Chapter Text
Shuriken was just out and doing his usual stuff as Silver Shadow. But something is amiss. Something feels off on this particular patrol.
It felt like there were eyes on him.
Shadows seemed to twist and turn unnaturally. Did he lose out on sleep this much that he's actually hallucinating?
No that can't be right.
If it were an actual person trailing him, he would have heard footsteps by now or even a proper thud. But all he's hearing is the hum of nightlife on the edge of Crossroads. Aside from that, everything was eerily still. Not even the rustling of tiny creatures was heard. Of course, that definitely made him alert.
He's already jumped building after building after all. His sharp ears should've picked up on something by now. But his guts were never wrong.
Something or someone was out there. Whatever it was, their eyes were on him.
Silver Shadow tried to keep acting normal, not letting whatever was following him learn that he was aware. He still tried to resume and continue his patrol like normal. Trying to save people here and there.
Tonight was unnaturally tame, too. Less chaos. Less crime. Normally, Silver Shadow was glad during these rare moments, yet the sensation of being stalked did not ease him. It all put him on edge.
But then, a suspicious sound came from below the rooftops. This snapped him out of the burgeoning thoughts that were slowly overwhelming him. Shuriken leaned below him to observe.
A drug dealer.
Another criminal to capture
The imphernal was doing a trade in these shade alleyways. Shuriken leaped down to a lower building to eavesdrop on the conversation.
After listening for a few minutes, Silver Shadow got the gist of the situation. It seemed this imphernal was not only a drug dealer but also a nasty scammer and a trafficker. A criminal nonetheless.
Someone who deserves to spend the rest of their life in the Banlands.
The other person, meanwhile, the one this drug dealer is trying to trade with seems to also be a trafficker. That makes it two targets. Oh, how idiotic of them to talk so loudly. Don't they know there are eyes everywhere in the crossroads?
The walls have ears, y'know?
Without further ado, the vigilante jumped straight down. The shadows seemingly followed his steps as he grappled directly into the criminal's shoulder. The blade of the grapple pierced through and then hooked onto flesh. Then he pulled himself right to the criminal landing a nasty kick.
A thud was heard echoing in the alleyway
"Argh! Shit shit shit!" The criminal grunted as Shuriken immediately twisted himself and launched himself off the criminal to capture the other one that was backing out.
“N-no! Get off me! No way this is actually fucking happening, what rotten luck!” The other imphernal said while stumbling backwards and drawing their gear. “Wasn't this spot safe enough? I don't need a damn vigilante on my ass!”
“Shadows have eyes, and you shall pay for your crimes,” Silver Shadow said, delivering an edgy one-liner before aiming a well-placed shuriken right at the joint of their legs.
The imphernal stumbled as they decided to just ball and try to leave as soon as possible. But the attack just made them way more unstable on their feet as they tried escaping. It was the joint after all.
Silver Shadow unhooked his grapple of the drug dealer, who was still very much in pain from the grapple. The vigilante flipped himself and using his own momentum, hit a chop right on the back of their neck, rendering the guy unconscious in an instant.
Their body fell straight to the floor. Somewhat bloody but they'd definitely live.
The vigilante made sure of that. He isn't a murderer after all.
The alleyway grew a tad bit darker as the vigilante immediately tried running after the other one who was currently trying to escape. That criminal shouldn't be too far. He could easily track the runaway criminal by footsteps alone.
It looks like the criminal wasn't that stealthy.
This'll be an easy capture for him.
The vigilante took off immediately and followed the sound of heavy footsteps. The shadows seemed to be moving one with him as he turned a corner.
The chase was on and Shuriken was closing in quickly. His footsteps were barely audible as he sprinted through the alleyway. The criminal stood near the edge of the alleyway still trying to run. There were some people out. But that was definitely enough for the criminal to manage to escape.
However, the vigilante was faster. He'd reach the criminal before any chance of freedom. The criminal knew this. They weren't stupid and so, the criminal tried a risky maneuver. They held their gear to their face while turning around. There was no way for the vigilante to dodge at this narrow and long alleyway.
