✧ RIP ✧

I couldn’t stop gawkin’ at her. Hand alive where her head hugs the palm, every ounce of me pulsing with her essence. Kazashi had this way of bein’ straight up mesmerizing with everything she did - n’ when the phone came out, it was like I had all the more proof of an angel walking the earth in its glossy reflection. Horns swapped for her halo!! I gently tug her into the frame, the troll of me lookin’ so funny still next to a barbie. “Thank you baby. You’re hella the better half between us,” I start, pressing a fat kiss to her neck, “n’ have ya ever heard yourself talk in your sleep?! That’s the grand prize for all things naturally cute!!” I was evil grinnin’ with the tease!!

Every second from there was like an anchor to my soul. The love of my life’s deep breaths as the chain, her closed eyes casting darkness over an iron ocean. There’s a special hell in not being able to help the person you love the most. It’s like every moment we ever shared flashes before my eyes, her convo with my coworkers, lightning fast in and outta my tiny brain. I rub her shoulders and forearms best I can, clutching onto her all the tighter when she tells me she’s scared. Thought I prepared for what I’d say a thousand times over n’ it just ain’t right in the moment. Hearing Megumi’s voice was surreal, my moongirl’s after even all the more unreal. “ETA, x minutes from you,” I’d say lowly after Kazashi, cutting all the corners in my mental map to get there even faster.

Wake up wake up WAKE UP!!

At a stoplight, I take two hands off the wheel and SLAP my cheeks so hard the sky trades places with the road!! Then I look over to see the cutest girl in the whole wide universe, pale as can be, belly ready to pop, smilin’ at me. I blink. “N-no way, hun! She ain’t gonna be mad! Her, me, Mo, your mom, heh, listen, we are all just so goddamn excited for this.” When we got to the Hoard, I’d pull off my seatbelt n’ hop the hood, practically rip off her door with how wired I was. Then, gently, palms out, I bend down to my knees and take her hands. “Hey, listen. You are going to do so amazingly. It’s okay to be scared.” My voice is raw. “Our kids are so fucking lucky they got the best mom in the world. #1 Mom, Soulmate, MY HERO! They just can’t wait to meet you. That’s why they’re pushin’ early, a’ight?! You’re so good, singin’ to ‘em every morning, makin’ their lil devil zombie socks, they just can’t wait any longer! Can ya blame em?” I chuckle. “I love you,” I say before leaning in to kiss her tum. “it’s gonna be hella good. Whenever you’re ready.”

Whenever she was, I’d carry her over to my cousin’s station, hella in awe over all the advanced equipment she’d procured since the last time I was here!! A wave of relief and awe cascades over me, not just at the tech but really at my cousin being here. The weaver of miracles, white adhesion some kinda nectar from the gods. Way I thought of it, anyway!! “Hey cuz!” A free hand went up to the back of my neck, other ones not daring to let go of my girl. “W-what can I do?”

✧ RIP ✧

My heart did funny somersaults in my chest hearing them coo over her arm, little hands gripping her fabric and putting it to their mouths. Cheeky babes. They were hella gonna steal my girl just like that!! “Deadass, listen to your mama!!” I repeat after her when she mentions college, the biggest grin over my face. Couldn’t help it, not when she said things like that to them, not when she rubbed soft circles into the back of my hand. See? We’re all a billion times better off when caressed by the light of an angel. This one right here. Likes anime, Disney, and hot chocolate even in the heart of the summer. My favorite girl. “They will,” I breathe out, alive with her kiss on my cheek, they’re gonna have a home so good n’ a momma so cute and amazing they’ll accept what we do, even if it ain’t make sense in their tiny brains. I ain’t say the latter but I was hoping, manifesting. That our differences wouldn’t turn them to a life of crime themselves, that somehow as a Villain I’d be the best possible influence on ‘em as I could. A miracle, I know!!

