Behold: The Greatest Ongoing Crossover Saga Of All Time.

“You shouldn’t trust me. I’ll make sutures out of your heartstrings and I won’t apologise when I use them to stitch myself back together.”

prompt from @gingerly-writing, which inspired this snippet!

The hero, seated in the chair before the villain’s desk, blinked. Neither said anything for a few, long seconds, then the hero cleared their throat. “That was dramatic. How long did it take you to come up with that?”

The villain’s lips thinned. Trust the hero not to take them seriously. 

“I am warning you,” they said tersely. “Stop asking me for help.”

“We’ve worked together before, and it’s turned out.”

“Not for the long-term. Not the way you’re describing.”

The hero leaned forward in their chair, their gaze too calm and steady and unafraid. “I never said I trusted you. I just need your assistance.”

“You never said you liked me either,” the villain said. “Yet I don’t see you denying that you do.”

This time, that got a reaction out of the hero. They leaned back, gaze flickering away from the villain. They cleared their throat again. “Yeah, so?”

“I have concluded that your mental processes are compromised. Very much so.”

A smile just barely tugged at the corner of the hero’s mouth as they glanced back at the villain, but the amusement was clear in their voice. “You have ‘concluded’? I would certainly be interested in seeing your research paper. How many pages is it? A hundred?”

The villain slammed their hands down on their desk and stood. Discomfort grew in their stomach as the hero didn’t flinch, just kept watching them as if they were no threat. As if they had never brought powerful men to their knees, as if they hadn’t overwhelmed the city’s police system for an entire month, as if they hadn’t fought the last menace who had resided here and won.

Two years ago, the hero would have had their weapons drawn in a blink of time. Today, the hero sat unarmed in their base.

“Let me make this clear to you,” the villain snapped. “This isn’t funny. Just because we don’t fight anymore, because I don’t send you home limping—”

“I think I sent you home limping—”

“Shut up.”

Slowly, the hero rose to their feet.

The villain continued, picking up momentum. “Lack of fights between us, this ‘peace’ you refer to, is all in your head. We are not allies. When you let down your guard you are giving me the opportunity to use you however I wish. I don’t know what you use to think, but it isn’t your brain. You’ve claimed I’m not as bad as the others, but do you think I won’t use the opportunity to claim more power?

“You give me your trust, your heart, and I’ll rip it to shreds. Do you know what I could do with you? What I could gain? Your body in my control could buy me a place within the Blood Stars. I could hand you off to a dozen different organizations and reap millions in benefit.”

“You could,” the hero said softly. They moved smoothly towards the villain, around the edge of their desk to stand before them. “But you won’t.”

The villain opened their mouth, and the hero pressed a finger to their lips.

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Hi! I just wanted to say that I love your writing, and you are so so talented!!

Could you write something with a sleep deprived hero/villain?

Have a great day!! 💛

[Thank you for your kind words! ❤️ I hope you enjoy this!]

“Let,” Hero says through clenched teeth, struggling against her restraints, “Me. Go.”

Villain slowly paces with his arm behind his back, the other flicking through the holographic news articles that float around his head.

“Hero catches falling airplane. Hero saves man from drowning. Hero shields bomb with her own body,” he drawls, lazily tossing each title he reads, “Hero takes down notorious leader of drug ring.”

He stops, spreading out his hands and closing them quickly to get rid of the articles.

“And all of that, done in the past two days,” he says, unimpressed, upper lip curled up as he looks down at her, “What, you trying to break a record or something?”

Hero smiles, baring her teeth at him.

“Release these restraints and I’ll break another one,” she says sweetly and Villain lets out a laugh.

“Then why don’t you get out of them like you usually do?” Villain counters and he looks amused, all raised eyebrows and bright eyes, the curve of his lips sickle-sharp as he tips his chin, “I’m not even using my powers on you. What’s the matter hero, all burnt out?”

Hero grits her teeth. Everything feels so heavy, like she’s underwater, sea-foam filling her gut. She pulls at her restraints harder, sweat running down her face, each beat of her heart a pounding ache in her temples and down her jaw and behind her eyes and when did the room start spinning?

“Ignoring me now?” Villain says but the words sound far away, jumbled, his image trembling at the corners.

Hero clenches her eyes shut, fingers quaking, her limbs like deadweight. God, she’s tired. Villain is saying something else but Hero can’t pay attention, tries to focus on the ground that keeps shifting under her feet. Or is it that she’s floating away?

Suddenly, her head is yanked back by her hair and her eyes pop open, her stomach lurching from the movement. There’s Villain in front of her now, a frown on his face and fuck, how did she not hear him coming? He leans forward, expression neutral but eyes sharp, looking down his nose at her.

“....Your eyes are shaking,” he says and he places his other hand right under her jaw, tips her chin up, “Have you been sleeping?”

“And what?” Hero spits, tries the jerk her head away but his grip is like iron, keeping her in place, “Do you expect me to think that you care?”

Something incomprehensible flashes across Villain’s face. He narrows his eyes.

“I’d like my foil to actually be a challenge,” he sneers, tightening his grip on her jaw; Hero snaps her teeth at his fingers, “Not some little girl who’s falling apart at the seams-“

“I’m fine,” Hero snarls, “I’m fine.”

A pause. Villain lets go of her with a growl, carelessly tossing her head back. Hero hisses from the strain on her neck, trying to focus her shaky gaze on Villain.

