"I, Queen Rikina of Juvia, pray that the supreme gods and my holy fathers will help Hidetsugu Takahashi on his journey to heaven..." she raised her goblet and the nobles that filled her grand throneroom did so too.
A hero has fallen. We must say farewell."
A few hours before the announcement was made, sat a young boy beside the windows of his house.
Stars, swirls, hearts; He was using some crayons to scribble away a masterpiece on the paper, while the other slept on the couch. The firstborn, Sylvester, broke a crayon in shock when his mother sat on the couch behind him where his brother rested. Keira smiled in amusement sulked, "you can't scare me like that"
Keira hummed, caressing Hiroto's head, taking the baby in her arms.
Sylvester put down his crayon, and trotted towards his brother to poke one of his chubby cheeks. Keira tutted his hand off, "he'll wake up, and what then? Will you be able to shut him back to sleep?"
Sylvester pouted. He paid no further mind to it and blinked before looking at the closed hologram in front of him. He snatched Keira's mobile and typed a channel to play aggressively.
"I want to see dad on the tv-"
"Hidetsugu Takahashi; Lixue Yang; Sakura Suzuki and more have saved 89 students from a civil terrorist attack. The Alorudai International School building had been evacuated and the following hour; destroyed in a minor bombing by domestic terrorists...."
.
It felt as if fate was laughing at him.
Hidetsugu panted as blood dribbled down his chin. The children that he saved were being loaded into ambulances, some were trembling and pale from shock, and police made barriers to prevent them from engaging in the red zone again. Some parents immediately snatched their children away and others let their children cheer for Hidetsugu on from afar, they were passionate despite eroded throats. It was endearing... smoke sizzling out of burned concrete of the school campus and buildings surrounding them, curving to the top. Holograms flickered in Juvian; letters forming to broadcast warnings and the news throughout the city. The Juvian trains spiraling through the skyscrapers had shut down temporarily due to the scale of the attack.
His throat burned without water... he was told to be careful, his children- his children will be waiting for him. They're probably watching him, so he gave his signature wide arms swooping into a bow to the camera. He stood tall. The end of the show.
Drones whirred around to capture media photage. Robots stomping around with weapons to assist in the arrest of the terrorists that had ambushed the school. More heroes were there, unfortunately, some had succumbed to their deaths, bleeding red over the school's collapsed playgrounds... bodies covered in white sheets to be hidden from public eyes. A last courtesy.
Trembling as soot covered and plastered itself on his hair, he took a deep sigh of smoke filled air.
"Japan's youngest ever number 1 hero, at the age of 24. He really does live up to his title! Currently the hero is bowing, a signature move of his after any battle.
A little bit about the hero's fascinating quirk, his pyrokinesis abilities allow him to manipulate fire into any animal he desires. The flame can be cold or hot, how cool!" an AI powered drone rambled as it recorded the smoking trench.
Keira frowned in disapproval, gripping the armrest. She never approved of her husband's job. Hidetsugu was always endangered, he came back with new bruises or even a broken bone everyday. Her biggest fear was being left with the responsibility of her two children alone.
Surely she had a right of argument, seeing him all bloodied again was terrifying... she shuddered as he bowed to the camera and she closed her eyes shut.
Sylvester's eyes shone brightly, admiring his father's strength. "Look mummy, he saved 89 kids! They're small kids like meee!" His short white hair was tied into a bun. Sylvester looked up to father, he loved his father.... Keira hummed in acknowledgment, gripping hiroto close in nervousness who huffed in discomfort.
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Hidetsugu closed his eyes and panted through his nose, keeping the blood in his mouth down.
…
"Naïvety is common amongst children." Keira frowned, turning to hidetsugu. "They're so small yet their dreams are so huge." He smiled at Sylvester playing with some toy airplane.
…
Sylvester curiously pointed at a man on the hologram creeping behind Hidetsugu. "Why is no one telling him-!?" Keira's breath hitched in anger as a hero kept shoving the media away from the scene, distracting the children and ultimately keeping Hidetsugu's attention away.
The man was beaten. Horribly bruised. Bleeding out. Barely alive. Limping. He heaved himself up from the rubble staring at Hidetsugu in pure hatred. The drones and security bots hadn't seemed to pick him up, too focused on accepting the commands of the second hero's distractions away from the scene and broadcasting or rounding up the survivors for first aid.
