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You might think the first thing you do when you wake up is to open your eyes. But he didn’t do so.The first thing he did was to get his numb muscles to contract hard enough for him to support his body weight in his left hand, to bend over, then to throw up.
He felt water scratching his throat on its way out, leaving it in deep pain. Even worse, the second wave came out, and didn’t do anything gentler. He lifted his right hand trying to scratch the sore throat trough his skin,but he only managed to scratch the surface, leaving deep red marks behind,close to bleeding.
As he managed to throw whatever water was left inside him, he turned around and sat on his butt. Finally opening his eyes, he was able to think straight, and managed to process the fact that he was alife.
Looks like Satan doesn’t want me anywhere near him… He thought to himself.
Then, as he once again thought about the situation, he felt his body stiffen in fear. He reached up a hand and touched his cheek. His mask wasn’t on his face anymore.
Scared, he looked around the room frantically. Whoever brought him there must have seen his super-villain form. He couldn’t believe it, since he knew the only ones knowing the code to his mask were him and his —
“Bro—” he tried to say as he saw Zero coming towards him, but his sore throat had other thoughts. As his brother reached in front of him, he stared at Vendetta with a stone face, causing the super-villain to nervously gulp, once again amplifying the soreness.
After 5 seconds of staring at his little brother, Zero’s expression left the stone face and just showed all the pain and worry he felt. He knelt in front of Vendetta and took him in a tight, strong hug. The villain hugged back as strong as his muscles managed, forgetting for a moment the embarrassment he felt because of the fact that his brother probably saw that whole show back there.
After Zero’s comfort left Vendetta, the younger villain felt something hard hit his face, his head turning violently, which caused him to loose his balance, and once again, he greeted the floor.
Well.. That was unexpected.
“You idiot ! What in the name of FUCK was that !” Zero screamed.
“I think it would have been nicer of you to hit first, then hug ” Vendetta spoke trough telepathy, seeing as his voice was pretty much useless.
“I’m not in the mood for your sarcasm, Vendetta !”
Rarely did his brother loose his fancy composure, so Vendetta knew he was in troubles.
“My throat hurts, brother…”
Zero didn’t even give him another glance before going to the kitchen. After a while, he returned with a jar of honey. He filled an entire spoon with it, then held it in front of his brother’s mouth.
“Open.”
Vendetta obeyed, remembering the times they did that when they were younger. Zero inserted the spoon, and let the sweet taste invade the villain’s mouth. Sliding down his throat it smoothed it, and the pain was way more bearable. Zero whipped away some honey that dropped down his brother’s chin, the spoon having been too full.
“Now. Care to explain ? “
Vendetta looked away, licking the sweet taste off his lips.
“Well… If I would die, then the town wouldn’t need a hero anymore, therefore Blaze ending up useless. That was my plan, pretty much. ” He said blushing. Now that he said it out loud, it sounded pretty embarrassing.
“That’s really… That’s an amazing idea theoretically but damn ! To kill yourself just for that ? No super-villain would do such thing. We’re supposed to die in a battle, fighting in the name of evil…And…What about me ? Were you just going to leave me all alone ? “
Vendetta looked at his brother’s hurt expression. He felt guilty. Lifting his hands, he placed them around Zero’s neck, pulling him into a tight hug.
“Sorry… ”
“Told you I’d show up when you’d expect the least… ” Zero muttered, then hugged back.
“Speaking of which.. What did exactly happen after all ? ”
“Well… I was at the beach, then I heard your voice. I didn’t know what was going on, and the next thing I knew, your body falls in the water. That was, like, 3 days ago. I managed to get the water out of your lungs, but I’m guessing you swallowed a good amount of it, which would be the reason you threw up. “
“You… You mean I was… unconscious these last 3 days ?! ” Vendetta gasped.
“Worst three days of my entire life ” Zero sighed, tightening his grip on the beloved brother. “Get some rest, we’re going to show this town who the Venom Brothers are. Tomorrow “
” Really ?!”
“Yeah ” Zero ruffled his brother’s hair, then went towards the couch in the living room.
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It was night time, Blaze was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, humming that one song. He lost track of time, and was just ruined. Even dead, he thought, the villain was making his life a mess.
Suddenly, the room filled with Blaze’s voice embraced another sound. The long lost familiar sound. It was the device on the back of his tie, which would beep whenever something evil would happen. He changed as fast as he managed then wasted no time in flying away.
He landed eagerly, not as graceful as he used to. He was in Central Park. Looking around, he saw a few trees ripped, benches destroyed and some people running away.
“I don’t wanna ! It’s gonna be awkward and he’s probably going to try and kill me for good ! I wanna-“
” Shhhhh ! You must keep the surprise element. Go in for the kill ! ” interrupted Zero, pushing his hesitant brother out of their hiding spot. Stumbling, Vendetta found himself in the middle of the Park, staring at the fountain, besides which Blaze was pacing around.
Meeting each other’s gazes, the two of them stared with widened eyes. Blaze froze at the sight of the one who he considered being dead, while Vendetta was just stunned by the way the hero looked at him.He didn’t know what to expect.
