Bunny of the Day: Eroica Death and Grief

[rsadelle]

Yesterday's state of affairs continues apace--I'm still in the mood for Eroica fic, still reading fic that's mediocre at best, and still writing away in my head.

Dorian interfered in Klaus' mission, of course, but this mission went horribly wrong. The criminals they were chasing meant business, more so than the usual spy vs. spy intrigue. They killed six of Klaus' alphabets in the ensuing disaster.

Klaus went to every one of the funerals, three long days of other people's grief. There were tasteful floral arrangements whose style he recognized at every one, and he saw Bonham at the back of the church at A's.

Klaus bore the empty desks in his workroom as the silent rebuke it was.

And then, too soon after that, his father came home to die.

Klaus submitted the paperwork that would let him be with his father in his last days to his chief in silence.

Relatives arrived the day after he started contacting them. All of his relatives. From everywhere. They descended on the castle like a swarm of locusts intent on devouring up all of his attention.

Eroica strode into the midst of it halfway through the afternoon. It nearly sent Klaus over the edge. And then Eroica clapped his hands to get everyone's attention and spoke.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming at this difficult time. I've made arrangements for all of you in the inn in the village. If you'd like to settle in, we'll make the funeral arrangements and let you know the details in the morning."

One of Klaus' elderly aunts did not take kindly to Eroica's interference. "Young man, who are you to tell us what to do?"

Eroica gave her and the rest of the room his most brilliant smile. "I'm Dorian. It's very nice to meet you. Now, if you'll adjourn to the inn, it will give us a chance to make the necessary arrangements."

And somehow that worked to get Klaus' relatives to take themselves out of his castle and down into the village.

"Bonham and your butler will make the appropriate funeral arrangements," Eroica said when he returned from escorting Klaus' relatives to the door. "James is looking over the estate papers. I've ordered him not to do anything final without your approval." Eroica brought the same professionalism to taking over Klaus' household that he did to any thieving job.

"What are you going to do?"

"My job," Eroica said with a gentle smile, "is to take care of you." One of Eroica's men came in before Klaus could object. "Ah, thank you, Jones." Eroica took the tray from him and put it on the table in front of Klaus. "Eat this, and then it's off to bed with you."

"It's the middle of the day," Klaus protested.

"And I'm sure you haven't slept well for at least a week if not longer. Eat your lunch." Eroica sat with him silently while he doggedly worked his way through the sandwich.

As promised, Eroica and his men took care of all of the arrangements, and Eroica somehow kept Klaus' family from driving him mad.

Eroica came to sit with him in his study after the funeral, both of them still in their dark suits.

"My mother had been gone a long time when my father died," Eroica told him. "When he died, I thought I was all alone in the world, but then I realized that I still had friends, and my men are closer to me than my family."

"Six of my alphabets are dead," Klaus reminded him.

"Yes," Eroica acknowledged. "And you have twenty still with you. They are not the only ones for you. As long as I live, you will not be alone in the world."

"And how long will that be?"

"I plan to die the way your father did, at the end of a very long life, in my own bed." Eroica paused and then said, "With you at my side."

The corners of Klaus' mouth turned up, and then he grinned, and then he laughed. He couldn't stop laughing, and then, to his horror, he began to cry.

Eroica did not comment on his weakness, but merely gathered Klaus into his arms, something that Klaus found inordinately comforting.

"Men don't cry," Klaus said when he'd managed to stop.

"Nonsense." Eroica tugged Klaus' handkerchief out of his breast pocket and put it into Klaus' hand to let him wipe his own tears from his cheeks. "Real men know when tears are just the thing. You're grieving."

Klaus went back to work the next Monday. His remaining alphabets made themselves busy to avoid his eyes. He let them get away with it while he put his things away and made himself a cup of coffee.

"Staff meeting." Klaus let his voice carry across the room without shouting. His alphabets put down what they'd been doing or pretending to do and gathered around. "We'll be doing some training exercises," he announced. "Starting today."

NATO had plenty of places for training exercises, and Klaus took his team off to one of the closer ones. He wasn't entirely surprised when Eroica showed up to interfere. He wasn't particularly disappointed either; it did make it a more realistic simulation.

Eroica was waiting with dinner when Klaus made it back to the castle.

"They did well today," he said as he served them both soup that looked better than anything Klaus had ever seen.

"They'd do better if I hadn't lost six of them."

"It wasn't your fault," Eroica said. "They chose this life, and they chose to follow you. They could leave your team if they wanted to, every last one of them, and they choose to stay with you."

Klaus said nothing.

"I know," Eroica said carefully, "that Z was like a son to you. No one can replace him. But your team is very good. They did very well today despite the distractions and their grief."

"Distractions," Klaus said, knowing that that too was a distraction. "If you show up on every one of our missions, you'll cease to be a distraction and become part of my team."

Eroica's eyes sparkled at him. "Don't get any ideas about having me follow your orders."