August 9, 2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAleti Ra\u2019non<\/p>\n
Aleti Alone<\/p>\n
Light hits my eyes, enough that it helps to wake me up, but not enough to burn.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never been so\u2026 unaware of my body before. I have to move around to just to figure out that I\u2019m folded up in the fetal position, like when I first crashed. I remember taking Hideo\u2019s power and turning into sound.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was somehow both painful and harmony. I was a living sound that struck the wrong note every time I hit a wall.<\/p>\n
My body still aches, and my mind still hums to the rhythm of my song, but I think I can move.<\/p>\n
I open my eyes and now I see why the light is so dim. I see the sky above the city and these large clouds storm over. At least the black ones are raining, but some are brown and just look ghastly. They only now seem to be dissipating as small amounts of light shine through.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It takes a moment to notice that there isn\u2019t water over the head of Ramone\u2019s dome. The water is barely higher than the city\u2019s buildings. What happened?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I remove my hand from its clamped position on my forearm, feeling the cold breeze touch both the inside of my palm and newly revealed patch of skin. It\u2019s a stark reminder that my clothes did not join me in my journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I move to get on my hands and knees, but it takes a while. My joints are all loose, my muscles weak, and just every little thing is wrong. It\u2019s as if I\u2019m a baby who can\u2019t control any of its own momentum. Is it always like this for Hideo? Losing control and just trying to aim himself around? I felt like air without the breeze.<\/p>\n
When my elbows and knees are parallel with the ground I just dip my head. This is going to be a slow and painful process, I can already tell.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pick my head up, and look around to see that I am in for another surprise. Ramone looks like it\u2019s been hit by the apocalypse. There\u2019s buildings falling in on their supports, crap littering the ground, and smoke in the distance. There\u2026 there\u2019s a few bodies littering the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turn away, before the bodies start look more like people and less like red shapes. I need to find help. I need to find a way back to the Rango.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I push myself up, doing what every part of my body is begging me not to do. I push myself up. When I get to something resembling standing, I fall against the wall, barely keeping myself from falling on my butt. I stick close and walk along the wall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I whimper out, \u201cSomeone\u2026. Is anyone out there?\u201d I can barely hear my own voice. I sound like I\u2019m wheezing. No is going to hear me without being right by my side.<\/p>\n
When I limp around the corner I find what\u2019s left of a shopping street. Maybe there\u2019s a clothing store. The longer I am exposed to the cold, the harder and more painful it\u2019ll be to walk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stick to the wall for support as I limp down the sidewalk. When I try to put my hand on a window, I find that there\u2019s nothing there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you couldn\u2019t tell, I fall in, cutting the left side of my left leg on the broken glass still connected to the base.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAaahhh,<\/em>\u201d I try to scream, but there\u2019s not much to air out. My leg, it stings, burns, hurts, what doesn\u2019t it do?\u00a0<\/p>\nIt happens before I can control it, the sniffling, the sobs, and the tears. They\u2019re running down my cheek as I roll on the floor hugging my leg to my chest. I\u2019m lucky that I don\u2019t find more glass in my back, even as I feel the flat ends beneath me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I look around while clutching my leg. The store seems to be a department store. Maybe there\u2019s something I can wear, or at least cover up my new wound.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I crawl towards the nearest shelf, a foot away, and use it to pull myself back up. Now I see the food lining up the shelves of the aisle. I look over to the next but everything is just small fry, miscellaneous stuff. Nothing that I can use.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead, maybe something decorative? I look to the walls and see anything useful. I happen to catch sight of a flag, low to the ground, at least to me. The Riverti flag, not something I think I\u2019ve seen before. I haven\u2019t been shopping on this planet, and I didn\u2019t spend much time looking for any fan fair at the stadium.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hanging over the counter so I limp towards it. I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be offending someone by touching a flag with my bare body, but hopefully the circumstances will justify my need. Once I get to the counter I find that I can\u2019t reach it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I climb onto the counter and try to stand up and reach for the flag. I grab hold,<\/em> feeling its silky texture. It\u2019s not cotton, or something similar. It feels like something I shouldn\u2019t be touching, something regal and beyond me.\u00a0<\/p>\nOh well.<\/p>\n
