There is no meaning to anything. We have lived under this rule for as long as our life cycle. There is no meaning, no truth until the universe says otherwise. Maybe it has one, a secret plan that we cannot be privy to. But until we may be exposed to that meaning, the truth would be that there is none. Not until the universe graces us with one, either by showing it or by creating one. It does not matter.

    Because that hasn't happened yet, there is no meaning. To anything.

    So, as we witnessed the death of a human not fated to die yet, we wondered a singular question.

    "Why?"
____________________
𝚂𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚖, 𝙾𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚘𝚗
𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟸𝟷𝚜𝚝, 𝟷𝟼:𝟹𝟾 𝙴𝙳𝚃

    Red Tornado had just finished his eulogy when the tears we'd struggled to keep inside of us came rushing out with pressing force. We tried not to make them too distracting, people needed to grieve, but we couldn't help our sniffling, and the tissue we'd been using to wipe our tears was getting damp.

    Even still, we kept our head down and let the tears stream down, wishing we could mourn the loss of Kent Nelson in the way everyone else could. We wished we'd had any other way instead, that there was something we could do to honor the man who had spent his life being a hero for others, but unfortunately, our species does not commemorate death.

    It's a natural end to a life cycle, something that has no specialty. It's meant to happen, like everything else.

    It's why, even though we've lived for so long, we know our life cycle will end too. Eventually. Soon, so very soon.

    Someone placed a hand on our shoulder and our head shot up to the left, where the person was. It was Wally, he was frowning deeply.

    "Hey, Failsafe," He whispered, "Do you want to say something about Nelson? The podium's free for anyone who wants to make last-minute remarks," He tried to smile, but it just came out crooked, like one of our smiles.

    We tried to speak, to tell him we would. We willed our legs to move. But nothing happened. No words would come out. Our legs froze. All we could do was shake our head and suck in a shaky breath.

    He nodded sadly and rubbed our back as we curled up into our seat, not listening to the processions moving

    It was M'gann this time, who came up to us and told us that everyone was going to view Nelson one last time before leaving.

    We nodded our head a couple of times, and slowly took her outstretched hand. Gently, she lifted us up, as if we were fragile.

    And maybe we were.

    We made our way over to Nelson's open prison, gazing down at him. We wanted to say so much, so, so many things to him, about him. So many things left unsaid, so many things that were said. Our hand gripped the wood.

    'Whatever happened to good always winning? And evil losing? And everyone being okay in the end?' (Y/n) broke our thoughts, a dejected, monotone voice asking an unreasonable question.

    'Order and Chaos, unfortunately, they do not work this way...' We explained, 'If only that statement was the case, that they worked this way. But concepts cannot beat reality, so we find ourselves stuck with order and chaos.'

    'This is the price, of being a hero. Someone who tries to fix the line between the two.'

    "Billion years, Million stars, thousand lives," We whispered to the man's unmoving body. "Hundred meanings, tens of reasons, one fate," We spoke the only form of a departure sendoff we could send Nelson off with.

    'That's beautiful, Failsafe, I'm sure Kent would be happy to hear it.'

    'Maybe not as much as we'd think...' We walked away from the coffin, being the last person to view him they began to take him away, to return him to the ground. Mother Earth.

    'Why not?' Curiosity moved through us, we squashed it instantly. The numbness returned. It was comforting, the void of anything running through us. But it also made us sick, for once, we wanted to know what it was like to have emotions, to feel.

    'The first part, we added that on. It's completely meaningless. The second was said only once, to a criminal before her death.'

    'Oh...' (Y/n) became silent before saying, 'Well, maybe we can make it mean something?'

    We couldn't respond. We didn't. We don't know why, but taking the energy to respond, even inside of our own head, seemed exhausting.

    We turned away, it was disrespectful for us not to stay to the end, to watch Nelson's final departure. But the thought of watching that, we don't think we could.

    So we left, walking out the door.

    We wished we could have done it confidently, stride out and wipe our tears and continue down this road, now uncertain, and put this future back on track.

    But we couldn't, we turned back to look at the building as a whole and asked ourselves a question of our own.

    'Is this the future we want to strive for, after all?'

___________________________
𝙷𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚛, 𝚁𝚑𝚘𝚍𝚎 𝙸𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍
𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟸𝟾𝚝𝚑, 𝟶𝟾:𝟶𝟽 𝙴𝙳𝚃

    We wiped excess clay off our outfit as we held it in our hands, having already changed into something comfortable. Simple sweatpants and a shirt a size too big with some fun graphic design on it, courtesy of Batman, since he bought all of our clothes.

    We sighed, setting the white and black outfit down and changing into some socks, and putting on a hoodie that was definitely too big for us. It felt warmer like this. We didn't feel suffocated either.

    For a moment, everything felt okay.

    Then we took in a breath, and we were back on that roof, holding our breath again and pressing our ear to the dead man's chest.

    We jolted upward before gripping our head and beginning to breathe heavily and quickly. Dropping to our bed we curled in on ourselves.

    We knew we should calm down, concentrate on breathing and stop thinking about Kent. It wouldn't do us any good to continue it, but, but, it made no sense for him to die.

    So, why? What meaning was there, to anything?

