Chapter 14 – The Reflection

The thing about mirrors was that it never truly showed who you were, just your surface. Ebon hated dwelling on the past. He hated remembering what it was like to feel happy. Instead, deep down, all he felt was bubbling rage and anger and the need to let it all out. The abandoned little apartment building – a project doomed form the start due to its location with the rest of the slums – was their current refuge. They drove out the old tenants, who were terrified little homeless wretches whilst they were terrifying metahuman homeless wretches. Though the mirror in the bathroom (or what used to be the bathroom) was shattered in the top corner, most of it was still intact.

He hated the fact he could barely see himself in his own reflection. He was a shadow of his former self, literally. He was about to punch the mirror when the creak of the broken bathroom door caused him to whip his head to the side to see who had the guts to disturb his peace. Of course, standing there was the purple haired sociopath he called Shiv.

"The fuck are you doing here?" Ebon spat. Shiv just stepped in and leaned against the wall, pulling out a cigarette and holding it between his teeth as he lit it with his finger. Every motion was slow and lethargic, as if he were purposefully dragging out the time just to infuriate Ebon. The shadowed man just growled and moved so he was looming down at the Asian.

Shiv just took a long drag, grinning as he blew the smoke out into Ebon's face. Ebon recoiled at the sharp scent and then shot back, staring straight at the other man. "Don't smoke indoors," he growled.

Shiv laughed, "Come on, boss man, I'm just having a lil fun, you know? Not that you know what fun is anymore, Ebon."

"Stop fooling around," he stated, "I don't like dealing with idiots."

"Don't be so grumpy all the time," he said with a chuckle. He took another drag of the cigarette and blew out the smoke, then stubbed out the cigarette by digging the tip against his palm with a laugh. "You know, the funny thing is my arms don't feel pain anymore."

"Want me to break them for you?" Ebon asked, eyes narrowing.

Shiv ignored him and continued, "You know, I think the reason I don't feel much pain anymore is cause I'm not the one that's feeling it, you know?"

"Shiv, stop playin' around."

"I think that little Hero boy in me feels the pain for me. I think that's dramatically ironic."

"The fuck do you know about dramatic irony?" Ebon asked, "You don't know anything.

"That's true," Shiv grinned, "That is so true. I don't know much at all."

Ebon scowled and grabbed Shiv by the front of his shirt, pulling him forwards and then slamming him back against the bathroom wall. "You tell me that you didn't feel that, huh?"

Shiv winced as his back collided against the tile, "Maybe a little."

"Yeah, so don't fuck with me," he snarled, "I will send you on a one way trip to oblivion."

"You wouldn't do that," he teased, laughing, "I know you wouldn't." He grasped onto Ebon's arm and tried to pull it away from his shirt, swinging his feet slightly as they hung above the ground.

"Don't be a little bitch."

"Oh, yeah, you just want me to be your little bitch," Shiv laughed, "Come on, Ebon. Why you so high strung all the time? If you ever need to release some tension, you know you always've got me."

Ebon leaned in so close that their noses were almost touching, "Piss off, Shiv."

"What, don't think I'm cute anymore?"

"You're not fucking cute," he snarled. He brought up his other hand and grabbed Shiv by the purple hair, then let go of the front of his shirt. He pulled back and slammed Shiv's head against the tiled wall, eliciting a pained shout. Ebon moved backwards and brought Shiv along with him, then held him in front of the bathroom mirror.

"You look at that and tell me what you see, Shiv," he said as Shiv struggled to pull loose from Ebon's grip. "You tell me what you see!"

Shiv struggled, grabbing at Ebon's arm and trying to wrench it away, eyes scrunched and refusing to face his reflection. The more he struggled, the tighter Ebon pulled on his hair and the harder he pressed him against the edge of the sink, which dug into the skin just below his rib. Eventually, he opened his eyes and stared himself in the mirror.

"Fuck off," the reflection seemed to say, "Fuck off I don't want to talk to you."

"Why do you get to choose when we talk, huh?" Shiv questioned, snarling at his own reflection that seemed to have stopped mirroring his actions – defeating the whole purpose of the mirror. "Ebon wants us to talk now."

The reflection folded his arms and glanced to the side, then stared straight back at Shiv. "He doesn't want us to talk. He's pissed at you."

"Yeah, but you're the one that feels the pain."

The reflection raised a hand and placed it right below his ribs, "Yeah, so stop fucking around it's not nice."

"You're a fucking idiot, Hiro," he spat, growling, "You always have to fuck things up. You and your pansy little goody two shoe ways. All I want to do is have some fun, and you're fucking it up."

"I'm not doing anything," the reflection replied, "You're screwing it up yourself. You're talking to yourself in the mirror, Hiro. As much as you want to believe we're different people," the reflection paused and then leaned in, smirking, "We're one and the same, aren't we?"

