It's been about three years since he'd last seen the planet, but Chorus looked pretty much the same since last Tucker had seen it.
He supposed that it made sense, a planet that suffered through over a decade of a civil war wasn't going to completely rebuild itself in a third of the time.
Still, out of the entire planet there was only one section that still interested him.
Chorus memorial gardens.
Located right in the middle of new Armonia, the gardens were opened by Kimball during the building of the new city, as a memorial for all those that died in the civil war and war against Charon.
Standing just outside the garden, Tucker waited for the one person he'd allow to go in with him.
Of course Tucker didn't have to wait long as a car soon pulled up and Carolina exited it wordlessly.
Tucker held out his hand and Carolina put the small chip into it before going back into the car.
"Don't be late.' Was all she told him before driving off.
With Carolina gone, tucker inserted the A.I chip into the back of his helmet and the Church flickered to lift over his shoulder.
And wordlessly the two blues walked into the gardens.
The majority of the gardens consisted of grass filled with flowers and stone walls inscribed with the names of the fallen, feds on the left and rebels on the right. Tucker could even recognise some of the names, like Cunningham and Rogers.
But the real eye catcher was in the middle of the gardens, four life sized statues for four heroes.
General Donald Doyle, Colonel Sarge, Agent Washington and Captain Michael J Caboose.
Four heroes who gave their lives for the people of chorus, Doyle by sacrificing himself at Armonia and his friends by holding the line aboard the staff of Charon.
Stopping in front of the statue, Tucker and Church stood in silence.
Tucker could still remember it all like yesterday, the screams, Sarge's frantic shouts of rage over the radio. Wash's body filled with more bullet wounds than he could count. Caboose lying unnaturally still on the ground.
He could remember everything.
Church's long silence, only broken four times over the past five years. The unveiling of the statues. Doctor Grey preforming the autopsy to find out exactly how they all died.
After the war all the remaining reds and blues retired to blood gulch, even Doc and they all met Sister again. Once in the box canyon everyone mourned in their own ways. And that was how things were until they all finally returned to Chorus for only the most important of reasons.
Tucker didn't know exactly how long he and Church stood there in silence, looking at the statues, underneath which lay the body's of his friends.
'Hey guys." Tucker broke the silence, his voice filled with regrets. "It's been a while hasn't it? I should probably catch ya up on what happend, since you know you..."
Tucker swallowed. "Well, after we left Chorus we went back to blood gulch, it just felt right, ya know? Sister was there which was cool, and we kinda just stayed there for the last three years till there was the big announcement for the reds." Tucker turned his head to Sarge's statue, one of the man himself aiming his shotgun. "I think you'll like this one Sarge, Grif and Simmons are getting married. I know about time right?" Tucker gave a sad chuckle. "I called that shit years ago."
Tucker turned his head back to Wash and Caboose's statues, with Wash having his hands behind his back and Caboose holding freckles proudly.
"Doctor Grey's going to officiate and Kimball's paying for everything. Sister is going to be Grif's best man and Donut's gonna be Simmons' bridesmaid." Tucker couldn't think about much more important news about the wedding, so he moved onto the only other piece of news he'd heard.
"In other news Locus has gone missing, vanished off the face of the galaxy after single handedly taking out a group of asshole calling themselves the blues and reds. Fucking knock offs." tucker reported with a slight snort. "You know last I heard he even got a fucking alien spaceship because of his sword, makes me wonder what would have happened if we actually completed that quest all those years ago... maybe if I did, you guy's would still be..."
Tucker fell back into silence.
"It's not your fault you know." Church spoke up, speaking for only the fifth time since the battle aboard Charon's ship.
"It's my fault."
"Church, don't say bullshit like that."
"But it's true." Church insisted. "On the ship, I calculated that there was a chance that everyone could have made it out, but it would have required me to deconstruct, to erase myself to power the meta's suit. But when the time came I just couldn't do it, I had to make sure that you guys would come out on top. If I deconstructed then they'd be alive."
"Or there would be five statues instead of four." Tucker retorted. "Honestly Church, you couldn't have known, no one blames you for what happened."
"I do." Church replied quietly. "Now if you don't mind, I've got messages for all of them."
Church then glided over to the front of Doyle's statue. "I wish I was as brave as you." He told the statue.
Then he went to Sarge's. "You were probably a better leader than I ever was."
Then church went to Wash's. "I failed you, first by fucking up your head and then getting you killed."
And finally, Church stopped at caboose's statue, where he simply read the inscription. "Church's best friend."
"Guys... i'm sorry, for everything, and I hope... I hope you're all happy, wherever you are." Church apologised.
And they went back to the silence.
And in this silence, each man thought back to memories of their friends.
Tucker remembered all of it. The good, the bad and the stupid.
And in his mind's eye, he saw them again.
Sarge standing tall and proud, ready for action.
Wash relaxing, giving out his two cents and somehow simultaneously being a competent soldier and a complete dork.
caboose talking, giving out his 'advice' and hugs strong enough to split steel in half.
"Hey Church... remember that time Caboose sang that stupid song?" Tucker asked as the memory popping into his mind.
"Oh yeah." Church gave a small chuckle. "Didn't it go like; remember that time that I saved your life..." Church horribly sang.
