Charlie's Pov One Hour Later
I stared at the wall. Holding Nathan close as he cried. Normally, the boy would have chopped off my fingers if I'd tried under any other circumstances. But now, he was in extreme emotional pain. And so was I. The only thing keeping me going was the fact that these kids needed me. Lucas too. Jacob's Grandfather was whispering to him as the boy cried for his father. All this crying and noise would just attract more things we didn't want finding us. As emotionally drained as we all were, if we didn't supress our feelings, we'd just die next.

"Nathan. I n-need you to calm down. I'm sure he's in a better place now." I patted his head.

Nathan's green eyes glanced up at me. His bottom lip trembled and he shivered at the contact. He looked like a small hurt puppy. He must have felt strong despair. If Tom were here, he would have mentioned a girl named Junko or something. What did she have to do with despair, I'd never know.

"Please. You have to be strong. He wouldn't want you to die and visit him in heaven so soon." I smiled, but it was empty. There was nothing to be happy about.

"......I always wanted to know who held his attention. Who his heart desired. And why life had to be so cruel. Now I'll never know."

I tilted my head. "Nathan....did you like your brother?" I asked.

He moved away from the hug. "And what if I did? I don't know anymore. He told me what I felt was false. That I didn't know true love and was confused because of the past." His voice was miserable.

"We're mostly the same then." I sighed. "I was in love with Zeke too. I went through a long period of time wondering if I was a mistake. Or that my feelings were wrong. It reached a really bad point where I considered doing bad things to myself. But that kind of thinking is selfish. Alex begged me to live on. So that's what I'll do."

Nathan nodded at me. "I don't know what I'll do yet. A part of me is denying Cody being gone. But a bigger part of me just feels really hollow. And empty." He walked over and sat on the dirty floor. He wasn't wearing shoes either. None of were. Number One had taken us by surprise. No chance to prepare or get fully dressed. Most of us were in shorts, or no shoes. Or other things like that. Nathan was a mixture of both. He had on red shorts that looked tight, and mismatched socks.

"Do you want another....?"

"I'd just like to be left alone." He said. "Thanks though. The talk helped." He pulled his knees up and buried his face in them.

"O-okay." I nodded. Glancing across the room. Aunty had gone out to look for food. Weapons. And possibly clothes.

It was just Sophia, Jacob, his grandfather, Lucas, Emma, Maxine and Charlotte. Although the last two weren't in the room at all. Actually.... looking around.. Sophia wasn't here as well. Maybe she was in a different part of the building. Maybe.

Jacob waved at me from across the room, his crown on top of his head. "Hey, Charlie."

I walked over to him. "Hey, my little prince. What's up?" I gave him a hug.

"You noticed." He smiled, adjusting the crown and puffing his chest out slightly. His white hair sticking out from under the crown.

"Of course." I felt my stomach growl. "And I'm hungry too. Also noticed that." I smiled at him, ignoring my urge to take a bite from him.

Jacob giggled. "You're funny, big bro."

My eyes widened at that. He considered me his brother? "That's so..sweet." I pulled away from the hug. Glancing over at Emma on the floor. She was coloring something. It looked pretty violent. Whatever it was. "Emma, whatcha doing?"

She turned to me. "Drawing....stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" I inquired.

"Just....". She clutched the paper tightly.

Jacob's smile disappeared and a glare replaced it. "She's drawing the thing that killed our mother. Creepy."

"It's a bit odd, but no need for names. Everyone has different ways of dealing with stress." I frowned slightly at Jacob. It wasn't like him to say things like that.

Jacob shrugged. "I just find it weird. It's like she admires that thing with the way she stares at it."

Emma bit her lip. "I....". She began, but didn't open her mouth to say anything afterwards.

"She'll be back in a few hours. Try and get along without insults until then." I ruffled Jacob's hair.

"Of course." He winked at me. "I'm the nicest prince in the world. Mostly."

Tom's Pov 4 Hours Later
"Has anyone seen Derek?" I glanced around. "Oh wait. Nobody I know is here. Great." No Zeke, no Gunther, no Derek. Where the hell was everyone on my team? The only person here from the team was Sam. Not that I didn't know him, but we didn't really speak very often. And it sometimes felt awkward when I made anime references and he didn't get them. Welp, might as well try again. "Sam, you okay? You're looking a bit down."

