BOOK 1: KINGSGLAIVE

CHAPTER 11 – THE GENERAL AND THE HERO

Traversing the deserted highway was easy enough, Libertus thought. However, when they emerged from a long tunnel which led them to the industrial district, they could see the giant daemons ravaging the buildings.

During the last skirmish the empire had let loose an abomination which still made Libertus' skin crawl when remembering it. Now they were many of them, like in a fever dream, all wandering through the fire and collapsed buildings, as if they didn't have a specific target. Despite their vaguely humanoid appearance, they weren't more intelligent than the basest beast, for the depraved mind which had created them did so with destruction and death as their sole purpose.

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The barrage of missiles had interrupted the duel, at least for the moment. Warping away from the monsters' heavy firing, Nyx tried to take refuge inside a derelict building, but one of the projectiles exploded near him, throwing him inside. Drautos arrived shortly after, landing securely thanks to the propellers on his boots.

"What can you hope to do?" he asked Nyx as he strode confidently towards him. "One man against an Empire. Against the daemons. How will you save Insomnia with no Wall to protect you?"

"You've got it all wrong," Nyx smirked as he got up. "I'm not fighting to save Insomnia."

A giant daemon approached the building to Nyx's right. It was now or never.

He raised his left hand, a crimson light flooding out of him. The ground rumbled, and Drautos heard in the distance roaring war cries.

The statues of the Kings of Old weren't mere ornaments: They formed the Ancestral Wall, the last line of defense against the invaders; effigies that would be inhabited by the King's souls in times of dire need. All around the city, those statues came to life, in many cases, tearing down the buildings humans had erected around them.

Nyx saw a flash of blue light to his right. The Founder King warped outside the building before the giant daemon reached it and, with a movement of his greatsword, King Somnus cleaved the structure in two, separating the two human warriors and giving Nyx the upper hand.

For all of Drautos' strength, Nyx always relied on stealth and speed, and fighting in a collapsing building was the perfect battleground for him.

Drautos tried keeping his balance on the collapsing building. Seeing that his adversary had his guard down, Nyx ran to the quickly expanding chasm and threw his kukri, warping into the other half. Before his feet touched the other side he launched a fireball which hit the crouching Captain. Using the fire and the smoke as a screen, he slashed with his kukri, but the blade already met the greatsword with a metallic clang. Drautos was now on his feet, slashing horizontally and then vertically. Until that moment Nyx could only stall the General, but he thought he could see a pattern already.

They locked weapons again and, when Drautos led his sword to the right, doing a spinning attack, Nyx crouched, waiting for the greatsword to pass above his head. Once he fully spun around, Drautos left an opening on his left, which Nyx used to finally stab him on that arm. However, he hadn't counted on the armor's durability, and Drautos back handed him with enough strength to launch him thirty feet away.

The building was falling to the side, and the floor tilted until it was almost vertical. Drautos jumped using his powered boots and Nyx, who had to nail his kukri to the ground so as not to fall to the void, warped after him.

He caught the Captain free falling near the side of a crystal skyscraper. Tackling him, Nyx caught the armor by the shoulders and shoved Drautos against the windows as they both fell down. Crystal flew in every direction until the Captain used the building as leverage to jump away, landing heavily at the top of a smaller tower. Running along the edge of the roof to gain momentum, he jumped, this time landing on the shoulder of one of the giant armors, where he had seen the telltale blue flash of a warping spell.

Jumping as he lifted his greatsword, his steel clanged against a magic barrier. Nyx dispelled it just as Drautos reeled from his own attack, but the greatsword parried his smaller blade and slashed at him. Nyx could only step back and let himself fall on his back to avoid the sword.

The statue they had landed in was that of The Oracle, a king of Lucis who had seen the Oracle of his time perish, and wielded her trident until a successor could be named. Sensing that one of the warships powered up his cannon to fire at the city again, The Oracle threw his weapon and warped towards it, leaving the two warriors to plummet to the void.

As they fell, Drautos tried to slash at Nyx, but the younger man warped away just before the nearest warship fired, and the Captain took the impact full. The buildings behind him exploded in a cloud of fire and black smoke, and the ground shook as with an earthquake.

