i love your writing so much! could you write something about a villain proposing that the hero works with them, and if they do they'll get half the world once the villain rules it. (maybe the hero is appalled at the mere suggestion that they'd surrender their morals so easily, but it's up to you!)
"Once I rule the world," the villain murmured, "I will give you half of it. Providing, of course, that you help me. Work with me."
"There is no way in hell I am ever doing that."
Did the villain have concussion? There was surely no other reason they could possibly think the hero would ever say yes to such an offer?
"No?" The villain tipped their head, gaze piercing. "How much of the world do you think you can save from me?"
"How much. Of the world. Do you think. You can save from me?"
"More than 50%?" The villain asked. They moved around the space, circling like a good predator, trailing their fingers along the edges of furniture. A smile curled their lips.
The hero refused to pivot and watch them.
It took the hero a moment to be able to speak, airless with the horror and the repulsiveness of that soft-spoken suggestion.
"I'm not trading half the population of the world to you." The hero's fingers curled, nails digging into their palms. "That's - that's -"
"So how many more will die instead?"
"You're talented, but you can't be everywhere..." The villain stopped in front of them again. "I only need to hit someone once to kill them. To save them you have to be there over, and over, and over again." They shrugged, stuffing their hands in their pockets. "The odds are stacked in my favour."
"If they were so stacked, you wouldn't be offering me 50%."
The villain laughed quietly, shaking their head. "Is it so difficult to believe I don't enjoy unnecessary bloodshed?"
"Is it so hard to believe I don't want to unnecessarily shed your blood?"
The hero opened their mouth to say 'yes' again, only to find the word catching in their throat. No, that one, for whatever strange reason, they could believe.
"I don't want to rule a graveyard," the villain said. "And you don't want to lay waste to the world trying to stop me. This seems like an elegant solution."
The hero could taste bile in their mouth. "Or I could kill you. As you say, killing someone is a one time job compared to protecting everyone."
"If killing me was that easy, you would have done it long before now."
"That's why you're offering me 50%." The hero felt dizzy. "To persuade me not to kill you. Because I could - I could -" It wouldn't be easy, but they could.
The villain's expression hardened.
"What do you reckon my chances are?" The hero stepped closer, jutting their chin up, heart pounding. "More or less than 50%?"
"You're making a mistake."
"You would say that, given the circumstances."
"It's not just me," the villain said. "Half the world would give you the power to protect so many more. Maybe they run from my half to yours. Maybe you can do more than fire fight monsters, you can build something good, something lasting, something better. A safe haven. You'd rather be a murderer?" The villain raised their hand, ghosting their knuckles along the hero's cheek. "I know that's all you've wanted. I am not offering this deal to mock you, to be cruel. I know what you believe in."
The hero froze, almost hypnotised by the brush of the villain's hand, by the words, by the intensity in the villain's eyes.
"I'm sorry," the hero said.
"Yes." The villain dropped their hand, face flickering with something like 50% heartbreak. "You will be."