Not all are villains

As the sun rose over the water just as it did the day before and the day before that, the city was calm. The light shone through every window marking a new day. Nobody could have imagined what darkness would take place. The tears that would be shed.

Harrison Key was just like every other teenager in the sense that he felt different than everyone else. Looking in the mirror he saw a seventeen-year-old kid with brown eyes and a smile he never used. But outside of that he was just hiding behind a deep stare because He was raised to not feel, and he was good at it. That is why he would be the champion.

He woke up to the sound of yelling coming from the foyer. He walked with his head up high as he would never let anyone look down upon him to where he saw his younger brothers fighting, their weapons clean. Their grandfather watched them with precision just as he used to watch him.

His grandfather could sense his presence as he ushered the boys to stop.

“Harrison our champion have you come to join in the fight” he said not turning his gaze

“no, just to watch” Harrison spoke as he took a spot next to him

“So be it but know your day comes soon” Harrison was used to that phrase as For generations, the family had chosen a champion one that would end an endless war for power. Wipe out a bloodline. Bring honor to all those that died in the fight including his mother.

hours had passed by the time Harrison could manage to get out of his own head by then his brother's fight was over as they laid down their still clean swords and his grandfather had already left.

Harrison retreated back to his room and Just before he could fall back into his own thoughts his door swung open, and his father strolled in. “son we’re going downtown for some new shoes for your brothers, are you coming?”

“No”

“Very well” he said as he turned to leave, Harrison could have stopped him but instead he watched him leave a thing he would soon regret.

Harrison left his room and made it down to the foyer to train until he felt weak to ensure that he would never have a clean blade like his brothers. He was the most powerful that anyone had ever seen. He could move a blade without a thought in his mind. As he stood there in stance and watched all around him as the sword swung. But a loud sound alarmed, making it drop in its place. Harrison startled back. He tried to pick up where he left off, but his mind couldn’t shut off. He walked towards the balcony that looked over the entire city. He looked over the edge to see smoke covering the downtown area as fire trucks raced down the streets. His first thought was of his family.

Harrison put his foot over the edge dangling there. either he was insane, or he knew what he was doing. Harrison was both. As he put his other foot over the edge you could see a playful look in his eyes. To him it was just a game.

Harrison made it downtown in a record time but as he looked down upon the mall the flames erupting he knew Something was wrong. He crashed through the window and inside was chaos, flames everywhere. Most of the people were already passed out from smoke inhalation but those that weren’t would be soon. He ran looking for the only thing that mattered to him: his family. He ran with all everything he could until he saw them. through a flame his brothers huddled behind their father. They were still breathing but barely.

“Son, you have to go” his father said choking between each word

“I wont” if he had learnt anything from his father it was that you fight till its over win or lose because honor is all you have.

“You have to carry on our legacy, my son you are the champ…” his father didn’t even get the chance to finish his last word before he fell and choked on his own breath. He looked around, they were all gone. His brothers lifeless and his grandfather still wearing the look of pride he always wore. For the first time since his mother Harrison let himself feel. He didn’t try to hold back the tears as they ran down his ash-stained face. This day was only the beginning. It was his last straw.

As Harrison flew back to the penthouse, he looked down at the flames still going. It felt like Deja vu in the darkest way. The only other time he had seen flames like that was the day he announced his existence. It was a big day. His parents dressed him up in his first suit and a mask to cover his face. By the time he was done all that was left was the smell of smoke. It was the best day of his life while this was the worst.

After arriving back at the penthouse Harrison didn’t know what to do, he locked himself in his room knowing there was no one else to go in. His family was dead, and he was all that was left.

Two years had passed, and people actually felt safe again As the key family had ‘disappeared’. They held parties on the blocks for months, it made Harrison ill seeing everyone celebrate their deaths. Little did they know there was one surviving son, the champion who was now nothing but a monster.

Over the last two years Harrison watched as the traps he set went off killing thousands. He watched as the heroes tried to save everyone but failed. He knew he could have killed them right there but that wouldn’t be as fun as watching them fail, turn on each other..

In the early days both families were civil, some would say friends even. The keys and the greys could never be that now.

