The Gift

As the final day of school begins to wrap up Raito starts the walk home when he spots his group of friends. Assuming they were making plans, without including him as usual, he starts to realize his powers were acting up. Despite spending days trying to get his super hearing in check it would still go off without warning. Anger then started to build up inside of Raito because he started to hear what his ‘friends’ were talking about. None of them have a car of their own and would occasionally borrow their parents car. When that wasn’t an option that is when they would include Raito in their get together since he has his own car. Raito had always just dealt with this kind of treatment but he finally reached his tipping point. He thought maybe after school was over they would change and treat him like a real friend but this obviously wasn’t going to happen. His friends wanted to head over to a kickback that was going to turn into a party later that night and needed a ride. They had plans on borrowing their parents car so they wouldn’t have to invite Raito but that plan didn’t end up working out. Just as Raito was about to turn around and go another way around do they finally look up to spot him.

“Yo, Raito! Over here buddy!” One of them shouted out.

The fact that one of them even calls him there buddy enraged Raito but because of his passive nature he pushed aside his anger. As he walks over to them they began to tell him about a party and if he could give them a ride. “I can’t, my mom wants to go out and celebrate today. My dad won’t be home tomorrow so it’s the only time we can celebrate my graduation. I’m sure I can stop by the party around nine though,” Raito said. Some of what Raito said was true but mostly a lie to see how they would react. He could see they were annoyed at his reasoning and told him that it’s okay. Now that they revealed they were going to a party they regrettably said they would text Raito the address to the party. As they walked away Raito can clearly hear them saying that it’s a good thing they won’t have to pretend to be his friend or ever see his face again. Rage began to build up inside of Raito, a type of rage he’s never felt before. And yet he could feel tears rolling down his face. High school is over and at the end of the day he never had a single true friend. The only friends he ever made was in elementary school but because his family constantly moved he sort of just stopped trying after a while.

“Those are some shitty people.” Raito quickly turns around to see Flight behind him wearing a masquerade mask with wings on the side of them. “Bet you they won’t amount to much after school and only talk about how cool they were,” Flight continued to say. Not knowing what to say Raito just pointed at Flight’s mask with his mouth open. “Cat got your tongue there mate,” Flight said has he removed his mask, “this is my mask I used when I go out using my powers. When you’re a Gift you got to have one just incase you have to use your powers out in the open.” Flight seeing how red Raito’s eyes were he started to try and cheer him up the best way he could, by giving him a shoulder to cry on.

“I’ve never really been good at making friends. I don’t know what to say or how to act at times. So I spend most of my time working on my mangas and watching anime for inspiration on how to make my stories better.”

“That’s not a very good reason to let people treat you like dirt. Besides, you’ll have the last word because you’re a Gift! You can probably make yourself become a world famous musician.”

“I still don’t think I can use my Gift to make money, just doesn’t feel right to me. Besides I still haven’t been able to properly use my powers still. The only thing I’ve accomplished is reduced my super hearing from happening five times a day to two times a day,” Raito said as they end up stopping in front of Raito’s house.

“If you have you’re own car why do you walk to school everyday?”

“I like having some time alone to just think, that’s how I get my best ideas. Also, thank you for letting me just vent to you. It helped a lot.”

“I know how it feels to feel like you’re alone. I lost both of my parents when I was five and was picked on alot in the orphanage I was in.”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

Flight just gently smiled over at Raito and wanting to change the subject offered Raito a get together to teach him how to better use his powers. Since Flight has had his powers at such a young age he’s learned a few tricks to control his Gift. Raito, with big eyes quickly said yes and the plan was for them to meet up at a nearby park later tonight. Before leaving Flight quickly told Raito to bring a mask as a precaution if anyone were to spot them.

