After Kate left, I stayed seated in the courtyard, the cool night settling around me like a heavy blanket. The world felt still for the first time in days—almost too still. Then I heard soft footsteps approach.
Kamala approached slowly, her usually bright face dulled by exhaustion. Her scarf fluttered lightly in the wind, torn in a few places but still clinging stubbornly to her shoulders—much like the girl herself.
For a long time, she didn't say anything. She just stood beside me, gazing up at the stars—or what was left of them beyond the ash-choked clouds. Then, in a voice quieter than the wind, she asked, "Do you ever think about them?"
I glanced at her, one brow raised. "Who?"
She swallowed hard, eyes fixed ahead. "Everyone we lost."
Her tone wasn't bitter or angry—it was heavy, like the weight of memories she couldn't put down.
I didn't hesitate. "No."
Kamala blinked, caught off guard by the bluntness of the answer. "No?" she repeated softly.
I shook my head, eyes still forward. "Thinking about the dead doesn't bring them back. It just makes the living forget what they're supposed to do next."
For a moment, there was silence. Then she let out a breath that sounded almost like a laugh—a hollow, sad one. "You make it sound so easy," she said. "Like forgetting is something you can just… choose."
"I didn't say I forgot," I replied. "I just stopped carrying the guilt around. You should too."
On the last day of Yggdrasil, I could call my guildmates and ask them to come with me to the new world. Freeing them from the toxic world, which can go into destruction any time possible. But I didn't. I made a selfish choice to rule Nazarick as sole ruler; in a sense, I practically sacrificed them to a pit of toxic garbage.
Even though I call them friend, at the end of the day, I know what I did. A friend never pushes his brothers to hell while he enjoys heaven. So I know I can't be friends with them after what I did. But if I start feeling guilty, then I won't be able to enjoy this.
Humans are inherently selfish, and I am no different.
Kamala didn't respond immediately. Her shoulders slumped, and she sank down beside me. "I thought I was giving them hope," she murmured. "All this time, I really believed that if we kept fighting, something good would come of it. But now… I don't even know if any of it mattered."
I turned to her then, my voice firm but calm. "It did matter. You gave people something to believe in when everything else fell apart. That's not false hope, Kamala—that's what keeps the world from dying completely."
Her lips trembled, and for a moment, the confident, brave hero the world once called Ms. Marvel looked like a tired girl who just wanted to stop fighting.
She leaned forward and hugged me—not out of romance, but out of sheer human need for reassurance. I returned it lightly, a hand resting on her shoulder.
"You gave them one last chance to fight," I said quietly. "That's more than most ever get."
Kamala pulled back, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "So what now?" she asked.
"Now?" I looked out toward the horizon, where thunderheads were beginning to gather. "Now we finish it."
As if on cue, I saw Valkyrie was in the courtyard; she was polishing her swords. Her sword gleaming faintly in the moonlight.
Blade Knight and Death Dealer were also with her, polishing their own equipment, while Katy Chen trailed them, clutching a plasma rifle almost too big for her.
Shang-Chi looks like he is practicing some moves. Jimmy polishing his gun. Hope that's not what he is using tomorrow. That gun seems like it didn't have enough firepower. Kate was also with them.
Yelena and Shalltear was the only one missing.
~~~