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I couldn't tell how long it's been since Angstrom had deserted us on this awful planet in this even worse universe. Everything was caked in sand, getting in our suits to where you can't even sit on the ground without feeling like a thousand spiders were crawling on you. The heat was unbearable, the first couple days it felt like normal beach day heat but after a while everything felt like it was melting from the suns hot rays.
Not unexpectedly some of the other Marks were already having some side effects from the lack of water and the constant waves of heat from the seemingly ever growing sun. Maybe five days in Prisoner went crazy, yelling and screaming about the snakes wrapped around him, but obviously none were there. Soon the one with the mohawk couldn’t stand his constant screaming and whimpering anymore and with Prisoner distracted the mark bashed the crazed mans head in with one of the many wooden planks that were discarded around the wasteland.
Half my mind was on William. I would barely think about how all of us are going to slowly starve here with the memory of Wills terrified look on his face. The memory of my love looking at me with nothing but fear in his eyes gnawed at my heart. We had all gone to that dimension for our own goals and personal reasons, mine being to only get the love of my life back, my soulmate, my home. But that look he gave me.. I had begged him, tried to explain, but all I was met with was yelling, screaming, and that look of utter fear in his eyes, something I never thought William would ever do towards me.
Any other sane man would have known this would happen, but I was just.. SO desperate to have the one thing my ‘father’ fully took from me, the one thing that held my heart together. Now in this wasteland all I can think about is him, the way his arms used to hold me, the times I took him flying just to see that gleam in his eyes that were always full of wonder. I remember our first date. William had asked me to take him flying and so that very day just as the sun was setting I showed up at his dorm with flowers, his favorites. His face was all red, he probably hadn’t expected me to show up that very day, most likely expected me to do it in a couple. His eyes softened and I handed him the flowers, following him inside his college dorm.
“So ‘Invincible’, where are we going? Must be somewhere special if you got these for me.”
William took a large glass jar from a cabinet, filling it with water and gently placing the flowers in it.
“I can’t express how excited I am, do you know how lucky a guy has to be for 1. His best friend becoming a superhero, and 2. His boyfriend being willing to take him flying with his new, awesome superpowers?”
His laugh made firecrackers go off in my heart and I couldn’t get rid of the massive (and probably goofy) smile that was spread across my face.
“Well lets just say the place we’re going is special, you’ll love it!”
I leaned up against his kitchen counter. Taking his hand in mine, I pulled him close and planted a kiss on between his eyebrows, my other hand caressing his hip.
“And you don’t know how lucky I am to call you my boyfriend, I mean I’ve practically been crushing on you since we were 10. This is like a dream come true for us both.”
I had taken shade under a giant piece of metal that stuck out of the ground, probably from some big office building, to hide from the ever beaming sun. I had watched as the Mark that had claimed the name ‘Sinister’ (which was pretty accurate) killed that yelling emperor Mark after maybe a week of him constantly complaining about everything, the way the place smells, the way we all smelt, how we didn’t even have any water. Honestly I was glad when he died, one less headache in the group, the other being Mohawk Mark and the last being that damn sun that shined into all our eyes, giving us almost never-ending migraines.
The day Prisoner Mark was killed Sinister didn’t even hesitate to rip off parts of his corpse and start eating. The sound of bones snapping and flesh ripping wasn’t new to any of us of course but seeing another version of yourself eating another version of yourself was something that could definitely be burned into your mind in the worst way possible. I heard Omni-Mark, the one that took after that horrible man, whispering to Viltrumite about Sinister, no doubt worried about one of us being next. They were correct seeing how when Emperor Mark was killed the cannibal ripped through the corpse's stomach without a care if the rest of us were watching… I guess it was true that anyone would do anything when faced with the possibility of starvation, even a Viltrumite.
Back to the present, I looked out into the distance, it had been a few days since Emperor was killed by Sinister but we had all lost track of time by now. The sun was setting, reminding me of him. The ever beaming suns heat made heat waves in my vision, sweat drips down my face. And then… I hear it. In the distance, someone’s calling my name, it sounds just like him but it couldn’t be. He’s dead and I’m pathetically trapped in a dimension with zero hope of ever…
Thats when I see him. Will, sprinting towards me. He was wearing the last thing I saw him in, red shirt with high waisted jeans, as he ran towards me his arm came up waving at me. I could feel my eyes tearing up and for a moment I’m back in his dorm. Without another though I stood and ran towards him, almost knocking him down my arms wrapped around his frame. My head dug into his shoulder, letting my tears fall onto his neck and shirt. Wills arms wrapped around me, his hands rubbed my spine soothingly.
“Mark? Why are you crying, come on I’m alive! Cheer up a bit for me.”
His voice was soft, calming, I felt my shoulders fall in his embrace. I didn’t have the energy to question how William was here, if this wasn’t real then I wanted to make the most of this. Williams body was somehow cool, making me feel like I was suction cupped to him as we slowly fell to our knees in the sand, not tearing away from each other.