"You're willing to believe the worst of me. What I do, Sage, is for the greatest good."
"I remember all your good intentions, Charles. And I've walked the road to Hell with which they're paved."

She's right. She's almost always right. And she knows it. She is so different from the young girl she once was. But it's a different without being different at all. She still knows far too much for her own good. For any of their goods. She still understands him in ways no one else, not even his closest students ever have… or ever will.

But she's not a little girl any more. And she is not his soldier anymore. She has found her own way and (although it hurts the part of him that believes constant vigilance is the only way to keep up the fight for his dream) he is proud. He never really doubted her; she has proved herself to him hundreds of times over.

Of course, none of that really matters. The truth (something he's never been all that fond of) of the matter is… he's lost her. No. That would imply that he had her, at one point. She might've fought in his war but he knows better. She was his soldier when she needed direction. She fought his fight when she had none to fight for herself.

Now… now she fights someone elses fight. And, for the first time since he's known her, he wishes things could have been different. She's always known him. Always understood him. Even in ways he doesn't know or understand himself. But he has never really known her. Understood her. That's where he has always failed his students. All of them.

Perhaps, he thinks, it might not be too late. But he knows better. It's been too late for far too long. He's far too old to change. She's far too tired to try. They are far too different to make it work. He has failed her and she has moved on. There is nothing more he can do for her, not in this life. But he is proud of her. She's earned at least that from him.

He hopes she knows it, too. He thinks she probably does. She's always known far too much for her own good…

And that's it! Don't forget to leave me a review to lemme know how much you loved it! ;) No, really, you did. Even if you didn't… you did.