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"We have to tell the mayor."
Even though the words had left his mouth, Unsuur didn't hear them. Moments earlier, his brain came to a halt, similar to the builder’s horse, as he watched Sandrock's newest builder, Lucy, fly off the horse and off a cliff. Nobody could survive that fall.
The next week was a blur. Unsuur was pretty sure he hadn't gotten more than a single consecutive hour of sleep. He lead search parties, brought supplies to builders, studied every single map in the town...every waking moment spent looking for Lucy. He wasn't sure if he'd even seen the sheriff, Justice, who had been coordinating efforts and filing paperwork in order to get everything done fast enough to keep up with Unsuur.
On day seven, Unsuur stepped into the civil corps office. He quickly checked that the contents of his jacket’s inner pockets were still there, and the strapped pocket on the outside was secure. Check and check. Justice looked up from his desk, his already grim face sinking at the man in the doorway.
"Unsuur, where you been? I asked you to be here three hour ago!"
"Sorry sir," Unsuur said, walking over to the coffee machine in the corner and pouring a cup. "Everyone else called it a night and I just double checked there were still no signs of her." He took a gulp. It was hot, but given it was probably his 50th cup of coffee in the week he didn't feel the burn anymore.
Justice sighed.
"Come with me." The older man stood and walked into the back ‘room’ (more of a glorified closet, but beggars can't be choosers). Unsuur finished his cup, set it down, and followed Justice.
Once in the room, a small table was taken up with a box as well as miscellaneous objects that had been found over the week. Cast iron nails, some strips of plastic, and a pouch Unsuur recognized as Lucy's from the day they went looking for Logan's goat.
"Open the pouch, there's one other thing I need to show you." Justice said, stepping behind a shelf. Unsuur did as instructed, noting the contents with a heavy stomach.
"Heatstroke tablets, her builder's license, and it feels like some sort of...paper..?" He fumbled with the pack a bit, grabbing the piece of crumpled paper. Unsuur smoothed out the paper, freezing at the words written in Lucy’s distinct handwriting.
Justice stepped back into view; Unsuur's gaze snapped up to him.
There in Justice's hands was Lucy's pickhammer. She didn't go anywhere without it, even to dinner, she wouldn't have purposely let it go. Unsuur's breathing went unsteady as he looked between it and his boss's face.
"We found these this morning. The heatstroke tablets are unopened, she couldn't get through a day without those. Plus she wouldn't go anywhere without this. On the off chance she DID survive the fall...there was evidence of rockyenarolls in the area." Unsuur's ears were ringing by now, unable to process what they were hearing. Justice continued,
"I...didn't want to be the one to tell you, but..." Justice trailed off, Unsuur's eyes never strayed from his face.
"The search is off." Justice whispered, Unsuur snapped at that, his eyes uncharacteristically wide.
"What?! No-"
"Yes, Unsuur. The remaining builders are exhausted and out of resources, funding has dried up, and... evidence shows there's no body to find. She's gone." Justice's voice cracked as he choked out the words.
"No." Unsuur said again, his breathing frantic. "No...no. No!" He dropped the pack and hastily left the room. Justice heard the main door slam against the wall and fall closed by itself
With a sigh he grabbed Lucy's items and placed them in a box. With everything packed away, Justice made his way out of the civil corps office and to his home, falling asleep in his uniform yet again.
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The next morning, the sheriff was woken by frantic knocking. He stumbled to the door, opening it with his eyes half shut. Burgess stood on the other side.
"Good morning, Justice! I'm sorry for waking you but-"
"Man I've toldyou; I can't stop what ends up the oasis overnight." Justice groaned, rubbing his eyes in a desperate attempt to wake up.
"Oh no, it's not that. It's Unsuur." Burgess quickly corrected.
"It’s his first day back on patrols after everything, so I'm sorry if his schedule is off." Justice's brain wasn't quite ready to start the day yet.
