Chapter Text
Cling!
The sound of Smile’s dagger and Siren’s spear rang in the air for a moment, before being drowned by the sound of battle.
The Blood God used his axe to slice Fire Rain’s mini-Rocket Launcher (everyone doubts it was obtained legally), causing the Hero to grit his teeth and use his hand to burn a part of the Villain’s cape.
“404! Need some backup over here!” Smile called, struggling to find the upper hand in his current situation.
“Uh..” The Hero in question was currently fighting Zephyrus. Or, had been, before he’d somehow gotten incredibly unlucky and was being held by his collar in the sky, unavailable to fight.
Smile sighs as he narrowly dodges a hit from the edgy version of a mermaid, “Fire Rain, go help 404!”
“You want me to go for a 2v1 with one of my opponents being the Blood God!?” Fire Rain yelled back, before yelping as he narrowly dodged a strike from ‘ The Axe of Peace’.
“‘Preciate the compliment.”
The highest ranking Hero groans, and lands an uppercut on Siren “404, find a way to unwedige yourself.”
“I– I-it’s not a Wedige! And what do you think I’ve been doing for the past 20 minutes!?” 404 yells, trying to grab onto Zephyrus’ limbs.
Zephyrus clicks his tongue, “Ah ah ah, don't want to make me drop you to your death, do you?” The avian threatened, flapping his wings so they were several feet above the ground.
“404 just do it at this point, he’s going to go higher the more you resist!” Fire Rain says, too focused on not dying to Blood to lend a hand.
Blood God raises a brow, “You sure? That like.. 10 ft above the ground, if he falls from that height he’s probably gonna go splat.”
“Our suits can handle the fall damage, don’t worry.” Fire Rain grumbles, and manages to burn a part of his cape, “Also just use the Bird guy as a landing pad!” He suggest-yells to his teammate.
404 paused, “That’s.. I don’t know– That’s definitely gonna hurt like a bitch for him and I really don’t want to make any more Avian enemies.”
“Cause of the Parrot guy?” Siren chimes in as he dodges a kick to his crotch, giving Smile a quick middle finger before punching his face.
“I– You guys know about me and Pesky Bird??”
All three members of the SBI nodded, “Word gets around in the Villain industry.” Zephyrus explains.
Suddenly Fire Rain sets Blood God’s entire cape on fire, and makes a break for it.
“404 jump down, I’ll break your fall!” The 2nd highest ranking Hero shouts.
He nods and tears off his collar so Zephyrus had nothing to hold onto, and falls down.
404 manages to miscalculate his fall however, and accidentally falls on top of Siren with a yelp.
“..Thanks?” Smile says, turning his attention away from the wincing Siren.
Now with the upper hand, The Dream Team focused their attention on the battle when suddenly–
A giggle, a child like one.
It took a few seconds for everyone to calm down from the heat of the battle and process the strange giggle.
It took another precious few seconds for everyone to notice the Sky’s hue turning red.
“Is— is it him..?” 404 whispers out, the usual calm in his voice gone as he steps back.
Fire Rain’s eyes widen as what’s visible of his face goes white as a ghost, and Zephyrus’s black wings ruffling up in fear.
“No..” Smile backs away in rapid pace, “No no no no no—“
Siren gets up with a groan, “Zeph? What’s happening? Why is everyone backing down all of a sudden?” Siren asks, retracting his spear in confusion.
“As much as I’d hate to be on the same end with Siren of all people—” “-HEY!-” “-I’m confused too. What’s happening, Zephyr?” The Blood God asks as he lowered his weapon, an axe he calls ‘The Axe of Peace’ and putting onto a compartment in his belt.
“The.. The Sky Child. I can’t explain, we need to go; now. ” Zephyrus says with a voice filled with a kind of fear none of them had ever heard of before.
“Wh.. T-they don’t know, Zephyrus?” Smile questions, voice mixed with confusion and poorly hidden fear.
“ No, they’re only 24!” Zephyrus says as he spreads his wings and prepares to take flight. “They aren’t heroes like you who are allowed to be exceptions!”
“Right..” Smile reaches the very end of the roof, getting ready to jump off. “We’ll continue this fight another day. 404, Fire Rain, let’s go. ”
At the command of their leader, the other heroes dropped their weapons and started running.
“ Stop. ” Siren commanded, using his ability.
The Heroes flinched and froze in place.
“Siren— What the hell are you doing mate? Let them go, they're not important right now!” Zephyrus scolds, though panic and worry was clear through his voice.
“But Zeph, look , this a perfect opportunity for revenge! He’s too distracted to resist my powers right now! C’mon, let me at least get a punch in!” Siren pleaded to his comrade, though some could interpret that as a whine.
