“...What if I prove you wrong?â€
“At the end of the day, when beasts have devoured all and the world falls into shadow…your ideals will always take priority.†Nero said, this voice tinged with bitterness.
“Would you have done what you did for Osric if he had not carried out his end of the bargain?†Roen matched him with venom of her own. “Would you have left Scythe with that weapon in Pearl Lane? Without anyone else knowing?"
The pirate snorted. "Ever thinking of the women and children. If you really must know, the weapon is defective. It's designed to explode when it's activated. It'll take out the building his gang is holed up in, and nothing more." He glanced to the paladin who stared at him eyes wide with her lips parted. "So yes, I would have simply let Scythe have it. Then, when he acts to engage his master stroke, he dies. Along with anyone who follows him."
Nero waved a hand. "That would be my last act of vengeance before leaving. It won't cleanse the bandits from Ul'dah, but it will offer Pearl Lane some respite for a time."
Roen stiffened, feeling her resolve waver. She had been so sure that all he wanted to do was to prove his point. To convince the rest of the word that his radical way was the only way. That he was willing to accept the bloodshed and gladly so just to convince others. Only now...
The paladin bowed her head, her long disheveled forelocks falling limp before her eyes. "I came here to arrest you," she confessed. "That is why I came."
"Ever the hypocrite, aren't you?" He turned to face her directly for the first time in their exchange, flashing his trademark smirk. "You never change." He shook his head. “You're going to haul me back to Ul'dah just so I can be tortured and left to rot in a gaol? I suppose that would be a surface definition of justice."
Roen glanced at Kiht, uncertainty in her eyes.
"Please.†The pirate snorted as he waved his hand toward the Keeper. “If all you want is for me to die without having to get your own hands bloody, simply have Jakkya do it for you. She's right here. You can tell them that I resisted. That I ambushed both of you, and that arresting me simply wasn't an option." His tone and glare turned cold upon the paladin, almost daring her. "Nobody will ever know."
Roen straightened, resentment struggling against the reluctance in her heart. "I believed you wanted to bath the streets in blood as you fled to Othard."
"I did. I do." His gaze sharpened. "You never bothered to ask whose blood.â€
The paladin flared her nostrils, stepping towards him. "You think your aim is so sharp, but evil and violence oft do not discriminate once sparked, Nero. There would have been other casualties. Life is a life."
"Roen, he still gave them the guns.†Kiht shifted in her stance, and her firm tone clearly revealed that the Keeper had recognized the cracks in the paladin’s resolve. “They still plan to kill innocent people, and he still committed killings of his own. Choose a ground to stand on, Roen. Remember."
Nero glared at Roen. "If you're going to continue pretending that you believe in that farce you call justice, then just kill me yourself. Don't force someone else to break themselves for you. Again." He opened his arms out towards her. "I offered you twice before. Both times before, you balked at the idea."
Roen’s hand trembled by her side. She did not want to reach for her sword. Her part of her refused, as she had at Lost Hope, then again at Crescent Cove. He had offered her a blade to kill him both times, to end his threat. She had refused. She believed that he was a better man, one that could be saved, one that could be turned from his violent course.
And now…?
She glanced to Kiht. Was that not why she had brought her friend? But deep down, paladin knew she could not let the huntress do it.
"Just know this,†Nero’s gaze bore into her. “There is always going to be someone like me. As sure as the sun rises in the morning, there will always be someone who is pushed too far, pushed too hard, who has decided that standing by is no longer an option."
“'Killing one innocent group to save another is not a 'right' thing to do.†Kiht’s voice was clear and edged, as if trying to pierce through the paladin’s haze of conflict. “Roen, his mind has been twisted."
"That's right, Roen,†Nero growled. “I'm irreparable. I'm beyond salvation, just like Ul'dah." With a bow of his head, he rotated in his seat on the box to face both of them. He pulled back his hood to reveal an ugly wound above his right eye, one that had been hidden thus far. The paladin could tell it was patched hastily as it oozed pus from the poorly-done stitches.
