:Arabella:

            I was running. That's how the dreams always start.

            I ran until my legs burned and my chest hurt. I knew that I couldn't look behind me or I'd lose ground.

            Finally, I fell. I looked up and saw Lacey reaching her hand out to me. Her face was contorted in pain and her eyes were wild with fear of what was behind me.

            "Help me"

            I reached my arm out to her but as soon as I was able to touch her fingers, she got pulled back by some invisible force. She disappeared from my site in no time at all.

            Then I saw Cassie and Ricky strapped to two poles right in front of me. I tried to run to them, but something was holding me back. The more I ran, the stronger the force holding me back got.

            Ricky and Cassie didn't get any closer but Cassie looked straight at me. Her eyes got cold and she stared at me with an accusatory look.

            "You have failed us."

            And then the poles burst into flames that seemed to be made of a misty smoke. I tried to turn away, but everywhere I looked, I could see them.

            "Arabella!"

            I turn and see Archer and Connor being held at their necks by a tall man who wore a hood. They were struggling and he only held them tighter.

            It was Nemesis. There was always no doubt about it.

            I tried to speak, but it felt like my voice box was broken.

            "Choose!" the man yelled at me.

            I couldn't speak. It was only a second until he squeezed them harder and they both disappeared in a cloud of smoke. I cried out and another man came out from behind the hooded one. This one wearing a black mask and a crooked smile. He wore a spandex suit of dark blue and a black cloak.

            "Come with us, child." He held out his hand to me. "We will be waiting for you."

            Then supers started to appear from behind him. They stood in lines like soldiers. I only knew that they were supers because of their spandex costumes, ones I had seen on magazine covers and tabloids. The only difference were their eyes. Their eyes were hollow and their iris's rimmed with red.

            Then Ricky, Connor, Chase, Cassie, Archer, and Lacey appeared. They held out their hands and beckoned me forward. Their eyes were rimmed with red, like the other supers, and they all spoke with the same voice.

            "Join us or we die."

            And then the masked man looked at me with his crooked smile and his bright eyes. He said the same thing he always did. The same thing that always scared me out of my wits.

            "Prepare for battle or join Nemesis in our calling."

            That's how the dreams always ended.

            "Arabella!"

            I opened my eyes and found myself looking straight at Connor Collins.

            I let out a little surprised squeal and held a pillow over my chest. The first thought that came to my head was the fact that I was wearing my old Mickey Mouse pajamas and that they were very embarrassing.

            The second thought that came to my mind was why in the hell would Connor Collins be in my room at god knows what hour of the night?

            "Are you alright?"

            I was about to answer with a smart comment along the lines of, "until you woke me up," but then I noticed how my skin was clammy with sweat and my throat was soar.

            He must've seen me having the dream.

            "I've been having these dreams."

            He sat on the edge of my bed, a respectable distance from the girl who was only wearing a tank top and spandex shorts. But for some reason I didn't want him a respectable distance away. I wanted him to hold me and tell me that they were just dreams. I wanted him to comfort me.

            I explained the dreams, ignoring the pull in my stomach every time he looked my way. I only left out the part when the hooded man, who was most likely Nemesis, told me to choose whether Archer or Connor would die. I still wasn't sure what that meant.

            "What was the man in the mask wearing?" He asked curiously.

            I thought for a second. "A black outfit with spirals on his chest. He was the only super without the red eyes."

            He cursed under his breath. "Why is Nemesis going to such lengths to get you back?"

            "What do you mean?"

            He sighed and told me the small tidbit of information he and Chase had been holding back about The Manipulator escaping Alcatraz when they'd last visited. Connor filled me in about why The Manipulator was such a big time villain and I couldn't help to feel fear.

            There was a fifty year old man who could manipulate emotions digging around in my head.

            Great. Just great.

            I nervously picked at my bed sheets as the room fell into silence. I knew that Connor was thinking the same thing as I was. Nemesis would stop at nothing to get me.

            "How'd you get here anyways?"

            Connor blushed and looked away. "I just had a feeling that you were in trouble. It was kind of like my super senses, but more pronounced. I thought a super was attacking you or something."

            "Well, maybe our super senses are stronger when another super is attacking. My dreams were, after all, being invaded by a super."

            "Maybe."

            Then another idea popped into my head. "How'd you get in my room? The doors and windows were locked."

            He blushed again. "I kind of picked the lock on the windows."

            I let out a small laugh. "All that just to see if I was alright?"

            "Yeah."

