07-21-2018, 03:19 AM
![[Image: tumblr_o5qz24I7UM1ubj5sjo1_500.gif]](https://78.media.tumblr.com/d51802a8baaaad4f8f9efd34d75f02c1/tumblr_o5qz24I7UM1ubj5sjo1_500.gif)
Death was final. There was no coming back from it no matter what anyone else told him. He had seen time and time again someone die over the course of several years. Probably longer than what these animals were capable of living through. 26 years. 26 years had been nothing but war and death. It had all started with his father and nothing else. Washington thought that the death of his father would be the end of how worse it could possibly end up getting. He had hoped that the same wouldn't happen to his mother and to the rest of his siblings. At this point in time though, the Freelancer wasn't even sure if they were alive. The thoughts of his family come and gone as there was more of a chance that they were actually dead throughout the entirety of the war. Everyone lost family though, so who was the one to complain anyway? Year after year he had to struggle as he watched some of those that he considered friends when he was younger deal with the death of their parents.
His father only died when he was very young, meaning that he doesn't remember much of his father's death and wasn't afraid to talk about the way he died. In War. In Battle. He didn't want to grow up being like his dad like every kid in the school park wanted to end up doing. The human race struggling to survive from the very beginning anyway. It was only when he realized that they were losing the War right after high school that Washington knew that he was going to have to do something and maybe offer a hand. He may not have been the best soldier but he had helped save lives and kill those that were enemies to them. It was understandable when it came to being a soldier that he got used to the killing. He wasn't killing humans after all. They were aliens that were trying to make them go extinct and had already destroyed one planet before coming to Earth itself. Once they were driven to Earth they went to other planets that Washington was stationed in. One thing he knew for certain though, was that he wasn't going to end up finding his father on the battlefield and wouldn't find his father back with his mother when he was allowed to visit home.
That was simply unrealistic. It wasn't something that was possible when someone had been said to be blown up by the likes of a grenade. There wasn't really anything to bury either. Washington then knew death was final when it came to those that died by his side on the battlefield. Washington watched as his comrades fell, and how they were quickly killed off if they didn't have their wits about them. It was probably harsh to say something like that, but they had trained for this and should have been more careful. He did feel grief for those that died, knowing that they would only allow the dog tags to be returned back and not the body. They didn't have the resources. Everyone lost family in the war. Maybe even the aliens that attacked them lost family in the war as well. He wouldn't know. He didn't know their culture after all. He watched people killed before his eyes. He didn't have the insane fantasy that they would somehow magically come to life either. Washington was a logical person for the majority of his life, and one needed to be fairly serious when given orders.
During the next portion of his military career in Project Freelancer he had watched Freelancers die. There were those that he was simply told that they had been killed and those that he had watched die themselves. Agent Utah basically cooked himself in his own armor when he tried to use equipment in the field, not being able to hold the equipment for very long before he was killed. Agent Georgia was thrown into space. None of those names were replaced during the course of his time there, at least not that he could remember. Washington probably wouldn't be able to tell if they had been replaced if they were in the lower ranks as he didn't deal with lower ranked soldiers all that often. He was on the leaderboard, meaning that he had a strict schedule to follow that was created for him by a computer. No one came back. No one. Hence why he had been so confused when Suiteheart had suddenly managed to come back from the dead it seemed. Had the wound not been fatal? He was pretty sure that much blood coming out of the likes of a domestic cat would mean that she would be doomed to die.
He didn't know anything about being a vampire and still didn't believe that they existed. It had to be some sort of trick, and that it actually wasn't Suiteheart. The concept of death here didn't seem to bother any of them. And in all honesty, it pissed him off. They treated the aspect of death almost as a joke when it was brought up. It almost made him want to throw up. Washington didn't believe that he would get the same treatment if he were to get killed here. He would most certainly stay dead if he were to die. There was no doubt about that in his mind. Death was supposed to be final. They weren't supposed to continue living after death. Like some sick horror movie. Washington knew he had made a mistake when he hadn't attacked Agent Maine. He should have listened to Carolina, and maybe if he did she wouldn't have managed to get herself injured. He hadn't been there to support her, and as usual, she had been there to save his ass again. As usual.
