"Mrs. Torres," Angela said softly. "I'm Angela Sinclair. This is my brother, Ash. We were there. With Jake. In the gate."
"You're the S-rank," the woman said, her voice barely audible over the rain. "Jake talked about you. Said you will be an incredible leader."
"He was an incredible teacher," Angela replied.
"Your husband saved my life more than once."
The woman's face started to break, tears mixing with rain until it was impossible to tell them apart.
"He always said it was worth it.
The danger, the risk. If it meant protecting people... he said it was worth it."
Ash found his voice, rough but steady.
"Mrs. Torres, Jake asked me to tell you something.
He wanted you to know he loved you.
All of you. He was proud of his family, proud of his children. And he was sorry he couldn't come home."
The woman's face crumpled.
Her oldest daughter moved closer, putting an arm around her mother's shoulders, trying to be strong even as rain soaked through her black dress.
The middle child held their book tighter, the pages already water-damaged.
The youngest just stared at Ash with Jake's eyes, not fully understanding why everyone was sad.
"He told me about you," Ash continued, rain running down his own face.
"Your oldest—he said you want to be a doctor. That you're brilliant and kind.
Your middle, that you read everything. And you—" he looked at the youngest "—he said you're his baby.
That you make him laugh every single day."
The five-year-old blinked against the rain, then asked in a small voice, "Is Daddy coming home?"
The question shattered something in Ash's chest.
"No, sweetheart," Jake's wife said, her voice breaking but honest.
"Daddy's not coming home. But he loved you so much.
And he's always going to be with us, right here." She touched her daughter's chest gently, over her heart.
Rain poured over them all.
Angela spoke up, her voice thick with emotion. "Mrs. Torres, we want to help. We have resources. Connections.
We want to make sure you and your children are taken care of. Housing, education, whatever you need."
The woman looked at them with something between gratitude and exhaustion. "Jake would have said you didn't have to do that."
"And we're going to do it anyway," Ash said firmly, even as his legs trembled from standing too long in the mud.
"Because he asked us to watch out for you.
Because it's the right thing to do."
They stood in the rain for a few more minutes, making quiet promises, exchanging contact information, making sure Jake's family knew they weren't alone.
Then Angela helped Ash move toward the two hunters' graves, his crutches leaving deep marks in the mud.
They stood before the markers, so young, their family present, weeping. Rain washed over the stones, clean and cold and endless.
"They deserved better than this," Angela said quietly. "No one should go this young."
As the crowd disappeared, only Ash and Angela remained by the graves.
The rain continued to fall, harder now, turning the world grey and cold.
Angela's shoulders started to shake.
"Angela?"
She broke.
All the strength she'd maintained, all the control, it shattered.
Tears streamed down her face, mixing with rain until she was sobbing openly.
"I tried, Ash. I tried to save him. I did everything I could, and it wasn't enough. They died and I couldn't—"
Ash shifted his crutches, pulling his sister into a one-armed hug despite the pain it caused his chest. Rain poured over them both. "You did everything you could. We both did."
"Everyone looks at me like I'm strong," Angela whispered against his shoulder, her voice barely carrying over the rain.
"S-rank. Time manipulator. But I couldn't save them. And I'm terrified I'm going to lose you, too."
"You won't," Ash said firmly, even though he didn't know if he could keep that promise. "We protect each other. That's what family does."
They stood there in the downpour,
two siblings holding each other up, both broken in different ways, both carrying guilt and grief, and the desperate hope that somehow they could survive this world together.
Rain washed over them, cold and cleansing and offering no comfort at all.
After a long moment, Angela pulled back, wiping at her eyes even though the rain immediately replaced any tears she cleared. "Sorry. I shouldn't—"
"That's why I'm here," Ash said.
"I will always be here with you, no matter the situation."
She managed a weak smile through the rain.
Ash's legs were shaking badly now, exhaustion and cold catching up.
Angela noticed immediately.
"Come on," she said, supporting him as his crutches nearly slipped in the mud.
"We need to get you back. You shouldn't even be out here."
"I had to be," Ash said. "For all of them."
As they walked away slowly, Ash looked back one last time at the three graves.
Three markers standing in the mud, rain washing over them. Three hunters who'd given everything.
Rain continued to fall, washing away nothing, cold and grey and heavy with loss.
Ash's hand tightened around the crutch. He needed to get stronger.
Strong enough to protect people.
His palm tingled beneath the glove, the mark hidden there. He still didn't understand his powers and didn't know their limits.
He needed to learn before the next fight.
Before someone else died.
Together, they left the memorial ground, leaning on each other, two siblings walking through the rain toward whatever came next.