This One-Shot was written by ThalioTP, check him out here on Fanfic!
"So, what's the occasion?"
"Ice cream." Epiphany's face split into a wide, predatory smile. Almost seemed joyous by the revelation. Then, her smile faded as soon as it emerged.
"Aww, you know I can't taste the food you eat let alone touch it!" She cried in annoyance. Sirius merely walked beside her as she floated, following him through the void of his imaginative astral plane inside his mind. Sometimes he wonders if he was just hallucinating some of the words she said and is undoubtedly going mad. The both of them walked through the halls of their campus. The prestigious school of USAEI, where children train to become heroes before they grow up.
"It's not for me," Sirius answered her, reaching the third corridor.
"Then who is it for?" Epiphany's voice asked.
"That Kazani girl," Sirius coughed into his hand, "She got in an accident training."
"... So you're buying her ice cream?" Her voice sounded very flat, as if almost in disbelief by his statement. Sirius couldn't lie to her, she would've found out either way. It's the matter of was he comfortable with it or not. Yet he had no idea why, though.
If it was Lyon or Narruk, he wouldn't have any problem telling them, but with Epiphany, apart from the fact that she is literally attached to him like a remora to a shark (he probably should mention that in this case, he was the remora and she was the shark), he felt stiff.
Which is probably why it took him half the trip across the school to tell her. Awkwardly, Sirius scratched the back of his neck, "Well... she did get hurt helping me train, so..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Epiphany cut him off, "Hold on for a moment... you've been training with her?"
"Well... sparring, but... yeah," Sirius answered her, attempting a pathetic shrug, "I-I mean, all of us are training, it's not that unique of a thing to do."
"... and how long has this been going on?" If incorporeal beings could raise an eyebrow in suspicion , Sirius could feel it.
"... A while..." There it was again, that weird feeling inside his stomach. Was it so hard talking about girls to other girls Then, something was staring at the back of his neck, though when he tried to double glimpse behind his shoulders he saw nothing. It was burning, like a thousand root of trees were digging inside his nape.
Weirdly enough, Epiphany was nowhere to be heard, she probably went idle again. She always does that at the most crucial times. Maybe that was why he was uncomfortable with telling her about what he had been doing with Kira lately, because he felt like she wouldn't have understood even if he tells her.
Kira wasn't all that different from Epiphany, honestly. But talking to her felt like he wasn't actually speaking into thin air. He started thinking that maybe it wasn't healthy having a ghost as his speaking-buddy all the time, because he knows that he had been sheltering real life actual humans by doing so.
Was that... selfish? He didn't know. What he did know is that in his mind was a cluster of emotions. Reaching the cafeteria, he was again greeted by silence. Today was Sunday, and it was understandable for everyone here to find the cafeteria to be empty during after school periods. He walked over towards the counter, where the cafeteria lady should be roaming about. Though, even the kitchen seemed empty.
"Excuse me," He shouted just enough to find anyone to hear, "Is the cafeteria lady in?"
"Just a sec, dear!" A voice cried from inside the kitchen, not long, a stout woman in a cooking apron appeared from the door at the end of the kitchen, "Sorry, just sorting some stuff out. Tomorrow's going to be school week, after all."
Sirius nodded in response, unable to express any other feeling that came to mind.
"So what can I help you with, boyo?" The stout lady said as she came to the counter.
"Chocolate chip with caramel filling, please," He said.
He clearly remembered that it was what Kira would've wanted, he faintly remembered that she mentioned it to be her favorite ice cream flavor in the cafeteria. That, or he was just imagining things again. (Where do these thoughts even come from? It's like someone is writing them directly to his head or something).
The cafeteria lady scratched her chin, "Sorry, kid, we ran out of that for a while."
Sirius' mouth was left agape, "What do you mean?"
"Well, the filler machine broke," The cafeteria lady said, "So we put that flavor out of the menu. We got other flavors if you want."
She then handed him a small menu filled with foodstuffs, and her finger pointed to the 'dessert' section. He shouldn't be surprised to know that there were a lot of food to choose from in this school, but to have about 7 ice cream flavors is another thing in of itself.
What to do? Sirius has never really been the one to guess about what other people would like. He fears that he might make the wrong decision.
A minute later he was still in silence, trying to chose. His stomach and head churned again.
