Ømega

Realisation

Zero spent his time looking in the mirror, satisfied with who he is. Satisfied that he will never see his face again and that no one else will either. There was a knock at the door and Hiro opened it. "What's with the mask...?"
Zero looked at him and simply replied
"If no one can see me, no one will know who I am."
Hiro looked confused but shrugged it off.
"Don't be too long up here anyway."
Zero simply nodded and watched him go downstairs. He sighed and got up, looking at his hands.

Melissa poked her head around his room door and looked over at him. "Y...you have a mask now?" She gripped her arm nervously and walked in. Zero nodded and turned to look at her. She bit her lip and took a deep breath. "Why...? Why do you have it?" Zero glanced at her "I... just... like it... I suppose." Melissa hugged him tightly, giving a wide, reassuring smile.
"You're the best big brother ever you know. I don't care who you are, what you wear, it doesn't make you any more scary or intimi... intim... spooky." She pressed her head against his stomach. Tears welled in his eyes, not expecting her to hug him.

Melissa smiled and slowly pulled off. "Hiro needs us..." Zero chuckled softly, wiping away the tears.
"Yeah. I know. You're so sweet..."
Melissa's eyes shone purely and she gave an innocent smile, happily skipping downstairs. Zero followed behind.

"So. What's your name, kid. You seem more confident." Hiro flicked a pen around in his hand, looking over at Zero. Zero sat down slowly, took a deep breath and replied.
"Zero. My name is Zero." He rested his scarred, lumped, pale hands on the table, fingers intertwined with each other. Hiro flinched slightly and looked at him out of the corner of his eye.
"Zero, huh? I don't think I've heard anything like that." He flicked his pen in his hand, writing something down on a scrap of paper.

The tension grew between them. Subtle yet petrifying. Hiro looked at the clipboard then back up at Zero, then down again. He kept repeating this. Zero gripped his arm nervously, biting his lip behind the mask. Melissa ran in, cheeks rosey and chest heaving up and down. "I'm... I'm sorry I'm late, boss..." Hiro simply rolled his eyes and continued writing.
"There's no missions today but I'm going downtown later so get ready both of you, you're coming with. No buts." He clicked his pen and placed it with the clipboard on the table.

The town was relatively quiet, they trudged past the club that the girl was caught in and it was closed for 'renovations' when they knew something happened. Zero looked around and glanced at Hiro. "Where are we even going?" Hiro just grunted and continued walking, not looking at him. Melissa was skipping along, hand in Zero's, humming a soft tune.

The only people that did walk past glanced at the three like they were from another planet. Zero just ignored them, continuing to walk past silently.

"You know, I miss my car, Land Rover." Hiro sighed softly "Crashed it like an idiot, pretty sure I was drunk. Wasn't anywhere near your house either Zero, I don't know where you lived."
Zero looked at him. "Why are you saying this so suddenly? You know something don't you? You know my parents left." He approached Hiro, eyes sharpening behind mask, "You fucking know!" Zero shoved Hiro's chest roughly, voice gravelly as a tear ran down his rosey cheek.
"Chill! Jesus Christ chill!" Hiro exclaimed, gaining balance. "Just because you have a stupid mask to hide your ugly face doesn't mean you can go around shoving people for shit they didn't do!" He groaned and turned away. Melissa stood back, shaking and her rose pink lip trembling. Crystal tears welled in the corners of her eyes as she gripped firmly on to Hiro's leg.

Zero sniffed, wiping a tear from his cheek behind the mask. "Let's just go..." he fell silent, staring ahead of them. Melissa fiddled with her sleeves as she followed behind.