            "This kind of reminds me of that first night that you came to see that I was alright." I reminisce. "I accused you of breaking and entering and you told me that you were just technically entering since my window was unlocked."

            He chuckled. "Yeah, I was making a special effort to be annoying that day, wasn't I?"

            "Why did you check up on me at 2 in the morning that day anyways?"

            He falters for just a second and I knew he didn't want to tell me the truth. He just needed some encouragement.

            "And don't tell me some stupid lie. I know your secret identity now, I can use it against you. It's not my fault you broke rule number one."

            "And what is that rule?" He smiles.

            "Never reveal your secret identity, especially to a teenage girl whose best friend is a reporter."

            He laughed. "I think you added the last part on."

            I laughed as well, but the one of the room soon shifted as he got ready to answer my original question.

            "I had been out late stopping crime that night. I needed to catch up after that stupid convention at the mall. I was following your father around town, seeing if I could help with any of the criminals he could run into. But he drove straight to his house instead."

            So that's how he found out where I lived? Not creepy at all Connor.

            "I knew that he was your father, so I took up the opportunity to see if you were alright. I didn't expect you to be just in a towel, but I couldn't bail after making the effort to pick the lock on the window and go into your room."

            "Wait," I stop him, "you said that the window was open. You lied to me?"

            He suddenly looked down, embarrassed. "I didn't think that you'd let me stay if you knew that I actually did break in."

            We laughed, but the room fell to silence again.

            I knew that I should've been a little more on edge. A teenage boy breaking into my room in the middle of the night dressed in a loose T-shirt and pajama pants, I should've been more worried.

            But this was Connor Collins, the nicest super that I've ever met (including everyone else in the league) and the only one who I knew liked original comic books as much as I did.

            Connor kind of reminded me of Superman when I first met him. He'd saved me from some random dude who decided it would be great to kidnap a girl in the middle of a superhero convention in the busiest mall in Empire City.

            (Not much brains on that guy, that was for sure)

            He avoided the crowds of fans screaming about his latest save and came straight to me. He wanted to know if I was alright. He wanted to make sure I was safe.

            And then, later on, when I got to learn more about him, he had that sweet side that Superman had in the comics. He wasn't a total self absorbed super.

            Maybe that was why I'd been so shocked when I remembered who he was not too long ago. I couldn't imagine someone so conserved and shy being such a celebrity.

            But then I remembered all the times I'd find Connor in the back of musical practice back in Senior year helping some of the chorus members with the steps. Or that time he made sure I was alright at school the day before Super Day. Like he knew the day was as hard for me as it was for him.

            Maybe that was why I found myself looking deeply into his dark brown eyes. It was like I was searching for him, making sure that he was alright too.

*

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:Connor:

            I'm not going to lie and say that I'd never been in a teenage girl's room alone in the middle of the night. I'd done that enough times with my first girlfriend.

            But I'm pretty sure it was the first time I was alone in a teenage girl's room when her parents weren't home.

            When I'd flown in through the newly opened window I'd noticed that her father's car was gone from the driveway. He was probably off on some business thing for his job as Mayor of Empire City. Her mother had been dead since the Great Battle, so he was the only parent she had.

            Which meant that I was alone in this house with the girl I'd been crushing on since I moved to Empire City in sophomore year.

            Now, this was a strange situation for just about anyone. I didn't know what Arabella felt about me. I didn't know if she was okay with the distance I put between us. Should I scoot farther or closer? Should I start another conversation or not?

            You see, I was what you call the opposite of an expert when it came to girls.

            Maybe that's why I was so surprised when Arabella tapped the spot next to her, gesturing for me to sit next to her on the bed.

            Well, I must've been doing something right.

            I sat next to her and saw the little speck of fear in her eyes.

            "Can you stay the night? I don't want the nightmares to come again."

            I saw the gleam in her eyes and I knew why she was scared. She didn't want to see her friends dying again. She didn't want to see the horrible visions that came with sleep.

            Of course my answer almost went along the lines of, "Oh my god, I thought you'd never ask," but I had a little bit of control over my words.

            "Sure."

            I slipped under the covers and I was about to put a pillow between us - a respectable distance between us - but she scooted closer to me before I could.

            She cuddled closer to me and I felt her muscles relax. In no time I heard the soft and constant breathing that meant that Arabella was asleep.

            Now, I didn't quite know what to do at this point. Did I fall asleep next to her? Do I leave now that she was asleep? Do I fall asleep on the couch instead? In case you couldn't tell, I was indecisive.

            So I settled with the choice that I wanted deep down. I closed my eyes and fell asleep next to Arabella Jones.