HOPE IS...

"Big brother is a superhero now!" Aila exclaimed, her happiness evident as she sprinted toward Stare, leaping into his arms.

Stare, taken aback by her sudden shift in emotions, still welcomed her hug with open arms, lifting her off the ground.

Doush joined the excitement, rushing over and playfully shaking Stare. "Tell me, what power did you awaken? Wait! Don't tell me, I'll guess myself. Is it legendary destructive blue blazing flames right?"

Shaking his head, Stare watched as Doush thought for a moment, then brightened. "I know, it's the legendary destructive ice!"

Stare's head shook again, confusing Doush further. "Force field?"

"No," Stare finally answered, a touch of weariness in his tone. "It's teleportation."

"Oh." Doush simply responded, apparently disappointed, but then as though a perverted idea appeared in his head, his disappointed expression soon turned to one of interest as a sly smile appeared on his face.

"Ooh." He repeated with a smile on his face.

Stare didn't bother with his friend's stupid ideas and just carefully placed his sister back on the ground.

Guy then spoke again, "Well with all of that being said, I'll be coming to pick him up tomorrow to fully enroll him into the Academy, so I'll advise you to cherish the time you spend today together as it might be a while you see him again."

A frown immediately appeared on Aila's face as she stared at her brother, tears welling up in her eyelids.

Stare didn't want her feeling bad, so he had to immediately make a lot of unfeasible promises to return a cute smile to her face; promises like visiting during weekends, taking her to her favorite pop band concerts, arranging a meeting to meet her favorite hero and buying her an extra large cup of strawberry flavored ice cream.

Stare's resentment for this man only grew because of this. He just had to blab it out so plainly in front of his younger sister.

How was he supposed to fulfill even one-third of these promises now?

Stare's parents had obviously forgotten their previous anger as Stare's mother quickly arranged dinner for everyone while Stare's father engaged in discussions with Guy. The discussions were mostly about the Academy and Stare's sudden admission into the Academy.

Immediately after dinner, Guy decided to take his leave. Stare's parents however wanted him to stay longer or even sleep the night over, it was obvious they still wanted to have more talks about how their son suddenly got admitted into the Prestigious Phoenix Hero Academy.

Being a prestigious Hero Academy, it was no new news that their acceptance rate wasn't high, as they were only after those with high potential, mostly children from powerful families who had already undergone various forms of training or children who had some sort of relations to top Heroes.

Unfortunately, Guy nicely rejected their kind gesture. It seemed he wanted to catch up on some sort of meeting.

Stare's parents didn't press on, as they knew he was a man with a lot of responsibilities.

After Guy left, the mood around didn't dampen and rather seemed a lot more lively.

They all chatted happily amongst themselves.

Doush who was naturally a bag of jokes, worked his magic and kept everyone laughing their eyes out.

Time flew fast, and everyone eventually needed to rest as it had been a stressful day today.

Doush was escorted back home by Stare's father, Stare's mother went to put Aila to sleep, and Stare…he was ordered to go to bed and get his rest by his parents.

His parents were worried he wouldn't get enough sleep and end up being sluggish during his admission process, so they ensured he went to his room to get his sleep.

Stare himself wasn't really against it, as he was very exhausted that at some point he could barely even open his eyes, it was probably a side effect from taking the Algos.

Stare closed his room's door and stood at the door, seemingly in thought.

From tomorrow his goal to destroy the Oracle's path and walk a path he creates for himself begins.

He wasn't really sure of what to expect, especially since the plan majorly involved him, Y-204, his counterpart, basically his darker half.

He didn't know what to actually feel seeing him, especially after unsealing his memories that contained what Y-204 had done to his loved ones, to Earth and even to him in all those cycles, most of these Stare found hard to completely push aside even till now, and although he couldn't really blame Y-204 for all that and rather had to blame the Oracle.

It still felt off, looking at same person you're aware was responsible for the deaths of most of your loved ones, and the destruction of places and things you held dear. What made it even worse was that it wasn't just a single occurrence, but multiple instances.

He didn't know if he had unsealed his memories as well, or what he'd do if he hadn't actually unsealed the memory.

Or what if he had unsealed his memories but wasn't interested in going against the Oracle's Path or the Oracle.

Stare then shook his head with a small smile.

He had never really understood the embodiment of Y-204 in their previous cycles and doubted he would make any progress now even with his memories unsealed, but if there was one thing he was sure never sat well with Y-204, it was being some else's pawn. It was probably his own unique signature trait, his superiority complex.

Shaking his head again with even a wider smile Stare walked toward his bed.

He didn't want to think about what could or could not happen after tomorrow, he was even too tired to do that.

He was basically going to leave everything to hope. He remembered what a wise friend and teacher once told him in one of his previous cycles.

"Hope is the guiding light to a dark fate."

He would definitely need that guiding light for his plan.

Stare approached his bed and was about to lie on it when he felt an odd odor evade his nose.

He quickly covered his nose and noticed a familiar Himalayan cat lying on his bed proudly.

"Stupid Cat…what are you doing on my bed?"

The cat…Miss Puss didn't seem to mind Stare's insult and rather responded with various unbothered meows.

From how it cozied up rather than move away, Stare could tell the cat had to plans of leaving his bed.

"Stupid Cat." Stare muttered angrily as he suddenly felt an extreme headache assault him.

With their current relationship, Star knew he couldn't approach the cat casually and the only person who could help him out in this situation, Aila was already asleep.

Not sure on what to do, Stare could only helplessly sleep on the couch.