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Rupert and Henry never really got along.
They were always bickering about the smallest things, from certain things the other did during a mission, or the fact that they've had a rivalry since Henry's prison break all the way back at Red Mesa. Rupert was always one to hold grudges, and this was certainly one that he wasn't letting go any time soon. I mean, he almost lost his dream job after that prison break. Not only that, the thief's stunt at stealing the Tunisian Diamond only a couple months later had caused an old friend co-worker of his to go missing, so excuse him for being a little upset at the fact that Henry Stickmin was in the same military unit as him.
On the other hand, Rupert and Charles went way back, all the way back into junior high, probably even primary school, now that he was thinking about it. They had known each other for nearly two decades at this point, and their friendship was still going surprisingly strong. They lost contact with one another after high school, with Charles being older and going straight into aviation school after graduating, but they reunited years later, being in the same unit to both of their surprise.
"Charlie?! Is that you?" His entire facade dropped the second he recognized his childhood friend.
Charles seemed startled at the nickname, only a select few people allowed to call him that. He whipped around, shocked to see Rupert.
"Rupert?! Oh my god, since when were you enlisted?!"
He guessed as long as he had Charlie with him, being in the same unit as the damned Henry Stickmin wouldn't be so bad.
Well, that was until Charles and Henry got paired on more missions together. Eventually, the two were rumoured to soon to be promoted to Special Covert Ops together. The duo had gotten quite close to each other.
And they were roommates, did he mention that? They were roommates. Reference intended.
Rupert couldn't help but feel some sort of jealousy bubble up in him every time he saw the two interact as if they were the childhood friends in the unit. How did this.. ex-con worm his way into Charles' life so easily? Charles was naturally a friendly guy, yes, but he surprisingly didn't have many friends in the military. Acquaintances, yes, but not friends. Rupert was surprised when he first learned about this, though he supposed that not everyone was up to chat all the time like Charles was, but that was besides the point.
The point was; he wasn't the biggest fan of Henry Stickmin of all people being the one to befriend Charles. Seriously. Once again, he's an ex-criminal, nearly made him lose his job, and even was an indirect cause to someone going missing—
"Rupe? Rupert!" Charles' voice came through his earpiece, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Rupert, hey, don't go disappearing on me too!" He could hear Charles trying to crack a joke but, there was an underlying tone of panic in it.
"I'm here, I'm here, calm down.." Right.
It had been a little over a week since Henry actually had gone missing himself.
From what he's heard from Charles, they had plans the night he disappeared, but the man never shown up. Honestly, Rupert was just about ready to give Stickmin a piece of his mind, having been done with all of his crap since the beginning, but apparently no one around the base had seen him as of recently. It sent Charles into a panic, and that panic still hadn't died down since then. If anything, it only worsened as they continued to search with no sign of Henry.
Had he not been more worried about Charles' well-being, Rupert would've just scoffed. It was painfully obvious where Henry had gone, everyone was just too stubborn to admit it.
"Nothing on my end, Charles. Can ya tell Quentin to come grab me?"
There was a disappointed sigh. "Okay, I think I see you. Just meet us at the next clearing."
They were wasting resources, dammit. They didn't even have a lead or anything, just blindly searching around. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack. They needed to save all of this for the Toppat raid, which was in two days now.
Rupert jogged to the clearing up ahead, hearing the familiar noise of the helicopter. It was one of the rare days that Charles wasn't piloting, since he had been flying for the past few days with little to no breaks.
The side door flung open as he saw Quentin give him a wave through the window, Charles and the General on the inside.
Rupert had just closed the door behind him before Charles spilled his mind out.
"Are you sure you didn't see anything? Not even a piece of equipment that belonged to him?"
"Charles." The general laid a hand on Charles' shoulder, "Let the man sit down, at least."
Rupert waved the general off, "It's fine, general. And no, Charles, I saw nothin'. Just trees and bushes."
Charles deflated, making his way over to his seat, slumped over. He weakly raised a hand to his headset. "Q, we're good to go now."
