“I know the world is ending, but…at least we have each other, right? Is that too cliché to say?”
Hero’s eyes almost brimmed with tears at the sentiment behind his words. The sentiment, however, was less overpowering than the sadness which was starting to rupture her heart. “Villain, I can’t do this.”
“I know it’s scary, my love, but the sky will not fall on us. If it did, you know I would protect you.” He shifted on the plaid blanket, touching Hero’s hand. His fingers were stained with paint from the mailbox at home, and Hero couldn’t help but to smile.
So kind. So kind and thoughtful, but it wasn’t true. It wasn’t Villain. “I can’t die with this lie brewing endlessly.”
“Lie? What lie?” Villain didn’t seem concerned over Hero’s words. He never was. He was too in love to have caution when it came to Hero.
“Your love isn’t real. We captured you, Villain, and Other Hero charmed you. You don’t love me. I can’t let you think your love is real when the world is about to end.”
Villain stayed quiet for some moments, and then, it seemed as though something snapped. His once plump lips tightened into a harsh line, sharper than a pair a shears.
Other Hero said it would be that easy. ‘Never even hint at the charm existing. I’m not strong enough to make my will permanent.’ Hero didn’t want it to be permanent anyway. Something about taking another person’s freedom to love who they chose didn’t sit right with her, even if Villain would be unaware of it.
“How long?” Villain asked. Hero watched his fingers curl tightly in the woven grass, and heard the stalks pop from the ground. Her chest tightened.
Maybe taking a breath would make her feel better. “Four years.” Hero swallowed.
“I reckon that’s why you said ‘no’ when I proposed?” He chuckled, and it was a laugh Hero hadn’t heard in so long. The last time she did hear it…it was when Other Hero did the charm. Villain swore it wouldn’t work, that he wasn’t capable of love- ‘…especially not for any of you.’
His voice had become soft when he experienced love. He was polite, and his nose crinkled when he smiled. For a time, Hero forgot what his frown looked like.
“There was no other way to stop you, Villain. It had to be done.”
Hero was frightened. For four years, his voice never raised- only became louder when he was calling Hero from the kitchen.
“You take away my free will, and now look. The sky is red, Hero. I sure as hell didn’t do that. If I wasn’t under some uncontrollable gaze, I would have stopped this shit from even happening!”
“You knew about Supervillain?”
Villain ignored her and looked to his hands, plastered in a coat of lies. That paint wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for Hero. He shook his head. “It was all I ever wanted- to not die. To- to live long enough…I was fighting my own battles, Hero. Did your team ever think of that? I knew this”- he gestured to the sky- “was happening. I was trying to stop it, dammit.”
“You said you were sick. We…I guess we thought it was a terminal illness. The charm would fix the illness, and it would stop your crazed ruthlessness. You would only experience love. We thought it was the right thing…I’m sorry.”
“Sorry,” Villain repeated with a shake of his head. “Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit!”
“You could have asked for our help,” Hero suggested softly.
“Your help? What makes you think I would have wanted to ask for it? All you have ever done is ridicule me.” Villain finally stood from the blanket and began pacing, like the ideas in his head pushed him to his feet, too full of energy. “I tell you there’s a villain- a real villain- and you turn me into this helpless, loving thing. I didn’t need love. I needed…I didn’t need anything. I was going to stop this from happening alone.”
“What about the sickness, then? Was it a lie, Villain? Something to make us feel bad for you so we’d let you go off killing again?” Villain killed. God, he killed everything. Humans and pets. Plants and fish in the ponds. Anything capable of a heartbeat was killed. For what? As far as Hero’s team was concerned, Villain was the end of the world.
“I was sick; it just wasn’t fucking cancer. I tried to tell you. Why did no one listen to me?” He sighed. “It was a disease, Hero. I don’t know where it came from, but it infected everything, and only the infected could see where it was. It was a curse- dark and evil and twisted. I watched it spread, and no one was going to stop it.”
Villain looked to the sky and a tear spring to his eye. “It used to tell me in my sleep, however seldom that was, that it was going to take over. I decided to kill it. I would kill every infected thing and then I would end it all with myself. I was going to save the world, Hero. Now there’s no hope for it at all.”
