[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/rFsVPbQ.png
[/img][/center][center][h2][b]The Mandela Effect: Part 18[/b][/h2][/center]
[center][b][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5163697]Previously On Create-A-Hero[/url][/b][/center]
[center][b]Aubrey Adkins | Will Grant[/b][/center]
[center][b]Four Days Before the Arlaaekan Invasion[/b][/center]
[center][b]Pacific Point, CA[/b][/center]
	It has been a couple days since I woke up in that factory and almost got blow to kingdom come. I have been trying to keep a low profile ever since then. Because my healing factor had jump started my brain and restored my memories, I was hoping it would do the same for my body. But nothing has changed. In fact, I even snuck out the other day and visited my stylist to get my hair under control. When I woke up this morning, I was shocked that it had returned to the length and volume it had when I woke up in that factory. It was almost like something, or someone, was constantly pressing the reset button. If the Son of Osiris had not placed a mental block spell on all of us, I probably would be waking up thinking I was in the right body.

	For this entire time, Will and I had been binging television series on Netflix and Disney+. I can’t lie; I’m starting to feel a little stir-crazy from being cooped up in my apartment for this whole time. This wasn’t what I had imagined our little week together would be like. We had some many plans: a baseball game, a trip to the Pacific Point Zoological Gardens, some fun at the beach, even a few dinner dates. But all those plans were shredded, now that I’m trying to minimize any chance someone might put two and two together and figure out my secret identity.

	Will and I were reclining on my couch, still dressed in our pajamas. Those spider-shaped yoga pants Athena tailored for me are about the only clothes that still fit well. The credits of the last episode of [i]Criminal Minds[/i] we just watched were running when I rolled over and wrapped my arms over Will’s shoulders.

	[color=b22222]“You know what I need? Some good, ol’ natural vitamin D.”[/color]

	“What about lying low?” Will asked. I noticed, when I gazed into his eyes, he looked away for just a second. I have seen him do this a couple times already since I got out of the fractured remains of the abandoned factory. Something must have been bothering him.

	[color=b22222]“That’s what the apartment’s private pool is for. Let me see what I have that will somewhat fit.”[/color]

	While I was going through my closet, my mind was distracted by whatever was bothering Will. I reckoned it had to do with what happened between him and ‘me’ the night before that factory blew up. I’ll be honest, I don’t know how I feel about it myself. Sure, part of me is a little hurt. But ever since I woke up in that factory, these memories started to pop up in my mind. Not only could I start recalling pieces of what happened the night prior, but I began to remember these fragments of the lives of these other versions of myself.

	However, these memories weren’t just home videos playing in my head. I had an emotional attachment to them, like I  had actually lived out those events. I know that they’re false memories, but they all feel so real: the sights, the sounds,  the smells, the tastes. If I didn’t know better, I would have been fooled into believing that I did all those things that night, instead of that alternate persona of mine.

	After I picked out the red one, I pulled out a swimsuit kimono coverup and draped myself with it. Before I returned to my living room, I stopped at my bedroom doorway and leaned up against the doorframe.

	[color=b22222]“So, how do I look?”[/color] I asked Will as I half-heartedly struck a pose.

	I proceeded to witness the cogs turning in Wills’ head. Obviously, I don’t have telepathy, but I don’t need that power to make an educated guess at what was going on in his head. He probably was panicking about what the ‘right’ answer was, if one existed. Should he say I look fantastic, despite I’m spilling out of this bikini top, or should he tell the truth? His niceness is his own undoing, as he probably doesn’t want to say something that would hurt me, yet he doesn’t want to be untruthful, either.

	I gave an audible sigh before marching over to my couch.

	[color=b22222]“Okay, Will. Something is obviously bothering you. Please don’t tell me you’re still beating yourself up about a few nights ago, are you?”[/color]

	“Well, that might be a [i]part[/i].”

	[color=b22222]“[i]Nobody[/i] would have been prepared for that kind of situation. And what’s important is you didn’t go through with it. You did the right thing.”[/color]

	“I know but tell that to my guilty conscience.”

	[color=b22222]“We’re Catholic. We got that in spades.”[/color] I replied while cracking a smile, trying to keep things a bit upbeat.

	“But something else is really eating away at me. I have been nagged by the thought that I’m not bringing much to this relationship: a nerdy guy with a gorgeous, blonde girlfriend.”

	[color=b22222]“Wait, you’re not trying to break up with me, are you?”[/color]

	“No, no. This relationship has been a dream come true. I wouldn’t trade what we have for anything because I love you so much.”

	When that four lettered l-word escaped his lips, he froze. I placed my hand onto his and then planted a kiss on his cheek. Immediately, I perceived him loose up, as if he were relieved at my reaction.

	“When you were a kid, did you ever hear the parable about the kid who helped a nerdy classmate carry his books home?”

