A/N: Thanks for reviewing to everyone who did and I'm going to try and make Warren a bit more canon from now on, it was kinda hard writing him all sweet and stuff!

Friday, the day of her mother's funeral, rolled around too fast for Crystal's liking. She couldn't believe the day had come that she had to bury her mother. She knew it would come eventually but never had she thought it would come so soon and in such bad circumstances.

The birds were chirping the dawn chorus as Crystal finally got up at 7am after having lain awake for what seemed like hours. She dressed almost robotically in the red dress she'd taken from her house and wandered into the kitchen. She was surprised to see Warren and his mother already up and dressed drinking coffee over the breakfast bar. Warren was in his only suit and Mrs. Peace was dressed appropriately in a black skirt and sweater with an amber pendant around her neck. Crystal smiled at the gesture, she knew Mrs. Peace was trying to reflect her mom's power there.

'Morning,' said Mrs. Peace as she handed her a mug for her coffee. 'How did you sleep?'

'About the same,' Crystal replied. It was true, she hadn't slept well since her mother's death but she hoped that maybe laying her to rest would help that.

'Well that makes all three of us who didn't sleep well then,' she replied, 'I heard you get up in the night Warren.'

'Yeah,' he mumbled into his mug.

He hadn't wanted to be heard. The picture of his dad with Crystal's had been eating away at him all night so finally he'd gone into the den where they'd put all the boxes and rummaged around until he found the frame he'd stuffed the picture into.

'What were you doing?' asked his mother.

'Nothing really, couldn't sleep,' he said, trying to close down the conversation there and then. Mrs. Peace took the hint.

It was 9am when the caterers arrived to set up for the wake that would be held at the Peace household after the funeral. Warren showed them through to the dining room and Mrs. Peace answered the door to the first of flower arrangements that were arriving from all sorts of people.

In the midst of all this Crystal sat in the kitchen fiddling with her mother's necklace that she'd worn since the solicitor had given it to her. She remembered the letter she'd been given and how it had said she could only read it after the funeral. She didn't know if she could deal with it, reading her mother's words, but she knew it would just be another hurdle today that she'd have to face.

Soon the house was filled with the scent of flowers from aunts and cousins she never knew existed, from her mom's friends and from her own friends who she hadn't invited to the funeral. She hadn't seen them since the first day of school and couldn't deal with them now. A huge bouquet of gerberas arrived from Principal Powers with a note attached hoping they'd bring some colour to her day. Crystal loved gerberas and so she took those to her room and set them on the dressing table next to the window.

Sooner than Crystal would have liked it was 10.45 and they had to leave to get to the ceremony for 11. She pulled on a long black coat and tied back her hair. It was a windy and unusually cold September day as they all set out for the cemetery and all three of them stared stoically out of their windows until they reached their destination.

Silently they all got out of the car and walked slowly up to the burial plot next to Crystal's grandmother. Warren and his mother walked either side of Crystal to offer their support if it was needed. Already standing there was Principal Powers, Don Jones aka Pulsar from the NVTS, some friends of her mother's and amazingly, her mother's old sidekick Donna who could turn into multiple cushions which had, on occasion, been very useful. Crystal also noted a few guys in black suits dotted around the perimeter and when she got to Don she learned they were there just as security in case her dad tried anything. At this she swallowed, she hadn't thought about her dad 'trying anything'. She turned to Mrs. Peace and Warren, worry evident on her face.

'Don't worry, I'm sure nothing will happen. I don't think anyone could be that callous,' said Mrs. Peace reassuringly.

Warren squeezed her hand and led her to her seat next to the grave where her mother's coffin already lay with her superhero name engraved on a plaque above her real name.

The service seemed to pass in a blur for Crystal as she stared into the grave, her mother's final resting-place. The wind blew, the leaves on the trees rustled, the sun tried to break through the clouds and the minister's voice droned on but Crystal was oblivious to it all. The day had come when she had to say goodbye to her mother for the last time and Crystal wasn't sure if she was able to do it. She wasn't ready for her mother to go.

Before she knew it, the minister had finished the sermon and was holding a box out to Crystal containing some earth for her to scatter on the coffin. With a trembling hand she took a small handful and threw it at the coffin and watched as the dirt skidded over the plaque. She returned to her seat and sat, numb, as people filed past her offering their condolences. Cautiously, Mrs. Peace approached the vulnerable girl sitting by her mother's grave.

'Crystal? Are you ready to leave? People will be arriving for the wake soon and there's no one at home,' she said with as much consideration as possible.

'I can't go yet – I haven't said goodbye,' she replied.

'Ok, well, Warren can stay with you for a bit and he can call for a cab when you're ready to leave. Will that be ok?' she asked.

Crystal nodded gratefully. She knew she was putting a lot of pressure on a family she barely even knew and was indebted to them for all that they'd done for her.

Mrs. Peace turned to her son and gestured him to stay with Crystal but Warren was reluctant. Ever since he'd found that picture of their fathers together he couldn't help but think that Crystal had to have known about their friendship. After all, the photo had been in an album along with a bunch of other pictures from her dad's time at Sky High. And even if she hadn't seen the photo, it's not the sort of thing that was kept quiet. When Baron turned evil almost everyone knew whom his friends had been at school, in fact, they'd been watched for some time in case they decided to join their old friend.

