In life, some people are dealt a better hand than others.

Life was never meant to be easy. It doesn't get any easier either as you get older , boy can I vouch for that! Most worry about what they're going to be in life, or what career they're going to choose or how they're going to put food on the table, you know, regular adult stuff. Regular everyday things that have become so common it's actually rather boring. So boring in fact, that it's no surprise that most find themselves wishing for a different way of life. Something so out of the ordinary that would make everyday an adventure! Like becoming a super hero or having crazy awesome super powers! Sounds awesome right?

Wrong.

Even when given those circumstances life would never make it so easy to live. Especially not peaceful. Why do I know that? Because that's the kind of world I was born into. I don't know why I ended up like this, but I did. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my life, Good and bad things happened same as any other person's story. But, well, a normal nine to five somehow doesn't sound that bad now. I remember when I used to believe I was normal, even after changing I still liked to believe that I was originally normal. Who knew that ignorance really was bliss?

Well then, shall we take it from the top? Great! I remember that first day as if it were yesterday. God, even now I get such a sense of nostalgia...

[In a battle torn field, I find myself holding onto a beautiful woman. She should be a stranger to me but in the depths of my being I can feel that I truly care for this one frail creature, but this woman is no longer alive. The reason for her death is not clear to me yet I can feel such sadness... such anger that I cannot contain myself. Cold heavy drops of rain fall upon me and with that awakens my "Wrath". But I only see myself crying, crying like a newborn desperate for attention. I press my forehead against hers and I begin to pray to who knows what.

"Please.......Let us meet again!!!" I yell with such emotion that I can practically feel the words come out of my mouth so painful and intense. With eyes filled with tears, i look into the puddles of water in the mud. I can see myself in the reflection but.....that's not me?.....]

Startling awake, Axel quickly sat up and gasped. With his shirt drenched in sweat, he pullted the collar away from himself and aired his chest out.

(That dream again...) He thought to himself wiping his eyes. This particular scenario had been playing in his dreams for as long as he could remember. Though, he could not figure out why. In the end, the fact that he was back in the real world always relieved him and made him forget all about it.

“oh man!I'm going to be late!” He exclaimed once he glanced at the time on his phone.

Waking up early to go to school on a monday morning was one thing that Axel was bad at. He spent his entire winter break staying up late and waking up late. He didn't have much to do anyway. School was really the only thing to look forward to.

School started at exactly 8 am. The time right now was 7:50 am. Realizing that he only had 10 minutes before school started, he ran to his closet and quickly picked some clothes and put them on. He decided to skip breakfast and just run to school.

“it looks like I'll make it as long as I don't slow down..” he said while trying to settle his otherwise messy hair. He grabbed his backpack and quickly looked in the mirror before running out the door of his house.

Axel wasn't very handsome in his eyes. He was a tall slim guy with night colored hair which seemed rather disorganized but fitting in a way. It didn't stand up or point out and it didn't get in the way of his eyes or even tickle the lower part of his neck so he rolled with it. It also complimented his hazel brown eyes.

He didn't really care how he looked though. It’s not like he wanted to impress anybody. That was the least of his worries. The only special attribute and interesting fact about himself was his hair color. Under certain lighting, it would appear to have a night colorish look. Almost purple in a way. Enough to get a couple compliments here and there but that was about it. After all, there were way more other interesting things to pay attention to.

Sonic City. Home to about 2 million people. Located right next to San Diego, California. It was a really nice city that he had lived in for as long as he could remember. He lived really close to the beach and had a really nice home. At the moment, he lived alone. His parents and little sister went to live in San Diego because his parents had found better job opportunities there.

Since they owned the house in Sonic City, they decided to allow Axel to live there and continue going to school. It’s been 6 months since they left and Axel was very happy with the way things have been going in his life since then. Sometimes,however, he worried for his and his family’s safety.

Axel was apart of a very strange world. The supernatural, powers and abilities, stuff like that actually existed. A certain group of individuals known as the Peacekeepers occasionally cause tragic accidents and terrorize the world. News about them has spread all over and bounty's have been put on their heads but that doesn't stop them. Their intent, their background, who knew. Little to nothing was known about them, not even how they came to be but Axel wasn't entirely sure that this was coincidental. It was more like this information was confidential.

His reason for believing that is that they once played a big part in world history, according to his history teacher at least. From what he had learned in class, they were once really big worldwide. Every one knew who they were. However, between humans and superhumans power struggles started to break out which pretty much led to most of the superhumans being hunted down and killed. Aside from uncanny abilities, they were still humans and could be killed like any other. And so, because of this, they were nearly wiped out but some still remained even to this day. They mostly live in hiding and sometimes rampage around like terrorists in an attempt to jeopardize human's regular everyday lives. It was a little hard to believe that this was all the intel humans had on them. It was much more plausible to assume that this was all the public information available with the rest being kept confidential.

