25. Tord had been 25 when it happened, but that was 11 years ago. 11 years too long. He was 36 now. Tord was staring up at the ceiling of his bedroom, a heavy silence hanging everywhere.

      It was quiet as always, it was as silent as it was supposed to be. All because of a demon. Not his demon, a different one. Tord remembered it clearly despite the years that had passed, he remembered in great detail how everyone hated each other. How everyone blamed each other. 

      How they hated him and the distances they fled to. It started when they discovered the demon. Star and Matt retrieved Patryk and Paul, it had been serious and 6 people wasn't enough. When the four returned, the demon, Susterren, had possessed Tom, hijacking his mind and forcing him to go berserk. Tom had lashed attacks out at everyone, he couldn't stop himself and Edd intervened, reluctantly blasting Tom with a green laser. The blow struck Susterren out, but it simply moved onto controlling Star.

      Once Joyce realised who Susterren had gained control of, she sent a great wave of fire at Star's wings. The demon immediately fled, the majority of Star's wings were blackened. Joyce was Susterren's third target, only she was far more resilient than the others, which ended in Joyce being flung out the peaks of the mountains. Matt was fourth, Tom shifted and flicked Matt into a wall, that promptly made the demon leave. It was about going to possess Tord until Edd jumped in front of him.

      That moment spelled disaster. Edd's control over his powers wasn't that great, but since Susterren was pulling the strings, no one could get near Edd. The key to knocking Susterren out of someone was to damage them, but to no avail, Edd was untouchable. Possessed Edd flew off with a large blast, everyone was in shock. They had lost Edd to a demon. The blame was aimed at Tord first, who was frozen in place, he was still processing what happened, he was dumbfounded. 

       Patryk and Paul had already left, Tord had dropped to his knees in despair. Monster Tom super jumped away, Matt wasted no time in fleeing, Star was long gone and so was Joyce. Tord was alone. He lost contact with everyone: no texts, no visits, no calls. Nothing, absolutely nothing.

      Five years passed, then eight, then eleven. That leads us to now. The devil horned man dangled his legs off the bed, his feet easily touching the ground. This was normal by now, wake up, waste his day then go back to sleep for his dreams to haunt him. Tord hardly felt anything anymore, he had no reason to.

      That was until a faint, orange glow lit up his floor. Stunned, Tord closed his eyes and shook his head, convinced he was hallucinating. The glowing was still present, if not brighter. Deep down, Tord knew that he should follow it, but he still had common sense. His devil's taunting voice rang through his mind.

      "Something wrong, Tord?"  Tord shook his head and snapped back. "No, but I'm assuming you put that there?" A laugh echoed through his thoughts. "Of course, now why don't you be a good wiedler and follow it?" 

      Despite not wanting to listen to what the devil ordered, Tord complied and began to walk along the path. He had so many questions, yet he knew all too well that none would be given a proper answer. After an hour or so of walking, the trail stopped and Tord was in front of a house. "Go on." Tord rolled his eyes and hesitantly knocked on the door.

      There was no way he could've expected the person behind it. Although he wasn't the only surprised one. In the doorway was 32 year old Joyce. First surprise was etched on her face, then it morphed into a sad smile with a hint of regret. "Tord...." Said man drew back, he hadn't expected her to be there, why had his devil led him here?

      The first words that he spoke were what came to mind. "You're not mad at me...? You don't hate me?" Joyce was confused, her expression clearly displaying so. "No..."

      Tord felt some sort of relief wash over him. The devil made the move for him and next thing Tord knew, he was hugging Joyce while on the brink of crying. Naturally, the woman was taken aback, though it didn't take much for her to find out what was wrong. Joyce lead him inside and sat him down on the couch, taking a seat next to the upset shifter after closing the door. She patted his back while tears ran down his hidden face.

      He didn't intend to start crying, yet the words that he wanted to hear, the answer he desperately needed to hear was given. Joyce didn't hate him, that alone was enough to send him overboard and all because the question ate away at him for eleven years. The question of whether she hates him or not, how she felt. It took around three or four minutes for the shifter to calm down and compose himself. When Joyce felt that it was okay to speak, she dropped an interesting question.

