Class - Season Two

A Heart for a Heart, Part 1

Singing. It seemed as if that were the only thing that April was able to do anymore.

Ever since she had been transplanted into the body of the king of the Shadow Kin, Coranikus, everything about her life had changed. For one, she could tell that all her friends looked on her in horror whenever they saw her. They tried to hide it, but April knew.

She knew that when Tanya looked at her, she saw her dying mum.

She knew that when Charlie and Quill looked at her, they could only see their dying world.

And Ram. When Ram looked at her, he saw everything he'd lost. His dad, Rachel, his leg. Her.

Even her own mum, though she tried to deny it, couldn't look past her new body. When Charlie had opened the Cabinet of Souls, every piece of Shadow in the world was destroyed, including that which allowed her mum to walk again.

Music, the one unchanging thing that she always had, was gone. Her stone fingers (she never thought she'd think those three words in succession) were too large to effectively play piano keys. They were too clumsy for the violin. She'd broken three strings the first time she'd tried playing and was too disheartened to give it another try.

Only her voice remained. It was the one thing that had stayed after her transformation.

She looked forlornly over at her bed, where her previous body lay. It was uninhabited, effectively dead. The transfer between her and Corakinus had been one-way. She supposed that was better. She wouldn't have to deal with the king of the Shadow Kin anymore. But it still brought her a feeling of sadness, looking at her body.

She didn't know if she should bury it. There was no soul there. Everything that she was had been transferred into her new, stone body. But she felt she should onto it. In case she needed it. Perhaps there was some way to return her soul to its proper place. It was unlikely, but if there was a chance, she had to take it.

***

Ram looked down at his father's empty casket before looking up at the crowd gathered. He cleared his throat. It was his duty to recite three prayers at the ceremony: Ardas, Japji, and Kirtan Sohila. He wouldn't be the only one praying, but as his father's son, he'd be expected to lead.

It was funny. He could play football so easily, yet when it came to something like this, he just seemed to fall to pieces.

This wasn't what his father's funeral was supposed to be like. Ram had avoided thinking about the possibility of him ever dying, but he hoped that he could be a faithful son if anything happened. They couldn't cremate him; they couldn't bury him in the Sikh tradition. There was, quite literally, nothing left of him. Nothing to bury.

He sighed and raised his face to the crowd. It was time to begin.

***

Tanya was in much the same boat as Ram. Not literally, of course. That would be ridiculous. Unlike Ram, however, she had her brothers with her. She'd had to explain the past semester to them; all the aliens she'd fought.

Some things never seemed to get better.

***

Charlie was mourning for the second loss of his people. Both had been to the Shadow Kin: the first in slaughter, the second in vengeance. He was responsible for the second, but as prince of Rhodia, he felt indirectly responsible for the first as well.

He hadn't talked to Matteusz since the final battle, and he was unsure if they would speak again. Surely, they would. They had to. They loved each other. But the fear in Matteusz's eyes after what Charlie did kept him awake at night. Matteusz had said he was afraid of Charlie and now Charlie had seen that fear first hand, and that terrified him all the more, for he couldn't bear to lose his friend.