's all. It's nothing."

Good Cop switched out at that, giving him a look. "I wouldn't say it's 'nothing' if Cary's taking notice of how much it's affecting you."

Hey!

"Alastar, I'm fine-" He leaned back in his chair as the cop stepped closer.

"Nope, you're coming out with us for lunch. You could do with some sunshine and fresh air-"

"Excuse-me-sir?" Velma interrupted. Good Cop froze as he was reaching to grab Sirius' arm and pull him to his feet, both men turning to give her their attention. She held out a large yellow envelop. Sirius shoved Good Cop away, giving the envelop a puzzled stare.

"When did that get here?"

"Just-a-few-minutes-ago-sir." He scrambled out of his chair to retrieve it before Good Cop could, earning a snicker from his friend, and tore it open.

"What is it?" the cop asked, peering over his shoulder.

"It's… an invitation?" His eyes went wide. "I've never received an invitation to anything before…"

"But what's it for?" Good Cop pressed.

Sirius took a moment to read it over. "It looks like a new realm has been established, and the Governor is inviting the leaders of all the other realms to come celebrate its creation, and to get to know everyone." He grinned, starting to bounce, and grabbed Good Cop's arm, dragging him back to the computer to get a view of it from the satellite.

"It's… in the Forest of Obsolete Products?" Sirius made a face at that. "But hey, anyone willing and able to tame that hell-realm is okay in my book."

I'm- I'm aCtually nOt sure abouT this, guys, Keelan murmured. Something about iT… doesn't fEel right…

It does seem suspicious, Bad Cop agreed, and switched back out, plucking the paper from Sirius' hands to look it over himself. The President frowned at him, but let him do his thing.

That's just because you're paranoid, Good Cop teased.

Bad Cop scanned the text very carefully. It seemed it was to be a new city-realm, much like Bricksburg but not as modern, and it was called Rookburn. "Interesting name," he muttered. The date for the get-together was set for November first; just a week away. "Looks authentic enough," he decided after a moment. "Are you planning on going, then?"

"I think so, yes," Sirius answered. "I mean, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity- the last realm to be made was Cape Space, and that was like sixty years ago. Definitely an occasion to celebrate. Besides, it could be fun!"

"I'm still not so sure about this," Bad Cop admitted. "Kee's pretty convinced there's something wrong about it." Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. "…His intuition's been pretty spot-on so far."

"Well if you're that worried about it, why don't you just come along, make sure I'm protected or whatever?"

"Fine, we'll come," Bad Cop sighed.

"Great! I'll get the RSVP sent then!"


They gathered at the Hole In The Wall Pizzeria (which they'd been amused to discover was its actual name, once the sign was restored) for supper that night, meeting Bruce and Dick there. Apparently the boy had something he wanted to give them all in person. It seemed all it took was the Power of the Pout to round everyone up again (though how the pair managed to get ahold of Metalbeard and Unikitty was beyond them).

"I'm having a Halloween party!" the boy announced, absolutely giddy as he handed out invitations.

"Oh," Sirius gasped as one of the cards was shoved into his hands.

"That sounds like fun!" Emmet enthused, marveling at his own invite. "Ohmygosh Lucy look I actually got invited to a party!" She smiled and kissed his cheek.

"Two invitations in one day," Sirius murmured in something like wonder. Benny glanced over at him.

"What else did you get invited to?"

"It appears a new realm was recently formed," Bad Cop answered for him. "Their governor extended an invitation to the leader of every realm they could make contact with, I guess just to meet everyone."

Unikitty pouted. "I didn't get an invite…"

"Cloud Cuckooland is still incommunicado," Benny reminded her, and she pouted more.

Dick stared up at them with wide eyes. "So what does that mean?"

"It means we won't be able to make it to your party," Sirius told him, genuinely apologetic as Dick's shoulders slumped. "We already told them we'd be there."

"Why can't you do both?" Lucy suggested.

"Because the meeting is on November first, and you Master Builders never built a shortcut to the Forest. We'll be driving all day on Halloween to get there," Bad Cop explained.

"Would it be possible to build a shortcut now?" Emmet asked.

"No," Lucy sighed. "That was a feat we only managed under Vitruvius' guidance, and he had to do… something to make it function like we wanted it to. Now that he's gone…"

"Oh…"

Sirius glanced down at his shoes as Bruce pointedly raised an eyebrow at him. Lucy elbowed her ex sharply in the ribs, and Sirius startled to feel a massive hand press gently to his back.

"It be in the past now," Metalbeard said in the most encouraging tone he could muster. "Vitruvius ain't mad at ye. It be time for ye to let it go as well."

"I know that, but it's just… It's hard. I never gave a single thought to the repercussions of my actions back then, and now that I see what I caused…"

"Yeah we miss him," Unikitty soothed. "But because of 'what you caused', things are getting so much better now! Everybody's learning and growing, even you, and that's a good thing!" She rubbed up against his side, purring, and he gratefully ran his fingers through her fur. "But traveling on Halloween? I'm not so sure that's a good idea- I'm getting the feeling something bad could happen..."

"Ugh, you too?" Sirius complained. "You and Keelan and your 'bad feelings', I swear. You think a bunch of spooks are gonna swoop down and kidnap us, or something? Stop worrying so much, we'll be fine, I promise." He crouched down to be eye level with Dick. "And I really am sorry we won't make it to your party this year. I know you're excited that it's your first with your new family, but there's always next year, right?"

"You promise?"

"I promise."