I pull as hard as I can, but it is stuck in its pole pretty tight. I need to pull with more force, even though I know that I\u2019ll fall. I have to take that chance.<\/p>\n
With more force, I tug at the flag, and the pole comes down hitting me in the chest, knocking me back off the counter. The flag falls on me and I bang my head on the shelf behind me, turning the world black.<\/p>\n
*****<\/h3>\n I hear murmuring going on over me, so I tug a cloth tighter around me. Something that feels like a blanket is tossed over me, and instinctively, I reach for it and wrap it around me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My head is spinning from my migraine. Just when the soreness was ending, this pain in my head comes. I remember why: I fell off a counter, trying to get a flag.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I must still be on the floor\u2026
I see two Riverti women standing over me, talking to each other. Their mouths don\u2019t make it look like they\u2019re whispering, more like shouting at each other. I notice that my hearing is out, as if it is buzzing.<\/p>\n
My body doesn\u2019t hurt as it did before. I make it known that I am awake by moving to sit up against the shelf. When they look at me, I notice the murmuring getting louder and louder slowly.<\/p>\n
I tell them, or at least I think I speak since I cannot hear myself say, \u201cI\u2014 I\u2014 I can\u2019t\u2014 I can\u2019t hear you\u2026 just\u2026<\/em> give me\u2026 a minute.\u201d<\/p>\nI feel a liquid dripping down my neck. I reach behind my head and see my blue blood on my fingers. Must have cut my head open. Wait, my leg.<\/p>\n
I flip open the blanket, not intentionally flashing the two women, but I take notice that the slice of my leg is bandaged. I point to it and ask, \u201cYou?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hear what I say in a whisper, so my hearing is coming back. They speak as they nod their heads, but I still barely hear them. \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I try to stand up while wrapping the blanket around at my chest like I would a towel, and both women immediately move to help me up. As soon as I\u2019m up I\u2019m able to stand on my own. Any hindrance to my movement now is due to my leg, not any after effects of my transformation, my\u2026 new powers.<\/p>\n
Mom had told me it was possible for anyone of the Guardian bloodline to develop powers, but I never did. Why would they mature so late? Was seeing Rom\u2026?<\/p>\n
Is that what does it? Trauma? How\u2026 terrible, and trite.<\/em> Didn\u2019t getting powers cause Clay to cause<\/em> the accident that put his mom in a coma? Or\u2026 was it the other way around? I don\u2019t even know how my mom first got her powers.<\/p>\nUgh, my powers seem to be that of a leech<\/em>, a parasite.<\/em> They seem to be to take that of other Guardians, while also running off of my emotions, or maybe my emotions make them harder to control? Most powers problem work off of emotions.\u00a0<\/p>\nMaybe being with Team Sunset for so long must have been what triggered my powers. What does this make me? The strongest? More like the one most likely to blow myself and everyone else up. Oh god, Pekipsea and Torun were so close to me. Did I\u2026?<\/p>\n
I have to get out of here.<\/p>\n
My hearing makes a point to start coming back faster, and I can faintly hear the women in front me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRegamorph? Young lady? Don\u2019t tell me you don\u2019t hear me now,\u201d the older one with the teal colored fins says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTele, stop! She said she can\u2019t hear us, maybe she\u2019s just trying to read your lips,\u201d the younger one with the same colored fins cautions. Maybe they\u2019re relatives, mother and daughter, cousins? Could just be friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf she is trying to read my lips she could have easily figured out what I was saying,\u201d the one named Tele responds to her companion. She turns back to me to continue shouting, \u201cListen alien, you have till the count of three to explain why you broke into my shop, ruined my shop\u2019s flag, and are doing it all buck naked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tele\u2019s companion tries to stop her, but I raise up my hand. Tele tilts her head in annoyance. \u201cI can hear you better now. I would ask that you speak very slow<\/em>. My hearing is\u2026 not all there, my mind is\u2026 also not all there. Everything just hurts,<\/em> especially my head.