"Alright, back to base it is."
Rupert pitied his friend, hating to see him so gloomy. It was a complete contrast from his friend's usual behaviour. He had seriously put in the effort to push his little grudge for Henry to the side as they searched for him, just for Charles, but he knew the pilot wasn't going to be put at ease until Henry was found.
He sighed, keeping his opinions to himself for now.
"Charlie, son, are you alright? You look like you need us to land for a bit."
Charles looked up, giving Galeforce an uneasy smile. "I'm fine, really, general."
All of their earpieces came to life, Quentin's voice coming through. "Oi, I know that tone, Charles. You sound like you're about to hurl."
Rupert nodded. "Quentin's right, Charles."
Charles crossed his arms, sitting up straighter. "Seriously, I appreciate the concern, but I'll be fine, you guys."
"If you say so, Charlie."
Rupert sighed as the helicopter fell silent, save for the sound of the blades up top. He looked over at Charles one last time, but it seemed he was already lost in his thoughts. He frown deepened.
"..General, could I have a word with you?" He turned to the General.
Galeforce tilted his head, before nodding and turning his attention. "Go ahead."
Sorry, Charles, I know you're not gonna like this, but it has to be done.
He cleared his throat. "I think.. we need to call this search off, or put it on hold for now." He doesn't miss the way Charles' head immediately snaps up. "There's been zero sign of Stickmin, and the Toppat raid is in two days. We need to conserve some of our resources and get some rest."
"Rupert, you can't be serious!" Charles' eyes were full of worry. "Henry's out there, what if he's hurt?!"
General Galeforce opened his mouth, but Rupert accidentally cut him off, blurting his thoughts out.
"Charles. We have no lead, not a single clue as to where he could've gone." He gestures with his hand, a bit frustrated. "For all we know, he could've gone back to being a petty criminal!"
Ouch. Bad choice of words.
Charles' expression was unreadable as he crossed his arms. "..look, I know you're not exactly the biggest fan of him, but it doesn't mean you can be an ass about it."
"Rupert. Charles."
He glanced at the general, and then back to Charles before completely tearing his gaze away from him. "Okay, fine, whatever. Don't listen to me, go ahead." He mumbled under his breath. "Not like I was the one who defended you from losing your job after your brother turned out to be a filthy Toppat."
..he really wished he bit his tongue, because his earpiece was inconveniently still on.
"Oh my—" Charles shot out of his seat. "Don't even think about bringing his name into this conversation. What the hell's your problem, Rupert?! I never once complained about when you wanted to send a search team out!"
Something in Rupert snapped.
"For God's sake, because at least Dave wasn't a damn criminal! And we actually had evidence that pointed to him being taken by the bloody Toppats!"
"God, at least Henry's actually the important one here for the damn mission, Rupert!"
His eyes widened as any ounce of pity that he had previously felt for Charles completely wash away.
"What did you just fucking say to me—?!"
He didn't get to do that. Charles didn't get to do that, bringing up Dave out of all people and saying how he wasn't important. Charles knew what Dave meant to him, that fucking asshole—
"ENOUGH! The both of you!" The general stepped in between the both of them before things could escalate any further. He hadn't realized that he was practically in Charles' face, both of them fuming with anger. "I know tensions are high right now, but you two need to take a moment."
Charles hesitated, before backing off and sighing. "..sorry, general." He mumbled, stumbling back to his seat. Rupert huffed, doing the same.
"..and besides, Rupert's right. We have to put this search on hold, Charlie. It's best we focus on the upcoming raid for now."
Charles looked up with an expression of disbelief, before turning away from the both of them, staring out of the window.
Rupert's gaze lingered on the pilot. He wanted to say something— anything.
But it was too late now, what had been done was done.
He turned to the window.
That was the last time Rupert ever spoke to Charles.
The Toppat raid had failed, and the orbital station had successfully launched, rendering the government nearly powerless to stop the Toppats from taking what they wanted from around the world. Any Toppats they managed to arrest were gone within hours.
