Lore:Breakfast at Powell's

Breakfast at Powell's is a one-shot, canon story in the Clouded Horizons series' Eighth Realm. It features the four Pillars of Reality having breakfast at Ben's residence some time after Sin's defeat. A continuation was later written by Miranda Raider, also listed below.

Story

The scene was...unique, to say the least.

Breakfast scenes by themselves are not unusual, especially in the morning. Families often gathered to eat all across the world, as breakfast was often considered the most important meal of the day. Cereal, eggs, pancakes and bacon were being cooked and sizzled across the world at that moment.

Even the kitchen and dining room wasn’t unusual. A griddle was set up, with pancakes and bacon and sausage and eggs being cooked perfectly, a half-gallon of orange juice and a gallon of milk sitting down the counter from it. Silverware and dishes were set out, and napkins were sitting on top of the plates.

Everything was perfectly normal.

...Almost.

“Wiiiilll, you’re scrambling my heads, right?!” Hyne yelled at the top of her lungs from the dining room table. Will himself was at the oven, and rolled his eyes.

“It’s EGGS, Hyne. Eggs. And yes, I am,” he replied, a tone of exasperation peaking in his voice. Hyne pouted comically.

“Ein lets me call them whatever I want.”

Destine, sitting across the table rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and since he’s got you whipped, he has to give you some ground to stand on,” she laughed, earning a glare from Hyne.

“I’m not whipped. I merely allow him to exist while standing near me.”

“So, is that what the kids in the Ethereal Plane are calling it nowadays?” Fayt asked.

Of course, everything was normal. Except in a nondescript mortal’s house, the four Pillars of Reality were eating breakfast. Will shook his head at his sisters’ antics, and then started working on some toast. “Fayt, how do you want your eggs?” he called out from the kitchen.

“Over easy, of course! When have I changed my order?” Fayt questioned; irritation in her voice. Will chuckled at the comment, before responding.

“Actually-“

“Stop flexing your futurely powers, Williard! I don’t get to flex my endly powers, so you shouldn’t flex yours!” Hyne yelled, standing up to walk into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of orange juice. Seconds later, she walked back out to the table and retook her seat from Fayt’s feet. “Wench,” she muttered under her breath. Fayt replied, but it was too low for anyone to hear. Hyne, however, assumed the worst. She did nothing to reply to it, though.

“Destine, scrambled eggs?” Will called from the kitchen. Destine smiled and nodded.

“Yup.” She appeared to be in a fairly good mood this morning, which didn’t escape the youngest Pillar’s notice.

“So, Destine. You still stalking that one girl?” Fayt asked a few moments later. Destine looked up, rolling her eyes.

“Not stalking, sis. Watching and stalking are different,” she replied. Hyne looked up, suddenly appearing to be extremely interested in what Destine had to say.

“Really? What are you doing then?” she prodded. Destine rolled her eyes before answering.

“If you must know, I’m watching her life. I’ve followed her from Terranigma to Gaia… and I’m fascinated. I don’t know why. The way she talks and holds herself, even the way that she hides everything from almost everyone is absolutely weird. I’m even curious as to why Shiva has seemed to follow her as well,” Destine explained, her eyes getting a faraway look as she spoke. Hyne chuckled darkly.

“Stalker.”

“Shut up!” Destine exclaimed, a growl crossing her lips. Hyne’s laughter continued as Will walked into the room, carrying two plates full of scrambled eggs. He placed them both in front of Hyne, before stopping to look her in the eye.

“Stop tormenting your sister, Hynelein, and eat.” Hyne narrowed her eyes; Will never used her full name. She grumbled her agreement, and scooped some of the eggs into her mouth. However, she stopped again.

“Willllll! Where’s the-“

“Toast is on its way,” he commented from the kitchen, finishing her statement before she could. Once again, Hyne pouted.

“Stop flexing your futurely powers! Not fair!”

Will laughed heartily from the kitchen. “Sorry, Hyne, but I can’t help it. I know the future, I use it for the good of humanity, of the Plane, and of course, to make it so you can never actually finish a sentence.”

That of course, caused everyone except for Hyne to laugh. “I hate you all,” she muttered quietly. A second later, a piece of toast landed on her plate and quieted any complaints she may have had. Soon, eggs, pancakes, toast, bacon and sausage were on each plate, glasses were filled with juice or the preferred drink for each Pillar, and they were eating quietly.

“I wish Ein was here...” Hyne muttered quietly. Fayt giggled in between bites, but Destine was the one to respond.

“You always wish Ein was here. You’re whipped, by a teeny tiny little mortal child. He sings, he dances, he writes pretty poetry, and you are whipped by him.”

