Blend the Light

Goodbyes

 "I can't believe we're saying goodbye today," Jay says as he runs his hands through his hair a few times. Two days have passed since our attack on Guthrie Harper and the Wasteland guards, and today is the funeral for those who died in the battle. The Wasteland guards showed up at six, really more like five thirty, and they freed the Gladiators and offered all the resources at their disposal to try to right their wrongs. Vladimir has taken over the role that Adrien held while he was alive. "So I guess this is it? Our goodbyes?" I ask as we walk out of the base and towards the cemetery even though I already know the answer. It feels surreal.

"Yeah. So many died, though. How are we supposed to say goodbye to all of them?"

"I don't know. I don't know, Jay." In total, we lost almost two hundred Raydownians and T-LOOT-Dians and about two hundred and thirty Wasteland guards. Capital City has since been abandoned.

The cemetery is crowded. Vladimir stands on a stage and is shuffling through some papers. I follow Jay as he weaves through people to find where Lily and Rex lay. "We're gathered here today to honor the lives lost during the attack on Guthrie Harper. They will never be forgotten. I might not have personally known everyone who was killed during the battle, but I know they fought with courage and selflessness. I couldn't have wished to fight alongside anyone else. I thank you for your time. We will now hear from the family and friends of those who are no longer with us." Vladimir nods as he steps aside to let the next speaker take the stage.

"Are you ready to speak?" Jay leans in as he whispers his questions.

"No. Most definitely not. You?" I had no idea what to write, and I only got a very short speech this morning, which is mostly memorized. Ish.

"Mostly. I'm still not sure why I'm speaking for Lily. I have no relation to her."

"You were among the closest to her."

"Sorta."

One by one, the speeches are given and coffins are lowered into the ground and buried. Gravestones spread across the grass. People embrace each other as they cry.

Jay goes before me. He bounces slightly on his feet as he takes a deep breath before beginning to speak. "So the first time I met Lily was when I was brought to the Wasteland, and she was going as her Blended form, Arrow. Right from the get go, she tried to make my life, and Hawk's, better. After Arrow was killed, and she was brought to Raydowne, she helped out in any way she could to free the Gladiators and stop Guthrie Harper. Lily was hardworking and selfless. She shouldn't have d-d." Jay chokes on the words. Tears spill from the corners of his eyes, and he wipes them away. I pull him into a hug as he almost flees from the stage. "Are you ready to bury Lily?"

"Do we have to? I don't want to say goodbye. It'll mean she's really gone." Jay murmurs.

"You can do it. I'll be right beside you." I'm not sure what to say, but I must've done something right because Jay pulls back and wipes a few more tears from his eyes as he walks over to Lily's coffin. We lower it into the ground and pull the shovels from the mound of dirt, scooping it up and throwing it over Lily's coffin until it's covered. Jay takes his time smoothing the ground flat and arranging the flowers on her gravestone until he's gotten them just right. "I think it's my turn now," I say after a few minutes of sitting beside Lily's grave with Jay. He nods without looking up.

"So I'm not entirely sure what to say here, but, uh, here goes. I'm a Blender, and Rex was my Blended form. Shortly after I was captured in the attack on our base, Guthrie Harper sent his Wasteland guards to split my Blended form apart from me, and that was when Rex and I became two separate beings. We were super close, just like any Blender is, and when he died, I lost half of myself. He was courageous and loyal. During the battle, he kept fighting until his last breath. And, uh. Sorry, I'm not... I don't really know what else to say, but I'll miss him forever." I wipe a few tears from my eyes before they can fall. I give the crowd a small smile before walking towards Rex's coffin. The wood is smooth beneath my touch. "I'll miss you, Rex," I whisper as I lean in close. Vladimir and I take either end of the coffin and place it in Rex's grave. It stirs up a little dust as we set it down. I pick up a shovel and begin to cover Rex's coffin. The gaps around it fill in with each scoop of dirt, and soon the ground becomes level again. I smooth it out with my shovel.

"Adrien Sauyer doesn't have any relatives who we could find, so I am talking for him," Vladimir starts, causing me to look up from where I was focused on Rex's grave. "He led The Loyal Order of Thorny Devils like we were one giant family, which we are. He made sure everyone had what they needed and that they had a part. He also made sure there were never ranks and instead everyone helped with everything. The Loyal Order of Thorny Devils was his whole life; he poured everything he had into its cause. While he wasn't able to be there for the final battle, he's here in all of our hearts. He was looking over us." No one was talking, but it manages to get even more silent as Adrien's coffin is lowered into the ground and is covered by dirt. I stand and look at the graves spanning the cemetery. There are so many. The cemetery hadn't been too full before, but now it's almost full. "If we could just have a moment of silence for those who died in the attack on Capital City, please." Vladimir lowers his gaze to the ground. A few birds chirp overhead, but apart from that, everything is silent. Jay makes his way over to me, and he stands beside me. A few minutes later, Vladimir breaks the silence. "Thank you. You may stay for as long as you'd like."

No one leaves for twenty minutes or so. They wander around, stopping at graves, quietly talking amongst themselves, and placing flowers on tombstones until the cemetery blossoms with color. I take it upon myself to visit each grave. Finally, I return to Rex's grave once there are only a small handful of people left, and even a few of those are leaving. Jay is still sitting beside Lily's grave. Rex's tombstone is simple, only carved with his name and the date he died, two days ago. I sit down, playing with a few strands of grass. 

"You probably already know this, but I wish you were here. You shouldn't've died. Though, I guess, like, no one should've died. You came so close to defeating Mars, and you fought until your last breath. That was courageous. I'm not really sure what to say. Who knows if you can even hear me. This is probably stupid. You can't hear me. But it feels like you can in some way, don't you know? If you can hear me, I want you to know that I miss you. And thank you for pushing me out of that blinding white. I wish you were here, though. I think things are changing in Raydowne. Well, they are, but I think it's for the better. The Wasteland guards were under Guthrie Harper's control, and they couldn't control what they were doing. They were in their own personal hell of sorts. They're helping all they can with freeing the Gladiators. I wish you were here so you could see this too." I pat the dirt as if I was petting Rex's fur.

After an hour or so, I stand and walk back towards the base as the sun begins to set after casting another glance at the graves. Goodbye.

Thank you so much for reading this chapter! This is it- this was the final chapter of Blend the Light! It has taken about a year or so to get here, but I have finally finished it! I will be starting my next book, The King's Remorse, soon, and I will be posting it here. Please check it out!

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-Werewolf14-