Chapter Text
Cecilia exhaled softly as she looked over the horizon in the city of Atreno. The sun arose over the skyscrapers, dragging behind it the explosive colors of day to brighten the sky, erasing the night. These days, she wakes up earlier just to watch the sunrise.
She’d been released from the psychiatric ward not too long ago. Afterwards she had her court dates and was convicted. Thankfully, they let her out on probation with the condition of seeing a therapist at least once a month. These days, she feels much better. Occasionally she’ll reminisce about the days of Miss Heed..but, she figures there’s no reason to dwell on it. She can’t change the past, so all she’s left with is the memories of pink blurs and the overwhelming smell of perfume. If she could change anything, she’d have stayed on the path of villainy.
But now she was neither. Not a hero,not a villain, just a normal citizen. She couldn’t say that didn’t miss being in the limelight. But maybe it was worth it instead to be spotlighted by the rising sun on the balcony of her small little apartment.
Speaking of the rising sun, it was already above the smaller buildings. That was her cue to get ready for work. She hummed as she took one last look before going back inside, shutting the balcony door behind her. She lived in a small one bedroom apartment, the walls were a stark contrast white from her pink walls from before, but she thought it charming nonetheless. She walked into her bedroom and opened up her closet, taking out a white button up, dark brown pants, and soft pink sweater.
She had millions still in her bank that she could use to support her living, but her therapist suggested that instead of trying to be who she used to be, she should start from the ground up and build herself back up. While they didn’t exactly tell Cecilia to not use her money, she took the advice to heart and applied it as best as she could. There was no way she could return back to who she was in high school and she was working hard to paint over the Miss Heed portion of her life. So she figured the first step was to get a normal job.
She got dressed in the bathroom, taking a look at herself in the mirror. Her hair was now a fading pink, it was already returning to its natural brown. As much as she’s okay with her brown hair, she thinks she’ll dye it pink again, maybe a less vibrant color. Looking down to the counter, she saw a jar of pink face paint.
Cecilia picked up the jar and unscrewed the top. She dipped her finger into it and on her cheeks, right below her eyes, she drew two pink little hearts. For a moment she stared at herself in the mirror. “This is me huh?” She thought before closing the jar and washing the paint off her hands. Cecilia left the restroom and grabbed her work bag, already packed with her lunch, charger, and earbuds. She put on her shoes and soon she was out the door.
Time for work.
~~
In the morning, there weren’t many people on the street. Just the occasional jogger and people walking their dogs. There was also the clean up team hired by P.E.A.C.E. During the time where Cecilia was taken under custody, they’d hired a whole clean up team, wiping away the statues that’d been built for her and painting over the billboards that’d once had her face plastered all over it. They pretty much completely wipe the entire city of her presence.
At first, she’d been very upset about it. She remembered ranting to her therapist, saying she’d storm up to P.E.A.C.E.’s headquarters and demand they halt their erasure of her. But after she got all of the anger out..it was mostly just a mix of sadness, grief, and a whole lotta upset at the fact that people really seemed to hate her that much..so much so that they wanted to completely erase every trace of her.
But now? Well, it was probably done for PR. Of course they didn’t want an entire city plastered with the face of a convicted hero. So that was understandable. Her self worth didn’t have to be tied to the face of the superheroine she used to be. She was more than that.
Cecilia walked down the road, taking a deep breath of the fresh morning air. The clean up crew had been doing such a good job, even wiping the walls of graffiti and somehow clearing up the air of the smog that so frequently made it hard to breathe here.
Eventually, she made her way to a large library near the center of the city. With a smile, she pushed open the doors and made her way to the backroom to clock in for work and put her lunch in the refrigerator. Settled in finally, she took her seat at the front desk near the entrance. No one was here yet. Actually, barely any people came, maybe two or three a day. Which was alright for Cecilia.
On the side of the desk was a book she’d started not too long ago. It was a romance book with every cliche in the book, cheesy and packed with melodrama and awful tropes. But, regrettably she had to admit that she really enjoyed it. It had a decent storyline and some of the lines that were trying to be romantic were just so ridiculous she couldn’t help but laugh. Maybe not the best romantic drama, it was much more of a comedic mess for her.
Cecilia cracked it open and began to read, passing the following hours by. Occasionally she’d check the database and open the return box, scanning them and marking them as turned in or sending out emails about overdue books..Mundane things, really. She’d say hi to the custodians as they came by to clean the front. She was good friends with some of them. Eventually, eight am passed over to nine, then eleven, and it was somehow already twelve. She stood up from her seat and stretched. Goodness, the time did pass fast.
Yet, in the time it’d taken for it to reach her lunch break, not one person came in. She sighed, really..not one person. Ah well, she straightened her sweater before tucking it back into her pants. Even if no one was here, she should still look as tidy as she possibly can. Cecilia hummed as she made her way back into the break room.
She was the only one on the clock today, not even her supervisor was here. A bit odd but, well it’s not surprising. She opened the fridge and took out her lunch. It was just a simple salad and some bread, orange juice as her drink. She was about to eat when-
“MNGH!!”
What was that??
“MNGH MNN!!”
Cecilia stood up, her lunch now left forgotten. She waited for the noise to reoccur.
“MMM!!”
She made her way to the source of the noise, it was coming from the cabinet nearby the fridge. Her breath began to hitch as another noise exuded from the cabinet. She opened one of the nearby drawers and took out a butter knife. It wouldn't do much but it’d do.
Cecilia reached towards the cabinet, and in a rush, she flung it open, pointing the butter knife at whatever was behind it.
“K-Kenny??”
What was her highschool friend doing in such a precarious and impossible position in her work cabinet!?