Danny Pov
I woke up and looked at the clock on my bed stand. It was already almost 6 in the morning in the real world. Tired, I rubbed my eyes, my body still yearning for sleep even though I've almost slept for an entire day. I turned over to look at Ben to see that he was still sleeping in the bed with me and was drooling onto his pillow as he laid on his stomach.
Curling up into the blankets, I turned to lay onto my side and fell back asleep.
A couple of hours later, I was woken up by a wet feeling on my face. I opened my eyes to see a mass of green fur leap onto my face. I yelped in surprise and ended up waking up Ben.
"What, Who's going on?"
I managed to push off the green thing and saw a long pink tongue with Neon green fur and a black collar.
"Cujo!"
I sat up and started to pet Cujo. Happy to be able to pet a dog after literal years. His fur was soft and smooth. He was also happy to see me. I started to laugh once Cujo started to lick my face again.
"Is, is that a dog?"
I looked over at Ben. He had some major bed hair going on and he still had drool coming out of his mouth.
"Yeah, he's my dog, I found him a couple of years ago on my patrol. Ever since he's been my dog."
"Can I pet him?"
Ben had a hopeful look on his eyes. I handed Cujo to him and he gleefully grabbed him and him onto his lap. Cujo looked at me for guidance but when he saw my smile, he started to lick Ben.
"Hey, calm down."
Ben started to laugh and smile as Cujo kissed his face over and over again. Ben pet Cujo on the head and started to scratch his belly. That calmed Cujo down as he started to twitch his left leg in joy and had a smile on his face.
I started to laugh at Cujo's face and Ben started to laugh with me. We stopped when we heard the bedroom door open.
We looked at the bedroom door to see a tired looking Rex peek his head into the room and looked at us. He walked in and closed the door behind us while rubbing his eye.
"What are you guys laughing so much about?"
He noticed the dog in Ben's lap and started to walk faster towards us.
"Oh my God, is that a dog, can I pet him?"
"Go for it."
Ben handed Cujo to Rex and Rex cradled him like a baby and started to rub his belly.
"Aww, who's a good boy? Aww you're so soft and cuddly."
Upon hearing Rex's baby talk, Cujo started to lick Rex's face, causing him to laugh like Ben was.
"Aww man, this is awesome, I haven't seen a dog for years. Whose dog is this?"
Rex set Cujo back on to the ground and he started to run around and bark.
"He's my dog, his name is Cujo."
"Where did he come from?"
Ben's question made me stop for a second. He has a good point. Last I remember, Cujo was staying with Dani and Jazz. But that would mean...
"No way."
Ben and Rex looked concerned at what I said. I stood up from my bed and started to walk to the door.
"Igris?"
I ignored Ben and walked out into the hallway. I could hear Ben and Rex asking me what's wrong and they were following behind me. I looked through rooms and they bore nothing.
Picking up my pace, I ran to the kitchen and stopped in the doorway.
There were 2 people standing near the counter. Music was gently playing from a small speaker as they quietly spoke to each other. The taller one had short orange hair and a regular t-shirt and jeans. The shorter one had had short black hair with the same attire.
I hesitantly took a step forward. I heard Ben and Rex stop behind me and stand there quietly.
"Jazz? Dani?"
The two people turned around and looked at me. Blue eyes met mine.
It was them. It was my sisters.
I ran forward with tears welling up in my eyes towards them. They did the same. Once I got to them, I grabbed them both into a tight hug and didn't let go.
"Danny?!"
I heard Jazz call my name in a disbelieving tone.
"It's me, I'm finally back."
Dani said nothing but cried into my chest. Jazz grabbed my face and started to kiss me on my cheeks over and over again. Usually, I would have told her to stop, but I missed her and her motherly kisses.
The three of us just stayed there on the floor hugging each other for a long time. Eventually, we let go of each other enough so we can stand up. But once we did, jazz and Dani didn't let go of me.
"So Igris, care to introduce these lovely ladies to me and Cas?
I looked back up at the doorway to see that Ben and Rex were still standing there and were leaning against the doorway with smiles I'm their face.
"Ah, well Cas, Neo, these are my sisters. To my right, this is my older sister Jasmine, and to my left, this is my little sister Danielle."
Ben was the first one to step forward to shake their hands.
"Ah, nice to meet you, my name is Cassius."
Jazz and Dani shook his hand. And Rex was right behind him.
"Hi, my name is Neo. Nice to meet you."
When Rex was going to shake Danis' hand, he did a double take.
"Wow, you look almost exactly like Igris, if you had shorter hair, I would think you guys were twins."
Dani just smiled and opened her mouth to say something.
"Yeah I know, being his clone will do that to you."
Everyone was quiet. I guess three years didn't change Danis carelessness.
Ben and Rex looked confused. But Ben seemed to somewhat understand.
"You have one too?"
We all looked at Ben, surprised from his question and his nonchalance attitude about it. Ben noticed our stares and elaborated.
"A couple of years ago, an alien tried to create a copy of my watch, he ended up becoming a carbon copy of me and he's been stuck like that for about 5 years now. The only difference is that he has the inverted colors of what I used to wear."
