A week after that event, I… I decided it was time to give Ama back what she had lost. I felt guilty for that…

So I went to the place where we always met. Approaching from behind her, I was walking silently. I reached her, dagger out, and I used the tip to open up her left wrist, slipping a new hand there, using my powers to close the wound around it, reshaping everything until they’d look the same as before. And once it was done, I chuckled as Ama looked at me.

“I had to ‘give you a hand’, after all,” I joked.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling a little as she moved her new fingers, discovering how well they did.

I was hoping she wouldn’t ask where I had gotten the hand, and she didn’t. She was too busy observing it the skin, noticing it wasn’t different from the one she previously had.

“Anyway, I gotta go,” I said after a minute, satisfied that her hand seemed to be doing good.

She tilted her head, but noticed that I wanted to be on my own. So she nodded and I left, just glad. Glad that Ama hadn’t noticed the hand I had given her used to be mine.

**

I started changing after that. Good and bad. It started with a little visit to my boss, one of the guys who controlled the whole Brotherhood. There was one per continent, so it was quite a trip to go there. Once in his place, I stalked my way to him, quiet. Of course, he was one of my kind; he heard me, but didn’t turn.

“Black Hawk. What can I do for you?”

“I’m leaving the Brotherhood.”

He looked surprised.

“Why so?”

“Birds of prey are free, and I’m one of them. I also discovered that life is more than just looking at humans with disdain. Sometimes they’re really dumb, sometimes they’re just weaklings. But some of them are different and I’d like to meet those ones. My life is too important to waste it with a Brotherhood that only gives orders and prevents its members from hunting at will. So I’m leaving, although this means I’ll only eat beast meat for the rest of my life. As such, I’m counting on you to tell everyone else that I’m leaving.”

I turned, but the boss put a hand on my shoulder.

“You do know that this means you will be an enemy, yes?”

“I know.”

“As you sure you wish to leave?”

“Absolutely.”

“All right. Then leave. Tonight, the predator became a prey.”

I shrugged it off and left, going downtown. I wandered around a little, not sure I had made the right choice anymore. I convinced myself by thinking of Ama, who now had both her hands. As for me, I had my powers. I could do without a hand.

Two hours went by before I went back home. Once I was home, I went to change. I put on some loose pants and an old shirt. Normal, human clothes. That would be my only clothes now, since… Black Hawk didn’t exist anymore.

Folding my hunting outfit with my remaining hand and my powers, I looked at it for a while. It had shared experiences with me, it had gone through a lot by my side. Tons of memories. Good and bad. Clear and unclear. Focused and bokehed, I thought with a smile, remembering the photography terms Ama used all the time even when it wasn’t relevant. Sharp and blurred.

Once I was done thinking, I put the outfit in a drawer, at the end of it, far enough for me to forget about it eventually. And once I was done, I went to bed.

I stayed awake for an hour, and then I fell asleep. My attitude was peaceful, but not my conscience. Something was wrong with me. I knew it. I wasn’t sure what it was, I just knew it existed. And because of this, I let a tiny seed of insanity grow, slowly but surely, in my soul, waiting to grow and replace my reason.