A.N. Small warning: mentions of blood and bleeding are rampant in the middle and last sections of the chapter.

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I shoved the front door open after I unlocked it, and slammed it closed behind me. I tossed my backpack onto the couch and headed into the kitchen with a sigh.

Today was uneventful, boringly so. From the moment I walked into the school to when I walked out of it to head to the bus, nothing really happened. That wasn't anything strange of course, I had a very uneventful life in general, but...

I guess I was getting so used to being talked to. By...Dash, specifically.

I don't think he was ignoring me today, but I got the notion he was occupied with other things. From what I saw throughout the day, he hung out with his friends whenever he could. In the morning, he chatted with them about something that they all seemed really into, and the same happened at lunch. In science, he stuck with his pals in there, still conversing away.

I didn't have a problem with that, but...I felt...lonely. I missed him in some weird way, even though it's not like I haven't talked to him recently. He had his own friends, his own life...I shouldn't be feeling neglected. Guess I'm just being needy.

I looked down into the glass of water I was holding, frowning. This all was making me restless.

... ... ...

Wait. The kitchen light reflected off of the liquid in my glass and shined into my eyes. It was like a lightbulb went off in my head.

I should suit up, and go out. Take a walk, and maybe see if anything comes up. That'll help take my mind off of this, at least for a while.