“Mate, If we don’t leave now we’re literally going to fucking die . Leave them.” Zephyrus orders sternly, although there was unmistakable fear undertoning his words.
“Si, listen to the ancient one—“ “ Hey. ” “-We’re about to face someone- or something- so terrifying it makes these four pee their pants at the mere mention of ‘em. And you’re try’na kill the heroes in a time like this? I mean, I always knew you had terrible priorities, but like…” Blood God drawled in a monotone voice, his smirk hidden behind his mask. Though, unlike a certain wannabe mermaid he listened to Zephyrus and started to walk away.
“Ugh, Fine . Pardon me for wanting to get back at goggle-boy over there.” Siren grumbles, putting his spear into the compartment on his waist as he reverses the command.
“Good. Siren, Blood God, we need to go now . Hop—” As he tried to talk, Zephyrus was interrupted by an echoey giggle.
“You have very pretty wings, mister. They’re like a crow’s wings. Did you know that a group of crows is called a murder?” A small, sweet little voice asks from behind Zephyrus.
“Thanks Siren, this is exactly how I wanted to go out.” Fire Rain cursed sarcastically under his breath, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Siren, Blood God, close your eyes; now .” Zephyrus commands, closing his own eyes.
Following his instructions, the two younger villains closed their eyes as well.
The Dream Team had been facing away from the villains, thankfully, but they quickly closed their eyes since Siren had already undid the command as a precaution; trying to slip away as discreetly as they could.
“Aww, why don’t you want to look at me, misters? It’s really rude, isn’t it? To not look at me?” The golden haired ‘child’ pouted, seemingly upset.
“Sorry, mate, we’d just rather stay alive today.” Zephyrus said, shifting uncomfortably but not daring to move.
The creature whines, leaning closer to the eldest member of the Syndicate.
“So, everyone already knows then? That I can’t track you down unless you open your eyes?” The Demon pouted, though none of them could see. “Shame, guess I’ll have to peel your eyelids out then. Hm, let’s start with..”
“ W - wait .” 404 interrupts, making the creature snap its head to him with an uncomfortable ‘pop’ sound, "Uhm, I.. I-I've always wanted to know, s-since I’m blind does that make me immune or..?”
The Demon paused, and thought about it for a moment. “I— I mean, I guess? I don’t really have an excuse to kill you and I won’t be able to hunt you down. Obviously I can still kill you, I just don’t have a reason to.” The boy said with a frown none of them could see.
The boy shook his head, “Doesn’t matter, though. I’m not here for you. Though I’ll still kill you— I’m here for the birdy!” His mood quickly changed, the smile was evident in his voice.
However, its blooming happiness didn’t offer any comfort to Zephyrus, who gave a shiver of newfound terror.
“I haven’t seen a crow bird man in a really long time. Are you an avian, mister crow man?” The Sky Child asks, an innocent curiosity lining his voice.
“Y–yeah..?” Zephyrus stammers out, trying to not shake from fear at the prospect that a demon who’s killed possibly trillions is now suddenly interested in him .
“Ah.. is that why you have crow wings?” He asks in a tone that suggests he already knows the answer.
“Y-Yes, th-that's why I, uhm, h-have crow w-wings?” Zehpyrus says hesitantly, fear causing him to stammer.
“The hell’s a ‘Crow’?” Fire Rain whispers, turning to Smile in confusion.
“I don’t know.” Smile whispers back, trying his absolute best to stay calm as his idiotic ‘teammates’ keep turning The Sky Child’s attention to them. “Just— shut up guys.”
“Is.. is a crow a rare type of bird these days?” Zephyrus laughs nervously, still painfully aware of the thing behind him.
“Yep!” The entity said cheerfully, “Although it’s not just rare. They’re extinct! Crow avians are extinct, too. You’re the last, Mister crow man!”
“I— I am?” Zephyrus exclaimed in shock, bringing his arms up in surprise only to freeze halfway through the motion as he remembered the demon behind him.
“Yep! Mister bird man, you should go home. I’ll let you go if you look at me.” It offers, in a young, hopeful voice.
“I- well, mate, I don’t really… know how to feel about that…” The villain said hesitantly, not wanting to refuse for fear of offending it but also not wanting to be trapped in its cruel hold.
“That wasn’t an option, Mister Birdman. Open your eyes. Now .” The ‘boy’ ordered threateningly, his voice no longer one of a kind, innocent child, and rather that of a cruel, terrifying monster. The type of monster that haunts your dreams, the type that doesn’t let you go.
“M-mate, please, you-” Zephyrus starts to beg, only to be cut off by the demon.
