Heroes

Chapter 43: strange behaviour

Badboyhalo POV.

I was running across the rooftops, jumping easily over the gaps without fear of slipping between them with a mistimed step. Besides, I wasn’t focused on my steps right now, I was still worried about Karl. If Sapnap had kidnapped him again he could be beaten and bruised. Sapnap might take one of his arms, or his ability to walk.

To keep myself concentrated I pushed those thoughts from my mind, in my haste I didn’t even know where I was running too, until I let out a sigh and looked around, blinking back tears of worry. I was in the nicer part of the city, nicknamed Pogtopia. I wasn’t sure why it was called that, something about Pog meaning awesome, and topia being short for utopia.

I remembered learning a lot about this city as I became a hero, and I found that the area of Pogtopia had a lower population, and this was a wealthier part of the city. Those who lived here usually had their own guards, meaning that this was a place that typically had a low crime rate. No criminal was dumb enough to come here, not even Dream. No criminal except… Nevermind.

A worried sigh left my mouth as I sat on the rooftop of whatever building I was on. This was the area I first started defending. When I first decided to fight crime I turned my curse, which made my overly religious family hate me, into a blessing which saved more people then I could have hoped to save beforehand.

My family figured they couldn’t save me, that because of my gifts I was bound to be the creation of the devil. From the moment I first showed them my powers they didn’t try and help me, instead beginning to figure out what they did wrong.

It was heartbreaking when my family had me sitting in front of them, as they talked about how God hated them for not praying that one Wednesday, or how they accidently charged one of the customers at the store where they worked too much. It was traumatizing.

But that was my old family, and I couldn’t help them. My gift, which I wanted to use to help people, couldn’t help them. However, it could help my new family. It was hard to look after the people I care about with George literally going on super dangerous dates with a criminal, like a stupid muffin, and now Karl being missing.

I was certain this was my fault, and I knew I needed some way, any way, to look after Karl. He was like a brother to me, and a best friend, alongside George of course. At the moment though, it didn’t seem like I would be able to do anything. I didn’t know where he was, how long ago he went missing, and who he was with. Plus it is hard to track down a teleporter.

Without knowing it tears began falling down my face at the fact that I had no information, nothing to help me find Karl. I was a pathetic superhero. I can’t even protect my best friends! And they have powers just like I do!

“Would you two shut up, I can hear someone!” I heard a voice hiss from somewhere nearby, making me let out a sniffle as I looked around.
“Well if we can hear someone then why don’t we go and…” Another voice asked, slightly louder than the first, but he didn’t get to finish.

“We don’t have time for that.” The first voice said, cutting off the other. “We have other stuff we need to do, remember we are just here to cause a stir.”
A third voice spoke up, more tentative and quiet than the other two. “But what about the person you just heard?” They questioned.

“I will go look for them. You start having fun, feel free to make a lot of noise, just be careful. You two better know what will happen if you get caught.” The first voice said again.
Suddenly I heard someone climbing up a ladder, probably installed as a fire exit, from behind me. If I wanted to I could disappear into the shadows, or stand up and fight back, but I didn’t.

A good hero would do that. A good hero who would be able to protect their family, and protect their friends. That was not me. The person reached the top of the ladder and I could feel their expression burning into the back of my head for a moment, although I wasn’t sure who they were or what they wanted.

“Badboyhalo, this is a surprise.” Someone said, making me spin around to see a familiar ravenette dressed in blue. I turned around, refusing to say anything to Skeppy as he stood there, and I could tell he was confused as to why I did that. His footsteps got louder as he walked towards me, and I balled my fists up as I turned to face him again.

“Don’t you have a house to rob?” I asked him, “or gems to steal? Do you have to be here, I am having a flipping hard day and can you please just not bother me!” The gem thief froze, probably confused at what I had said and why I had said that.
“And don’t you have criminals to stop?” He asked in return, which surprised me.

I shook my head, keeping my face down and refusing to meet the criminal's gaze. I expected him to leave, to hurt me or kill me, but he didn’t. Instead he responded with. “Yeah… I understand. Sometimes I feel like that. That me being a criminal, doing crimes, isn’t the right thing for me. Like I chose the wrong fate or something shit.”

He watched as I nodded in understanding of his words. I kind of hoped that he would leave me alone and go do something illegal away from me. However he didn’t, instead asking me something that confused me more. “Do you want to talk about what’s wrong… if it isn’t some super classified hero stuff and all.”

That’s when I shifted my gaze over to him. Surprisingly he wasn’t wearing his mask, something that I hadn’t noticed when he climbed up. People have seen his face before, he isn’t as consistent as Dream is at hiding his face. However, I had never seen him from this close.

“Why do you care?” I asked him, raising an eyebrow from under my mask which I knew he couldn’t see.
Skeppy shrugged, “You never seem this sad. Maybe it’s because you are usually punching me, but you seem happier a lot of the time.”

“Plus,” he continued, “you still owe me a favour, and I don’t want you to quit hero-ing before I get to use that. So tell me, what’s wrong?”
No one had really asked me that for years, at least not in a caring way. My parents often ended up asking ‘what is wrong with you?’ but that wasn’t in a loving, caring way.

“Ka-Jacobs is missing.” I informed him. “He disappeared and I am stressed out… I think that it might be my fault. He is probably being killed or tortu-” I cut myself off, not wanting to finish that sentance for fear I would burst out in tears, but it seemed that the ravenette knew what I was going to say.

“It wouldn’t have been your fault.” Skeppy stated, seemingly without even realising he had said it. “You all would have known the risk when you became heroes. He knew he could have been kidnapped but he still risks his life to save people.”

I simply nodded at what he had said, but my eyebrows furrowed. “Why are you saying this? Why don’t you just kill me right now? We both know you could!”
Skeppy stood up, muttering an answer I couldn’t hear, then disappeared. I just felt confused.

The pair who were sitting on the floor asked who was there, and Skeppy just responded saying ‘it must have been a cat or something’. There was a silence after that, as Skeppy and whoever was with him went to do whatever they wanted. I didn’t care. Instead I just walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked into the windows of the building opposite.

It was late, but the curtains were drawn back and I could see a couple walking around inside the house. The pair seemed happy, happier than I was, and by looking into the window you can’t tell that either of them ever had a son.

I huffed out in frustration as I turned and returned back towards the city centre.
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1462 words