       "How did you find me? Everyone split up and I could never get in contact with any of them no matter how hard I tried." Tord moved his hands away from his face and stared at the beige carpet. "You weren't there to see it, that demon flung you over to the peaks, didn't it?" The man countered her question/statement with a question of his own.

      The fire wielder nodded. "It's pretty faint, but I do remember how I couldn't use my fire due to the frostbite I had for about two weeks, maybe longer." A nod in response. "You just missed it then, how Susterren possessed Edd instead of me." In Joyce's mind, the pieces fit in place, the questions and the crying made much more sense.

      "I wasn't trying to freeze up, I couldn't make myself move, but Edd just threw himself in front of me before I could stop him, I should've done something." Joyce gently placed her hand on Tord's shoulder. "It's been eleven years Tord, you can't be hung up on this forever." He turned to face her. "I might be able to leave it behind, but what about the others?

      How will they deal with it? It's been eleven years too long, Joyce." Silence filled the room and Tord spoke again. "The only reason you can see past it is because you weren't there to see it, everyone else is going to be completely different. I only found you because my devil showed me the path to your house."

      Joyce didn't reply, one question was answered, but now she had another. "You keep saying how everyone else will be different, does that mean you're going to try finding them, too?" A nod was received as an answer, to which Joyce concentrated. "If you're going to do that, then I want to come with you." Tord was shocked, he could only manage out a shaky answer.

      "They'll HATE you, why would you want to go?!" The sheer amount of determination in Joyce's voice and eyes was terrifying. "I want to know what happened and I want to make things right." Truth be told, Tord wanted the same thing, only he wasn't nearly as ambitious or determined as Joyce. As a matter of fact, he was quite reluctant.

      It's not like anyone can blame him for his hesitation, their presumed distaste for him has played a major part in him gaining such a mindset. After considering her request, Tord caved and agreed to let her tag along. He explained that he wasn't going right away, and that they should wait for a while longer. Joyce, on one side understood, but another part of her thought that Tord was trying to stall for time. In truth, Tord was waiting for a path to show up.

      Sure enough, a half hour later of solid sporatic conversations, a faint blue light lit up the floor. The semi friends were talking about random things when the devil haired man stopped mid sentence to stare at seemingly nothing. When Joyce questioned if something was wrong, Tord only replied with, "we're going to find someone else, I hope you're ready." Admittedly, the woman was thrown off guard by the sudden statement, but went with it. With a nod, she stood up, pulled her shoes on and followed Tord out the door.

      Some questions and answers about the trail were exchanged until they arrived at a run down house. "This is where it stops...." Tord's heart was pounding against his chest, he felt like he knew who was going to open that door, and what their exact reaction would be. When he gathered up enough courage to knock on the door, his thoughts were racing. 3 knocks was all it took for a certain shifter to open the door.

      Tom had been in a not so great mood beforehand, but seeing Tord there made it terrible. He huffed, rolled his eyes then shut the door without a word, Tord felt dejected, why had his devil led him here? "Because you need to talk to him, I don't care how much he doesn't like it." This response was unexpected, so a question was sparked. "Why are you so set on me finding everyone?"

      Tom, who was still on the other side of the door, was confused, was Tord talking to himself? Joyce stared at Tord, slightly concerned. "I'm sick of you bitching about how they all hate your guts, I'm simply motivating you to get your lazy ass out of the house to fix this shit." Tord remained silent, carefully thinking of what he could come back with. "If you want me to speak with Tom so bad, then why don't you do it yourself?

       You know he won't listen to me normally." Within his mind, the devil grinned. "Wonderful idea."  Right before Joyce's eyes, the devil possessed Tord, who now had a cocky grin plastered on his face. The devil, now occupying Tord's body, waltzed up to the door with an air of confidence and knocked, patiently waiting for Tom to answer.

      The first thing that the grumpy shifter said was "I thought I got it across to you I wasn't interested in talking." Grin still ever present, the devil replied. "You got it across to my holder, I am his shift." Both Joyce and Tom were surprised by this revelation, so the fire wielder spoke up first. "Well, we can't just call you devil, don't you have a name?" 

