FTO Oneshots

Comfort at a Funeral

Austin was closed in on himself at the funeral. He felt like he could barely breathe, barely move, barely even think. His mentor was dead. No. Not just his mentor. One of the last family members he had left was dead. He felt numb. He couldn't cry anymore. He had done so in the sanctity of his rooms and now he could only sit in silence as his part in the funeral was done.

He hated the accusing glares. All of his female guild members were crying and some of the men were too. They expected him to be crying as Reaper was his mentor yet he could conjure up nothing, nothing but the dead look he himself was sporting.

Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore and left the area to sit just outside it. He sat with his back to the wall and then he took out Fred. Looking at the bear, he felt the tears that wouldn't come before gather up even as he tried to stay strong. Reaper had been... everything. His mentor, his brother, his father figure, his friend... and now the man was gone, dead, and it hurt so freakin bad.

He felt tears start to go down his cheeks as he held the bear close and then he felt a hand on his shoulder. His head jerked up and he was staring into concerned onyx eyes. He recognized the eyes as being those of one of the Diablos brothers but he didn't know which of the two he was.

"Are you alright?" The bluenette asked him gently.

"I'm-" He started to choke out the lie before he looked back down at the bear and said. "No."

There was silence before the twin asked. "What's with the bear? You've been staring at it."

"... Reaper gave him to me when I first joined the guild..." Austin admitted quietly making the other stop. Austin sighed as he requiped the bear away, his hands going up to wipe his face.

"Ritchie Diablos." Austin blinked as the hand was held out to him. With a sad smile, he took the hand and said. "Silver."

The two talked late into the evening until Ritchie's brother called him in fact. They talked about everything, how they both knew Reaper, favorite memories with the man, the stupid stuff that he did, what he had done for them... everything. And when Ritchie's brother had called for him, the two agreed to meet up again, they found each other to be good company.