Hello. Thanks for taking the time to read this. God Bless.

Jack strode through the streets of Atlantis, being careful not to run into anyone. The plaza was always busy on Market Day. Traders from across the empire would load up their flying cars and head toward the capital. It was supposed to be a time of celebration of the harvest, but this year was different. It was normally a festival of magnificent spectacles and happy faces, but instead people looked wary and scared. The rebels had been making threats of attacking the city. They didn't like the way the people worshiped the Crystal for some stupid reason. They wanted people to worship their leader, and would kill anyone who wouldn't. What kind of religion kills the people who don't convert?! Many people had fled to the city. It was filled to the brim and ready to pop.

The Crystal continued it's usual rotation up in the sky, as if nothing was different, but Jack knew that it was. King Kashekim had been secretly testing a new weapon, one that could wipe out the rebels once and for all. If they showed any sign of violence today, they would regret it. Jack had been the leading scientist on the project. He'd found a way to tap into the Crystal's power to create an explosion of great magnitude. It hadn't been tested fully, but the King wanted it ready right away. Hopefully they would never have to use it.

The King, Queen, and Princess were all walking through the stalls, smiling and laughing. They were obviously trying to calm the people. It worked fairly well. A few people started playing music and dancing. Princess Kidagakash was off playing with her doll. Jack smiled at her and she smiled back. She ran over to him and hugged him. The little girl was barely up to his waist. Her white hair matched her mother's perfectly. Her bright blue eyes glowed with excitement. She had a wild spirit and was always driving her parents crazy. The only person she would calm down for was Jack, for whatever reason. They often dropped her off at his lab if they were sick of her. Having no family of his own, he quite enjoyed their visits.

"Hey there." Jack said fondly, rubbing her hair. She squealed and pulled away. She always hated when he did that, but she still laughed. He was like a fun uncle to her. She spent more time with him than she did with her father. He was preoccupied with the war that was going on. Kida would always ask Jack why her father was like that, and he'd just tell her that he was busy being King. She believed it for now, but he knew she would learn it eventually. He always wanted a son, but instead got her.

Suddenly, a huge flash of light came from south of the city, off in the direction of the rebel base. Jack shielded his eyes. He worked to figure out what had just happened. It dawned on him, filling him with dread. Kashekim had detonated the bomb. Jack crossed his fingers, his calculations were correct. As long as they didn't try to make the explosion too big, everyone else should be fine. When the sound wave finally reached them, it nearly knocked him off his feet. Kida went running to her mother. The Crystal started to spin, which meant something bad was about to happen. Jack felt a feeling of despair. Kashekim had ignored his warnings and dropped all of the explosives. It was enough to wipe out an entire city. He fell to his knees and let out a howl of anguish as a wall of water several miles high sped toward the walls.

Jack darted awake, his pulse racing. What the fuck was that?! He wondered incredulously. That was the most vivid dream he'd ever had; it was almost like a memory. He remembered every feeling, every emotion. It was a memory, but it wasn't his, or was it a dream? He scratched his head and lay back down. It didn't make sense. He tried to go back to sleep, but the scared faces plagued his thoughts. Shoving his face into his pillow, he struggled to free his mind from the dream. It all seemed so real. He couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't a dream, though. He was there when Atlantis fell into the ocean.

The smell of smoke brought him back to reality. He sniffed the air. It wasn't a campfire. It smelled like gasoline. Suddenly, a memory came flooding back to him. The firebugs! How he knew what they were, he didn't know. What he did know was that they all needed to get out of there. He grabbed his pack and rushed out of the tent. The flames were all around him. The screams of the ones who hadn't gotten out in time grated against his eardrums. It was disorientating. He struggled to focus on the task of not dying, again. The flames hadn't gotten to the bridge yet. Everyone else was rushing into the vehicles and heading for the bridge.

Shielding himself from the heat with his bag, Jack wound his way to the rest of the group. With his newfound speed and agility, it was easy. But even with the new abilities, he couldn't escape unscathed. A flare of fire shot up and scorched his arm. He groaned at the pain and kept going. He ran past several burning victims, all of them pleading for his help. He ignored them. He was more important than they were. A barrel of fuel exploded, knocking him over. He tasted dirt as he face planted into the ground. He scrambled to his feet and kept running.

Coughing heavily, Jack made it out of the burning camp. There were less than fifty people on the bridge, meaning almost as many were burnt alive. He shuttered at the thought, but that was all the thought he gave them. He saw Audrey and the rest of the group rushing across. He took off after them, gaining on them easily. Wait. You're crippled. He told himself. He slowed down to a hobble, not slow enough to be left behind, but not fast enough to be unbelievable. One of the trucks in the back of the group was swarmed by the insects, igniting it within seconds. The driver screamed and jumped out the door. He too was in flames. Suddenly, the truck exploded, throwing Jack backwards. His ears rang and his face felt singed. The smell of burnt hair mixed in with the flesh and gasoline.