"Put me out of my misery. I'm dying a slow death, just like that wretched city."
Roen could not help but stare at the wound with some measure of horror, her eyes flickering a look to Kiht. There was as silent plea to her friend. Her heart was pounding with indecision.
"Remove me now, and you remove the threat. You fix the problem.†The pirate stood up from his seat, his stance belligerent. "What's the matter? It's simple, isn't it? I am a threat to you and everything you stand for, everything you hold precious. I am the symbol of the wrongness you seek to correct, the injustice that you've failed to set right."
The paladin grimaced to calm the trembling of her lower lip. One hand shot to the hilt of the sword at her side as he loomed over her.
"Tis not about justice,†Kiht called out to her, tension also tightening her voice. “Tis about making sure he does not do it again. Turn him over to Osric. He could be back again to do this shite again, Roen."
“Don't run away!†He was now shouting. "I'm a monster, made by people like you, made by people who are content to turn a blind eye whenever it suits them!â€
Her fingers clenched around the hilt, but her arm felt leaden. She could not unsheathe the blade. She stared at him eyes wide, her head unwittingly shaking side to side.
"You're going to add Osric to the list, too? Who's next? Who else is going to ravage themselves to defend you from something you don't want to be responsible for?" He spat at her. "I swear to you. I will return, and if Ul'dah has not found its way, if the Jewel of the Desert continues to stamp on those it deems worthless, I will raze it to the ground. I will destroy it completely, utterly, and trample on the ashes."
“Stop. STOP! Stop SAYING that! You are just trying to--†Roen found herself shaking.
The pirate's voice was full of vehement rage as he continued. "The city is dying. It must be allowed to die and croak its last breath. Only then can it ever have a hope of being renewed!" He glared down at her. "But that's against everything you stand for, isn't it, Sultansworn!? You can live with yourself, you can condemn those people to a lifetime of slow death, as long as your conscience is clean!"
"A beast, no matter what made it, is dangerous.†Kiht growled. “Do not let him make you think you are unjust simply because you will not kill innocent people like he has."
"Then why not do it?" His voice took on an eerie calm. "We are alone. Jakkya understands you. Simply remove your sword..." He made a motion to an imaginary blade at his side. "And put it here." He tapped his chest, where his heart would be. "Nobody will know. Your honor will be clean. Nobody will know that you killed a defenseless man. Nobody will truly know how much pain you enabled. Nobody will know what it is you did for the 'greater good'." He spat the last phrase derisively.
Nero's face, now contorted in pain, twisted into an ugly grin, a diseased caricature of his once carefree smirk. "Nobody will ever know that in that last instant, you knew that I was right, and that you were wrong.â€
Roen felt heat rise to her cheeks and moisture well in her eyes; her hand upon her blade shook with coiled tension. "I curse the day I met you. Not for my conscience. Not for my honor. But for those who died under that false belief that you could save Ul'dah. I curse the day that I believed you would prove me right." Her face twisted with anger and regret. "I already see that I was wrong all along."
The pirate threw his head back and laughed, his earrings jingling with the motion of his head. "If there is one thing you will soon learn, Roen Deneith, it is that there are some things worse than being killed. The pain of death...is nothing compared to the pain of life."
"I cannot let you raze Ul'dah." Her expression hardened. "I cannot let you do this again."
"I have only ever been the product of my circumstance."
"And for that...I am sorry..." Roen rasped.
"Then do it," he sneered, daring her.
Heavy silence fell between them, before a whisper of steel being drawn sliced through the air and the blade lunged. But it stopped just before his heart, its point quivering just an ilm away. The paladin gasped, as if disbelieving herself. Her face twisted in a deep frown, staring at the length of the blade accusingly.
The pirate merely stared at her unflinching, a spiteful look of disdain on his face. His pale eyes bore holes into her, and though he spoke no words, his judgement was loud as the largest bell. Your righteousness cannot save anyone, the memory of his words rang in her mind.
