Alternate

Written for my April Fic Challenge 2021, Prompt: Mystical. Established relationship. AU. Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!


Warren wakes with a yawn, reaching blindly for the blaring alarm clock on the bedside table. He smacks it into silence and rolls over, content to curl his arms around Will and revel in the few minutes of peaceful morning comfort they've got to themselves before they switch into parent mode. Frankly, he's surprised their son hasn't woken up yet, but the baby monitor is still silent.

"Morning," he mumbles out, but his eyes fly open in surprise when the other side of the bed is vacant, still warm from where it's been recently vacated. Will is never up before him. "Will?"

But that is hardly the only thing wrong. The room he's woken up in isn't his room.

He jumps out of bed, in search of answers.

This isn't his bed, this isn't his room, this isn't his house and he doesn't know what is happening. He finds a hallway, brightly lit by the early morning sunlight. He rushes downstairs, finds an even bigger surprise in the kitchen. A woman, with two young kids, and he prepares for some sort of extreme reaction to his presence in their home. More alarming, however, is the fond smile she shoots at him, as the younger of the two children - a girl, about three or four - reaches up at him. "Daddy!" She calls out, giggling over a plate of pancakes.

It's been a long time since Warren hasn't felt in control of his powers, but the fear he feels right now makes the flames fizzle to life under his skin. He bolts away before they can flame out on him, doesn't want his secret exposed to this group of strangers.

"Warren?" The woman calls after him, he can hear her chasing him as he races back toward the room he woke up in.

He can't breathe.

He doesn't understand what's happening to him. Where did his life go? Where is his family?

"What's wrong?" She asks, hands coming to rest on his shoulders in a gesture that's meant to be comforting, but only sets him on edge. He moves away from her.

"I don't know who you are."

"That's funny," she laughs, and he can only stare at her in confusion. "I'm just as surprised as you are that I woke up before you for once, but there's no need to go scaring the girls about it."

"Don't know who they are, either," he snaps because this isn't his life. He has a life with Will that he wouldn't trade for anything. He has a son, not two daughters. He has Will, not this woman. "This isn't where I'm supposed to be."

"Okay, less funny," she says, an edge to her voice now, as well. "Did you hit your head or something during the fight last night? I know it was a rough one."

That's good news, at least. He breathes a sigh of relief - he's still a superhero. "Who was I fighting?"

Now she's looking at him with concern. He flames up when she tries to reach out for him - likely to check for injuries - and she jumps back in surprise at the defensive reaction.

"Who was I fighting?"

"Airstrike," she answers slowly, "And the Commander and Jetstream."

He swallows hard. Not a superhero then. Whatever screwed up universe this is has set him against Will, the one place he never wants to be. He buries his head in his hands, desperate to understand what's happening to him. "Why?"

"They robbed the Maxville National Bank, you had to stop them."

Warren feels his world tilt off its already unsteady axis. Will's the bad guy here? That's even worse.

"Did I?"

"We caught the Commander. Jetstream and Airstrike got away."

"We?"

"I'm your partner, silly."

"Inferno and...?"

"Riptide," she answers, and there's no need to ask what her power is after that. If only he knew her name. "You really don't remember any of this?"

"It's not that I don't remember," he explains, "It's that this isn't... I'm not the person who's supposed to be here. I don't know what happened to your Warren, but it isn't me. I've got a partner, I've got a family that I need to get back to."

And there's nothing he won't do to find a way home again.