Beam:

  Sunbeam sat at her desk, staring down the paperwork that had been sitting there all day. And all of yesterday.

  She knew she needed to do it. She even knew that doing it would be a welcome distraction from the emotional pain still cutting her apart, but just as it had been for the two days since she returned to work, she simply couldn’t do it.

  Most people thought Beam was crazy for returning to work already after the attack and… the aftermath.

  But she wanted to be here, doing something that wasn’t sitting in her apartment crying. Or worse, sitting in his apartment crying. Knarf was kind enough to let her go to Fletcher’s place and mourn there, but after so many days of crying, she’d grown tired of the loneliness that came from losing someone she cared so much about. Today was an even worse day because it was his birthday, which was why she wanted to be somewhere she could be distracted from it all.

  And so now Beam was back at her stupid office, doing stupid work for stupid politicians. Or rather, pretending to do that work. In reality, she was still thinking about Fletcher and his death while waiting for Light to get back in town so she could properly mourn. This was not how she imagined telling her older sister about dating Light’s close friend, but Fletcher’s rather untimely death really ruined those surprise plans. That jerk. Who was he to go off and die on her?

  Beam took a breath as she flipped through some of the pages of her work, trying not to get angry again. She wasn’t actually mad at Fletcher for dying in the terrorist attack, and she wasn’t even as mad at the terrorists who blew up the gala as everyone told her she should be.

  She was mad at herself for letting Fletcher leave her side that night. If she had only stayed with him, they might be off at a cafe for a late breakfast, laughing about some silly cultural miscommunication. Or at the very least she could have held him during those final moments and gotten a proper goodbye.

  But that’s not how things went. And she would never get to say goodbye to the man she loved, not even at a proper funeral since they hadn’t recovered his body.

  Fletcher wasn’t just dead, he was gone, and Beam would have to live the rest of her life wondering if she could have saved him.

  A sob escaped her as she flung the papers in her hand across the room. It wasn’t fair. This isn’t how it was supposed to go. Everyone told her that dating a Human could only end in disaster, but this isn’t what they meant. It wasn’t—

  A knock on the door startled Beam from her daily ritual of spiraling into despair. She wiped her eyes and cleared her throat, hoping the most obvious signs of the fit would be gone by the time whoever it was entered.

  “Yes? Come in,” she called out in a strong voice, just barely keeping it from cracking.

  The door opened to reveal the large frame of a familiar [Ogre].

  “Oh, Knarf. What can I do for you?” Beam said quickly as she stood up to greet him.

  Before she could shake his hand, he stepped to the side and allowed a much smaller figure to enter the office. A [Goblin] with dozens of piercings and pale gray skin.

  “Prime Minister Vi’le,” she said breathlessly. Even with Fletcher’s all important role as Bren’it’p’s Chief Education Administrator, she never did understand why a Prime Minister took such a keen interest in him and his job. And she’d definitely never become comfortable with how often her path crossed with the high-ranking government official.

  “Miss Sunbeam, may I come in?” the [Goblin] asked with a broad smile. His pink eyes held very little emotion, making it hard to tell how genuine he was being.

  “Of course.” It wasn’t like she could turn down a Prime Minister, no matter how badly she wanted to.

  She stepped back to her office chair as Minister Vi’le took a seat in the chair across from her. Knarf remained in the room and pulled the door closed, giving them privacy from the prying eyes of the rest of the office.

  “What can I do for you, Prime Minister?” Beam was uncomfortable having the [Goblin] in her office, especially since any kind of formal meeting should have happened at his office in the heart of the city. This strange deviation from customs sent off the alarm bells in her mind.

  “I understand that it hasn’t been all that long since the incident at the gala, and while I hate to bring up sensitive topics, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions,” Vi’le began.

  “About the gala? I already gave a full statement to the police, several times.” Beam wrung her hands together below her desk, working hard to not seem nervous. She didn’t have anything to hide, but she still didn’t like having a Prime Minister in her office.

  “About Fletcher Anders.”

  She swallowed, tears already threatening to spill out of her eyes at the mere mention of his name. “Oh. Okay. Ask away. I wasn’t very involved in his work, but I’ll do what I can to help.”

  “I understand you two were dating, is this correct?” Vi’le kept his hands clasped in front of him, perfectly calm and comfortable.

  “Yes.”

  “You and Fletcher, did you… engage in all forms of intimacy?”

  Beam’s mouth dropped open. “I’m sorry, Prime Minister, but I’m not quite sure what you’re getting at. And I’m not sure that’s something I really want to discuss.”

  Vi’le held a hand up. “Forgive me. The question was phrased poorly. What I’m really asking is if there was anything he held back in, whether physically or emotionally during the course of your relationship.”

