"Thank you." Sun sobbed, a sad smile on his face as he brushed his tear-stained thumb across Megan's name. Then he too stood up and with a great big sniff, ceased crying. Looking at Nate with bloodshot eyes, he stepped forward and wrapped Nate up in a tight embrace as best he could, barely getting his arms around Nate's large, no, bulky torso.
Nate thought of pushing him away, but mercy won out. He returned the fierce hug, though much gentler, and the two stayed that way, standing next to Megan Fredrick's grave, for a long time. Perhaps he could forgive Sun, eventually. A shadow crossed Nate's face and he looked up to see the Old Sun setting.
"We should probably go," He whispered to Sun, who nodded, his face tranquil. The two broke apart but stayed close as Nate pulled a small, silver cylinder from the belt of his uniform. Sun put his hands behind his back and Nate activated the handcuffs, blue tendrils of electricity shooting out from the cylinder, looping around the wrists and pulling them tight.
N8's drawn pistol in the small of Sun's back, they slowly stepped their way back up the path. Nate pointed at the faded sign as they passed, which was now awash in the golden glow of the Old Sun's dying rays.
"Do you know what Zion means?" Nate asked Sun, the two of them pushing through the thick brush, the transport's metal frame reflecting the blue of Nate's cybernetic eye as it sat idle up the path before them, the two officers conversing inside, waiting for their new prisoner.
Sun nodded.
"Where all journeys end—home."
-The End-
Focused Vanguard Page 6