Chapter Text
Acid threatened to tear through each muscle as bile clawed its way at their throat. But if they stopped for even a moment, it surely would be the conclusion of the story of life. The Silver Shadow was positive they've never run faster. Not even to see their sister once upon a time.
Ah, how they wished it was once again those days, cutting through painful bramble and untraversable vines of the jungle. They’d rather the terror and horror that burned in their chest at almost being eaten by a carnivorous inphernal eating plant. They’d rather feel the anxiety bubbling up when trying to not be caught by their caretakers… anything but this.
How did they get into this situation…?
Why was Shuriken’s life flashing before his eyes? He had all the time in the world… right…?
Shuriken groaned, today wasn’t his day at all! Putting on a smile for the customers that walked in… the pink horned inphernal really couldn’t care less for these guys… he just wanted to sleep.
Slingshot had already scolded him for accidentally falling asleep while pouring coffee, but whatever. That’s not his fault! He had bigger things to deal with— like being the only vigilante in Crossroads.
And also possibly dealing with the fury of a cult… because he dropped all of their wounded and unconscious selves off at the police station in Crossroads. (Though, he was pretty convinced they were still useless… but hey, at least they can jail a few assholes!)
It hopefully wouldn’t be such a big deal, he seriously doubted that they could track down THE Silver Shadow. He could turn invisible n shit! So—
“SHURIKEN!” Vine Staff suddenly yelled, snapping her fingers in front of his face.
“Wh— huh?” The ex shinobi dumbly answered.
“Huuuuh?” His sister mocked, rolling her eyes before she shook her head. “It’s closing time. I already told you it’s time, but you didn’t answer. Slingshot is cleaning the kitchen, I’ve already wiped down the tables, so, can you sweep already?” the healer asked. She looked… annoyed.
“Yeah, sure.” Shuriken sighed, moving to the cleaning closet hidden away from the customers. Was he standing there for a while, or something? Surely it wasn’t that big of a deal…
Right?
Well, apparently it was. Because on the way home, Shuriken was scolded by his brother for being “Lazy” and “Apathetic”.
He slept too much, he wasn’t friendly enough to the customers, his smile wasn’t friendly enough— apparently it was scary because it looked too fake! HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO FIX THAT!?— It was just too much.
Each few steps further, Shuriken grew more and more annoyed.
He loved his siblings more than he loved himself, but even he had days when he just—
Annoyance was printed all over his brother’s expression as he shoved the key into the lock, giving it a harsh twist. “I just don’t understand! Shuri, it’s like you don’t even care about anyone sometimes!” The blue horned inphernal chastised, finally, as the three stepped inside their apartment, Shuriken snapped.
“Oh my SWORDS! Can you just shut up!? Would you rather I have just— I don’t know, phucking stayed behind in Darkage or something!?”
Both of them flinched. Not at the outburst, but at the mention of Darkage…
Pure horror spread over his sister’s face. It was a fear that settled deep in her bones, and sat in between her ribs. A fear that no amount of healing could ever purify.
And his brother? Slingshot looked as if he wanted to hide. Shuriken knew how much Slingshot hated Darkage too… that place made him miserable. They forced Slingshot to push and push and push— but Sling wasn’t that type of inphernal. But even now, the scars that were left on his brother’s soul… everything needed to be perfect or he would be punished—
Shuriken knew immediately that he messed up… So, without saying another word, he rushed to his room and locked the door.
How could he be so stupid? They looked at him as if they were scared of him now—
Oh hells… how could he be so awful…
It took much too long for 11 pm to hit. Far too long for Shuriken’s liking.
He dawned his Silver Shadow attire early, waited for his siblings to go to bed— they didn’t even say goodnight to him. Maybe they hated him now… no, no way— before painting his horns green.
He should just go clear his head. Swing through the night sky on the first ring… yes. That would be perfect.
The Silver Shadow had no attachments, after all.
Tonight was odd… Even while wearing the mask of the Silver Shadow, Shuriken could always see the stars… the moon— anything. But tonight was different. The moon hid its silver glow behind the fog of the clouds, and the stars’ light was yet to pierce through the veil.
The figure of the vigilante stood perched atop a powerline, their eyes scanning over the sea of buildings. The city of Crossroads seemingly asleep…
The perfect time for crime to show its fangs.
Without a sound, the vigilante moved… jumping high into the night sky, long scarf ends following their every motion.
The green horned inphernal was yet to slow, leaping from each rooftop they found their footing upon. They moved as if they were blessed with the gift of dancing, every step like a jeté into the night sky, the moonlight a spotlight upon their form.
But each performance came to a close before anyone could truly admire such perfection… and that was okay. Even if part of their soul wanted to be praised.
As Silver Shadow made their route, they soon saw teal horns gleaming… and in the middle, an unconscious form of an inphernal.
The hell…? More of these cultists? Did they seriously come back?
The Silver Shadow sighed, they would need to deal with them… there seemed to be four… yeah, easy enough.
Summoning their gear, they began their dance… leaping down from the rooftop.
