“Hey Shane, what else are you hiding?” asked Everett as he noticed that Shane was keeping something else secret.

  Shane looked down because he didn’t know how to tell them about his nightmare. How could he tell them that he saw a potential future? How would he be able to face them after telling them that in two years, he might become a fallen angel and kill them?

  “Shane, you're my best friend, so I know you haven’t told us the full truth.”

  “I could never hide anything from you, Everett. Well, the truth is that I haven’t told you because it's something I might do in the future.”

  “Wait, did you just say you saw the future. What did you see and when did it happen?” asked Nathan as he was even more confused by the fact that Shane saw the future than anything else he had heard before.

  It wasn’t only Nathan who was confused by the fact that Shane saw the future; the others were, too, because it was just another thing that seemed unbelievable. But they knew that Shane wasn’t lying because, with him, they saw the impossible. They saw an angel, and it was one of their closest friends.

  “Yeah, and the thing I saw still haunts me now. I saw a fallen angel version of myself. And it seemed like I wasn’t alone; it was like I was fighting someone else that I couldn’t see.”

  “Wait, so you're telling us that you might turn evil in the future?” asked Alexa as she looked at Shane with a hint of fear.

  “I don’t know. From what I learned about fallen angels, they form when an angel falls into despair. The thing that turned me into a fallen angel was all your deaths. I saw all of you near a run-down pub. Around you, there were a ton of rotting corpses that came from my blade. I couldn’t tell then, but they had my presence on them.”

  As Shane stopped talking for a moment, he felt like he was going to throw up from just remembering his nightmare. His body was completely shaking uncontrollably with fear; this was something Shane hoped he would never have to remember.

  “Shane, when does this all take place? And remember, the future is not set in stone. We can change it,” said Elena as she tried reassure Shane.

  Shane, who continued to shake in fear, said, “This takes place in two years. And you weren’t the only ones there. Mona was also there, and she was fatally stabbed. I don’t know who the person was who killed you, because it was a presence of someone I don’t know, but it was a dark presence, and it wasn’t weak; it came from someone powerful.”

  “Shane, why didn’t you tell us this earlier?”

  The person who asked that question was Alicia. Alicia no longer had a face of fear; instead, she had one of anger. She was angry that Shane had kept this a secret from them. She felt angry at Shane and herself for not knowing sooner that Shane was suffering this much.

  The moment Alicia got close enough to Shane, she slapped him.

  “Ow, what was that for?”

  “Remember what you promised me. You said that if you were ever keeping an important secret, I could slap you,” said Alicia as she grabbed her hand.

  “I said that if I wasn’t telling you an important secret, then you could slap me. Why did you slap me? Now I told you everything.” Shane said as he grabbed the back of his head where Alicia had slapped him.

  “Well. I don’t know. I’m just mad that you kept this secret for so long. You should have told us sooner. We would have been able to support yo…”

  “You don’t think I know that.” Shane blurted out as he cut off Alicia.

  As all of Shane's friends looked at him, they were shocked. They had never seen Shane cut anyone off ever. He would always wait until they finished talking before he started talking.

  “I was too weak to protect the people I care about. I didn’t know how you would all react to knowing that you might die in two years. I didn’t even know how to react when I saw it. I didn’t want you all to hate me,” said Shane as he began to cry.

  All of his friends continued to look down, none of them having noticed that Shane had been suffering from this over the past couple of days. They all knew that Shane was always there when they needed help, so they all felt a sense of guilt that they couldn’t be there for Shane.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “S-S-Shane. I know I don’t talk that much, but I would prefer it if you tell me what's causing you trouble the moment it happens.”

  The entire group seemed surprised that Ivan had said that. They knew that Ivan didn’t like talking that much, so hearing him say that caught them off guard.

  “Yeah, Ivan, right, you should have told us sooner. Do you know how we feel about not being able to help you?” said Franco as he looked at Shane.

  “I’m sorry, I just don’t want any of you to hate me for not being able to protect you. I was afraid that I would be alone.”

