Not Your Average Hero

•26• astroboy

"Anderson, how is this possible?" Sterling asked, "how is she... Alive?"

Anderson looked like he shed only a few tears; and he didn't seem at all surprised by my 'return from the dead.' "Sterling, you can't heal her, or anyone else who's molecules move faster than normal, correct?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So, Ashlyn's ability allows her to heal from deadly wounds. You're 'dead' for a few minutes because you have an advanced form of healing, and your body resets faster. Ashlyn's reset takes a few hours."

"Why didn't you tell us that?" Skyler asked, his voice cracking, "I would've waited with Ashlyn until she woke up." He looked at me with a frown.

Sterling scoffed and muttered, "of course you would."

"I didn't know for sure." Anderson shrugged, ignoring Sterling like everyone else, "didn't want to give you false hope."

I looked at Alden, who didn't move at all since I came in, motionless in his sleep; Anderson noticed, and cleared his throat. "Mental torture is different from physical." He said, walking around the bed to the IV. "You can't see the damage done, so it's harder to heal. Sterling can heal Alden for short periods at a time, like five minutes, for example. If he does any more than that, he risks damage to his own brain; damage that cannot be repaired." I took a good look at Sterling. For the first time ever, he looked warn out, as if he hasn't slept in days, except happier than his normal, arrogant, self.

"What Anderson means to say," Sterling piped in, "is that if I heal Alden too fast, I could possibly go crazy; and if I don't heal him, he'll go crazy." Nevertheless, when he looked at Alden, he smiled.

"How did you get Alden free?" I asked, "what happened to Cyrus?"

Everyone went quite, except for Sterling who looked at Skyler while he spoke. "After Cyrus stabbed you," he refused to say Alden, "Skyler found the heat needed to get through the forcefield," he still kept an eye on Skyler to make sure what he said was okay, "but it was too hot."

"So what happened to Cyrus?" I repeated.

"He's dead." Skyler whispered, then, for the first time since I came back, let go of me and walked out of the room.

"And now he refused to heat up as little as a coffee up with his powers." Sterling said, watching him go.

"Well, he was the one who put his foot down, on the 'don't kill Cyrus' thing," I said with a frown, "who knows what he's feeling right now?"

"Sterling," Anderson said.

"Yeah?"

"It's time." He motioned towards Alden, "Ashlyn, get out. Sterling needs to concentrate."

I was about to walk out the door, when Anderson said my name, "I'm glad you're okay."

When I got back to the kitchen, Skyler was sitting down, leaning over the table with his head in his hands.

"Skyler?" I said cautiously.

"Mhm?" Skyler said in his hands.

"Don't think what happened was your fault." I said reassuringly, "I always tell myself that if anything goes wrong, blame it on Sterling."

Skyler snorted, but kept his head in his hands. I pulled up a chair beside Skyler and sat down.

"What an eventful day," I said, trying to spark up a conversation, "what was you're favourite part?" I asked.

He looked up from his hands, "do you really have to ask?" I shrugged.

"When I found out you weren't dead." He said, blushing slightly.

"What a shame that would've been, huh?"

"You're putting it too lightly." He laughed. I was about to say something else, when shouts echoed from the hallway; Skyler and I shared a look, before going to investigate.

Anderson and Sterling woke Alden up, but it didn't seem to be going to well. His eyes were closed tight, he had Sterlings shirt balled up in his hand, and he was muttering 'no' over and over again.

"Now!" Sterling yelled, holding Alden down, "do it now!"

Anderson clapped his hands together, a loud thunderous sound emitted around the room, and he placed both of his hands on Aldens' head. It was like we were caught in the middle of a storm, the room darkened and wind seemed to be blowing in every direction. Alden began to seize; Sterling had tears in his eyes, and Anderson seemed to be chanting something under his breath.

When Anderson stopped, Alden lay motionless once more, and Sterling was back to holding his hand, looking at him expectantly.

Slowly, Aldens eyes fluttered open, and they ran over each of our faces.

"Hey," he said dreamily, smiling. He looked peaceful, as if everything that happened was a forgotten dream; I let out a breath of hot air, and ran to his other side, grabbing his other hand.

"What happened?" Alden asked, he tried looking around, but couldn't keep his eyes open for more than two seconds.

"You were in an accident," said Anderson from behind me, "you've been in a coma for the past few months."

As shock registered on Aldens' face, I looked at Anderson, "what did you do?" I whispered.

"I though it would be best if Alden had no recollection of his time under Cyrus' power, so I modified his memory." Anderson answered.

"Modified?"

"As well as stopping time, I can take time away, but it takes up most of my energy and I almost died the last time I did it," he added, "however, I can also take time away from memories, for example, something fair less straining."

I looked back at Alden. He was talking up a storm with Sterling, who looked his happiest since I first met him, nodding along to everything Alden said, and laughing at all of his jokes, with tears glazing over his eyes, and realized, that it was the right decision.

Fun fact: At first, I gave Ashlyn the ability to make and control fire, and she found out by burning her house down. That's would've been why they moved in with Alden (makes more sense, tbh) but Anderson wouldn't have been created. I just didn't feel like having that many family members to worry about. ;p

Also, there is one chapter left, so that's fun.