Ex-Nemesis

Chapter Two: Mary Sunshine

Present day

Nico stealthily made his way out of the little girl's bedroom. And thank God for that too. If he had stayed in that place of a bright pink nightmare, he would've gone blind. People who like bright colors. Ugh. He did NOT understand them. 

Nico slunk like a panther, down the dark hallways, checking each and every room of each side. He searched the house, top to bottom. He left no trace of his small visit, nor did he find any trace of his sister. 

With practiced stealth and grace, he climbed back out of the window in that obnoxious pink room, feeling an all too familiar feeling of disappointment. 

This house had been his last stop for the night. He should get home now if he hoped to get at least a few hours of shut eye. One upside of going out every night? It tired him out enough for him to fall into a sleep without nightmares. He had relived that unfortunate day in his dreams quite a few times, revisiting that pretty toy store, re-experiencing the grief of losing his loved ones. 

He got ready to spring from the balcony to the roof, only to stop in his tracks when someone called out. 

"Ghost king! Stop!"Nico tilted his head back.Really? This guy AGAIN? Every single frigging time I'm out, this guy is there! 

Seeing that Nico, or 'Ghost king' had no intention of obeying and leap on to the roof, the speaker followed suit, planting themselves in front of Nico. 

"I said stop!" 

Nico crossed his arms, "and why exactly would I do that, Mary Sunshine?" 

'Mary Sunshine' was a guy who was actually called 'Sunshot.' The beloved, cherished, friendly neighborhood walking embodiment of the sun. *Please kindly note the sarcasm.* (A/N: See what I did there? Friendly neighborhood...) 

To Nico, he was a pain in the **s.

And yes, he did insist on calling Sunshot, "Mary Sunshine". In his opinion, it suited the man more than the cheap alias he was using currently. Honestly, the creativity of a preschooler! Nico could think of a million other, cooler sounding names that started with 'sun'. (A/N: maybe u can Nico, but poor-author-me cannot. Sorry for being so cheap lol)

This particular hero was the polar opposite of the Ghost king, by that, he did not mean just the fact that one was the hero and the other was the villain. He was the light to Nico's darkness.Ew... okay, that did not sound right. He meant it in the literal sense, you naughty gutterminds! 

 Nico's abilities lay within the realm of shadows, he could manipulate them, solidify them, and use them to do almost anything. And he could even travel through them, but he hardly used that ability, as it was extremely taxing. It was his get-away tactic. 

In this world, some people, a very few number, are born with special gifts. 

"Blessed by the gods," as some would say. *Scoff.* 

Nico was a gifted person. 

He did not realize it until he was fourteen. One night, when he had had a particularly bad nightmare, he had accidentally teleported himself to the toy store, where it all happened. It had been hard, figuring out how to keep his abilities in check, but over time, he gained perfect control over them. 

It was after he discovered his gift that he started going out at night, (he may or may not have done a little business in the black market to get himself a suit made, but no one needs to know about that!) the self proclaimed "Ghost king."

People didn't know what to make of him at first. He broke into houses, but never took anything, never wrecked anything, never kidnapped anyone. But as time passed, people eventually assumed he was a villain, he supposed, it had only been a matter of break-ins before they decided to label him. 

He couldn't really blame them, after all, what kind of person breaks into other people's houses? 

His abilities regarding shadows only increased the unease.

Of course, his mom didn't know of this. She won't approve. He couldn't let her know what her son was doing. He wanted to spare her of the pain.

As for his dad, Nico had never known him.

Then... "Sunshot" appeared.

Dressed in bright gold and white, clashing vividly against Nico's black and silver. Tanned skin to Nico's snowy white. Rays of sunshine to Nico's strands of shadow.

Sunshot was a creator of sunshine, both in the literal and figurative senses, a bender of light. Untarnished image, beloved hero, the one who constantly worked tirelessly to stop the "nefarious" Ghost king. And right now, he was being, as Nico stated earlier, 'a pain in the **s.'

"You shouldn't break into other people's houses! It's wrong!"

Like he cared. 

Nico rolled his eyes under his mask. Though Sunshot could not see Nico's expression -Nico's mask covered the entirety of his face. He was not taking any more risks than necessary- he seemed to realize how Nico wasn't even taking him seriously. 

"If that's all you have to say," Nico drawled, dragging out the last word, "you're boring, imma just go." 

Not waiting for a reply, Nico whirled around and leaped to the neighboring roof. 

Sunshot shouted indignantly, "HEY!" and gave chase. 

Nico sighed wearily, this was what happened every night. It was as if it was on loop. 

Nico would search a few houses before Mary Sunshine, and then the police, who were always a step behind, showed up. Then they would spend half the night parkouring around the city playing as Nico desperately tried to shake that walking ball of sunshine off his tail. 

He managed it, half the time, if he didn't, he just shadow traveled (he liked calling his teleporting ability this. What? It sounded cool!) right into his bedroom. 

As he was fleeing, he heard Sunshot yell at his back, "why are you even doing this?!" 

Ugh and the constant shower of questions... 

"What's that got to do with you?" Nico threw back over his shoulder. 

"You never steal anything!" Sunshot continued, "are you LOOKING for something?" 

"NONE of your business, Sunshot!" 

"It technically is my business considering I'm the hero and your the villain I'm supposed to be catching?!" 

Villain... 

He threw the term out so casually, so certainly... 

Nico never wanted this... he... 

OH MY GOD NICO WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING! YOU IDIOT! YOU NEARLY SLAMMED INTO THAT CHIMNEY! 

Aaaand there was that rational part of his brain screaming. Nico very suddenly felt very mentally exhausted. 

He needed some sleep... and coffee in the morning... Sighing, he called upon the shadows, drawing them in on himself, and melted into the darkness. 

One thing brought him a little satisfaction though... He heard Mary Sunshine scream a very very naughty word as he once again got away. Heh. 

Three cheers for the Ghost King!

Word count: 1147

A/N: once again, thanku The_sunniest_angles for letting me use this idea, for editing, and letting me post this on their account.

E/N: I am having the time of my life reading this, I should be thanking you!