	[color=b22222]“You mean the one where the other kid later revealed he was going to commit suicide at the end of the story? Sure.”[/color]

	“I’ve never told anyone this, but you were this to me back in junior high and high school. Obviously I wasn’t suicidal or anything, but knowing you helped me through a rough patch.”

	Will took a deep breath before continuing his explanation.

	“Back in 7th grade, my family had just moved, and I was the new kid at school. After leaving all of my childhood friends and the town I had grown up in, on top of being a moody teenager, I didn’t exactly have a good attitude towards my circumstances. Yet, when I first met you in our Confirmation class at church and I realized we had a class in common at school, things changed. Just knowing you helped me cope. If I was feeling depressed and didn’t want to drag myself out of my bed, I could tell myself that seeing you would make everything okay.”

	“God, this sounds way creepier when said out loud, but I wanted to tell you how much you helped me back then. I don’t know how I could ever repay you for it.”

	[color=b22222]“Will,”[/color] I began to respond to what he had said, [color=b22222]“You’re being too hard on yourself. Do you remember what we did on our first date?”[/color]

	“We skyped,” Will answered with some hesitation, as if he were unsure where I was going with what question.

	[color=b22222]“No, no, I mean our first [i]in-person[/i] date,”[/color] I qualified my question, [color=b22222]“We went to mass together. How many guys would take a girl to church for their first date? Our shared faith is important to me.”[/color]

	[color=b22222]“Plus, our relationship has been a safe space for me to be myself. I don’t have to hide who I really am when I’m around you. A few months ago, the only times I would have my nullifier turned off was while playing superhero or sleeping so I wouldn’t grow sick from the device. And now, I’m chilling with you on my couch in the full glory of my driderness. I even told my parents about my powers.”[/color]

	[color=b22222]“And all of this happened because I accidentally slipped up and revealed my powers to you. You are one of the few people who know my identity, but probably the only one around whom I can be myself. All the superheroes hide behind their masks and capes. My college friends and roommates weren’t prepared for something like this. And I wouldn’t be surprised if my parents are just starting to figure what all of this is. This is one aspect of my life that I don’t have to hide something.”[/color]

	After I had divulged my own feelings about our relationship, we sat there in silence for a few seconds. I then leaned in towards Will and he followed in suit until our faces were inches away from each other. Our lips soon met, and we kissed for a couple seconds.
“I’m glad we had this little talk,” Will told me after we parted lips.

	[color=b22222]“Then how about giving me a hand with this suntan lotion?”[/color] I suggested as I pulled out a bottle of sunscreen from the pocket of my coverup.

	“Wait, why do you need sunscreen? Won’t your healing factor protect your skin from sun damage?”

	[color=b22222]“You know that, and I know that, but everyone else doesn’t. Plus, sunburn still sucks, even if my healing factor would still pretty much zap it instantly once I deactivate my nullifier.”[/color]

	I allowed my coverup to slip off my shoulders and fall onto the couch. After I turned my back towards Will, I threw my hair over my shoulder to get it out of the way for Will. I squirted some of the lotion onto my palm and then handed the tube over my shoulder to Will.

	[color=b22222]“Could you get my back for me?”[/color] I asked as I rubbed the lotion together in my hands before applying it to my thigh.

	“Sure,” Will answered. He passed the suntan lotion bottle back over my shoulder after he had squeezed out some of the lotion onto his palm.

	[color=b22222]“You know, if you pull the knot out of the back of my top, it would make your job a little easier,”[/color] I suggested when I felt his hands try to rub the lotion underneath the ties of my bikini top.

	“No no, this is fine.”

	[color=b22222]“Don’t you want to do the [i]front[/i], too?”[/color] I told Will as I looked over my shoulder and grinned at him. Once I had given him my two cents, I turned my attention back to apply more of the lotion. While I was rubbing the sunscreen on my arm, I suddenly heard a soft twang come from behind my back and I felt strings of my top become loose around my ribcage as it fell into my lap.
 
[hr]
	I basked in the sun beside the [i]Viera[/i] apartment’s pool. Situated on a poolside lounge chair, I was reclining on my stomach as I took in the sun’s rays. Today was a nearly perfect day: sunny with just enough of a breeze to prevent the heat from being unbearable, while not being too chilly for relaxing beside the pool.

	I was listening to one of the several playlists of music I had compiled over the past several months on my phone. Sometimes, the best way to relax is to clear your mind and push aside your troubles. I obviously don’t mean forever, but just a few hours of not worrying about supervillains, magic, and world-ending crises does wonders for one’s mental health.

	As I continued to take advantage of this break from my hectic life, I noticed someone was walking towards me from out of the corner of my eye. I tilted my head in that direction and saw Emily was standing there. When I noticed she was starting to ask me something, I pulled out one of my earbuds so I could hear her.

	“Anyone sitting here?” Emily asked as she gestured to the pool chair just adjacent to mine.

	[color=b22222]“Will just went back inside to grab us some water, but you can join me while we wait for him. If you want anything, I can text him to bring it,”[/color] I suggested as I pulled out the other earbud and tapped the pause button on my phone. I then reached behind my back and retied the strings to my bikini top.