Even so, He just thought that as long as they didn’t get mixed up in his life or his family's then he shouldn't have to worry about it. He was just a regular high school boy in the 11th grade so right now school was his biggest priority.

( i’m almost there! Just a little but further…)

Axel thought this as he closed in on his school, Honeybell high. He ran through the gates and went straight for his classroom. Unfortunately for him, his school was one of the biggest in Sonic city and his class was located in the far back quadrant. This particular school was made up of 4 quadrants. They were separated according to grade. One was for the 9th grade ,the other for the tenth and so on. Once he got to his class he was relieved to see that the bell had not rung yet.

“Thank goodness…..i…..made it….haaaa…..”

He tried his best to catch his breath while bending over and placing his hands on his knees.

“Axel, you idiot. What were you thinking being late on the first day of school after winter break?”

“Ah?”

Axel was about to enter his class when he was suddenly stopped by a female. She was a caucasian colored girl who was almost as tall as Axel. She had long black hair and a nicely developed body. She was a very beautiful person. She wore a long brown coat that was buttoned over with blue jeans and brown boots that matched the color of her coat. Her bangs covered her forehead and reached her eyelids but didn't reach her brown eyes.

Her name was Jeniffer Santiago and was Axel’s classmate. The two have known each other since the 1st grade and have been going to the same school since their meeting. He talked to her often when the chance presented itself and she always seemed to be scolding him whenever he’d mess up on anything school related. She was an honor student with perfect attendance and was seen as a role model by the entire school so she doesn't like seeing others fail in anything school related. She picked on anyone, particularly Axel. Despite that, Axel considered her his friend.

“Eh?what do you mean? Everyone hasn't even taken their seats and there is still time before the bell rings. As far as I’m concerned I made it on time.”

Jeniffer glared at him and crossed her arms and leaned forward a bit. It looked like she was lecturing him.

“when the class bell rings I make it a rule to be 2 minutes early to class! Any time after that is being late!”

Axel suppressed a chuckle and walked past Jeniffer going to his seat at the back of the classroom. Jeniffer continued to glare at him in irritation as he walked past her.

“You said it. You make it a rule, not me.”

“What are you!-”

Before she could retort, she was interrupted by the sound of the door suddenly opening. It was the classroom teacher. She was a bright happy woman in about her early 30’s. She had shoulder length blonde hair and wore the standard teaching attire, a mid-length black skirt with black leggings under and a button up shirt that was tucked into her skirt.

She stood in front of the classroom and signaled for everyone to have a seat with a wave of her right hand.

“Alright guys I hope you had a lovely vacation and a happy new year! Now it's time to get back to work!”

Everyone quickly took their seats. When the teacher began talking Axel began daydreaming. The world was a very strange place to him. He didn't know what kinds of unimaginable things went on behind the scenes without anyone knowing and his curiosity made him feel eager to know. [A thought which I sincerely regret even to this day! You really have to be careful what you wish for!]

(......)

Noticing some writing on his desk, he moved his hand to get a better look. It read "Hero Ison, Asshole" in large sloppy writing.

(This fucking guy again....) He thought as he wiped the words from his desk. Asshole was just what they called him since it sounded similar to his name "Axel". As for Hero, he didn't really wanna think about it...

He stared out the window of his class in deep thought. So many amazing things the world had to offer and yet he had to deal with classic high school bullying... but besides that,

Hearing about strange supernatural phenomenon wasn't too surprising for Axel. He of course thought it was strange but , coincidentally, he had grown up with a friend that also had some strange power. Her name was Casey. For some reason this girl seemed to be able to control heat. As a child he didn't think much of it, just as another cool thing in the world. Her parents told him to not tell anybody about her power. They said they were afraid of her being taken away by the government or something.

She couldn't do much. All he had seen her do was make her body a lot warmer and touch the stove when it was really hot and she didn't even so much as flinch.

He still doesn’t know why she has that ability. She was just born with it. Whether a blessing from God or a curse from the devil, he did not know. Nonetheless she was his close childhood friend.

She currently lived on the other side of town but Axel had not seen her in almost a year. She apparently started going to a different school that was pretty far away. Axel didn't know what the reason was for her transferring to another school but he didn't put too much thought into it.

She wasn't the only one that had moved away. Two of his friends also moved away when he was small. One was his friend, Kyle. A total jerk really. He was a kid brimming with self confidence. The second was a girl, Cindy, and Kyle's opposite. A super sweet girl who was actually very timid. He wondered where they were.

(in fact…)

Since he hadn't seen her in awhile, he decided that he should try and visit his close friend Casey sometime soon. She was the only one that lived close anyway. He used to visit her almost everyday of the week but her schedule became very mixed up and so he didn’t really see her as much anymore. Eventually he just decided to let her come to him, which evidently hadn’t happened thus far...