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Inside the Empire's flagship, Iedolas sat silently at the chair of command, while Ardyn looked at the ongoing battle through the screens.

"So this is the power of the Old Wall," he wondered. "Marvelous! Truly marvelous!"

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Warping blindly, Nyx found himself free falling once his energy was depleted. He landed heavily on something metallic, and instinctively cleaved at it to stop himself from sliding down. Looking up, he saw it was the Founder King. The giant armor was running towards the warships, crashing into skyscrapers as he launched his sword towards the enemy, warping to the deck of one of the dreadnoughts and carrying Nyx with him. Using the statue's momentum's, Nyx jumped to the ship and ran as fast as he could: he had seen the reddish glow of Drautos' armor at the other side.

When both men clashed, Nyx met Drautos' sword with a lightning bolt which threw the armored man overboard. The glaive jumped behind him to catch him airborne, and a falling piece of concrete served, for a split second, as an improvised battleground. Again, steel met lightning, and Nyx measured his nimbleness with his adversary's raw strength.

At the same time, the King nicknamed "The Fierce" due to his brutality in the battlefield, fought head to head against one of the giant daemons. A warship shot him square in the chest. However, when the flames dissipated, The Fierce got up with a roar of fury and threw his giant club at the dreadnought. Warping on top of it, and despite the hole on his chest, he began ravaging the ship, tearing it apart in midair, and at the cost of his own arm.

After their fall, Nyx and Drautos landed atop another dreadnought.

"Why'd you do it?" Nyx screamed at him.

"Lucis. Niflheim. It isn't who we fight for that matters, only what. We fight for our homes. That is where our allegiance lies."

Something else landed on top of the warship, nearly throwing both men out of balance. It was The Fierce which, even one-armed, kept honoring his moniker and who now tried to climb onto the warship's deck.

At the same time, more dreadnoughts arrived with more giant daemons. The Rogue, the only Queen to sit on the Lucis throne, noticed it too. She threw her giant shuriken at one of the daemons, perching on its shoulders and slashing at its face, trying also to reach the cords holding it in place. The beast, maddened with pain, retaliated firing its missiles, severing the cords binding it and hitting many of the ships carrying it. Falling, the beast landed heavily on top of the same dreadnought the fierce had reached, and the King of Yore readied for combat.

Somnus warped towards another giant daemon, this time aiming to the bright red light on the chest of the abomination, making it explode with magitek energy.

The Fierce clambered to the deck, his only arm aiming to squash Drautos, who jumped away, and came to land on the daemon's chest. Nyx warped to land on the pursuing statue, knowing it would take him to the Captain.

Drautos saw how the giant fist reeled back and launched a punch, but he had another enemy. He jumped to meet Nyx in mid-air and they clashed yet again as The Fierce punched the daemon, breaking the armor plate on its head. They came to land on the daemon's shoulder as it was thrown out of the ship, landing on another dreadnought, and clambering into it as the ship fell.

Nyx stepped back as Drautos slashed downwards, then leaped to stab at his helmet, but the Captain was fast with his greatsword and, as he parried, he landed a kick on Nyx's stomach, sending him tumbling backwards. Drautos tried using that moment to jump with his powered boots, his sword's tip trained downwards. Nyx dodged just in time, to only feel the sparks of the greatsword slashing at the daemon's shell. But it wasn't just the Captain's sword what Nyx avoided when he warped away: Drautos looked upwards when he heard a roar, to see The Fierce falling from the ship they had been before, still pursuing the daemon.

The statue grabbed at the daemon, dragging the beast with it and both fell among the already dilapidated buildings. Before he could be caught under the statue, Nyx warped, lading safely on the ground as The Fierce hit the ground, making it shake violently.

The dreadnoughts, now aflame, nosedived onto the skyscrapers as the other statues fought against the remaining daemons among a sea of flames.

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Emperor Aldercapt kept close tabs with the battle below, or so it seemed. His head was aimed at the screen in front of him, but his eyes were unfocussed and lost in the distance.

"Oh, such a pitiable waste!" Ardyn lamented aloud. "All those beautiful city streets, all laid to unsightly ruin."

