#villains and heroes
“I won’t let you do this.”
The villain laughed at that. “And what could you possibly do to stop me? Die?”
“If I have to.” The hero’s voice was calm, their heartbeat steady, their eyes set with determination.
“Oh, no,” the villain grinned, plucking the sword from the hero’s hand like it was nothing as pure chaos swirled in the depths of those dark eyes. “No, you’re much too precious for that.”
“Miss me?”
A crooked grin spread across the villain’s lips at the sight of their hero standing before them once again.
“Yes,” the hero whispered, without hesitation. Their voice was small and weak, but their heart warmed at the sound of the villain’s voice, tense shoulders slumping in relief as they met the villain’s eyes. “Yes.”
The villain’s face fell into a frown, eyes flicking up and down the hero, taking them in—they were thinner than before, tired and bruised and beaten, their eyes empty and broken—the villain’s heart cracked at the sight of it.
“Come on in, then,” the villain said, voice soft as they stepped aside for the hero. “I’ve missed you too.”
“How does it feel?” the hero grinned, voice dripping with venom. “To be powerless?”
The villain strained desperately, helplessly, against the chains that bound them, reaching inside theirself for the magic that should be thrumming through their veins, for any hint of their power, but they were empty. Trapped.
“Please,” the villain whispered, voice cracking.
“Not so fun, is it?” The hero flashed a wicked smile, cruel delight shining in their eyes as they leaned over the villain, trailed a finger down the villain’s shoulder.
The villain flinched at the touch, at the hero’s closeness, thrashing wildly against bonds they had no hope of breaking—not with their power gone, stripped away by the hero. Panic hit the villain in full force, blurring their thoughts, burning in their chest, crushing the air from their lungs.
“Please,” the villain whispered again, a soft, broken plea. “I’ll do anything.”
“Oh, darling,” the hero sighed, nails digging into the villain’s skin as they stood to tower over their prisoner.
“It’s too late.”
“You really thought you could get away with this?”
The hero towered over the villain, strong and composed even as their hands shook with the pain of the betrayal. Their eyes shone not with anger but with pity, disappointment, and the force of it hit the villain like a brick to the chest. They wished the hero would cry and rage and scream, wished they would just explodewith anger at what the villain had done, but the hero only stood there, tall and silent and so very, very disappointed.
“No,” the villain whispered, head bowed, eyes locked on the ground, cheeks flushed with shame.
“But I didn’t see another choice.”
“Oh, darling,” the villain sighed, voice laced with mocking pity. They crossed their arms lightly over their chest as they leaned back against the doorframe, each casual movement lined with grace and power.
The hero froze in place at the sight of them, suddenly unable to move, to breathe. Their legs that had been prepared to run and run and run, forever and ever until their lungs gave out, until the villain could never find them again, now trembled in place as their heartbeat spiraled out of control, thundering so loud in their chest that they couldn’t think beyond a panicked no, no, no—
The villain only smiled, cruelty gleaming sharp in their eyes as they strode slowly toward their prey.
“Did you really think I’d let you leave?”
“Please,” the villain whispered.
They didn’t fight as they were thrown into the cell, only stared at the hero with pleading eyes so full of guilt and regret—and so at odds with the cruel, merciless eyes of the villain who had slaughtered innocents and leveled cities without a second thought.
“Please, just one more chance. I’m trying—I’m trying so hard to be better, for you,” they pleaded, kneeling on the floor of the cell. “Please, please don’t leave me here again—”
“You’re out of chances,” the hero said—cold, unflinching, apathetic. They should have felt some pride at the sight of the mighty villain kneeling, begging at their feet, but they were so tired of dealing with this, of putting up with the same act over and over again, that they felt nothing.
And whatever small part of the hero that had tried, over and over again, to hope, to forgive… it shattered as they slammed the cell door shut on the villain.
“I hate you,” the hero snarled, burning with the force of their rage. “You deserve to suffer, to die for the things you’ve done—”
“Oh, come on, darling,” the villain laughed, stalking closer and closer to the hero’s outstretched blade. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”
The hero didn’t, couldn’t, pull away from the villain’s touch—not as strong, gentle fingers traced a line down their cheek and along their lips, not as their traitorous heart started beating faster, faster, faster.
“You’ve always been so terrible at lying.”
“Please,” the hero whispered, blade slipping through their fingers to clatter against the stone floor.
They had no strength left to fight this, to do anything but stare in terror as the villain’s power swirled around them, an angry mass of shadows stretching farther and farther out into the world. The villain only laughed, cold and cruel, as that monstrous power burst out of them.
“Please, you don’t want to do this.”
“Oh, darling,” the villain sighed, the words laced with venom, a maniacal gleam in their eyes that was beyond saving, beyond stopping. “I most definitely do.”
“Please,” the villain whispered, “just stay. We can talk about this—”
“I have nothing to say to you,” the hero snarled, pushing past the villain.
“Wait.” The villain grabbed the hero by the arm, a desperate pleading in their eyes as they met the hero’s stare. “Please, I can’t lose you.”
