All she heard was an alarm. Repetitive, obnoxious, and making its presence known quite well through its volume. And there was something… something in her-

Aria moved, and felt a flash of pain. Strong, jolting. Her eyes were closed, so she couldn't see what was going on. She took a deep breath, and forced them open.

Wires hung from the ceiling of the Javelin. Debris was littered around the cabin, and the glass of the viewport had shattered. A purple spherical shape surrounded them until it disappeared a second later. As it did, Ash began to stand up from the ground where she'd been laying.

"Oh, God… guys? Guys!" she coughed. "Sound off!"

Aria watched Matt's hand shoot up from behind the back of his chair, and his hoarse voice choke back, "How- how the hell did we survive that?"

"I placed a Ward of Dawn as we crashed," Ash replied. "Sheltered us from most of the debris, I guess." Apparently not all, as the exterior of her armor was covered with scratches and marks, with cracks running along a bit of her visor. Aria supposed that Matt looked the same.

"Aria, you good?" She tried to reply, but again the blinding pain occurred as she breathed in, and it took every effort within her not to scream. Ash glanced over, and her jaw dropped. "Echo! What happened?"

Aria's Ghost appeared at her shoulder, and gave a brief report; "Her vitals are all over the place! That bar must have come loose in the crash, we need to get it out now!" Dreading what they were talking about, Aria looked down.

A long bar of metal was sticking out from her chest, on the right side of her ribs. Purple blood was splattered all along its cylindrical form, leading her to assume it had impaled her from behind. As she saw what was holding her to her chair, she began to feel the pain more, and she groaned as agony began to take her.

"She's losing blood fast, you need to take it out!"

Ash looked at Echo. "That will just make her bleed faster!" Whip then appeared.

"No, he's right. Trust him, Ash." The Titan, clenched her fists, then moved forward to Aria.

"Sorry, but this is gonna hurt quite a bit." She gripped the blood-slicked handle of the metal, positioned herself, and pulled her arm back in as fast a motion as she could muster.

The shard of metal slid out of Aria with a sickening sound of organs and flesh rubbing against each other. Bits of Aria's insides coated the beam, and Aria cried in pain. Her vision was going quite dark, and she could feel her mind buzzing from the loss of blood. She heard Echo say distantly, "Alright, now unbuckle her, and both of you stand next to me!" before she began to take labored breaths, and sleep…

But a warm feeling started to spread over her, and could feel her sense of mind sharpening, growing more acute the longer the feeling stayed. The pain was disappearing too, and she opened her eyes to see Echo emitting white and blue light onto her, nearly blinding. Eventually he stopped, and she took a moment to examine herself, now fully healed.

"What did you do to me?"

Echo looked proud of himself. "Well, I do remember myself telling you and Matt about reviving other Guardians. As long as we're near the Traveler's light, we Ghosts can bring you back from the brink of death safely. I just didn't want that chunk of metal still inside when I revived you." She shook her head. "Why didn't you let me use my Sunsinger ability?" He rotated his segments a bit. "Why waste what light you have right now? As we know, the Traveler's light has been siphoned for quite a while, and with this attack going on, who knows how little light we can summon? I only used some of my reserve to save your life, but your light may still be necessary."

She pondered this a moment, and decided it made sense. She stood up, and looked at her companions. "So, what's the plan?"

Ash scooped up her Scout rifle from the floor of the Javelin, and looked at Matt. He drew his hand cannon in response. "The plan? We're ending this. We're gonna get to the center of the Traveler, and we're gonna kick the Messenger's ass." He looked around the interior of their crashed ship. "How we get there though, that's another story."

Seraph hovered above the Hunter's shoulder. "I think I may have a solution."

-X-

Together, the three Guardians ascended the angled platforms of the tower that they'd crashed nearby. They'd had to navigate for nearly twenty minutes through a small section of the maze-like structures around them, and Matt was thankful that they didn't have anymore of it to walk through. The labyrinth stretched across the entire interior wall of the Traveler. The gravity was, like Whip said, pulling them onto the wall as though it were the ground, and it was somewhat disorienting to see the bottom of the Traveler above and to his left a few hundred miles away.