I finished my glass and put it in the sink, before I left the kitchen, turning the light off.

~~~

This evening, Metroville was...calm. This section of it was at any rate.

I walked down the sidewalk, surprised at how there wasn't really any one out on the streets. There weren't that much cars going by either...

I occasionally looked behind me as I continued my walk, not seeing or hearing anything else out of the ordinary. That is, until I heard what sounded an awful lot like a scream.

I rushed to its location, adrenaline filling my veins, rounding a corner and running partially into an alleyway.

There were three people in it. One appeared to be a girl, who was wearing casual clothes and a backpack. She looked older than me...maybe she was a college student?

The other two figures both looked like men, clothed in unremarkable outfits, but they had their faces covered. Of course.

But, I immediately focused on the fact that they had her cornered, shoving her into the wall. One of the men had a large knife out, and was aiming it at the girl's throat. Not good.

"Give me the bag. I'm not gonna tell you again." The knife-wielder growled, and inched the blade closer. The girl didn't respond, but even at the distance I was at from them, I could tell she couldn't. She was shaking, her breaths short and quick.

I opened my canteens, and pulled out two streams of water from them, before combining them and using the mass to whip at the man holding the knife.

I struck him just in between his shoulder and neck, making him briefly yell in pain. He fumbled away from her and fell, as did his comrade out of shock, dropping his knife. The girl's head shot towards me, her eyes wide with fear.

"Go. Get somewhere safe." I told her, stepping closer with my water coiled around my hands like a snake. "I'll handle this."

I didn't need to tell her twice. She clenched her backpack straps and ran towards me, heading towards the entrance of the street.

"T-Thank you." She quickly muttered to me as she passed, and she turned the corner, gone.

I faced the crooks, seeing them on their feet, glaring at me with gritted teeth. "Who the hell are you?" The one I attacked growled.

"Someone who doesn't like it when innocent people are harassed." I returned their nasty looks with a controlled one of my own, and the water wrapped around my hands molded spread out to cover my arms.

"Hold on...you're that new Super, aren't you? The water-controlling girl?" The other man asked in disbelief. I shrugged.

"Oh, what gave that away? Was it the water that's mysteriously moving on its own?"

"Cheeky, aren't you?" The man, who seemed to be the leader out of them both, sneered. His eyes went towards his discarded weapon on the ground. I knew what he was going to try.

He darted out for his knife, but I flung a mound of water onto it, then froze it to the ground. He stopped.

"Damn..." He bit his lip, then faced me again.

What he did next, I was not expecting.

He charged me. I reacted, extending an arm to try and ensnare him and keep him where he was, but I caught a small moment. He reached down into his pocket, and pulled something out.

It made me pause for a second, which was more than enough him for him to lift the object up and make a flicking motion with his hand. A silver blade swung out of it.

My breath hitched, and I moved to push him away.

But, he was faster.

I registered something being shoved into my midsection. Seconds later, a pain I never felt before in my life spread through me like cold fire.

A muffled noise gargled within my throat, my gaze resting on the creep's pocket knife imbedded in me. It easily cut through the fabric of my suit and pierced my flesh. The water I was controlling dropped and splashed onto the ground, my concentration disrupted.

He promptly ripped the knife out and backed away. I fell to my knees. I involuntarily pressed a hand to the wound, not needing to look to see that I was bleeding, as I felt the warmth of my blood oozing out. Fear took hold of me, along with shock.

Was I really just stabbed?

"She's down. Go go!"

I half-caught footsteps traveling away from me, before it was silent.

I looked up, biting my lip to try and keep down my cries. With my watery vision, I could see that I was alone in the alleyway. The guy and his pal fled.

I shifted, trying to stand up, but an intense burst of pain made me fall back down with a whimper. I didn't stop my tears from falling, and finally mustered up enough courage to look down.

My hand was completely covered in a red fluid. I briefly moved it away to see a stream of blood trickling out, and fear shot through my heart. With my adrenaline gone, I was left a trembling and gasping thing on the ground.

I was stabbed.

This was bad, no, horrible. My stomach itself wasn't hurting, so I assume he missed it, but I couldn't say for sure if he missed my other organs as well. I didn't know what to do, but I did at least know one thing in general: I needed to get out of this alleyway. I needed to get home and treat this asap. The fact that those men got away couldn't be helped now.

Once again, I tried standing, using the wall behind me as support. Pain made my teeth grit and my tears increase in frequency, but I managed to stay on my feet. When I took a step however, I gasped at the god-awful stinging.

It took too long for me to do it, but I stayed standing and hobbled my way over to the alley's opening, stepping onto the sidewalk. From there, I started my trek home.

It hurt so bad...I don't know if I'll make it, but I at least need to try. My house wasn't that far away from here, thank goodness.

As I kept moving along at a snail's pace, surely leaving drops of blood in my wake, hardly any cars passed by. The drivers of those that did clearly didn't notice my current state of distress, as they kept going down the streets. Or, they did notice, but didn't care.

I preferred it either way. I should probably go the hospital, but the scenario of my identity being revealed scared me too much. It wasn't like I could ditch my costume and go as a civilian either, how was I supposed to explain this to the doctors? I tripped and fell? Like that excuse wasn't overused.

It felt like an eternity, but the sight of my dull house eventually came into view. I almost cried tears of joy.

I moved as fast as I could to get inside. I went to the bathroom I used and peeled off the upper part of my suit, revealing the injury in all its vile glory: a semi-large gash that went I-don't-know-how-deep into me. It was still bleeding, so I grabbed a towel hanging from the rack next to the shower to press to it.

I used my clean hand to open a drawer in the sink, taking out a first-aid kit. I wasted no time in opening it and pulling open a packet to take out a wipe. I put it under the running faucet to wet it.

I hissed at intensified burning, but I cleaned the gash as much as I could. I then took some alcohol and dabbed a little of that on it...which was a mistake, since the pain kicked up to a 20. It felt like someone was holding up a lit match to it.

I took some gauze pads and medical tape, patching it. I didn't feel good about it at all, but I guessed this was as much as I could do right now. The gauze and tape made a good enough bandage.

I really hope I don't need stitches...

... ... ...

I looked at my reflection. I was sweating, my expression was discontented, my hair was a mess, my eyes were bloodshot, my lips were swelling up and slightly bruising from the spots I bit them in...

I was a mess. I was still in shock, that this even happened to me...

...But, part of me has always known this was a possibility. It was only a matter of time, that I'd get hurt doing this stuff. I didn't have the resources most superheroes did. I didn't have the support, the comfort of being in a team of sorts. Most of all, I didn't have the level of skill a lone superhero should have.

I was asking for this.

I spent the next couple of minutes cleaning up, carefully moving about so I wouldn't aggravate my stab wound even more. I cleaned the blood from my hands and from whatever surfaces I touched, before moving out of the bathroom and getting the few drops that landed on the floor. Fortunately, I didn't have to walk on the carpet when I came into the house, so I wouldn't have to worry about stains.

Right now, I'm really glad my parents are gone. I'm not sure if I would've been able to hide this from them.

I was exhausted, by the time I went to my room. I only had enough energy to take off my suit and throw a baggy shirt and shorts on, before I slipped into my bed.

I wanted to sleep, but the aching in my abdomen kept me from dozing off. As I lied there, slowly watching the light within my room from the sunset fade away as nighttime fell, tears slowly trickled down my cheeks.

Not mainly from pain this time, but from just how miserable I felt. Here I am, home alone with a hole in my gut, no one to talk to or call...

It was so absurd; it was almost funny.

I moved slightly, trying to get into a better position, pain singing all the while. I'm probably not going to be able to get much sleep...

~~~

...And I was right.

When the sun started to rise the next morning, I was still awake to see the light slowly fill my room.

I think I did doze off at some points, but I woke up minutes later. Overall, I must have got around an hour of sleep in total. Haven't had a night like that in a long time.

My alarm soon went off, startling me. I wiggled to the edge of my bed so I could reach over and turn it off, grimacing.