After a couple hours of sitting in class he finally heard the lunch bell ring. The teacher stopped what she was doing and dismissed the class.

“aaaah, finally….”

Axel let out a yawn teary eyed and got up to exit the classroom. That is when a certain someone put their arm around his neck.

“Heey! Got up a little late did we?” said the boy in a mocking tone and a smile on his face.

This was another of Axel’s friends. He was a boy who was about Axel's height, had long blonde hair that looked like he had worn a hat to keep it down , and had white straight teeth. He wore a pair of jeans and a gray hoodie. His name was Tony Anderson. They had been long time friends as well.

“Unfortunately yes. how did you even know?"

“Why else would you be late?”

“Ah..I wasn't late though.”

Both chuckling, They began walking toward their school cafeteria while discussing what they did over the winter break. Just before entering the cafeteria,however, Axel suddenly remembered something.

“Oh man I totally forgot,”

“Hm? what is it?”

“Go on inside without me, I gotta check my locker for my keychain. I think I left it in there before the vacation started..”

Tony nodded and kept on walking toward the cafeteria.

“Sure thing, but try and hurry up. Getting lunch alone makes me sweat uncomfortably..”

“Haha, don’t worry I will!” Axel assured Tony as he turned heel.

Axel walked toward his locker which was located on the other side of the quadrant he was at from where the cafeteria was located. The keychain he had was a gift given to him by his grandfather, Harold. His grandfather wasn't exactly sane. He was always telling mythical stories and saying that they were real and that they had actually happened but no one, including Axel, believed him. They were too outrageous to be true. Numerous times Axel had heard heard him say terms like “Savants” and “Shadow Hunters” but he didn't think much of it.

Despite that, his grandfather was still a kind and caring person. He had taken care of him and his sister many times as a kid when his parents went off to work. During those time he had given Axel a keychain that looked very similar to a test tube except it was filled with a blue substance that glowed at night and it was very durable. Axel had dropped it many times but it still doesn't even have a scratch on it. His grandfather told him to take care of it and to never give it to anyone else. As long as he did that he would always be safe. So that keychain meant a lot to Axel.

Unfortunately his grandfather had died a couple years ago in a car accident. The last time he had seen him was before his birthday on april 17th. Things weren't really the same without him around telling crazy stories all the time but, like all things in life,he had to keep on moving forward.

"Well if it isn't Axel "Hero" Ison."

The sound of the male voice made him tense up and stop in his tracks. He knew this voice all too well. It had been haunting him for years now after all...

"y-yeah? What's up Carlos?.." He said to the male behind him. Axel very sowly turned around and met face to face with the boy that had stopped him. He knew that shaven head anywhere, and like usual his group of friends were standing behind him. He wish he could say that these were his friends as well but that just wasn't the case.

"You like the message I left on your desk?" He said trying not to laugh. His possy,however, weren't so good at it. When he heard Carlos say that, Axel clenched his fist in silent anger.

"Hey man, can't you just let that go? I was a kid when I had those stupid dreams, get off my back already.." Axel managed to muster out. Half of him honestly hoped that Carlos didn't hear that, but life wasn't so easy on him.

"What'd you say, asshole?" Carlos blurted out suddenly sounding angry. Axel began to nervously shake and raised his hands.

"W-wait! I just thought that we should drop this and just move on already! that's al-" Axel tried to finish his sentence but was cut off due to Carlos approaching him and punching him in the gut. Axel felt his breath leave him as he bent over and held his stomach.

"Argh!? W-w-why dude? What did-??"

"Shut the fuck up, bro. I don't really care what you have to say." Carlos said grabbing Axel by the hair. He slammed Axel against the wall and signaled for his friends to check his belongings. Axel struggled against Carlos and tried to yell but only to have Carlos hold his mouth shut. He could only watch as they went through his pockets and backpack. Axel locked eyes with Carlos and saw only an empty minded hatred with no real conviction behind it. What was the cause for this? Who knew.... The pain of it all really got to him, stuff like this was impossible to get used to. Axel's eyes were cloudy with tears and after a while he stopped struggling.

"Ha! I found it!" One of the girl's in the group yelled holding up a notebook. She handed it to Carlos and let him open it. Skimming thorugh the contents, he held Axel in place despite Axel already haven given up. Axel veered his eyes off to the side and felt Carlos's piercing gaze after a while.

"You see this shit? this shit here is what pissess me off." He heard him say.

"Look at me.....LOOK AT ME!!" Carlos yelled forcing Axel to look at him. He held up the notebook that belonged to Axel and showed him one of the pages in there. It was a sketch of Axel himself dressed in strange clothing. Black large boots, Armored black leg protectors, grey sweatpants, and a black hoodie. In the sketch, he was flying over a city.

