This story is loosely based off the song Monster by Dev. I highly recommend listening to it.
Why?
Why did they have to fight? Why were they enemies?
Oh, that's right. Dan. It was all his fault. He made an enemy. Now, his enemy is everyone's enemy. It's not really Dan's fault. Runo knew that. It wasn't Dan's fault that one blonde brawler was a monster.
Yes, he was a monster. But she didn't care. Not with how she knew him. Did she really know him, or was it all just another one of his schemes? She didn't know nor care. He stole her heart. From that first battle, he's intrigued her. He's a mystery.
He's weird. He doesn't seem to know how to dress, or he just prefers not to dress like a normal guy.
What is normal?
Not this, any of it. How he suddenly appeared. How Runo felt after brawling him for the first time. She had felt sick. When she finally figured out what was going on, she thought something was wrong with her.
When he came to her one night, he won her heart. He didn't do anything really, he just appeared and wanted her to join him. When she denied, he grabbed her arm. She didn't know what she felt. Most would call it sparks, but it felt more like a dark fire burning through her. After that he disappeared again.
She didn't even know if he was human. He might have been an alien or something. With bakugan, she learned even aliens were possible.
She started finding ways to see how he brawled. When she was there, she saw the fear he provoked in brawlers. She could see it in his opponents' eyes. When she tried to see his eyes, she was met with her own reflection and knew why the brawlers were afraid. That's why no one wanted to look him in the eye in a brawl. The reflection was the same, yet fear provokingly different. She didn't understand it.
When she got to see him again, was after the whole ordeal with Shun. She was in a park one night, going for a jog when she couldn't sleep. He wasn't there for long, but she saw him. She saw his smirk. Somehow he knew. She tried to ignore him, but it was almost impossible. When he disappeared, she found herself looking for him.
When she got back to her house, she hesitated when going into her room. She had heard another person's breathing on the other side of the door. When she opened the door, he was gone.
Time passed and she didn't see him. The last time she saw him was two nights ago. She woke up in the middle of the night, from a dream where she had joined him. It wasn't a very pleasant dream when it came to how she drifted apart from her friends. It was amazing when looking at everything else. How she brawled, new, strong brawlers helping her, not having to be afraid of the Darkus brawler.
She woke up right before something she had longed for.
She had taken a few deep breaths, trying to slow her racing heart. It felt like it were beating out of her chest. She kept staring down at the covers, hands clenched into fists, breathing still uneven. her breath hitched when she heard a soft 'thud'. She looked to the window, seeing it was open and rain was pouring just beyond. She looked to the ground and, in the dim light, managed to see wet footprints. They led to her bedside, then turned off towards her door. She looked up at that spot. Lightning had flashed, illuminating his face, the light reflecting off of his mask. He was smirking again. The light faded and, when the next flash came, he was gone.
She laid awake for a long time before getting up to close her window. Was the last part of her dream really a dream, or did he really...? The though itself made her a bit giddy. She mentally slapped herself, trying to snap out of it.
She couldn't stop thinking about him. When she brawled she thought like she knew he would: how to destroy an opponent. It helped her win a few times. At school, she tried to see if anyone looked even a bit like him. None of them did, of course. He was unique. Any other time, she seemed to see him in the shadows, around every corner. She might be getting obsessed, but she didn't mind. The others didn't notice, so she was safe.
So yes, he was a monster, he was sick, he was weird. But she liked it.
Yes, Runo was in love with the monster names Masquerade, and she knew it.