    There was a knock at the door but we could barely hear it over our own breathing and the rushing of our blood moving in our ears. We could barely let out a whisper to tell the person to go away.

    The person who opened the door didn't do that, however. He did not have superhearing.

    Batman stood at the opened door, looking down at us with his usual neutral face, arms at his side as he took in our balled-up form, lying halfway on the bed. He sighed before walking closer, moving our costume to our nightstand and sitting down next to us on the bed.

    "I don't think you should go on missions for the time being," He said curtly, trying not to look at our pathetic form. And we understood that who would want to look at something like us?

    Something that doesn't even know why they were reacting like this. Was it this human body? (Y/n)'s emotions? We don't understand! We should feel nothing and yet we react anyway. Does the body do this naturally?!

    Is it broken? Did we hurt it in some way?

    Tears pooled in our eyes and we suppressed them with a shaky breath, nodding and sitting up, letting our legs dangle off the bed as we placed our hands in our lap, they gripped the fabric of our pants tightly. We tried to seem okay,  "You're right. We will... Refrain from missions until we're fixed."

    He didn't say anything else, only nodding and getting up, albeit it seemed hesitant. We looked him in the eye and though we wished for him to leave, a part of us wanted the adult to stay. He left, letting us release our tears of distress and conflict.

    We lay back down on the bed, legs still dangling off as we stared arms out at the ceiling. Part of us hoped something would happen, to come assure us this was right. This was the path, the way into a future of balance, where the scales aren't tipped in Chaos' favor.

But, with every day and every mission, it seems less and less so. For the first time, we are aimless. Wandering an abyss we have no concept of.

Meaning. We keep coming back to that simple word. The question, "Why?" Is directly linked to that one word.

Meaning. As a noun, it's defined as what is meant by a word, text, concept, or action. It cannot even be defined without using itself this way.

Another definition of meaning is implied or explicit significance. Another, important or worthwhile quality; purpose.

Meaning. Why?

What was the meaning behind Kent Nelson's death? Why did he have to die? Why did he die?

Nothing changed. Two conversations changed. And an innocent man ended up dead.

Why?

Did we do this? Was this us? By messing with time and being here in the first place? No, no, we're supposed to be.

This is fine, we're fine.

The lie makes a lump clog our throat. We pressed our head into the mattress and tried to connect the dots on the ceiling. Maybe if we looked hard enough the answer to everything would appear before us?

We replayed Nelson's death in our mind, trying to go back there and see it, but this human brain of ours plays everything like a movie than it does for us, which has only ever experienced it like a book, or something akin to it. We don't exactly have our own language.

But, (Y/n)'s question harkened back to us, what happened to good? Evil? Balance, chaos, and order?

Where was fate going now?

The scales were still tipped toward chaos, order so fragile. And yet our species does nothing about it. That isn't balanced at all. What happened to trying to find a way to fix, and cleanse the scales?

    We sighed into the empty room. Our species' hybris.

    Good and Evil, Order and Chaos, Hero and Villian.

    Though we were too out of it to really pay attention at his funeral, we remember some parts of the speeches. Everyone called Nelson a hero. A real hero of order and fate.

    Hero. We had called him a hero, and we don't even know what the word truly means.

    We furrowed our brows and got off the bed, making our way to our bookshelf. The old oak was barely decorated but had a few things on it. We reached out and pulled on a tiny book, binging it to rest in our hand we started to flip through it.

    A dictionary definition of the word, hero.

The chief male character in a book, play, or movie, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.

No, that didn't work. The universe may have a dramatic way of working but it wasn't a movie, a book, or a play. And if it was, it'd be the most boring one in existence.

(In mythology and folklore) A person of superhuman qualities and often semidivine origin, in particular one whose exploits were the subject of ancient Greek myths.

We frowned, no, not this either. Kent Nelson wasn't even greek.

A person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

This was the last definition, so it had to be the one people were talking about, right?

Something didn't sit right with us. We moved to the bed, dictionary still in our hand we plopped down, rereading the words.

Kent Nelson was brave, yes, he knew every time that he put on the helmet that there was a chance Nabu would get a crazy idea like taking over his body. And that if Nabu failed he'd be killed too. Outstanding achievements, well, Nabu did all of the hero work. And Nelson was filled with noble qualities...

So why did the definition feel so wrong?

We closed the book, throwing it against the wall. It bounced off the wall and the floor once before falling flat on its side. We still felt wronged, empty.

It was supposed to give us the answer. But now we're even more lost than before.

'Maybe you just need to find your own definition?' (Y/n) quietly gave us the suggestion, we let out a yawn. Despite it being so early in the morning, we felt exhausted. We had to wake up early for a mission, and then on that mission, we were beaten by Clayface. We felt (Y/n) start to drift off to sleep.

We expected Batman to be mad we failed like that. That we didn't try harder, didn't even try to fight. We just surrendered. Laid on the floor after one attack and let the Team do the rest.

But, why do we have to do all the work? Pick up after people and fix the pieces. We're, we're–

We sucked in a breath. We're so tired.

Why could Batman be mad at someone else for a change? Why couldn't we just be given the solution, the answer?

Why were we here? Why did it have to be us, when it could have so easily have been another?

What meaning did fate have for us? Like it did for Nelson.

