Making Friends? - I

"You will die now, outsider", a bloody two-pronged sword sank into his abdomen as he struggled to get up. His body was riddled with numerous injuries and he was staying alive entirely by sheer force of will. He had exhausted all of his options but still refused to give up. More enemies started gathering on him as his vision slowly started going black. With his last remaining strength, he steadied himself up with his weapon and roared, "I will kill you! Remember this, I WILL KILL YOU!!!"

He looked in the direction of people who wore a different armor than the ones attacking him, they just stood there, like watching a show. As he continued to fight back, a person finally approached and slammed their weapon into his body until it came out of his back. His eyes focused on them until everything went dark.

Dan's entire body tightened as if an electric shock ran through him. He slowly brought his hand to his abdomen, still transfixed on the same spot. He had left home after convincing his mother that he was feeling better. He couldn't bear to look at her as he was haunted by the same images of his savage acts of violence. They would not leave him alone even in his dreams so he had barely slept since then.

He was on his way to college and decided to check out the place where the accident had taken place. He expected some answers but wasn't prepared for such a detailed vision. It felt like he was transported to the strange place. He shook his head and continued on his way before speaking under his breath.

"That was your memory, right?"

'Yeah, maybe that's how I died' he heard the stranger's reply.

"Those...people did not look like regular humans, who were they?"

The stranger was silent for a while before replying. 'I don't remember'

Dan reached the campus as he thought about the different group of people standing far away in the vision. They were all smiling and appeared to be mocking him. Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him, and had vision of being shoved down to the ground. He dodged a hand that almost reached him and looked back just in time to see someone stumbling forward.

"Get out of..." a female student had tried to push him aside, but the force behind her shove caused her to lose her balance. She tried to grab something as she fell but her fingers only caught air.

"Ugh...what the hell?!" She fell down on the ground with a thud and spilled some of her coffee. Her face showed shock as she stared at Dan, she hadn't expected him to move so fast. He also did the same for a moment before moving on which made her shock grow even more.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?!" she called out, rushing after him. He ignored her until she challenged, "What kind of asshole doesn't help someone in trouble?"

"You were going to shove me", Dan said, barely registering her outrage. "There's coffee all over your hands, I am not going to touch you and get mine sticky"

The girl stared at him in disbelief before realization dawned on her.

"You are the same guy from before." She seemed to have recognized him. Dan got curious and turned to see that it was Kate.

"I remember you now," she said with a sneer. "You're the weirdo who's friends with that creepy guy, right?"

Dan paused for a moment before realizing she meant Alan. He made no effort to reply or acknowledge her snide remark; he simply continued walking away from her.

But Kate wasn't finished yet. "Oh yeah, you should tell him to stop stalking Chloe before she gets serious," she called after him, voice raised slightly in anger.

That remark jogged Dan's memory. He hadn't been able to reach Alan since the accident, and neither had his mother. "When did it happen? Was he on campus?" He asked curiously.

"He has been doing it for a while even when she openly turned him down" her face showed disgust when she remembered the incident.

"I meant when was he last seen?"

"Yesterday? He was blabbering about some random crap. He kept saying she will regret it when everything goes down."

Dan furrowed his eyebrows; Alan was lot of things but not a complete idiot. He was reminded of what the stranger had said about something happening soon.

"Why would he be involved?" he muttered under his breath.

"What?" she asked.

"Hmm? Nothing. Thanks for letting me know" he said and split from her as they reached their classroom while she left to clean herself.

He texted Alan and tried calling him again but there was no change. He had also visited his dorm room but couldn't find him. After some time, the professor walked in and the lecture started but Dan's thoughts were drawn back to what the stranger had said. Him gaining powers, getting involved with dangerous people and losing control of himself; everything seemed to be getting worse than before. He felt helpless even with the abilities he possessed now. His thoughts suddenly went to Kate and his first major fight. She definitely knew those people so they must have questioned her, but she seemed pretty casual when she talked to him.

"Did the guy just give up?" he thought to himself.

There was another possibility, they let her go simply because she didn't know him at that time.

"Then..." his gaze moved towards where Kate was sitting.

She would definitely go back to them now that she knew who he was. He had to stop that from happening, he already had enough things to worry about.

"I have to convince her to not do that...even if I have to use force." he decided.

After the class, he quickly made his way towards her as she was getting ready to leave with her friends.

"Hey, Kate...can we talk for a bit?" he asked, trying to sound intimidating to make things easier.

She turned around while the people around her stared at him questioningly.

