“…”

Breathe in. Hold it.

Exhale.

We never realize how much of a luxury each breath is, until the air is taken away.

When every inhale becomes a battle, and the silence between them stretches too long…

Hold my breath,

till I turn green…

When each inhale is filled with poison, mi amigos, you find out very quickly one simple truth.

That humans have one basic need that exists above all.

To breathe.

…It’s essential to me.

Breathing is automatic, effortless, much like the air itself, unseen yet vital. Oxygen fills our lungs, flows through our veins, keeps us alive. We pay it no mind… until it’s gone.

When air turns foul, you notice instantly. Without it, you have minutes… if you’re lucky.

Arcadia once breathed freely. La Musica flowed through our lungs, the ebbs and flows of the rhythms of life captured in song as every note did its part. Inhaling and exhaling, the music helped us breathe.

But now, that music has gone silent. The air is tainted. Each breath burns.

You are that poison, Nox, and you’re proud of it.

You’ve made it your mission to suffocate others so you can breathe easier. You hide behind your mask, thriving in the chaos you create.

It was you who tore Destructo’s family apart.

You who caused his mother’s death.

You who tried to erase Doom, one less loose end beneath your smokescreen of lies.

Your past seeps like gas through the cracks, revealed only when too late.

But you’re safe from it, aren’t you? Your mask filters the filth.

Only, the air you breathe is artificial, filtered air forced through a re-breather, false.

Behind that mask, you’ve never known what it means to truly breathe. Never felt the full lungs of a singer, the deep inhale before a Mariachi’s song. You live in filtered air, ignorant of a world beyond your own design.

Your air is fake.

Your reality, hollow.

And it will collapse.

Because underneath the mask, you’re weak. Strip it away, and you’ll choke on the same poison you spread. You’ll suffocate on the very air you corrupted, your past will choke you the moment you remove that mask.

I’ve been choking on my past just like you, when what I really need is to learn to breathe again. To take a big gulp of that air, fill my lungs and determine my future path.

To breathe in. Hold it.

“…”

Then exhale.

Because even without song, these lungs can still scream.

People around Arcadia have been trying to suffocate me for years.

Zeus tried to render me powerless when he slammed that door shut.

El Mariachi Grande thinks that he has won the war by taking away my breath.

They’ve taken away my very lifeforce, La Musica, yet still I breathe.

No matter how stale the air is, I will still take it in. No matter how much you poison me, I will still breathe. I will fight for that breath of fresh air, to fill my lungs with a renewed strength.

Because I’ve been holding my breath for long enough now.