☆Deathbringer☆

It might a little too fast, but I want to start on my first kiss with Greatness. Before that first kiss, I never viewed her someone that I liked. She was a person I forcibly pleased because she knew my secrets. Or maybe I used that as an excuse. I don't really know.

Greatness, the Destroyer's daughter, happened to have a very sweet tooth. Since she lived alone, she came to my house when she was bored. And because she held me in her hands-- my secret on the tip of her tongue, always ready to be said-- I could never make her turn back.

She liked dark chocolate-- she always had one in her hand, no matter what situation she was in-- whether she was threatening someone, or laughing at a joke. It differed everyday. Greatness came whenever she pleased, so I couldn't help but distance Glory. Greatness also knew this, and maybe she held onto it as one of her valuable pieces. But she had enough sense to sneak away whenever my mother came to the house. Maybe she knew that Mother would freak out by just looking at her. Sometimes she came by wearing a wig and heavy makeup to disguise herself. She really was good at it-- sometimes I couldn't even identify her when she rang the doorbell.

She was probably lonely a lot. No matter what she said, she had nobody. Her mother, no matter how bloodthirsty, had died. Most of her friends were new, and a lot of people were trying to track her down to kill her. She was living in a lonely apartment by herself. I saw how she looked at Mother-- how they filled with longing for something she couldn't have. It was almost identical to the one Glory had when she looked at me and Mother. So I let her stay.

"You should invite Glory over," she said in summer break, looking pointedly at my hands, which were gripping the phone. I did want to call her. Greatness was handing me a black plastic bag filled with chocolate ice-cream, taking one for herself. "You like her, don't you? It's written all over your face."

"We only view each other as friends," I replied shortly. "And if you did want me to hold on to my relationship with Glory, you shouldn't come so much. You know why I don't invite her."

She was brushing her short black hair, her eyes searching my face. "I actually don't know. Is it because of--the assassination? Does she even know?"

I chose my words carefully, trying to make myself sound pitiful. "Of course not." I looked at my ice cream. Was she just asking because she wanted information to use against me? Would it be wise to tell her? But she probably knew, the things I did. "Do you think I would be able to face her if she knew everything I did? She would look at me as a monster, like everyone else."

Maybe that was one of the reasons I liked Greatness so much. Because I could tell her things I didn't tell anyone else. The things I thought I had to take to my grave. And now I was spilling the secrets, telling myself that it was just so I could win her heart. Romantic or platonic. It didn't matter. I really was a piece of shit, thinking that the only thing that mattered about us was that she had my secrets. Looking back, maybe I didn't even know her.

I was always the trashy part in a relationship, to be truthful. My father had always been the abusive one. He never abused Mother physically-- to be truthful, he would have gotten beaten himself if he had tried-- but he always stayed in contact with her. No matter what Mother said, she had loved him. She had loved him with everything she had, and she abandoned everything when she got pregnant with me. Even after he left us, he still contacted Mother and sent her money. I wish he hadn't done that, because it gave him an excuse to have a control over our lives until he betrayed us to Battlewinner. He had never loved her and it was clear, but he stayed around to keep hurting her because he enjoyed her pain. He rejected her countless times, gave her a little encouragement, and squished down her feelings all over again. Even for me-- a six year old kid-- it was sickening to see.

That was why I always made sure to draw the line clear. If a girl confessed, it was merely an inconvenience. But I knew that staying friends with them would only hurt them, remind them of what could have been, so I abandoned them entirely. That was the way I was raised to think. Most times, it ended up hurting them even more.

That day, Greatness confessed everything about herself. Which wouldn't be a wise move if it wasn't me, but that day it also happened to be me. And if it happened to be any other girl with her secrets, I would have drawn the line again. But it was Greatness. "You know, I was seven when Battlewinner killed my dad. I can't remember much, except the fact that he was really nice. We used to have long trips around different countries, just him and me. And Battlewinner stayed home, recruiting her children, making them killer machines. I look back and think that maybe she had a reason for it. Why would she mess up so many lives, though? She probably took pleasure in killing, thought what she was doing was right. She wouldn't send assassins on most missions if the ones killed weren't bad people. Mostly. Unless they offered her a lot of money. And, of course, she usually raised her gun first, instead of trying to solve things with words. Maybe that's what happened between her and Dad. I never even listened to why she had me. It was probably an accident while on a mission."

The part where she poured out her secrets. I was a step closer. I probably had a hungry look in my eyes, but my voice was firmly contained. "Battlewinner was a hard woman to understand. But she must have had some adoration for you, if you never killed anyone. You shouldn't hate her too much." But then, who was I to say such a thing? I had burned buildings down alongside her. It was actually a wonder Greatness hadn't turned me in. Which made me think, did she want to turn me in? Was all of this an act? Was she recording my words to turn in to the police?

Greatness smiled, looking at her melting ice cream, and it was filled with a loneliness that I couldn't possibly understand. "I ask myself a lot why I ever turned her in. You know, she was kind sometimes. Yeah, she insisted on me having a little training, but when I told her I didn't want to kill, she didn't force me. She always taunted me, but she never got rid of me, either. She used to cut my hair herself. I actually looked up to her sometimes, before she killed my father. They were actually arguing because Dad had told me things she had done, and suddenly he was threatening to call the authorities. Battlewinner got upset, making some excuse about how it was going to hurt me in the future and how she wanted what was the best for the family-- like she deserved to call us her 'family'-- and she believed that she needed those assassins." Tears. The famous Greatness, the traitor, the real Destroyer behind everything, the mastermind, was shedding tears.

