Letter From Hell
Reply: Bush
by Andrea

Hello, Mr. Simpson.

I know you don't know me, but though I have never had the pleasure of
meeting you, I do know you. I know your past acts - acts of such severe
cruelty that you broke one man's nerve to live. Now, with what I have been
told you are probably smiling in fond rememberance of such times, but I have
one thing to say to you, sir: That is the past.

Your hold over Mr. Kennedy has long since passed away into the realm of an
occasional nightmare which is quickly forgotten, or if not forgotten at
least put away without the ill effects of which it used to come. For those
nightmares now come to Mr. Hornblower, they're previous sufferer having
passed into that realm in which no nightmare may venture. Yes, Mr. Kennedy
has left this world, and I can tell you, it is the more darker for it.

You know, even I can sense your pleasure at this bit of news.

But Archie did not leave this world in a manner which would satisfy your
sick wishes. No, he went out in a blaze of glory, though few may know it
because of the circumstances surrounding it. I shall openly admit that when
I first met Mr. Kennedy I would never have thought him capable of anything
more than mediocre service - I believed him to be mouthy and rebellious. I
was wrong. Mr. Kennedy was one of the most couragous men I have ever had the
pleasure of serving with. He made the ultimate sacrifice to save a fellow
officer, giving up not just his life but his good name. All in the name of a
friendship which, instead of destroying, you caused to be forged.

Yes, that has turned your smirk, hasn't it?

I am sure that, even without your timely aid, Mr. Hornblower and Mr. Kennedy
would have become friends. But perhaps never as devoted or as quickly. They
have, because of you sir, pulled each other from the darkest times in their
lives; and together they have moved on. They shall remain together in a way
you would never understand, could never even comprehend. I am not a man
given to poetics but tis one thing I know for truth: Love, not hate or
cruelty, can survive even death.

Tis why I am responding to your letter, however it came to be here. For
Horatio you no longer exist past a nightmare, a thing which fades with the
light of day; or with the touch of a friend's hand in the darkness. Yes,
even without Mr. Kennedy, Horatio has friends, of which I am one. I would
never hope to replace Mr. Kennedy, t'would be folly to try and a great act
of stupidity for the trier. But I pray to one day be there for Horatio when
he needs me to be, and I pray for the strength and courage of Mr. Kennedy, a
man you thought you had broken.

May this find you where you deserve to be...

Yours Sincerely,

Lt. William Bush