Fate. A word meaning that something is bound to happen. Or that you're bonded to someone. It seems like a little thing to some, but I know that it is a very big deal. Fate is a person’s destiny, and whether one likes it or not, Fate will never change. Fate is not just some made-up story. Also, it is not a wish come true. In some cases, that four letter word can be a very, very bad thing. A disaster.

 

        A disaster that no one, nothing, not even time can stop.

 

        My name is Heat, and I am going to tell you about my experience with Fate.

2: Timeline : 2086, Location : Garden State

Timeline : 2086

               Location : Garden State

    I’m on edge here. Literally.  

 

    The hair on the back of my neck sticking up shows how scared I am. It makes no sense to be scared. I’ve done this before. Looking down, I gasp at the height I’m at. I take as much air into my cheeks as possible, and jump.   

    Fear. It is something that haunts me everyday. I still don’t know why, but heights terrify  me. Even though I’ve jumped from cliffs dozens of times. I guess it’s a fear that I’ll never conquer.  

 

    Eyes shut, I bend my knees, press a button on my shoes, and called out the command  “Rocket!”. My eyes flew open, and in an instant, I am flying. I am soaring free. I am...I am...  

 

    “Too high up! Too high up! Augh!” I can be such a coward sometimes.  

 

    “Oi, Heat! What’re you yelling for?” My friend, and boss, shouted through my earpiece.  

 

    “How high am I supposed to go?” My eyes were squeezed shut again.  

 

    “Don’t worry, you’re almost there.”  

 

    “You didn’t answer my question.”   

 

    “You’re going pretty high, about 30,000 feet left.”  

 

.    “SNAAAAAAKE!” I yelled into his ear.  

 

    “I know, I know. You don’t like heights. But don’t worry. Just hang on tight, ‘kay? You’ll be fine.”  

 

    ‘No, I won’t.” I thought, sighing to myself. I forced myself not to look down. Pretty soon, I could see a floating platform. “Am I supposed to land on that?”  

 

    “Uh-huh” As soon my feet touched the solid, metal platform, I sighed out of relief. I absolutely HATED flying, but it was part of my job.   

 

    “So, what am I looking for?”  

 

    “Just wait for it.” I waited for it. And it came.  

 

    “Woah!” I jumped back, startled. A girl appeared before me. But not just any girl. “Moon, what are you doing here?”  

 

    Moon was a thirteen-year-old girl with white hair, light blue eyes, and skin so pale you could only call it white. The girl blinked up at me, smiling.

 

    “Hello, Mr. Heat Ray!” I frowned.

 

    “You’re saying it wrong again. It’s Heatwave.” It’s funny, actually. Heat is my first name,  and Heatwave is my nickname, tho it sounds like it should be the other way around. “You didn’t answer my question.”

 

    “I’m gonna be your partner for your new mission!” I raised my eyebrow and spoke into my earpiece.

 

    “Snake, why are you sending this kid on a mission?”

 

    “I’m not a kid, I’m thirteen years old!” I ignored her.

 

    “I don’t think she’s ready for a mission, especially one of mine.”

 

    “I am ready for a mission!” The white-haired girl pouted, crossing her arms. “Look, I may be small, but what I lack in size, I can make up with speed! Also, because of my size, I can crawl through vents and small tunnels, and I can quickly make my way out of an attack!”

 

    “I know that, Moon, but you’re still training.”

 

    “I’ll have you know I’m almost done with my training!”

 

    “Wait, what? But you just started last year!” I exclaimed.  

 

    “Girl’s a fast learner.” Snake commented through the communicator.

 

‘Since when? Whenever I try to teach her anything, her mind stays blank!’ Boss must have read my mind, because he started started laughing.  

 

“You must be a bad teacher, huh, Heatwave?”

 

“He sure is! I couldn’t learn nothin’ from him!” I decided to change the subject.  

 

“By the way, Snake, what is our mission?”  

 

“Your mission is to save a girl named Rain.”

“Last name?”  

 

“Puddle.”

 

“Rain Puddle?” Moon and I exclaimed at once.   

 

“What’s wrong with a name like that?”  

 

“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.” Moon gaped at me.  

 

“Nothing! What do you mean, nothing? Her name is Rain Puddle! Rain. Puddle.”  

 

“Well, you’re name is Moon Crystal.” I pointed out.  

 

“Well, your name is-!”  

 

“Would you two stop arguing and get back to business?” Snake commanded.  

 

“Alright, alright, fine. Let me look at the girl’s Profile.” I opened my Pad. As soon as I took it out, Moon squealed.  

 

“Oh my gosh, you have an Air Pad?! When did you get one? How did you get one? They’re so expensive!” Once again, I raised an eyebrow at the girl who was currently hovering around me.

