Red Spirit

{32} That Crossroads (Happy Alternate)

The liquid from the water-pistol stained my shirt as Joshua Pike shot at me, and it took every conceivable effort for me to not burst into laughter. The utter moron was thinking he'd been dealing with a professional, one who actually carried a real gun? He'd forgotten who he was dealing with.

In the split second it took for him to realise that I'd come armed with a water-pistol (and then in a surprising twist of fate he'd tried to shoot me with the same pistol) I lunged forward and whipped my palm across his cheek, not the most aggressive of moves but man that slap felt so good.

Don't ever let anyone tell you revenge won't make you feel any better.

Revenge feels fucking fantastic.

My fists cracked as I dug them first into his nose, "That is for framing me," And into throat, "That is for the blackouts, and this-" I punctuated it with a final kick to the nuts, "Is for my father. Who died because of your fucking greed."

I almost feel sorry for the guy, Spectre was behind me, wrenching my mother up from her hiding spot under the desk and slamming her against a bookshelf.

"Don't bother, he's not even worth our pity." I spat at his feet, he was beaten into a bloody pulp in a matter of moments now that he had no cards left to play.

Reaching into the safe zone, I scattered all the documents I'd gathered from his desk all the way back at the start of this on the floor, staring Pike down as I did so. In a hail of papers and photos, I knelt down and dug my nails into his jaw, forcing him to look at me, "I really could choke the life out of you. One pathetic life for others lost."

For once, he didn't look smug, he didn't look like he was about to win. He was out of ideas and he knew his life was literally in the hands of a villain whose fathers' death he was responsible for. It'd say his odds weren't too rosy.

"Red. Stop." Spectre's hand found my shoulder, almost about to tug me back but not quite there, "As much as I want him dead too. And trust me, I do. We've stayed legit this whole time. Finish this as the hero you could be. Then go back to the villain I love."

His words actually struck a cord, and I launched myself up and away from Pike. I looked Spectre in the eyes for a moment before I reached back and punched Joshua Pike in the face so he was out cold. Then I threw my hands up, "Take it from here Heroes."

"I called the cops," Eira said from next to Annalise' unconscious body, "The Commander and the supers should be here soon as well." 

"Then we've got about ten minutes before they get here." Spectre checked his wrist nodding to himself.

I could only stare at him, knowing what I was about to do didn't make it any easier. And I was trying to memorise the relaxed angles of his face, incase this didn't work out and he... tried to stop me.

"Will..."

"We did it, Red. We got through it." It seemed to dawn on him that we'd both survived this relatively unharmed (psychological wounds excluded), and he rushed forward and pulled me into a tight hug.

He wasn't making this any any easier.

But I let myself hug him back even tighter, running my fingers through the curls of his hair, the smell of him, the feel of his mask against my shoulder. Just incase.

"Wren... I-"

"Okay stop right there, Speccy. Let me get this out before you tell me that you love me." I pulled away, holding him at an arms length away from me. I reached up and pulled the stupid mask off his face, I wanted an unrestricted view of his now confused eyes.

"Kingsley... figured out what Joshua Pike wanted with the Soul of Armenia." I began, thinking that this was where we needed to start. If I was to make sense of this, if all of the growing I'd done over the past few weeks was about to be undone, I needed him to understand.

"What? Really?"

"Yes, it leads to... well I guess it leads to a treasure. And... I'm going with him to find it." Glancing up through my lashes, I thought he'd be hurt but I never expected the confusion directed at me. Never in a million years did I think he wouldn't get where I was going. "Will, there is no future for me in this city anymore. My Red Spirit days are long gone; everyone knows who I am. What I look like."

"Surely they would forgive all of it, you saved the city from a villain they didn't even know existed-"

"I am a villain myself. And if there's one thing that we villains know, no good deed goes unpunished. I may have done this one thing right, but look at all of the mistakes we made, even before this started –I'm a fucking criminal Will, and that won't change as long as I remain here. In this city."

His hands dropped, and he appeared so hurt and lost, the blue of his eyes almost swimming as he swallowed before speaking again, "You're leaving."

The statement didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, because it was the truth. And I would never, not for one second, forget who I was, "It doesn't have to be alone though." Stepping forward, I pressed my palm to his chest, "You can come with us. We make such a great team, you and me. It'll be us against the world, finding the treasure that Joshua Pike was willing to kill for. You only became a hero to avenge your sister, won't it feel good to do something for yourself for a change?"

Under my palm I felt his heart speed up, and his eyes went from hurt to searching, there was no distrust there either. He simply wanted to know if what I was offering was genuine, that everything we'd done together actually meant something.

"I... don't know if I'm cut out to be a villain..." He said, slowly. And I felt my hopes drop for a moment before his fingers brushed my cheek, "But for you, for us, I am willing to try."

I couldn't help but lean forward to kiss him as if my life depended on it, and I heard the wail of sirens below the Pike Mansion balcony we were standing on. The police had arrived with the rest of the supers, and of course everyone wanted to know just what had gone down.

But Will and I were long gone, we'd disappeared into the shadows with barely a sign that we were even there in the first place. Nailed to the door, a blood red ribbon tied in a bow.

And the words 'Red Spirit Is Dead' spray painted below.

***

{End Part B}

***

Awww man I literally cannot believe it's over! It only took me... two years. But hey, slow and steady right? At least that's not as long as it took me to finish Cassandra's Curse, that was near four years.

I'll be sorry to see them go tbh, it's a bit sad but not really, as I'll be continuing to edit this and draw it out as a comic book! Ya that is happening, I might create like an official tumblr or website or something that you can follow to read the comic if I decide to share it. Or I could just post the strips on here as we can do that now? That'll be a long way off tho, I've barely started but I'm hella excited I've got loads of ideas. Ah, and to think this all started with a post from tumblr that was like 'the best otp's are ones that never use the others real name, calling each other nicknames until something really serious happens just so it gets you really hard.'

Thank you so much for reading! Chapter dedicated to Rising_Phoenix for being the most dedicated reader of the century. You do you, dude. I love you.

Comment! Tell me which canon is the best I'm curious. OH! I might give you a teaser of my vamp story which will be coming out soon. Keep an eye out yall.

That's it from me for Red Spirit, man I'm getting sad but it's exciting to have more, newer projects to look forward to!

I hope you all have a good week, I love you.

-Dobby