He
stared at Arion hard, still not believing that the lifeless form before him was
once his adventure-loving friend. A
voice in his head asked, “How could this happen? He was one of the best.”
Nine
let out an angry breath and answered his own question out loud. “War happened.”
Arion’s
body was dressed in a black Special Forces dress uniform signifying Federation
Defense Forces, the same Nine wore. His
lifeless, white-gloved hands clutched a Federation Chain of Life flag, as was
tradition when burying a soldier killed in action.
Just
a week before, Arion’s team was called
out on a mission to evacuate scientists off of a planet that had been invaded
by the Wardon Empire. All of the
scientists made it out, but three of the five soldiers that made up Omega Force
didn’t make it. The other two were
seriously injured in the battle.
After
a Special Forces soldier dies, they are never left alone – that’s the code of
the Special Forces teams. A teammate or
family member stays with them until they go to Warrior’s Hill for burial. Arion’s only family was his team, and two of
them joined him in the hereafter. The
other two teammates were in the hospital.
Nine volunteered to stand
guard.
Even
with the truth lying before him, Nine secretly hoped that his friend would get
up. His common sense knew it wouldn’t happen,
but still he wished it. He never wished
for anything so badly in his young life.
He knew he and Arion would never speak again. No more battle tales and adventures. No more fighting side by side. No more anything.
Finally,
nearing the end of his lonely vigil in the funeral chamber, Nine spoke to his
friend. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say. There are so many things going through my
mind right now. I don’t want to believe
it, but here you are.”
Nine
stared at his friend, not really expecting an answer. His face turned red and distorted into an
angry expression. “I’m so pissed right
now I can’t even tell you! I just want
to hit something!” he said through
gritted teeth.
He
was careful not to make too much noise so that others would not come in to see
what was wrong. This was his time with Arion. No one else was allowed. His white-gloved hands balled up into
fists. He lifted them up and slammed
them back down to his sides. “I hate
this. I really hate this, Man! Not you.
I never thought they could get you.”
Nine’s
heart raced from the emotions flooding through him. He paced from one end of the coffin to the
other. His breath quickened and he paced
in an effort to relieve his uncontrollable frustration.
After
a few minutes, he stepped back to his position by his friend’s head. Tears
welled up in Nine’s brown eyes. “I’m
going to miss you so much, Arion. I’m
going to miss going to Sully’s with you and talking about our missions. Bragging about how we outsmarted Tozar and
his idiot army.”
Tears
rolled down his cheeks. “I guess you
couldn’t outsmart them this time.”
As
Nine wiped away the tears from his face, he became angry at the smell of the
bouquets of flowers that filled the room.
“Man, it’s a good thing you can’t smell all these stupid flowers. You’d gag.
It smells like a funeral.”
Nine
let out a short laugh. “Well, I guess it
is. But you’d hate it trust me. It’s suffocating.”
More
tears welled up in his eyes. “I can’t
believe it’s over. I mean, this is it. I’ll miss your advice, Arion. I’m sorry I’m making this about me, but I’m
really going to miss you. What I
wouldn’t give to hear you laugh at me just one last time.”
Nine
once again wiped away tears from his reddening eyes and turned his head sadly
towards the door. “They’ll be coming for
you soon and then we won’t even have this.
I mean, this sucks, but soon there won’t be anything.”
Nine
turned back to his friend and lowered his head.
“You successfully completed your mission, you know. All those scientists are all okay.”
Nine
cleared his throat. “Sammi and Frankie
didn’t make it, but you probably already know that. Neptune is standing with Sammi. Neptune always liked her. Star is standing with your commander. She’ll take good care of him until it’s time
to go.”
Nine
pulled on his dress jacket to straighten it and adjusted his hat. He swiped at his eyes once more and held his
head up. “I have to look presentable
when they come for you. We can’t let
them know we’ve been carrying on in here.
All of this right here, this will be our one last secret. Never show your emotions, right? Always look brave.”
Nine
reached into the coffin and squeezed Arion’s cold, hard arm. “And you were brave, Man. They said you gave it your all. You were the best of the best and I’m so
honored that we were friends. I love
you, Man. You’re a hero and I’m proud of
you.”
Just
then there was a knock at the door. Nine
gave no response. He straightened his
posture and put his hands behind his back as the door opened. Two morticians, General James Hunter, General
Matthew Stewart and the head of Federation Defense, Mr. Richard Sanderson
entered the room. “Major, it’s time,”
said General Stewart.
Nine
could feel Mr. Sanderson’s eyes on him, but he did not look back. He nodded, gazed at his friend’s soulless
face one last time and stepped back to allow the morticians to close the
coffin.
Nine
felt a lump in his throat when he heard the slight creak of the lid and the
small click when it locked into place. He
watched stone-faced as the two generals draped another flag on top of the
coffin as Mr. Sanderson looked on. Nine took his place at the back of the coffin and
walked with his friend one last time into the ceremonial chamber.
End
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