Luis

The sound of the night life in the city was music to Luis’s ears. He hummed to the music playing in the bar that he and his friends found themselves in. The rest of the more pain in the ass students had gone for Ajul in Talahasse.

“Oh, we’ll stay here to watch over home!” Luis announced to Sam and the rest, to their grateful faces.

Gabriel tapped his shoulder, gesturing to a tipsy Dorian. 

“Jeez D, the nights still young y’know?” Luis laughed, chugging the rest of his beer.

Dorian spun around pointing at Luis’s bottle. A thin beam of ice shot out, freezing the rest of the beer.

“Fuck you~~we shoudlve—hic—gone with them” Dorian stuttered. Luis sighed, leaning back in his chair.

“What do WE have to worry about? Like most of them went over there, we don't have to really worry about Ajul.”

“Yeah, you didn’t”

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The bar side exploded with a violent rush of wind. Luis, Dorian, and Gabriel were launched back, crashing into the wall of the building across the street.

Dust erupted out of the now destroyed bar, the figure of Ajul walking outward. Gabriel was the first to get up, partially transforming as the hair on his arm became longer, becoming taller.

His fingernails became sharp and long as Gabriel launched himself towards Ajul. 

Surely Gabriel can hand—

Luis watched as Gabriel was into the air, a paper construct from the ground knocking him into the air.

Dorian and Luis shot up, as Dorian flicked his fingers upward, a ice shard shooting up from the ground, Ajul sent into the sky as Dorian carried himself into the air with a ice bridge.

Luis condensed his power into his feet, the red glow shattering the concrete, as they all entered the air.

A large red fist formed around Luis’s fist, slamming it towards Ajul.

A snicker caught him off guard as Ajul swiped his fingers downward, shattering the fist as Luis’s face was met with a paper covered fist.

“Explode.” Ajuls voice whispered as Luis saw a strange symbol on the paper that crashed into his face.

A fiery explosion erupted outward, rocketing Luis back as Gabriel caught him.

Dorians shot a wave of ice forward to Ajul, the air going from cool to ice cold as Ajul once again flicked his wrist forward, like he was throwing a stone.

The ice wave shattered, as an insanely fast spinning spear of paper shattered the ice.

Ajul launched himself towards Dorian, clasping his right fist with his left hand. Dorian watched as Ajul chanted something under his breath.

Dorian tried to respond in kind, condensing his ice into his palm.

The palm and fist slammed into each other, Dorian expecting his freeze to overtake Ajuls arm.

The sound of a crack shocked Dorian, as his arm was blown backward, the next instant, Dorian saw the air in front of him collapse as the heat that had blown Luis back appeared once again.

“Boom!” Ajul laughed.

The Ice Hero was sent flying back, careening down to the Earth. The crash into the concrete was deafening as the three heroes lied in rubble and concrete.

Luis’s eyes opened once again, watching the figure floating in the air.

Paper floated around him as he basked in the moonlight, from printer paper to post notes, as it all swirled around.

Ajul

This was hilarious to Ajul. For the weeks prior, Ajul doubted that strength that he ‘theoretically’ had.

Floating in the sky, Ajul had been meaning to experiment with the ‘writing’ power that worked pathetically on Gabin that night. 

Whenever he wrote a symbol, the ‘energy’ or ‘stamina’ he drawed from himself was a normalized amount.

So he forced more out, that energy making those symbols he drew full of strength and power.

Craters on the street, dust in the air, Ajul watched it all as he lingered in the skies. 

God this feels…refreshing.

!!!

A strange feeling tickled Ajuls spine, like something was happening. His eyes darted around rapidly, seeing a festering yellow light appear from the bar that he’d destroyed.

An exhausted Maya limped out a portal, the outline shining a bright yellow as it festered out. She gestured, like beckoning people, as Ajul readied himself.

Her power isn't the concern right now. It's probably Sam or Jackie, hell maybe even Gab—

“Oh…fuck.” Ajul muttered. James and Laran first exited, eyes looking around. Following this was Daina, then Victoria.

In those moments, the four of them looked directly at Ajul. He stared back, the worrying thoughts that he had put behind for weeks prior finally surfacing again. 

When it was Victoria it was different. His first boutwas with her no malice, an unclear purpose.

Now, the reality. They were heroes. This world, this simulation right now, wanted them to fight. 

Ajuls breath slowed as he watched them, his hands and arms twitching. Part of him wanted to fight, to get this pain over with right now.

But the mere thought of that faltered his powers. He was not yet heartless, not yet a villain for this pathetic game he was in.

Ajuls hand moved again, scribbling the symbol for disappear, as he vanished from sight.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ajul threw himself onto the bed of a hotel room. Some backwater place, full of sin and dirt.

The city was significantly more dangerous to be in now. 

Tan’s the ‘intelligence’ I would guess. Sam was talking to her over their system.

“They’ve probably got some hint of my hesitation to them…” Ajul told himself.

A thump and yelling sound caught Ajul off guard, the noise from the room next to his.

“God this place is a shit show.”

Ajul wrote the symbol for clean over the bed, the dirty sheet regaining their faint white glow. Ripping off his clothes, Ajul lied down, to exhausted to think about anything more.

I’ll plan…tomorrow…

The clicking of keys was a sound too familiar to Ajul. A classroom, each student with their laptops, typing away some inane assignment. Ajul remembered those days well. He would finish, grabbing his pen and paper, to draw his silly, silly figures. Stick men to city wide battles, the thrill of it never left him.

Looking down to his hand, Ajul saw blood. A quick breath in, before it disappeared.

A field of corpses, a sea of blood, as Ajuls body was covered in glowing paper. An authoritative gold shined, as he waded in the blood, his head barely able to turn left and right.

Ajul saw a mirror. 

A glimpse into it, revealing a human figure. Toes, legs, waist, torso, arms…but the head.

The head was a void, a swirling singularity of golden and black light, a evil purple coming from the center.

Ajul quickly tried to touch his face, before yelling out, to no one.