"Was it worth it?"

Akin to the walls of his prison, the voice was stony. Devoid of any emotion, it asked the very question plaguing his mind for the last few months. As the rain beat down on the sole window frame, rusting the bars that helped keep him captive, he listened to the guards' steady breaths. That alone sustained his sanity, provided him some truth even when his shaken conscience could not.

It wasn't the morbid interior of his prison or the chakra restraints that kept him from leaving. No, it was the memory embedded into his mind. It was that light that shunned away his dark intentions. That multi-colored illumination awed him. He was no longer a child. His innocence had been taken away from him. Yet he couldn't help but be amazed. Despite all he had done to crush them, they still rejoiced. In spite of all the deaths, their jubilancy remained untarnished.

Sasuke stared into the impenetrable darkness.

While he sat there engulfed in self-pity with decades of tragedy and mayhem on his shoulders, they celebrated.

Had he left no one scarred?

Did his legacy stop here? Would his clan fade into a mere memory?

If so, what had been the point of it all?

Self-destruction? Revenge?

"You shouldn't talk to him," someone hissed.

"It won't do any harm," she replied. She, the empathetic one, the person that tormented him with her bitter inquiries for the last month finally faced him. Even in the dark he could feel her gaze on him. "Tell me, Uchiha san, was it worth it?" In that one soft sentence, he could hear one hundred questions at once.

Was your revenge worth all those innocent lives sacrificed?

Was it worth your captivity?

Was it worth losing your old allies?

As lightning struck, Sasuke saw what he had done amounted to. The eyes of a once pure soul stared at him, promise drawn into the depths. It was a promise of unwavering pity, a kindness that smothered the avenger.

In the unpleasantness of the chamber, she had been the harsh glare that broke through his delusions all the while being a small, frail light that warmed his cold heart. Flawlessly, she represented everything that idiot stood for.

As the darkness overtook him again, he couldn't help but wish that the tears she suppressed had been for him alone.

000-

A very simple, non-complex one shot. I am proud of myself. Please review.

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Please check out my other SasuHina story, "HushHush".