Excited about getting his powers under control, after having dinner with his family Raito quickly ran into his closet to look for something to wear as a mask. That’s when he got the idea of why wear a mask when he could wear a costume. After all, superheroes have to have a costume to hide their true identity. Raito finds an old white shirt and a blue hooded jacket that he decides to cut up to make his outfit. He cut off the hood and tear up the white shirt and quickly sew pieces of the white shirt with hood to make a hooded mask. Raito wore the jacket and sewed some patches on the back that were leftovers from the white shirt. “My name shall be Sound Wave,” Raito shouted to himself in a mirror. “No, that won’t work, it’s way too predictable. I got it, I shall be known as Wave The Master of Sound but please just call me Wave; that’s what my friends call me,” Raito says as he laughs. Seeing that it’s almost time for the meetup, Raito takes off his costume and puts it in a bag so he can change once he’s at the park.
Once at the park Raito changes as fast as he could in his car before getting out. As he starts to walk up to Flight, Flight couldn’t help but burst out in laughter from seeing Raito’s costume. “I said to wear a mask not your halloween costume,” Flight said as he laughs. “Did you come up with a superhero name too? Wait, don’t tell me, it’s Sound Wave isn’t it,” Flight said as he tries to catch his breath.

Raito defended himself by saying “jokes on you, it’s Wave and besides I might as well go all out.”
For the first time in years Raito felt like he actually made a real friend. Being around Flight made him happy. Raito couldn’t help but think that this is what it must feel like to have a friend. Someone you don’t have to hide your personality from and is even a little weird too which balanced everything out. The rage and loneliness he felt his entire high school years seemed to no longer matter. After Flight finally stopped laughing and catched his breath did the training finally begin. “The trick to learning how to control your powers starts off with seeing what you can do. There are somethings that you can do but at the same time there is a limit on what you can do. For example I can fly, give things the ability to fly as long as they’re around me, and take away the ability to fly. What I can’t do is travel at high speeds, give large object the ability to fly, and my influence radius is about 30 feet. So if something is outside my radius my powers won’t affect them. All Gifts have a limit, I was told that it’s a way to make sure Gifts don’t go crazy with their powers,” Flight explained. Flight instructed Raito to close his eyes and instead of trying to suppress his hearing to instead embrace it. Try to see just how far he can hear someone talk and to continue to do it until he can’t go any farther.

“Okay, I’ll give it a try,” Raito said as he closed his eyes. At first all he could hear were the sounds of cars passing by that were near by. Then as he starts to relax he started to hear some people talking that were in front of a nearby house. Raito started to smile now that for once he’s in control of his hearing and started to focus more on what he could hear. Next thing he knew he was able to hear cars driving by but this time these were cars that were about over a mile away. He knew it was mile away because he heard a convenience store door ring that’s about half a mile away before hearing the cars. As Raito starts to open his eyes, with a grin on his face, told flight that he can hear things that are about a mile away from him. Excited to hear about this, Flight informed Raito again that super hearing is only a scratch on what his true abilities are. As the Gift of Sound he can also create and manipulate sound itself. It’s almost impossible to know everything a Gift is capable of doing so there is a trick on mastering their powers. Flight reminded Raito to never forget that Gifts are a type of divine beings that live inside of us and that their powers are instant. Gifts are said to be able to create and destroy with the snap of their fingers.

“So if you’re not sure if you’re capable of doing something you snap your fingers to see if you can. It’s a trick that I was taught,” Flight said has he got his right hand ready to snap. “First you get ready to snap your fingers. Then you think about what you want to do and sort of envision it. Next, pretend like your fingers are like an on and off switch and once you snap your fingers you’re turning on what you envisioned,” Flight explained as he snap his fingers. Right then and there a basketball that was left at the park begins to hover in front of Raito. “Once you get used to it you’ll be able to do this trick in seconds instead of having to concentrate on what you want to happen. But don’t get too dependent on it because you don’t want to get too dependent on it and be in a bad situation where you can’t snap your fingers. It sounds silly I know but I’ve seen it happened before,” Flight said as he snapped his fingers again to stop the ball from hovering. Flight gestured over to Raito for him to try it now. Raito thought to himself on what he wants to see he is capable of doing. He slowly breaths out and closes his eyes to concentrate.

