Chapter XI: Starwatch

"We were never alone."
-Starwatch Initiative

...

The Pentagon, Washington D.C.

The clouds above Maryland cast a dark gray shadow over the United States capital. The misty haze turned yellow from the lights below, and a rumbling clash of thunder followed a lightning strike from the rainstorm that passed by some time ago. Meanwhile, deep within the national headquarters for the nation's Department of Defense, a key point in the country's long, decorated history, one agency was underway hard at work hidden inside the concrete architecture of the Pentagon. Like most of the building, it was a bustling busy place to be. Yet this agency was far different than most others in this building. This was a well-kept secret from nearly all of the entire country, and it was planned to make sure it stayed that way.

A long, dark-colored hallway in the middle of the agency's sector led to a black glass double door, which opened to reveal a massive room filled with computer consoles lined up in horizontal rows along a level staircase. There was little lighting here other than the blue-white hues of the computer screens, desk lamps and soft white LED stair lights. On the far end lay a massive holographic screen that covered the room's entire back wall, positioned just high enough for anyone to look over from their desks to see what was displayed. Right now on-screen a green holographic green map of the United States was shown, covered in blips and pinging dots that pointed to any interesting news occurring across the country that would be of interest to the organization.

If one noticed, the agency's seal was engraved on the white marble floor leading to the central office, depicting a hollow gold oval with a nine-pointed white star positioned slightly above the center, surrounded by a star-lit black background hovering over the Earth. Ingrained above the star lay the letters of the agency's name, and below it was the motto, written in bright white Latin.

STARWATCH

Lux Semina

It was inside the office where a conference call was being held, one that was being held on to the decided future of the agency.

"I'm telling you, our partnership with SETI will be a fundamental stake for our nation and my agency." A voice said in the large office. It was decorated with ceremonial plaques along the wall and bookshelves filled with pictures, trophies and books. A man sat at a black desk surrounded by six screens with faces on them, people of great importance where their titles, ranks and affiliations across the bottom left corner, giving a good look at who he was talking to.

The man himself was broad-shouldered and tall, adorned in a dark black suit with chrome cuffs, buttons and lining along his jacket sleeves. A blonde buzz-cut and a deep scar stretching from his left temple down his jawline gave him a hard, veteran look, accented by his deep blue eyes. His uniform had the same symbol seen on the floor emblazoned on a medal pinned to his breast pocket, and on his right breast was a line of metal military ribbons of various colors, a sign that he was a battle-tested veteran. Below that was a rectangular patch that displayed his name in chrome-colored lining.

"I will believe it when I see it, Major Vassallo. So far STARWATCH has been little more than a government-funded wild goose chase without the goose. Your archeology teams are scattered around the globe digging up whatever it is you're searching for, and we have yet to see anything substantial in the past six months." The elderly man on the top right screen said, not sounding too relieved to be talking to the major. If he was perturbed by his superior's voice, Vassallo didn't show it. Instead he kept his cool even under such heavy scrutiny. He had been sitting here, listening on to the endless drabble of his latest meeting with the higher-ups in Washington for what seemed like hours for him.

"I understand we have had some minor setbacks, but rest assured that we will deliver splendid results once the time is right." Vassallo evenly responded, his hands linked together through his fingers on his desk. "I give you my word, general. We will prove our worth to you and all of Washington soon."

"For your agency's sake Major, I hope you are right."

The six screens flickered off, and Vassallo ran a hand over his mouth as he went deep into silent thinking. He was interrupted when the two doors opened up to reveal a slightly portly tanned man with short gray hair in a lab coat, his red keycard dangling from his coat pocket. He wore black angular glasses over his brown eyes, holding a tablet in his right hand once he saw the colonel.

"More trouble from Washington I see, sir?" He said with a soft voice as he made his way inside. The major gave a solemn glance to his chief scientist.

"Yes, more bureaucratic stiffs trying to keep us in the dark, Director Woods. Not that I can really blame them. Looks like STARWATCH is back to the drawing again." Vassallo somberly said, reaching for the heavy bourbon bottle beneath his desk, popping off the cork and pouring a swig into a shot glass. He downed it in a single gulp and swiped his chin of any excess once he was finished. As much as he hated it, the stiffs in Washington had a solid point. Starwatch might be sitting on a mountain of information, but the means to actually put it to use were lacking.

