#supervillain whumper
(NOT A PR0MPT) inspired by the song “He Died in Dreams” by Ross Wylde
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Villain died.
And, of course, Hero knew this. She knew this because the halls were cold, and because her sheets, no matter how long she laid beneath them, were never warm like before. She knew because the tea kettle wasn’t hot every morning like it was when Villain was here, when he inevitably awoke before her because the sounds of birds intrigued him.
Villain was dead.
Yet, Hero occasionally felt a brush of fingertips along her shoulders when the breeze picked up. It was as if Earth were reminding her what accompanied the delicate swoop of her hair. Rather, it was as if it were reminding her of what was missing.
Then again, the clasp of Hero’s necklace appeared at her front. No hand fixed the chain then.
Today, though, she heard a voice, and it tickled the back of her brain. “I need to stay with you,” it said at first. Then, “But I don’t know what to do.”
Tears sprung to Hero’s eyes because- yes- she knew that voice.
“This grief,” Villain’s voice said, “it hurts, and I know it’s hurting you, too.”
“Villain?” she whispered to the wind. A part of her wanted to believe in miracles. She wanted to believe Villain would materialize on the balcony, beneath the moon, and that when he did, he would cup her cheek in a hand and tell her all was well. Everything was a joke, Hero wanted to say to herself.
“The trees look different here, less solid,” the voice- Villain- continued, off topic. “The leaves and pine needles are just a visual, so your hand goes right through them. You can still use branches to climb. I guess there has to be some kind of symbol of life within death, even if it is just a solid branch. I think you’d like it. You were always so fond of meaning, of symbolism, weren’t you?”
“Are you here, Villain?” The question was desperate and perhaps panicked. Was Hero finally losing her mind? Maybe it was she who was dead, or dying, or whatever phase this was. Surely, surely, Villain wasn’t dead and speaking to her from the Land of the Dead. No. That wasn’t possible. So, it was Hero who was dead instead.
“You don’t really hear me, do you?” Villain asked. “It’s just a coincidence that you’re responding.” A pause occurred, and the man, who Hero progressively felt convinced was unreal, continued. “I know death is as difficult as life- probably more so- but you-”
Shewasdead?
No.
But he said-
I know death is as difficult as life.
Why was he saying that to her?
Everything was so confused in Hero’s mind. She could so vividly remember…remember her lover’s…his…she could remember his body. Breathless. Lifeless. Dead.
He was dead.
Then why did she keep questioning it?
“-know that, don’t you? I have to leave at some point, and it should be sooner rather than later. It would save us both the grief. Then again-”
Now was one of those moments in which Hero could imagine Villain pinching the skin between his brows. He was frustrated, and she knew that only through his tone.
“-I could just stay and we could live like this. Two voices in two realms, only one able to hear the other. It’s cruel,” Villain explained.
Hero agreed, “It is cruel,” but not about the two realms. It was obvious the two could hear one another- Villain simply couldn’t believe it.
“Which one of us is dead?” Hero asked, and to her surprise, crickets of the night responded. The near-silence made her feel as if no one had been speaking just moments prior, and made her feel as if she truly had gone insane. Who was to say she wasn’t? The only voice she’d heard in days were her own and a dead man’s. If anyone else in the world heard that statement, they’d put her in counseling. Worser yet, they’d treat her for schizophrenia.
“I almost feel sorry for you.”
Hero jumped at the voice behind her, her hands leaving the balcony before promptly carrying her weight in a spin. She faced the man behind her.
“You really don’t understand which one of you is dead?”
The way Hero’s heart hammered against her ribs made her hesitant to speak. She watched. But watching did nothing as Supervillain approached the balcony of Hero’s apartment. Her body was frozen.
“I had your mind racing earlier,” Supervillain commented, “when I made you think you heard your precious Villain. What makes that mind so empty now?”
Her mind was a blank sheet of printer paper waiting for instruction.
“If my presence is that troubling then why don’t you turn back around? Face away.”
“That would make everything worse,” Hero finally had the sense to snap. In the same moment, her sweaty hands curled into tight, white-knuckled fists. “I want you out.” Her voice shook, but her feet remained planted.
As mighty as she looked, Supervillain chuckled, so lightly intimidated that he even covered his eyes with a hand as if to scoop away tears. “That was cute,” he said. “That was really cute, but here’s the thing; I know how scared you are. I can hear you begging the world to prevent me from reminding you what I did to that little lover of yours.”
Already, it was enough to make Hero see Villain’s body all over again.
“He didn’t deserve it,” she whispered. Hero didn’t notice the way her chin was angled down until Supervillain lifted it in order to wipe away a tear. Weakness like this wasn’t meant to be shown. It made her look vulnerable. It made her look easy to take control over.
