Three and a half years.
Three and a half years, and not a single person I recognized has come to visit.
I stare blankly at the ice encasing me, my thoughts swirling in a vortex of anger and frustration. I've been here so long, I'm not sure if I even remember what it feels like to stand. To move. I just feel the cold.
I'm a symbol now, they say.
A symbol of strength. Of survival.
But that's all I am to them now. A tourist attraction.
My body is frozen in time, but my mind? My mind is wide awake, acutely aware of everything happening around me. Every day, crowds pass by, pointing at the ice that holds me in place. The cameras flash. They come in groups, families and schoolchildren. They look at me, say their words—words of admiration, of how I saved everyone that day. How I killed the beetle, the monster.
But none of them know what it's like. They don't understand.
I saved them. I fought to the very last breath. I wanted to protect my friends, my family. But now, I'm nothing more than a display.
They don't even care enough to check on me.
I wanted to see my mom again, but I've been here, trapped, forgotten. Three and a half years of being nothing more than a memory.
I wanted to see Benny, to hear Threya's voice, to feel something other than the ice that traps me in this frozen state. But as the years go by, I'm losing hope. Losing myself.
What was the point?
I saved them, and for what? To be a monument? A cash cow for their businesses and museums? To be worshipped from a distance, but not truly cared about?
I'm nothing to them anymore. I was never anything more than a tool.
I give up.
There's nothing left for me now.
Benny's heart pounded in his chest as he swung his sword through the air. His movements were calculated, precise—he was no longer the same person who had once been scared and unsure.
He was training to enter the most prestigious college academy for heroes now, the one every student dreamt of. The one that would determine their futures. His future.
But as he continued training, a part of him still couldn't shake the memories of Akio.
The day Akio had touched the glowing object, the day everything had changed. The day Akio had disappeared into ice.
The remaining students, now dubbed the Flagbearers of the United States, had risen to fame in the years since. They had become symbols themselves, living the life Akio had been denied.
The nine of them—Benny, Threya, Montiro, Toma, Frank, Kenya, Emi, and the rest—were all the strongest, the brightest. The best. They had made names for themselves in the months following the battle with the beetle. The fight that had cost Akio so much.
They had all been sponsored. Money and fame were thrown at them like confetti. Sponsors lined up to represent the next generation of heroes. They were getting everything Akio had never been given.
Except for one thing.
None of them had forgotten Akio, not in the way that mattered.
It wasn't like how everyone else had moved on, how they treated the battle as a distant memory, a story to tell and retell. They remembered Akio.
But there was nothing they could do.
And Benny hated that. He hated himself for letting time slip away. He hated how the world had taken his friend's sacrifice and turned it into nothing more than an event to sell.
But Benny couldn't bring Akio back. No one could.
So all he could do was move forward.
The rest of the Flagbearers were doing it. They were going to the academy, training to be the next generation of heroes. They were getting their power boosts—rumors had spread that each one of them had gained a mysterious 10% power boost after the battle with the beetle. Some even speculated that the power came from the monster's final moments, a sort of lingering gift.
But Benny didn't care about the extra power. He didn't care about the fame, or the money, or any of that. All he cared about was Akio, and what had happened to him.
Threya, Montiro, and the others had all moved on. They had their own futures to worry about. They were going to be the best of the best. The ones who would carry the legacy of the Flagbearers into the future. But for Benny? He couldn't shake the guilt.
He couldn't stop thinking about the day Akio disappeared.
He wondered, with every passing day, if Akio was still trapped in that frozen state, unable to do anything but exist in the silence.
Benny's sword swung through the air again, his movements as smooth as ever, but his mind wasn't focused. It was on Akio.
What had happened to him? Was he really gone? Or had he just been forgotten?