The funeral arrangements were surprisingly easy to take care of, though admittedly, that was because they were mostly being handled by Rosa; Eric was in such a daze over the next week that everything seemed to pass by in a blur. The only thing he really remembered doing was signing off on some paperwork, which she had gently assured him was more than fine, given the circumstances.

It was going to be an empty casket funeral, as there was no body to present.

That tended to happen whenever the Iprenians blew up a ship.

In any case, before long, Eric found himself at the church, dressed in a black suit and tie, surrounded by a small group of visitors and old friends. The service was set to be a private one, with only close friends and family of the deceased being allowed to visit. Everyone here was familiar to him in some way, even if he could only vaguely remember most of them at this point.The sole outlier was Rebecca.

They'd given her a choice – she could come with him or stay with Rosa. She'd ultimately chosen to come with him for the weekend, for reasons that still eluded him. Perhaps on some level, she could tell he wasn't in a good place, and wanted to be there for him in her own way. Then again, perhaps it was something else entirely. Eric didn't know for sure, and he wasn't exactly in a mood to try reading her.

In any case, the funeral came and went, with the sole highlight being a short eulogy he'd written out that he could now barely remember. Soon enough, he was standing there with the others, watching as the empty casket was lowered into the ground. Tears stung at his eyes as he watched it sink into the earth, but he was quick to blink them away.

He'd done enough crying these past few days.

Before long, the priest dismissed them, and the visitors all went their separate ways after offering him another brief round of condolences. Soon enough, it was only him and Rebecca still standing there, watching as clouds gathered overhead.

"Eric?" Rebecca asked.

"I'm fine," Eric managed to get out through the lump in his throat. "Just… it's hard to say goodbye, especially given the circumstances." He brought a hand up to wipe at his eyes. "I should've known the old man meant that he was going off-world hunting."

"There was nothing you could have done, Eric."

"I know, I know. But… it hurts to know he's actually gone, and it's all because of some fucking Iprenian pirates."

The Iprenian government had been quick to disavow the attack, of course, instead blaming it on rogue pirates. Personally, Eric didn't believe them, but whether that was due purely to distrust or grief, he wasn't sure.

In any case, it didn't matter. His government had declared that they would specifically hunt the pirates down and destroy them in due time, to which the Iprenians had agreed. Frankly, the whole thing seemed like a political mess to him, but ultimately, none of it mattered. All he cared about was that his father was gone.

Rebecca hesitated, then stepped forward and gently put a hand on his shoulder. "We should leave," she offered. "It is going to rain soon."

Eric's expression tightened, but he nodded regardless. "...Yeah, you're right. Just… one more minute."

She nodded, and he turned and approached his father's gravestone, standing over top of it. After a moment, he snapped to attention, giving it one final salute before turning and marching out of the cemetery, Rebecca following right behind him.

***

It was going to be a long car ride home, he knew. It had taken them some time to get from his house up to the church his father had lived next to. The only solace was that it was early on a Saturday, so the roads were pretty empty.

Even still, it was a long car ride, spent in silence. At least until Rebecca had enough of it.

"Eric," she suddenly said.

"Yes?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

She fidgeted slightly in her seat, as if unsure of what to say next. "...I'm sorry for your loss."

His hands tightened around the steering wheel. "Yeah," he said softly. "Thanks."

Silence reigned over the two of them once more, the car completely quiet save for the roaring of the engine, the wheels pounding against asphalt, and the raindrops gently drumming against the exterior. Next to him, Rebecca fidgeted again.

"Do you… want to talk about it?"

"No offense, but not particularly," Eric replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Because… talking about things with you helps me feel better sometimes. I was just thinking… All the Angels had their own specialties. That's why we were such an effective fighting force. Do you know what my specialty was?"

Eric shook his head. Rebecca drew in a short breath. "...My specialty was never letting anything shake me, or hurt me, or affect me. I was resistant psychologically to trauma and such, because I was special with close-range fighting. I never talked about what I felt to the others. But you know what? I'm realizing that now, a couple of those people, I regret that I never talked to, because they're gone. And it's only now that I'm realizing how much it hurts. And I think, after all you've done for me, you deserve any opportunity I can give you to hurt less right now."

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She trailed off, and Eric felt a pang of emotion surge through his chest. Even with his quick glance at her, Eric saw the blank expression on her face slowly give way to some solemnity. A small, tired sigh escaped him. Truthfully, he didn't want to discuss any of this, not with her nor with anyone else, but he also didn't want to give her the impression that what she was doing was completely unwanted. After a moment to consider his options, he finally settled on what seemed like the lesser of two evils.

"My dad and I were pretty close," he said. She looked at him in surprise, and he continued. "My mom died when I was pretty young, some kind of terminal illness or something. My dad never told me anything specific about it; he'd always get too choked up whenever he talked about it. Eventually, I learned to stop asking about anything related to her illness and instead start asking about her as a person. I don't really remember her much, so I compensated by learning as much as I could from my dad, and also by keeping whatever pictures of her I could find."

