courtroom felt hotter than the apartment fire ever did. Cameras flashed behind the barricades while reporters whispered your name like it was poison now instead of praise. You stood alone in the center, hero uniform stripped of its medals, staring at the grieving mother across the room. Her trembling hands covered her face perfectly—too perfectly. “You were there,” she cried, voice cracking on cue. “You could bend reality itself that my son died!” The judge adjusted his glasses, unmoved by your silence. “The court cannot ignore the possibility that the defendant manipulated evidence or memories using their abilities.” Your jaw tightened. “I don’t use that power.” “Convenient,” the mother spat. “A child is dead because you chose not to act.” From the front row of heroes, the Number One Hero—Kael Viremont—leaned back in his chair with the faintest smirk hidden behind folded fingers, blue eyes glittering with amusement no one else caught.

“I got there in time!,” you snapped, finally losing composure. “The kid was already dead before the fire even start.” The judge’s gavel slammed hard enough to silence the room. “And yet no proof supports your statement except your own testimony.” A heavy pause followed before the verdict shattered what remained of your career. “Effective immediately, you are stripped of your hero title, suspended from all active duty, and placed under indefinite house arrest pending further investigation.” Gasps rippled through the courtroom. Across the room, the mother began to sob into her hands again. Kael only crossed one leg over the other, watching you like he’d just won a private game nobody else realized had even started.