“I don’t need you to open your eyes and see me to kill you. I just need you to see me so I can find you, I can’t have the last Avian Crow trip and die can I? So open your eyes or I’ll rip your eyelids off and make you see me. Maybe I’ll cut your wings off too if you protest, it won’t kill you and It’ll make a nice souvenir.”
“I—I.. Okay.” He agrees, still shaking in terror and he opens his eyes and turns his head to look at the entity.
It has golden hair that seems to glow in the sun, and eyes as bright and blue as a cloudless sky. He wears a t-shirt with red sleeves and a red collar, forming a line, as well as a pair of jeans and pristine, white sneakers. He seems to be about seven or eight years old, and has a cruel smirk as he stares back at the man.
“Oki-dokey, you’re free to go, Mister bird!” It says in a once again cheery, sweet tone as its face contorts into a grin.
“The man with voices and the man who speaks are with you, right Mister Birdman?” The thing questions happily.
“A-are you talking about, uhm, th-those two, Sky C-child?” Zephyrus manages out, eyes wide with a mix of terror and relief as he gestures to his sons, Siren and The Blood God.
“..Excuse me? I am not a child, you asshat!” The entity replies with a glare.
There was a moment of silence as the six people froze in fear, terrified that they’d done it and they were gonna be killed.
“I-I, o-of course you’re, uhm, not a child, I just- uh- people tend to call you, ah, sky child? As in, er, child of the sky? I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you, please-” Zephyrus stammers, terrified that it would kill them.
“You better be sorry! Anyways, of course I meant those two. Who else?” It asks with a roll of its eyes.
“Now, as for the cowards that I’m thinking of killing as punishment for trying to sneak away…” It says as it glares at its newfound prey, the Dream Team.
The Dream Team, in turn, froze up in fear yet again.
Smile could be heard faintly muttering a handful of colourful words that could ban them from every network known to man underneath his breath.
“So..” Zephyrus started, only to cut himself off. “O-okay. Siren, Blade, let’s go, now. ” It was nice knowing you, Dream Team.
Siren nodded sharply, realising the danger they were in and quickly running to Zephyr’s side.
Spreading his wings, Zephyrus jumped into the air and grabbed his two children, picking them up and flying to his home.
Meanwhile, the thing casually skipped over to The Dream Team.
“So, any last words, you three?” It spoke kindly, softly, as if it were offering them a cookie rather than promising to end their lives.
“Wait wait wait—! Please, w-we haven’t done anything wrong!” Fire Rain begged, attempting to sway it into being allowed to live.
The Demon smiles, “You’re out during the month of the sky, Mister Fire.” The entity skipped closer to the Blazen Hero, amusement flickering in its eyes as the man trembled in his stance; his every instinct begging him to run.
It laughs, “You’re practically begging to be tortured Mr. Fire Man, it’s pathetic.” The creature leans in close, “ When I kill you, it’ll feel like a blessing, to be released from the pain.” It says the words softly, like it was a promise. And perhaps, it was.
The Demon moves away; observing the terror on the hero’s face. “You’ll be praying for Lady Death to take you to the realm beyond, praying for some sort of salvation, praying for someone, anyone to take you in and hold you in their arms.” The entity picks up a hand watch that had been thrown aside in the heat of battle, and it watches as something shifts in the Hero’s expression.
The creature hums, “But, she won’t take you.” It crushes the watch within its palms, letting the crumbs fall down as the Hero’s face falls further into despair, “Because that'd mean she’d have to take you away from me when I’m having so much fun!”
“So instead, she’ll watch.” He stepped closer, “Watch as you beg to be killed.”
Step.
“Watch as you pray to her to be free.”
Step.
“Watch as you’re killed , physically and mentally, over and over again, and just not die .”
Step.
“And watch me have fun.” It smiles one more time, flicking the last crumb of the watch that managed to not slip away to the Flamed Hero’s face as he went white.
“Now, are you ready to begin, misters?” It asks, turning its heel so that it would face everyone.
“P-please..” 404 pleaded quietly, raising his hands in surrender as he faced the direction of the entity’s voice. “Please, w-we’ll do anything.”
In a split second decision, Smile mutters a “ Fuck it.” and jumps off the 40 ft tall building, making a run for it.
“Clay!?” The other Dream team members shouted after him.
“Tch, Scaredy Cat.” The Sky Child comments, skipping over to the ledge to see where the green menace was running off.
“Huh, he’s pretty fast for a mortal.” The ‘boy’ comments, grinning a bit. It's been a while since he’s been able to play with his food afterall.
