Beginning of the End

"No! You've had enough already!"

Sirus smiled at her as he managed to drink from the beer bottle despite her practically hanging from my arm.

"Ellie, it's fine, I'm twenty, and I can handle three beers. You're just jealous because you're too young to drink!"

"Hmmt! Am not! I don't want you ending up as some drunkard in an alley!"

"Well, we're in a restaurant, not an alley, so that's one-half down. Plus, you have a permit, so you can drive us home! Aren't you desperate for experience anyways?"

This sort of exchange wasn't a rare occasion, Sirus had taken the parental role in his small family but was always too relaxed around his sister to really be that much of an authoritative figure, to say the least.

Their parents died four years ago, and for the most part, the two of them had gotten over the grief of that loss to the point that it wasn't a factor in their daily life at the very least.

Both could still remember the day when they were both home alone on a Saturday morning when a knock came to the door. Being the responsible older brother, Sirus opened the door while Ellie hid behind the banister of the stairs waiting to see what the intruder wanted. Neither of them expected police officer at the door holding his hat against his chest, and why he would look even sadder when he saw the two kids alone in the house.

He had already been to eight houses that day, informing people of their lost loved ones. It wasn't his responsibility, but he felt the need to do it after being the officer on the scene of the miasma pit who was too struck with fear to help evacuate the area.

This was the third house he had been to that only had children inside, and he fought back tears to not be the first one crying before he told those children what happened because of him.

Neither one wanted to leave the other, so upon getting the offer from the CPA, Sirus and Ellie decided to live alone rather than move to the overcrowded orphanage system. Neither wanted to remember this memory, so they both suppressed it, trying to live happily despite their sadness.

"And you're going get fat if you eat that much pizza! What are the other guys going to say at school when you roll in the first day!"

"Hey! I'm the parent in this relationship! Let's show respect to our elders!"

Suddenly her talking slowed, her eyes averted from me, and it looked like she had sunk into herself.

We sat opposite sides of a half-circle booth, and she hurried around and whispered to me.

"A creepy guy is sitting over there, and he has been staring at me, and he just licked his lips while looking at me!"

Sirus wasn't sure what to do at that moment. Nothing like that had ever happened to him; it was the first time he had seen it happen to anyone. He figured since we were in a crowded restaurant, this would be the farthest extent of what he would do, so nothing needed to be done.

"How about we do this, I will switch so that you don't have to look at him, and he can't see you because of the booth."

Ellie nodded, but she still felt the gaze of the man behind her, and it showed in her expression to Sirus?

'What was the right thing to do? Confront him? He didn't do anything I could prove. If we just left, what kind of precedent would that set? Anytime you are made uncomfortable by someone, you leave? Most of what I had dealt with in the past was mean girls from her high school, as she was more into books than fashion; so proud of her, but it meant that she was never really into popular trends. She was never really bullied, but at the same time, she was still not treated well at school. I always disliked it, but what could I do?'

'I feel like I was watching something terrible happen to her with my hands tied behind my back.'

But it seemed like his solution worked. Ellie broke the awkwardness in the air, and they continued talking like before, although both were still on edge.

As Sirus signed the bill, the man stood up when he started walking towards Ellie.

"It seems you're ready to go! Now, I'm sure you think this boy of yours is special, but wait till you see this!"

He held up his hand, snapping his finger, and a fireball appeared, floating above his palm.

At the sight of the small fireball, at least compared to the heroes Sirus always saw fighting monsters, he couldn't help but snort out a small laugh, which seemed to anger the man quite a bit.

"I'm sorry, but I think you have misunderstood something. This man is my brother. And I will have to decline, it's late, and I have plans in the morning."

The man was clearly put off by Sirus' laughing and her rejection.

"Well, you're sixteen or so right? I'm sure whatever you do in the morning can't be that important! I have a nice hotel a few blocks from here; why don't I escort you over there."

There was no nice hotel a few blocks from here. Gianna's was the best place for Italian food that wasn't fancy, and as such, Sirus and Ellie frequented it. They knew the only hotel that was even that close was a more of a shitty motel.

Sirus felt shitty the entire night. Not being involved enough, not saving her from the man. Just pushing the issue to the side. He didn't want that anymore; he wanted to be a good parent and a good brother, to stand up for her.

"Did you hear her? She's busy! And she's way too young for you to be looking at her!"

"This isn't your business! Stay out of it!"

"It's my sister! How can it not be my business?"

Ellie didn't want him to fight or even be involved. She tugged on his shirt while hugging his back, wanting to get his attention.

"Can we please just go home? He's really creepy, and I just want to leave."

The man was beyond angry. So was Sirus. Maybe it was the alcohol, them riling each other up, or whatever. But regardless, the man had found his limit.

"You dare reject me again? Did you not see me before? I'm a D-Rank ability user! Do you know how rare that is? You ignorant bitch!"

He lifted his hand up and swung it, preparing to backhand her. Nothing special. An attack used to hit thousands of times over, happening once more.

But he aimed for Ellie, not Sirus, and hit her. And that's all it took. She stumbled to the side and fell before he could catch her; it was just that. Her head hit the table before she could catch herself, bending her spine and breaking her neck.

She died before she hit the ground.

...

I sat next to her hugging and laughing, watching cartoons with each other and eating cereal. She walked off and I turned the channel to HBN, Hero Bureau News, to watch a hero fight a bunch of monsters!

I kneeled in front of the Tv, watching a man wave a wand around, causing water to shoot out and push over a giant dragon. I sat there in anticipation, waiting for the heroes' success against the monster, and when it came, I cheered as loud as I could. My sister was probably annoyed by me screeching, but was so used to it that she didn't even bother coming in to see what happened.

I even took out a journal I had been keeping, writing about how Vitruvian had killed the S-ranked monster and saved everyone in Los Angeles. All the heroes were my heroes, my role models, who I wanted to be, the perfect humans, my aspiration, my dreams.

If only I could awaken.

...

Nobody realized what had happened.

We were just drunk assholes making a scene and fighting over a woman, and the woman got hit. How special.

But this was different.

Sirus stared blankly at her fall before rushing over to her.

"Next time a good catch like me comes along, you should be the one to offer to take them out instead of vice versa. Consider yourself lucky I only hit you once."

Anger spewed out of him, but she came first.

The only problem was she wasn't getting up.

She wasn't moving. Or breathing.

Sirus knelt beside her, pressing his ear against her heart, trying to hear a heartbeat, tears flowing from his eyes.

The man slowly backed away; his impaired judgment was still good enough to see the changes in the tide.

"She's not... is she?"

However big his head was from his awakened ability, it didn't matter. His inflated confidence dropped. But whatever he said then or after, I never heard him. I laid Ellie's head against the ground and lunged at him, ready to put him down.

His rank was higher than Sirus'; I was an E-Rank user: string manipulation. It was a close combat type ability, allowing Sirus to freely control string or wire within a short distance.

He had begun to react as well; he could see what Sirus wanted and reciprocated. Kill or be killed. In for a penny, in for a pound.

A spool of wire unfurled from Sirus' pocket, flying in front of him and wrapping around the man's fist, pulling it away from him, leaving his entire body open, and leading Sirus to tackle him to the ground. Sirus kneeled over him, putting fist after fist into his face and chest, with the wire changing targets to his neck, constricting like a snake.

He was unable to do much of anything.

He clawed at the garrote around his neck, but it didn't budge. He should have attacked me instead, but he was an inexperienced fighter. The wire only tightened, and his face grew darker shades of blue and red.

I don't remember what happened after that, only that my hands were bloodied from his face and my knuckles and that I only stopped when I was pulled off him.