Chapter Text
r/Vigilantes · Posted by u/asingularpotato 9 days ago
Okay, so what happened to Aelius?
On the morning of Friday, May 25th Aelius was last seen in a pursuit to capture the vigilante. There are various photos and videos of him running from different heroes and Police cars.
It was trending on all social media for a good three days before a user of the name Atlontastic posted on Twitter what they recorded the morning of the 25th which they captioned as ‘I think you guys need to see this.
In the video, we can hear them saying that people are fighting and yelling at each other on the rooftop of the building in front of his department. He opens his curtains a little to record what is happening on the rooftop. It’s dark and we can’t see anything as it's blurry until the camera focuses. On the rooftop, there is Aelius surrounded by police officers and Heroes.
We can’t tell what is happening or what they are saying but the police are pointing their guns at him and some of the heroes have power cuffs with them. Atlontastic can be heard in the background saying they will open the window to see if he can listen to anything.
Tommy closed his phone before he could continue reading the post. Purpled looked at him from the couch. “You finished reading it? They have good points and questions,” he said looking down at his device. “No, I had the feeling someone was talking about me,” He said.
“Maybe the police are officially closing your case,” Purpled said. Tommy rolled his eyes “The police closed it last august, idiot” Tommy said standing up to leave his plate in the sink.
Tommy sat down on the couch next to Purpled making sure his wings were in a comfortable position. The two sat in comfortable silence while they did their own thing. Purpled liked to joke that Tommy was emotionally attached to that sofa. This was not true but it had been there for so much shit. That couch had been through a lot in the time they had it. It had seen the beginning of their new life, the birth of Aelius and his time going around defeating villains and idiots, the all-nighters doing homework and bitching about hard-ass teachers, Tommy or Purpled bleeding out on it, and so much more things.
He stared at his phone, now with a black screen for lack of movement. He felt content with how his life was going if he was honest. He had thrown himself at vigilantism and not given himself a break unless hurt or forced by Purpled. All his time went on to working in the cafe or being a vigilante. Now after almost seven months of leaving it completely, he felt great, happier, and rested. Purpled didn't look so stressed.
“You are trending on Twitter again,” Purpled said, passing him the phone.
NEN ✨@NenIsBored · 3m
I miss Aelius. The thought of him being gone hasn’t fully processed in my brain even after all this time
Tape is missing Aelius @Tapenobald · 5m
I miss Aelius
NORA HAS TAYLOR TICKETS @Nosleepsche · 46m
Seeing Aelius trend brings me joy
“Why do you like to see them suffer?” Tommy asked as he scrolled through the tweets. He scrolled and saw fanart, a lot of I miss Aelius, and just tweets remembering him. He gave the phone back. Purpled laughed at the question.
When the clock hit 11 Tommy stood up and stretched. “Tommy.” He laughed as he accidentally hit Purpled with his wing “Sorry, I forgot you were there” He said. He went into his room and changed clothes. He grabbed his bag and put his charger, headphones, and journal inside. He could hear Purpled in his room making noise. He put the necessary clothes in the backpack before going out of the room.
He left the bag in a chair while he looked for a pen in the kitchen drawer where things somehow ended up. He found a glittery red one and decided that it was good enough.
He grabbed a box and put some of the brownies he had made in the morning. He made sure they were enough and okay in the box before grabbing his bag.
They arrived in district one faster than Tommy hoped. They walked for a pretty good time before they stopped in front of the doors of the WatchTower. They stood there before Purpled nudged him. “Come on,” He opened the door. The reception looked like any other, with sofas in the back and tables, there was an elevator there too.
Tommy pulled his wings closer to him as he felt some stares. His wings never got seen when he was a vigilante because that would mean having to hide them when he was out of costume and too many people had seen his wings, so he hid them whenever he went out as Aelius. Hiding them tired him out but he worked through it. His wings suffered in costume even though they were not visible.
He once threw himself out of a window to escape, his wings and back had glass sharps in them and they were painful to take out. That cost him a week of patrolling because Purpled was worried. Another time he was shocked from behind and to put it softly that messed him up. Even though he made sure to take care of them they had taken damage when he was Aelius, they had gone through a lot even before being Aelius too.
They walk up to the receptionist, her name tag said Alyssa. “Give me a minute please,” She said while she typed something into her computer. They waited until she was done “How may I help you today?” She said with a smile.