The explosion had been forceful enough to knock the nest loose. It fell down right behind him. The narrow bridge shook violently. Uh oh. With a loud crack, the base cracked and they all started sliding backwards. Jack tried to crawl forwards, but to no avail. Tires screeched as the trucks tried to make it to the other side. With one final jolt, it collapsed. He stared into the darkness as he fell.

Jack sat up and coughed as he breathed in the ash and dust. He could see the others trying to get the trucks out of the ash. Most of the vehicles seemed to be alright. Landing in all the ash must have been cushion enough. He got up and check himself for injuries. Finding none, he hobbled over to the others.

"Alright. Who's not dead? Sound off." It was Rourke. Jack had hoped he died in the fire, but unfortunately, he still lived. He heard the other core members moaning, which was a relief, they were the only people who would be able to help get him back to the surface. Because of his newfound sight, he could see all of their faces with just the light from the match Rourke was holding. Cookie was moaning about some venom in his ass. Audrey was already checking on the vehicles. Everybody else were turning on spotlights so they could see. Everyone except Helga. In fact, he couldn't see her anywhere.

"Hey has anybody seen Helga?" Vinny asked. Everyone shrugged and looked at one another. Rourke interrupted them.

"We need to get moving. She'll catch up. Right now we need to get onto some solid ground, get our bearings." Rourke seemed completely unfazed by her absence. Reluctantly, they returned to their duties. Mole said they were in the bottom of a volcano and nobody wanted to wait around in the middle of that. Jack was disgusted at Rourke's lack of concern. I mean he did fuck her a lot. There have to be some feelings there. Right? He had trouble convincing himself that Rourke could feel anything at all.

While what remained of the convoy made their way to a lava tube, Jack turned around to look for Helga. They wouldn't notice his absence. She had been with the group when the bridge fell, so she couldn't be too far from them. His enhanced eyes scanned around in the large vent, looking for any sign of her. He looked for several minutes before he heard her moaning. It was soft and weak, and the noise of the trucks made it difficult to hear, but he followed it as best he could.

He saw her propped up against a rock with a large gash on her forehead. Jack started toward her quickly. Out of the shadows, one of the creatures from before crawled over to her. Jack yelled at it, waving his arms, but it ignored him. He could see now that the "creature" was a person in a mask, a female judging by the figure. He couldn't make out much more than that because she was hidden in the shadows. She reached out and placed her hand on Helga's forehead. A blue light shined from her. When she removed it, the gash was gone. When Jack finally got there, she was gone.

"Helga, are you alright?" Jack asked as he knelt down to her. She still wasn't conscious, but groaning had stopped. He looked around for the strange woman, but saw no sign of her. Jack checked Helga's forehead and found that it was fine. She might know what's happening to me. She healed Helga like I healed. Whoever this woman was, she had to know something.

Picking her up carefully, Jack took one last look around for any sign of the mystery woman. For a moment, he thought he saw those blue eyes in the darkness, but he wasn't sure. He needed to get Helga back to the others. She was either really light or he was really strong, because he wasn't even slightly winded after hauling her half a mile to where the others had gone. She started to wake as they entered the convoy.

"What? What happened?" She asked groggily. He set her down in the back of a truck. She seemed dizzy and confused, but not injured. He yelled for Sweet before turning back to her.

"You hit your head." Jack said. She rubbed her temples and moaned.

"Yeah that sounds about right." She chuckled slightly, which quickly turned into another groan. He heard Sweet's heavy footsteps on the ground as he jogged over.

"What is it?" He asked, his deep voice resonated in the tunnel. Jack nodded toward Helga, who had her head in her hands. Sweet hopped up into the back and put on his stethoscope. "We found her!" Sweet shouted to the others. As he attended to her, Jack took the opportunity to slink away in order to think about the dream he'd had in peace. It seemed so real. Even now, he could still recall the details perfectly. He'd had vivid dreams before, but nothing came even close to that. The people's names had faded, but not their faces. The white hair of the mystery woman was remarkably similar to that of the little girl from his dream.

Jack sat down on a nearby rock as the convoy continued its slow march. He couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't a dream. He could still smell the flowers by the florist stand, he could still hear the festive music playing, and most strongly, he could still feel the fear. That feeling of dread lingered inside him like splinter stuck under his skin. He shuddered. It reminded him of how he felt when Milo died. But why was he remembering things that didn't happen to him? It didn't make sense. Does anything make sense anymore? He sat there, looking at his shaking hands. What is happening to me?