FicWad

"Are you happy now?"

"You killed my children."

"I didn't want Shadow to go that far. I'm afraid you pushed him."

"I pushed him? I asked of him what you promised me."

"I made that promise. He didn't. I'm afraid he had a mind-and an agenda-of his own after all. Just like his father."

"I have an agenda of my own? The Eclipse Cannon? What were you thinking, Gerald? Did you not believe I would use it against the creatures who murdered you?"

"I had to have a failsafe, just in case. You would have killed my descendants."

"I tried to spare your grandson! I would have taken him away from the human cities, but he resisted me, and brought those furry creatures to fight me! I had no choice! And as soon as I had taken care of Shadow I would have rescued him from my children."

"I find that hard to believe." Gerald's glasses shimmered. "You've lied to me before."

"I never lied! I simply omitted the fact that I intended to farm the people who hurt you so."

"What of the next generation, then? How would Ivo have reproduced?"

"We would have allowed him to select a suitable mate and pulled her from our farms."

"He would never have gone along with it. He's too much like me, but he's a much better person. He's not willing to sell his soul."

"I guess we did sell our souls. But to whom?"

"The devil, perhaps? ...but this doesn't feel like hell."

"Alone forever."

"All alone together. A fitting punishment."

"Or perhaps a reward?"

"A little bit of both, I'd say. I forgive you, Black Doom."

"I cannot return the favor. Yet."

"Well, we've got eternity."

Doom could not help but chuckle. The same old Gerald. "Yes, I suppose we do."