Shuriken's eyes widened as the criminal turned around to attack. The dart was already on the move. And Shuriken couldn't react in time.
Shit.
Shuriken tried grabbing his kunai, but didn't make it up in time.
It was going to hit whether he liked it or not.
But just then, shadows from the corner of the alleyway seemed to come to life behind him. A tinge of green was behind him. Then something wrapped around his ankle then yanked back.
This made Shuriken lose balance and fall face-first to the asphalt. Luckily, the vigilante managed to prevent his mask from getting shattered by covering it with his hands before the impact.
A loud thud was heard in the alleyway.
Then silence followed as Shuriken tried to regain his bearings.
He isn't stupid enough to trip during a chase, so he knew something or someone, had stopped him. Whatever was wrapped around his ankle felt unnatural. Like something long and slithery, kind of like a snake but fat, tripped him.
Shuriken immediately looked down at his foot to see what even dragged him down. A solid dark mass was wrapped around his foot; it was the culprit for dragging him down. It seemed as if it were the void itself
The vigilante's eyes immediately shot back to the criminal, checking if the guy was trying to escape. Much to his dismay, the other definitely was. The criminal was scrambling to escape. Running in a direction opposite to the crime scene. It seems like that guy won't be trying to save the other criminal.
Silver Shadow gritted his teeth seeing the criminal flee. The object around his ankle loosened, which was enough for him to pry his leg out. Shuriken glared at whatever was behind him only to meet face to face with a green smile in the shadows.
It was too dark to make out anything except the glowing green.
Whatever it was, they leaned into him.
He was face-to-face with something he could not understand. “Who are you?!” the vigilante demanded sounding slightly pissed. Possibly due to the fact that he was just stopped from capturing a criminal
“Humhum.. hello there.” The shadowed being spoke back, sounding utterly interested.
The vigilante immediately clocked in at the danger he was facing. His instincts told him to back up and remain vigilant. The other's voice was deep and rumbly; far too intrigued for his liking. It felt like he was being dissected and surveyed, even though he couldn't see their eyes.
Silver Shadow immediately scrambled to stand up and not be lying down on the dirty alleyway floor. And look at where the criminal escaped and then back to... whoever this was.
“Why did you stop me? No more importantly, what even are you..?” Silver Shadow said as he narrowed his eyes at whatever was the person in front of him. Whatever this guy was, the bastard was hella tall
“Surely you know us! We're pretty famous after all.” The being said gleefully and outright ignored the former question
“Hah! As if i genuinely know. I could barely even see you!” Shuriken said snarkily, his lack of sleep is definitely making this situation worser than it should be
"Well, you seem so lively and jolly in phights yet amidst these nights you snarl at us. How fascinating..." The other replied. It was odd and Shuriken immediately clocked in that this was no ordinary person. I mean, who even is this tall and has his body shrouded in total darkness?
"That's because you prevented me from capturing that criminal. Isn't it obvious?!" Shuriken snarled as he missed a small detail of what the other just said.
"Oh dear, how harsh after we just saved you?" The figure said mockingly as he leaned in being uncomfortably close to the vigilante. Shuriken absolutely felt uncomfortable by this but he didn't wanna back down. It was particularly odd that this person referred to themselves by ’we’ instead of the usual.
"Save me? How exactly? You just prevented me from catching that bastard," Shuriken said rather coldly staring right at the other where he thinks the eyes should be. Although it definitely looked more like a sulk...Well, he could barely see shit with how dark it genuinely was.
"Well the imphernal you're about to try and capture is particularly named Poison dart. A little blow you'd be simply out!" The other said rather gleefully. With how close they are Shuriken can definitely smell lime and something a bit fishy from this guy.
"Then I'll block it. Simple really," Shuriken shrugged coolly. He didn't believe a single thing the other was spewing. Why would he trust strangers after all?
"Oh? You seem quite confident of yourself" The other said slyly being a bit teasing about it
“I wouldn't have survived this far if I couldn't block a simple blow” Silver Shadow replied sharply as if the other had just made an insult about him
“But oh, aren't you awfully tired? We are sure you haven't slept at all these days. Longer nights out, we presume.” The other leaned in even further. Shuriken only backed up in response as he tried to comprehend what the other was saying.
