So for some reason when I wrote this, I used first person POV for Keith? I guess I was experimenting with it so I'm sorry for the sudden shift in POV types but it happened. Also it begins with a flashback so I'm sorry for confusion.

"Give me a hero and I'll write his tragedy."

Those words echoed through the empty house as Mrs. Prescott sat across from me in the study. She was seated in her favorite leather chair, her auburn hair tied back into a bun and her caramel eyes warm as she stared at me. We played a game where I would name someone at random and she would tailor a story to fit their job I made up for them.

I sat in the smaller, cushier chair across the coffee table from Lillie and stared at the green tea cup I held in my hand. "Saburo Gushiken. A librarian."

Her thin lips curled into a smile as she sipped at the green liquid inside her teacup. "The third son and strong willed. What an interesting name for a librarian, isn't it Keith?"

"It's Murasaki." I snapped in annoyance at her speaking my name so easily, as if her family weren't the reason I was forced to live as I was now; pitiful and corrupted.

She lowered the drink and nodded slightly, acknowledging her mistake. Her white blouse contrasted with the pair of light mint jeans she wore and the darker makeup that was skillfully plastered over her face carefully so that it covered her flaws. "Murasaki, I was thinking that your Saburo could come from a poverty stricken home where his mother mourned over their dead father and worked all day and night just to feed her three sons."

I sighed slightly and looked down at my tea as I swished the green liquid around in the cup. "I can already guess how his tragedy will play out Lillie. He'll watch as his mother over works herself and eventually She'll be lost to illness causing the eldest son to take over her work. Saburo feels useless as he watches his family fall apart around him and he's sent to an orphanage when social services find him. He's then given a abusive home and he finds himself working at a library because books are the only way he's able to find peace in his life." The tea settled down and my reflection shown in it, the bags under my eyes were darker than it had been months ago when I had lived with my sister and parents. I narrowed my eyes at the reflection, feeling resentment fill my chest at the sight of my own face.

"Oh, how did you guess?" She asked quizzically, slowly crossing her legs with a tiny smirk.

"You're so horribly cliché with your stories I'm able to guess exactly which route you'll take with each one." I stated before meeting her caramel eyes. Even if she were another one of the pigs living in the Prescott family, she was the one I could talk to without feeling the urge to strangle the life out of. "I purposely chose a name that meant 'third son' and 'strong willed' in order to see if you would finally change your flaws of story telling. The more you repeat the same words the more your literature becomes repetitive and bland. You are something that the Japanese would call Aho."

Lillie's eyebrow twit he'd slightly in anger but she didn't lash out, instead she placed her free hand over her mouth and stifled a laugh. "Oh my Murasaki, you're picking up on some childish insults aren't you?" She asked in a humorous tone, as if she were trying to be funny.

"I wasn't trying to be. I don't know what gave you the impression of me being comedic." I said in slight confusion.

She set her tea down before placing her hands together slowly. "Murasaki, my sweet Mura-chan." Mura-chan was her equivalent to 'damn brat' whenever she wanted to avoid causing issues while her husband and son were out of the house and the two of us were alone. "How about I do a character of my own then? Let's see if you like them then."

I raised my eyebrow slightly however, I did not refuse her proposal but instead listened intently. "I really like the name Keith Kogane you know, it really strikes me as a tragic hero type of name...rolls," she moved her hand in circles as if she were trying to think of something, "right off the tongue, doesn't it?"

My jaw suddenly locked up and my warm hand began to squeeze the tea cup enclosed in my long fingers as I tried to hide how she had already struck a nerve with me. "Must we-" I began to talk but Lillie cut me off without warning.

"This little boy grew up bouncing in and out of the foster care system, his shoulders are marked with the scars of his past and his eyes reflect the lost innocence within him. He was given a chance at life again with a new family, a family who had been struck with sadness after their recent miscarriage. They were happy, the boys emotions were finally able to run wild and thrive once more however, as he grew up with his sister, they ran into something we should call...a series of misfortunate events." Her smile became wide at the sight of my face.

I was frowning deeply now, biting my bottom lip in anger and the tea cup shook as I tried to restrain myself from hurling it into her perfect little face. "You have no right to speak about those events." My voice trembled and my lip throbbed in pain.

"Oh? Have I struck a nerve within my sweet baby angel?" She drew her words out slowly and mocked me with each syllable. She was enjoying my suffering as she watched across the table. "He betrayed his loving family and helped the other family, a richer family with more influence you might say, and eventually watched as his sisters life bled away from her. Now he's stuck with the richer family just so he can have a future, since he's back to being the poor little orphaned boy, but this time no one wants him anymore."

I winced in pain at the sound of a loud crack, the teacup had broken and a piece of the porcelain had embedded itself within my pale skin. I instinctively dropped the cup and began to favor my hand by holding it gently, my body hunched over and a single tear of frustration fell to mingle with the crimson liquid. A small cut was centered at the palm of my hand and a small line of liquid dripped from it and onto the hardwood floor allowing the silence between Mrs. Prescott and I to be shattered by a simple sploosh.

I heard Lillie get up from her seat and pull out a a small handkerchief with an 'L' embroidered into the corner of it. "Oh my Murasaki," she placed the cloth over the cut gently and crouched down to look up to me. Her caramel eyes full of fake motherly love as she gave a small smile. "I want you to know that even if you hadn't taken our little deal back then, you would've never been a hero to your family. There are no such thing as heros." Her eyes became sadistic as she squeezed my hand tightly, causing pain to erupt through my body and I let out a wail of pain as my eyes widened.

