Work Text:
Roman was a hero. He built his identity around being a hero. Being a hero was everything he cared about.
“It’s simple. You pick your brother, or ten innocent people. Whoever you don’t choose dies.”
Roman would normally never listen to villains. If given the choice, he would turn around, close his eyes, and block everything out.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have much of a choice right now.
Heroes do the honorable thing. They don’t get distracted or pulled down by attachments. They save the innocent. That’s just how it works.
Roman looked down at the mic that his brother’s voice could come out of, finding himself barely paying attention to the one from the other room. Personally, Roman thought it would be more appropriate for some dramatic, emotional moment to be what one thinks of in a time like this. But for some reason, the memory that popped into his mind was of Remus throwing rocks at fish in a pond, from one afternoon when they were kids.
Not a very heroic thing to do, was it?
When given the chance, a hero never chose what benefited themself. Others were more important, that was always, always the case.
“Roman, it’s okay, you—”
Roman pressed the button before Remus finished talking, and a second later thought that maybe it would have been polite if he’d waited for him to finish his sentence.
The screaming started a second after that, and Roman wanted to throw up. But the second the screams stopped the door on the right was already opening, and the people inside were looking at him with some kind of mixture of awe and disgust.
“I’ll have my guards come and help them,” came the villain’s voice over the speakers. But Roman was running before anyone else got there.
Heroes help others. They don’t make selfish decisions. That’s just how it works.
Roman ran and ran until his legs gave out, and he grabbed at the grass underneath him and screamed into the void in front of him.
His scream lasted much longer than Remus’ had.
That’s what a hero was. That’s what they did. That’s what he’d done. That made him a hero, and no one was arguing that point.
Heroes do the honorable thing. They don’t have attachments. They save the innocent. They don’t choose what they want to. And Roman…
Roman didn’t want to be a hero anymore.