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Here's to the heroes, the brave, the broken, the saviours, the damned.
Here's to the heroes, to a half-blood child of the eldest gods, a troubled kid who saved the world, destroyed the villain, got the girl, and reached sixteen against all odds. To a brilliant, brave daughter of Athena who always has a plan, the girl with a thunderstorm in her eyes, a girl who's literally been through hell and back. To the Beauty Queen with a magic voice that has the power of the snakes, a rebellious daughter of Aphrodite, more than just a pretty face. To the Repair Boy, the child of flames, whose mother was consumed by the one power he harnesses, the repair boy who could fix everything but himself. To the boy who could fly, the boy who could summon and bend the winds to his will, the boy with the power of lightning. To the girl who is supposed to be dead, the girl who could summon cursed riches and bend mist to her will, the girl who found her brother and survived despite everything. To the boy whose life is bound by a curse, a boy whose life will end in flames, the child of war, the boy who can shift into anything he wants. To the child of death and shadows, the boy who lost his sister and fell in love with the hero he could never have, the boy who found a family that didn't leave him. To the brave Roman praetor who was rejected by two boys but won't be defined by it, to the girl who took charge and did what she had to, even at the risk of losing everything she ever knew.
Here's to the heroes, to a man in a hood who spent five years in the worst kind of hell, a man who spends his nights playing doctor to a diseased city most would label a lost cause. To a babbling blonde hiding behind glasses and bright colors and bubblegum lipstick, who became so much more than just an IT girl. To the ex-militant who overcame his ghosts and demons and revenge to become the father of a beautiful little baby girl named after a fallen warrior.
Here's to the heroes, to a lost group of teenagers that have seen too much blood and death and tragedy. To a 16-year-old alpha werewolf with the weight of the world on his shoulders, struggling not to turn into the monster he believes he is. To a pale, skinny boy who was used by a demon for horrible things he can never recover from, a boy carrying too much undeserved guilt and blame, a boy who lost the spark in his eyes to chaos, strife, and pain. To a strawberry blonde banshee who just lost her best friend, a girl trying not to lose control, all alone with the screams of the eternally damned to slowly drive her insane, a girl struggling not to let her happy and strong facade shatter to reveal the fragile and broken girl inside. To a brave brunette huntress armed with a bow and arrow, a warrior with a contagious smile who died saving her friends.
Here's to the heroes, to a man as old as time itself, a man who loses everyone that he loves, anyone that has ever meant something to him, a man who saves universes and galaxies and planets on a daily basis without so much as a thank you. To all his companions, the brave ones looking for more out of life, for adventure, willing to sacrifice everything they have to save people and planets they barely know.
Here's to the heroes, to a girl with a bow and arrow, a girl who will play a sick game of life and death, of survival, a girl who will give up everything to protect the ones she loves, the ones she cares for. To a blonde boy with bread and dandelions and paint who was brainwashed into becoming a weapon, a boy who conquered his demons to protect the woman he loves.
Here's to the heroes, to an orphan with a lightning bolt scarred onto his forehead, a boy whose destiny is bound with a murderer's. To a bushy-headed genius, the smartest witch of her age, a girl trying to prove herself to the world by hiding behind books and intellect. To a gangly redheaded boy from a family of eight who turned out to be so much more than he, or anyone else, thought he was.
Here's to the heroes, to broken brothers who were dragged into the wild crusade of a man whose wife went up in flames, a crusade they deserved no part of. To an angel in a trenchcoat with broken wings who rebelled against everything he knew only to have it thrown right back in his face.
Here's to the heroes, to the high-functioning sociopath so refused to let anyone in until he found his partner. To a military doctor with a limp to his gait who discovered the thrills, discovered that there's more to life than just the ordinary.
Here's to the heroes, to a scared 11-year-old boy who lost his mother to man in yellow lightning, only to grow up to be struck by it, struck by fate, a man who only wants to help. To a brilliant scientist who lost her fiancee to a failed experiment, a woman who saves the day behind the screen. To a smart man who builds and engineers, a man who hides behind snark and humor, a man who saves the day with technology and science.
Here's to the heroes, to a boy with a foggy past he has no memory of, a guinea pig running through an impossible maze for an impossible experiment for a hopeless cure. To a girl who rebelled, a girl who betrayed her best friend to save him, the boy she loves.
Here's to the heroes, to a kid with a camera and a spider's power at his fingertips. To a brilliant girl with a bright future that shattered and cracked when it fell off of a clock tower when her lover failed to save her.
Here's to the heroes, to all the men and women and boys and girls who have risked it all to protect their loved ones, or even complete strangers. To the ones who saved the world, or even spend each day saving it. To all the heroes who don't realize just how important they are. To each and every one of you, waking up and fighting whatever battle each day brings, growing stronger with each one that passes. To the brave, the saviours, the broken, the beaten, the damned.