[Congratulations Archer, now you know what it's like to fly, and feel the wind in your hair as you weave through the clouds, your first day in the world a brilliant one, full of excitement for tomorrow. You know what it's like to hear crowds cheering your name as you take out some baddy in the middle of a busy street, and you get all the feelings that come with it: the protectiveness towards the innocent, the genuine desire to do good, the ego that comes of hearing a crowd yell your name. Now you've taken a little kid by the hand and let them fly through the air with you, truly free from a wheelchair for the very first time. It's a PR stunt, that's why your agent books the whole Make-A-Dream Foundation gig but it's no PR stunt to you, when you see the look on the kid's face.]
[You have friends, too, that you'd die for and that'd die for you, you have a family that loves you, even if it's the most eclectic, cobbled together, makeshift one you could have. You know what it's like to feel as strongly about a woman, to love her as fiercely and selfishly and unselfishly as you're capable of--and you get to watch her die. Violently. Horribly, that beautiful face of hers burned unrecognizably.]
[You know righteous anger and shame as you launch her murderer into space, dooming her to an immortal life floating endlessly in the void. You know grief over other loved ones dying, friends, mentors. You know shame from finding out you were made to be a monster from the start, from being forced to hurt even more loved ones.]
[You also know what it like to look up at the beautiful face of the other girl you've come to love, when you weren't sure you'd ever love again. She tells you to hold on, and you can't. You know you can't. But you saved the world, the whole world. You're dying, because you saved the entire world, and you think it's about the best damn way you could go. Your life, though unbearably short, meant something.]
3
[You have friends, too, that you'd die for and that'd die for you, you have a family that loves you, even if it's the most eclectic, cobbled together, makeshift one you could have. You know what it's like to feel as strongly about a woman, to love her as fiercely and selfishly and unselfishly as you're capable of--and you get to watch her die. Violently. Horribly, that beautiful face of hers burned unrecognizably.]
[You know righteous anger and shame as you launch her murderer into space, dooming her to an immortal life floating endlessly in the void. You know grief over other loved ones dying, friends, mentors. You know shame from finding out you were made to be a monster from the start, from being forced to hurt even more loved ones.]
[You also know what it like to look up at the beautiful face of the other girl you've come to love, when you weren't sure you'd ever love again. She tells you to hold on, and you can't. You know you can't. But you saved the world, the whole world. You're dying, because you saved the entire world, and you think it's about the best damn way you could go. Your life, though unbearably short, meant something.]