  “Shane, I know you're the smartest out of all of us, but you're really an idiot right now. You should know by now that we will never hate you. We will always be with you no matter what,” said Elena as she hugged Shane again.

  “Yeah, Shane, you should know that we're always with you,” said Everett as he tried to cheer up Shane.

  As Everett finished speaking, they all went to hug Shane to reassure him that they would always be by his side, no matter what.

  “So, Shane, how can we help so that we can put less pressure on you. You can’t hold onto this burden all by yourself, and we're all willing to help,” said Nathan as he looked up at Shane.

  “I’m sorry, I still don’t know much about this, so you’ll need to ask Alicia's father if you want more answers about your powers and how to awaken them.”

  “So when is my dad going to train you again so we can join in and help you?”

  “Well, we plan to train together every weekend so I can get better at controlling my power. Currently, it's just a huge mess, and I can’t control the power input to my blades.”

  “Alright then, we'll all meet up tomorrow so he can tell us. Shane, we’ll get strong enough so you don’t have to protect us,” said Alexa as she looked at Shane to reassure him that they will take part of the burden.

  “Thank you, everyone. I’m glad to know that you’ll be by my side for this. I will get stronger so that none of you will get hurt,” said Shane as he looked at his friends, who had tears.

  ***

  An hour later, it was already 7 pm. They were now at the burger place Arthur had taken Shane to after they finished training. The place had a nice Wild West theme and wasn’t too crowded.

  They all sat together in a large booth at the corner of the place.

  “So, how did you guys do on the exam? Mr. Hayn said he posted the grades today,” Franco asked as he was wondering how his friends did on their recent exam.

  “I don’t know, let me check,” said Shane as he checked his phone.

  “I got an A.”

  The first to respond was Elena, who looked at her phone.

  “I got a B. I checked earlier when we were heading towards the cave,” Alexa said as she looked at the others.

  “I got a C,” said Franco as he looked at his current grade for the class.

  “I got a B,” said Everett as he looked at the other.

  “I-I-I got a B,” said Ivan with a timid tone.

  “I got an A as always,” said Nathan as he looked up with a smug face.

  “I can’t believe it. I got a B. That's the highest grade I’ve gotten in that class,” said Alicia as she threw her hands up with joy.

  “That's good to hear, Alicia. It looks like our study session really helped,” said Elena as she looked at Alicia.

  “I got an A,” said Shane as he looked at the others.

  “So we all passed that, good to hear,” said Franco as he smiled at the others.

  “Yeah, it's some good news. Especially after everything we learned today,” said Alexa as he looked at everyone else.

  ***

  An hour later, Shane was the first to finish eating, and he went outside for some fresh air. Inside the restaurant, it smelled like burgers; outside, it smelled like nature.

  As Shane looked at the moon, he heard footsteps approaching. When Shane turned around, he saw that Elena was walking towards him.

  “Hey Shane, what are you doing out here?” asked Elena as she went beside him.

  “I just wanted some fresh air and to look at the moon.”

  “Why do you want to look at the moon?”

  “Well, whenever I look at the moon, I just feel calm. It's like all my problems go away. I've always been like this since I was a kid.”

  “Yeah, I get that. It really does look peaceful.”

  As Shane looked to his left, where Elena stood, he noticed she was shivering from the cold. As soon as Shane saw, he took off his jacket and put it around her.

  As soon as Shane put his jacket around her, Elena looked up, and she began to blush.

  “You looked cold, so I gave you my jacket to warm you up,” Shane said awkwardly, looking at Elena.

  “Th-Thanks. Are you sure you're okay giving me this? It's really cold.”

  “Yeah, I’m wearing a long-sleeve shirt, so I’ll be fine. It’s not that cold,” said Shane as he looked at Elena in the eyes.

  As soon as Elena put on Shane's jacket, she leaned on his shoulder. As she did that, Shane also began to blush.

  As Shane looked back at the moon, he said, “The moon is beautiful, isn't it?”

  “Yeah, it is.”