Work Text:
It was a week and a half after the night. The night half of Kepler bared their teeth at an unknown force. The night a man took a stand to right his many wrongs. The night a shot rang out, one made of fear and panic. A shot that, while to the wrong person, was fatal and devastating. Eleven hard and genuinely heartbreaking days for everyone in Kepler.
Kirby, knowing him for a considerable amount of time, had grown to think of him as an uncle. The loss of family is hard but when it’s found family, it hits harder. He spent these days in between in the Cryptonomica, like he did most days. But instead of peddling bullshit to the online masses or doing something recklessly stupid with Ned, Kirby just sat there. He unpacked Ned’s belongings that he had squared away after him and Aubrey’s confrontation. Some things that weren’t obviously stolen were made into makeshift displays. Kirby, somewhere in the back of his mind, started to embrace the fact that he was the new sole proprietor of the Cryptonomica. He reorganized the place but never opened up shop. Eventually, there was nothing left to move around and the busy work became tedious. After all, sweeping the floors forty times over when there are no customers to dirty it becomes obsolete and fast. He turned to watching some of the old movies Ned showed him during one of their dull days at the museum. Recounting to Billy all the memories, good, bad, and stupid, Kirby healed.
Duck took it hard too. Ned was one of his best friend’s and that’s a loss that few can match. He had some oversized Crytonomica shirt from the Christmas before and he basically lived in it now. He didn’t talk to many people about it. He was beating himself up about not being there to help or take the bullet himself. He poured over the letter Ned wrote. Reading every word over and over. Duck was miserable. The only people talking to him were Aubrey and Minnie. Minerva was a given, she needed someplace on Earth to stay and Duck’s apartment was surprisingly accommodating. Minerva understood, clearly, and helped him best she could. Aubrey, too, understood. They spent almost every day together, just healing. Aubrey couldn’t bare being at the Lodge so she and Minerva camped out on Duck’s sofas. Juno couldn’t even get to him, his best friend in the whole world just couldn’t. She offered her support and she knows that in time he’ll be okay to talk, about Ned or not. Until then, though, she was more than happy to fill in for him at the station.
Aubrey took it the hardest. She too saw him as a dumb uncle and loved him so much. The pineguard is her family and losing another member of her family hurt more than could be put into words. Dani was apologetic and distraught despite Aubrey’s insistence that wasn’t her fault. That’s part of the reason she couldn’t be at the lodge. She just wasn’t able to handle all of it, all at once. She couldn’t reassure one of the closest people to her while grieving over another. The worst of it was the letter. He wanted her hate him. He wanted to save her trademarked positivity for the rest of the world. It wrecked her.
Today is the twelfth day. Today is the day they all knew would come. Today was his funeral. There was a small service before for him at the lodge, as was custom for every fallen member of the pineguard, in which Aubrey and Duck. But today this was the big one. All of the lodge was there, Duck and Aubrey too. Minerva wanted to come to honor who she fully considered a war hero but didn’t want to warrant a bunch of unneeded questions. Kirby and some of his friends were there. Everyone who was in the clearing that night save for a few of the hornets, showed up. It’s a somber event, there aren’t many tears being shed, most of them came from Kirby and Aubrey. That is until Aubrey stands up and pays her respects. Her walk to the podium is suspenseful. Nobody knows what’s she’s going to say, everyone by now knows about their history and the animosity that ensued immediately after she found out. Aubrey’s eyes, despite being luminescent and orange in hue, are grim. Huge tears threaten to spill out as she clears her throat to speak.
“Ned was . . . a complicated man. I only knew him since August but him and Duck and really everyone at lodge became family and quick. No one’s perfect. Ned was the poster child for that sentence. He was clearly shady but honestly, I didn’t put much stock in his stories. When I learned what he did. What he took from me, I was angry. I wanted nothing more than to never see him again.” She starts crying, continuing on with voice cracks and sobs. “I told him to go and until he left to fix his wrongs, he was ready to. He wrote me a letter. A goodbye. He was going to leave and he wasn’t going to do it without his dramatic flare.” Aubrey lets out a breathy laugh, wiping her tears from her eyes with a sleeve. “Ned wanted, so desperately, for me . . .” She pauses. The room is silent and she doesn’t look up as she says these next words. “He wanted me to hate him. He wanted me to save all the love in my ‘big heart’ for people more deserving and to do real good in the world. But guys? I have to be honest.” She lifts her gaze and makes eye contact with various people in the small crowd. “There is no man less deserving of my hate. He is a hero. A troubled man who stopped at nothing to fix a million problems. He died in the most selfless way. What else makes a hero? Ned Chicane was brave. Ned ‘Valiant’ Chicane deserves nothing less than your respect and I will spend the rest of my life to make him proud.”
And with that, everyone cries. Everyone is moved by her words which, even if just for this moment, showed the world just how good Ned was. No matter the many names he was known by during his adventurous life, “Valiant” would be the middle moniker that stuck.