1 hour earlier.

"What happened to us?" Whispered Benji. By now, his eyes had grown more accustomed to the light. He stared at his hands, which hadn't changed at all. Then, he looked out the small and only window in their father's familiar spare lab and gazed at the skyline, which had changed dramatically.

Yesterday (it seemed) there had been as many buildings as one usually sees in the heart of New York City, whole and tall and shining. Cars had bustled in the streets below and honked hurriedly, everyone striving to their destinations. It had been so fast paced— the atmosphere, the chatter, the life— and Benji had relished it.

Now, where once tall shining buildings had stood were concrete, steel, and wood skeletons, bare and patchy. Their rubble was piled up on street corners, hastily stacked and forgotten. The Chrysler building's glass windows were cracked and shattered, and the Empire State had a huge gash taken out of the side, as if God had gotten angry with a butter knife and took a swing. The flat iron building was a lump of rusted metal, and no ferries chugged near Battery Park. To the eye accustomed to traffic choked streets, the cars in the roads were now fewer.

Jack didn't reply at first, but rubbed his hands through his hair as if he could ground out the paleness. "I don't know." He sighed finally. "But..." He took a deep breath. "I think we have to assume that we've...been...out of it, for a while."

"Yeah." Benji whispered. "But... But...what do we do?"

"My guess?" Jack raised his eyebrows. "My first personal mission is to find a shirt. Then, I want to find out what the hell made me look like that creeper Jack Frost."

Benji blinked. "Who?"

"Jack Frost." His twin repeated. "You know, that creepy dude from the Santa Claus movies."

"Oh. That creeper."

They don't know why they felt compelled to whisper and tiptoe around.

And as they crept through the achingly familiar hallways, they were relieved to know that at least nothing on the inside had changed.

But on the outside, particularly Jack's...

Benji was so confused as they snuck by, Jack leading the way, staring at his brother's white hair and wondering how the hell it could have happened, that something else entirely smacked him in the face like a fish tail.

He froze.

"Jack!" Benji hissed.

The white haired boy stopped and whipped around. "What?"

"You're going the wrong way!" He whispered frantically. Benji looked around. Their home was a maze of hallways, but he was sure he knew where their room was from here.

"What? No, the room North gave me is this way! I remember because it was in the coldest part of the workshop so Bunny and the elves couldn't bother me!" Jack insisted.

"What?"

"..."

For a moment, the two just stared at each other. Benji was the first to speak.

"Where—?"

"I don't know."

"Why-?"

"I don't know that either."

"How-?"

"How about we assume, just for a moment, I don't know."

Pause.

"How about...you lead the way." Mumbled Jack.

"Yeah." Said Benji, smirking. "Wouldn't want to end up at the Easter Bunny's castle!"

Jack frowned thoughtfully. "It's a warren, actually."

Benji raised his eyebrows. "Are you joking?"

"I- I just..." Jack shook his head like a dog trying to get water out of its ears. "Nothing. Ignore it all. I must be going nuts." He looked at Benji pleadingly with his unnervingly blue eyes.

"Ya don't say..." Muttered Benji as they crept in the opposite direction. The two tiptoed along the dim hall. One more right, and... "Here." He pushed open the door and gawked at what he found.

The room itself hadn't changed much- their twin beds (pun intended) were pushed up against either wall, the dressers at their feet. The photographs that lined the walls- portraits of their beautiful mother, family photos at the numerous Stark Expos they had attended- it was all there. Feeling as if he was in a dream, Benji walked slowly into the room- and clouds of dust puffed up where his bare feet touched the wood floor, leaving his foot prints clearly embellished in the heavy sprinkle of homely sand. Everything was covered in a thick layer of the stuff. Experimenting, Jack backed up a few steps before cannon-balling onto his bed— only to splutter and cough violently when he was lost in a linty blizzard.

Benji was mesmerized as he walked over to his night stand. Sitting faithfully on the top was the prototype for a humming-bird camera he had been working on... It seemed like just yesterday. And if he forgot the drastically changed city and the snow-day of dust in his room, he could almost believe it had been yesterday. But he truly knew it wasn't.

The had been gone a long, long time.

