[Sada]

My heels tap against the sloshed, fluorescent-lit sidewalk. With my hands slung into my pockets, hoodie awkwardly hugging my horns, I’m all stank face and even nastier inside. Wasting months of my life in Russia, answering to the devil, just wasn’t the vibe. I have a fancy asterisk in the Student database for interning abroad with Foundation - and doing piss all with it. Ya, piss all.

It’s then reality slaps me in the face, dares to redeem me. MY BABY! a heart wrenching cry rips from the night. Wheels screech on the road as a motorcycle weaves in and out of the traffic, a tiny little form on the seat going blue from being held down. I sprint forward, arms outstretched for a truck passing by. Cold, wet steel slams against my fingertips as I clamber on up, hood tossed backwards with the rain and wind.

911, I yell into the halo on my head, pulsing celestial magenta in the night. Same beat, my heels are slipping across the truck’s roof, dozens of pairs of blurry lights shooting back up from me with all the cars going by. I don’t dare look back, but if I did I swear I’d see the horrified face of a mother without her child, stroller and her scream frozen in place. Back to the present. The motorcycle’s a bullet among the cars, one path towards the exit coming up in a few hundred meters. I jump from one car with a dull, wet thud. Then another. And another. These wings on my back are an aesthetic, a reminder of where I come from, clipped and broken.

Three cars in on the chase, it’s then that the babynapper realizes they’re being followed. In the blink of an eye steel glints against the streetlights, real rounds shot towards the cars. Boom boom CRACK. He misses me, shatters the windshield of the car I’m atop of instead. Whole thing swerves as I’m yelling “Hang on!!” to the man inside, two seconds from crashing off the highway.



Ghouligan

[Ghouligan]

Japan’s a mess.

He had only been here a week and had seen the cracks in the system. If it wasn’t for the constant reminder no one spoke Español, then he might have thought this was another island in the Caribbean. Strike that. With the infrastructure in place, it resembled the United States. Here’s to hoping the heroes aren’t as corrupt.

“And what can I say? I’m a giver.” Bernard was giving another self-aggrandizing speech. He was a well-spring of opportunity, even in the midst of people’s failures. Somehow, despite Red’s passing, Antoine was given another chance. Beyond that, Bernard cared not for his vigilante streak and promised to keep it under wraps. Under one condition.

Don’t kill anyone he says not to.

Small price to pay for a place to sleep. And once Antoine finds Emile and leaves the country, it’s a promise he won’t have to keep.

A motorcycle speeds by them. Antoine sees the cars about to pass and pulls on his chain before hesitating. Bernard interrupts before he can speak.

“Go, go.” His forked, silver tongue licks his lips. “I want to see The Demon.”

Antoine jumps out of the limousine as nothing more than a black silhouette, a being comprised entirely of force giving the impression of a man. Atop his face is a skull littered with red markings. In his hands is a brief case in hand he lands on the side of the car, ignoring the laws of physics.

He crawls to the roof and opens the briefcase. He pulls out a pool stick and aims it at the floating eight-ball in front of him.

Then, she arrives.

“You’re in the w—” A gunshot. A windshield shatters. He launches the eight-ball, breaking the man’s hand as he drops the gun onto the road. While cars begin to swerve and crash, his steed persists. He looks to the woman beside him. “Are you hurt?”

---

Sada

[Sada]

God, who’s this?

It’s an innocent thought, I swear, seeing Satan peel out of hell from a gate I know not where. There he stands, a cut of the night, death’s epitome in his skull and a… floating eight-ball? It must be the new symbol of Ruining, for the end of all things. Sepulcher and burning besides me. But he’s good at what he does. It happens so fast I almost miss it - the gun being shot out of the napper’s hand, the crash against the speeding asphalt. Same second, my tail lurches out to get a hold of the steering wheel. The man in the car screams again, maybe this time because the superheated hot tip’s near his face. I’d be scared too. This isn’t my brightest moment as a Hero-to-be. But it’s enough to not make us crash.

I flip my head towards the demon, admire his defiance of gravity. Physics. Whatever it is, magic made man. “It’s gonna take a lot more than that to hurt me.” I look at him again, pondering if my fingertips will slip right through him if I reach out to touch him. My brain just can’t compute him being there. “Thanks for checking, tho.” I twirl my halo in my hand, arc backwards and launch it towards the motorcycle’s wheels. It narrowly misses and I hiss, catching the ricocheting ring with an ugly mug. Now the napper’s picking up speed again and I look down to the guy in the driver’s seat. “Zero shame if you pull over! Better safe than sorry!” I turn back to the otherworldly phantasm. “Thanks for that. You’re pretty rad,” I whisper among the blaring horns, standing up again to jump from this car to the next. Plomp, plomp, plomp. Three cars, two lanes away and just mere seconds till he gets the exit. I was trying to desperately bite back the fact that I’m not getting this goon on my own.

Ghouligan

[Ghouligan]

She was reckless.

The vehicle was moments away from breaking down. Even on an open, empty road, crashing was a matter of time. The angel’s tail found its way to the steering wheel, panic setting in the driver’s eyes. If she were as tough as she said, then Antoine would bring her along for the ride.

