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nMako stared at Bill’s hand lost in thought. Thousands of different things were going around his head; his past, relationships, friends, promises, and life. All of them were making it so conflicting to choose whether to take Bill’s hand or not.

nOn one hand, he wanted to keep his promises to his grandmother, great-grandfather, Bill, and Sir Derek. He wanted to become strong enough so that he could make an impact on the world and steer it toward a better future. All of this was compelling him to take Bill’s hand.

nWhile on the other hand, all of Mako’s deepest fears were starting to emerge. He started having visions in his hand of losing his grip and falling to death. His consciousness kept trying to persuade his emotions to not take such a risk.

nMemories of the past started filling Mako’s brain.

n**************

nIt was a time when he had just lost his grandmother and was quite weak emotionally. He had been bullied and beaten his entire life, but his grandmother was always there to repair the damage and heal his body and soul, until one day she wasn’t. The sadness and anger tore him apart until he snapped one day.

nThis was the first time Mako had ever fought back, and it was against his bully from middle school. The rage and anger blinded him as he continued hitting the boy. At first, he had the upper hand as he had taken the bully by surprise but soon the tables turned and he received yet another beating; this one being more intense than ever before.

nTime slowed down as Mako could remember, the bully and his friends laughing as they walked away leaving a bruised and bleeding young Mako on the side of the street.

n‘Remember… Remember… Remember the time when you tried to face your fears? You were always afraid of fighting; afraid of getting hurt. Look what happened when you let emotions control you, you get more hurt, you get more broken.’ A voice came from within the memory.

nMako couldn’t understand who could speak to him in his own memory, but the answer soon revealed itself.

nMako could see that standing beside the young Mako who was crying while lying on the side of the street was another Mako. This one being more mature and bigger than the one on the floor. It looked like a clone of himself.

n“Who are you?” Mako asked.

n‘Isn’t it obvious to you, already? I AM YOU! I am your conscious, I am what stops you from making stupid mistakes and getting hurt.’ The other Mako replied.

nMako couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He had visited his memories like everybody else all the time, but something like this never happened to him.

n“Why now! Why do you choose to present yourself now?!” Mako asked in frustration to his conscious.

n‘It is because you are thinking about doing the stupidest thing ever. You are trying to kill yourself! I have to make you remember, what it feels like when you let your emotions consume you.’ The conscious replied.

n‘You get beaten!’ The memory changed to Mako standing up to Bill during the duel and getting beaten yet again.

n‘You hurt yourself!’ The memory changed to Mako breaking his hand by punching a tree in excitement to test his new skills.

n‘You jump ahead when you are not ready!’ The memory changed to when Mako first faced off against Rhino and how close he was to dying.

n‘You kill other people!’ The memory changed to when Mako used his Rage mode for the first time against those gangsters and ended up killing them. 𝒆𝙣𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝙚𝙩

n“STOP! STOP! STOP IT PLEASE…” Mako could not bear to see all his memories played back in front of him. It was true that he was given a gift of intelligence and had been wasted making such awful decisions.

n‘The only way to make it stop is to stop yourself. Save yourself and don’t jump out of this plane. Remember, Math was our favorite subject, and if we talk about probability, there is a high chance that you will die trying to prove yourself and would let everyone down.’ The conscious changed the memories to show images of all those Mako cared about.

nMako collapsed in defeat. His conscious was right after all. He had made all those mistakes due to being overwhelmed by his emotions. Maybe he should just listen to his conscious for once. All it wanted was for him to be safe, so it should be better just to obey his instructs, right?

n“Mako! What are you doing?!” A familiar feminine voice entered Mako’s ears.

nMako quickly looked up to see that instead of his conscious standing in front of him, it was his grandmother. She was wearing a beautiful white dress and looked as beautiful as Mako saw her last.

n“Gran-Gran?” Mako asked in disbelief as he had already started crying. Tears were dripping down his face.