"I will return to Niflheim," the Emperor ordered all of a sudden, as if he hadn't been listening to anything his Chancellor had said to that point.

"So soon?"

"The Crystal is ours," he said curtly, and then his mouth curled in a grimace of disgust. "Finish this, and see the daemons disposed of."

"As you command," Ardyn said, bowing deeply.

The emperor could still hear him murmuring as he went away: "Such a pitiable waste…"

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Drautos' armor was a marvel of imperial technology. Bestowed with regenerative properties, it allowed its wearer to face many deathly situations without letting its owner suffer a single scratch. It had never failed him, and not even fighting among all the heavy firing of the dreadnoughts and the power of the Old Wall had diminished its properties.

However, being shot point-blank by a dreadnought's cannon twice and falling from the height of a skyscraper yet again had, by necessity, to have some consequences. Drautos jolted back to consciousness thanks to the device pumping adrenaline on his system. He felt an almost overwhelming dizziness, and the overheating helmet and cuirass threatened to burn his skin. His greatsword was still on his hands, thankfully. With a grunt, he used it as a cane to get on his feet. The armor would cool down in a few minutes, but he had to keep going, no matter what. He knew there would no place for a murderer like him amongst his fellow countrymen, but he had to keep fighting for them, for their freedom. He repeated himself that mantra, as he had been doing during those long ten odd years, whenever his will threatened to fail him.

If only he could stand on his feet once more…

With a push from his arms he got laboriously on his knees. Suddenly his body seemed to weight twice as normal: the armor hadn't recovered yet. There was a flash of blue light out of his range of vision, then a jolt of lightning shook him and sent him tumbling backwards, to a hollow formed by the ruins of a fallen building. Nyx stood now where Drautos had been, in an upper level overlooking the rubble below.

"How could you serve the Empire?" Nyx screamed at him. His eyes glowed unnaturally, not so much from the fire burning around them, as from the power of the Kings consuming him. That same power manifested on the glowing veins coursing through his left hand and reaching his left cheek. "After everything they did!"

The lightning bolt had broken through the overheated armor, splitting the helmet in two and disintegrating part of the upper right plate. Drautos felt the air on his now partially bared face, a respite from the sweltering heat he had suffered moments before. Such were the damages to his armor that its metal didn't regenerate, but at least it had recovered its healing functions.

"I do not fault them for taking what was given," he said, getting on his feet, his voice nearly normal again, now that half his face was visible. "I fault the man who gave it. The man who cowered behind his Wall and abandoned us to save his throne and his son. Give me the Ring, and our homes will be free again. The empire has promised it!"

"I don't see much of a future on the other side of that promise."

"Don't be a fool. Save your friends. Give your dead sister peace. What do you fight for if not that?"

That was a low blow. Drautos had been his mentor from the day he had arrived at Insomnia and applied for the Kingsglaive. Though very demanding and tough, all the glaives shared a deep respect for the Captain, a foreigner who had also lost his home and gods knew what more, yet had attained the highest honor inside the Insomnian Army. Unforthcoming and unforgiving towards failure, still he would have words of encouragement and wisdom for his subordinates when needed.

Drautos had known about Nyx's family from the day the young man joined the Kingsglaive, and it had been that moment when the Captain decided to tame the raw fury Nyx oozed. But several weeks of training had to go by for Nyx to finally open up and give the Captain a first-hand account of the events.

The fact Drautos had betrayed his loyalty was something Nyx could never forgive, moreover when Crowe's face flashed before him. She had trusted the Captain, and she had been a good friend to Nyx. So had been Pelna. So was Libertus.

But he had used that loyalty and twisted it to betray them all. He remembered how Drautos prodded him that morning before he met the Princess. Nyx thought the Captain had done it out of duty, to see how much dissenting existed among the Kingsglaive ranks. However, he was only testing him, seeing if he could drag him to his side.

Now Nyx could see the Captain as he was: a formidable and brutal warrior, but also a dangerously astute and silver-tongued manipulator. The mask had slipped, and now the real Titus Drautos stood before him, tall and proud: his formerly deadpan expression was no more, and his dark-blue eyes shone with ferocious blood-lust as his lips curled in a confident, broad smile.

