A/N: Two fics for this ep, because it tore my heart out.
Karen thinks he's not a monster. She's a sweet girl, pretty hair and eyes. Thinks she's tough.
He doesn't. Sure, there's a layer of steel behind the delicate features, but she doesn't know the world like he does.
Nobody knows the world quite like he does.
If the righteous devil had a point at all—and damn it, Frank doesn't believe he did—it's that the killing makes things different.
Frank won't call it worse. Won't say it weighs on him. Won't say he's sorry for it. But it puts a distance, every pull of that trigger, every crack of a vital bone—it puts a distance between things.
Between him, and them.
He's grateful, shamelessly grateful, that Karen brought the picture in. He remembered every second, every horrible second, but somehow the before was all going blurry. It was terrifying, and it made him put a few bullets extra into the last mobster he killed, wanting clarity if nothing else.
Karen brought the picture, but she couldn't bring their voices. Couldn't bring them back.
He's a damn fool for thinking Karen might be right, even for a second. He's a monster, because he has to be.
This is the People against Frank Castle, and he is on trial for his life. But it doesn't mean anything, because he doesn't have a life, not anymore. The people will not forgive him, and they can never give him what he wants.
Plead guilty, plead innocent, open up the sky and rain down blood—it isn't going to bring them back.
He's been offered a deal by a hard, cruel man.
A hard, cruel man will take it.