"There aren't happy endings, there are only tragedies."

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The wind ruffled my hair as I sat on the roof alone, my eyes fixated on the stars above and my body numb. It had been a long night and even a longer morning as the doctors worked to remove the bullets from Antonio's body and save him. It took sixteen hours for that and another three hours to fix up any organs that had been damaged by the 9mm shots. There was one lodged inside his right lung causing it to collapse almost instantly, another one in his left shoulder and the last one was in his spinal cord.

He was alive, but no one could say he was well speaking that he was in a room hooked up to various machines, some to monitor his vitals and others to keep him breathing. I placed my thumbnail between my teeth and began to think hard about everything that had been happening, there was no doubt about it, Pyxis was directly targeting me as if saying 'Hey, you gonna make your next move?'

She was mocking me, showing me that she was running the show. "Dammit." I closed my eyes and removed my hand from my face before gripping my loose jeans tightly with my fists. She's making a complete fool out of me and putting everyone I'm associated with in danger.

"That isn't a good word to use Mr. Kogane..." A small child's voice sounded as a door opened, its hinges creaking as if it hadn't been moved in a century.

My eyes slowly opened and I tried to calm myself down by loosening my grip on the jeans. "Kouki, aren't you supposed to be packing your things with Lance?" I asked, my voice on edge and my eyes locked onto my pale knuckles.

"He's just signing the papers right now...you know, the ones where he gets to foster me until they find me a suitable home." Kouki mumbled in annoyance as he slowly approached me from behind, "But that isn't the problem at hand is it?"

I slowly looked over my shoulder to lock eyes with the almond shaped brown ones looking down at me. My glasses had slid down my nose slightly so I was peering over the frames at the young kid. "You're right Kouki, the problem is that I can't get the hell out of this hospital to do my job."

"Don't be a hero Mr. Kogane," his brown eyes glowed slightly, he was standing there with his arms behind his back as he peered down at me, as if he were holding something behind him. "A hero always gets hurt during his fights, you've been hurt enough haven't you? I don't want to see you back in the hospital again..."

My breath got caught in my lungs as the two of us held a gaze. The wind blew his longer hair into his eyes for a brief moment before it settled down again, his eyes were like a cats eyes; they were bright and the gaze was like daggers digging a while into my skull. Something about the kid was very off putting; the way he got over his parent's death, the way he became well adjusted to living around Lance and I and the way he looked down at me as if I were a lamb to the slaughter felt too odd for a child of his age.

I didn't want to bring up his parents or the weird vibes I got from him so instead I slapped the back of my head and let out a small laugh. Kouki's brown eyes widened slightly and he took a small step back in surprise as I smiled up at him. "Kouki, there are no such thing as heroes. They're only people who try too hard to appease those around them."

"But there are heroes Mr. Kogane." Kouki insisted as he leaned down to get closer to my face, he gently nudged my thick glasses up slightly before he smiled softly, "They may not stand out to a person as damaged as you and I but even a commoner or a homeless person can be a hero. Those who grow from the pavement can hold as much potential if not more than someone from the soil. By growing from the cement, they've already gone through tougher trials than the others and they're able to grow into whatever they wish for from there. The runt in a litter of wolves could end up being the next alpha, a sickly child could become the best soldier, and a broken boy can become a city's best detective. You won't know unless you try to do the impossible."

There was a moment of silence as I tried to comprehend what this cat eyed, twelve year old child was trying to tell me. My hand fell down onto my lap and I lost my smile as I gazed down at the pavement beneath the two of us. I hadn't ever thought of it that way before, I had always been led to believe that people who had been through the hardest things weren't cut out to become anything else outside of a useless sack of meat. I found the tough times as gods way of telling me to give up and hand in my life to him on a silver platter with a side of what's left of my dignity.

"You're too smart for your own good kid, you know that right?" I scoffed slightly as I glanced up to look at him before slowly reaching my hand up. My palm hovered over the top of his fluffy blonde hair as I stared at him with uncertainty. To rub a child's head was a way of showing love or appreciation, it was something Jared had always done to me whenever I did a good job on something or whenever he felt proud of me. I didn't know if it were okay for me to touch Kouki like that so I began to retract my hand but he instead head bumped into it with a large smile.

"My teachers always tell me this Mr. Kogane, well that and that I'm also a smart ass." Kouki giggled in amusement as I slowly began to ruffle his head.

That moment was one of those times that people always talk about. The moment where you wished it would last an eternity, that feel good moment where everything seemed to fit perfectly together as if you were a puzzle that had finally been solved. Seeing an orphan, no a normal person, smile at me in happiness over a simple conversation reminded me of my old family and how they would always show kindness to me no matter what.

Slowly my smile faded and my hand came to stop. I watched as Kouki's eyes opened in confusion before I grabbed the cane next to me and slowly pushed myself to my feet, careful of my nearly healed stitches. Once I got to my feet I stared down at Kouki and nodded slightly, "You are indeed a smartass but you reminded me why I became a detective in the first place." Then I turned my gaze up to the sky and found myself looking at the stars in nostalgia, "I became a detective to save lives, not to cower in a hospital room for the rest of my life. I'm going to catch this killer and finally end this..." My gaze shifted down to the blonde child staring up at me with big eyes, "Save whatever you're holding behind your back for when I solve the case."

Kouki stared at me for a long moment before he nodded in agreement. "Do it for us Mr. Kogane."