Chapter 205: One Last Attempt
Pied stared up at the roof of the shelter, feeling hazy. It was hard to actually think straight, his entire body going numb. Thanks to the lack of music, everyone that had been under his charm was free now and had quickly fled once the dark-skinned man with the gun fired off a few more shots into the air.
Pied wondered if this was where his story was going to end. He was bleeding out, red constantly gushing out of him. If he had been a human, he'd have died a while ago, likely after the second or third shot. Being a Super, though, meant he was able to keep going on, no matter how painful it was. He wasn't strong enough to actually be bulletproof, but his body was weird enough that it would lose blood slowly and survive a little longer with damaged organs. Honestly, he sort of wished he'd just die since that would cause the pain to end.
An outcome like this was something he had expected. He wasn't anything special after all. He always just sort of figured that he'd end up dead at an early age, something he'd imagined since the day he was taken in by that damn villain.
'Seriously. What a pain.' Pied closed his eyes and felt himself spit up a bit more blood. 'I just wanted to be useful to her. I thought I could thank her for saving me. Damn it. This sucks. I suck. Damn it, damn it, damn it, I don't want to die.' He could feel tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. 'I haven't even gotten to repay all the debts I owe. I never got to play games, or make friends, or get interested in girls. I didn't even get to go to school. What did I do to deserve this?'
It all went unsaid, of course. He couldn't even muster up the strength to speak.
His life had really gone downhill after his parents' death. Why did they have to be superheroes? Both of them had been cursed with weak powers and actually thought they could make some sort of difference in the world. In the end, though, they had been brutally killed and torn to bits right in front of him. All because they pissed off the wrong sort of guy.
The world really sucked.
He sucked too, though. His life was flashing before his eyes, and all he saw was all the bad he had done. All the times he obeyed that fat bastard and helped him cause so much more harm. It would have been better to die with his parents. At least then, he wouldn't have to worry about going to hell. Now, though, that was the only place he'd end up after all the crimes he helped with.
'Damn it, Cinder.' Pied felt his thoughts begin to blur, and the noise seemed to grow dimmer. 'You actually had me believing in you for a bit there. The way you said that I could be useful. Yeah, right. What a joke.' Pied's eyes drifted shut, and everything around him finally stopped.
"Pied! Pied!" Kyle wrapped his arms around the dying boy and tried to stop the bleeding, but there were just so many bullet holes. His clothes quickly became stained in red, and he could feel tears pouring down his face. He didn't really know Pied all that well, but this was a kid. Someone who shouldn't have been dragged into this in the first place. Someone who should have had their whole life ahead of them. What made it hurt the most, though, was knowing the person that had done this. "What did you do!" Kyle screamed in rage and set his hate-filled gaze on the man he had wanted to see the least.
Aarush Brenner did not look well. Despite being out of jail, he still wore the faded grey prison robes, unable to bring himself to take them off. One of his hands was still missing, and the other one clutched a still-smoking gun. Tears were streaming down the man's face as he stared at his son. "Thank God you're alive-"