A Single Tear

The winds howl and the trees sway as a flock of birds take flight to escape the scene.

I don’t know much about science, but mixing hot air with cold air in such a high amount can’t be good. The wind continues to pick up speed and all I can do is watch in awe.

I need to stop this before something bad happens.

Coming to my senses, I stand up, revealing myself from the bushes.

Rachel grabs my wrist and shakes her head.

“Don’t go just yet. Let’s see what Dylan can do. We need to trust him for now.”

That may be so, but- but!

Dylan is the first to strike. He charges directly at Luke, closing into melee range. His feet leave smoke and charred grass beneath them. The light around his body warps in a haze. Without any restraint, he throws a right jab at Luke’s face. Yet, the punch doesn’t connect. Almost instantly, a shield of ice appears in front of Dylan’s fist. It materializes out of nowhere and is attached to Luke’s wrist.

So, that’s his ability.

Luke swings the shield, throwing Dylan’s arm to the side and upsetting his balance. A medieval style sword of ice forms in Luke’s right hand, launching a thrust at Dylan’s abdomen.

The sword is sharp. It’s a weapon. A real weapon. It’s designed to kill and that’s what he’s aiming for.

The deadly sword flies toward Dylan’s unprotected stomach. He’s still trying to steady himself from the parry. From his current position, it’s impossible to get away without being stabbed.

At the last moment, an explosion of fire blasts out of Dylan’s feet, destroying his shoes and launching him away from Luke, escaping unscathed. Even Dylan looks surprised at his own ability, but he seems to be getting the hang of it. Luke, on the other hand, only glares at his opponent with frustration. He stays steady with his shield up, waiting defensively for the next attack.

At this new safe distance, Dylan glances at his open palm before clenching it into a fist. Taking a sprinter’s pose, he gets down on all fours and prepares to get back into the fight. Another explosion propels him towards Luke at blinding speeds. The streams of flame from his feet begin to catch the surrounding grass on fire.

Caught off guard at the overwhelming speed, Luke quickly attempts to block with his shield. It’s no use, due to the sheer velocity and heat of the punch, the shield is demolished into pieces. At the very least, his arm comes out uninjured. The attack still carries enough force to send Luke flying backwards, causing his sword to fall from his grip. If he lands wrong on the ground or hits a tree, the resulting damage could easily be hospitalizing. Without a moment to waste, he creates a small ramp of ice beneath him to gently cradle his momentum and slide him back into an upright position.

Undeterred, Dylan follows up his attack with a second. He once again launches himself, ready to punch on impact.

Suddenly, right before contact, an ice pillar rises from the ground directly between Luke and Dylan.

Unable to stop his momentum, Dylan creates another explosion in mid air to curve himself around the pillar. Immediately once around the pillar, he creates yet another explosion to redirect himself back towards Luke. It’s clear who has the advantage in this kind of battle.

Luke ducks to the ground as a dome forms around him to protect his entire body. The ice is too frosty to see through, completely hiding the boy.

Dylan continues at full speed towards the dome without a second thought. He puts both his palms out in front of him as sparks begin to form around them. With both hands, Dylan forces two explosions of flame directly onto the dome, killing his momentum and attempting to melt the barrier at the same time.

The massive explosion doesn’t even put a dent in the dome.

“Get out Luke! Before I melt you along with your cowardly walls! Fight me fair and square!”

Dylan yells in frustration. The embers multiply and a cloud of fire begins to pour out from his feet. The surrounding grass simply goes up in smoke while some of the more distant grass begins to catch fire. Dylan places his hands on the dome and sends explosion after explosion with a constant torrent of fire. Even the ground trembles at the sheer volume of force coming from the explosions.

After a few moments, the dome begins to crack.

“He’s going to kill him! We need to stop this. This is going too far!” Sarah pleads.

Rachel reasons, “No! We can’t risk going over there! We have no power compared to them. We have to wait until the end. It’s far too dangerous for us now.”

“But-”

Rachel is right, but if Dylan is the one in danger, I’ll have to run in myself no matter what.

Without warning, a large spike shoots forwards out of the crack in the dome.

Unprepared, Dylan can only barely shift it away from his heart. The ice directly impales his right side. Wails of agony pour from his lungs.

The ice dome fades into a fine snowy powder along with the spike. Luke stands up while looking at Dylan pitifully.

