Nambu
He is gone, the first child I took into the team, back when he was only four years old, has fallen.
He didn't die in battle though, I think in many ways that would have made it easier for those left behind, he died so pointlessly, so needlessly, hit by a drunk driver while he was out on a date.
I still feel the chill that came over me when I opened the door to the police at 2am, I don't think it will ever leave my bones. The chill that told me before they said a word that I had lost one of my children, that the planet had lost one of it's defenders. It was so much worse than I had thought though, when they said the words. The Eagle, the lynchpin, the bedrock of the team is gone, and I am not entirely sure the team can stand without him.
I stand a little apart from them, watching the four remaining members of the team trying not to fall apart, trying to hold it together as they drop roses onto the polished surface of the coffin. Ryu, Jun and Jinpei huddle together, taking what comfort they can in the nearness of the others. Joe stands alone, at the foot of the grave, looking down at the coffin. I know the others would comfort him in a heartbeat, if they thought for a moment that he would allow it, but he exudes an almost physical barrier between himself and the rest of the world.
In my heart of hearts, I know that Joe will find a way to follow his lover out of this world, and much as it grieves me, at the funeral of my son, I am already working out in my head strategies for replacing two members of the KNT.