He reached over to hand a peculiar satchel over to Ash. "Remember what Seraph said, try not to jostle it." She nodded, and walked back down the ramp to the base of the tower, and out of sight. He had faith that she'd do her job well.

Aria turned to him. "Is this really it? Is this the end of it?"

He sighed. "I hope so, Aria. We might not have the Spark yet, but I know that this is our last chance to take out the Messenger and stop the Darkness from destroying the Traveler's core. Whether we succeed or fail, it all ends in these next few hours." He spun around to see Ash making her way back up to them. "Did you set them properly?" She nodded. "Alright then." He faced Seraph. "So, what's this transportation of yours?"

"I detected an anomalous source of energy, much like the Vex's teleportation grid, but deriving from light rather than darkness. If I had to take a guess, I'd say that there's a teleportation network here in the Traveler, and we can use it to warp ourselves there." She nodded toward the Traveler's center. "We better hurry, because I doubt that the Messenger and his army will wait long to see if their tower performs the same function."

He nodded. "Alright then. Can you tap into the network and transmat us there?"

Her signature blue light pulsed a few times, and then she replied, "It's done. Are you ready?"

Ash grabbed his right hand, and gazed at him. "No matter what happens-" He held up his other hand to stop her. "Wait until this is over, then finish that thought, alright?" She hesitated, almost looking as though she wanted to argue, but then nodded. Aria, unsurprisingly, looked geared up and ready to go. She gripped his other hand and looked at the two of them. "What are we waiting for? Let's save the damn world already!"

And with that profound statement, blue light surrounded them, and they vanished.

-X-

The Messenger walked across the ring-like platform. It was quite wide, maybe a few hundred feet or so, and rotated slowly in place around the large dodecahedron that resided in the center of the Traveler. There was a bridge-like structure that protruded from the dodecahedron's entrance, extending towards the ring he stood upon. He smiled at how unbelievably easy it had been to get here, and now the Traveler seemed to practically be welcoming them in for its destruction.

A large number of Hive thralls and acolytes followed behind him, appearing to be somewhat anxious in an area filled with such vast amounts of light. They were not used to its warmth, but rather were accustomed to the cold shadows and decay they normally inhabited. This place was so unlike their home, and simply for the fact that it was different, they had such loathing and hatred for it.

The Messenger turned to face them. "Where are the Witches I requested for this mission?" Several Wizards that wore special garments distinguishing them from others hovered forward until all three of them floated in front of him. "Ah, here you are ladies. Well here's the deal; all we must do is destroy this core, and the Traveler will be silenced forever." He gestured towards the dodecahedron that they continued to rotate around. "As I understand it, you are the Siphon Witches. So long as you initiate the ritual to corrupt the core, it will tear itself apart by the sheer agony of its light fighting against darkness." He nodded approvingly. "So hop to it!"

The Witches maneuvered into a triangle position around the chamber. The Messenger looked at them, and then at the glass chamber which had once housed the Spark of the Traveler. Without it, it was dormant, unknowing of the fate about to befall it. It made him want to laugh. With a slight smile, he began to raise his hand to give the order to start-

"I hope you haven't had too much time to get comfortable, Messenger." His elation began to deflate, and he turned to see three Guardians who'd caused him so much trouble appear on the ring, the last remnants of transmat light fading from around their bodies.

"What does it take to kill you? I'm honestly open to suggestions here," said the Messenger, extending his arms sideways to show his acceptance of ideas.

Matt shrugged. "I'm not actually sure. A lot of people have tried, but it hasn't really panned out for them yet." He drew his hand cannon slowly as the Messenger drew his Thorn.

"Well, perhaps I can change that today," said the Warlock with a snarl. He waved his arm at the Witches. "Start the ritual, I'll deal with them!" Greenish-black mist began to seep from their hands, slowly spreading around the Spark's chamber.

