To Rescue a Villain

Chapter 3

[The video above is meant to be background music while reading the chapter (but the mv is really pretty so I won't blame you if you watch it XD).] 

Feeling slightly nervous but mainly excited about being in my favorite villain's bedroom, I crept in a bit too slowly and peeked inside. Of course, it was dark but once he turned on the light I got to see just how pitiful the place was.

A lone bunk bed leaned against the wall to my right, its sheets dark black which definitely gave the room a cheery atmosphere. On the wall to the left was a closet, likely full of his clothes and little else based on how many different outfits he'd worn in the comics. And on the far wall was a completely empty dresser.

I'd had no idea Dark was such a minimalist. That or maybe he was too poor to afford anything.

"I'm a minimalist," he explained as though he could read my thoughts. "You're not afraid of the dark, are you?"

I shook my head before realizing that there were no windows in this room. How spooky.

"Good."

"I don't have nightmares either!" I added, raising my hand excitedly. I didn't realize how childish I sounded until he shot me an 'Are you kidding me?' look and I dropped my arm as quick as I could.

"Sorry." I would have excused this attitude as being nervous from the wild day but, honestly, I had always been like this. I was awkward and quiet when I first met people but as soon as I got comfortable I would get ten times weirder. It tended to ruin any potential friendships I attempted to create in high school.

After making it quite clear that he was not impressed, Derek started messing around with the bed sheets before turning to me. "Just don't be loud or anything. If I fail my test because of you I'll..."

I backed away slightly as his slightly annoyed tone increased but he managed to stop himself from making any threats and turned away, visibly calming himself down with deep breaths. "Sorry. I won't do anything. This test is just really important to me."

"What's it for?" I asked, my eyes going wide with genuine curiosity. The comics never talked about his college life. I only got to see him after he was married and somewhat successfully working on the moon's space station.

It took Derek a moment to respond but when he did his eyes seemed to light up a little bit and lost the protective glare they normally had. "Do you really want to know?"

"Of course!" Please, just tell me! I have no life and therefore thrive off of yours!

"Well, I'm applying for a job in the Hikarius Company. If my test scores are high enough, they might even promote me to the moon station in a couple years."

"That's exciting," I said politely, my mind already rewinding to all the events I'd seen play out up there. "Just be sure to keep an eye on your family while you're up there."

"...What?"

"Shoot!" I slammed both hands over my stupid mouth and backed away, mentally punching myself for being so stupid. Now was not the time to give random warnings. I had to establish myself as a trustworthy acquaintance first.

"I mean, if you're gonna be up there all the time you should make sure to check up on your family down here sometimes, right?" I giggled nervously to hide how much of an idiot I was.

Derek just frowned again and scrunched his eyebrows together. "That's kind of a given."

"Of course. Ha ha." I want to die.

◑○★☆●◐

I had no idea what this girl's deal was. All I knew was that by bringing her into my home for a night or two, my stupid grandma would quit hitting me for a couple of days. My back could only take so many bruises and I couldn't have the pain distracting me from my schooling.

Pity the girl was such a weirdo, though. What had she said her name was again? Mary? Huh. That was my second to last ex's name. What a creepy coincidence. That ex had been awful.

I was just beginning to reach that point between wake and sleep when she suddenly yelped above my head. Obviously, it jerked me out of my tired state and made me sit up abruptly. I was lucky I didn't hit my head on the top of the bunk when I did so.

I thought she said she didn't have nightmares.

I was beginning to think it was just her adjusting to the bed until it happened again, louder this time.

Seriously? Tonight of all nights?

My first instinct was to shake her awake so that she'd stop being so ... loud but that second scream sounded seriously concerning. After the fourth yell she started thrashing around and I began to wonder if she was going to hurt herself.

"Hey..." It took a lot of convincing but I finally managed to drag myself out of bed and, with even more convincing, shook her arm slightly. I tried to be gentle but it was tough with all of her moving around. "Hey. Wake up!"

For a moment all was still and silent, then she suddenly sat up effortlessly like a ghost and grabbed the front of my shirt. I hate to admit it but I did feel a twinge of fear when she yanked me closer to her face and stared at me with unblinking eyes.

"I can't," she whispered in a deep, desperate voice before shutting her eyes and collapsing onto the pillow, sleeping as though nothing had happened.

...Wow.

I should've just taken the beatings.

ヾ(▼皿▼) ♥ ♥ ♥ ヽ( ￣∀￣)ﾉ

By the way, these little faces you see above were originally going to be the little transition thing between scenes but I decided it might be a tad too silly so I changed it to this ◑○★☆●◐. I couldn't let the grumpy and happy faces go, though, so I have designated them here to represent my author notes. (Are they cute? I think they're cute.)