"No, it's not that either. He..." Burgess took a deep breath, "I saw him kicking a rock down the road last night. "
That woke Justice up.
"Unsuur? My Unsuur? The extremely literal, rock enthusiast who I spend way too much time with Unsuur?" Burgess nodded. "He was just... strolling along kicking a rock?"
"More like a depressed zombie walk, but yes." Burgess explained softly. Justice cracked his neck, quickly pushing past Burgess and walking down the main road of town; something more was clearly going on, and he was going to figure it out.
There was two people you spoke with if you wanted to most updated gossip, and since Pablo hadn't opened up yet, Justice walked down to the Blue Moon hoping to find Owen. After getting to the top of the hill, Justice spotted the man in question sweeping the porch entrance. He started jogging over and called out
"Hey, Owen! Have you seen-"
"Oh Justice thank Peach you're here. Something's wrong." Owen said, pausing while Justice caught up to him. "It's Unsuur, he's inside but he's not himself."
"So I've heard, let's go talk to him." Justice said, letting Owen lead him inside. There at the bar, with half a glass of water, sat Unsuur.
He wore his typical blank expression, but that was the extent of the parts Justice recognized. Unsuur's civil corps jacket laid on the bar and he wore a black t-shirt and sweatpants. He had his civil core boots on but they were unlaced on his feet. His hair stood up in multiple different directions, clearly made by him gripping his hair like he was currently doing. His eyes were bloodshot, eyelids bright red and raw.
"Hey Unsuur. You're worrying everyone, myself included." Justice lightly patted his shoulder. " I didn't even know you owned other clothes besides your uniform. Look, I know that its hard right now but we have to push through...it's what she would've wanted."
Unsuur shook his head, "Justice...I can't push through this." Justice sighed.
"It's hard losing someone you're close with, pal. Its happened a few times since I've been on the force. And I understand-"
Unsuur quickly stood up, slamming him hands on the counter with a loud thud.
"You don't understand!" Unsuur yelled at Justice, the noise stopping all small sounds from people starting their day; Grace who had just gotten in for her shift stopped in her tracks halfway behind the counter, Ernest froze by the side door having just stepped in to camp out in a booth for the day to write, Owen stopped polishing the glass in his hand and glanced between the two civil corps members.
Typically, yelling at your superior was seen as incredible disrespectful and required disciplinary action, but considering this was the most emotion he'd ever seen Unsuur have, Justice was more worried about his friend than about the job. Unsuur quickly realized his mistake, sitting back down with a mumbled apology to the other man. After a moment, Justice broke the silence.
"What is going on?"
Unsuur sighed and grabbed his jacket. He reached inside the inner pockets and pulled out a small stack of photos, a piece of neatly folded paper, and the crumpled note from the previous night. He handed the items to Justice.
"We hadn't told you yet. We were planning on doing it once we had Logan, or his goat, in custody." Unsuur explain, gesturing to the photos. "I checked the handbooks, romantic relationships between members are allowed but discouraged because of situations like this."
Justice's eyes went wide at the term 'romantic' before he looked through the photos, his heart sinking with each one.
The first was Lucy and Unsuur, sharing a kiss in the gecko gondola, the second was a shot of their backs as they cuddled below some fireworks, the third made Justice blush. Lucy was taking the photo selfie style, her shoulders bare but the rest covered by a blanket; behind her stood a shirtless Unsuur who was clearly in the middle of buckling up his pants but had stopped to smile for the camera.
Justice looked to Unsuur for an explanation. Unsuur took a deep breath before beginning.
"The first one she had just given me a heart knot." He lifted his shirt sleeve to reveal the object tied about his bicep, "I had tried telling her that week I wanted to be in a relationship with her, but got nervous and asked her to be my best friend instead. Thankfully, she's smarter than me and we've been together since."
"When was that?" Justice asked.
