I approach the blackened grass where Luke and Dylan had fought. There are noticeably less trees than last time. They probably fell and were removed after the fire. It just so happens to leave a circle of missing trees, allowing for the perfect arena.

Dylan was positioned behind the trees on the opposite side of the arena. Rachel should be coming from the side closest to the road. For her to see Dylan, she’d have to circle all the way around. Simon and Sarah also stayed near Dylan. If necessary, it wasn’t a far run for Simon to join the fray.

“I’m glad you could make it,” Sarah walks through the trees to greet me. She speaks in a relatively sad voice. The voice of someone who’s grandma recently passed.

“What’s wrong Sarah?” I ask her.

While she approaches me I try to walk beside her so that my body doesn’t block Dylan’s shot.

“It’s just that… I’ve been really depressed lately and I wanted to talk to you about it,” Her voice shook like she was about to cry. Sarah looked down so that her bangs would cover her eyes. She really seemed like she was about to burst into tears.

She’s too good at acting.

I almost feel bad while watching this display.

“Are you alright?”

“No… no! I’m not. It’s all too much for me.” She actually starts crying. Her arms desperately wipe the tears off of her face. She turns around and squats down to avoid eye contact even more.

“Hey… it’ll be alright. I’m here for you,” I comfort her as I step forward.

Suddenly, there’s an explosive sound and a bright light flashes in front of me.

A laser explodes the torso of Sarah.

For a moment, I’m horrified. Then I realize.

She had me fooled when I knew it was Rachel! I was about to go pat her on the back! I’d have been killed!

But there are more pressing matters. Rachel’s torso was exploded.

Dylan missed.

The hole in her chest begins to contort and morph.

Instead of continuing to watch in awe. I turn and run towards Simon.

I need him to meet me in the middle before Rachel is healed.

Simon leaves his spot in the woods and runs to me.

Horrible gurgling sounds come from behind me. The sounds of flesh and blood melding and mixing around. The noises approach quickly.

She can run while healing the injury!?

I can’t help but glance over my shoulder.

The body of Sarah runs at me with incredible speed. It’s mouth leaks blood and its stomach is cut open. It’s legs aren’t injured but they are bent and twisted in a way that allows for faster running. They’re shaped like an animal’s.

One of the thing’s arms stretch out towards me with long, razor like nails. It moves the arm to the side so that it can swing it towards me horizontally. It lines up right with my neck.

I look forward to see Simon just in front of me. He pushes me to the floor and takes the hit.

The blade stops mid way into his neck. His body heals faster than the razor cuts. Normally, that’d take a person’s head right off! But he is thrown to the side by the force. His body is flung into the trees with a thud.

A power surges through my muscles. This is it!

I leap towards the creature and throw a Delusion-boosted punch at it’s torso.

The thing launches back like it was weightless. My strength surprises me every time.

Simon runs back to me from the woods, scratching his neck where he got hit. He still feels every ounce of pain.

“Are you alright, Simon?”

“Of course. Who do you think you’re talking to?”

I smirk and look forward, re-focusing on the battle.

The creature stands back up.

In Sarah’s voice, “Simon? You’re back so soon? And you have a new Delusion! How did that happen?”

He ran in front of me and attempted to punch it. He’s furious and lets out a cry.

Immediately, an elongated arm throws him to the side. He’s launched back into the woods.

That must be frustrating. He’s the only one who’s already lost something to Rachel. He lost Christina. But, he’s unable to do a thing about it. All he can do is rely on me, the one who threatened to kill him.

Using my power, still boosted with the intent to save Simon, I jump over the thing’s head and throw a punch while falling down.

Both of its arms shrink back to normal size, but suddenly gain a large heap of muscle mass. They don’t even look like human arms anymore. They’re basically meat pads.

I punch as hard as I can while the hands block. Even with my full strength, the sheer amount of strength in her arms negate any damage. Although, she falls to her knees because of the force pushing down. Only her arms gained muscle so her legs couldn’t keep up.

Normally, a jump attack from above is useless. It carries the force of gravity, but it’s slow and leaves you vulnerable. But in this case, her guard has completely moved up.

I’m left on top of the arms and they morph and grow around my hand, grabbing me.

Suddenly, a flash of light and an explosive noise blast through the area.

The lower half of her face is turned into dust, but not her brain.

She falls to the floor and I pull my leg out from her grasp.

Rachel heals before I’m able to gather myself enough to attack again. By now, Simon is able to catch up and return to the battle.

Simon stands beside me and we face off with Rachel.

Rachel still has Sarah’s face on and it’s making me uneasy.

“Sorry, can you change your face? You know, back to normal?” I ask.

“My apologies,” Sarah’s voice shifts into Rachel’s, “Sometimes I forget I was even shifted.”

Nasty.

