Seek {Superhero AU} - Ending 2

4: Remedy for Memory

I try to shove past him. "Until I find what I'm looking for, I won't stop."

Golden strings of light shoot from his fingertips and stick to the doorway like spiderwebs. They multiply, and I have to squint against the constant glow. They don't look like something that is lighting up—they look like light itself. Like staring into the sun, if the sun was a grid blocking the door.

"I need to talk to you, and I'm not letting you into this house," he says. "If you try to make it past the light, it'll burn you—badly. So you need to listen to me."

Burns. This is the painful part of Sunburst's power. My shadows can't really do much except help me use brute force to win fights. His powers actually cause suffering. (And I'm the villain?)

I'm staring at the grid of light—who needs healthy retinas anyway—and trying to calculate how quickly they'll burn me versus how quickly I can open the door. Can I make it through? How bad would these burns be compared to what minimal experience I've had with his burns before? He usually does try to keep the dangerous part of his light away from me. (Yeah, nevermind, that's why he's the hero. He's supposed to capture me but he's too worried about hurting me to do it.)

"I think we should tell each other our names," he announces.

I startle. "What—? No. That's an awful idea. What's wrong with you?"

"It's not an awful idea!" he protests, and he grabs my shoulder in an attempt to get me to listen to him better—as if that will help. "Think about it. It would be so much easier if we knew each other's names."

"That's ridiculous. Absolutely not. To you, I will always be the Ghost King."

He frowns at me. He's coming up with a plan to persuade me; it will never work. I turn back to the door, shaking his stupid proposition out of my mind. His light grid pulses and shines—he's not ever going to take it down. If I want in this house, I'll have to take the burns.

I gather my courage—and then I surge forward, grabbing the door handle and pushing my way inside the house. The light burns. My skin reddens, then browns and blisters. I cry out as I fall to the other side, a grid of burns covering my body and my nerves searing. When I move, the burns scream—even movement so slight as breathing makes me want to die.

"Holy shit!" cries Sunburst. "I told you they would burn—why did you—! Ugh, nevermind." He drops the light grid and hurries inside the house. He falls to his knees next to me. "Let me see you."

If I let him get to me now, he could torture me. He could bind me with ropes of his light until my limbs are disfigured and dead. I gasp with pain when I have to blink—burns on my eyelids briefly touch and stick, and it hurts like hell to get my eyes open again. I try to get to my feet again so that I can fight him—I'm vulnerable right now; he's going to take advantage of that. He's going to—

He raises his hands in the air. "Man, you need to sit down. I can help you, but I need you to trust me."

"We're enemies," I croak.

"We don't have to be enemies right now," says Sunburst. "You can let me help you. I can heal you, Ghost King." He takes a deep breath and tries to take a step closer to me. I stumble backward, keeping my distance.

He's going to corner me soon. This room is small—just a stairwell. If I can get up the stairs, I might be able to get out the window and escape, but then I can't search the house—these scars will make me easily identifiable—and how will I explain them to my mom—?

Sunburst takes another step, and I try to back up some more, but my back hits the wall. I have to try and fight him—otherwise this whole thing will be a waste. I call shadows to my fingers.