Two Sides One System

Chapter 2: (Part 3)

~BadBoyHalo~

(T/W: self-harm scars, blood)

Bad awoke with a gasp, panting in surprise. The edges of the nightmare blur into the familiar air of his bedroom. He reaches to his face, feeling phantom tears against his cheeks. In the nightmare, he had been crying. Crying and laughing.

The nightmare was rapidly receding into the back of his brain, but his heart was still fluttering in panic. By the time he had gotten dressed and was walking out of his room, he couldn't remember it. Pulling out the small card that had been placed in his pocket, he discarded it on the floor. It probably wasn't important anyway. Lazily, Bad slid on a hoodie over his t-shirt, yawning as he walked into the bathroom.

He leaned down, turning the faucet on and splashing cold water on his face. He grabbed a towel and drying off the water he rubbed his face and looked in the mirror. The shadow thing from yesterday wasn't there. Good, hopefully, he was just hallucinating. Not that that'd be great, but it seemed better than some mysterious demon stalker.

"Wow, looks like something is going right today for once." He smiled at his reflection while setting his glasses on his nose, walking out of the bathroom.

It was only 9 am, meaning Quackity was going to be taking his test already and wouldn't be down at the cafe. Bad stood thinking for a moment, then walking out of his apartment and down the street to the park. It was his 16th birthday, so why not try and see if a miracle would occur and he would get some sort of power. Hah, who was he kidding, that was impossible.

Jogging slightly down the street he gave a good look around the town. Very few people were out, a few birds were chirping and he watched one divebomb something on the ground. The small town he lived in was always peaceful, at least, when nobody was causing trouble.

Bad snapped out of his thoughts as he approached the park, for such a small town, they had a massive community park. A lot of money went into it so a nature preserve could be set up though, which made this one of Bad's most favorite places in the entire world.

The place was empty as he slowed and started walking down a nearby trail. Looking around he already saw a doe and fawn wandering the outskirts of the wooded side of the trail. He smiled, wishing he had brought some oats for the animals. Bad and the deer made eye contact, and they bounded away into the woods.

He sighed and continued down the trail, keeping an eye out for any more animals.

...

After wandering the trails for at most an hour, he decided to head back home and get ready for his test. The street was already a bit busy with people heading to work and shopping. Bad was glad he decided to go home now, as by noon it would be heavily busy in this side of town.

A few shouts were heard as two figures darted down the middle of the road. Bad looked up to see a well-known hero, Grian, chasing a group of maybe Criminal rankers. Grian was attempting to block off any routes the villains could use to escape. People were holding their phones out, recording the scene before them. Bad sheepishly backed away as far as he could, putting himself right up against a wall as he watched this play out, managing to run into someone. He frantically apologized and stumbled away. They just laughed and exclaimed, "Hey it's fine! But can you believe it? It's really Grian, the number six hero! I wonder if his partner, Pearlescent Moon, is around, I heard she recently got Pro-Hero rank..."

"Uh... um-! Yeah, really... cool."

The person nodded excitedly. "I just can't believe a hero with such a common power managed to get so high in the popularity charts! Won't be long until they get Super-hero rank." They sighed happily. Bad nodded awkwardly, shrinking into himself. Fortunately, they pushed through the crowd to get a better look at the scene, leaving Bad alone.