"What the fuck is this?" He asked lifitng his hand from Axel's mouth.

"It's....It's me..." Axel replied softly.

"Doing what?"

"....Flying over a city....as a hero...." Axel let out with one tear flowing out of his left eye.

"And you want me to let go of the past when you yourself can't? Why the fuck do you wanna be some terrorist? Huh? you're human and you always will be!" Carlos said dragging Axel by his collar. Axel gasped and watched as he was forcefully pulled toward the garbage area. It was a small blind spot in the school which only had a large dumpster. It was basically an alley. Axel struggled once more to break free but was forced along by Carlos's group of friends. They lifted Axel and threw him inside of the dumpster. Axel immediately smelled the foul odor of rotten food and gasped for air. However, before he could jump out of the trash, the lid of the dumpster was closed over him and locked in place. He was stuck there...

"Wait! come on please dude get me out of here!! I'm sorry! I'll never do it again!!" Axel pleaded slamming his fists against the wall of the dumpster.

"that's what you said last time, Hero. See you around loser." He heard Carlos say as his friends laughed. Axel heard a dull thud crash against the trash can and flinched. The laughter grew fainter and fainter until finally he couldn't hear it anymore...

Axel gritted his teeth and angrily punched the wall of the dumpster once more with all he had. Then again and again and again. Ignoring the throbbing on his knuckles, he began to furiously weep. Why did people like that have to exist? Was it wrong to dream? Could one not be themself in this world?... Was it so bad to be different?...

Simply laying there in anguish, Axel laid there for what felt like forever honestly contemplating just ending it all.. For years, those group of people had been bullying him for one reason and one reason only, because Axel wanted to have super powers. He wanted to be a hero...and because of that he was ridiculed by them and bullied. They tried to force his dreams and ideals to change simply because they didn't allign with their own point of views. To them, super humans were evil and did not deserve to live.

It wasn't like it was possible anyways, Axel was and always will be just a human. But, those guys just couldn't givve it up and continued to ragdoll him even to this day. He tried letting the adults know, but what good ever comes of that? Sure, the bullies would stop once the adults were in the room but what happened once they left? They'd settle the score of course for trying to hold them accountable. "Snitching" as they called it. The adults did nothing. Axel had to fend for himself...

*tap**tap*...

After what seemed like forever, he heard soft footsteps approaching from the outside. Axel soflty raised his head and listened. Then, he heard the metal bar holding the lid of the dumpster shut move and the lid softly rose. He squinted as the light suddenly hit him and blinded him for a moment.

"Hi, strange place to be taking five, no?" He heard a familiar female voice say.

"y-yeah...I guess so." Axel said looking away and wiping the tears from his cheeks. He stood up and shakily jumped out of the dumpster. He lost his footing a bit and stumbled but was caught by the female who had let him out. She held him tight and let him regain his ground. Axel stood up straight and gently backed away from the soft girl.

"Thanks.." He said to the girl standing before him. She had long beautiful curly blonde hair and peculair colored eyes. They were blue greenish and extremely bright. Wearing appropriate winter clothing, she smiled at him and nodded "no problem".

Lucy Renford, a hyperactive girl who Axel admired a lot. She was pretty wierd but also rather birght. No matter what she did, no one batted an eye. She was just that loved by mostly everyone. He wouldn't say she was popular though, she was just a very likeable person.

"did those bullies do this to you again?" she said already knowing the deal.

"Don't worry about it.." Axel said turing around looking for his backpack. He didn't search for long, he found it outside of the dumpster with his notebook laying next to it. It was soaked in water and the ink had been ruined. Axel angrily stuffed it in his bag and stood up.

"Axy, your hand looks busted up! Let me see it!" She said grabbing his injured fist. Axel flinched a bit but didn't let her see.

Axy was a name that Lucy alone called him sometimes by. It was a cutesy way of saying his name Axel. Since it was her, he didn't mind at all. On other occasions she would call him Hero but she would use it out of affection and not to make fun of him, which is why he didn't mind her calling him that either.

"woah, did you actually fight back or something?" She asked sounding surprised.

"Sure did, taught those guys a lesson" He said trying to sound cool.

"Oh yeah, you sure showed the wall a thing or two didn't you?" She responded mockingly seeing right through his lie. They laughed for a moment as Lucy stood up and pulled Axel away from the dumpster alley. She led him down the now empty halls toward somewhere. Axel just let himself get pulled and followed her. He looked around and noticed that no one was there. He figured that lunch must've ended.

"So did lunch just end?"

"Yup yup. About 10 minutes ago, I think?" She responded.

