After his plan succeeded, John quickly came to the realization that although his plan might have worked, he hadn't accounted for the fact that he would be trapped in the vast emptiness of the void. He somehow felt the echoes of an uncountable number of souls that were trapped here, shattered with no universe to return to. John had heard the whispers of these phantoms beckoning him to join their ranks, to become one with them.
His only saving grace was most likely the very artifact that had scarred his face; now, in the infinite shadows of the void, it glowed with an ethereal light. It became a part of him on a deeper subconscious level. He now saw everything he couldn`t before—the countless mistakes he had made with his then poisoned and broken mind.
His deepest regret is what he has done to his daughter. He now realizes that his decisions played the biggest role in her death, and that his actions stemmed more from fear and greed than from genuine love and care.
As he floated with melancholy in the vast nothingness of the void, he came across a less fractured soul. The soul's eyes were glowing, just like the scarred wound on his face. He couldn't pass him by, and they just stared at each other. It could have been seconds, hours, years, or eons—it was hard to tell in a place without time. But they came to an understanding. They may have come from different worlds and different times, and they may have had differences in their ideologies, but two things were certain: they both tried to help better humanity in their own ways, and they both loved their children.
That is how Jack met the father of humanity, Adam. After their bonding, they both understood that they could help each other and the whole of humanity. They decided to fuse together to gain enough power to escape from here and into somewhere—anywhere. It couldn't be worse than nothingness, right?
They understood that this would be a kind of end for them and a sort of new beginning. For Jack, it would be like another personality merging with his, causing him to lose something that truly made him, well, him. And for Adam, it would be his true end, as he would cease to exist. But hey, why wouldn't a father help his children one last time?
With the fusion completed, a new soul was born, carrying most of Jack`s memories and much of his personality. His being was strengthened by Adam, and his mental and physical deformities were healed. He was now a new, more complete being.
Thanks to this transformation, he finally had enough strength to break through the dimensional barrier one last time. And thus began his new journey as his new, better self.
Now in a world he knew nothing about, he was just about to start looking for any information to understand where he was. Suddenly, a bright light struck him, one he couldn't have dodged even if he'd wanted to. It turned out that this world had a mechanism specifically designed for souls without bodies: reincarnation. In his final moment of consciousness, he used the remainder of his power to strengthen his soul, ensuring he could go through this process without becoming just another blank slate among the billions of souls still in this cycle.
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(*pov: Jack)
Four years had passed since John Adams was brought into this world by his parents. Well, loving might be too strong a word. His father, though not abusive, never really cared for him and left the family a year ago to return to the United States for better work opportunities. His mother, though much more caring, never had much time to spend with him, and as a four-year-old, he struggled to cope with the situation.
One day, while playing by himself in the local park in Musutafu, John heard a commotion and went to check it out. It seemed to involve a timid, green-haired boy who was trying to protect someone behind him and an angry, pomeranian-like boy. Suddenly, the angry boy lunged at them, knocking the green-haired boy down, while the person he was protecting ran away. John couldn't stand by any longer and ran in to help the green-haired boy. When he arrived, he managed to pull the angry kid off before getting an elbow to the gut and an explosion to his side. The impact greatly disoriented him; he felt like the world was spinning, and he couldn't breathe.
As he got up, John heard shouting directed at him. The bully yelled, "What the heck are you doing? Who are you? Why did you get between me and this useless Deku?!" John didn't fully understand what was going on, but the green-haired boy, apparently named Deku, looked even more downcast than before. John shouted back, "I was stopping you because you were hurting him!" At that moment, part of his face started glowing with power. The pomeranian-like boy and Deku both stared at him in shock, but it didn't last long. The bully charged at John, shouting, "How dare you stand in my way, the future number one hero! This useless bastard is just holding me back, not allowing me to fully practice with my quirk and put these extras in their places, beneath me!" The green-haired boy couldn't take it anymore and shouted back, "Kacchan, you're acting like a villain! Heroes don't hurt innocent people; they save lives!"
At these words, something deep within me resonated, and my face grew even brighter. Suddenly, before Kacchan could hit me, a weird-looking guy in a yellow mechanic outfit with some pieces of armor appeared and punched the bully in the face. Before I could understand what had happened, I blacked out.
Later, when I woke up, the man who helped me was behind me, and Kacchan had disappeared. The green-haired boy and someone who appeared to be his mother were there, both looking at me with concern. Before I could say anything, the boy rushed towards me. I was ready to defend myself, but the attack never came. Instead, the boy hugged me and thanked me profusely: "Thank you very much; you are my hero!"
As the boy hugged me and cried, I thought to myself that the word "hero" meant something special to me. It wasn't that I hadn't heard it before—every media outlet always talked about heroes—but no one had ever spoken to me with such sincere appreciation.
Something deep within me began to awaken as I found myself looking forward to my future. I knew that this was somehow a turning point in my life. "Jack the hero"—I really liked the sound of that!