Tears

How can somebody do something like this?

The stone had only been a week old, and had replaced the old, rotten wooden cross that had been there before it. It had shone a genuine silver, in all weathers. It had engraved the name of his partner proudly, better than anything else potentially could. Despite anything else, his associate had nothing to be ashamed of, even when he approached the end of his life.

Now…

His teeth clenched at the thought of anybody dehumanizing his buddy in the way that had been done here. Scrawled across the gravestone in bright acid green paint, were words so insulting that nobody in their right mind wanted to repeat them. Any passer-by would have placed the blame for such defamation on children with nothing better to do with their time, laughing, yelling insults and using crude language to interact with one another. Despite how likely it would have seemed, he knew better.

There’s only one person I know who would do this.

He gently landed on his knees, examining the gravestone, showing little care for the dirt mixing in with his cream-white fur. The damage seemed to be permanent, much to the polar bear’s dismay. Regardless of that knowledge gluing inside his mind, he nevertheless unwrapped his emerald scarf from around his neck, and proceeded to wipe at the stone – gently at first, but gradually putting more power into it. Nothing shifted the graffiti, glaring at him with intense brightness.

“Didn’t expect to see you here.”

The large animal felt his heart stop for a second, before he gained the courage to turn his body. It was then that every inch of hatred began to fill him intensely.

I know that voice.

He knew he should have been afraid and he probably would have been under any circumstances. The owner of the voice – a rough-skinned rhino with black, emotionless eyes, was nearly the same height as him, albeit a little taller. Yet he felt nothing more than hatred instead, consuming him with every memory that shot through his head – good times he had shared with his pal, snatched away in an instant.

The rhino’s lips curved upwards in a smirk, “In all honesty, I’m surprised. Bean was always the one who made an idiot of himself and never did as he was told. I truly thought you were the sensible one, Bark. What made you slide off the rails, eh?”

The polar bear snarled in response, resisting the urge to lunge forward and beat the guy into a pulp. He knew he would be killed in seconds if he tried, considering the guy was the boss’ right-hand man. The rhino could only chuckle in response, watching the bear become more riled up by the second, yet knowing he could do nothing about it. Confidently, he strode forward, watching the fear in the younger male’s eyes grow.

“You seriously didn’t think you’d get away with it, did you?”

Jab. Poke. Sneer. He was laughing at him. Maybe he had a good reason to. The artic animal really was nothing more than a laughing stock; especially after he decided to make his extremely rash move without needing his friend to convince him.

You don’t turn against the boss and leave alive anyway…

The bear allowed himself to look into the rhino’s dark eyes, anger beginning to cancel out the fear he felt in his heart. Finally, he found the confidence to utter the words he wanted to say, “I don’t regret it. Fang would shoot any of us if it meant he’d make a quick buck from it. Who’d want to work for somebody like that?”

“But you do regret it – I can see it in your eyes,” the rhino sneered before slowly standing tall, bringing his chest upwards, “Anyway; I’ve got a message from the boss for you.”

“What?” he snapped, clenching his large fists by his brown belt, which contrasted his light, fluffy fur, “Hasn’t he tortured me enough? Wouldn’t it be better if he just finished me off? After all, I was the one who defied him, not Bean.”

“Where would the fun be in that? The boss does not care for your naïve vendetta against him or anything else regarding your poor, pitiful life,” the rhino explained in a threatening tone, dripping with venom, “He’s a very busy Mobian and I can’t imagine him wasting his time hunting down pointless trash like you. He’s giving you the rest of your life back. No need to hide in the sewers anymore, Bark.”

All in a second, the bear’s eyes widened, the realization hitting him, “But… Bean did nothing to the boss. Why did Fang kill him?”

He earned a smirk from the rhino as the larger creature turned his back on him, “Let’s just say punishment has been served.”

Bark the Polar Bear became an instant wreck, as the words hit home for him. Realization had been dealt. Any other man would have chosen to pick a fight, or take revenge for such an atrocity. But Bark could not find any will left in him to fight anymore. He turned back to his friend’s gravestone, his eyes welling with tears.

His lifelong companion had done nothing to deserve the fate he had been dealt, despite how loud-mouthed, rash and hyper he was when he was alive. He disliked the boss as much as Bark did, but always kept his beak shut whenever the person in charge was around out of fear of being shot. Bark was the sensible one of the two, left to keep Bean in check by his superiors. He was probably the only reason they let his friend live for as long as they did…

And yet…

His vendetta and defiance against his former boss had cost his best friend his life.

It’s all my fault…

Emotional breakdown kicked in.

He wrapped his large arms around the gravestone, tears streaming down his face. The heaviness in his heart deepened, as he allowed himself to cry for potentially one of the first times in his life. Tears of guilt, tears of shame, tears of loss, but tears nonetheless.

“I’m so sorry, Bean…”