To Amira it all seemed like a bad dream. How could Abba do this to her? Couldn't he see that she loved Snug?
She was scared. She didn't know what they were going to do to Snug. She didn't know if live without him. He was her sun, the passionate presence that warmed her days.
How could she live without her sun?
Quiet tears streaked down her cheeks as her mind whirled, desperately searching for a way to save him.
In the end only one answer came to mind. It would likely ruin everything that they had built. It would destroy Snug’s dream.
But she didn't care.
She just wanted Snug to be safe.
So, with a tear streaked face and a heavy heart, Amira set out to find Ricky.
—--------------------------------------------------
Snug woke up in the dark, and was immediately met with the legions of pain. He appeared to be tied to a chair.
A low groan escaped him as he tried to struggle free. Strangely enough, all he could think of was Justice Man Issue #27, where Justice Man had been in a very similar situation.
What did he do? Snug thought groggily.
The answer came in the form of his finger brushing the corner of a concrete pillar.
Justice Man had rubbed the rope against the surface until it frayed and broke.
Justice Man had made it look much easier than it actually was, and in the end, it took 15 minutes of grueling effort.
Free once more, Snug rolled his wrist and silently thanked Justice Man.
He was in what looked like a basement, pitch black except from a single ray of light spearing out from under a high door. Snug carefully began to make his way to that sliver of light, nearly tripping as he got to the stairs. Finally, his grasping hand found the door handle, and with a grunt he pushed it open.
The first thing he noticed was the sound of faint shouting.
He stood in a sparse living room, adorned only with a single sofa and armchair. A heavy wooden door cordoned the room off from the outside world. As Snug approached that door, the sound of shouting only grew. His heart began to race.
Then his hand was on the door handle, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He didn't know what awaited him, but he had a suspicion. If his suspicion was correct, what he did next would either see his dreams realized or shattered. He knew what Justice Man would do, but for the first time he wondered if he could truly follow in the hero’s footsteps.
Justice Man would have never been captured so easily.
Snug closed his eyes, hand on the door handle, and retreated to that place he had discovered in the wake of his first meeting with Amira.
Justice Man appeared in front of him, red cape twirling in an invisible breeze.
“What are you waiting for?” he questioned, “You know what to do.”
“Do I?” Snug responded, “I’m just a kid. Look at the mess I caused.” He waved an arm and the emptiness filled with visions.
Amir’s heartbroken face. Amira’s tears. Her father’s rage.
“Of course you do. Look at what you’ve accomplished.”
His wave struck the vision of defeat from the sky and replaced them with visions of peace.
Amira in his arms. Amir smiling at something he had said. A Eurek and Sarb man shaking hands with a smile on their faces.
Snug just shook his head, and the visions vanished,
“I ruined that. I was so stupid.”
“What would you have done? Given up Amira?” Justice Man countered.
Snug hesitated,
“No, but I could have been more careful, prepared better. Now my dreams burn, and I can't save them.”
Justice Man moved closer, looming over Snug,
“Is that what a hero does?” He questioned, voice rising.
“No…bu”
“Are those the ideas you idolize? Giving up?”
“No! Bu”
“Is that what Justice Man would do?” His voice was sharp, incisive.
And Snug could contain himself no longer.
“No! But I am not you! I am not Justice Man! I’m just a kid who got in way over his head, and fell in love with a girl way too good for him, and… and… and fucked it all up!”
Tear began to stream down his face, his chest racking with sobs,
“I fucked it all up.” he whispered to himself.
Justice Man was silent, and for a time all that could be heard were soft sobs.
Finally, a soft whisper split the silence,
“You’re wrong.”
Snug’s sobbing stopped.
“Justice Man is not a person. It is a mantle. A mantle of a man willing to stand in the face of injustice. Willing to stand in the face of hate and prejudice. I donned this mantle the second I accepted that part of myself. The second I made the fight against injustice my fight. You think yourself unworthy of the mantle. You think me greater than you.”
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He hovered over to Snug and pulled him up to his feet.
“Do you know who I am?”
Snug shook his head hesitantly.
Justice Man reached behind his head and slowly peeled off his ever present red mask.
Under it was a familiar face.
It was Snug’s.
“I am you. I always have been.”
He offered Snug the mask,
“My mantle is yours because we are the same.”
Snug looked this doppelganger with shock,
“Does this mean…”
The doppelganger smiled,
“Yes. You are Justice Man.”
Slowly, reverently, Snug pulled the mask over his face. The word slowly found himself back in the real world, hand still on the handle. He instinctively knew he would never see Justice Man again.
Because he was Justice Man.
It was time to show them what that meant.
—-------------------------------------
Outside the door, two groups faced each other in a wary standoff. The Eureks and the Sarbs. A struggle as old as time itself. Both groups were composed of a mix of kids and adults.
The evening sun lit the dusk up with a myriad of warm colors, creating a scene out of a painting.
But the two sides only had eyes for the violence yet to occur.
Ricky stepped forward, flanked by Snug’s dad and Amira. They were met by Amir, Amira’s father and another man. Both were accompanied by the shouting of their men.
“Let, Snug go.” Ricky demanded, voice fighting to be heard over the shouting, “he only wanted what was best for you.”
Amir sneered,
“What’s best for us? He only wanted Amira.”