We don't think we can go on believing that there's nothing, no meaning for anyone or anything. Because that means we lived, continued on like this, got to here despite it all, for nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing. Nothing.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

Nothing...

No, (Y/n) was right. We were right.

'Then, let's find our own meaning to the word, hero.'

Whatever that means, whatever it will entail.

We just, we need to know.

Were we really right?

_________________
𝙳𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝙼𝙰-𝚂𝙱-𝚁-𝙻𝙾𝚂𝚈𝙹𝙹𝚃𝚃𝚂
𝙶𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚖 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢, 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝚈𝚘𝚛𝚔
𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟸𝟸𝚗𝚍, 𝟸𝟹:𝟺𝟸 𝙴𝙳𝚃

    "So, it was you," The female's weapon that was previously pointed in our face disappeared, like magic. Because it was magic.

    She was a bit older than our body, taller, leaner, more muscle though. She was adorned in a dress that shimmered like stars, a cloak that took on the form of the night sky on the inside, swirling cosmos beckoned us to follow it into the abyss.

    She brushed her hair away, it looked the same as ours, only longer. Her makeup had not a single flaw.

    "Yes, it's us, (Y/n)," We addressed the magical girl. She gripped the construct next to her.

    "Do you need something? I'm trying to do something here but I think I have time to help," She moved her long hair to the back, and smirked at us.

    We nodded, "We have a question for you."

    She raised her eyebrow, unmoving otherwise, "A question? That's a surprise." She didn't look surprised.

    "What is the meaning to the word, hero?"

    She looked us straight in the eye, "I'm sure you're looking for my definition, right? Because I'm sure if your meddling in 'fate' or whatever it means you're at a loss as to what to do," She brought up her hand and bent the index and middle fingers as she said fate.

    "I've never seen you at a loss for what to do, so I'm asking just to be sure," Her eyes trailed over the room once more.

    "Yes. What does it mean, to you?" We asked again, clearer this time.

    She snorted, "I've been alive so long, not as long as you, of course, but... The word stopped having meaning so long ago. I stopped being one forever ago, and then," She paused, "Suddenly, I was again." A smile graced her face.

    "When I started down this path, it wasn't pure or righteous. It was vengeance, rage, I wanted to prove those stupid adults wrong. They, they called all of us witches, their protectors who fought the witches were to die being called the thing they tried so hard to fight," She sneered.

    "The thought still makes me sick." We nodded, though we felt nothing for the girl in front of us. The void in our chest throbbed.

    "So, to you, the definition of hero is the ability to fight against wrongs?" We questioned her. She shook her head.

    "No, I'm getting there. But, good guess." She gave us a semblance of a grin.

    We stayed silent, letting her continue.

"The past and present guide us. The future is built upon what happened in the past, so that's where you have to look when you want to move forward," She explained, eyes averting away from us who'd sat down next to her, they trailed across the room like a scared bunny.

"I thought I lost everything that day," We expected her voice to shake, show some emotion like other humans, but it was cold and monotone, like ours, numb with no life.

"I was prepared to die with the witch that attacked Salem, I was prepared to save that cursed town and prove them wrong. Die with the real witch and leave them helpless for the next," Her fingers flexed into a fist as it lay on her lap, the fabric of her star-covered skirt making room for her hand.

"But I didn't die. So I continued, struggled on. And eventually, I found new people to love. And, I swore I wouldn't let the same thing happen to them," She turned to us, looking us in the eye, and continued.

"Protecting the people you love and care about. That's what being a hero is. For me, it isn't about the people or myself, it's not noble or righteous, it's selfish. A selfish desire to keep them here with me, for as long as I can," She placed a hand on her armored chest and we did the same, feeling our heartbeat getting a tiny bit faster.

"Look to the past, keep the people that were close to you inside your heart and let them guide you to keeping the people with you now safe. Do you get it? It's not about anyone else but the people around you that you can't live without."

Her gaze pierced our soul, and we felt as if she could see what we really looked like behind our human exterior. That wasn't the gaze of a bunny, that was a wolf's gaze.

"Remember the past and help it guide your present, the future doesn't matter unless it's filled with the people you love. That's what it means to be a hero, at least to me, creating a future that's safe and filled with the love your selfish actions created. A place where the people you love can live with no fear or sadness," There was a commotion outside, we could hear two boys bickering with each other. Their voices sounded familiar, but not recognizable.

The magical girl next to us sighed, smiling widely, and shook her head, "That's it. That's all it is. And I know that now, I can say that to you now. But, I have to deal with them now, so I hope I answered your question well enough."

We nodded our head, "Yes, thank you."

A boy dressed in a Superman shirt and jeans as well as a tanned boy in a version of the Robin costume burst through the door.

We didn't need nor want to interfere, so we disappeared. We could hear her as she addressed them.

"Yo, dunces. You were supposed to meet me here an hour ago. The party's over now!"

We carried on to the next dimension.

________________
𝙳𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚁𝙱𝙻𝙱-𝙱𝟻-𝚁-𝙻𝙾𝚂-𝟷𝟺𝟾𝟸
𝙻𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚄𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚜
𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟹𝚛𝚍, 𝟷𝟺:𝟶𝟸 𝚃𝚂𝙸

    "Oh, it's you!" A happy voice cut through the silence. She put her book down and uncrossed her legs, standing up off her bean chair.

