((Collab Post between ajm8888 and Letter Bee.))

Lucas Abd-al-Yasu walked towards Aiko's room; he wasn't the instructor, but he had some questions to ask her, questions about the past and future. For, you see, Lucas, normally an idealistic soul, had broken down, and the reason for said breakdown was that things did not go his way. Why had things not gone his way? Well, basically, he got passed up for promotion to an adminsitrative position, even though he was so much better, or at least, his vision for what the world should be was.

[i]Don't be like that,[/i] he chastised himself. [i]That way lies hubris.[/i]

[i]It's my emotional comfort in an uncomfortable world,[/i] his own insecurities replied, [i]without my ideals, I am nothing.[/i]

Those were his thoughts as he knocked on Aiko's door.

"Yes?" asked the accented English of Aiko from behind the door.

"It's not your instructor, but I did come here to ask you something," Lucas then remembered to introduce himself. "My name is Lucas Abd-al-Yasu, and I need someone with your powers."

"What is it?" asked Aiko cautiously.

"Because I doubt my head's policies, and I need the help of someone who can see possible futures to see if those doubts have any meat to them," Lucas was now opening himself up. "Because I have this flaw, that I'm rigid and inflexible, while I think Auntie Sable's policies are just too...cynical and..." he looked around him, "weak. Basically, what I'm saying is: I want to know, am I being a baby, or should I oppose my head's polciies?"

"Doing that is difficult it requires energy and a lot of effort. Also I cannot control where it goes. It could be a possiblity and not the real future. So you could be preparing for something that never comes." Aiko replied through the door.

"Then show me a future where I lose," said Lucas. "Show me a future where I lose, so that I never have the pride to air such views again."

Aiko came out of her room. "Alright  I will look but don't do nothing ...creepy." Aiko told Lucas.

"I won't," Lucas promised, "sorry if I gave that impression."

"You want to know the future, the bad future, so yes I think you are creepy. I mean are you really that desperate to humble yourself? Just use your own imagination." Aiko told Lucas.

"Well, this is fruitless," said Lucas.

"Yes it is because I already saw a bad future. A future where the reformists loose and the government rounds up the metas. They have killed all of them. You were shot in the bathroom at an Applebees while hiding. So it is a version of Days of Futures Past."

"I don't believe that," said Lucas, "I believe, for some reasom, that the Underground Movement will win. Sorry to be my own variety of Debbie Downer, but in my travels around the world, putting our brushfires, I've long since given up hope that my ideals, of Meta and Human coexistence, can ever be put in place. Humans and Metas have so much to gain by cooperating, but the desire to control is Sapient Nature, and I myself have it. Should I join the battle brewing at the Human Centre, I'll lose, and there will be nothing." A flash of anger appeared in Lucas' eyes, and he spoke:

"Why am I so inadequate? Why am I such a loser? I killed the 'Caliph' of IS, but when I think of fighting that 'Edge' guy, a chilling certainty tells me that ([b]Edit:[/b] he's too strong for me.)"

"But, at the same time, I cannot kill myself, I cannot die, I want to continue on, I want to win. It's just that, I can't win, the future is already set; Edge will win, and we are all doomed."

"You think the outcome of a winning over Edge will result in an age of peace? Peace does not exsist without work. But killing Edge will just have another enemy replace him. You think I think this world is easy? Terrorsim I could stop? Possible horrible leaders. See my problem is I can't tell the difference between the true future and a possiblity. No amount of training will make the true future visible to me. The reason is I cannot see the true future until it becomes the present. I have stopped trying to see the future at least intetionally."

Aiko sighed.

"All I want is to go home and to be with my Aunt and Uncle. I's like to help but I can't tell what will be a win for you. Last time I listened to my insticts I ended up leaving the island and coming to LA. But I could try." Aiko rubbed her eyes.

"Please, do," said Lucas.