It was still hurting, bad. There was little difference from how it was yesterday. I lifted my shirt, seeing that the gauze pads I used had a large red spot in them. I should change them, and start getting ready for school, but the idea of getting out of my bed right now made me groan.

I was so tired. It took a lot out of me just to turn my alarm off. How can I get up, let alone head to the bus in around an hour and a half to suffer through classes?

I'm highly debating not even going. But...I need my parents to verify my absence. Once I've been marked absent in first period, the office will call one or both of them, to see whether I justifiably can't go to school or if I'm being truant. If they get a call, and find out I skipped out on school...

I shivered. Oh well. I just have to bare this.

Slowly, I sat up, and took my time getting to my bathroom. Once I removed the gauze pads, I could see a small amount of blood coming out of my injury, but there was also this small amount of fluid. It was very faintly white, but mostly colorless. I paid no mind to it.

Cleaning and placing more antiseptic dressing didn't help the pain stop, but I didn't have time to worry about it. I need to get ready, before the school bus came.

I decided to not take a shower, to save time, and because I don't know how to protect my wound from the water. It wasn't like missing a shower for one day or two was going to hurt me.

I didn't want to go into the kitchen to try finding something to eat, I knew I wasn't going to. I had no appetite anyway.

After placing the first-aid kit into my backpack, since there was enough room and I could need to change my bandaging again later, I just chose to sit in the living room after I was all done, clenching a strap of my backpack. I didn't leave the house and go to the bus stop until about five minutes before the bus pulled up.

~~

I got off of the bus, walking onto the concrete grounds. I looked at the building before me, taking a deep breath, before walking inside.

Today was going to be tough, it was obvious. I could already see some people staring at me, seeing the odd way I was walking. With each step, the skin around my wound was being stretched and pulled, which of course hurt. A lot.

I got to my locker, and started spinning in the combination. To my left, I could see Dash standing in front with his with a couple of his friends, as usual.

Instead of the regular butterflies I got, the sight of the blond boy made me very nervous. What if he found out about my predicament? What could I say? What would he do?

I was on auto-pilot, putting in and taking out the books I need and didn't need for right now. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings, so it was natural that I jumped when I suddenly heard a voice very close to me.

"Y/N?" Dash questioned, his expression confused and slight apologetic. "Sorry, didn't mean to spook you."

"It's...ok." I muttered, heat blooming under my skin. I turned a little to face him; shivers went down my spine when my eyes met his lovely blue ones.

He blinked, then did a double take. A slim blonde eyebrow quirked.

"Are you alright? You aren't looking that great."

Ah geez, was it that obvious? Guess it's time to play dumb.

"I'm not?"

"No. You got bags under your eyes...and speaking of those, they're bloodshot." He frowned.

"Oh..." I closed my locker, avoiding his gaze.

"I...had some trouble sleeping last night. That's all."

"..." He was silent, but I could feel him staring at me. Studying me. It made me more nervous. It was silly of me to suspect it, but it was like he could just...immediately find out what happened to me if I stared at him for too long. He wasn't psychic...right?

"Dash! What's the hold up?"

One of his friends called out from behind him, and I used the opportunity to take my leave.

"I'll, see you later." I peeked at him, seeing he was peering down at me with furrowed brows, but I turned and walked down the hall opposite to him. Dash thankfully didn't try to stop me, but I could still feel him eyeing me.

Embarrassed, I picked up the pace, as much as I could.

~Dash's POV~

Right off the bat, things felt...off.

Y/N was trying to not look me in the eyes, but the moment when she did before, I could see she wasn't well. I can believe she not sleeping much last night, she looked and sounded tired. But, that wasn't all there was to it.

She also looked faintly pained, like something somewhere in her was hurting.

"Dash! What's the hold up?"

I heard Kyle, but I didn't answer him. Y/N was distracting me too much.

Something was wrong. I could sense it.

"I'll, see you later."

She started walking away, after giving me a meek look. I didn't stop her since our first classes where close to starting, but I didn't turn away.

The way she moved...it was obvious that she was trying to keep her midriff still. Why?

"Dude." I glanced to my right, as Kyle and Danny stepped into my vision. They both looked confused.

"What's up?" Danny asked, and I shook my head.

"It's nothing. Just thinking about stuff."

That seemed to be a good enough answer for them, since they let it go. We started down the hallway, and I mostly tuned out the conversation they were having, taking a glance behind me to where Y/N went.

I don't know what was going on, and I don't know if I can find out, but I was definitely going to be keeping an eye on her. My gut was telling me to, and it saved me too many times in the past for me to not trust it now.

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​​​A.N. I know it has been very slow so far, but this is the point in the story where things start kicking up. Namely, for Y/N and Dash's little "friendship". After all, they are the main focus of the story.

(But the big superhero action I know you all are waiting for is on its way, just trust me xD)