He lifted his left hand and slapped the blade away from him, uncaring or unaware of the gash that appears on his forearm that caught the edge of the blade. He turned away from the pair, waving his hand behind him in an expression of derision.
"Stand on a ground." Kiht’s growl cut through the air.
The smuggler turned, spreading his arms. "It is fruitless, Jakkya. Roen has made her choice." He seemed oblivious to the stream of wet blood that ran down the length of his forearm, staining the bandages that had been crudely wrapped around it. “She is content, to threaten everything she knows and loves, because the method is wrong. Because there must be another way.†Hateful echoes of ideals he despised escaped from his lips like a torrent of vapor. "And if she arrests me, all she is doing is killing me without taking responsibility for it. And she knows it."
He stared balefully at the paladin, his gaze filled with pity and disgust. "That is her way, after all. The way of her justice."
Roen stood, as if frozen in place, her sword arm suddenly heavier than it had ever felt. Could I…?
From the corner of her eyes, the paladin spotted Kiht reaching for her spear. The look the Keeper gave Roen was one of a predator who has designated its mark.
"Do you want to risk him doing it again?†Kiht asked pointedly, through gritted teeth. “Do you think he has changed, Roen? Just answer that for me."
Roen felt herself grow cold, all blood draining from her face.
â€If it was someone like Taeros…I could.†Kiht’s words came roaring through her memory. â€You are a Protector, Roen. Not a hunter.â€
Then another voice screamed at her. “People have always broken themselves, their ideals,their conscience, for your sake!â€
“Some of us had to bend. Some of us had to shed whatever righteousness we had left, all to do what was necessary. Some of us had to make deals with the devil for you.â€
“...It was me.â€
Her sword dropped to the ground by her side, the metal clang almost painfully loud in the suffocating silence. Roen’s hands felt numb.
"What will you do when there is an evil you cannot defeat by just means?" Nero called out to her. "Will you commit evil to destroy evil? Or will you remain steadfast and righteous…even if that means surrendering to evil?" Those were the very words he had asked her the first day they had met.
"I said...I would do it," Roen rasped. "If it would stop evil, once and for all." Her vision had blurred a little, and she blinked the moisture away as she looked to the man before her, his visage darkened with hatred and bitterness. “I guess that is you,†she said quietly.
"There is no evil!†Kiht was now yelling across the room, her spear drawn. “There is no righteousness! There are just people, many of whom are innocent. Do you want him doing this again?! Is he innocent, Roen?!"
She took one step then another towards the man she once loved. Her steps came slow, heavy with regret.
"Are you going to hide again, Roen?†Nero remained still as the paladin began to approach him. “Let someone else bloody their hands for you? Will you ever stop running from what you know must be done?"
As she neared, his own vitriol gave way just a little, his voice lowering in her proximity. “Sometimes, the ends don’t justify the means. Sometimes, the bloodshed goes nowhere, the lives taken rendered meaningless.†His brows were furrowed with regret for a moment, before it twisted into something darker. “But no matter what, I would rather commit evil, misguided and blind as it is, than to simply stand by and allow evil to happen.â€
One gauntlet was shed then the other. They dropped to the ground in a cloud of dust as Roen came to stand just a breath away from him. She tilted her head to regard his wounds, his numerous bandages that were more apparent now over his chest and body. Her bare hand hovered by the ugly wound above his eye. On any other day, aether would have been summoned at her fingertips to heal him, but on this day, no glow came. Nero stood still, meeting her gaze.
"You gave me hope,†the paladin murmured, nothing but sadness in her heart. “Even if it was only for a short time. And in your own way, you gave me something more. I will remember that."
The quiver to her lower lip returned and she looked upon him with her deepest regret. She leaned in, almost a tender gesture as her lips nearly brushed his cheek. "But I cannot let her do it," she whispered.
The second unsheathed length of steel did not whisper; it was silent, with only a glimmer of the orange glow that licked the metal blade spared by that single lamplight. It was a knife from her belt sheath.
