Taming The Family

31. Mourning

Tori's P.O.V.

A bright light surrounded my vision causing me to squint. When  could finally see again I had no idea where I was. I couldn't remember the last thing that happened and confusion was all my brain seemed to know. 

I rubbed my burnt eyes with my fingers before trying to figure anything else out. When I opened them again I saw a cotton candy colored sky above me. Bright vegetation was on my right side while a towering castle was on my left. I looked down to the lush green lawn and felt regret string my chest. 

Loki's body lay on the grass, dead at my feet. I looked up slowly to see Sera, Levi, and Sofia all crying their hearts out. The children looked frightened and heartbroken but Sera seemed to be holding herself together in a way. 

Although the way they were looking at me made me feel like I was a monster. I instantly accepted the worst, that I had either killed him or helped someone do it. I folded my hands together and looked my best friend in the eyes. "I'm so sorry."

Sera shook her head as two  tears of liquid fire dripped from her eyes. She quickly caught them before they could fall on the twins and cleared her throat. "Kids.... Please go inside, I need to talk to Tori." She whispered in a voice that was barely audible. 

The twins nodded and reluctantly left their mother. They cowered away from me and took one last look at their father before entering the back door. I swallowed the regret in my throat and focused my attention on Sera.

She slowly walked over to me, looking only at her husband. "Sera, I-"

"Why?" She croaked, finally meeting my eyes. I opened my mouth only to close it again. "Why you? You are the strongest person I know and you cannot be knocked out by a tiny spell! I looked you dead in the eyes and you didn't even try to resist." She cried, bottom lip quivering as she finished. 

"Look, I'm sorry! Okay? I didn't know what was happening! I didn't do this on purpose, Sera I would never hurt you like that." My best friend shook her head as she fell to her knees. "But you did, you didn't even try to stop it! You know how much he meant to me!" 

"I'm sorry!! I don't know what else you want me to say!!!" I shouted, sitting on my knees so I was at her eye level. Sera's eyes grew slightly frightened as I raised my voice. I let out a rough sigh and tried to get myself back under control. "I didn't mean to snap at you."

She shrugged almost like nothing had happened. My gaze softened as I watched her slowly lace her fingers through his. "If I could bring him back I would." Sera only shook her head. "It wouldn't matter because he isn't really dead." I looked down at the corpse before looking back at my friend. "Sera, look at him." 

"This has happened before and I'm not falling for it again, he's out there somewhere." She insisted as she rose to a stand. I frowned and got up from my spot in the grass. "But why would he leave you guys? It doesn't make sense and last time he was actually dead."

Sera grew silent. "........ We'll send him off tonight, but I'm not going to stop believing he's alive."

{El Depressing-o Time-o Skip-o}

Brooke, Peter, Sam, Sera, Sofia, Levi, Ethan, Steve, and myself all stood on the natural bridge of grass the grew over the river. A boat holding Loki's body floated gently along the sparkling crystal water that reflected the rainbow of stars the night sky held.

I took a step forward to say some kind of speech on behalf of the broken family beside me. My eyes wandered from my husband  to my son to the rest of people dressed in black. I cleared my throat before facing the water's edge in the distance. 

"Loki was by no means a good man, quite the opposite actually. He was a terrorist, murderer, and liar." Steve and Ethan sent me a disappointed but not surprised kind of glare. I slightly raised my hand as a signal for them to let me finish. 

"At least that's what some people thought of him. In reality he was a father, friend, husband, and teacher. All of us have our own special memories with or about him and we should hold them close to our hearts." My eyes shifted away from Sera until the landed on my niece Brooke. 

"I know that my family was far from perfect but the good memories we share are the ones that matter most." Brooke smiled warmly and leaned in closer to Peter. 

"With that being said, I know Loki's passing will be hard to get over but as long as we lean on each other as the family that we are, I know for a fact that we'll be okay... He wouldn't want any of us isolated and alone." As I finished my speech I took a step back.

As Loki neared the end of the river, everyone drew there bows. Sera and Sofia both lit the end of theirs in their fingers before sharing their fire with the rest of us. Once we all had flaming arrows we held them high in the night sky. 

Sera was the first to release hers, it flew through the glass like sky before landing in the distant boat. The rain of arrows that followed hers created a large glowing light in the distance. The fire floated down the river before it fell off the water's edge. The crashing of the waves was all we could hear.

Suddenly a group of sparkling lights sprang up from the water's edge. It swam up through the air until it spiraled into a constellation above us. I looked down the line of people a saw silent tears falling down almost all of their faces, including the reader's.

Suddenly Sera rushed down the bridge. The ends of her black dress fluttered in the wind as she made her way into the forest. I placed my hand on Steve shoulder to catch his attention. "Stay with the kids." My husband nodded and I quickly made my way through the line of people. 

As I walked down the bridge I noticed small dots of burning grass from where her tears had fallen. I wandered deep into the forest until I came across a spot that was 20 degrees hotter than it should be. 

I stopped at a tree when I finally saw her. Sera was sitting on the ground looking completely hopeless. Her shoulders were slumped and her arms were hanging on the ground. The grass around her was lit aflame and tears of liquid fire continued to pour from her orange eyes. 

She let out a broken scream and her entire body burned with a bright orange light. The fire grew and grew until a circle of vegetation surrounding her was burnt to the crisp. She stopped the flames coming from her and that left her dress sizzling and covered in holes. 

I walked over to my friend, beware that she might burst into flames again. Without even saying a word I knelt beside her. Sher instantly fell into my arms and I held her, comfortingly stroking her back. 

She didn't cry, didn't make a sound, just laid there.