It was a cycle that Major Antonio Vassallo, a commanding agent of Starwatch, found himself in constantly with both his work and the upper echelons he took orders from. Starwatch itself was a well-funded agency, equipped with its own task forces, science divisions and research teams for any venture that called. There was no shortage of money, but there was a shortage of affluence that would keep Starwatch relevant. Years after years of traveling the globe, the agency had pretty much scoured all corners of the planet and what it could hide. It was the reason he was attempting to join forces with NASA and SETI. After all, he was sure that there were things out there that needed to be dealt with, and Starwatch was just the agency to do it.

The other man in the room, the shorter, slightly portly man of Indian descent was Christian Woods, a very well-renowned researcher and top Starwatch scientist. Woods kept his slightly gray hair slicked back, and a pair of black, rectangular eyeglasses hung on his collar. Despite being men of different professions, with Woods being a man of intellect and Vassallo a born soldier, the two were good friends and allies within the agency. It was thanks to Starwatch that they had become friends, as they both shared a passion regarding what could exist beyond the Earth.

Vassallo was about to take another shot of bourbon before Woods spoke up again, albeit nervously.

"Well actually, sir, there's been a sudden development regarding the metal shard we found in Michigan."

Vassallo knew what Woods was talking about. The "shard", as his scientists were calling it, was a bizarre piece of destroyed metal one of his research teams managed to stumble across in the northern United States near the Great Lakes. It had been a stroke of luck after a local boy from the area had posted a video regarding a 'small hunk of UFO' he had found in the woods on Instagram. STARWATCH had gotten wind of the video and immediately swooped in to check the area and retrieve it. Once they had arrived, combed the park for the object and paid off the boy to delete the video and never speak of it again, what they had truly uncovered was a eyeball-sized chrome sliver resting in a small crater.

The science division had been utterly stumped by what they had found once it was delivered to the labs. Even their most advanced tech couldn't provide answers. The composite metallic alloy the shard was made of matched absolutely nothing on the known periodic table. It was lightweight, but apparently durable enough to survive planetary entry without a scratch. That wasn't all, as their scans on the object showed that it was merely a piece of something bigger, and based on the blast marks found on the inside and pictures taken of the impact crater, it must have somehow self-destructed once it had landed on Earth without any meaning as to why, where it came from, or who or even what had built it. Vassallo had decided to keep the shard a secret from Washington, a gamble he was paying off right now.

"Did you find out where it may have came from?" Vassallo asked as he poured another shot.

"No, but we managed to find this on the shard's inner surface," Woods handed over the tablet to the major, where on screen he could see a close-up picture of what appeared to a strange, insect-shaped machine that resembled no bug he could think of, "It appears to be some sort of drone, a nanomachine. Practically invisible to the naked eye, sir. Barely bigger than a gnat. We managed to scrape it off and put it under a microscope without further damage."

"And this relates to our latest find how exactly?" Vassallo calmly asked as he kept his eyes on the picture. Woods gave his response, slightly leaning down to the major's viewing level to deliver the next set of news.

"Sir, our scans of the machine's infrastructure indicated that the lower half of the body was almost entirely empty, as if it was purposefully designed to carry some sort of cargo." Wood replied, reaching over to zoom and enhance the picture to show what he was talking about. Upon closer look, Vassallo clearly saw that the small bot's "thorax" was indeed hollow within its black metal carapace, as if there might have been something that might have been in its body, but no longer. Vassallo narrowed his eyes as he scanned the picture intensely, trying to put together what the director was saying.

"So this thing you found hitched a ride on the asteroid so it could bring something here to Earth, is that it?"

"Actually sir, we think the asteroid was designed to contain this nanomachine before it crashed on Earth. And that's not all," the director pointed at the narrow proboscis jutting out of its head, "See that proboscis? We believe it wasn't just built to contain what may have been within it. Rather, we think it was intentionally designed to find something or even someone to possibly infect it with... whatever it may have carried."

The director's answer seemed to stun Vassallo into a brief silence before he managed to find his voice again.

"Infect, Woods? Like some sort of virus?"

"Well sir, we-"

"Major Vassallo! Director Woods!" The overcom speakers suddenly came to life, interrupting Woods from his explanation. As quickly as they heard it, the two men aimed their attention towards the speaker on Vassallo's desk where the voice was coming from. "We have a situation in the watch room!"

Vassallo handed the tablet he held back to Woods before he reached over and pressed the receiver button.

"What kind of situation?"

...