“We’re going to cut him off.” Antoine extended his arm to intercept her jump and guide her over should something go wrong. If not, then he’d guarantee a safe landing with his quirk. No one complains about stable footing when hitting 90 miles per hour on the highway.

The culprit charged the exit. The smell of burnt rubber overtook the smoke and flames from the wreckage. The lane split and descended into local traffic. There were a few ways to cut through, most of which were through people.

“Hold on tight.” She didn’t have to. She could stay on the roof of this car and let Antoine do what he did best — save the day. But if she did, she’d watch him step onto empty air. Platform after platform would form under their feet. Then, when they reached the ramp, they’d cut across. People might think them suicidal if not for the slide he created.

It took too much energy; his chain flashed red. He ignored it.

The air from his footing rippled into a curved platform beneath them. Only the most observant would notice the change in its composition at this time of night. It was stable enough to support their weight yet smooth enough to slide like ice.

“It’s all on you,” Maintaining the friction exhausted him. The scale of use was both large and complicated. By creating the opportunity, he’d rely on her halo to knock out the driver. If she couldn’t manage, then…

He should have known better.

---

Sada

[Sada]

I used to be a real thinking girl. Had my whole life figured out, knew my dream house and dream dog and dream partner when consciousness snapped me into reality as a tot. Prayed upon it, tried my best to speak it into existence. Now my soulmate’s the only certainty in my life, a love so heavy I can’t possibly place that anchor around his neck.

Oh and, I’m taking orders from a devilish sprite, peeled out the gates of ruin.

What the hell’s wrong with me?

“Good plan,” I whisper, halo searing hot in my palms. There’s no thought here. It’s raw anger I’m harbouring, a shadow in my heart as magenta eyes shoot towards the skull. Seeking life, some sort of answer. I’m not going to get it. I’m not listening if I was. I just want to act. I acquiesce when he asks me to hang on, a low hiss seethed between my fangs when I do what he says. He’s warm, otherworldly. It’s my imagination maybe, the singe of cinder and magic raw off of him. Or maybe it’s the rush of blood in my head as we lift up, held impossibly high by that which I can’t see. Platform after platform, a ramp like his own reality - loftier, darker, dipped in sin - overlaid onto earth. It doesn’t make sense; I hold on tighter to him, don’t miss the red flash of color like blood spilled through the night. He made a way for us. It was on me now. Oh, he says it too. That’s mega rad. “That’s mint. I won’t waste your sacrifice,” I promise, hair whipped back with anger alive in my eyes.

Sliding down the undulating platform at breakneck speed, I whip out my halo, twist all the way back and hurl one towards the motorcycle. At full throttle it cuts across the night, dead-on slashes the motorcycle tires. Another arm shoots up - adult, glinting in the night? - and this time my other halo finds my hand, aims right towards it. SHLICK!! The sound cracks the night, a frayed hand soaring through the sky. With blood like oil arching with it. There’s no weapon attached to it… God forgives, I don’t.

But then something’s off, very off. The acrid scent of burnt rubber mixes with something chemical. The kid’s crying - is as he clambers onto me, eyes blown wide - and then my eyes are the same way when the motorcycle driver stares me down with cold, steel eyes. A countdown goes off. Oh. A robot napper. I hate it here.

“Hold on,” I whisper to the kid, sprinting away, towards the direction of my newfound maybe friend. I have to warn him. Maybe he’s already off to a whole new world. Cars swerve in and out this section of the highway, the buildup behind us immense.

“It’s gonna blow!”

Ghouligan

[Ghouligan]

She did her job. The kid is in her arms. As she runs back, she warns them of an impending explosion. Before Antoine can think, his feet move on their own. He runs past her.

It’s a gambit.

By getting in closer, Antoine decreases the area he needs to affect. The focus is high octane output. He doesn’t have much gas left in the tank and needs to prioritize efficiency. Considering his range is touch, and he’s trying to minimize the number of innocents hurt, he’s acting out of character. But there’s a kid involved. And that changes the calculus.

Extending both hands, he touches the air. Molecule by molecule, he forms a dome around the driver. It’s difficult to see a force. Our senses can’t divine such fundamental aspects of the universe. But even without flawed, outdated sensory organs, we can tell when something is off. Maybe it’s intuition. Or maybe it’s a placebo. But everyone watching can see where the barrier begins and ends.

Absolute friction.

He’s done this trick in doses. Small projectiles are easy to deal with. Bigger ones not so much. But an explosion? There’s a first for everything.

That’s when it goes off.

If they couldn’t see it before, they see it now. The explosion fills the dome to its brim and not an inch further. It pulsates against the barrier as it rebounds against itself in a hellish blaze. Black wisps strip away from Antoine’s body. Bit by bit, flesh reveals itself as a horrid, red flash emits from the four-link abdominal chain.

The chain shatters. The barrier breaks, too. The opposite side of the dome, where the walls were weakest, was the first to fall. The rest comes down, and in its hellish retribution, the inferno roars. It had lost most of its bite, but when it sank its teeth into Antoine’s soul, it reminded him that he was a demon in name alone.

