Deepwoken: Penumbra

War: Kevin Donnet

The hooded figure glared at Kevin. "You couldn't protect them last time."
Kevin gripped his Railblade harder. "Because I changed. But this time, I'll fight like I fought back then. That means I won't lose... No matter what."
This response seemed to clearly disturb the man. "...Like back then..."

Kevin darted at him, slicing at him relentlessly with the Railblade.
The man jumped back, giving Kevin just enough time to equip his arcwarder armour.
The man stabbed his Crypt Blade into the ground, a chain linking onto Kevin's soul, dragging him towards it. "What changed, Kevin? You couldn't protect them back then..."
Kevin thought for a moment, shutting his eyes. "I... I learned." He said as he caused an explosion with his Railblade, destroying the chain.
The man engulfed his Crypt Blade in shadows, repeatedly slicing at Kevin. "I'm sure Faust's mother would disagree..."
Kevin just about blocked the attacks, going into a blade lock with the man. "She... She would be proud of the way I'm raising him!"
The man pushed Kevin back, breaking the blade lock.
Kevin stumbled back, immediately shooting him with a laser coming from the eye of his suit.
The man was hit, stumbling back as Kevin approached him, ready to strike. "But you? You're a special kind of monster... Trying to hunt down an innocent kid for YEARS!"

The man took a step back, throwing his hands forward. "The goal justifies the means!"
He yelled out, creating a strong current of shadows, akin to a shadow roar. "You're predictable, Kevin... You're just gonna back down, try to dodge. The moment I get that armour off of you, you're dead!"
Kevin glared at him for a short moment, the visor on his suit cracking - letting him see a reflection of his friends, and the kids. "No. Not anymore..." He said as he started trying to slowly approach the man, his armour taking heavy damage from the current of shadows.
The man visibly smirked under his hood. "You're too easy to bait... You'll die before you reach me!"
Kevin gripped his Railblade tighter as he took another step forward. "Fine, then! If I die in the process..." He said as his armour was blown off, taking another step forward. "That just means I can apologize to everyone!"
Kevin took another step forward, slashing into the man's side, who promptly stumbled back.
Kevin slashed at the man again, his wounds splurting out blood.
The man blocked the attack before striking back.
Kevin simply took it, stabbing into him. "If I die... I'll drag you down to the Depths with me!"
The assassin coughed up blood as he tried to push Kevin off of himself.

Kevin pushed the blade of his sword deeper, as he was hit with the Greatsword again. "Trust me... I'll last longer down there than you will!"
The man kept hitting him in the side with the greatsword, causing even deeper wounds.
Kevin simply took the hits, no matter how painful. As he glared at the man, he only became more determined.
Memories of Gwen's encouragement, "Fight! Fight, even if you can't anymore!", The clearing of Castle Light alongside Nathan, Colt's plans, the fight against Nathan, Pakki's adapting of Gwen's catchphrase as he fought against Nathan, "Fight! Fight, no matter what, even if you can't anymore! Fight! Fight! FIGHT!", the horrific sound yet relief of the Rumbling as the final battle took place, the horror of finding his crew dead, the constant worry about Faust and then Pakki and Seth - it all boiled down to this one moment, where everything would be decided.

As the assassin raised the Greatsword again, Kevin pulled his head back, headbutting him, and forcing his hood off, blood coming out of both of their heads - beneath the hood was the face of Falco Drakeheart.
Falco yelped in pain, his grip on his Crypt Blade loosening as Kevin glared at him.
"... You're the reason Faust died... You were found dead..."
Falco tried to back up off of Kevin's blade, gritting his teeth. "They never tried to help..  it was easy to fake them out!"
"I'll make sure you can't do anything like that again!" Kevin said as he pulled the trigger to cause an explosion with the Railblade.

Kevin stumbled back, falling to the ground not long after. He looked at Faust. "I did it... You'll be fine... I... Promise..."
He wanted to close his eyes like no other time before, but he couldn't. He knew he had to stay away, in case anything happened. His emotions were stirred up as he heard a thump, and then several footsteps.
Colt slided over to him. "Shit-- what happened?!"
Kevin finally relaxed. "I... Protected them..."
Colt held Kevin as he fell unconscious. "H-Hey, Docs... Get over here, come on! Somebody, HURRY!" He shouted out as he almost broke down into tears.

Faust, Kevin, Matthew, Pakki, Pat and Seth all made a full recovery.
David was taken into custody, along with James, however James lost his right eye, thus placing him in hospital.
Falco's soul was sent to the depths, though he was certainly strong enough to get out, however his identity was found out.

A week or so later, Kevin brought a bouquet of flowers with him as he climbed the long stairs of the Miner's Landing.
Atop the mountains stood a lone memorial he had visited so many times before.
Kevin was still covered in bandages, but he didn't care. He walked out into the calm yet rainy night.
He placed down the flowers on the memorial, tears welling up in his eyes. "I wonder... If you were here... ...What would you say?..."
He said, looking at the picture. "I really thought it was over... In hindsight... You four were born into a world where your dreams couldn't come true. Getting out onto the surface... Living happily... You weren't dumb. You knew you couldn't do it... But you still fought for it. You found the strength in yourself to do so."
Kevin said as the rain started to calm.

"Up until now... I always wanted to ask how. How you found the strength to fight for something you knew you couldn't achieve. But... I might have found it. Falco is still alive... I know he is." The rain, once again, started pouring more heavily, as more of Kevin's tears dropped onto the ground. "And he's the reason Faust died... And... I'd give anything... For just a minute to talk to you guys again. But I know I can't." The rain calmed once more. "I don't know if you went somewhere... But if you can hear this... I want you to know I'll do my best to complete your dream. To pass it on. I swore my life to protecting others. To dream of a world where getting out of the Depths and living peacefully is possible... It's the best thing you could've left me. I promise you, I'll do my best to make this world a reality. And especially to you, Faust..."
Kevin said, the rain slowly cutting out as the skies parted.
".... I'll make sure Falco never gets to hurt anyone again. I promise."