Chapter 1:
Otosaka Yuu walked over a desert in Arizona. His long brown bangs partially covered his eyes that had bags under them despite having no need for sleep. He was dragging two men on the floor at his side, walking away from a burning facility that he felt he could not leave them to die in. After all, the facility had been destroyed because of him.
The desert was hot. Yuu wore a red shirt with a black jacket on over it that was too large and fell almost to his knees. He had on black pants too, and the heat was absorbing into his clothes and making the desert air feel even hotter. His lips were chapped, and his breath came out ragged from more than just the heat. The exhaustion he currently felt was a result of the environment but also because of one of the two men he was dragging whose power turned out to be more than draining before Yuu was able to steal it.
The enemy had infiltrated his mind, filling it with painful and destructive thoughts. His head was already swirling with memories he was trying to hold onto and emotions he was desperately grabbing hold of, so having someone poke around inside there, again, it was just too much. That was just one man, out of tens of thousands. Yuu frowned as he walked up a desert dune away from the black plumes of smoke rising behind him. "Who the hell came up with such a task, and why did it end up that I have to do it?" His eyes were aimed down at the floor as he muttered it. "This is enough, right?" He asked.
Yuu rose his voice even though no one was around to answer him. "I'm tired now! Someone take over for me!" He dropped the two men in his hand, too tired to keep dragging them. Yuu took one more step, but he had dragged them as far as his legs could walk, and he collapsed only a few meters away. He lay flat on his stomach with his head in the sand for seconds that turned into minutes. His eyes were dark and his thoughts were a jumbled mess. Can I even stop? Don't stop! Stop. Keep stealing them! I am the Reaper! The One-Eyed Reaper! His head lifted a little and he looked out ahead of him. "I thought of something good. Maybe I'll just take over this entire Earth?"
A grin spread over his face. "I am omnipotent after all." The idea of that made an even wider smile cross his face. He flipped onto his back and stared up at the sky with a shit-eating grin. "I am God! I decide everything. That's what I'll do." He burst out in laughter, mad, insane laughter. He could hear it in his own voice, but who cared? He was God.
Yuu started back to his feet, smirking as he prepared to take on the world. He turned around, then his ears perked up. He heard something and it was not coming from the unconscious men behind him. Instead it was coming from above. Yuu lifted his gaze to the sky and scanned around. Just like his enhanced hearing, he had also taken the powers of someone who could see much farther than others with an ability called 'Zoom.' Yuu stared off and his lowering smile vanished completely. His eyes bulged at the sight of the missile, then he took a step back at how fast it was flying towards him.
What are they... Is that to stop me? Ha! They won't be able to- Yuu froze and snapped his head down. He spun towards the men behind him, "Are they sacrificing these two to get me? Who even is it? The US government?" Yuu said these things, then his heart started racing faster and faster. He did not know what it was that was plaguing him, but his head slowly started turning back to where he initially looked down. What is that thing? It's dirty, but... Yuu's heart was pounding. Yuu's head was spinning. So many thoughts, so many worries, and yet that tiny booklet of tattered papers had his chest heaving more than anything.
It was too late by the time he remembered it. Yuu had already stepped towards the papers, then he saw it out of the corner of his eyes dropping towards him. His head started turning, and he activated a power. Time slowed down just ahead of him. It was how he stopped bullets when they were fired at him from only a few meters away. The missile slowed down, and Yuu jumped backwards, his head in a panic as death was right in front of him. Everything else left his mind, he crossed his arms and flew as fast as he could away, and then the missile's casing cracked. He was able to watch it in slow motion, and he let out a scream as the explosion started coming.
Just like all the other abilities, the forcefield was an incomplete one. It slowed things down instead of stopping them completely. As slow as it made things though, he knew it could not protect him from the impending blast. Using an ability that he could not recall where he got it from, Yuu teleported backwards. It was an ability he did not use often, as it threw him in the direction he wanted to go so fast without having anything to help him with stopping. Even his own flight powers were not good enough to stop him while shooting off into the distance. He tried slowing down as he neared a distant sand dune, but it was too late and he hit it and bounced off up in the air.
Yuu coughed in pain and reached his left hand to his side where he felt a rib crack. He grabbed it and healed himself, while still bouncing back up. Then he saw the flash. Then he heard the thunderous explosion. He spun his head towards the light and screamed in pain at how bright it was. He squinted after the blinding explosion, and he crossed his arms and created another forcefield in front of him. The ground at his sides was hit by the blast's force an instant later. What kind of missile did they- Yuu's eyes started raising up as he saw the dark pillar lifting into the sky. His head snapped back down and he saw the expanding explosion and flames coming his way. "No no no no," he flew backwards again, then spun himself and wobbled in the air before speeding off even faster than before. "No no No No NO NO!" The explosion was on his sides now, and he could feel the heat against him as it got right up near him. He rose higher in the air to try and avoid it, focusing his shield around him as he did.
The flames wrapped on his sides. He felt the heat through the shield, felt it getting hotter and hotter as more of the blast got through. Then it stopped getting as hot. He escaped the end of the blast and rose higher and higher once he was out until he thought he was a safe distance away. Finally Yuu looked back, staring into the mushroom cloud rising behind him. "Oi oi OI!" He shouted, his voice shaking like his entire body. "Are you serious?" He asked, his voice cracking and his mouth twisting around in a half-terrified grimace and half-crazed smile. "Haha- ah ahh- hahaha!" He grabbed the side of his head where his lip was curled down, where his hair was more singed and his face redder. "AHHHAHAHA AHHHH!" He laughed while tears came out of his eyes.
"I really am God!" He shouted, throwing his arms out to the sides. "A nuclear blast? Did I just survive, a..." The Japanese boy grabbed his arms at the biceps. A look of terror spread across his face. What am I doing? The radiation! Thinking of how he survived the explosion made him think about the history of nuclear bombs. If this really was one they just fired at him, then there was radiation that came with it. When he thought about it, he instantly felt sick to his stomach. He did not know if that was a placebo, but it only got worse and he started coughing after grabbing his arms that now had goosebumps all over them. I need to, get out of, here! Yuu spun and started flying off, but coughing harder and grabbing at his chest as he did.
He wobbled around in mid-flight. His eyes were bloodshot and his heart pounding so hard he could hear it in his ears. No. I don't want to, not here. I, didn't I make, a promise? I promised... I promised, not to die, right? Not until I finished my mission. Not until all the powers in the world were mine, right? He started descending farther. Otosaka Yuu hit the ground and skid through the sand. I won't. Not here. Not yet! I won't let it end, like this...
A/N Hey! Thanks for reading! Just binged Charlotte last weekend and I thought the ending episode went way too fast, like it could have been an entire season in itself and missed out on a lot of possibilities. Anyway, I decided to write something splitting off in the middle of that episode, and I hit 10 chapters before deciding to start posting. This is a small one, but I hope you enjoyed the first installment to One Eyed Reaper! Leave a review telling me what you think below or predictions you might have for the story! Post again tomorrow!