Chapter Text
Prompt 1: childhood
“Fajar!”
A little voice fills the silence of an empty park in a warm morning. Tiny footsteps from a six-years-old girl echoing through the area. She’s wearing a pink t shirt with grey overall. Her face looked concerned, looking back and forth around the park, searching for something. Or rather someone.
“FAJAR!!!”
The girl pouted, having no idea where’s her friend is. As she walked pass a tree, she heard a sound behind the tree. A small sobbing. She approaches the tree carefully, and look behind it. And she sees….
“FAJAR! SINI PON AWAK! (FAJAR! HERE YOU ARE!)”
The girl shouted, startling the boy. “AHHH!!” the boy covered his face with his arm in fear. He’s wearing a matching set of red t shirt and shorts. “Fajar! Ni saya la! Hanah! (Fajar! It’s me! Hanah!)” the girl, Hanah said, feeling a bit guilty for causing the boy to be scared.
The boy, Fajar, slowly moves away his hands, and look at Hanah. Hanah greeted him with a wide smile. Hanah offers him a hand, which he take. “Kenapa ni? Saya pergi rumah awak, mak awak cakap awak takde. (What’s wrong? I come to your house and your mom said you’re not home.)” She asked, as she pulls him up.
Fajar wipes away his tears with his arm sleeve, and told her what happened. “Sa-Saya bagitahu kawan saya, saya nak jadi wi-wira. Lepas tu dia gelak, dia kata tak boleh sebab dia kata quirk saya le-lemah. (I-I told my friends, I want to be a he-hero. And he laughed, and he told me I can’t because I have a we-weak quirk.)” he said, between sobs and sniffs.
Hanah huffed, while crossing her hands. “Awak tak payah dengar cakap kawan awak tu! Saya kawan awak dan saya percaya awak boleh jadi wira! Quirk awak tak lemah! (Don’t listen to your friends! I’m your friend and I believe you can be a hero! Your quirk are not weak!)” she said, with confidence and determination in her eyes.
Fajar looked at her, slowly smiles and wipes away his tears with his hand. “Dah la. Jom kita main buaian! (Alright then. Let us go play at the swing!)” Hanah said. Fajar nodded, walk to the swings with his one, true friend.
They play the swings happily, laughing with excitement, unaware of a few pair of eyes watching them from afar.
“Fajar!” a voice shouted. Hanah turn around to the voice, while Fajar a bit startled at the voiec before slowly following Hanah's lead. They turned to see a group of boys, most likely their age, with the owner of the voice presumably their leader in the front, with a huge body for a six years old. He’s wearing a purple singlet and brown cargo shorts.
“Dah la berangan nak jadi wira, lepas tu main dengan perempuan pulak! Hahahahahahaha! (Not enough with dreaming of becoming a hero, now you’re playing with a girl! Hahahahahahaha!)” the boy said, followed by a laugh from him and the other boy. Fajar turn his head down in embarrassment while Hanah is glaring dagger at the boy.
“Biarlah Fakhrul. Salah ke saya nak main dengan Hanah? (Let us be Fakhrul. Is it wrong for me to play with Hanah?)” Fajar said, avoiding eye contact, only to cause the other boys laugh harder.
“Wei Fakhrul! Apa masalah awak hah?! Biarlah dia nak main dengan saya ke apa! Awak sibuk kenapa?! (Hey Fakhrul! What’s your problem hah?! Let him be! Mind your own business!)” Hanah suddenly shouted, causing the laughter to dies.
“Diamlah! (Shut up!)” Fakhrul pushes Hanah to the ground, causing her to fall. The other boys snickers, some even laughing all out. “Ahhh!” Hanah fall onto her hip, staining her grey overall. Fajar watches his friend being pushed, shocked by the sudden hostility of Fakhrul. Suddenly, something inside him burned. Telling him to fight back.
“Jangan sentuh dia! (Don’t touch her!)”
Fajar, in an instant, pounce onto Fakhrul with his all strength, causing the bigger boy to tripped over, falling on his back. Fajar raises his fist, ready to deliver a punch into Fakhrul's face, before the other boys hold his hand and pulled him away from their fallen leader. Fakhrul, who’s still in shock, get up with the help of his lackeys.
“Kau okay tak Fakhrul? (Are you okay Fakhrul?)”, One of them said, while helping him to get up. Fakhrul glares at Fajar, who’s still being held by his lackeys. Hanah, who’s shocked still is on the ground, still surprised by Fajar suddenly move.
“Cehh… Hero konon. Perempuan lembik macam ni pon kau tak boleh tolong. Dah la geng. Kita tinggalkan budak kuat berangan ni. (Tch… Hero? What a joke. You can’t even help this pathetic girl. Come on guys. Leave this loser alone.)” Fakhrul said, leaving the two friends with his lackeys.
