Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 44

I thought I'd lose some of the ruthlessness now that I'd gotten my revenge on the person who'd given it to me in the first place, but as I sprinted towards the third building on the left, it still loomed over me like an unseen monster, as large as ever. There was no escaping it now - it became a part of me, and if it left, I don't know if I'd actually recognize myself. Maybe if I'd dealt with the trauma properly as a child, or if I'd gotten that sweet revenge sooner, the cruelty that lingered within me would've at least been smaller, but that wasn't the case. 

I'd enjoyed torturing the information out of that villain a little too much. I liked the way their blood looked on my knives, and the way their body shook from how much pain I forced onto them. It made me laugh - genuinely laugh - and I hadn't laughed like that in weeks. It was wrong, I knew it was wrong. I couldn't just watch someone bleed out to their death and laugh at them, even if they were a wretched villain that deserved the worst punishment possible. And yet, I'd just cut a villain into shreds with my own two hands, not to mention how satisfied I'd felt as they pleaded with me to take the knives out of them. It was like I was becoming the very thing I hated, the change slow at first, and then too sudden to even register properly.

Gritting my teeth as my blood-slick boots slid against the pavement as I ran, I pushed the thoughts as far away as I could. I needed to get Keigo out of here first, and then I could spend as much time on rethinking my life as I wanted. Then, there it was. The long-awaited third building finally appeared, and I skidded to a stop in front of the large metal doors of a warehouse that reeked distinctly of skunk. The warehouse was definitely used as a meth lab at one point, and probably now, too - there was no doubt about it. I jiggled the door handle quickly, and when only the rattle of the lock rang out, I took a few steps backwards before charging into the door with my shoulder. The metal groaned from the impact and immediately gave way, and I entered the warehouse with only one goal - to find Keigo.

Everything else tuned out, and it was like the entire world was placed into silence as my heart beat faster, my eyes desperately searching every corner of the massive room. The moonlight shone through cracks in the roof, giving me just enough light to make out the silhouettes of everything in the room, but it felt like I'd been placed in an old black and white movie. I ran through the room, ducking in between every counter and checking behind every table as I tried to calm down my nerves - Keigo had to be here. There was no way he wouldn't be. Still, I couldn't deny the fact that there were less and less hiding spots now left for him, and the sinking feeling in my gut only got heavier.

Just when I thought that he wasn't here and given up any hope, the sliver of light from the moon landed on the outline of a hunched figure with two slightly misshaped wings wrapped around it, and I almost collapsed in relief. I was by his side in seconds, my hands trembling as I gently pulled the wings off of his body, taking note of just how much thinner they were than usually - that villain had really done their research on how to weaken Keigo. I managed to get Keigo into a more natural position as I examined the rest of his body, patting him down gently with the back of my hands, only for my right to come back covered in blood. 

I felt myself grow cold as I carefully lifted the hem of Keigo's shirt just to find the very same symbol emblemed on his side. It was funny, really. Just minutes ago, when I stared at my handiwork of the rune on the villain's body, I'd burst out laughing with pure joy, but now, all I felt was that familiar murderous rage. Suddenly, the injuries I'd left the villain with didn't seem to be anywhere near enough - they deserved more.  I'd let them off far too easily, even if they'd been pleading for the mercy by the time I'd been done. 

I shakily sighed, steeling my nerves as I put together a quick list of priorities, with Keigo's ultimate safety at the top and revenge on the villain hanging near the bottom, and I momentarily left Keigo's side in search of the small bags of weed that I'd seen lying around the warehouse before. When I found one, I got back to Keigo's side, opening the ziploc bag and placing directly under Keigo's nose. I watched as he, in his unconscious state, furrowed his brow and wrinkled his nose before slowly blinking himself into focus. Relieved, I pulled the bag of weed away, tossing it back to one of the counters behind me and taking a mental note to report the warehouse later. 

Keigo coughed a few times, and I couldn't exactly blame him for it - the whole place reeked so strongly of weed, I'd have to shower at least three times to rid myself of the smell. Some of my earlier panic left me now that he was awake, and my hands moved faster than my mind as I started to gently press against the cut to keep the bleeding from going overboard. Keigo struggled to stay conscious, his pupils growing and shrinking in the moonlight as I did my best to minimize the damage from the wounds that covered his entire body.

It really was a sore sight - the symbol was carved into not just one side of his ribs, but dozens of the runes stared back at me. I wanted, with my whole heart, to go back to that villain and to draw their blood with my knives until they bled out to their untimely death, but I forced my focus back to Keigo. His bleeding didn't stop, and I grabbed a random cloth that I found lying on a table - was it used to clean the tools of the lab? Anyway, it didn't matter as I folded the thin fabric a few times and tied it around the largest cuts as tightly as I could, the fabric immediately staining red.

Maybe the sudden pain of the pressure on the wound helped him focus, but Keigo gritted his teeth, eyes squinting shut, and hissed out in pain as I finished wrapping the cloth around him. Once I was done with the limited supplies I had, he slowly opened his eyes again, and I gave him a comforting smile. It was all going to be fine. I was with him now. We'd be fine. He carefully rubbed the back of his head with one hand, as if he was trying to push away the pain that formed there. Had the villain knocked him out with a blow to the back of his head? It did seem like one of the more likely scenarios here...

"What happened?" Keigo asked, his voice hoarse. 

"Don't worry about it," I replied, keeping my tone soothing as if I were talking to a spooked animal. "I took care of it."

Keigo's eyes widened as he finally looked directly at me, his expression turning from pained to worried in milliseconds. "Kira, are you alright? I- I remember that villain, the same one from that day. D-did they do that to you?"

I furrowed my brow in confusion before looking down at myself. Even in the dim light that the moon provided, the bloodstains all over me were easy to see, and I knew it must've looked as if I was injured even worse than Keigo, even though I didn't have a single scratch on me. "It's not mine, don't worry. I just had to deal with someone."

"Deal wi-" Keigo stopped mid sentence when he realized what I meant, his voice barely a whisper when he spoke again. "How far did you go?"

I waved my hand. "That doesn't matter. I did what I needed to, but nothing more." Lie. I went overboard, and I knew it. I was a fucking liar.

"Kira, how far did you go?" Keigo repeated, his tone deadly serious, and I frowned. Did he seriously care about the wellbeing of that villain even after he himself was tortured the same way my sister had been? I felt an unnatural anger boil up inside me - I just avenged my sister and got the revenge for Keigo that I'd been longing for, but Keigo wanted to take the villain's side?

"I said, it doesn't matter," I shot back, trying my best to keep the anger from boiling over, but the question finally made me snap. "Why do you even care? You haven't talked to me properly in weeks, you disappear at random hours of the day, you somehow got yourself kidnapped and knocked out and I had to go out and save you-"

"Kira," he started, but I didn't let him speak.

"I'm not done! Tell me, Keigo," I was almost shouting now, but I couldn't stop myself. All the pent up anger I had suddenly burst free, and it just kept flowing. "Tell me why you don't even look me in the eye anymore? Why  do you treat me as if I'm nothing to you?"

"Kira." He stared behind me, but I ignored him. I was on a roll now, and I wasn't planning on stopping.

"Why is the only thing you care about after I save your pathetic ass from a villain that's apparently too strong for the almighty number two hero the wellbeing of the same scumbag that left me shaking and crying every other night when you were too busy with yourself to even notice?" I saw him flinch slightly with every word, but it didn't even matter anymore. "Tell me, Keigo, because right now, I'm really fucking curious!"

"Kira! Look behind you, dammit."