I know this scene has been done to death (no pun intended...okay, maybe a little intended). Still I wanted to present my own version. This combines both comic and movie. The lines are from the movie (because I like the movie version of his death better than the comic version), but it mentions stuff that only shows up in the comic. Both of these chapters are pretty short. Anyway, enjoy!
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"Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon. That has always been the difference between us, Daniel."
I looked at him, waiting for him to say something. Waiting for him to join me. I silently begged him to come with me. To help me tell the world what Veidt had done. Please don't desert me again, Daniel. I knew he couldn't see the pleading in my eyes, but I still hoped he would somehow feel it and follow. But he didn't. He just stood there staring sadly at me. Disappointed, I adjusted my collar and walked out into the snow.
I hadn't gotten very far when I saw Dr. Manhattan, standing between me and the Owlship. I felt my body tense up. I couldn't stand to look at him. He was just as bad as Veidt! He could have stop it, but he didn't! He let this happen! He let those people die! True, there were scum among them, but most of them were innocent! Men. Women. Children!
"Out of my way. People have to be told."
They have to know what monsters you are!
"You know I can't let you do that."
He allowed children to die! Veidt killed children and this...man let him do it!
"Suddenly you discovered humanity?" CHILDREN! "Convenient."
I saw him momentarily look behind me and I knew Daniel was there. I didn't want him to see what going to happen, but I couldn't bring myself to send him back inside. Daniel didn't know what was coming, but I knew. I knew I was never making it back to New York. But I was going to leave on my terms. I removed my hat and face. I wanted the blue man to see the real me. I wanted Manhattan to see who he was going to kill.
"If you cared from the start, none of this would have happened."
He looked at me for a few moments with those emotionless glowing eyes. Though for a moment, they didn't seem so emotionless. I could have sworn I saw sadness. I wondered what caused this sudden emotion in this cold being. Not that it mattered. It changed nothing. It wasn't going to bring back those lives. And it wasn't going to save mine.
"I can change almost anything, but I can't change human nature."
"Of course, you must protect Veidt's new Utopia. What's one more body amongst foundations?"
Forgive me, Daniel. I can't live in this new world of yours. The new world that you agreed to.
I couldn't live in a world where killing children was accepted. I remembered the face of Mrs. Shairp's little boy as he looked up at me. Tears and snot were running down his terrified face. It reminded me of me whenever my mother was in a bad mood. He and his siblings didn't deserve to die. Not even their whore of a mother deserved to die like that.
Faces came to my mind. Not only the faces of Mrs. Shairp's children, but the other children in my building. The children who ran around my neighborhood. The boy who sat, day after day, at the newspaper stand reading his pirate comic. All of them, and so many more, wiped out in a heartbeat. I felt tears coming to my eyes.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" I felt my heart rate go up. Even though I wanted this, even though I had never feared death during all those years of fighting criminals, I could feel the fear now. But I couldn't back down now. I couldn't go on living when millions were dead. Millions that I couldn't save. I couldn't save even one life. Just like Blaire Roche. I felt my throat clench. "Do it."
I watched a subtle change come over his face. No! Don't you dare pity me! You didn't pity the millions of people you helped kill! You didn't pity the children who died today! So don't you pity me!
"DO IT!"
I saw him raise his hand. I should have sent Daniel back inside. I should have somehow spared him this. In that moment before the pain, one last thought raced through my head.
Goodbye, my friend.