The apartment was empty- finally. A heavy silence hung over the expensive leather furniture and the expensive yet tasteful art on the walls, smothering the expensive carpets and filling in the cracks between the expensive windows and expensive walls.

He hated it. Zyn was gone, moved in with Cata and Ari'i because he couldn't deal with an unstable avatar and because- let's just face it, it's the truth- he was afraid of Von.

Von kept his conscience in a cage in the back of his head, and threw a heavy black cloth over it most of the time to keep it from getting noisy. Right now it was screaming bloody murder, and he was ignoring it.

A shadow followed him from room to room, silent and judgemental. Von ignored her, too. He always did- she was worse than his conscience. He stepped out onto the balcony and surveyed the smouldering wreck that had been his skyline only a week ago. Some of the fires were still burning.

Not my problem anymore, now is it? Nothing was, really.

"You are a fool, and I hate you."

"I'm hurt, Umbra. Really, damaged to the depths of my heart. Didn't you love me, once? Didn't everyone love me, once? Or is that just a vain delusion of mine, something brought on by one too many bites to the neck?"

"You're delusional now, certainly." The shadow slid along the ground and across the railing. "You're driving them away on your own, just like last time."

"Last time? Last time?" His voice cracked on the last syllable. "Last time the two people I loved more than anything else in the world left me to die, but not before Aleks added insult to injury by marrying her and inviting me- and Sable. How could he do that to her? How could he do that to me, and how could Giselle let him?"

"You don't remember everything-"

"I remember plenty, you ragged piece of shit. I distinctly remember shooting myself in the head, which I fucking well wouldn't have done without a damn good reason. And now history repeats itself once again, as the other three go their merry ways and leave me alone with you."

"You didn't hate me then."

"You didn't do anything to help them- any of them. You didn't even try to save Sable, and now Cata is going through the same thing all over again while Zyn fills in for Aleks and doesn't have a fucking clue why. You used us then and you're using us now- how far is it going to go? Should I just shoot myself now and save myself the trouble of doing it later?"

The air around him stilled completely for a single, dangerous moment, and then a sudden gust picked him up off the ground and slammed him through the glass door with bone shattering force. Von landed on the floor of his living room amongst the shards of glass and laughed weakly, blood seeping from a thousand tiny cuts and a few larger puncture wounds. "You've ruined my carpets, bitch. You should watch your temper."

The shadow stood over him, the holes of her eyes showing the blue of the sky through them. "I should kill you now and get it over with." Her voice was stronger now, more than a whisper in his head, and her form was nearly solid, glutted on blood and pain. "You forget yourself, Gavin-Von-Creliss-Paralda. We were made for each other, and we were made for this purpose and this purpose alone. If you kill yourself, if I kill you- it won't matter. I'll find you again."

The air was still and silent again. "You think you remember so much, Von, and you think history reapeats itself. You're right- it does. But you only remember so much; compared to what I remember, it is nothing more than the blink of an eye in the space of eternity. This isn't the first time you've grown restless, and I doubt it will be the last."

He couldn't move, and there was blood in his mouth, creeping up from his lungs. Whoops, dead again. Guess I'm out of the game this time.

"Our lives are not a game, Ventus. This is who we are, who we will always be."

"What...did you...call me...?" He could barely speak.

"Go to sleep, Von. You'll feel better when you wake up."

Not again... He saw her reach towards him with a tendril of shadow, and then saw nothing but darkness.

---------

Jesus, Umbra, quit acting like you walked off the set of Queen of the Damned. You're not a blood sucking fiend any more than Nocturne is. *sigh*