    "Yes, we have an important question to ask of you," She blinked, the raw emotions swirling in her irises created rainbow effects balanced out by the blacks of her eyes instead of the typical white.

    "Okay, ask away then." She plopped back down on her chair and we sat down on the one opposite to her. We took in the Emotishie as she made herself comfortable once again, dressed in her hero suit with a hoodie over it. We doubted it was her's, it didn't fit. It looked to be a smaller size that was massively stretched out.

    "What is the meaning to the word, hero?"

    She took a minute to think, humming to herself as she sunk into the bean bag chair, "The meaning of the word hero? That's hard. I guess my meaning to the word would be protecting with all your heart."

    "Protecting with all of your heart?"

    She giggled, "Yeah, protecting yourself and others with all you have. If you're out there stopping evil and saving people you've got to mean it. So, fight with every emotion you've got,"

    "We'd like an honest answer."

    She furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head, "I am being honest. This is my genuine opinion. If you're not fighting with everything on the line then you'll never accomplish anything. Fighting with your whole being isn't just physical. It's emotional, mental," She explained.

    "I had to escape an awful place, and because of that, it's hard for me to express and open up like I'm supposed to. But because I fought with everything on the line time and time again, it helped not only me but the people around me. I'm one of the only ones of my species to live off of our home planet for a reason. And trust me, I'm better for it," She finished her rant, looking us in the eye. Even though she talked of her past, she seemed comfortable with it. As if she'd gotten over it all in comparison to us or her magical girl counterpart who seemed to distance herself from it.

    We thought back to her past. Her home planet was the opposite of our own situation, with too many people, overpopulation caused many deaths.

    We nodded, "Thank you for your feedback."

    She snorted, "You sound like a robot."

    We stared at her, not knowing what to say. "We will work on it, then?"

    "Work on expressing yourself too, okay?" She asked right as we turned to leave.

    "How do we do that, without any emotions to express?"

    "Everyone has emotions. Even you, Failsafe. I can feel them, all around me. And while yours are muted, I'm sure if you try you'll grow into them. And they'll be so colorful too, when that happens, come back so I can see them, alright?" She winked at us.

    We could only nod and turn away, disappearing into the air.
_________________
𝙳𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝙱𝙼-𝙱𝚆-𝙹𝙻𝚃𝙰𝚂
𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛, 𝚂𝚙𝚊𝚌𝚎
𝚂𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟽𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟾:𝟻𝟷 𝙴𝚁𝚃

    "Interestingly, I'm not surprised to see you," The woman in the bat costume joked as soon as we appeared. While she was mostly covered by a throw blanket and her eyes were drooping, she tried for humor and reached for her mug of coffee. She was trying to stay awake while she monitored the Earth outside from the watchtower of her dimension.

    It might've been better than our watchtower, but we couldn't help but be biased. While they had weapons we had nature, a place to take a break and breathe and relax. Of course, one was way more practical, and we'd chose this watchtower over the other every time because of it, but, some part of us missed hearing the birds chirping and the pure sound of trees without wind.

    We sighed, Nelson would have liked our watchtower better.

    "What is the meaning to the word, hero?" We asked as we watched the orbiting planet. The Batwoman exhaled and took a sip of a surely cold coffee. We heated it up for her with a touch of our finger, she looked up to us thankfully, but we continued to watch the world pass in front of our eyes.

    Maybe others would think this was beautiful, but to us, it just seemed so...

    Lonely.

    "The meaning of the word hero, huh?" She asked, repeating our question.

    "Yes," we nodded our head, not meeting her eye but looking at her. She had a hand on her stomach and the other one holding the now warm coffee cup.

    "Well, isn't it about protecting everyone you can? Heroes and villains, I think we're mislabeled. Sure, we go about what we want in different ways, but the only difference is selflessness and selfishness. So, being a hero is being selfless. Doing your part to protect others no matter what."

    She took a sip of her coffee, letting it sink in.

    "Of course, I'm not that naive as to think that's all it is, and that it's what I said at all. But I dwell on it quite a bit. It's possible not to be a hero or a villain, it's possible to be both. It all depends on how selfish and selfless you can be. Remember to pick and choose those battles though, sometimes it's okay to be one or the other, as long as it's for a cause you are passionate about." She shrugged.

    "When it comes down to it, at the end of the day it's not the feeling of accomplishment or relief for me, not even my sense of duty and responsibility that makes me do this, not my sense of survival either. It's just... Love. I do all that I can because I love my husband and my friends." She chuckled, "Can't really say family, other than Agent A I don't exactly have any left." 

    "You don't do it just for love." We called her out, she focused on us. "You can't do it just for love, we've observed humans long enough to know that that couldn't have carried you through that much hardship."

    She smiled wistfully, "Then, my friend, you have much more to observe about us." She crossed her legs and continued to sip her drink.

    We thought back to Batman, a man who broke away from fate. "Maybe we do."

    "Hey, you should come around again, I'd love to have a normal conversation with you," She joked before pausing, "Just, stay safe, okay?"