"I suppose...this is my atonement." Roen thrust the knife upwards, through his ribcage. She knew exactly where his heart was beating. And in that moment, she understood. The sacrifices made to one’s own soul so that others may not suffer the same. To commit violence to end violence, because every other method had failed. She finally understood Nero’s heart, just as she plunged a blade into it.
“I pity the events you will have to endure, Miss Deneith. I will not relish the day you understand why I act the way I do. ...Mayhaps you shall be stronger than I, when that day comes."
Nero gasped as the knife pierced through the soft bandages into his flesh. His left hand trembled; the fingertips sparking with violet aether, but nothing coalesced. His right hand instinctively struggled to reach the knife as he stumbled backwards, his legs failing him.
Roen stood immobile, paralyzed by the vision of the man dying before her. In one last, defiant instant, he curled his casual, easy smirk, even as blood bubbled from his mouth and spilled down his lips. He fell to one knee, his left hand still crackling with unstable aether. He gasped as he tried speak but naught emerged but a mouthful of blood. Then a last curl of his lip into a grin…one could almost call it satisfaction. The violet glow vanished from his hand.
The paladin’s breath now only came in stuttered gasps, her head shaking unwittingly in a silent plea.
A heavy, ignominious thud greeted the ground, as his legs gave out and Nero fell to his side. Blood began to rapidly pool around his body. His ice blue eyes, once holding such sharp clarity and conviction, were now glazed over and milky with the transparent veil of death.
It was only after he fell limp that Roen rushed to his side, falling upon her knees. Her bloodied hands trembled as they hovered near his face then the growing stain on his chest. Her vision began to blur then burned as tears began to fall freely from her eyes.
“Why…†She pleaded in between sobs that now rose, her hands closed into fists as she began to pound them against his chest in protest. “Why?!†Again and again she pounded her fists on top of his lifeless body, until the paladin crumpled forward.
Her form shook as she wept, her arms wrapping around him in an embrace that came much too late.
Nero Lazarov would never answer. He was forever gone.
“At the end of the day, when beasts have devoured all and the world falls into shadow…your ideals will always take priority.†Nero said, this voice tinged with bitterness.
“Would you have done what you did for Osric if he had not carried out his end of the bargain?†Roen matched him with venom of her own. “Would you have left Scythe with that weapon in Pearl Lane? Without anyone else knowing?"
The pirate snorted. "Ever thinking of the women and children. If you really must know, the weapon is defective. It's designed to explode when it's activated. It'll take out the building his gang is holed up in, and nothing more." He glanced to the paladin who stared at him eyes wide with her lips parted. "So yes, I would have simply let Scythe have it. Then, when he acts to engage his master stroke, he dies. Along with anyone who follows him."
Nero waved a hand. "That would be my last act of vengeance before leaving. It won't cleanse the bandits from Ul'dah, but it will offer Pearl Lane some respite for a time."
Roen stiffened, feeling her resolve waver. She had been so sure that all he wanted to do was to prove his point. To convince the rest of the word that his radical way was the only way. That he was willing to accept the bloodshed and gladly so just to convince others. Only now...
The paladin bowed her head, her long disheveled forelocks falling limp before her eyes. "I came here to arrest you," she confessed. "That is why I came."
"Ever the hypocrite, aren't you?" He turned to face her directly for the first time in their exchange, flashing his trademark smirk. "You never change." He shook his head. “You're going to haul me back to Ul'dah just so I can be tortured and left to rot in a gaol? I suppose that would be a surface definition of justice."
Roen glanced at Kiht, uncertainty in her eyes.
"Please.†The pirate snorted as he waved his hand toward the Keeper. “If all you want is for me to die without having to get your own hands bloody, simply have Jakkya do it for you. She's right here. You can tell them that I resisted. That I ambushed both of you, and that arresting me simply wasn't an option." His tone and glare turned cold upon the paladin, almost daring her. "Nobody will ever know."