"Seriously? Damn, I let Tony hanging..." He said to himself. Lucy came up upon a door and held it open for him to go inside. Axel obliged and thanked her. He quickly found a seat and watched as Lucy flicked on the lights and shut the door. The room itself was rather small. Originally it was an office space for a counselor but due to its odd palce in the school it was quickly abandoned. It was now used for when a teacher needed to quickly speak to a student or for random counseling sessions. Some students even used it to get some quiet time. For Axel, however, this was his nurse's office, Lucy usually being the nurse. It always went like this, he'd get beat up and injured, Lucy would find him and fix him up, that was the flow of things.

"So, how'd you know where to find me?" He asked as Lucy was digging through the one desk that was in the room.

"Well, when you didn't show up at the library like you said you would I knew one of two things had happened, Either you forgot or you had trouble along the way." She said pulling out a cloth and a roll of bandages. She knelt in front of him and carefully began cleaning his fist. Meanwhile, Axel tensed up and remembered the promise that he had made to her the day before winter break. He had agreed to meet up with her at the library during lunch to hang out and talk. He had completely forgotten! but he couldn't let her know that...

"And, judging by your reaction I think it was both, right?" She said not giving him a chance to make a lie. Axel froze and immediately began to apologize.

"I'm sorry! I completely forgot about it but not because I wasn't looking forward to it! I just had a pretty rough morning and I-"

"It's okay! You're making up for it right now aren't you? I mean, this counts as hanging out, I think? haha. Anyways, as I was looking for you in the hallways I saw Carlos. I asked him if he had seen you and he was so sure he didn't know anything. He reeked of lies so I asked him again "nicely" and he told me you were here, and so here we are!" She said tying up his busted up hand. Axel was surprised that Carlos had told her so easily which made him wonder how close the two of them were.

"Carlos almost always does what you ask him to...Are you guys close?" He asked out of curiosity.

"Close? Well, he asked me out on a date once and I said sure." She said without a change in tone.

"Really? and how'd that go?" He continued suddenly feeling a tad flustered.

"Well, like your average date would go. We laughed, we talked, we ate,etc.. we even made out for a little while..." She said once again without much change in expression and still completely focused on his fist. Axel however felt his heart burst into a strange song and dance routine and not the good kind. he could only make it out to be jealousy but he didn't want to make it obvious so he looked away from her and toward the celing.

"Oh? So you had fun then..." He said trying not to sound disappointed..

"...."

Though he expected a response, it never came. Also, it appeared that she had stopped wrapping his hand up, Confused, he looked down at Lucy who had already been looking at him with a half smile on her face.

"Ah, so I had you worried there for a second didn't I?" She said revealing that she had been joking. Axel felt his face redden and looked away once more.

"And this is why I didn't go to lunch with you." He fired back. They both chuckled as Lucy once again started tying his hand up. At the same time, Axel felt his heart ease up and fill with relief.

"In all seriousness, everything I said except for the making out part was true. The date was pretty fun and it made me realize that he's not such a bad guy when he tries not to. He bought me plenty of goodies and took me out to a lot of cool places, but after that I made it clear to him that I was not interested in going out again. He seemed devastated but understanding. He still hits me up every now and then but I don't really listen." She said to him.

"Hm? How come you're not interested in him?" He asked genuinely unsure why.

"Come on now, Hero! Why in God's name would I like the guy that picks on and harrasses you almost all the time? He's a jerk who is probably more interested in my body than anything else anyways. Guys like that don't interest me." She said as if it should've been blatantly obvious. That's when it hit him.

"Lucy,don't tell me the only reason you went out with him was to-"

"Waste his time and money? Yes!" She answered proudly.

As Lucy chuckled and carefully wrapped up his knuckles, Axel couldn't help but feel a strong sense of joy. Someone like her was looking after him in such a way that it made tears surface on his eyelids. Sniffing and shutting his eyes, he too giggled and wiped away his waterworks.

"Okay! So it looks like we're done here! Don't use that hand too much and put some ice on it when you get home alright? Leave the walls alone Axy, they always win." She said giggling. She stood up and allowed Axel to get up and look at his hand. It was bandaged up really well and it wasn't hurting him as much anymore. Like this he could at least write comfortably. He thanked Lucy for her help and offered to buy her something to eat sometime this week.

"Hm? I'd love that. In the meantime, why don't we head back to class? I've got a couple assignments I have to catch up on after all..."

"Yeah, I agree. I leave class for a second and I risk not knowing what's going on. Let's go."

Axel and Lucy exited the room together and faced each other preparing to go their seperate ways. For a moment, neither of them really knew what to say. So, since Axel was feeling rather gutsy all of a sudden, he leaned in for a hug, an action which was happily reciprocated by Lucy. She was so warm and soft, she even smelled nice. It was moments like these that seemed insignificant but were very special to him. Especially since this was the first time that they had hugged for real and not a standard sideways hug. Though it may have been a couple seconds, it actually felt like forever and Axel was glad that it did. None of them said a word. It wasn't until Axel backed his head up to ask a question that something was said.