    We nodded. "Okay,"

    Didn't she know how powerful we were? We could snap her neck without having to move, destroy her Earth and this entire dimension if we wanted. But, she told us to stay safe?

    No one would be safer than we were.

    We waved our hand once in a haphazard way before disappearing once more.

__________
𝙳𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚇-𝚂𝙱𝙹𝚁-𝚇-𝚄-𝚃𝚃𝚈𝙹𝙷𝚀𝙿𝙸
𝙹𝚞𝚖𝚙 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢, 𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚊
𝙼𝚊𝚢 𝟷𝟹𝚝𝚑, 𝟶𝟾:𝟷𝟻 𝙴𝙳𝚃

    The sound of fighting hit our ears and when we opened our eyes there were people dressed in black hanging by the vine, upside down, around the room.

    There was a girl dressed in a modest hero suit covered in flower imagery. Despite the modesty, the suit was still very strange. It looked as if it was spontaneous and put together with preferences in mind rather than a cohesive image.

    (Y/e) eyes met our own, staring back at us in confusion. A man tried to sneak up at her, but before we could shoot him down the large vine laying by the girl's feet uppercut him and he fell back, it wrapped around his body and he was left groaning and immobilized on the ground.

    "What is the meaning to the word, hero?" We asked the girl as she waved at us, smiling, before walking past us towards a control console.

    "Nice to see you too, Failsafe." Petal sassed, though it sounded more as if she were trying than actually accomplishing it. She started typing things into the keyboard before getting denied. She mumbled to herself before sticking in a USB and turning to us, leaning on the console. Her deminer was friendly and inviting.

    We took a step back from the flower-themed hero. "We want an answer to this question. Your answer."

    "Oh?" She inquired, quirking up an eyebrow. Her skin had a tint of pale green, barely noticeable to the eye, and there was a spark of green behind her eyes.

    She took a second to think, averting her eyes, "Redemption," she breathed out. "That's about it, and a sense of justice, I suppose."

    Behind her the USB had gotten into the computer, so she started going through it, getting information. We could hear her still fighting teammates from the comms, but she was remarkably calm, for a human.

    "Redemption?" We questioned. Stepping forward.

    She shrugged, "My whole life I was looked down on because my parents were ex-villains, never trusted, never wanted to be around, alone or in a crowd, it stunk. So I changed it, I've made my own path." She turned back to us and winked, smiling, before going back to work.

    "So, redemption. I wanna prove to everyone they're wrong about my moms and me." She got the information from the computer, uploaded it to the drive, and stuck it into her pocket.

    "I've got to go now, help the others and get out of here. I hoped I answered your question! Sorry, bye!" She waved to me before running out. The vines around her followed, bursting through the door as she grabbed onto them, riding them like one would a skateboard.

    "Redemption, huh?"

    We turned around and vanished into the air.

_____________
𝙳𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚆-𝙺-𝙳𝙴𝚅𝚁-𝚈𝙹
𝙷𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚛, 𝚁𝚑𝚘𝚍𝚎 𝙸𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍
𝙾𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟸𝟻𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟷:𝟺𝟽 𝙴𝙳𝚃

    The girl hadn't even turned around, she didn't acknowledge us at all as she continued humming, items infused with magic circled around the room, being placed where she waved her hands.

    She only noticed us when an item got too close to us and the magic disappeared, the item falling onto our head. Luckily, it didn't break. The piggybank is shaped and styled to look like a fairy tree with a hiding nook for people to put their cash in lying on the wooden floor. We looked over the magic still placed on it, a protection spell.

    "What do you want?" The girl spat at us. Items moving toward the nearest surface. The guardian fairy in training was never happy to see us, she didn't like that we messed with her magic. The fairy of magic felt every use of magic, having it torn away in the manner that our biology works must make it severely uncomfortable for her, as the magic doesn't just get reabsorbed back into the caster, but it's abruptly severed from the universe until the magic can be channeled back in, in a peaceful and balanced way.

    To a being that can feel all magic, it might even border on painful for her. When she becomes a real guardian fairy it will most likely, definitely, give her pain. Which always puts her in a bad mood when we show up.

    "An answer is all, once we have that, we'll be on our way." We told her, truthfully.

    She sighed before saying, "Alright, just, go over there until I'm done." She shooed us over to the corner. We did as she said because we did not want her to withhold her answer due to annoyance.

    The items started moving where she motioned them towards, none getting too close to us as she asked, "Well? What's the question?"

    "What is the meaning to the word, hero?" We asked, immediately. We did not care if she was upset, that wasn't our concern, but we did care about our answer.

    She stopped, looking us in the eye before huffing, moving the objects back to their correct places quicker. Books lined the bookshelf like something out of those old Disney movies we remember watching.

    "The meaning to the word hero? Look it up in the dictionary." She scoffed, "I thought you would already have done that."

    "No, you misunderstand. We want your definition, the reason you fight." We stepped closer, a water bottle almost smacking us in the face. The magic almost disappeared completely again, but she was able to hold onto the plastic with a sliver.

    She glared at me before breathing in and out, "Heroism is following your sense of right and wrong, your sense of justice. Just, the meaning to it? It's following what you believe to be right, trying to stop what you believe to be wrong. No matter what."

