#ok so maybe I should explain Meluse's jellyfish theme?

[capisback]

character A hasnt seen character B for years. they're both villians in a superhero AU and they reminisce about the old days where they worked together or had a common interest in killing a/the hero/s. They don't use their real names, just their villain names. Maybe they're secretly into each other, who knows. Go wild babe. i imagine they meet on top of a building and suprise eachother.

Nothing ever changed in the city Melusine called home. Once, a long time ago, she’d hoped it would. She’d thought maybe she could change it with her own two hands. Take it, and twist it, and make it new, better, make it a city she and her family could live in without – well. Everything that came with being different.

As she stared over the monotone greyscale cityscape, given colour only by the setting sun, she thought of how foolish she’d been.

She’d started being a Villain at seventeen. Young enough to hold such naïve hopes for herself and the future.

Melusine sighed, kicking her legs, which dangled over the skyscraper’s edge, back and forth. She sounded like an old lady, and yet she wasn’t a day over twenty-six.

Pigeons scattered up from the lane right below Melusine, a luxury car speeding past as if it owned the street. She briefly considered sending a bubble down, trapping the car inside, and letting it and its driver stay suspended for an hour or twenty-four.

Gravel ground under someone’s feet, behind her, to her right, and she instantly summoned five paralysis bubbles to her fingertips. She whirled around, poised to throw, but stopped short, almost frozen, when she was met with a familiar – albeit a little different – figure.

“Vougn?”

“Méduse?” Vougn all but gaped at her, posture and features openly displaying her shock. “Is – Is that really you, Méduse?”

“Vougn”, Melusine breathed.

“Méduse!” Vougn launched herself towards Melusine so fast, that Melusine, out of reflex (and necessity, she later realised, seeing as she’d been about to be tackled off a skyscraper), threw a bubble towards Vougn, trapping her inside.

“Hey!” Vougn whined. “This isn’t what I call a warm ‘Nice to see you again’!”

“Sorry.” With a flick of her fingers, the bubble dissolved. “Reflex.”

“Hmm, good to see you’re still sharp, even after all this time.”

“It hasn’t been that long.”

“Please”, Vougn laughed, walking up to Melusine this time. “How long have you been a Villain for? Ten years? And I haven’t seen you for the last four of them, so sorry if I’m pleased to see you haven’t gotten rusty in your old age.”

“Har har”, Melusine said with a fond roll of her eyes. “I’m old, laugh it up.”

“Awww, don’t be like that, Méduse.” Vougn shoved her shoulder, seating herself next to Melusine. “If it’s any consolation, you look just as pretty as when I last saw you.”

Heat flushed across her cheeks and nose, and she quickly turned to look back at the city, away from Vougn.

“You don’t”, Melusine said loudly.

“Aw, I don’t?”

Melusine’s face, rather than cooling down, became a tad bit hotter at Vougn’s teasing tone, and she turned her face away to the left even more.

“You look even prettier”, she said, only a bit clearer than a mutter. And it was true. Vougn had changed overtime. Cropped her dirty blonde hair to just beneath her chin, where it had been a long braid when she and Melusine had had their partnership, and she’d changed her colour scheme to a fetching black-and-red.

“Hmhm~”, Vougn hummed, victorious, teasing grin clear in her voice. “Thought so.”

“Your personality’s terrible, though.”

That shocked a laugh out of Vougn. “Well! That’s what I’m known for!”

“What a pity to be both beautiful and a bastard.”

“Oh, Méduse, if you keep complimenting me like this, you know how we’ll end up?”

Ah, well, that didn’t help Melusine’s long-held (and previously dormant) crush get out of overdrive at all.

“Locked in battle?” she tried, hoping her voice wasn’t several pitches higher than usual.

“Yeah. Taking down our very own Superhero together.”

“You mean Draft?”

“Him, and whatever other hero we want.” Vougn sent her a cheeky, dreamy grin.

“That does sound nice, doesn’t it?”

If only it was something they could do – something she could do. But she hadn’t been able to realise something that big for a long time. When they’d started out, she and Vougn had been a great team. Draft had been a bit of a novel hero then, too, and he’d been so much fun to toy with. Too bad that Heroes got actual training, while they had to figure it out for themselves. Really gave the Heroes a very unfair advantage, and the Villains didn’t get enough credit for their actually quite impressive feats. Not that anyone was going to praise a Villain.

“Remember back in our first year?”

The sun dipped below the skyline, rays of gold, molten sunshine illuminating them through the haze hanging over the city.

“I remember all our time together, so you’ll have to be a bit more specific.”

Melusine chuckled. “The first time we captured Draft? Got him to spread my sticking bubbles all over the city. He was so upset.”

“Oh, oh, yes”, Vougn chortled. “Of course! God, and when we hung him by a rope at the edge of that gargoyle? I lit a fire under him, and he got right to begging! ‘Buh-buh-buh-lease’! He was so pathetic!”

“He is! And he’s gotten such a big head now, despite only having some so-so wind powers. Borea has amazing control over it, and the tricks she does are amazing, but you don’t see anyone complimenting her.”

“The fate of being a Villain, I’m afraid.”

“And who names themselves Draft? Who let him name himself that?”

Vougn sputtered a laugh. “It’s probably the best he could come up with since he’s so damn daft!”

“Oh my god”, Melusine laughed.

“Right?” Vougn wiped at her eyes. “What would you have called him?

“Probably just Daft, I think that’s perfect.”

“It checks out, for sure, but really. If you had to give him a proper Superhero name, what would it be?”

“I don’t know…” Melusine twirled her hair around her finger. “Something cool? Like, let’s see… Zephyr?”