"You two take the Witches out," Matt said to his two companions, "he's mine."

Ash faced him sharply. "Are you sure? We've seen what he's capable of!"

He nodded. "I'm sure. If we take him out together, the Siphon Witches destroy the chamber. If we take them out together, he kills us while we're preoccupied, we can only do so many things at once. We need to split our forces."

Instantly, he brought his weapon up and fired off several shots at the Messenger. The Warlock was unprepared for it, and was hit several times before he brought up his void shields. "Go! Take them out!" yelled Matt, still firing at the Messenger.

"Defend the Witches!" screamed the Messenger, issuing orders to the Hive soldiers which still remained on the ring. Thralls screamed with the chilling agony of their past souls' pain, and rushed towards the Witches in an effort to form living blockades.

Ash and Aria ran around to the right side of the ring, leaving Matt and the Messenger alone. As Thralls charged into them, attempting to dispatch them, Ash would smack them aside. Her Titan force and strength allowed her to shrug off enemies which grappled onto her, to clear a path forward for herself and Aria. Eventually, she'd thrown away enough Thralls and Acolytes for them to have a straight shot at the first Witch. It screamed at them, and with one hand, began to divert some of its energy to attack them.

"Aria, take it out!" yelled Ash, as she defended her friend from Acolytes and Thralls which were swarming around them. Aria fired with all the rounds in her magazine at the Witch. At first, it appeared to have no effect, but finally the shielded body gave way, and the bullets began tearing large holes through its floating form. The Witch gave one last agonized scream as it died before it became silent and disappeared in a flash of black. Ash paused her fire rate to reload, kicking back a Thrall which had come too close. "You ready for number two?" she panted.

Aria nodded. "Let's go!"

The Messenger was no fool, and was quite aware of what Matt was doing. That didn't mean he could stop him, however, and Matt knew it. Keeping him under fire, Matt came closer and closer to his enemy, keeping his hand with the gun firing, and using his free hand to draw his Hunter's blade. The Messenger in turn, protected himself with one hand casting a shield, holstered his Thorn with the other, and pulled his own knife from its sheath.

Matt finally came close enough, and with one quick motion holstered his hand cannon, bringing his knife forward in the same movement. The Messenger was ready, and back-stepped as his void shield disappeared. He threw a punch forward at the Hunter's helmet, and Matt staggered backward, reeling from the momentary loss of coordination. The Messenger took the opportunity to tackle him to the ground. Locked in a death grip, they both fought for control and kept rolling over, swapping positions of top and bottom each time they did so.

Aria sprayed jets of flame outward, burning Thralls where they stood. Their dead skin was quite flammable, and they were engulfed almost instantly wherever her flame ignited them. "Could you hurry up just a bit?!" she called. Ash gave no answer, as she was currently riding on the back of the second Siphon Witch, driving her Arc charged fist into the head of the Witch again and again. Cracks slowly appeared in its helmet, growing larger, larger…

On the last punch, Ash's fist broke through the helmet covering, and crushed in the Witch's skull. With an moaning exhale of breath, the Witch died and dissolved into the air. Only one Witch remained, but the Spark's chamber was slowly dying; as clouds and tendrils of darkness surrounded and ensnared it, it vibrated slightly, as though trying to shake the evil substance loose. Crevasses were forming in the glass-like material that made up its structure as its light fought violently against the corruption of darkness. "Only one more!" yelled Aria, and both she and Ash battered their way through Hive enemies to reach it.

The Messenger ended up on top, and spread his legs to prevent Matt from rolling him over. He took his knife, and with his right hand attempted to drive it straight into Matt's helmet. Matt brought his left arm up, and kept the Messenger's weapon from descending further by blocking his hand with his forearm. With his right hand, he swung at the Messenger and landed a direct hit in his face. One of the Messenger's eyes, already damaged from the fight with Saladin, flew out of its socket and hung from his face, still connected by some kind of cable acting as an optic nerve. On a whim, Matt reached up, gripped the electronic eye, and pulled tightly, wrenching it and its wire source out of its socket completely.