Shame flushed bright red across the villain’s cheeks—shame at their own weakness, at the vulnerability they couldn’t hide—but the hero only jerked their arm away, anger burning in their eyes.
“I am not yours to have or lose.”
“I can’t do it,” the hero whispered, hands shaking.
They had the villain pinned beneath them, tip of their blade balanced directly over the villain’s heart, yet they couldn’t bring theirself to land that killing blow. Victory was theirs, yet they couldn’t bring theirself to take it.
“Pathetic,”the villain snarled, spitting in the hero’s face. “You’ve always been such acoward.”
Maybe so, the hero thought as they shifted their weight, lowered their blade. Maybe they weren’t cut out for this, to fight and defeat a monster that they only felt sorry for.
The hero reached down to help the villain to their feet, but the villain only scowled at the outstretched hand, at the pity in the hero’s eyes.
“If you can’t do it, I will,” the villain snarled, and plunged their blade deep into the hero’s chest.
“No,” the villain gasped, falling to their knees beside the hero’s body. “No, no, no.”
They pressed their hands to the hero’s chest in a pitiful attempt to stop the bleeding. They were shaking from head to toe, trembling as panic built up in their chest. The hero couldn’t die. The hero couldn’t die. The hero couldn’t die.
“Hey, it’s okay,” the hero whispered, placing a hand over the villain’s, intertwining their fingers together, holding them close to their heart.
“You promised me you’d be okay. You promised me you would live,” the villain whimpered, a single tear falling down their cheek. “You promised.”
The hero only let their eyes fall shut with a final sigh, a soft smile twisting up the corners of their lips.
“Sometimes it’s easier to lie.”
It was the fear that froze the villain in their tracks. It was the fear that dug a knife into the villain’s heart, brought tears to their eyes, sent shards of glass shattering through their soul.
It was the pure, undiluted terror that shone in the hero’s eyes, the tremors that racked their entire body, and those broken whimpers that broke from their throat… God. The villain’s hand went limp at the sight of it, weapon falling forgotten to the floor.
The hero flinched at the sound. “Y-you… you’re not going to kill me?” they whispered, the words barely more than a shaky breath that broke the villain’s heart.
“No,” the villain whispered, falling to their knees beside the trembling hero, taking the hero’s hands in their own and holding them tight.
“No.”
The hero’s strength was lagging. They could feel exhaustion pulling at their bones, in every clash of swords that sent them staggering back a few steps.
They were on the verge of losing, but they had been outmatched from the very beginning. Every move they made, every breath they took, was just a delay of the inevitable, a hopeless battle against fate itself.
And the hero was so, so tired of fighting.
They barely registered the feeling of the sword slipping through their fingers. Barely registered the shock that shot down every nerve as their knees crashed into the cold stone floor.
“You don’t get to quit,” the villain snarled, but the hero barely heard the words, the world around them fading to a dull buzzing in their ears. “Pick up your sword and fight back!”
But the hero had no fight left in them.
“I trusted you,” the hero whispered, blinking fast against the flow of tears.
The wounded beats of the hero’s heart were the only sound to break the silence stretched thin across the room. The hero lifted their head to meet the villain’s eyes, searching for something there—some guilt or regret or pain to match the hero’s own—but there was nothing. The villain was nothing more than a statue, cold and unmoving, eyes dark and empty when they finally opened their mouth to speak.
“Your mistake.”
“Leave me alone.”
The words were cracked and broken, muffled with the hero’s head buried in their arms. They didn’t bother to look up as the villain entered the cell. They didn’t bother to hide their pain, their fear.
“I’m sorry,” the villain whispered, watching the hero’s shoulders shake with silent tears.
“I really thought somebody would come to save you.”
villain x hero’s kid 12 (final!!!!)
tw: swearing
“But your honor, she is LYING!”
“Oh will you, shut up, Hero, I have seen the evidence with my own eyes!”
“Well, you must be awfully blind,Villain!”
“—ORDER—”
“Mom,stop—”
“—am not blind—”
Slam, slam.
villain x hero’s kid 12 (final!!!!)
tw: swearing
“But your honor, she is LYING!”
“Oh will you, shut up, Hero, I have seen the evidence with my own eyes!”
“Well, you must be awfully blind,Villain!”
“—ORDER—”
“Mom,stop—”
“—am not blind—”
Slam, slam.
“ORDER IN THIS COURTROOM!”
“…Bitch.”
“BITCH?! You’re the one who—”
“I SAID ORDER! Or you’ll be escorted out, one at a time! Hero’s Kid, come show me privately what you have.”
Looking to Villain for reassurance, Hero’s Kid received a nod of encouragement and followed the judge into his chambers.
Two weeks after the courtroom chaos, the judge made a decision. Hero’s Kid was placed into foster care, since no relative wanted to provide respite. She stayed in frequent touch with Villain, who was pardoned—along with Sidekick and the trainees—by The Mayor. Hero, Hero’s Husband and Hero’s Son were imprisoned for their extensive list of crimes.
Hero’s Kid should’ve been overjoyed but instead, she was heartbroken.