"It just popped up on one of our long range satellites, sir. Took us completely by surprise." A female agent said once Vassallo and Woods entered through the double glass door. Everyone in the room was in motion, with people running around from desk to desk and loudly speaking into their desk phones or to each other, and the major immediately understood why when he looked at the holographic screen. On it was a pinging green dot far from Earth's atmosphere with the words 'UNKNOWN OBJECT' labeled above in bold white letters. It didn't take Vassallo long to understand why they were calling him.

"You're saying that it just appeared out of nowhere?" Vassallo turned to the agent near him.

"By all accounts sir, we have no idea," She responded in earnest, "We're still trying to figure out what it is."

"Could it be an asteroid, like the one we uncovered?" Vassallo wondered to the director. Woods immediately shook his head.

"No, the satellites would have been able to detect any sort of metallic composition to make sure. They're designed to do that, I built them that way." Woods responded. The director side-stepped over to an agent sitting at his desk, wondering if he could try to get some more information regarding the object. "Can you manage to track its movement? Find out where its going?"

"Just a moment director," an agent said as he typed away on his keyboard. Soon enough a segmented line slowly etched across the screen, traveling from where the dot was first detected towards its calculated and most probable destination: their planet, Earth. It managed to get the surprise of everyone in the room, which had gone silent once the line had finished being drawn.

"It's coming this way." Vassallo evenly said, verbalizing what they were all thinking. He immediately turned to the agent next to him and started giving orders. "I want everyone in this room tracking its every movement. Make sure we know for sure what it could be before it hits the upper atmosphere. Find out if it really is an asteroid and get NASA on the phone!"

"Yes sir!" She nodded and typed away on her tablet as the Starwatch agents started to get to work.

"What if it's not an asteroid, sir? What if it's... something else?" Woods whispered into Vassallo's ear, making sure to keep himself quiet. It wasn't hard to understand what the director was implying. The tiny piece of strange metal that he had been shown played in the major's mind, knowing that it might be connected to what was now happening.

"Then we'll mobilize," Vassallo said, sternly facing the blinking dot on the holoscreen. Woods followed the same action as the major.

"And make sure they know where they are."

Royal Woods

"C'mon Loud, pick up the pace!" Coach Pacowski blew into his whistle again, the shrill sound biting into Lincoln's ears as the young boy pushed himself to run just a little bit faster around the track field, his friends right beside him in the same level of exhaustion. Leave it to the last class of the day, gym class to be precise, to be the most aggravating and physically demanding. Lincoln might be fit for an eleven-year old, but certainly not that athletic. That right belonged to Lynn.

Man, this bites! If I could use my powers to do this stupid exercise then this would over in a heartbeat! Lincoln mentally groaned, wishing that he lived in a world where he could use his powers whenever and wherever he pleased. But he knew the rules he and sisters agreed on. They could not use their powers anywhere, especially not in school.

Still, the thought of showing off that he could fly of all things to his friends was a very, very teasing idea to have.

"Oh god, this is brutal! We've been running for ten straight minutes!" Rusty whined as he managed to catch up with Lincoln right as Pacowski blew the whistle again, stopping them where they stood panting and sweating. The ginger nearly fell on his face. "Is it finally over?"

"Alright, that's good work kids! Class is dismissed!" The coach announced, and the kids gave weak cheers as they ran back to the changing rooms, and then straight out to the school halls, filled to the brim with kids eager to leave school behind and get back home. Lincoln was airing out his armpits as he walked over to his locker with his friends. Like him, they were trying to cool themselves down by any method, such as Zach sucking down his water bottle and Stella shaking her head to cool the sweat in her hair.

"Oh man, Coach must've gotten on the wrong side of the cot this morning," Liam groaned as he bent his already tired knees to his locker and yanked his backpack out, "I'm used to chasin' down pigs, but that was ridiculous!"

"You're telling me," Clyde added on.

"At least we got the field trip coming up, right guys?" Lincoln said as cheerily as possible. That seemed to just barely brighten up his friend's spirits as they walked out of the school's front doors. They had just taken only a couple steps before they heard the blare of a car horn, one that sounded familiar. Lincoln turned his head to see Lori waving at him from the driver's seat in an already crowded Vanzilla. He was surprised to see his little sisters already in the car before him, probably thanks to his gym teacher making them run so many laps.

"Let's go, Lincoln!" She called out to him, with Lola reaching over and giving the horn two more honks.