    She finished reorganizing her room, "There. You happy?" She grumbled. Plopping down on her bed as she opened up a weird-looking device with wings on the side.

    "Out." As she said that the whole room was covered in pixie dust, and we left without another word.

___________
𝙳𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝙱𝙿-𝙵-𝙽𝙵
𝙶𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚖 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢, 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝚈𝚘𝚛𝚔
𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝟷𝟸𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟼:𝟶𝟻 𝙴𝙳𝚃

    "Why'd you come to me for a question like that? I've been a hero for like, two months." The bird-themed hero put her hands on her hips as she leaned on her left leg, the Gotham winds swept her tied-up hair along.

    "Exactly why we wanted to ask you over any others, out of those who have chosen the path of heroism, you are the newest so far." We reasoned to her.

    She tilted her head before walking up to the edge of the rooftop and going back to observing the dock below.

    "Heroism, eh? To me it's simple. Put as much good as you can into the world. Save as many people as you can, but never do it at the expense of yourself. If I had the choice between saving myself or another person, and there was only a way to save one of us. I'd choose whoever could best impact the world around us, be it me, the  'hero,' or the civilian I'm saving. Doesn't have to be a civilian, if it were me or Superman, well, that's a hard choice. But if it were Lex Luthor, you bet every dime you have that I'd drop him to save myself." She gasped, binoculars already out and on her face, "Gotcha." She smirked.

    "It's all about how you affect the world and what you leave behind, Fail, I like to save everyone I can, but if it's at my expense then I won't do it unless I think it's worth it for the whole of every one. I have to go, so I'll leave you with some parting words. If everyone helps to hold up the sky, then one person won't be tired. If that was how the world worked, things would be so much better. But it doesn't, so instead think about it like this, Atlas held up the world, with no one to help him, but from what I know about you, and your life, you do. So trust in those around you and remember, the weight of the sky is shared, so just focus on putting the most good you can into the world, and don't overdo it. Let others pick up where you left off so you can take a break, you don't have to fall through the ground at others' expense," She gave us a reassuring smile before winking, grappling away.

    We stood there a moment, taking it in.

    Heroism means many things to so many people. We've been going on like this, got so many answers, but we feel as if they all add up to one thing.

    And that thing is almost an answer. But still, not quite, it doesn't fit correctly. This puzzling word, it just won't fit into our picture just yet.
______________
𝙳𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚎-𝙷𝚘𝚖𝚎-𝚁𝙽𝚆-𝙵𝚂𝚈𝙽-𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊-𝚈𝙹-𝙲𝙱
𝚂𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚖, 𝙾𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚘𝚗
𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟸𝟾𝚝𝚑, 𝟸𝟶:𝟸𝟶 𝙴𝙳𝚃

    The Tower of Fate seemed to recognize our presence, even without its master, Nabu, here, it sensed his will and let us in. The magic didn't work for us, but it opened up, and stairs took us to the roof. It took quite a while because the magic didn't work for us, so we had to climb all the way up ourselves.

    We took in the sight of the scene. Pristine, nothing out of place, not even a speck of dust.

    It looked as if nothing happened here. When, in fact, everything did. It felt as if the whole world ended the moment Nelson took his last breath. Something that should have never occurred.

    We felt as if time had stopped, and fate itself betrayed us.

    That was stupid, past idiotic. But it's how we felt.

    It's how we felt.

    We feel, sadness. This whole time it hasn't been (Y/n)'s sadness, it's been ours. We thought it was the body, the humanity and emotions stuck inside of it spilling out and infecting us, breaking through our vulnerable point to make us like this. But, the hollowness, this numbness.

    This was us. Our feelings, our emotions, our heart.

    It felt unfamiliar and immediately set us on edge.

    Does this mean we are to die today, after all? When we have not accomplished anything?

    The only other one of my species to develop an emotion was, well, she was gone now. She gave birth to us, her life span ending there.

    It made sense for everything to end here, at the end of our memories, with us gaining emotion, the ending chapter of the book closing here. With Nelson.

    We closed our eyes, expecting one from our species to emerge. But the only thing that greeted us was a shot to the back, a shockwave so loaded with chaos energy it sent us flying across the roof, rolling across the floor.

    We grunted, our vision blurry from the shock, watching as it cleared to show Klarion with his cat, Teekle. The demonic beast almost seemed to be laughing at us. There was a glimmer too, near his hand as he held it up, but it was too blurry, we couldn't see. Was he drawing power from an outside source to attack us? How? If it was magic there'd be no way.

    "What was that?" We asked aloud, into the air. We did not expect a reply but were met with one after a maniacal laugh.

    "You like that? As it turns out, one of the elders knew that old Urserian traitor and I asked a favor of the old menace, saying I could finally dwindle your meddling numbers." He growled, "And while I hate that more than fighting Nabu strapped to a dolphin, I did make you a promise, didn't I? And you know what they say about promises," He shot another blast at us.

    We put up a shield, only for it to go right through and hit us. We rolled father away from the force of the blast, groaning as we held our middle, where we'd been shot. What had that old one given him? And, he had known our creator?

    We searched through her memories, but they were so hazy and out of order, that we couldn't find anything he was talking about.