“Be good prey and stay here, okay kitty-cats?” The demon says, a child-like glee in its voice. “Oh, and before I forget—“ It turns its heel to face the rest of the heroes, only to find only one remaining hero left as the faint smell of gunpowder hits his nostrils.
404 stood there, facing the direction of where the trail of gunpowder seemed to originate with a mix of shock, fear, and a little hurt from being ditched.
“Damn. Every man for himself, I guess.” It says with a snort and a sympathetic frown. “I’m honestly just considering letting you go. You should get therapy for that. And cut them off. Actually, you won’t have to cut them off, they’ll be dead.” The boy shook his head, waving the hero off, “I’ll probably find you later. I sense your little ‘friends’ are the type of mortals who will be happy to sell you off if they think it’ll save their sorry asses.”
“No, Wait! Wait wait— Please don’t kill them.” 404 begs, to the Demon’s surprise. Was he trying to save his friends despite knowing, had they been in his shoes, they weren’t going to save him?
“T-they’re.. They’re all I have left anymore.” 404 confesses, “T-They.. Definitely aren’t p-perfect but without them–”
“Okay, that’s.. just sad. Now I’m serious about the therapy, in fact, I could probably threaten this one lady so that she gives it to you for free.” The boy offered, much to the Hero’s surprise.
“Actually, how about this: I’ll let you live for as long as you take therapy, and when you’re all healed and happy and good as new and worked over all your trauma, I’ll kill you. Does that sound good?” It asks in a kind, pitying tone.
“..H–Huh, Really..? I.. Wow, t-that’s genuinely the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.” 404 thanked, stunned to see the sadistic demon have a sympathetic side.
“Of course. I may be an evil demon who tortures people to death because I’m bored, but that doesn’t mean I’m mean or inconsiderate. Take your time, big man!” The boy assures kindly, not wanting to rush the poor man into ‘getting better’ when he’s not ok.
“Uh uh… W-well I’m really, really grateful anyways. Thank you, you’re the kindest evil entity I’ve ever met.” 404 thanks with a small, genuine smile. “B-but uh.. I’d prefer it if you spared my friends. You know, that just ran? They might seem like idiots to you but–”
The blond laughs, “Hah, no. ” His voice lowers several octaves, a feat that reminds 404 exactly what he was dealing with. “This is the most I'll do for you. Don’t forget your place, human.”
“O-oh..” 404 froze, “O.. O-okay. S-So, uhm, who’s that therapist you know?”
“Oh, well her name’s Puffy- well, not really, that’s her last name, but I learned that that’s what she prefers to be called when I visited her disguised as a human man. A sixteen year old, to be specific.”
“W-wait wait wait, so you can– T-this entire time–?” 404 trails off
“That I could turn into a human? Yeah, dipshit, but you’re not supposed to know. Meaning, you either keep quiet about that little ability of mine, or I kill you and kill anyone who knows because of you.” It says in an annoyed, slightly bored-sounding tone, all kindness and sympathy having vanished.
“I-I won’t tell anyone, I swear, j-just
please
don’t change your mind and kill me.” 404 says, once again afraid for his life.
“Awww, don’t worry mortal. You’re interesting. If you let me track you, I’ll let you go.” It offered, despite there being no actual choice.
“H-how would you, uhm, t-track me? I-I can’t- uh, I-I can’t s-see..?” 404 asks, confused.
“Well, human- actually, before I get into that, what’s your name?” It asks curiously.
“Ah, uhm,” He glanced around, “I-if you want m-my hero name it’s, um, f-four z-zero four, bu-but I usually just say four o-oh f-four…” He made out, shifting uncomfortably as he felt its gaze get more hostile. “I-I’m sor-”
“Shut up. You speak when spoken to. Now, I didn’t fucking ask for your goddam hero name. I asked for your real name. Okay? Now, care to tell me what it is, mister sleepyhead?” It asks, its hostile tone in the beginning making 404’s hands tremble.
“M-my actual name? I-it’s.. i-is- uhm-” He started stammering out, only to be cut off from the impatient entity.
“Just fucking say it! It’s not that hard, and I’ve already waited ages for you to hurry the fuck up! I’m not being fucking patient anymore! Tell. Me. Your. Name.” He orders icily, having snapped after talking to the hero for so long when he could have been hunting his prey.
“..G-George. M-my.. my name is George…” He said softly, quietly, sounding so… afraid.
“Awww, Gogy, why’re you so quiet all the sudden?” The thing asks in a kind tone, grabbing one of his legs and patting it softly, ignoring the flinch 404 tries and fails to suppress in favor of giving a coo. “Now, George, I’ve got to go and hunt down mister fire and mister smiley face, so can you sit down for a second?” It requests, with 404 doing just that and muffling his whimper as it pulls his sleeve up and starts to drag his sharp, knife-like nails along his skin, not enough to draw blood, but enough to hurt, and to leave bright red marks.
