"Don't worry, Mattie!" Alfred had once said, "If you're ever in danger, I'll definitely save you! Because I'm the hero!"

But the danger had come, and passed, and no hero came to save Mathew. The hero failed.

"You idiots are my whole world." Arthur had once told them. "I think I'd die if I ever lost you."

And Arthur's world had broken in two, but he still survived.

"You're the best brothers ever!" Mathew had once promised, "I'm gonna live with you forever and ever!"

And all three liars stood in the backyard, next to a freshly re-dug grave, trying to make sense of the world and find meaning in its end.

"I'm sorry!" Arthur sobbed, asking for forgiveness for something that he couldn't control. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"I don't want you to go!" Alfred wailed, like a child who lost his mother in the mall, "Mattie, dont go!"

And Mathew tried to leave behind what he could of himself.

"Art, Al. Shhh, it's okay. It wasn't your fault. It's okay."

"it's not okay!" Alfred protested. "It's all my fault! If I did it right, if I hadn't messed up-"

"-I should have been there!" Arthur choked, "If I had just told you not to go skating that day! -"

"It wasn't your fault!" Mathew insisted, almost demanded. "None of it! I made my own choices, and they were bad, but it wasn't your fault!"

His words offered no comfort to the breaking hearts in front of him.

"Art, this time... You can't leave Al alone, okay? You gotta be there for him, promise me!"

Not like the last time, when Mathew left too soon, when his sudden gaping absence had left both brothers floundering in grief. This time, Mathew had the chance to change things.

"And Al, you can't be crazy anymore! No more drinking yourself unconscious, or doing reckless shit, or raising the dead, okay? You gotta be there for Artie too, okay?"

This time, Arthur wouldn't get the choice to distance himself to deal with his grief, he wouldn't get the chance to play the "older brother who's always alright" role. This time, Mathew wouldn't let his brother's lives fall apart when his ended.

"Promise me!"

It might seem cruel to his brothers, for Mathew to demand such a thing when he was the one causing the pain, but Mathew had never been so confident in his words before. For the first time since he came back, he felt the most like himself. Mathew wasn't made to hurt people, to draw blood or attack people, he wasn't made to constantly feel angry and resentful. No, this was who he was.

He wasn't afraid of death, he'd died once already, and despite what people and religious leaders said, the only thing beyond was a soothing rest for all of time, a comfort like returning to a warm embrace he'd been missing for years. There was no reason to fear death.

No, what Mathew was afraid for was the people he was leaving behind. His previous family, scarred in more ways than just their skin, new wounds that might never fully heal, and many painful aching days ahead.

So Mathew left them the largest part of him he could, the only thing that even the monster he'd become couldn't erase.

"I love you, Al, Art. I love you guys so fucking much so-" And tears he thought he was incapable of shedding wouldn't stop falling, choking him up, and blending with his running nose and burning his eyes. "-take care of eachother for me, please. You're all I have left. "

And finally, though they look like it hurt them to do so, his brothers swore to his promise.

"I will."

"I promise."

"And-"

In unison,

"I love you, too."

"To the ends of the world and Back." Arthur echoed an old inside joke, a reference only family would get, and Alfred tried to choke out the words "Baby bro" - another inside joke - before he gave up completely, and just pulled Mathew into a tight, bone-crushing hug. Arthur joined in, crushing both of them, and Mathew felt a familiar, unfair anger well up inside.

No! That's not me! Not now!

Mathew pulled back, wiggling free from the hug with some difficulty.

"I have to go."

And both of his brothers broke in with a sort of half-cry of hurt and denial, but Mathew cut them off.

"Please, Artie, Al. While I'm still me."

While I can still control it.

Mathew wanted his last moments with his family to be him, not some monster taking over. Alfred looked like he wanted to protest, but a snarl slipped through Mathew's lips before he could hold it back, and Alfred caved, stepping back as the tears he'd barely tamed welled up again, twice as full. And despite the danger, Arthur darted forward for one more last hug, and then back away before Mathew could lash out.

"Alright."

And Alfred reluctantly provided something in a small cloth back from his pocket, and Arthur took it, reverantly, and tipped it into his hand - was that a bone? - and began to chant over it. It felt surreal, like a scene in a movie instead of an event in his life. Then, Arthur flung the bone, and several other things Mathew didn't even try to identify, into the fire.

To Mathew's surprise, it hurt. It felt like the fire was tearing something out of him, but the pain only lasted a second, then the fire died back down and all his energy just.. Was gone. Mathew slumped to the ground. Alfred cried out and ran to his side, and Arthur dropped next to Mathew on the cold ground.

"Mathew?"

"I'm okay."

And for the first time since he was brought back, Mathew wasn't lying when he said that. It was true his energy was gone, to the point even lifting his head felt like a strenuous and exhausting act, but with his energy his anger had also flowed away. He knew it instinctively, the monster inside him was gone, and it was just Mathew left. And even Mathew wouldn't be left for long.

He felt someone take one of his hands, a consistently warm touch. Alfred. With the last of his energy, Mathew tried to reach his other hand to Arthur. He didn't succeed, but Arthur seemed to understand anyways, and took Mathew's other hand. Mathew's eyes fluttered closed. He couldn't hold them open anymore. He didn't need to anymore.

"Thank you."

And he thought he heard, somewhere distant and tinny, one of his brother's tell him to rest well, and they'd see him again, one day.

And then, for the second time, Mathew Williams died, and was buried.

On the gravestone, freshly etched, were the words,

"Till we meet again".

End