BETTER TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST

Two figures watched silently from the door of the Last Chance Garage. The scene before them was truly heart-wrenching, and the source of the helplessness written all over their faces.

"We gotta do something bro!" the grey mouse pleaded with his brother and leader, tears trickling from his one good eye.

"There's nothing we can do Modo" Throttle replied with a hoarse voice. He was close to tears himself, though he doubted his mechanical eyes could really express accurately enough how he felt. "Vinnie has to deal with his grief in his own way."

Modo swallowed the lump forming in his throat and nodded, knowing his leader was right. They all knew the pain of losing a loved one, and each handled it differently. He could only watch as his white-furred brother howled his misery to the very heavens.

"WHY?!" Vinnie screamed defiantly at the blue sky outside, the sun's warmth unable to extinguish the agony he felt inside. "Why did you have to take her?! Why do you always take the ones I love?!!" he sobbed to any deities who would listen, but silence was his only answer.

He smashed his fists into the concrete driveway and repeatedly bashed them against the cement. Specks of blood and fur stuck to the ground when he finally stopped, exhaustion taking its toll.

Hands were placed on his shoulders. They were moved when he shook them off in frustration, wanting to be alone in his grief, but they returned to grip him under his arms and he was pulled gently but firmly to his feet.

"Vinnie, ya gotta get a grip. Hurting yourself isn't gonna bring her back!" a low toned voice told him. His subconscious registered it as Modo's, but his conscious was in too much turmoil to listen.

He struggled violently out of his brother's hands and threw himself on top of his loved one.

Modo went to raise him up again but was called off by Throttle.

"Leave him Modo. He's in too much pain to think clearly" Throttle said, pulling the gentle giant to the side.

Vinnie turned at his leader's voice and looked at him pleadingly thru eyes blurry with tears. "Help her! PLEASE!" he begged his all-wise leader.

"I can't Vinnie, she's gone" Throttle replied, his voice cracking with pain. "We feel your pain bro, we all loved her."

"Not like I did, nobody can love her like I did!" Vinnie said quietly. "NOBODY!" he screamed and smashed his already bloody fists into the ground once more.

Throttle stepped back involuntarily, the raw anguish evident on his brother's face shocking him to his core. But when Vinnie attempted to ease the pain with his fists a third time, he stepped in himself and grabbed his white-furred brother's arms.

Seeing Throttle struggling with his enraged brother, Modo joined him to restrain the white mouse. They dragged him away from the bloody pool on the ground and pushed him into a chair in the garage.

The sound of screeching tires caused Throttle to turn. Seeing who it was, he left Vinnie in Modo's care and went to greet Carbine.

"I got here as soon as I could" the female general said quietly, eyeing the body and the bloody pool in front of it with sadness. "Help will be here soon" she said, putting her arms round her beloved freedom fighters' neck.

Throttle hugged her tightly and sobbed into her shoulder, her raven dark hair becoming soaked with the steady stream.

No one heard the arrival of another vehicle, nor the hushed footfalls that approached, all consumed in their own private hells.

"What in all that is logical is going on here?!" an irate voice demanded.

Vinnie came bursting out of the garage toward the newcomer, pushing them aside in his haste to escape Modo's restraining arms. He flung himself back down in front of his beloved.

"My love….charley-girl…." he choked out, gripping the newcomer's legs. A doctor of sorts stared back down at him, furious with his behaviour and completely unsympathetic to his loss.

"Oh for pete's sake. Get out of the way so I can help her!" the doctor said tiredly, shoving the white mouse aside.

For the first time in hours, Vinnie felt hope and a great sense of peace as the doctor worked on his beloved.

"I swear, anyone would think he love this bike more than me the way he's been carrying on!" Charlie muttered as she righted the bike and rolled her slowly into the garage, an eager pair of white hands assisting where he could.

The End