Roen straightened, resentment struggling against the reluctance in her heart. "I believed you wanted to bath the streets in blood as you fled to Othard."
"I did. I do." His gaze sharpened. "You never bothered to ask whose blood.â€
The paladin flared her nostrils, stepping towards him. "You think your aim is so sharp, but evil and violence oft do not discriminate once sparked, Nero. There would have been other casualties. Life is a life."
"Roen, he still gave them the guns.†Kiht shifted in her stance, and her firm tone clearly revealed that the Keeper had recognized the cracks in the paladin’s resolve. “They still plan to kill innocent people, and he still committed killings of his own. Choose a ground to stand on, Roen. Remember."
Nero glared at Roen. "If you're going to continue pretending that you believe in that farce you call justice, then just kill me yourself. Don't force someone else to break themselves for you. Again." He opened his arms out towards her. "I offered you twice before. Both times before, you balked at the idea."
Roen’s hand trembled by her side. She did not want to reach for her sword. Her part of her refused, as she had at Lost Hope, then again at Crescent Cove. He had offered her a blade to kill him both times, to end his threat. She had refused. She believed that he was a better man, one that could be saved, one that could be turned from his violent course.
And now…?
She glanced to Kiht. Was that not why she had brought her friend? But deep down, paladin knew she could not let the huntress do it.
"Just know this,†Nero’s gaze bore into her. “There is always going to be someone like me. As sure as the sun rises in the morning, there will always be someone who is pushed too far, pushed too hard, who has decided that standing by is no longer an option."
“'Killing one innocent group to save another is not a 'right' thing to do.†Kiht’s voice was clear and edged, as if trying to pierce through the paladin’s haze of conflict. “Roen, his mind has been twisted."
"That's right, Roen,†Nero growled. “I'm irreparable. I'm beyond salvation, just like Ul'dah." With a bow of his head, he rotated in his seat on the box to face both of them. He pulled back his hood to reveal an ugly wound above his right eye, one that had been hidden thus far. The paladin could tell it was patched hastily as it oozed pus from the poorly-done stitches.
"Put me out of my misery. I'm dying a slow death, just like that wretched city."
Roen could not help but stare at the wound with some measure of horror, her eyes flickering a look to Kiht. There was as silent plea to her friend. Her heart was pounding with indecision.
"Remove me now, and you remove the threat. You fix the problem.†The pirate stood up from his seat, his stance belligerent. "What's the matter? It's simple, isn't it? I am a threat to you and everything you stand for, everything you hold precious. I am the symbol of the wrongness you seek to correct, the injustice that you've failed to set right."
The paladin grimaced to calm the trembling of her lower lip. One hand shot to the hilt of the sword at her side as he loomed over her.
"Tis not about justice,†Kiht called out to her, tension also tightening her voice. “Tis about making sure he does not do it again. Turn him over to Osric. He could be back again to do this shite again, Roen."
“Don't run away!†He was now shouting. "I'm a monster, made by people like you, made by people who are content to turn a blind eye whenever it suits them!â€
Her fingers clenched around the hilt, but her arm felt leaden. She could not unsheathe the blade. She stared at him eyes wide, her head unwittingly shaking side to side.
"You're going to add Osric to the list, too? Who's next? Who else is going to ravage themselves to defend you from something you don't want to be responsible for?" He spat at her. "I swear to you. I will return, and if Ul'dah has not found its way, if the Jewel of the Desert continues to stamp on those it deems worthless, I will raze it to the ground. I will destroy it completely, utterly, and trample on the ashes."
“Stop. STOP! Stop SAYING that! You are just trying to--†Roen found herself shaking.
The pirate's voice was full of vehement rage as he continued. "The city is dying. It must be allowed to die and croak its last breath. Only then can it ever have a hope of being renewed!" He glared down at her. "But that's against everything you stand for, isn't it, Sultansworn!? You can live with yourself, you can condemn those people to a lifetime of slow death, as long as your conscience is clean!"
"A beast, no matter what made it, is dangerous.†Kiht growled. “Do not let him make you think you are unjust simply because you will not kill innocent people like he has."