Her face shifts back and so does her body. Her arms and legs return to normal too. Well, but she might be a little shorter than she used to be.

“I see that you have Dylan hidden back there in the woods. Why doesn’t he fight in person? I’m sure he’d fair better than you and Simon.”

Because Simon’s an asshole.

“No. He’s too good for you. You wouldn’t stand a chance.” I taunt.

“I see. Well, he’s still more worrying than you are. Even from so far away.”

What a jerk.

Her legs suddenly gain as much muscle as her arms had. They’re enormous.

They compress down like a spring and she launches towards where Dylan is hiding.

I jump as fast as I can as well. We’re both the same speed, but she’s a little ahead of me.

If Dylan dies then we’re all toast!

The air heats up and Dylan flies out of the trees, carried by a spear of flame. He has a wrap around his stomach, but he powers through the pain.

Rachel makes a wall of flesh around her head. Her arms twist up around her face like a wall.

Dylan stops propelling himself with fire and immediately makes a large explosion on Rachel’s arms. They tear apart and reveal her face, but she’s safe.

Rachel’s momentum is lost due to the explosion begins to fall onto the ground. Her body makes a huge thud as she smashes into the floor.

I can’t change my direction in mid air like Dylan can, so I helplessly fly towards the woods.

Actually, how do I land?

I frantically try to think of a way, but when I get too close to the floor, I use the rest of my power to hit the floor as hard as possible with my feet.

The strength negates the fall mostly, but my legs still hurt and I fall onto my butt.

“Hey Sarah.” I casually greet after my atrocious landing.

“Hey…” She looks incredibly worried about Dylan.

I need to get back into the fight!

I start running as fast as I can towards them. My strength has faded as I’m no longer protecting anyone.

As I approach, Dylan flies around Rachel with explosions. He hits her from many angles and doesn’t give her a chance to fight back.

Her arms are still wrapped around her head and she can’t take them off or he’ll kill her.

She’s completely tied up! We can win!

Of course, that’d be far too easy.

She grows another pair of arms. One arm is on her back and one is on her stomach. Their nails grow sharp the same way as normal and so do the arms themselves. They stretch like snakes and begin spinning in circles trying to hit Dylan.

Caught off guard, he blasts himself backwards and lands near me.

Somewhere along the way, Simon had run past their fight and he stops beside me as well. At this point, me and Simon are out of breath.

“This isn’t working,” Simon says.

“It’ll work,” Dylan insists, “All we have to do is keep this up. She’s tough, but we’re tougher!”

Although I don’t know if we are actually stronger, I have no choice but to keep trying! Giving up now will solve nothing.

Simon is the first to run towards Rachel. He knows that he needs to be hit so I can keep fighting.

Rachel unwraps her face and her four arms all point towards us.

Simon gets in close and lands a solid punch on Rachel, although it is a punch that an eighth grader would have. His goal isn’t damage though.

Wait, how’d he get in so close? Shouldn’t Rachel have knocked him away?

She simply stands still while Simon hits her again. She doesn’t even flinch.

“I was correct…” She thinks aloud, “Attack me, Allen. Or can’t you? You’ve only attacked after Simon so far, and he knows he can’t hurt me. Add your personality to that mix and I think I know your Delusion.”

It’s not a delusion! Although, yes, it’s a Delusion.

Dang it! I can’t attack. This only proves her theory. Simon really is useless now! If she continues ignoring him, then I’m useless too.

“Ha! That’s too funny. You can’t even attack me unless you’re protecting your friends? How stupid and childish of an ability can you have? I never would have thought you were such a kid. Look how puny your justice is now! I killed Christina and kidnapped Sarah! I stole Luke’s gem! What can you even do about it? Now all I have to do is kill you, then Dylan, then Simon. I’ve already won.”

Damn! Why’s she so smart!?

A person like her… she uses her Delusion and brains for evil. A villain like her shouldn’t be allowed even a trial! She deserves death immediately.

Softly, I begin to feel my strength return.

I see. I understand it now. I’m not useless after all.

My ‘Delusion’ isn’t to protect the weak. It’s not to help those in danger.

This is the power that will allow me become the hero that I’ve always wanted to. Heroes do protect others, but they also do something much more crucial. My hero, my ideal human, the perfect being… I am the judge, the jury, and executioner!

Heroes don’t just fight for other people, they fight to protect justice!

Rachel simply existing is an injustice all on it’s own. For that reason…

With my new understanding of my own power, I leap towards Rachel as fast as I can.

I feel stronger than I was before. And before, I was about equal with Rachel. Now…

Surprised, two of Rachel’s hands protect her face. But that’s not what I’m aiming for.

I land a solid upper cut on her stomach, launching her skyward. A large hole is left where my fist hit. It doesn’t go all the way through, but it looks like she just got hit by a car.

“Come, Dylan!”

