[ WP ] Write a story about a hero with a tragic end .

They gathered around him one by one, staring down at him. Some on their knees, some remaining standing, doing their best to stay strong. Tears streaked all their faces. A laugh tore its way from his chest, quite possibly literally considering the pain, and he forced his features into a smile that was only partly a grimace. 
 
 `` Why the long faces? Somebody die?'' He fought to laugh again but only a sickening gurgling noise escaped his lips. The girl, pale and sickly, buried her face into the nearby boy's chest, sobs wracking her. The boy locked eyes with the dying man, a promise echoing across the gap. The man nodded weakly, doing his best to look grateful. 
 
 Five others, blank masked faces seeming impossibly to transmit their anguish, knelt beside him and he reached a hand toward them. `` It's not your fault,'' he assured them, `` you protected the team.'' Four of them vanished, vaporizing into silvery dust and the remaining one grabbed at the outstretched hand, as if holding so tightly to it could stop his friend from slipping beyond his reach. The dying man smiled warmly and rolled his gaze past the masked man, to the woman pushing her way through to him, fighting against the flow of people to be by his side. He felt his head spinning and his vision dimmed, but then she was there, her hands cradling his head, her lips pressed against his. He reached his free hand toward her, but his arm was leaden. His eyes drifted closed and he felt her draw away. 
 
 `` Sorry, I'm going on ahead.''
