Chapter One
"When men becomes inhuman, take care not to feel towards them as they do towards other humans,"
Quoted by Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor, AD 121-180
New York City, World Trade Center,
September 11 2001, 9:37 AM
Black smoke conquered the sky, seeping from the once recognized Twin Towers located in the heart of New York. Anarchy reigned through the debris-filled streets and the clouded minds of mere people and one individual who had just arrived near the scene of the destruction. His hazelnut eyes wandered from the blazing fire below to the black treacherous smoke lifting above him. Only thirteen, he felt as small as an ant and yet lucky to be far away from the commotion. However, his mind thought otherwise as he neared to the border that separated the mass of fire engines and ambulances and the pack of strangers watching the injured being led out.
"Whoa, kid!" A policeman halted him. "You can't come near here."
Disappointment crept within but quickly went away by the terrible awe that encased thick inside of him. All he could do was watch like the people he knew little around him and let the disturbing noises take control of his ears. He tried to make a sound but no single soul could hear him.
He wondered if there was something he could do.
"We need a medic!" hollered a firefighter as he carried an unconscious girl out from the chaotic area. He hurried to one available ambulance and handed the girl to an empty-handed paramedic. Wasting no time, he returned towards the fire and the water jets from the hundreds of hoses.
"I need you!" he ordered to two fellow firefighters. "Come on!"
The girl barely opened her blue eyes to watch silhouettes bring her onto something soft and warm as one of them quickly stopped the bleeding from her left arm and held out a stethoscope to hear the rhythmical but weak heartbeat.
"Stay with me," the soft voice assured her. "Everything's going to be alright. Keep her blood pressure steady."
She blacked out eventually.
Severe burns were upon a man's eye and torso, now being brought into an ambulance ready for the nearest hospital. He glanced through his good eye - at first squishing it because of the intense sunlight - then watched the black smog engulf the familiar sun. His trend of thinking wandered, wondering if everything could start all over again. However it seemed impossible.
"We're losing him!" cried out another paramedic. Hastily, one of them, a Chinese-American went and performed CPR on another patient with severe damage. However, the poor dying individual had lost large pints of blood and his strong heart was now giving up in an unhurried pace. Finally it stopped in an instant.
"Stop," his medical companion told him. "He's gone."
Denial was the greatest villain. He kept on pushing the chest cavity until either a snapped rib or the reality coming to him made him cease his action. His hope descended but his determination returned once seeing the other dying patient just next door.
Close by, a grown man cried, a little by the demolition surrounding him but mostly by the great pain from his bloody elbow and insides. His arm was long gone under the collapsed concrete and he would start to bleed internally if the iron rod through his stomach was pulled out. He nearly bit off his tongue and begged his god to end his suffering, even though the paramedics were trying to save his life.
Further away from the disaster but not closer to the barriers where policemen stood, lucky victims suffered little physical damage but some dearly endured the psychological effect.
"Ouch...God, what happened?" groaned a young sun-tanned lad with a now-melted icepack on his sore head. It all happened in a flash and what he remembered was being taken out by anonymous firefighters that brought to him out to the safe open.
He raised his head and gazed at the dawning black scenery, remembering watching planes coming from nowhere and the rest was clearly history. Nearby, a young lady sat in the back of an ambulance, pleading for all this to go away.
"Uncle... Where's my uncle?" she pleaded, terror filling up in her eyes. Shivers ran through her hands as she tightened her grip on the blanket covering her. A tear shred as she imagined the worse fate of her relative. Her head fell onto her hands and cries were deafened by the terrible noises around her.
The count of those with broken hearts, lost thoughts, bleeding wounds and those with souls gone forever escalated as the day went on, seemingly slowing down as if the nightmare would never end until someone grab their shoulders, wake them up from their bed and help them believe it is not the real thing.
The catastrophic day came without warning. It began at 8:46 AM on September 11, 2001.
Nineteen terrorists hijacked four passenger jet airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York. Two thousand, nine hundred and seventy-three people died. Twenty-four are missing and presumed dead. It was a national reaction and grew into an international response, the news spreading through the media from the United States of America to India, Europe, United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and many more, to the farthest corners of our motherly globe. Memorials to the victims and heroes of 9/11 were planned and made. They were built in the hole of the city's heart, although being temporary.
Hours turned into days. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into years. Life moved on but the humans in it were troublingly moving sluggishly to adjust, trying to forget the hell that was once on the earth. Perhaps it would take much longer before we entirely forget what we hated most or until we sleep in our graves. However, such events created by man will be written in history books for eternity.
On the other hand, events made by those with powers so extraordinary would one day be written, if the writer would one day ignore the inhumanity in those powers and see how ordinary they once were.
A chapter is about to unfold for the lives who were connected on the day it all ended.
Next Chapter:
A second-year university student begins to learn he can do many abilities. But will his newfound power give him a chance to save lives or will it be the cause of a beast within his very core of humanity?
A/N: Well, my very first Heroes fanfic after just watching the first three/four episodes (frankly, it just came to my country's media) and I like to thank Bob the Robot who has helped me on this first chp. AND that he made an excellent Heroes fanfic, which got me inspired to do mine!
I had a few doubts on writing this. As far as I've seen, I guess there are a lot of fanfics with OCs and new powers, which meant powers I come up with, might have been taken by others. Such as healing abilities or animation. However, the plots will be different from each fanfic so I wrote this (even though the first chp is bloody short).
It will be a while till I post the next chp (cuz of –grumble- exams) so hope you enjoy this chp for now. Please review too:D