VI - POINT OF VIEW

"I kill for living, Mateo. I am bound to get caught— maybe assassinated for the price of my head." she spoke dryly, her snow white hair sways as she threw her head back to gulp a shot glass of liquor. Her piercing teal blue eyes stared at the man in front of her.

The man sighs, his sharp turquoise eyes focused on the bottle of gin he's currently wiping, his black hair brushed up, leaving few strands framing his face.

"That doesn't mean you have to walk through the mousetrap, Cierra."

"But I have to."

"I, Cierra di Estrella-Rivera, kin of Leonardo di Estrella—" she clearly stated. Unforgiving multiple set of eyes stared down at her.

"—pledge my blade, my loyalty, and my life to the Brotherhood."

A man— older than her maybe by three to four decades— looked at her, then spoke with judgement,

"From now on you are one of us."

"You only have a month to live, Cierra."

… Wake up.

"I know."

"Shit—"

Gunshots echoes from the walls, as a woman looked back—

"Don't look back!"

Her head instantly turned to the man in front of her, bright turquoise eyes staring at her teal orbs, his tied long black hair sways as they ran, "Don't look back, just run— we're almost surrounde-"

His words came short as a lost bullet shot at his torso, pulling his feet down to the bloodied floor, her eyes became wide, a gasp left her mouth,

"Mateo!"

.. Stop.

A pain cry shot through his spine, gritting his teeth, he ordered, "G-go! Flee, the gates are almost there! Leave me here— I will hold them back..!"

"But—"

"That's an order! Go!"

"You should be more aware of yourself— not all humans can be so trusting."

WAKE UP!

Teal piercing blue eyes glowed, staring right at her soul,

"Wake up, Shiko."

She screamed.

"... Ha—!" Shiko gasps, unshed tears in her eyes.

She sat up straight, inhaling heavily, she looked at her hands,

'They're shaking…'

Then she noticed where she woke up, a room, luxurious room filled with papers and books, cream coloured walls decorated with painting and… Guns? Why are there guns displayed boldly in this room?

Her eyes traveled, she concluded that this room was used for work or study of some sort.

Shiko walked forward, her feet felt cold courtesy of the black tiles she's standing on.

There's a table at the center of the room, behind it is a chair and a huge glass window— 'This room looks like it was owned by some high class businessman—'

"Are you done exploring the room?"

Shiko let a small squeak and hastily turned around, a woman— familiar woman with long white hair and teal blue eyes looking down at her while twinkling with amusement, pink lips quirked as if laughing, wearing a white dress shirt underneath of the tuxedo jacket and black skirt with knee-high black socks and leather shoes.

"Nice seeing you here, Shiko." The woman eye smiled.

Shiko gulped, "C-Cierra?"

The woman, Cierra, laughed lightly, "Yes, yes. Now, do you know why you are here?"

Shiko just stared at her, looking dumb all of the sudden.

"Mindscape?" Shiko repeated, now sitting on a sofa, staring at the ground.

"Yes, dear. You are in your mindscape, our mindscape."

"But how?" Shiko asked, confused. Cierra smiled.

"I don't know," the woman sighed, "do you remember doing something before?"

"N-no, but I saw something, like, scenarios, then there was this guy and lots of people staring at the woman, at you?"

Cierra hummed then gone still, before relaxing, "Ah, maybe that's because I rummaged the room, you see these books and papers," her hand gestured at the mess in the room, "is my memories, our memories."

"'Our'...?"

"Yes. Our. After all, we shared the same mind, as I am your past life."

…

"I'm not joking. How come I lived inside of your head then?"

"Maybe you're just my imagination?"

Cierra sighed, "Dear. Believe me."

"B-but! That doesn't make any sense! When we first met, you didn't tell me that! And I thought you're my second quirk, like 'Dual-Personality' quirk or something…"

"Dissociative Identity Disorder is not a quirk, Shiko. As the name suggests, it's a disorder. And I'm not just any personality that you made, I was a real person."

Shiko nodded, still confused, "Reincarnation?"

Cierra huffs, "Finally, you got it. Yes, reincarnation, but at some point, instead of one soul - that's me - being manifested in one body, I, the soul, splitted into two and you are the result of the other half. You're the new 'being' that can control this body, and I'm the old one that controls this body unconsciously." Cierra looked at Shiko directly, "The results of me unconsciously doing it is we shared the same mindset. Understand?"

"U-uh." Shiko still look confused.

Cierra snorted, looking away, "I know there's a lot to take in, but deal with it. I taught you how to react in these kind of circumstances."

Shiko frowned, "Control my body unconsciously?"

"Yes, your habits, your way of thinking, your attitude towards something; all of that came from me." Cierra finished, her white hair bounced as she cocked her head to the side, grinning. "Ain't that great?" she asked, as if bragging.

"... That's kinda scary."

"Troublesome. Give me some slack!" Cierra huffs, "I controlled your body sometimes when you're sleeping. It's not scary."

Shiko looked horrified, "What?"

"Yeah, yeah. Done it offhandedly, I know. I'm the reason why the man with obnoxious cone-like hair—" "You mean Hizashi-nii?" "—knows us." Cierra looked at her nails while speaking, ignoring Shiko's words, "If I didn't stroll that night, you might ended up here alone in this godforsaken orphanage."

"Ah."

"'Ah' indeed. Anyway, don't expect me to be there for you always. Dear. I'm only here to help you grow up as a strong, brave girl. If I deemed you as worthy, maybe I'll stride to become a villain."

Shiko gaped.

Cierra looked at Shiko, "What? Expect me to be the Hero type? Nah. I'll pass." Cierra shrugs, Shiko's astonishment doubled. "I'm a… let's say, a killer after all. Vigilante, Underworld, Drug dealers, hitmen- all that jazz. D'you heard about the 'Brotherhood'?"

Cierra waits for an answer, then sighs, "We call our organization as The Brotherhood. I'm one of them just because I'm related by blood to our leader, Leonardo. We're vigilante per se, hunting down and shutting down criminals by doing either in good or bad ways."

She continued, "Ya see, in my world, it doesn't have the term Villain/Hero category, it doesn't have a school for heroes, we're just humans doing bad and good deeds. Corrupted politicians, world wars, civilians doing what they want to do just for a reason, that's all. But here? I refer myself as the villain."

"I've done a lot of bad deeds, killing people, lying, being selfish, torturing for information…" Cierra trailed off. "That's what humans do, doing bad things and good things."

"But don't you ever forget this Shiko, in the end of the day, we breathe the same air, we have hands, feet, eyes, nose, we make bad things, good things, we all are the same."

Cierra pokes Shiko's forehead, startling her, "Because in the end of the day, we're just humans, we have reasons why we exist, we have goals to finish, we need to do this to know what is Life." Cierra chuckled, "Now off you go, you have a full day with cone-head, goodbye."

Then it's black.