IT was the funeral.

Lily had gotten dressed in her soberest gown with the help of Elize. Adrian came to take her to the funeral. Lily didn't mind the pain when she walked.

Everyone around glanced at her sympathetically. So many people were going to his funeral—even those who didn't know him. He'd died a martyr, in their eyes.

She gripped on to Adrian's arm tighter as he helped her limp through the trees, to the cemetery.

Venix's grave was filled—figures clustered around it. Adrian handed Lily an unlit candle and a white lily.

"Come," he whispered.

Venix's grave was a mass of white lilies, covering the soft soil in white petals. The crowd parted for her to go through. Venix had had a lot of friends.

Lily saw Ada, and Iressa, standing there as she knelt beside an already-kneeling figure to her left.

Vena.

The girl didn't look as if she was taking anything in. Her green eyes were dull, unseeing. Her fingers rested at the edge of his grave gently, cradling a lily. There were no tears.

There was a couple behind her—Venix's parents. The twins resembled them vaguely. They were crying freely, clutching onto each other.

Lily looked away and placed a flower on his grave, her chest tightening. She accepted Adrian's hand to pull her up, leaving Vena kneeling beside her twin's grave.

Everyone stepped back. Lily watched Iressa take Vena's hand and walk her away. Vena didn't protest. Didn't do anything but look at the soil beneath which Venix's body lied.

Lily lit her candle and placed it in the line—a shorter line that there had been during the funerals after the attack, but significant.

Arlo stepped forward, Arianna at his side. "These candles will remain until the wind blows them out, like Venix's life, which was extinguished just yesterday. It was his destiny. But one day, we will all meet again."

Arlo cleared his throat, glancing at the ground, before allowing Arianna to lead him away.

Most of the crowd retreated, but Lily stayed. So did Adrian, Ada, Iressa, Arlo and Arianna. Vena and her family. Edra Karnem. Talin. Gorno. So did Colonel Ulima and Bruto.

She watched as Vena sat beside his grave again, shutting her eyes, seeming to not hear her parents' sobs beside her. Ada and Iressa crept to her side and sat beside her. Arlo and Arianna hung back, their faces sorrowful, with Edra, Talin and Gorno. The Colonel and Bruto stood far, but they were there.

Lily took Adrian's hand and walked forward, sitting opposite Vena, on the other side of Venix's grave.

She looked at the faces in front of her. Ada's and Iressa's were tear-stained, but Vena's wasn't.

She glanced down at the grave, the grave that now held only a shell of the man Venix used to be.

It was like a blow to the chest, looking down at his grave. Knowing that Venix would never again laugh with them, joke with them. He'd never again curse the Colonel.

She let the tears slip out as she shook pressing her hand to the mass of flowers over Venix's body. She couldn't form words, couldn't say anything.

Venix was dead.

She tried to muffle her sobs, squeezing Adrian's hand. She could see him crying, Ada walking to his other side. He pulled his sister into an embrace, both of them curling into each other.

Lily let go of his hand and walked around, kneeling beside Vena. The girl didn't look away from the grave. She was crushing something tightly in her hands. The lily, its petals broken and twisted between her fingers.

Lily glanced at Iressa.

"Vena," Iressa whispered. "You have to put the lily down."

Vena didn't respond.

"Please, Vena," Lily said, her voice shaking. This was all her fault.

It felt like Vena didn't, couldn't hear them.

Lily moved back to let Vena's mother step forward and sit next to Vena. The older woman uncurled Vena's fingers gently, freeing the crushed flower.

Vena's mother took Vena's hand, and together they dropped the flower over Venix's grave.

Lily watched Vena's face. Still blank, still numb, even as her mother pulled her in, even as her father held both of them. She looked up—Adrian and Ada, still clasping each other tightly, Arlo and Arianna holding hands above them.

Edra Karnem walking away, her face hard, followed by Talin, and then Gorno. The Colonel and Bruto still standing amidst the trees, their faces grim.

Something cold and wet landed on her neck, and she glanced up. More droplets sprinkled down slowly, landing on their clothes, on the flowers.

The rain came down quicker, plastering her raven hair to her neck, her clothes to her body. It was cold. But Lily couldn't move.

"Lily," Adrian said, his voice a hush in the quiet field.

Lily looked up.

"You have to get back to the infirmary. You can't risk being out here."

Lily pursed her lips and glanced back down at Venix's grave, rain mixing with the tears on her cheeks. How could she leave?

"Go," Iressa whispered, nudging her arm.

Lily let out a silent sob as Adrian stood up and took her hand, pulling her up. Ada gave her a shaky nod as she stepped back. She glanced at all the others before turning back to Adrian.

"I can't leave—"

"You have to," Adrian whispered. She couldn't tell if his face was wet with rain or tears. Both. "I can't let you stay here."

She didn't say anything after that, not as he took her back to the infirmary. Not as he handed her over to Elize, who gave an exclamation on seeing her soaked clothes. Not even as he left, probably to go back to Venix's grave.

She let Elize help her change into dry clothes and put her on a bed near a fire. She took spoonfuls of soup as Elize fed her, and then laid down. The warmth enveloped her, but it didn't help the chill still running through her bones, the chill that had come and stayed ever since she'd seen Vena's face.

Elize let her be, laying down on the bed beside her. Lily turned and stared into the fire, flames burning her eyes until she couldn't keep them open any longer.

Her eyes drifted shut, but Lily didn't let herself sleep. Not when Venix was lying in his grave and Vena sat next to it, in the rain. Not when everyone else was there.

And Lily was here, warm and fed and safe.

But she couldn't evade sleep for so long. No one could. Maybe there had been something in the soup, something about the fire, but Lily fell asleep.

From one nightmare to another.

Short, but important. Fun fact : I had originally planned to kill Arlo. Would you have been happier if I had?

With that, Don't forget to:

Vote!

Comment!

Share!

And thanks for reading! :)