Time Traveling Hero

I gasped as I was suddenly brought back to the pitch blackness of the trial room. Shaking, I slowly slumped down onto the floor and clutched my head, recollecting everything I just saw.

"What the actual hell...?" I muttered to myself. Those memories, everything I just saw, I had no recollection of them. Why would it...?

"Failure."

I tensed up when I heard, or well more like thought, the words in my head. I failed? Does this mean it's over?

"Overcome The Traumatic Past."

And I felt myself getting s.u.c.k.e.d back in, about to suffer through those days once more...

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And just like that, another attempt was over. I gritted my teeth, trying to wrap my head around these circ.u.mstances. So, just from these two attempts, what could I possibly learn from this? Those memories, where had they come from? Was this the Trial's way of trying to make me overcome a past?

"Failure."

"What!?" I yelled out, wondering how I had managed to fail once more. I barely thought of anything, let alone...!

"Overcome The Traumatic Past."

And I was once again s.u.c.k.e.d back in to view the Trial's contents once more...

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My third attempt now over, I had now broken out into a cold sweat. I had no clue how much time had actually passed, and the lack of light in the room was starting to drive me crazy.

Seriously, what the hell was going on here? Every time I had tried to think upon the contents of the Trial, I was suddenly thrusted back into those same four days. Maybe the contents aren't important to the Trial?

"Failure."

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[Failure][Failure][Failure][Failure][Failure][Failure]

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Trial of the Past: Attempt 10

I was starting to breath hard as I just failed my 9th attempt. I slammed my fist onto the ground, starting to get frustrated. So far, all of my previous thought processes had led up to failures. I was starting to come to a loss, trying to [Failure] figure out what the hell was going on.

My mom, I never actual got to see her before she died, I thought as I managed to sit myself back up. Why that thought had come into my mind, I had no clue. Maybe the room itself had something to do with the trial [Failure]?

Guess that was a bust then. Okay, then how about [Failure]? Shit, I barely had two seconds that time. Well, looking on the bright side, I got unlimited attempts [Failure].

I took a deep breath and relaxed. Maybe the whole point was so I couldn't get stressed [Failure]? Okay, then maybe I do need to freak out [Failure]?

You know what, when in doubt, nap it out [Failure]. F.u.c.k sakes, I can't even sleep in this forsaken place!? I don't know why I'm being forced to go [Failure] through this, but maybe I could [Failure]?

Among all these thought's, I was slowly starting to get a slight headache. It wasn't noticeable for a while though...

I held up my hand to my head and sighed. What had I gotten myself into?

"Failure."

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Trial of the Past: Attempt 20

I was pacing back and forth, trying my damndest not to think [Failure], in the hopes that I could clear my head [Failure]. I had a feeling the harshness of the Trial was important in some way, but I could never think far enough to actually [Failure] reach something substantial.

Unable to [Failure], I collapsed onto the ground and stared up at the seemingly endless ceiling. Now that I think about, why was the room pitch black in the first place [Failure]? My brain was starting to fray from the constant going and coming of the Trial...

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Trial of the Past: Attempt 145

"..."

Barely able to stand anymore, my whole body drenched in sweat, and completely out of breath, I could feel my mind starting to crack under the pressure. I clutched my shirt and found it to be dripping with blood.

"Blood...?" Wait, that wasn't right. It was sweat I was dripping with. Why did I think blood [Failure]? Great, I was starting to forget which was reality and which was a dream [Failure]. I think there's a word for it. Oneirataxia [Failure] I think it's called?

And the worst part about this [Failure]? I still hadn't figured out if these memories were false or not [Failure]. It felt real, but then again, who could honestly tell...

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Everybody in the lab could only stare in horror as the list of failures continued to grow. It had been about 3 hours since the trial had started, and the list would slow down and speed up, but right now, it had come to a stop at attempt 270.

"Hey, why did it stop?" Mars asked the nearby researcher. It took him a moment for him to pry his eyes away from the screen.

"The trial probably stopped itself," the researcher murmured, glancing at the Trial Taker's vitals. His heart rate and mental duress had been rising exponentially for a while, but since the trial had stopped, they seemed to be stabilizing.

"I'm worried that he won't even survive through the trial..." another researcher behind Mars muttered, also glancing at the vitals. "He's losing quite a bit of water and salt in there."

"Yeah, but I'm amazed. Never before has so many failures happened in the Trial of the Past. Just what past is he hiding?"

"Well, seems that the boy's more interestin' than I thought!" Deimos laughed. "Honestly, who woul've thunk that the one with the highes' 'Hero Factor' would struggle this much!"

"Yes, it is quite worrisome. Will he be able to pass, or will he fail like so many before him?" Astraea commented, crossing her arms.

