SuperVillain

14

Huh? Why didn't I hit the ground?

I opened my eyes and looked down. Someone was... holding me?

I looked to see who it was and felt my face redden when I saw who was staring back at me. "M-Mason?"

Mason looked relieved when I said something. He put my legs down and hugged me. Hard.

When he finally stopped hugging me, I asked, "Why did you do that?"

"What, hug you?" Mason blushed. "Because you're my friend who's a girl, except you're not my girlfriend, 'cause I don't have a girlfriend, and I'm glad you're alright?"

I couldn't help but blush too. His strong hands had a firm grip on my arms. "No, the other thing."

He looked worried again. "What, save you? Better question is, why did you jump off a building?"

I felt myself blush even harder. "Um... I don't know if I should tell you here... in the middle of the street... in the middle of the night."

Mason shrugged. "We could go to my apartment, if you want-"

The thought of going to Mason's apartment in the middle of the night in my pajamas made me go completely red. I was so glad it was pitch black and he couldn't see my face. "No," I interrupted. "Let's, just, uh..." I looked around, smiling when I saw the top of a building not too far away. "Can you fly?"

Soon the two of us were sitting on top of the building. Mason got there before me, being speedy and all that. When I sat next to him, he asked, "What happened to your glasses?"

For the second time today, my hand went to my face, but they were gone. I sighed. "They must've broke when I jumped. It's okay, though. They weren't real. I only used them to hide my identity."

Mason scooted closer, and I realized I was still in my pajamas. He got close to my face, and at first I thought he was going to kiss me, but instead he said, "What's that?" He was pointing at the mark between my eyes.

My face burned red, and I turned away from his pointing finger, touching the mark. "I've pretty much always had it. Whenever I get mad, it throbs and it's really painful. Sometimes this yellow stuff drips out, but I have no idea what it is. I hate it. Apparently, this is the sign of someone in the Lightning family. That why I had to hide it with those glasses. My eyes work perfectly fine without them, though."

"What is the Lightning family?"

I sighed. "You can't tell anyone about this, okay? Not even Sunny." When he nodded, I continued. "The Lightning family is sometimes referred to as The Greatest Line of Villains. I guess my ancestors were the most evil of all the people. No wonder I'm like this."

"Like what?" Mason was asking so many questions, but it was really nice to tell somebody all of this.

I sighed, pulling my knees up to my chest. "A liar."

"Oh, Leila, you're not a-"

"Yes I am," I interrupted. "I lie about everything."

What he said next completely shook me. "Why?"

My head snapped up and I looked him in the eyes. "Because! I'm a supervillain! You think I wanted to be mayor? You think I wanted my mom to leave me? You think I wanted to have my identity all over the news?" I started to sob. "You think I wanted the only person I trusted to turn their back on me?"

Mason tugged on my shoulder so he could hug me, and I collapsed onto him. I was cold in my tank top and shorts, but he was so warm. And he smelled nice. "I'm sure there's a good reason for why your mom left-"

"No!" I wailed again. "My dad! H-He read the newspaper and he found out I revealed m-myself and he kicked me out of my own apartment!"

"Oh," he replied softly. "Is..." he pulled me up so he could see my face. "is that why you jumped?"

It was all I could muster to sniffle and nod without looking him in the eye.

Mason hugged me again, and I heard him whisper. "If I had lost you, I don't know what I would've done."

Then there was something. I realized the empty space was where my heart should've been. And now there was something, sitting here on the roof at 2:00 AM with Mason.

"Leila?"

"Hmm?"

"You can trust me. If you want to. If you ever decide to start telling the truth. 'Cause you can. You don't have to be a liar."

I sat up again and I smiled. "That actually sounds really nice."

"Then, Leila?"

"Yes, Mason?"

He avoided my gaze. "Can I trust you, too?"

I smiled and slipped my hand into his. "You can certainly try."

Mason smiled back, but it was a sad smile. "Both my parents passed away last year, so I moved here, to the city, to live with my great-aunt."

I wasn't sure why he was telling me all this, but it made me feel bad. At least my parents were still alive.

"But now... she's gone too." Mason looked up to the sky. "So, you know, I kind of felt the same as you did, as if everyone I cared about had left me. Although, I went to some less drastic measures. I decided to just take a walk around the town, and then I saw someone who was falling off the top of a skyscraper a block away, and I noticed the person had brown hair flowing behind them, and it reminded me of you, so I ran over as fast as I could, and then it was you."

I hugged him. "I'm so sorry," I whispered. "But you still have me, and Sunny."

Mason smiled. "Sunny is really nice and all, but she's so different than us. You should see her at school. She's really popular and she's friends with everyone. You, not her, are all that I have, and..." he blushed. "I can be all you have, like, if you want, but if not then that's okay, but, like-"

He didn't get to finish his mumbling, because something happened that surprised both of us.

I kissed him.

I didn't even know I was going to, but I did. And I'm glad I did. It was so much better than when Greed Goblin kissed me. It was everything I had ever wanted, and I hadn't even known that I wanted it. It lasted for all eternity and it lasted for a mere half-second, all at the same time.

That was when I realized that the empty space above my stomach was where my heart was supposed to be. All it needed was love, real love.

Mason was the color of a tomato when I pulled away.  "Thank you for saving me. If you weren't there, I would've still had an empty space above my stomach."

Mason's face lit up again. "Did... I fill it?"

I nodded. "You did. You really did."