[ TT ] You are a superhero , and you just fought and killed your strongest nemesis after a grueling battle that destroyed most of the city and surrounding regions . You are left at the edge of death , then the villain 's child walks up to you , tears streaming down their face .

For a long period of time, his own breathing was the only thing he could register. Shallow and strained but stable. In and out. In and out. 
 
 The agonizing pain was first to return, clearly fortune ever at his side. Started out in the fingertips, searing hot pain so excruciating he almost passed out. He expected to feel numb, but even this luxury had been deprived of him, as every sting and burn echoed throughout his skull as if taunting. After that came sight, not much use staring up toward the dark clouds without the ability to move, but good to know it still functioned. Soon the dry smell of dust and iron permeated his nostrils, thankfully a now familiar smell he was able to find some resemblance of comfort in. 
 
 Hearing was the worst one, for it confirmed his belief that he was in fact alone. He could hear the odd gust of wind brush sand against the rubble, but little else. As depressing as this realization felt, it was also quite sobering. Empowered by his senses returning, he decided to try moving his arm. No response. Panic was scratching at his mind at this point, and it was all he could do to keep his mindset positive. 
 
 Other arm it was then. This time there was clearly some movement, as another wave of agony hit him like a truck, and he could see parts of an arm flash by his peripheral vision. He estimated that maybe 30 minutes had passed when he could actively control the arm, although several bones seemed to have been broken, and the pain was worse than ever. 
 
 A Few hours passed before he even managed to lift himself off the ground. His teeth ground together so hard they could crack open at any second. Slowly, he started looking around, trying to figure out where he was. This proved more difficult than he had anticipated. Whatever landmarks may have been present before what he could only guess was some sort of natural disaster, were now reduced to nothing but rubble and sand. But at least sand was something, and something was progress. The elbow he was leaning on collapsed, accompanied by noised he wished his body would never produce. 
 
 He must have laid there for another hour or so before he felt strong enough to try and stand up. Luckily for him, the exoskeleton did most of the heavy lifting, and he just hoped that his real one was unscathed underneath all that. At this point he had been running on pure survival instinct for what felt like days, so any thoughts that had surfaced not related to pain or the preventing of said pain had been pushed to the back of his mind. 
 
 That all changed when he saw her. Not but 10 feet to his left lay a woman face down, a wild head of Jet-Black hair covering her features, Blood everywhere. This had been it. This had been the one time where she had gone too far, and there had been no way to bring her back. He collapsed onto his knees, mind turning blank. The physical pain he had felt previously paled in comparison to the pain he felt as it all hit him at once. 
 
 He could n't breathe. The one constant in his life had been taken away from him, and without it he was left alone, choking on grief. Dry eyes rejoiced as his tear ducts resumed operations, his bodily functions no longer under his control. The tears stained the dark sand as his head slumped over and rested on his chest. 
 
 He had always known this would be how it ends. He had known that, just never accepted it, and now it just became too much to bear. He cried until his eyes were dry and wailed until his throat gave out. Even still it was not enough, so he sat in silence begging the skies themselves for a release. Something to take him away from all this pain. Anything. 
 
 The sound of footsteps. Faint, but close by. The terrain made them irregular but he could still tell that they were clumsy. Oh please no, not her, not now. He tried his best to regain composure, but was far from confident as to the results. He turned around to face the source of his fear. A young girl was looking down on him, tears streaming down her cheeks. 
 
 He tried to steel himself for her sake, but when he looked into those eyes he saw only the woman he had killed. Every second spent looking at the girl only reminded him of another feature he had robbed from this world. Another piece to a puzzle now scattered to the winds. 
 
 But as the girl walked up to him and embraced him so hard he could feel more bones crack, he took refuge in the thought that part of her lives on inside this child. He had loved her so much, so much so that he could barely go on, but for the sake of their child he would endure. He wished he could say things like `` I'm so sorry'' and `` She loved you more than you will ever know'', as he knew he should be strong and supportive. Just like she would have been. But she was gone forever, so they just sat there together and cried.