That seemed to be the sort of dynamic that the two ended up having to each other. Washington felt guilt during that battle when everything happened. Her injuries were his fault, and he thought that she was going to be okay. Maine couldn't have done lethal damage, could he? That's what Washington was hoping but he didn't exactly have all the means of knowing feline anatomy now did he? He knew a little bit but not that much. Then when Agent Texas arrived, Washington wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do. He had been out of commission almost immediately. Memories of Allison plagued inside of his head to the point that it crippled him. He nearly suffocated himself thanks to his hyperventilated but passed out because of the lack of oxygen. The Freelancer hadn't been able to see the fight against Carolina and Texas if there had been one. He didn't know that her injuries had ended up getting worse as he had to get checked up himself. Difficult considering that he didn't trust any medics that he came across nowadays. Washington had his own reasons that he wasn't willing to tell anyone. He thought she was going to be fine.
He thought she was going to be fine. The soldier hadn't managed to keep track of Carolina, his arm still well broken that getting around was still difficult for him. Washington had walked through the territory calling out her name hoping that she would answer so that he could get a debrief on what they were going to do now. The last thing he needed was to be around Texas right now. The mental health that he had worked so hard to repair basically was ripped apart by her appearance. His head felt like it was going to explode just looking at her. He didn't want to be the only one that wanted to get out of here anymore. Caboose was gone. Church was somewhere. Maine was still at large. Texas was now here. And Carolina was missing after her injuries. He didn't know if he would be able to deal with the stress of her suddenly being gone. Since she had arrived she had grounded him and helped him get slightly better with everything.
It was a difficult road, especially with the Ascendants breathing down their necks all of the time. "Carolina!" Washington called out, getting more and more frustrated. Where the fuck was she? Washington tilted his head until he heard a pop in his neck, his headache slowly blossoming to a migraine. This was ridiculous. She wasn't in her usual area and no one seemed to know where the leopard even ended up going to. He couldn't track down scents like everyone else could, and so that meant that he had to rely on his hearing to be able to find where the hell she would be and by sight. The armored creature wasn't hard to see walking around, and eventually, after almost an hour of walking around, he came across the area where familiar faces were gathered. Well, at least one that is. No one had informed him of Carolina's condition, which wasn't surprising since he had been passed out. The smilodon squinted his eyes behind his visor as he tried to see what they were doing. He wasn't able to see anything so he limped his way over on three legs to see what was going on. As he neared, his pace quickened as he saw them hovering over Carolina's body.
His breathing inside of his helmet quickened, and the coffin of Allison flashed in front of his vision nearly making him fall over his own paws. What the hell were they just standing around for? "What's going on? Everyone's just standing here.." Washington's voice trailed off as he came to stop a little bit of a distance from where Roy was standing. He was looking at their faces, and he had expected to hear an answer from Carolina herself. She usually was quick to update him on what was going on situation wise and if they were questioning her like they always did. A frown was hidden underneath his helmet as he turned his head to look back at Carolina when he didn't hear the expected response. "Carolina?" Washington had asked in a more quiet tone, his voice sounding strained from screaming just a couple hours ago. He had just barely woken up, and the pain he was going through was certainly immense. He took a couple steps forward until he was at Carolina's side. If his helmet was working, he would have been able to check her biological signatures. But his helmet wasn't up to that point yet. His jaw opened inside of his helmet before he closed it again.
She wasn't breathing. What was happening? What was happening?! The smilodon raised one of his paws as if to touch the corpse of his comrade, only to stop the shaking paw and put it back down on the ground. "Boss-" Washington stopped himself again with a choked sound. She was dead. One didn't need to be a genius to see it. His jaw snapped shut, and no other sounds escaped him. His shoulders shook as his flank sat down on the ground with a loud thud. His head hanging low staring down at Carolina's corpse. She was dead. She was dEad. Death was final. She wouldn't be coming back. He was alone. The feeling the Director felt through his memories of losing Allison gripping the smilodon's heart in a grip that he couldn't undo. But he didn't cry. He didn't dare cry. It was his own damn fault of course. He should have been better. She was always taking shots for him. She had always been the best. She left him alone. Left him alone with all these animals that he didn't care about. Washington didn't say another word as his head twitched slightly to the left. "speech"
[glow=black,2,300]— ✘ —[/glow]
Tags | Updated 06/26/18:
![[Image: ezgif_com_gif_maker__3__by_aeoix-dcjid9w.gif]](https://orig00.deviantart.net/4d85/f/2018/219/5/5/ezgif_com_gif_maker__3__by_aeoix-dcjid9w.gif)
![[Image: gSqBQIF.png]](https://i.imgur.com/gSqBQIF.png)