Chapter 22

"Holy… shit…"

Melee paused as Garou stared blankly at the TV. "The bastard actually did it!"

She rushed over, as the top new story was Amai Mask revealing to the world that he was indeed the blue serpent that patrolled the streets with the Leviathan Prince. "People have been commenting on the situation all day today, wondering how it was possible for one, Amai Mask to become such a thing. Many claim to be special effect artist displaying their finest work yet. But coming from Amai Mask himself, he claims to have switched places with on M Class Dragon Snek! We are hoping to have more details as the story develops."

"I can't believe he did it!" said Melee. "What on earth possessed him to reveal himself to the masses like this?"

"Beat the hell out of me, but I guess he can stop wearing that damn hoodie!"

Melee wasn't sure how to feel about this. Amai Mask is all about the image, his persona and appearance are upheld to the highest standards he can hold them to. What changed so suddenly? "This doesn't seem right."

Garou snorted. "No shit, question is, what's his angle?"

Not even Melee knew, but it wasn't long before Hunter returned with Amai, and he appeared to have just eaten. "Oh, they are still showing that story… pity, there are more important things going on in the world." With that he slithered off to his room and closed the door.

Melee and Garou slowly turned to Hunter. "What the hell have you two been doing?" Garou demanded.

Hunter gave a nervous smile. "What are you talking about? We go on patrol, that's it!" he said.

"What happened today that would make him do that?" Melee questioned. "And it has to have been something important, he wouldn't have done it otherwise."

Hunter sighed. "He was defending me."

Garou went for a drink of pop before he sprayed it across the living room. "Wait, he did what?!"

"He… defended me. I was being confronted by the people of City R. I told him to go so he wouldn't get caught up in it, instead he stayed and defused the situation. I even tried stopping him from revealing himself. It was his choice. But after that, the people didn't come after us. We finished patrolling, got him something to eat and came home."

Melee was still confused. "Wait, Amai Mask… Sweet Mask… the guy who has been against us from the start… who has hated Garou… never got my name right… tried to get the others to quit and retire from being heroes… helped you?"

"Mom… he has changed, even if its only for a short time, I say take it!" said Hunter. "Perhaps he is starting to see the world doesn't revolve around him or his ideals. We had a good talk a while ago…"

"About what?" Garou questioned with a snicker. "I don't know about you, but he's only capable of talking about how we are an insult to heroes everywhere, we don't deserve to be among the people let alone help protect them!"

"I think he's been wanting to talk to mom for a while about some things. But… hasn't been or he's unable to."

"I'm not going back to work for him!" Melee snapped.

"Just… go and talk to him when he's up to it mom, if he wants to that is."

"Now you put the bug in her ear, I even want to know what he wants to say now!" said Garou.

"Dad… Mom…" Hunter sighed but knew he said too much and there was no going back now.

"It's okay…"

Hunter paused as Amai slithered out, he came to the living room. Melee noticed this odd look in his eyes. One she has never seen before. "Okay, this is getting freaky even for me. You've always been a cold, heartless bastard. None of us mattered to you, you wanted to kill Garou and for that matter, my family because of what we are. What the hell has gotten into you?" she demanded.

Amai tripped over his tongue, but settled himself. "I finally see the beauty in this." He explained. "I also have come to understand myself a little better since I am not distracted with my usual projects, I can finally confront everything that has weighed on me for so long…" his eyes gazed upward to the ceiling for a moment, with a deep cleansing breath he looked to Melee, and stared her dead in the eyes. "I love you Melee." He confessed.

Garou dropped his drink. "What?" he asked in a stunned tone.

"I've loved you since you became my assistant. I came to love how you did everything for me, and that was misplaced. It has taken me years to see that everything you did, wasn't out of love for me, it was your job… and I never appreciated it." He came a little closer to her. "You were right, this whole time. I only thought about myself, I only cared about myself, and I didn't treat you the way I should have. I still don't know how to properly treat you, even after I possessed him" he said and turned to Garou.

Amai then focused on him. "You make me sick." He said flat out. "And the reason why is because unlike me, I couldn't get the woman I loved to love me back"

"Okay, even I'm scared now. What?" Garou asked. "So part of his hatred for me… is because I got Melee?"

"Yes," he muttered. "Out of all the women of the cities, the only one who never fell for my charm, happened to be the one I could never obtain for myself." He shook his head. "I tried to break you two up, when you were paired with him. I tried to sever it, I wanted her nowhere near you because I saw it in both your eyes. The look I get from my fan, the admiration, the love… the connection. I wanted that with her. But… you had to be the one to make it." He said to Garou. "I resented you for that, after everything you did, after all the hell we went through to stop you. How was it fair that you got Melee Brawler, and I didn't? I WAS THE HERO!" he roared out the last part, his eyes turned red as the familiar veins pushed up his scales on his neck, face and body.

There was an odd silence in the room, Amai calmed himself down and brushed back his hair. The veins slowly receded as well. "It doesn't matter anymore, anyways now, does it?" he asked. "I lost, Garou won yet again in this victory, I still despise him for it."

"Why tell us this? Why say anything?" asked Melee.

Amai turned to Hunter. "Because he figured it out. And since he knew, it made me think about it all. I had nothing else to do, I had nothing to distract myself with. I was trapped with my own thoughts about what I kept bottled up all these years, this anger I had towards the whole M Class, Garou and the family. It's because I wanted it… I wanted you… those children could have been my children…" He shook his head to it all. "I wanted what I couldn't have, and that rarely happens to me. I always get what I want."

"Whoa… heavy" said Garou. "Well, this isn't going to make the next three months awkward." He announced sarcastically.