 

“You know I’m rich, right?”  

 

“Can I play a game on it? Do you have Soul Chasers? Download it, download it!”  

 

“Um, hello? I’m working here?”  

 

“Oh. Right,” Moon giggled. “Can I use your Pad when we’re done?” I let out an  exasperated sigh. “You can use my Pad later. Just stop bothering me.” The thirteen-year-old let  out a scream of delight and leaped into the air. She flew around in circles yelling in a happy manner. What a child.  

 

And, before you ask, yes, Moon can fly. Literally. I did say she was hovering around, didn’t I? Flying is just one of the abilities the kid was born with. And teleporting. Remember when Moon appeared out of nowhere? Well, now you know how.

 

Now you’re probably wondering what I’m talking about. You might be thinking, “Abilities? What do you mean by that? I haven’t an inkling of what this man is telling me!”  Well, I’ll explain.  

 

Most people in this time era are born with what the people of your time would call “super powers”. Oh, you know what I’m talking about. Things like flying and mind reading. Mind control, and super strength. I for one am able to control the minds of anyone, and can get them to say or do anything I please. Perfect for blackmailing.  

 

But that’s not the only thing I can do. I have a few more abilities, but my most powerful ability - the one that people refer to as my “true power”- is, well, why don’t you guess? It’s not that hard, just think of my name. You finished guessing? My most powerful ability is controlling fire.  

 

I’m sure you guessed right. If you guessed wrong, well. I’m not sure what to say to that. My nickname isn’t Heatwave for nothing!

    

    Now that you know about abilities, I should probably continue my story.

    “Hey, Moon. You should take a look at this.” I moved my fingers along the surface of the A-Pad, scrolling through Puddle’s Profile. “According to her Profile, the girl was kidnapped, then murdered.”  

    “How old?”

    “Only twelve.”

    You guys must be even more confused. I know what you’re thinking. “How can you save someone who’s already dead?” Well, it’s just what I do. Wanna know what my job is?

I’m a Time Police.  

 

I go back in time to save those that died in horrible ways, such as murder. We also save those that cause some kind of disturbance in the Ripple of Time. What’s that? You want to know what the Ripple of Time is? We’ll get to that later.  

 

Oh, and before you ask, Time Police don’t go as far back as your time. You’re not really supposed to know that time travel exists - or, at least in your case, will exist.  

 

Showing more stuff on Puddle’s Profile to Moon, I continued to talk. “We’re going to have to get there before the kidnapping happened. If we don’t-”  

 

“We would have to deal with the kidnappers, I know.” Moon rolled her blue orbs at me. They’re so stun - I mean, it’s so annoying when she does that. Seriously, it’s like she thinks she’s older than me! Jeez.  

 

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, little girl.”  

 

“Hey! I’m not little! Stop calling me that!”   

 

“I’ll stop calling you little when aliens invade our planet.” I closed the A-Pad. “Alright! Let’s get to base!” I stared down at Moon. She stared back.  

 

“What? What’re you staring for?”  

 

“Teleport me?”  

 

“Why should I teleport you? You can fly.”  

 

“Are you serious?” I shook my head. “I am not flying. Don’t you see how high this platform is?” I pointed downwards. “It’s higher than the cliff I jumped earlier!” The thirteen-year-old stared at me. She rolled her eyes.   

 

And then she pushed me off the platform.

Fear. I swear sometimes, it’s my worse enemy.

 

I’m not sure, but I think I started crying.

You know what happened next? One minute, I’m free-falling thousands of feet from the sky, and the next Moon is grabbing my hands and telling me to pull myself together, stop crying, stop being such a baby. I can barely hear her words, what with my screaming and all.

I’m grabbing Moon, and I’m hyperventilating. I’m grabbing at her arms, her face, her head, her everything -  

Wait. Her everything?

…

Gosh, that sounded sexual.

...Too sexual for my liking.

Anyway, I’m grabbing at Moon’s arms and head, and I’m yelling at her. Telling her off for pushing me off the stupid platform.  

“The heck is wrong with you? The heck is wrong with you? Why’d you push me? Why are you so cruel?”

“Because.” Moon answered. As if that answers everything.

In case you were wondering, Moon and I are still floating. I’m clutching this girl as if she’s my last hope of survival - and she kind of is.

“Uhh...Are you going to teleport us anytime soon? To a place where my feet can touch the ground?” My voice was cracking. I couldn’t help it - I was desperately trying not to look down. Moon rolled her eyes at me again.

 

“You are such a cliffhanger.” I blushed, knowing that it’s true. “Cliffhanger” is just a rude word used to describe someone who’s afraid of heights. And that’s what I am.

“You don’t have to say that. I know what I’m afraid of.”