     He ever so slightly turned his head to face the only woman present. "You can call me Valsurt." When he received a nod in reply, the newly named devil turned back to face the fellow shifter. "Now listen here shifter, I took the time to personally hunt you down so I could lead my holder here, I do not intend to be turned away at the door." This was quite the revelation to the former and semi friend of Tord.

      "Hold on, you STALKED me?!" Valsurt nodded, confirming what he stated a minute ago. Tom ran a hand through his wild hair, trying to wrap his head around this entire situation. "Let me get this straight, you stalked me and potentially Joyce so that you could force Tord to talk to us. Do I have that right?"

      Tom explained with what he had, earning a simple yes from the devil. "I don't know what you expect me to say to this." Valsurt shot him a quick witted reply. "Oh, I didn't expect you to be able to say anything to that, so why don't you invite us in? My feet are aching, shifter and I'm sure the fire wielder is the same."

      Joyce nodded, albeit pretty awkwardly. Tom let out a heavy sigh then moved aside for the duo to enter. When everyone was seated, Valsurt let go and Tord was back. The instant he comprehended that he was back in control, the following was said. "I don't want any part in any deals he made with you."

      Joyce reassured Tord. "Don't worry, he didn't mention any deals." He relaxed a little, although he was still tense. Tom wasted no time in his interrogation. "Was he telling the truth or not?"

       A nod of confirmation. "I didn't know he stalked you, he only showed me the paths and told me to follow them." Tom muttered a "great" under his breath. "Look, I don't know about half the things Valsurt does, he's unpredictable, even for me." That momentarily settled the conversation, until Tom conjured up another question.

       "If Valsurt stalked Joyce and I, does that mean he stalked the others?" Tord gave the answer without the assistance of the devil. "Yeah, he did." No hesitation was needed on Tom's end. "So you want to find everyone else, huh?"

      One more nod from Tord. "You're crazier than I thought you'd be." Another silence fell upon the room. "Oh to hell with it, I'll join you." Tom's declaration rang across the room, stunning the visitors.

       "Wait, what?" Joyce couldn't believe she heard that right. "You heard me." While Tom and Joyce were talking, a lilac path appeared in front of Tord. Without caring about interrupting, the Norwegian spoke up.

        "If you're joining, then we're going to leave shortly, the path has shown up." Tom was confused at this sudden departure. "What path? There's nothing here." Before Tord could answer, Joyce stepped in. 

        "Trust me, it's there, only Tord can see it, that's how he got here, and how he found me as well." Tom nodded in understanding, slipping his shoes on. After waiting a minute or two, Tom was ready to go, so the trio began their next adventure when Tom locked his front door. From what he could see, this path in particular was really long, appearing to lead to the far off mountains. With a slight grimace, Tord called back that they were going to walk for a while, when Joyce proposed an idea.

       "Tord, you do remember we have powers, right?" She glanced at Tom, who seemed to get the memo. Tom shifted into his monster form so that Joyce wouldn't have to further explain her intentions. The non shifted shifter looked back to see Joyce sitting on Monster Tom's back, the woman waving Tord over. Embarrassed, the man in the red hoodie shuffled over, carefully climbing on to the monster's large back.

       "Now that we're situated and Tom can't exactly speak, you're going to have to tell him where to go, Tord." With a deep breath, the devil shifter explained that they were heading to the mountains, and after that, Tom launched off at a full sprint. Joyce and Tord were holding on for dear life, but at the rate they were going, they would reach the mountains within the next two or three hours. Sure enough, two and half hours later, the mountains were looming over them, casting an erie shadow across the ground. Tom could hardly stand, he was panting like a dog from sprinting so much.

      On the other hand, Joyce looked scared, she already knew who they were about to meet. Her breathing picked up in pace, she was starting to panic. "Hey, we're going to reason with her." That's what Tord had said to Joyce, which appeared to stop her hyperventilating. "Okay...."

