I sat on my bed for about an hour, extremely confused and flustered, before I called Karl.

"Hello? Hey, Y/N. Why haven't you been returning my calls?" He asked curiously.

"I'll explain later, but Karl, Karl, Karl, Karl, I need help, I'm having a moral dilemma." I paused thoughtfully. "A crisis, if you will."

"What's this week's newest crisis?" Karl asked, amused.

"I do not have a crisis every week- you know what never mind, so, basically, I think I maybe kind of just a tiny bit am in love with three different people." I finished in a rush.

"What? Was that supposed to be a sentence? I didn't hear a word, you said, Y/N, I- oh wait, I gotta go, sorry. Things to do! Tell me about it later, okay?"

"I said-" There was a beep as he put the phone down. "-never mind then, okay." I finished with a sigh. Ack, what can I do to take my mind off it because I don't want to think about those feelings, because thinking about those feelings just makes me feel more of those feelings, and I-

There was a knock at my front door. I got off of my bed, walking into the next room and opening the door. Puffy was stood in the doorway in her civilian clothes.

"Oh! This is a nice surprise. To what do I owe the honour, Puffy?" I asked jokingly.

"Just wanted to check up on you and say hi." There was a pause as I looked at her skeptically. "Okay, Karl said you were having some sort of crisis and I wanted to see if you were okay."

"HE SAID WHAT?!" I yelped, stumbling backwards. "I MEAN- why would he say that? I'm fine, nope, no crisisisis here- what's the plural of crisis, by the way?"

"Crises." Puffy said with an expression that told me she didn't believe a word I was saying. "So what's the crisis?"

"Nothing! No crises here, Puffy! Must have misheard him."

"What was he saying then?" She asked skeptically, rolling her eyes.

"I don't know. You must have misheard him somehow." I muttered with a shrug, going to close the door in her face.

"Okay, but if you ever want to talk..." she trailed off.

"I know, I know, I can talk to you." I said, closing the door.

I was quiet for a minute as I heard her footsteps going away from the door.

Okay, what can I do to distract myself? How about... I don't know. Maybe some hero work or something?

"Okay, lets go." I muttered to myself, reaching for my mask. I glanced at my phone as a notification popped up.

Alert! Vigilantes Paradox and Slimecicle are fighting the villain Blood God downtown by the beach! If you are a civilian in that area, get away immediately!

I smiled to myself. Perfect.

——

I turned the corner to see the two vigilantes fighting Blood God, just as the notification had described it. I hadn't seen Blood God since the fight by the cafe, where I had done my first bit of hero work.

Paradox was constantly dodging the attacks from the villain's crossbow as Slimecicle vainly tried to stick Blood God's feet to the ground. For some reason, the vigilante couldn't trap Blood God.

"You boys need some help?" I called, adjusting my mask.

Paradox and Slimecicle looked over, and both looked somewhat relieved. "I mean, you can try, but I don't think you'll be as good as us." Slimecicle joked, and Paradox nodded with a laugh that quickly turned into a yelp as he dodged yet another attack from Blood God.

I grabbed my sword (well, it was Nightmare's sword, but I'd kind of taken it to be my own- a trophy of sorts) and rushed towards the fight. Blood God spun around with an irritated mutter. He stopped, looking at the burn. He opened his mouth slightly before shaking his head and aiming the crossbow at me.

I neatly sidestepped the firework, glancing around as if I was bored. "So how's the whole 'finding heroes' families' thing going for you?" I asked curiously, almost taunting him.

"Very well. Thanks for asking." He huffed, reloading the crossbow swiftly.

There was a tearing sound as Paradox jumped from a portal that I hadn't noticed before, as if the air was tearing itself in half to make room for the vigilante.

I watched in surprise as he dodged Blood God's attempt to knock him away and did a sort of half turn leaning on one heel, slashing the knife in his hands across Blood God's side and ducking out of the way as the villain spun towards him with an annoyed mutter.

Slimecicle, taking advantage of the villain's distraction, shot a large spray of green slime at the pink haired man's feet.

Blood God glared at the vigilante as he was stuck to the spot. "Well done." He said wryly as Slimecicle punched the air in celebration. "Do you want a medal?"

"I mean, if you insist." Slimecicle said with a grin, adding more slime to hold him in place.

"How did you get in a fight with Blood God anyway?" I asked Paradox, who was leaning against a wall and gasping for breath.

"He was walking down the street with a picture of someone and looking for them..." he gestured to a picture that had clearly been discarded during the fight. "And then he... noticed me and.... Slimecicle were on... patrol... and picked a fight." The vigilante kept stopping to catch his breath between phrases.

There was a confused 'HEH?!' from the villain behind us, and I glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What was that for?" I asked skeptically, walking over to the picture and picking it up. I felt chills go down my spine as I recognised Bad. The picture has clearly been taken in the middle of the street as Bad was in the middle of a conversation with someone.

"I didn't pick a fight with these nerds! I was just going about my business, looking for someone, and these losers who call themselves 'vigilantes' came along and kept saying 'what are you doing' and 'why are you here'- you know, those sorts of questions." Blood God glared at Paradox. "And then HE pulled a knife out of nowhere and started a fight. I was simply defending myself." Blood God said haughtily.

"Then why did you have a picture of this man?" I muttered, my grip on the sword tightening.

"I told you, I was looking for him." Blood God shot me a wicked grin. "I did say my 'looking for heroes families thing' was going well, did I not?"

"You haven't given up on that yet?" I asked with a sideways glance.

"Nope. I'm just beginning." Blood God muttered darkly.

"Well you'd better stop then." Gemstone said wryly, walking out of the shadows.

"What the- when did you get here?!" Blood God yelped, surprised.

"A minute ago. Just in time to hear you threatening hero families again." The hero spat.

I silently passed him the picture of Bad, and Gemstone's frown deepened.

"Threatening my family again?" He said quietly, so only me and Blood God could hear. "Well listen to me now. They're safe, and you are never, never, ever getting your hands on them. So stop trying, because if you carry on trying..." there was a pause as Gemstone lowered his voice to a whisper. "I will hunt you down myself."

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