  Beam leaned back, still blinking in surprise. What an odd thing to ask. And worse, she had to answer it.

  “I… He…”

  Vi’le waited patiently, staring at her with those pink eyes as she gathered her thoughts.

  She closed her eyes and ran a hand over her face, the warmth of it bringing back all the comments Fletcher had made about how much heat her body radiated. It wasn’t her fault [Jinns] had such a high body temperature in comparison to all the other species, but after more than one guy saying she was too warm to hold at night, she liked how much Fletcher adored that quality about her. There were a lot of things about him and his Human ways she liked. All things she would miss.

  “Miss Sunbeam?”

  “Right. Sorry. Your question…” Beam sighed. “From what I know, no. Fletcher didn’t hold anything back. I mean, some of the physical stuff came later than what I was used to as an Unhuman, but according to him, it was a normal relationship timeline for Humans.”

  Vi’le nodded. “And so he never took issue with you being an Unhuman? That difference didn’t affect your relationship in any way?”

  “If Fletcher was a humanist, he never would have taken this job and come to this city. I don’t appreciate you trying to tarnish his legacy in this way. You know very well that Fletcher didn’t see Unhumans any different than his own kind.” Beam was on her feet, half-shouting at the [Goblin] as all concerns of discomfort fled at the thought that the man might try to paint Fletcher as anything less than perfect.

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  Vi’le kept a neutral face even through her yelling. Once she’d finished, he offered a tight smile. “I assure you, Miss Sunbeam, I am as interested in keeping Mr. Anders’ reputation pure as you are. If anything, it matters more to me. I am here only to confirm what I believed about him.”

  Beam glared down at the [Goblin], silently using one of her best [Skills].

  [Activating: Detect Lies]

  A moment of silence passed.

  [No lies detected]

  She sat back down, satisfied that the Prime Minister wasn’t here on a mission of harm.

  [Deactivating: Detect Lies]

  [Mana Consumed: 1]

  It was seen as rude to use a [Skill] on another person without their consent, but Beam was too fired up to care about the Prime Minister’s opinion. What she’d done wasn’t illegal, and it wasn’t like she openly announced it. While she didn’t doubt that he knew what she’d done, his face remained uncaring so she didn’t worry about it.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Why…”

  “Why do you care about who Fletcher was? He’s gone now, so what does it matter?”

  Vi’le broke eye contact and took a deep breath. “Fletcher Anders wasn’t just here for education. While that was his main duty, Mr. Anders was meant to mark the beginning of a new era of peace between Humans and Unhumans. I would say more, but it is all highly classified.”

  Beam cocked her head to the side. Fletcher had been involved in classified work for the Unhumans? That didn’t sound right.

  The Prime Minister looked at her. “Given your experience and closeness with Fletcher Anders, I would like to invite you to take an oath of [Secrecy] and have you join the project. This job offer, given the classified nature, is optional.”

  “Prime Minister—”

  “Your pay will be double whatever it is now, you will work your own hours, and you will be contributing to a legacy of peace that could very well last generations,” Vi’le said, cutting off her protests. “I promise you, Miss Sunbeam, this is not an opportunity you want to miss.”

  Beam bit her cheek as she considered the proposition. She’d never been one to want to work for the government, but she was interested in whatever this was. Especially if Fletcher had been involved. That meant it had to be something important. This might be her chance to finish what he started and at the same time, get a little closure. Even if it wasn’t a proper farewell, it would be better than nothing.

  “I’ll do it. What did you say the project is called?” she asked.

  Prime Minister Vi’le smiled in relief. “We call it the Diplomacy Initiative.”

  Javier:

  Javier sat at the front of the chapel, staring at the oversized picture of Fletcher’s and Sebastian’s grinning faces. He wore his best suit, but the black tie was undone and hanging from his neck since the service had ended thirty minutes ago.

  Normally they’d go somewhere for the burial, but there was no body to bury. Supposedly it’d been lost in the attack which took Fletcher’s life, but the sadistic part of Javier believed the Unhumans kept it for science or some other grotesque purpose.

  “You always were an idiot, Fletch,” Javier muttered. It was bad enough to have lost his best friend, but somehow his mom convinced him that holding the funeral on Fletcher’s birthday would be a good idea. So now, on the day they were supposed to be celebrating Fletcher’s life, they were instead mourning his death. It was dumb, but he’d been too shocked after hearing the news to argue with his mother.

  It shouldn’t have even been him planning this funeral, but Sebastian went off and got himself killed in a terrorist attack three days ago while out with a merchant. Luckily it’d been pretty simple to tack on an extra name to the services, killing two birds with one stone.