“Our relationship has nothing to do with Snug’s desire for peace, Amir!” Amira retorted, “He just wanted the fighting to stop. And this is how you repay him?”
“Amira,” Amir entreated, “he is manipulating you.”
“No, Amir, he is not. He loves me and I love him.”
Amir’s face twisted in rage, and he opened his mouth, only to be interrupted by Amira’s father.
“Amira, this is foolishness. Call off your Eurek dogs.”
“They’re not dogs, Abba. And we’re not leaving until you give us Snug.”
“He still needs to pay for his deceptions.”
That caught Snug’s father’s attention,
“What are you bastards doing to my son?!” he roared.
“Only what he deserves.” Amira’s father replied.
Ricky was forced to restrain Snug’s father as he attempted to lunge at Amira’s father.
“Mr. Walterson, please control yourself.”
The turning to the Sarb representatives he spoke,
“We have come to believe in Snug’s words. I don't want violence. Release Snug and all will be forgiven.”
Amir spit at him in response.
Ricky sighed,
“I thought better of you Amir. Very well. We will solve this like dumb brutes.”
The two sides stepped back to their respective sides, and prepared to escalate the violence.
Only to be interrupted by an opening door.
And the figure that walked out of it.
Snug looked horrible, filthy and coated in dried blood. He looked like a homeless man and moved like a cripple. Yet he drew every eye on the soon-to-be battlefield.
“Snug!” Amira cried.
He gave her a sad smile, before turning his attention to the broader battlefield.
“There will be no fighting today!” he announced.
“Really? And why is that?” Amir yelled back.
“Because I will be accepting any punishment you see fit to inflict upon me.”
That shut Amir up.
“You doubt my message. Doubt my integrity. Doubt my intentions. Let me put the doubt to rest. I will act as the price of peace.”
This time it was Ricky that objected,
“We’re not leaving you to these bastards, Snug!”
“They aren't bastards. They are people. That is the first thing you need to see.”
“My point stands, Snug! We won't leave you!”
“Ricky, if you have ever trusted me, then trust me once more. This is the way.”
Ricky looked down at his feet, seeming unsure, only to have his voice replaced by Snug’s father.
“Snug, don't listen to these ba…”
“Quiet, dad” Snug interrupted, “I'm done arguing with you. I am my own man. I can make my own decisions.”
“You’re only 17!”
“That's not what makes a man a man. A man is somebody with an ideal, a bottom line. This is my bottom line. And I refuse to cross it.”
“Snug… don’t do this.” Amira’s soft voice carried across the Sarbs.
He turned to smile sadly at her,
“This is the dream, love. This is the dream.”
Then he turned back to address everyone,
“There will be no conflict today! Is! That! Understood!”
Slowly, but surely a wave of uncertain nods spread throughout the crowd.
Snug relaxed,
“Good.”
Then he turned to walk back into the house.
“Why?” Amira’s father’s voice split the air.
Snug stopped and slowly turned to face him,
“Because this is the dream. Peace.”
“But how! It has always been like this!”
“I have told you once, and I shall tell you once more. The world is new. We can be new too.”
Amira’s father’s eyes darted wildly between Snug's calm acceptance and Amira’s tear streaked face.
“God damn it boy,” he yelled, throwing down the crude knife he held in his hand, “why are you so fucking hard to deal with.”
Snug slowly turned around and walked up to Amira’s father,
“Change is often hard, Mr. Farash,” he said once he stood before him, “But it is necessary.”
Mr. Farash looked down at Snug with conflicted expression, before finally sighing.
“You have my blessing, Snug.”
“What? No!” Amir yelled, “You ca…”
“Quiet boy. You've caused enough trouble.”
Then turning to the people behind him he addressed them,
“Snug’s right. We got no reason to keep this conflict going. Let it die with the setting of the sun.”
Then turning to Snug he continued,
“Come, let me introduce you to my daughter.”
Side by side they walked across the gap between the two groups, mirrored by Amira dragging Snug’s father across as well. They met in the middle.
Mr. Farash awkwardly extended a hand to Snug’s father, and after a moment of hesitation he sighed and took it.
“Farhhed Farash.”
“Sam Walterson.”
Meanwhile Amira and Snug faced each other. Snug smiled and extended a closed fist. Amira looked at it in confusion until he opened it to reveal a small shriveled mango.
“Mango?” he questioned.
Amira tackled him in a hug, laughing and crying in an equal measure.
“I love you, Snug!” she cried.
“As do I, Amira.” he replied.
Around cheering slowly started in the two groups, spreading with every wild twirl.
Soon it became a deafening roar, made all the louder when Snug and Amira’s lips met in a passionate kiss.
Behind them the sun set, and with it so did the last of the barriers between the Sarbs and the Eureks.
Snug and Amira got married soon after, and lived out the rest of their lives in peace. They inherited the store and that is where I pressed their paths upon their deaths.
Snug’s story was not unique, and in this fact lay its power. Ten of thousands of people were finding their paths and imposing it on the world around them, a number far greater than anytime before it. The world had truly changed. No longer could all momentous events be tracked down to the imposition of a hegemon, but were instead composed of a glorious symphony of smaller paths, each struggling to leave its mark.
Humanity had left behind their simplicity and embraced a broader world order.
One where all men could choose.
Where all could be divine.