"No, I am busy", she replied curtly, "I mean I don't know you." She added trying to end the conversation.

Dan took a step forward before one of the guys who was with her, stepped in front of him, blocking his path. The rest of them were rolling their eyes.

"Look," he said irritably, "it will only take a minute," he said before adding threateningly, "do you really want me to 'deal' with your friends?" He emphasized the word with a hint of menace.

She seemed to have understood the implication since she turned and held on to the guy's hand.

"It's fine Jason," she said, not seeming too concerned about what Dan had said, "I will just talk to him once."

She walked away from the group giving them some space before turning around to face Dan again.

"Look dude," she started as soon as they were out of earshot and facing each other, "Just because I talked to you once doesn't mean I will go out with you"

"What?" Dan was surprised and confused as he didn't expect her to say something like that. "What are you even talking about?"

"You are not going to tell me that you are in love with me?" Her tone indicated surprise and confusion as well.

Dan sighed as felt stupid for being so tense.

"No", he continued exasperated, "I wanted to talk about the people you were with that night."

Kate narrowed her eyes and said, with venom in her voice, "So you are going to blackmail me?" She took a step forward, "You will tell everyone about my business unless I sleep with you?"

Dan was taken back as the conversation was going in a complete different direction than he anticipated.

"Look" Dan got his words in before the conversation went completely off the rails. "I wanted to ask you not to tell them about me, who I am or where I live."

Kate furrowed her brows and fell silent for a few moments before replying.

"That's what you were going to say?" She asked, her shoulders visibly relaxed, "I thought you were a creep, like the guy you hang out with."

"No, I am not" Dan was relieved to finally have things back on track. "Does that happen a lot?" he asked her curiously.

"Every once in a while," she nodded, "Also, you don't have to worry about them. I'm done with those assholes and I'm not telling them anything."

"Oh...thanks" Dan said but he was still unsure about one thing, "You seem...unaffected by what you saw that day."

"Oh yeah, that was pretty extreme, and really scary" she said and looked him over, checking him over from head to toe as if looking for signs of combat training. "do you work out or do martial arts or something?"

"Yeah, something like that." Dan didn't expect her to be so laidback, "what about the big guy? do you know him?" he asked, wanting to get more information.

"Not really," she shook her head, "I just know that he manages many of the low level people. I am honestly surprised he let you go"

Dan raised his eyebrows as her memory didn't seem to match up with what had gone down.

"Did you not see our fight?"

"No, I was too scared and followed everyone else inside," she replied in a casual tone.

"What about when I took those three guys down?" Dan felt that he was missing something, "were you not surprised?"

"I was, you moved so fast, but it makes sense if you are used to it" She seemed to have arrived at a conclusion on her own.

"I guess people would rather go with simple explanation than believe in actual supernatural powers" Dan was lost in thought as he heard Kate say something. He looked up at the group calling her over.

"I gotta go then" she said telling them to wait.

"Yeah, sure. I have nothing else."

She started walking but stopped abruptly before saying.

"Thanks for the help that time, by the way."

Dan chuckled as he heard that, which prompted her to turn around.

"What's so funny?"

"Uh...nothing" Dan stammered as he realized that she had heard him.

"It's obviously something." She wouldn't let it go and stood there with a questioning look.

He thought about using time dilation and walking away but decided against it. She had been a decent person after the misunderstanding was cleared up. He also realized that she was the only one, other than Alan, who had spoken to him in a long time. So he tried to be more open and honest with her.

"I actually expected you to say it that night but your reaction was...different"

She laughed as she realized what Dan meant.

"So you wanted me to fall into your arms calling you my hero?" She looked amused, but not in a mean way. Dan felt embarrassed and couldn't meet her gaze.

"You know what, I might have done that if you were more attractive." She said matter-of-factly.

Dan raised his eyebrows at her bluntness, "You don't mince words, huh?"

"Why should I?" she shrugged with an indifferent tone as though it was her normal way of speaking.

"Fair enough, I guess"

She looked back at her group before adding, "We were going to have lunch, you wanna join us?"

Dan was surprised and thought about accepting the invitation but then realized what he had to do after class.

"Thanks, but sorry I have some stuff to do" he apologized, hoping she wouldn't mind his refusal.

"Oh, okay. Next time then. I will also introduce you to the others." She smiled before leaving.

Dan watched her join her friends before they moved out of the classroom. He picked up his stuff and went on his way to the cafeteria as well. He needed to meet someone other than Alan.