Now this' ll be a beautiful death...

As I exited the hospital with Carmen beside me, she froze the very momenti felt a piercing hot pain in my chest that knocked me me back. My eyes widened with shock as I found myself falling to my knees. It was ironic to be gunned down right in front of a hospital. A place where lives were saved, was the place my life was lost. As my body collapsed, my face smacked against the cold hard concrete. Carmen screamed at the top of her lungs before looking for thw shooter.Before she could even find any clue, an explosion went off at theupper level of the parking lot nearby.

"Mike! No please! Fuck no!" Carmen screamed as people panicked. Paramedics were already flying out of the hospital. I felt myself go into shock already as I felt the warm blood soak my shivering body beneath me. Could I call this deicide? The killing of a god... No, I was but a man. It was shown just from this instant. That's all I needed, was for my guard to be down. Carmen wanted to save me somehow, but the paramedics already came to roll me on my back. They kept my feet elevated, an attempted to stop the bleeding, but it was too late. It wasn't just the wound that would do me in today, but the shock as well. Arterial blood soaked through the pressure gauze that was pressed down on my wound. They checked for an exit wound, but seemed to lose morale when they discovered it to also be in my chest as well. I couldn't hear anything anymore, and then I couldn't see. The was unbearable, but that soon faded as well. There was no reason to fight. I couldn't change the world, hell I couldn't even change my friends. I was weak, pathetic, and living in the clouds. My disappointment would leave me too. Yeah, it was gone now. Then... then there was.... just nothing. Carmen screamed at the paramedics as the link made her unwillingly watch my aura fade. She shook her head as streams of tears flowed down her face. Her mind hit the breaking point... and that's when she did the unpredictable.

"Mike..." She uttered as she put her hand into left left of my jeans. She fused her hand into my leg, with some hope of doing something, only to feel the energy within my body dying out. "No!" It was hopeless. The defribulator was then brought out the paramedics hecticly yelled clear, and everyone moved a bit. Until one of them spotted Carmen's hand.

"Shit! Stop!" He yelled as the pads released volts of electricity into my body. With Carmen connected, she received the shock as well. Thr jolt was quick, but so was the nature of her powers. Carmen was seen knelt down with electricity surging across her skin like some kind of freak as my body just bobbed a few times from the electricity pulsing through my body that remained hopless of life. Everyone backed away in shock. Some people got out their phones, while others just stared at the girl who looked like a human taser.

Carmen... she just knelt there motionlessly at the sight of closest friend dead. She didn't care what anyone could see. All that mattered was what she was witnessing. First sadness came over her, but rage was quickly born in her heart and fed off her emotions to become a beast of chaos within her. Her anger caused more electricity to surge through her body until she converted into electricity. My body did the samebefore she absorbed me completely and darted away with a grunt as she cried in pain of her loss. At least in the end... she'd always have me... her closest friend, Michael Hayes.

Carmen shut her eyes tightly as she laid on the rooftop of an apartment building. She was attempting to stop her tears, but was simply failing that task. She couldn’t believe what just occurred just moments ago. Michael was not only gone, but she could probably never show her face again. She had exposed hers abilities to the world. She wasn’t even stressing that part however. She would have done anything to save him, and in her eyes, it still wasn’t over. This hope she had would soon be crushed….

The link… Carmen thought as she left her eyes shut. She wanted to make herself focus, but was unsure if that would work. The link was alien to her and she had never accessed it voluntarily, but she’d try anything. It wasn’t until she felt a strange sensation that she opened up her eyes to see transparent wisps of blue floating in the air. This was child’s play compared to what Michael was capable of. She frowned before concentrating as she scowled at the sky.

“Come on…” She whispered to herself before the scenery around her darkened. “A little more…” Carmen said as she shut her eyes tight and got in tune with the link. The moment she opened her eyes, she found herself standing in a different plane of existence. She was unsure how she had sunk so deep, but it was a good thing.

“Welcome.” A voice said to Carmen as she jumped from being startled.

“What the fuck… Who are you?” Carmen asked as she looked around for the origin of the voice. To her surprise, no one was around.

“I’m a… I’m a friend.” The voice said as it sounded distorted.

“Mike? Mike is that you?!” Carmen yelled as she kept whipping her head around.

“I’m sorry for your loss… But I am here to somewhat celebrate this moment.”

