"**Your father is alive!**"the mother exclaimed with joy.
"M... **Mom, stop!**" the daughter pleaded in a broken voice.
Kenzo returned inside the shelter, his eyes moving up and down, following his sister who was struggling with all her might to hold onto her headset. She clung to it as if it were her precious life. However, their mother's continuous embrace and leaps of joy were not helping the situation. In the end, the sister had no choice but to take off the headset and join her mother in her celebration.
Although she tried to hide her worry, the red circles around her eyes betrayed her fear for her father. Kenzo, on the other hand, was busy drinking water, moving aside, following the latest news broadcasting the details of a fierce battle unlike any their world had ever seen. Astoria, the stage for the last chapters of this battle, was completely destroyed, and the announced number of victims exceeded one million. There were still other areas not covered by the media, where battles raged between Shadow and Astroman.
The conflict that began in India and then spread to China was finally decided in Astoria, Japan, the home of Astroman. According to Kenzo's estimates, the death toll could rise to more than 5 million by the end of the count.
All Kenzo could do was shake his head in disappointment and let out a heavy sigh before turning off the TV, which abruptly stopped his mother's celebration.
"Why did you stop the broadcast?!" she asked in surprise.
Kenzo replied calmly, "Because they only broadcast lies, Mom. It's better for us to wait for Dad to tell us the whole truth."
"True... you're right," his mother breathed deeply, surrendering to her son's words, "You're right, I need to compose myself."
"That's not what I meant, Mom."
"No, you're right. Surely your father will return home soon." His mother agreed, nodding her head determinedly, "Julie, prepare the first aid kit and put the water on to boil."
"What? Why should it be me?" Julie protested loudly.
"You know very well that your brother can't handle hot things!" the mother replied sternly.
"But, he can at least bring the first aid kit!" Julie said, trying to object.
"Do it and quickly! You're the most capable of the two!" the mother insisted.
"Ah!" Julie couldn't help but scream in annoyance as she headed towards the cabinet in the shelter,
"I'm going to need a cheeseburger as compensation for this!" she threatened playfully.
"Hadn't you decided to become a vegetarian?" Kenzo asked in surprise as he watched her wave her hand angrily.
"That was before Astroman left!" Julie declared firmly.
"I don't think there's any need for--"
"No need for that!" Julie cut him off quickly, mimicking his tone as she shook her head from side to side, "Stop acting like a machine and help me with this!"
At that moment, Julie suddenly stopped talking when the sound of the heavy steel door creaking broke the silence, followed by high gasps from her mother. Julie turned towards the source of the sound to find her father standing there, covered in blood from head to toe.
"My love! We were just following the news." the mother exclaimed.
Despite her father being covered in blood without exception, her mother embraced him tightly, trying to help him inside. "Bring a chair for your father!"
Kenzo rushed to the chair in the corner, but as soon as he reached it, Julie preceded him and caught him.
"No need to tire yourself, you fool!" Julie sighed wearily as she placed the chair next to their father, "What exactly happened, Dad? Did Astroman really meet his end?"
Their father gave Julie a fleeting look, then lowered his head to the ground, and let out a long, hesitant sigh. His lips moved slowly, searching for the right words to reassure his family.
But the exhaustion that nearly choked him made him settle for a simple nod of his head.
"What about Shadow? What is he planning now?" she wondered. After that, their mother began to remove everything that was attached to her husband, from the white robe stained with blood to his belt loaded with various tools and devices. Despite the danger of some of them, she was an expert in handling and removing them easily without even needing to look.
"Arno, answer me!" she shouted. But, in the face of her husband's terrible silence, she couldn't restrain herself and slapped him across the face.
"He... disappeared suddenly."
The slap was enough to awaken Arno, whose eyes quickly scanned the room, and when he saw his children, he straightened up and regained his composure.
"We don't know where Shadow has gone," said Arno, shaking his head while his wife tended to his wounds, "After... after he killed Astroman, he vanished as if he never existed. He treated us like children, 'The Heroes' Guild' was there to support Astroman, but Shadow was stronger, he duplicated himself and faced us all at once."
"What about the government? Will they evacuate us?" Emma's voice rose again as she stitched her husband's wounds, "Tell me they will save us, at least Kenzo and Julia... They must do it for a member of 'The Heroes' Guild', right?"
"They are... too busy. The situation is not limited to Astoria only, my dear. India and China have also become battlefields... and we have lost millions."
"No..."
