Last-Minute Revelations

1486 words

Rated PG; injury, violence

Prompt: End your story with the line, “I’m never going out with you again.”

Author's note: This story is inspired by a prompt written by An Avid Writers Scratchpad on Tumblr.

We all have our roles in this world, perhaps not strictly followed. However, there is a difference between straying slightly from your assigned path, and diving headfirst into the lake next to it, as the following will highlight.

 The hero was lying on the ground, face first in the snow. They kept their eyes closed. Maybe, if they tried hard enough, they could become a part of the snow. Get reabsorbed by the scary, grey clouds glaring down on them. Maybe drift down onto one of the many mountains surrounding the flat expanse they were on, an ersatz fighting platform.

The person they had been fighting was also letting the snow envelop them.

The villain was kneeling a few metres away, biting their lip to focus on something other than the gash on their hand. It extended diagonally from one end of their palm to the other, visible by an identical tear in the villain’s glove. It was a small wound, only painful due to the sensitive area. Even so, it shouldn’t have made the villain drop to their knees.

The hero turned their head. Their view of the villain was crystal clear. It appeared as though the snow stopped when the violence did, which was short-lived.

The hero stared at the reason they were contemplating becoming frozen water. 

“Are you ready yet?” The hero asked.

The villain’s shimmering blue eyes snapped to attention, pulled away from the cut.

“Why don’t you just take the serum from me now?”

There wasn’t a hint of spite or sarcasm. It was a genuine question the villain had asked rather plainly. The hero sat up fully, crossing their legs.

“I don’t fight the weak, nor the seriously injured.” The hero sneered.

That didn’t make the villain angry, surprising the hero. What was going on with the villain as of late?

“I just need a minute. The cut was deep.”

The hero scoffed. However, the bloody dagger they were absentmindedly fiddling with felt heavier at their words. 

“Are you kidding? I slashed at you when you advanced. Your kick in the shins to me is worse than some cut.”

The villain had turned their attention back to the injury. Meaning they didn’t see the hero wipe the knife on their jacket and toss it behind them, suddenly bored with it.

“You can heal yourself.” The villain replied.

The villain was in a trance, focusing on the dried blood on their glove. Finally, they made an effort to stop the bleeding, pressing their glove onto the wound. It stuck to the wet skin.

“That ability took years to develop.”

“You were still born with it. I wasn’t.”

The hero was getting frustrated with the villain’s comments. So plain. No emotion to gauge, no weakness to pinpoint. This was not the villain the hero knew.

The hero rose and walked over to the villain. It was agonizing to the hero to go so slowly, and a few seconds stretched into hours for them. Their black combat boots, at last, made contact with the ground right next to the villain. The villain made a halfhearted attempt to swat them away with a blast of snow. The hero dodged it easily.

“Well, you were born being able to do that,” The hero watched the snow whump onto. . .well, more snow. “So I’d say it’s fair.”

The villain looked up to the hero. Then, they showed the hero their hand. Not the one with the cut, though. The one holding the serum. They threw something again, this time also missing the hero.

The serum, an amber liquid in a thermos, landed 10 metres away. It clinked and rolled a bit. Immediately, it was snatched by a warrior in a white uniform and mask, who jumped out from behind the bottom of the mountain, sprinted to where it was, and grabbed it. They somersaulted into a hole made on the fly by their curious abilities.

For the first time in months, the villain looked smugly at the hero.

“How about you try getting it now?”

[]

“You wanted the serum too, idiot.” The hero snapped, sinking to their knees to make the villain squirm.

The hero was keeping their anger under control. They just wanted the serum to keep it out of the wrong hands. To destroy it. The villain, however, was going to use it to gain more powers, once they figured out how to use it.

“I did, didn’t I?” The villain’s eyes widened.

That was selkie serum, very hard to get out of them. Once you had them bleeding, you had to collect the blood while they thrashed, immune to anaesthetics. They screamed as they were tortured and cut up, leaving them ragged messes touching death. Separating it was a whole other ordeal. The villain had taken it from whomever the warrior worked for. The warrior had played a long game, waiting for the serum to be lost. The villain had simply tossed it to them.

“We have to get it back.” There was anger in the villain’s voice.

Finally, thought the hero.

The two of them scrambled to their feet, the villain trying to do so with only one good hand. They ran over to the hole, nearly tripping over themselves. The villain made it there first. It was small but deep. it extended into the bowels of the earth. Or at least far enough that all the hero and the villain could see was darkness.

The hero shrugged off their backpack. They unzipped it, removing a large flashlight from the biggest pocket. Like the blade a few minutes prior, they threw the bag aside. It made a metallic sound, and some belongings rolled out of it. 

The villain frowned. 

“That’s not a good way to treat your things.”

“Whatever.” the hero waved off the comment.

They flicked on their flashlight and aimed the yellow beam into the hole. It lit up some ice, but most of the hole was still enveloped in black.

“We’re probably not going to make it out of this alive.” The hero commented.

The villain nodded.

 “If there’s anything you’d like to say to me,” the hero laughed, “you better say it now.”

“In that case. . .” the villain trailed off.

They took a deep breath, summoning the courage for what would come next.

“I think I’m in love with you.”

[]

“Thinking is much different than knowing.”

“I know that.”

The hero snorted. “Funny.”

They were following the tunnel the ice-wielding warrior had carved, the hero in front, lighting the way ahead. At first, they crawled on their hands and knees. but eventually, the tunnel opened up into some kind of arctic cave, with the cracks far above giving enough air to breathe, but not a proficient amount of sunlight to see the corners.

For the villain, this had been the longest 45 minutes of their life.

“You can’t be certain.” The hero said once again. “You don’t hate me as much as an enemy should, so you’re probably just pulling on that thread excessively.”

“Mhm.” 

The villain regretted ever opening their mouth. That had led to this awful conversation. They wanted to punch the hero in the face to quiet them. They would have, 11 months ago. Perhaps even half a year ago. At that moment they were held down.

“Has it seemed like I’ve been flirting with you? I act like that around everyone.”

The villain was well aware of that casual banter the hero kept up with everyone. The sneering, the laughs, the passing touches. They acted the same way they did around their sworn enemy as an old friend they saw at the grocery store. 

“I know you haven’t been flirting with me.” The villain dragged out the response through gritted teeth.

Their frustration was starting to get the best of them.

“Seeing as, right now, you're not sure, how about we set aside this conversation for another time when we’re both fighting over the same thing again?”

“Oh for crying out loud.” The villain said.

They grabbed the hero’s arm with their uninjured hand. The hero stopped. They looked at their sleeve, a blush creeping onto their cheeks. Once it made it there, it flooded their whole face. They weren’t chilly at all. The hero was glad the semi-darkness prevented the villain from seeing it.

The villain spun the hero so that they were facing each other. The flashlight fell, forgotten by the two of them. Now the hero’s red cheeks were visible to the villain. They grabbed the hero’s face and kissed them.

It was an odd place for a first kiss, in a cold cave in the almost dark looking for stolen fish blood. But they had their eyes closed anyway. 

After a few seconds, the hero separated, falling back against the cave wall to cool off.

“That was so embarrassing,” the hero muttered. “I won’t be going out with you again.”