The Undoing Of Heroes | ✓

epilogue

epilogue

THE wind was harsh, yet soft. It caressed my cheeks gently, achingly similar to what a mother's touch should feel like. Coming from me, my mother's touch certainly didn't have the same softness. 

I was sat on a rooftop, legs hanging over the ledge. The glittering city skyline of Crown Heights rose in the distance. Down below, a sleek, black car stopped in front of an expensive town house. A couple in their fifties stepped out, the husband helping his wife and her expensive jewels out with an offered hand. 

Her jewels were worth around twelve grand, in total. His watch, I estimated to be over ten thousand dollars alone. They weren't the same couple I'd stalked a night very much like this, a long time ago, because apparently that couple had moved. These were a new lot, but just as rich and just as obnoxious. 

I would've felt the lure of evil, the temptation of striking fear into their hearts and robbing them of what they were wearing, but that was who I had been previously. Now I had reformed, and promised myself to remain that way. 

Twisting my newest purchase, a ring, around my finger, I raised my eyes when footsteps approached from behind. 

"Scum like you have only bad intentions when lounging on a rooftop in a neighbourhood like this." The voice held poorly disguised anger. 

"Oh, stuff a sock in it, Blaze." I sighed, removing my mask from my eyes. For a long while, it'd been a comfort having it, but the past few months I'd worked hard on distinguishing the true me - one I could be with and without the mask. 

"Last I heard you escaped - after being prosecuted, mind you. Care to explain?"

"Not really." I replied, "If that was the last you heard you've really been slacking on your job."

He was silenced, and I turned around to look at him. He wore a newer suit, but one could still see who he was. He bore himself with pride, being one of the country's prominent heroes. If I'd been the Rae I was around a year ago, I'd despised him for that. Now I had a somewhat similar title. 

"You're correct. I have heard other things - like how you ended up defeating a villainous organisation. Very heroic, don't you think?"

"Perhaps." I said, getting to my feet. My fingers crackled with blue sparks. The powers that had evaded me after mine and Blaze's final battle had appeared after weeks of resting and training.  Nothing else. I'd focused only on bringing my control back, and with time my powers had returned. 

"You're still my enemy, Rae. Don't forget that."

"I won't. Rest assured, Blaze, you're still my number one nemesis." I said, letting my mask snap back across my face, "Can't have you heroes running around, thinking I'm reformed and all."

I turned around and caught Blaze smiling, his frame leaning against a large chimney rising from the rooftop. 

"You won't admit it, will you? That you've gone good. Soft." 

I cringed, "You're making me sound like a good guy. Quit it." 

"Crown Heights has been the most peaceful it's ever been thanks to your absence. You're doing my job for me." 

"If I knew this hurt you more than being a villain I'd done it a long time again." I replied, smug. In reality, I was almost happy things had transpired the way they had. If not, I might've ended up somewhere else. 

More specifically, in a casket six feet under. 

"What happened to those friends of yours?" He asked, prodding. 

"That's certainly none of your business." I tutted, shaking my head. 

To my knowledge, Aria and Jordan had relocated to a smaller city a few dozen miles north of Grove Point. The last time I'd spoken to them, they'd officially gotten together. It made me happy that they were happy, and had found each other. 

Staring at the ring occupying my other ring finger, I smiled. Perhaps karma had seen my recent actions and rewarded me, for even Nightspark had managed to find someone to call her own. The ring glittered in the dim streetlights, even if it was only the simplest of bands.

My mother had been notified of my safety a month after that lunch in Cassie's apartment. We hadn't mended things - not completely. Far from it, actually. At least we could communicate with civility, which was a step forward to me. 

"How're things with you? Your family?" 

"I've attempted smoothing things out. Turns out the uncle in jail wasn't my uncle." He clenched his fist, voice growing rough, "Only a ruse to keep me in their control. Mom and my sister didn't know - just Dad." He choked out the last word, and sympathy clouded my features. 

"I'm sorry." 

"Doesn't matter now." He said, shaking himself out of his thoughts, "Getting back to you - you've finally felt it, Rae." 

I frowned, brows furrowing, "Felt what?" 

"The temptation of being good." He mimicked, and I had a brief memory of me tossing those words, although slightly different, in his face on this very same rooftop. I suppressed a smile, straightening up. 

Slowly, I took steps toward the ledge of the roof, watching Gray as he kicked away from the chimney. 

"Well, Nightspark, you understand I can't let you escape when you aren't completely good." He said, smiling as he walked towards me, "What a shame if I don't make it in time to catch you." 

"What a shame, indeed." I said, just as I stepped off the ledge of the roof. My power trembled, searching for a power line to tap myself into. When I found one, I felt myself dissolving into sparks.

"Goodbye, Gray. You be good." 

Just as I was about to completely vanish, I saw him step out onto the ledge. 

Gray - Blaze - smiled. 

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THE END 

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