"I have learned not to question anything but Danny, what happened these past three years?"
The three of us stopped at Jazz's question. I got a flashback to one of my experiments. Where Brown was trying to see how long it would take me to heal. Where he intentionally would cut me to make a deep wound. I forced my thoughts back to the present. I glanced at Rex and Ben to see that they were trembling and their faces were pale. Their eyes were glazed over, proving to me that they both were having flashbacks. I reached up and ruffled their hair affectionately. They both flinched at the contact but leaned into it when they realized it was me.
"Why don't you guys find a servant and have them take you guys back to the room? I'll go for you guys in a little bit."
Rex nodded his head and grabbed Ben by the shoulder and led him out of the room. Down the hall, I could hear him asking a servant to take them back to their rooms. Rex's voice was trembling slightly and Ben was silent. I will have to make sure to stay with them whenever we met someone new.
I turned back to jazz and Dani and they were just staring at me. I focused on Dani.
"You too, go somewhere else, go and play with Cujo."
Dani was just about to protest but stopped when Jazz but her hand on her shoulder to stop her. Dani looked up at Jazz and realized that she had no say in the matter. Begrudgingly, she walked out of the room and called Cujo to her.
"What's going on Danny?"
I rubbed my face in exhaustion.
"Jazz, what happened to us during those three years, it changed us. It scarred us in more than one way."
I could hear my voice crack with emotion but I continued anyway.
"But, don't you ever, ask Neo and Cas what happened. Never do that to them. It just brings back bad memories. Those two used to be heroes like I was, but, they were actually supported by the government. They didn't get kidnapped for experimented on like I did before we were taken."
Jazz was silent for a little bit.
"But what happened?"
"A lot of stuff happened Jazz, just do me a favor, and don't ask anymore."
"Ok, I won't."
I was staring at the floor for the duration of the conversation, I looked up at jazz when she said that. Her eyes were full of pain and worry. But she stayed silent.
I cleared my throat and smiled at her.
"What do you say we keep on making food for them and call them back when we're done?"
Jazz smiled at me and gestured for me to come to the counter with her. She rolled up the radio and we started to cut fruit and other vegetables. When we were done making food, we had a feast. There was hash browns, scrambled egg, bacon, and pancakes. We put everything onto the table and went our separate ways to grab the others. As I walked up to the room, I heard the other two laughing as they made bad puns and jokes. I smiled to myself, happy that their moods improved. I opened the door to Ben's room and said that the food was ready. They both got up and followed me back to the kitchen.
When we got there, all the food was gone. Jazz walked back in to grab something and noticed our confused faces.
"Oh, Dani wanted to eat in the living room to be more comfortable."
"Ok."
She led us into the living room and we sat down to eat. We talked amongst each other while we ate, we kept on laughing at jokes that each other would make. When we finished eating, we kept on talking with each other.
"Jazz, you should have been there, Neo here is such a scatterbrain, he didn't know that when steel is cooled, it becomes fragi-"
I stopped when I felt something hit my shoulder. I turned to see that Rex had fallen asleep and his head was on my shoulder. Ben fell asleep with his head in his hand as he leaned against the armrest.
"Looks like they're tired."
I turned around to see that Jazz was pointing at Dani, who was also asleep in her chair.
"It is pretty early in the morning, and we've been sleeping a lot lately as we try to get stronger."
"Do you want to wake them up for leave them here?"
"I'll take them to their rooms."
"You're like their older brother."
I stopped for a second when she said that.
"Well, I feel like their older brother, I love them too much to let them get hurt, it feels like I have 3 younger siblings now."
Jazz just smiled as she shook Danis shoulder to wake her. I carefully slipped out from under Rex and filed his arms to go across his lap and bridal carried him. I leaned his head against my chest. He was definitely a lot heavier compared to when we broke out. I transformed and kicked off and started to fly through the halls. When I got to his door, I had to carefully open the door without waking him up, I managed to do it and walked in to set him on his bed. I had to set him down on his blankets but I just threw the blanket from the farthest corner of his bed and covered him with it. He was snoring before I even left the room. I opened Ben's door and moved the blankets on his bed so he can be more comfortable.
I went back to the living room to see that Ben was still asleep. I picked him up and he slightly woke up in the process but he just cracked open his eyes and leaned his head against me. He must have realized it was me and went back to sleep. I carried up to his room and this time I was able to put him into the blankets. I covered him up with the blankets and I looked at him for a little bit. Over the years, his face became more defined and manly. Most times, he looks like someone not to mess with because of the scar on his cheek and his white hair. But right now, he just looked like a child.
"Goodnight dork."
I rubbed his head and started to walk out.
"Thanks, goodnight loser."
I smiled to myself as I closed the door behind me. By the time I got back to the kitchen, Jazz and Dani were waiting for me.
"Hey Danny, we have to go, I have work and Dani has school."
"It's ok, I want to go back to sleep anyway."
Jazz and Dani came up to give me a hug and I walked them out. Then I went back to my room, where I quickly fell asleep due to my full stomach.