A feeling of cold dread washed through the vigilante.
How does he know? No one should know about his schedule. It was true he was more tired due to the longer patrols these days because of the increase in crimes. But why would this guy know about it? Was he spying on him?
“I— how do you even know that? Are you a stalker!?” Silver Shadow said as his facade cracked a bit, as concern ebbed through as his voice faltered a bit.
“Well dear vigilante, we have eyes everywhere. We do know exactly what happens around these parts,” The other replied as their glowing green smile widened sharply
“... you're definitely a stalker.” Shuriken grumbled as he stared being slightly fearful of what may happen. Who even was this guy?
“You can call us names little vigilante but we prefer you call by us by our actual name, Darkheart.” The imphernal now classified as a damn deity, said as he stopped leaning towards Shuriken
“!?” What the fuck? A deity? A FUCKING DEITY. This is not good. Getting the attention of a deity is not something he wants. Sure, there are crazy people that would've loved this but he ain't one of em'.
Phucking hell.
It's the chaos mongrel, too.
Phuck.
Now it made sense why this bastard knew about his schedule. The guy wasn't kidding when they said they had eyes everywhere. They were a literal deity after all
What did he even do to warrant a deity's attention? Sure, this one was definitely known for being utterly unpredictable, but phuck. Why him of all inphernals? This was way out of hand and he definitely couldn't deal with this. Those weird-ass things wrapped around his ankles weren't really helping and it just made his had confirm more that this is indeed a deity not some impersonation of them.
He genuinely just froze up and didn't say a word being as still as a statue and as silent as one too.
Darkheart even tilted his head at him and waved their hand in front of his face in an attempt to get a response
“Hm, gone silent have we? Is that too much for you? How fragile, did we already break you?” Darkheart said as he playfully tried getting attention by waving his hand faster in the vigilante's face as if it'd do something.
“...”
“Say something. We have gotten oh so impatient. Was the reveal about little ol’ me being a deity that overwhelming? We appear everywhere and anywhere. We were bound to meet in due time.” Darkheart tilted his head and started tapping Shuriken, more like poking him with a damn stick like he was a nest of hornet.
Where did this bastard even get a stick? Well, there's no questioning it. It's not like he's going to get answers from a deity of chaos. This guy is just straight up unpredictable
“... you're kidding.” The vigilante muttered out as he furrowed his eyebrows. His expression was unnoticeable due to his mask. He's still processing the fact that this, in fact, is a deity.
“Why would we joke about such a thing! Impersonating a deity is blasphemy.” Darkheart said rather gleefully as suddenly he floated around the vigilante. Now, leaving the darkness and letting Shuriken see how he actually looked like
An imphernal with an outrageous looking hat alongside green glowing triangles floating around him like a halo. A singular wing that looks like a dead tree branch said wing definitely showcased he is a deity. Although the person infront of him was absolutely looking like a washed-up wizard who seemed like they really haven't taken any toothbrush in their life.
The green glowing teeth didn't really help to counteract this though of his.
Additionally, their left arm had green glowing runes wrapped around it. All spinning around the deity's limb.
The said deity mostly wore black with green highlights to it.. definitely very deity-looking but just a bit homeless-looking, too.
“... right.” Silver Shadow gritted out his teeth as he stared at the deity basically eyeing him. He's kinda forgetting that he needs to be somewhat polite to a deity. “So you're telling me i captured the eye of a SFOTH deity of chaos of all things.”
“We couldn't help it! You are just so interesting. Most mortals phight either for the thrill of it or just for themselves. They're selfish! You are different... Why are you sacrificing yourself to people that you don't even know? Clearly, this is not thrilling for you. It seems more like a task and a burden. Tell us why!” Darkheart said, sounding too intrigued to the point it was unnerving. It was like the vigilante was a very interesting specimen that the deity got his eyes on.
“No it's— it's also selfish... Gah! Why should i even tell you?” Shuriken said sounding frustrated but not a Darkheart but at himself.
