Editing Eternity: Beyond (section)

=== Funeral ===
Jake looked down at the neat plot of grass in front of him.  The rain on his head could have been absent for all the notice he paid it.  Beside him, Venus and a few of her cousins had gathered, all of them dressed for a funeral.  Then, that’s exactly what it was.  Just one without a body.

Julius’ old priest had braved the journey to say a few words of farewell, and though Jake couldn’t see the appeal in them, he respected Julius’ father’s wishes and kept silent as they were read.

Farah, on his other side, sighed heavily as the priest finished.  “What a waste,” she muttered.

“Yeah.”  Jake squeezed her shoulder as the priest finished his words and stepped away.  Jake took his place, looking down at the acid-proofed metal headstone.  The rain today was from the polar weather machines, not condensate mist off of the hive walls, so instead of being acidic enough to scour bad paint, it was just cold enough to draw shivers from the mortals in the crowd.

“I don’t know myself for being eloquent, so I’ll just say this one thing before we commend Julius to rest,” Jake said.  “Julius was a man who believed deeply in the concept of merit over all.  Whether that was his comrades in the Army, his classmates at school, or his friends, he was always fair, respectful, and polite.  I know I’m not the only one who will miss him, for that, and for his unflinching courage.”

Isis screwed her eyes shut, feeling every word like a punch in the stomach.  Four months before they were due to be married, and Julius had stepped under a missile barrage.  A random firing from the abhuman artillery force that had already lost had killed the only man she had ever felt attraction towards beyond the base and physical…the only man she had ever loved.  Taken away from her by hate.  He had comforted her after Morticia’s near-death experience, he had promised her a future…and now he was dead, too savaged by thousands of kilograms of bombs to even be brought to home.  He was fertilizing the grass on some meaningless mutant world while she would live on forever, like a goddess from some ancient story, alone and pining for-

Angela’s fingers laced with Isis’.  Her cousin looked sadly into Isis’ inhuman orange eyes, trying to impart some small reassurance.
Isis looked over at her bleakly, before managing a ruined smile.  Angela didn’t need her psychic power to see how much pain she was in, it seemed.  Venus had her eyes closed behind her opaque lenses, too.

Jake finished his words and bowed his head before Ollanius Pius, Julius’ father, stepped forth.  Ollanius looked as old as the moon at that moment; he was so tired and lined that Isis would have guessed him a thousand years old.

When he spoke, his voice was hollow, but steady.  “I can’t bury my son,” he said softly.  “He deserves it, but I can’t.  Like the thousands of thousands of thousands of humans who have died in the Imperium’s wars before him, he made a sacrifice…one that I respect more than anything else I’ve ever seen in my life.”  His gloved hands gripped at his back until the leather creaked.  “My son…wasn’t a media icon, and that made him all the more remarkable.  Not once in the years that he spent crawling in the muck of the trenches did he ever, even once, use his name or mine to buy favor.  Every single time he came home, we would spend...spend hours…” his voice finally failed as the memories returned.  “Damn it…”  He clenched his jaw and forced the words out.  “…Talking about what we had done since last I had seen him.  His stories of old friends of his who enlisted, their careers.  How I used to keep a list of the people who had referenced me on the holos to advance some meaningless goal I had never heard of.  It seems shameful now…because he was doing so much more himself.”

He turned tortured eyes to Isis, who met his gaze, her regret welling up like water in a well.  “Isis…my dear girl, trust me when I say that you were, beyond question, the best thing that ever happened to my son.  If he had time for last thoughts…they were of you.  I have absolutely no doubt of it.”

Isis nodded, not trusting herself to speak.  She mouthed ‘thank you’ and covered her lips with her hand to hide the shaking.
Ollanius looked down at the metal cairn at his feet.  “Julius…you were the beacon of my life, the greatest achievement I’ve ever made, and I loved you more than life itself,” he whispered.  “Sleep well in God’s aegis, my son.”

Isis sobbed silently as Angela’s fingers tightened around her own.  She felt compelled to walk to the cairn and speak…but she couldn’t.  Her legs wouldn’t obey her.  Ollanius looked at her for a moment before a fresh grimace appeared on his face.  How could he expect her to talk?

He crouched, pushing a bit of artificially-manicured moss aside to press two little silver baubles into the soil.  One was a necklace with the Catheric icon on it, which his mother had left him.  The other was a scrap of adamantium from the hilt of his Power Sword, the largest piece they had been able to spare from the re-forging.  Farah and Venus had been working with Hana to re-forge it for Andrew Hanover, their only friend from high school in the military who was still alive.

Ollanius straightened up, walking straight away from the grave towards his waiting vehicle.  He heard Farah start to speak as he left, and he could feel the priest’s surprised glare at his disrespect, but he couldn’t stay.  He had to go, he had to move on now, while the wound was still fresh, before he did something stupid.

A cough from behind him caught his ear as he fumbled for his keys in the parking lot.  He spun around, suddenly enraged to the point of violence.  Who the hell was intruding on his grief?

Isis was standing there, her face drenched as much as his.  Ollanius felt his rancor fade instantly.  “Isis.”

She bit her lip, stumbling over her words.  “I…I’m sorry, Ollanius,” she said feebly.  “I should have said something.”

Ollanius felt his gut twist in sympathy.  “Don’t be silly, Lady Isis,” he said, vainly trying to deflect her statement.  “I…I would never have…”

Isis stepped closer, hugging him with limp arms, burying her face on his shoulder.  “I miss him, Oll,” she managed, her back heaving.  “I want him back…”

“Of course,” Oll said brokenly.  “Of course.”

She finally stepped back, wiping tears away with a wet hand.  “Can…can I do anything for you?  Have you decided where you’re going?”

His heart ached.  “You’re a kind soul, Isis,” Ollanius said.  “I think…I need to just leave.  I’ve already sold everything I have…save a few mementos and the car.”

Isis’ eyes clouded.  “But…why?  Why are you leaving?”

“My son was the only thing keeping me anchored to Terra,” Ollanius said, digging his keys out.  “I’m done.”

“Ollanius…” Isis trailed off.  She had nothing to say.  “Thanks.”

“Thanks?”

“Julius was…” Again, words failed her.  “Thanks.”

Ollanius sank into the driver’s seat of his car as the rain slowed.  “Isis, my son thought the world of you, even when his world was ending all around him, not once, but twice,” he said with a trace of old bitterness.  “I should be thanking you.  So…thank you, for making my son so happy.”  He looked up at her, her head silhouetted against the gray clouds like a profile painting.  “Goodbye, Isis.”

He shut the door and pulled out into the streets, driving off into the distance.