"Didn't you have lunch with you? I assume you had gotten some? Where'd it go?" He asked her.

"Oh, I gave it to Carlos, he seemed hungry" She said not removing her head from his chest. Axel shook his head and held her there for a moment longer before finally pushing himself away from her. She too backed away and acknowledged that it was time to go. She stepped back and somehow seemed satisfied. When she opened her eyes, something happened that Axel did not pick up on. Her eye color had somehow turned slightly brownish.

"Okay well, I'll text you later! Bye!" She said turning heel and quickly turning the corner down another hall out of sight. Axel waved bye and stood their for a moment proccessing what had just happened. The instant he did he felt his heart flutter and took a deep breath to relax. He was feeling super lucky all of a sudden, a feeling which grew as he walked back toward his class.

(Oh! My keychain! I better get that since I'm here anyway!) He thought recalling his initial intention for being there. And so, he quickly began speedwalking toward his locker which was nearby still thinking about Lucy. He was just so lucky to have her around. It was people like her which really seemed to make life worth living! As he thought this, he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings and simply kept daydreaming. This went on until he spotted a familiar group of people. Axel quickly jumped behind a bench and tried to get a better look.

Just as he feared, it was Carlos and his group of assholes, but this time it seemed like they weren't roaming the halls looking for trouble. Instead, they were crowding around Carlos who was sitting down. They were seemingly trying to clean him up. He appeared to be drenched in milk, covered in stir fry, had a head full of beans, and clothes covered in fruits. Had his lunch fallen on him? but he spent his luch picking on Axel, he didn't have time to get food did he?

"Oh, I gave it to Carlos, he seemed hungry."

Lucy's words replayed in Axel's mind and he suddenly knew exactly what had happened. Smiling like an idiot, Axel lightly tapped the bench with his fist and ran off. Once again he found himself thinking about Lucy and what a fiesty girl she was. He'd be lying if he said that he didn't find it attractive in a way. Still not paying attention to where he was going, he was nearing his locker when he suddenly ran into a soft object. For an instant, his nose was filled with yet another sweet aroma.

“Woah!”

“Kyaah!”

Axel fell on his behind and the object yelled and fell as well. Well actually, the object was really a girl.

“ow,ow,ow….”

He held his head with his left hand and looked at the girl. She looked to be around 13 or 14 years old. She wore a pair of jeans and a bright green hoodie that matched her brilliant emerald green eyes. She had well kept white skin and what would catch people's eyes first had to be her long jet black hair that was tied into two twin tails that reached up to her feet. She was a beautiful girl indeed.

“Hnyah? hey watch where you're going buddy!” she yelled irritated.

“Oh sorry sorry! Are you okay? here let me help you up..” He said as he quickly got up and extended his hand out to help her but she ignored it and instead got up on her own.

“No, I can help myself thank you” She said with a dose of sass.

“Oh okay,,. What were you doing anyway? I don't think I’ve seen you in this quadrant before…..are you new?” He asked looking at her closely.

This quadrant was made specifically for juniors. All of the juniors of this quadrant had been going to school with him since his freshman year and some even before that. By now, it was only natural that he had pretty much remembered all of their faces and vice versa. If someone was new, he would know it right away. This girl stood out too much for him to overlook her. No one had eyes that bright.

For some reason, the girl stiffened her shoulders. Axel’s expression showed confusion as he scratched his head. She then took one step back and began to fidget a bit awkwardly.

“Uh no i was just uh, looking for someone….”

“I see. Well what's this person's name?What do they look like? I happen to know just about everyone here…” he replied.

The girl tried to protest many times but Axel kept on insisting. He thought it was the least he could do after smashing into her. It took a lot longer than expected but he was able to get through to her after saying that he would at least take her to the principal’s office for help.

“Fine fine! Just stop asking already!” She stammered.

“Great! So what does this person look like? Or their name?” He began. The girl thought for a moment then looked up at him with her large emerald eyes as if considering something risky.

“What do you think about the supernatural?” she suddenly asked him.

“What? Well, I don’t really understand the logic behind it but I don’t really care to anymore…” he responded. Axel was confused at the sudden strange question but answered anyway. She then looked down again and nodded her head seemingly coming to a decision.

“Okay….. Have you ever experienced something that you couldn’t explain?”

“I can’t explain what’s going on right now. Does that count?” He sarcastically responded. The girl lightly chuckled and shook her head. Axel sighed and rested against the wall behind him. She wasn’t describing anyone at all. Instead it felt like he was being interrogated.

“What are you really doing here? You aren’t looking for someone are you?”

The girl clicked her tongue in annoyance and adjusted her hair.

“Nevermind. I was just being silly”

“Oh really? wow, I hadn’t noticed..” he muttered.

