Through the faded mirror.

Nameless felt scared, as she stared at the door. Again, Deputy Renny was hurt. Again, the household was somehow connected. Again, she wondered if it would have been better if she hadn't met the guard, and befriended him. There was a sincere sense of subtle shame.

However, there was a stronger sense of duty. Not to her household, per say, but to her peace of mind. Steeling herself, she raised her hoof and knocked lightly.

"Deputy Renny? It's Something Nameless."

Renny sighed at hearing the knock. He was close to attaining sleep and thus break from being miserably conscious. Upon hearing her name though, he instantly felt a relief. Groaning in an attempt to sit up to see her, he gave up and waved a hoof for her to come over.

"Nameless! I didn't think you would come..." Renny felt shame as he knew that to her, he was a killer. Such a filly should not have friends such as he. Yet it seemed she had a household with a few fitting that bill.

Proping up his head on a pillow, he turned to face her, hiding the pain he felt. "I thought you would had been told to stay away from me..."

"Officially, yes," the filly said, looking a bit sheepish, "However, the order was followed with a 'and when you do, please send Deputy Renaultar our condolences.' So I did."

She breathed. "Also, I want to say sorry for bringing you into this. It's my fault that you are in hospital. Again." Nameless couldn't stop figeting and was looking all over the room except at Renaultar.

"You must hate us for causing you so much grief."

Renaultar looked down at the floor. He never thought that she would blame herself for this. The guilt compiled, but at the same time, Renny realized something. What if he could do it all over again? The answer was somewhat surprising to himself, considering where it had gotten him.

"Nameless....I am...confused and lost. I never wanted to hurt anypony. At least not without necessity. I'm a killer....But, when it comes to helping you and your family. I have no regrets. No one else could bring your stolen items justice besides me. My actions were my own, and I...did terrible things. Nothing you could have done would have changed that." Renny turned his head to hide his one eye from her, trying to keep himself from getting too emotional in front of her.

"Nopony else..?"

Nameless looked very intently at a corner of the room, and shook her head sadly.

"If it were only Mr Herald, Mrs Admirer, Woods and Loyal, you wouldn't have gone to these lengths. I don't think you would have. After all, they're only snowflakes. Very expensive snowflakes, but still snowflakes. I think...I think I'm the reason that you still pursued it. I should have told you to let it go...but I didn't. I failed in my duty as a friend to stop you from harming yourself. Even if it wouldn't have changed anything, I still should've at least tried."

For the first time, the filly went over and looked the guard in the eyes. "And do you really have no regrets, Renny? Please, tell me true."

Duty

It was not the first time he heard it from Nameless. It was painful to hear it from such a young filly. But this time, it frustrated him.

"Stop that...You can't keep saying 'its your duty'." He grumbled, his irritation breaking through. "Fillies your age have fun and play games and enjoy life. I made a choice. You are just as responsible as any other pony. You have no duty to me....especially after what i have done....I did what i did because it was right. The guardponies gave up. They failed. I had to do something. I had to see it right. It was my job. My....."

...duty.

And then things came full circle for him. Was it really worth it? What was he really doing? To what end? So many things came into question for him.

Renny turned away from her gaze suddenly. After her avoiding his for so long, he found himself unable to return it now. His blind side hiding the watery build up. He knew what she represented to him.

"I have....so many regrets...."

Nameless put a soft hoof on the deputy. "Everypony has a duty towards their friends. That's what friendship is. That is why I'm here now."

She didn't say anything else. What could she say? She didn't really have a friend like Renny before. All of the household were so resilient and so set in their ways. Seeing somepony broken so terribly was extremely distressing. Like a broken glass of spilled milk.

"I never wanted to be a killer..." Renny subtly wiped his eye, not wanting her to see him like this. "But ponies are dead. My whole life i have wanted to help ponies. To defend and not stoop to their level. Now....Now I have taken a life. Those ponies could have families. Foals that need to be taken care of. What I did has caused infinitely worse things than getting back those snowflakes."

He took a big breath and sighed. "I'm sorry Nameless...I don't know how good a friend I can be when I'm locked up."

Nameless tilted her head, trying to fight the warm, watery feeling growing behind her eyes. "You did what you did because it was right, though. Your choice was to do the right thing. You didn't choose to kill. It just...happened. The fault does not lie with you."

Here, she took a deep shuddering breath, steeling herself for what she was about to do. She was basically going to order Renny on what she think he should do. She had never really been on the...asking side of things. She felt much more at ease being asked to do things. It didn't feel like you were going to be wrong.

