Chapter Text
Hello. I’m Finnick, but nobody calls me that. It’s just Finn. Or the local supervillain if I’m going casual. I kind of have the powers to bring the dead to life, so I was always considered ‘different’ in school. My two older brothers are the cool heroes or whatever. Marco, my twin, has super strength, and Kai has great agility and knows how to use any weapon if handed to him. My younger brother Benji hates me and loves me at the same time - he doesn’t have any powers. Don’t even ask about my parents. We have a family dinner every month. I know it may sound corny, but it all started on one of those days.
“So…” I said, lounging on my chair, feet on the table, “what’s up?”
My three brothers glared at me. My dad slurped his spaghetti, my mum laughing at him; neither of them were paying attention to their children. I only saw them all together every month when we had our traditional family dinner. Spaghetti and bolognaise, like when we were little. Tiger, our cat, whose name was given to him for his stripey coat, paced under the table, begging for scraps.
“What’s up!?” Marco yelled, seething at me. I mean, fair enough. I may or may not have just tried to kill him yesterday. Our parents looked over and sighed at us.
“Hey guys, no fighting at the table please!” Mum said, and turned back to her food. I grinned at her, and took a bite from my own plate.
“The sky..?” I ventured, just to piss Marco off. It worked. Kai had to physically drag him back into his seat as he lunged at me. I held my hands up, spaghetti twisted around my fork; aloft in my right hand. Once Kai had gotten Marco to calm down a bit, I mock saluted him. He just glared at me coldly, and started to eat.
I was enjoying myself too much, but it was too late to stop now. I made annoying eating sounds until all three of my brothers looked like they wanted to murder me even more, and even my parents made some comments about “being polite at the dinner table”.
Marco stood up abruptly and stalked outside for a breather. Honestly I didn’t blame him; I was starting to annoy myself as well. Kai went out after him a minute later to see if he was alright. My third brother, who was six years younger than me, looked at me as if I was the most annoying person in the world; however I could see the love in his gaze. I felt a twinge of regret, but then I pushed it aside to think over later.
“Hey kid,” I said, and he scowled. He didn’t like being talked down upon, even if he was only nine. Kai was the oldest, at 19, and me and Marco were 15. When we were younger we’d always had tons of fun together. Oh how times had changed.
Benji stopped scowling at me abruptly, and asked if we could play games together later. I nodded, hoping he’d forget about it- I had to go back to my home, an abandoned warehouse full of cobwebs. It was a temporary place, but I couldn’t stay at my parents’ home, since my brothers visited often. If only they hadn’t left me out all those years ago. They were the “super cool heroes” that everyone looked up to. I hated it.
They had left me when I was 10, to go learn fighting, as most kids with powers did. A prophecy stated that in the upcoming years the apocalypse would arrive, and our city would be first. Most kids with powers could fight, because they’d been forced to learn from professionals who thought they’d be needed. Marco did boxing, and Kai learnt street fighting - usually with a knife. I was never wanted because of my strange powers, and so I stayed home with Benji.
Once Marco and Kai had made names for themselves, I never saw them much. They were always there for me before, and then suddenly they were barely ever in the house.
So I made a decision that changed my life forever. I chose to cause chaos, so that I could see them more. I set buildings ablaze so that they’d come to the rescue, and I stalked through graveyards so that they would come to stop me from raising the dead. I learnt their fighting techniques and how to deal with them, as they did with me. I learned how to fight properly. Oh how I wish I’d have done that sooner.
However my plan had backfired when the police tried to arrest my parents for keeping me safe at home. I had to leave the house, and Benji would have the same problem I had. He would grow up without an older brother to play with, and he couldn’t even look up to me, for I was known as a villain. The city was collapsing, his life was ruined. Marco and Kai had to fight me as well as the oncoming apocalypse, and he would have little time for fun.
I gazed at my food, thinking about how life could’ve been in a different reality. I wasn’t really hungry anymore. My parents were still laughing together at the head of the table. I wished they had been more present in my life, instead of letting me go off to do whatever I wanted to.
I leaned back on my chair, pushing my plate away from me. For a moment I hoped I would fall backwards and get a concussion so I wouldn’t have to be there anymore. I stood up shakily and excused myself, leaving the room in a hurry.
