Evil & Love

Awake vs. Asleep

Ramiron stood before his father. Fortinbras was a good father. He treated everyone with respect. He was just in a place of power and had to retain that power.

"You said you had a question for me, son?"

"Yes, dad. I was wondering why we do what we do?"

"Because there is a balance in this world. Good and evil. We exist to uphold the villainous side-"

Suddenly the hero alarms began to go off.

"Hold that thought. I have to go take care of this. You need to stay here, son."

Ramiron watched as his father disappeared down the hall. He felt his power surge. He turned and saw a small boy staring up at him.

"You should go. Your powers are needed up there." the little boy said. "I have done all that I can for you at this moment. You mustn't let them kill Keilylia," the little boy suddenly turned into a middle-aged man.

"You're a shapeshifter!" Ramiron gasped.

"No, you are. Now, go, protect her."

Ramiron didn't have time to ask questions he felt as if the words the man had commanded him were ones he could not go against.

He ran. Once he reached the outside of HQ, he saw her. His eyes immediately went to her.

I must do as the man told me, he thought.

He ran close to her. Just so in case someone tried to hurt her, he could be there, but he still fought the other heroes. They were such nuisances. They never gave up. They would always say "Good can never prevail until evil is destroyed".

The thing about these heroes is that they would give up the ones they love for the world. The thing about the villains that Ramiron worked with is that they would give up the world for those they love.

Love had never really crossed Ramiron's mind except for the family kind so he didn't know the desire to give up the world for the one that he loved most.

He parried strike after strike. When he got the chance he would reach out and absorb the power of whoever was closest to him to use against hero or villain.

The villains paid him very little attention. That is until his sister noticed him. Siliana got the attention of his best friends Elsyon and Perseus, and all three of them began stalking in his direction. He began to panic. Sure, taking each one on individually was a breeze but all three! At once?! He couldn't express to Smoke that he was protecting her.

Shoot, he thought.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a dagger abandoned next to a rock. He grabbed the dagger and threw it to the ground near Smoke's feet. She would need it.

He then began walking towards his friends and sister.

"What are you doing out here?" Siliana shouted over the roar of the daily battle around them.

"I figured you all could use my help. Seeing as I can beat you all in a fight and I'm your most valuable fighter. You need me out here."

"Didn't your father tell you to stay inside?" Elsyon asked.

Fortinbras had technically told him to do that. "Not that I can recall."

Sure, he was lying his way out of this one but he would make it up to them all. He would make them each a pointless but cute gift. That sort of bribe always worked.

"Hey watch out!" Perseus yelled, as he leaped out to protect Ramiron from an oncoming hero who had his sword raised for the killer blow. Perseus parried the strike and went to sweep the attacker's legs.

Once the attacker was on the ground, Ramiron could recognize him. It was Shade, Smoke's brother.

Before Ramiron could place exactly why Shade would do the dishonourable thing and attack a man with his back turned, a scream resonated throughout the entire would-be park.

Ramiron recognised the sound. He couldn't place how, but he recognised that incredible sense of dread. It's the one he gets when his friends, even sister, are in trouble.

He ran back to the place at which he had left Smoke. There she lay with the dagger he moved closer to her lodged into her side. Blood seeped around her. He quickly kneeled down beside her. He wouldn't let her die. He couldn't let her die. He grasped for a piece of cloth to use as a tourniquet. He checked for a pulse once pressure was applied. It was slowly slipping away. She was no longer breathing. He began chest compressions.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty." he breathed and pressed his mouth to hers lightly and gave two breaths.

She came back after two repeats of that process. All those who were fighting stopped to watch him. He was simply saving a life. All those heroes would do the same as he did, maybe not for a villain but definitely for anyone else.

After she came back, he was pushed away from her. That or he backed away. He couldn't tell if necessity kicked in or if that was another impulse.

Without him realising it, Ramiron was in a busy hallway of HQ. He bumped into someone.

"Watch where you're going." Ramiron said, because being kind about it got you walked all over.

"I could say the same to you kid." Ramiron recognised that voice. He looked up and saw the man from earlier, "Follow me," the man said.

Ramiron followed the man and was led to an old abandoned schoolroom in HQ.

"My name is Rhys," the man said.

"Ramiron."

"I know who you are, boy."

"Who are you?"

"I am many people. A fatherly figure is what I thought you would respond to best, especially given your good relationship with your father."

Ramiron looked at this man with slight confusion.

"What are you doing here?"

"I am here to guide you."

"In what?" he laughed, Ramiron had pretty much already found his path.

"'To what?' is a better question. The answer to that question is your memories. You remembered something when your lips touched Keilylia's, didn't you? You remembered she was part of your life and you a part of hers."

"I don't know what I saw. I would never fall in love with a hero though! They have taken too much from myself and from my family!"

"Very well. But you will never learn the truth about why your family is evil if you choose to remain. You must train with me. I can prepare you for the battles to come."

"What battles?"

"Love does not play with those who make it out to be a joke."