*Gaia Hernandez's POV*:

Dishes clanged together as I took the rinsed ones and placed it to the side to dry.

It was around 4pm, September 17th.

That night I was preparing a big dinner. It was a special night, everyone was coming over to our apartment in celebration of the World Leader's death.

The meal of the celebration was Virgin Islander Fish and fungi with Mexican rice on the side. Cultural foods came together as one, just as me and Beval did two years ago, but we weren't the only ones, so did Danny and Isabella, a few months before us.

Life was simple, but it wasn't easy. For three years we worked hard to catch up to societal standards of what people our age should be doing.

We moved back to San Francisco. Me, Beval, Katie and Celosia obtained our GED since we couldn't finish high school and get our diploma because of our unfortunate circumstances. We even learned how to drive, thanks to Danny. We obtained our first credit cards and my dad was the one who taught us about budgeting and finance.

Katie was a student at University of San Francisco for Nursing. She was so patient and intelligent, she would've been a great Nurse. Beval was a student at the same school, but majoring in Finance, that guy loved math but didn't want to become a teacher.

I was also a student at that school but instead of Nursing, I majored in my dream: Performing Arts with a concentration in dance. My dream was to open up a dance studio to teach women and girls ballet, modern dance, Hip-Hop, West African dances and more. I still loved to sing and write songs.

Celosia on the other hand was focused on something else entirely, for three years her dream was to take down John Victran, and she finally did it. After planning every encounter with him, she finally got him.

We all eventually found jobs after obtaining our GED.

Thanks to my parents and their connections, me and Katie obtained a job as Nursing Assistants for they knew someone who was a supporter of experi-babies and would hire us. We didn't have to wear contacts, or hide our powers. It was freeing to not have to hide ourselves, but we did get many dirty looks from other coworkers both Nurses and fellow Nursing Assistants, and even some patients refuse to have an experi-baby taking care of them. It was decent money, we could live off of it but not flourish.

Beval was the head chef at El Sabroso: the Mexican restaurant his family opened back up. This time it was opened in downtown San Francisco. It was hard as they had to market their place all over again but when people (mostly experi-baby supporters) found out they reopened, they swarmed over and business resumed as if nothing ever happened.

Humming a tune from a Disney movie I recently saw, I preheated the oven to 360 degrees. Chopping up bell peppers, I lifted my head and wiped my forehead of sweat. My eyes gazed from the table to up at a picture on the wall.

There, was a selfie of me, Celosia and Kimberly, smiling. It was taken in Shimizu's shelter, three years ago.

Suddenly, my mind went to that terrible night when we escaped that prison, the night I tried for the hardest to not think about. For a long time I didn't like Kimberly, well to be honest, I detested her. But it wasn't until we found Shimizu and we spent more time together that I began to warm up to her, as she did with me, and eventually, we were best friends, but unfortunately, it was cut brief, for she was killed by a missile landing near, but not before saving Celosia's life.

Since then, Celosia was never the same, but she still remained focused on taking down the World Leader, but there's never a day where Kimberly isn't on our minds. For the rest of our lives we will cherish her as someone who was once our friend.

A few months ago we went to the bay to sprinkle her ashes into the water. It was a very emotional moment. I tried my best to keep my composure, but it was very hard.

It took a lot of healing to get through living as an experi-baby. We are still hated by some, but a lot less than before John Victran was exposed. But things are soon about to change as more people are starting to see the error in their ways.

I soon snapped out of my thoughts as I heard the front door open.

It was my husband Beval, and the crew: Hikari, Tyler, Mr. Hada, Katie, and even Isabella and Danny with their child, my nephew Christopher. My parents, Celosia's Beval's parents and Thomas couldn't make it because of work and other events.

All together, they came to greet me.

"Heyyy!!", I smiled as I ran to kiss Beval. After returning the kiss, he hugged me tightly.

"Hey hey! Something smells good", Danny smiled as he walked up to greet me.

"It's a secret meal. You'll see when it's done", I said in flattery.

"AUNT GAIA!"

Me and Beval's hug broke as I saw little Christopher running towards me with arms wide out and with a smile on his face. His black wavy short hair bouncing off the top of his head.

"Chris!! How was daycare today?", I squealed as I squat down to embraced him, then picked him up.

"It was great!! I can now count to forty!"

"You can? Well, I know soon that forty will turn to one hundred smarty pants!", I teased as I tickled him.

He hunched over and laughed.

"Alright! Alright! Time to study your spelling", Isabella walked over and held her hands out to take Christopher.