“Oooh, sounds fancy. What’s that from?”

“It’s the Ancient Greek name for the western wind.”

“Oh, man, that would’ve been so much more intimidating than Draft. Can’t believe I have to regularly beat up a kid called Draft and not Zephyr.”

Melusine bit back her laughter as she tried for mock-sympathy. “Oh, no, poor Vougn. Having to kick ass and not even having someone cool to beat up. However will the number three villain recover from this injustice?”

Vougn sniffed and wiped away an imaginary tear. “Thank you, it’s really hard.”

“How is it, though, being a big time Villain? Everything you hoped for?”

Everything fell silent for a long moment. Melusine was struck by the weariness of Vougn’s expression, the tired curve of her back.

“Well…” That bitter, breathy laugh shouldn’t come from someone like Vougn. She was upbeat, bright, and sometimes a little too much. She wasn’t quiet, or reserved. She wasn’t bone-tired and disillusioned. Not the Vougn Melusine remembered.

But then again, neither was Melusine the one Vougn remembered. The world had changed them both. Maybe too much.

Melusine, too, was tired.

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you”, there was that cheeky tone again. Both a relief and a painful sting, since it was so obviously strained, an attempt to divert from her inner turmoil. “How are you holding up? I see you’re still rocking that jellyfish aesthetic.”

She motioned to Melusine’s blue-and-white, puffy (and jellyfish-frilled) skirted outfit.

“I’m getting kind of tired of it, actually.”

And of everything that came with it.

Maybe she and Vougn still made a perfect pair, after all.

“Oh. That’s too bad. I think it suits you.”

Melusine cracked a smile. “Thanks.”

They settled into a long silence. Dusk rapidly caught up to the time. The long shadows cast down on the city below disappeared into the dark. Only they, up on their skyscraper, were privy to the beauty and the setting of the sun, and the movement of the Earth.

Her grandmother loved dusk. Le Crépuscule, she always said, refusing to use the English word. Her grandfather had once told her he’d had to bargain with her to keep from naming their little crafts-and-herbs store that. She had to admire her grandfather. Her grandmother was a hard woman to bargain with.

“You know”, Vougn said. “When I first got these powers, I never imagined I’d turn out like this.”

She let fire dance across her fingertips, the bright orange flickering and casting a warm glow between them.

Melusine huffed, bitter and understanding. “Me neither. They always tell you you’ll be the hero, don’t they?”

“Yep.” Vougn popped the ‘p’. “But, hey, they also say everyone’s the hero of their own story, so I guess they’re a little right.”

“No, they’re not.”

“No, they’re not”, Vougn agreed, and snuffed out her fire.

Melusine closed her eyes and tilted her head back, face towards the clouding sky. This, this, was nice. Calm, quiet. Peace. She wanted that. No more battles, being yelled and cussed at, no more injuries and long days and late nights.

She wanted a life. A proper one.

“Vougn”, she said, softly. “I’m quitting Villainy.”

“What?”

Melusine looked back at Vougn, surprised by the disbelief in her voice, and even more at the distress on her face.

“I’m quitting”, she repeated, firm and resolute. “It’s not worth it anymore, Vougn. All of this, it’s just – ” She sighed. “I can’t do it anymore. I don’t want to.”

“But – but you had such big plans!” Vougn stumbled over her words. “Weren’t you going to change things?”

“And where have I gotten with that?” She looked at Vougn with earnest sorrow. “Tell me, Vougn, how have I changed anything? How will I ever change anything? We’re not the heroes of this story. At least, not me. Maybe you still have a chance. But I’m done, Vougn. I’m – I’m so tired.” She choked on fresh tears.

“Méduse…” Vougn hesitantly reached for her, hand hovering in the space between them.

Melusine clasped that hand tightly with her own two.

“Will you remember me?” Her throat was raw. Her feelings clawed, sharp and unbidden, up her chest. “When I’m gone. Will you at least remember me?”

Vougn swallowed thickly, frozen for a moment, but then she placed her other hand, gently but firmly, a promise and a reassurance, over Melusine’s.

“How could I ever forget you?”

Melusine let out a wet laugh, her smile wobbly.

The caress of Vougn’s thumb over the back of her hand was gentle, comforting.

“Méduse”, Vougn’s voice was soft. “I just – I want to –” She frowned, struggling. She tried again. “Will we ever meet again?”

“I don’t know. I hope so.”

“Me, too.” A pause. “I’ll search for you.”

Melusine smiled, soft, and for the first time in a long while, hopeful. “I’ll love to see you try.”

#Anonymous #hello thank you for this prompt because I think I'm in love with Meluse #me: this is going to be short :) #also me: writes 1785 words #ok so maybe I should explain Meluse's jellyfish theme? #so like her name is méduse #and this both means Medusa #AND #jellyfish #idk why that is but I really love it #french did a good job with this one #first I wanted to call her Méduse as in medusa and then I went with Médusine but Melusine kept calling to me #so in the end I used both Melusine as her first name and Méduse as her villain name #and Vougn comes from Vough (or Fuath) which is gaelic and I didn't think Vough fit very well and for some reason my mind kept going Vougn so #here we are #also I'm not very good at writing superhero/villain stuff lol #but I tried! #I had to cut a few small things I wrote because it didn't fit in with the rest and im sad #it's been ages since I last wrote something so thank you SO MUCH for this prompt #I had a lot of fun!! #hope it's somewhat alright #I'll probably pick out a few things I would've changed later but so far I'm pretty pleased with it #hope you enjoy it too!! #cap's writing #writing #hope there's no mistakes either lol #but eh we'll see #prompt