Making a pattern, it draws a little compass, then writes an uppercase, fancy ‘T’ where the compass is pointing.
“George, can you repeat after me?” It asks softly, re-tracing the red lines and leaving a black, inky substance.
“I-i’ll uhm, try.” 404 nods, trying to stay as still as possible through his shaking to not anger it, and the ‘child’ gave another coo.
“Alright, say this: I ʖᒷꖎ𝙹リ⊣ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᓭᒷ⚍ᓭ 𝙹⎓ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᓭꖌ||, ᔑリ↸ ⊣╎⍊ᒷ !¡ᒷ∷ᒲ╎ᓭᓭ╎𝙹リ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ʖᒷ ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑᓵꖌᒷ↸ ⚍ᓭ╎リ⊣ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ↸ᒷ⍊╎ꖎ'ᓭ ᒲᔑ⊣╎ᓵ.” It orders, grinning.
“O-Okay… uh- I ʖᒷꖎ𝙹リ⊣ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᓭᒷ⚍ᓭ 𝙹⎓ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᓭꖌ||, ᔑリ↸ ⊣╎⍊ᒷ !¡ᒷ∷ᒲ╎ᓭᓭ╎𝙹リ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ʖᒷ ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑᓵꖌᒷ↸ ⚍ᓭ╎リ⊣ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ↸ᒷ⍊╎ꖎ'ᓭ ᒲᔑ⊣╎ᓵ.” He repeats nervously.
(Galactic translation: I belong to theseus of the sky, and give permission to be tracked using the devil's magic.)
As the words flow out of the man’s mouth, the symbol that the thing is constantly tracing starts to turn gold. Then, when he finished talking, it pulled back, watching as the golden glow fades and settles into a black tattoo.
“Perfect! Anyways, I’ll see you later, Gogy! I have to go find and kill the others!” It says cheerily, drifting off into the sky and leaving so fast, when he blinked, it was gone, off in the direction of Fire Rain.
It took him an embarrassingly long time to find the dude (like 5 minutes), but eventually he caught up with the Fire Hero. The entity sighs at his futile attempt to get away, simply grabbing him by the arm and starting up one of his powers. Wither.
It decays you, makes you feel pain you never even imagined. It slowly runs through your veins, making you feel sick and icky first. Then, as your blood slowly turns black and dark lines run across your skin like tree roots, it starts to gather, in a random place.
Sometimes, it’s one of your fingers, slowly poisoning it until it eventually falls off, although by the time it does your simply glad the torture is over. However, the withering doesn’t release you from its grasp, instead, it finds somewhere else, usually more inside your body this time.
Sometimes, it’s your vocal cords, slowly squeezing them until the faintest whisper makes you want to scream in pain despite the fact that that would only make it worse, to ensure that you can’t even cry for help, without making the pain worse.
Then, it takes a break from breaking your body, and takes control of it, instead. Sometimes, it takes control of your legs. Making you stand up and walk around until they’re so sore you collapse, and then they drag you back up again and walk on the sharpest things you can find, barefoot.
Next, it gives some more ‘inside torture’, again, just in a different place. Sometimes, it’s your brain, squeezing it and making it hurt to think, to remember, or, if you’re particularly unlucky, it hurts to feel pain, causing an endless cycle of hurt and pain in your head even when nothing is actually wrong.
Then, in one final act, it takes over your whole body, and it crushes it. Makes you crumble, makes all your limbs fall off, makes your eyes fall out of their sockets and hold on to you from a single string of red flesh. Makes your teeth fall out one by one, makes your hair hurt your skull, makes your backbone snap in half, and then, finally, finally, crushes your lungs, and, as you gasp for air instinctively through the pain, even when you’d rather die than continue, it all stops.
All the pain. You can remember it, sure, but you’re not feeling any pain anymore. You’re not not feeling anything from your body anymore, actually.
And you know, instinctually, that you have a choice. To continue living like this, slowly withering away, or to stop. To let your heart be crushed by blackened veins. To be released from your pitch black blood. And you choose to die. They all do.
Every.
Single.
Time.
Fire Rain does, too. He chooses to die. It hurts too much not to.
And the child that is not really a child, who was born from the heat of the sun, whose crib was the fluffy white clouds and whose kingdom was the blue of the sky, he says, as he always does, “I shouldn’t get in trouble! After all, it was suicide.”
And then he goes on to his next victim, watching as their eyes fall out of their sockets after their blood turned black with wither.