Rumours of Death (PG)
Characters – Hank
Prompt – Deathfic #17 Redemption
Word Count – 659
Warning – Character Death!!
Summary – Hank comes through for the group one last time.
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Rumours of Death
Hank was running, as fast as he could, heading towards the cries. The sound of crashing steel and the smell of acrid smoke filled the air.
He could barely think, only run. This was his last chance to help, and make up for his mistake. He couldn’t sit on the sidelines any more.
He had watched them fight. He had watched them sleep. He had watched them smile and enjoy their lives in the occasional lull of peace, and he watched as they screamed at each other in their frustration when the Orcs wore them down.
Times had been hard, that was clear. They had to struggle. They had to make choices. The brightly-lit line that separated right and wrong wasn’t as clear as it had been when they had first arrived.
But that was his problem, he wasn’t able to compromise. Or, at least, he hadn’t been. Now, after running off without ever offering an explanation, compromise seemed like the least of his problems!
That was fact. Nothing could change that, least of all regret. He’d made his choice and he’d gone through with it, regardless of the consequences.
He hadn’t done anything as extreme as fake his own death, he’d just run off and left them too it. It had been that simple, at the time.
He couldn’t take the arguments with Diana and Presto. Bobby was growing more uncontrollable. Sheila was as unattainable as ever. And finally, the last straw, the increasingly violent clashes with Eric.
‘I would be a better leader,’ Eric had proclaimed on numerous occasions.
So one night when everyone was asleep, Hank had walked out, and let him try. And to make sure they knew he was serious, he’d left his Bow behind.
He’d stayed away for a month, sleeping rough in caves and keeping close to the last town they visited. He was happy, for a time. He was happy to be free. He was happy to be alone.
Then he started to wonder.
Every day he wondered more, until he woke up thinking, and worrying, about them.
So he’d shadowed them, needing to know that they were still alright. Well, actually, he had wanted to see how they had taken it, that irrevocable act of betrayal.
Whatever he had though they would do, however he had though they would react was wrong.
They had mourned him as if he were truly dead, and blamed themselves. He had never thought they would blame themselves! They weren’t supposed to do that! He had never thought they would do that. They had tried to struggle on without him.
He should have gone back, the first day he found them. But he didn’t.
And each day that passed, he found it harder. He wasn’t sure they’d forgive him. They needed him, that was clear, he’d even overheard Eric saying so, but that wasn’t quite enough.
Now, it was probably too late.
The Orcs were swarming all over the destroyed camp.
The five remaining kids, and Uni, regrouped in the centre, turning away from the felled Orcs.
Suddenly, there had been a movement. One of the Orcs was still alive.
Hank had seen clearly what the Orcs was intending to do. He could see the knife in its hand.
And he started to run, just as the Orc moved.
Who was closest? Who was the target?
Eric.
Of all people, perhaps he was the most ironic. But irony was not going to stop Hank.
The decision was made, just as firmly as it had been all those weeks ago when he had left.
He managed to scream a warning, just as he dived for the Orc. There was a few seconds of grasping, biting, scratching, then a sudden and agonisingly sharp pain.
He heard a scream. It took a moment to wonder what they would say, and a moment more to realise he wasn’t going to find out.
Then it went dark.