title: the funeral
author: newtypeshadow
fandom: Sky High
pairings: Warren/Will, others
disclaimer: Sky High and associated characters and settings are not my property. This story was written for entertainment, not for profit.
notes: i hope everyone had a fun, safe halloween!
The day of Baron Battle's funeral there is national coverage of Warren carrying the coffin with Will on the other side, shoulders under the heavy black-painted wood and solemnity on their faces. The cameras are held at the gate of the cemetery where the Baron will be buried. Only Warren, his mother, Will, Will's parents, and their friends are allowed inside. There is no priest. There is only the coffin, lowered into the earth. Red and black roses are sprinkled on the top before the dirt comes pouring in.
Warren isn't crying, but he leans into Will's hand on his shoulder. Layla's head is against his other bicep, lending strength by needing strength. Will's parents, dressed as the Commander and Jetstream, have their heads bowed together. They stand on the other side of the coffin, holding hands. They are older now, faces heavy with wrinkles, bellies full with paunch and backs stooped with the weight of age and the world's dire problems. Their uniforms are funeral black in honor of the occasion. Warren wears his father's old tuxedo.
When they get home, Warren will curl up in bed and cry, and Will will wrap himself around Warren and wait it out. It won't take long. Warren shed most of his tears as a child when he watched his father taken away, protesting his innocence as his mother held him back. This, this funeral, is just the epilogue. It is the closure for decades of absence and pain. And however much Will hates that Baron Battle has died—that Warren's father is dead—he is glad for the moment when Warren takes his hand and says, "I'm tired. Let's go home."