The aftermath of the attack was a blur of chaos and grief for Sasha. She remembered the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles and the frantic shouts of paramedics and police officers. But mostly, she remembered the overwhelming sense of loss.

  They found Josh lying in the hallway, his blood staining the floor…but by the time they were too late.

  For Josh’s stomach was torn open to the point that his intestine, laid spread on the floor in a pool of his own blood, gutted like an animal, while his once brilliant green eyes glazed over. The life in them long since faded out.

  While Sasha could only gasp, cover her mouth, look away in petrified terror, and hfeel eartache.

  The news of Josh’s death spread quickly, casting a pall over the entire town. The school was closed for a week, the halls eerily silent, the laughter and chatter replaced by a heavy, suffocating grief. Funerals were held for the victims, a somber procession that wound its way through the streets.

  Sasha watched it all unfold, a detached observer, as the heroes arrived. Among them was Ebony Blade, a B-Ranked hero known for her stern demeanor and unwavering dedication to justice. She was a young African woman, her long, braided hair swaying behind her as she surveyed the scene, her gray eyes sharp and piercing. She wore a sleek, black armored spandex suit that accentuated her athletic build, her expression grim.

  "This is a tragedy," she said, her voice low and serious as she questioned the shaken survivors. "But so many more lives would have been lost if not for the actions of... Josh Miller, was it?"

  Her words, though a tribute, were also a stark reminder of what had been lost. Sasha looked away, unsure if she should be proud or ashamed by the comment.

  The funeral procession was long and heartbreaking. Josh's parents were inconsolable, their faces etched with a pain that no words could soothe. Sasha walked beside them, her eyes red and swollen, her shoulders slumped with grief. She looked so lost, so broken.

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  A week later, the school reopened, but it was never the same. The laughter was muted, the hallways filled with a lingering sadness. Sasha could barely bring herself inside to move about her day.

  Then one day, Sasha found herself drawn to Josh’s grave, a simple stone marker in the quiet cemetery. She stood before it, reading the words etched into the stone surface that seemed so inadequate, so unable to capture the life he had lived, the dreams he'd once held.

  Tears welled up in Sasha's eyes as she spoke, her voice a broken whisper. "I'm sorry, Josh," she said, the words directed to the silent earth. "I'm so sorry. I pushed you so hard, always telling you that you had a hero's heart. I should have done more to help you, to protect you. If I had, maybe you'd still be here."

  Her voice cracked, unable to continue. She sank to her knees, the weight of her regret crushing... unbearable.

  "Perhaps," a familiar... but deeper voice said from behind her, "you will have the opportunity to apologize in person."

  Sasha froze, her head snapping up. She saw a figure standing a few feet away, cloaked in a Azure clored armored knight outfit with a black fur collar over it and a flowing gray cape. Looking like he had come right out from the pages of a fantasy anime or manhwa…that or an insanely good cosplayer.

  But the more Sasha gazed over at the armored suit, which looked sleek and powerful, adorned with intricate designs and seemingly pulsing with an invisible energy. It seems too real to be a costume…yet far too powerful to be mere armor, despite its medieval appearance. Which made the mysterious figure look even more out of place in the mundane reality of the cemetery.

  Sasha's heart pounded with a mixture of fear and disbelief. "Who... who are you?" she stammered, stepping back nervously.

  The knight chuckled, a low, rumbling sound. "Sasha... really?” he asked in a sarcastic, if genuine, tone…that sounded eerily familiar. “You shouldn't forget about me that easily."

  He reached up and slowly removed his helmet, revealing his face.

  Sasha's breath hitched in her throat. She stared at the man's face, her mind reeling, her emotions in turmoil.

  It couldn't be.

  It was impossible.

  Yet standing before her, alive and looking a bit older, a bit more mature, but undeniably him...

  ...was Josh.