Burning in the breeze

It all started a year ago as most stories do...

The small drops of dew on the leaves from the fresh rain, the people rushing through the different school hours, it wasn't enough to be curious about but there was still something important to come at any moment. 

The big screens showed our hero that looked over our city, I think that he's a little bit of a narcissist the way he acts like he's stronger than a "mere mortal". 

This story isn't about a hero that saves the day and the entire city bows in his presence, this is the story of how the villain tried to save my life...

 I was on my way to get some treats for the night I was going to have with my friends while we would watch horror movies. 

My shoulders shivered from the autumn wind and the leaves falling from the maple trees, suddenly something caught me off guard.

I was knocked off my feet by the city's "hero" as he was dashing down alleyways and streets for patrol, it made sense as to why he wouldn't apologize to me because to him I was worthless. Great, now my coat is ruined because of him and I'm going to be freezing. 

I heard a gust of wind and something draped around my shoulders ceasing the coldness around me. There was a man, an incredibly attractive man that had somehow sensed my bad luck. "I'm sorry darling, did I scare you?", I heard him as he broke the silence. "N-no, I couldn't be scared by such a gorgeous stranger such as yourself...", I quickly covered my mouth embarrassed by the words that had escaped my grasp.

I could see a slight tint of pink fill his cheeks as he gave me a reassuring look, "glad to hear that because the way I snuck up on you I would've thought to give you a heart attack.", I chuckled and I met his gaze.

His eyes gave a glow of the most yellow honeysuckle of them all, his hair was dark and gave a shimmer in the sunlight causing a little bit of brown to be seen, and he had circular glasses that were slightly bigger than his own eyes.

It's hard to believe that the very man in front of me had ended up being the villain. " You know, I never asked what your name was...", I whispered catching his attention.

" Oh! sorry, my dear, you must forgive me for my manners. My Name Is Anton, it is a very strange name I do confess, but I have gotten used to it.", I reply with what sounds like a life's lesson for my self repeated aloud," I think your name is very unique, not many have the luck of being unique in this world, maybe the heroes, but people like me wouldn't be counted exactly as unique."

For some reason he looks confused like I had said something wrong, " You might not see yourself as different or unique, but I find myself very immersed with finding out more about you and your personal life more than finding out the "unique" characteristics of the hero.", I found myself getting more and more submerged in his words. Over the next couple of weeks, we made plans and traveled to places around the world, but we always ended up staying in the place we started.

Feelings started to grow between the both of us as we got even closer than before. Even though he's supposed to be the evil one in comic books and stories, he ended up settling on a normal life with a normal person like me. Villains can sometimes be misunderstood. some villains choose to be evil because of society.

Others become evil because they believe the heroes are the problem with life, which part of it I can agree to. I don't know the reason why Anton is a villain, but at least he shows some care for the people around him. I was in my kitchen making soup before I turned on the television, on the television a news reporter was talking about how there was a world-threatening villain that planned to end the world unless he had a sacrifice of some kind.

I looked at my phone and it blew up with notifications of people spreading the news story all over social media. I felt a cold breath around the room, filling the gap between myself and the sound I saw him. I saw the very same hero that caused me so much inconvenience, he was staring at me, and I knew what he was going to do before he did it. He took me in his arms forcefully as he whipped out the door, I screamed, I shouldn't have because it wouldn't help with my struggle.

The tears I shed in the wind were warm and quickly dried due to the temperature, I knew this bastard didn't care for civilians, didn't care for me. Anton crossed my mind, what would he think seeing me on that crappy screen getting mauled by a monster because I was forced to give my own life for the greatness of the world. My eyes widened as I thought of what might happen to me, tears escaped my dilated eyes as I daydreamed nightmares of Anton crying over me as I lay lifeless in the sandy dirt.

Swirls of fear filled my pupils as I was dropped onto my feet. I injured my ankle when I tried to shakily step towards the being that needed a worthless person such as myself to feed the hunger and lust of pain on its lips. It was gigantic, it was blazing, but that wouldn't stop me from trying to escape or even reason with the creature. I seemed to be wrong as it shrank in size mimicking my movements in the shape of a man made out of fire. 

The fire was extinguished as he ran his fingers into his what looked to be locks of black hair, I stumbled back in fear as I realized it had taken the form of Anton. I thought it was him, the very embodiment of him from the flame in front of me. It sensed my fear, it softened its glare as I felt less afraid.

I reached out to it as it took my hand in its own it seemed so gentle and it acted the way that Anton would, I looked back to the rest of the world as I saw the flames getting brighter. I knew Anton wouldn't do this, I knew he wasn't like this, he wouldn't hurt anyone even if he was a villain. I knew it was a trick even though it looked like him, it would never replace him in the slightest.

I looked at the news cameras left in place and I called out, I called out to him because I knew he would fight. In movies, the character always says the hero will come for them but they never call out for a villain.

The villain is the one keeping the person hostage, but I guess it's the other way around for me. I belted from the top of my lungs for him to come for me, I saw him, he listened, but he was a second too late... 

I rush, I rush through the traffic after seeing my one and only love slowly being taken. She called out to me, she knew it wasn't me, I wanted to rush to her aid, this time I wasn't going to be the villain. I saw her dried tears and messy hair as I extended my hand to meet hers...

and she was gone...

right before my eyes, I saw her, I saw the pain and emptiness as her eyes faded to a gray.

she was burnt, cut, and injured and I could do nothing to change the outcome.

She was laying at my feet, as the cruel and foul monster with the snap of a finger vanished with the flames.

I was broken, I was torn apart, I didn't know how I would deal with the death of the one person who cared about me...

For now, I think it's a feeling.

A feeling like burning in the breeze...