Sam glanced up from his paperwork. He was just tapping his pen on the desk, not really doing anything. "Huh? Oh. I was just worried. About Derek. He isn't back yet from yesterday's mission."

"Well... everything will be alright. BECAUSE I AM HERE." I stood in an All Might pose.

Sam stared at me blankly. "Shouldn't you be in your office?"

I scoffed. "They can't expect teens to do serious paperwork. Not just teens either. We were in middle school before all this. We're not ready to just transition into bucket loads of paperwork each day."

Sam shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me what I'm doing. I just do it."

"Right. Hmph." A thought crossed my mind. "Why do you care so much for Derek? Is he like your dad? Or Granddad?"

"No. It's nothing like that at all. He just takes care of me. As a favor for my actual dad. I like him better though. My actual dad is always busy. And he never has time for us unless he needs us for something."

"Oh? And who's your actual dad? And you have siblings? Who?"

Sam shrugged. "None of your business, newbie." He sighed. "You still only have the standard sword they give you?"

I frowned. Quickly changing the subject, eh? "Yeah. But I've only been here for like two months. I haven't even had any cases yet."

Sam glanced at a photo on his desk. He looked younger in it. He was smiling and covered in blood, holding a bunch of knives. Next to him stood a white haired boy in glasses. He was calm. And his stare seemed to reveal nothing. "I joined this organization as a kid. And lucky enough, Victor was my partner. He's the strongest guy here. But I didn't need two months to get used to things. I didn't go to the training academy they had. Neither did Victor. He's said to have taken down monsters that the previous best of the best would wet their pants at. So what's your excuse?"

"Excuse?"

"Yeah. We adjusted quickly. You can to. Stop making excuses. Just do it. This isn't a fun and games camp. I learned that the hard way. The boy in the photo.... smiling like this was just a big joke....he's gone. And now that I've matured, I want to follow in Victor's footsteps. So I'll continue surpressing the old side of me. Until the time is right."

"You people here sure love your inspirational speeches." I sighed. Turning to the smiling Sam in the photo. That version of him definitely reminded me of myself. We likely would have been better friends. "But when would you consider the time to be right?"

"Hmm....I dunno." He twirled his pen. "Oh! Right. I have another sort of mentor. He's pretty nice too. The foster father of the pig boy. Mr. Romber. He promised he'd take us out for drinks when we're old enough. Or maybe even sneak some reaaaaaal soon." He winked. "On a day like that, I'd consider the time to be right. I'll even take you, and Zeke, and Gunther too. I hope we can all have drinks someday." He smiled, at me for once.

"Hmm. Right." I smiled back at him.

He glanced at the time. "Almost 2:15. Get out so I can finish this before tonight!"

"Yes sir!" I saluted exaggeratedly. And walked out stiffly. I hope that's a promise Sam. I want us all to share drinks too....someday.

Charlotte's Pov
"Maxine." I glanced at her. "You've been quiet. I'm not the White Witch. I told you already. Are you mad at me anyway?"

Maxine let out a sigh. "No. I'm just trying to see if I can believe you." She shrugged.

"Really? You wanna see if you can believe me? Why?"

"I know literally nothing about you. You told me you were a witch. And nothing else."

I chuckled. "You're right. You have no reason to really trust me. I can see that. Sorry." I looked at her.

Her eyes were blank, as always. Blank and bored. Disinterested. Like she was a million miles away. "Mind giving me something then? Clues? Background? Friends? Enemies? Who are you, Charlotte? I told you apart of my story, so now I need some in return."

"Alright. I agree. Fine. Okay." I held my hands up. "Where should I start?"

"Childhood. I want to understand you and everything about you being a witch. Laws. Customs. Anything and everything there is."

"The ins and outs to being a witch. Okay." I sighed. "I learned witchcraft from my mother. I'm one of the younger witches out there. I'm actually my age. Unlike the few hundred year old witches who use spells to appear younger."

"Couple hundred...". She let out a whistle in amazement. "How old are you then?"

"Twenty-four."