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t you start with your name,\u201d the younger woman suggests, with an almost timid look on her face. \u201cI\u2019m Readine. This is my friend, Tele.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNice to meet you, I\u2019m Aleti, and thank you again for\u2026 patching me up and giving me a blanket.\u201d I reach my head back to feel for my cut. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s too large, but I can\u2019t tell. I bet my blood is all mixed in my hair.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter be thankful,\u201d Tele comments, \u201cwithout Readi here to sew and bandage up your nasty cut, you\u2019d probably be dead from bleeding out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I ignore her comment. \u201cI know you probably have some questions about why I am here, but all I can say that you\u2019ll understand is that I was in a predicament that left me excruciatingly weak, defenseless, and vulnerable. While I was in that condition, I limped my way here, slipping in and out of consciousness, looking only for something to wear, or at least protect me.\u201d Then I gesture over the rest of my body before adding, \u201cI mean come on, it\u2019s not my birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n
They both looked at me like I had two heads. Maybe that\u2019s not a phrase around here? Or the translation came out weird on their end? I never really thought about it, but I probably always had the translation power. They\u2019re definitely not speaking Codex like the people on the station, and Guardians have their own natural translation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What a great<\/em> way to find that out, with two strangers, at the end of their world, without a pair of pants to cover my ass.<\/p>\nReadine walks away for a second as Tele gives me a judgemental look that only the old give. When Readine comes back she has clothes for me. \u201cThis is a shirt and skirt for you to wear. It\u2019ll probably be very short on you, but at least it\u2019s something.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She gives me this shy smile I feel an obligation to return.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d I tell her as I take the clothes and stand up, with much less difficulty than before.<\/p>\n
As I let the blanket fall to try and squeeze into the shirt, it fits better than expected. The pants are shorts now though.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, Tele starts her line of questions again. \u201cHow long have been unconscious?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been unconscious in the alley next over since the Tourney, or at least a few hours afterwards think.\u201d When I say this Readine puts her hands to her lips. Tele looks at her with a glare to force the young woman to stay calm.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve been naked in the alley since the Tourney?\u201d Tele repeats for confirmation. I was trying to avoid the embarrassment of admitting I was naked, but I guess I don\u2019t get what I want.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think,\u201d I answer, slightly annoyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Tourney was two days ago,\u201d she informs me. I stop for a second to consider the time I have missed. Mom must be worried sick, and now I feel terrible, but I shake my head of those thoughts.<\/p>\n
As I try to take steps, I can\u2019t help but notice that these pants would probably be something to cover their whole legs, but for me they look like short shorts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have stockings,\u201d Readine immediately offers. Before I can even ask for them, she\u2019s leaving. I look at Tele to ask what is wrong, but the old woman looks at me with sorry eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d I ask her with blatant confusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were out in the city, in the alley, for two days, there must be people worrying sick about you, you must be sick,\u201d Tele mutters all in a hush. She starts walking towards me, touching my arm with her hand ever so slightly. \u201cRamone\u2019s been taken over by riots. Those cavedwellers<\/em> are destroying everything after the Tourney, and after the explosion.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cThe explosion, is that why the sun is blocked and the water\u2019s receded?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we\u2019ve asked around the few times we could, but we\u2019re not in the business of talking to strangers. Everyone\u2019s taken it as an excuse to be the worst or to hide, so\u2026 I don\u2019t quite know what that was. Could be an attack from one of another foreigner, or one of you aliens for all I know. What I bet is that destroyed most of the caves under Ramone as far as we know. After what happened to their contestant,\u201d I cringe ever so slightly when she mentions him, \u201cthey went crazy<\/em>. Pillaging the city, destroying shops and homes, attacking us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nI remark, \u201cDon\u2019t know if I blame them after the hells they\u2019ve been put through.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They lost their champion, their homes, and possibly their chance at freedom, why would they not revolt in some way?<\/p>\n