“Hah! Too easy—!” One of them began, only to dead in their tracks, dropping to the ground like a fly after a loud crack. The jaw of the first assailant snapped to the side.
The other cultists froze, all stiffening as they glanced around, two summoning their gears.
“What the— oh crap, is—” Another began, only to be silenced as Silver Shadow appeared in a puff of smoke, their leg connecting with the temple of the unfortunate inphernal. A pained noise left the cult member before they, too, collapsed.
“The Silver Shadow!” The inphernal with a crossbow hissed, quickly pulling back an arrow to load it.
The vigilante found themselves rolling their eyes behind the mask. He quickly kicked the inphernal’s gear out of their hands, before throwing multiple shurikens into their arms, causing them to yell out in pain. The vigilante quickly finished that part of the battle by knocking their jaw out of socket with an uppercut.
“Damnit— I’ll kill you!” The crowbar wielding inphernal hissed, lifting their gear to swing.
Took too long. It was quite boring… these fights with them.
Silver Shadow tackled them, grabbing them in a hold that cut off all oxygen just long enough until they passed out.
They didn’t want to kill them, they weren’t a monster or anything! But, man… the vigilante was sure getting bored of these fights. Not difficult at all, and it didn’t even take much energy.
The vigilante quickly tied all of the cultists up with a spare rope kept in their bag, hopefully the waking inphernal was smart enough to call the cops after…
Eh… though, these guys probably needed to go to a hospital. Oops.
It felt like nothing was right… the green horned inphernal used their grappling hook to pull themselves up to the rooftop, swinging from place to place before finally stopping near the bridge going towards Thieves' Den.
PHUCK!
Shuriken shook his head. He NEEDED to just… THINK! He couldn’t get the things he said out of his head. The faces his siblings made… It hurt. It only ached more that Shuriken was the one to say such awful things… he wanted to go home already and apologize— even if his feelings were hurt too… they didn’t know about what he did. He should have just shut his mouth. Sewn it shut and pretended he was fine like always.
Yeah… maybe he should just do that. He already took care of a group of troublemakers… so…
He could afford it, probably—
Alright… Good. You did good, Shuriken…
The Silver Shadow then began to launch himself off of the roof, only for his hood to be caught in a metallic grasp.
“Well well well, Ain’t you seem mighty familiar! You really remind me of a certain pesky prick I phight against in tournaments.” A laugh echoed from a source that sounded terrifyingly familiar.
A mass murderer, a cultist, the most inphamous inphernal known for avoiding Banhammer no matter what. Now holding onto him like an unruly cat.
The Most Wanted… Scythe.
The Silver Shadow—no, Shuriken— suddenly realized how utterly PHUCKED he was.
“Awe, ain’t you gonna say anythin’ to me, darlin? I mean, you sure did cause a whole bunch’a trouble for my family… Jailin’ a good bunch of em, and even hospitalizin’ more… Shame, really is, Silvy. Can I call you that?” Scythe cooed. “Kiddin, I don’t care what you think. But it’s a nice idea, yeah? Anyway, I think we could’ve been good friends in another life. Maybe you would’ve been family! But, I have my orders… So, I need to…” She reached in front of him, showing her fist— her pointer and pinky positioned just so they weren’t fully down… and then she snapped her fingers down— the inphernal middle finger, “follow em. No hard feelings, sugar!”
Suddenly, Shuriken watched as the criminal summoned her gear, A scythe turned rifle, and without thinking, he used his kunai to slice the fabric. The clean slice led him to fall, but he was quick to use his grappling hook to swing himself away.
“If that’s how you want to play it… then sure! Let’s dance.”
A twisted laughter came from behind, yet the green horned inphernal did not dare to turn and look back.
That led him to now.
His legs burned. They hurt so bad.
The starless sky, the aching darkness above was only more apparent the more dread that formed in his body. Shuriken only hoped he could outrun her.
But each turn he made, he saw her waiting…
Even when going invisible, when grappling away, when being so very silent—
She found him.
No matter what… It was hopeless.
Even in the black of night, he could see the glow of her horns… and then nothing.
Shuriken leapt back, he knew she had turned invisible… she was somewhere around him, but… where?
There—!
The Vigilante ducked, just as a blade swiped right where his neck would have been.
He pushed her to the side and backed up, trying to regain his footing. But his ankle stung now from the odd motion. No, no! Not now—
“For someone so silent, you sure do seem to have a lot on yer mind. Ain’t it fascinatin’! But I find you real endearin’, sugar. I haven’t had this much fun on a hunt in years! And even dancin’ with me~? Well, it sure is a rare event. So, I thank you! But…”
Ah— the green horned inphernal tried to move, but the sting shot through his body, causing him to stumble..
“I think it’s curtains.”
Three shots rang out into the night.
Time stilled for just a moment… and Shuriken wanted to cry as he felt the black porcelain of his beloved mask shatter…
No… This can’t be the end— no!
He didn’t even get to say goodbye…
“Sling, Vine, I’m so sorry, please forgive—”
The spatter of blood rained down unto the rooftop, as the body of Crossroads’ Very Own Hero hit the floor with a sickening thud.