Society agreed to hold one funeral for all the deaths that had transpired in the few days since the first murders. They agreed upon burying the bodies around the human world as a boarder between human society and the wild outside. It served as symbolism. The unity of humanity; The civility of humanity.

On the day of the funeral after the service, the Originals in their divine attire appeared, since a very long time, before the people. They, of course, made no show of it.  All are equal and they are no more special than the others. Two of the Originals made their way towards the two brothers (one soon to be a leader), their maidens, and the soon to be maiden. The old man nodded his head once and chuckled a bit beneath his breath. The younger woman bowed her body is a show a mutual respect.

"Oh, you" Seán said when he saw the old man. His maiden with her black mask covering her face, stood slightly behind Seán. Uncustomary of a maiden as they are intended to protect whomever they serve. She whispered something into his ear, and he slightly and slowly nodded. 

Luke bowed deeply to the two and took their hands into his own and kissed them. "Thank you for seeing us." not wanting to come off to strongly, Luke whispered. 
"I would say it's been fun, but I feel kind of bored. I'm quite disappointed in the two of you. Especially Seán. I expected more initiative in you, son. You were always the wild card. Speaking of son, how is your father doing?" the old man chuckled while he spoke and looked up at the sky. "Still raining? I suppose a flood is coming soon." The man said and continues, "Eight, let's go."

So off the two left. Luke's maiden looked at Seán's and Seán's returned the same.

"Why did he ask about dad?" Luke wonders aloud. Luke looked at Seán and Seán returned the same.

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She wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him about everything. She set the two up in hopes that that woman would change her mind. But it's her. Ten is always appearing to be the selfish one. The one who seems to work only to gain, but in actuality loses. Stop lying. You're a selfish bitch who just didn't get what she wants. That's the end of it. Flash figured it out. I figured it out. So will he. And to think the world thought you didn't have a heart to desire anything.

The tug of his pull on her body made her feel light as air. "Where to?" She asked him, for the first time feeling uncertain. Had the air pushed her words away from ears that hear? After a minute Seán briefly replies, "the falls. To find my dad." At hearing that, she took the lead, running faster than expected, than the eye could see, than the brain could remember, and, just like that, they were there at the falls in a flash. 
She would have continued moving in search of Seán's father, but a limp body drenched in pink water became a block in her path.

Against a rock, Seán's father's body swayed with the weak current of the river. "Oh." She overheard.

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Even with my memories back, I still feel out of the loop. Dang it. I couldn't even bear to look over at Chrixten. If I had, I definitely would have punched her in the face. Oh it was guaranteed. Seán has grabbed Chrixten's wrist and basically ran for the hills. Luke ran off without Dia, who was searching through the crowd for someone. She starts heading off in the other direction quickly, and I start jogging to catch up. "What's up?" I ask, but she doesn't seem to hear or listen. "He was right there! We should've told them! He was disguised as"-she paused mid sentence and walk. 
"...but how long has he been... but that would mean that society, that my duty..."
She turns to me and takes her mask off, revealing pale almost crystalline skin. "Fuck the rules." She says.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided not to add dad to the funeral. We buried him near the falls, and that was the end of that. 
Luke left to find his Maiden, and I stayed here with mine, sitting and the edge of the fall. She walked over and sat in the water in her white dress, staring out at the scenery just as dad would. Then, she let out a breath and looked over at me. Once again, there was no noise in the world. No creatures. Not even the sound of the water beating against itself. 
The water's still red. Still very very red. But the red around his body was diluted. This must be some kind of joke. It's not funny. Old man can't actually be gone. He is. We can bring him back. How? He's just dead. This isn't a game. I look over to my side and see myself sitting and looking down at dad's grave.  Seeing that image, a simple hallucination I tell myself, made something in me sting and crack. "The dead don't come back to life! So stop talking!" I yell at him, but he looks over to Ten and smiles. "Don't be so sure about that Seán-shine." He says, wagging his finger in front of my face and clicking his tongue. He smiles at Ten and asks, 
"any news of our dear friend Rebbi?"

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Pierro wasn't crying. I brush his hair out his face with my hand to see him. Some color has come back into his eyes and skin. "Good." I say aloud and stand from my chair. I need to do some cleaning. It was Flash's job, but he's outside.