"What were they like?" Rebecca asked, tilting her head. "Your parents, I mean."

"Well, from what I've heard, my mom was really good to me," Eric replied. "Even when she was really sick, that never changed. Honestly, I wish I could remember her, but I was just too young. Still, when I think about her, I can't help but feel… warm, I guess. Probably doesn't make much sense, but something about her memory brings me comfort."

"And your father?"

Eric couldn't help but crack a small grin. "My father was the best kind of old bastard, really. He was as much my friend as he was my dad. Hell, you heard the way we were talking to each other over the phone – he was like that all the time, save for when he needed to be stern with me. He's the one who initially inspired me to enlist – he served in the Marines himself, before we went to war with the Iprenians."

"You thought highly of him."

Eric nodded. "Yeah. Very much so, in fact. I just… I can't believe he's actually gone, you know? I knew it'd happen at some point, but I thought I'd have more time. Hell, the last thing I ever did with him was have that stupid phone call…"

He trailed off, his eyes again misting over. After a moment, he shook his head. "But I suppose it's done, now. No sense dwelling on it. And at least we had the funeral today, so there's some sense of closure there, I suppose…"

A heavy silence fell over the car once more. Eric focused his attention on the road, while next to him, Rebecca stared out the window once more, watching the trees as they passed by on the side of the road.

"...This may sound strange, but on a certain level, I understand how you feel," she offered. "I, too, lost a father figure. I… am sorry you've lost yours as well. I am sure it must hurt badly."

"Hell, compared to you, I only lost my parents," he pointed out. "You lost your entire family, Rebecca. Even if you were really young, that still has to hurt a lot."

To his surprise, she shook her head, then turned to look over to him. "...I barely remember my biological family," she admitted. "My other family – the other Angels… every one of them we lost hurts. But none more so than losing the man who trained us."

It took all of Eric's willpower not to slam on the brakes then and there as he turned to look at her in surprise.

"Sorry, what?" he asked. "I'm just… I'm surprised. Nobody ever mentioned you all had a specific trainer."

"We did," she said. "Major Jason Miller, though we all referred to him as Archangel. He was the test bed for most of the experimental enhancements that we ended up getting… or at least, the only one of the initial test group to survive the experiments. They put him in charge of training us."

"And… he was like a father to you?" Eric ventured.

Rebecca nodded. "He was. His training was hard, of course, and he could be harsh, but only because he wanted us to survive and complete our missions. The entire Angel program owes him a great debt – we lost a great many Angels already, but were it not for him, we would have all perished by now."

Thirteen turned to look out the window again. "He was the closest thing to a father that any of us had ever had."

"What happened to him?" Eric asked.

"Missing in action, considered dead," Rebecca explained, her voice growing quiet. "They sent him on a top secret mission somewhere, after we'd all graduated from his training. A few days later, they found the remnants of his ship floating in space. It had been reduced to little more than a few pieces of slag-covered steel. He was presumed dead at that point; there was no way anyone could have survived a plasma bombardment of that magnitude, and he would have never allowed himself to be taken alive, anyway."

Eric's expression softened. "I'm sorry," he offered. Idly, he reached out and took her by the hand, and she turned back to him. His mouth suddenly felt very dry, but he pressed on regardless.

"We've both lost too many people," he said to her.

Rebecca simply nodded in response.

After a moment, he let go of her hand, and focused on driving again. The rest of the car ride home was silent, and yet somehow, it wasn't the same tense, uneasy silence that settled over the two of them earlier.

Of course, there was still the elephant in the room, one that he'd nearly forgotten about until now.

"Hey," he said, getting her attention. "I was talking with Rosa before I got the news about my dad. She, uh… wants us to see a specialist."

Rebecca tilted her head. "Specialist? Like a doctor?"

"Something like that, yeah. There won't be any actual medical procedures being run, but… I guess you could say it'll be a different kind of invasive. Still, I think it'd be good for you."

"But what about you?"

"I'll be there, too," Eric added. "Truthfully, she's been trying to get me to do this for the better part of a year now, and I'm only just giving in. But… much as I hate to say it, maybe something good will come out of this."

Rebecca blinked, then turned to look out the window once more.

"Yeah," she said, "maybe."

Silence fell over the car once more as Eric continued driving, and this time, it lasted for the remainder of the car ride, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Uncertainty and apprehension were at the forefront of his mind the entire time; Rosa had been trying to talk him into therapy for a long time, and now that he'd finally agreed to it, he wasn't sure what was going to happen next.At the same time, he felt like he was finally ready to begin talking to someone, if only because it could help Rebecca.

At that thought, his gaze slid over to her. She was once again staring out the window, watching the rain drum against the asphalt outside. His expression softened a bit as he glanced at her.

Whatever therapy was like, it was worth it, if only because he'd be helping her out.