Hidetsugu himself had been too alert from the previous rushes of adrenaline. His head shot back and immediately at the crunches of footsteps and caught sight of the suspect, signaling his sidekicks and other heroes to back-off.
The man dragged himself, clothes ripped and tattered, blood from his cut lip smeared across his cheek. He felt his face pale, he tasted fear from the blood rushing out of his mouth, he wanted to survive- he wanted to survive. He will survive.
The criminal generated the last bomb from the bruise of his skin, trembling in pain yet smiling, "you- you bastards won't see the last of me with a happy ending."
click
Hidetsugu heard the familiar sound and without thinking, pushed himself towards the criminal that held the grenade.
He wanted to survive, but it may have been his fate that worked against him. A curdling scream ripped out of his throat, looking at the heroes and children near the blown up ditch-
"GET AWAY, NOW!!!"
A blue flame dragon erupting around the suicide bomber and himself, he didn't have time to get away to a safe distance and he couldn't risk the man throwing the grenade up. He was scared, he thought he wouldn't be afraid of death when it came, but it came too soon... he didn't want to die. His children- Xui-
The dragon erupted around them as if a dome shield and the criminal smirked in satisfaction of knowing Hidetsugu would die along with him. He didn't have time to cry before pain erupted throughout his body. The flame he created glowed brightly, majestic and coloured with pinks and yellows amongst the blues. A flash of white made the flame with a deafening bang in the explosion blinding to look at further.
It didn't last... the glass shards of the grenade melted in the flame barrier before they could reach the other innocents.
The flame flickered a weak orange before dying out.
Screams of horror erupted around the bomb site, gasps of dread. Parents shielded their children from the sight and Hidetsugu's sidekicks contained their shock, distracting themselves in getting the children away as far as possible. Robots rushed to salvage the pieces of the remains that Hidetsugu left behind. To separate his ashes from the criminal's gore.
'Technical difficulties.'
Keira's eyes remained glued to the screen, hand frozen and clenching around the chair so hard it was on the verge of tearing from her nails digging into the leather. Humming of a failed signal and her panting as realization washed over her. She screamed in anger, succumbing to her knees. Her husband- her husband was- gone! He was here! He was here in the morning wearing his costumes and getting ready for work.
"What-?" Sylvester, stared at the screen in confusion, unaware and unaccepting of what happened, he shook visibly. The youngest squirmed and started wailing in Keira's tight grip, the snuggling comfort of the blanket was now choking him. "Hiroto's crying..." he gently tugged his brother away from his mother, but he wouldn't budge in her grip. "Mom!!!-"
"Shut up."
"..." Sylvester lowered his head in shame and hmphed, stomping to the other couch in utter frustration. He hugged one of the cushions close to his chest, the different stitch patterns dug into his cheek as he teared up. The hologram whirred again, it was a mess of headlines. Reporters in their headquarters were pale with shock, emergency mourning clothes were worn. The woman spoke first, unable to say anything. She opened her mouth to speak but took a pause.
"With a heavy heart... We confirm the Number 1 hero; Hidetsugu Takahashi's death."
Since when were they so fast, how were they so quick-
No.
Keira's breath stuttered and she shook violently. What would she do!? She's- she's ruined, these kids- what will these kids do without a father!? No this has to be a dream. This cannot be anything but a dream!!!
"He was undoubtedly a great hero-"
The hologram glitched and faded after Keira threw her mobile at the projector. She couldn't hear another word of that stupid voice. It was unreasonable, foolish, it was... untrue! Simply untrue! It just couldn't be! She couldn't hear Hiroto's wailing, or her phone ringing, or Sylvester screaming at her in confusion. Or her maids rushing in to help her.
"Mummy, W-what... What does that mean!? What about baba- he was ok but they're not showing him why aren't they showing him!?-" Sylvester panicked and ran to his mother to somehow grab her as she sulked in defeat and fell on her knees with Hiroto in her arms, his skin yellow in her grip while he was squirming and screaming.
"Your father is dead."
Hiroto closed his eyes, recalling the events as his brother had once told him, he sighed and his shoulders dropped. Pushing himself up he frowned at the horizon beyond his clean windows, white hair gently swaying in the breeze of the air conditioning. His orange eyes scanned the letter awaiting an answer at his desk.