Drautos had a keen eye to spot others' weaknesses, both in the battlefield and outside of it, to then exploit them without mercy. He had turned the glaives, one by one, against their king and against their own comrades, and only the Six knew which poisonous words he had seeped into Libertus' mind to make him, of all people, work with terrorists.

Baring his fangs, Nyx leaped from his vantage point. He warped towards the Captain, dodging by millimeters the sword which was already waiting for his neck. He warped again, this time at some distance behind Drautos and, as he fell, spinning, to the ground, he launched a fireball that engulfed the armored man in a cloud of smoke. Nyx hit heavily the floor; he knew he would be exposed when he tried getting up next, but he expected the fire to reach the unprotected parts and, at least, slow the man down.

From the cloud of smoke something appeared. It wasn't Drautos, but something a bit smaller and much thinner which came, spinning, towards him. Only when it hit squarely on his chest with a metallic clang he realized it was Drautos' greatsword. Its wielder appeared a second later, grabbing it mid-air and slashing downwards, this time trapping Nyx's left arm under it.

The magic fire had heated the blade, and Nyx screamed as his arm caught fire. Drautos seized him by the collar, propping him up and exposing his throat. The glaive used that moment to shove the grabbing hand away and reach for his fallen kukri some paces away, warping out of the Captain's reach.

Blind with pain, he could only roll away and try to stagger to his feet, but he remained there, half kneeling. His left arm, now devoid of clothing, was of an ashen color broken by orange veins, as the power of the Lucii burned inside him.

His strength failed him in the end, and he fell to the ground, gazing helplessly as Drautos got to his feet. The Captain slowly strode towards him, as if to deliver the coup de grace. However, the armored man saw that, defiant as Nyx's eyes still were, the power of the Kings' was slowly draining his life force. As things were, the glaive didn't have much time left.

Drautos lowered his blade and, instead of killing Nyx, he turned away: His former pupil didn't have the Ring, and wouldn't pose a threat to his mission anymore.

Nyx was already out of energy and out of breath, and he could only watch as his Captain leaped away and disappeared into the fire and smoke. He knew where Drautos had gone, and prayed to the Kings for a last miracle.

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Driving a car at full speed while imperial warships exploded and crashed around them, and having to swerve several times to avoid the falling debris, wasn't Libertus' idea of an ideal escape, but so far no one had taken notice of them.

A humanoid armored figure landed at some distance in front of them. Drautos.

Instead of swerving to avoid him, Libertus stepped on the gas. The Captain hit it with a thud as the car sped forward, but he had gotten a firm hold of the front and tried to stop the vehicle, planting his feet firmly on the ground and making two deep tracks on the tarmac as he was pushed forward. With a titanic effort, the Captain lifted the upper part of the car, enough for it to loose traction and speed.

He then jumped to the copilot door and his arm smashed through window, trying to reach Luna. Libertus yanked her to the pilot seat as he perched outside the car, trying to reach Drautos over the roof. With a leap, he stuck Nyx's kukri on the Captain's right shoulder, but the armor had recovered its regenerating properties and the weapon sank into the liquid metal. The Captain grabbed Libertus' head and tried to wrestle him off the car's roof, when the glaive screamed to the Princess. She swerved towards the nearby wall, crushing Drautos in between.

A blue-white flash shone at one side of the highway: The Founder King's statue had seen Drautos.

The giant statue, with a deft flicker of its wrist, traced an arc with its sword between the car and the wall, dislodging Drautos and leaving him lying on the ground, momentarily unconscious. Luna stepped even further on the gas, and the car flew over a gap on the road. They landed with a bump, and Libertus fell off the roof.

There was a moment of silence as both tried catching their breath.

Libertus barely felt the pain on his leg anymore. Maybe this was what he needed, more than the painkillers, he thought as he got to his feet.

"You're all right?" he asked the Princess, who was already leaving the pilot seat to make room for him.

Before getting in the car again, Libertus threw one last glance towards the statue of the Founder King, now facing one of the giant daemons. Nyx was on its shoulder, crouching like a stalking coeurl, purple scarf fluttering in the wind, as each time they were waiting for a combat to start.