The Messenger moved his hand to his face in pain. "AGGH!" He reeled, and attempted to get a good view of Matt, but now had no depth perception. Matt took the opportunity to throw him off, and now on his feet, began driving his blade into the Messenger wherever he could. The Warlock continued backing up, doing his best to deflect Matt's attacks but not succeeding. Matt was sure that he had won, that this was the end.

Suddenly, the Messenger managed to block one of his strikes. Unable to react in time, Matt had no opportunity to stop the Messenger from taking his knife and driving it straight into Matt's chest, just under his rib cage. It had broken through his armor easily, and pierced his flesh with a biting cold. Indeed, it felt like ice, or cold mercury was spreading from the point of injury, and Matt felt himself drop to his knees in shock. The Messenger knelt there too, gloating in the moment.

"Why don't you feel just how much pain you've caused me these last few weeks?" He twisted the knife a tiny bit, and Matt grimaced, unable to help himself. "That's for destroying the Black Garden. This," he said, twisting the knife a bit further, "is for just being a giant pain in the ass. And this?" he spat, his face full of malice. "This is for taking the Warrior from me!" With that, he gave the knife the largest twist yet, and Matt nearly passed out from the pain, not even able to scream at just how agonizing that movement had been.

"Get the hell away from him!" Turning to see where the voice had come from, the Messenger's head snapped back from the impact of a void projectile hitting him squarely in the face. Ash and Aria were sprinting to them, having seen Matt's predicament. Ash opened up fire with her scout rifle, as did Aria with her pulse rifle. In a brave but not well-thought-out notion, they were attempting to save the Hunter. The Messenger's face screwed up in frustration, and finally his rage at having been thwarted again and again boiled over. He was NOT going to be rejected from victory once more!

"That is ENOUGH!" he shouted, his voice echoing around in the air. He pulled the knife from Matt's chest violently, and then threw it with as much force as he could muster. It caught Aria in the shoulder, and she cried out in pain. He firing stopped as she could no longer hold up the gun, and all that was left was Ash. He would not show mercy this time, would not give her the kindness of survival. He unholstered his Thorn, and shot two rounds into her left leg as she sprinted towards him. She kept running, but the damage was done, and the poison dissolved through her armor, and then through some of the metallic structure of her lower leg.

She stumbled a moment, having been unexpectedly thrown off balance, and the Messenger caught her by the throat as she fell. Not even bothering to waste words on her, he simply turned and threw her into Aria who was trying to tug the knife out of her shoulder. She slammed into her with enough force to throw them both backwards several meters, where they did not rise.

"Today is the day of the Darkness's victory, and to refuse to accept it is a fool's gambit!" He pointed at the last remaining Witch whom Ash and Aria had abandoned. "Continue the ritual! Destroy this haven of light!" Its arms continued to weave in and around each other, casting the dark spell which was silencing the Traveler's for good. Many Thralls and Acolytes still stood on the ring with the Messenger, not even bothering to finish off the Guardians who were so obviously doomed.

Matt groaned slightly, and raised his head to look at where the Messenger stood. He then turned to see Ash and Aria laying nearby, evidently having failed in their rescue attempt. Seraph appeared in front of him. "Hey. Don't move, it's not worth it." Her voice seemed soothing, though sad. "You did your best, that's all that matters now."

He shook his head. "No… it's not…" Suddenly, an idea came to him. Whether it was actually logical or just a creation of his dying, delirious mind, he didn't know.

"Seraph? How much light remains in the Traveler?" She tried to sense it, and shook herself slightly.

"Not enough. That ritual is sucking out even more light, and its reserves are quite low. I doubt someone could even use their abilities at this point."

