Fenton and the others were corralled into New Springfield’s football stadium.

Medical tents littered the field, and officers went around taking witness reports. Social services arrived and offered psychological help, but those that truly needed it was still too shaken up to ask for it.

People came to get their children, and many of them would be disappointed to learn that they would not be coming back.

Those that did survive were barely recognized by their parents. They had worn the same costume for three days, were covered in blood, dirt, and ash, and were wrapped around in emergency blankets. Not everyone had the chance to shower, as the mobile trucks that offered the service had a line stretching several blocks.

Fenton sat in the W section, for his last name, Wong, and sat there, hoping that someone he knew would come to get him. He could not return home, as Ace and Fenton lived very far away from the academy. He could not go to Tyreceus’ apartment, as he was dead. Fenton had no money, and Ace was nowhere to be seen, so he worried about him the rest of the night.

Fenton feared that Ace had truly died, and was worried that Gabriel was dead as well. He knew that Ace was standing right next to him when he left but didn’t understand why he would leave without saying goodbye.

Nine hours after he had arrived, Fenton’s mother, six sisters, their husbands, and his numerous nieces and nephews came to get him. They all took a very long time to get there, as they didn’t have enough money to get a flight to the closest airport.

Every airliner wanted to cash in on the tragedy, and all flights inbound to New Springfield had the price quintuple the night the incident started. Fenton’s mother, Yue-Liang had to take a small loan to be able to get them all to him, and she had to wait in line like all the others, proving that she was who she said she was.

She was confused as to why they pricked her skin for black tar, and then was finally let inside.

Fenton was experiencing sensory overload from his giant family. They all took turns holding him, but his mother at one point refused to let go. “Fei when did you get so tall,” she yelled.

The last time Yue-Liang had seen her son he was barely 5 feet and 6 inches tall. The constant use of his abilities had spurred a sudden burst in height. He was now 6ft and 4 inches tall, and his pants and shirt were now too small for him. He realized he was taller than them all, and now knew the reason for his aching body.

“It’s a side effect,” he mumbled. “Overexertion of abilities makes you grow.”

“Not like this,” his mother shrieked. “Why are you so skinny!?! Are they not feeding you!?” The sudden growth had now made him very underweight. Before he was twenty pounds overweight, now he looked like he needed a long stay at a hospital.

Most of the time Fenton was trying to escape his mother. He was now her only son ever since his brother was gone and her youngest child. She was constantly doting on him every chance she got, always smothering him, but for the first time, Fenton wanted nothing more than his mother to make him food and scold him about something he didn’t even know he was doing wrong.

“Where’s Acheus,” Tom asked.

He was one of many of Fenton’s brothers-in-law. At the very mention of his name, everyone noticed and then looked around, wondering where he was. They were always together, fighting, talking, eating, and attached at the hip.

“I don’t know,” Fenton cried.

He started to cry and the children were worried. The small ones asked him if he needed a band-aid and the older ones started to cry as well. “I’ll call Tyreceus again,” Yue-Liang assured him. “I’ve called but for some reason, he hasn’t picked up!”

“ Lǎo mā , he’s dead,” Fenton screamed. “They’re all dead! I saw Uncle die !”

His sisters and his family herded their children out of the stadium and Fenton started to scream. No one in the stadium was particularly bothered, as it was a common occurrence, and the same conversation had been repeated by many others who were lucky enough to have someone pick them up so quickly.

His mother cried, as Tyreceus was her friend as well, their families close since they had all met.

“Let’s go home,” she cried. “Let’s go home and I’ll find Ace.”

“I don’t want to go,” Fenton shuddered. “I want to find him first. ”

Yue-Liang tried to not panic. She thought that Ace was dead, and did not want to wait forever for a young man that would never arrive. She didn’t want to say that, worried that it would only make her son cry louder. She hugged him and tried to reason with him, but he would not budge.

“What if we went to a hotel nearby,” she pleaded. “We can stay in town.”

Fenton seemed satisfied with this answer, and she took him out. She signed all the release forms and got him into a taxi. Almost all the hotels in town were full. Once again Yue-Liang had to suffer from the greed of others with more prices than she had ever seen the last time she visited her son, even during busy events.

Yue-Liang spent the entire morning assuring everyone in her extended family that her son was alive and trying to get Fenton to eat. She was afraid to leave him alone, but at the same time did not want to bring her with him when she wanted to search for Ace. She was worried about where he was, wanting to keep him safe since Tyreceus was gone.

Late into the evening, Ace had called Yue-Liang, as he could not get an answer from Fenton’s phone. His phone was destroyed by the fighting, and he threw it away before he even arrived home. Ace had been staying in his father’s apartment, as he didn’t need the key to simply teleport inside.