"I'll be waiting for you, hero," Libertus murmured, trying to push away his own fears.

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Pursuing Drautos, Nyx had warped to the Founder King's shoulder. The Captain stood atop the beast, sword in hand, waiting for Nyx. Despite the smoke and the fire, the glaive noticed a change in the light: to the East the clouds parted, giving way to the incoming dawn.

"What of your Kings' power now?" Drautos taunted. "They've given you a burden you cannot hope to bear. I told you before. Just wanting doesn't win wars."

Nyx didn't listen. His hand was already turning to ash as dawn approached. Throwing his kukri in the air and catching it, blade downwards, he steeled himself for the last assault.

The giant daemon's shoulders slowly opened to fire away. Nyx sunk his kukri into the statue, as a signal to attack and, Somnus' effigy cleaved at the daemon, interrupting the attack. The sword broke, and Somnus reared back his fist to deliver a punch. As the gauntlet passed in front of the giant helmet, Nyx leaped on top of it to get close to Drautos, who jumped just in time to meet his adversary in mid-air.

The Captain didn't have enough leverage, though, and his downward slash was stopped by Nyx's blade. They were locked as they fell, spinning, to the void. Nyx wrestled with him, being aerial combat the only place he could have the upper hand. Around them, the giant daemon bashed the Founder King, who answered tackling at it and smashing it against a skyscraper, sending the whole building crashing down.

They landed on one of the helmet's horns. Drautos lunged towards Nyx, tackling him and sending the two men to the statue's shoulder. The Captain landed on his feet, but Nyx was quick enough to meet the greatsword with a shield spell; however, Drautos' strength was enough to off-balance him for a moment. Nyx moved his feet and regained his equilibrium to block two more blows before jumping back to the statue's arm. Drautos pursued him, but Nyx dodged another downward slash before warping at the Captain's back, who spun around, as if anticipating already that movement. Drautos cleaved at him again, but instead of warping, Nyx dodged, parrying with his kukri and scrambling backwards. Expecting him to get on his feet, Drautos spun around, slashing horizontally to the right and to the left, but Nyx dodged again and warped a few feet away. The Captain leaped forward, bringing his greatsword down. There they locked blades for a moment, until Nyx kicked him in the chest. Drautos reeled but a moment, before delivering an upwards slash which Nyx parried. He then brought his sword down, and Nyx blasted him with a lightning bolt which sent him tumbling backwards.

Nyx tried surprising him, carrying the kukri on his left hand, but Drautos was quickly on his feet and slashed horizontally. Using his momentum, Nyx slid under the sword and was at the Captain's back, who didn't stop his blade and carried it all the way around to make a full spin. Nyx had swapped his blade from his left to his right hand then, and parried while covering his own head. Drautos reeled but a second, though it was enough to leave an opening that Nyx used to punch him in the face with the hand wielding the kukri. Then he tackled the Captain with his shoulder, sending them both falling down.

They wrestled again in mid-air, Nyx spinning his kukri to a downwards grip and stabbing, as hard as he could, at the armor plate. Drautos grabbed his wrists and kicked him hard, sending him far from him. The two men fell and were lost in a cloud of black smoke.

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The one-time majestic city of Insomnia lain in ruins and silence. Unchecked fires kept erupting among the ruined buildings and the smoke mixed with the morning's fog to envelop the metropolis in death shroud.

Drautos staggered to his feet among the rubble. With a grunt, he took Nyx's kukri from his chest. The bastard had plunged it nearly to the guard, missing the heart by less than an inch. He threw the bloodied weapon to the ground, feeling how the armor mended his wounds.

Nyx lain some feet away, breathing laboriously and grimacing in pain. The ashen veins now glowed as the King's power burned inside him with more strength. With wobbling steps, Drautos approached him, sword gripped firmly on his right hand.

"For honor of my home," he said, breathing hard. "I fought and I killed under a king I loathed. And still he betrayed me. He betrayed us all."

The glaive tried getting to his feet with a groan of pain, but he could only turn on his side to face his adversary.

"We fought for the same thing," Nyx gasped as he slowly stumbled to his feet. "All of us. But you've looked too long on the past. You're blind to the future."