I entered the bathroom and quickly locked the door behind me. I took a small knife out my pocket, balancing it on my finger, the tip of the blade digging into my skin. I breathed in deeply, calming myself and concentrating on nothing but keeping the knife from falling. After I had gotten my thoughts under control, I pocketed the knife, and stared at my reflection in the mirror. My imperfections glared out at me, and I struggled with my emotions for a moment. I sighed, turning away, and sank onto the floor. I wrapped my arms around my knees and put my face between them. I shuddered, squeezing my eyes tight shut, so that tears wouldn’t fall and make my face red.
I didn’t know how much time had passed, but the next thing I remembered was hearing a knock on the door.
“Hey, um, are you ok?” I heard Marco ask hesitantly.
“No,” I answered hoarsely, not wanting to explain why.
“Oh. Er, why?” He questioned, and in that moment I would’ve rather jumped off a cliff than respond truthfully. So I lied, telling him I’d not been feeling well all day, and had thrown up. He seemed to accept that, and said he’d go tell our parents.
As I heard his footsteps fading, I stood up shakily. I flushed the toilet to make it sound like I’d actually been sick, and had washed it away. I turned to the door, unlocked it, and walked out.
I went into the hall that led to the front door and put my shoes on. I heard a door creak to my left, and I looked up. Benji was holding back tears, with a console in his drooping hands.
“Why do you have to go so soon?” He sniffled, “I wanted to play with you…”
My heart melted as I looked at my innocent brother, who was still so sweet to me after everything. I felt even guiltier than before.
“I’m sorry buddy, I really wanted to play but I’m not feeling very well today.” I apologised. Benji looked at me with concern, and patted my head. I smiled at him, promising to play next time. I heard my parents laughing in the dining room. I grimaced, forcing myself to not walk through that half-open door and yell at them for being in their own world, not even caring enough about me to say goodbye. They didn’t even come check on me when Marco told them I was ill. My eyes burned, and I leaned down to tie my shoes.
I wanted to scream about how unfair it was, me living on the streets and in an abandoned warehouse for the last couple years, wishing my family cared about me. I knew they didn’t. No one did. Well, except maybe Benji. But even he hated me sometimes - for being another absent family member. I had tried to get closer to my family, and I had, but I’d somehow also gotten further away than I thought was possible.
Instead of saying anything, I nodded mutely to Benji, and opened the door to the cold air outside. I walked out, and slammed it shut behind me. I cringed at the sound, but kept walking down the dusty street, not stopping until I reached the outskirts of the city. My family lived in quite a large apartment in the middle of everything, and I had always loved it when I was small. Nowadays I hated busy places, for it meant being recognised and disrespected. I wasn’t even that bad of a person, I only set empty buildings on fire, and sometimes I rose the dead. I always put them to sleep again though.
I wandered over to the abandoned warehouse in a sketchy area, and I hopped over the barbed wire fence. I sneaked through the partially open side door, and flicked on the lights. They were dim, but they still worked even though the electricity bill probably hadn’t been paid in years. Originally it had made me wary, but I’d just come to be grateful for it anyway. However, now it lit up something I didn’t want to see.
A couple of people, a boy and a girl, were sat on my beaten-up couch, chatting to each other. As the lighted flickered on, they had turned to stare at me. One had gaping black holes where his eyes were meant to be - a void of emptiness in an otherwise handsome face. The girl had eyes that were slightly squashed, misty white, and dripping with blood. I had never been squeamish about gore, but I quickly looked away.
“W-What are you d-doing in my h-house?” I stammered, my voice quivering, “Who are you p-people, and what do you w-want?”
The guy with no eyes beamed at me, “Welcome master! We’ve been waiting for years now! I’m glad you can finally see us.”
“What is going on- what?” Confusion took hold of me, and I raised my eyebrows, “Explain? Please?”
He answered, “Well, you never put us back to rest after last time, so uh, we came to serve you again. If that’s fine with you of course. My name is Wyvern, by the way, and this is Lilith.”
“Right... hi, I guess? I’m Finn, short for Finnick, I think I would rather if-”
The girl interjected, “It’s not a request,” she said coldly, “I need you to do us a favour, Finnick.”
“Oh, uh, what?” I frowned, wanting these two random dead people to leave my house. Their eyes were starting to creep me out more and more, and I had to wonder why I didn’t recognise them, if I had, in fact, raised them from their dead status.
“You have to promise to not put us back to sleep. We must enact revenge upon the one who did this to us-” she waved at her eyes “-before we can fully rest once more.”
“Um, okay... I suppose that’s fine... but why are you tied to me? I certainly don’t remember raising you.”
“You didn’t. But he did.”