“Look baby they LOVE it!!” I cooed all-goofy like as they reacted over the suits. “Or I think they just love YOU! But you’re so pretty, how the hell else are they gonna react?!” Seeing her kiss their foreheads was a hella core memory, my hand pressed lightly to her back before leaning up and in to kiss her real quick. “Let’s start from the eastern shore and work our way to the deep.” My eyes behind the masquerade mask peer out, the pandemonium of bodies and critters almost a violent blur from up here. I squint. “Less eyes, more valuable materials. If someone’s stranded for real all the way out there, they’re in real trouble.” Then casual as if we were getting groceries, I turned to my baby and smiled with grabby hands. “Want me to take one or both?” Then I’d fasten either one or both kids to the baby holster at my chest, above my Villain getup!! They squeal as I turn really fast in a circle then, their lil legs flying all out!! “Fwoooosh!!”

I squeeze her hand. “I’m with you the whole way.” I’m ugly grinnin’. “Ready to save the day, Apparel?” Her name melts in my mouth, tip of my tongue savouring her long after I say it. Then I’d leap all the way down from the jungle-like outcropping we stood upon, sailing right into a living sandsea of quirked-up creatures. The sounds and sensations of carnage viscerally slam into perception, metallic tang of blood and a million screams of the tortured all around us. Seconds before impact with the beach, the ground splits into two, the open maw of a sandshark like a bus widening to claim us!! “Awe man, how’d you get there?!” I’d scream to it, a happy squeal still at my chest!! We’d entered a whole ring of them, Civilians shouting from somewhere in the blood-tinted sands.

Something even bigger lurked on the horizon.

✧ RIP ✧

“A’IGHT, listen up, kids!!” We’re roarin’ down to the Bay at 160 kilometers per hour. I squint at our babies, through my mask, in their lil carseats. Their big, beautiful heads are lollin’ around, smilin’, lookin’ at everything and nothing as various toys strewn about the backseat roll this way and that. I keep going. “Now, your mother is a Superhero! The BEST of the best, y’hear?! #1 deadass n’ always in my heart!!” I grin at her. Thank ■■■■ for these tinted windows!! If not, everyone would see me cheesin’ like her lil lovefool that I was! Plus, we’d blow our whole cover. Apparel and Zombae ridin’ dirty together? If only they knew! “Now, I’m a little less lawless of a man,” I start, putting a hand to my bulletproof vest, “like, I don’t wake up and feel like a Villain? I ain’t intentionally hurt innocent people? Guess I’m criminal-fluid. Your mother’s smooth criminal!”

They gurgle indiscriminately. That’s a win for me!! I take it, before they become teens who ain’t wanna laugh at their old man’s jokes!! “Anyway, I hella wanna explain the situation so we’re on the same page! Your mom n’ I fight for opposite sides of the law but we’re always on the same team, a’ight? That’s the first thing you need to know.” I squeeze her hand. May they never forget that, never realize who I am in the first place. “N’ just like that, we got the same mission today!! Tokyo Bay’s under attack n’ needs Heroes to clear the swarms -” I veer a sharp left, jutting for a more clandestine entrance to the Bay - “n’ the black market needs samples for sale. Your badass mama’s gonna save the day and we’re gonna get money to put you through college at the same time! How ya like it?!” One of them BURPS. “Whoa! It ain’t have to be college if you ain’t want to, no need to be fussy tho…”

It was an insane idea. Our kids were like a month old n’ we just ain’t wanna leave ‘em anywhere, the separation anxiety would be too great!! Plus, what if my cuz had a sudden emergency or operation she needed to attend to? She couldn’t babysit all the time! I ain’t know this, but that damn Ghouligan was always getting in trouble n’ needed her to bail him out!! So, why not take the babies with us? Who better protect them in the heart of war than us? I had no right to call myself their a father if I couldn’t!!

A crooked grin grew over my face. From one of my weapon compartments I pulled out one of the tiny things we had made them!! That I hella prolly fumbled to start with and my gorgeous wife made beautiful!! Lil suits for ‘em. I flash it to them in the back, wonder what their reaction’s gonna be!! “Now kids, you gotta mask up. Cause your kills ain’t count if you ain’t wearing your mask! Zero killcount boost! Huh, honey?”