I jump towards her in the air. I sent her about half the height of these trees.

Dylan blasts himself towards the ground under me. Simon starts to run out of the danger, no longer necessary.

I hit Rachel as hard as I can, straight towards the ground, towards Dylan.

As she falls, she swings one of her arms at me. I can’t dodge, but I hit it away with my full strength, squishing it to pieces.

While I fall, I have no choice but to let Dylan take care of the final blow. Dylan was as mad as I was after her dissing me so his power is strengthened as well.

The heat in the air disperses and a white ball forms in between his palms.

Rachel falls helplessly and Dylan charges his attack. She can’t possibly survive this.

It’s over.

Dylan yells a familiar line as he dishes the final blow.

“I’m sorry!” He points the ball at…, “L-Luke…”

The miniature sun in his hands vanishes and the body of Luke falls on top of Dylan. They hit the floor together.

A look of realization appears on his face. He’s about to be angrier than ever, but that time will never come.

The look of realization that had turned into anger has now become pain.

Luke’s arm lies straight through Dylan’s chest. Blood soaks both of them.

Dylan slowly closes his eyes.

Luke pulls his arm out of Dylan’s heart and mutters, “That was a close one.”

“BASTARD!!!” I scream at the top of my lungs.

I feel a pain that can’t be described in words. It’s not physical. No.

I hit the ground to soften my blow, and immediately launch towards Rachel.

Before I can make it there, Rachel slowly holds up a glass gem that starts to shine with every color of the rainbow.

She obtained her fifth gem. My heart sinks.

Her face blurs through my tears but I blink them away.

One of her arms intercepts me, it grows large with muscle, even more than last time.

I punch it as hard as I can to move it out of the way.

I can only think one thought.

“Die.”

Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die.

For Christina. For Sarah. For Dylan.

DIE!

The arm is torn into pieces and Rachel falls back. But she stays standing. Her power growth is immense.

Four more arms protrude from around her body.

They all gain more muscle than Dylan had. It’s not the grotesque amount though, it’s still a natural degree.

I fall to the ground and launch myself at her again.

From behind me I hear crying, Sarah runs towards the body of Dylan.

I can only assume that Simon is watching close by. I doubt he ran, but he has no part in the fight anymore.

Rachel’s four arms all fly towards me. Two attack my sides while the others stay in front.

I hit two away with my strength but the other two are good blows to my chest and arm.

It feels like I just got hit by something really strong. The amount of muscle on the arms is deceiving. The muscles themselves are much more dense now.

I fly back incredibly fast and hit the ground hard. I’m completely winded. I can’t breathe.

I’m useless.

Even though she’s the pinnacle of evil… I can’t do a thing about it.

Some hero I am. Even now that I’ve gained strength and understood it better…

I’m weak.

I curse my weakness with every ounce of my being.

Strength.

I need strength. If only I were stronger, then things wouldn’t have had to turn out this way!

Rachel walks towards me slowly and carefully, her arms retract and she takes her normal appearance again. The morph is noticeably faster than it used to be as well. Oddly, she seems a different height than usual and has a slightly different color of hair.

“That was a fun fight. Thanks for the good time.” She says.

Sarah stands up in front of me and yells through tears, “Stop!”

***

“I already told you, I can’t. I don’t want to kill you, Sarah. Killing is wrong. And I don’t have to. Just step out of the way.”

“Me and you are similar,” I say. My voice is wavy and my vision is blurry through tears. Dylan has been killed and I want to cry. Rachel, the murderer is right in front of me and I want to kill her, “We’re embarrassed to be ourselves. Or at least I was. I understand you now. I’ve never met Rachel. Not once in my life. You know, I was like you. I’m shy and people interpret that as hostility. I cut myself off from people because they were a hassle. They don’t get me. They can’t. But, Allen showed me that although people can’t understand, they can accept.”

“What are you on about?”

I continue undeterred, “You hide who you are behind a mask, because you can’t be understood, right? You must have a very different view of the world than I do. You say things like, ‘Killing is wrong’ not because you believe it, but because you want to believe it. You must be hated because of how different you are, right? It’s only natural to want to fit in, I understand that. I relate to you. But, what could you want so bad that you’d put all of this effort in for?”

“You wouldn’t get it!”

“But I can accept it! I can help you get what you want without killing. I’ll help you.”

“No. You can’t help me get this.”

“I’m sure I can. I already have a guess as to what you want so bad,” I stop and wipe my eyes, “Do you want to become someone else?”

“…”

“Do you want to be reborn as someone new?”

“…”

“You can’t accept who you are because nobody else will. So do you want to truly become someone society will accept?”

Rachel looks on in silence, angrily.

“So it’s true then. You’re a person who’s morals don’t align with the normal. You don’t see a problem with killing and lying. I’m sure that you don’t see a lot of other things that I do. But, you see plenty of things that I don’t as well, I’m sure. That’s who you are. You aren’t the same as everyone else.”