Purpled pulled out his phone and showed her an email. “We were called here for an event,” He said. Alyssa nodded and picked up a phone. “Hello?” She said into the phone “Yeah, that is why I’m calling. No, I don’t think they came.” She looked at them while the person on the other end talked “Let me ask them, Uh do you guys know when the bakers are arriving? We thought they would come. No offense” She said with a smile. Tommy could see Purpled trying to hide a grin.
“We uh, well we are the bakers” He smiled awkwardly at her. “Oh,” She said. “Right, okay, hey can you take my place for a minute?” She asked the girl behind her.
They walked to the elevator. “Sorry about that, you guys just…” Purpled laughed at this. “Don’t worry we get that a lot,” he said.
“Alyssa! Hey!” Tommy had to try not to flinch when he heard that voice. One of the last faces Aelius had seen, one of the previous voices he had heard was this one.
Fosfo was one of the sweetest heroes Aelius ever got the pleasure to meet. She dresses in soft colors, right now her suit was blue and white, it had been that for the last year or so. Her last suit was pink and yellow (he had once compared her to Fluttershy from My Little Pony as her hair was also pink)
She talked to Alyssa while they walked. “You guys look young to be conducting a bakery,” She said with a smile.
“I bake a lot, I used to want to open a bakery when I was little,” Aelius looked up at the hero. “You give the vibe a baker will have,” He said, making her laugh.
They had stopped a robbery and were now waiting for the police to arrive. “I guess you are right. One day I will invite you to have something I bake” She said, “Wait, really?” He said excitedly.
Fosfo nodded. “Yeah one of these days, hey we can even bake together” The hero smiled and Aelius was over the moon. “My baking skills are legendary, I tell you,” He said.
They both talked for some more minutes until the police arrived. When he ended the patrol he told Emperor about baking with Fosfo.
Tommy looked around trying not to think too much of it. During the last months, he had tried to not think about the heroes or his vigilante days. That was his past and he was very happy here in the present.
But the tower brought back memories he wanted to drown until he forgot them.
They arrived at the kitchens and Fosfo said she had to leave. Everyone was seen to stop what they were doing and looked at them. “Well, hello,” said an old man that Tommy identified as the one in charge of the kitchen, the master chef if you will. “You two are the bakers right?” They nodded.
“Okay then, your zone is over there” He pointed to a part of the kitchen “The people that will be helping you have already been assigned so all you have to do is tell them what to do.”
Tommy walked up to the man and smiled “I uh, brought brownies for you sir.” he said. It was a thing he did, bring food when they were being invited to bake somewhere for the superior, Purpled called it a bribe. The old man looked at the box, smiled, and took it. “Thank you,”
“I will never get the smell of bread off me,” He said to Purpled as he took more cookies out of the oven. Purpled was helping decorate them “It's not like you can stop and take a break after this, we own a bakery Toms,” He said focusing on making the petals of the flower look good. “At least this is the last batch of them, the pies and cakes have been ready and are on their way to the gala,” He left the cookies on the table, and in the blink of an eye, they were grabbing them to decorate.
“This one was a bad batch,” Said Purpled while he picked one to start to decorate. Tommy gave him a dirty look “No cookie made under my recipe is a bad cookie” He said “So start decorating, asshole” Purpled rolled his eyes but continued to make petals on the cookies. Soon enough everything was done and the cookies were being organized in their boxes.
Purpled and Tommy sat on the sofas in the reception waiting for their uber. They would usually walk but it was raining outside. “I think I’d enough sweets for the rest of the month,” Purpled said while he stared at the floor. Tommy laughed while he scrolled through the news.
Two people came out of the elevator.“I heard you convince Techno to go, is that true?” One of the voices said. “Yeah, I promise that I would take all his paperwork for the month if he went,” Tommy recognized that voice, it was clearer without the distortion of the mask. “They won’t allow you to do that,”.
Purpled turned around to see who they were. Fosfo and Echos walked slowly talking to each other. Fosfo saw them and smiles but continues walking with Echos. They went out of the door and disappeared into the streets.
“Was that…?” Purpled didn’t finish and just looked at Tommy.