Dylan’s side bleeds profusely. He’s forced to put a hand on it and can only stare at Luke angrily. The fight is over, he can’t fight like that.

Luke creates another sword in his right hand and slowly begins to approach.

“That’s the end of the line for you, Dylan.”

Dylan blasts himself as far from Luke as possible. The imprecise movement causes him to tumble across the ground. Stumbling, he stabilizes himself on one knee. With his new distance, he reaches out his right hand and aims towards Luke. The fire that was leaking from his feet disappears and the embers around his hand intensify. Dylan redirects all of his firepower into a torrent of flames, creating a laser like projectile.

Completely caught off guard, Luke attempts to create another shield to block with but it instantly evaporates before it even fully forms. The stream of fire drills a hole through Luke’s left shoulder. A cry of pain escapes his lips.

“That’s it, this is going too far!” I finally decide that whether or not I trust Dylan’s skill has nothing to do with needing to stop them. Even though I trust him, there’s no way this is the right solution.

Rachel stares at the scene before us, “It’s too late. You can’t stop them anymore. It’s far too dangerous to get in the middle of now. You’re right, though. We should’ve stopped them a while ago, but now, we’ll just get hurt if we rush in.”

Now that she mentions it, the winds have picked up drastically. They have started to swirl around the arena like a tornado. The rustling of trees and howling of wind drowns out our voices to the extent that we no longer even have to be quiet. We can raise our voices and nobody will hear.

The fire that had been constantly leaking from Dylan’s feet has caught a large amount of the grass around him on fire. Everywhere Luke has been is covered in frost. The battlefield is dangerous, even without Dylan and Luke there.

The profuse steam of blood leaking from Dylan sears closed as he cauterizes it with his flames.

Through the pain, Dylan yells in anger, “Luke!! If I must kill you here, then so be it!”

The fire around him strengthens. The small cloud of fire under his feet becomes a large inferno surrounding him. The pillar of fire towers high, threatening to ignite even the canopy of the forest.

“That’s how it should be! I can’t lose here, your gem will be mine!”

Dylan’s furious voice changes to pain, “You’d really sacrifice that much just for yourself?”

“Of course. But, you have one thing confused. It’s not just for me. I’m doing this for my family. You know my pain better than anyone.”

“You can’t harm others for that! It’s wrong!”

“NO! You’re the one who’s wrong!” Luke finally breaks down in anger. “For my family’s sake, I need your gem! Give it to me! For me! Please…! I will obtain another gem, whether it’s yours or not. So if you don’t want me to hurt anyone else, then give me yours!”

“You know I can’t do that. Not now, not anymore. You’ve gone too far.”

Luke’s voice smooths out with occasional cracks of sadness, “I see. We had such good times together, when we were little. I wish we could go back to those days. I really do. But things have changed. I no longer need anyone else. I’ll live by myself and protect my family! If I’m always forced to rely on others, then how can I possibly believe that I’m someone who can be relied on? I’m the wall that protects my family. So please, for me…”

The winds speed up again as the fire continues to rage. Scalding waves of heat blow across my face immediately before chilling winds sting it like a thousand needles. Hot, cold, hot, cold, the winds can’t seem to choose who to side with as the weather grows disastrous.

The point of discussion is over. This fight can no longer end peacefully.

I need to stop this now, I’ll intervene.

Or so I thought. My eyes can’t help but stare at the battered bodies of Luke and Dylan. Two wounds pass entirely through their bodies. Injuries that if moved even slightly, could’ve been fatal.

What’s this? I can’t move. My body won’t move, even when I tell it to. The sudden prospect of death paralyzes me, getting in the middle of this fight is suicide.

Hero my ass.

“JUST DIE ALREADY!!!”

Three pillars of ice spin in circles around Luke. They twist around into a tree trunk-like shape. The trunk extends past the canopy of the forest. It’s taller than the tallest tree here. Hundreds of branches shoot off in every direction from all around the trunk, branches that are as sharp as knives. From inside the protection of the tree he can’t see outside for aiming, so the branches randomly shoot around, making it nearly impossible for Dylan to escape now.

The tree of ice glimmers brightly, reflecting all of the Sun's rays through the leaves of the other trees. It shimmers and sparkles miraculously. The surrounding grass is covered in frost making it appear to be winter instead of spring.

Several branches of the tree head straight for Dylan.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that! Your selfishness is pissing me off!”