Deeply affected by her husband's words, Emma quickly embraced her daughter Julia. She tried to do the same with Kenzo, but he avoided her hug. Nevertheless, Julia managed to grab his hand before he could escape.
Kenzo contemplated his sister's hand for a moment before turning away.
"If your group hadn't intervened, Dad, the losses could have been reduced," Kenzo said dryly, "It was clear that Shadow was only after Astroman... Those losses, Dad...
...are the result of your actions."
"Ke... Kenzo!" All Emma could do was gasp with difficulty after hearing her son's words, "Apologize to your father..."
"It's okay," Arno nodded with his hand, "Our son has a point, Emma. But you must realize, Kenzo, that Astroman was a symbol of hope for the people. It was our duty to support him as much as we could... Our only mistake was not realizing the strength of Shadow, his abilities were always unpredictable... He is... like..."
Before Arno could finish his sentence, he suddenly collapsed from his chair. Emma rushed to help him, only to find her hands touching the blood-stained ground. "Help me lift your father, his wound has reopened!"
"..."
While his sister and mother looked for a way to close the wound, Kenzo let out a short but deep sigh.
Then he said: "He has lost a lot of blood. He will die soon if you don't treat the wound."
"What... what!? Julia, cauterize the wound!"
"A... Are you sure!?"
"Do it!"
As her mother's screams rose, Julia quickly raised her index finger, and a fiery flame appeared on its tip. She wanted to look away as she directed the flame towards her father's wound, but she froze when she passed her finger over the open wound.
"Argh!"
Arno woke up from the intense pain caused by the burn, but he bit down on his teeth and looked directly into his daughter's eyes, signaling her to continue.
Julia began to breathe heavily when she saw her father's facial expression. Although he had come home injured in the past, she had never seen him in such pain before. She wanted to cry, but she knew that would affect the stability of the flame on her finger.
However, the emotions that swept over her as her father's screams spread through the metal room were so intense that they caused the flames to waver. And just as they were about to go out, she felt a relatively cool touch around her head, isolating her from all the noise.
Her mother was busy helping her father, so the hands could only belong to one other person. Realizing this, she nodded gently and the flame on her finger became more precise, allowing her to cauterize the wound quickly and cleanly.
Finally, the breaths of panic turned into calm breaths.
A second.
A minute.
For an hour, they all remained silent while Arno was unconscious. They followed the news looking for any updates on where Shadow was and what he would do next, but there was nothing.
There was nothing. And even after a week, there were no signs of his existence. The world waited, the government was on high alert, and superheroes were sent all over the world to protect the people.
With tightened security measures, even the supervillains and terrorists went into hibernation. After the death of Astroman, a kind of false peace prevailed on the planet; people were allowed to mourn their dead, grieve for their families, and finally mourn Astroman and hold a proper funeral for him.
As for Shadow?
Shadow completely disappeared from the world. And he left no trace that he ever existed.
"Astroman will always be the world's hope. The Heroes' Guild would not exist without him..." These words echoed in people's minds after the great hero's departure. And while one of the members of The Heroes' Guild, Whitefang, stood on the podium delivering his speech about the greatness of the fallen hero, there was a boy smiling.
"That's your father... I thought he would never wear that suit," Emma raised her voice as soon as her husband appeared on the TV screen.
"He looks very fat, doesn't he?"
"Don't let your father hear that. That was the suit he was wearing when we met. And I think he was wearing that when you were born..."
"Ew, Mom!" Julia couldn't help but roll her eyes at her mother's words, "Kenzo, help me here!"
Kenzo quickly stood up from his seat, moving away from the mother-daughter duo: "I wasn't born before them, so I won't be able to relate."
"You're still my brother! There should be some kind of intimate friendship here! Are you leaving me here!?"
"Shhh! Your father is talking!" Emma turned up the TV volume to the maximum, completely drowning out her daughter's complaints. Kenzo only glanced briefly at the TV before returning to his room.
As soon as he reached his comfortable room, he quickly put his hand over his mouth. Then he whispered a muffled laugh into the air while his shoulders trembled. But after a few seconds, his laughter was replaced by the sound of a deep, heavy breath as he made his way to his closet.
"Don't you find it funny too?" he whispered, "I wonder who exactly they are burying...
...when you are here with me?"
As soon as Kenzo opened his closet, he was greeted by lifeless eyes that showed no movement. The owner of these eyes seemed as if time had stopped for him, lying motionless, his skin noticeably pale, and his body twisted in an unnatural position unfit for humans.
"... Astroman."