Suddenly, fetch Isaac no longer had a head, but instead had a broken bundle of sticks where his head used to be. The rest of his body quickly transformed back to its premagic form before Isaac's traumatized eyes.

"You owe me one, kid." Azrael stood in the restaurant's doorway. "Those fetches are bad news. You know they try to replace you right?"

"But...but... he was so friendly," Isaac said in a daze.

"Yeah, but it's all just an act. He was about to try to betray you the first chance he got. He would try to convince me that you were him and he was you and it would have just been a real pain in the ass. So, I just decided to nip it in the bud. Heh. Get it? He was made out of sticks."

"Where the hell have you been?" Isaac demanded to know.

"What do you mean? It has barely been any time at all. Maybe an hour or so since I last saw you. Course, for you it might have been longer. Fairy World always is terrible when it comes to time. I think the sick bastards enjoy how disorienting it is to everyone else. Anyway, I tried to find work, but it looks like we are out of luck."

"Great," Isaac responded despondently.

"It's not all bad. I got some amazing booze," Azrael exclaimed triumphantly as he held up the amazingly unbroken decanture.

"Woah. Azrael, that looks like a really expensive glass. Do you think it's crystal? Maybe we could sell it!"

"You think? Do I get to finish it first?"

"You are ridiculous," Isaac sighed.

Azrael smiled. It felt nice to have a use beyond killing. Only a half an hour ago, he had found himself once more surrounded by the dead. Except for one fairy, the one who had tried to be the one to finally put him down.

"May Gods damn you," the old fairy cursed as he struggled to move away. He had been hit by one of the bullets that had been intended for Azrael. Azrael made his way to him, brushing off the debris that had coated his duster. He crouched down as low as he could to meet the fairy's hateful gaze.

"Look. I know I killed your son. Your Toni. I'm sorry for a lot of the things I did. I.. I didn't really have much of a choice in the matter. Maybe there could have been another way to deliver justice to your boy. Maybe he could have been reformed. But we will never get to know, and for that, I am truly sorry."

"Kill me," the old fairy spat at Azrael."Kill me like you killed Toni. Like you killed everyone who has crossed your path."

"No. I think enough blood has been shed today," Azrael said as he stood up and began to leave.

He hoped he was right, though he knew that tomorrow would only bring more potential for carnage. Perhaps he just had to accept that he was just a machine made for killing. But standing there, smiling with Isaac, he felt that maybe there was just a little bit of hope after all.