Dylan completely loses control to his infinite rage. Fire coats everything around him. It’s so bright that it’s impossible to make out his face anymore. The sweltering heat evaporates some of the smaller knife-like branches thrusting towards him.

The grass is entirely frozen now, except for in a circle around Dylan.

The branches continue to grow towards him. A million spears fly in every direction. Nowhere is safe. The majority of the branches are heading in his general direction, while the rest cover everywhere else, just to be sure he won’t get away. They don’t quite reach out to us yet though.

Dylan’s heat isn’t enough to melt all of the branches. They slowly start making it closer and closer to him. He has immense fire power, but his defense leaves a lot to ask for. On the other hand, Luke has offense and defense.

All of the fire vanishes in an instant. Leaving just a glowing ball between Dylan’s hands. It’s the concentration of all of his fire power. He recognizes that his flimsy defenses can’t hold for long and decides to gamble everything.

Three branches immediately hit Dylan. Without the heat to keep them at bay, they pierce his shoulder and both of his legs. It goes all the way through his shoulder, but they stop partially lodged in his legs.

Through a scream of pain, Dylan aims the ball of pure heat towards the base of the tree, right where Luke hid. The sphere shines bright white like a miniature Sun.

“Don’t do it! Please stop this!”

Unable to sit idly by and watch any longer, Sarah stands abruptly. Her shouts are drowned out by the wind, so her actions are completely pointless. She runs towards Dylan helplessly.

Maybe she wants to be a hero, too? She’s definitely qualified, unlike me. I still can’t even move.

Sarah sprints away from the safety of the bushes. As she desperately tries to stop Dylan from becoming a killer, two stray branches intercept her. Shocked, Sarah slips on the frosted grass and begins to fall onto a deadly branch. It’s completely unavoidable now.

Sarah is going to die here.

She hasn’t done anything wrong though. So why? She simply wanted to help, but it’s going to cost her life?

That’s wrong.

It’s all my fault, too.

A strange power surges through me. It feels like adrenaline. My body suddenly feels light and the world around me seems to slow to a crawl. I can feel the power course through my muscles like a circuit of electricity.

Without a second thought, I dash towards Sarah. The fear of death that once controlled me wasn’t even half as strong as the fear of letting someone else die. The death of Sarah would be unjust. No, it would be the death of justice itself. She’s done nothing wrong, and I must protect her life for that reason alone.

A moment before Sarah gets hit, I’m able to land softly beside her. The strength that passed through my veins made every step of my run feel like a leap. With this kind of power, though, I could cause her severe injury by pushing her away.

At the last moment, I allow the strength to fade so that I can ever so gently push Sarah out of the way, taking her place.

“I’m sorry, Luke!” Dylan shouts at the top of his lungs.

All of the cold air immediately gets blown away with an intensely hot wind.

The miniature sun stretches into a beam of white hot inferno. It easily melts every branch it comes in contact with and cuts its way to the trunk.

Fire wraps itself around the tree. The ice is strong, but the flame is stronger.

The beam of fire pierces a hole through the tree along with Luke. It drills straight through the dead center of his torso, leaving a hole the size of a bowling ball.

Blood drips out of his mouth and stomach as he silently collapses onto the floor.

The massive tree turns to a fine dust, leaving snowflakes in the air. They fall gently down from the sky onto my face.

It’s cold again. So cold.

The branch that had embedded itself in my chest also turned into snow.

Winter covers the entire battlefield. Dylan falls over into the soft snow due to his wounds.

“Stay with me!” Sarah holds my body, teary eyed.

Rachel hurries over as well, “Allen, you need to stay awake, got it? I’ll try and call Simon. Sarah, stay with him, I’ll help Dylan.”

Water droplets fall onto my cheek, warming it up. They come from Sarah’s eyes. She continues to talk to me, but it’s hard to hear. I’m lost in my own thoughts.

I saved her. Thank god. Does this…

Does this make me a hero?

Sarah reaches out and holds my hand while crying. I wrap my fingers around hers to try and comfort her. It seems I can’t move anything but my hand.

These powers, the gems, they got me hurt this badly and almost killed Dylan too. They really did kill Luke. Still, they allowed me to accomplish my dreams. As close as I could get to them, anyway.

I’ve had a good run.