“Hmm, keeping your secrets from us are we..? Well, go ahead. We will pout and annoy you about it, though.” Darkheart said as he stopped hovering around Shuriken but sit at the floor of the alleyway.
“eh?” Shuriken definitely didn't expect a deity be so petty and childish about it too.
“Keep your secrets then!” Darkheart said as he slinked back to the shadows
“Is this a play or something..? Whatever, I'll just..” Silver Shadow said as he just walked away.
There was no use trying to capture the escaped criminal considering how much time he wasted on Darkheart. That guy surely already fled. The only thing he could probably do right now was to go back to where the knocked-out criminal was and call police to pick them up.
So he did just that.
The vigilante went back to the rooftops and hopped building to building. He knew shadows were still moving unnaturally so he definitely knew the deity was still following him. It was similar to what happened earlier but this time he knew the cause of it all.
Once he managed to circle back, he just called the police on a burner phone and then fled the scene for the police to find the criminal. He did leave a note about their crimes before leaving
The patrol went normal from then on but Darkheart was still definitely following him. He can still see the shadows dance unnaturally around him. Some shadows even has a green smile plastered on them. A clear sign of Darkheart's presence is looming around him.
It was unnerving to see something this unnatural happen but he had to push through on his patrol. He can't do his purpose well if that could distract him. Why did he even have to attract the attention of a deity? This is just getting quite ridiculous
Well, aside from that there was definitely a lot of criminals tonight. The crime rates skyrocketed recently anyways, the public doesn't know about it but he definitely does. Something is probably happening. He should get to the root of it soon those people from the Lost Temple are stirring up.
The earlier the better after all. Before someone big happens.
Silver Shadow lost track of time. He just kept quelling criminals after another. Sometimes the deity would help him spot some by pointing at them. Which was an added help. It was kind of an advantage. But it was an uneasy alliance at best. He still had to be cautious of course.
Trusting someone too quickly is the fastest way to get stabbed in the back. The deity probably just got bored and tried finding something entertaining and that poor unfortunate soul just had to be him.
One criminal after another was dealt with. All done quickly and vigilantly, making sure not to leave traces of his act behind. This was routine to him after all.
But before long, the deity reemerged again. Behind him this time stating “Hmmm, It's way later than your usual schedule.”
“?!” Silver Shadow immediately reacted by twisting around and pointing a blade at the deity. It was an instinctive reaction and something that's been ingrained to him by his clan. But it definitely wasn't something he should do against a deity. Welk he was just a bit too jump scared by it.
Shuriken's eyes widened as he met the much taller deity. He had to look way up to even get a proper glance. Then his muscles clearly went a bit looser as he realized who he was facing. Crap.
Was he about to get hit with a curse?
“My, my, getting violent? How entertaining!” Darkheart said, sounding quite fascinated as his grin stretched more sharply. As he stared right at Shuriken's little kunai.
Shuriken breathed a sigh of relief as the deity didn't seem like he felt disrespected or mad.
“Sorry, just got startled.” Silver Shadow said as he huffed and sheathed his kunai back to his holster before processing what Darkheart just said. “Wait, what did you just say earlier?”
“The time, dear Vigilante.” Darkheart reminded playfully
By this reminder from the deity, the vigilante looked up and stared at the moon, internally calculating the time based on its location...
Shit.
It was probably around or something close to 4:30 am already. He usually stops around 3 am.. crap. Oh, he definitely would get scolded more by Sling and Vine. “Oh crap! Thanks for reminding me?”
“Hmm, why did that sound like a question more than anything?” Darkheart replied playfully as he put his hand under his chin, then tilted his head..
“Well idk.“ Shuriken replied not noticing he was already in a state where he's really tired, that his usual personality is starting to bleed through his vigilante persona.
“Well, better get going, Silver Shadow~” Darkheart said with a sharp smile. As he waved his hand to bid farewell to Shuriken. He might as well just pull a prank on the vigilante next time they meet.
Shuriken ended up hurriedly going home, but made sure the deity wasn't trailing him. But it's not like he can actually stop a deity from doing what they want. Even he knows that.