As I listen to the bells that resonate through the world, I stare into my watery reflection. The tables are never clean enough; the dishes made are never warm enough. My life will never be complete with just half-assing. "Why?" I hear a familiar voice ask.  A voice I haven't heard in a very very long time. I turn around to see Pierro looking up at me with water in his eyes. I didn't add Flash to the worldwide funeral because he's mine, not the world's. "Did you just say your first words? Can I hear you say mama?" I kneel down and look him in the face. His lips are quivering. "W-Why?" He asks again. "No, mama." I reply, shaking my head. 
"Wow, he's grown up so fast." I hear that weirdo Frank whisper from the corner. I wonder if he has a life outside of this restaurant. I wonder, if he had a second chance at life, would he waste it all over again. He stands abruptly from his booth and walks to the front of the room. "You are no longer welcome here." I hear him say. A change of heart? Rarely possible. What would lead a wallflower to stand up suddenly and become the wall? It's just not possible. 
I turn around and see that soon-to-be-commissioner, Seán, standing before Frank. He has a smile about him that I just can't trust. I quickly turn around to Pierro and tell him to run into the kitchen and hide till I call him back out. 
"Why?"
"A-are you human? You aren't human aren't you? Leave this poor widow and her son alone! You Stalker! You freak of nature! You monster! I know what you really are..." Frank started to ramble rubbing and scratching his head, then pulling out a knife. I gasp and order Pierro to leave immediately, but he keeps asking that stupid question. 
Why why why why why.

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The man came closer, but all I could do was smile and chuckle. Then he threw his arm which held the knife out at me, moving quickly as though the arm had a mind of its own and it was dragging him at me. My head jerked, and I found myself staring down at the burgundy covered ground. I've always wondered why people like him asked if we are human or not. What made us human? What made others not? I'd used to think of asking Luke, but I knew he'd avoid the conversation. He'd give me a horrified look as though the subject itself were death. Red fluid dropped onto the ground which I stared down at.
I'd hear the calls of the accused. They'd frantically speak, telling me that they are being victimized by a lunatic who hated "Stalkers" or wanted to "kill all humans." What were these Stalkers? What made them so different that they weren't human? The other me knelt down at the dripping liquid, which was building up. The iconic chuckle left his smiling lips. Two fingers went down to dip into the puddle. The dark expression in his eyes juxtaposed his smile. Dipping into the puddle, his fingers draw a manic expression of a smile with his movement. I looked up and a pulsing noise was in my head; a striking urge in my hands. I smiled.

And I killed him.
"Seán! Seán! Seán!" A voice, an echo, calls out. Clara pulls at my shoulders to get him off the corpse's torso. His knife was in my hand, and he stabbed, and I stabbed, and he stabbed, and he stabs; I stabbed; I stab. Then a different hand touches my arm. She stares at me with pale green eyes. I look at her, then crack my neck, standing up off of the body. "Alright. Now that that's out the way, where is she?" I ask her.

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One step back. I'm always taking one step back. It gives me better perspective. Acting brash, acting at all, is ridiculous. It is better to simply watch. I reach backwards while keeping my eyes on those monsters for Pierro, but my hand can't find him. "Get behind me Pie!" I demand. "Why?"
Slowly creeping towards me, Seán's chuckling gets louder. 
"I think we made a deal, and it's your turn to hold up your end." 
So many secrets. So many thoughts. I acted out, and I told them because I believed I was doing the right thing. I should have just listened. I have learned my lesson now. Ten follows close behind Seán. They're closing in on me like hungry beasts. With every two steps forward, I can only take one back. "So many problems caused just cause you can't hold up a bargain." He says, face to face with me. 
I can't look him in the face. I stare and watch as the wound across his neck closes. 
"...okay."

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So off the group went to Theodora's mansion. Seán taking the lead with Ten by his side and the others following a safe distance behind. 

When they came upon the darkness of the mansion, the building was already splitting in two, from stone to stone crumbling. Ten led them to her garden where the red flowers arched above a secluded area. Through the archway they looked up a vast field stretching miles upon miles made of red flowers and wooden planks stabbed into the earth. 
Her body was involuntarily shaking. She could hear the voices of hatred, blame, pain. Her brother, just a shadow, stood before her with a gun in hand, but no one else could see. You betrayed us. Ten, for the second time in her life after the surgery, cried, but not one soul saw. 
Rebbi stepped forward into the flower field and looked out upon the vastness of graves. As she reached out, a light left her body through her fingertips. Her arms dropped down; her fingers brushed against the prickly flowers. 
In the darkness of the night, a sound could be heard. No longer the toll of the funeral bells of the world, but the gasping of more than a thousand lungs.