Drew was lying on his bed, hugging his teddy bear, and reading the book which was coded with electrons. Despite being a six-year-old, he could read the electronic language written by other electric users, with his specialized glasses. Reading helped him to calm himself from his intense ear pain.

Drew's mom came in, with a medical box, a smile playing on her lips.

When she came closer, Drew asked with repugnance, "More medicine?" Drew hated medicines and the taste of it made him feel bitter.

His mom opened the box and to Drew's surprise, it was something like a small metallic bird that was inside the medical box. Teddy bears excited him the most, but nevertheless, he loved the bird as it was another collectible in his collection of toys.

When Drew widened his hands to take the bird, his mom moved back and took a lighter out of her pockets. She then lighted the tiny bird toy, much to Drew's horror.

"What are you doing?!" he asked.

"Just wait and see," his mom replied with a mischievous smile.

After lighting the wings of the bird, and stretching her arms, and letting go of the bird, the bird toy started flying around the room, glowing in red, yellow, and orange. Drew was mesmerized by the beauty of the glowing bird. Its pupil was glowing purple like a small bolt of lightning, just like how his mom's eyes sparkled when she was using magic. However, after a few minutes, the bird fell down and started catching fire.

Drew got confused. He looked at his mom, whose expression suddenly became wobbly. Drew straight away understood that it was an accident, and the bird was not supposed to burn like it did.

"I guess that's that," Drew said, trying to console his mother, "it was beautiful while it lasted."

Drew's mom gave a sigh. "I wish I could have been as good as you."

Drew replied, "You just did the dumbest thing. Doesn't steel catch fire very fast? But don't worry, I will try to make a bird that doesn't need a lighter to glow."

Drew's mom looked at his son, "You know, sometimes the most beautiful things come into life in the darkest of places," his mom said, looking at Drew's ear. She looked like she was remembering something.

"Once I saw something rise out of the greatest of shadows. I never thought I could feel what I felt at that moment, but that was the greatest I ever felt. I felt like I lived to see that moment. The night she transformed..." Drew's mom suddenly stopped, and went red, "Forget what I said! She never... I meant I never saw that!"

Confusion crept in his young mind. There were a lot of things he could understand, but when it came to people, there were times he did not know which way to think. Especially, when they were people like his mom. Unlike his dad, he never understood his mom or sister.

"I am sorry, but you won't ever see any darkness ever again. Mom, I promise that I will be dad's, Eve's and your greatest hero!" Drew declared with a wide grin.

"Why only our hero? What about others?" Drew's mom questioned.

"I would rather care of saving millions of teddy bears than people. I'm sure people don't want me as a hero. Kids in my class find me annoying because they think I'm a nerd. But I can't stop studying because I love making new things," Drew said turning his face to the wall, hugging his teddy bear.

"Well, I'm glad that you found something you can't abandon even if the circumstances tell you to do so. Your dad always tells me that when you find such a thing, then that thing will eventually blend in with you to become an inseparable part of you. You could say that I'm jealous of you guys because you have such a thing. But I don't think you should give up on saving others just because they think you're annoying. Nerds are annoying, but heroes are cool. Even if people cannot see everything with their limited eyesight, I'm sure everyone sees that."

Drew turned to look at his mom who gave a wide smile, and at that moment, his elder sister, Eve came in.

"Mom, please can I cut my curly, long hair since you failed to straighten it last time and made it worse with you magic? I can't bear to ask my arrogant brother who will try to ruin it more for fun."

"Why?" Drew's mom asked, perplexed by her daughter's question.

Drew smiled, "Mom, black forest just wants to face deforestation."

His mom looked even more confused, while his sister's face went red.

"Where did you get that?!" his sister asked, furious after hearing Drew's mocking words.

"I heard your friends call you that," Drew said, looking at his teddy bear and smiling.

"Why do they call you that?" his mom asked.

"That's because I think deeply like an old forest," Eve said fast.

"Definitely not! Mom, they would have called her dead root if they measured the size of her brain and named her," Drew said laughing out loud.

"Why you little...," Eve went towards Drew and started tickling him.

"Stop that!" Drew screamed, moving sideways, here and there on the bed, trying to get away from his sister.

"Ouch...!" Drew's earlobe hit a bit hard on the bed. Blood started oozing out of his wires in the ear, and he started crying, his warm tears coming down his cheeks.

"Sorry," Eve gasped, suddenly remembering that Drew had ear pain.

********************************

Drew woke up. A sensation of something hot caused Drew to touch his right eye. There was a small drop of hot water which he wiped out.

Why is there tears when he could feel nothing? What was so funny back then? Drew could not find an answer. Moreover, why did he see something he forgot long ago? That was an answer he could conjure up immediately. Because he was living in the body of a twelve-year-old.

Drew's heart felt contorted. He remembered how he hated to keep promises after his parent's deaths. The memories of saying sorry for not being able to keep up the promise of being their number one hero replayed in his mind. That was the last time Drew ever said sorry. The angst in his heart could not be healed even if he killed those responsible for his parent's deaths. Drew felt glad that he did not travel back in time to his childhood because he no longer wanted to experience something like that ever again.

Drew looked up at the dark ceiling. His mom told, the greater the darkness, the brighter the light. But why was it that he could not see even a tinge of brightness. Was it because he lost his eyesight? He was sure it was because just like how death proceeds birth, darkness came after light. It could never be the other way around.

With time, Drew became numb to his feelings, and to an extent, he was sure Eve felt the same. Even if Eve died, he doubted if he would feel sorry for her for more than a day. Everything existed only as long as he existed. This was the very reason that he joined Travis when Travis asked. He did not care about being a hero or if anyone died. He did not care about being the best. He only cared about challenging himself constantly.

The nerves in Drew's head started pounding unbearably, when images of his childhood came back to his mind again.

Is this what I used to feel long back when I was scared? But this time... I think I am scared of myself. If I stay in this kid's body, old memories would start coming back to my mind and then... a part of me might turn back to my old self.

Drew turned around the bed and clenched his pillows tightly. He had to get back to his timeline.