  Planning a separate funeral for Sebastian would have been nice, and probably even the proper thing to do, but Javier didn’t have it in him to plan two funerals. The Anders didn’t have anyone else. It’d always been him and his family that took care of those two.

  He wished they could have had the funeral at the Catholic cathedral he and his family attended, but neither Sebastian or Fletcher were proper Catholics, so the bland chapel at the funeral home was the best they could do.

  Someone slid into the bench just behind Jaiver. Someone he didn’t care to see.

  “Madam Sunlight,” he said in a tight tone. Normally he at least tried to be cordial with Sunlight for Fletcher’s sake since his friend had been weirdly obsessed with Unhumans, but this was not one of the times he was going to fake it. It’s not like Fletcher was around to care anymore.

  “How are you doing, Javier?” the [Jinn] asked. She wore a black dress that was a stark contrast to her golden skin and hair. Her yellow eyes even had hints of red in them from crying.

  “I just attended the funeral of my best friend of fifteen years. How do you think?”

  “Yeah. Same here,” she said. “The service was nice. You did a good job with it.”

  “It was all my mom.” Javier wrapped his hands together and placed his forehead against them, offering a silent prayer.

  “My sister in Bren’it’p was actually really close with him, it turns out. I’m headed back there tomorrow to spend a week or two with her, but I was wondering if when I get back, you might want to get together and talk about things?” Sunlight’s voice was cautious.

  Why would he ever want to spend time with a fre—

  Javier stopped the thought before it could finish. Maybe he wasn’t a fan of Unhumans, but Fletcher had always been on him about not being a total bigot, and today he could do that much.

  “Oh, uh…” was all he could manage in place of his harsh words.

  “I get it if you don’t want to be seen out in public with an Unhuman. I just thought it might be nice to spend time with someone else who knew Fletcher for all he was, including the freak-lover side.”

  Sunlight stood up, but Javier turned around and grabbed her hand.

  “No. I think that might be nice. A chance to reminisce about a shared friend,” he said as tears filled his eyes. “It can be our way of saying goodbye to him.”

  The [Jinn] nodded, already crying herself. “Yeah. That’s what I was thinking.”

  “You have my number. Call me when you’re back, and we can set something up.” He hesitated for a moment. “And give your sister my best.”

  Sunlight smiled through the tears, nodded, and then walked away, leaving Javier alone again.

  There, Fletch, I was nice to an Unhuman. Are you happy now? Javier thought to himself as his eyes crossed another picture of Fletcher. He still had a lot of boxes to finish moving out of Sebastian’s place, the majority of them books. His dad thought they should sell them, but Javier wasn’t ready to let go of them yet, and instead he was taking the whole collection back to his own apartment. It wouldn’t be too hard to rearrange some furniture and get the shelves set up. Not that he was going to read any of those dusty paperbacks, but having them around would be a comfort. It was better than giving away what might as well as have been Fletcher’s soul.

  “Mr. Ortega?” a female voice asked.

  Javier turned back around, quick to wipe the last tears from his eyes. “Yeah?”

  It was a woman with dark brown skin and braided hair, dressed in a military uniform.

  “First off, I’m sorry for your loss. Fletcher Anders was a good man,” she said as she came up beside him. “My name is Captain Monroe.” She held her hand out.

  Javier stood up and shook it. “Javier Ortega.”

  “I work under General Taki and Security Secretary Walen alongside Fletcher Anders. I was wondering if you might have a few minutes to discuss some things about our departed friend.”

  Javier’s eyebrows shot up. Fletcher working with the Human military? That didn’t sound right.

  “Fletcher was involved in some rather important work revolving around our diplomatic efforts with the Unhumans, and there’s a chance you can help us finish it. We only need access to a few of his things as well as the letters the two of you exchanged. I would tell you more, but—”

  “It’s classified,” Javier finished for her. He stared at the officer, trying to decide what to say. Could he even say no legally?

  “It would be a chance to finish his work, his legacy,” Captain Monroe said.

  Javier thought for a moment longer and then nodded. “Okay. I guess I can help out, for Fletcher.” Hanging out with Sunlight might help ease the pain of Fletcher’s passing, but doing something to finish the work he started was a better way to say goodbye.

  Captain Monroe gestured to the door out of the chapel. “If you could just come with me, General Taki would like to speak with you in person.”

  Javier followed her out, casting one last glance back at the flowers and pictures of his best friend. He wasn’t one to bend over backwards for the government, but this one time, it would be worth it for Fletcher. Who knew? It might even help him through the grief. A proper farewell to his friend.