With that, Moon teleported the two of us away.

 

3: Location : Garden State, Area : Newark

Date : 5/13/86

    Location : Garden State

 Area : Newark

 

        Moon teleported the two of us away, and in a flash, we’re at our Headquarters. I opened my eyes, and realized we weren’t on the right floor of the building. I sighed. Typical of Moon to not take us to the exact destination we’re supposed to go.

    “Are you gonna let go yet?” The pre-teen asked. It was then that I realized I was still hanging on to her.

    “Sorry,” I apologized as I let the girl go. “Is there a reason you teleported us to the wrong  floor?”

    “What, don’t feel like walking?”

    “There was no point in taking us to this floor.”

    “You’re just being lazy.” I sighed, and decided not to let my annoyance get to me. As we neared the elevator, I heard someone calling us. I turned around to face a teenager with light blue hair and eyes the same color as Moon’s.

    “Oh, hey, Snow.”

    “Snow, what are you doing here?”

    “What? Can’t see my baby sister?” Moon ran over to the boy and hugged him. Snow picked her up and swung her around.

    Yep. That’s right. Moon has a brother : Snow Crystal. Though he says he’s gonna change his last name to Flake or something. ‘Cause he thinks Crystal sounds too girly. Or something.

    “How’ve you been, Moony?”

    “Great! And you?”

    “Just perfect! How’s it going, Heatwave?”

    “Fine, just fine. It’s nice to see you again, Crystal.” I smirked, knowing that I'd spite him. Snow frowned, then shook his head at me.

    “Yeah, go on and tease me, Ace.” I frown at this.

    Ace. ‘A’, ‘C’, and ‘E’ are the first three letters of my last name. And I don’t like that nickname.

    What’s that? You want to know my last name? Um...Why don’t I tell you later?

    “Don’t call me that,” I replied.

    “Don’t call me Crystal,” Snow retorted. I sighed again.

    “So, did you come to visit, or for business?” I asked.

    “Both.”

    “I see. What are you doing today?”

    “I’m teaching the newer trainees to attack using their abilities.”

    “Oh, I remember doing that! I was the first one in my class to get it right!” Moon boasted.

    “You don’t have to brag about it.”

    “What’s wrong, Heat? Were you the last of your class to do it?”

    “No. I remember. I was one of the first to understand how to do it. It was pretty fun.”

    “Heh. You were only one of the first. I was the first.” I rolled my eyes. That girl is so conceited sometimes.

    “So, Snow. Is training the children fun?” I asked the big brother.

    “Usually, yeah. Unless the kids are misbehaving. Then nothing’s fun anymore.”

    “Of course. Misbehaving kids is never a fun thing to deal with. I know from experience.” At this, I looked straight down at Moon. Her mouth dropped in surprise. She then glared at me in anger.

    “Hey! I’m not a kid!”

    “I know. But I knew you when you were one.”

    “I didn’t misbehave! Much.” I finally found a reason to roll my eyes at her. Snow shook his head at us.

    “So, Heat. You working on a new mission?”

    “Yup. And Moon is my partner in justice.” The younger sister looked at me strangely.

    “No one says that.”

    “Shut up, child.”

    “I’m not a child!”

    “You are younger than seventeen. You are, in society’s eye’s, a child.”

    “Before you guys go into a full blown fight,” Snow started. “can I at least know what your mission is?”

    “We have to save a twelve-year-old girl named Rain Puddle.” Moon and I stared at Snow in wait. The teen’s mouth twitched upward.

    “It’s-it’s not funny. It’s not-oh gosh!” Snow burst out laughing. “It’s seriously not funny!”  

    “Yeah, Snow. It’s so not funny you just have to laugh.” I shook my head at the teen. “Well, we should really be going now. It was nice seeing you again, Snow.”

    “Same to you, Heat. See ya later, Moony.”

    “Later, Snow!” And so, we parted ways.

    “Your brother can be pretty funny, Moon.”

    “Yeah, I know.” At this point, the two of us were in front of  a large, important looking door. This was Boss’s office. I opened the door, and we stepped inside.  

    In the office was a desk, a computer monitor, a bunch of gadgets that don’t exist in your time, and countless family photos. Most of the pictures were of the Boss and his twin daughters.

    The Boss himself was seated on a (floating) chair, hunched over his desk and writing something down. Even though he knew we entered the room (which was obvious-Boss knows when someone enters his office), he hadn’t yet acknowledged us. This was our queue to wait.

    See, if we were to go up to him and interrupt whatever it is he’s doing, he’d explode in anger. Which would cause things to fly around the room. Which, in turn, would cause someone  to get hurt.

    Boss doesn’t like being bothered.

    Finally, Boss looks up at us. And then he just stares.

