The World That Raged

"For this week's news, Leon and Reyon Akermota, previously declared the biggest heroes of our nation, were slaughtered by an unknown group of people earlier last week. Why this knowledge was withheld from the public until now is unknown. Amora Akermota's whereabouts are unknown as well. We can only pray for her well-being now, as she has been said to have just given birth."

TVs across the country, through cities and houses all, presented the same news, despite what channel you may have been on. The heroes that all had loved were now killed. Slaughtered by one man and his army.

The wind blew wild for the next few days as if it too raged at the news of its master's demise. Or perhaps just Amora herself was causing such movements of the wind with her anger.

People couldn't stand the news of their heroes' deaths, and many raged. Many fell into lives of crime and vandalism, with many also simply rioting outside Hexcorp's building. Some even protested around public areas and spaces. Social media was riddled with many people exclaiming how they would accept Amora into their homes and how they would try their best to protect her. Many just wanted to know if she was even okay at this point in time.

Little did they know she was safe, although not in the best condition. While she still cared for her two babies, she slept for many hours without being tired. Cole fought hard to keep her stable, but her mental state kept withdrawing back and forth. She would be fine one day, and the next, another side of her would come out, as if her own mind had shattered into two pieces. One side of her accepted death and wanted nothing more than to die, and the other craved violence. That side was most prominent in Amora at this point.

Most nights, Cole would spend cradling his children in front of a heater. They had to flee to a warehouse in the middle of nowhere. The city's bustling noise outside was a constant annoyance, especially with crying babies, but Cole kept himself calm and was the rational one in this situation. He convinced the suicidal version of Amora out of her state, where she soon was just caring and kind like before, but still very sad, for obvious reasons, so Cole pressed no further. She could grieve. She had every right to.

On some nights, during her sleep, he would overhear her speaking.

"Aya... Mom... Dad... come back... please don't leave me here alone." She would mutter on some occasions before waking up covered in sweat and quickly wrapping herself around Cole.

Despite her state, she held her babies often, cradling them, and being much better at getting them to sleep than Cole could. Her ability to get them to stop crying instantly was beyond him. So he made no argument and let her do her thing.

The babies seemed to fix Amora slightly as well. Her mental state may have been shattered, but they held her together. Without them, Amora may have been out there searching for Shogeki at this exact moment.

Cole held his hands together. In his palm was a pendant. Inside, a picture of him and a blonde girl. He couldn't remember who she was, but he knew she was important to his past. Same with Shogeki. He couldn't bring himself to tell Amora the full truth that he had remembered after running away with her.

The words wouldn't come out.

"Shogeki is my brother." No, too upfront.

"Shogeki and I... are related." She would definitely throw a fit about that one too...

"I know Shogeki hurt you..." Well, that's an understatement.

Cole simply gave up on telling her the truth. He felt selfish. Not telling her and keeping the secret so he could remain with her. He felt like garbage.

"Her eyes are so pretty," Amora said, holding Elizabeth close. "I feel... some kind of heat when I look at them." Amora continued, letting Elizabeth hold her finger with her small hand.

Cole quickly looked to the ground. He knew what was going on here as well, yet it was one more thing he'd have to keep from Amora. Eye Elements. Something that recently developed in Elementals. With a simple stare, you could project elements around or even hurt others. Some Eye Elements required eye contact, while others are passive, or can be used regardless of eye contact.

Thinking about this, Cole remembered Shogeki. Who had an Eye Element, which would cause fear when looking into his eyes.

Cole had hidden his eye element well because he never thought he had one. But when using his element of paper, he found he could also cause sparks, a flame. A simple small ember on his paper would ignite the whole strand of paper in an instant. An Eye Element that paired perfectly with his element.

Amora had fallen asleep, both babies resting on her chest. Cole used his bandaged arm to cover them with their blanket. He turned the heater toward them and began toward the warehouse door. Someone needed to get food, and he was the one. What kind of person would he be if he let his girlfriend out of the warehouse after the tragedy that befell her only a week prior?

***

Upon returning to the warehouse with bags of food from the nearby convenience store, he heard some light footsteps in a nearby rain puddle. He twisted and pulled out a dagger, pointing it in the silhouette's direction.

"Cole! Quit that!" A voice emerged from the silhouette, who stepped out of the darkness and showed themself to be Tavan.

"Radke. How did you find us?" Cole asked, his eyes narrowed.

"I trailed you from the store-but that's not the point. The point here is... we are holding a funeral for Leon and Reyon. You and Amora are invited, but it's understood if you do not want to attend with the current risk of Shogeki and Hexcorp as a whole."

"Who's we? Clover is dead, is she not?"

"That is... indeed, the case, yes. But it doesn't matter who is involved. Come or do not. We hope we can use this funeral as a meeting as well, a way to take this man down. To end him."

"You only want to hold a funeral because you know damn well how you acted toward them before they died," Cole said, his eyebrows narrowed and his teeth gritted in anger. He then forcefully grabbed the envelopes from Tavan before entering the warehouse.

Tavan stood there, his face one of grief. He lowered his head, sighed, and walked away.