"This is all your doing… Isn't it?"
It does not move.
"Why are you doing this? Were my friends actually involved or were they fake too?"
"You don't understand." The voice echoes out.
"I know, that's why I'm asking you!" Michael shouts back, frustrated and scared.
"I'm only trying to help."
"How could any of this help anything at all? What are you trying to do?"
The shadow figure, seemingly made of a shifting smoke, constantly shifting around, calms a bit, its form settling as it looks away.
"You're going to die. You'll kill them all."
"Who..?"
Michael asks, still on the ground. It looks back at him. The world starts to shift. The cliffside warps away quickly as beams of light and darkness surround him. Michael stands up cautiously looking around. He then gets a terrified look on his face. Everything stops and he sees fire and destruction in front of him. Jade, Jazmine, and Kevin are dead on the ground in front of him. Brutalized in different ways.
"This is your future. This path only leads to death."
Michael walks to them slowly. He looks at them terrified and starts crying. He falls down.
"H-how..?"
The shadow lifts its arm and points. When he looks over, he sees himself, arms covered in metal and blood dripping down his face. Behaving like a beast with a symbol engraved in his forehead. Fire all around him.
"No… No, I can't…"
"Death of those you love. This is your future."
"You're right…"
He begins to wipe the tears from his eyes. Then he looks up at the shadow.
"But I will change this future! I will become the best superhero ever! I will change this!"
The shadow figure doesn't react for a moment before it vibrates then it all goes black. Michael is in his room on his bed, laying on his back looking at the roof. He sits up quickly and looks around confused but calms down. His phone rings. He gets a text from Jazmine reading:
"Come on man! We're waiting for you outside"
He smiles a bit then gets up. He leaves his house through the front door a bit later after changing and locks it then turns to the front gate where the others are standing.
"Took you long enough! Didn't you remember we had plans today?"
Kevin asks as he grabs Michael by the shoulder and bumps his arm.
"Plans?.." Michael seems a little confused.
"Yeah, we said Wednesday that we were hanging out this weekend remember?" Jade says with a smile. Michael seems to remember, getting a complex emotion deep in his chest.
'It felt like so long I almost forgot…' "Oh yeah haha. It just slipped my mind."
"Well come on! If we don't hurry we'll miss the train!"
Kevin says excitedly as he puts his fist in the air and they all start walking. It's Saturday morning as they get on the train to head to The Outlets. A strip mall type place. As they walk, Jade gets a big smile on her face as she suddenly cheers.
"I'm so excited!"
"For what?" Michael asks, trying to smile despite everything that's happening in his life.
"I don't know. Everything I guess. We're in highschool now. And I'm still with all my friends. Our school is nice and big and the teachers seem nice so far." She says happily.
"I guess being so smart means you don't have to worry about work huh? I on the other hand…"
Jazmine speaks up, getting sore about the topic implying she isn't the best academically.
"Hey don't worry about it! With guys like Michael and Jade around, we won't have to worry about school work at all! They're the smartest people I know!"
Kevin says supportively, wrapping his arm around her. She blushes a little. Michael smiles seeing them.
'Maybe I shouldn't worry them about any of this. If they don't remember, that's for the best.'
The club ends up going into a couple stores, playing on a play set and eventually, Kevin and Jade buying some food. They settle on sitting on an upper balcony where Jade and Kevin sit on a table with their food as Michael looks over the balcony edge. Jazmine walks up next to him and leans against the rails.
"Did you enjoy yourself today?" She asks.
"Of course! What kind of question is that? You guys are my bestest friends, my only friends really… I can't think of one moment where I didn't like being with you."
Jazmine smiles at him. They stand in silence for a moment. Michael looks down.
"You know you can talk to me about anything. No matter how crazy it may seem. I'm here for you."
Jazmine offers with a soft look. Michael stops and thinks for a moment before replying.
"You know I see things."
Jazmine looks at him questioningly.
"I feel like I've lived the past 6 months through the eyes of someone else but it was us, together. And when I woke up, it had only been one night. Almost like it was all a bad dream. The next thing I knew we were back to our normal lives. But the things I saw… Horrible things." He admits in nothing more than a whisper.
"Michael…"
"I talked to Yami about it. He said he understands but I'm not so sure." Michael turns to face Jazmine. "Someone showed me something terrifying last night, claiming it was the future. That if I keep trying to become a hero I would eventually kill everyone I care about."
Jazmine looks down.
"But even if that's what they said, I refuse to believe it. I would never hurt anyone like that. I won't let it happen. I will protect you, because that's what it means to be a hero!"
He says, smiling and determined, expecting her to be happy and supportive. She just stands there motionless looking unphased. She smiles emptily.
"I know you will."
He smiles back softly but slightly concerned.