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Nile couldn't understand why Joe would run back straight into the line of fire for something as simple as a necklace. But Nile couldn't stop Joe, no matter how hard she tried. All Nile could do was jump behind a car when a rocket was shot in her direction, losing track of Joe in the process. When they made it to safety, Nile was furious and wanted answers.
"You better have a damn good explanation, Yusuf," Nile said in a raised voice. "Why would you risk getting shot again for a necklace? Something you could easily buy again."
Joe knew Nile had every right to be angry at him, but he didn't care.
"Sorry," Joe said as he ran the chain between his fingers. "But this necklace. It's the last thing I got left from Nicky. And losing the necklace means I..."
Joe turned his head away while crying. In a couple of days, it would be 291 years since Nicky died. Nicky left Joe's life in the same way as he had entered Joe's life. Dying in a meaningless war, but it wasn't by Joe's scimitar that Nicky died. It was by a land mine that had blown Nicky into pieces. The only good thing, if there was such a thing, about Nicky's death was that he died saving a child. Just the way Nicky would have preferred, but it wasn't how Joe wanted him to die. If you asked Joe, they would have gone to bed one evening, made love during the night, and never woke up in the morning.
They buried Nicky in Malta because it was where their home once had been, but not to Joe anymore. Whenever Joe went back to Malta, all he would do was sit at the spot where they had buried Nicky for weeks without moving or eating, not caring about the weather, while praying that Death would claim him, but Death didn't claim him.
Nile and Booker tried their best to be there for Joe, but when they weren't on missions, they spent most of their downtime in Malta, looking after Joe as best they could.
"Oh, Joe," Nile said as she sat down next to Joe, feeling like the biggest jerk in the world. "I didn't know that..."
"You couldn't have known," Joe cut in. "When can I leave?"
"We're meeting Booker tomorrow, so within ten days, Joe," Nile replied. "I was thinking. Do you want to come with us to Paris? It's spring soon."
"No thanks," Joe replied. "Can't leave Nicky alone."
It was the standard answer Joe had given whenever they asked him for something since Nicky had died.
"Wanna tell me about the necklace?" Nile offered. She hoped it would make Joe talk a bit about his feelings. "I bet it's a good story."
"No," Joe replied. "Not today."
Joe laid down on the ground with his back to Nile and held the necklace close to his heart while crying. When Nile placed a blanket over Joe, he threw it away. The next morning, when Nile woke, Joe was gone. Instead of being mad at Joe, Nile and Booker finished the mission because they knew it would jeopardise the rest of the mission if Joe had stayed in that state of mind.
When Nile and Booker finally made it to Malta a month later, they found a fresh grave next to Nicky's grave. Nile and Booker soon found out that it was the locals who had buried Joe when they found him dead early in the morning with his head on Nicky's grave, holding onto the necklace. The locals had all grown up with stories about "The Man On The Hilltop", and out of gratitude, they had given Joe a funeral worthy of a king because he had kept them all safe. That day, Nile and Booker swore they would not let down the locals in honour of Joe and Nicky.