SSD III: Silver

60. Behind the Scenes

The plan that had come to fruition that last day had been a true work of abstract art that essentially looked like somebody had dangled a baby mobile of canned spaghetti over a canvas and subsequently dropped it onto the page. In other words, it was a questionable mess that had somehow birthed into a semi-decent idea and it had worked.

Somehow.

It had started with Keenan's confession, before being kidnapped, before she and Shinsou dived into her memories, before visiting the Ito graves the first time.

***

They were sat beside each other on the fire escape outside Aizawa and Yamada's window, Silver not even trying to rub the exhaustion from her face while Keenan watched on.

She raised one hand to silence him before pressing the heels of her palms into her eye sockets. "It's stupid, they're just nightmares."

"They're not stupid." If he'd tried harder to find her when she up and left, if when she texted the phone Nezu had gifted him two weeks after she left, he hadn't idiotically chased her away, maybe she'd be better now, not perfect, but better than this.

"It's not even the nightmares that I hate." Silver paused as a shadow crossed the window, waiting to make sure nobody was listening before continuing, her voice lowering to a whisper. "My dreams take the memories and twist them into something else, but they still seem so real. Every time I wake up-" She slammed her fist into her knee as her voice cracked- "I have to remind myself of what really happened when all I want to do is forget."

While Silver fuelled her voice with anger, Keenan's eyes softened and he lifted one arm over her. Silver called him her brother, but when Aizawa told her to go three months ago, he'd abandoned her. And in his time at UA, he'd learnt a lot. He understood some of the things Silver had tried to show him, he wasn't all the way there, but holding his sister who was now practically curled up into his side, still shaking, he'd never been so close to getting it.

"Silver?"

She nodded, taking a breath.

"There's something I need to tell you."

"What?" She needed a long night's rest, but she doubted it would happen, her body wouldn't allow it even though it needed it as much as her brain did.

"I'm still part of WMD, I never really left."

He waited, dreading her reaction, heart beating in his ears. Any minute now, she'd realise what he just said and pull away from him, fear bringing her weapons into her hands.

She only hummed. "Good to know."

Keenan blinked, his body tensing as he looked down at her. Clearly this was the wrong time to tell her but he could hardly put it off, he just had to find a way to put it that was easier to understand. "What I mean, is I'm betraying you."

She hummed again, head nodding sleepily.

He pulled away, turning to face her properly, and grasping her shoulders, shaking the frail girl a little to make her more alert, only she suddenly seemed wide awake. "I'm working with your enemy," he reiterated as blatantly as he could.

"Heard you the first time, Penis-Brain," she returned in a patronising whisper, eyes bright and mischievous compared to the tired and dull of a moment ago. He knew she was forcing it, but at least she was trying.

His brain sputtered to a screeching stop before picking up to a hundred miles an hour. "You knew?" He couldn't believe this, he was supposed to be their team's best infiltrator, the actor supreme, and Silver had known. Maybe even from the beginning.