"Long time no see, Officer Blackheart." Damian’s voice was calm. "You look like shit."

’He–’

Ashley’s face twisted, the words hitting her like a physical blow.

Those were the exact words she’d used when greeting him in the investigation room after he’d emerged from the second portal, battered and traumatized.

The irony wasn’t lost on either of them.

Her head turned frantically, eyes searching the mountain peak, looking for someone.

"Where– where is she? The old woman who–"

"Are you looking for Grandma?" Damian’s voice cut through her searching. "You won’t be seeing her again... Or anyone else for that matter."

Ashley’s searching stopped, her eyes finding Damian’s face again.

The meaning sank in slowly, understanding dawning across her features.

She stared at him for a long moment, her face cycling through denial, hope, and finally resignation.

"Is there–"

Her voice cracked.

"Is there no other way? I could– I can do anyth–"

Damian’s hand moved to his spatial ring.

Whoosh

His gun materialized, the weapon appearing in his grip with practiced ease.

"..."

Ashley’s eyes locked onto the gun, and for several seconds she just stared at it.

Then something broke inside her as her face twisted.

"Haha... hahahaha... HAHAHAHA!"

The laughter came out broken and deranged, mixing with tears that started streaming down her face.

It was quiet at first, then it built quickly.

Her shoulders shook, the sound becoming almost hysterical before cutting off abruptly.

She looked at Damian, her eyes blazing with hatred despite the tears.

"You know what’s funny?"

Her voice came out rough, raw with emotion.

"I was supposed to be the heir of the Blackheart family! Supposed to take my place in the Imperial Council, marry well, produce children and maintain our status!"

Her hands clenched in the snow.

"But I joined the SFD instead! Turned my back on all of it because I believed in something more important than family!"

Tears kept flowing, her voice rising.

"I believed in justice! In protecting people! In upholding the law fairly regardless of Noble status or commoner birth!"

She laughed again, the sound bitter and broken.

"Within a few years, I became one of the most loyal and powerful SFD officers in the entire Federation! The most promising! Everyone said I’d be Director someday! That I’d change things from the inside!"

Her face twisted with rage and grief.

"But then I was assigned to that wretched Norrington incident! Where I encountered you!"

She spat the word like a curse.

"And now, after more than a year, here I am! Having lost my respect, my reputation, my career, my family’s support!"

Her voice cracked completely.

"I lost my ideals! My self-respect! Everything I believed in! Everything I worked for! All because of you!"

She was sobbing now, the words coming out between broken breaths.

"You hateful son of a bitch! I gave up everything for justice and ended up becoming the very criminal I swore to fight against!"

Her hands came up to cover her face, shoulders shaking.

"I joined the Shadow Council! Participated in an attack on a Federation city! Became everything I despised! And for what?! What did any of it accomplish?!"

Her voice cracked completely on the last word, dissolving into broken sobs.

Damian stood there calmly, his gun held loosely at his side, watching her break down without expression.

"Maybe if I’d had better control over my emotions when we first met."

His voice came out measured, thoughtful.

"If I’d been less arrogant, if I’d chosen to act in a better way... you wouldn’t have been after me with such obsession."

Ashley’s sobs quieted slightly, her eyes finding his face.

"But there are no maybes in life."

His expression became cold, despite the calm tone.

"And not to mention, during the Tranquil city attack–"

He moved closer, crouching down to her level.

"–Didn’t you call my mother filthy? Didn’t you say you were going to enjoy making me scream, making me beg? That you’d kill every single child in those bubbles while I watched and bled?"

His hand reached out, gripping her face roughly, fingers digging into her cheeks.

"If I was my old self, I would have started torturing you the moment you woke up."

His voice dropped lower, becoming almost gentle.

"I would have begun with your eyes first... Carving them out slowly with a dull blade. Then your tongue, piece by piece, so you could feel everything but couldn’t beg properly."

Ashley tried to speak, but his grip crushed her jaw, forcing only muffled sounds.

"Mmph–"

"After that, your ears. Then the tendons in your hands, one by one, watching your fingers curl useless."

His grip tightened further, bringing his face closer to hers.

"Every finger removed joint by joint. Then your toes, your feet, working up slowly over days or weeks."

"Mmph–"

"I would have used healing potions to keep you alive through all of it. Conscious for every cut, every scream and every moment."

His crimson eyes bored into hers from inches away.

"Just like that terrorist leader... A very fine example of what happens when someone threatens my family."

Ashley’s whole body was shaking, her face completely drained of color.

Damian released her face roughly, shoving her backward, standing up and stepping back.

"But I’m not that man anymore."

His gun rose, the barrel pointing directly at her forehead.

The world seemed to slow down.

Ashley stared at the weapon, at the dark circle of the barrel that would be the last thing she ever saw.

’So this is it.’

Her thoughts came surprisingly calm.

’This is how I die... Executed like a criminal on a frozen mountain where nobody will ever find my body.’

Her eyes closed, her breathing evening out slightly.

’Maybe it’s better this way... Dying is better than living as a crippled failure.’

The acceptance settled over her like a blanket, but suddenly her eyes snapped open.

"Brian!"

The single name made Damian’s finger pause on the trigger.

Ashley’s voice came out stronger, more controlled despite the tears still running down her face.

"Tell him that I killed the traitor in the SFD who sold his family’s information to the Shadow Council!"

Her breathing became steadier.

"His family is avenged! I hunted down the bastard who leaked their location and made him suffer before I ended him!"

She swallowed hard.

"I never wronged my subordinates! Whatever else I did, whatever mistakes I made, I always protected the people under my command!"

Then her head turned slightly, looking at Admond’s unconscious form a few meters away.

"And make that bastard’s death painful!"

Her voice gained venom, hatred bleeding through.

"He was the one who used his Imperial influence to pressure me after you came back from that portal! He manipulated me into investigating you to find out your backing!"

Her hands clenched.

"And he was the one who made sure I had no choice but to join the Shadow Council after everything fell apart! I never wanted to join them! Never wanted any of this!"

Tears streamed faster.

"All I ever wanted was to fight for justice! To serve the Federation! To make a difference! Why did everything go so wrong?! WHY?!"

She looked back at Damian, her face becoming strange, almost prophetic.

"Damian Valcor! Just like how fate played this cruel game with me, destroying everything I believed in, you will–"

BAM

The gunshot cracked across the mountain peak.

Ashley’s head snapped backward, the bullet entering cleanly through her forehead and exiting out the back in a spray of blood and bone.

Her body fell backward into the snow, her eyes still open, the sentence forever unfinished.

’Fate...’

Damian’s thoughts came quiet and cold.

’As if fate is some unstoppable force that controls everything.’

His gun lowered slowly.

’It’s just another damn law of the universe. Nothing more, nothing less.’

He looked at Ashley’s corpse and the blood spreading across white snow.

’If fate really thinks it can play games with me and take away everything I care about again...’

His hand gestured, and his Telekinesis activated.

Ashley’s corpse lifted from the snow, blood dripping from the exit wound, her lifeless eyes staring at nothing.

’Then I’ll devour fate itself!’

The body flew backward through the air, sailing over the mountain’s edge.

’Consume it completely until there’s nothing left but my own will!’

Damian watched Ashley Blackheart’s corpse tumble down the mountainside, bouncing off rocks, leaving trails of blood on white snow, falling faster and faster until it disappeared into the mist below.

And the life of Ashley Blackheart ended there, her body lost somewhere in the eternal snows of Mount Aeon.