"Then why not do it?" His voice took on an eerie calm. "We are alone. Jakkya understands you. Simply remove your sword..." He made a motion to an imaginary blade at his side. "And put it here." He tapped his chest, where his heart would be. "Nobody will know. Your honor will be clean. Nobody will know that you killed a defenseless man. Nobody will truly know how much pain you enabled. Nobody will know what it is you did for the 'greater good'." He spat the last phrase derisively.
Nero's face, now contorted in pain, twisted into an ugly grin, a diseased caricature of his once carefree smirk. "Nobody will ever know that in that last instant, you knew that I was right, and that you were wrong.â€
Roen felt heat rise to her cheeks and moisture well in her eyes; her hand upon her blade shook with coiled tension. "I curse the day I met you. Not for my conscience. Not for my honor. But for those who died under that false belief that you could save Ul'dah. I curse the day that I believed you would prove me right." Her face twisted with anger and regret. "I already see that I was wrong all along."
The pirate threw his head back and laughed, his earrings jingling with the motion of his head. "If there is one thing you will soon learn, Roen Deneith, it is that there are some things worse than being killed. The pain of death...is nothing compared to the pain of life."
"I cannot let you raze Ul'dah." Her expression hardened. "I cannot let you do this again."
"I have only ever been the product of my circumstance."
"And for that...I am sorry..." Roen rasped.
"Then do it," he sneered, daring her.
Heavy silence fell between them, before a whisper of steel being drawn sliced through the air and the blade lunged. But it stopped just before his heart, its point quivering just an ilm away. The paladin gasped, as if disbelieving herself. Her face twisted in a deep frown, staring at the length of the blade accusingly.
The pirate merely stared at her unflinching, a spiteful look of disdain on his face. His pale eyes bore holes into her, and though he spoke no words, his judgement was loud as the largest bell. Your righteousness cannot save anyone, the memory of his words rang in her mind.
He lifted his left hand and slapped the blade away from him, uncaring or unaware of the gash that appears on his forearm that caught the edge of the blade. He turned away from the pair, waving his hand behind him in an expression of derision.
"Stand on a ground." Kiht’s growl cut through the air.
The smuggler turned, spreading his arms. "It is fruitless, Jakkya. Roen has made her choice." He seemed oblivious to the stream of wet blood that ran down the length of his forearm, staining the bandages that had been crudely wrapped around it. “She is content, to threaten everything she knows and loves, because the method is wrong. Because there must be another way.†Hateful echoes of ideals he despised escaped from his lips like a torrent of vapor. "And if she arrests me, all she is doing is killing me without taking responsibility for it. And she knows it."
He stared balefully at the paladin, his gaze filled with pity and disgust. "That is her way, after all. The way of her justice."
Roen stood, as if frozen in place, her sword arm suddenly heavier than it had ever felt. Could I…?
From the corner of her eyes, the paladin spotted Kiht reaching for her spear. The look the Keeper gave Roen was one of a predator who has designated its mark.
"Do you want to risk him doing it again?†Kiht asked pointedly, through gritted teeth. “Do you think he has changed, Roen? Just answer that for me."
Roen felt herself grow cold, all blood draining from her face.
â€If it was someone like Taeros…I could.†Kiht’s words came roaring through her memory. â€You are a Protector, Roen. Not a hunter.â€
Then another voice screamed at her. “People have always broken themselves, their ideals,their conscience, for your sake!â€
“Some of us had to bend. Some of us had to shed whatever righteousness we had left, all to do what was necessary. Some of us had to make deals with the devil for you.â€
“...It was me.â€
Her sword dropped to the ground by her side, the metal clang almost painfully loud in the suffocating silence. Roen’s hands felt numb.
"What will you do when there is an evil you cannot defeat by just means?" Nero called out to her. "Will you commit evil to destroy evil? Or will you remain steadfast and righteous…even if that means surrendering to evil?" Those were the very words he had asked her the first day they had met.