Antoine falls to the ground unconscious. His mask falls off his face a few feet away. His only solace is that if he were to die here, then the only blood on his hands would be his own.

---

Sada

[Sada]

Have you ever seen a miracle?

Stood right where you’re at, witnessing God’s might overflow the earthly realm? I can count ‘em on my fingertips. I almost miss it - the halituous dome breathed into existence, the unfurling of fire rapidly expanding out of control underneath it. The rest of the world’s awash. There’s a deluge crashing upon us, of sirens and red and white and black and blue lights pouring into all you can see, hear, a child’s sob cutting through the mix. I’m a Hero-to-be, UAU says, so I should be attuned to all of this. Maybe I could, if I tried. But I don’t. Because he’s all I can see.

My heels are staccato shots against the earth, heart heavy as it pounds against my chest. The kid’s still in my arms as my knees go crashing onto the asphalt a beat later. I don’t feel it, not in the moment. Don’t feel anything, too many thoughts exploding in my consciousness at the sight of a mask fallen, black wisps withered from his person. Tattoos, so many tattoos. So he’s human, afterall. A sad smile finds my lips, despite myself, tears building in magenta irides. He’s human. A conventionally tall, dark and handsome demon brought to earth. Just how did he get here?

“Stay with me,” I whisper, if I even speak at all. One hand lightly graces his chest, as if still unsure if my fingertips will slip right through him. You don’t just go touching God, okay? If he allows my fingers to do what they do, even knocked out, a vibrant pink halo would find its way above his head, my quirk dispensing healing waves throughout his broken body. “That was pretty mint. You just go showing off to lil kids all the time like that? You’re going to inspire this one to Heroism or whatever it is you do.” My voice is soft, my words fast. I don’t know why I do it, talking so much when someone’s unconscious. Like maybe if I say enough, or the right thing, they’ll come back to me. Reality’s a dark witch.

Another halo finds its way above the little one, who’s suddenly real quiet, baby eyes tearing over the sight of his savior.

Ghouligan

[Ghouligan]

Antoine isn’t dead.

His soul lies somewhere in between in an indeterminate state. In this endless abyss, he isn’t aware of his thoughts. He simply is. Antoine exists and clutches on to his existence through his willpower alone. But even that is fallible. The darkness will eat away at the edges of his ego until there is nothing more. The numbing sensation blends in with the rest of the nothingness. A light flashes — illuminating the world around him. It’s only then he realizes he’s submerged in water.

He swims, and he swims, and he swims. There is no surface. But there is light. And as it grows closer, he finds himself blinded as it burns itself into his eyes. He blinks once, then a hundred more times. The world paints itself before him. There’s an angel with pink eyes, pink hair, and littered in beautiful white scales.

It hits him all at once.

He pushes himself off the ground. The sound of a crying child fills his ears. Good, that means you’re alive.

The streets are a mess, but he needs to find cover before he passes out again. If they find out he doesn’t have a license, he’ll be arrested. He’s come too far to have it end here.

“I gotta go.” Antoine barely spits the words as he drags himself off into the town. Only when he finds a moment of reprieve does he realize his mistake. Antoine rests on the wall, slamming his head in defeat. “My mask.”

---

Sada

[Sada]

The devil departs.

Maybe three minutes, maybe thirty after, I feel my quirk’s power slip back into my fingertips without my willing of it. Hmph. Blurred magenta eyes snap back to the spot he once was, finding neither trace nor existence of he who saved the day. The police are talking at me. Like, blah blah blah. The mother’s sobbing, crushing her child to her chest and kissing his gorgeous, perfect crown of hair. Glaring lights. Sirens. Back to the police. Now a differently-suited person is here, telling me I’m going to get some kind of write up for unauthorized quirk usage in public. Police lady says to drop it. Do you need a ride home. We’ll escort you back to UAU. Traffic’s easing up just a smidge, a million eyes plastered to shredded steel. And here I am, playing 21 questions with the officers. I’m dying inside, really I am, thinking of how Mr. Satan’s gonna make me replay these exact same conversations over to him.

It’s then I see -

“Thank you, young Hero. Unfortunately this isn’t the first attempted robotic kidnapping in the area. Please stay vigilant.”

an oil-smattered thing, sanguine markings like a talisman lost to its era. “Thank you Officer. I apologize for the trouble. Please do your best.” The vapid words are out immediately as I stroll forward, pick up the skull. The ride home’s unremarkable. The hug from Farrin afterwards, everything I’ve ever wanted in the world.

Then the earth’s quiet. Very, very quiet. In my dorm, door tightly shut, I retrieve the skull, watch the moonlight pour into its indentations with bated breathe. I smile. Place it atop my pillow so he watches me sleep, whispers spells upon me. Till we meet again.

Ghouligan

[Jinx]

☆ MISSION SUCCESS ☆

Traversing the highway to hell by using a stairway to heaven!

A wonderful rescue! 

+ 5000 EXP!!

Sada: 6,500 // 11,500

Ghouligan: 0 // 5,000

tag: Sada , Ghouligan