AURUS PLAZA

AURUS, PRECIDIA - 6:37 PM

While Elena attempts to land rings on beer bottles, Nick briefly zones out, reminiscing of Candace’s Eighth Birthday. Though it had been fifteen years, Nick still remembers every detail of his last day with his family. While he won the stuffed toy to please Elena, it had unintentionally triggered his trauma from when he won Candace a stuffed toy as well. Looking to his side, Nick spots a family of three, escalating his trauma further. To put the cherry on top, four Eternal Drive soldiers pass by, making Nick’s condition even worse. Nick’s chest starts tightening, his breath pattern disrupted as he alternates between slow and quick breaths.

“Hey! Look what I got!” exclaims Elena as Nick remains focused on the family.

“...You okay?” Elena asks as the family turns around, looking eerily similar to the Altairs from fifteen years ago.

“Nick!” Elena calls out once more as Nick finally snaps to reality, done projecting his family on a complete group of strangers.

“Hey. Where’d you get that?” Nick asks as he turns towards Elena, holding two beer bottles.

“What’s going on?” Elena gently asks.

“It’s nothing, I just… You wanna sit down for a bit?” replies Nick as Elena nods. The two end up sitting on a bench near the docks, the lamplights reflected on the water.

“The day of my family’s accident… It was just like this,” Nick starts to explain as Elena listens.

“We were enjoying my sister’s birthday at the Evernight Fair. For a while it felt like the best day of my life, but the moment we headed home…” Nick continues as he starts choking up.

“We got attacked by a rogue demediom. That psycho rampaged through the streets, killing everyone in sight. He threw our vehicle away and knocked me out. By the time I woke up, my sister was next to me, already dead while my father was in front of me, bleeding out,” Nick ends as Elena puts her arm around him.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that… Let’s head home if you don’t want to spend any more time here,” Elena says, comforting Nick. Nick observes several people passing by, smiling, laughing and having fun. Zico along with a group of other children also run by, playing tag.

“No, I’m okay. Just acted up for a moment,” Nick says, standing up from the bench.

“Let’s-”

Nick is cut off when he bumps into a hooded, dark-skinned man with several ringed tattoos on his arms. Nick turns to apologize as the man looks up, his eyes glowing a bright purple hue. The man’s fingers begin lighting up as Elena slides her hand under her dress, reaching for her blade hidden on her ankle.

Before things can escalate, Darren Watts suddenly appears from behind the hooded man, grabbing the latter’s wrist before he can do anything.

“Is there a problem here?” Darren asks as Elena and the man start to calm down.

“No, I just bumped into this guy. Sorry, man,” Nick replies, stepping back.

“My apologies. This bodyguard of mine has quite the temper,” Darren says, patting the hooded man’s shoulder.

“I take it you’re enjoying your stay here in Aurus?” Darren asks confidently, proud of the city he governs.

“It’s a beautiful city. Helps that there’s barely any E-Drive goons here.”

“Oh, don’t worry. They’ll come flocking here real soon, once we commence the operation,” Replies Darren as a group of people run to him with the goal of taking pictures. Nick and Elena continue on, walking along the docks.

“Did you see that guy’s tattoos? He looked like a human ferris wheel.,” Nick jokes as Elena laughs, slapping him in the shoulder.

"Says the wannabe hooker!" Elena jokes back as Nick chuckles.

The orange sky perfectly compliments the riverside portion of Aurus, with the trees lined up to shade the people from the sunlight. Nick and Elena however, found themselves completely bathed in the warm glow. The two sit on the edge of the docks to watch the sunset with their legs just dangling over the water.

“I’m gonna miss Precidia,” Nick says bittersweetly, his 5-day vacation about to come to an end.

“You can always come back.”

“I doubt it. Not after what we’re gonna do,” Nick replies, referring to the bombing of the Aurus Broadcast Station.

“...I understand. It’s peaceful times like this where I start contemplating, too. I think to myself that I don’t have to be the hero all the time. But then reality hits whenever a new scandal drops, and I’m reminded that these moments might be blissful, but are merely fleeting,” replies Elena, having decided on the road she heads.

“Yeah. Someone has to step up, things have to change. I just wish we didn’t put this overwhelming responsibility on ourselves,” Nick responds, contemplating whether or not he should pull through with the plan.

“Isn’t that how heroes become heroes? It’s not like what the fairytales say. A chosen one isn’t gonna randomly show up and save everybody. Heroes start out as ordinary people who choose out of their own volition to become extraordinary.”

“Are we ordinary, though? Demedioms make up less than 1% of society…” Nick asks, doubting himself once more.

“I wasn’t referring to us being demedioms, Nick. Yes, ordinary people don’t always get the opportunity to become demedioms, but ordinary people always have the opportunity to become heroes,” Elena answers. Indeed, inhuman abilities will give a demediom the edge over a regular human in terms of physical capabilities. However, demedioms and heroes do not go hand-in-hand; rather the opposite. The psycho who killed Raymond and Candace, the rogue who attacked Luke and Celeste, Trent Omega who had deceived and tormented Zack for years, and much more hidden and erased from history by Eternal Drive.