I still had things I wanted to do, but it’s hard striving to accomplish things. I think I lived fine. Dying to accomplish my goal sounds good to me. I’m sure I’ll be remembered as the person I wish I was, even if that wasn’t truly me.

The world starts to fade away and the last thing I see is Sarah’s sobbing face.

…

…

…

“Will he really be alright?”

Shut up, will you? I’m tired. I’ve already accepted death.

…

“I-I’m not sure! I’ve never needed to heal such serious wounds.”

C’mon. I just want some peace and quiet.

I blink open my eyes and find myself in a house that I’ve never seen before.

“He’s awake!”

“Allen! You’re alive!” Sarah says with a shaky voice.

Another tear falls onto my face. She wipes her eyes immediately.

“Yeah… yeah. I’m alive. Where am I?”

I sit up in the unknown house. I’m on someone’s bed.

“This is Christina’s house,” Simon says. “Her parents aren’t home right now so she said we could use it. She’s in the living room right now and Dylan is with her. He woke up before you did.”

So Simon treated me, “Thanks, Simon.”

I stand up out of the bed and suddenly feel pretty cold. I look down and I’m only wearing my underwear.

“Eek! Why’d you strip me??”

Sarah blushes.

Simon frantically answers, “Well, your shirt was ruined, it's got a big hole and it’s covered in blood. We needed to take your pants too, to make sure there were no other injuries. Not to mention, they were covered in blood too. Don’t worry though, you should be one hundred percent healthy now.”

“Could you get me some pants then please?!”

They brought me a pair of pants which fit me surprisingly well. It’s a nice pair of sweatpants.

“Whose are these?”

“Christina’s.”

What?? That feels wrong. It feels almost as embarrassing as having no pants. Almost.

“Oi! What’s the ruckus? Did Allen get up?” Christina calls from another room.

Hearing that, Dylan immediately rushes through the doorway.

“You’re fine! I was worried!”

“Yeah, I’m good now,” My memory is a bit foggy. “What happened at the end of the fight? Where’s Luke?”

Everyone’s face darkens.

Dylan speaks up, “… I killed him. Kyle helped bury him in the forest.”

Simon looks like he’s about to vomit.

“I see. I’m so sorry. I should’ve stopped you earlier.”

“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have gone by myself. I don’t know why I didn’t think that you guys would follow me. I’m an idiot. I got you all hurt and ended up killing my old friend. I just- I thought that I needed to take care of it all on my own. Luke was my friend, so I felt responsible.”

At every mention of the word kill and Luke’s fate, Simon looks even more appalled. Sarah too, but not to the same extent.

“What do we do now?”

Christina walks into the room, “Kyle said that we should hold another meeting. The final one.”

Everyone goes silent.

What a cruel fate this is.

A minute or so of silence passes before someone speaks up.

Rachel lightens the mood, “So… Simon, Christina, how’d you two meet?”

Christina answers, “Ah, Simon’s been my friend since we were little. He’s always helped me out.”

“Helped you out? I practically do everything for you!”

“Yeah, sorry. He does a whole lot for me. He even makes my lunches,” She gives a proud smile.

Poor Simon, he’s totally getting used.

“Well, you guys can all sleep here if you need to. It’s pretty late already. My parents won’t mind.”

It’s late, maybe it would be better if I just told my parents that I’ll be staying at a friend’s place. Coming home at this point would make them question where I’ve been.

“Are you sure that it’s alright?” I confirm.

“Sure.”

“Well, then I’d be happy to. Thanks a lot.”

“No problem. What about you four?”

They all nod.

“Sweet. I’ll be going to bed soon. So, Simon can stay in my room, we have two guest bedrooms so two of you can stay in each, if that’s alright.”

Two guest beds? Dang.

I roomed with Dylan and Sarah stayed with Rachel.

Christina’s house is huge. Apparently, Dylan was wandering around for a while before I woke up. A house this big would be impressive for anyone to see. Considering Dylan’s financial state, it must seem like another universe.

Man, Christina was a rich girl all along!

I say my goodnights to everyone and lay down.

As I drift asleep, my mind traces over today’s events. Things have changed a lot in just one day. The previous idea that things may become dangerous is now fact. Just having these abilities puts us at risk.

Speaking of, Dylan was able to activate his fire. My guess for the trigger is rage. Every time he gets angry, the flames swell. In the same way, Sarah’s trigger was to feel like no one could see her. To ‘wish’ that she wasn’t seen or to believe that she wasn’t seen.