"Master Hiro is amazing."

Everyone turned toward the flat voice that said those words. Anna balled up her fists and took a deep breath.

"Whatever Master is going through, he will prevail."

"But, how can you know that for sure," asked Hebe, who was s.u.c.k.i.n.g on a lollipop.

"Because he is Master Hiro. It is that simple. Duh."

Deimos cackled with laughter. "Well, if the model says so, I guess we gotta believe huh!?"

Mars turned back toward the screen with the failures. "Let's hope that faith is founded somewhere..."

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Trial of the Past: Attempt 270

"How much time has passed I wonder..."

I was laying down, not able to pick myself up either physically or mentally. The memories I was seeing had slowly started to get seared into my brain, making it so I could barely tell when I was taking the Trial or out of it. But...

"Has it given me a reprieve?" I thought aloud. I had been sprawled across the floor for quite sometime, and I couldn't really understand it. After so many attempts, why was this one different?

Well, I wasn't about to waste this precious opportunity. I wiped the foreign blood, wait, sorry it was my sweat, off my face and caught my breath. I was shivering from the cold, despite the fact it was rather warm in this room. I guess I really am starting to go crazy...

Enough of that. Why was I failing so fantastically, not to mention so easily as well? Let's try to think about this logically. So far, every thought process I had done previously had failed. That was a fact. Some failed more faster then others. That was also a fact. I had already tried to not think, and that failed almost immediately, along with trying to overcome the Trial by both relaxing and freaking out.

So, that must mean that, at the very least, there must be some level of thinking to be done in this Trial, but what could it be? There was also the fact that the room was still pitch-black, which I felt as if had some sort of significance. So far, I assumed it was here to drive me crazy, since I couldn't even see myself. Hell, I didn't even know how big the room was. But we'll come back to that.

I had also gotten a headache, probably from the amount of times I was forced to view the Trial. The way I was being shown the Trial was also strange. It was done much the same way I heard the voice, with it being constantly transmitted into my head somehow. Also, while viewing the trial, I was unable to do anything except watch, and when I came back, I would still be in the same position as before. I had no clue how much time passed while in the trial, but something told me that it wasn't that long.

I sighed. All this useless information, and none it is getting me any closer to me beating the Trial. I thought back to what they said at the beginning of each attempt. Overcome The Traumatic Past. But, as far as I know, the only trauma I had in the past was when I was sick in the hospital for almost two months, with two weeks of my memory gone. My Mom had also passed away doing that time, although I really didn't know the details...

"Failure."

I just sighed once more. Ah shit, here we go again.

"Overcome The Traumatic Past."

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Trial of the Past: Attempt 330

I g.r.o.a.n.e.d as I rolled over on the floor, holding my head.

I had just finished my 330th attempt, and my head had started to throb, as if my brain wanted to jump out from my skull. I had reached another stopping point it seemed, but I was way too exhausted to even think anymore, especially with this damn jackhammer wreaking havoc in my head.

Looking on the bright side, I had stopped sweating, so I was no longer drenched in sweat. I managed to sit up through the throbs of pain emanating from my skull, and massaged my temples, trying to calm my brain down.

"Okay, work with me brain. The quicker we finish, the quicker you'll feel better." My brain obviously didn't care, but I still managed to push through.

Now that I think about it, but I never actually considered this could be a time loop. I clutched the key hanging around my neck, trying to figure out the possibility that this could be one. I also hadn't bothered trying to use my tricks as well, although that was because I barely had any time to think. I closed my eyes and a memory of the trial floated through. I slapped my cheeks together, trying to get myself together.

This place really was starting to drive me crazy. Maybe that was the whole point of this Trial, to drive me to insanity and back. Honestly, that might really be the case here, considering all the other options were starting to fail me. Who knows, maybe insanity isn't all the bad?

I let go of my key and frowned. I felt as if I was missing something blatantly obvious, but the construction work in my head wasn't allowing me to think straight.

"Damnit! Think Hiro, think!"

"Failure."

"Ah screw you," I muttered as I laid back down on the floor.

"Overcome The Traumatic Past."

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Everyone was stunned speechless at the sight before them.

"...Are you sure he'll be sane by the time he gets outta there?" Mars asked.

It was a question that everyone had refused to voice but was deep within their hearts. Both the researchers and the 4 Seated could only be amazed at the sheer amount of attempts he was going through. Only Anna, with her usual emotionless expression, looked calm.

"He will most definitely pass, no matter how many attempts it will take," Anna reaffirmed to everyone.

It had now been half a day since he had begun the Trial of the Past, and now on his 511th attempt, it looked as if there would be no end for him.

