Hero and Villain

The tent flap moved gently as a hooded figure entered its crimson tinted interior.

Hero stood instantly, brandishing a knife from the top drawer of her desk. She pointed it at the figure. Those about her did similarly.

“You dare come back here?”

“Hero. After all this time, I am flattered. I figured you wouldn’t recognize me," the intruder said with a chuckle, not phased by the weaponry.

“John, remove your hood,” Hero ordered.

“I’m not called that anymore, Hero.” Slowly the hood fell off, revealing our Villain's face.

“I haven’t come to your home. I suggest you show me the same curtesy.”

“Oh Hero, that’s because you don’t own the ground under our feet.”

“What ever happened to you, John?”

“I don’t- “

“You used to be sweet, and caring. I always came first. Now you’re sneaking about, and you’re going to lose," Hero threatened.

Villain slowly began to laugh. “Hero, I’ve already won. The only thing strong enough to stop me is in a land of children who have no intent to fight back. You think you can make warriors out of these people? I will win.”

“Then why are you here? Why are you even coming around?”

“You’re going to lose if you stay here. I’m extending you an olive branch. You’re welcome to come and join my side, if you wish.”

“Join your side?” It was now Hero’s turn to laugh. “John, or whatever you go by now, I won’t join your side. I will never join your side. I’m not after riches or jewels, or a man. I’m not fighting for my happy ending. I am fighting for everyone else’s. I’m fighting so no more people are transferred to these camps. I’m fighting so children can have a decent education no matter what you all decide, instead of working for you, the man who made them orphans. I’m fighting for peace – not just political peace, mark you – but peace among those who rest in the middle. You’re taking care of the top ten percent and you report how a better future can be achieved for the bottom ten percent, but what about the middle eighty? We get shafted. We get ignored. We get pushed around and pushed to the side. Well no more.”

“What’s an introvert like you going to do, Hero?”

“There’s more then one kind of leader, though it doesn’t surprise me that the only one you know of is the one that screams and uses force.”

Slowly he shook his head. “Well, I’m not leaving empty handed.” With one swift movement he grabbed Leno, a young boy who had been silently sitting beside the door, and pulled the boy to his feet. John leaned his own blade against Leno’s neck.

“Let him go,” Hero ordered. “My brother hasn’t done anything.”

“Conspiring with an organization planning my downfall is something. It’s treason. It’s punishable with death," John said with a wicked smile as he pressed just deep enough to draw a drop of blood from Leno's neck. "You shouldn't have followed your sister, boy."

Leno gave a small whimper, causing a small smile to cross over John's lips. As he looked up at Hero’s face of horror, he knew he had won this round.

“Lower your weapons,” Villain ordered. Hero obliged and her men followed suit.

“Let my brother go and I’ll go with you instead.”

“I don’t know Hero, I kind of like the one I’ve already picked.”

“I have the death stone,” Leno whispered.

Villain looked down at Leno in surprise, then his smile grew. “Now I like him even more.”

“Not on me. Let me go, I’ll show you were. It’s yours. Just leave me and my sister be.”

“Look who suddenly learned how to speak. Lead me to the stone little boy.” Villain let him go but kept his blade pointed at the boy. Leno then sprinted past him and out into the bazaar. Although the bazaar belonged to the government, Leno knew its walls best. As he sprinted, Villain realized his mistake, and turned back to Hero, seeing the stone pressed into her palm, raised and facing him. "Hero," he said softly. "Put that down."

"I think I'd rather use it," Hero replied.

So, did Villain win in the end? Or did Hero? Which side wins when the Hero picks up the stone and turns to darkness?