Tele\u2019s eyes narrow on me, just as she adds the accusation to her tone. \u201cHow can you side with them after what they did to our home?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cDid to this city?\u201d Great, I should have kept my mouth shut, I did not want to have this conversation here<\/em> and now,<\/em> but never back down, you know? \u201cWhat you did to them down below is worse. I\u2019ve seen how they lived<\/em>, how half your<\/em> species live\u2014\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cThey could of made things better for themselves\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith what?!<\/em> With what are they gonna build new homes with down in the caves? What do you think they have to use down there? They\u2019re lucky to have electricity. They live in slave dens!\u201dWhat the fuck does that even mean? I have to be perfect to criticize them?<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cWhatever,\u201d I sigh and try to change the subject, what I should have done before. \u201cSo everything around us, the destruction, the buildings, the smoke in the distance, I\u2019m supposed to believe the Watree<\/em> did this in some massive riot?\u201d<\/p>\nTele explains in a stern tone similar to before, though not as strong, \u201cBelieve what you want\u2026 The buildings that came down did so because of the quakes that followed the explosion. I don\u2019t know what it measured, but it was easily the worst ever felt by the city. The fires and the destruction of the buildings on the inside,\u201d then with a gesture to the trashed store, \u201cwere done by Watree, out to drag us down to their level.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I ignore the comment, not feeling up to arguing any points right now.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is your shop? Why are you even here if it\u2019s so dangerous?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n
Tele looks at me, annoyed. \u201cI live above the shop, there\u2019s a stairwell to my apartment in the back of the building. Where else were Readine and me to go when everything went to shit? We got sick of staying cooped up, and want to see if there was any food left. Figured we try for some as soon as possible before someone else took everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry, I didn\u2019t know,\u201d I remind her with a dip of my head. She shakes her head.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAAH!<\/em> Let me go!\u201d I hear someone scream. A woman\u2019s voice.<\/p>\nTele panics and shouts, \u201cReadine!\u201d She runs towards the entrance shouting her friend\u2019s name. I immediately follow after her.<\/p>\n
Tele gets outside before me, and as soon as she gets outside I see her get punched in the face, knocked down to the ground. A Watree man looms over her, moving to grab at whatever passed for hair on her head, calling out, \u201cAnother surface<\/em> dwellers. I can already smell the\u2014\u201d<\/p>\nHe doesn\u2019t get to finish his sentence before I punch him in the face. I don\u2019t remember having such a strong right hook as the man doesn\u2019t just recoil. His body flies face first into the stone sidewalk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2026 makes no move to get up. Did I just\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cFlubber fuck!\u201d I hear another man curse.<\/p>\n
When I look to my left I see three people holding Readine, two men, and a woman, all Watree.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a Regamorph,\u201d the woman mutters while holding Readine\u2019s left arm. I take notice of a scar across her nose, and bruises and scars all over her arms. She continues muttering, \u201cI knew the Captain was on the planet, but\u2026 she\u2019s been flying around, whose that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s not the Guardian, right?\u201d says another man holding Readine\u2019s other arm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLet her go!\u201d I shout at them. \u201cWe don\u2019t need to fight, they didn\u2019t do anything to\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman is the one who interrupts me. \u201cDidn\u2019t do anything?