A Hero's Feast

Bayani woke up in the infirmary with blurry vision and bandages covering his hand. He tried to stand, but a present nurse told him to stay seated for a while. The room was quiet, besides the nurse fumbling around with different items. It was a basic infirmary with no one else in it. He looked at the door and saw the Network of Heroes symbol on the door, which calmed him down, so he stayed seated. The little girl from the mall walked in alongside Loudman.

"GOOD MORNING, BAYANI," the beakers in the infirmary shattered. The nurse looked at Loudman and narrowed her eyes out of rage.

"I apologize," Loudman spoke again, but this time without amplifying his voice. The nurse nodded and continued with her work. Bayani stared at them, frightened about what was about to come out of their moves. Another cold sweat shrouded his face; in an attempt to calm the nerves, he tried biting his fingernails but couldn't because of the bandages. Loudman smiled and put a hand lightly on Bayani's shoulder.

"No need to be nervous, young man!" Loudman sat next to Bayani, "I've come congratulate you on passing the first tryout!"

"Seriously?" he hopped out of bed with excitement which only made his body feel worse, so he sat back down.

"Bayani. You passed with flying colors."

"I can't believe it, I almost died, but I passed!"

"We wouldn't have let you die on the first tryout. The second one is what you've got to watch out for," Loudman chuckled, "Well! Until next time Bayani!"

Loudman walked out of the room while apologizing again to the nurse. The nurse ignored him and handed Bayani ibuprofen and a cup of water. He smiled and took it before looking back at the little girl. She did a slight wave and then put her hands behind her back.

"Thank you for trying to save me," she said, stumbling over her words, "I'm Liezel; nice to meet you; I'll see you at the next tryout." Before Bayani could get a word out, she left. He sighed out of confusion and laid down on the bed.

After a day in the infirmary, he was allowed to go home and told the subsequent trial would be in a week. On arriving home, Bodybuilder and his family were waiting for him with a feast. The party was a nice break for Bayani after training for months and the first tryout. They talked all day about the tryout and celebrated his passing. Bodybuilder challenged him to a push-up contest in which Bayani lost by two hundred fifty-five push-ups. He accepted this loss gracefully by asking for a rematch and failing again. Everyone laughed out at this, and as more time passed, the party ended. Bayani's parents walked up to him with faces full of dread.

"You know we're proud of you for passing the first tryout, but is this the right option?" his mother said, looking slightly to the side while his father nodded in agreement.

"Of course it is; this has been my dream forever!"

"We know; it's just you don't have a superpower... and we're worried."

Taken aback, Bayani left without another breath and took a walk to a nearby park. Annoyed and hurt by his parents' comments, the walk was the only way to exert the negative emotions he was feeling. The park was silent and had only a singular street lamp lighting a bench. This is the park Bayani had been to when he was younger when Reckless Activity fought against Quick Kill. With sadness, he sat on the bench and put his head in his hands. Memories of that day were rushing through his head, and all the guilt piled on at once. Thoughts that have been growing inside Bayani since he was younger were surfacing.

ᵢₜ'ₛ yₒᵤᵣ fₐᵤₗₜ

Yₒᵤ'ᵣₑ ₜₒ bₗₐₘₑ

Yₒᵤ ₖᵢₗₗₑd ₕᵢₘ

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𝘚𝘓𝘈𝘗!

Bayani looked up to what had just slapped him. It was his older sister Lyka.

"What're you thinking about, stupid?"

"Nothing, just stressed," Bayani anxiously sputtered out.

"Just stressed my ass; I've dealt with you for too long to believe that, buddy." Lyka sat down next to Bayani and patted his back, trying to comfort him. She handed him a dried mango slice and popped on in her mouth. He faintly smiled and ate his mango slice by slowly picking at it. She sighed and crouched in front of him, looking into his eyes. She stared at him for an entire minute, not saying anything. He stared back at her, very confused about what she was doing. The gears were slowly turning in his mind when Bayani suddenly stood up and jumped away from Lyka.

"Come on, Lyka, we aren't kids anymore."

"This is your headstart, buddy. You have thirty seconds left before I beat the crap outta ya."

Bayani panicked and began to run as fast as he physically could. Lyka kept her promise and chased after him, ready for a beatdown. Eventually, Bayani made it home and passed out on the couch, successfully escaping her. Lyka arrived home minutes later and threw a blanket over him. Then he trained for the second tryout for the rest of the week with even more determination than ever before.