Damned Toppats.
It wasn't long after that they finally received word of what actually happened Henry.
Henry Stickmin was killed during an attempted prison break..
Rupert felt a pang of guilt as he had read through the news article, suddenly regretting the last words he had said to Charles that day.
Jesus, he felt like a terrible friend.
He sucked his pride up and immediately went to go search for Charles, to go apologize. And uh, to also break the news to him. Yikes. That was going to be a conversation.
"Rupert." He turned his head as Galeforce called his name. "If it's too much, you can just send Charlie to me. It's heavy news to deliver."
Rupert mutely nodded, leaving the tent and going to search for Charles. It wasn't hard to find the man, the red headphones sticking out like a sore thumb and knowing the general schedule he followed..
One problem, all of Rupert's confidence had washed away the second his eyes landed on Charles. He looked absolutely miserable, his hair a complete mess and eyebags forming underneath his eyes. There was a mug next to him, which was probably his 4th or 5th cup of coffee of the morning. He cringed, suddenly hesitant to approach Charles.
"Oh, Rupert." Calvin (or was that Konrad..? He could never tell the twins apart) "Come here for some coffee too?"
He shook his head. I need to talk to Charles about something. The words got stuck in his throat.
He cleared his throat, "Already got my fill earlier. Uh, the general wants to talk to Charles about something."
One of the twins nudged Charles, but he didn't budge. "Charles? Charles. Hellooo?"
Konrad turned apologetically to Rupert. "Er, let the general know he'll be on his way.. He's been really spacey today. I don't think he got any proper rest last night after that breakout."
"Thanks, you two."
He turned to leave, but looked over at Charles again. He wanted nothing more but to make up with the guy so that they could go back to normal. It had been painfully awkward for the past week since their argument, and it was weird not talking to him at all despite seeing him every day.
Ah, he should probably leave before Konrad and Calvin started questioning him. And before Charles actually stopped spacing out. Rupert didn't have the heart to directly break the news that one of his close friends was killed after supposedly being arrested again.
(That fact still confused him to this day.. didn't they give him a pardon for all his past crimes? Unless he somehow committed a major crime the day he was supposedly arrested and killed.)
Rupert was going to just head back to his tent, but he found himself lingering outside of the general's tent after he saw Charles finally go in to talk to the General. He restlessly fidgeted with his uniform, trying to listen in, but he couldn't quite make anything that was being said inside. Maybe that was for the best, because the next thing he knew, he felt the wind as Charles took off running, away from the base to who knew where.
The former found himself chasing after the pilot, lagging a bit behind as to not startle the man or accidentally start another conflict with him, they were already on bad enough terms as is. Also, Charles was ridiculously fast, and Rupert nearly losing him completely at one point.
He bit his tongue as he ran behind Charles, wanting to call his name out but knew it would make things worse. He just.. needed to check that Charles wasn't going to pull anything stupid.
He just needed to make sure he was okay.
Charles finally stopped as he reached a cliffside, Rupert discreetly watching him from the trees.
“I– no. He can’t be. He can’t—” A choked sob. "Henry isn’t– he isn’t—”
Rupert's hand instinctively reached out to him as Charles' knees gave in, buckling as he threw up to the side. He retracted his hand, frozen in place.
Why can't I just.. talk to him? Why is it so damn hard?!
He squeezed his eyes shut, sighing. He'll just watch. he'll talk to him tomorrow. Next time.
…
There wasn't going to be a next time.
To everyone's surprise, the Toppat's orbital station had been completely destroyed.
Rupert couldn't believe his eyes at first, looking up at the sky and seeing a giant explosion, multiple escape pods raining down from the sky. Charles and Henry—who was found miraculously alive after they were in a mission up in Canada—had done it again. Their missions never seemed to fail.
Hah, maybe Henry could actually help him successfully talk to Charles without an argument breaking out, or Rupert backing out at the last moment. Maybe he could finally fix the tension between Charles, now that the Toppats weren't there to stress everyone out. Though, the one question everyone had was.. how the hell did the station explode in the first place? What exactly did the two covert ops do? Sure, it got the job done, but there were more questions than answers now.