<\/em> Didn\u2019t do anything is right! That\u2019s what surface dwellers do,<\/em> bums do nothing,\u201d then she lets go of Readine\u2019s arm to gesture to the destroyed world around us, \u201cand they get this?!<\/em> Why shouldn\u2019t we have it?\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cI don\u2019t know!\u201d I yell back throwing up my hands. \u201cWhat\u2019s beating her<\/em> up gonna do? What were any of these normal people gonna do? They weren\u2019t in charge\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cThey put him in charge!<\/em>\u201d she screams as she shakes her head at me, and spits at my feet. On reflex I take a step back. The woman tells me, \u201cJust what I thought, just like them, the Riverti. If that had been someone like me, or them,\u201d she accuses while pointing back to her companions, \u201cwe wouldn\u2019t have even felt the need to move.<\/p>\n\u201cYou don\u2019t get it. I bet you live in a nice house back home, with food, water, nice clothes and a bath. You think being hungry is a little tummy<\/em> ache until you can get a snack.<\/p>\n\u201cThey get to see the sun<\/em>. Every. Day.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cSomeone hurt you, and I\u2019m sorry, but these women have nothing to with that. Why attack them? That makes you just as shitty as them,\u201d I tell her. She glares at me with such hate while the men just watch on while they hold Readine back.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as shitty?<\/em> I do one thing today and I\u2019m just as shitty as people who have been shitty their whole lives? Fuck you.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\nI don\u2019t know what this is, I don\u2019t understand how these things got this way. I\u2019ve just been reading about it all for years and nothing about it prepared me for the hateful look this girl looks at me with. It\u2019s like I\u2019m standing against justice but justice can\u2019t be a fist against a woman\u2019s skull because\u2026 because she didn\u2019t do enough, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n
That can\u2019t be the answer.<\/p>\n
These\u2026 rioters, whatever, they\u2019re not in it for sadistic pleasure, but they\u2019re still unreasonable. There\u2019s never been reasoning with anyone, is there? Once they get to this state? The talk had to happen ages ago, now it\u2019s too late. Now, I<\/em> have to fight them, for Readine and Tele.<\/p>\nI make one last remark. \u201cI can\u2019t\u2026 I can\u2019t let you hurt them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman scowls at me, and gives me this look of malice that can only lead to violence. She tells me one last thing. \u201cYou know what, you prim, stuck-up, little bitch? Maybe we\u2019re all sick of being the bigger person. Being the bigger person has done nothing but made us slaves. I\u2019d rather be shitty.<\/p>\n
\u201cTry and stop us. You\u2019re not the Guardian. You think you\u2019re a hero, but guess what? You\u2019re not.\u201d She lets go of Readine to approach me, with her fist clench. She\u2019s going to go for a right swing.<\/p>\n
All of my time with Rom will hopefully carry me through. He taught me how to fight one person, I need to finish her before the others grow a pair and help her.<\/p>\n
When she\u2019s within arm\u2019s length she swings for my face. I see it coming a mile away and bobbed so she misses. Despite the rough start to the day, I\u2019m somehow perceiving<\/em> her better than I ever have. It\u2019s child\u2019s play to grab her wrist and pull up over my head, making her dangle over the ground.<\/p>\nShe starts screeching something intelligible, all as I reel my other hand back and punch her in the gut, getting an \u2018ompf\u2019 sound from her. Her knees bend like she is going to buckle from the pain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I have a foot on this woman as I do all of the people here, so when I let her go, the fall isn\u2019t kind to her, as small as it looks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her knees buckle, but she\u2019s tougher than she looks. I should have made sure she was finished, but I didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She hits me higher in the rib, my height only makes me more open to my carelessness. When she punches me the second time I shove her away. This woman seemingly can take a punch where the first guy could not, though, maybe I didn\u2019t hit her so hard.<\/p>\n
Alright, this is not a fight with Rom. I am not in the best shape of my life anymore, but I\u2019m also not weaker. I\u2019m just armed with weapons I don\u2019t know how to use, strength that I don\u2019t know how to use.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I am not fighting an opponent practically equal in physicality. I am not going to get a surprise attack like with the first guy. She is scrappier, and probably more vicious than I can ever be, and I need to watch out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hopefully though, she\u2019s just someone who throws random punches.<\/p>\n