"No, we're not, we're not, you piss off, you're not real!"

"Oh, but I am real. Just because it's in your head doesn't make it any less real," the reflection laughed, grinning malevolently, "You're justifying your own mistakes, Hiro. You think you're split in half, the good and the bad, but Hiro, listen to me, you're the bad guy. You're letting me take over, and you're letting me take the blame." The reflection seemed to reach out of the mirror and stroke his cheek with his hand. "The truth is, Hiro, Shiv, whatever you decide, you've committed crimes, and you're pinning the blame on someone else, all because you don't want to face the reality of what you have become, you monster."

"Fuck you!" Shiv screamed, launching himself forwards towards the mirror and smashing his forehead against the glass, causing a crack the run up from where he hit upwards. Ebon let go and took a few steps back, and Shiv took a few moments to recover himself. He pushed himself back up, resting his weight against the sink, and as he realised the small trickle of blood on the crack on the mirror, he raised his hand to the numbness of his forehead. As he pulled the hand away to look at it, he found it was covered in blood.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Ebon questioned. He sounded almost concerned behind the façade of anger.

"I don't know," Shiv replied quietly, "Ivan it's fucked up. I'm fucked up." He tried to get up and walk, but he swayed as he moved away from the sink and Ebon stretched his arm out and caught him, then pulled him closer.

"You were speaking to yourself in the mirror. That's not normal."

Shiv chuckled weakly, "I thought we established long ago that I'm far from normal."

Ebon, in that moment, realised that the man in his arms, leaning his head against his shoulder, was the same boy that entered the docks with him in the Big Bang. He sighed and leaned against the wall behind him, resting his chin on the top of Shiv's head. In that moment, that same moment, he was reminded of what it was like before the Big Bang, when it was simpler, when Hiro was Hiro and Ivan was Ivan, and nothing else mattered except them. "It'll be fine," he said, rubbing the Asian man's back reassuringly, "Hiro, it will all be fine."

"I'm so confused," Shiv – Hiro? Ebon didn't know – mumbled, "Why'd this have to happen, Ivan." He let out a choked cough, then moved so he could lean his forehead against Ivan's chest, the blood staining the older man's vest. "Ivan, Ivan, what did I do to deserve this?"

"Nothing," he replied, raising a hand to gently stroke the young man's hair. He took a deep breath, and all he inhaled was the smell of the cigarette smoke that lingered in Hiro's hair and clothes. "You did nothing wrong, Hiro. You're a good boy."

"What have I done?"

"We've done wrong, Hiro," he mumbled, pressing a gentle kiss on the top of his head, "But we'll pull through. We always have."

"I want my Dad. I want to see him again."

"Well, you can't do that," he stated truthfully, "I can't do that with my own Dad, Hiro. They're gone."

Hiro shook in Ebon's arms, sobbing as he clung onto him like his only lifeline. "Ivan, Ivan, Ivan," he mumbled through his sobs, "I'm so scared."

"You won't be scared anymore," he replied. He brought a hand between them and lifted Hiro's chin up so they were looking each other straight in the eye. He leaned in and kissed him, gently and warmly. Hiro felt like pure light against his lips, tingly and almost painful, but in a pleasant way. There was a part of Ebon who wanted to stay right there, in the moment, but he knew he couldn't. This wasn't the Hiro he knew, and he knew he couldn't take advantage of him. The kisses continued and then he felt Hiro's hands begin to run down his chest. Ebon pulled away and pushed him off, watching as the young man stumbled back, confused.

"Ivan?" he asked, concerned.

"Shiv, piss off," he growled.

"Ivan, don't call me that."

"I said piss off, Shiv," he stated, raising his voice just a bit more and narrowing his eyes. Shiv took a small step backwards, then moved forwards again. He propelled his shadowy arm forwards and sent him flying against, and through, the door, splintering the wood. He moved slowly but confidently towards his crony, watching as he shook off the pain and sat up again, turning his head to the side to spit out blood.

The younger man grinned, showing off his blood stained teeth, then laughed, "Ebon, why you gotta be so rude? I even bit my tongue." He brought himself up to his feet and dusted himself off, "What, you didn't like that? Cause I did, and he did. We both did."

"Don't you dare disturb me ever again."

"You're probably the biggest asshole in existence," Shiv said, laughing hysterically. He brought a hand to his forehead and pressed the palm against the wound, then pulled it away to see how much blood there was. "Oh, would you look at that? I think I require medical attention." He tried to walk towards Ebon, but swayed and collapsed.

