Ben Grimm stared at the polished rock in front of him.

Jonathan Storm

The Human Torch

He knew that he was alone now. Everyone else had gone back home. Sue and Reed would go somewhere and talk. He wouldn't bother them and they wouldn't bother him. Ultimately grief is a personal struggle. Then again for 'The Thing' everything was personal, he had to take everything alone.

He didn't cry. He didn't know if he should or even if he could. That made him feel even worse.

He sat down next to the freshly covered grave.

"Hey match stick. It's me, Wide load or Rocky, or…oh, I know you've got a million of them kid. Boy I wish you were here to throw one at me now. I mean what were you thinking? The Human Torch diving into the lake. Kind of defeats the whole fire purpose, doesn't it?"

Ben remembered holding the youth above the water as they got him to shore. At first he thought he had heard Reed wrong.

"He…he's dead." Sue dropped down beside her baby brother and shook him.

"No! Johnny? Johnny!" Ben looked at the boy's face.

He was frozen. How could the most vibrant, the most fun loving, excited just to be alive person he had ever known be dead? How could the baby of the team had been the first down?

It kind of made him want to give up. Bad guys died. Sometimes even victims died. The Fantastic Four didn't die. The Fantastic Four never died. They were heroes. And Johnny had fought for it the most. The only one who had embraced their powers.

He and Johnny had always thrown insults back and forth. That was their role. Reed and Sue had their mushy love and he and Johnny had their blind hatred.

Okay, hatred is way to strong a word. After all they were a team. And despite the drawbacks Johnny had been a friend. Ben felt very alone now.

He chuckled, "you know I bet if you could see me like this, hey if you could see any of us like this you'd be cracking up. Only you kid. What I really wanted to say is that I'm sorry. I guess some of the stuff that happened between us was my fault. Don't get me wrong it was mostly your fault but…I don't know what to say."

He put his hand on the recently disturbed dirt. Underneath held the body that he would never see again. The youngest Storm. The youngest superhero.

He wondered what Johnny would be thinking had their roles been reversed. Probably be joking to mask whatever true feelings he might have had.

Ben shook the thought away. He thought instead back to that night. It had been replaying every night in his dreams. Maybe if he had gotten in the water in the first place he could have just busted the door open and Johnny would still be here.

But quite frankly he had been afraid of sinking. Even Johnny's powers were fire he hadn't been afraid. As long as he could remember Johnny had never been afraid of anything. Ben had often wondered if the kid had a sense of self-preservation at all. Apparently not.

Suddenly Ben felt that he had lingered there long enough. He stood up and started to walk away when he noticed the rain had stopped.

He looked up and saw the sun shining through. He saw it blazing down on him and knew that it was a constant reminder but not a sad one anymore.

He smiled, "flame on kid."

The End

Authors Note: Well there you have it. I know that it was kind of obvious that it was Johnny but oh well. I really hope that you enjoyed it. I've always thought that Ben would be the most challenging character to write that's partly why I saved him for last. That and second would have really given it away. I hope he wasn't to OOC. Anyway please R&R thanx buds!