Staring, Benji carefully scooped up the tiny invention. It was roughly done, and he could already see flaws– those wings couldn't possibly be aerodynamic, and hummingbirds didn't have little arms- why did he even out those on there? He sighed, anguished. There was nothing really great he could do with it now, so he would have to start over. A fresh start. He closed his fist around the tiny body of the camera and turned towards the rubbish bin, on the other side if the room, which was also furred with dust. Benji squinted, closed one eye, drew back his hand, and aimed. His arm was just about to go forward-

"NO!" Benji froze on the spot when Jack suddenly yelled, one arm still raised in the air. Jack stumbled frantically forward, accidentally knocking over his own nightstand, which hit the ground with a BOOM so loud that Benji was positive they heard it in the lobby, fifty floors down. A few of Jack's inventions, just small, delicate bits of microchip and wire, scattered forgotten on the floor. Jack grabbed Benji's wrist, tugged the small mechanism from his hand, and cradled it in his palms like it was an injured animal.

He looked at Benji with shocked eyes. "Why would you throw this away, Ben? There's so much we could do with this-"

"Like what? Scraps?"

"No!" Jack looked so horrified that Benji almost felt guilty. "This could be, like, the Tooth Fairy! Yeah, and instead of the parents going and getting the teeth from their kids during tonight, they could send this thing in to get it! Then, if the kid woke up, they wouldn't stop believing!"

"And what would we call it?" Benji half joked, humoring his brother. "The Tooth-o-matic?"

Jack frowned seriously, "No, because there would be more than one... How about... Baby Tooth? Because she's gotta have minions, right?"

Benji just stared. It wasn't just that Jack was acting weird, but the white hair and the blue eyes... Benji was almost starting to doubt this was his brother.

It was at times like this that Benji worried for his brother's sanity. He was talking like the Tooth fairy was real. And why would they make toys for kids? Their job was to come up with the next great inventions of the century, and this couldn't be one of them. But he didn't want to hurt Jack's feelings, so he settled on a shrug and, "It's a fun thought."

At this, Jack's excited smile dropped off his face and he shrugged as well, suddenly non committal. He walked back over to his nightstand, grabbing the edge and heaving it back upright with another boom that he felt in his toes.

When Benji had turned around to look through his dresser, Jack quickly slipped the hummingbird cam into his sock drawer.

"Let's, umm, find shirts." Mumbled Benji, mostly just to break the awkward silence.

"Yeah..."

Jack rifled through his sweat-shirt drawer, hearing Benji do the same. He was searching for the one his mother had given him on his sixth birthday as a 'grow-into' present. The dark green garment had been huge at the time, but now it fit perfectly.

Was that it? No, that was the pitch-black one that Justin Hammer had given him as a creepy I-hope-we-work-together-In-the-future present. It was designer and crazy expensive and was soft on the outside but was really uncomfortable on the inside, like it was filled with sand. He picked It up wearily before something made him plunge it deep into the bottom of the drawer where it would never be seen again. He smirked slightly as the other sweatshirts covered It. Destroyed by your own brethren.

He sighed with relief when when he saw the green one peeking out from under a dark blue jacket with a drawstring hoodie. He pinched it between his thumb and forefinger, intent on peeling it back and retrieving his prize, when he froze.

Should he wear the blue or green? What if-?

Dude! You're being stupid!

He yelled at himself. It wasn't such a big choice! Huffing, he grabbed the green one and stood at the same time Benji pulled out a brown one.

Nausea washed over Jack like a sickly, polluted wave.

Benji was successful as well, pulling out the chocolate colored one he had received from their mother. Suddenly, Jack stood up and mumbled, "Bathroom," And slipped out the door, which clicked shut behind him.

"Just do what'cha gotta do..." Muttered Benji to Jack's retreating footsteps as he searched for the correct opening in the garment. He found it, stood, and slipped it over his head... And promptly fell over with a loud thump!

Cursing under his breath, he blindly clawed around the interior, feeling as if all his senses except touch had been robbed from him. If he could just get his head through— was that the— no, that was the arm hole, not the head hole!—

Grunting with frustration, he lashed out with a leg— and bit back a yell as the top of his foot slammed painfully against a wall. If— he—could—just—find—!

Oh. There it was.

He tugged his head through the top and instinctively thrust his arms out to his side, only to find himself fighting to punch his hands straight through the fabric. Aw, come on! Frustrated beyond belief, he tried to reposition the hoodie, but only lost his balance again and fell with a boom that rattled his jaw. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the door open and turned to it, rolling on the ground to ask Jack for help.

"I think I've forgotten how to do this."

Then his eyes adjusted and the his father burst out laughing.

Maybe not that much had changed after all.