It was pathetic.

Weakling. She was weak and she had my secrets. Now, they were safe. Because she was opening her heart, pouring everything out. That was all I could think.

"And she really did horrible things, Deathbringer. It's-- almost impossible to put into words. And I was crying in the closet and after a few hours, she opens the door and her hands are full of blood. My father's blood. I--I sometimes see her face, with the red drops on her cheek, in my-- my--"

Only if she knew that I was of the same kind with her mother. Battlewinner and I understood each other, understood why we killed. Greatness couldn't possibly understand, that we both did it because the world was too cruel to us. That we eliminated everyone in the way, even our own relatives. In the end, Battlewinner had gotten too bloodthirsty, too caught up in what she had done. And the person she protected with everything she had was the one that betrayed her. I would not make the same mistake. "You don't have to go on, if you don't want to." The magic words that made everyone go on. Greatness was trusting me. I had done it. My secret was safe. She had slipped from her guard, had moved her piece knowing I would be able to hold it against her. I was so close to checkmate, and she was trusting me to make the wrong move for some reason-- that I liked her too?

Pfft.

Sometimes I do get surprised by my own cruelty, in my own manipulation. So cunning and devious that I sometimes get caught inside it, too. Yes, maybe I am too cruel, too cold-blooded. Thinking everything as a game, not something that involves real human beings. The truth is, though, I have long given up trying to ask how much human life is worth. Murder after murder, it has come to a point that it is simply an inconvenience. I know it sounds horrible, but it is the way I am. The way I was born to be shaped.

Maybe, if I hadn't burned that building down, killed the women that had done horrible things to me, I would still have some innocence left. But no. I did kill them and burn the building down. And I still have Mother that I can still protect.

"I know why you kill," Greatness suddenly said. Her hands were clenched into a fist. "You kill for your mother, to protect her. You hold her higher than anything else. You protect her with your life, with your soul. Of course I understand. And maybe Battlewinner did too, hold her assassination group more important than anything else. Except some things are more honorable than others, Deathbringer. The day I saw Battlewinner executed...she was screaming at me the whole time. Reaching out as if she could kill me. And she seemed like she would. And then after a few minutes, her life was gone, and there was nothing except a shell of what she had been. Then I asked myself, what was all this for? What did I hold the highest? My dead father? The assassination group I betrayed?"

Silence.

"That was when I realized that the thing I held most important was the world. Not any particular person, but everyone. The children living in the streets because they have no home. The people that are killed everyday without a reason. The people that do those murders. I want to help them. That is why I don't regret being a traitor to even my own blood. Because she was making the world a worse place-- she was killing people. And worse, she was making everyone else killers. Watching children of my age turn soulless, it was horrible to watch. And I was determined to do something about it. That was why I did what I did, and that is why I believe in justice when nobody around me does."

The world. The thing Greatness held most important was the world.

It was like watching a child. Trying to give a great speech to amaze people when she didn't know a thing. What was it that she had gone through? Nothing. Nothing compared to the things I had done for her mother, whom she killed.

But maybe I was also a little amazed. There was a person in the world that actually cared about the place that they were living. The people that they lived with. A world that had not yet turned its back on her. Someone who believed in humanity. I didn't know that such people really existed.

I had held onto cruelty, to manipulation, for so long that I had forgotten what kindness even was. And here, Greatness was reminding me again. Even if I did view it as childish and fake.

"The point is, Deathbringer, you can still go back. You can-- do things to make up for what you did. You had your reasons, but maybe it's time to move on. The world isn't-- isn't all bad. God, this sounds cheesy, but I mean it. Don't be so afraid. People will accept you for who you are. Most of them won't, but some people will. There are kind people, people that fight for a better world. And to them, you just have to find the courage to lift up your mask and show them your true face."

Soon, I was smiling. I desperately wanted to laugh- was it that? The thing I was so scared of? Letting people look at my real face, the cruelty underneath? Too afraid to apologize, too selfish to ruin the fake sandcastle that I had created? It was time to start over, and Greatness was showing me how.

I didn't see it then, though.

"I think that can also apply to you, you know." What should I do? Cry with her? What would he the most suitable?

The thing was, Greatness was a girl. Presumably attracted to the opposite gender. Trust came before love. And I needed to steer the wheel to the best direction, a direction where my secret would be completely safe.

A kiss.

And then my hands were on her face, and we were leaning towards each other. I had done it many times before, with countless girls. But this was an act of promise. A step towards something better.

I think that was when I realized that, by making the wrong move, she had lured me in. Maybe she had lured herself in, too. And by kissing her, I had sealed the contract.

☆

Please don't write comments like, "GREATNESS YOU WITCH, I HATE YOU" or stuff like that ;-; I know this is a Glorybringer story, but please don't hate a side character just because they happen to love one of the main ones (I'm not saying everyone does just that a lot of people tend to do it, speaking from experience lolol). Please bear with me guys!!