Sgt Vandingo

The Room

*Zeta eventually meets up with Beatrix and Eustace, who are waiting at the edges of a decently sized body of water with a freshly constructed raft, with Vaseraga's body on it. She nods to both of the others, before taking her position beside Beatrix while Eustace pushes the raft into the water. The raft floats out towards the centre of the lake, while the trio stand in a solemn silence, reflecting on Vaseraga and the man-thing he was. Still in silence, Eustace loads a specific bullet into his rifle, then fires straight at the raft. It sits idle for a moment, before the raft bursts into flames, completely covering it and Vaseraga's body. The trio watch for a moment longer, before finally, the raft breaks in two, and both it and Vaseraga's burnt, and very damaged body float down to the bottom of the lake. Still without speaking a single word, the trio turn back, and start heading towards the Room again.*

The Room

*Zeta can't help but smile at the hug from Xan, but she doesn't say anything. She continues walking until she sees Jillian, to which she wipes her eyes and forces another smile.*
Zeta: The man that tried killing me is dead... I'm going to pay respects. I made a lot of mistakes... I want to make this one up if anything.
*She continues to rub her eyes to stop the tears from coming out, but she's failing at that.*

---

*Eustace gets to their camp, and starts quickly making the shell of a boat, which he starts to drag to the nearest body of water once it's completed.*

---

*Beatrix nears the camp, though she picks up flowers as she goes to decorate Vaseraga's body.*

The Room

*Zeta nods sadly, then puts a hand on Xan's shoulder. Her gaze is light and in pain, but for her friend she tries to stay positive, despite how pointless that is to her.*
Zeta: I know. I did things I never got to reconcile for either, but what's done is done. Now I have to go somewhere for a day or two... don't follow me please.
*As she says this, she turns and leaves towards the forest without another word, her spear glowing dimly at her side.*

---

*Beatrix doesn't say anything else and continues hefting Vaseraga's weight before disappearing into the darkness of the forest.*

The Room

*Beatrix doesn't stop heaving Vaseraga's body, but she does respond. Tears still fall from her eyes, but she still speaks unhindered.*
Beatrix: Something came and killed him. Eustace and I are going to bury him the way he would want. There isn't much you can do to help.
*She says this in a very matter of fact tone, and doesn't really display much emotions in her words, although she continues crying.*
Beatrix: Not many saw him as a hero, but he saved them. The idiot. They didn't deserve saving.

The Room

*Beatrix gathers Vaseraga's body, which is now mostly clean of blood and covered with a black material she's covered him in, although she herself is covered head to toe in his blood, which is traumatizing for her to say the least. She carries his entire weight(less than half of what he originally weighed, seeing as though there's less than half of him remaining), and doesn't once complain. She carries him straight out of the Room, and starts walking towards the forest, fresh tears dripping from her eyes once more.*

The Room

*Beatrix continues staring daggers at John for a little bit longer as he walks away, before her shoulders drop. She again bites her tongue, but still doesn't follow after him, wanting to go to Vaseraga's body to clean the blood off his remains and carry it into the forest.*

---

*Zeta attempts thinking of a good answer, but seeing as though how much her mind was racing, she found that feat impossible. She sighs and says the only thing she knows how to.*
Zeta: He was a soldier. Good soldiers follow orders, even if they don't want to. He was just doing as he was ordered, as was Eustace and Beatrix.

The Room

*The hug goes on for a little bit more, with hushed words being whispered between the three, before they finally break, and separate. Eustace limps back towards the forest, and Beatrix pulls Zeta out of earshot of everybody else. Zeta's eyes are red from crying, but she manages to hold it together while Beatrix talks.*
Beatrix: I'm not going to be so ignorant to blame you for his death, but if you had just told us- convinced us, instead of running... We would've come with you. And he wouldn't be dead now.
*Zeta can't bear to make eye-contact, so she drops her gaze to Beatrix's feet for a while before Beatrix lifts her chin and hugs her again.*
Beatrix: He might've tried to kill you, but he still loved you. I think we all still loved you even though we were trying to kill you.
Zeta: I know... I'm sorry...
*Beatrix breaks the hug again with a nod, and sets off towards Vaseraga's body, still holding his scythe close to her chest. She glares daggers at John as she passes, but doesn't speak a word.*

---

*Zeta hangs away from Xan for a little bit so she can rub her eyes a little bit, before she makes her way towards her, and weakly smiles.*
Zeta: I... I was filled in.

---

*Eustace is making his way towards their old camp in the forest.*

The Room

*Beatrix's teeth grind under the news, and she manages to put a face behind the description Xan gives, and puts two and two together, and figures the man talking to John before is Gordon. As such, she pivots on her heels and slaps John in the same motion. She stares daggers into him, before walking out of the kitchen and towards Eustace and Zeta, whatever anger she had quickly dissipating under the stress of telling them both, even though she dislikes Zeta a fair bit. Her hold around Vaseraga's scythe tightens as she finally makes it to them, and she clears her throat to get their attention.*

---

*Zeta is kneeling beside Eustace, who is only starting to sit up himself, when Beatrix arrives. At first, Zeta is on the defensive, but stops the moment she sees Vaseraga's scythe, to which she reacts by covering her mouth at the realisation. Eustace is a bit less emotional, but the pain is heavy in his eyes. He stands up with a lot of effort, and limps over to Beatrix, before pulling her into an embrace. She openly cries into his shoulder, but still doesn't let go of the scythe. Not a single word uttered, and yet all three of them know exactly what happened and what has to happen in response. Zeta rubs the tears out of her eyes, stands up, then moves over to Beatrix, and joins in on the hug, which neither Beatrix nor Eustace object to.*

The Room

*Beatrix roughly shakes off Xan's hand, and stares at Vaseraga's body in disbelief, before her shoulders start rocking again.*
Beatrix: Th-that damn fool... Idiot... Stupid... Reckless... Fool...
*She holds her eyes as she continues crying, but gradually gets to her feet and stumbles back to grab Vaseraga's scythe. She very gently grabs it by the hilt, before picking it up and holding it close to her chest. She sobs as she mumbles something under her breath, which the scythe responds to by glowing a very dull black hue, to which Beatrix cries to a bit more. She then looks up at Xan, and while continuing to hold the scythe to her chest, she stares straight into Xan's eyes, showing only pain and anger.*
Beatrix: Who did this.

The Room

*Vaseraga took the explosion completely, and as the smoke clears, the majority of his upper-half is missing, and he is well and truly dead. His scythe in the kitchen loses all of its glow in response to his demise.*

---

*Beatrix wipes the sweat off her eyebrows, and smiles slightly at John.*
Beatrix: You owe me two drinks now. One for earlier, other one for me making sure you don't bleed out.
*She stands up, stretches, then goes to see what's up in the kitchen. She frowns at the Vaseraga sized hole in the wall, and visibly pales as she looks out of the hole. She covers her mouth to muffle her astonished cry, and tears swell in her eyes. Her knees shake for a moment, before they collapse from underneath her, bringing her to her knees as she silently sobs at her comrades death.*