"And you're not going to let yourself be locked up. Because if you are locked up you won't be able to do the right thing. You won't be able to do anything. You won't be able to help anypony.

One slip. One mistake. That's not a good reason to abandon your duty to your fellow pony. There's no good reason to abandon your duty to yourself! And..."

Her voice then became soft, soft as snow.

"...that's not good enough to abandon our friendship."

Renny winced. Her words went deep. Wall's of denial began to crumble. One look at Nameless just about broke his heart. Everything he wanted to amount to, and the things he did for her, were going to be destroyed if he was put away.

Even with his wrongs, his mistakes, there were rights to still be done. And here was a little filly telling him so. But...

...But it was a little filly that became his first sin. It was the memory of that that drew upon his guilt, and that first drew him to her.

"Nameless...." He faltered at first, trying to keep his composure, eyes watering. "I...have a confession to make. One I should tell you before you say any more."

Nameless held her tongue, and nodded. She was good at listening and paying attention, having done that all of her life.

She waited for Renny to continue.

Renny found his words growing ever more difficult. His will to escape the conversation grew. "You...The day I met you...You reminded me of a little filly."

He swallowed. His mouth was growing dry. "A filly who was just as innocent as you. Your age, and had so much life to experience."

Come on Renaultar. This is make or break. You have to tell her.

"And she...needed me....And I....." He closed his eye. "...She died because of me..."

Nameless blinked.

It was interesting to note how cold she felt for the briefest of moments only for the sensation to replaced by...nothing. All that was shown of this cold snap was the smallest twitch of her mouth. It was interesting to note how little sympathy she felt for the filly. Everypony died, someday. Some sooner than others. But that was okay. That was the price of life.

She recalled the day that Loyal took her for a walk to the cemetery. A strange place to go for a normal filly, but she always knew she wasn't one of those ponies. She remembered seeing the many names and epigraphs, some birth years identical to the years adjacent. But what she remembered was an inscription on the front gate of the place.

"The graveyards are filled with good ponies," she read out loud, squinting at the cursive script. Turning to Loyal to confirm she read the words correctly, she was surprised to see her mother figure laughing darkly. She could only tilt her head in curiousity as she felt Loyal's breath against her ear.

"In the end, graveyards are filled with every pony."

So, really, the filly did not have much life to experience. For she died. Que sera sera. And now Renny was planning to reconstruct her in Something. Very well. As he wished.

"Do tell."

Renny opened his eye. Her calm replies were unnerving but expected. He stared hard at the wall and forced on.

"I chased a pony that had run from a crime. Cornered him in a store." His eyes unfocued, growing detached from his personal feelings best he could. "He took a hostage....A little filly. Not too different from you. He demanded I leave or kill her...I froze. And she died in his hooves. He had another before I could stop him....So I ran."

A faint broken laugh escaped him. "So in love with justice yet, failing so simply. Couldn't save the filly, nor could I leave. So a filly dies and the culprit gets away...." He continued his stare into the wall, but his intensity grew to the point that one may doubt the wall could withstand it.

"Justice....did nothing that day. Just meaningless loss of life."

"Either everything is meaningful, or nothing is," was the soft reply, "It's up to us which one we choose."

Nameless wished Loyal was here now. She, more than any pony, knew what to say in these situations. Woods would've deflected it all with a laugh, then attempted to change topic. Herald would say that it was not for young fillies to think about. Admirer would attempt to respond, but it was Loyal that would cut down to the bone, with a razor-edged philosophy.

"If you call a death meaningless, then, in a way, you dismiss her life," Nameless struggled, trying to avoid the ums and ahs and ers, "Because meanings...we may not like what they are, but I think they're always there. Her death helped make you what you are today, an', and that..." She really, really wished Loyal was there. What would she say?

"Things happen," she concluded lamely, "Sometimes, bad things happen. We all try our best to fulfill our duties, but sometimes we aren't strong or smart enough. But we have to continue trying to fulfill our duties because they are ours and nopony, nopony else will do them. Giving up has meaning but it is a bad meaning and you shouldn't, no matter how many times you fail in the past."

She fell silent after that, thinking.

"What's justice?"

Renny's mind was drowning in thoughts. There was so much to think about. Her final question was shocking enough to him that he could not bring himself to address it yet.

