-Sorry about the pace in this one, it's way rushed but it felt appropriate considering at which point I am in this story

-We are on the brink of the turning point, when the dreams and everything will be explained o_O

It was the scream that reminded Warren of his situation, the scream that gave him the impulse to whirl around and watch the burning body of Will Stronghold that was squirming on the floor.

In one second he was at the other boy's side, examining the damage that he had caused, whether it had been unintentional didn't matter at this state.

Will tried to fight back, but Warren held his grip on the younger guy's body, noting that no real damage had been done to his body, apparently he had inherited his father's invulnerability after all.

Double checking that Layla really was nowhere near, Warren picked Will up and went to the shattered window of his bedroom, gathering all the strength he had left he threw the boy outside onto the nearby roof, following once his legs stopped shaking.

Silently he peeled the burning clothes off Will and threw them back into his burning flat, then he fished a blanket out of his bag and wrapped the shivering kid into it.

Shaking his head at this surreal situation Warren picked up his bag and turned to leave, already hearing the approaching cops' sirens.

"What the hell happened there?", Will's voice was hoarse and Warren could imagine the inherent face, so he didn't turn around when he answered.

"I died in there", he chuckled at his ironic remark, "And you saw me dying, you hear?"

He heard a noise, probably Will gaining back his strength and sitting up, "Where are you going?"

"Doesn't concern you", Warren went towards the edge of the roof and looked down, deciding that he would climb into an alley and then escape out of town.

"I could have died...", an accusation, but Warren was used to that as well.

Turning he snarled: "I didn't invite you, did I. Your decision to come here, your fault for making the wrong decision."
A sob, Warren hated that particular human emotion and the way it showed, turning around he shot Will a glare before remarking: "Just grow up already."

Slowly climbing down the facade of the small residence he had been standing on, Warren tried to focus entirely on his goal, finding the people who had done this to him and make them undo it. He wanted to sleep calmly for a change, he wanted to be able to distinguish between reality and imagination. And he wanted the low voice, that told him that this wasn't the only reason for him leaving again, to shut up.

On the move again, back at the beginning, but this time he had a target, this time it wasn't just running, it was chasing.

At least Warren wanted it to be that way, but the painful truth was that he had absolutely no idea where to begin searching for the group he needed to find, and so he just took the next best train, trying to get away from the town first.

And it was on that train that he noticed them.

Warren groaned, didn't he have enough problems already?

"What are you doing here?", he asked the two as he approached them, Layla looking up at him innocently, Will staring out of the window.

The girl tried to look serious: "We're following you of course."

"Why?", he looked at them unbelieving, folding his arms in front of his chest.

This time, Stronghold answered: "Well, we can't just let you leave alone."

"Are you kidding me?", Warren didn't try to hide the anger in his voice, "You have no idea what the world is like, you know nothing about what I'm trying to do, what you are bringing yourself into!"

Layla shrugged: "Can't be too bad."

Warren reminded himself to lower his voice as he answered: "You think this is fun? Some 'have some adventure and return home'-story? This is serious, Layla."

It wasn't often that he called somebody by his name, and Layla arched a brow at that: "You want us to return home? Then you can as well join us."

Warren groaned and closed his eyes, trying to come up with some smart answer, but all he could muster were some petty excuses for arguments.

Finally, he couldn't force them to leave and felt even worse as he continued his journey to nowhere with two clueless children at his side.

They traveled for days before they ran out of money, too stubborn to turn back, but it was that first night that they had to spend on the road that Warren finally realized it.

He watched Will and Layla sitting close together, because the nights were cold, even in summer, he himself curled up under a blanket and regarded the little fire he had triggered off with some bulk rubbish.

But he didn't feel helpless, or sorry for himself.

He felt calm, soothed, by the presence of these two, finally able to accept his dependence on others.

It made no sense to deny it now, no matter how much he wanted to, and he felt better thinking about it that way.

He was happy, finally at peace with the world and himself.

And then, it all suddenly stopped.

Everything.

The whole world as he knew it.

-Next chapter will be a long one...