"Just look into my eyes. It will tell you everything you need to know."

------

There once was a team of heroes that protected the Earth. Their foes became mythical beasts, tales of their prowess turned into legends. Though they have long since turned to dust, their values live on. From their death rises a new hero. And their death is a loss for so many more.

Sacrifice is what actualizes a hero. Yes, they need to fight for others, and have the strength to do so. But it's only when they sacrifice themselves does one see their full potential, as they reach their limit and push past it.

Mathew stood on the hill, watching black light frozen in place, caught in the act of trying to contaminate this world. He stood with Diggati and Hannah by his side, countless corpses of twisted monsters littered around them. The fifth member of the team had just sacrificed himself, exploding his Essence into the twisted timeline, shattering it.

'Oh Meg, why are you always risking yourself?!' Mathew feared for her. Meg lied on the other side of the fissure. The only way to successfully freeze time is to unite the timelines, and in order to do that they needed someone placed in either dimension.

She looked at him through the entanglement of monsters that surrounded her. Most were frozen mid-air, primed to tackle. She simply tilted her head at him and smiled. He knew in an instant what she was going to do. He couldn't lose his best friend! The one who teased him for never obeying Daylight Savings Time, the one who loved coffee and sunsets, painting and horseback riding. The one who risks it all.

"No! Guys, she's going to unfreeze time! When she does that, the dimension will collapse into itself, crushing her!!" Mathew shouted at his teammates. To keep people who aren't Time Warpers outside the time stream, it requires a lot of work. So when she unsnapped herself, Mathew was already tired. The weight of flowing time acted against the vacuum he created, as he felt everything shift towards her. His arms trembled as he tried to stabilize the timeline, to keep her from her death.

They may have been on the brink of defeat, but they were still trained heroes. The monsters piled on top of her as Digatti used telekinesis, ripping open the fissure before it could close on itself. Hannah turned herself into light, and shot herself through. She slaughtered countless of them, grabbing Meg and beaming themselves out of there. He dropped his hold as the dimension slammed shut. The haunting howls of the beasts were the last noises heard, before it was replaced by silence. The cold air blew through the night.

"No, no!" I reached her first. I snapped time frozen around her and clutched her hand. "Please, please don't die!"

It was truly a ghastly sight. Tears across her whole body, and the blood that seeped through would become still once it left her, pooling over her where the cuts were deepest.

"I - I had to," she gasped, coughing up blood. "We're heroes..."

I tried checking if there was any way to stop the bleeding, but it was clear she was too far gone. "Meg, why?!? It could've been me! Please..."

She chuckled, even as she seared with pain. "B-ut it couldn't have been you, you would've been an hour late..."

Tears welled in my eyes. "No... please..."

She tried to prop herself up, gripping my hand and beaconing me to come close. "Don't worry, you'll see me again! I've chosen. I've chosen who's going to get it. S-Someone hurt, like you. To someone deserving, they must know what it's like to truly love and fight for another. I gift them my power, so they'll have the strength to rise from extreme, unfair pain. The pain life hands out, a-all willy-nilly, you know?"

Her eyes brimmed and she felt weak, so I softly lowered her head back down. "Oh, one more thing!" She adds, forever smiling despite it all. "Someone like that, I think they're going to need a guide. And I can't think of a better one than you. So you can't die! Not until you're a mentor, and you find me again. You promise?"

"I promise." I held her close for a few moments. She couldn't hold back completely: Her red eyes gave way to the slightest of tears. It made them gleam with fire. Her characteristic gleam, one of determination and courage, no matter what.

I stood back up, swallowing the choking feeling in my throat. "I promise... Goodbye Meg. You're the real hero."

I unsnapped my fingers. My teammates deserved to say goodbye too.

------

We both gasped as we returned to reality.

"I - that's me?!" She spun from all the death. She seemed freaked.

"I can't be certain, but from what I saw... You know what it truly means to love another, don't you?"

She paid me little attention. She turned her back to me and walked to an old car parked on the side, climbing onto the roof while rubbing her face. "I didn't want this..." She quietly said. She looked up at me and I could see her eyes start to turn red. "I hated this! I didn't want to be the one who survived. For the longest time, I thought I was cursed!"

I tried to say something, but she continued. "I was the oldest one who cared. When I was 12 our family... I - It was just me and him. If he had it, he could've saved himself. Why couldn't it have been him?!"

"I'm sorry there was only one gift to give."

She sniffled, tears brimming as she couldn't control it. "I'm no hero! I lost him that night, and all I did was run." She pulled out a knife and clenched the handle so hard her knuckles turned white. "It's so unfair! And I hate how childish that sounds!"

I sigh. A pain builds in my chest. "Look, I'm an adult. I have walked this Earth for decades. I have a PhD in Quantum Mechanics and Oscillatory motion.-"

"Your freaking resume won't make me feel better!!!" She shouted, throwing the knife at me. I sucked its temporality so it stilled mid-air, and I grabbed it and walked toward her.

"-And, my point is, I HATE HOW UNFAIR IT ALL IS!!!" I shout at the top of my lungs, all the anger and resentment and guilt shooting itself out of me. "I HATE IT, I HATE IT, I HATE IT!"

I take off my sunglasses and throw them on the floor. I stomp on them a few times. Really grinding it to dust.

"Whaa-" Was all she said. She was shocked.

"I'm an adult! And I feel the same thing! You're stronger than me, because you actually held it in! There's nothing childish about stating a fact!"

'Ugh, I think I tore my sciatica'. Well, I'm not going to have a girl cry on my watch. I reach my hand into a woman's purse nearby and grab a bunch of tissues, regaining my composure in an instant. "Tissue?"

She looks at me at first like I'm insane. But underneath that, I think I saw something like hope, or a 'thank you', as the edges of her lips start to curl up in a smile. And then she giggles, and accepts the tissue. "You're crazy."

"And I'm at your service."

Blowing her nose, she takes a few breaths. I was pretty sure her mind had difficulty wrapping herself around the strangeness of the situation. When she spoke again, it was far more reminiscent. "I - you know, my brother really wanted to be a hero... We would dress up in bed sheets and towels, run around parks as he saved me from the villain of the day. It was so crazy, he would even make multi-part arcs. At the end of one, I remember I bought him ice cream and he got it all over himself... He-" She shut her eyes closed and smiled, bidding her tears not to escape. "He would tell me it was his 'turn to be hero' every single time. Like he saw me as the actual hero or something."

"Aw."

"It was kind of cute. And look," She chuckled as if she was half-mad. "Here I am talking to a real one. But I must say, I'm glad he never met you."

"Wait, excuse me?"

"I'm just saying, if he copied you, I'd be getting tantrums every day!"

"Heh, that might be true." I decided to agree, and she laughed a little. But that noise soon turned to silence, as the previous weight descended upon us. I may have distracted her for a bit, but there are still important questions to ask. And she was well aware of that. "Look, I'm sorry if this hurts you, but I need to know what you plan to do with the powers."

She sighed, running her fingers through her hair and tugging it. "I really don't deserve it. He should've been the hero. Can you take it back?"

"The universe chose you. The only thing you don't have to worry about is that you must know you deserve this, or at the very least you can deserve it."

She sighed. "Old man, please, just shut up."

"You should at least accept that if you want me to take it-"

"I said shut up!"

"Why! This-"

She clenched her jaw and exploded, grinding the tissue to tatters. "You want me to say it?! I'm a murderer! Okay, is that what you wanted to hear?! I'm a murderer, not a hero! Ugh, and I didn't even want to!"

Wait, what?