"Big difference. Gigantic."

I shook my head. "Yeah. My mom was a pretty experienced witch back in her prime. But now, using magic to alter her appearance has started to fail. She's growing old. And I have to help her with magic." I blinked. "Or, I would, but well... let's not ruin the story. I'll start now. At the important part."

8 Months Ago
"Remember, don't forget to seperate the chemicals you're using from the ones we're dumping. I don't want excess chemicals going all over the place. Mire would hate to have to come here personally and babysit all of you. So I'm here to make sure now of you screw anything up." A man in glasses and a labcoat spoke to us. And by us, I mean myself and my co-workers. Where did we work? A chemical lab. About halfway between Marywood and a town called Spinview. Surrounded by a lake so it was isolated.

Our job was to utilise chemicals to create weapons and other inventions for Mary Mire. She was the owner of the company, but she secretly was heavily involved with the criminal underground. Secretly. So we created the weapons and other stuff for her and her army. Or crime family. Whatever you call it. After we'd met a certain quota for the day, we dumped the remaining chemicals into the lake. Had to be rid of it. And it couldn't be mixed with the next batch, so that was the most efficient way.

However, doing this method altered the water. Anything that went in likely wouldn't come out the same. And we weren't going to touch it to find out.

"There's been a bit of an... incident. A man crawled out from the lake." The glasses man said.

Fuck. Just my luck.

"The lake did some weird crap to him. Made him all pale. And, believe it or not, it looked like a plant was growing from his mouth."

There were a few groans throughout the room. To be expected. We'd have to examine his body to find out what was wrong. Obviously. Things could never be simple.

"I'm sending in 5. The rest of you, keep working normally. I'll be back tomorrow. Don't disappoint me. I'm Albert Einstein's reincarnation, so I hope you don't disappoint. Because I'm more of a mad scientist." He pointed at five workers in the mini crowd and then smiled and walked out.

I smiled for a different reason. I wasn't picked. Good. Because messing with weird stuff like that was so not me. I'm good with my normal routine.

15 minutes Later
I walked around the lab. I'd already finished my work for the day. But I frowned as I heard screaming from down the hall. The normally quiet, calm vibe shattered instantly. "Odd.
..what the hell could that...?" And then I felt the building tremble and heard the sound of glass breaking. I clutched a railing along the wall to steady myself.

For a moment, everything remained still. And then a giant plant vine broke through the wall in front of me and smashed through the part of the wall on the other side. "The hell?" I saw sparks in the air as a woman stumbled out from the lab room on the left. Her skin was extremely pale and her veins were clearly visible. She opened her mouth and a huge flower emerged. She clutched her throat, trembled and gagged before falling to the ground.

I stumbled backwards as multiple bright red flowers bloomed from the giant plant vine in the wall. All of a sudden, my head began pounding. The air felt thick and my vision was becoming shaky as a part of the plant vine began growing towards me. I fell to my knees and felt a deep ache in my bones. Everything hurt. I held out my hand and said a transportation spell. Immediately imagining the location to complete the spell. But the pain caused my spell to be hasty and not properly done. The first place I'd thought of was outside. So I was teleported outside, in the air, quickly falling to the cold murky water below.

Unknown amount of time Later
So cold. How long have I been down here? I felt weird. I had always been trying to escape, but I was always stopped by a sort of green material that surrounded my body. My vision flickered and I saw the destroyed lab. Sparks still flying. Papers everywhere. Bodies. So many. But what was I seeing through? Was it...the plant? Sparks flew from broken electrical wires in the ceiling. The sparks landed on the papers on the floor, and a small fire started. I watched that fire quickly grow, engulfing the papers and bodies in flames. It reached the plant and I felt an extreme pain. Like I was the one on fire.

I pushed both of my hands upwards, screaming in pain and thrashing everywhere. Make it stop. MAKE IT STOP! I groaned as I tore through the sticky material, my hands now in water. I quickly closed my mouth as water flooded in. I floated out of the material that looked like a cocoon and swam upwards towards what looked like flickering sunlight hitting the water. I pulled a hand out from the water and felt myself grasp a few rocks. I pulled myself out from the water and began breathing heavily.