“Apparently, you’re a comedian. Listen, I'll just continue this hunt on my own but I appreciate your concern” She assured him extending her hand for a handshake. Axel was a bit disappointed since he was of no help but he knew there was nothing he could do since she really wasn’t giving him much to work with. So he reached out to take her hand.

“Ah sorry. I guess I'll see you around..”

“Sure you will.” She responded sounding fed up.

That's when something odd happened. As soon as their hands touched, he felt her hand slightly twitch. He then felt a cold sensation run throughout his chest. The feeling was similar to when he would drink cold water after waking up in the middle of the night really thirsty. He shivered,she gasped, and they immediately let go of each other's hands.

“gah!?what the hell was that?” He exclaimed.

“!!, um it's time for me to go. Goodbye..!” The girl frantically said and ran off without looking back at him causing Axel to try and stop her.

“h-hey wait!...argh damn….”

Axel was left with constant chills going down his spine every 5-10 seconds. He looked at his right hand. Something had happened when their hands touched but it wasn't like a shock that people usually get. No. it was as if something inside him started pouring out....or in? He couldn't explain what it was. Out of worry, he started carefully inspecting his own body.

(I don't look any different…...maybe that was just a coincidence...maybe the cold affected me in some way?...)

He remembered that the girl also acted a bit strange when their hands touched. Could she of have felt that sensation as well? He couldn't make sense of anything that just happened but,he decided not to worry about it for the time being.

(I guess I may never know…..)

He made his way toward his locker somewhat nervous and put in the combination to open it. Inside, he saw the familiar blue glow his keychain emitted.

“Ah, here it is. Alright better get back to class.”

He grabbed the keychain and clipped it onto the side of his pants. The shivers and chills had stopped by this time but the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach remained. The walk back to his class was....something. It was a mixture of sadness with joy and confusion. Things were definitely getting strange. When he was outside of his classroom he heard many voices talking over one another. When he walked in he found his teacher lounging in her chair while everyone else was talking amongst themselves. One of his classmates noticed him and let him know that she had assigned a project to everyone and also partners.

“well okay, who's my partner?” He asked. Axel looked around for the one person who was by themselves but he didn't see anyone.

“umm, I am.” He heard a soft voice say directly behind him.

“hm?”

He turned to look and saw one of his classmates standing there looking down timidly . A girl who was shorter than him and had long beautiful blonde hair that was tied up to a pony tail with a red ribbon. It matched the blazing red jacket she had on. She had well toned white skin and had a pinkish tinge to her cheeks and her bangs covered just above her chocolate brown eyes. Although they had the same class he didn't talk to her as much. Who could forget her name, though? It was extremely unique!

“Oh, Natsumi? What's up! Ready to get this thing started? Let's go!..” Axel patted her shoulder feeling pumped for some reason already forgetting about lunch entirely and walked over to his desk.

"Right, okay.." She responded.

Axel sat with the blonde beauty Natsumi and discussed their assignment. Axel was pretty calm while Natsumi was very fidgety for some reason. After some time of just discussing their schedules to work on said project and exchanging numbers, the bell signifying that school was over rang.

“Alright class, you can continue on your own time with your projects. Now then,you can go.” The teacher dismissed everyone and everyone got up to leave.

"Whaaaaat, school's over already??" He jokingly said.

"Yeah, you were gone for a long time, you know? what were you doing?" Natsumi asked. Axel started stuffing papers in his backpack with ease and lifted his desk to pick up a pencil that he had dropped.

"Oh, I hurt my hand so I had the nurse.......fix...it up?" Axel finished saying confused as he noticed that his hand was not hurting anymore. It wasn't like the pain had died down, It was actually as if nothing had actually happened to it! Even the swelling had completely gone away.. what was up with that?... He swiped his hand around and tested it for pain but nothing came of it.

"That's strange.." He said feeling wierded out. “well anyway, when exactly is this due?” He asked Natsumi.

“oh um, next week on friday..”

“Yeah? Well that's plenty of time to do this.. I have to go. I'll be seeing you then.”

“oh uh,okay!..” The girl waved bye as Axel walked out of the classroom. As he headed out, Axel took the time to unwrap his bandages and examine his fist. It was just as he thought, his hand was completely normal. There was not a scratch on it. What had caused this?... Did it have something to do with that girl from earlier?..

Whatever it was it was strange. Speaking of which, he hadn't seen Tony around anymore. It was possible that he had gone to help the principal as he often did. In which case, he'd have to text him and apologize for not showing up to lunch. Since he left his phone at home this morning, he'd have to do it when he got home.. Axel was walking toward the school gate to leave when he was suddenly stopped by a girl and a boy.

“Hoho? Well if it isn't Hero!”

The first one that spoke out of the two was the boy that was about his height and had brown hair that was kept down. He wore black jeans with a brown jacket. He had brown mellow looking eyes and a casual expression.