"About a year ago. The second photo is actually the newest, we went on a date to shoot off some fireworks. We talked about our futures and about telling you. That's when we decided to tell you after we caught Logan, which was suppose to be earlier this week."
"The third one...I'm not telling you all the details about. But it was around that really bad sandstorm a couple seasons ago. We had said 'I love you' the night before, I stayed at her house." Unsuur had small tears running down his face once the explanation was finished.
By now, Ernest, Grace, and a recently arrived Arvio had crowded around the bar with Owen. Justice stared at Unsuur, his mind racing.
"This has been going on this long? Not only were you guys together but apparently deeply in love? How did I not notice this?" Justice shook his head. He reached out and put a comforting arm around Unsuur. "Details aren't important. Makes a lot more sense why you switched your patrol routes to go past her place more often, and why you two were always leaving early from events."
"It gets worse." Unsuur whispered, gesturing to the folded papers Justice was still holding. "Read those. I struggled telling her things out loud, I figured I'd get nervous or forget. Writing was easier."
Justice started flipping through the pages,
"Alright, here goes, 'My gem, there's something rocks say to each other when they want to spend forever together, lets get buried.’ Seriously Unsuur? Buried?" Justice shook his head as Unsuur looked down, tears moving faster down his cheeks. Justice moved to Lucy's response.
"'My rock' - oh Light, maybe I'm glad you two didnt tell me so I didn't have to hear this all day - 'I have no doubts I want to spend forever with you. I just want to wait a little while. With Logan on the loose and my workshop still needing repairs, I don't want to go in half-heartedly. Once I'm ready, I'll tell you know." Justice trailed off, remembering the crumpled paper that had sent Unsuur into shock. He looked at the last paper in the stack.
There, in Lucy's neat handwriting, were three words, "Let's get buried".
Everyone looked at Unsuur who was making no effort to stop his crying any more.
"We planned on having dinner that night after talking with you. Yellow soup with lemons..." Unsuur choked out. He slowly reached to the latched pocket on his jacket, undoing the latch and pulling out a box with the mysterious man's symbol stamped on the front. He opened the box and sitting inside was a diamond ring.
"She was ready, Justice. We could've been married by now, or at least engaged. Everyone would finally know about us." By now Unsuur was full on sobbing, his breath catching. Justice did something he never thought he would: he pulled Unsuur into a hug and let the younger man cry into his shoulder. Owen, Ernest and Arvio tried saying encouraging words, but were met with no response. Grace slipped out unnoticed.
After a while, Unsuur's breathing calmed down and he was able to move away from Justice. With a final pat to the back, Ernest and Arvio left to get ready for their days, leaving Owen with the two corps members. Owen sighed.
"Unsuur, go upstairs, get cleaned up, take a nap. The memorial is happening this afternoon." He spoke softly, handing the man back his jacket and a key to one of the inn rooms upstairs.
"He's right. We ain't just moving on, but we do need to be there. I need to say something and I think you should too." Justice confirmed, standing and pulling Unsuur to his feet. He lightly pushed the man to the stairs.
Unsuur went upstairs, his mind racing and his heart broken. After a quick shower he landed on the bed and passed out shortly after soaking the pillow once again.
That afternoon, the plaza was somber. Matilda spoke about losing the builder, talking about her achievements. Unsuur was pretty sure others said things, but by then he had tuned out the noise. That was until Justice nudged him bringing him back to the moment. All eyes were on him. He coughed and stepped onto the stage.
"Hi. Uh...I know word travels fast but for those that don't know, Lucy and I were..." dust coming from the distant train tracks caught his eye, civil corps training kicking in and sharpening his focus. The dust moved quick and he heard the distant sound of hooves. He cursed and put a hand on his weapon. Justice noticed and jumped on stage with him to get a better view.
A dark flash was hidden momentarily by the train station, coming back into view and rounding the corner. Rambo, Logan's goat, charged towards the stage, a person lay across the saddle, orange hair blowing around in the wind.
