Empty shell of a human being

"Chikao, where's Aia?"

"Alex-kun? I ran after her but couldn't find her...Damn, I'm so useless."

"No, you're not! You've been a great help."

Chikao looked at me, more motivated than usual.

"Really?"

"Yes. Now, let's go search for Aia."

"Yeah, let's go."

We ran towards our objective, in the way there, we found a traumatizing thing...

A lacerated head, half of it burnt.

Matthew?

I got down on my knees to inspect closer.

"Who could have done this? And where's Aia?"Said Chikao.

"That's what we are about to know."

Aia, you promised me that you'd never kill someone again, yet, you blatantly lied to me. Just like my father. 

(Ten years ago).

We were coming home from a park, me and my mother. It was one of the happiest days of my life, could see nature around, remember that mom brought me some ice cream, a fantastic day, it was. But my happiness would not last for long.

When we were crossing the street, a speeding car was going towards, the driver was one the phone. Because of this, my mother, by reflex, decided to push me. To save me from the collision.

The car ran her over. The man inside it didn't want to assume this, so, accelerated more the car to flee the crime scene.  

I couldn't in what I saw, my mother was coughing up blood, right in front me. Horrified, I was. Never imagined to see my best friend, the one that cared so much of me, in that state.

Paramedics came quickly to help my mother, everyone was watching, kids, other mothers, old people...Everyone staring at how miserable I was at that moment. Something I would never forget.

A constant silence plagued the hospital, father was constantly crying, I...Only remember of looking down...Without much reaction to anything that was happening around me.

Finally, a medic came to us, to tell us the news.

"Doc, is she going to survive? What is her state?"

"..."

"Did you hear me? I asked you what is her state, did she survive?"

My sister, one year more older than me, was also there, staring at the doctor's eyes.

"..."

"I'm sorry."

Dad was completely deranged , screamed, and screamed.

"Doc! Don't say to me that, tell me that she's still alive, please!"

Patients began to look at what was happening, my father screaming a the doctor.

"How the hell am I going to raise my kids without her? Tell me."

The doctor only stayed in silence, knowing there was no possible answer...

Time passed after my mother's death, I went to live with my grandparents for a while, my sister went to live with my auntie.

Live was flowing much slower every day, no day passed without me thinking about her, how I'd lost her. Never knew as a kid, but I've been told that father began to use drugs at the time, to suppress the pain he was having, never moving forward with life.

Until one day, dad asked me to come to come over to his lab, said that I'd show me a surprise. Curious with what I was going to see, went there to see what was this all about.

He had a genuine smile on his face, one that I had never seen.

"Son, I know how you felt when your mother died, me and your sister felt the same...But no more...Today will be a special day."

"A special day."

"Yes, son."

Heard steps, coming from behind him, getting closer and closer to us. Someone was there with us, someone I hadn't imagined. When I finally got to see her face...

It was my mother...

"Mom?"I said, not believe in what I was seeing.

"How have you been lately, son?"She said.    

"But you died!"

"Alex, don't you see? Your mother passed away but she's now with us."

"That means she's not my real mother, she's a robot that you built."

"..."

He didn't respond to my statement, knowing that I was absolutely right. Looked down for a bit, taking time to process what he has done.

"I...I...Just wanted to see you happy."

"I know that you miss her, we all miss her everyday, but can't do this, ruining yourself thinking about her. We must do what she would want us to do...Move forward with ours lives, even if he can't forget her in the end, at least, we can live with ourselves."

"Son..."

He turned off the robot, sorry for what he did. In the end, we hugged each other.

At present time, my father is a new men, has a wife, a stable job, living a good life, seeing me weekly to see if I'm okay. For my sister, I don't really know her whereabouts.

 (Present time).

I jumped from building, avoiding all the attacks of the hanged man.

As the battle passed, she was becoming more nervous, not trying to win against me but to just not die. Her hanged man was creating giant balls of fire, similar to meteors, sending them against me. I was doing everything I could to dodge them. 

A intense explosion happened.

Luckily, I could jump from the building that exploded. This time, in a desperate move, jumped towards the building that Tanya was at. Used Alex's power to give the jump an impulse.

An impossible thing, only fueled by courage.

Tanya stayed on the defensive, abusing of the hanged man's power to destroy everything at her sight. Like a bullet, I collided with the building she was standing on. An opportunity to get closer and to kill her.

The entire building was collapsing, we two in it. Reality began to change again.

This time, we were back again at the landscape. Tanya was extremely tired from abusing of her powers, laying on the ground to recover her strength. 

That was the moment I was looking for, one that I would end her existence.

Began to walk towards her, hungry for her blood. Crawling on the ground, she tried to get away from me, to no avail. 

When I was about to use my Katana, reality shattered, meaning that she was defenseless against me.

I extended the sword up, with the intention of using it to cut her horizontally. When I was about do it, she countered.

She reactivated her power to negate mine, like I did in the first time when I fought her.

If my power (Joan's power) could create a reality, the realm of the dead, she also could ,practically, overlap it with her's. With this, my stance broke, giving her an opportunity to attack me with all she got.

(A more comprehensible explanation. Because Aia was using Joan's power, the power that makes her eyes turn green, Tanya took advantage of this and used her power to overlap Aia's power. Because Joan's power is a type A at its core, even if Aia wasn't affecting reality at all, what Tanya did still could interfere with Aia's power, deactivating it for a while).  

Roses commenced to rose, around Aia, like a snake, the intent was to strangulate her to death, but Tanya resisted the temptation.

(Returning to Aia's perspective).

"Damn!"I said.

Couldn't move my arms, tied up by the plants in my pulse.

Because I was defenseless, Tanya began to punch me, like a boxing bag. Punch after punch, even her hands began to hurt from so much punching.

"If you give up, I'll stop."She said, punching more and more.

Her punches weren't like Alex's but still hurt. My lips were dripping a little bit of blood.

"Do you give?!"

"Yeah."

The roses stopped tying me, no longer trapped by it. I dropped to the ground.

Tanya had defeated me.

"Finally...I thought that you weren't giving up for anything, but it looks that I was wrong."She said.

With her defense open, I attacked, not caring about the thing I said. Just wanted to kill her.

When I was about to kill her with my Katana with a simple thrust, someone stepped in front of her.

It was Alex.