      While Tom was resting on the ground, a shack became visible a couple feet away. Tord and Joyce shared a look, nodded then approached the shack. They weren't able to knock before a strong gust of wind blasted them backwards, with a figure landing directly in front of them, their lilac eyes glaring menacingly. Joyce reeled back farther, hardly maintaining her composed facade. The figure spoke up, their words were cold.

       "What are you doing here?" The duo instantly recognized the voice as Star's, though she had matured quite a lot in the eleven year time period. As soon as she straightened herself, Star was revealed to be level, if not taller than Joyce and Tord. Her wings were spread out, the ends and all over were darker, but the ends were darkest and slightly sharp. "I asked you a question, answer." 

      Star's words cut across the silence. Neither could manage an answer, so Tom stepped in, completely unaffected by her intimidation. "We came by for a visit, cool your jets." She just rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Like you're one to talk, you and devil bitch were always fighting over petty shit."

       Tom was quick to counter her. "So I see someone's still a moody teenager." Star didn't like that answer, she got close to him, glaring. "Just because you're older than me doesn't mean you can boss me around like you used to." With a little confusion, Tom questioned her.

      "What do you mean by boss you around?" Another scoff, and Star turned away. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. Leave, all of you." Unfortunately for her, the trio was standing their ground.

       Joyce finally found her words and spoke up. "We're not going to leave until we talk to you, Star." The sassy woman rocketed off the ground to create a blast of wind. "You're one to talk, hothead. You are the reason my wings are fucked up, you are the last person I wanted to see."

      Star wasn't fooling around, she had a vendetta against Joyce after all these years, and the words hurt to hear. When they were younger, the two girls had been nearly inseparable, now they were arguing. "We were close in the past, why are you like this?" Laughter started to ring out from the flying woman. "Hahaha, AHAHAHAHAAA! 

       YOU, of ALL PEOPLE are asking why I'm like this?! HOW DENSE CAN YOU BE?! THIS IS ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT, JOYCE!" Her words were filled with spite, Star wasn't showing remorse with her insults. Tom was still a bit tired, Joyce was on the brink of breaking down, so Tord felt it was his responsibility to intervene. 

      Tord willingly shifted for the first time in years, super jumping up to Star's level, hoping to drag her down, but she was quick, evading his attempt. "Trying to play hero, are we Tord? Isn't that a bit pathetic?" While Star was preoccupied with the devil, Tom had shifted below and behind Star so that he could pounce on her like a cat, effectively taking her down. The second the Monster and Winged girl crashed to the ground, Star screamed in pain, being crushed by a giant monster was agonizing.

       She plummeted into an intense agony, it felt like her bones had shattered. At the scream, Tom quickly unshifted and moved off of her. Immediate concern filled his mind, even though she was rude and insulting to all of them, Star was still his adoptive sister. She was hyperventilating, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. "Get away from me...."

       That was what the Winged girl had croaked out, all of her ribs and back hurt. Joyce, despite being upset at Star, she did feel a little bad. It turned out that a few bones were indeed broken upon closer inspection, which made Tom regret taking that course of action, however, she wasn't going to listen any other way. After some apologies and insults, Star finally decided to cooperate. "Yeah, I'm aware I'm moody, what about it?"

      Tord and Star were having a conversation inside the shack. "Look, I know you don't like Joyce, but will you hear me out in this?" The injured woman muttered a "fine" and waited for the shifter to explain. "Back when we were fighting Susterren, almost everyone was possessed at one point or another, but in order to make him leave, the person has to be damaged. Joyce was acting on instinct when you were possessed, so she used her fire before she realized what would happen."

     Star remained silent, thinking it over. "Such a stupid misunderstanding..... I'm as foolish as I was in the past. The things I said earlier were unacceptable and rude, to make it up to you, I'll join this crazy journey of yours." Tord was glad she understood, but Star had broken ribs, how on Earth could she join?

     "And to answer the question I know you want to ask, my wings cause my body to heal faster than an average person, I should be fine by the end of the day. Now, I suggest you and the other two stay the night, it's getting late." The silver eyed man nodded, leaving the room and giving the news to the other two. "She says she'll come with us, and that we can stay the night." Tom still looked concerned.