She had lost Villain. At least when she was sneaking out, she could actually seehim.
“I guess I just miss you, is all,” she said on one of their nightly phone calls. “What are you doing, anyway? Sounds like a lot of people.”
“I miss you too, kid. Oh, just got out of a meeting is all. Listen, you hang in there, okay? I’m sure we’ll be able to see you soon. Sidekick says hi.”
“Hi, Sidekick. I guess. …Take care.”
Villain exited the foster care training meeting and replied, “Sure will, sweetie. You too!”
Offended he would end the call so soon after she was clearly not okay, Hero’s Kid hung up and didn’t call or respond to future messages, however encouraging, for several weeks.
-I’m sorry I seemed absent. Miss you, kid.
-Hope you’re doing okay. Call me when you can.
-You’re strong, Hero’s Kid. Keep your head up. I’m here when you’re ready.
Hero’s Kid waited in the office for her Social Worker and sighed, reluctant to meet the next prospective foster placement.
The last home hadn’t worked out after she showed a little too much of an interest in weapons.
“Right this way,” the Social Worker’s voice was heard, and Hero’s Kid tensed up, ducking her head.
“Hero’s Kid? This is Villain, he’s considering fostering you,” the Social Worker introduced.
Standing so quickly, her blood pressure dropped, Hero’s Kid knocked over her chair, wholly in shock by the news. “You-wh-you are? What??”
Villain gave a gentle laugh. “Sorry I’ve been so, eh, distant lately. Lots of training to become a foster parent; Sidekick’s been taking respite care classes too. But I’d really like to foster you…if you’re open to it.”
“If I’m open to it?!”
Hero’s Kid pounced into a bear hug. She had only dreamed of something so wonderful.
—
“—but you don’t have to if you don’t want to. You can think about it and give us your answe—”
“No. I want to,” interrupted Hero’s Kid, holding Villain’s hand down the boardwalk and sipping her frappuccino. “If they’re really going to sign them, I want to.”
“She said they were, but you know her,” Villain snarked, shoving Hero’s Kid playfully.
“And you know me; I’ll makeher give them up if I have to.”
Hero’s Kid didn’t have to force Hero or her husband to give up parental rights at all. After the trouble she had caused them, disgusting as the simplicity was to the two of them, they were perfectly willing to sign her care over to Villain—permanently. The meeting was filled with uneasy tension, but once the papers were officially signed in the courthouse, Hero’s Kid exhaled all of her fear, turning to give one final look at Hero—the shell of the mother she once remembered herself to be so terrified of.
“You’re not the hero now, you know,” Hero scoffed, adorned only in khaki inmate apparel. “Not just because I’m locked up for now; I’m the hero. You’ll never be a hero.”
A guard began to escort Hero and her husband away but not before Hero’s Kid stepped forward, having decided on her response. “Mom?”
Hero turned, staring down Hero’s Kid with a glare that used to intimidate her.
“I am a hero. …Just not like you.”
Turning, Hero’s Kid joined hands with Villain and left the courtroom, her newly adoptive father beaming down at her with pride.
–
tag list (thank you for reading this series! it’s been fun!!): @jordanstrophe@whumpasaurus101@thewhumpmeisterx3000@digitalart-dwa@myst-in-the-mirror@freefallingup13@pickleking8@mercurymom@jadeocean46910@wolfeyedwitch@coolninjavoid@phantom-thiefx@sunflower1000@laves-here
villain x hero’s kid 11
a/n: should i wait till morning to post this? maybe. will i? FUCK NO! i’M TOO EXCITED TO BE BACK AFTER 3 FUCKING MONTHS!!!!!!
cw: killing/murder, bad parents (non-specific), swearing, guns/shooting
“I’ve got this, I’ve got this, I’ve got this. I don’t even know why I’m—OH-WHOA! That was a little sp-spooky,” Hero’s Kid singsonged to herself, briskly tearing through the underbrush, breaking past limbs that clung almost as tightly to her as her mother’s projection.
villain x hero’s kid 11
a/n: should i wait till morning to post this? maybe. will i? FUCK NO! i’M TOO EXCITED TO BE BACK AFTER 3 FUCKING MONTHS!!!!!!
cw: killing/murder, bad parents (non-specific), swearing, guns/shooting
“I’ve got this, I’ve got this, I’ve got this. I don’t even know why I’m—OH-WHOA! That was a little sp-spooky,” Hero’s Kid singsonged to herself, briskly tearing through the underbrush, breaking past limbs that clung almost as tightly to her as her mother’s projection.
villain x hero’s kid 11
a/n: should i wait till morning to post this? maybe. will i? FUCK NO! i’M TOO EXCITED TO BE BACK AFTER 3 FUCKING MONTHS!!!!!!
cw: killing/murder, bad parents (non-specific), swearing, guns/shooting
“I’ve got this, I’ve got this, I’ve got this. I don’t even know why I’m—OH-WHOA! That was a little sp-spooky,” Hero’s Kid singsonged to herself, briskly tearing through the underbrush, breaking past limbs that clung almost as tightly to her as her mother’s projection.
