Blossoms of the Dark Continued

CCXXI Selene: Machia

Trigger Warning: 

- major character deaths

- death

- blood

- gore

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Dark humor is indeed part of the job description.

I find myself regretting my choice of words after comprehending the sight before me.

Toga and Mr. Compress stare at the puddle that used to be Twice.

In fragmented sentences, they gave me the gist of what occurred while I was busy resurrecting Shigaraki. Pro-Hero Hawks betrayed us. I knew that cheap imitation of an angel was suspicious. He killed Twice. Twice used the last remnants of his conscience to summon a final clone to protect Toga and Mr. Compress. It is that clone's puddle whose shadow haunts the three of us.

I am sure that my friends are reflecting on the past. Scrutinizing every memory shared with Twice, reflecting over any unknowing mistake that could have been rectified, denying his death, fuming over his death, bargaining with his death, wallowing his death, accepting his death. I cannot say that I am doing anything different. My mind keeps flashing back to the night the Eight Precepts of Death greeted us. The night the first of us died. Magne. Her death had also been sudden. Unanticipated. History repeated itself. Another traitor killed one of us.

And the second time hurts more because for all of Twice's eccentricities, he was the purest of us villains.

I suspected Hawks from the very start. I should have done something then. Found a way for him to never become a member. Smooth, laid-back talkers like him always have ulterior motives. Of course, he would work as a double agent. Just like me.

No. Preventing him would not have been enough. I should have killed him when I had the chance. He was right there at the villa. One slice across the throat and the threat would have been averted.

"I thought heroes didn't kill people," Toga murmurs so quietly, I am tempted to believe I imagined it. But then she continues, "I thought that's what heroes preached. That killing others was what villains did and saving other was what heroes did."

Mr. Compress shakes his head. "Their statements are as hollow as their foundations. Bunch of drivel to make themselves look good."

Toga stares at the handkerchief in her hands before folding it neatly and tucking it into her coat pocket. Twice's parting gift to her. The aura is so desolate that it feels sickening to say that the news I have brought is good. Goodness, if my tear ducts weren't so dry from crying earlier, I would be weeping right now. In a tone so dissociated I cannot recognize it as my own, I narrate to them that Shigaraki has awakened with full power. The Doctor has been abducted, and Shigaraki is fighting by himself. I even tell them the orders he gave me.

"Thirty minutes. That's how long I can assist you before returning to the hospital. Another thirty minutes there and then I can help again. Do either of you have a watch and tracker?" Mr. Compress nods, taking responsibility for tracking time and location.

Gazing at the puddle again, I bend down and bow. More than a sign of respect, it is a promise of vengeance. Grief has no place on the battlefield. Only vengeance does.

"Forgive me, Toga, for rubbing salt in your wounds."

That is all I say before a volcano of flesh and blood erupts from my back. Hands claw out. Feet lash out. Teeth gnash together. Thousands of Selenes manifest like bacterial multiplication, assembling into an army of bloodthirsty teenage girls seeking to quell their fury with the rain of blood. Twice's quirk, combined with the enhancer drug, make a formidable concoction. All the limitations currently imposed on me are removed from them.