“Big sound burst, big sound burst,” Raito whispered to himself over and over again. Raito snaps his fingers and...nothing ends up happening. Raito tried one more time but again nothing happened. He then turned to Flight “you made it look easier than it really is.” Determined to gain control of his powers he realized that the finger snapping trick won’t work for him. He is in the position to be a hero and to be a hero you have to think like one. Instead of snapping, Raito started to envision himself as Hiro. Raito closes his eyes and slowly breaths in and out. He then slowly opens his eyes and pulls out his right arm with his hand open. “Sounds of Justice!” Raito shouted out. A large sound pulse shoots out of his hand and send the basketball that wear near him flying.

Flight not sure wether to laugh or congratulate Raito simply said, “or you can do that.”

“The problem was I wasn’t thinking like a hero! Snapping your fingers might work for you but I like my way better. Hero’s always name their attacks, that’s what makes them soooo cool,” Raito said as he looks at his hand. This was the first step into being a hero.

As time goes by they eventually stopped the practice to just sit down and relax. Raito started to get pretty tired and was ready to leave but then Flight started to talk. “I used to have a best friend, he was in the orphanage with me. He was the only friend I had, I was sort of picked on alot because I never defended myself. He would beat up anybody that dared laid a finger on me,” Flight said as he looked up in the sky and continued to tell Raito about his past. The two decided to leave the orphanage when they turned thirteen and live on their own. They planned on using Flight’s Gift to travel from Nevada, where they lived, all the way to Florida. Flight used to live in Florida with his parents but moved when he turned five to Nevada. But their plans didn’t end up the way they wanted. Instead they left the orphanage when Flight was nine because they didn’t want to wait any longer. They traveled to Arizona when a human trafficker picked them up. Flight’s memory of what happened after that is very blurry and can’t remember what happened to the trafficker. He just suddenly found himself working with Time Keeper but after working for him for several years Flight found out the type of person Time Keeper was and left. As for his best friend...he stayed and never saw him again. To Flight, his best friend was no longer the same person he once was when they were kids.

“I hope this doesn’t come out as rude but your life kind of sounds like an origin story of a tragic character in a comic book,” Raito said, “I mean leaving an orphanage at the age of nine by using his flying powers sounds unrealistic.”

Flight just laughs in agreement, “it’s getting dark now; you should probably head on home. We can meet up here again at the same time to practice more.”

As Raito starts to heads home from practicing his powers let’s turn our attention to Leech and see what’s he been up too. Most of the time Leech can be found to be in Time Keepers office or at home when he’s not roaming the streets. As Leech enters Time Keeper’s office he sees a man wearing a black suit with a yellow tie and dress shirt. As the door closes the mysteries man looks back to see Leech at the door.

“If it isn’t my favorite person in the world! Leech,” the mysterious man said.

With a slight frown on his face Leech responses with, “if it isn’t Blight. Shouldn’t you be selling some medication to doctors?”

“I am I am, I just have to check in with the boss over here to let him know I need another shipment supply. Already sold everything I had.” Blight then waves over to Time Keeper as he gets ready to leave. As he passes Leech, Blight quickly whispers to Leech that is was nice seeing him again. The door closes behind Blight and Leech quickly looks over at Time Keeper with a disguised looked on his face. Blight is one of the few peoples that can actually make Leech stop smiling. Ever since Blight joined the organization he’s always made Leech angry. It was Blight who first started to call Leech by his new name instead of the Smiling Killer. Blight’s attitude can best be described as a boy who’s having fun playing mafia. Where all Gifts feared Leech, Blight never showed any fear towards him. Blight knew that as long as he obeyed Time Keeper’s orders that Leech would never have a reason to kill him.

Seeing Leech’s anger, Time Keeper quickly explains to Leech that he has a new job for him that will bring back his smile. Time Keeper believes that Blight might be selling some of his supplies to private doctors and hospitals in order to get some extra money. Along with this he believes that Blight started to sell weapons to people on the street. Blight’s need to act like he’s part of the mafia has always made Time Keeper keep an eye on him. Since Blight is a very charismatic guy he uses his skills of being a good talker to avoid suspension and always has a reasonable explanation for his actions. Leech’s job is to find proof that Blight is doing deals behind Time Keeper and if so get rid of him. This news quickly brings a smile onto Leech’s face.

