The Garden of Vacant Dreams

The Funeral

A/N: Saban/Disney own the characters you know. I own the ones you don't.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE FUNERAL

"It's great out here, isn't it?" He yelled out in an effort to be heard above the sea.

The rocks, all formed in an orderly cluster, were being splashed with ocean water. Somewhere out toward the end of the jetty came a response.

"It's awesome!" She replied. She extended her arms out and completely away from her body as if she were about to fly right into the horizon.

He smiled as he began to walk toward where the water met the cool, moistened sand. Upon feeling the water rise up over his feet, he came to a stop. His eyes wandered around. A catamaran could be seen in the distance with nothing but the clear blue of the sky and the water surrounding it. He momentarily lost himself in the moment. His eyes were focused on the boat, his feet still unintentionally digging deeper into the sand. As the smell of salt water hit his nostrils he thought of how he had lived his life thus far. 'Have I done enough? Have I left my lasting footprint on this planet already? Does anything ever truly last? God does time fly. Man… I'll be forty next year!'

"Hey!" His eyes moved at the sound of her voice, "Look!" He was looking, at what he couldn't be sure of, but it made him feel anxious for some reason.

"Watch yourself coming down those rocks!" He yelled over at her as he began walking toward what she had spotted. He realized then upon nearing the sight of a wounded sea lion that he wasn't sure if he wanted his daughter to see it. He turned around to caution her but she had already run up to him, her eyes now on the glistening, brown creature lying on the sand before her.

"What happened to it?" She asked as her eyes scanned the lion in its entirety.

"I'm not sure." He replied, but he could take a guess at what had happened. To him it looked like some guy, maybe a fisherman, had illegally shot the animal. He had seen reports on the news before about sea lions in California washing up onto shore due to this activity.

The sea lion was still slowly breathing and had its eyes open. It would lie there and have bouts where it raised its head slightly, wanting to completely rise up from the shore but knew it couldn't. He bent down and looked at the lion closer. The wound was clearly fatal; blood could be seen from under its belly and scattered amongst the coarse sand it was laying on. He had no idea how much time the sea lion had left.

"We should leave it alone." He told her as he stood, "Or maybe call someone to come pick this guy up."

"No…" She started as she walked around him and bent down onto her knees next to the dying animal. She began to gently pet the lion along its back; "We should be here with him… so he isn't alone."

He produced half a smile, her sentiment showing him it was important to her that they stayed with the animal until it died.

"Alright, Jamie." He replied as he sat down next to the lion, "We can do that."
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The room felt darker than he had left it and as he walked through he noticed little things out of place. He felt irritable again the minute he had walked back into the fortress and especially now as he looked around at his laboratory.

Samuel had been happy with how the previous day's events had gone and knew now how close he was to victory. His own satisfaction was his biggest focus and he had far exceeded his expectations. The plans he had had in the making for so many years not only went well, they brought Sam a sense of peace that he didn't have before. His father's death had been avenged in his eyes; Tommy and Anton were paying for their part in his demise.