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Trial of the Past: Attempt 511

Having finished going through my 511th attempt, I was curled up into a ball, my head screaming out in agony at the pain. I barely had the strength to move anymore, my mental capacity almost depleted trying to stay sane in this room of nothingness.

"Has it stopped?" I muttered, slowly extending out my sore limbs. This clearly wasn't a time loop, otherwise I wouldn't be this damn exhausted. Good, one possibility crossed out of a list of many.

Besides the constant explosions my head was feeling, the constant attempts of the Trial were starting to leave my brain foggy, as the memories played through my head over and over again, in both the Trial and outside of it. The one that showed up the most, however, was one of my mother. Her smile, that reassuring smile, and the playful face that went along with it. It was as if she was beckoning me to continue, to go through the Hell I had managed to get myself into.

Damn it, I really do feel as if there's something I'm missing, but this headache, this damn headache! I was starting to get tempted to crack my skull open, to feel that sweet relief as my brains would finally come gushing out into the world...!

There was that smile again, that reassuring smile.

"Failure."

I couldn't help but laugh. Time to spend an eternity in this Hell of my own making!

"Overcome The Traumatic Past."

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Trial of the Past: Attempt 666

Cackles of laughter echoed throughout the Trial room, my laughter or the Trials, I couldn't tell anymore. I had bitten down onto my knuckles so hard that blood had started to gush out, my attempt to distract myself from the pain, and deep claw marks were all over my legs.

The emotion he was feeling right now would probably be considered pure bliss.

"You know what, I think I'm enjoying myself here!" I cackled out. "I mean, being a hero never suited me in the first place. Villains are the new hip thing, right?"

I turned to my side to see the reassuring gaze and smile of my mother. I cackled out laughing. "She agrees, she agrees!" I clapped my hands together in glee as I rolled around the floor, laughing.

That expression had stayed with me for so long now, but I had seemed to forget where she was from. Wait, didn't I just know?

I stopped my laughing just as quickly as I started and frowned. I turned back, and she was still there, the same as ever.

"...Why?"

No change.

"WHAT THE HELL'S YOUR DAMN PROBLEM HUH!?!?!?" I roared out at the woman, who's expression still hadn't changed.

"Failure."

"F.U.C.K OFF! YOU HERE ME!?!? F.U.C.K RIGHT OFF YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!! WHAT DO YOU KNOW, SO STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!!!!"

"Overcome The Traumatic Past."

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Trial of the Past: Attempt 895

The cackles of laughter had long left the room, and it had grown eerily silent. No movement, no voices, not even a thought.

The only thing that was around was the woman. Her face, now filled with sadness, looked upon the boy, who had stopped moving. She, unable to do anything for him, could only pray he was able to get the hint she so desperately was trying to give, a hint of his making.

"Failure."

Nothing crossed the boy's mind as he heard these words, his mental state having gone far beyond normal. He just laid still, gazing at the woman with the sad eyes.

"Overcome The Traumatic Past."

Only a single thought crossed his mind as he gazed at the woman.

Where have I seen that face...?

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"It's stopped."

The list of failures had suddenly stopped, after going on nonstop for what seemed like an eternity. Everybody except Anna gathered around the screen, looking at the stopped list.

"You don't think he died, do you?" A researcher asked.

With these words, the entire mood of the room had dampened to nearly a point beyond recovering.

Anna looked at the screen, and even she felt a twinge of worry in her heart. It had now been nearly a day since he entered, and Hiro was on his 997th attempt.

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Trial of the Past: Attempt 997

... How long have I been here, staring at this woman?

I knew I had just finished my 997th attempt and was back in the pitch-black Trial room. What I didn't know was how to complete the Trial. I only stared at the woman, the one who looked so familiar to me.

She looks like my Mom...

That single thought sparked a new path in his brain. The last he had seen of his mother, before his hospitalization, was when she had long hair, smooth and seemingly overflowing. Why I remembered that minute detail is beyond me at this point, but the woman in front of me didn't have long hair. On the contrary, she had short hair, cut in a spunky style.

So why does she look like my Mom?

My brain sluggishly moved toward the end of my train of thought, my headache so bad now that I felt that any moment that it would explode.

The missing week in my memory, could it possibly be...!

"You're kidding me. Those memories, are f.u.c.k.i.n.g mine?" I asked, anger welling up from an even deeper depth of emotions than the last.

And I finally struck gold, as the room around me got lighter in color, my headache finally gone as the lost memories came back. . And the woman smiled in relief, her duty now complete. She disappeared, leaving while saying a single sentence.

"Good luck Mr. Troublemaker."

And thus, the Denial was finally overcome.