The many months, the years all seemed to of blurred together into a haze of strife, of sorrow. Some never knew the full story, others wished to forget. Some, just wanted it all to end.

It must of been hard for others, though. To survive and continue on in the aftermath of that day, where it all came to a close. Heavens know it was never nor still is easy for Sonata to cope. Often still she’d be found crying into her and her wife’s bed, mourning for all that was lost. No doubt neither Presto nor Pulse could always keep the nightmares and memories at bay, forces to stare at blank screens and walls waiting for it to pass.

But it was better this way, it was the outcome that secured the peaceful future, at the cost of someone close.

Presto still remembered it so clearly, crashing in on him from time to time with the survivor’s guilt in tow when it came to his lost loved ones. He still remembered how Sonata violently thrashed, screamed and pleaded. Forced to watch the brutal fight that’d be the decider of it all. Watch as the monster that once controlled his body fought tooth and nail to try and become victorious. To take Pulse away.

It was terrifying watching it go down. It was frustrating to be powerless in that moment. To let Shade fall like this when she had his sister to return to, had Sonata to protect. But she kept adamant on this path and all he could do was watch and hope her method succeeded. And both thankfully and sadly it did.

It must of terrified Pulse to see it happen again. The damned fusion gun, used one last time and broken forever.

It was dry that night, suffocating almost while the green and orange fires clashed and smothered each other out. The trigger felt so heavy on that weapon when it stayed pointed at Adagio and at Shade. She kept assuring, demanding that she could keep him down. Keep him chained away and that this was the only way. For the heroes to have their happy ending.

Presto was the one to do it, his tech savvy sister dousing out the surrounding fires and keeping Adagio unable to escape Shade’s suffocating grasp as she kept him pinned to the ground. Unable to become smoke when she kept burning away the oxygen he needed. Presto could also see when he finally pulled that trigger, the guilt upon Shade’s face before that beam collided as the billowing smoke consumed them. The mixture of grays, blacks and whites that spiraled into the sky before crashing down into the smoke. sucking it up into a massive cloud with the surrounding, remaining flame and becoming a cloud of it all. 

They never got to see what the two became, only got to watch as that cloud flew away out of sight and was never seen again. The deafening sound broken by Sonata’s crying. 

But as time went on, they never had any incident or reports of someone like Adagio or Shade near them. They could only assume the worse and that the incompatibility of old vs new models fusing together killed them. It was something that hurt for a while for some, others relieved of no longer having to be afraid of the monster, and guilty for pulling the trigger that ended it.

They went on with their lives to the best of their ability after that, trying to move on from it.