“Okay,” Villain says simply, pulling a square controller from his pocket, “Since you’re ‘fine’-“

He presses a button and Hero’s restraints open with a hiss.

“Fight me,” he finishes and Hero looks at him in disbelief.

“You-“ Hero sputters, “are you serious-“

“Is your hearing failing you as well?” Villain interrupts; Hero’s face darkens, “You heard me. Fight me.”

Hero gets ups, shakes out her limbs. She blinks to get rid of the black creeping at the edges of her vision.

“Let’s go,” Hero says and Villain tilts his head at her.

She runs at him, throwing a jab and even she can tell how slow she is. Villain sidesteps out of the way, doesn’t even bother to put up his hands, face unmoving. She curses, tries another punch, but he easily dodges that one as well.

Hero grits her teeth. Faster, she tells herself. Harder. He moves behind her and she tries to catch him with a kick, twirling around, teeth bared, but her form is all off, her footing unsteady. Her vision trembles.

Villain ducks down, pushes at her upright leg with his shoulder and she goes tumbling down down down. Hero gasps as her back hits the ground, Villain looking at her from above.

“Are you even trying?” he says, disappointed, and Hero digs her fingers into the ground and gets back up.

A punch, he blocks-

“C’mon, Hero. Is that really all you got-“

A kick, he deflects-

“How are you going to protect this city, the citizens, when you can barely stand-“

Is he getting stronger? Or is she just getting weaker-

“When you can’t even go up against me-“

He catches her elbow, pulls her near, locks his arm around her waist and they’re so close, chest to chest, nose to nose-

“When you can’t even protect yourself?” he hisses, eyes wide and angry and Hero lets out a yell that sounds like a sob.

She brings her head back and slams it against Villain’s. He stumbles back but she follows him, ramming her shoulder into his gut to run him into the ground.

She grabs his wrists and pins them to the floor, thighs bracketing his hips to keep him there.

Blood drips from her nose and onto his cheeks like tears.

“I have a duty,” Hero pants, arms trembling, using every ounce of her willpower to keep from collapsing, “To keep the people of this city safe, to live their lives without fear.”

She leans forward. Villain just lays there, doesn’t even try to struggle, eyebrows drawn low.

“My blood is their will and my body is their strength. I will use every part of me,” she says, tone firm and unyielding and Villain’s lips press into a thin line, “Even if I can only move my fingers, I will protect them.”

Hero closes her eyes, her head throbbing. It’s an easy thing, for Villain to wiggle a hand out of Hero’s hold. Hero holds her breath.

There’s a stretch of stillness before she feels Villain shift, a touch on her cheek. She snaps her eyes open and oh, the look on his face-

“You’re tearing yourself apart, Hero,” he mumbles, running his fingers up her cheek, curling around her ear and Hero trembles in the wake of it: she wants to run, she wants to sink into it, “You need to stop-“

“I can’t, I can’t,” Hero chokes out, breath coming faster, words spilling out like vomit and Villain just keeps on looking at her; peering into her with those sharp, sharp eyes of his, “My mind, it just- keeps going. It doesn’t shut off. Every time I close my eyes I can- see all the people I failed to save. Their arms outstretched, crying out for help, for me-“

“I can help you,” Villain says, tone calm; Hero freezes, “With my powers. If you’d let me.”

And isn’t that just tempting? To let go, to stop thinking, to fall knowing someone will catch you? Hero chews at her lips.

This is Villain, though. He hurts and he disrupts and he ruins without regret. He is malevolent. He is warped. He is not a good man.

But-

(But this is also Villain, who does what he says and says what he does. Who despises underhand tricks and schemers. Who lays his intentions out for everyone to see, will twirl his knife right under your nose before he stabs you with it.

Who looks up at Hero with such an open face, eyes soft, lips lax, everything out for Hero to see-)

“Okay,” Hero whispers, “okay.”

And Villain moves his hand to her forehead and says, “Relax.”

@sunflower1000

"I thought we had something, I.. I thought you loved me!" "We are but enemies, my dear. Soon enough we have to part ways, and this is the path I am taking."

All Hamas has to do is return the hostages and then they'll get back the electricity and water and food that Israel doesn't even owe them, but no, the hostages are more important

“Don’t even think about telling me what to do.” Hero said bitterly, pulling on their mask. “I can do what I want, even if it means saving others in exchange for my life.”

Villain held onto Hero’s hand, not letting go anytime soon. “And you’re just going to leave me here?! Let me come with you!” They pleaded with them. “If you should die, let me die with you!”

“Get off me.”

“No.”

“I said— Get off me!” Hero kicked them away, regretting it almost instantly. “! Wait... I didn’t mean to!”

Villain slowly got to their feet and smiled. “Please, let me come with you.”

Reluctantly, Hero let them.

// hello let me feed all of you with some good ol’ sadness ig //

A realistic drawing of me made by a friend #drawyourfriendsoc #drawing #realistic_arts #sketchbooktour #sketchbook https://www.instagram.com/p/B9Jii2Qh9Pz/?igshid=1iadiv7wd0xxv

Naama Levi is back home

‏‎Asriel Dreemur/flowey- undertale drawing‎‏ https://www.instagram.com/p/B26dOW8hFd_/?igshid=1bthibuganr4a