The
Virtual
Realm

He's Gone - (R for Strong Language)
Characters – Diana, Presto, Eric, Bobby
Prompt – Deathfic #9 Honour
Word Count – 1292
Warning – Implied Character Death!!
Summary –  Hank’s dead and everyone struggles to try and cope in the immediate aftermath.
A/N – Set after "The Dragon's Graveyard"  This has been half finished for ages, and I just couldn’t get it to work out.

= = =

He’s Gone

‘Well?’

‘Well, what?’

(Is that really all you can think of to say, Presto!)

‘Have you seen him, Presto? You’re not shielding him, are you?’

‘Look, Diana, I don’t think shouting at him is gonna help.’

‘It’s certainly gonna help me!’

(I bet it would! Hitting and shouting and screaming at me! Yeah, that’s going to help the rest of them, isn’t it! But I bet you think the ol’ Cavalier wouldn’t fight back!)

‘I understand, but...’

‘In fact, at the moment I can’t think of a better way!’

(I knew it! You’re so predictable, Diana!)

‘No one’s really thinking straight right now, Diana. I know I’m not.’

‘I can’t take it all in. I can’t believe it.’

‘I-I know.’

‘One moment we’re all here, safe and sound, now Hank’s gone.’

(Yes. Hank’s gone. That’s all that’s left. Those words. Hank’s gone. There’s nothing left of Hank. Hank failed. Hank didn’t do as he was told. And Hank paid the price. I saw what happened.)

‘I know. I-I can’t believe it either. I don’t understand. I don’t know how it happened.’

(I‘m glad you don’t know, Presto. I wish you could never find out. But I think we’ll all have to find out what went wrong in the Graveyard. I know you’ll find out eventually.)

‘I bet someone does!’

‘Diana!’

‘Well, he does know. He’s just too scared to tell us.’

(That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said!)

‘Diana!’

‘It’s obvious what happened.’

(Oh, really? I can’t wait to hear your explanation!)

‘Diana!’

‘Stop saying my name like that! You know I’m only saying what everyone else is thinking!’

(Yes. Everyone is thinking the same. Everybody already knows. There’s nothing else to find out, Hank’s gone and that’s all they care about. Would listening to my answers make any difference? I wonder. I wonder.)

‘That’s not gonna help, not now.’

‘Oh? You really sure about that, Presto?’

‘We don’t know what happened.’

(Exactly.)

‘It’s pretty damn clear to me!’

(Exactly!)

‘Diana!’

‘Besides, he’s not talking to us, is he!’

(That’s not strictly true, now is it?! I talked but no one was prepared to listen.)

‘We were too hard on him, he didn’t know what was gonna happen.’

(Thank you, Presto! At last, someone talking sense! If I had any idea that the shit was gonna hit the fan I would have run a long, long time ago!)

‘That’s no excuse. Trust you to try and make up excuses for him!’

(That’s not fair, Diana!)

‘I’m not! I’m just trying to…’

(What else was I supposed to do! Stay there and die too? Stay there and let everyone else die too? What else could I do? If you knew, you’d be dead. It’s that simple.)

‘He shouldn’t have run! You know that as well as I do!’

‘I don’t think that…’

‘He’s so unreliable! He so thoughtless! He’s so stupid! If it wasn’t for him…’

(...you’d all be dead by now! At least you have a chance, for a while. Maybe you’ll even get home. Though that's not a big possibility now.)

‘If it wasn’t for Eric we’d all be dead as well and …’

(Exactly.)

‘What! You think this was a good thing??’

‘That’s not what I was gonna say! Don’t put words in my mouth!’

‘Well what were you going to say, then?’

‘He… he made… a-a bad choice, that was all I meant.’

(I did no such thing, Presto! Aren’t you supposed to be on my side! I didn’t choose any of this! Hank chose, and he chose wrongly. And now he’s dead. Next thing you’ll be saying is that I goaded him into firing at Venger in the first place! It was Hank’s choice!)

