Bang and Burn ~ Dreamnotfound + Skephalo

Chapter 40

The cold settled on Zak's face as he walked into the church, Darryl stuck by his side. It was a beautiful setting, especially for a funeral. The stained glass windows reflected colored light onto the floor, and the pews were shining in the sun coming through a skylight in the ceiling. There were rows of agents that Zak recognized as well as agents he'd never met before. Ahead of them was a casket, decorated with roses. Around the opened end of it, teammates were gathered, mourning their loss. Zak looked at Darryl, unsure of what to do.

"It's okay, Zak. I'm right here for you, I promise." Darryl squeezed his hand. "Everything will be alright."

Zak walked up to the casket, afraid of what he'd find. He just wasn't ready to see Amb's body. He clenched his jaw as Brooklyn, who he knew as Agent Thundah, reached into the case to close his eyes. Her hand lingered by him for a few moments as she began to cry. Anna grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away while Feni wiped the tears that fell from her eyes. Zane was holding Avery as the two just stared at the casket, struggling to comprehend that Amb died. When they noticed Zak, they parted to allow him to say his goodbyes.

Zak looked at Amb's face and began to cry for the millionth time since he died. Though he felt better every time, it still pained him to see one of his students gone. He lingered for a few moments, sadly staring at Amb, before Darryl pulled him into a hug, holding his head against his chest.

Darryl cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for your loss, agents."

Feni shook her head. "It's alright, Darryl. He just wasn't made for this world." She sniffled. "We'll be okay. We just need time to grieve."

"We all do," a quiet voice said from behind them. Darryl looked to his side to see Dylan beside them, struggling to keep his balance on his crutches. "But we'll be okay."

Anna carefully wrapped xyr arms around him, crying quietly while he rubbed xyr back. Dylan's mother walked up from behind them and rubbed Zak's shoulder. He met her eyes and sadly smiled, struggling to keep his stinging eyes open. "We should go sit down," she suggested. "I think it's going to start any minute." Everyone exchanged glances, then they made their way down to the pews.

Darryl guides Zak to the row where the rest of their teammates sat. George was curled up against Clay and Nick was on the other side of them, talking to Floris. Zak sat beside George and took a deep breath. He grabbed Darryl's hand, trying his best to stop shaking. When Darryl noticed his struggle to keep in control of his emotions, he wrapped his arms around him and held him tightly. It was just what Zak needed to calm down.

A pastor walked up to the lectern beside the casket and cleared his throat. "Good afternoon, everyone. We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Slater, to give thanks to the time we had with him, and to wish him well now that our time with him is over. While we are all feeling loss, grief, and pain, for Slater, the journey is the beginning. Our lives were all touched by him, perhaps in the tiniest way, or perhaps totally transformed. We would not be gathered here otherwise. Life will not be the same without him. Life should not be the same without him. Slater's friends and family will now speak about the time they had with him, and some of the pleasant memories they got to share with him. I'd like to turn things over to Atlas." The pastor held his hand out towards a young man, sitting alone on the front pew.

Atlas stood up and made his way to the lectern, looking incredibly distraught. His hands shook as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. "Um, hi. I'm Atlas, Slater's twin brother." He pushed his brown hair out of his face, then coughed into his elbow. "I don't know a lot of you people, but I've been told that Slater worked with you guys, so I guess you're cool."

He placed the unfolded paper onto the lectern and did his best to rub out the folds. "I wrote a little something about my brother. I'm not too great with words, so uh, sorry? Slater and I were close growing up. I was protective of him, and we were always making up some sort of competition for us to do. It started as silly things like, 'Who can eat the slice of pizza the fastest?' But slowly, it turned into, 'Who can throw the knife the farthest?'" Atlas smiled. "I see why he'd work at an agency. He was made for this job, just not made for this world. This was the one place I know he felt accepted. Not even our parents accepted him."