✧ RIP ✧

A throaty groan of appreciation rumbles out my lips when she does that. Low key, I hella kept my hair long just for that!! Any excuse for her to touch me, lure her deep into my underworld. Could never fathom how exemplary perfection, an angel disguised under devil horns n’ the sharpest teeth with the cutest soul could have found me. My hip damn near gives out when she nudges me, I was swoonin’ that hard for her!! “I-I’ll gawk at ya with all four eyes for both of us then!” I swore, dazed, holding onto her with stars spinning above my head. She’s cosmic radiance. Charon, the brightest in the sky. I couldn’t bite back the smile at hearing her say it back, red fiercely climbing over the blue of my neck n’ face.

“Really, my lil nerd.” I bask in her blush, the softness of her thumb stroking my hand stirring up all my insides. Truth was, I couldn’t wait to grow old with my love. To see seventy years, seasons, birthdays, hot cups of cocoa next to the Chrstmas tree all pass under her lunar luminescence. Should the sins of my kills not crush me, or claim my life in the universe’s grand order, I’d gladly succumb to heartbreak. For if she were to go first I’d follow her not days after. Each hour, its own inescapable chasm. Our kids, in their 60s by then, would get it, right? “Then I’ll beat ‘em up, baby!” I start stupidly, dragging her hips into my pelvis with a rough-soft tug. Soft, so our babies know they’re being hugged by daddy too!! “N’ we’ll take their asses to court for every damn yen piece for overhearin’ us!! That’ll pay for our kids’ University, right?!” I flashed her a big grin! We were gonna be rich!! ‘Sides, I ain’t care what anyone thought. I loved my wife, staring so moonstruck at what she said next I swore my jaw dropped. My hand then was hella warm. A light of hers emanating over the spot long after she pulled back up.

I ate up her smug grin, fingers dancing on her thigh. A special moment for the most special person in the whole wide world.

Then it all changes in two seconds.

Watching the cold sweat run down her face poured ice down my spine. All four arms instinctively reach out to hold her, her hitched breath stopping my heart. “Kaz-chan!!” I reflexively look around us, a snarl stricken over my face - was it an enemy?! All to come right back to her, the drop of her cup like glass shattering in my soul. I breathe in again. No enemy. It’s just her, me, n’ the rest of our lives before us now. “It’s time.” My eyebrows cock up, heart racing in my chest - “It’s time,” I say again, overwhelming anticipation catching crossfire from bewilderment. Love won above all. “It’s time!” I stare into her panic-struck eyes, lean in to give her the biggest hug these arms were capable of. “■■■■!! You wanna go have our kids?” I’d pull back, stare deep into those cross eyes that haunt me every moment of every day with her beauty. Real life, memory or some dream in-between. “You’re going to be amazing.” I am here. I’d gather up our things stat and offer to carry her. If not, I’d gently guide her along every step to the car, squeezing her hand tight, a dozen different maps to my cousin twisting about in my overstuffed head!

✧ RIP ✧

My body melts into her arms. Have you ever been swathed in warmth so great it made you immortal? It’s amatory awe and inspiration all at once, breathing in her soft skin so close to my face. No evil, no enemy. Long as we held each other like this, ain’t anythin’ coming between us or our kids. On God, swear my whole life on it. “Y-you have, huh?” Her wink made me weak at the knees, near buckling in the way she met my kiss. Hooded white eyes gazed upon her in interminable appreciation. “Cool, Zāzā. Cause my eyes ain’t leave yours, either.” An irideless, extra pair of them cut through the skin of my cheeks to marvel upon her. “SEE?” I was ugly cackling. I usually ain’t use my regen in that way ‘cause it ain’t like I see any better with extra eyes, but I’d do anything to joke with her!! Then I’d blush when she said what she did, too shy to say how I felt in those seconds. That she already did so much, and I was just playing my part as her fearlessly devoted husband n’ simp. “I love you,” I whisper instead, hooking her soft fingertips through my rough own as soon as she reaches for it.