	“No, no. I’m fine. I just thought we should,” Emily politely turned down my offer before pausing in mid-sentence, “talk.”
[color=b22222]“Talk?”[/color] I asked, although we both knew what she meant. Back when the Hounds of Humanity were still at large, we both discovered that we were metahumans. Or that’s what I thought when it happened. Will had mentioned that Emily was also one of the affected, so maybe this wasn’t something normal for her, either. Emily and I had been meaning to clear this whole thing up, but there never seemed to be a right time for it.

	[color=b22222]“Sure, although I’m not sure how much we actually need to discuss as I’m guessing whatever made you, um—”[/color] I paused for a moment as I looked around. Once I had double checked that nobody could be eavesdropping on us, I continued. I didn’t want to out her. [color=b22222]“super is the same thing that made me look like [i]this[/i].”[/color]

	I then gestured down over the entirety of my body after I had rolled onto my side and propped myself up on my elbow. I then started to sit up when Emily responded.

	“Yes and no,” she said, “While my Pinup persona did arise exactly when people began to turn into alternate versions of themselves from parallel realities, my normal self, if you could call it that, isn’t quite normal either.”

	Emily then went on to explain how she was alive back in the 40’s, when she was a lab assistant for a prominent medical researcher who was working on what was essentially a super-soldier formula for the Allies during World War II. She admitted how, because all of her attempts to break into Hollywood had been failures, her fears over her dreams being crushed by reality had tempted her into taking an unauthorized dose of the serum after the doctor slipped up and compared it to the Fountain of Youth.

	Although the serum rendered Emily as ageless, it had several side effects. Although she ceased from getting older and she needed less sleep and food, her body was also slower at healing from injuries. But the worse side effect was her ability to cause people’s fears to become physical manifestations. She received the nickname Pinup not for her figure, but because she had triggered sporadic incidents of living nightmares over a three day period in Los Angeles back in the 40’s, causing people to ironically say that Emily would make your dreams come true. And not in a good way.

	While whatever secret spy organization that was operating back then covered the whole thing up as a domestic attack by the Nazis, Emily retreated into seclusion, as her powers were too dangerous for her living in such a densely populated area. Because Emily looked perpetually in her early 20’s and her powers would sometimes blow her cover, she would have to periodically relocate and fabricate a new identity every couple of decades. Although with each passing decade she gained more control over her powers, she still longed for a cure.

	It was just last year when her one true confidant, a certain Dr. Walter Kennedy, who had been researching a cure, finally made a breakthrough. She obtained a new chance at life. She no longer had to worry about her powers going awry and causing harm to the innocent. Not only did Dr Kennedy discover a way to remove her powers, but also to wipe her memories so she could live a new life without all the baggage of the decades she had suffered through. With a clean slate, they fabricated a new identity, with which she could live out her original dreams, although slightly altered for the times.

	[color=b22222]“Then how do you remember all of this if you had your memories wiped?”[/color]

	“Probably a combination of whatever turned me into a different version of myself and what that Egyptian bird guy did to get my mind back to normal rebooted my old memories, though I can’t be sure.”

	[color=b22222]“Well, if that doctor did it once, I’m sure he can do it again.”[/color]

	Emily sighed when I mentioned Dr. Kennedy.

	“There might be a little problem. Walter was a professor at the Lost Haven University. We didn’t keep in touch when I got my new life, as that would defeat the purpose of what we were doing, but ever since the Hounds happened...” Emily said as her words trailed off. She was referring to the attack the Hounds of Humanity launched against the Lost Haven University just a few months ago. Because she had been out of touch with him, she had no idea whether he survived that terrorist attack.

	[color=b22222]“Hey, we’ll figure something out,”[/color] I told Emily to try to lift up her spirits, [color=b22222]“What else are friends, for, right?”[/color]

	“For as long as I can remember, I have always closed myself off from people out of fear of what could happen if something went wrong. But I’m glad I opened up to you.”

	At that moment, Will had returned to the pool area and walked over to where I had been sunbathing. He was holding two glasses of water. The condensation dripping from the sides of the cups showed how icy cold the water was. But when he noticed that Emily was sitting there next to Aubrey and had heard the tail end of our conversation, he stopped next to Aubrey and spoke.

	“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

	“Nope,” Emily replied before I could say anything. “I was actually just leaving. Got some errands to run, things to do. See you two later.”
And with that, Emily stood up from the nearby reclining chair and started to stroll away towards the pool area’s exit gate. Meanwhile, Will handed me one of the glasses of ice-cold water. I took a sip and the chilly liquid felt wonderful running down my throat, especially on a summer day like today.

	“She does know I’m aware of her powers, too, right?” Will asked as he rearranged one of the nearby umbrellas to provide shade for his chair.

	[color=b22222]“Oh yes, she does. I’m sure she didn’t want to eat into our time together.”[/color]