Ebon grimaced, then grabbed Shiv by the shirt, forming a portal with his legs and tossing the unconscious body through it. No, Shiv was just a distraction. He didn't need that getting in the way of his plans. Shiv would get picked up by some good Samaritan and get his medical attention, and if he ended up in jail, well Ebon had bigger things to worry about. Shiv was the liability on the team. He was weaker than both Ebon and Talon, and although he was fast, he had no strength whatsoever. He scoffed and reformed his legs, pacing around the apartment until Talon asked him about Shiv, to which he replied, "He needs some time to cool off, so I sent him away."

"Wake up mon," came the deep voice with a Jamaican accent that sounded oh so clear yet oh so distant. "Oi, wake up." Shiv felt a distinct kick in the ribs, yet he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes.

Shiv eventually came to and blinked away the dim lighting. He was in some crappy little room with boarded up windows and a few spare plastic chairs around. He looked around and realised that the people around him weren't normal humans, but rather a guy who looked half like an armadillo, the familiar face of Kamau but with what seemed to be massive feet, and a guy with an oddly shaped face that looked like a snout. He slowly sat up, but immediately saw stars and had to lie back down again. "Where the fuck am I?" he grumbled, rubbing at his head.

"You're with us," said the armadillo, "Don't you recognise me, Hero Boy?"

Shiv narrowed his eyes and tried to focus his vision, but everything seemed to swim before him. "Carmen? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. Carmendillo's the name," he said with a huge laugh, "You see here, we got Ferret," he pointed at the weird snouted guy, "and Kangorr."

"Kamau!" Shiv laughed, grinning and trying to sit up with the help of Carmendillo, "I haven't seen you in ages!" He reached over to take Kangorr's arm in a tight kind of handshake slash chest bump.

"Good thing we got to you," Kangorr said, "Dude, we found you lying face first in some alley, blood like all over the ground from your head, dude. What the fuck happened?"

Shiv shrugged and brought a hand to the wound, feeling the bandage. He looked down and saw that his shirt was off and they had wrapped some of the makeshift bandages across his torso. "Well, that's a question, isn't it?"

"Dude, I had to pull wood splinters out of your back," Ferret said rather anxiously, "It was not a pretty sight."

"Sorry, dude," Shiv replied, shaking his head, "God, god, my head hurts."

"'Course it would," Kangorr laughed, "I saw you on the news. Shiv, is what you call yourself now?"

"It's what Ebon wants me to call myself," he replied with a cackle.

"What kind of shitty fight did you get your skinny ass into?" he asked, "I mean, I thought you were Ivan's boo."

"Nah," he said, shaking his head, running a hand through his purple hair, "That's Hiro. I'm Shiv, the tool." He let out a long, tired laugh, then rubbed at his chest, "Fuck, that really hurts."

"You shoulda seen it, mon," Kangorr said, shaking his head, "It was gross. Who did that to ya?"

"Ebon, who else?" he huffed, "Can't believe he fuckin' ditched me on the street." He jumped up all of a sudden and ran a sharp, purple blade for an arm through the exposed brick of the wall right between Carmendillo and Ferret, leaving them both quivering. The light dissipated, and he was left more tired that he would have expected, and swayed on the spot. Kangorr quickly moved to stop him from falling, leaning him up against the wall.

"Keep it together, Shiv," Carmendillo said nervously, "You're losing it. You've lost a lotta blood, you need to relax."

"Fuck, I'll cut him," he growled, trying to pull out of Kangorr's grip, "The fucking gall he has for doing that kind of shit. I can't believe, I can't—" he coughed, and shook his head, trying to focus, then just burst out into laughter. "I'll kill him the next time I see him, I swear to fucking god."

"Relax, mon," Kangorr said, tightening his grip and navigating him back towards the table that they used as a makeshift bed for him, with a rolled up empty sack as a pillow. "The gas really did a number on all of us, I know, but you have to calm down."

"I gotta go back," he said, shaking his head, "I gotta go back, I gotta, I gotta go find him, talk some sense into him. Ebon, he's just mad, it's just a phase, right?"

"Dude, I think you should just get the fuck away from him," Ferret said, "He's fuckin' terrifying, that guy. He's a living shadow."

"I'm just, I, I'm so tired," he said, shaking his head, "Thanks guys, for helping me out."

"If we didn't, you'd be in the slammer," Carmendillo said, "You know, we wouldn't want any of our friends in there anyway."

"Thanks," he said, eventually allowing Kangorr to bring him to the table so he could sit down again. "I really appreciate it, you guys. I don't know why I don't hang out with you more often."

A/N: So uhhh this was written at least a whole year and a half ago. It makes me cringe. This story has the worst narrative progression possible haha I mean I've just been doing this for funsies but I have no idea where it was gonna go or head, then again, maybe it's because I've literally forgotten what's happening HAha so uhhh

Happy New Year and I hope y'all have a wonderful 2018!