Disclaimer: All rights to Gears of War belong to Epic games, I just buy the games and wear the COG tags.

Sergeant Marcus Fenix. Leader of the fabled Delta squad, which had successfully detonated the Lightmass bomb. Hero to many, he is an icon of unwavering refusal to be defeated, he shows no fear, he shows no regrets for things that happen in battle. That doesn't mean, however, than they don't burden him.

And now, as he knocks on a door, he feels both those things, because now, Marcus has to do the hardest thing that a leader in war must do. Now Marcus must tend to the dead. Clutched in his hands is a pair of COG tags, recently issued, recently claimed from a corpse.

But that's not the part that forces Marcus' shoulders to slump. Instead, it is a simple piece of paper, just a few lines scrawled quickly on it.

The door swings open revealing Clay Carmine, Sergeant in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. "Yeah Fenix, what do you need?"

And without a word, Fenix holds out the tags. Such a simple gesture that has broken so many people, destroyed so many families.

Slowly Clay reaches out and takes the tags out of Marcus' hands, and slowly turns them over to study the ID. Sure enough, the small numbers don't lie.

CSID:838186-22AO3-SF

Benjamin.

Clay's stare returns to Marcus' eyes, as usual, there is sadness, there is heartbreak, but now it's different, now it's something Marcus hasn't seen, and that more than anything unnerves him.

Now there is emptiness. A void where a normal person has a spark of life.

"You let him die."

It wasn't a question. Not even close.

"Carmine died in the line of duty, protecting those he had sworn to defend." The words sounded hollow, even to Marcus.

"Nice words, too bad that they don't mean anything."

Unperturbed, Marcus continued. "Benjamin Carmine was a good soldier, and I was proud to have served with him."

Clay stared for a moment longer before slowly swinging the door open.

Marcus entered the room, taking it all in with the practiced ease of one having to find cover in the middle of a fight. Table, chair, bed and nothing else. Since Jacinto had been sunk; the COG had been capturing stranded outposts and using them while moving to a new location to continue the war. Briefly, Marcus wondered why Clay had a room all to himself, but then again, Clay was the leader of Omega squad, one of the best.

Carmine's armor was dumped in the corner of the room, the helmet staring at Marcus, so much like Ben's that it almost seemed to be accusing him. Unlike his brother's armor, Clay's was a dull grey with black eye lenses, specially designed for him alone.

Clay sat down with a sigh on his bed and waved Marcus to the chair. After Marcus had seated himself, Clay continued to stare Marcus in the eyes. Marcus stared right back, determined not to look away. Ben had never spoken about any of his brothers aside from the deceased Anthony, but Marcus knew Clay well enough by reputation alone. While Delta and Alpha squads tended to be deployed in hot combat areas, Omega squad was more of a recon and scout organization. The rumors surrounding Omega made it practically legendary in the COG.

Clay couldn't have been older than thirty, and was the oldest of the four brothers, with Benjamin being the youngest. Though Marcus had never inquired about Ben's age, it now struck him that he must have been twenty or younger.

Finally Clay nodded and spoke. "Tell me how."

This was even worse than handing over the COG tags. Most relatives didn't ask about how their loved one had died, but when they did, they were told. Marcus hated having to do it.

"During Operation LIFEBOAT, Delta squad was deployed at Landown and took the grindlifts down to the Inner Hollow. Benjamin's podmate was captured by the Locust after my grindlift had been deployed, and rode down by himself, where he held off a group of Locust, single handedly while waiting for reinforcements. Once we regrouped, we infiltrated a Kantus shrine and witnessed Ilima being sunk by the Riftworm. We called for Evac, and as the Raven was removing us from the combat zone, the Riftworm attacked, and swallowed the chopper. Once inside we lost contact with Benjamin, and during our attempt to kill the worm, we found him being attacked by parasites inside the stomach. We tried to help him, but it was too late, his entire torso had been eaten away by acid, either from the creatures or the stomach."

At the start of the story, Clay had been staring at Marcus, but by the end, he was looking down, at a picture. Marcus couldn't see it, but it was obvious what it was. Standing, Marcus saluted Clay.

"I'm sorry, he was a good man and a good soldier. He did his duty, and saved my life more than once." With that, Marcus turned and strode from the room. Before leaving, he stopped and pulled out the paper from his pocket and set it on the table and then left.

Clay sat there for a long time, staring down at the picture. Him and his brothers on a sunny day. Clay, the oldest, scowling at his mother who was trying to smooth down his hair, Derek, always the joker, never serious, Anthony, trying to be so hard like Clay, even trying to mirror the scowl… and Benjamin, still just a child, a clumsy loveable child, all the innocence of the world written on his face.

With a sigh, Clay slowly folded the picture and stuck it in his pocket again. Picking up the paper off the table, he immediately recognized Ben's untidy scrawling.

I hope you're doing well out there, Clay. Not sure where you are, but I trust that the COG will get this letter to you safely. I know you'll be excited for me, but it'd be great to hear from you before I ship out.

I just wish Anthony was still here, bro. I really miss him. I take comfort knowing that he died a hero, but still… I miss him, as I'm sure you do too.

Well, you know I'm not that good at letters, so I'll keep this short. Hope you're doing well, big brother, and know that I'll be doing my very best to serve our country and make you and our family proud.

Your little brother (aka the Squirt),

Ben

Clay stared at the letter, long after he had finished reading it. How very like Ben, to write a letter and forget to send it. Wiping the half formed tears from his eyes, he paced the room. Despite the light of the setting sun, the room looked darker. In fact, Clay suspected that the entire world would be darker now. Clenching his jaw he stepped out of his room and started heading to where the civilians were staying. His mother's heart had been broken when Anthony had died, now it was time to tell her that her baby boy wasn't coming back home.

People didn't understand the COG at all. The battles were almost the easy part of being a soldier.

~Closing comments~

I hope you all enjoyed this brief little story I wrote up. Benjamin Carmine was my favorite squad mate in Gears 2, and I was pretty angry when they killed him. Poor little guy.