Nameless's words surprised him with her deep mature knowledge of life. Yet disturbed that she lacked anything one would find in a child. Could one be as knowing as her and still be innocent?

"So...I am to just...keep going? Im to... persevere or perish?" Renny laid back his head and let out a sad laugh. "They said...I was built like a tank...Yet I'm soft on the mind."

He let the silence creep upon them before breaking it again. "That filly could have been you. The world is a sick place to impart such meanings in such cruel ways. Would you simply be a vessel to pass a message? No, I can't allow that. I would...I wish i could have given myself up instead...." Renny sighed. His mind was being exhausted with all this. Was he really this weak despite his other strengths?

"Renny..."

Nameless smiled a strange smile, a mixture of one of a child, and one of a pony that has seen and heard too much.

"I could have been that filly. But I could have been any filly in Equestria. Any colt too. I might have not been a pony at all. But I'm not. I'm me. I'm Something Nameless. If I'm my duty in life is to be a message, then so be it."

Her gaze looked over at nothing in particular.

"Why should I worry about things that could've been, but aren't? If I did, I'd never stop. I'd never actually start."

The maid closed her eyes.

"The mare that gave birth to me died in doing so. I was the thirteenth foal, so I was just another unwanted mouth to feed. Nopony wanted me. Said I was an ill omen, being the thirteenth and all, and who would want me? I caused pain by just being me."

When Nameless opened her eyes, she was staring at the broken guard intently.

"Were I anypony else, I might have a lighter burden to bear. I'm not. If I was anypony else, I might have died instead of the pony I killed. I'm not. If I were anypony else, a certain maid that acts so coldly to everypony else might not have saved me and raised me to the pony I am today. And yet here I am, Something Nameless, ready to do whatever life asks of me."

Renny took in her words, growing more distant in the eyes. There was so much to this filly that he did not understand. So much more. He couldn't possibly face this now. There was so much.

But her words did have an affect. His feelings for despairing began to subside. Nameless, it seems, was the final straw that snapped to him a realization he did not wish to see. Everypony around him was suffering. Even this filly, yet life went on.

A soft sigh of breath escaped him as he looked up at the ceiling, his emotions undiscernible now. Gears were turning in his head. Slowly, but more strongly than before.

"Nameless...When this is all over....I need to talk to you. About what justice is. At least to me. As well as other things. But until then...Thank you." He took a deep breath before saying in a darker tone. "...You can go. I want to talk to Loyal now."

Nameless open her mouth, then closed it, looking around uncomfortably. After a long while of uncomfortable thinking, she nodded and said, "Very well, sir," before curtsying and backing out of the room.

When she had left the door behind, she spoke into the darkness.

"Loyal?"

The darkness remained still.

"He...he wants to talk to you."

The silence lingered for a longer while. There was nothing, nothing that provided any hint of anypony there. Breathing out, Nameless started to leave...

Then she heard Renny's door close.

---

"She's getting better at sneaking about," Loyal smirked with pride, "The rest of the household don't have a clue." She turned to the bed-bound guard. "Evening, Deputy. Hope you are well. Or at least better than before." She tilted her head to one side. "I believe you wished to talk?"

Renny stared at the ceiling for a time before looking her way sternly. All previous encounters with Loyal were uneasy, uncertain, and never by his choice. The guard had little to lose, and much to gain.

"Killers. All of you. Yet, its for something greater....What are you? Your 'household'. Taking in ponies as young as her under your wing after a killing. Why? You hardly seem the type to care, yet you...are all family about it. And moved beyond the emotional baggage of killing. What have i sacrificed for?"

Renny stared deep and hard at Loyal. He hardly expected her to be phased by him, but he was not going to be ignored.

Loyal stared back. "Is that all we are now? Killers? We are ponies, no matter what the likes of you might think. You, who define ponies like us by our mistakes." The maid practically spat the words.

"I took Nameless in because nopony else would. Ponies defined as 'decent' and 'innocent' by society, leaving a baby foal to perish. Even to a 'killer' like me, that was horrifying. Do you think I could live with myself, killer or not, if I didn't take her in?"

Loyal turned away. "And now she has grown to be a fine filly, despite that. Now isn't that strange. You wouldn't think it. I wouldn't. Defining her as a killer would just be...wrong. You sacrificed yourself for just another family, Deputy. Just. Another. Family."

She paused. "You know, I should apologise to you."

"That's not good enough!" Renny shouted, slamming his hoof down. He would not have any of this subtle withholding and dismissals. There was already plenty to say otherwise in the matter enough at hoof.

