On Importance

Nace Bilby

ACME
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At 11:31 P.M. on 22 June 2012, tears welling in his eyes, Nace would open his hand, to see what Evey had in her last moments pressed into it. In his palm was a pewter sigil, the cap badge of the Special Air Service, a family heirloom from his grandfather that Nace had given Evey almost six years earlier...

---

3 June 2006. Nace said very softly as he stood outside a pub not far from Regent Park, "Open your eyes."

Evey Hammond did so and he heard her gasp, her small hand gently held by both of his hands. "Nace, this is your grandfather's from his time in the SAS, isn't it?"

Nace nodded. Evey had tears in her eyes, at a loss for words. "Consider it a symbol." Nace said, somberly. Just recently he had been awarded the winged dagger with the scroll emblazoned with the SAS motto, 'Who Dares Wins', passing Selection and training with 21 SAS, one of the two Territorial Army (reserve force) units of Great Britain's famed SAS.

"Consider it a symbol that you mean more to me than earning my winged dagger." Nace continued. It hadn't been easy, from the one hundred and fifty seven young men who had turned up at the armory at Regent Park almost a year earlier only five had stayed the course and were the newest troopers of A Squadron, 21 SAS.

"Consider it a symbol of the love I have for you, and know that love is what I have for you." Nace said.

Evey snuffled and said, "I'll take special care of this."

Holding hands the pair walked back into the bar, to join the other celebrants for Nace's good fortune.

---

22 June 2012. Nace stared at the sigil in his hand. Evey had been true to her word, she had kept it. He remembered words from the letter she had left him so long ago, when she defected from ACME in 2008, leaving him heartbroken and at a loss.

He recalled every word from that letter, every word having been burned into his heart. One line said, "I don't blame you if you hate me forever."

He alas grateful that Carmen had let him know of Evey's failing health, let him be able to say his last goodbyes and at least gain closure in some respects. He had said to her, "I never hated you for an instant, I may not have agreed with your methods, but I never hated you."

And so in the hours after Evey's death Nace had wandered to the chapel. The choir had been rehearsing then.

"Immaculate Mary Your Praises we sing. You reign now in splendor with Jesus our King. Ave Ave Ave Maria. Ave Ave Ave Maria." The choir sang.

Nace slid into a pew, silently crossing himself, "Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, I pray fervently now for the soul of Evey Hammond. Please intercede to our King that she not cross Acheron's shores."

It was a very real fear Nace had for his beloved's soul. After all traitors would be consigned to Hell's lowest circle. He hoped again Evey would not behold the snakelike King Minos, hear him hiss the word betrayer and wrap his tail nine times around her to consign her to freeze in Lake Cocytus, the coldest and deepest depth of the Inferno.

"In Heaven the Blessed Your Glory proclaim. On Earth we Your children invoke your sweet name. Ave Ave Ave Maria. Ave Ave Ave Maria."

"I, one of Your children invoke a plea for Evey. May she be allowed to join her parents in Paradiso or at worst be made to work off her sins in Purgatorio." Nace said, "Amen."

Nace crossed himself, sitting alone in the pew as he took the sigil Evey had returned and the letter she had written him all those years ago. His eyes read the words Evey had written, saying she was sorry but she had to go, that she still loved him, that she couldn't remain with ACME after knowing they had failed her parents and led to them being tortured to death before her eyes.

"We pray for the Church our true Mother on Earth. And then You to watch over the land of our birth. Ave Ave Ave Maria. Ave Ave Ave Maria." The choir finished the final bit of the hymn.

Nace left the chapel, crossing himself and walking into the London night. The symbol of his unit held its importance far beyond his being a soldier with the SAS and even more so that it had been his grandfather's former unit. It now held the importance of his now dead fiancée, for she still loved him and still held it dear even having cut ties with ACME.

I swear on this sigil I shall find the agent who betrayed your parents to the Mafiya, Evey, and when I do so they shall pay...Nace thought as he wandered about London's streets.
 

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