Where did you go? I'm still here. (Open to X-ers)
Cassidy stands over the gravestone, looking down at the name and the flowers etched upon it. He kneels down to brush away some of the dirt and leaves that have accumulated recently; there isn't much, which Cassidy attributes to the other people who visit this place. He hasn't spoken to Mr. Wagner or Mina in nearly a year, despite knowing that they /both/ reside on the premises. A small part of that is timing. They all have their own lives.
The rest of it is Cassidy avoiding the issue. What /do/ you say to the family of someone who died because of you? An "I'm sorry" is pretty insulting, at least to his mind. Cassidy hasn't figured out how to say it to the Wagners, let alone the 3,000 plus other families from Fargo. He was still here while those people weren't. Nearly a year past both of those tragedies and he had no more answers now than he did then, not even with all of the reading, all of the talking to Andrew and Izzy or any of his other friends.
He still hadn't told his brother the bulk of what he'd done. Would Andrew reject him if he knew? He would have to, of course. There was no way Andrew could have contact with him after knowing what happened at Fargo, it would utterly undermine his entire mission. He couldn't tell anyone in his family; they'd cast him out. Izzy...she saw what happened to Jake, but he couldn't tell her about Fargo; there was no way she'd understand. It was too much for him to understand and he'd been the one to do it.
Tina had her own life to deal with; he'd burdened her enough. In fact, she and X-Force had almost been casualties of his loss of control. Rose and Joey hated his guts; he was sure Rose would kill him if she thought she could get away with it and Joey would help her hide his body. Anastasia went back home. He didn't know Rachel well enough to talk to her and Chris...was nice but she was just his friend. All of these people had known Jake and loved him, and now he was in the earth beneath Cassidy's feet.
Cassidy stared down at the headstone and realized that he would never be free of this guilt and regret. Moreover, he /deserved/ not to be.
Still, he had to say it.
"I'm sorry, Jake. I am." Cassidy says, laying the flowers he'd picked down upon the grave, lost in thought.
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