He grunted. "We'll just have to test that." He motioned to Aria and Ash's prone bodies. "Whip, Echo! Get over here."

The two Ghosts appeared next to Seraph. "What do you have in mind?"

He sucked in a deep breath. "I'm gonna get one shot at this, but I need all three of you channeling your light into me, sustaining me. I only need enough to make sure that he's not going to get up, and then I'm triggering our plan."

Seraph's eye widened. "That plan was a last resort option! It could kill all three of you!" He shook his head.

"Ash and Aria both have jump packs with their armor as a Titan and Warlock. They'll be able to slow their descent, don't worry."

She looked at him with regret. "And what about you?!" He smiled, though she couldn't see it.

"I'll try to save myself this time, I promise. Now are we doing this, or are we going to let the Darkness win?"

There was a moment's pause, and suddenly a white aura surrounded him as the Ghosts gave their light to him, supplying him with strength. Without a second to waste, he stood up, and concentrated. He summoned all the energy he could, and…

The Messenger heard a noise like a flame igniting emit from behind him, and before he could even turn, a golden streak of flame shot out and hit the final Witch. With a scream of pain and shock, she ignited and burned to ash within seconds.

He spun around to see Matt engulfed in flame, having activated his Golden Gun. Fire danced around his body dangerously, licking his limbs and giving him power. The Messenger pointed and yelled, "KILL HIM!" Many Thralls and Acolytes answered the call, but they were obliterated before they had a chance to try. More beams of flame hit them and chained through them, incinerating many with a single shot. Matt tried to hold himself together.

"Golden Gun was never intended to last this long Matt, you're pushing too hard!" He heard the Ghosts' protest, and chose to ignore them. He had to keep going, and he knew that even this wasn't as far as he was still going to push. He held his still burning hand cannon in his right hand, and used his left hand to pick up his blade on the ground. Using the last bit of his strength, he channeled half of the light he had with him, and summoned as much as he could from the Traveler, to initiate his Bladedancer's trance.

"What?" muttered the Messenger, too shocked for words. The left side of Matt's body shone blue, sparking with arc energy as a Bladedancer, but his right side burned orange, full of solar energy as a Gunslinger. The two colors slowly faded and merged, until no color shone except for a brilliant white aura, pure light of the Traveler.

Matt used his speed as a Bladedancer to dash through enemies separating him from the Messenger. He sliced and cut through them, watching as enemies dropped like rocks. He used his Golden Gun to shoot any other enemies he couldn't reach with his knife hand, incinerating them where they stood. The Messenger turned to run, but he had underestimated Matt's speed, and suddenly the Hunter was in front of him. He now felt something he hadn't felt in a long time; true, uninhibited fear.

"Let me show you the pain you've caused others in all your years of existence," said Matt, mocking the Messenger's line to him earlier. He drove his electrified Arc Blade into the chest of the Warlock, and the Messenger cried out in agony.

Matt gave no sign of sympathy and simply said, "And even that is a mercy to what you truly deserve." Without another word, he used his Golden Gun to blast the Messenger, and the seemingly unbeatable soldier of the Darkness ceased to exist as his body burned to ash, dissolving from the exposure of pure light to something so dark.

Matt turned without a second glance to see the rest of the Hive soldiers undeterred by their commander's death, and charging at him in a horde of enemies. In addition to that, more ships were entering the Traveler from below, making their way towards the Spark's chamber. "Matt, we can't-" Suddenly his strength left him, and he fell to the floor. The Ghosts hovered anxiously around him. "There's no light left!" exclaimed Echo. "It's been all used up!"

He waved them away. "Warn… warn Ash and Aria." Understanding at once, Whip and Echo flew back to their Guardians, trying to wake them up before Matt initiated the last resort. Only Seraph stayed with him.

"I don't have… any strength left…" he muttered between gasps of breath as the Hive army swarmed closer. "Have to activate it… to keep… the Hive from damaging it further…"

Seraph bobbed slightly. "I know." She sounded quite sad, understanding what he needed to do, though she wished there was another way.

