Transform Me (A "Shatter Me" Trilogy Fanfiction)

THIRTY-SIX: TAKEOFF

36: Takeoff

It's 4:30am and a little over a hundred people are congregated in Souseiki Dousa's hangar. After a few more minutes of preparations, we'll finally be ready to take off. The tension in the room is so thick, it almost feels tangible.

I scan the crowded room of familiar faces, but the one person I'm looking for is nowhere to be found. As soon as I had given him my final farewell in the library less than an hour ago, I had forced myself to walk away. He didn't come running after me, and it's ridiculous that I'd expected him to. I know he needs some time to himself right now after what I'd done to him, but I hope he won't take too long. We're on a schedule, after all.

Every time the doors open, I feel my heart lurch, half-expecting to finally see him walk through. But every time, I'd be greeted with disappointment.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Warner's voice jolts me out of my thoughts.

"What?"

"I've been calling out your name for the past minute."

"Is something bothering you?" Juliette adds with a concerned look on her face. My eyes are probably all red and puffy right now, but at this point, I'm too emotionally drained to care. "I don't see Kenji anywhere."

"He'll be here in a while." I reply, my voice sounding distant.

"Well, we can't afford to waste any more time. We'll have to practice without him." Warner says dismissively. "Are you ready?"

I nod. "Let's do this."

Taking deep breaths, I close my eyes and focus on harnessing my Energy. Then I feel myself begin to shapeshift into the person whose heart I'd fractured only minutes ago. I've absorbed so much of his DNA that changing into him no longer requires much effort from me.

"Remarkable. You look exactly like him." Warner is visibly impressed. "Okay. Now my turn."

I stand in amazement as I see him morph into Kenji as well. It takes a few seconds longer for him to do this though. But still. I've never seen anyone but myself do something like this, and witnessing such an extraordinary moment makes me wonder if this is how people feel when they see me change.

Once his transformation is complete, Warner stretches out his arms before him and inspects the rest of his body. "Fascinating. Now let's see how well we can replicate his ability."

"Holy shit."

We all freeze, then simultaneously turn towards the source of the highly inappropriate remark. I only know one person who could ever say anything like that at a time like this.

"This is fucking insane!" Kenji's eyes are as wide as saucers. "Well, you know, in a strangely cool sort of way."

"I was beginning to wonder when you'd show up." Juliette tells him as he approaches us.

"Never in my life did I expect a day like this to come where I'd see two of myself standing in front of me. I mean, I know one Kenji is awesome enough, but three? That's, like, three times the amazingness! This is so cool! I mean, I know it's still you guys in there, although I can't even tell which one is which."

"Stop talking, Kishimoto. You sound like an idiot." Warner chides.

"Ah. I think I've figured out which one Sir Blondie is." Kenji grins. "Shit. You even sound like me, bro. I can honestly say that this is by far the second strangest thing that's ever happened to me."

"What's the first?" Juliette asks, then thinks against it. "Never mind. Forget I asked."

Lips pursed, Kenji narrows his eyes as he inspects both of us. I stand rigid under his scrutiny, but deep down, I'm amazed with the way he's acting. He's just like his normal self, as if he didn't just have his feelings harshly rejected less than an hour ago. However, it feels a tad bit too forced, like he's trying too hard to put on this carefree façade. Even then, no one would ever be able to figure out he was hurting inside.