Chapter 1
Cases have been intense lately. Or maybe he forgot how intense they get. Clients are desperate. Dropping at his office. Some wailing or shouting profanities at the phone.
Trials come and go. Winning some. Losing some. He is the lawyer he hadn't been in a long while.
He missed that. The people. The law. This side of New York. The stability it brings. They mostly get paid in pies. Or eggs.
That is fine.
It feels like home.
They are just reentering business. Under a new name. Nelson, Murdock, and Page. With many crises behind them. Many ahead of them. But they are back on business.
He is giving Daredevil a break. Trying to connect with Foggy. To open up. Takes time. He tries.
He still boxes. At Fogwells. Keeping the machine oiled.
People still suffer. People still die. But New York is strong. This city always stands back up.
"Matt, do you want coffee?"
Karen's voice comes from behind the door frame.
"You know me."
Karen lets out a soft huff and nods. She walks towards the door and goes down the hall and into the city. Her steps echo with the concert of New York.
The silence of the office lets him appreciate things. Details he hadn't detailed in a while.
It is a sunny day. If the warmth of the office is anything to go by. Not enough to make his clothes cling to his skin. The metal of his desk is getting warm. Same with the cabinets and windows.
Summer is slowly getting close. Foggy might propose going to Josie's Bar tonight.
Before summer arrives and makes the bar worse!
Wise words.
Talking about Foggy. He is in the next room. Going through files. They are working in different cases. Covering more ground ("He doesn't trust you with his cases anymo-"). Faster that way.
New York fills the office. The hotdogs a block away tempt Matt. The radio in a barber shop upfront narrates a match. He feels the warm air with his back. People chatter.
Click.
A mother shouts in a building three blocks away.
A heartbeat disappears into the wind.
Honking suddenly picks up. Crash. Crash. Crash.
Heartbeats missing.
His nose smells ashes.
"Matt!"
He crosses their office in a second. Just fast enough to hear a child next door cry because mom is not there anymore. Fast enough to grab Foggy's shoulder and squeeze.
Foggy is hyperventilating. Panic.
Matt can feel his friends clinging to him.
"Fo-".
He winces as cars crash downtown. He grabs Foggy harder. Crushing him in a hug. Clinging as he fades.
No one can say anything else. Nothing as he turns into dust and grime.
Ashes fill his nostrils.
Falling to his knees.
Matt 's eyes water. New York invading his senses.
He can't breathe. The dust that was his friend entered his lungs.
Coughing breaks him.
His hands are on the floor.
The tie is too tight.
The scars itch.
His eyes hurt.
Foggy is…
Foggy…
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
What is this? Why now? Why him? Who else will the world take away from him?
Again. Again. Again. Again.
Karen. Fuck Karen.
There is no heartbeat near.
Half of the drums are missing.
He runs. Jumps the stairs.
No one minds the blind guy running.
Cough. Cough. Cou- coug
He seizes in the middle of the street. Wheezing. Trying to inhale air. Not human remains.
Everything smells of Foggy.
Karen. Karen. Karen.
The air tastes like Foggy.
He can't find Karen.
The smell of leather reaches him. Inside the purse a phone.
He can't use it. Not without losing time. A blind man is still a blind man.
His phone is all the way back inside his jacket.
He sniffs. Even when his eyes tear up.
He can't hear Karen. He can't smell Karen.
'Run to his office. Find the phone. Call her.'
He gets there and crashes through the door. Dust rising from the ground.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
If you wish to leave a me-
Nothing.
Matthew Murdock falls to the ground. Hand in his head. Heart freezing in his chest. Both of them are gone. Fuck. Fuck.
They are gone.
His mind flies towards Stick, Elektra, his father, father Lantom Even Maggie. Everyone left. But now. The people who stuck with him. The people who stayed. They were taken away.
Sobs. Gasping for air. Hugging his legs. Near the coat rack. Near dust, dirt, and his life.
Through the windows, New York sobs with him. Half it's heartbeats gone. The radio in the barber shop tells him nothing.
Half the people of his city are gone. He feels it. Hears it. Can hear the empty space the missing instruments left.
Fuck. Fuck.
A child wails in the apartment 2 blocks away.
Fuck.
Injured. Everywhere. Children. Older people. Workers. Doctors. Half the world is gone.
Something snaps into place.
Fuck it.
He wobbles, grabbing his phone and stuffing it in his pockets. His hands tremble as he goes towards the roof. One of Karen's backup scarfs with him. Her smell was clinging to the piece of clothing.
(It was something she kept just in case. Just in case Daredevil needed to step. Just in case everything went downhill. It did.)
He puts the scarf on. As he did with Jessica's long ago. The city expands under his feet.
Tears cling to his face. Chaos spreads under his feet. Around him. He can help. If he can't, what can he do with himself?
Murdock grieves in the office. Daredevil (Matt, only Matt remains) mourns with his fists. Daredevil mourns with New York.
Father forgive me, for I have sinned.
He let the devil out.