Whip and Echo flew close to Ash and Aria, yelling at them. "Aria! Ash! We gotta get out of here!"

They stirred, and Ash asked, "What? What are you talking-"

"Matt's going to activate the fail-safe plan!" said Whip hurriedly. "Be prepared!"

She clenched her fists and yelled, "What?! No, wait!"

"I was right about one thing," whispered Seraph.

"What… was that?" he heaved, reaching his hand to his belt to pull out what he was looking for.

"You were a great Guardian, like I said. Maybe even one of the best. You saved the Traveler, and that's what you'll be remembered for, Matt."

He nodded. "That's… not a bad way… to be remembered." Then he flipped open the cap of the remote detonator and pressed the trigger.

The charges which they'd set on the tower, the tower they had landed near that used its beam to help keep the ring which they stood on in place, were activated. With a massive explosion, the tower was obliterated, and its beam ceased to function. With one of its technological supports gone, the ring-platform could no longer sustain its position hovering in the center of the Traveler. With a loud groan of moving metal, the platform began to fall.

Hive soldiers screamed out as the ground was yanked out from under them. The ring continued to fall, and eventually impacted against the additional ships entering the Traveler. Flying debris from both the ring and the ships flew everywhere, causing even more destruction and chaos among the ships. The threat, it appeared, was no more.

Matt fell with the wreckage, just thinking and hoping that Ash and Aria were safe, that they would use common sense and slow their descent as they fell rather than trying to follow him. Flying metal and chunks of rock moved around him as he continued to fall downwards. Seraph used what energy she could to telekinetically slow his descent, but it didn't help much, and he just tried to hold onto any large piece of rock that could potentially shield him from impact.

Though it was probably some time as he fell all those miles to the ground below, it seemed like seconds, as though there wasn't enough time. Not enough time to reflect, to ponder on how good his second life had been, to fully appreciate the lasting relationships he'd made with Ash and Aria. All he wanted to do was to see them again, to tell them how much they meant to him… but as with all things, fate often times has a different plan.

The ground continued to rush up to meet him, Seraph still tried to slow his fall as best she could, and he only closed his eyes in preparation for what was to come.

-X-

Ash and Aria fell together, waiting until absolutely necessary to use their jump packs to slow them. Whip appeared in front of Ash's face, calling out, "Ten seconds to ground! Use it now!"

Heeding his advice, she and Aria both activated their jump packs built into Titan and Warlock armor. Hunters, of course, did not have that luxury, and she dreaded finding what had happened to Matt. The rain that had fallen from before still fell in pounding drops that made loud and audible sounds as it hit their armor. Flames were still visible, unwilling to be put out so easily, giving a grim perspective on the massive level of destruction.

Other Guardians picked their way towards them, namely the Vanguards and others who had fought with them. The Stranger looked around, her eyes wide at all the chaos and wreckage. She stood next to Ikora and Zavala who held Saladin's body over his shoulder. Shaxx walked next to Cayde, cradling his broken arm carefully. Cayde's eyes found them, and he called out, "Hey, where's our fellow Hunter?"

Echo appeared on Aria's shoulder, and spoke; "I'm detecting Seraph's signal over this way." He pointed out a direction by moving towards it, and both Ash and Aria took off sprinting. They sidestepped over rubble, jumping over blocks of rock and trying not to slip in the wet mud that the rain was creating.

Ash was running so fast, and the rain was so loud that she nearly didn't hear Whip tell her, "Stop! This is it!" She looked around with Aria following her lead, only seeing large pieces of debris around, her heart sinking. Whip flew near a specific pile of wreckage, saying, "Here." She quickly jumped into action, grabbing any slabs that she could, and throwing them away to dig. Her efforts only doubled when she saw Matt's hand after removing a particularly large chunk. With a frantic grip, she threw the final piece of debris away, and revealed Matt laying on the ground, having been buried under the rubble. His armor was dented in, and had even been completely destroyed in some places. His visor had shattered, and his face was visible from his helmet.