Supervillain’s fingers left Hero’s cheek and travelled to her chin as it began to fall again. He lifted her chin slowly while cooing softly to her. “Sh, sh, sh. All traitors deserve what they get.”
The way he said it like a reassurance made Hero’s stomach roll. “Why are you here?” Why is he-
“Tormenting you?” Supervillain shrugged. “Villain betrayed me. I killed him in my anger, and frankly, I’m not satisfied with it.” Exposing Hero’s neck, he said, “Seeing the fear in your eyes is as satisfying as it can get.”
Soft and warm. Those were the only words that could possibly be considered appropriate to describe the world around Villain. Soft and warm… Soft and warm…
“You really thought this was the worst this city had to offer? This insect?”
“I’m not sleeping on the floor.” Villain declared immediately.
“Neither am I.” Hero vowed.
The two turned to look at one another.
“It seems we have come to an impasse.”
When one thought of the word “collateral,” their minds most often went to the financial. A security deposit on a hotel room, an item given over to ensure a loan. The financial. The mundane.
Usually, this word wasn’t associated with prisoner exchanges.
Villan just want to feel comfort. TW: punishments, injuries, threats of death.
Aloha! I don’t know what is it, really.
SuperVillain was in their office when Villain came in. They was shivering from fear and tension.
For the face SuperVillain was doing, they was really angry. Furious. It only made Villain shivering more and start shaking, turning in their feet to met their boss’ face after close the door.
“What i said to you to do yesterday?” SuperVillain asked, eyeing Villain up and down. “To kill Hero…” Villain answered, putting their hands in their back, to not let their boss see that they was shaking. “Exactly, and what did you do?” The boss asked again, getting up from the chair, walking to be face-to-face to Villain, who had their eyes glued in the floor, taking a deep breath before their punishment.
“I let they go… without injuries,” Villain said, shifting your body weight from one foot to another, before feeling one hand in their chin, forcing them to look up, right in the eyes of their boss.
SuperVillain hummed, smirking before let out an humorless laugh. “I think we have to get an punishment, don’t we?” They said, receiving a small nod of the Villan, who looked so small now.
They get in the Boss’ private room and the punishment started.
——————————–
Almost 3 hour after, SuperVillain was out of the room, cleaning their hands in a towel and forcing silently Villain in their feet.
SuperVillain dismissed Villain fast, saying that they would be out for the next 2 days, that was an relief to Villain, but not before make sure that the Villain heard them say ‘if you say anything to anyone there or out of there, i will kill you myself’. Of course Villain don’t believe this, but they don’t test their boss.
Anyways, they tried to walk home without pass out in the middle of the alleyway, but their ribs was almost throbbing of who much punches and belts hitted them there, who much their head hit the wall in a try to escape and catch their breath, who much the ring that SuperVillain used practically stabbed them. And who much their body was covered in bruises.
Villain was overthinking about it, and they stopped after someone abruptly get them out of their own thoughts with someone snapping fingers. Then they looked up and SHIT-
There was Hero, with a worried look on their face, looking right into the Villain’s eyes. Villain looked down to see where was one hand that wasn’t theirs and they swallowed a gasp after see Hero’s hand holding theirs.
“What do you want,” Villain said, pushing away Hero’s hand and taking a few steps back. Hero didnt talked about it, but they sure realized that Villain’s voice was weak and pain-filled. “I did nothing today. Don’t even get on your way so let me-” They interruped themself when their legs give up, making them stumble, and for a second the Hero don’t caught them before they go to the floor.
“Hey, it’s okay, i got you, but now i need you to say what happened to me.” Hero said, trying not to let Villain be more in pain than they already was, lowering their body.
“No… They will kill me,” Villain said while they was in a internal war between his ego, the cruel and heartless person they need to keep up and the instinct of lean into the Hero’s kind touch and be warm, feel loved.
In the end, they found themselfs without force to fight anymore, so they lean into the touch of Hero’s hand, that pat their head softly and gently.
“Ok… i will take you with me.” Hero stand up carrying Villain in bridal style, but struggling to keep them in their arms the second Villan started to be in panic.
Be with the Hero meanned comfort, warm, no more pain, but at the same time meanned punishments.
“No-! You need to let me go! They will kill me after they know-!” Villain whined, trying to be free from the Hero’s strong arms. At this point, they was crying, in the verge of a panic attack, but one breath, one cracking sound, one roll of eyes to the back of their head send them straight to the unconsciousness.
The last thing they heard was the Hero telling them with a worried voice that everything was ok and that they can rest now.
