Ace ran inside, ready to go home, and then remembered he had no home.

He was homeless, the idea of it odd. His apartment was destroyed, unemployed because he quit from the Atlaan Police Department, and his friendly bracelet told him, who needs a home when the power of friendship keeps us alive.

The power of friendship could not protect them from the elements and would not feed him.

Ace blinked, and somehow ended up in the women’s bathroom again, still tipsy, and blinked several times around the yacht until he finally ended up where he wanted, in the lounge room.

Levi and Mary Jane were there, as was The Rock, and it was slowly cycling between different shades of purple, per Mary Jane’s request. The lounge room was pure white, in its furniture, but the different lamps with colored bulbs and spots of color for the chairs were what gave it life.

Mary Jane jerked a little, once Ace popped in unannounced, and Levi didn’t react, long accustomed to his sudden entrances. They were sitting at the bar on stools, Levi drinking fizzy water and trying to explain what The Rock was without giving away how he had obtained it.

“Where’s Chewie,” Ace asked.

“Who,” Mary Jane asked.

“The dog,” Levi replied. “He went with Sierra.”

Mary Jane and Levi looked very uncomfortable when Ace said, well that's fine, I can pick him up in the morning, and they had to break the news to him gently.

“Ace, she found out,” Levi said. “ She knows. ”

Ace and Mary Jane knew what he meant, and Ace was ashamed, he didn’t think Sierra would ever find out the truth, that she was the replacement.

“She said she doesn’t want to talk to you anymore. Amy told her. She said she deserved to know,” Mary Jane explained. The words sounded familiar, the same that Forthright had said when he called her yesterday morning, that she deserved to know the truth.

“I thought I was imagining the similarity when I met her, but I guess I wasn’t the only one,” Mary Jane said. “ I think you need help.”

The Rock turned green.

“I think you need to mind your own business,” Ace replied.

Mary Jane shook her head in pity, her hair now frizzy from the water, and she absentmindedly started playing with it again as she spoke, doing it whenever she was feeling nervous or uncomfortable.

“You can lie down for a bit, you’re going through a lot,” Levi replied.

“I don’t need help. Fenton and everyone else is wrong. ”

The Rock turned red.

Mary Jane and Levi exchanged nervous glances, and Ace sat on a white couch, cold, only in his speedo, and tried not to cry. Levi motioned to Mary Jane to follow him and spoke to each other in the back, but soon another argument broke out.

They were in the back kitchen, empty, dimly lit, surrounded by its grey steel exterior, and Mary Jane was not acquiescing to any more of Levi’s ridiculous lies and tales. She brought The Rock along with her, now enjoying its presence, and for some reason, starting to believe it was trying to tell her something.

“He is not staying on our yacht, ” Mary Jane said. “He is crazy! I don’t care if everything is booked because of the festivals!”

“I think he’s lonely,” Levi replied. “That dog meant a lot to him.”

The Rock turned green, and Mary Jane noticed that it was changing different colors, alternating between those two the more they spoke, and now, she was sure it was trying to tell her something.

“I think that dog is better off with Sierra than him,” she said.

Sighing, leaning on the grey counter, Levi asked her if this was about earlier.

“No it's not,” Mary Jane scoffed. “I’m not jealous.”

“Oh, that’s nice to hear,” Levi mumbled. “Why?”

“Because he can't be with you,” she laughed. “He’s so dumb! Who dates a woman that looks like his previous girlfriend, brings her to the place where everyone else is and pretends as if nothing happened!”

Levi was embarrassed for him, blushing, and Mary Jane laughed, self-confidence growing.

“I was being insecure is all,” she said. “Even if you two were together he could never keep it a secret! He’s too dumb!”

The Rock turned red.

Mary Jane stared at The Rock , looked up at her husband, and pieced everything together.

“This is the rock that someone bought for three grand last week, isn’t it,” she asked.

The Rock turned green.

“No,” Levi lied.

The Rock turned red.

“It’s a living lie detector,” she shouted. “Oh my god.”

She clutched it close to her wet t-shirt and refused to let Levi take it from her, backing up into one of the industrial size fridge doors. Levi played it cool and tried to say half-truths, thinking he could get past The Rock’s ability.

“Levi, what happened to our apartment,” Mary Jane asked.

“I don’t know,” Levi groaned. “I’ve already told you this!”

The Rock turned green and Mary Jane was surprised, grimaced, raised her eyebrows, and nodded in approval.

“Fine. What happened to the other apartment,” she asked.

“What apartment?”

“The apartment we lived in when we came to Paradis! Stop stalling,” Mary Jane yelled.

“The apartment is in the same building, as it's always been,” Levi replied.

Mary Jane squinted her eyes, asked her husband what the fuck is he hiding, and she then repeated her original question, and he again gave her the same answer.

Mary Jane then switched tactics and started asking yes-no questions only.