"What's wrong?" Epiphany's voice finally spoke out again.
He swallowed down his shock at her sudden return, and sighed, "I'm trying to pick another ice cream since what Kira wanted wasn't on the list."
"Why don't you just choose whatever?" The phantom voice asked again.
"It's not that simple," If he could bury his head between his legs, he would, "I'm trying to thank Kira for accepting me as her training partner, you know? But now... I realize that even I don't know anything about her at all, even if I'd like to."
He was too easy. Too easy. He knew that from the moment he made the decision that he wanted to become a hero. When faced with something out of his comfort zone, he'll immediately freeze up, almost as if yielding to fate. If he could guess, what he was doing was probably pitying himself for being able to talk to anyone other than himself for as long as he remembered. But that's just as bad as saying that he was doing something so insincere to someone he really wish he could know better.
"I'm sure she'll like anything you'll give her," Epiphany said again.
"Really?" He asked.
"Well, knowing you, who wouldn't?"
Sirius stared at the dusts on the counter, silence finally overcoming him. With a sudden realization, he smiled softly under his breath.
"Uhhh..." A voice broke his trance. The cafeteria lady was looking at him weirdly, "That's sweet and all on how you care about this 'Kira' kid, but I have more stuff to sort so I'll appreciate it if you rush things a bit."
The shorter boy blinked, before a shade of crimson covered nearly all of his face.
In the end he finally decided to order and leaving promptly after his whole debacle. The cafeteria lady shaking her head as he left.
During his walk back towards the dorms, he lost that burning sensation from the back of his head. Now, it only felt like some sort of coldness, like the autumn before winter.
After bracing his heart, clearing his head, and making sure that his stomach did not churn, he called out to the thin air around him, "Hey, Piff... come out for a bit."
With a silent poof, a redhead girl appeared, "Need something?"
He then held out his hand, "Want some?"
Epiphany raised her eyebrow, but then she saw a small opened ice cream cup placed on his palm, with a plastic spoon ready to use.
She looked at him again, "Aren't you giving this to Kazani."
The indigo haired boy merely made a lopsided smile, before lifting up his other hand, showing a plastic bag full of ice cream, "I bought more. See? I figured... the others would want some once they see Kira's."
He then scooped up a small amount of dessert with his other hand and let it hover just in front of the redhead. Their height differences were an obvious sight, so he needed to raise his hand just a little to reach her lips.
There was a pregnant pause between them. Epiphany merely stared at the spoon offered at her. Sirius thought that she might not like being spoon fed after all, until she took a bite close enough to touch his fingers with her lips.
"Yuck!" She exclaimed, clearly regretting her decision, "I don't taste anything!"
"Well, I figured," Sirius said, taking another scoop and feeding himself, "Which is why I decided to just buy plain vanilla."
"Uhh, boring? That is nowhere close to the chocolate-whatzit-filling," She frowns at him, "But whatever, right? It's not like Kazani would care."
"Yeah," He answered her, "so I bought your favorite flavor"
Almost automatically, a small blush seemed to appear on Epiphany's face; which is impossible, considering that she's dead and has no possible way to circulate blood around her body.
But it was obvious to see that what he said had clearly touched her somehow.
"I want to try getting to know everyone better," Sirius admitted as he continued walking, "But a step out of my comfort zone I immediately froze up. It was then that I realize, that it was with your help that I got to talk with so much interesting people here. There's no one here that know me better than you do, so...
"Thank you. Epiphany."
Of course, the ghost girl was nowhere to be seen. Sirius would be lying if he didn't say he was disappointed to know she had poof out of existence at the very end of his sentence.
He decided to just keep walking, perhaps Epiphany also needed a time of her own.
However, he noticed that coldness on his neck has disappeared. Now, it felt like his whole body had been washed over by light. Giving him energy. And when he thought about it again, he remembered this very feeling…
Hey guys, Buixy here. So the discord had this idea of creating a Community page where you guys could post One-Shots or little character pieces, or whatever, in the Purpose of a Hero universe. If you're interested in this kind of thing, I think (hope) it is in my profile. If not, just search for it I suppose. If you wanna post something, PM me so I can add you to the staff. That's all from me, thanks again Thalio and… shit there's no teaser in these is there? Uh, goodbye I suppose?