The ending is abrupt, I'm well aware of that and I don't actually care so much. (grins) I find it easier to write shorter chapters as time goes by, it doesn't make the writing seem like a chore at all, and you know that you're close to losing it when writing feels like nothing else but a chore. However, I haven't quite hit this stage just yet, but...you know, I can see it happening sometime soon. Which means that if I don't stop writing fanfics, I will at least be on a hiatus until my health starts picking up again. Thanks for all the support. You guys mean a lot to me, whether you merely read, or whether you read and review afterwards.


Chapter 9

There's a lot to be said for emotion, and there's a lot to be said for being human. There's so much that we want to achieve, and there's so many dreams that we wish to see come alive. I know now that my dream will never be realized. Mother is gone, so is Father and they shunned me by giving me another chance at life, another chance to become something as great as my brother is reputed to be.

I wonder, whether they saw what this girl obviously sees. I know her, yes, I remember I saw her several times. She was unimportant to me, she was a human and therefore wasn't worth the ground I walked upon. A worthless product of love.

I used to think that love was a worthless thing as well. But having said that, isn't it love that motivated me to do everything I did? I joined Mundus willingly, I sought to break Sparda's seal and claim his power as my own. Love made me do it. Love corrupted me and brought my soul to darkness.

I should have known better.

I should have grasped reality instead of turn aside, content to follow my own dreams that would lead me to destruction. My parents have given me another chance at life, yet I am terrified that the same thing will happen again.

Seeing this woman's face, this being who's name I never heard, it makes me feel all the more fearful. It makes me wonder whether my parents really made the right choice. They should have let me die. I might not be the stuff that angels are made of, but I would not be terrorizing anyone.

She remembers me, I know she remembers me, I can see it in her eyes, that she remembers me, that she remembers everything I did, that I was the one responsible for erecting the Temen-ni-gru.

'You…' she gasps. Her voice is older, everything about her shows the human tragedy of age. The human tragedy that my mother passed down to my brother and I at birth. Perhaps it isn't so much of a tragedy as it is a gift. To age, to wither, to die. To be free from all the sorrow that the world holds. To be let free at the end. To live forever, that seems to be the true tragedy. I have often wondered, why Arkham, this girl's father, ever craved such a thing.

'You…' she says again, and I can hear the rage building in her voice. 'You're meant to be dead!'

'Perhaps I am dead, but in a way you do not recognize or understand.' I don't know why I say it, but I do, and there is no taking back words once they have been spoken. They have already made their little impact, they have already made a dent, and could very well be written down in history. Just because things are not always heard, it doesn't mean they were not spoken. I need to stop thinking so much. I try and focus my mind, I try and focus on what is happening.

This all feels so surreal. I do not remember the last time a full-blooded human spoke to me.

'Dante killed you! He told me he killed you!'

'And he very nearly told you the truth,' I sigh. Strange, am I protecting my brother's honour? 'He very nearly killed me, but somehow, I survived. I am not sure how. I think I would rather not remember and leave it all in the past.'

She lowers her gun and frowns at me deeply. I only now notice the faint scar marring the bridge of her nose. I turn my eyes away from her and into the cloudy sky, shivering slightly in the cold. I curse myself, the cold bothers me whereas it never used to. How weak I have become!

'Someone's changed,' she mutters, sounding bitter. 'I'm not sure it's for the better.' I say nothing to this for quite a while, but my eyes flick back to her face, taking in her features.

'I need your…help.' I choke on the word. I have never asked for help before. Even Arkham willingly gave me his services, never taking no for an answer, so desperate was he. This woman is right, I have changed. My dreams are dead, my power is non-existent, and I have no will for power. I know now, that nothing can bring back what has been lost.

'My help?' She looks stunned at the fact that I have even dared to ask for such a thing. 'You want me to help you?'

'Yes. To get off this island.'

'Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just leave you here to rot and die?' Her voice drips with acid, her hate for me is obvious. The only one who really has a reason to hate me is Dante. This woman is nothing to me, and will always be nothing to me. Yet right now, even though she is nothing, I need her.

'I can give you two good reasons. The first reason is because Dante would never forgive you if he were to find out that you left his brother on Mallet Island. Yes, despite everything we put each other through, he is loyal to his family, no matter what.' I see that she is nodding in agreement. She has seen something that I haven't, and it pains me that I feel envious of her. She knows my brother better than I do in some respects.

'What's the second reason?'

'Because…' I hesitate, unsure whether I want to tell her such a thing, this stranger who's name I do not even know. 'Because…I want to go home.'