Seraph materialized, and looked sadly at both Ash and Aria. "His vitals are fading. I tried all I could, but… there's not much I can do…" That was made abundantly clear by the large metal piping that had speared him through his chest as he fell, much like Aria had been, though this looked even messier if that was even possible. His insides were actually visible from just looking casually over him.

Ash shook her head. "No, no there's gotta be something! Anything!" Seraph said nothing. Aria wished the same, but knew what Ash had not yet accepted. The Titan pointed to her, and made a beckoning motion; "C'mon, you can use your radiance or something, we can heal him-"

Aria shook her head sadly. "I don't have anymore light, Matt took it all. Echo told me."

Ash snapped her gaze to Seraph. "His soul is tied to you, right? You can revive him, you can-"

Seraph interrupted her. "I told you, there's nothing I can do! There isn't enough light left in the Traveler to illuminate a closet, much less bring someone to life." She simply turned to stare at Matt's laboredly breathing body, avoiding Ash's gaze. Ash felt all of her hope dying within her as she realized that this time, there just wasn't anything that could be done.

"A-Ash…" She quickly looked to see Matt reaching out for her. She rushed to his side, taking off her helmet, and knelt down on the ground, her arms cradling his head and upper body. "H-hey, I'm h-here…" she responded, her voice stammering from the overwhelming sorrow and despair she felt. Aria sat next to her, staying silent lest she start crying out loud. She could already feel tears running down her face.

"Ash… Aria… I-I'm sorry we didn't have more t-time…" he coughed.

She made a shushing noise, attempting to soother him, and hurriedly gathered what strength she had to say, "Don't worry about that, look at me. You're going to pull through this, alright? You're going…" He was already shaking his head, and it was his knowledge of his own demise coming to meet him that caused Ash's voice to break, and she stopped speaking.

He took a moment before saying, "Wha… what was it t-that you w-wanted to say? Before the r-ring, I mean."

Her face contorted in sadness at what words she hadn't been able to say before, until now as Matt lay dying. With a voice that sounded as though she were truly crying, she whispered; "I… I-I…"

She broke; she couldn't finish her sentence, it'd just be too cruel to the both of them. He nodded, obviously having been expecting that. "I know. Don't w-worry."

She nodded vigorously. "I know, I know you do, I just-" She broke off again, making crying sounds.

He reached his hand up, and she took the moment to grab it, not willing to let any moment with him pass by. "You j-just what?" he inquired, sounding alarmingly calm. She shook her head nonsensically. He smiled weakly. "Hey, w- we won. That's what c- counts, right?"

She looked him in his eyes, refusing to let that comment pass. "No, what counts is you! We need you with us, Matt!" It took all of her effort to not say 'I need you with me'.

He shook his head. "I-I'm sorry. Like I said, I w-wish we'd had more t- time." He returned her desperate gaze as his breathing slowed even more, reducing his voice to little more than whispering above the sound of the rain, but Ash held onto every word. Unexpectedly, he smiled.

"I'm g-glad that my second d-death is a lot better t-than my first. I d-didn't have nearly t-this great of a s-sight last time…" he said, as he stared deeply into Ash's face, watching her electric blue eyes stay trained on him. His vision was going black, and he was grateful that the last thing he saw was Ash's face, her beautiful…

Matt gave one last sigh of breath, and finally his fight was over. Seraph looked at Ash, and shook her body slightly. Ash broke down, her shoulders shaking from her sadness, and with the rain pouring down onto her and Matt, drops landed on her face, running down her cheeks and off of her chin. The surrounding Guardians lowered their heads out of respect for the miserable sight before them. Aria herself began to whimper slightly, her feelings of despair refusing to be kept at bay for long.

Ash brought his face close to hers, and held him there as she sobbed, the tears of rain upon her face allowing her to truly weep for the first time, as she mourned the loss of her best friend.