Axel had known this guy since his days in elementary. His name was Michael Ivy, A totally mellow boy that liked to go with the flow and tease Axel in whatever way he could think of. He was one of the few that actually joked around about it though, he was actually a really good friend and also one of the few that Axel allowed to call him Hero.

“Hiya Axy! How come you took off your bandages?” The second person said jumping into his arms. She had already been introduced a couple of hours before. She was none other than Lucy, a girl with long blonde hair that was usually always curly and not tied up in any way. She wore black pants and a light gray jacket. She had a black and gray beanie on and a green scarf that matched her now light green eyes.

"My hand feels better now so I took em' off." Axel said hugging her back.

"You're right, looks like nothing ever even happened. How cool! Very Hero like!" She mocked which made him giggle.

Since he could think calmly now, he recalled a little about her background. He had actually officially been friends with her only about 2 years prior. Before that he had seen her around and talked to her casually every now and then. She initiated friendship first when she found him in the same dumpster she pulled him out of today. They instantly hit it off and Axel grew to admire her greatly, enough to the point where he allowed her to call him Hero as she pleased.

For some reason, this girl found joy in teasing Axel in the most weirdest ways. She was really cheery and bright and always helped him in his darkest days. He didn’t know why she was so fond of him but he was never really willing to ask presumably afraid of the answer. Even if he pushed her away she would still come back. She was extremely loyal and she liked this about her.

After letting her go, he asked what they were doing together. These two were not in his class so he had no idea.

“mmmm we got paired up to do a project together.” said Michael nonchalantly.

“that's a dangerous combination” He quietly muttered.

“you'll see, We are going to make the best project ever!” Lucy announced gleefully.

(I hope they'll be supervised for the school’s sake…....)thought Axel trying to avoid Lucy's joyful gaze. As much as he liked Lucy, she was dangerous. There was the poor sap Carlos to vouch for that.

“so, what exactly are you planning to do after school then?” He asked Michael.

“I'm trying to get it over with, So I figured we should stay back a bit and work on it as much as possible.”

“i see, well then I'll leave you to it then.” Axel told them stretching his arms. Axel turned to leave but something stopped him. Actually someone had stopped him. He turned and saw that Lucy had grabbed his sleeve and stared at him with a mischievous smile.

“but where do you think you're going so soon? Our project requires a specimen to study and analyze. You are a perfect candidate!!”

“ahn? Wait wait!!let go of me!argh!stop dragging me like that!! Isn't this kidnap?!!!ahhh!!” Axel yelled as he was dragged against his will by Lucy's, surprisingly, monstrous amount of strength.

"Sorry dude, but no one else would do it and Lucy said you owed her so....this is the result.." Michael empathetically announced as he watched them wrestle..

_______

By the time he was finally released from Lucy's grasp the sun had already started to set.

“damn it.why did I have to get dragged into that?I don't know what type of project requires you to eat in different positions…..They aren’t normal that’s for sure..” He said rubbing chocolate off his shirt. The thought of lucy forcefully restraining him filled his mind and brought a chill to his spine. Still though, she seemed happy through it all so that in turn made him happy.

He was walking down his usual path home when he came across a familiar fork in the road. He stopped. He knew which way would lead him home but, he also knew where the other road would take him. He had taken it many times when he was younger.

“well, I said I'd visit her soon, might as well make it today.” he muttered.

He looked down the path that led him away from home and to someone else's. He made one sigh and went down that road. This path led him to his heat loving childhood friend, Casey. It had been a while since he had last seen her so what would his excuse be to come now all of a sudden?

(I guess I should wish her a happy new year…)

As he made that excuse in his head, he started to remember the first time he met Casey. Those were very bad circumstances and the meeting was accidental. Had he not decided to go where he did that day,he would've never of have met her. Not that he regretted it, most meetings were accidental anyway.

This meeting, however, was during a very dangerous situation. So bad in fact that he couldn't even remember the details of what had happened that night. All he knew was that if he hadn't been there, he would've been visiting her grave instead. The thought of that possibility made him shiver and he was grateful for being there to help. He wasn't even sure if Casey could remember much about that night either but he preferred not to bring up.

After thinking for a long time he noticed that he had finally made it to Casey's house. He recognized the large two story blue house that was surrounded by a white fence.

“hmm?”

There was no car in the driveway but he could see that a light in one of the rooms was on. He figured that somebody had to be home. So he opened the gate of the white fence and walked toward the front door.

(Here we go.) He thought somewhat bitterly.

He was afraid to hear her reaction after not seeing him in over a year. Knowing her she would probably beat him to death for not visiting her sooner, but that would be the easy way out. He reached out his hand to knock but before his knuckles made contact with the door, it swung open and he was suddenly tackled down.