“Cutting it a bit close, don’t you think?” Kain asked jokingly as the former Heroes stood before him on the last day of the beach trip.

“Well, in our defense, we wanted to put off our deaths as long as possible and enjoy the last few moments we have in this world.” Vladimir responded.

Kain looked at them with a semi-confused gaze before it switched to one of amusement.

“Ah, I see the problem. You assume that I called you out to kill you.”

Kain’s gaze shifted to the sunset as he reclined in his folding beach chair.

“That assumption is false.”

As the former Heroes stirred, Kain picked up a slushie and sipped it through the straw. Kain fixed his sunglasses and then glanced back at the former Heroes.

“What? You want to know why I called you here?”

Alice led the others of her group in a slight nod.

“Well, I called you here to attempt to apologize for what happened back in the throne room.”

Kain’s tone made him seem both apathetic and unapologetic, which made the summoned Earthlings doubt his words.

“Your tone says otherwise.” Pierre stated, fully expecting his head to go flying immediately afterwards, which it didn’t.

“And I must apologize for that, as well. I am what I am, and what I am makes it very hard for me to empathize with people I do not have strong bonds with. I can’t help that part of my nature, just as you can’t help but mourn your comrade and fear that I did something to make him act the way he did back there. I did nothing but protect my family from an unknown force that had seized control of your friend. I have no regrets for removing that entity from the area, but I do regret that it took control of your friend a fair bit before you arrived and you never realized it, forcing my own hand to remove it. I may have killed your comrade’s body, but his mind and soul had long since departed. What you were wandering around with was just a puppet, dancing on strings.”

Kain’s seeming lack of concern made the former Heroes that much angrier. He may be a monster, but he could at least show some compassion!

“So, you called us here to give us a pity present? A beachside getaway as an apology isn’t going to cut it, especially with your lackluster method of saying ‘sorry’! You damn bastard, you should just go die somewhere and apologize that way!”

Jesus’s words exited his mouth before his brain had a chance to stop them. Instantly, the warm beach air became icy cold and Kain’s eyes focused like a laser onto Jesus. The absolute terror that Jesus was feeling pressed him to the ground and cut off his breathing. The sheer force of Kain’s power was asphyxiating him while crushing him like a thousand-pound weight was being gradually applied to his whole body. Then, all at once, the pressure and force vanished and Jesus could breathe and stand again.

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Kain balled one of his hands into a fist, an act which caused great fear among the summoned people, but rather than hit them Kain slammed his fist into his own head with such force that the air shook with the power of the impact.

“Damn it.” Kain grumbled. “I need to stop doing that. I thought I was beyond doing something so childish, but I apparently still have a while to go before I have full control.”

Kain looked around and, when he was sure that the coast was clear, he turned to the former Heroes.

“You know, dying on Earth and then being trapped in this body, slowly having your moral compass corrupted and your sense of ethics torn to shreds does a number on a man. If I was back on Earth, I may have been a bit miffed by that comment, but I wouldn’t have immediately gone to pure killing intent. This world and this body have done a number on my Earthling soul. Even if I die here, there is nowhere else for me to go. I died on Earth and that somehow sent me here, so where would I go if I died again? Ah, I’m rambling once again…”

“Wait, wait, wait…” Kristof stammered. “You’re from Earth?!”

Kain nodded.

“Yep. Born and raised in [Country Name Redacted] in the year 20 [Year Redacted]. Human society was already pretty advanced, but with tensions and the environment being what they were, the doomsday clock was only a few seconds from Midnight. I don’t recall my Earth Name, nor that of my murderer, only that I fell onto the tracks of a subway and was run over while being electrocuted. I somehow ended up in this body in an old abandoned tomb, scared a few tomb raiders senseless and then, well, the rest of everything happened. For a long time, or what feels like it, I was ruled by a shifting personality. One moment I was not evil, but morally dark, and the next I was nothing but a crazy mass-murdering psychopath. For a while my two sides fused together, but then we split apart and have been working together, more or less.”

“That’s…”

“Crazy, right? Something about this body and the other personality in it twisted whatever I was before into what I am now. I can’t feel anything other than apathy or hate for those I don’t have a bond with, and for the majority of my citizens I feel concern and compassion, but not to nearly the degree that I should. As for you, who were my foe but are tenuously on my side? Well, I don’t hate you, but this body and mind make it hard to feel anything but apathy. And, to be honest, I am not very inventive, so a beach vacation was the best I could come up with as a way to apologize aside from the burial and the road.”

“The… road?”

“Yeah, I named a road after him. Like I said, I can’t feel much but apathy and since he technically was my enemy for the last moments of his body’s life I am really going above and beyond for him, all to try and appease you. Anyway, I’ll be here for a few more days after the wife and kids head back. Got to relax after all that I’ve done and someone needs to hold down the fort while the kids get back to school. Maybe you could hang out here a bit mo-… Shit, act like I never told you that I am part Earthling!”

“Wait, why…?”

Alexis, Elizabeth and Raziel zoomed in from over the horizon at insane speeds before touching down and opening a portable fridge, withdrawing some drinks.

“Oh, that’s why.”

The former Heroes realized that Kain, or the person who was now Kain, was in a bit of a jam. He had neglected to tell either his wife or his children that he had an Earthling’s soul and mind inside of him. He was afraid; afraid of the only people he truly loved in this world realizing that the true Kain was no longer there, or perhaps never was since his resurrection. Kain, in a roundabout way and while offering his condolences, gave them something more valuable as a token of apology than the beach trip.

“Maybe you are more inventive than you give yourself credit for. We appreciate the gift, but that doesn’t mean we completely forgive you.” Vladimir said before he and the other former Heroes walked away.

“Well, that’s the best I can expect, really…” Kain said as he watched his gamble pay off. “At least I don’t have to kill you all.”