“No! I am the same! I always have been! Killing is wrong! I know that! It’s obvious! Killing is evil!”

“Do you believe that?”

“Of course!”

“Does Rachel?”

“That’s who I am!”

“Why lie? I already know! You don’t have to be the same! It isn’t a crime to be different! Even if society scoffs at you, you shouldn’t hide yourself like this!”

The skin on Rachel’s arms begins to turn pale. It lightens and dries out. She covers her face with her hands, hiding behind yet another layer.

“You’re wrong! I’m the same as everyone else! Anyone who is alright with killing should just die themselves! They’re evil! Because- Because… killing is wrong!”

The horribly twisted person known as Rachel falls to her knees and her arms continue to lighten and dry. The rest of her skin does as well.

I understand it all clearly. I’ve felt similar to her before. Instead of putting on a mask, I avoided people. But, Rachel has been shifting her whole life. She pretends to be people she isn’t so that everyone accepts her. Outside, she’s smart and funny and calm. Inside, she’s constantly at odds with the person she’s pretending to be. I doubt even her parents know who she is. Rachel can say she’s someone else and pretend all she wants, but deep down, she’s still Rachel. She still doesn’t have qualms with killing and only pretends to appease her constant need to be ‘normal.’ She only let me live for that reason. She let me live so that she could say, “I’m normal. See? I dislike killing!” She even pretends to be someone else around herself, even when she’s all alone. The true her can never show up. It’s alive, but hiding deep deep within her mind. Like her body, maybe it’s been so long that she’s forgotten who Rachel is? Her mask is stuck to her face. She can’t stop lying.

Soon tears roll down and her skin shrivels more and more.

“That’s not me! It isn’t me! That’s not who I am! Rachel is- I am, a person who’s fun, calm, smart, beautiful, kind, observant, sweet, caring, helpful, cheerful, friendly, confident, patient, honest- I’m perfect!”

Rachel’s skin turns into birch wood starting at her toes and her fingers.

Her toes turn into roots and dig into the floor. Her arms grow out and spit off into branches. Her body stretches up far into the air.

Soon, her torso is a large tree trunk. It’s twice as wide as the biggest tree here. Her head goes above the canopy and her hair extends into branches.

Slowly, her face turns to wood as well.

In front of me stands Rachel, a large birch tree in a forest of only oak, that has no leaves, despite being mid-spring. The tree has what looks like a face carved into it just below the top of the forest.

From the sky, five glass gems fall down from the branches. Completely clear.

Rachel died.

Her brain has become wood and with it she can no longer think. She’s dead.

I walk forwards and pick up the glass. It doesn’t glow. I’m still no longer deluded.

Simon walks up to me at a distance. He makes sure to leave a gap so that I know he won’t take the gems.

“Why… why did she kill herself like that?”

“I think that,” I pause and get lost in thought.

Yes. I know why.

I guess that Delusions can kill you too.

She must’ve known how confused she was. She knew that being confronted, she had to confess. If she didn’t tell the truth, the fact that she knew this wasn’t her, then she’d become something else. Her Delusion should be strong enough with five gems to start altering reality in a conscious way. Not all the way, but significantly. By insisting that she wasn’t Rachel, her Delusion acted.

Her Delusion became so powerful that her own twisted mind killed her. Her inner ‘true’ self knew that it was there. It knew that everything was a lie. But, she wouldn’t admit it. You could say that-

“She’d rather climb up a tree and lie than stand on the ground and be herself.”

“Oh… That’s…”

Depressing. Especially because I’ve felt exactly like her. To deny myself, to deny my own personality and individuality because I was afraid other’s wouldn’t like me.

But, what a fool for her to die like that after coming so far. Her own undoing was her inability to tell the truth. Her inability to be herself.

I wonder what would’ve come of her if she’d met someone like Allen was to me.

I wonder what would’ve come of me if I hadn’t met Allen…

I’d surely have stayed as inhuman as Rachel.

Delusions really do cost your humanity, I guess.

And then, after getting all of the mysteries and thoughts out of the way, I cried.

I couldn’t hold it back any longer. The tears streamed down my face and I wept. Dylan was killed. I’ll never get him back. He was funny and he’d stand up for me. He was so kind. I wish I would’ve trusted him with knowing about Luke’s gem. He had the right to know, but I was suspicious of him. I regret it.

I regret so much. It’s too late to change any of it though. I wish I had been nicer to Dylan. I wish I would’ve hung out with him more. I wish I would’ve been closer to him.

He was my second friend in such a long time… We didn’t know each other for long, but it hurts.

An arm goes around my shoulder. Allen sits down next to me, tears in his eyes.

A pain rises in my heart and I continue to bawl my eyes out.