First— they needed to secure some of the Toppats that were landing in escape pods near the jungle base. Charles and Henry were probably going to land nearby, in that spaceship prototype that they had taken up to the station. He sure hoped Charles wasn't the reason behind that explosion, cause he knew damn well he had impulsive urges to crash his helicopter into a building during missions.
"You see 'em anywhere, Price?"
Rupert grumbled impatiently. "Not yet.. how hard is it to find red headphones and a blue earpiece in a crowd of people?"
"Not that hard. On your left, Henry's here."
He quickly jogged over, expecting to see Charles and Henry exiting the UFO, but Henry was the only one in sight. Not only that, he was coming out of a Toppat escape pod, looking pretty roughed up. Sheesh. Did they have a run in with some Toppats while they were up there?
He also had another question.
..where was Charles?
Calvin(?) was ushering Henry out of the pod, which Rupert was now realizing was cracked. "Oh, Rupert! You're supposed to be taking Charles and Henry back to base, aren't ya?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I am." He tilted his head at Henry. "Oi, where's Charles at?"
Henry didn't respond.
"Uh.. Henry?" Calvin waved a hand in front of him, even snapping his fingers. Nothing. Henry's eyes seemed.. distant in a way. Like he wasn't fully there.
Something was wrong, and Rupert felt a pit in his stomach.
"I'm sure the others will find him. C'mon, Stickmin, let's get back to base."
Henry didn't say a single word to anyone on the way back. Didn't even use gestures or use sign. Not even when Rupert was telling him about what the general wanted to see him for. And Charles still hadn't shown up. He concluded that he was on a different helicopter, but his gut told him there was a different reason.
"Stickmin. Stickmin." He poked the ex-thief, which finally got his attention. "Lord, did ya even hear a single word I said?"
He looked nervous, before shaking his head and shakily signing something. "[What is it?]"
"I– nevermind. Short explanation, the general wants to see you." Rupert hopped out of the helicopter. "You coming, or what?"
Henry slowly moved his way out of the helicopter, dragging himself behind Rupert as they made their way to General Galeforce's tent. Rupert had many questions, including why he looked so dejected. His mood was similar to Charles' when Henry had been declared—
A lump formed in his throat. Haha, no. That couldn't be it, that was ridiculous.
"General."
Galeforce looked up from the paperwork he had been doing. "Ah, Henry and Rupert. Good to see you two. What's the news?"
Rupert cleared his throat. "The Toppat Orbital Station had been destroyed, exploded. We're currently bringing in some Toppats that landed near the base."
"Excellent news!" He furrowed his eyebrows as his gaze shifted over to Henry. "Henry, son. What's wrong? And.. where's Charlie?"
Rupert finally got a good look at Henry's face, which he hadn't realized he hadn't fully seen yet.
He was holding back tears.
"Just say it, now. What is it? Where's Charlie?" He urged the man to tell them, hoping his gut wasn't right. It was twisting in multiple ways that made him sick.
..Henry actually spoke outloud for once.
"Charles– he's gone."
Rupert's face fell. "..no. No, that's not fucking funny, Stickmin." He let out a humorless laugh. "Really, where's Charles?"
Silence.
He seized him by the arms, breath shaky, "Where the fuck is he, Henry?!"
"He's DEAD, Rupert!" He gasped out, shoving Rupert away from him. "He– he never made it i-into an escape pod, and—"
Dead.
Dead.
Dead.
Charles Calvin was dead.
No, that had to be some sort of sick joke that was being played on him. Charles was alive and well. He's just around the corner, happily chatting with one of the soldiers on base. He was here. He was here, and Rupert could go finally apologize to him.
But he wasn't.
He never made it off the station, did he?
Now Rupert was never going to be able to apologize to him. Never able to laugh with him, or hug him.
And his last conversation with Charles was an argument.