I blinked slowly as my eyes began to adjust to the change of the constant darkness down there. The sun was barely visible and the sky was grey. I was sweating and hot. It made me irritated. I slowly pressed my hands into the ground and stumbled to my feet.

The sun was definitely in a different place. The weather felt odd. And my clothes were ragged, wet and torn. I glanced backwards and saw the lab burning in the distance. I groaned and clutched my head. Marywood's Harbor. I tried to steady my breathing.

"Excuse me. Are you okay?" A male voice asked from my left.

I turned to the voice. It was a large man who looked about 20 or something. "Are you okay?" He repeated. "What's your name? Where'd you come from? What happened to your clothes."

"Charlotte. My name is Charlotte." I answered that question in particular.

He nodded. "Well.... Charlotte, it's nice to meet you.....you look a bit lost."

I nodded. My body trembled without my consent. "Please...help...me...". I reached out for him.

He walked towards where I was. "My name's Bob. I can call for an ambulance or something." He frowned a little. Glancing at my torn and wet remains of clothing.

I shook my head. "No...just...help."

"You're really...pretty. Do you have a boyfriend?"

Once we were close enough to touch, I grabbed his arm harshly.

"What the FUCK?" His voice rose sharply. There was a sharp cracking sound from his wrist. He grabbed at my arm. "Crazy bit-". He froze.

My nails had begun digging into his arm from the combined pressure. Blood began dripping from his arm and his skin around the mark turned pale. He began shaking and his grip on me loosened as he collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. I leaned down in front of his face. "You disgust me, you filthy pig." I watched him cough harshly before his mouth opened wide and a vine quickly grew from it. I blinked in surprise. "Just like....how...peculiar." I stroked Bob's pale cheek and his pale green veins.

I glanced at his attire. Hmm. I grabbed the golden watch off his wrist and a golden chain from his neck. "Hmm." I reached into his jacket pocket. A large wad of cash. I reached into his other pocket, finding nothing. I sighed and reached into his pants pocket, pulling out a phone. I frowned as I tapped the power button, but a smile bloomed on my face as I saw there was no password. "Cocky. Foolish. Idiotic." I reached into his other pocket and pulled out a set of keys.

I turned his phone's screen on again and scrolled through until I found his contacts. Friends. Facebook. I opened it up. The photos all over his page were of his house. I recognized the area. I'd come for a job interview in that area. I smirked.

About 10 minutes Later
I reached the house that I'd seen in most of his picture were. Welp, at least he didn't live in the narrows. I lived there. Everyone there was extremely poor, which led to stealing, violence, and all sorts of gang activity. Even the police feared going to that part of the city. I frowned. Going there would have definitely raised more stares with having wet and torn clothes. I pulled out the guy's keys, tried each until one worked, and pushed open the door.

I frowned at the brown walls immediately. So much for a rich guy. It was pretty boring. I stepped inside and closed the door behind myself.

"Babe? Is that you?" A female voice called out from upstairs.

I scoffed. He'd been flirting with me, and yet he had a girlfriend. He really was a filthy pig. I walked towards the stairs and slowly began walking up. "No. A friend." I replied in a tired tone.

"Oh?" I heard the clicking of heels from a certain room.

I was staring up when she walked out from the top step silently. I must've looked quite strange. "Hi there." I said simply.

"Hi." She said nervously. "Where's Bob?" She glanced at my attire with a distasteful look.

"Long story." I strode over to her. "Do you like plants?"

"They're okay. I guess. I mean, I was taking care of one, but it's dying. I've been really busy lately." She said awkwardly.

"May I see it?" I asked.

"Sure. No problem." She pushed open the door to the room she'd come out of. The room was fairly dark and clothes littered the floor. I frowned and walked over to the plant sitting on a wooden desk in the corner. From that position, with only a small window next to it to provide sunlight, no wonder it wasn't doing so well.

I sighed. "How pitiful." I picked up the flower pot. "Do you water it often." I turned to the woman.

Her eyes widened. "Uh.....yeah. Of course. Totally." Her tone was shaky. She was lying. "I...uh..need to make sure I look good. Bob and I are going out later." She closed the room door and studied her appearance on the mirror on it. "Did Bob ever tell you when he was coming back? And why are you dressed like that? Hello?" She glanced back at me.

