Please note: There is some blood in this story. You have been warned.
Tell me if you cried. I didn't.
Charles noticed Henry look back at him as they raced through the airship. Charles gave him a thumbs up in acknowledgement as they came across an internal balcony. "We can't make it through here, we gotta go the other way." Charles told Henry, and Henry nodded, leading Charles another way through. They reached the cockpit, where the leader was, she seemed different than the other leaders, as if she were the first female one. "I got this!" Charles called, and dashed towards the leader, choking her. She struggled for a bit, and then she went limp. "Huh. That took less time than I thought." Charles placed the leader down on the cockpit to go down with her ship. He was still surprised he had actually killed someone on purpose. "Anyways, let's get to the helicopter." Charles moved his head towards the cargo bay and Henry followed. Charles then suddenly heard a loud gunshot shortly before they left the cockpit. He turned behind him, the leader was holding a six-shooter, a grin on her face, smoke coming from her gun. Charles dashed over to her and slammed her on a part of the airship control. "You should've been dead!" Charles said furiously. A thin line of blood came from the back of the Toppat leader's neck. "I know. I faked death. But... you might wanna check on your friend there." She laughed menacingly. Charles looked behind him, Henry was pressing his hand on a spot right below this throat, blood slowly oozing out from the sides. "Oh no..." Charles whispered. "No no no no no!" He rushed over to Henry, at this point he didn't care about the leader. "Come on, Henry! I'll help you to the helicopter!" Charles did help Henry to the helicopter, the best he could. They had finally reached the helicopter, Henry's eyes were clouded with pain. "D-Don't worry Henry, the base is not that far!" Charles told him. "Your gonna be just fine!" At this point, both Henry and Charles were covered in blood, Charles' hands were drenched in the crimson liquid, trying to decrease the bleeding. It looked like he tried to murder him. Charles could feel his eyes starting to form tears, letting a few escape his eyes. Charles felt the helicopter land, Henry was barely in consciousness. Charles gazed at him with deep somber, desperate to keep him alive. The pilot quickly got out of the helicopter, "I'll get a medic, okay!?" He told Charles. Charles gave him a quick nod as he rushed out of the helicopter, and he looked back at Henry. "I'm sorry, I-" His voice was cut off, Henry pushed himself closer to Charles. Charles stared silently into his eyes, a thin line of scarlet blood ran from the edge of Henry's mouth. They stared at each other for a moment, then Henry kissed Charles. Charles didn't mind, he liked it, actually. Henry transferred a small patch of blood to Charles' mouth, Charles still didn't care about that. All that mattered to him right now was if Henry was going to live. Charles looked over, eyes slightly blurred, but he saw a medic coming towards the helicopter. "Ah, sorry if I took too long, let me see." She said. Charles hesitantly moved away from Henry's almost unconscious body. Charles didn't look, he just cried near the back of the helicopter. "Oh..." The medic finally said. "What..?" Charles managed to look up and say something. "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do. He's gone." She shook her head. "I'm very sorry."
"No!" Charles cried. "There has to be something you can do!" he choked out the words. The medic shook her head again. Charles' crying turned into a desperate sobbing. "No! Don't leave me!" He hugged Henry. Henry slowly looked up at him. "I...I love you..." Charles whispered. Henry smiled at him, looking as if he were going to say something. "I love you too, Charles..." He said, pressing himself close to Charles. Charles could barely see through his eyes that were drowned in tears. Henry's breathing stopped, and his blood stopped flowing. He was dead. Charles couldn't stop himself from crying even more. He heard the pilot that had flew them here say; "Charles, I am... I am so sorry." His voice had grief in it, he could just barely tell he actually cared. "..." Charles said nothing. Henry was dead in Charles' arms, what made Charles feel even worse was that he looked as if he killed him. He knew he had to tell the general that Henry died. So he took a deep breath and let Henry's body slide out of his arms, and let some other people grieve. Charles got out of the helicopter and started to head towards the general's tent. "Hey, general..." Charles managed to say. "Hey, Charlie, welcome-" General looked up, seeing Charles soaked in blood and tears on his face. "Charlie! What happened to you!? Are you alright?" He said. "Y-Yeah, I'm okay..." Charles breathed. "It's not my blood..." Charles choked on the words. "Oh, that looks bad. Who's is it, then?" General asked. "..." Charles was silent for a few moments. "H..Henr..." He couldn't say it without tears interrupting. "Henry..?" General asked. Charles nodded, wiping his hand across his face, leaving a blood stain, and blood getting into his eyes. His eyes stung even more, but he didn't care. "Sh*t." General commented. "That's terrible." He shook his head, looking back at Charles. "You should go to the medbay, Charlie. You look like a mess." Charles nodded, as the General left the tent, going to the helicopter Charles and Henry had arrived in. Charles trudged to the medbay, and he was surprised he had made it, he could barely see through the blood and tears in his eyes, he felt like he had cried an ocean. Charles saw the medic who had tried to save Henry, and failed. Charles felt as if he were going to hold a grudge against her from now on. She looked over at him, "Oh, you again. I'm deeply sorry for your loss." She said. Charles could tell she meant it. He looked at the ground. "But are you hurt?" The medic looked at Charles with somber in her gaze. Charles shook his head. "Oh, okay, thats good." She nodded. "You should rest then, Charlie." The medic told him. Charles was a bit shocked, usually only the general called him Charlie. Charles was too sad to care at this point, and he sat down on one of the benches near the corner. He sat there for a few silent moments, thinking about what was going to happen to him next without Henry. It was only a few minutes before Charles drifted off into sleep.
Charles woke up to see a dark purple blanket laid across him, it seems familiar. He then remembered, it was the blanket he gave to Henry when Charles picked him up from The Wall. Charles grabbed the blanket and wrapped himself in it, then looked to his side to see a note. It said: "Henry is buried at XXXX-XXXX and the funeral will be on [Insert Date Here]" Charles was relieved to receive the note, he would have been devastated is he missed his best friends- Wait, no. Boyfriends funeral. He and Henry had so many memories together, and that mission had been the last. He was a bit surprised on how they got Henry buried so quickly. Charles looked around the tent, it was dark with a dim light coming from the entrance. It was nighttime, and everybody had left. He stood up, still clutching onto the blanket, and started to walk over to his helicopter. His vision had cleared up a bit, and he felt better after he slept for awhile. He sat down in the pilot's seat of his helicopter, and completely cleared his eyes before starting up the helicopter and flying off.
It only took a few minutes to get to where he was going, and he landed his helicopter in an open space. He got out of the helicopter, still holding the dark purple blanket in his arms. He looked over to see a small patch of land, surrounded by a large body of water. There was a grave on the land, and a full moon and glittering stars over a thick blanket of darkness was hanging above it. Charles took a step closer, and read what was on the grave: "Rest in Peace; Henry Stickmin. 1992 - 2020"
"He died so young..." Charles whispered, tears starting to well in his eyes again. He took a step back and wondered what to give to the grave. He paced back and forth before looking at the tag on the blanket he was holding, it read: "Best friends! -Charles" on it. Charles cracked a small smile at the words and got an idea. He folded the blanket neatly and placed it in front of the grave. He took a step back and lifted his hand to salute. "Henry, I know you wouldn't agree with this, but..."
"You had the greatest plan."