n“Yes, dear. I am here for you!” Amy replied.

nMako’s emotions were at an all-time high as he bolted toward his grandmother at full speed and gave her a big hug.

nAmy was not affected by Mako’s speed or momentum as she stayed in place and wrapped Mako in a tight embrace. Mako started having a complete mental breakdown in his grandmother’s arms as he couldn’t take the pressure anymore.

n“Gran-Gran I tried my best, I tried to do the right thing, I trained every day and became strong, but… I can’t! I can’t do this! I am too scared to try!” Mako kept mumbling on and on while Amy just remained silent and kept hugging him.

nEventually, Mako calmed down, and Amy slowly started to separate him from herself. She wiped away the tears from his face and rubbed her soft fingers on his cheeks.

n“My my, look how strong my little Mako has become. You have such strong muscles now and have also become taller. All those girls must be aching to be your girlfriend.” Amy said while still holding on to Mako’s face.

nHis grandmother’s praise had made Mako chuckle as it lightened up the mood and the surroundings, significantly.

n“My dear, you have taken on so many burdens and have gotten so far, what is stopping you now?” Amy asked Mako.

n“I am scared Gran-Gran. I am scared that I might join you before achieving anything great, without making you proud. If I keep making such stupid mistakes, that is the only outcome I will get.” Mako replied.

n“Oh really?” Amy said with a light chuckle. Mako was confused as to why his grandmother would say something like this.

n“Then tell me this, Mako. If you hadn’t punched that bully would you have ever learned how to protect yourself? It was after that day wasn’t it when you started to research fighting and keeping a record of every duel you saw in school in your journal.” Amy said as the memory continued to play after Mako was beaten on the street.

n“You were able to find my father’s life’s work. You were able to discover the system when you were feeling angry about being humiliated and beaten by Bill in the duel.” The memory played of Mako punching the mirror after he had lost to Bill earlier.

n“You were able to save those two young women’s lives and countless others as well when you took care of those criminals.” The memory of Sophia and Anna played off when they were thanking Mako for saving their lives.

nThe memories finished playing as the background turned into an empty white space. Amy finally let go of Mako’s face as she started to slowly fade away.

n“Remember my dear, you are not weak for relying on your emotions. It is what makes you human. It is okay to be afraid, but what do you think will happen when you don’t take part in the test and take the easy way out? You will be labeled as a COWARD, not a hero!” Amy said.

nThe last line really hit Mako hard as he understood what his grandmother was trying to tell him. It was natural for him to be scared, there was no shame in it at all. However, if he truly wished to keep his promises then, this was his moment to man up and prove that he was capable of doing so.

nMako looked up to see his grandmother fading once again. This was exactly how it happened when Mako felt devastated for killing those gang members and his grandmother appeared to console him. Even in death, his grandmother was watching over him and helping him when he hit his lowest point.

nThe image of Amy Grey started to fade more and more, but before it did completely, Amy came close and kissed Mako on his forehead.

n“Go on and conquer your fears,” Amy said before completely fading away leaving Mako alone in the empty white space.

n***************

n“Mako?… Mako!… MAKO!” Bill shouted.

nFinally, Mako came back from his daze, he was confused for a second as it was a sudden change of scenery for him. The plane was still flashing green and there were significantly fewer cadets on board the plane with a lot of empty seats.

n“What’s going on?” Mako asked.

n“The pilot just announced that there are only 30 seconds left until the plane turns red again. I am going to ask you this one last time. Are you coming with me?” Bill asked once again as he extended his hand.

nMako immediately grabbed his hand and said,” Yes, of course, I am coming with you!”

nBill smiled as it seemed that Mako was back in his senses. The boys quickly ran back to their seats and put on their seat belts.

n“10… 9… 8…” The pilot started counting down from the speakers.

nBoth boys looked at each other and nodded before reaching under their seats and pressing the red button simultaneously.

n*EJECT!*

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