~(Y/n)'s POV~
There I stood, in front of the door to my dorm.
"Damn, Levia's power really is miraculous..."
I sighed, bracing myself for what was about to come. I'm sure I'll be asked a million questions.
I swing the door open, and take a step inside.
"I'm home..." I closed the door behind me, expecting May to come rushing towards me.
"...Hello?" I called out.
No answer.
I looked around the apartment, and found a note sitting on the table.
"'Hey (Y/n). It's May.'" I read aloud.
"'When you see this, I'll probably be gone, but I'm not far! Turns out, someone snitched on us living together. However, now that I think about it, maybe bingeing an entire series for a night on full volume wasn't such a smart idea. Anyways, I said I'm not far because they offered me a scholarship I have to work towards, and my own dorm to stay in. I'm only one floor lower than you! So come by anytime, room 309!' Love, May."
"So that's what happened." I placed the note back on the table, and walked to my room, plopping down onto my bed.
I looked at my hand, hoping to get at least a spark to pop up, but to no avail.
"Why can't I use my powers?" I muttered.
I felt my eyelids grow heavy, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
~Time Skip~
I felt someone slowly shaking me awake.
"Wake..."
"Hm?" I groggily open my eyes, and a blurry image of someone's face enters my view.
"Wake up..."
When my eyes adjust, I see a smiling Cass sitting on the side of the bed. Right, she has a spare key.
"Hey, you're up!"
"Mmmmm..." I groaned, putting my face back in my pillow.
"Rude!" I felt a light smack on the back of my head.
"I'm sorry...I'm just not in the mood for anything today...or this week." I sighed. "Or maybe even the month."
"Sheesh, what happened to you?"
I can't tell her, even if I wanted to.
"It's a long story."
"That's fine, I have time."
"That's great, but I don't really feel like explaining."
"(Y/n), I'm your best friend. You'll leave me worried if you don't tell me what's wrong."
"Sorry Cass...I just want to be left alone for a while. Please?"
I looked up at her, and I could feel tears in my eyes.
Cass smiles, and wipes the tears out of my eyes.
"Sure, but I'm gonna stay here until you feel better."
"No, Cassandra."
She flinched, and moved her hand away from my face.
"You...never call me by my full name."
"Look, I'm-"
"Stop." She stood up from the bed. "I came over here to make sure you were alright after I didn't hear from you at all yesterday. Do you realize how worried I was about you?!"
"Cass-"
"And now here I am, surprising you in the morning and caring for you, and you tell me to leave?! Fine. I'll leave you alone!" She storms out of the bedroom.
I stand up and follow her.
"Cass, wait-"
"Jerk!" She yelled as she slammed the door behind her.
"...I am a jerk." I groaned and fell on the couch.
I take out my phone, and try texting Cass.
'Cass, I'm sorry. Can you please talk to me?'
No response.
"Man...this week just keeps getting worse."
The next day, I got a text from the twins. Apparently there's a family emergency, and they need to leave town for a while. I asked them about Cass, but all they said was that she said she's just doing what I asked.
"Lose your girlfriend and your best friend in the span of a few days, huh?" What's next?"
Another few days passed, and I heard a knock on my door. When I open it, May is standing there.
"You know how long I've been waiting...for...you?" May looked around my dorm after letting herself in. "This place looks horrible, what happened?"
"Listen, May. I really don't want to talk about it. I'll come visit you in a few days, I just want to be left alone right now."
"Oh..." May looked a little upset. "That's fine, just make sure you visit! I'm downstairs studying with this girl named Winter, she's really smart! But it can get boring so please visit soon."
"I will, I promise."
"I'm holding you to that!"
She skipped out the door, turned around, smiled and waved, then walked down the hall towards the stairs.
Well, at least she didn't get mad.
Now, I'm sitting alone in my dorm room. I cast my friends away, and my best friend won't even speak to me anymore. I'm truly alone for now. Being alone leaves me left to think, and I absolutely despise that. All I can think about are the mistakes I've made, the embarrassing things I've done throughout my life, even the things I could have done better. Then, I started thinking about all the criminals I've fought, then it hit me. All of them were mistakes I made.
After another few days passed, I found myself looking at my Ignite costume.
The last week I've been mulling a lot of things over.
There are no heroes and villains. Just people who are shit, and people who pretend they aren't shit. Maybe the rare actual good person, but those are slim these days. Nothing more to it. If Douse could betray me like that, and so easily, then anyone could do anything. That event has really put a lot into perspective for me.
"Alright, old friend. Let's go." I packed the costume in a bag, grabbed some matches, and walked out of my dorm. It's midnight, so it's a little cold.
Right, yet another thing I'm gonna have to get used to, being cold.
"Whatever, let's just get this over with." I walked down the streets, looking down alleyways. All of them were littered with homeless people or people doing shady things.
Then, I finally found an empty alleyway, and walked to the end of it. I pulled a metal barrel away from the wall, set the suit in it, and lit the match. Then, I held it over the barrel, and dropped it in.
And just like that, Ignite's legacy went up in flames. Fitting end for a flame hero, I guess.
Staring at the fire, I started to think more.
'Criminals will just keep doing evil shit, even after they're captured. Prison isn't enough for some of the villains I've caught. Death. That's what they deserve for doing truly evil things. Death.' I thought to myself.
