Chapter 10: The Truth! Reborn!

I stand frozen in place. Everything around me turns into a blur as I see her. I can only see one half of her face, but I can already tell it's her. She wouldn't do something like this. She's not that kind of person.

"Is that really you, Sophie?!" I yell.

She has a soft smile on her face. "You're getting better. I'm so happy."

"What do you mean? Why are you doing this?"

"I'm sorry." She rushes in to continue attacking me.

Please stop. The hits pour down on me as I try to block and defend myself. Why is this happening? She reaches down to press the middle button on her belt again before getting knocked back by gunfire. My body slumps down, unable to get back up. How far was she going to go? Would she have… I feel the urge to puke, but nothing comes up. Agent Hammer and Braid run up next to me with their guns trained on Sophie. Agent Hammer helps me up and says something, but it all sounds gibberish as my legs give in and I fall back on my knees. I want to go home. I don't want to do this. The agents and my sister are staring at each other. Otto comes running out behind her, still fighting Alicia's brother.

"Cohen, we're leaving. I've seen enough," Sophie says.

The Gargoyle knocks Otto away before turning back human, no disc in sight. Wait, don't leave. Otto stops, not able to bring him to attack him in his human form. He sees me and runs over to help pick me up. Braid orders the soldiers to lower their guns as she chases after Sophie and Alicia's brother. We can't let them go. I can't let Alicia down again.

Otto helps me up, "Hey! Are you alright, what happened?"

I let out a whisper, "I can't do this anymore. This is too much."

Hammer puts a hand on my shoulder. "Whatever you saw, you can expect to happen again. Whatever it was, if you can't handle it, maybe you should stop while you still can." He walks away to give me and Otto some space.

"Otto?" I look at him, tears filling my eyes behind the mask.

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I can be a hero anymore." He doesn't respond and walks me over to a bench nearby.

Braid comes back with neither of the attackers with her. She looks over at us, but Hammer stops her before she can walk over. He says something to her before they leave with the other soldiers. Once they're out of sight, me and Otto undo our transformations. The professor only watches from a distance.

"So, what happened? I know I'm not Alicia, but I can at least listen," Otto says.

"I saw their face."

"The person in the other suit? Who was it?"

"It's," my eyes continue to well up as the words leave my mouth, "my sister." Tears fell down my face. Otto just sits there trying to think of what to say.

"I can handle things from now on, ok? You can let me do the hero's work."

I wipe my eyes. "No, I can't let you do this on your own. I can keep going. I just need some time. You didn't sign up for this, I did. Give me the new belt, just give me a day and I'll be ready to go."

"No. Chase, I'm won't let you keep pushing yourself. Just let me fight from now on. You've done enough."

"You'll just get hurt. I can't let that happen. I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to you." I put my hand on the Chimera driver.

He pulls it away. "You think I enjoy watching you end up like this? Every time you get hurt, all I can do is hold on to a disc that fixes itself. When Alicia got hurt, all I could send her were some useless flowers. I always have to sit on the sidelines and watch as one of you gets hurt over and over again. Now, I can finally help, so let me do this."

"Otto," I try to chuckle through the tears, "where'd that cocky know-it-all go?"

He laughs. "That's just something my parents make me do. Well, I do enjoy it a bit." He looks down at his belt. "Seriously, I want to help. I don't care about being some hero, just let me support you."

We both sit there in silence before Alicia runs up to us, out of breath.

"I left school as fast as I could. Why didn't either of you tell me there was an attack? I saw the gargoyle on the news. Did you see my brother?" I can't even look her in the eyes as she talks.

"Alicia, I…"

Otto cuts me off. "It was my fault. I let him get away. Although I didn't realize he was your brother, guess that explains why the other one called him Cohen."

"Wait, you're using the new belt? I thought it was going to be an upgrade for Chase," Alicia says.

"About that." He says.

"I-I don't know if I'm going to keep fighting. I found out who the person behind that other suit is. It was Sophie," I say.

"How? Why? Sophie wouldn't do something like this." Alicia says.

"I don't know, but it was her. She didn't show her entire face, but seeing half of it was enough. It has to be her." I get choked up as I talk, "I'm sorry, I can't fight my sister. I couldn't even get your brother back. This just isn't what I'm cut out to do."

"Don't say that yet. I'll walk you home, get some sleep, and we can talk about it tomorrow." For a second, it looked like Alicia was annoyed.

Otto nods and the three of us leave. We wave Otto off as Alicia and I walk to my house.

"I'll bring over any stuff you left at myself. Just get some rest, ok?" Alicia says before walking away.

I knock on the door to my house, and it opens. I see my dad standing there. "Hi sweetie, did you have fun with Alicia?"

Everything comes back to me when I see my dad. I could've brought her back. Why'd I just stand there? She could be here with you, you could've greeted dad together. I run into his arms, crying. You can't do anything right, you aren't good at anything. All you do is give up and let everyone else down. You failed Alicia; you brought Otto into this, and now you couldn't even bring your own sister back. I fell asleep shortly after that. I woke up laying on the couch in our living room with a blanket carefully laid across me. My mom is sitting on a chair to the side of the couch.