So what’s the correlation between rage and fire? I get that it’s a very common connection to make, but invisibility and not being seen are literally the same. Rage and fire are quite different in reality. In this way, how are they even connected at all? Does there even have to be a reason?

My ability seems to be a form of super strength. I was only able to activate it when I desired to protect Sarah, though. So I guess I ‘wish’ to have the strength to be able to protect someone. What does Dylan ‘wish’ for? I’ll have to ask one of the other ability users, probably Sarah or Rachel. If they can’t figure it out then I’ll be forced to ask Kyle, but I don’t like him much. He’s done a lot for me and I appreciate it, but he gives off bad vibes. Not to mention, he causes a fair amount of problems himself.

It’s easy to ignore, because we all want to forget, but someone died today. Luke, Dylan’s old friend and a brother in ability using, died. More specifically, he was killed. He was so desperate to steal someone’s gem that he willingly put his life on the line. Why is that? What is the reason that he caused us so much pain? I’ll never understand, because no matter what, I would never hurt an innocent like that. I would never do something evil.

Not me.

I saved someone today. I saved Sarah’s life. I’m practically already the hero that I’ve always wanted. If I were stronger, I may have been able to take care of Luke on my own, though. That would’ve been my optimal hero.

A hero.

To me, a hero is a person who protects justice at all costs. A person who is strong enough to protect good and destroy evil.

It’s no longer such a far fetched dream. I may one day become that person.

“Are you awake?” Dylan whispers.

“Yeah.”

“So you’re having trouble sleeping too?”

I haven’t, really, but since he has, “Yeah.”

“Today shook me up. I hope I wasn’t showing it though.”

He chuckles.

“No, you did a good job. I’m sure you didn’t worry anyone.”

“Thanks. Anyway, I’m having a lot of trouble coping with… ya know… killing Luke. It’s rough, man. I feel that you may be the only one I can tell this to. I wouldn’t want to worry any of the chicks, and Simon is too innocent.”

“I’m glad that you can trust me.”

“Yeah, thanks for understanding. Me and Luke were buddies since we were little kids. I’m sure you gathered this by now, but my family is quite poor. We live in a trailer park. I don’t want pity though. I’m doing just as fine as everyone else. I’m strong, but… Luke wasn’t. That’s why I was there for him. Luke was in the same boat as me. Poor for the same reason, too. Medical bills can take a lot out of a lower income house. Blew us straight into poverty. My pa’s got a heart disease. He hasn’t kicked the bucket yet, though. He spends most of his time in the hospital, but that might be even worse. He’s suffering and so is the rest of the family. The bills cost so much and he isn’t getting better.”

Damn. This is rough. He must’ve had such a hard life up until this point, but as per his request, I won’t pity him. Instead, he’s doing great. From the way he acts now, he’s a very amazing person to be able to be so kind and live in these conditions. He’s probably got such a short temper because of how hard his home life is, though. It’s understandable.

“A similar situation was happening with Luke, but he didn’t handle it well. He often lashed out and got into fights for no reason. I’d help him out, but it often just made us targets for bullying. Kids made fun of us for being poor, but after we gave them a couple beatings they wouldn’t mention it again.”

So he was bullied, too. Well, they tried to bully him at least. Still, for him to be able to have such a hard life and still not even let an ounce of it show. He’s incredible.

“Somewhere along the way, Luke distanced himself from me. It was slow and gradual so it was hard to notice. When I confronted him, all he could say was that he needed to be stronger by himself. From my years of knowing him, he probably thought that always being with me and talking with each other made him weak. He probably thought that he wasn’t strong enough to be there for his family if someone had to be there for him. In that regard, to go so far to protect your family, he was wonderful. But, as far as I know, he left all of his friends. He shut himself off from the world entirely. When I saw him again for the first time in a while, at the meeting, he didn’t say a word to me. He was like a completely different person. But the Luke I knew was so fun. He was an amazing friend… and I- I!”

His voice picked up volume.

I sat up and put my hand on his shoulder.

“You’ve done great. There’s no need to hold back.”

His eyes welled with tears, but only one fell. He shed a single tear for his old friend. Despite being so strong, despite having such a hard life for such a long time, losing Luke was too much. Their friendship had already been torn apart, but he shed a tear for the wonderful man he remembered.

“Goodbye, Luke.”