"I said...I would do it," Roen rasped. "If it would stop evil, once and for all." Her vision had blurred a little, and she blinked the moisture away as she looked to the man before her, his visage darkened with hatred and bitterness. “I guess that is you,†she said quietly.
"There is no evil!†Kiht was now yelling across the room, her spear drawn. “There is no righteousness! There are just people, many of whom are innocent. Do you want him doing this again?! Is he innocent, Roen?!"
She took one step then another towards the man she once loved. Her steps came slow, heavy with regret.
"Are you going to hide again, Roen?†Nero remained still as the paladin began to approach him. “Let someone else bloody their hands for you? Will you ever stop running from what you know must be done?"
As she neared, his own vitriol gave way just a little, his voice lowering in her proximity. “Sometimes, the ends don’t justify the means. Sometimes, the bloodshed goes nowhere, the lives taken rendered meaningless.†His brows were furrowed with regret for a moment, before it twisted into something darker. “But no matter what, I would rather commit evil, misguided and blind as it is, than to simply stand by and allow evil to happen.â€
One gauntlet was shed then the other. They dropped to the ground in a cloud of dust as Roen came to stand just a breath away from him. She tilted her head to regard his wounds, his numerous bandages that were more apparent now over his chest and body. Her bare hand hovered by the ugly wound above his eye. On any other day, aether would have been summoned at her fingertips to heal him, but on this day, no glow came. Nero stood still, meeting her gaze.
"You gave me hope,†the paladin murmured, nothing but sadness in her heart. “Even if it was only for a short time. And in your own way, you gave me something more. I will remember that."
The quiver to her lower lip returned and she looked upon him with her deepest regret. She leaned in, almost a tender gesture as her lips nearly brushed his cheek. "But I cannot let her do it," she whispered.
The second unsheathed length of steel did not whisper; it was silent, with only a glimmer of the orange glow that licked the metal blade spared by that single lamplight. It was a knife from her belt sheath.
"I suppose...this is my atonement." Roen thrust the knife upwards, through his ribcage. She knew exactly where his heart was beating. And in that moment, she understood. The sacrifices made to one’s own soul so that others may not suffer the same. To commit violence to end violence, because every other method had failed. She finally understood Nero’s heart, just as she plunged a blade into it.
“I pity the events you will have to endure, Miss Deneith. I will not relish the day you understand why I act the way I do. ...Mayhaps you shall be stronger than I, when that day comes."
Nero gasped as the knife pierced through the soft bandages into his flesh. His left hand trembled; the fingertips sparking with violet aether, but nothing coalesced. His right hand instinctively struggled to reach the knife as he stumbled backwards, his legs failing him.
Roen stood immobile, paralyzed by the vision of the man dying before her. In one last, defiant instant, he curled his casual, easy smirk, even as blood bubbled from his mouth and spilled down his lips. He fell to one knee, his left hand still crackling with unstable aether. He gasped as he tried speak but naught emerged but a mouthful of blood. Then a last curl of his lip into a grin…one could almost call it satisfaction. The violet glow vanished from his hand.
The paladin’s breath now only came in stuttered gasps, her head shaking unwittingly in a silent plea.
A heavy, ignominious thud greeted the ground, as his legs gave out and Nero fell to his side. Blood began to rapidly pool around his body. His ice blue eyes, once holding such sharp clarity and conviction, were now glazed over and milky with the transparent veil of death.
It was only after he fell limp that Roen rushed to his side, falling upon her knees. Her bloodied hands trembled as they hovered near his face then the growing stain on his chest. Her vision began to blur then burned as tears began to fall freely from her eyes.
“Why…†She pleaded in between sobs that now rose, her hands closed into fists as she began to pound them against his chest in protest. “Why?!†Again and again she pounded her fists on top of his lifeless body, until the paladin crumpled forward.
Her form shook as she wept, her arms wrapping around him in an embrace that came much too late.
Nero Lazarov would never answer. He was forever gone.