Title: What's Been And Gone

Author: Therm

Rating: PG-13

Summary: The team get their freedom, but pay the highest price.

Warnings: Major character death. Racism, although no racist words are used in this story.

A/N: The title comes from Oasis' 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out'

I've heard people say that freedom comes at a price.

The freedom we sought for years cost one of us our lives. Had we known that was the price of freedom, I don't think any of us would have cared, would have wanted it at all.

Better to be in prison and innocent than free and guilt ridden.

Whenever we'd discussed what happened that day, not that we talked about it often, we all agreed that there was nothing that we could have done to change the fate of the day, but here we are able to be free and we know that he can't do that.

His body was buried under the grass, along with soil to slowly decompose as is natures way.

At the funeral his family, his large family that we'd waited so long to enjoy his free life with, came and wept as they watched their boy slowly disappear into the ground.

They'd passed us and at the wake, they talked to us, the people they knew had been with him those last moments and asked what had happened.

They knew the story, they didn't know our version, not from our mouths.

We gave them the version that cut any of us out, just concentrated on him and once the tail was finished, they left us and the family hugged and grieved together and we slipped away.

We'd always cared about him as a member of the family, but now, it was all too clear that we weren't his family and the blame for his death seem to fall into our hands.

We didn't fire the shot that killed him, but we didn't save him. We did all that was humanly possible, but the wound just wouldn't stop bleeding. We never stopped trying, even when Face called to me and said that he'd stopped breathing, we still tried.

He never even made it to hospital, the paramedics tried to revive him, but declared him dead right there in the street. Soon enough the Sheriff and his deputy turned up took statements from us. They told us afterwards what we already knew by then, racial intolerance was rife here. He'd been to war for this county and they repaid that by killing him because he was different in their eyes.

That whole town could go to hell as far as I was concerned. They may not all have been racist, but they let it happen, they all knew what their neighbours and friends thought and never did anyone think to protest the behaviour. Then something like this happens and no one even bats an eyelid.

Makes me sick.

So now, as I look at my remaining men, our freedom in our hands that none of us want any more, I wonder where to go from here.

We'd talked before about our plans for this moment. Taking on some cases still that really needed our help, but we wanted to rest, get some life back.

Now he couldn't have his life back, we didn't want ours. We had vengeance on our mind. Not our usual style, but the circumstances called for it. None of us were the same men we were weeks ago.

We were going to find the person responsible. We might not be able to fight that whole town and their racist ways, but we could find one person.

And when we start, that town won't know what hit 'em.

The End.