Tommy nodded “Oh,”
22.4k upvotes
r/Aelius · Posted by u/awritersclock 7 hours ago
Found an old video
So I was looking through all my saved videos and found this video from June two years ago. I’m pretty sure that he was at the end of the patrol when this happened because who buys this in the middle of it?
[Aelius can be seen at the register of a convenience store buying a box of popsicles and then going out and climbing to the rooftop. He waved at the camera which made the cameraman laugh]
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Nonbinaryhoe · Posted 6 hours ago
I remember this! Then he posted a photo of a purple and red popsicle half eaten on his Twitter–Also how we got air of Emperor
Awritersclock +2 · Posted 6 hours ago
Oh my god, I completely forgot about Emperor. I really hope he is okay he was SO cool
Nonbinaryhoe · Posted 5 hours ago
Some may say cooler than Aeli
Causeisayso · Posted 5 hours ago
Lmao I remembered how that used to get on Aelius's nerves it was so funny
I really miss him
“Tommy please” He rolled around the bed for what felt like the 100th time. “I already said no, go ask Hannah or Ranboo,” Purpled was trying to get him to work his night shift as he had stuff to do. There was silence before Purpled continued “I already asked them and I even asked Sam but they are all occupied. You know I wouldn’t ask you if I had a choice,”
“I guess you will have to cancel your plans.” He said a bit muffled by the pillows. “So sad,” He added.
The night was slow, Tommy decided as he cleaned dishes in the back. It always was but today was ultra slow. Normally there will be at least some student or insomniac around this time ordering coffee and some pastries or something.
He washed dishes, restock stuff by the coffee machines, cleaned tables, and turn on the news. He heard the bells from the door ring. “Give me a minute!” He shouted as he finish writing on the board. “Hi, welcome to–” He stops as he stared at Purpled. “Hey,” Purpled said like an idiot.
He was bleeding, Tommy noticed “Come one get in the back now,” He said as he pulled Purpled “Don’t bleed on the floor I just cleaned it,” he said as he saw blood slip through Purple's hands.
He sat him on a stool and got a med kit. “What happened?” He asked as he washed his hands. Purpled winced as he moved his hand to inspect the wound. “The heroes felt on us when making an exchange,”
“They have a spy then?” Tommy asked as he cleaned the wound. Purpled let out a curse and then nodded. The bell from the door rang and both of them froze. They looked at each other “Can you..?” Tommy asked pointing at the wound “I’m not an idiot” Purpled said. Tommy washed his hands trying to get the blood out of them “Please give me a second” He shouted as he scrub the blood off his fingers. He realise that it was not enough, grabbed some black gloves, and put on another apron. “Hello! Welcome to Aria,” He almost let out a curse, his night couldn’t get any worse.
They were fucked soooooooo badly. Out of all the heroes that could enter the bakery, he had a list of five. And the universe hated him because the top one and three were now staring at him. Echos, The Charmer, and Mortem, The Angel.
“How can I help you?” He put on his best customer voice and smiled at them. Echos smiled at him and then looked at the menu. Tommy’s hands were shaking if they noticed they didn’t comment on it.
During the stay of the two, he could feel Echo's watchful stare probably reading his emotions and he could feel him trying to calm him down with his power which only made Tommy panic even more.
He let out a sigh of relief when they left. He walked into the back to check on Purpled, he was drinking a cup of milk with cookies. “I told you that you should get another person,” Purpled said.
“And I told you not to get hurt but no one listens” Tommy answered. Purpled rolled his eye while he ate a cookie.
“Do you have any idea of who could be the mole?”
“There is so much unnecessary information in this,” He said while he looked down at the report again. “How sure are we that this is the entrance to Eden? It could be just a random bakery that happened to be at the wrong place,”
“There are too many coincidences for it to just be a random bakery that happened to be at the wrong place,” Phil said as he hung another photo and connected it with a red string. Techno rolled his eyes. “The kid was so anxious,” He said while picking up the report that Techno left on the desk. “His wings were just– You know?” He said.
“Did you go all birdman on him?” He asked. Wilbur entered the room“He almost did” and drop pictures on the desk. Phil some up and looked through them. “What is this?”
“Okay! So yesterday Vigilante Emperor went inside Aria’s Bakery, right? So I did some digging and he has not been the only one to disappear in the street or inside the bakery, ” Wilbur grabbed another chart and put photos of it. “There is footage of not only the Emperor but also the Watcher, Cadaver, Squid, Erythros, and Spines, and so many more”
“The bakery is owned by a man named Sebastian O’Death that right now lives in Japan and has only one son that is adopted…uh” Techno looked at Phil and raised an eyebrow.