Harrison had learned about the feud. the keys and the greys, the only surviving of a not so natural disaster: a windstorm with an unbearable ringing that destroyed an entire city. they were given a gift that no one had seen before. Power, supernatural. The grey family decided that they should be the only ones with such power. That the keys weren’t worthy. They became villains trying to destroy them. The key family fought them, they saved people, but the greys kept fighting, the keys tried but when everything is stained in blood of their own its hard to go on. They traded the roles for centuries; both families thought that they were doing what they needed to, but Harrison knew that the centuries of hate and blood could not be undone; there were no heroes, only villains.

Harrison walked the path by the beach thinking of his next plot. He wasn’t looking where he was going which caused him to crash into a girl her eyes bluer than the water and her hair a dark auburn colour. As they collided, she knocked him to the ground.

“I’m so sorry” she said as she held her hand out to help him up, she was genuine.

“Its fine” he said getting up on his own.

As he walked away, she was all he could think about. He wanted to meet her again; she intrigued him as much as she disgusted him.

A few days later he went walking again.he walked past the park that he had once destroyed but now it was rebuilt into something new and sitting on the bench was the girl from days before she was writing something in a journal. Before he knew it, he was walking to sit next to her.

“hi” he said

“Hi, I’m Evelyn” she said putting down her pen

“Harrison.”

“Well, its nice to meet you, Harrison.”

Over the next couple of weeks Harrison couldn’t help but let himself be distracted by her. they spent a lot of time together and slowly he began letting down his walls which made him realise something. He was happy. Something he was never taught existed. For the first time that he can remember he smiled and not just a dark sinister smirk.

Evelyn made him realise so many things. He didn’t have to be the person he was raised to be. The park could be rebuilt into something new, why couldn’t he.

He felt like he betrayed his family by being better off without them. For being someone , they would have hated. His fathers last words spoke of his legacy, him being the champion, but Harrison didn’t want that anymore.

He began ignoring Evelyn's texts and he fell back into his old ways the first thing on the list the park. He put on his fathers old suit and went down to the park. He destroyed it all within seconds. The structure fell in on itself, people screamed, ran and then he left with his head held high, he was a champion.

Everyone fell back into fear as his announcement was all over the news. He knew his family would be proud.

eventually he texted Evelyn that he was sorry.

Evelyn didn’t reply for days but when she did, she agreed to meet him outside a restaurant near downtown. When he got there, she was already sitting down.

“hi” he said as he sat down across from her.

“hi” she said

“I’m sorry I’ve had a lot going on, I’ve been missing my family”

“You don’t have to say anything else its okay” Evelyn knew that his family was dead, and she never pressured him to say anything.

Harrison noticed something different about her, she was thinking hard about something it was killing her, but he couldn't ask.

“Have you seen the news, it's horrible” Evelyn said breaking the silence.

“Yeah, it is” he did feel guilty for what he’s done.

“Like all this time everyone thought he was dead but he’s alive, but he doesn’t have the same power as he used to. Everyones saying its actually his son in the suit the one they branded as their champion” Harrison got tense, did she know? Is that why she was acting weird? or was it because he ghosted her.

“I’m sorry for talking about this too much. I know that the grey family will win but with what consequences.”

“too bad the families could just get along”

“heroes don’t get along with villains”

“who decides who’s the villain”

“usually its the ones that kill people”

“don’t they get the chance to fix that to become a better person”

“That is if villains can become better people” Harrison never saw this part of Evelyn before. she didn’t believe in change, in him. If she knew who he was the things he’s done she would have left a long time ago screaming.

he was going to become a better person. Even if it killed him.

“I thought that you would believe in the better” before she could respond. A tall man walked by giving her a look to which she made up some excuse and got up and left. he followed them to an alley behind the rebuilt mall.

“Brother what are you doing” Evelyn said.

“Our parents are upset you haven’t contacted them since the announcement”

“I already know what they're going to say. I'm our family's champion, but I failed. I thought I killed the keys in the fire, but I missed one. I killed all those people for nothing. I don’t want to talk to them. Not until I kill their champion”. Harrison couldn’t believe it, it crushed him. All this time she was right in front of him. She killed them.