“They ain’t even know!! Spoiled lil ■■■■’s.” The distance at the time had been killer, so was trying to squeeze in an infinity’s worth of our teenage fantasies into a few short hours on the weekends. I was hella proud of her for committing to it, despite all the trouble, n’ proud of myself for not driving straight into the school!! I grin at her hella cute mock sigh, looking up, so in love with her. “Y-you think so baby?!” I lick my lips as I squeeze her hand back, the stupidest, most feral expression over my face!! “Your wrapper may wrinkle but the candy’s still gonna be hella sweet.” See what I mean? Her sweetness gets my heart beating funny, blood rapid-fire rushing to places signed only by her name. “Anything,” I whisper back, falling deeper into the well of her seduction. My voice drops an octave. “Bet? Try me, baby.”

I was hella happy seeing my baby pick her drink. Rainbow sprinkles, fit for the celebration of our lives. On the inside tho, I was thinkin’ right along the same lines as her. So much shit had been happening lately. N’ just like that, with our kids coming, we were on the cusp of a whole other transition together. I was unbelievably happy… and also wanted quiet Disney movies on the couch together. Taking a slow sip from my own, pink, purple n’ blue sprinkles floating atop a mountain of cream, I’d nod at what she says. It was nice. “Hell yeah. Feel good, ain’t it?” I turn my head to hers and my heart suddenly drops through my stomach. “Hey-” a hand comes up to cup her cheek - “you alright?”

✧ RIP ✧

hi, I'm Chuck!!

“HEY IT’S THE ZOMBAE-!!”

You prolly know me for how much I love my wife. Nothing compares to it, not even the love I have for my upcoming two children who I love so deeply it hurts. Still, NOPE, I love my girl more than those demon snotspawns!! Always and forever, I could spill for a thousand pages n’ infinite more how much I feel ‘bout her, make you go uwu where can I get a passenger princess angel succubus of my own!! That much, surely, you know ‘bout me by now. It’s in every post. (Yup, this one too! See what I mean?). What you don’t know ‘bout me is -

I’m a killer.

A blue arm clutches the gun, pulls this guy - screaming his damn lungs out he’s so loud!! - right up to my face. My arms twist him ‘round me, a saw toothed knife held up to his carotid. “WHERE’S HIDEO?”

(Side note, that’s not actually Hideo, the low-level politician of some prefecture I know ■■■■ all ‘bout. That’s ruthless leather of the Aka Oni Syndicate’s right arm, vicious crime n’ drug lord. It’s the same guy. Like, in a suit. I’m so articulate.)

“You’ll never take him ali-!!”

A staccato shlick punctuates the air as my knife guts open his neck. He withers to the ground, fast as the other two start firing at me. The luxury yacht we’re hoisted weaves back n’ forth, undulating sending my punch flying into one goon. I get a few shots to the ribs then, hiss as blood soaks my vest. He’s gotta gun but ain’t batshit crazy with gumption, ain’t on the kinda high where he can tank me running straight towards him and headbutting him so hard his skull cracks. By the time I’m done with the second person, the first guy’s flailing still like a fish outta water, gulps getting heavier as he idly stares up to the stars.

“■■■■ man, you coulda just told me where he was…” I shook my head, reaching down to shut his eyes.

It’s a big speech night for this Hideo guy, who’s cruising into his home neighborhood. The public loves him. Big guy, talks great, does the parallel thing of kissing babies like there’s no tomorrow! The underground hates him. He’s a filthy embezzler, corruption written all over the gang wars he starts. I couldn’t give less of a fuck either way. Lowkey, I ain’t even kill anyone since last season. Only doin’ it cause I made a deal with the devil. Eradicate this Syndicate, Hideo above all else, n’ get the bag we need to get me and my girl’s house.

My right knee was twitchin’. This was gonna be a helluva night, ain’t it? I sprinted further in.