Shane starts sobbing, and Dante lets go of the gun and rests his hand on the nape of her neck. Shane places her forehead on his shoulder, and he does the same. He places his forehead on her shoulder and whispers something into her ear. When he stops talking, Shane sobs a chocked moan and then breaks the contact.

She dries her eyes with her sleeve and watches me, giving me an apologetic, desperate look. I watch her, giving her a nod, trying to tell her that it’s over. It’s finally over.

I turn to Turmont. He is not dead, yet. He is staring at the ceiling, vacantly, his lips still parted. His blue eyes look glassy, not very different from Johnny’s.

His breath is uneven and shaky, and his massive body trembles. His arms are wide open, the gun lays forgotten into his right hand. In the middle of his chest, the blood surrounds a perfectly circular gunshot wound and the stain is growing bigger and bigger.

”No more judgement day
Only tranquility
Peace signs, protest lines
Mean nothing to me
Honesty born in me
Heresy…”

Dante kneels down right beside him with a long sigh, places his elbows on his knees. He tilts his head to a side and watches him straight in the eyes. Francois Turmont watches him back and swallows. There is no trace of fear on his face. Only a calm waiting for death.

“You killed Marshall, didn’t you?”, Dante asks him, quietly.

Turmont blinks his eyelids, just once, and swallows again. A sort of confirmation, maybe. Dante makes another sigh, and removes the gun from his hand, tossing it aside. Far away.

“Was it all worth it?”, Dante asks him.

Turmont shakes his head so slightly and then speaks in a very croaky, chocked voice.

“No”.

“Yeah. It rarely is”, Dante replies tiredly. Then he gets up and turns his back to him, letting him die. Alone.

I run to Shane and take her into my arms. She hugs me tightly, and despite I can barely breathe, is so beautiful. Everything seems almost perfect, now.

“Babe… babe what were you doing?”, I ask her, finding my voice again, and realizing that it’s sounding week and trembling, “You scared the shit out of me”.