He got back to the penthouse. Where the alarms blasted. He turned on the news when he saw the greys standing in the city square, they were calling to him, but he would not answer. The channel switched to another broadcast of a building on fire near the square but still none of them moved. He zoomed through the sky in his father’s suit. Harrison was nervous as he had never saved anyone. He crashed inside, cooled down everything in his path, people screamed and ran farther in the flames when they saw him.

“I know I scare you but I’m here to help” he said. Harrison blew all the breath he could to cool down the flames and as the last one began to fizzle out, he could see them all huddled in a corner, all of them covered in burns. The building began to shake as the foundation was unstable. Harrison tried to move closer to them, but no one budged. He made eye contact with a mother clutching onto her daughter. She stood up and approached him. “Save my daughter” she said pushing her four-year-old forward. Harrison grabbed both her and her daughters hands and as he flew out the window they both screamed they landed on the ground quickly and he went back up doing many trips till he finally got them all.

When he arrived back at the penthouse, he turned back on the news to see the mother and daughter. “so has the villain gone good” the news reporter asked the mother “at first the sight of him terrified me but I knew I was already going to die with my daughter, he put out the fire after all the flames were gone he had this look in his eye that he was genuine he saved us”

It felt good to save them a lot better than it would have felt to hurt them. But he knew that that didn't erase the things he had done. He also knew he had to face Evelyn. He texted her the next day that he wanted to meet which she agreed. He met her outside his building.

“Hi Harrison” Evelyn said trying to force a smile, but she couldn’t

“hi” he said smiling as he quite enjoyed it now

“what are we doing here?”

“I want to show you something” he brought her up and As the doors to the penthouse opened Harrison grabbed Evelyn’s hands.

“there’s something you need to know.”

“what” she said as her gut clenched

“I know who you are” he said as her face dropped.

“that’s right I’m Evelyn grey the champion that going to kill the last key” she said proud

“I thought heroes were supposed to save not hurt”

“well villains can’t be saved”

“what about me.”

“Are you a villain?”

“you tell me” he said Evelyn grew quiet as she stayed by the door.

“Evelyn I brought you here because I care for the first time in my life, you made me realise that I can be more, I am more now and I hope you can see that”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m Harrison key” for a second Harrison thought that Evelyn was going to cry but instead she put her hands around his neck.he didn’t even try to fight back as he knew he could never hurt her. In every breath he could feel himself slipping away when suddenly her grip loosened. “I was raised to kill you, but I can’t if you wont fight back” she said as Harrison tried to catch his breath. “I was raised to do the same but I could never hurt you” Evelyn wrapped her arms around his neck again but instead of fighting it she let herself slip away. He wrapped his arms around her holding her.

“I don’t want to kill you”

“Neither do I” he said laughing.

“But what about my family? They will”

“We won’t give them the chance.”

“You mean were going to ki...”

“no but I do have a plan” he said interrupting her.

A few days later Harrison woke up and grabbed his sharpest sword and flew to the city square. Within minutes the greys showed up ready to fight Evelyn was right there in the front.

“I surrender” he said throwing his sword towards them

“it’s a trap” her brother

When they got close to Harrison, they all jolted back.

“it’s a forcefield you can’t break through so listen, my name is Harrison key I’m no hero, I’ve hurt people but so have you. Your just as bad as I am but we don’t have to be.” he said as he let the forcefield go Harrison didn’t want to die a key he wanted to die himself, so he tore off his mask to show his face.

“Did you know?” Her brother asked as he realised

“yes and he’s right we are just as much villains as he is, so if he dies so should we.”

Her parents stopped in their stance as they looked at her, they saw someone they didn’t know. Someone they hated because they knew she was right, but they couldn’t let anyone else know that. Her brother looked behind him to where his parents just nodded.

“I’m sorry I was really hoping it wouldn’t come to this I love you” he said as he took Harrison’s sword and began bringing the sword closer to Evelyn’s chest but in a quick swerve he turned around and stabbed his mother right in the heart. She fell instantly to the ground as a puddle of blood formed around her. Their father lunged at them, his fist growing. Before Harrison could react, he was already on the ground. Evelyn began crying. Harrison ran towards them as her brother realised what he had done.

In the end the villains all died but the heroes rose above. They finally realized that they didn’t need the legacies of their families past to be who they are and as time passed they both healed because they were together.