“Celebrate? Celebrate?! Fuck you! You’re an asshole!” Carmen roared as tears streamed down her face. She screamed out into the depths of the link before the scenery went from a blue void, to pitch black with just a white aura encasing her body. “I hate…I hate you…” Carmen said as she dropped to her knees. “Why did you have to fucking die?! You just left me… and now I don’t have anything. Everyone knows I’m a freak… I can’t go to school, can’t get a job, I don’t know what the world will do with me…” Carmen cried harder than she ever had in years. The last being when her grandmother passed away in the hospital.

“You don’t understand… We needed Michael to die…”

“Shut up!” Carmen lashed out.

“He was broken and useless to us...”

“I said shut up! Do you not listen pendejo!”

“You’re much more feisty than the others… Stubborn, but hardened. I see why he recommended you to be the one to join him.”

“SHUT UP!” Carmen shouted. “Mike! Mike! You have to be in here… You’re a part of the link… even if you’re dead! Mike! Don’t let it take you! Come back!” Carmen cried before images of Michael appeared. One was of Michael squinting as the meteor rock contaminated him and the others with its power. Another showed me with electricity in one hand while I had light in the other. One showed me smiling as I played beer pong against Nicole. Then next with Michael burning down a small safehouse with police officers inside. Then showing him taking down Floyd on the beach. It showed the meteor rock as it activated in the palm of Carmen’s hands as he reached out towards her. Carmen watched as these scenes unfolded. Michael attacking Floyd, learning of Nicole’s death, being haunted by her memory, Halloween, their walk that just happened only minutes ago and finally… there was an image of Michael’s eyes widening as a bullet pierced through his chest. She shut her eyes again, weeping at the second sight of his death. “Are you happy? Are you fucking happy?” Carmen wept to the voice that only made her feel worse.

“I am… I am happy for Michael. He was a man who had put so much weight on his shoulders. Weight that he couldn’t bear with the weakened state he was in. He made for this by training himself and doing research into the science of his capabilities… Do you know the moment he tried to stop you from touching that rock, his powers readied themselves for shutdown. It was like pulling a hard drive from a computer. For a small while his powers were completely gone… It took some time, but he got himself plugged back in. Then he realized that something wasn’t right. He had… lost a few programs along the way. He could function, but not like before. It caused him to unwillingly be extremely connected to the link. Probably the strongest I’ve seen. Like an anomaly of its own… Carmen.” The distorted voice said as she looked up at the dark void.

“What could you possibly want?” She questioned.

“Allow me to show you something… Something very amazing.” The voice said as the scenery around Carmen changed from nothingness to a cave with a lit fire. Close to the flames was a man keeping warm in his temporary shelter. The man still shivered as cold air blew in from time to time, but he’d be safe from the cruelty of winter. He wore the furs of animal he had hunted down and sandals on his feet. His gray hair was long and ragged. “This man is a great man. He may not look it, but he is the man who believed in Michael.”

“He will… he will be amongst a powerful group rivaling my own… He shall be a man of justice. A man who aims to make right of what is wrong. His powers will grow fast with his sharp mind.” The man coughed as Carmen moved in closer. This was her first clear vision. “Then… no… a wretch will weaken him to nothing but a shell of his former prowess. He will always feel inferior to his peers and ashamed of his weakness.”

“You…” Carmen was speechless as she turned to look at the mouth of the cave. She was looking for whoever was showing her this, but he wasn’t present.

“Then… The young man will lose his life. Die like a mortal man with nothing but regrets…” The man continued.

“No…”

“Yes, he was able to see things beyond what a normal man could see. He could peer into the future. He could see your friend’s demise. It was practically written in stone. Do you know what happens next, Carmen?” The voice asked as Carmen just stood there without speaking. The old man by the fire froze in place as did the flames. “Do you?”

“No.” She said as she felt guilt engulf her very heart.

“You let your friend go. You let him die so he can stop living in pain. As a shred of yourself. Let him finally have his peace!” Homer appeared in front of Carmen with a disapproving look on his face. The scene around them went from its frozen state and continued as Homer pointed his can toward the man by the fire

“It wasn’t until those regrets were left to die with him… It wasn’t until then that a new hero was born.” The man uttered before the scenery returned to nothingness.

“Michael had high hopes for you… Prove him right.” Homer said before Carmen found herself laying on the roof again. It was time to let go…