PART 03 | FICTION

Anti Hero

She meant pain. Love meant death.

Photo by Klara Kulikova on Unsplash

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She lived in borrowed time. My time. She lived because I lost mine. Yet I couldn’t blame her. Or… hate her.

I loved her too much; it was intoxicating.

Three months after the incident at the compound. I was still alive. Burned and bruised inside out. Yet, I was still here. Watching what was mine. Jasmine.

The Chief didn’t order a death sentence for treason. A treason I didn’t commit.

Legion had been my life. Yet I’d kill them all if it meant I could save her. Although I didn’t know where that decision would lead me. One thing I knew for sure was that she was the best thing that had happened to me. Well, she and the fuckin’ wild days we shared.

I wasn’t good with plans. As I wasn’t good at lying. Chief found out that she lied to get away from the compound. He punished me even harder. For being weak.

The wound on my abdomen, they rubbed it with salt. Simply for their own satisfaction. They slashed my skin. Whipped me until I saw stars and darkness collided.

It opened my eyes. She meant pain. Love meant death. Making love to her meant my apocalypse. Ours.

And they wanted me to find her. To kill her. That would be my penance.

I found her at the cafe at the junction. Her wavy, long hair ran free down her shoulders. Tight jeans wrapped her long legs. And she wore a black leather jacket. Mine.

The wrong guy sat beside her. The superhero. Another hypocritical bastard of the government. The same government that marked me as a villain. Who’d been targeting the Legion for years. I saw her hand tremble as she handed something to him. Cunning little vixen.

She left after their meeting was over. She was a fuckin’ enigma. Something I couldn’t read, or had mistakenly read. And she was a great actor, just as she was a clever planner.

I might be her pawn. Only a part of her plan.

But it wouldn’t matter now.

“Jasmine.” My voice startled her. I deliberately stepped into her place. Been here many times. But this time, only one of us would walk out of here alive.

“Keane.” Damn, hearing those soft and trembling voices like this only made me want to pin her against the wall.

“Happy with your life?” I toyed with her hair as she learned to stay still. Maybe I still had this effect on her. Betrayed or not. Lied to or not. She still shattered my walls whenever she was near. I could not not want her.

I kissed the back of her neck.

“You’re here.” Barely above a whisper. Fear. That was good.

“No thanks to you.” I spun her body. Facing me. So she could see what I’d become.

“I have — ”

“Plans. I know. You always have fuckin’ plans.” I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Do you know what happened to me after you left?” I whispered in her ear, my lips brushing her cheeks, lingering.

“They put me in the darkness for weeks.” I pulled my gun and pressed it against her belly. She arched her body. So tense. Good Lord.

“Do you know what darkness did to you?” “I heard voices .” Yours. “I saw things.” You.

Jasmine was so quiet. Too quiet, I could hear the drumming beats of her heart. Her shallow breaths filled the air between us.

“On your knees,” I commanded her.

The submissive in her obeyed me. But her eyes never left mine. The barrel of my gun traced every inch of her as she lowered her body.

“Legion wants you dead.” I tightened my grip.

“Do you?” She looked up, straight and deep into me. Did she actually ask that?

I didn’t nod. I should’ve put an end to her. That would make my miserable life last a little bit longer.

“If you want me dead, then I should’ve died already.” She… had a point. Damn!

“Do you love me?” she whispered.

Yes, I fuckin’ do. “Don’t play this game with me.”

“I love you, Keane.” The words slipped too easily from her liar lips.

I know. “Don’t…”

She closed her eyes. She knew that I could never pull the trigger.

“Your superhero isn’t as good as you think. He’s just a crook labeled as a savior.” I sighed.

“And if you’re looking for answers. You’re not going to find them in Legion.”

She reached for my hand. And I let her. “Help me, Keane.” She wrapped her fingers around my wrist. “ I can’t do this alone.”

“And if I help you, your family’s gonna tear you apart,” I told her the truth I learned from our pathetic world.

“I don’t care anymore,” she decided. She couldn’t mean it. She was a good person, supposedly. Even if she let me suffer in hell. Even if she betrayed me.

I knelt, closing the distance that I couldn’t afford to hold anymore. I needed to feel her. To kiss her. Loving her was like a free falling into a volcano. There’s no way we could get out alive from this.

“Damn, you look hot in my jacket.” And I kissed her like there was no tomorrow.

If there was one thing I learned from this, it would be our apocalypse. Unless —

My laugh broke as the most brilliant idiotic plan crossed my mind.

“You know,” I murmured, “we have to blow them up all for us to be together.” There. I said the impossible.

And we both knew I was no good with plans.

This story has been sitting in my draft for nearly five months! It was another sequel to continue the collaborative writing challenge held by my badass girl Vaidehi. She paired me with Sumedh Pimplikar back then.

I haven’t published it — too many self-doubt, but maybe it’s time to bring this one into the light and just see where my dark side takes this whole twisted romance story.

And if you are interested, I invite you to write it with me. You can turn, twist, and bend the story as little or as far as you like. Just tell me in the comment.

You can read the previous part here: Part 01 Part 02

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