Goodbyes, subchapter two: Friends

Grave digging is lonely work, especially when you insist on doing it alone. It probably would have been more beneficial for Dell to accept the help several people had offered but… somethingn had made him want to do it alone. He had some feelings he needed to figure out and the best way to do that was with a shovel between his hands.

He dug the medic's grave next to the female heavy's. The still fresh dirt on that mound reminded him that it hadn't been too long since the first alarms had been sounded. What, three, four days? He didn't even know. He just through his back into work, his shovel puncturing the ground with ease.

'I didn't love the medic', he told himself over and over. ' I didn't love him, and that's okay.' But, what did he feel? Did he just like him as a friend, could there have been romance with time, or had they not even been that friendly? Was he deluding himself because the man died about how the medic had made him feel? He had no answers, and with each musing he heaved ground up with increasing fervor. His shovel fulls began flying halfhazardly out in different directions.

Now he was thinking about the birds. Would they be taken care of? Would they be sold? The medic would hate it if they sold his birds, but nobody had liked them except for him, would a new medic take over with them? He hadn't even begun to consider that they would be receiving a new medic soon. Would they try to take the original's place, or would they just be a new part of the team?

" Hey, you okay?" A gruff voice croaked behind Dell. The heavy was standing above him, significantly taller than he should be. Dell looked around and found he had dug himself into a hole three feet deep, but only about two feet wide. Were those tears on his face? He wiped his arm in his sleeve and called up,

" I'm fine."

" I help."

" No, you really don't-" But before he had finished protesting the heavy had grabbed a shovel and begun widening the hole from the top down. His jaw was set firmly, declaring that there would be no room for argument. Dell nodded, and the two of them worked silently as the sun crept through the mid afternoon sky.

Soon there was no more ground to dig.

" Ve are done." Declared the heavy, helping Dell out. " Let's roll him in."

The medic's body was covered in a waterproof tarp to disguise the trauma, but as they went to heave the body into the grave one of the medic's hands slipped out. The fingers dangled lifelessly, blood crusted under his fingernails from clutching his side, bu

" Stop." The heavy said forcefully. They rested the medic down, and the heavy took a knee.

" What's the matter?"

" I can't do thiz."

" What?"

" I can't." Dell squatted next to the heavy, silent. He was shocked to see the bull of a man fighting back tears.

" Um-"

" You think you vere the only one who waz his friend?" The heavy snapped sharply, looking at Dell. " We had so many missions togezer, so many kills, such great times. And now he's just a hand slipping from under a tarp-" He didn't say any more.

" I know." Dell replied. Then he didn't say any more either. They squatted in silence, and then without speaking continued to carry the body and drop it into the grave. As they hurled dirt back into the hole, Dell said a hushed,

" I'm your friend too." And the heavy nodded. Their grim work done, they went back into the base, knowing that had been their last goodbye to the medic.

…..

" Now soldier!" The male soldier barked to his female compatriot. " I don't want any sniveling, sniffling, or whining on my departure. We will handle this like men!" He'd called an official war council in the base following a successful battle.

" Two things Sir!" The female spat back.

" What?!"

" First, I am the one leaving! Secondly, we will not handle this like men! We will handle things like our assigned gender and we will like it!"

" YES MA'AM."

" LET"S DEAL WITH THIS LIKE WOMEN!"

" YEAH!" The soldiers then proceeded to build a barrier for old times sake. It would take them a few ours, and they would construct right in front of the upstairs men's bathroom, but it was an excellent team building experience.