She charges me and swings her fist from above, but being taller I easily brush her fist away. As she stumbles past me, I trip her onto her face.<\/p>\n
She slips onto her back and tries kicking at me, flailing almost. I keep swatting her legs away, not risking myself to try to get close. After learning how to fight, watching everyone on Team Sunset, I forgot how cumbersome and emotional normal people are when they fight. There\u2019s no strategy behind any attacks here.<\/p>\n
The woman turns her head to her pals holding Readine, who are currently enamored by our fight, demands them, \u201cWant to help me or what?!\u201d<\/p>\n
They Readine to the ground. Once they start running to get me, Readine starts crawling towards Tele where still laid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I move away from the Watree woman to face the men, and she scrambles back to her feet. I look around me as the three of them try to surround me. She warns her friends, \u201cWatch out, she hits hard. Nearly knocked the wind out of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe noticed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDidn\u2019t fucking do anything though\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
They both nod their head. Right now the woman is my left, one man to my back right, and the last man to my front right. Definitely nowhere to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I try to rush the man in front of me to try and shove him down. I move to kick him right in the gut, but he clams up and I end up kicking his wrist.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Crack!<\/em><\/p>\nI hear the bones in his wrist or hand break, which leaves him crying out and clutching his hand as he feel to his knees. Normal people don\u2019t take a lot to bring down.<\/p>\n
Before I can turn around, the other man brings his arms up behind me, trapping one wrist to my side as the woman gets in front of me. She throws a punch to my gut.<\/p>\n
\u201cUgk!<\/em>\u201d I choke, flailing around with my other arm, to tired and dazed to really aim. I\u2019m too tall, I can\u2019t reach that far back and that low to get him before she hits me in the stomach again<\/em>, and again.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\nI feel like my insides are being crushed over and over as she wails on me. I try to struggle against the man\u2019s grip, but I cannot conjure the strength, I lose it every time she hits me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WACK!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nShe hooks me right in the left side of my jaw. I feel my teeth bite my tongue and taste some blood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WACK!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nShe does it again, this time higher on my check. I feel blood in my mouth, and it drips out of the corners of my mouth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNot so tough now?\u201d the woman taunts as she switches between hitting my stomach and my face.<\/p>\n
WACK!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nWACK!<\/em><\/p>\nWACK!<\/em><\/p>\nWACK!<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cStop!\u201d a girl screams. I think it is Readine. My eyes are tripping from the clobbering being done to my face. I squint and see Readine try and grab the woman\u2019s left arm and pull her away. I see the woman pull back her right fist and punch Readine\u2019s in the face. Readine still does not let go and continues to pull our attacker away from me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLeave her alone!\u201d I spit out, with some actual blood from when I bit my tongue. When Readine takes another punch, she falls to the ground. Where the woman moves to kick her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo!<\/em>\u201d I scream. I\u2019m angry, I lean forward, away from the man holding me, lifting him off his feet.\u00a0<\/p>\nI jump onto my back so we land on him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CRACK!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cAck!<\/em>\u201d is the sound the man makes as he fell on something left my head reeling from the sound, but I have to save Readine.\u00a0<\/p>\nI stumble towards the woman kicking Readine, and I scream, \u201cStop!<\/em> Leave her-UGH!<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nThe woman turns around and kicks me in the gut, causing me to stay on my knees. She could kick me instead, I could take it, but I\u2019m not the one she hates enough to be a monster. She goes back to kicking Readine in the face, splaying her blood onto the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeave her alone!<\/em>\u201d I croak, but still she kicks her. My heart is beating so fast, like I should be able to run at her, but my body will not move.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cMake me,<\/em>\u201d the woman taunts cruelly before stomping on Readine\u2019s hand, causing her to cry out. I feel like something is pooling in me, but I can\u2019t get it out. I feel flush, but numb.<\/p>\nReadine\u2019s crying now, tears streaming down her face, and I can\u2019t do anything!<\/em><\/p>\nThe woman is beating on her, incessantly, and all I can do is watch. All I can do is watch as my vision gets blurry. See my eyesight lighten up as I crawl and squirm<\/em>. There has been nothing I can do, not for Rom and not for Readine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nI growl.<\/p>\n
