"Do you really believe… this was ever about kindness?"
The voice broke the silence—not loud, not harsh—but laced with something corrosive. A softness turned venom. A question dressed in sorrow and rage. The air stank of smoke and scorched metal. Soot fell like tainted snow, mixing with the blood on the ground and the dust of dead ideals.
Buildings had folded in on themselves. Sirens screamed in the background, distant but constant, like the world's last gasp for order. Two figures stood among the wreckage. One trembled, fists clenched so tight the knuckles turned white.
The other stood tall—elegant, composed—but there was fire behind their eyes, and blood on their hands. "You… you killed them," the trembling one whispered, disbelief cracking through the words.
"You turned everything into a lie. I trusted you. Everyone did." A hollow laugh followed—dry, empty. Almost pitying. "I didn't lie. I just peeled the mask off. The lie was always there. You just kept looking away… because it felt better that way."
They stepped forward, slow, like a shadow closing in. "You thought this was chaos? Vengeance?" A bitter smile pulled at their lips. "No. This was truth. I wanted you to see. To understand how easily 'kindness' becomes cruelty… when no one questions it."
"But you destroyed everything—!"
"I freed you!" the voice cracked now, anger erupting. "I freed everyone from a system that chained their souls and called it virtue! And still… you look at me like i'm the villain...?"
That silenced the other. Eyes wide. Breath held. And for a moment—just one—the truth slithered in. "You were so desperate to follow something… that you forgot how to feel. That's what it does. The system. It sterilizes you. Numbs you. Until you confuse obedience with kindness."
The wind blew, carrying ashes through the air. Everything was falling and then— softer— like something breaking inside.
"…You're too late now. I didn't want to be this. But no one came. Not even you."
A pause.
"Why didn't you stop me?"
The trembling one stepped forward, lips parting to speak—then froze. Guilt carved deep behind their eyes.
"I thought… I thought we had a connection," they whispered. "I should've seen it. I should've saved you."
A faint smile. Weak. Tired.
"…And now you finally see it. When there's nothing left to save."