♫ There’s a road
It’s a rocky road, lined with sticks and stones…
But even though this road is long
Everybody’s welcome on this rocky road…♫

They say, “To err is human,” and aye, it is true. We all make mistakes, choices that wound, loyalties that crack like old wood in the sun.

But what happens when the mistakes you make shatter the very bond that exists between yourself and a compadre?

But when trust is broken… that is not a wound that heals easy. No, no. That is a long road, a hard road. And the only way back is to walk it, step by step, with your head bowed and your heart open.

For strength, true strength, does not lie in perfection, no. It lies in the courage to make things right, to carry your shame like a guitar on your back and still keep playing.

♫Casting stones, even though we’re all sinners…
Pointing fingers and calling out names.
But on the rocky road, there ain’t no one among us
Without blame… ♫

I know this road. I have felt it’s  twists and turns intimately. I have walked it barefoot.

Once, I had a bond stronger than blood. Apokalypsis, hermanos who fought beside me, sang beside me. And I broke that trust. Shattered it like cheap glass with one foolish act.

I’ve seen that moment a thousand times behind my eyelids. I’ve sat countless times at that door, willing it to open. Wishing to go back. But regrets… regrets are only ghosts unless you do the work.

I burned down our house, sí, and since then, I’ve been sifting through the ashes, brick by brick, trying to rebuild that trust.

Because when you rebuild, you do not make it the same. You make it stronger. More honest. More fireproof.

And that is what I have done with Drewitt. Step by painful step. He has seen my worst, and now still, he walks beside me. That, my friends… that is trust. That is familia.

But you, Harold… you could have humbled yourself to walk this toad. Yet you went to war, instead of walking the path of redemption with your daughter. You chose rage over humility.

And you, Night… your path is that of roundabouts. You’ve walked in vengeance-fuelled circles ever since your world blew up. You cannot build trust if your hands are always striking the match.

You two don’t trust each other, not truly. You only share a common enemy. That’s not a bond. That’s a deal made in the dark.

And that will be your undoing.

Trust must be earned. With blood, with sweat, and with tears. Every step I’ve taken on this rocky road has led Apokalypsis back from the ashes.

It made me stronger. It made Drewitt stronger.

And trust… trust will be the light that guides us forward.

Your path, amigos, it is still open. All you have to do is be strong enough to walk it to the very end.

So are you willing to take the step?

For even though the road is long, everybody’s welcome on the rocky road.