"Hurry up, slowpoke!" The little princess cried out. "We've got places to be!"

"Oh jeez," Lincoln groaned, turning to wave goodbye to his friends as he ran to Vanzilla, "Bye guys, see you all tomorrow!"

Quickly making his way over to the van to not keep his family waiting, Lincoln pried open the door and hopped into the middle seat of the first row right behind Lori, letting out a sigh of relief for his tired legs. The moment he pulled the door shut Lori shifted the car into drive and began the swift drive back home. Right as they hit their first red light on their drive, Lori looked back in the review mirror.

"So," she cheerfully began to talk, "how are you guys?"

"Great!" The twins said simultaneously with big grins on their faces, that was before Lana remembered what happened in the cafeteria which erased the smile on her face and turned it into a frown, "Until Lola took my ice cream."

"Hey, you made that deal. I honored it."

"No riffs down electric avenue from this chick," Luna pointed a thumb at herself, sounding quite confident in her ability to keep her supercharge nonexistent, "Rest assured fam, I've got my thunder locked down tight."

"Same here," Luan added on, "No warping or portals or anything. I've got these powers of mine learned and done!"

"I do believe it's safe to assume that we all had quite an interestingly normal day at school, eldest sibling," Lisa pushed up her glasses as she spoke, sounding quite confident, "Rest assured that neither of us in the elementary-level grades have done anything to expose our supernatural abilities."

Had she noticed, Lucy nervously tugged on her arm sleeve when she heard Lisa talk about exposing. The near-encounter with Rocky back in the school library sparked deep in her mind, and she couldn't help but feel like she had to speak out, to make sure that her family knew. Keeping secrets at this point would only bring more harm than good. With a trepid gulp down her throat she opened her mouth and spoke up.

"Actually," Lucy stammered, and that instantly got her sibling's attention, "Rocky almost saw me use my magic before when I was in the library."

"He saw you?!" Lori practically screeched. The rest of the family openly gawked at the little goth's piece of startling news, but she was quick to defend herself.

"Almost! He almost saw me. The only thing he really did see were the drawings that I was making in my notebook," Lucy reached into her dark purple backpack and pulled out her notebook, flipping through the pages until she landed on one that had the designs she made for new magical runes, pointing to them to show that she wasn't lying, "I wanted to see if I could harness more of my magic. Rocky was just curious, that's all. Still gave me a bit of a fright, even for someone like me. Sigh."

Everyone in the van felt a sense of ease after Lucy explained herself. It was only a close call with a friend, that was it. The Loud siblings weren't in any deep trouble so far.

"Well, I can say that I applaud you for trying to learn more about your magic Lucy," Lori said as she turned down Franklin Avenue, "but please try to pay attention next time you decide to indulge in your little spells."

"Believe me, I understand that quite clearly now." Lucy responded as the van pulled into the driveway.

"Hey, other than Lucy's hiccup, we did pretty good today!" Lincoln said, and then noticed that he hadn't spied a certain jersey-wearing fireball riding with them. He looked around to see if he had just missed her when he hopped in the car, but she was nowhere to be found. "Hey wait a second, where's Lynn?"

"She had practice today, remember?" Luan responded.

"Oh, right." Lincoln nodded, and then that curiosity turned into worry after he remembered that she was having some trouble staying awake this morning. "Is that a good thing? She didn't sleep that well last night. You think she's doing okay?"

"Eh, she'll be fine."

...

I'm not doing fine!

"C'mon Lynn, eyes on the ball this time!" Her coach yelled at her for what seemed like the umpteenth time already, startling the increasingly weary tomboy out of her latest daze. Underneath her stark red helmet, Lynn could feel her eyes fighting to stay awake as she lined up on home base for her afterschool baseball practice, something she was cursing herself for even believing was a good idea to attend. She had two strikes already thanks to her drowsiness, another one and she'd be back on the bench. It was a struggle for Lynn to stay focused with her fighting an internal battle with her own body. Every missing swing she took made the bat feel heavier in her sweaty hands, and she could feel her eyelids drooping over her vision already.

"Gotcha, coach!" She cried back in response as energetic as she could, but it didn't carry enough for her to feel like he got the message. He wasn't the only one as the rest of her friends could see just how different Lynn was behaving than normal.

Oh, this sucks ass! I can barely keep my eyes open! Lynn internally raged as she lined up her eyes to see Francisco reach into the bin and ready another ball.