An Hour Later
I stood in front of the large mirror. I had taken a long shower and had used a towel to dry myself off. Now I stood in a bright green dress and black heels. "Looks nice." I smiled at myself. I glanced at the smashed and slightly bloody plant pot. "Next time, remember to water." I shook my head in disgust and stepped over the lady's body. Whether she was unconscious or dead, I didn't really care. I looked nice and had good throwing skills. That was all that mattered.

I walked over to her closet and pushed open the doors. "So much clothes." I nodded in approval. Bob's phone buzzed on the dresser. I picked it up. "New message. From someone named...Mark. Hmm. Money. Nice clothes. And plenty of friends. Glad I robbed these guys." I peered down at his phone. "He's asking to come over.  I'm fine with that." I texted back.

"Kitchen." I walked downstairs until I reached it. I ran to the fridge and pulled it open. I shook my head, quickly pulling out all of the meats from the fridge.

"Vegetarian coming through." I smiled. Animals and plants were to be cherished. If Bob and his girlfriend couldn't accept that, I felt no regrets.

15 Minutes Later
I heard the sound of a doorbell. "Finally." I sighed, lifting my hand and creating a portal in reality. A small one. Just enough for me to reach into and pull out my bag of vials. Vials of many different colors. I grabbed a pink one. When sprayed on a user, it made everyone who smelled it fall madly in love with them. They'd obey their every command. Perfect.

I closed the portal and opened the front door.

"Hello. I wasn't aware Bob had a friend over." A friendly voice said to me. "I thought he'd tell me when surprises came up."

I stared up at him. His hair was a dark black. Messy too. And his eyes were a warm brown. He had on a bright green shirt that had something to do with Earth day. He also had on basketball shorts. He looked to be in his early 20's or so, and he radiated a sense of calm. To others, he might have seemed weird, but I liked him immediately. He seemed above the average scum.

"My name's Mark." He held out his hand.

I stared at it for a few seconds. "Charlotte." I shook his. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Depends on what I'm doing. "

"I have this new perfume. And I wanted a guy's opinion on it."

"Oh. Alright."

I lifted the vial up to my neck and touch the nozzle at the top, spraying it on me, the liquid turning to perfume through magic. "There."

He leaned forward and took a small sniff. His cheeks slowly turned pink and his eyes widened. "It smells great. And...you look really nice all of a sudden." He smiled. "Would you consider being my girlfriend?"

So pure. I giggled. Maybe I could keep him around. Treat him like one of my plants. "Serve me, and I'll consider it."

He saluted. "Yes, mam!"

A thought came to me. Mom. "What month is it?"

"October. The 1st. 2016."

"Fuck. Six months. Since April." I slammed my fist into the wall and a large crack formed. Weird part was, I barely felt any pain. "What did that plant do to me?" I muttered. "Whatever. I'll get my clothes. Steal the rest of hers. We'll look for mom, and everything will be alright."

Present Day
Maxine stared at me in pity. "And then what happened?"

"My mom was kidnapped by the White Witch. Mark disappeared shortly after. I assume he's dead. And I never met the guy who visited the lab that day again. Nor did I get caught by the police for the murders."

Maxine nodded. "I see."

"Just be yourself, Maxine. And be grateful you're alive. Aged or not."

She stared at me silently, staying silent this time.

Amy's Pov
"I'm back!". I called out upon entering the building.

Jacob lay bleeding on the floor, the others besides Maxine, and Charlotte surrounding him. The other two had just entered the room.

"What the hell happened?"

"Sophia....I thought she was... nice...but...she...took....big...bro... Charlie." Jacob coughed up blood. He had a large wound in his stomach.

I looked down sadly. We had no proper treatment. Or medical supplies. Jacob's wound would get infected. And he'd get sick and probably die. Or he'd die from the blood loss. "So much betrayal." I kneeled down next to them all.

Charlie's Pov 3 Hours Later
I felt a sharp pain in my head. I groaned, opening my eyes. I saw a brown ceiling above me.

"You're awake." A familiar voice noted.

I turned my head without getting up. My eyes widening. "Dad."