    "Tied together with turtle meat, they taste pretty good served upside down!" Another blast had us thrown up against the wall, tears welled up in our eyes as we tried to breathe. This felt raw, powerful, like nothing we'd ever felt before.

    It hurt.

    Klarion approached us, looking down at us with a glint in his eyes that was about to explode into a destructive fire.

    A crystal floated in his hand, which seemed to be what he was drawing this new power from. It was transparent, we could see Klarions hand clearly through it, with no filter, and carried a glow with it, familiar. It felt familiar.

    There was a shimmer in the crystal, not easily seen, but we remembered that shimmer, very clearly. Nothing would ever dim that memory.

    Our throat became dry, something lodged in it. Our eyes unblinking stayed on that crystal, they expanded in shock. Our body began to shake, and tremble.

    "No," We managed to gasp out.

    It couldn't be. It can't be. It can't. It can't.

    It can't.

    Klarion smiled, "Yes."

    He shot at us again, drawing power from the shimmering transparent crystal, the shimmering red of the crystal, like stardust and cosmos, drew itself out of it and latched onto us. We screamed.

    "Yes, yes, yes!" Klarion cheered, and the cat meowed happily.

    "I promised you, didn't I? That I would rip you out of that body and rip that poor girl to shreds while you watch!" He yelled at us as the power of the crystal came down upon us.

    Pure, excruciating agony took over us. It controlled our body and made us take the brunt of the blast in the chest, where we physically had attached to this body.

    Our body.

    We didn't know how to describe it more than a fire, a fire making its way across us, burning away our being, our essence. It felt like something was trying to rip us out.

    Or pull itself in.

    The crystal flew away from Klarions hand as he laughed at our misfortune and dug itself into our chest.

    A strangled scream came from us, and a scream of frustration came from Klarion.

    "Hey! I wasn't done playing with her yet!" He started to tug on the thing and we carried more, every movement felt like a knife to our heart. Our body long gave up fighting, we couldn't feel our muscles, our blood felt as if it stilled, everything was in so much agony it became numb.

    'Don't worry, Failsafe. I'm here with you.' (Y/n) appeared. We felt our muscles constrict and contract, our hand reaching out and pushing Klarions away, the other coming to our chest to try and lodge it out. But it hurt, we had to stop, we needed to stop!

    Nothing, no pain, was worth moving this again!

    'I know, I know, Safey, I'm trying here! Okay?! Give me some time!' (Y/n) exclaimed, continuing to move it as we screamed for the object to stay put It hurt, it felt agonizing, like we were ripping our own heart out, blood vessels bursting. Did (Y/n) even feel the pain?! Why did we continue to hurt ourselves like this?!

    'Why?!' We screamed.

    The transparent crystal became intangible as it nested by us in our heart, we felt it sapping our energy. It hurt.

    We screeched into ourselves as we curled, tears fell freely. We barely heard Klarion enjoy our suffering.

    We wanted to throw up, bile coming up our throats but wouldn't go any further as blood came rushing its way up our throat instead. Blood rushed from our chest too, rushing to cover our hands.

    We were losing blood too fast, it came out of our eyes. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt.

    Klarion came closer, and we were sure that this was the end. Truly, finally, the end.

    "Go fuck with some other teenager, Klarion, hell only knows you've got a stash somewhere!" An older woman's voice rang out on the tower, but we didn't care. It still hurt. It hurt. It hurt.

    There was a shock of electricity, and we felt the Chaos Lord's energy leave the field, the presence of the other woman still remained.

    She felt vaguely human, but also, something else.

    Something that felt like us.

    She walked closer to us, heels clicking as we expelled more blood from our eyes, our mouth, our chest. It pooled on the floor and we could feel (Y/n) start to fade, we were as well. We could feel our essence and the crystals try to bond, being swallowed up by the potent item.

    We tried not to think about what it was. What we knew it was made of.

    It couldn't exist. There was no way it could exist. It couldn't, ever.

    We can't lie, so they can't lie.

    But we had lied, and so had they.

    This crystal trying to lodge itself and become one with us.

    It was made of, made of...

    The thought, the very idea of it made us sick.

    We blinked, our eyes felt so heavy. We closed them again, and again.

    They felt good closed, maybe this was it, the end, here in our own blood.

    We weren't afraid. Didn't shy away. Death was a natural end to a life cycle.

    It didn't hurt anymore.

    It didn't hurt anymore.

    It didn't hurt anymore?

    Our eyes shot open, the woman had started to heal us. We grabbed her hand that was resting on our cold chest, wanting to tell her just to let us be. We could go join Nelson wherever he went, wherever death led.

    "Not a fucking chance, no way, c'mon Failsafe, c'mon!" She grunted, adding more healing, we could feel our chest fixing itself, our heart trying its hardest to accommodate the intangible forces of both the once crystal and us.

    We circled around the heart, both our physical shards becoming part of its pieces, securing ourselves to it. Growing on it, becoming one.

    We saw how to woman struggled, and she started to sweat, it was like the crystal's energy affected her too. So, it affects others of our species too?

    There was no doubt in our mind she was one of us, she had that energy, our cosmic imbalance like we weren't supposed to be there and yet were as if nothing could function without us. Our memory could still be affected by the crystal, or maybe the blood loss, but it was fuzzy as if blocking out the events to come from us.