Her tired mind began to start thinking about her superheat. Coincidentally it was a situation similar to this where she first discovered that she had superpowers when she nearly liquified a metal bat into aluminum sludge. And like Lincoln beforehand, she too was wishing that she could use her powers for her own sake. Lynn knew fire was a source of energy, and she wondered if she could manage to tap into a wee bit of her power just for a brief moment, then she might be able to stay awake long enough to score a hit. But the tomboy rejected it just as it became clear that such a thought was asking for trouble.

No! Out of the question! I can't do that here with everyone watching me, I promised Lincoln that I'd keep it a secret! She chastised herself for even thinking about doing something as stupid as that. Even if it sounded like a good idea, Lynn had agreed with all of her siblings that she would not use her powers when other people were around her.

"Batter up!" Her coach yelled as Lynn prepared herself for a good swing, and Francisco curled his arm and threw. Lynn swung, hoping that she'd hit it as she kept her eyes shut, but nothing hit the bat.

FWEEET!

"Three strikes, you're out Lynn!"

Lynn couldn't help but let out a disappointed sigh as she heard the whistle blow. There was some part of her that was hopeful, but now she was beginning to accept that with her problems this was ultimately futile. With slumped shoulders and disappointment in her gut, Lynn trudged back to the stands with one hand on the bat and another holding her helmet. She could hear the concerned whispers coming from her teammates as she took a seat, putting her head in her hands she watched Paulina take her bat and ready herself to practice some swinging at home base. She didn't even hear the coach come up next to her.

"What's going on today, Loud?" He gently asked as he took a seat beside her, brushing his dark goatee. "You've been acting off since practice started today. Is there something I should know?"

"It's nothing, coach." Oh, it's something alright. Like superpowers, for one, but I can't say that because it'll get me into some deep shit. Sorry coach. Lynn wished she said that instead. The response she said was laced in sarcasm, which didn't go unnoticed.

"When my star slugger can't even hit a simple free throw, I know it's not nothing, Lynn." He pointed out at her. He had a suspicion into what it might be. "Lemme see your eyes."

Lynn sighed, almost sounding like Lucy for a moment before she slowly turned her head to face her coach. It only took him a mere glance to see what was going on. Those heavy dark rings around her slightly bloodshot eyes was all the evidence he needed.

"I knew it. You didn't get enough sleep last night, did you?" He stated, and her lack of a response was all he needed to know he was right. "Alright Lynn, pack up your things and go on home. Practice is over for you."

"What?! Coach, I can still play!" Lynn argued back, outraged that she of all people had to be asked to leave practice, but in her rush to stubbornly defend herself she nearly fell over from standing up too fast. She wobbled on her feet, only saving herself from falling flat on her face by grabbing the fence. She'd realized she had just proven her coach right in the midst of trying to preserve some pride. Now she realized just how tired she truly felt once she felt like she had just spent the last of her energy. And her coach could see it too.

"Look Lynn, I know you wanna play ball with everyone else here, but not when you're on the verge of passing out in the field. Go home and get some rest, eat some food, and then maybe next Monday you'll feel better. Sound good?" He softly said, leaning down to put his hand on her shoulder as a sign of comfort for the tomboy.

While there was some part of her that was still stubbornly holding on to her pride, Lynn knew that any argument she had wouldn't work. Not after he'd nearly seen her fall from standing up too fast. She let out a defeated sigh.

"Alright coach, you win." Lynn numbly said, her vision still locked on the ground below as she finally accepted that practice was just too much for her at this point. It didn't help to ease the disappointment she felt in herself to not get a good night's rest. Sports were her everything, so missing practice was like an insult to her very being. Lynn started to pack her things into her duffel bag. First the helmet, then her bat, mitts and finally her baseballs. Once she was done she zipped up her bag, slung it over her shoulder and then headed out the gate onto the sidewalk. "I'll see you guys next week, hopefully feeling better than now."

"Smart move, Lynn." He nodded at her. "We'll see you then."

Lynn gave a nod back and began the trek back to her home. As she left she heard the shrill noise of her coach's whistle from behind her, and through the fence she saw her fellow teammates start up practice again. She couldn't help but let out another melancholic sigh, wishing that she was out there with them instead of having to go back home. She kept her eyes on the ground as she continued walking, finding some form of entertainment by kicking a discarded metal can that was laying on the sidewalk in front of her.