He groaned, protesting as he went into his mother's arms.

"Gaia! Can I help you cook?", Hikari and Katie walked over to ask.

Hikari was fourteen years old and just started high school. She was the same age we were when we met Shimizu, 9 years ago.

She still was the same, still mischievous, but more mature. Her hair was down and chest-length with a braided piece on the side, wrapped in blue string. She still had her signature bangs. She her hair had blue tips. It was to honor her older brother, everywhere she went.

I looked over at Danny, Mr. Hada and Tyler. They were watching TV. Beval was straightening up the living room. Isabella was helping Christopher with numbers and letters at the dining room table.

"Sure! Sure! We can chat while you help me," I gave in. I was sure I could do it on my own, but it was nice to have others help. Especially Katie and Hikari.

While helping me chop up Green Peppers, Hikari, out of the blue asked a question.

"Gaia? Do you think they will lock Celosia away forever, just like Shimizu?"

I stopped in my tracks, sauce dripping from my spoon in the process.

For a while I tried to erase that from my mind. Murder is a serious crime and will easily get a person in prison for life. But because California was one of those states that still has the death penalty, that's also an option they might consider because of the status of the person. My anxiety ran through the roof as I thought about that. My heart began to race as did my mind. I feared for the future of my best friend. .

"Gaia?"

I snapped out of it as Katie called my name. Taking a deep breath I answered honestly.

"I won't lie to you, I am not so sure. Let's just hope for the best. She had to do it in order for us to survive. That man was causing a lot of political hellfire and if she didn't act quickly, who knows if we or another country would've shot a nuclear bomb and started World War 3."

Before Hikari could respond, Tyler came into the kitchen abruptly. His face was hard to read.

"Hey girls! You might wanna come take a look at this! Celosia's on TV!"

We headed towards the living room. Beval, Danny and the others were watching the news. The news was reporting on Celosia. But surprisingly, it was reported in an unbiased way. Usually with experi-babies on the news, the reporters would throw in sly or shady remarks.

We saw Celosia, walking out of a luxury apartment building in handcuffs. She didn't have her wig on, but wore her real hair out in long French braids down to her waist. A smirk was formed on her face.

They led her out into the street full of angry protesters who were protesting against the freedom of John Victran. That's when she looked up, and looked around at all of them. Her orange eyes glowing. She wanted them to see her for who she was: an experi-baby.

As the protesters saw her blazing orange eyes, a mixture of confusion and disbelief arose from the crowd.

That's when I realized something, the protestors got what they wanted: either John Victran in jail for life or him facing the death penalty. He's dead now. So my question is what will protestors do now? Will they still focus on experi-babies and our rights?

Or did they only care about stopping John Victran and his corruption since it affected them as well?

What if we could get them to spend their focus on getting Celosia out of prison since she killed an evil, war-hungry, corrupted man and in a way saved humanity??

But Shimizu too. One of the soldiers Shimizu fought with recorded everything the John Victran said to us. This was a terrible look and made a good portion of people turn against him. We could have a chance at getting Shimizu and his soldiers out of prison too. If only we knew where he was though.

"It's time", I said as I moved closer towards the TV. Everyone looked my way as I looked towards Danny. "Danny, get the protestors fired up, they need to direct their attention to Celosia and Shimizu and getting them out of jail."

I got some funny looks from my crowd of friends. Usually, I didn't take charge in the group. But since this was my best friend's freedom that was on the line, I had to.

"Good idea Mrs. Hernandez. They're already protesting against the government's treatment of experi-babies. If it stays that way, it would be easier to get Celosia out of jail. She's an experi-baby who killed a man who caused a lot of political tension. Not only that, this man killed Shimizu's mother and he revealed a lot of other heinous acts in the video. With Shimizu, if enough people protest, there's a chance he will be able to be freed. If we manage to get the protesters attention towards Celosia and Shimizu while still having them on our side, we might have a chance at getting them out but also being able to finally have a chance at life without discrimination. Think about it. The people's voices will change everything," Danny explained.

"So, how will we start though? It's all pointless unless we have a plan. How can we get millions of people to start paying more attention towards Celosia and Shimizu and experimented people's rights?", Katie asked.

Silence grew around the living room. But our eyes kept glaring at Danny, who is usually the mastermind with these type of situations.

It seemed like he already knew what we needed to do. His legs were crossed as he leaned against the sofa's arm. Uncrossing them, he leaned forward and smiled.

"We post, and we protest."