With those words, he warped again to his discarded kukri. This time, Drautos was waiting for him, and with a clean swipe he disarmed him, grabbing him by the throat next.

"Predictable," he said with disdain, lifting him from the ground. "Unlike you, I learn from history."

"But you're a slave to the past," Nyx whizzed, grappling at Drautos' left arm.

"A man's past is his pride."

"No."

With the first rays of light, Nyx hand burst in flames. It wasn't a violent combustion like Ravus' or Luche's, but a slow, gentle fire spreading through his body. He grabbed at Drautos' arm with a smirk and didn't let go. The Captain looked in astonishment as the fire spread through his armor.

"My pride is shaping the future," Nyx declared.

His entire body had caught fire, and Drautos discovered Nyx's intentions far too late when he felt the armor overheating. He tried letting go of him, but Nyx's grasp was stronger than he thought. Now Nyx could see his other kukri, the one Libertus had stuck on Drautos' right shoulder, appearing through the melting plates.

"Looks like I'm gonna owe him big," he murmured with a smirk.

Drautos brought the sword in a wide arc, trying to decapitate Nyx, but the glaive warped again, this time towards the kukri stuck on the armor, which he yanked free. The Captain tried to spin around in time, but he was too worn out and the fire had caused the armor to malfunction. The moment he faced Nyx, the glaive plunged the blade on his chest, this time driving it all the way to the guard and through the heart.

Behind them, Somnus' statue landed a heavy punch on the giant daemon, finally breaking the core which powered up the monster. All around Insomnia the Kings were felling the monsters, now weak with the upcoming sunrise and without the support of the imperial army.

In another part of Insomnia, a car sped its way to the West Gate, this time, unhindered.

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Nyx sat down heavily among the wreckage, now truly spent. The warm rays of the sun touched his ashen skin, the glowing veins now ashen white.

"King Regis did what he did for the future," he said to the prone figure of Drautos. "Because of him, there's still hope for our homes."

"Hope…" Drautos echoed, weakly shaking his head. It had been too long since he had forgotten the meaning of that word, too long since he had started a path which forsook any possibility of a future for him.

Nyx sighed, and turned to watch the dawn breaking through the clouds. He began to disintegrate, but he only smiled. It was the first time in years that he did so sincerely, knowing that his duty had been fulfilled and that he would be reunited at long last with those he loved.

"Not the worst way to go," he murmured, finally closing his eyes as his body slowly turned into flecks of ash. "Rule well, young king…"

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Libertus and Luna stood outside the Western Gates, now deserted. They waited, and waited, until the sun was high above the clouds.

"We should move," Libertus said at last. "It ain't safe here either."

She didn't move, still looking at the road into the city.

"Hey, don't worry about Nyx," he continued, despite having to blink some tears away. "He can take care of himself. Come on."

"No."

He limped back to the car, now the pain on his leg returning as the adrenaline on his system wore off. That simple word, spoken in a quiet voice, made him turn around with a frown.

"We must part ways here."

"What?"

"I can hardly travel in secrecy alongside so great a hero," she smiled warmly at him. "And I, too, have a promise to keep to Nyx. I pray you two see each other again soon."

Libertus blinked more tears away.

"Yeah," he managed to say in a hoarse voice. "Me too."

"Thank you, Libertus," she simply said, before walking away towards the city's exit.

Libertus could find his own voice when she was at a distance.

"Hey, queen!" he shouted. "You and the king are always welcome in Galahd! Me and Nyx will be waiting for you!"

It was good that she was far away when she turned to wave back. Even though he could still distinguish her smile and the nod she gave him, he hoped she couldn't see the tears now running down his cheeks.


To be continued on Book II: The Tale of the Chosen King.


AN: And, that's it! That's a wrap to this story. It was hard saying goodbye to Nyx and all the gang because they really grown on you. Now it's turn for the Chocobros to be traumatiz-I MEAN! On the spotlight. Yeah, on the spotlight, that's right. The world right now is a royal mess and we have to keep our chin up and our hope alive. Let's put to good use all the lessons Final Fantasy games have taught us and let's keep hoping and fighting, no matter how dark the night seems to be.