The flames licked your skin,
They festered and boiled your veins,
Making you finally talk.

Spilling the secrets
Of the years full of torture
Hardships and secrecy
Deep affection-
All into one chain
Of stomach lurching
Teeth grinding, muscle crushing
Screams of agony.
The shrieks of a killer
Of a bonefide expert at the art
Of smuggling.

Those caterwauls
Were the sounds of a sick and twisted creature,
A monster that was finally atoning
For uncountable sins.
But even so, I held that thing close.

I fought beside that behemoth.
I danced a series of steel-parrying tangos
To make sure the son of a ship could still breathe.

And the other me still inevitably
Struck the beast down with one spark.
I'm glad that cutter was aimed at my neck
Making the crimson drops fly in the faces of
What was once my comrades.
Because
I could have let you fall in such peace
That your demonic wings could be mistaken
For such a sweet and holy angel's, a pure snow hue
But instead the blaze was engraved
Into your already melted mind.

It was only an "other" you-
A different me-
But lately I've been having dreams,
And I foresee it again, again
So now
That you were done being a spawn of hell
Allow me to allow you
Back to the gates of eternal fire.
I'll cause your black licorice strands to fall as if ash,

I'll just let the guilt
Burn my flesh instead.