      "She's going to fine, right? I know a few things were broken...." The monster shifter questioned, as her adoptive older brother, his worry and care was as strong as ever. "Don't worry, Tom, she'll be okay, Star heals fast, remember?" At his words, Tom visibly relaxed, knowing his little sister would be okay was the best thing right now.

      Joyce, on the other hand was still a little anxious. Tord walked over, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I explained what happened, and she understood, don't worry, she won't be mad at you anymore..." Though the 32 year old still seemed unsure, she nodded, walking into a spare bedroom, quite tired. Shortly afterwards, Tom and Tord also found themselves becoming tired and sleeping.

      Early in the morning, at 9:38, all four siblings seemed to wake up, Star coming out a little later. After stretching and starting to prepare some tea, the Winged woman asked how everyone was, Tom still appearing surprised that she was completely healed. "The things I said yesterday were unjustified, I hope you can forgive me for acting so immature." Star had been saying while pouring tea into different mugs. "Tord explained the paths, so go ahead and make yourselves at home."

      While silently drinking the tea, the devil shifting male stared at the ground, something faint was showing up, but it wasn't bright enough to declare that they should leave. Or, until it got a bit brighter, he mentioned that it was dark purple, and they should investigate. The newly joined woman got dressed into her typical outfit, short sleeved orange shirt with dark blue shorts, stating she was ready to go. With that, they were off, following a dark purple path for nearly two hours until they reached a decent looking house. All four of them shared a look, deep down, they knew who was there.

    Since no one was going up, Tom offered, walking up the short driveway to the plain, white door, and knocking four times. At first, there was no answer, but after another two knocks, a much older Matt opened the door. He looked surprised upon seeing Tom standing there, looking behind him and seeing his adoptive brothers and sisters. "What....?" Naturally, the vampire shifter was confused, yet he invited them in anyway.

      After everyone was situated somewhere in the living room, the ginger haired shifter looked at his siblings and gave a little smile. "I don't really know how you found me, but seeing you all here brings back a lot of memories." If anyone was tense, that brought their tension down greatly, he wasn't angry or anything, he seemed pretty happy to see them. He rose from the couch and asked Star to show him her wings, which she did, albeit a little confused. "They've grown a lot, and they're sharper, too...."

      Matt was impressed, going around the room and having everyone show off how they've improved, and afterwards, a proud smile rested on Matt's face. "All of you have grown so much... I'm proud of you all..." At the praise, everyone sheepishly turned away. "Now, do tell why you're here, you have me curious."

      Joyce was quick to explain. "As far as I'm concerned, this is a big reunion, and we're only missing two people after you, Tord's shift led us here by a path." The fellow shifter nodded in understanding, and right as the Norwegian was about to apologize for anything and everything, but Matt stopped him. "You don't need to apologize, Tord, I already know. I was mad at first, I wanted to blame you, but after all these years? 

      Who would I be if I held it over your head?" He explained, seeing everyone's relieved expressions at Matt's un-existing anger. "I'm glad you're not mad at me, frankly, I'm glad none of you are mad at me." Tord admitted, thinking about their adoptive parents. Everyone made a noise of agreement, or they nodded. 

      After they all caught up, talking, laughing and sharing silly things about their grudges, two lights appeared in front of Tord, they looked pretty, one was pink, the other yellow, and they both twirled together, it made the red hoodie loving male feel a small smile cross his face, knowing who it was going to lead to. He stood up from the comfy floor and told everyone to follow, they were going to see their dads again. This walk was significantly longer than the others, but no one minded, after all, it was a nice day out, the birds were flying around, Joyce joking that Star was a bird, which made the Winged woman chuckle and roll her eyes, only to poke the same fun at Joyce when the fire wielding female started flying. Tord playfully shook his head, grinning from ear to ear, he was with his siblings, they were all getting along again after such a long time, it made a warm feeling spark in his chest. The Norwegian wasn't worried by any means, even as they approached the light brown house, it looked exactly the same as it did all those years ago.

