The rapid beating of my heart in my ears is what originally wakes me up. Next comes the stabbing pain in my ribs, with each breath I take I can feel my life drifting away from me. I muster the courage to open my remaining eye, the light is blinding, and I squint with a groan. Blearily, I recognize the Doom Slayer engaged in battle, with what seems to slip away from me, like sand between your fingers.
The enemy falls to its knees, speaking too softly for me to hear above my rushing blood and pounding heart. A red orb, floats above the corpse for a moment before exploding in a burst of argent energy. I watch as the Doom Slayer falls to his knees, then keels over onto his side. I can feel the panic set in as he lays there unmoving, what could have caused such an immovable force to simply fall like that? Through the excruciating agony of my aching muscles and sure to be broken ribs, I attempt to crawl towards the Doom Slayers prone frame. All I can manage is a weak, aborted movement of my arm before the pain blinds me and I lose consciousness once again.
To my surprise, I wake once more, though with much more difficulty than before, my breathing is shallow, and I can hear the rattling and gurgling of liquid in my lungs with each breath I take. There are red cloaked figures standing around the Doom Slayers tomb, the very one Dr. Hayden and I retrieved from the Kadinger Sanctum what feels like forever ago now. With a muted hiss, the tomb is sealed. Words ring through my mind, as if planted there by some unforeseen force, "may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.".
As the last syllable floats away into my memory, I notice the cloaked figures making there way across the arena to where I lay against the wall. My eye widens and my breathing picks up in panic, despite the still unbearable pain in my chest. Surely, they don't mean to put me in a tomb as well? It seems to take a millennium for them to finally reach me, looking down upon me with their emotionless, masked faces. The one in the middle, their leader perhaps, lifts a single foot and gently nudges my shoulder, rolling me onto my back. The pain that accompanies my shift in position is almost too much to bear, yet I remain conscious. Though I soon wish I hadn't as the same figure rears their foot and brings it down in a hard stomp in the center of my chest. I hear my sternum shatter and the blood that immediately fills my mouth nearly causes me to choke. Words cannot describe the pain I feel, as the cloaked figures turn and walk away, out of the arena, as if they hadn't just orchestrated the death of an innocent human. As the world begins to go dark, my head lolls to the side and I see the Doom Slayers tomb. With a final ounce of strength, I stretch my arm towards it.
With my last breaths, as my vision fades, and my heart finally gives out I can think of only one thing. I'm sorry.
And so it was, that the Doom Slayers temporary yet loyal ally, lost his struggle against the forces of the universe. Rest in peace, my dear Frenchie, for your work is finally finished, and you may be reunited with your mother in death.
