Redheart walked slowly along the cobblestone path, a small bouquet of flowers in her grasp. The conversation she had and story she shared with Rainbow Dash earlier that week had brought back a few painful memories, most notably the mission involving the outpost and Private Sentry.
She had never forgotten his name, or how peaceful his face looked while she worked her hardest to save him. Never forgot how hard she tried to wash his blood off of her uniform, or how she had cried herself to sleep that night and the nights after that. She was reminded of that for years and years, even after taking the nursing job at the high school. Some of the staff, aside from Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna, knew that she was a veteran and had served overseas on a few occasions, but that was the extent of it.
The members of her squadron were hard to reach on the best of days. Lifeline, now a Captain, was moved into an administration and command position and served as a medical consult for Combat Rescue Officers and Pararescuemen in the field. Her closest friend, Senior Airwoman Angel Fire, jumped across from the PJ's into the Tactical Air Control Party teams and was now working with other special forces teams overseas. And Technical Sergeant Pulse, well, he was killed in a training accident after their squadron was pulled out of the country. His funeral was held just after she was honourably discharged from the Air Force. Everyone else in the squadron either kept busy training with other squadrons or just did not have the time to talk to one of their own anymore. She could not blame them; Pararescue was a full-time job that required the majority of a PJ's focus.
At least once every couple of months, she would visit the town's cemetery and pay her respects to the young man who lost his life that day. That was one of the things that made his death different to her; the fact that he had been born and raised in the same town as her. They both joined the military to do something different: medical training for her, and traveling the world for him. Add in the fact that she saw part of his family on a weekly basis at the school made it that little bit more personal.
Coming to the end of the path, she began her trek along the long row of headstones. The area was deathy silent, punctuated by the occasional chip of a bird or rustle of leaves.
Not far from her destination, she stopped. In front of Silver's headstone was another person. A younger man, with spiked up vibrant blue hair and orange skin.
'He looks so much like him now...'
She stood there and watched as Flash spoke silently to his brother, not wanting to intrude on their private moment. Redheart turned around to leave when she heard her name being called.
"Nurse Redheart?" Flash said, clearly surprised to see someone from the school staff outside of hours. She sighed softly and turned back around to face him.
"Afternoon Flash. I didn't mean to intrude on anything..."
"Oh, oh! It's fine, it's fine... I was finished here anyway. I'll get out of your hair." Flash said, bending down to collect his bag and touch the top of his brother's stone once more before he left. Redheart was fighting herself not to cry at the simple gesture, she could only imagine how long he'd been doing this for. "If, if it's not too personal, do you mind if I ask who you're here to see?"
There it was. Such a simple question, but with such a complex answer that she couldn't vocalise her answer. Instead, she stepped past Flash and squatted down in front of Silver and carefully placed her flowers at the base, running her fingers across the silver lettering on the stone and the small Purple Heart that had been engraved into the surface. Flash froze in a mixture of confusion and anger at the nurse's unexpected actions, his hands curling into fists defensively and without him realising it. "Nurse... what do you think you're doing?" He had tried to sound assertive, but the worry in his voice was evident to Redheart. She wiped a solitary tear from her eye and looked up at Flash with a heartbroken expression.
"I'm so sorry, Flash... I have something to tell you."