“What about you, Destine?” Hyne asked. “I heard your girlfriend plays the harp. She probably sings you love ballads to get you all-“

“Hyne!” Will said, glaring pointedly at the small Pillar. Hyne had the decency to look ashamed, even if it was just for a moment.

“Sorry, Will...”

Will narrowed his eyes, but chose to say nothing, attacking the eggs on his plate with the fork. Minutes passed in silence before anyone spoke again.

“What if the mortal wakes up?” Fayt asked. “He’s kind of annoying when he’s awake. He’s not too bad when he’s sleeping though.”

Will shook his head between bites. “It will not be an issue, since I asked Destine to talk to him about it…” and suddenly, his eyes widened. “You...did talk to him, right, Destine?”

As if answering him, the bedroom door opened. Benji Powell walked out, wearing chocobo pajamas and a fairly tired expression. “Hi Hyne, Will, Destine, Fayt.” He kept walking, closing the door to the bathroom.

“See, I told you we were fine,” Destine said, filling her mouth with food before anyone could ask her any incriminating questions.

Will sighed. “You did ask him...right...? ...Right?”

Continuation

There was, really, nothing unusual about the day, mused one Benji Powell as he sleepily walked out of his room and to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of orange juice. The sun was shining over Trabia Garden, birds were chirping, and the Pillars of Reality were sitting around his dining room table, having breakfast. A glass of orange juice was offered to him by a friendly hand, and he took it, mumbling something like, "Thanks, Will, that was thoughtful of you."

Wait a minute.

He blinked, looking over the scene. Will stood in front of him, wearing a white apron stained with bacon grease, holding a plate of bacon, sausage, eggs, and pancakes with just the right amount of syrup in one hand. "Good morning, Ben," he said, smiling.

Ben looked down at the orange juice in his hand, then over at the table, where Fayt, Hyne, and Destine sat enjoying their meals, then back to Will. "Mmph," he mumbled, taking the plate, then going to sit at the fifth seat at the table. Will sat down between him and Destine.

"I'm sorry we woke you," he said, smiling amiably. "Destine was supposed to mention to you we were coming, but evidently..." He shrugged.

Hyne grinned. "Hiya, Pookie."

Fayt rolled her eyes, mumbling something about going soft.

Hyne glared at her in a very endly way.

Destine just snorted.

Ben dedicated himself to eating his food silently, deciding that it was all a dream he was-

"It's not a dream and you're not about to wake up. Fayt, don't bait Hyne. Hyne, don't do what you're about to do."

"But, I wassssn'ttttt...." she whined, glaring at Fayt. Will just looked at her. Ben resisted the urge to bang his head on the dining room table.

"Are you alright, Pookie?" Hyne asked him. "I could get rid of that headache for ya if you want!" Her words evoked a glare from Will, but she ignored him.

"Um..." He had to think a moment. "No thanks, Hyne." He went back to eating his eggs.

"Are your heads good?"

A moment later, he choked on his food.

"Hyne, they're eggs, not heads, eggs!" Will replied, looking as if he wanted to bury his head in his hands.

"Whatever. Ein lets me call them heads anytime I want."

"Are we going to have this argument again?" Destine asked sourly. "Can I have-"

"More sausage coming up," Will said, getting up.

"Willllll, how many times do I have to tell you not to flex your powers?!"

"I'm not flexing. I'm simply replying to Destine's unspoken question."

"So, how's the mortal holding up?" Destine asked, glancing sidelong at Ben. Unable to keep his level of snark in check this early in the morning, especially with this level of weird entering his life, Ben replied.

"The mortal is holding up just fine," he said, taking another bite of his eggs, now that he was reassured that eggs was, in fact, what they were. The pancakes were good, too, so he had some of those next. In fact, all of Will's cooking seemed divinely good.

"Here's your sausage, Destine," Will said, intruding on Ben's thoughts to put more sausage on Destine's plate. Once more, he sat down between Ben and Destine.

Ben looked over at Will. "Thank you for making me breakfast." It was always best to be polite to the four beings who held up reality, even if they were, technically, in your home uninvited. Besides, it was a very good breakfast.

"Oh, no, it was no big deal. I figured you would be waking up soon this time, so I made some extra for you." He took a bite of his own food.

Ben nodded, smiling as he finished his food. "That was very thoughtful of you, Will. I have to go, now, though, I have some errands to take care of." He got up, put his plate in the sink - he'd get around to washing the dishes later if Will didn't do that - and went to his room to change. As he came out, sure enough, Will was washing the dishes, and he waved to the Pillars as he walked out the door.

It wasn't until he'd gotten halfway to where he was going before he realized what the Pillar of Foretelling had said.

"Wait, what did he mean, this time?!"