      Everyone shared a look, and feeling confident, they all walked up to the porch, knocking on the familiar door and watching as a short man who appeared tired opened the door looked at the group, then suddenly became very awake. "HOLY SHIT!" He exclaimed, his eyes lighting up with surprise and joy within seconds. Tord spoke up for them all. "Hey dad."

      Patryk had walked up to figure out what the commotion was, and his jaw dropped, all their adopted kids were together again. Neither of the older men could resist, and they both pulled the big group into a bit hug, expressing how happy they were in a single action, fuck questioning how they got there, it's their old home, why not visit? Patryk was being the complete mom he was, making fucking cookies and welcoming them with a smile that could rival the brightest stars in the sky. The atmosphere of the house was warm and comforting, the smell of cookies clear throughout their old home, everyone sharing a laugh as Tom made himself at home on the couch, stretching dramatically and letting out a loud sigh. "GodDAMN I forgot how good this single piece of furniture felt, I can hear my back screaming to never leave it again."

      Tord was on his favorite chair as Matt and Star gave them stupid grins from the ceiling, Joyce cackling at how stupid they looked, with everyone else following along. The cookies were delicious, "as always" Paul had commented, making Patryk grin. While everyone was having a wonderful time, sharing little conversations and jokes, the pleasant atmosphere was broken when Valsurt took over and stood in the middle of the living room, standing straight with a serious expression. "Mortals, I'm informing you that I have found someone else that you consider significant." It took a minute, but they all understood within an instant.

      "Edd..." Matt breathed out, they hadn't seen the superhero in 11 years, how was he? Everyone in the room listened closely as Valsurt made a bright green path visible to them all, speaking with authority. "Susterren still has a hold on him, you all will finish the battle you started 11 years ago. Hit him with every thing you have once he's out in the open." 

      Everyone shared a look, then began to follow the path, until they arrived at an open area, a figure standing in the middle of it. Wearing a green hoodie, tan pants, and black shoes, the figure turned around, showing a face they didn't think they would see again. It was Edd, except both of his eyes were a deep red, his longer brown hair resting below his shoulders. "It seems we meet again, after how long? Eleven years? 

      What cowards you are." No one cared for what the demon was saying, all that mattered now was getting Edd back, and that's exactly what was done, all 7 of the powered family members launched forward, chaos raising as each person lashed out their attacks. Tom shifted, Matt shifted, Joyce got ready to fire, Star forced the clouds to cover the sun and stay that way, then Paul and Patryk charged up their lighting. Susterren dodged and attacked each each person until finally, the married older couple hit him with a powerful strike. Susterren got knocked out of Edd's body, leaving everyone to do their worst on him. 

      Tom's loud piercing roar could be heard for miles, Joyce's flaming beacon could be seen burning a hole straight through the clouds. Star made a whirlwind, mixing up Joyce's fire, the lightning, Matt's paralysis magic freezing Susterren alone in place, then finally, Tord delivered the finishing blow with a loud enraged scream. "THIS IS FOR EDD!" There was an unmistakable flame of burning rage swirling in Tord's eyes as he used every ounce of strength in him to punch Susterren to the ground, where he fell through a portal, banished to the Underworld. For a few minutes, a silence fell over everyone present, did that truly happen? 

      Was that demon really gone? Their silent questions were answered when Edd opened his eyes, showing they were brown with a hint of green, no longer that horrible dark red they once were. After a giant group hug, with a few tears and apologies, Edd spoke for the first time in those long eleven years, a large smile on his face.

 "It's great to be back, everyone."

(Word count story wise is 5,090.)

A/N: Jesus mother fucking christ. I have been writing this bitch since sometime February of this year, and tadah, I have finally finished it. I mean, it's pretty insane, but I just got motivated to finish it off tonight, and here we are. Once again, goddamn. I am never writing anything this long again, but let me say, if personalities are inconsistent, then fuck it, I think I wrote things on this story once, or twice a month, and I just today decided I was tired of seeing "1 draft" on this story. So I got rid of it. And damn does it feel good.