Growing up our heroine from previous stories, was alone a lot. She was different from a lot of the other young adventurers that she knew. When they would run, she would dance. When they would do some sort of competitive activity she would read, when the other young adventurers would head to their classes to learn, she was kept at home to learn from her mother. To escape some of the hurt she felt from being alone, among other things, she would find herself lost in imaginary worlds and books for much of her free time.
One of these such worlds was a world where the pages of said books were filled with stories about an older student with red hair trying to decide which of two beautiful maidens he would decide to have as his primary questing partner. Stories of a ghost who seemed friendly and always tried to help people. Stories of a very rich duck, of all things, and his antics with all his gold. They captivated the young heroine and drew her in, in a way which she never expected.
Move forward a few cycles, the young heroine was tired of the old stories and looking for new ones. She happened upon stories of a brilliant psychic man and his school for people who were gifted with powers beyond her imagination. Still spending much of her time alone she poured over these stories, eating them up and trying to read more and more of them. Letting herself get lost in this world filled with the Men of X. She still read to escape from the hardship of being different and lonely as people still did not understand her. Even at the places she went to acquire these stories, they would be very confused that a young female would want to read these things too. This also happened with one of the other things she found herself spending time wanting to do, where she would play a character who tried to save the world or fight the monsters, or just hide their magic or fae essence from the world!
A few more cycles passed and she found a man, who had suffered more grief than she had, he had watched his parents die in front of him. Which had changed him to become a hero. She had connected with this man in these stories. She connected with one of his villains as well so closely it was a bit weird. This villain, was really only a villain to help her save the world. She loved plants and the planet. Wanting to save it from the destruction that we, as humans, have caused to the world. This villain also wanted to save other women from abuse or mistreatment. From being put down for their being women or being different and to help them become the women they were meant to be. Something our heroine could absolutely relate to in the very core of her being.
From there she needed to learn more about this world this man and plant woman lived in. She moved on to find an archer, who wore a green hood. A rich man who wanted to save people and be a hero. She found a strong woman, a Wonder Woman as it were. Who was not afraid to do what needed to be done to make things right. She laughed at a king, who was able to talk to fish and throw giant water bubbles, in the water. She felt kinship with the little boy who called out a word and turned into a superhero, like she wanted to so many years before.
She felt connected to these characters, to these heroes, to these stories which had helped her through her entire life to this point. They had been more like friends than pictures in a book.
So when she was finally able to start being herself and started to have a crew and adventuring party as she grew into the adult heroine that is known now. People started to put these stories out into the world so that everyone could go and watch. She was proud, she was happy and she was so grateful that her childhood worlds were finally being shared with everyone in the real world in which she lived.
And we come to now, where our heroine, sees everyone she knows talking about the next and final, for some, chapter of a group of these heroes which is coming in the near future. It makes her smile, it makes her cry a bit and it makes her so proud that this is a world where she finally belongs. Where she can proudly say, this is who I have been all along and here I stand and have others join her cheer as well!