Blaze started running towards Vendetta, who attempted backing away. But, at the sight of the hero approaching him so fast, he couldn’t move his limbs. He felt Blaze’s body slamming against his own,then warm arms wrapped around him, in a tight, strong embrace. Feeling the familiar warmness of his enemy, he returned the hug with his arms around the taller man’s neck. Vendetta shivered at the funny feeling, his muscles trembling in coziness. He didn’t know what connection made its way between them, but he couldn’t see himself letting Blaze go any time soon. They held each other, forgetting about everything, lost in their own little world, until the silence broke.
“That’s not what I really meant when I said << Go in for the kill >>” Zero said. He didn’t sound mad, nor did he sound betrayed, he just sounded amused and slightly irritated.
Blaze stiffened. He knew that the two brothers teaming up would take him in a fight. He let go of Vendetta and turned towards Zero.
“Hi.” The older villain said casually. He met Blaze before. Back in his town, Zero’s enemy is Blaze’s older brother. When they were all younger, Zero and Leo (Blaze’s brother) used to take their little brothers with them whenever they fought, so they would learn whatever they needed to. When Vendetta and Blaze got 9,they even started fighting each other, while their idols did the same. They both moved away, leaving Vendetta and Blaze occupy Wednesday Town.
“Hi. ” Replayed Blaze
“Your brother told me to tell you ‘hi’ from him as well ”
“How… How is he ? ” Asked Blaze.
“He’s…. ” Zero trailed off. ” He’s fine. ” he continued with a small smirk on his face. “Now, back to business. ” He quickly changed his face expression, giving Vendetta a stern glace, to which he got a gulp as a reaction. “I’ve been around for more days than I planned to, and I wouldn’t like my town to get too cozy, you know. “
With that, he enchanted his scythe, and quickly approached Blaze. As he took a swing at him,his scythe stopped midway, grabbed by Blaze’s strong arms. However, the younger one was way weaker than Zero, and his trembling knees approved that. His legs gave up, leaving his body slam on the ground with Zero on top of him. The older man kept pushing the sharp edge closer to Blaze’s neck.
“Stop ! ” Vendetta tried pulling his brother away, failing in doing so. Instead, his brother willingly stood up, giving the younger hero some space. ” It’s not fair ! I mean, he’s my enemy ! And you’re stronger! And there’s two of us ! And — ”
“Brother. That’s one of the many differences between Heroes and Super-Villains. We don’t play by the rules, neither do we give a shit about what’s fair and unfair. ” Turning to the younger man under him,he punched him without as much as a blink of hesitation. Blaze’s head turned violently as blood left his nose. Grabbing him by his tie, Zero dragged the hero towards the fountain, who stumbled all the way there, not being able to stand on his own feet. As Blaze found themselves getting closer to the water, he violently started to wriggle.
Zero pushed the hero on the edge of the fountain with his stomach against the hard surface and grabbing his hair he threateningly inched the hero’s face closer to the water. Vendetta had no idea what to do and he felt like everything was moving just so fast !
Blaze managed to get fire out of his hands, and placed his right one against Zero’s stomach. He hissed in pain and stumbled backwards, while the hero got to back away, glaring at the water. Blaze turned around and looked straight into Vendetta’s eyes. After running towards him, he grabbed the villain by his arms.
“Don’t ever try to kill yourself again. ” He said with a cold tone. Letting go, he disappeared into the shadows.
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“Please, you need to keep the wet towel on the –“
“It will heal by itself, Vendetta. ” Zero interrupted with the same vicious tone he has been using since they left Central Park.
“Yeah but it will hurt less… “
Zero just looked away from his brother, pretending to not be aware of his existence.
“Come on. What has gotten into you ? I mean, you took everything so seriously…”
“What’s gotten into me ? What’s gotten into you ! Super-villains are not supposed to fucking hug heroes, they’re supposed to chop off their insides.” Zero said monotonously.
Vendetta just stared at his lap, then placed the wet towel on his brother’s stomach. Zero closed his eyes at the comforting coldness. Opening his eyes, he looked at the younger villain.
“I’m… I’m sorry. It’s just… you’ve been acting weird lately and… It’s like you completely forgot your purpose, as I said a while back. Remember your cousin ? His enemy got under his skin, and, as you know, that got him 6 feet under. I wouldn’t want that to happen to you, brother. I’m just worried. “
“Blaze didn’t get under my skin and I’m not acting weird. Besides, Blaze wouldn’t kill me. He had lots of chances to kill me, yet he didn’t do so. He even saved me 2 times. ” Vendetta replied, absent mindedly running his finger across his borther’s stomach. ” It’s just… he… he’s warm….”
Zero stared at Vendetta. It was so unlike him to act that way ! He looked away, as his mind wondered to another man emanating the same warmness Blaze did.
“Tomorrow I’m heading back to my town.” Zero said,a small smirk making its way on his lips. “I bet Leo misses me already.”
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