Yin and Yang

“Don’t do it,” the villain heaved. “Get out of here!” Her breath was ragged and tough. 

“I will not leave you to die!” The hero screamed with tears in her eyes. She regretted all of her decisions up to this moment.

“You will die trying to save what you promised to destroy! Go home, little hero! You do not belong here! You’ve completed your mission.”

The hero, Emelia, looked over the edge. She could not see the ground. She was too high up. The villain’s eyes pleaded with Emelia to leave. Emelia had sworn to destroy the villain, but now she was not sure. She looked across to the villain on the other roof twelve feet away.

She had already gone through with the plan, but she was having second thoughts. She could not kill this villain. She could not kill anyone using any method. The villain yelled at the top of her lungs, “leave me to die.”

Emelia screamed back, “I can’t leave you!”

“Why are you so adamant about saving me? You just set off the bomb to kill me. Let me go!”

“I love you. We’re family,” The little hero yelled. She had no clue what she was saying. Although, she knew she had felt it a lot longer than what she had recognized. She had felt this way for a while.

Tears streamed down the villain's face. What was love? She had not had a family in a long time. Was it worth getting close to the hero? Was pain and suffering worth having a friend? 

She came back to reality from her thoughts. Why think about the future when you know you are going to die in a matter of minutes? “We are not family. Go home!”

Emelia put one foot on the edge of the roof. “I am going to get you. We will run away from this town and start a new life. I will not be in the heroes alliance. You can quit being in the villain alliance. We both can start new!”

“We have nothing to start over with!” What was she saying? None of this conversation mattered. None of what the hero could say would persuade her. However, before she knew what was happening, she saw a small teenage girl in the middle of the air. She had jumped off the tallest skyscraper in the world. 

Her feet had left the building’s rooftop without a forethought. This was a decision she did not know if she would regret or not later. What did it matter? This could be her last breath… or this one… or this one… or… She looked down. This was her last breath. 

She felt a hand grasp her small wrist. She lifted her other arm up and looked to the sky. The villain met her face to face. They hung for a moment over the edge of the shorter building. “Why would you grab me?” Emelia questioned.

“Why would you jump for me?” The villain shot back.

“I care about you. I knew I couldn’t kill you. I knew someone else needed to take the mission,” Emelia admitted.

The villain lifted the hero up, “I guess I care, too.” 

The two sat on the edge of the roof to grasp their breaths. Emelia was still breathing. The villain was still breathing. But, the bomb was also still breathing. The two did not have enough time to dismantle it. They had to make the jump again. They had to take the leap. 

Emelia had no faith. She had already fallen once because of this jump. However, the villain had caught her. That was something she could have faith in. Looking back, it is funny that a hero would look to the villain for saving.

The villain looked Emelia in the eyes, “are you sure you want to do this?”

“No,” Emelia responded. “I made a promise, though. So, I will not break it.”

The villain held out her hand. Emelia took it. She swooped up the teenage girl in her arms. One foot back and one foot forward. She jumped as hard as she could. She made it. She made it really well. She could have jumped a long time ago. 

“Why didn’t you escape? Did you plan to die?”

“I planned on giving you glory.”

“You are full of contradictions, you know.”

“I could say the same of you. You saved who you were to kill.”

The two ran away just in time for the explosive to combust. Into the sunset, they hopped the roofs until they went to the edge of town. From there, they ran away together. They had no destination. They had no idea how long they would run. However, they did have faith. They had faith in each other. They were willing to take a leap if they were hand in hand.

It was one thing to jump across two tall buildings. It was a whole other concept to run away from everything you knew with someone you thought you knew. There was a lot to learn about each other and the lives they never had.

---

They were walking towards their new home. The house was blue with a grey roof. There was a balcony. Their favorite thing to do was look off the side of it. Although they could see the ground, it reminded them of the moment that brought this family together.

A little girl came running up towards them from the house. Annie (the retired villain) picked up the girl, "How are you, sweetie? Did you miss Aunt Ann and Aunt Emmy?"

"Yeah!" She giggled, "We colored eggs while you were gone. Miss Pammy said we could color more when you two got here!"

Living a normal life was tiring, but in a better way than their old lives. They had neighbors who treated them like family. Hence, the Aunt title was given to them when they arrived. Miss Pammy was the next-door neighbor who took care of the little girl. They practically spent every waking (and sleeping) moment at the girls' house.

This was a life they could get used to. The leap of faith they took combined two worlds. It took the bad. It took the good. It made them mix into grey. It reminded them a little of yin and yang.