"Don't lie to me. You murder ponies easily enough in that alley i nearly died in. Even as i tried to get your snowflakes back you and your other 'maids' were already doing the same thing and getting nearly blown up. You take in those that have killed, and, as your comment on Nameless suggests, teaching them subterfuge." Renaultar leaned in closer toward her, lowering his voice.

"Tell me to what end. I will know if you are my ally, or enemy, before I go into that court room. You owe me that at the very least in all this....And to know the nature of the one who loves and cares for Nameless." He spoke softer on his last words, true feelings of concern breaking through.

"She wanted to learn so she could sneak out to meet the likes of you," Loyal said through gritted teeth, "She never had a reason otherwise. It was assumed, like the rest of your department, that you had put the case to be resolved at a later date. You were never even supposed to investigate it to that depth to begin with. If you don't believe that, I will do nothing more to correct your mistake, deputy. The only evil pony in the household is yours truly."

She turned away. "I'm beyond justice, Deputy. According to the law you hold so dear, I was executed for attempted assassination on Princess Celestia. High treason, and that was only the crime where I got caught. I had gotten away with much worse. Last rites, final meal, hangpony's noose, the works. Danced the grim fandango until I moved no more." A grimace of remembered pain was displayed as she brought a hoof to her neck. "It didn't stick. All I know that I wasn't supposed to die that day. I wasn't supposed to die the time when Royal Bodyguard Daylight Herald threw me through a window, either. Which was on the edge of a cliff. Not even I can kill me, and I've tried."

Quick as a flash, there was a knife protruding from Loyal's hoof, point touching her neck. Another flash, and the knife disappeared. "Death was my constant companion, and then I met Nameless, and my life meant something more than death. She's something so precious that I don't know what to call it. Something Nameless." She chuckled. "As much as I hate to admit it, we're like reflections of a faded mirror, deputy. You devoted your life protecting ponies, I to destroying them, and yet when the time called us to step up... I saved a life, you let one die. That one crucial instance. It probably means something. I'm not sure what, though."

"Which brings me to my apology. I'm sorry I didn't get to the last bastard in time before he succumbed. It was sloppy of me. I made sure that all the others that were fatally wounded had a quick, painless and dignified death." She shook her head. "But I missed one, who died in agony. Nopony deserves that, and you don't deserve being the pony with blood on his hooves. Only one pony deserves that burden of guilt."

Renaultar stared off into the distance. The significance between these two ponies was becoming clear now. He couldn't help but smirk. Eyes looking out the stormy window, he relaxed back into the bed.

"Poetic...In one world, myself, law, would be killing you. Yet here, you are killing me in a sense." He looked over at her, eyes hard yet uncertain. Here was somepony who was a perfect embodiment of what he should persecute. What he should bring to justice and ultimately destroy. Yet....

"We have our guardian angels....Last time i was in trouble, when i got that little filly killed, the paper didn't even know my name. I was demoted and it was never spoken of again. Yours has kept you alive all this time, even from yourself. I guess...they do run out eventually. You changed since."

Everything Renny knew was coming harder to hold onto. What he going about this all wrong? Or were things that terribly wrong around him?

"I would have you brought to justice or thrown into a dungeon if it were in my power a few nights ago." He grumbled with himself, shaking his head. "But...."

There was a knock at the door. The frosted glass offered only a silhouette of the figure. A pony with a brimmed hat on the other side waited a few moments before the door knob began to turn.

"Guards work both ways; they keep the darkness out, but they hold the darkness in," Loyal muttered, "Both simply a hopeless attempt to control fate, a futile exercise called justice, a delusion called sanity."

Loyal edged towards the window, keeping an eye on the door. "There was a stallion, big and strong, feeling in control of his life, walking down a Manehattan street, when he bumped into a large skeletal figure; Death herself."

With her back to the window, the light of the moon formed a silhouette, blurring Loyal's features.

"Scared, the stallion fled to his home gathering all he could carry, and told his housemate what he saw, and said that he was running to Stalliongrad."

Her eyes caught the blurred figure on the door's window when the knock echoed throughout the room.

"The friend saw Death later and asked the reaper why he scared the stallion. Death replied that he didn't mean to frighten, she was merely surprised. She didn't expect to see the Stallion in Manehattan, for she had an appointment with him that evening in Stalliongrad."

With a click, the window was open, letting the cool evening breeze flow into the room...