Six Feet Under
Ultimately, he fell just short of his goal.
Roy M
Genre/s: Tragedy
Rating: T
Six Feet Under
For most personnel, it was a funeral like all others, save the fact they were burying a man who held the second highest rank in their militia, posthumously promoted two ranks, from a Lieutenant General pitted to be the next Fuhrer to a Marshal just short of it. Killed in saving his men when an existing peace treaty was unexpectedly nullified...and now rains of soil were cascading upon his final resting place.
Then there were those who served under him, and those who knew him from encounters leading up to the Promised Day, and following. Those who knew what it had cost him to make sure no other was left behind...and they both thanked and lamented his sacrifice, as their group was now one man smaller, as opposed to the alternative, what it could have been...
And then there were the members of his original team who knew him all so well and cried for the loss of a man they could call family. A man whom they owed so much. A man they backed as he pushed towards his goal. The pawn, the knight, the bishop, the rook, the queen and the wild piece, all watching the toppled king being pressed into the earth.
Watching a man who had given so much fall just short of his ultimate goal.
And to those who came in later years, all they could do was read the plaque and marvel at the legendary man that lay beneath, knowing only of the words etched in stone. Words that carried success, but not the failure underneath; a goal he had been within an arm's length of that now lay in the grave with him.
The End
Info
Setting: Indefinitely after the conclusion of Brotherhood
Ranks in the Amestrian Military from highest to lowest (I've filled in the gaps from the Army rankings):
Fuhrer President
Marshal
General
Lieutenant General
Major General
Brigadier General
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
Major
Captain
First Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Warrant Officer
Sergeant Major
Sergeant
Corporal
Private