Then the woman turns to give me a sadistic grin but it drops when we make eye contact. \u201cWhat the\u2026 what are you?\u201d she mutters.<\/p>\n
What feels like a fire is just pooling<\/em> into my face. It makes my head feel so warm<\/em>, like my cheeks are on fire without the actual burning<\/em>.\u00a0 I scream at this woman, \u201cLeave her alone!\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nSEERRR!!<\/em><\/p>\nSomehow, for some reason, I feel my head bottom out of everything. This heat forms from my eyes. Energy beams, flow through my pupils straight for this\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cAaahh!<\/em>\u201d the woman screams as the beam hits the left side of her face, burning it. She falls away before the beam can burn through her skull, but the beam does not stop going. It keeps moving forward towards the buildings behind her, and turns them to ash.<\/p>\nI change my gaze to look left and the beam follows, setting the block on fire<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\nThat\u2019s when the anger that had been boiling falls to panic, because it doesn\u2019t stop.<\/em> It won\u2019t stop.<\/em><\/p>\nI\u2026 I don\u2019t know how<\/em> to stop it.Should I look away, should I risk killing others, just to put the hole somewhere else?\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s too much, it\u2019s just\u2026 I\u2019m doomed,<\/em> no matter what I do\u2026 I\u2019m doomed.<\/em><\/p>\nIt\u2019s this sense of failure, this apathy, this\u2026 I just\u2026 I give up. I gave<\/em> up.\u00a0<\/p>\nThat\u2019s when the beam starts to dull, grow smaller, lose its power, and then dissipate.<\/p>\n
I had to give up to make it stop, to show me the black tar that now covered the top of Ramone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As soon as it does so I shut my eyes and bring my hands to cover them. I feel my eyes tear up from the ordeal they just went through, this burning sensation that makes the tears feel comforting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAleti!<\/em>\u201d I hear a woman scream from above me. A familiar voice, one I have longed for all day.Mom!<\/em>\u201d I cry out. I find the strength to get to my feet, stumble closer to where she might land.\u00a0<\/p>\nMom is here, she is here to save me from it all. The thought, or really, my last hope runs through my head as I stumble. She looks so close to the ground, so close to touch, but I trip, and I feel myself begin to fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m so tired\u2026 so\u2026 I just\u2026 I just want it all to end<\/em> as I feel the ground coming.<\/p>\nI hit something soft. Something padded. I feel arms wrap around me. A hand behind my head pressing me forward, and another around my back holding me tight. I crack open my eyes to look up at Mom\u2019s face as she puts her cheek against my forehead. I feel tears drip onto my face, and I realize she\u2019s crying too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so afraid,\u201d Mom tells me. \u201cI thought I lost you to something I couldn\u2019t fix. I\u2019m sorry I wasn\u2019t here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think I have ever heard her say something like that before before. Maybe a trick of the words, but they fit her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you too,\u201d I whisper, before I let myself fall asleep in her arms.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
Christopher Knighton<\/h5>\n Co-founder of the Youtube channel, founder of the website, multi-talented individual.
Sunset: Heroes of the Milky Way August 9, 2026 Aleti Ra\u2019non Aleti Alone Light hits my eyes, enough that it helps to wake me up, but not enough to burn. I\u2019ve never been so\u2026 unaware of my body before. I have to move around to just to figure out that I\u2019m folded up in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":357428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121802,192852,99708,192853],"tags":[6336,4205,3975,47594,192854,21089,65106],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7039317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action","category-original-work","category-sunset-heroes-of-the-milky-way","category-web-series","tag-action","tag-chapter","tag-heroes","tag-milky","tag-original-work","tag-sunset","tag-web-series"],"yoast_head":"\n
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