Synopsis:  Freddy returns to Fawcett City after the battle with Isis to begin ruminating over the most recent events.

After everything that happened with Isis I needed a pause a needed a moment to regroup.  I knew the next trial was right around the corner, but there was two, not one city that had been damaged due to the Trial, the Trial of Strength.  I consider all that I learned during the trial about the gods, about Black Adam, Theo Adam, Adrianna Tomaz, her brother, Cassie, Flash, her mother, everyone including myself.  There was a lot to consider, things that would have to be taken a step a time, but rather than rush in I used this moment to take that step back.

I helped with Metropolis’s clean up, which between the three of us went faster than anyone suspected, but then I turned my attention to Fawcett City.  There wasn’t just clean up that needed to be done, but healing.   Debris from the school could be cleaned up, cleared away and dumped, but the blood spilled there couldn’t.   Just because the Trial ended didn’t mean that the effects of the Trial did.  It wasn’t a dream or a game, it was as real as it got.  If someone died they didn’t come back.  It wasn’t all apart of some elaborate test to see if I was good enough and everyone was in on it.  There were innocents involved.

Fawcett City had seen more death in the past two weeks than it had seen in the pasty century.  Too much death and now that death had spread to children.  It was enough to turn someone’s stomach.  Family’s would be shattered, and they needed something to believe in.  True they would never truly know what happened, but they will remember the tragedy of Fawcett City High and the valiant efforts of the Fawcett City Police Department, including Chief Callaghan.

It was another reason why I had to get back as fast I could.  There were memorials and funerals to attend as Freddy Freeman. There was mourning to be had. This couldn’t be washed away with the rain any more can it be covered up with a blanket of snow.  True the citizens of Metropolis were given the truth, but to share that with Fawcett City would draw the type of attention it didn’t deserve right now.  Even in ignorance there was heartache.

Too many gone too soon.  It was repeated many times.   This is what I focused on.  It was a reminder of what came to be, because there were forces at work that sought not only to disrupt the Trials, but continue the rampant chaos that pressed upon the dam or Order that had been put in place in an attempt to bring order to all facets of life.

I considered what Cassie’s mom had said.   This was the time for reflection not in the moment.  In the moment you do what you feel is best while being mindful of all that you had gained.  That’s what I did and now a husband has his wife back, but at what cost?

Where will this all lead?  It’s not offer.  The little boy said that it all changed.   Everything has changed.  It impacts me. It impacts Cassie. It impacts all of magic.   It’s there in the back of my mind, but all I could remember was the sound of the pipes as Callaghan’s body was taken through the streets, it was marched to the church.  From there it was moved to the cemetery.  I didn’t go as Shazam I went as Freddy, because the last thing I wanted was to take away from the reason why we were there.  We were there to honor a hero, a real superhero.

Whether or not he knew that he carried Achilles with him it didn’t matter.  Achilles only brought out what was within Callaghan.  He magnified it for all to see.   He was a leader.  He was a beacon.  Someone that everyone could look to and that is what I told the town when I spoke about him.  It didn’t matter how long the funeral took not one person left the church.  They all took their time honoring and revering someone who gave his life to help people to the very end.  He led a life of service and it would never be forgotten.

The honored dead.  That is what the last couple of weeks meant for me. It served as a reminder of why I was doing this.  Why this was important.  It was never about me.  It was about everyone else.

The next few days were days of service.  Days where I could be a little more visible as Shazam helping. It didn’t really matter what needed to be done I was helping, because I was here. I was out in the public.  The press conference introduced me and Flash to the world so that meant that I needed to be visible.  I might not be walking the streets and knocking on doors, but I wanted to establish a presence and perhaps that was something that we could all do.

Sure, there are times when people wouldn’t know when we were there working behind the scenes when we needed to, but the public needed to know that we were there that someone gave a damn.  So that began a text here and there to the others.

”Hey.  Nothing’s wrong.  Just tossing an idea out there.  Days of service throughout the month. Be there for the everyday things not just the bad.  Call me.”

There were things to do.  Sure help stop criminals here and there, but also show that we as a group meta humans just wanted to help people.  Be regular members of society, but you had to do more than say that you had to show it.  It involved more than streaking through the city and being someone that was far removed.

Sure we wanted our regular lives, but if we were going to step up into the light then we had to find a way to balance that aspect our lives.  We had to do more than try to stop the catastrophes, we had to try and be good global citizens.  Perhaps not something everyone was prepared to do, but to combat the fear you had to begin to fight the rumors.  There were things that people believed, and people worried about.

If picked random days to be out there it wouldn’t be staged, it wouldn’t be photo ops.  Drumming up good will, yes, I won’t deny that, but you start to find out what matters and what people think. You start to engage them.   You make mistakes yes, but you learn from them, but perhaps when there are things that go wrong you won’t fall to fast, to far, and too hard.

I’m not Black Adam, but I did a look up Kahndaq, and what happened when he rose to power.  There were things that he did that the people appreciated.  He became the ruler of a country, but he was a visible presence.  I will say that there was some fear and intimidation there, but the way I think about is that it’s like the cops.   When they’re present people reconsider some of the things they’re going to do.

Will it solve all the problems no, but it will help.  It will also help us be more approachable. Cassie extended the olive branch through the press conference now we have to be available.  Even while juggling our lives.  The Trials aren’t over, but the world keeps spinning.  People keep living and they have to be able to move past the tragedy to the next day and the next.

Most of all they need to know they’re not alone, human, metahuman, god, alien, whatever.   We’re in this together.