The dark skies rumble overhead, as a set of eyelids cover a pair of eyes like a blanket, perhaps to protect them from the onslaught of rain coming down from the heavens. A laugh can be heard mixed in with a thunderclap, bringing a cringe to the man whom dares stand before the storm.

Needle-like rain crashing against his skin, a stinging sensation that does not seem to fade. This man, this foolishly brave man, once again has stepped out into the world to face the storm which desires so horribly to cut him down and deny him that which he’s searched for all throughout his life.

But not today, neigh; never again.

The cackle soon quells as a lightning bolt flashes across the sky, dancing overhead amongst the clouds. The sky, a sky which had only moments before been filled with such brilliant sunshine, now being abused by the oppressive clouds and the black rain they send falling to the earth below.

The man takes a deep breath… and begins his journey forward. It is an action the storm does not expect, an action it was sure it had finally disabled the man to make. However, despite the constant beating the man may endure from this storm… he shall never again allow himself to be a puppet to its game.

Not today… never again!

Proud eyes lift up to stare into the eye of the storm, as a figure shifts throughout the clouds; perhaps in fear, perhaps in confusion, or perhaps… in excitement that its challenge has finally arrived. Lightning once more flashes throughout the sky, a threat to the man to back down from the storm… yet he refuses. There is nowhere left to run, and both man and storm find themselves cornered by each others presence.

It is now that the man stands firm, it is here that he believes more in himself then ever before.

The storm rumbles onward overhead, that black rain still pelting the skin of the determined man, as the figure within the storm slowly descends to the ground below. There’s a pause as this twisted figure remains in the darkness of its own creation, before slowly creeping forward like a creature finally leaving its cave.

“I must admit… your persistence is admirable.” comes the dark, cold-hearted voice of the figure before the man. Poisoned eyes of darkness glaring into that pair of proud eyes which so defiantly dared to stare into the storm without fear.

“I’m tired of running, it’s time I take back those dreams you tried to deny me of!” his voice full of emotion, the man shouts with his soul on fire to the figure before him, who winces once at the tone of his voice and then proceeds to chuckle, perhaps realizing the seriousness of this man’s threat.

Bravery and foolishness may go hand in hand, but this man was ready to risk his life if it meant finally humbling the storm which kept him from his dreams all this time. The figure lets loose a sigh from its lips, taking yet another step forward in hopes to force this brazen man to back down.

It is, in the end, to no avail at all.

“So this truly is the time that you wish to make your stand… even when you have your whole life ahead of you to enjoy, you wish so eagerly to end it here today?” whispers the blackened figure, this man who hides behind a mask…

“You’re right; I do have my whole life ahead of me, and I intend to enjoy it… without you there to stop me. The time for talk is finally over, and I don’t intend to fall once more.”

It’s all the words this man need say, for soon the storm begins to rise once more. Yet as the winds blow so strongly, the rain sting so badly… he refuses even to flinch before this masked man, this man whom he’s had so much history within such a short span of time.

A promise was made long before this encounter, a promise which would have seen the brave man step beyond this storm… and, unfortunately, that promise was forced to be broken. Yet everything broken may one day be mended, and today this man was ready to finally make right the ways of the past.

“I’m here to offer you a final chance to run, Dominic… a chance to escape the pain of death you know well that I can bring you. Will you really be willing to leave your precious woman behind in this cruel world, behind where men such as myself may easily destroy all hopes she has for a happier future?”

A thunderclap sounds overhead once more, as the proud man known as Dominic Pericolo finally steps forward into the storm he’d ran from for so long now.

“No more running… I WILL NOT FALL!”

His words shake the skies with greater vibrancy than thunder itself, as those proud eyes fill with tears of determination and once idle fists soon clench tightly, a symbol of the pain this man has endured to reach this point of his life.

A symbol of pain which shall soon escape his body, ready to be replaced with a sense of joy at a dream finally fulfilled in the end.

A set of eyelids fall over a pair of eyes like a blanket, but quickly open once again; and where those determined eyes once lurked sit a new pair of eyes, eyes filled with fulfillment before the end had even arrived.

For now, more then ever, the end was an inevitability.