Bdubs could barely breathe. After Xelqua revealed who they really were, Bdubs' fight or flight kicked in. And it kicked in hard.

All he saw was a flash of light, then he was running towards Etho's house (why Etho's specifically, he didn't really know) as fast as he could. Which seemed to be really damn fast considering he felt like he was flying. Or maybe he was flying. He had no idea, he was just terrified.

He felt good, though. Powerful and energised. That was, until Xelqua appeared in front of him, holding out their hand and freezing him in place. They had a very intense look on their face, and if looks could kill, Bdubs would be six feet below.

"If I could take away your powers myself, I would," they said through gritted teeth, their voice sounding like multiple, as they started to close their fist, pressure squeezing Bdubs' limbs close to his body. "But I can't." They closed their hand and Bdubs let out a pathetic pained cry as immense pressure squeezed him uncomfortably tightly all over. "Those stupid Watchers took that ability away from me. But believe me, Bdubs, I will get your powers taken from you one way or another and I will have control over this planet again. You're young and weak and untrained in your abilities whilst I've been alive for millions of years and trained by Watchers to use my powers for ultimate destruction. You don't stand a chance against me." They opened their hand and released Bdubs, the boy panting now that he could breathe properly without feeling like there was a boulder crushing his chest. "I'll turn all of the universe against you if that's what it takes to regain control over this world."

Bdubs gulped, then took off running again. He didn't bother looking behind him to find out if Xelqua was following him or not, but he continued to run with the assumption that they were. He finally got to Etho's house and slammed open the front door, slamming it back shut and leaning against it when he got inside. He took a long, deep breath and sighed as he slid down to sit on the floor. He didn't even notice Zedaph, Skizz, and Etho until they started asking questions about his white hair and cool new face tattoo and why he was so exhausted and why he was there.

"Wait, wait, wait," Bdubs said, waving his hands to hush his friends. "My hair is what colour?"

"Whiter than Etho's," Skizz laughed, then held out his hand to help Bdubs up off the floor. "What the heck happened to you, man?"

Bdubs sighed. "You'd never believe me," he said, his head hanging low.

"If you look like that," Etho said, "and you're the Golden Child from the bedtime story, then I think I'll believe anything at this point."

Zedaph and Skizz nodded in agreement, and Bdubs sighed again.

"Grian is a really bad guy," Bdubs said. "Like, a really, really bad guy. They're trying to get rid of my-" He paused. "How did you know I'm the Golden Child?" he asked, Etho's words finally clicking.

Zed shrugged. "Common sense," he said. "We just figured out that you were causing the crazy changes in the sky, then Skizz remembered that story about the child blessed by the gods and we just assumed."

Bdubs rolled his eyes. "You guys are nuts," he said. "But you guys need to stay away from that Grian kid. Their name isn't even Grian, it's Xelqua. They're the god of chaos and they're trying to get rid of my powers because I'm keeping them from having control over the planet."

Skizz looked away whilst Zed tilted his head.

"Why would they want control over this planet?" Zedaph asked.

"To toy with human beings, I guess," Bdubs replied. "But you guys are the only people that can know about my powers, okay? Nobody is supposed to know in the first place, but if too many people know, then I'll lose my powers. And the Heavens only know what Xelqua will do."

Etho nodded. "We won't tell a soul," he said. "You can count on that."

Bdubs smiled at his boyfriend. "Thank you, Etho."

Skizz pursed his lips and dug the toe of his shoe into the ground. "Mhm. You can count on us," he said awkwardly.

"I really appreciate it."

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

Bdubs was especially happy the next day at school since Xelqua wasn't there, and he was practically skipping around the school.

"Hey guys," he said as he approached the lunch table. "What's... up..." He paused and his smile vanished when he saw Xelqua sitting in his seat. Bdubs scowled at them. "What are you doing here?"

Xelqua smiled innocently. "I was just having a chat with my friends," they said cheerfully, then looked over to their left. Bdubs followed his gaze to see Skizz coming toward the table, giving Bdubs a nasty side eye. "Thanks for telling them, Skizz. I appreciate it."

Skizz shrugged. "Sure," he said blankly as he sat down next to them.

Xelqua smiled even brighter. "Now everyone can know about Bdubs' super cool powers!"