The Universe Rings, Funeral Bells Don't (a "Universe Rings" fanfiction)

Chapter One: He's Dead

Note: Just thought it'd be a cute lil reminder that this chapter is 2 years after the events of chapter 16

"Come on, we need to go!" Kenneth burst into my room at what had to be midnight. He didn't even have to tell me it was the Interitus. I knew immediately.

"Right." I gathered my things as quickly as possible and shoved them into a dark gray duffel before heading to the storage room, where the Venenarius kept all of the Universe Rings. I grabbed one for myself and one for Kenneth, but it was hard to push past the crowd of other refugees in the Marshland Shelter. Everyone was trying to escape.

This is our fifth shelter this month. The Interitus are moving faster, and they're not going to stop until every universe is destroyed. With more and more Venenarius dying in every attack, we're severely outnumbered.

I found Kenneth frantically checking every tent in the central area of the Marshland Shelter, looking for stray children or pets. When he finished up the last tent, he turned to look at me.

"Did you see where Azizi went?" he called over the screams and explosions. I was almost tempted to cover my ears with all the noise, but I can't read lips and I have to hear what Kenneth is saying.

"No!" I shouted back.

Azizi is one of the best doctors I've ever met, and a fellow refugee from my universe, shown through her bright green hair that we found matched the source of my white hair. She's been with us for two years, since just after the death of...

I don't even want to say his name, or I'll be thinking about him and crying all day. I tried to push the memory of his face out of my head, but instead I only made it more prominent. Great. After two years, I can't even think about him without breaking down. I felt tears well up in my eyes.

"Crap," Kenneth muttered under his breath. "I'm sure she's in the medical tent somewhere. I'll find her and bring her to the shelter in Universe 70891-B, alright? The Yancy Shelter. I suggest you leave now."

I took his advice and slung my duffel over my shoulder, waving goodbye as he turned and ran in the direction of the infirmary and medical tents. I put the universe ring on my pointer finger.

Think about the Yancy Shelter, I told myself. Not Dior.

But it was too late. As a master overthinker, Dior's name, his face, my imaginings of his dead body, everything, was plastered across my mind's eye like a windshield cover. By the time I'd started to teleport, I could barely remember what shelter I was going to. In less than an instant, I found myself on a dusty, barren, uninhabitable planet, facing the only sign of a person ever being here: a small boulder with messy, faded symbols etched into the surface:

Dior Munroe

If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.

Just like I had on that day two years ago in the Bishop Shelter, I broke down. I couldn't stop the flow of tears before they arrived, so I just let them keep falling. I remember telling Kenneth what I wanted on Dior's gravestone, even though we never found his body. I know he wanted something poetic on his grave, but I didn't have the willpower to come up with something original. Instead, I decided to have Kenneth etch a quote I'd read a long time ago using Dior's knife, after we found this empty universe. It needed to be somewhere the Interitus wouldn't destroy for a long, long time. At least longer than my lifespan.

I dropped to my knees and sobbed at the foot of the boulder. I hadn't visited it since we first came. I had always been too scared to say a temporary hello during a permanent goodbye. Kenneth had visited it maybe ten times total, and every time he came back with his eyes red and puffy from crying. I know he still blames himself for what happened, no matter how many times I've assured him Dior chose his time. He always offered to bring me along, but I knew I wouldn't be able to last five minutes there.