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Then There Were Ten: CH005
🕑 Added 2025-07-12 19:31:40 +0000 UTCThank you to everyone for joining my patreon. I cannot put it into words how much this means to me, so I'll show it to you instead.
To celebrate my first four patreon members I am going to be posting 4 chapters everyday for the next four days. Two chapters will be for [Then There Were Ten] & two will be for [Megumi Of Ten Shadows]!
Thank you once again for supporting me!
-GodOfHeroes
This is 1/4 of the Upcoming Celebratory Chapters.
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-CHAPTER 5: Civilian I-
-30 Minutes after the Explosion-
Abigail shivered as she tried to take a deep breath but could not stop herself from crying.
Where’s Mom? What happened to Dad? Then the visions started… Of how it all came to be like this.
Is this what psychiatrist’s say happens when you’re about to die? Seeing your whole life flash before your eyes?
It was a nice day, blue bright and clear skies, no loud gunshots that were becoming increasingly common in their area, no news of Cape destruction after Lung was caught by Armsmaster. Maybe for the first time in years, the city had become… peaceful.
Then the news about the robbery the day before broke in the newspaper and everything was back to normal again in Brockton Bay.
Her father dropped her off at Arcadia and went to open up their tech shop that he ran with Mom after wishing her good luck for her monthly math test.
Her day at school also proceeded to be perfect because just like she wanted she got an A+ on the monthly math test- enough that Dad would hold his end of our deal.
For context, Abigail and her friends had made some shopping plans for tomorrow- as schools are closed on Saturdays –and she needed some extra money because she had already used up most of her monthly pocket money. So in the end she made an agreement with her Dad that if she gets good grades on her test then he would pay for her shopping trip.
Of course, he didn’t agree until she had to promise to get an A+ but that was beside the point!
She said goodbyes to her friends, promising to meet up with them tomorrow and then used the bus to get back home. Though, on the way up to her apartment she bumps into a rude blonde boy her age that seemed to be trapped in his own thoughts and doesn’t even apologize for bumping into her! She almost fell because of him! He just hurried off when the lift opened on his floor.
Of course she lets him out of her mind and enters her home not soon after and her mood visibly improves when she finds her Mom at home- because apparently it was a slow day at the shop. Her mood improves even more when Mom promises to make her favorite dish for dinner today- Takoyaki.
It was her mom's signature dish that Abigail had enjoyed for as long as she remembered. But as her mom tells her, it used to be her grandmother’s before and her mother before that.
Abigail’s parents were originally from Japan and immigrated to America after Leviathan hit Kyushu and tanked the country’s economy. Thankfully no one from her family was on the island and they only dealt with the financial fallout of that tragedy.
To grow their family’s fortunes, her father and mother opened a tech shop in Brockton Bay… when its economy wasn’t failing. For the first few years they saw a lot of success, they even opened up another shop!
Seeing the success, they celebrated and nine months later she was born.
But of course, in the world of business what goes up would also come down. Because the growth slowed, and slowed, and slowed again until today they were barely swimming by.
Abigail did worry for her parents sometimes, how they overworked themselves to look after her and the shop but her parents always assured her that it was what business was like. In the end she trusted them and focused on her studies so that when she joins her parents in the business, she would take it to new heights!
It was her dream… To take the burdens her parents had on their shoulders constantly and to give them a life of luxury and rest… Wasn’t that what every child wanted for their parents?
Abigail once again shivered as she thought where it had all gone wrong…
She was having dinner with her parents. They were laughing. She was laughing. And all of them were happy in their small but peaceful lives…
And then a loud noise, a flash, the building shaking and the ceiling collapsing down upon them all.
Maybe it was a blessing- or a curse -but she didn’t black out. To her horror and helplessness, she had watched- almost in slow motion- as a huge chunk of rock hit her Dad’s back and a metal rod go through her Mom’s stomach.
And then… darkness. She was trapped as the building collapsed. Somehow she had survived but at what cost? She could not feel her spine, could not feel her legs…
Blood everywhere…. Darkness…
She was trapped, and her death was just an inevitable fact… She could do nothing but look back at her life and regret. Somehow though, she got the strength to hope and pray for her parents and that they make it out of this disaster alive and safe.
It may be a fool’s gamble but… please God. Please protect my family!
But as coldness began spreading throughout her body, she understood that the end was near and couldn’t hold back her fear at it. Her lips quivered as she cried. “I don’t want to die!”
And then… things got weird.
…boom!
Abigail stopped crying in fright. Are the explosions beginning again!?
…boom!
She tiredly frowned, her heart still thundering in her ears from her fright. No… this is different.
And then-
CRACK!
The huge rock trapping her from the outside world moved. For a few moments Abigail feared that she would be crushed but no… the huge boulder sized rock lifted up as if carried by someone.
Whoosh~!
One moment she was trapped in the darkness, with depleting oxygen and grievous bleeding wounds. Then in the next moment light broke into the opening, and someone grabbed her at supernatural speed yet in a gentle way…
And the words he spoke were forever etched into her memory. A deep, strong, yet kind voice filled her ears. “Don’t worry now. I’m here.”
The words were spoken gently, yet they conveyed their deeper meaning as Abigail subconsciously relaxed. The words were spoken as if they were a fact. Like they were a statement that everything would be alright now.
And Abigail believed him. She didn’t know why, but she just did.
Strong, warm and firm hands held onto her gently as they carried her out of hell. Her rescuer, a blonde, fair skinned but extremely buff and muscled man- who looked familiar - kindly smiled down at her as he carried her.
That was when she realized who he was- it was the boy she had bumped into on the way to her apartment! But he had inexplicably changed…
What happened to him? Abigail absentmindedly wondered as her eyes felt heavy. How did he change so much in just a few hours?
But of course there was only one possible explanation as to why… The boy had become a parahuman.
Shouldn’t he be wearing a mask then? Isn’t this pretty dangerous for him? She still remembered when one of her personal idols, Fleur was killed by a thug because of her identity being public.
But she didn’t get a chance to continue her thoughts, nor express her concerns because just as fast as she was rescued by the hero, he was just as quick in handing her into the care of an EMT and running off to rescue more people.
And as she looked at his wide and strong figure charging straight into the flames to rescue people, she could only admire him for his bravery.
And hope… Hope against all odds that her saviour could also save her parents like he saved her.
…
[EDITED FOR SPELLING MISTAKES]