Hanah, snapped back into reality get up from the ground and rushes to her friend, who haven’t move a bit after the others let him go. He’s kneeling on the ground, his head is facing towards the earth. “Fajar, awak okay tak? (Fajar, you okay?)” She asked, holding his shoulder and shaking him gently. Then, she could hear he says something. Very slow, barely could be heard, but Hanah heard his best friend.
“Dia betul Hanah. (He’s right, Hanah.)”
“Apa? (What?)”
“Dia betul Hanah! Dia betul! Kalau kawan baik saya sendiri pon saya tak boleh tolong, macam mana saya nak jadi wira! Betul cakap dia, saya memang kuat berangan. (He’s right Hanah! He’s right! If I couldn’t help even my best friend, how could I be a hero! He’s right, I am a loser.)” he said, in a sudden brokedown. His tears broke down, gave up his hopes and dreams.
Hanah, seeing his friend become so heartbroken and miserable, also broke down into tears. She took Fajar’s hand and hugs him. Fajar was taken back by his friend suddenness, but not unwanted. He hugged back his friend.
“Awak dengar sini baik baik! Jangan biar orang lain bagitahu awak apa awak boleh atau tak boleh buat! Tak kira apa pun orang cakap, tak kira apa pun jadi, saya akan sentiasa ada untuk sokong awak. Awak kawan baik saya. Dan saya kawan baik awak. Jadi dengar sini baik baik. Awak boleh jadi Wira. (You hear this carefully! Don’t let others tell you what you can or cannot do! No matter what people said, no matter what happen, I will always be there to support you. You’re my best friend. And I’m your best friend. So you better hear this carefully. You can be a Hero.)”
Hanah release the hug, and looking at Fajar. The boy is amazed. Amazed by the trust of his friend. Amazed by the only person other than his family who supports him. She gave him a wide smile, bright as the sun.
He nodded, and return back the smile. “Ouh kejap, saya tahu! Kita boleh jadi duo wira! (Oh wait, I know! We can be a hero duo!)” he suddenly said. And her smile just got even wider.
“Tu idea Yang hebat! (That’s a wonderful idea!)” she said, her eyes sparking with excitement. Then, she took something from her overall pocket. “Tengok apa saya ada ni! (Look what I got!)” she took out two piece of metal, looking like a apir of coins.
“Apa tu? (What’s that?)” Fajar asked. Hanah took Fajar’s right hand and put the coin into his palm. “Ni token. Saya jumpa masa nak cari awak tadi. (It’s a token. I found it when I’m searching for you earlier.)” she said.
Fajar inspect the token more carefully. The token is double sided, with engraving of eagle on both side. Under the eagle is written, Eagle Entertainment Arcade. ‘Nampak macam token arked. (It’s an arcade token.’) He thought.
“Ni token persahabatan kita. (This is our friendship token.)” Hanah said, which caught Fajar off guard. “Huh?”
“Ni bukti persahabatan kita. Bukti janji kita akan jadi kuat sama-sama dan jadi duo wira. (This is the proof of our friendship. Proof that we’ll be strong together and become a hero duo.)” she said, looking at Fajar and smile.
Fajar, seems stunned by her spirit and passion, smiles back and nodded. “Eh kejap! Awak takde quirk! Macam mana awak nak jadi wira? (Wait a minute! You’re quirkless! How would you be a hero?)” Fajar suddenly realised.
Hanah grinned, pointing her finger at Fajar. “Awaklah yang jadi quirk saya! (You become my quirk!)”
“Ehhhh?!”
••••••••••
Silence filling the graveyard. Nobody could be seen there, except one figure. A 16 years old boy kneeling beside a grave. Engraved at the gravestone in Jawi….
Al-Fatihah
Farhanah binti Sulaiman
6/8/2001 – 18/7/2015
“Assalamualaikum Hanah. Lama aku tak jenguk kau ye. (Peace be upon you Hanah. It’s been a while huh.)” Fajar said, his hand slowly brushes the gravestone unconsciously.
“Esok aku daftar masuk UA. Macam tak percaya kan? Aku selangkah makin dekat untuk capai cita cita aku. (Tomorrow I’ll enroll into UA. Can you believe it? I’m one step closer into achieving my dream.)” he continues.
He fetches something from his pocket. A token. Double sided. Eagle engraving on both sides.
“Kita. Cita-cita kita sepatutnya. (Our. It’s supposed to be our dream.)” he grasped the token into his fist. Beads of tears streaming down his face, watering the grave.
“Maafkan aku sebab tak mampu selamatkan kau. Maafkan aku sebab mungkiri janji kita. (I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. I’m sorry I broke our promises.)” he said, putting the token on the gravestone.
He get up from his kneeling position, slowly leaving the grave.
“Selamat tinggal Hanah. (Goodbye Hanah.)”