Suicide Helpline

d a r k | l i g h t

Shane = Bold

Cleo = Italics

Cleo gave her Lost Boy a sad smile, taking his hands in hers. His expression was one of inner turmoil, each of his features desperately clawing up towards the light after being submerged in the darkness he had plunged himself into for far too long. The sight made her heart break a little. How could she make a King of darkness see joy? 

Removing his crown of thorns would involve her getting cut in the process. 

She didn't care.

One, lone, stray tear forced itself through the barrier of Lost Boy's eyelid.

She gave his hands a little squeeze, not willing to wipe the tear away from its rightful path down his face. "You've done some horrible things," she began with a voice so quiet that he knew it was only spoken for him to hear, "in a story told by the point of view of someone else then, yes, I do believe you would be seen as the villain." 

His gaze held hers, a sort of vulnerability in his expression as he did so. Cleo couldn't quite pick out what it was but something about him was different in that moment, like a child waiting for rejection. She understood that this wasn't what he wanted to hear from her. It was, however, what he needed to hear if he was to ever have a chance at forgiving himself. 

Shane nodded in defeat, eyes removing themselves from their settlement and onto the floor. A lump had formed in his throat. If the angel deemed him as a devil then what hope did he have? By some miracle, he managed to push past the manacles holding his vocal chords in order to speak. "Well if you're not going to deny it then I guess there's no point in me even trying anymore, is there?"

Cleo frowned at his response, still not entirely sure how to handle glass shards both as sharp and as delicate as this. Instead of speaking she took hold of his chin and lifted it until his dark eyes were staring straight into hers. "That is exactly the opposite of what I meant Lost Boy," she whispered into the now broken silence, reaching up onto the balls of her feet to give him a kiss on the forehead. By the time that she had retreated to her mandatory height, she knew exactly what words to say. "Taking lives, by accident or by purpose, is no small felony." She watched him take a sharp intake of breath at the mention of his foes. His forehead still held the lingering touch of her blessing. "But you must remember that an action is nothing without a motive."

Shane continued to hold her gaze, determined to not let another tear fall. "I...I didn't have a motive. I...I didn't mean to do it. Any of it."

He watched as Super-girl shook her head with a slight turn up of the lips, almost as if she was amused by something. The next thing he knew his upper body was pulled down to her height, head resting against her own. "Then there you have it. You can't possibly be a villain." His shoulders sagged in relief at the statement. "That is, in my eyes. In the tale told by somebody else, you would be. It simply depends on whose point of view the story is written." 

Shane slowly moved his hands down to her waist, holding her captive there for fear that she would disappear. "I...it doesn't matter. As...as long as you don't see me as a villain then...then that's enough." He stumbled over his words and yet those broken sentences were the most truthful ones that he had ever spoken. 

Cleo's arms were still wrapped around his neck, holding him down to earth when gravity could no longer do its job. "This world isn't black and white. Everyone has a little bit of everything inside of them." She took a deep inhale, realizing that perhaps in order to clear his vision then she would have to have a little mist of her own. "In someone else's tale I am the villain," she pressed forward with her statement before he could protest, "in their story, I am the cruel ruler of the school who is heartless and continues to destroy everything beautiful."

Shane did not miss the way her voice cracked at the last word. "B..but that's not true. You can't possibly be destroying the beautiful. Cleo, you are the something beautiful," he paused, seeing a tear trail down her cheek, "why are you crying?"

She sniffed, removing a hand to trace the sharp outlines of his features. "That's the first time you've called me by my real name." A warm smile split her features as she pulled her Lost Boy in for a hug. Her next words were spoken into his shoulder, words slightly muffled but still having maximum impact. "As much as you consider me to be a heroine I know there are many out there who think the opposite. I think it's time you understood that nobody is just one thing. Sometimes the hero is the most villainous of them all and sometimes the so-called villains have hearts of gold. A story can become a completely different one if told by a different person. No one is truly good. Just as no one is truly evil. Darkness needs light to survive just as much as light needs darkness."

Moving on nothing but instinct Cleo pulled out of the hug and gave Shane a small moment of contact between their lips. The moment lasted no longer than a second yet left them both with warm cheeks and blushing souls. Caught off guard by the action Shane had no time to react as Cleo knocked on the door once more.