Bruno trudged back to where he'd left his backpack, the hope draining away with every step. Now that the intensity of the moment was over, his eyes burned and he felt the urge to just break down into tears.

Lilian, Hanna, Steve, Cave and Tessa were gone, and he had no idea where to. They'd just disappeared over the horizon, and his only aid was Liz's phone number and Lilian's hint to the Hulk serum. Neither of those could help him find his friends.

Bruno picked up his backpack, putting the pieces of paper into it. As he did, the moonlight glanced off the Iron Man helmet, and he ran his fingers over it with a jagged sigh. His gaze landed on his water bottle, with the small test tube of Hulk serum drifting around in it. He zipped his bag shut with a soft growl, and picked it up.

He automatically retreated into the Forbidden Forest, and found his feet carrying him towards the secret cave. He stood still, realizing that there was little use in going to the cave. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and felt exhaustion overwhelming him.

Just a few seconds can't hurt, right?

He sat down against a tree, and fell asleep the moment he closed his eyes.

-

Bruno woke up to the sound of a Sokovian lullaby. He blinked a few times, the daylight stinging his eyes.

"Good morning sleepyheart," a cheerful voice greeted him, and Bruno was barely awake enough to notice the Sokovian mistranslation.

He looked at the silver-haired boy that was cleaning out the cave.

The secret cave.

"Cave?" Bruno enquired, confused.

"The one and only," Cave chuckled, lifting Bruno's backpack to sweep under it with a broom that he'd found who-knows-where.

"I'm sure the others will be here soon," Cave reassured him, "you fell asleep against a tree."

"Wait, you escaped?" Bruno asked, a spark of hope igniting in his chest.

Cave frowned, and then suddenly went pale as he seemed to realize something.

"The others... they... got captured?"

"Yeah... you don't remember?" Bruno frowned back, "you were there! You were captured as well!"

"Pascal..." Cave whispered under his breath, swearing in Sokovian.

"What... Who?" Bruno scrunched his eyebrows together, "is that some sort of code word? Cave, are you sure you're okay?"

"Cove."

"Co... what? You're going to have to be less vague."

Cave sighed, putting the broom aside and crouching in front of Bruno.

"My name is not Cave, it's Cove. I'll explain later. But first..."

He grabbed Bruno's backpack and swung it onto his back, heading towards the tunnel that led back outside.

"Coming, slowpoke?"

Bruno got up quickly.

"Wait, slow down!" he exclaimed, crawling after the speedster, "what time is it? How long was I asleep? What do you mean, your name's not Cave?"

They stepped out of the stream and into the Forbidden Forest, and Cave - or Cove, as we should call him now - wrung out his shirt and gave Bruno's backpack back to it's rightful owner.

Bruno accepted the backpack thankfully, attempting to dry his glasses while Cove answered his questions.

"It's 10 AM. You slept for about 11 hours. Impressive, after over seven hours of unconsciousness yesterday."

Bruno sighed.

"It was a stressful day, okay? I should've never let Lilian convince me to let her go on this crazy mission to begin with."

Cove nodded slowly, wiping a rebellious streak of pale hair away from his eyes.

"Why don't you tell me what you saw from your point of view, then after that I'll explain."

Bruno nodded, sitting down on a fallen tree while Cove paced up and down, muttering softly in Sokovian.

"...and then I went back to get my backpack, and fell asleep I guess," Bruno finished.

Cove let out an exasperated sigh.

"The problem is that we have no idea where they were taken."

"You don't know either?" Bruno asked.

"No," Cove shook his head, "I slipped away when Steve created a diversion for Hanna and Lilian."

There was a pause as they both sighed.

Cove muttered something under his breath about winter and snow, and Bruno glanced up at the sky.

There were a few dark clouds, but none that looked like they could or would produce a snowstorm. But that made sense, as it was only the end of autumn, although the winter was already looming overhead.

"So what now?" Bruno inquired.

"We wait," Cove decided.

"For what?" Bruno frowned, "wouldn't it be better to... y'know, do something?"

Cove bit his lip nervously.

"Yeah, but... are you sure you're well-rested again? Maybe you should just take it easy for,-"

"Cove..." Bruno gritted his teeth, standing up, "what are you not telling me?"

There was a loud crack as someone nearby stepped on a rotten twig, followed by an avalanche of Sokovian swearing.

"LANGUAGE!" Cove shouted, and the swearing stopped mid-word.

A wide grin spread over Cove's face.

"Bruno... there's someone I would like you to meet."

Bruno raised both eyebrows, unsure if he would like meeting that someone.

I can still run for it, if I'm fast enough then maybe I could... oh who am I kidding? Cove has superspeed, I don't stand a chance either way.

At that moment, three people burst into the small clearing.

The two young men tripped over one another, sprawling into a clumsy heap on the floor while the young lady dusted off her jeans.

"...my sister."

-

If you guys have any theories, I'd love to hear them XD.

Thanks to all of you who vote & comment, I really appreciate it!

~Evanlyn