"Wade? Are you listening?"

"Hm?" The young man looked up from his fluted glass, across the table at the older redhead who had been trying to catch his attention. "I'm sorry, Anne, what were you saying?"

"I was just saying that the reconstruction job in Lowerton finally finished, thanks to Demenz Industries. Took a few years, but now I would bet that Lowerton now is better than Upperton had been before the Purge. Hard to believe that it's been nearly ten years..." Anne sighed as she leaned back in her chair, eyes that were finally showing her true age looking at him with a mote of concern.

"Yeah." Ten years since the Purge of Glory. Since James and Joss... Wade fought down the shudder that went through him as he thought of those fear-ridden times, instead looking again at the wine glass.

Even now, just referencing it was enough to make most people who lived through it cry from despair. Gemini had decided to make a huge push toward his desire for world supremacy and proving to his sister that he was better than her. To achieve this, he had decided to make a series of concurrent tactical strikes against anyone who could possibly get in his way...save for his sister, of course. Targeting heroes, anti-heroes, anti-villains, anyone who might say no or stand up to WEE; wiping out entire families to pave the way to success. And not everyone from their group had made it out alive.

The list of casualties was astronomical, mostly because of collateral damage. Team Go was wiped out save for a copy of a Wego, who now practically lived in a bubble to keep from bursting in a puff of Go glow. Go City itself became a crater when Gemini himself went to take care of it, with all but the Mathter, surprisingly, dying. Though Electronique had managed to rob Gemini of his only organic arm before she was blown to bits by his miniature rockets.

At the same time, the Possible homes, both of them, were razed via satellite laser. This not only killed all the Possibles save Anne, but it also killed the Stoppables as they were celebrating the engagement of their children at the time. Hana was found in the wreckage later by rescue workers, clinging to two of the burned husks and crying loudly; the husks were later identified as Gene and Jean Stoppable. Anne was only saved due to an emergency surgery she had decided to assist in after talking with her daughter and almost-son about it. Nothing was left of the Possible ranch, not even the barn house, and the remains found put to rest any hope that Joss or Slim had managed to evade death.

Wade's own home was destroyed by bombs and devices which loosed surges of electricity and EMPs throughout the neighborhood. Wade's parents hadn't made it, having been preparing dinner on the first floor, but Wade had put off heading up from his basement room to finish coding something for his newly-engaged friends. But what he failed to get in physical damage was compensated for when he tried-and failed-to drag the burned, blistered bodies of his parents to the basement before the roof collapsed on them all. The chubby boy was found hours later, trapped under some beams with a broken leg that would later need amputated and a face covered in the splatterings of his parent's then-cold corpses. No one knew how or why, but the house didn't manage to be set on fire from the explosives.

Drakken and Shego were the lucky ones. Gemini had sent his best to take out Shego, having not minded about Drakken. After all, the story that had spread after the invasion said that Ron had defeated the Lorwardians. There was barely a mention of his plants to all but the highest levels of government who saw fit to give Drakken a medal for 'exemplifying the spirit of humanity'. Thus it was no surprise to Wade when he learned that the plasma-resistant soldiers were torn to shreds by the mutated plants.

Gemini hunted down everyone that could have destroyed his chances if they survived the first wave. Team Impossible's epic teamwork saved them from the initial assault, though they did not fare as well through the later fighting. By the end of what could best be described as a war, Crash was the only one left of the trio. Wade and Anne became civilians in hiding, each taken in by different friends of their families. Wade didn't know why, but after Gemini was defeated Anne had sworn off eating squirrel stew for as long as she lived.

In the end, an alliance between what remained of GJ, HenchCo (now participating to protect what little of their clientele was left), the anti-villains, a few villains, and heroes of all types formed and launched a counter-assault at WEE.

Much to Betty's consternation, she was only able to fight her brother to a standstill while complaining of his cheating cybernetic arms. This, however, didn't matter as her primary task was distraction while everyone else whittled down the remaining defenses.

Wade could only imagine Gemini's surprise when he was suddenly confronted by nearly everyone he failed to kill.

That had finally come around six and a half years ago. Wade intentionally ignored any and all news related to how Gemini was taken care of. The man wasn't dead, he knew that, but the young genius didn't want to know any more than that. He was afraid to know...

"Penny for your thoughts?" the redhead cheekily asked, snapping Wade out of his reminiscing.

Flushing, he replied, "Just thinking about the... Event."

"Oh," Anne disappointedly pouted. "Well, I suppose that [i]is[/i] part of why we do this get-together."

"To remember," Wade nodded solemnly. "Never forget the loss of our friends and family. They were taken from us far too early." He looked at his wine glass and thought he saw a shade of a warm smile. "[i]Far[/i] too early..."

"Wade." His head snapped to attention at the oddly stern tone of her voice. "This isn't just to remember our loss. I don't get together with you just to mourn James, Kim, Jim, Tim, Ron, Slim, Joss," Wade swallowed hard at that name, "Jean, Gene, all of our friends, and any grandchildren that are now lost to me." Anne leaned back in her chair and looked out the window of the chateau, her eyes unfocused as she continued, "This is to remember the [i]good[/i] times too."

"Good times...?"

Anne gave him an indulgent smile and nodded. "The time that we were able to spend with them. The time that we were given, that can't be taken away.

The young man considered it. Wade once again looked into his wine in thought: the bright-eyed, freckled face of the energetic cowgirl that stole his heart appeared in the ripples. She seemed to almost look up at him in consternation, lecturing him with her eyes on his moping about loneliness when there was someone [i]right there[/i] he could share his life with.

He stared a few more seconds at the fading shadow of a woman he loved before looking up at the redhead across from him. Steeling himself up to ask the question that would change their relationship forever, he cleared his throat to get Anne's attention.

"Annebelle," he said, the rarely heard version of her name making Anne blink twice in curiosity, "I... I feel like it's time to move on."

"Oh?" This time her question was more curious and, to Wade's biased ears, flirtatious.

"Yes. I'm ready to find someone else to spend the rest of my life with. I love Joss, but she's gone. And I don't think she'd be very happy if she knew I was still pining after her so long after she..." He sighed, unable to finish the sentence.

"Any idea on who that would be?" Now he [i]knew[/i] she was playing him. That smile she had, he recognized it the few times he saw the Possibles: a secret exchange between a couple, long-practiced in reading each other. And Wade was able to read her message perfectly.

"I think you know who." His overly large hands, strong from the labor he undertook trying to help rebuild the city and still rough from the hardships years past, reached across the table to his dinnermate. Sheepish even at his bold move, Wade looked up at her face. Oddly, to him, she was beaming; he felt a much smaller yet more dextrous hand grasp and intertwine itself with his own. Though he knew it was right, he still glanced in disbelief at the joined hands, the simple acceptance of their developing relationship.

He continued to regard it with open awe even as she replied with some amusement, "Yes, I think I know who too. And I happen to feel the same way, just in case you were wondering."

A wisp of laughter, two people he was familiar with, echoed in his mind a few seconds, leaving a warm feeling of acceptance in his chest: a sharp, baritone chuckle and a bubbly girlish titter.