The Shadow of...

It really has been awhile since I've been here. The fresh air has returned, uncorrupted by the smoke and ash that filled it last time. Even the greenery has started to recover from its viscous burns, already tangling and consuming the once great manor that stood here....


"It's very beautiful, isn't it?" I turn to see Umbra standing there. Maskless, and staring at the manor's ruins.


"Was beautiful."


"Until I came around, right?" He stared at me, not with his usual contempt , but with a longing sorrow.


"No. No this place lost it's beauty long before that..." I divert my gaze to the row of graves at the side of the ruins. So many of them.... So many lost....


"It's not your fault... you know. It's mine. And fate's paying me back... I guess I deserve it." 


"No you don't. No matter how cruel or horrendous a persons actions might have been, they never deserve to lose the one they love. Fate is not that cruel." 


"Why? Why are you being so nice? Why are you even trusting me right now? His stare on me intensifies.


"Because, simply, you are trust worthy. Ever since the new year, no... since your revival. You've been a better person Umbra. You come nowhere close to the horror stories Raph has told me. You've only been defending yourself. Never going out of your way to kill...."


"What about this place... what about Azax... I killed him.


"Hehehehe... you underestimate what I know." Umbra cocks his eyebrow, intrigued by what I said. "It was a week ago. Maby two. When I had a dream. A dream where I saw that night again. This time through different eyes. I saw what happened Umbra. Between you and and him. I heard what was said....You don't have to lie anymore." Once again I find myself staring at the graves, well, more specifically the grave that isn't there.


"Are you going to search?" Umbra was now looking at the graves himself, again wearing a sorrowful expression.


"Are you?" Are eyes lock, and for a minute there is complete silence.


"No. My job was to kill him... and I've done that... "


"Then nor shall I. It's time for the bird to live a free life...."


"Well put, Archangel."


"Michael. My name is Michael Archway. But I guess we've never formal introduced are self's now have we?"


"No, no I guess we haven't. Hehe." Finally, a smile on his face. "Don't think this changes anything though... We're still on opposite sides of this war... There will come a time where I'll try to kill you again."


"Hehe, I wouldn't have it any other way." I extend my hand to him. He grasps it.


"Goodbye, Michael."


"Goodbye... Nathan." And with that he was gone. Slenderwalked away. One last time I look over the ruins. Look over all the memories. And again, all the graves....


"This is what you would have done to... isn't it..."






Cinis, Cinerem. Pulverem, Pulveri.