“Nothing will make me happier but that’s going to have to wait. I have some prior business I need to attend too first,” Leech said as he smiled.

“Very well, just make sure you get back to me as soon as possible,” Time Keeper replied with.

Leech snaps his fingers and a black hole appears on the side of a wall for him to use as a door and exits the building. Leech’s prefered style of travelling is by using the Gift of Darkness to create black holes to quickly teleport from one location to another. But Leech wasn’t always known as Leech nor was he always a Gift that other Gifts fear. In fact Leech was originally only a rumor. The rumor was that Time Keeper possessed a Gift who had to ability to steal powers from other Gifts. This rumor was created by Time Keeper himself as a way for other Gifts under him to think twice before acting on their own. This rumor was eventually confirm to be true as Leech became more ignorant that no Gift could possible beat him in a fight and made his existence known by everyone. But before he became Leech he was first known as the Smiling Killer. Back then Leech’s mask wasn’t broken and he only possessed two Gifts, his own Gift and the Gift of Darkness. Just like what Leech does today, back then his main job was to deal with people that were betraying Time Keeper’s trust. This usually meant doing things behind Time Keeper’s back that goes against their orders.

“We have reports that you have been leaking information about a money laundering scheme that you are a part of,” Leech said as the Smiling Killer. His right hand around the neck of a man that thought he could get away trying to leak information about the illegal activities that has been going on in his city. The big bright smile that was on Leech’s mask when it was whole was just as intimidating as his real smile that Leech is famous for now. Nothing is more terrifying than seeing a killer smile, fake or real, as they tortuted you to death. “Time Keeper is trying to achieve world peace and here you are, ruining his plans. Did you not think we have people in law enforcement in order to catch rats like you?” Smiling Killer said as he caressed his hand on the face of his new victim. The amount of fear was so large that the man couldn’t helped but begged and plead for his life to be spared as he accidentaly wet his own pants. Before he knew it all of a sudden Smiling Killer’s arm went right through this man’s chest, killing him. As the Smiling Killer, Leech never really tried to hide his killings because he could easily vanish from the crime scene in seconds. This is why he became well known as the Smiling Killer, witnesses seeing a man wearing a mask with a big smile on it killing what they think to be a random stranger.

These unsolvable crimes made the Smiling Killer a legend that could compete with killers like the Zodiac killer and Jack the Ripper. The crimes of the Smiling Killer were only famous, however, in North America and the death of the Smiling Killer slowly came. Over time Leech ordered Time Keeper to start giving him jobs to do overseas because he was becoming to big and needed the heat to die down. Of course the odds of Leech actually being tried for his crimes were nearly impossible but there was a reason why he didn’t want his identity to be discovered so Time Keeper agreed to his demand. The legend of the Smiling Killer never caught on outside of North America because during this transition he turned into Leech. Leech would only be the Smiling Killer for another year before an incident happened that would change his life. A fire that Leech accidently cause would force Leech into breaking the bottom half of his mask and be the reason why he never took his mask off ever again. Leech might not be able to walk around freely in North America but in Europe he’s able to walk wherever he wants. Leech even became well known around London where he lives. The people there see him as a friendly man not knowing the truth about him. The Smiling Killer died and Leech was born.

As Leech appears inside his own house he began to sit down on his couch and turns on the TV. A woman appears on the screen with two other men who have identify themselves as detectives from the United States. It turns out they were doing a special where they would review and talk about the murders that the Smiling Killer had done since today would be an anniversary since the disappearance of the Smiling Killer. Leech wanted to reminisce about the past and laugh at the information that is clearly false. As the special ends Leech gets ready to do make himself dinner and later go to bed. After today he will be ready to gather information that Blight is doing back deals and is ready to get rid of him.