characters aren't mine, cause i'm not that cool.

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Almost, he thinks. He really was closer than anyone less broken would have gotten to revenge, even if success would have been the only result that counted.

Blood red was her favorite color. He never told Michelle this, and only remembered it when he first killed a man and enjoyed it, a year after Tony Almeida died.

Core heat is never a problem in explosives; at least, when you mean to blow structures up.

Death is not peaceful, he knows. Peace would be Michelle and he, together, and she does not belong with the man he is now.

Endings always made Michelle cry; secretly, and very quietly, whether happy or sad.

Faith made the Almeida family Catholic, or maybe it was tradition. He stopped believing in God even before Michelle was murdered, though he wonders if Jack has faith, after everything.

George Mason surprised him. The way he looks at it now, no one could have seen it coming; the coward dies a hero, and Tony Almeida becomes someone he cannot see as real.

Henderson. He stopped hating him when he knew he was dead, though he almost hates Jack for taking the chance from him.

Innocence is only fleeting, and the only person he's ever known to truly have it was his little sister.

Just make them pay, he promises himself – but he doesn't think Michelle would have approved.

Killing is easy, after he can find no value to set on life.

Loving Michelle Dessler was the only action that Tony was given no choice in. It was impossible to stop, and even now he does not regret it.

Make a bomb; detonate it. Watch the ripples flow outwards until you can manipulate the situation to your advantage.

Never promise you will save someone. He knows not to do this because Jack does, and everytime it makes him a liar.

Olaf was the name they'd joke about naming their son. Only when they'd had a quarrel and the best way to make up was to laugh, because they'd both agreed that his name would be William Jackson Almeida.

Pull your wife's body from a car in flames. Then try not to wake up in a cold sweat every night. Try to sleep.

Quiet was how Tony was described in high school. Some people thought he was shy, but Tony was mostly just bored with teenagers.

Racing against time is something he has done for a living. He never thought that retiring from it was not a possibility until he tried to get to Michelle's body at the speed of light and couldn't.

Save me, she whispered, once. In his nightmares, because Michelle had been the one who saved him.

Talent was what Nina had had. She never missed a chance to illustrate this.

Unwinding; what happens when you no longer know who you are. This is when you do not care how many planes collide, or how many innocent people die.

Victory is a word Tony no longer knows how to define, but it could be the flipside of revenge.

Willing himself to become a killer isn't difficult. What's difficult is how he can't remember the person he once was.

Xeroxing his life would be impossible for anyone, because no one could copy the feeling of loss he knows so well.

Younger than him, Michelle somehow always managed to seem decades wiser.

Zenith always reminded him of rising, and Tony always wondered what it would have been like to really die; if it would have been better than this anger.

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not perfect by any means, or even that great. thought i'd post it, even though it's a bit old. criticism and feedback appreciated and loved.

hermy.