It's all too much. Too much fear, too much pain, too much regret. The world is a mass of missed opportunities now, of things he'll never do, of the innumerable things and people and places he'll never be able to say goodbye to, and unanswered questions about what's going to happen next, to him and to the people he's leaving behind. The world around him, the people around him, Karis' sad little words, they all bleach out as if to make way for the sheer amount of missing he's doing now, in these last few seconds.

"You beat the FAYZ," Diana says to him. And she's right. He did. At least he isn't going back there. Maybe it's safe on the other side. Maybe this is the end of fear, along with everything else, but that's a fleeting thought, one that can't even compete with the avalanche of the life he'll never get to live.

Here he is, surrounded by people and still so alone knowing that he's dying and they are still so enviably, wonderfully alive. Even Karis. Even Karis isn't at the end yet. And Cedric's just been spared from it by Howard's own blood and life. It isn't fair.

There's too much, just too much, and then there's nothing at all. His body seizes a few more times as the nerves shut down and then is still.