The Song of Eternity
Canto 10 : The Gift
Verse 1 : Damon Blackheart
Why do I do the job?
Because I was trained, I tell myself.
Not because it is right,
I don't do what is right.
I'm past redemption.
A tall black man with a shaved head watched from his vantage point by the corner of a building. The group of young mutants walked along the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road. He walked at the same pace in the same direction down the opposite side of the street until he sat beside another man on a bench.
"If I were you, I would walk away," he calmly told the man. "If by some chance your plan actually worked, the rest of them might kill you," the black man explained.
"As long as I take one of those genetic freaks with me," the man replied.
"Let's look at this rationally," the dark man continued. "If you kill one of them, I will kill you myself before they even get a chance to find out who did it. More importantly, if you make a move for your gun, you are going to be in a world of pain," the man threatened.
"Who are you?"
"Damon Blackheart, one of the Turks. You have about one minute to get out of here before get angry and take it out on you," Damon told the man. "You better get moving, I might feel like chasing you down if I still see you after a minute," Damon said as the man took off. Damon watched the man as the man ran off and the young mutants were none the wiser. "Good," he told himself before getting up and heading towards the town's main street.
He stopped at the Valentine Private Investigators office, unlocked the door, and entered. He took up a chair behind one of the three large desks and picked up a newspaper. He stopped reading after a few minutes when the door opened. "I was wondering when you'd show up today," he told Elena.
"It was my morning off, and I do not come into work on my morning off, for any reason," she explained before sitting at her own desk. "How'd the job go?" she asked him.
"Fine, the guy ran off with a little persuasion," Damon told her. "Valentine won't be back until late Friday. He called earlier," he informed her.
"I guess that leaves us a little time to get better acquainted," Elena told him.
"No. Don't ask whatever questions you're thinking of. You know I can't answer the important ones," he warned her.
"Fine, what can you tell me then? About after the four Ronin disappeared from Apocalypse's base," she pried.
"They were taken to a planet where Order and Chaos were waiting for them to battle. Once there Eternity and Infinity did a job on everyone, making them as powerful as they once were, or could ever be. One of the biggest changes was the remerging of Chaos and Vincent, since Vincent was always more powerful with the demon in him. They set it up like a bracketed battle royal. Everyone battled to the death, but was resurrected and given time to recover afterwards until there were two combatants left. Luckily the one representing Order and the one representing Chaos fought to a stalemate, so the universe is stable. Good thing the one representing Order knew all along that it was the only way to keep the world as it was. With their commitments to the universe fulfilled, they were all sent back, given their greatest desire, whether they knew it consciously or not," Damon told her.
"So, what exactly were you given?" she asked him.
"It's fairly obvious Elena," he laughed. "A long time ago, before your time, I lived a normal human life. Then Jenova landed and attacked the planet. The part of history that you don't know about is how someone was battling Jenova, distracting her when the Cetra called upon Holy. That someone was me. I sold my soul and body to the devil to become the demon Chaos and save the planet. After Jenova's defeat, the Cetra imprisoned me until Hojo put me into Valentine. By then, Chaos and I were one. Turns out that the devil kept my body around, so Eternity and Infinity nabbed it, put my own mind in it, and destroyed Chaos's mind. So, I'm totally human now. Valentine and I no longer feel each other's pain or thoughts. And what's more," he whispered. "I have total control over the demon's body to use as I wish," he explained as his hand transformed to a claw.
"So what are you doing here? Why not start a new life somewhere?" Elena asked him.
"I do not know. I know people in this town, but I don't know if I will stay here," he mused.
"The kids here could really use your protection," she told him.
"The kids," he laughed," will be fine. They can handle themselves."
"But what do you think the right thing is for you to do?" she asked him.
"The right thing is to stay and help them and all of you. But I have spent the last million years as a demon. What makes you think I will do the right thing? What makes you think Cole or Vincent will either?" he asked her.