"Stupid powers," she mumbled to herself, feeling her superheat begin to rise, "Stupid sleeplessness. I didn't ask for this."

The thought of sleep made her worry. The last time she went to bed, she'd had that dream where she felt like she was on fire. It was like her powers were burning out of control, but it was all in her head. Yet she couldn't help but wonder if it might happen again, and if it did then she'd be in the middle of a real crisis. Missing a practice might not be such a big deal, but when it came to actual games, where she needed to be at her best, sleeplessness would definitely become a major problem. Lynn knew that it couldn't happen again.

"Screw these damn nightmares." She cursed to herself again, kicking the car far away on to the opposite side of the street. It felt good to get some of her frustrations out before she was home.

Lynn noticed that she was passing by Ketchum Park, surprising herself that she had managed to reach there in such a short time. It must have been thanks to her spacing out while thinking about how she was going to beat her drowsiness. interestingly there was nobody there, where it was usually crowded with kids and their parents after long days at school. Lynn checked her watch to see that it was only 5:01 PM, at least an hour before her father cooked whatever dinner he served in the Loud house.

Though she couldn't help but feel even more exhausted with the thought of her house. Home wasn't too far away, but even so it felt like a marathon to walk that short distance, even for her. A sudden idea came to her as she stared into the empty park in front of her. Perhaps this was a good thing, as her house was right nearby. Pushing the fence open and nearing the closest tree, Lynn tossed her bag over to the side and plopped down, back against the trunk. The tomboy let out a sigh as she made herself comfortable, staring into the hazy afternoon where she saw the blue skies above beginning to shift into purples and oranges as the sun went down.

"I'll just rest here for a little bit," Lynn said, yawning as she stretched out her arms and rubbed her eyes, "Then I'll go home and get some shuteye."

Once she was finished making herself comfy, Lynn found herself staring into the sun seemingly unbothered by the star's dimming glare. She'd been told countless times that staring into the sun's rays was a sure way to damage someone's vision, but she didn't feel that sense of alarm. In fact, watching the yellow circle comforted her in its glow. Had she been able to see for herself, as she still gazed into the bright yellow circle hanging in front of her, her tired eyes began to change. Her brown irises began to form small cracks of orange light around her pupil, as if there were a hidden eminence showing itself. Yet it was short-lived as her eyelids slowly began to feel heavier the longer she sat down. Lynn didn't bother trying to keep herself awake, too drawn by the glow of the sun and her weary, sleep-deprived body earning some rest.

"Just a little bit," she quietly mumbled to herself as her eyes finally shut, "Just a... little..."

She didn't get to finish before she was snoring away.

...

Lynn opened her eyes, the sensation of a great brilliance piercing through her eyelids as she slowly rose up from the ground. She put her hands out in front of her to shield her eyes as she rose up from the ground, and saw that the world around her had completely changed. Gone was the soft grass below her, and there was no park either. She found herself sitting in an otherworldly landscape of glossy black stone, forming arches and pillars and spires all around her. And it was so quiet, almost deathly so. This was certainly not Earth anymore, so where was she?

This alien place was not the only thing that Lynn was startled by. Above her was a massive star, a great ball of burning yellow-orange plasma that shined down upon her with a heavenly glow. There were no clouds, but surrounding the giant star was empty black space and nebulas of all shapes and colors.

Lynn stood up to get a better look at this strange place, wondering just how she got here in the first place. Was this a dream? It had to be, yet it felt so real.

"𝙇𝙔𝙉𝙉..."

Lynn felt herself jump in surprise. There was a sudden voice in the air calling out to her. It was a gentle, feminine noise, and softly echoed across the stone plains in front of her. the tomboy snapped her head left and right, hoping to find where the voice came from. How did it know her name?

"𝙇𝙔𝙉𝙉..."

It was there again, this time more focused in front of her. Lynn followed the voice's trail where she could see, right below the star, was a small rocky outcrop that had something glowing on top of it, a shimmering white light unlike anything she'd seen. Steadily she walked across the smooth black surface, moving towards the white light, keeping her ears open for the voice again, and eyes focused on the glowing thing in front of her. As she neared it, she realized that the glimmer had a shape. A halo, razor-thin and about a foot and a half in diameter and hovering above the outcrop, which under a closer look revealed that it was more like an altar of some sort about a meter high.

"𝙄 π˜Όπ™ˆ 𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀, 𝙇𝙔𝙉𝙉."