"Yeah that's the one." Tucker replied. "I don't think I ever saw Wash so bamboozled when he walked in on Caboose singing it."
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Speaking of, remember when Wash came back from a mission during the war, and jumped out of his skin when we threw him that surprise birthday party?"
Tucker broke into full on laughter, "Oh man, I try to forget that one, especially sense wash near fainted when Donut started singing."
"Let me blow you... away!" They both sang loudly in a terrible Donut impression, remembering the expression Wash had made, and laughed at the memory.
But soon the laughter faded, and they both returned to their memories.
"I miss them." Tucker told his friend quietly.
"So do I."
"Come on Church, we're gonna be late." Tucker said after a while.
"What?" Church questioned before realising the time. "Oh, right, tuxedo shopping."
"It might not be for another few months, but you ready for the wedding Church?" Tucker asked.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."
And with that the two blues left the garden, but as they left, they didn't say goodbye.
And there was a reason for this, you see Wash, Sarge and Caboose might not be talking to them anymore, but as long as the never said goodbye, they would still be there, forever living in their memories, so long as they never said goodbye, Wash, Sarge and Caboose weren't gone.
They just weren't here right now.
(THE FOLLOWING SEGMENT IS NOT CANNON TO THE REST OF THE FIC)
"...And that's the long and short of it, can you help me please?" Ruby asked, hoping the people in the room could give her some good romantic advice.
The room full of Church's stared.
"Your... asking us for advice?" Epsilon asked cautiously. "Cause, we're not exactly the pinnacle of successful romance."
"Speak for yourself." Alpha!Church scoffed. "You might have had bad luck with your Tex, but I had a very stable relationship with mine."
"four words Alpha; Left. You. For. O'Malley." Epsilon shot back, causing the ghost to splutter.
"Excuse me!? First of all, I am not the Alpha, I am Church dammit! And second of all, you want to go there? Well in that case at least I didn't have to give some whiny, little bitch speech before I died, all I needed was one of the sweetest one liners ever."
"I don't know, I must say I prefer epsilons speech to your 'one liner' Alpha." The Director chipped in from the other side of the room.
"Who said you could fucking talk?" Epsilon screeched at the Director.
"Myself, surprisingly enough." The Director drawled.
This caused Epsilon to flip off the Director like the mature person he was. "Read my lips and fuck off."
"You do know your wearing a helmet?" The Director asked sarcastically, causing Epsilon to give a wordless scream of rage. "And for the record, I do believe that I could give some sound romantic advice, after all I did marry Allison."
The Alpha-in-denial cut in. "First of all dude, not the Alpha, and second, marrying her only to completely obsess over her once she died? Yeah we should all follow that amazing example."
"Yeah!" Epsilon nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Alpha's right-"
"Hold on a second! WHAT DID I LITERALLY JUST SAY?" Alpha!Church screamed. "I. Am. Not. The. Fucking. Alpha! I swear, Caboose is better than you guys!"
"What did you fucking say about Caboose you dick-fucking fuck sock!?" Caboose's mental image of Church burst into the conversation.
The Director sighed, while Epsilon facepalmed. "Oh great this guy." The Alpha groaned.
Mental Image Church nodded excessively. "That's right shit eating fuckbags, I'm here and I am Cabooses best friend, you ass clowns."
"I have a lot of problems with this." Alpha said, starting an argument with Mental Image Church.
The Director turned to Epsilon. "Is this truly how Caboose sees us?"
"Well it's better than that guy." Epsilon pointed to Yellow Church, who was leaning on the nearby wall.
"You talking to me?" Yellow Church asked in an apathetic tone.
"No, the other yellow person."
Yellow Church looked around. "But I can't see Grif anywhere."
"Dexter Grif is not yellow, but instead orange." The Director informed him.
"Whatever." Yellow Church sighed, which was barely heard over Alpha and Mental Image Church's argument.
"FUCK OFF!"
"No, you fuck off you fuck sock fracking shit!"
"I swear this is the reason why i'm the best version of Church." Epsilon muttered, causing the argument to end as the Alpha, The Director, Yellow Church and Caboose's mental image of Church all looked directly at Epsilon with a burning intensity.
"What did you just say you little bitch?"
Having long been forgotten by any of the Church's, Ruby slipped out of the room as an argument erupted that would be so legendary, that it would go down in history, even if all involved would claim that they had won.
Notes:
And that's the end of that chapter.
This first half of the chapter is here for one reason, to show exactly what the still living Reds and Blues are up to, and to show the impact the deaths of Wash, Sarge and Caboose would have on the characters. Of course having not deconstructed at the end of season 13, Epsilon makes an appearance and let me tell you it was nice to be writing about him and Tucker.
And now this second shorter half of the fic is not cannon to the rest of the fic and is literally just an excuse to have a bunch of different Church's bitch at each other as they inevitably would. nothing more to it.
Next time you can expect our regularly scheduled programming as we check back in on Tex and Qrow, while Ruby asks the blues and reds for romantic advice. It goes about as well as you'd expect.
As always thank you everyone for reading and extra thank to those who comment/review, and i'll see you all again soon. But till then, i'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.