It always begins with one.
A single solitary omission, a white lie that you deem necessary to protect those you care about.
Spirals out of control and leads that person to a dark ending you caused.
Her name was Evangeline and she thought the world of me.
I was desperate to be apart of the elite, to have that piece of the pie, the paradise I believed I deserved.
She would’ve been happy with a tiny shack in the darkest part of the burrows but I needed that wealth and fame more then I needed her.
One day we got an offer from a devil with a silver tongue, one single month of her services and we’d have everything we ever wanted. She didn’t want to go but I persuaded her, told her it would alright, that she would be safe and soon back into my arms.
A lie stamped with forty pieces of silver.
Because she didn’t know his reputation. That whatever came back, if she came back, wouldn’t be my Eva.
A month passed and she never came home so I went looking. I broke down his doors, demanded to see my wife.
There wasn’t enough left of her to hold in my arms.
I could have ripped his throat out, burnt that infernal club to the ground but what good would it have done? Because he didn’t kill her…I did.
Me and that little white lie.
Sound familiar Maxwell? Because James might not be dead but you know the darkness that fills his soul right now is your own fault.
You let guilt of what you lost destroy you, change you into something you’re not.
You constantly pushed your son away, pretended you were still dead to a grieving child, creating a maelstrom of emotion that pool fed from.
Doom pushed him in but you created the catalyst. And now your little white lie may doom us all.
We both wear masks but we are not alike. Yours is a constant reminder of a self imposed failure that you allow to warp everything you once were.
Mine? Mine is atonement, a reminder of the lie that could have dragged me into the darkness that I use to pull everyone into the light.
To save this world the correct way, to ensure I fight with ideals and convictions that cannot be compromised.
Even if it means I question the man who gave me my redemption, even it means I bring down everything I hold dear for the sake of the innocent.
We’re both heroes Maxwell but we are nothing alike. Because I learnt from my white lie, I learnt that it ruins everything.
And you were too scared of the consequences to tell the truth.
Because you knew James had changed but you were too terrified to admit it. A broken man masquerading as a savior.
Allow my wind to douse your burning rage and show the world what a true hero is.
Honest Courage who will do anything necessary to save the innocent.
Even fixing your mistakes.