5.5) The Hero

Around dinner time, Julian looked out the window of his apartment room. The Leviathan remained sitting on the opposite side of the street, her head down on her knees and her arms wrapped around it all. It was a strange sight to him because he wasn’t unfamiliar with who she was.

Abigail Kovacs, the only female Leviathan. When her appointment as a Leviathan was announced four years ago, she immediately became popular with the students in the high school he had attended. Especially with the guys. She was the underdog “super rookie” that did her absolute best to try to do things the “right way.” It was hard not to like her–she inspired people to be better.

And yet, there she was, sitting on the sidewalk outside doing nothing except seemingly wallowing in her despair.

Atlas seemed to be uncharacteristically dismissive of her, while Mary explained calmly that there had been an incident on the streets and that it would be best if they just left her alone to deal with it herself. It was just another addition to the list of strange and unexplained events that had occurred around him. Maybe it was just the effect of the looming apocalypse.

But he had seen her sitting there since the moment he woke up. She had been in that position for about six hours, without a single hint of movement or desire to do anything else.

She reminds me of… him, he thought.

“... Hey, Mary.”

“Yeah?” she replied automatically while reading a manual. She was learning how to set up the tents they purchased so they could go urban camping on the rooftop of his apartment. And she was tucked in nicely into a kotatsu, comfortably lounging while the Leviathan remained outside.

“I’m going down there,” he said. “She’s probably hungry.”

Mary put down the manual and sighed. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? She might not want to talk to a stranger right now.”

“But she’s been out there for hours. She probably hasn’t eaten all day,” he said, pushing himself off the window and heading to the kitchen. He reached up above the counters to open one of the top shelves and pulled out a cup of ramen.

She laughed. “So you’re bringing her cup ramen? Don’t we have anything nicer?”

“Maybe,” he responded, “but I think this will keep her warm.”

And so, Julian opened the cup and ripped open the seasoning packet.

***

Alright, there she is, Julian thought as he stared at her from across the street. It’s just like what I did for Atlas. Just walk up and hand her the food.

He looked left and right, watching for incoming traffic despite knowing that no one would leave or enter the streets. Only students had lived in these apartments in the past, and their university had paid for each student to go back home to their families. There was no one else here, besides a few peculiar students here and there who he would occasionally see awake at night.

He began walking across the street.

“Ms. Kovacs?” he called out respectfully.

The lady in the brown coat did not answer. It was to be expected–it had been the same for Atlas. And he knew it would take more than calling out to her; he wanted to make sure she knew he was coming.

He stopped a few feet in front of her, knelt down, then reached his arm closer, holding up the warm cup of ramen in his hand.

“Are you hungry?”

After a few moments of unresponsiveness, Abigail looked up at him with dimmed eyes.

“... Who are you?” Abigail asked.

“Me? I’m… Julian Everhart. I live in that apartment behind there.”

“Julian, huh... so that’s you,” she said, as if she heard his name before.

“You know me?” he asked, flattered that she knew his name. “How?”

“Your friend mentioned your name briefly,” she responded. “I suppose he didn’t tell you much about what happened here, did he?”

Julian pulled the cup of ramen closer to his chest–his arms were hurting from keeping it stretched. Then, he tried to remember Mary’s explanation for the damage that happened to the streets.

“... My sister mentioned that you got in a fight with one of your colleagues. Then he ran off, leaving you sad. And so, you’re sitting here. Alone. Waiting for him to return.”

“I see.” She sighed. “Yes, I suppose that’s the gist of it.”

“... Can I sit here?” Julian gently asked, pointing with his eyes at a spot next to her.

As Abigail nodded, Julian moved over closer and sat next to her. And for a few seconds, Julian remained quiet, unsure how to make her feel better. He didn’t want her to be out here. He believed she had sacrificed too much for the world to spend her remaining days like this. She deserved a better end than this.

“Ms. Kovacs… maybe I’m not in the position to say this.”

He looked down at the cup. “No, of course I’m not in the position to say this. I can’t imagine all the things you’ve gone through in your life. I’m just a college student.”

