(Here is part one, thanks to everyone for the support! @innerwinnerlove here is a part two, I wasn’t originally going to continue this but thought I’d give it a shot. A bit of backstory to the current situation.)
The smell of warm bread was the only thing anchoring Hero to the earth beneath her.
Villain had managed to snatch a loaf from the bakery and they were currently enjoying their prize in a more hidden part of the forest.
“Thank the gods, I thought I was going to have to eat grass if I didn’t eat something soon.” Hero murmured between mouthfuls.
Villain snorted, “Forget the gods, they didn’t have anything to do about it.”
“Don’t say that, they could be out there, watching us.”
“Watching a couple of dirt covered, rat-haired, kids? I doubt it.”
Hero raised a hand to her head self-consciously. “I don’t know, I like to think something or someone is looking out for me.”
“Yeah, that someone is me.” Villain’s face broke into a mischievous smile, “Does that make me a god?”
“I think it just makes you my friend.” Hero replied fondly.
Hero loved it when Villain smiled. It was rare, so being the cause of it felt special.
“Can you promise me something?” Hero asked.
“Uh-oh, you’ve got that look in your eyes,” Villain mocked, “What is it? You want pie next time?”
“No! I just- you know what, forget it.”
Villain just laughed and crept a bit closer, “It’s too late now, you have to tell me. Come on, Hero. What is it?”
Hero mentally cursed at herself.
“Alright fine, it’s just that I’d like you to promise me that we’ll stick together, no matter what.”
“I know that’s a lot, it’s just after Lily disappeared, I’m worried-”
Hero was a bit taken aback. “Really?”
Villain looked back down at the last bit of his bread and shrugged. “Of course.”
Hero had held onto that promise, held onto Villain.
It wasn’t until Villain had gotten caught by the royal guard, stealing something he shouldn’t have, that they were separated. It was one of the most stressful weeks of Hero’s life. She didn’t sleep, she mostly blamed herself and patrolled the streets, looking for any sign of her friend. That familiar smile.
She had barely enough time to catch a breath of relief when he had returned before it was announced that he was the Chosen One. When the guards had caught him, they found him with an ancient amulet in hand, glowing with a promise.
Apparently, he was prophesized to bring about a new era of peace to the kingdom. He was their shining savior, a hero.
Villain had scoffed at this at first. Ranting to Hero about the responsibilities he never asked for, how the people around him were so fake. But she saw it, then. There was a look in his eyes now, not the old hunger for stolen bread, but a new kind of hunger.
“Villain, wait. Maybe you should take a break, you’ve been working hard lately, and staying out late. Maybe you should rest, just for tonight.” Hero tried.
Villain’s eyes were still lit up with excitement. He had been rushing around the new house he had just bought days earlier. “No, I know you don’t like mentor, or any of this, but I need to go. Some very important people are going to be there.”
He wasn’t completely wrong. She didn’t like his new friends, she didn’t like how she felt like she had to beg for attention. It was desperate.
Hero settled on the couch that probably cost more than everything she owned put together. Her eyes fixed on the floor beneath her feet.
“I’m happy that you are succeeding, Villain. Truly, I am. I just-”
“Just what? Just want me to stick to the pathetic, broken-down villages we used to run through?”
“Then what?” He was getting defensive.
Hero finally looked up and met his eyes. He was nothing like that young, mud covered kid she had known. He was clean now, stronger and more determined. His eyes could cut through glass, it felt like they might cut through her.
“I just miss you.” Hero’s voice was soft now. Admitting that was placing a dagger directly into Villain’s hand and they both knew it.
Villain just looked at Hero.
The room was very quiet for a moment. When Hero would look back at this conversation, it was this exact second that felt like the marking point of things to come.
A knock sounded at the door and it shook both of them out of whatever trance they held.
“I have to go. I’ll see you when I get back?” Villain said, although the last part wasn’t really a question.
Despite an uneasiness that had grown between them, Villain and Hero managed to stay within each-other’s orbit.
Villain had grown into the prophecy he was meant to fulfill. Vanquishing monsters and enemies from all over the kingdom.
Hero had been there too. Cleaning up the wreckage, bandaging any who got caught in the crossfire. Always a few careful steps behind Villain.
Hero had gotten done helping a young woman with her wounds and began to search for Villain and the rest of the party to rejoin them.
What caught her attention was the sound of laughter. This was rather unusual considering the devastation that had occurred moments before.
“Well? What have you to offer your savior?”
Villain was standing over a young man who was trembling on the ground clasping something around his neck.
“Please, my lord, I don’t mean any disrespect.” The young man was scrambling to get up, but one of Villain’s soldiers kicked him back down.
“It’s disrespectful to treat your future king with anything less than a bow when first spoken to.” Villain said, almost lazily.
“I swear, I didn’t know-”
“Didn’t know? What a pathetic excuse.”
Villain began advancing on the man, signaling the guards to drag him to his feet.
Villain’s eyes narrowed, “You know what, since you didn’t know I will just have to teach you.”
Villain raised his hand to strike, powerful light thrumming around his fist.
Hero’s heart was racing and before he could throw the punch she ran and placed herself between Villain and the man. “Stop!”
Villain paused. “Hero, what do you think you’re doing?”
Hero swallowed, “I think the better question, is what do you think you’re doing?”
The crowd of soldiers had gone silent. Waiting.
“Get out of my way, Hero.”
“Or what, Villain?” Hero began to gain more confidence, “You’ll hit me too?”
Villain paused. Then he smiled. This time, Hero wasn’t so sure she was happy that she was the cause of it.
Hero thought back to that day, when she had stopped Villain from hitting that man. She remembered the small punishments that he had caused her afterwards. They had grown apart after that. A new tension had arose from what used to be an easy friendship.
Now, as she was hurtling herself through the darkness, she wondered if he thought of that same day.
The gardens were now pitch-black. The stars had gone out and the moon had turned her silver face days ago.
“You want to talk about weakness, Hero?” Villain’s voice echoed behind her.
Hero’s only slight advantage had been her deep knowledge of the castle gardens. She had escaped here many times to avoid Villain’s cold wrath.
Villain’s voice sounded calm, but anger was living beneath the surface. “Then I’ll tell you a story, it’s about an ungrateful, greedy, peasant, who lived in her friend’s shadow.”
A knife, she needed a knife. She had left one here, just in case.
“One day she made a mistake. She decided to take something that didn’t belong to her.”
Hero fumbled in the dark, she managed to grab onto something cold. Success.
“You know, the story ends with her death. Of course, if you come out now and apologize, maybe it will have a different ending.”
Hero could hear her pulse, thrumming in her ears. Villain was close. She would need him closer.
She stood up. “Do you promise?”