“Come to think of it… Lavia doesn’t even have a national hero. Everybody knows about Esper’s Adiran Mordegarde while we’re here stuck with nobody.” Nick states, pointing out the lack of exceptional people in Lavia, instead resorting to their colonizers.

“Is that really important?” Elena asks, suddenly irked.

“It is. There’s no one to look up to and inspire the people. Makes me wonder why they never declared Ricard Mayhem for forming Palladium…” Nick contemplates.

“E-Drive probably got in the way. Speaking of, it’s not too far off that Estreval declares himself.”

“Let him declare, then. We all know titles are meaningless without any weight behind them.”

“Not if you ask him. He’s the hero to his own twisted fantasy,” Elena concurs.

“And we’re the villains for him to vanquish…” Nick dejectedly replies, looking down onto the water as it reflects his face.

“Hey, we might be criminals but we’re not that villainous,” Elena playfully says, putting her hand on Nick’s back as if to comfort him. However, she pushes forward, making Nick fall as the water splashes onto the boards and Elena’s lower body. Nick emerges from the water, his hair and clothes drenched. He glares at Elena, whose smile is as wide as the horizon.

“That was pretty villainous if you ask me,” Nick jokes as Elena laughs. He extends his hand up to the docks.

“Alright, now help me up,” Nick says as Elena reaches out to him as well. She grabs Nick’s hand, but ends up getting dragged into the water when Nick pulls backwards. Water splashes onto Nick’s face and clothes as Elena pouts at him, annoyed. She does not keep this face for long however, as the two begin to laugh at their own absurdity. Several people walk by, glancing at the two judgementally as they continue to laugh. In other people’s eyes, Elena and Nick looked like two psychos laughing in a lake while a nearby festival with countless activities to participate in goes on. To Elena and Nick, however, they were merely taking in a rare, fabled moment of humanity. Strangers just so happened to be present, but are completely blurred out by the two nonetheless.

The average lifespan of a Lavian lasts sixty years. In this corrupt, crime-ridden nation, people barely get the chance to legitimately enjoy their lives. Some who choose to are doomed to die early, while those who live to their deathbeds die with countless regrets. Eternal Drive is not just a megacorporation that governs over South Lavia. It is a poison to humanity, enabling a desensitized culture where crime is the norm and joy is the treasure. At face value the strangers silently judging Nick and Elena seemed to ridicule them with their disgusted looks. In reality, however, envy was building up inside. They too, wished to be as happy as the two were. The two ended up laughing until the moonlight overtook the sunset, the lamplights glowing even brighter. Nick and Elena silently stare at each other briefly, the latter still captivating Nick even though her makeup was ruined. Nick stares to his side uncomfortably, pulling his right earlobe. What he felt in that moment was a feeling he dreaded for so long.

“We should- um, probably leave,” states Nick as Elena nods, noticing their now-empty surroundings. The envious crowd had long left to partake in the concert to which the main performers were beginning their set. The two finally make their way back to the docks, completely drenched as they leave trails of water to walk along the festival.

AURUS DOCKS

AURUS, PRECIDIA - 7:21 PM

“Sorry about that,” Nick says, apologizing to Elena as the two attract even more attention by walking through the streets completely wet.

“No, no. I started it,” Elena replies, taking responsibility for the two’s state.

“We should probably get towels, at least,” Nick comments, beginning to shiver as the sun fully sets. Elena rips off a nearby cloth banner, handing it to Nick. Nick smiles and accepts the cloth, wiping his head before returning it to Elena who does the same. The two then arrive at a street where a large crowd begins to form.

“Oh god, I almost forgot!” Elena exclaims, pacing faster as Nick catches up.

“About what?” Nick questions, unaware of what Elena refers to.

“The fireworks display starts at 7:30!” replies Elena as the crowd enlarges even more. Elena suddenly grabs Nick by the hand, dragging him as she starts running through the crowd. Nick at first was taken aback, but starts running as well to keep up with Elena’s pace. Elena bumps several people in the process, but continues to drag Nick nevertheless. The two had the shared goal of seeing the fireworks display; a measly crowd cannot stop their ambition.

The two eventually come to a point where the crowd refuses to move. This time, Nick grabs Elena’s hand and pulls her to the side as the first firework is set off, soaring through the sky. With the people distracted, Nick teleports atop a building, still grabbing Elena by the hand. The two stop at a roof where the firework goes off, and the display commences.

Several different colors and shapes illuminate the sky as Nick intently watches the fireworks burst. Elena observes them as well, but redirects her eyes towards Nick, completely starstruck by the display. He had seen fireworks in the past, yet this time feels special due to Elena’s companionship. Nick takes his eyes off the fireworks for a moment when Elena suddenly asks him a question.

“Beautiful, right?” Elena asks as Nick watches the fireworks go off in the reflection of Elena’s eyes.

“Yeah. You are,” Nick replies, unaware of what he just said in the spur of the moment. Elena takes the compliment in, turning her head away to hide her smile while the fireworks show continues. Darren observes the two from afar, paying no attention to the fireworks.

To Be Continued…