“Levi, did we go to the beach the day when the monster ruined our apartment,” she asked.

“Yes,” Levi said.

The Rock turned red.

Mary Jane’s eyes turned golden, and she grinned, having known she had won.

She always did.

“I don’t want to do this Jane,” Levi pleaded.

She ignored him and continued on.

“Did you kill someone in our apartment,” Mary Jane shouted.

“What!? No!? What could ever give you that idea,” Levi asked.

The Rock turned green.

“That’s on a need-to-know basis,” she spat.

Levi said that he didn’t commit a crime, and he ran out of the kitchen, but she chased after him, she wouldn’t let him escape this time.

“Did you kill yourself,” she screamed.

Ace groggily sat up from the couch, at the odd question, as to how someone could kill themself and still be alive, right in front of him, and stood up, inserting himself in their relationship, again, where he had no business being.

“Look who’s the crazy one now,” Ace taunted, pointing his finger at her.

“I am not crazy,” Mary Jane shouted, her hair frizzy, eyes glowing, holding a bright magical rock, a very good impersonation of an insane witch looking for children to eat in the middle of the woods.

“We can compromise,” Levi said. “ All relationships are about compromise.”

The Rock stayed green and Mary Jane felt betrayed.

“How about he stays at the hotel until he gets everything sorted out,” Levi said. “We rented it for a week anyway, but moved back here . ”

Mary Jane couldn’t argue that, and at the very least she wouldn’t have to deal with Ace and his lack of emotional intelligence and personal drama at her own home.

“Fine. Just keep your drama out of my house, and away from my husband ,” she said. “I’m going back to Julia’s. I don't know why I thought anything would change today.”

She walked off, carrying The Rock, and now Ace was the one who felt betrayed as it left with her, and Invictus promised that he would never leave him, unlike the others who were bad, they were locked up forever.

“What the fuck does that mean,” Ace whispered.

Invictus said nothing, afraid The Rock would give away his lie.

Levi sat next to Ace on the couch, looked back several times to make sure his wife had left and then spoke quietly and honestly.

“Thanks for not saying anything,” Levi mumbled.

“You helped me get out of jail. That was incredible,” Ace replied. “I don’t think I can keep doing this though.”

Every time Ace brought up the idea of leaving him, because Ace assumed that Levi would have left him or his wife eventually, but never did, Levi made his complaints go away quickly by making it impossible to speak by putting his tongue in his mouth, and it was a very useful tactic that would never fail.

Except for this time it did.

Ace placed his hand on Levi’s shoulder as he leaned in, pushing him back, and one could hear the sound of a pickup truck backing up, the signal clear, danger is close, stay away.

“You’re being gross. She just left, ” Ace said.

“Sorry I was trying to cheer you up,” he mumbled. “I didn’t think you cared.”

Ace’s toes curled when Levi held his hand, and he admitted the truth, that he didn’t really care that much anymore.

“I don’t care about trying to be a good person anymore,” Ace said. “I’ve tried so hard but people judge me for things I’ve never done.”

“You’re a good person, you just can’t let people get to you,” Levi replied.

“That's so easy for you to say. Do you get hate mail from people, two years later, for something you never did? Did you know the guy that broke my arm escaped from federal prison?”

“No, I don’t...but I know what it's like to be angry and frustrated all the time. I get it.”

Ace grit his teeth and gripped Levi’s hand, frustrated at it all, angry that he was the one who had to suffer for someone else’s crime. Yet it was a little bit easier when he had someone else he could finally tell, someone he thought wouldn’t blame him or never believe him.

“I feel like she never died like she’s always watching me,” Ace confessed.

Levi didn’t have to ask who she was, bringing him in close for an awkward side hug, and Ace grinned because Levi, the Living Battery, was trying his hardest at displaying human emotions.

The awkward hug was thankfully brief, and Levi muttered something about not being such a downer, and that they can have fun.

“I can stay with Fenton,” Ace replied. “ It’s fine.”

“I want-”

“I’m not staying!”

He shouted, and got up to leave, Levi pulled him down, and told him to be quiet, she could still be here.

“I don’t want to be a compromise between you and your wife,” Ace said. “I’m leaving.”

He blinked away to Fenton’s apartment and Levi was starting to understand that if he did not choose Mary Jane or Acheus he would be very alone, on his yacht, his money could not give off body heat at night to keep him warm.

Levi did not become lonely very easily, but the simple act of being alone was what made him afraid because he would only be with his thoughts.

He would have no one to blame his anger on, no wife to complain about, no irresponsible boyfriend to make him feel that well, at least I have some part of my life together.

Levi wanted Mary Jane to be his friend if he left her, but that would be near impossible after how he hurt her, he couldn’t understand that he can’t have everything. He didn’t know what he wanted, so he kept telling himself, I should have everything.

Yet everything still wasn’t enough.