The voice she was hearing was coming from the halo. Lynn wanted to know how it knew her name, why she was here and a thousand other questions. She tried to use her voice, but nothing came out of her mouth. Could this be another side effect of her powers? Or maybe this was something completely different?

"Lynn..."

There was something she wanted to know, but still her voice remained mute. This time, instead of the halo, there was someone else calling to her as the dreamscape slowly began to fade away into gray-white static. The great star above faded, along with the nebulas.

"Lynn...!"

'What are you?' She wanted to ask as she could feel her body begin to wake up. She was leaving this place. The ground beneath began to dissipate into nothingness, the black stone fading away but the halo remained untouched, still shining despite there being emptiness around her as the second voice, a familiar one, rang again. Yet she felt like she had to remain here, the halo drawing her in for some strange reason.

"LYNN!"

Despite these final moments, the halo remained silent as the world around them faded into blackness...

...

"Lynn! Lynn! Darnit Lynn, can you wake up!"

After a couple more shakes, Lynn finally began to stir out of her dreams and back into the land of the living. She pursed her lips as she woke from her slumber, slowly prying her eyes open to see who was calling her name. Once the fogginess of her vision cleared she saw that it was none other than Lincoln kneeling beside her with a hand on her shoulder. He had a worried look on his face which changed into relief once he saw her eyes open and focus on her younger brother.

"Lincoln?" She yawned, rubbing her eyes as she stretched out her arms, "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find you!" He responded hotly, standing up while putting his hands on his hips. He seemed to be in a bit of a mood. "Lynn, everyone was worried sick that you might have run off somewhere! You weren't answering your phone! Do you even know what time it is?"

"No?" The tomboy wondered, looking up to find that the afternoon sun was gone, replaced by the waning crescent moon and a starry sky. That certainly made made her worry about how long she'd passed out. "What time is it? Six? Seven?"

"Lynn," Lincoln began as he took his phone out his pocket and showed her the time on screen, "it's nine thirty right now."

"NINE THIRTY?!" Lynn shrieked as she shot up to her feet, certain that he was just messing with her. She snatched Lincoln's phone out of his hand to make sure he wasn't fibbing, but the three numbers on his screen were as clear as day. She had been slumbering for nearly four hours in the open. "There's no way I slept for that long! All I did was stop here to take a nap, not fall into dreamland! Oh man, that means I missed dinner! Dammit!" Lynn cursed, handing back Lincoln his phone as she kicked a clump of grass in frustration. She let out a groan, putting her hands over her face to try and mentally digest what she had done. Though she was grateful for Lincoln to have come and found her, like the good-hearted kid she knew he was.

She then remembered the dream she had. That bizarre landscape, the massive sun. The talking halo. It was already fading from her memories the longer she stayed awake, but there were things that she remembered clearly. Lincoln seemed to notice his sister's sudden change in attitude with her sudden stop and sharp gasp she made, eyes wide and terrified.

"Um, Lynn? You good?" He asked, wondering what was going on with Lynn now, but she was quick to shoot down his concern.

"Y-Yeah, I'm good. I'm good, Lincoln. Just a bit startled about the whole, y'know, napping in the park for so long. I guess I was pretty tired today, huh." She replied, not willing to share what she had seen in her dream, dismissing his concern. And if she was being honest with herself about what she had witnessed in her slumber, it sort of scared her for how otherworldly it seemed to be. She didn't want to start freaking Lincoln out as well. Their superpowers were enough to go around, they didn't need any sort of detailed nightmares along with it and any sort of association it might have with their new abilities.

It was just a dream, Lynn. The tomboy mentally said to herself. Just a crazy, lucid dream. Nothing more. And that was all she wanted to believe it was, so she pushed it to the back of her mind. She can deal with what she experienced later.

One thing did stick out to her though since it was Lincoln who apparently wound up finding her.

"Hey, if everyone was looking for me since I was "missing" for so long," she put up her quotation fingers to make emphasis, "how come you didn't use your powers to look for me? It should've been a piece of cake since you can fly, right?" Lynn asked, curious since Lincoln was the one who was most excited about their powers.

"I'd rather not have Lori chew me out for doing that, thank you." Lincoln said back. "Anyway, are you feeling better to get home?"

"Yeah, I am." Lynn responded, reaching over to snag her sports bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Let's go. I could really go for something to eat right now. And thanks for coming to get me, Lincoln. I appreciate it."

"No problem, Lynn. It's what family's for."