Warren had lain awake most of the night getting more and more frustrated as he thought this over. And another thing that irritated him was that, as far as she knew, he didn't even know her father was Ice T! She hadn't told him but everyone knew his father was Baron Battle. And if their fathers were in league with one another, surely the kids should be open about it, especially if they were living under the same roof!

As Warren became more sullen with his mother and refused point blank to stay with Crystal, Mrs. Peace gave in and agreed that he should go home and start the wake without her. She was sure someone else would drive him there and if he was in this mood she didn't really feel it would help Crystal feel any better.

It's such a shame, she thought as she watched her son get into Pulsar's car, I really thought he was opening up and maybe letting down some of those barriers. I wonder what happened.

In the car Warren stared silently out of the window until they reached the house. He got out of the car but hesitated before opening the door to the house, something didn't feel right. He pushed the door and it swung open. He turned to look back at the crowd of people outside his house and Pulsar came forward with some of his guys in suits.

Stealthily Pulsar and his men entered the house followed by Warren but instead of the attack they expected, what met their eyes was upsetting and shocking. All the flowers that had been sent to Crystal were either frozen or a pile of ash as was the food brought by the caterers.

Warren stared around in amazement at the destruction in his house. Never had he imagined that some people could be so callous. It was a funeral for God's sake! Did they have no respect for the dead and the mourning? He stood in the middle of the carnage growing steadily more angry while the house was searched.

'Warren!' came the shout from upstairs.

He found Pulsar in Crystal's room, the flowers treated like all the others and a hand-written note next to them that read,

Hi Crystal,

I'm sorry I can't be there for your mother's funeral. Can you imagine what would happen if I was caught? So Baron and I did this to let you know we're not ignoring you, we just can't talk to you yet!

And don't worry Warren, your dad left you a message too!

Love, Dad

Warren stared in disbelief at the letter for a moment before getting to his own room. A strange smell hung in the air and on the wall he found his message. Scorched into his wallpaper were a few lines from his father.

Warren,

Long time no? Well it's your father as you probably guessed. Don't worry that we haven't got you in on this little idea of ours just yet, all will be revealed I promise. I anticipate the day we work side by side.

Baron

Warren's anger at these men boiled over and his powers, triggered, as ever, by his emotions, erupted as he threw a fireball at the message and stormed out of the room and down the stairs just as Crystal and his mother entered from the burial ground.

'Warren what's goi-.' Mrs. Peace didn't have time to finish her sentence.

'Have you seen what your father has done to my house Crystal? No? Ok, well he's basically trashed downstairs, my room and yours. Yeah, my dad helped him. So when exactly were you going to tell us your father was Ice T then? Or when were you going to tell us my dad and yours had been friends at high school?'

Warren was shouting so loudly that Crystal and his mom backed up slightly. He was so angry with her, with her dad and his dad and he really wanted to hurt someone. But he would never attack a woman so he settled for being intimidating in a more obvious way.

'Warren I -,' Crystal started.

'You what? Never meant for us to find out? Well that wasn't going to work out for you too well was it? Or did you mean to tell us but could never find the right moment? Well I guess you should have. Cos I know, my mom knows, hell I expect everyone knows Crystal so there's no secrets anymore is there? Or are there secrets? Like really you're a part of this whole thing our dads are pulling. Some sort of plant or trap, sucker us in and then boom, one day we're dead!'

He stopped shouting and glared at the girl before him with such intensity that you could almost see a small flame dancing in the pupil of each eye.

'Well?' he asked accusingly.

She opened her mouth to reply but no sound came out. Her eyes filled with tears as she pushed past him and ran upstairs.

'When I get back down here we are going to have serious words Warren Peace!' hissed Mrs. Peace as she followed the distraught girl.

When she reached Crystal, the girl was crumpled on the floor holding the letter from her father in her hands surrounded by the frozen flowers. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks and landed in her lap. Mrs. Peace knelt down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders holding her close.

'Why – why did Warren say all that?' she sobbed.

'He was just hurt, that's all. With Warren you have to tell the absolute truth, all of the time. He can't deal with people lying to him. So many people did that when his father went away, including me, so now he has trouble trusting people. Honestly, I was surprised that he opened up to you so quickly. Maybe that's why the reaction is greater. He opened himself up more so the betrayal was more shocking.'

'But I didn't betray him,' she replied, the tears easing off now.

'I know you didn't but Warren doesn't see it that way. Not only does he feel betrayal but also all these feelings about his father have come to the surface again and he doesn't know how to deal with all of it. I've been half-expecting something like this attack to happen for some time now so that's why I wasn't too surprised. I always knew about your father and Warren's and I knew what they become. How your dad married your mom and had you. But Warren didn't and that's why he's angry.'

'So what happens next Mrs. Peace?' she asked.

'Well if you're going to be staying here then you're going to have to stop calling me Mrs. Peace. Call me Tullia. Then we're going to get changed and sort all this mess out and I'm going to have words with a certain young man.'