    But we could no longer see the events to come. It escaped us. And we now knew why.

    When around another of our species, our non-linear memory is cut off, this is because anytime we've ever been altogether the events perceived need to play out in a way that we cannot have the comfort of having beforehand. Like a trial, or a dimensional disaster far outside the scope of one of us, requiring a new solution not presented in any timeline.

    She was one of us. Blearily we observed her mask-covered face, her hair was not pulled back and hung in front of her face. She had the same skin as us, the same demeanor as (Y/n), and the same glow. The same shimmer.

    It didn't matter that she was older, or dressed in different clothes, or didn't act like us. We knew; we knew this was us.

    We stayed silent and still as she healed us. When she was done, she helped us up, we took her hand.

    It felt dizzying, but we felt fine, good. Weak, so very weak, like we couldn't even find the energy to fly or teleport. But we were alive. Still alive.

    "Why're you here?" We tried to ask, but it came out with a choke, our throat was cut up and dry. The woman, us, cleared the blood from the floor and our clothes, from her toolbelt she gave me water. Through the white film of her mask, we saw sympathy, no, empathy, and relief. Pure and utter relief.

    (Y/n) had long since slipped away into sleep again, the pain being mostly our problem, still affected our body, we let (Y/n) rest before trauma and shock set in for us.

    "To show you the future you created, but it seems as though I picked a bad time to show up, huh," She chuckled to herself, though it didn't sound nervous or embarrassed like we expected. It sounded reminiscent, nostalgic.

    The same look was in her eyes, swirling around her figure, it was her entire being. Nostalgia and grief. We could at least recognize the latter.

    "We think you showed up at just the right time," We said, our voice too tired for any emotion. We were tired, so tired.

    "Haha, maybe," She scratched her neck. The fur on the edges of her cape swayed in the wind, her provocative outfit must not have protected her too much.

    "This future, is it a good one? Did Nelson-? Was it, was it worth it?" We asked, our voice broken.

    She reached out her hand, "Well? Would you like to see it?" She smiled at us, and we saw happiness brim in her eyes, swallowing her.

    So we took her hand, and hoped that happiness would swallow us too.

____________
𝙷𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚛, 𝚁𝚑𝚘𝚍𝚎 𝙸𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍
𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟸𝟿𝚝𝚑, 𝟶𝟿:𝟷𝟺 𝙴𝙳𝚃

    We sat on the bed and committed ourselves to this, sighing heavily as we waited for Batman to come in. We could do this. We were going to do this. We are committed. There's no going back.

    We don't want to go back. We clapped our hands together and inhaled, hearing the knock on the door.

    "Come in," We told him, the Dark Knight entered the room a second later.

    "We want to go on missions still," We told the taller male.

    "Failsafe, you need time to grieve." Batman countered, walking toward the bed. It wasn't harsh, or gruff like his voice normally sounds like. But soft, as if he were talking to an unreasonable child. No, just a child. A sad child.

    "We know," We whispered as tears welled up in our eyes, "All this time we thought they weren't our emotions, that we didn't have to sort through them, work through them. But they are, and we are trying," Tiny tears, the only ones we have left, run down our cheeks as we try, really tired, to connect with Batman.

    He sat down next to us on our bed, hesitating before rubbing our back. The tears weren't powerful, but for the first time, they felt good. Healing. We placed our head on his shoulders as we continued, "We think missions will be good for us. We want to find that future we were trying to create and throw it away. We want to find our answer, we want to find truth, we want to have a purpose, a meaning like Nelson did, we want," We paused before saying it, truly admitting to it now.

    "We want to be human. We want to explore these emotions we know we have now."

    We took our head off Batman's shoulder and tried looking him in the eye, "We want to go to school, to live, be a human. A person. We want to have friends and relationships. We want to observe it all and do it. We want, we truly want to break fate. Like you did, like Nelson, like we know that we will." We smiled, truly and genuinely at him.

    He hesitated a moment before he gave us an answer. "I'll see what I can do."

    With that, he removed himself from the bed. We felt so happy, but we didn't want him to leave yet. We were still missing something, an answer, not even our future self could give to us when we asked. She didn't tell us who, where, or when to ask.

More tears fell from our eyes, for a different reason this time, and our smile closed but didn't lose its intensity.

We grabbed his arm before he could walk away, and asked him one more thing, "What is the meaning of the word, hero? To you?"

If anyone could give an answer, it would be him. The one who broke fate.

"Completing your mission. No matter what stands in your way," He turned to us, looking down but meeting our eyes, there was no hesitation this time, "Continue on, Failsafe, your mission matters. And it isn't over yet."

We let him go, and he walked out of the room. Leaving us to think. The trickle of tears turned into a relieves ocean, as we finally embraced them and cried.

We cried.

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Hero
Definition by Failsafe
[ˈhirō]
NOUN
A person who continues on with their mission to save as many as they can, and create a world with a greater good than when they began. A protector of all, and guardian of those they love. A hero strives for what's right, but never sacrifices themselves for a moral that changes. A hero can be selfless or selfish, just as long as they can complete their goal to help those around them.

"I wish to be as great a hero as Kent Nelson."

Synonyms: Protector, Guardian, defender, watchful eye.