I continued to sit at the fire for a while longer after the suit completely burned up. Fire has always calmed me, and I need nothing more than to be calm right now. Then, I heard footsteps coming up from behind me, which made me raise my guard.
"Mind if I join you? It's kinda fucking cold these nights." A feminine voice asked.
"Knock yourself out."
The girl walked over, and stood next to the fire with me.
She looked about the same age as me. She has pink hair, and what I'm assuming are pink colored contacts.
"What're you doing out here at this hour?"
"Just...saying goodbye to an old friend. You?"
"Just felt like walking around a little, but imagine my surprise to see someone actually alone in an alleyway. Though, this is where I usually come for target practice." She looked at me, and smiled. "I'm Willow. Willow Green."
"(Y/n) (L/n)."
"So, what's your story (Y/n)?"
"I'm coming off the worst week of my life. Girlfriend cheated on me with someone I considered a friend, although I barely considered him a friend in the first place. Only explanation I have so far is that I worried too much about her. Then, I pushed my best friend away, and she won't even talk to me anymore. My other two friends, her brothers, went out of town with her for a family emergency. Then my last friend is studying, but she said I can visit her anytime. I just...haven't. I've really just wanted to be alone this week, y'know?"
"You say you want to be alone, but you said I could sit here with you. Plus you aren't being too withholding from what you're telling me."
"Think of it as...I don't know you, so my words don't have an effect on you or not. It just feels good to get that off my chest."
"I get that, and trust me, I understand that. People can be...the worst. I've experienced it way too much in the past."
She didn't say anything further about her past after that.
"I've been trying to get this guy to notice me. I do so much cool shit, and he never catches on that I'm doing it because I want to see him. He's really dense like that. But, he has a girlfriend, which makes me wanna gag just thinking about her. But lately...he hasn't really been around. He just kinda...disappeared."
"So we're both having trouble with love it seems."
"Guess you're right, it's like we were fated to meet out here. Two loners who can't find love."
"You can say that again."
"Guess you're ri-"
"I didn't mean literally." I laughed.
That's...the first time I laughed all week.
"Hey...You're actually pretty damn cool. Wanna exchange numbers? We can just chill and play videogames or something. Just, you know, somewhere that's not next to a burning barrel in an alley?" Willow asked with a gleam in her odd colored eye. "You said you've probably lost your best friend right? Maybe I can fill in the vacancy?"
"I wouldn't say I lost her, she's just...mad at me. I think she'll forgive me soon enough if I keep apologizing. Maybe bribe her with a shopping spree."
"Ew, dude. I hate shopping. It's so boring. I don't know how anyone could really enjoy going to stores and picking out clothes, and especially as a pass time."
"That makes two of us." I sighed, then I turned to her. "Anyways, yeah I'd love to hang out. What's your number?"
"Here, let me see your phone." We switch phones, and enter each other's numbers.
"Well, I should probably get going, I'm getting kinda tired." Willow said, as she stood up and stretched. "Hope you figure out what's been going on for the last week."
"Thanks."
She nodded, then turned around, and started walking off. "See ya." She gave me a two fingered salute as she walked away.
"She was pretty cool...I guess there might be some good people still out there..." I watched the flames as they lowered, that's when I felt it. A pull. People with elemental powers also have the power to manipulate or absorb the same element if it's around them. For example, I could manipulate an already made fire at will because of my fire element power. Excitedly, I do what is second nature to me now, and pull back.
The fire flickered, and started moving around a little.
"Come on..."
I continued to pull, and then a huge cloud of black smoke was pulled from the fire and surrounded me.
"What the hell?!" I yelled, trying to swat away the smoke. "I can't...breathe..."
I started choking-
Wait a minute.
I'm...not choking? How? Black smoke is surrounding me.
Then, the entirety of the black smoke poured into my mouth and nose. Some of the smoke was even absorbed through my skin.
Then, after a few seconds, it stopped.
"What...the...fuck." I breathed heavily. "What was that?"
I looked down at my hand, then raised it out in front of me.
I try using my powers, and black smoke starts to come out of the palm of my hand.
"But...fire is my power? Isn't it?"
I shook my head, then raised both my hands in front of me, and clasped them together. Slowly, I tried using my power again, and a black ball of smoke started to slowly form in my hands, growing bigger and bigger.
Then, it hit me.
"No way...did my power..."
"...Twist?"
A/n:
Phienix0629: Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I just wanted to address a few things. Firstly, I'm feeling much better after five days of non-stop vomiting, and I'm excited to resume writing for you guys. Secondly, a lot of people were upset about what transpired in the last chapter. So I want to clear a few things up about it. Was it fucked up? Yes. However, a lot of people were expecting me to explain this right away, instead of me explaining it later down the book, which it will be explained. I'm not gonna just say the reason for it immediately, that lacks suspense. All I can say is if you want an explanation, you'll have to keep reading and wait to find out the reason. And also, don't forget, they're young adults too, and young adults make absolutely stupid decisions. People cheat, it's sad but true, but I do promise to give out a full explanation for it when the time comes. Thank you for reading, and I'm excited to keep writing this story for those of you who have decided to stick around.
Trenchcoat; Yo! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I'm sorry but not sorry for the last chapter, but it's been in my plans since the day I asked for help writing this all. I hope everyone continues reading and that you enjoy the chapters to come!