“Wil, get to the point,” He said “Oh right! So I couln’t find anything sketchy on him so I moved on to the employees.” He handed Phil and Techno a photo of a teenager.
He continues with a whole overview of the employees' lives. Ages, where they lived, where they were from, how long they had worked there, friends, etc. Techno could feel a headache coming from all the talking Wilbur was doing.
Phil interrupted with some of his research and speculations. If Techno was honest he kind of spaced out for most of it. “Do you agree Techno?” He nodded not listening to what they were saying, focusing on the texture of the ceiling and noticing little shapes.
“Okay! Then we only have to go look for a job form for Techno and we are in” Wil said and– Wait. What?
Techno blinked.
“What?”
Tommy had hung the Hiring sign last night after the shit show Purpled put on and as of right now, he had three people interested. He could hear Hannah at the register greeting someone, Ranboo humming while baking, the rumbling of the AC, and his breathing.
There was a knock on his door “Come in!” He said. Hannah stood by the door and smiled at him, by her side was what Tommy could only describe as a sleep-deprived college student. Their hair was just by their shoulders half-up and half-down, they dressed in warm colors, they smiled at Tommy and he smiled back. “Hi, here for the job offer?” They nodded. He pointed at the chair “Take a sit please,”
They all settle in a meeting on a Saturday at noon. Purpled was not very happy about it as it was Enforcer hour at the train station. They were the first to get there and say hello to Hannah, she was making an order when they entered. “Look who decited to finally to arrive,” She said while smiling. Purpled just flip her off and walk into the back, a woman and her child were nearby and she gasp and approached the front. “Do you really allow that kind of gentures in here? When there is kids around?” Some people were poor and assholes it seems.
He knew that she had it handled and walk into the back while she smile at the woman. Purpled was having a staring contest with a crow. The crow cawed at him “How did the bird got in?”
“Who knows, I know that he is a little pi–” The bird finally flew and hit Purpled, then settle in his hair, Purpled tried to get it off while Tommy laughed. The two kept fighting until Sam arrived and the bird settled on the top of the Fridge. Ranboo followed behind him.
Sam left bags on the table. Purpled stared at the bird “Purpled can you put this away?” He pointed at the bags. He took out a bag of nuts and gave it to Tommy. “What is this for?” He opened it and took one out, Sam extended his hand to the crow. The bird looked at it and waited. He flew down and took it from the hybrid. Tommy pulled one out and gave it to the crow who hopped next to him.
They went on for half an hour before they decided it was time to start the meeting, Tommy had put down the files of the ten people that had put on the job forms. They discussed who looked better and what they had found about each one.
“Okay so we have this one, may I say that this one if probably my favorite,” He put the form of the sleep-deprived college student, he had shoulder-length pink hair and he was buff and kinda scary. Sam looked unimpressed “We can have two scary people working here!” Tommy exclaimed.
Hannah picked up the file and looked through “He worked at a bakery in District 3,” She said and passed the file to Ranboo. “That is good, right? It means he has the experience,” They said.
Purpled picked up another one “Icarus put in his form too,” He said and passed it to Sam. “Three scary and buff people then,” Tommy said and gained a kick from Sam. “What was that for?”
They went on to the ten people, some of them they knew and some were just regulars. They decided on four people, a pink haired college student, Icarus, a friend of Ranboo, and a girl who was a regular around. Tommy was happy about their elections and he was sure that it was going to be fun to train the new people.
He spends the rest of the day making the fit of schedules and making phone calls. He schedules another meeting to discuss more things around the bakery.
Techno couldn’t believe he got hired, he was kind of concerned about the time the message was sent but he took a screenshot and sent it to Phil and Wil, Phil was sleeping but Wilbur answered quickly with a “Cool” and then a “Wait wtf”
He continued on the treadmill for another 20 minutes before he decided that it was enough for the day and pick up his stuff. He walked to his car when he heard a scream from the street over, in between two stores in a dark alley, he opened his car and threw his stuff inside, closed it, and started walking across the street.
And on top of the roof, a certain vigilante observed the pink-haired man.