"You really scared your father, you know? What happened?" I say nothing. "Is it a secret?" She gets up and grabs something from a nearby table. "Does this have anything to do with it?" She holds out the belt and disc in front of me.

I sit up from the couch. "How'd you get those?!"

"You had them in your hands when you came in. Have you been hiding these upstairs? You always run up there so frantically."

"No-It's just-I didn't want you to…" I start getting dizzy while trying to find what to say.

"It's alright, just breathe. Neither of us are mad. We just want to know what's going on. Sorry, guess I started interrogating you. Do you want something to eat?" I nod and she walks to the kitchen.

I hear the front door open and see my dad walk in. He runs over to hug me as soon as gets in the living room.

He lets go of me, "I was so worried when you came home last night, what's wrong? Was it something I said?"

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. I just-I can't say-I'm sorry."

"Well, we already found whatever it is you were hiding from us. If you don't want to tell us, then fine. But you can't keep coming back hurt, or crying till you fall asleep. It scares us."

I try to say something but can't think of a response. Mom comes back with three plates of pancakes.

"Here, get something to eat before you say anything," she says.

I look at them once I finish eating. "If I say what the belt is for, then you'll just get mad at me. I've already failed enough as is."

"How about this? We'll scold you, but we won't get mad. Can you tell us if we promise that?" Mom says.

"You don't have to say anything if it matters that much, but you'll never be a failure. We'll always be proud of you." Dad says.

Don't bring them in, it'll only get them hurt. But you're already hurting them by not saying anything. It'll help to at least let them know. What'll you do if they end up hurt because you let them know? But they already found out. It's only a matter of time before they figure out the rest. Maybe it'll be better to just let go.

"That belt and disc." I gulp, forcing the words out, "they let me turn into a hero. There's a recording of me from yesterday."

They're both speechless as they watch a recording one bystander took from yesterday, "So. this is you?" Mom says.

I nod. "They came from the first package I got a while back."

"Well, is this what you want to do with your life?" Dad says.

My mouth opens before I think, "Yes!" I shake my head, "But it doesn't matter, anyway. I'm not good at it. Two important people got away yesterday. All I did was watch as they left."

"So you're going to give up? You're just throwing in the towel after you make one mistake," Mom says.

"Well, yeah. I messed up. It's proof that I'm not as good at this as I thought. I won't be in danger anymore, so you don't have to worry," I say.

"I want you to be safe. That's what I want more than anything. You know, I wish you could do something that wouldn't end up risking your life, but you can't just stop everything because you messed up a single time. I can't say that I understand what happened, but if this is what you want to do, then you have to stick with it." she says.

I get up from the couch, "I'm gonna go to my room, I need to think."

"Take all the time you need. We already let your school know that you'll need some time off." She says as she moves out of the way to let me walk away.

As I get to the door to my room, I can hear their voices from the living room.

"You didn't need to be so harsh, I'm sure there's more to her choice than she's telling us." Dad says.

"I know. I just don't want her to throw another future away. She's a smart girl and I don't want her to keep wasting that, even if it's something as dangerous as this." Mom says.

When I close the door to my room, the mechanical bird flies through my open window.

"Did you know they were my sister?" I ask.

"No, I never would've picked you if I had known. I'm sorry, I never would have predicted this."

I sniffle as tears fill my eyes again. "How am I supposed to fight my own sister?"

"I thought you said that you couldn't fight her? I won't force you to fight."

"I don't know anymore. I want to be a hero, I want to fight Shocker. But what if I mess up again? What'll happen if I let her go?"

"If it might help, do you know why I designed your suit the way I did?" I nod. "I designed your suit after a man who fought against Shocker a long time ago. They tortured and tormented him, but he never gave up. That man never stopped fighting for the human life around him. Your suit is a modern replica of the same suit he wore. It's a symbol of hope for those who can't fight for themselves. No matter how many times you mess up, the suit you wear is proof of who you are. No matter how many mistakes you make, you're a true Kamen Rider, just like he was."

I look down at my hands. "A symbol of hope? I wonder if I could ever meet him. Wait, rider? You realize I don't even have a bike, right?"
"You have the spirit of one, and that's all that matters. Who knows, if you keep pushing forward, then one-day you might meet him." He says.

"I'll think about it, but I'm not sure what'll happen if I see her again. I might just freeze up again."

"Then your friends will be there to thaw you out. Isn't that why you work together?"

I let out a light laugh. "Was that a joke? I guess you're right, though. I'm not alone. Maybe I should trust them more." I lay down on my bed. "I'm going to get some rest. Let me know if anything happens."

"You'll be the first to know."

"Oh, and Professor?" The bird crooks its head to the side. "Even if I don't continue using it, thank you for giving me the belt. I finally found something I felt like I could do with my life."

"You have no reason to thank me. You're the one doing all the fighting. Goodbye for now, Chase." The bird flies out the open window. I close and lock it as he does.

I lie down on the bed and think about everything that's happened. Can I really be like that? A symbol of hope? Weird, it makes me feel better knowing that I'm not the only person doing this. Maybe I shouldn't give up just yet.