Elena was kneeling beside Thomas's crumpled body, her hands hovering over him like she wanted to touch him but couldn't bear to confirm what she already knew. Her face was streaked with tears, her breathing coming in short, sharp gasps that sounded like she was drowning.
Liam was a few feet away, standing completely still, staring at his father. The carved wooden horse had fallen from his hands and lay forgotten in the dirt.
The boy's face was blank. His young mind was unable to process what had just happened.
"Thomas," Elena whispered, her voice breaking. "Thomas, please. Please wake up. Please, we need you. Liam needs you. I need you." Her hands finally touched what remained of his chest, and she felt nothing. No movement. No breath. No life.
A sound escaped her then—a wail of pure agony that echoed off the canyon walls. It was the sound of a heart being torn in half, of a future collapsing.
"NO! NO, NO, NO!" She pressed her forehead against his chest, her shoulders shaking with sobs so violent they seemed to tear through her entire body. "You promised! You promised we'd build that workshop together! You promised we'd watch Liam grow up! You promised!"
Max stood frozen, a few tears streaming down his own face in the real world.
Liam finally moved. He walked slowly toward his mother, his steps mechanical, his eyes never leaving his father's still form.
"Mom?" His voice was small, childlike, and trembling. "Mom, why isn't Dad moving?"
Elena looked up at her son, and the expression on her face was something Max would never forget. It was the face of a mother who had to tell her child the worst thing in the world, and there was no way to make it better.
"He's..." She couldn't finish. Her voice broke completely.
"Dad!" Liam's voice rose, panic setting in. "Dad, get up! We have to go back to camp! Dad!"
He ran to his father, shaking his twisted arm. "Dad, please! Stop sleeping! Wake up!"
"Liam—" Elena tried to pull him back, but the boy fought her.
"NO! DAD! DAD, WAKE UP!" His voice cracked, rising to a scream. "DADDY, PLEASE!"
And then it hit him. Really hit him. The awful, terrible truth that his father was never going to wake up, never going to ruffle his hair or tell him stories or carve him another wooden animal.
Liam's scream changed. It became something raw and primal, the sound of childhood innocence dying in real-time. He collapsed against his father's body, his small hands gripping Thomas's shirt, and sobbed with an intensity that shook his entire body.
"Don't leave me! Please don't leave me! I'll be good, I promise! I'll listen to everything you say! Just please, please come back! DADDY!"
Elena pulled her son into her arms, and they held each other over Thomas's body, both of them crying so hard they could barely breathe. Elena's hand reached out and touched her husband's face, memorizing every detail one last time.
"I love you," she whispered to him. "I love you so much. Thank you for saving our son. Thank you for being the best man I've ever known. Thank you for every moment we had. I love you. I love you. I love you."
Max's vision was blurred with tears. He wanted to look away, felt like he was intruding on something too intimate, too painful. But he couldn't leave them alone with this.
He approached slowly, and Elena looked up at him. Her face was ravaged by grief, eyes red and swollen, but when she saw him, something shifted in her expression.
"He saved us," she said, her voice hoarse. "Thomas saved Liam. If he hadn't stood there, if he hadn't... my baby would be dead."
"I'm sorry," Max choked out. "I'm so sorry. I should have been faster—"
"No." Elena's voice was firm despite the tears. "Don't. You fought that thing when you knew you couldn't win. Thomas saw what you did. In those last seconds, he saw you sacrifice yourself for strangers. That's why he knew what he had to do. You showed him what courage looks like."
"It wasn't enough."
"It was enough to save my son." Her voice broke again. "It was enough for Thomas to know Liam had a chance. That's all a father wants—for his child to live."
Liam was still crying, his face buried in his mother's shoulder, his small body shaking with sobs that seemed too large for his frame.
Max knelt beside them and, without thinking, reached out. Elena collapsed against him, one arm around her son, and Max held them both while they shattered.
He could feel Elena's tears soaking into his shirt. Could feel Liam's small fists gripping his armor. Could hear their broken breathing, their whispered denials, and their prayers to gods that wouldn't answer.
And Max held them through.
Because this wasn't just code. This wasn't just complex AI simulating grief.
This was real pain. Real loss.
Thomas Clearwater—an NPC, a collection of algorithms—had loved his family enough to die for them.
He had been someone. And now he was gone.
They stayed like that for a long time. The sun moved across the sky, shadows shifted, but the three of them remained huddled together in that canyon.
Eventually—Max didn't know how long, minutes or hours—Elena pulled back slightly. Her voice was empty, hollowed out.
"We need to take him back. To camp. He deserves... he deserves proper rites."
Max helped her stand and helped her lift Thomas's body. It felt wrong, handling the corpse of someone he'd been laughing with just hours ago.
Liam refused to let go of his father's hand, walking beside the body as they made their slow way back to base camp.
They walked through the metallic forest where they'd been so happy just yesterday. Past the stream where Elena had found her herbs. Past the clearing where Liam had made his crown of leaves and declared himself a king.
Everything looked the same, but the world had fundamentally changed.