    Boss. Real name? Snake Venom. Hair color? Dark green. Height? How should I know? Don’t ask me! Eyes? Yellow. Personality? That’s a little hard to explain.

    See, while sometimes the Boss will seem chipper and happy doing whatever, other times, he’ll be mad at everyone and everything. It only takes one little thing to get Snake mad, and a whole lot to get him happy.

    The fact that Boss is just staring blankly at Moon and I shows that he’s not as cheery as he was when we were speaking to him through our communicators.

    Which wasn’t that long ago.

    Chin in his hands, Snake stares at us a while longer before letting out a long sigh.

    “Alright. Let’s get this over with.” I raised a brow.

    “What’s wrong?”

    “Nothing. Nothing important.” Our boss stood up and walked in front of us. He towered over me. I stared up at him, no emotion on my face.After a few minutes passed, I raised my eyebrow again.

    “Do you need something, Boss?”

    “Yes. I need you two to get going on your mission. Grab whatever surprises from the surprise closet and get out of my office.” He turned back to his desk.

    Now, I knew better than to correct Boss’s  mistakes, but apparently, Moon didn’t.  

    “You mean supply closet?”

    “Moon-” I started, but I was interrupted.

    “That’s what I said.”

    “No, you said ‘surprise’. It’s ‘supplies’.” Boss turned around slowly, and took a step with each word he spoke.

    “That’s. What. I. Said.” He stood over Moon. “Got it?”

    “Yup. Got it, Sir.” I pulled Moon away by the arm.

    “Are you trying to get fired from a job you haven’t even been hired for yet?” I hissed.

    “What did I do?”

    “Boss makes those mistakes all the time. Don’t fix them. That’ll get him mad.”

    “Seriously? I was only trying to help…”

    “Look, he’s already in a bad mood. Don’t make things worse.” I let go of Moon’s arm and went over to the green-haired man. He was lighting a cigarette. That wasn’t a good sign.

    “Snake, what’s troubling you? You only smoke when something bad happens.” Snake looked at me with eyes filled with complete sadness, and I felt a wave of emotions flood my chest.

    Dang empathy.

    “There’s another rip in the ROT.”

    Rip in the ROT. This means that the Ripple of Time (AKA ROT) has been disturbed again.

    “What happened this time?” Moon queried. Snake turned away from us. And he said one word. And that single world made my world freeze into a world of Icy Darkness.

    “Mirror.”

4: Time Freeze : 0900

   Time Freeze : 0900

 

    My world was frozen into a world of Icy Darkness.

    Mirror.

    Mirror was the disturbance?

    Oh. Gosh.

    Just no.

    What mirror? No, no, no, no ,no. You mean who’s Mirror.

    Mirror was Snake’s younger sister.

    She was also my best friend.

    Not only was she my best friend, but she was also the only one who wanted to be my friend when we were in school.

    But now she’s gone.

    There are certain rules that Time Police must follow. One of the most important rules is that if someone dies while they are in the Ripple of Time, we are not allowed to get them back. Therefore, we have to work fast to get to the Lost Person.

    As if it’s hard enough just getting to the ROT.

    When Snake spoke that girl’s name, the room started to spin, and I fell. My knees hit the ground, hard, but I barely registered it. I was too busy hyperventilating to notice any physical pain. As the world spun and made me dizzy, I felt a strange feeling in my chest and throat, and was sure I was hearing someone screaming. Then I realized the scream I was hearing was my own.

    Snake pulled me up to my feet and started shaking me. When he was done manhandling me,the Boss looked me in the eye and said this :

    “It makes sense to take this hard. I understand, I took it hard, too. But screaming our lungs out isn’t going to do anything. We need to save her. Now.”

    “B-but she’s in the ROT, and she could die and we’ll never see her again, because we wouldn’t be able to save her and if she dies in there, we’ll never, ever see her again, and I can’t stand the thought-!”

    “THEN SHUT UP!” Snake shook me around some more, and I thought I would end up loosing my breakfast. “I can’t stand the thought of it, either. She’s my sister, Heat. I don’t want to lose her. The very thought-”

    “Then don’t think!” Moon shouted. I had completely forgotten that she was there. “Just don’t think about it! Thinking it and saying it won’t make things any better! So just don’t think!”

    There was complete silence for a few seconds. Snake nodded.

    “She’s right. We can’t think about it. We need to go rescue her.” By this point, I was no longer going crazy.

    “Hold on, what about Puddle? Who will save her?”

    “She can wait. Mirror can’t. We are going to save her, no matter what. Mirror will not die.” Snake had spoken slow and clear, his face determined. I felt my panicked facial expression harden into a look that matched Snake’s. I nodded. We would save her. We wouldn’t fail.

    We didn’t have much time.