‘A bad choice?’

‘That’s not what I meant either, not when you say it like that!’

‘And just bad? I don’t think that “bad” really covers it. Hank’s gone!’

‘But Eric wasn’t to know that we’d all be fine.’

(“Eric wasn’t to know”? You don’t care what I know, and I know a fucking load more than you do now! But you don’t care at all! If you did you wouldn’t be sitting around here waiting for walking Death to find you!)

‘Of course he should have known! Don’t be stupid Presto!’

‘How was he gonna know? And I’m not being stupid!’

‘We are capable of looking after ourselves, you know! He should have stayed with Hank!’

(I did! I stayed until he was dead! But it didn’t help!)

‘Yes, but…’

‘He should have done what he was told!’

(I did! I did as I was told! But it didn’t help! It’s not going to help! Not now, not ever again! Hank’s gone!)

‘Yes, I know, but…’

‘He shouldn’t have run off at the first sign of trouble!’

(I DIDN’T!)

‘Look we don’t really know what happened yet, let’s not leap to concl…’

‘We don’t have to do any leaping! It obvious that he panicked.’

(Panic? You don’t know the meaning of the word, Diana! Just wait until He comes for you, then we’ll see who panics!)

‘We don’t know that!’

‘Try telling that to the girl over there, sobbing her heart out!’

(Sheila. Oh, God, Sheila, I’m so sorry. I wish I could have explained better.)

‘Diana…!’

‘If Hank had been the one I loved who’d died, then I’d have done a lot more that just hitting and crying!’

(I did all I could, Sheila. Why can’t you see that? I tried all I could but I couldn’t bring him back. There was no way back, not now, not after what he did to Venger.)

‘You’re not being fair, Diana!’

‘Fair?! FAIR?? I think we’re past fair where Eric is concerned!’

(Typical!)

‘Don’t say it, please…’

‘Look, don’t get at me just because your best friend is a worthless coward!’

‘He’s your friend too!’

‘Not anymore, he’s not. I never want to set eyes on that cowardly Cavalier ever again.’

(Well at least that one is easy to arrange! I’m not going to stay around here with that creature still around! I’m not stupid! One by one He’s going to pick you all off. And when you see Him, you’ll understand that I did everything I could.)

‘Hey, guys.’

‘Bobby!’

‘Bobby!’

‘How is she?’

‘She’s still crying, Presto. I don’t know how else I can help her.’

‘Bobby, you look terrible.’

‘Yeah, Bobby, you need a rest.’

‘Sheila needs me more. She’s not stopped crying.’

‘Presto and I can help. I’ll go. As long as I don’t have to speak to that son of a bitch.’

‘You won’t.’

‘Why not?’

‘He’s gone.’

(Well, at least that came as a surprise! Stunned silence from you Diana? I’m amazed!)

‘That’s… well, that’s just typical of him! Running off without a word. See, Presto, I told you he was a coward!’

(No, I’m a failure. That’s not the same.)

‘You don’t know what happened, Diana! And now it looks like we’re never gonna know!’

(You don’t need to know. You need to run, and you need to hope He doesn’t find you.)

‘Wait! What was that noise? Didn’t you hear it, Presto?’

(That’s Him. Shit, He didn’t take long, did He! For God’s sake don’t just sit there! MOVE! Run and pray He doesn’t find you!)

‘It sounds like footsteps.’

‘It might be Eric.’

(Of course it’s not fucking Eric! You really think I’m gonna stick around to wait for Death to try again? No fucking way! Not this time! Take my advice and RUN…)

‘I don’t think that sounds like Eric, you know.’

‘I don’t think he’s gonna come back. Ever.’

‘If it’s not Eric, who could it be?’

‘No one else knows where we are.’

‘No.’

‘No.’

‘Who could it be?’

‘Dungeonmaster!’