His voice softened. “But as a fellow human being, I want to ask you to eat. Keep your strength up. I don’t know what’s happened, but this… this can’t be the end for you. You’ve fought so hard, just to be left like this alone. It’s just not right.”

“And… it would be very sad for me, if you, of all people, would go out on such a sad note.”

Abigail slowly lifted her head. “What do you mean?” she whispered. “Why me?”

Julian put the cup of ramen down on the side, then looked up into the night sky. “I remember, about two years ago, a news crew recorded a heated argument between you and one of your colleagues… Amon Havoc, the Butcher Leviathan.”

“You two were arguing about how to handle things during a coup d'etat. Mr. Havoc argued that they should fly in and wipe the insurgents out, then restore the original regime; the original system may have been flawed, but it kept order. So he believed that ultimately the insurgents would ruin things because they weren’t properly equipped to run a government.”

“But you argued that the Leviathans should stay out of it. You said that the Leviathans should let the people decide for themselves; that even if they weren’t properly equipped, their ideals would allow them to hang on. And you eventually managed to convince the rest of the Leviathans to not interfere… including Mr. Havoc. Now that’s an impressive feat.”

Abigail sighed. “Honestly, I’m not sure what happened to them after that,” she admitted. “I haven’t been able to look back.”

“Their government is still working hard, Ms. Kovacs. Things are getting better there. You made it possible. And you’ve inspired countless others in the process.”

“... Is that right?” she said.

He nodded. “Admittedly, I don’t think about it everyday… I mean, I have my own menial concerns to think about. But that moment is still a part of my conscience. And sometimes, when times are tough, I think about a particular line you said that day.”

Abigail tilted her head, as Julian cleared his throat, took a deep breath, then yelled in a tough and hot-blooded voice.

“DON’T SCREW WITH ME!! THESE PEOPLE DESERVE A CHANCE TO PROVE THAT THEIR IDEALS AREN’T WRONG!!! AND I’M NOT SO BIGOTED AS YOU TO THINK THEY CAN’T LEARN AND MAKE THINGS BETTER!!!!”

Julian chuckled as Abigail blinked. “I remember you actually had him scared for a moment with that outburst. The Amon Havoc... scared. I’m sure this was partly why he decided to go with the vote. And it turned out to be a good decision.”

Julian rested his forearms on his knees. “Listen, Ms. Kovacs. Maybe you can’t simply move on past the pain by today, or maybe even by tomorrow or even by the end of your life. But even so…”

“... Even so, I’d like to see you regain that energy one day, even as the world comes to an end. I hope you go out as what you stood for: a hero who tries to make the best out of the worst.”

After seconds of silence, Abigail eventually took the cup on the floor and placed it in front of her. Then she took apart the chopsticks and put them in her right hand. But as Julian expected her to begin eating, Abigail simply stared into the cup.

“Is something wrong?” Julian asked.

“I…”

Julian tilted his head, curiously expecting an answer.

“... I can’t use chopsticks,” she mumbled with a blush.

Holy crap, he thought. She doesn’t know how to use chopsticks.

Julian cleared his throat, trying not to judge her, then spoke.

“Uh, well, we have forks back inside. Do you want to come inside? Our apartment room is quite big, and we can use all of the space there because all of my housemates went home.”

She looked at him, then shook her head. “I… can’t. I have to wait here. He could reappear at any time. I have to wait here.”

Julian sighed softly. “If it’s that important to you, then we can take turns looking out the window.”

Abigail blinked in surprise.

He clapped his hands. “And, oh, that’s right–you know, we’re going to go urban camping on the rooftop tomorrow. You can watch the streets from up there, if you’d like. It’ll be more comfortable! We have plastic chairs that you can use!”

“I-Is that so,” she said meekly.

Julian nodded excitedly. “It’ll be more fun with more people! There’s only three tents, but I can just share the tent with my sister!”

Abigail looked down to the cup, then at the chopsticks in her hand. Eventually, she dropped the chopsticks into the cup, seemingly having come to a decision.

“Well… if you’d be so kind, I’ll take that offer,” she mumbled.

Pan-paka-pan! Abigail Kovacs has joined your party! He silently thought.