"Lucy!" Unsuur screamed running towards Rambo. They were about 10 feet apart when Rambo suddenly stopped, sending Lucy through the air and conveniently towards Unsuur who caught her with ease, quickly lowering her to the ground once he noticed the splint on her leg. Her hands were bound and a cloth covered her eyes, but she was breathing. Rambo immediately turned around and ran off, but nobody in the town could be bothered to see where. Unsuur made quick work of the binds and pulled the cloth off her eyes, staring at the pools of blue blinking back at him.
"Lucy...you're..." Unsuur whispered, she gave a tiny smile.
"I'm here love." She put a hand on his cheek, a grin covered his face as he pulled her into a kiss that she quickly reciprocated. The world around them seemed to disappear.
Except it didn't actually disappear, and as the newly revealed couple had their moment the crowd erupted in cheers. Their builder was back from the dead, and their friends had found love! Amirah and Heidi tossed coins into Paulo's waiting hand (they really needed to stop making bets with him), Cooper was yell rambling about something, and Justice was mumbling about how he really didn't need to see this. After the cheering calmed and the couple’s kiss ended, Fang pushed his way out of the crowd.
"Leg." He said, quickly kneeling to examine the splint on the builders leg. It didn't take him long to be satisfied that it had been set properly before he walked past the crowd returning to the clinic. A subtle nod passed between the doctor and Grace, unnoticed by the rest of the town.
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The memorial dinner was shifted into a celebratory dinner, however everyone still insisted on telling the builder their paise and love for her, which Lucy took graciously, held tightly by Unsuur who had refused to not be touching her at all times.
Once the night slowed down and most people had made their way home, Justice finally left his place at the bar. He wandered over to the table where couple sat at, Lucy's head resting on Unsuur's shoulder.
"So I hear you two had something to tell me?" Justice teased, bringing a chuckle from Unsuur and a light blush from Lucy.
"Yeah... sorry boss man. I wanted to tell you first but unfortunately flying head first off a cliff changed my priorities." Lucy says, Justice waved her off.
"Don't worry yourself about that. I'm just relieved to see you safe. I have to ask though, what the hell happened? I didn't think you'd survive, let along only have a broken leg to show. And clearly Logan had you trapped, why did he let you go?"
Unsuur, curious about the same thing but being worried about her glanced down at Lucy who had tensed up with the questions. His misinterpretation of emotions worked wonders in that moment for her.
"I don't mean to sound rude, or like I'm trying to get out of paperwork, but she's not ready to answer those questions. Post traumatic stress maybe? We'll ask Fang tomorrow." Lucy's shoulders became less tense and Unsuur figured he was making the right call. "Also I'm going to need to take a couple days off, if that's OK?"
"You watched your fiancé fly off a horse and have gotten maybe 12 hours sleep in 7 days. If you didn't ask I was gonna force you. I take it you'll be at hers until that cast is off?" Justice responded, standing and motioning for Unsuur to do the same.
"Wait, fiancé?! What are you-?" Lucy's face went bright red as the two men helped her stand. Unsuur picked her up. By now Owen had walked over with a bag of food for the next morning.
"Unsuur decided to have Justice read your love notes to the morning crowd." He answered, handing the bag to a now beet red Lucy.
"It's OK love, I only had the cute ones with me." Unsuur made sure she was solid in her arms. Once he was satisfied, he motioned towards the door and Owen went and held it open for him.
"We still haven't officially decided that! I could change my mind!" Lucy spoke. Unsuur gave her an incredulous look, to which she responded "OK fine, no mind changing. Still want you to ask though...”
"You two love birds get some rest. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Owen said as they pair headed out the door.
"Don't worry, we can't get into too much trouble with me exhausted and her leg busted." Unsuur chuckled, "You know, when I said next time I stayed over you wouldn't be able to walk for a week, I meant it as a hyperbole. You went and made it literal."
Justice's groan of discomfort was heard by half the town.