He was afraid to leave, not because of the horrible events, but because of the living.

Ace paced around the empty apartment, trying to drown out the sound of bickering accessories inside the living room as he waited for Yue-Liang to pick them up. She did, and Ace was so relieved.

“Auntie, I-”

“Ace where have you been? You can’t just go off like this,” Yue-Liang screamed.

“I can’t leave,” he whispered. “They’re everywhere.”

Yue-Liang was now worried about his sanity, along with Fenton’s.

“Who’s there,” she asked cautiously.

“TV people! They found out Candice was my girlfriend! They’re trying to find me!”

Strangely Yue-Liang was relieved by this answer, happy that the threat was real instead of imagined.

“Can I talk to Fenton,” Ace asked.

“Of course,” Yue-Liang shouted. “Get him to eat and sleep for me!”

Fenton was in the bathroom, and when he came out his mother told him Ace had called. He snatched the phone out of her hands and pure joy overcame him as he finally knew his best friend was alive. Yue-Liang had never seen her son’s emotional state change so quickly.

She always wondered if they were dating, but was simply too shy to admit it. She even asked her son once, and he vehemently denied it. After a few years, she realized that maybe they were just soul mates, but in a different sense.

So Yue-Liang was worried about Fenton if Ace decided he never wanted to come back.

She was finally starting to relax as she saw Fenton become loud and talkative. She worried that he was starting to recede into himself, back when his father died. Fenton and Ace talked on the phone for two and a half hours, until Yue-Liang finally pried her phone out of his hands, wanting to get them both to sleep.

Yue-Liang and Fenton slept soundly that night, and in the morning they brought food to Ace who had eaten nothing but sandwiches since he had no idea how to cook. Yue-Liang made him all his favorite food and treated her as she treated all her other children.

Fenton became slightly jealous as he noticed she was giving him more attention. She was simply worried about him after learning that Tyreceus was dead, and worried about what he would do, living all alone. She offered to let him stay with them for a while, but Ace was still paranoid.

Sometimes he wondered if Fenton was dead, or if Yue-Liang was dead, or if he was. One night he didn’t sleep wondering if they all died and he was in Hell, and he hadn’t realized it yet.

Yue-Liang didn’t want to leave him alone, and neither did Fenton. Ace promised that he would call her every day at 4 PM, and if he didn’t call by 5 PM she could call the police, the army, or anyone she wanted. Yue-Liang pouted and accepted that she couldn’t force him to come with them.

Fenton, on the other hand, could.

On the last day of their stay in New Springfield, Yue-Liang had to drag Fenton by force. He, just like Ace was paranoid, but instead, he was afraid someone would die if he wasn’t constantly around them. Yue-Liang gripped his wrist hard, angry that she had to treat him as if he were again three years old and having a tantrum inside a grocery store.

“You’re coming with me, Fei,” she screeched. “I need to get more food in you, and you both need to see a doctor!”

“No, Lǎo mā,” he shouted. “You can’t make me!”

“ Yes I can,” Yue-Liang shouted. Yue-Liang did what she always did when her children were young. Her eyes flashed a deep red, and Fenton was being pulled against his own will.

“I’ll call,” Ace mumbled. “Don’t make her angry.”

She was already angry. She glanced at the door and it flung wide open. Fenton protested and Yue-Liang made a zipping motion over his mouth. As if his mouth was sewn shut he couldn’t speak. Yue-Liang left with Fenton and Ace was now alone, the silence louder than their voices.

Without them there, loneliness crept onto him.

He called every day as promised.

He lay in his father’s bed throughout the days and nights, doing nothing.

When he did occasionally get out of bed he would go through his phone, trying to find anything to distract his mind. He cried when he checked his email, getting a notification for the mass funeral.

Ace was sure he was going crazy without any real human interaction, other than his daily phone calls to Yue-Liang, and having to listen to the people stuck inside a sword, a watch, and a metal bracelet argue with each other.

Some nights he would awake in fright and couldn’t fall back asleep. Once he didn’t sleep for two nights, irrationally afraid that he wouldn’t wake up. After nine days of never leaving the apartment, he decided to finally leave, hoping everyone had forgotten him.

He tried to take a walk around the apartment complex and calm himself, but after only three minutes a stranger approached him. He was originally kind, but after some time Ace felt that something was off with him.

The man broke his arm, the police took him away, and Ace had to wear a cast. Ace told himself he wouldn’t leave his apartment again until the funeral would happen.

The funeral didn’t occur until three weeks later.