Funeral

It was yet another day of rain. A downpour. Cole helped Amora walk to the cemetery. It was one that most people would be buried in after their death. Nothing fancy, no rich fences or gravestones. Leon and Reyon would have wanted to be treated normally, even in death. Amora broke down multiple times before even arriving at the graveyard, and Cole could only do his best to support her.

During the wake, the caskets were closed. Amora knew why and didn't press for them to be opened. She simply sat down the entire time and watched people that her parents knew as they came up to her and apologized to her for her loss.

She felt empty. She had brought her babies with her, despite Cole's suggestion not to. Once their caskets were lowered and their graves covered, a majority of the funeral dwellers entered a shack at the back of the graveyard. Inside the shack were people Amora knew too well, yet couldn't greet them.

Avian, a man with blue hair and the rare element of ice, was a friend to Leon after he had saved him from his own boss.

Tavan, Shirley's dad, who, at the current moment looked distraught and guilt-ridden, had short blonde hair and usually piercing amber eyes. Now his eyes remained dark, with no shine to them.

Alex, who was previously a mechanic, and now was back to fighting to protect those he cared for. He cried the most after Amora during the funeral. He seemed to be heavily influenced by Leon and Reyon.

Amora looked around and saw a cat laying on a gravestone. She closed her eyes slowly and frowned. If only it were Clover and not some random cat. She lowered her head and looked at her two babies, sleeping in a stroller. To her, the death of Andrew was directly her fault, but Shirley, Aya, Leon, Reyon, and Clover... died... because of her. An indirect kill.

"Today, we are here to discuss our plans for the future. We have to have this plan in case he attacks Amora again."

Amora looked up.

"What?" She muttered. "What about all of you?"

"Amora..." Alex whispered.

"Well considering she's here, I think it's fair we tell her about... our promises," Avian said, crossing his arms. "When Leon and Reyon first found you, he had a feeling you were his daughter, but he couldn't get too excited at first, so he waited. Once it was proven, he made a deal with all of us. In exchange... well in exchange we told him we would protect you."

Amora's grip tightened on her baby stroller. " That's... that's bullshit. Don't just protect me! Protect yourself! Don't let yourself die for me!"

They all remained silent, but it was clear their mind was not to change. Amora stepped back from the stroller and spoke once more, this time, her tone was dark.

"The next time I fight him... I'm going to make it hurt. I'll kill him. I'll make it so no more people have to die. And after that, I'll take out anyone else who thinks they can hurt my family and friends."

"We can't tell her," Tavan said, holding his elbow.

"Tell me what?!" Amora asked, standing tall, despite her previous stature.

"Amora please don't push... we can't have you have any reasons to fight him." Alex tried to pacify her.

"Tell me god damn it!" She yelled, slapping Cole's hand away from her shoulder.

"Amora. Enough!" Tavan yelled, to which Amora lunged on top of Tavan, summoning a blade of fire and almost pressing it to his throat.

"TELL ME NOW!" she screamed, turning and looking around.

"Everyone... stand back. Don't go after her. She just lost her only family... please take it easy on her." Alex said, continuing with the thing they were withholding from her. "We learned that Shogeki can... revive people."

Amora's fire sword unsummoned herself as she was deep in thought. Tavan lay under her, unmoving and perhaps even crying.

"Shirley," Amora said, standing up and stepping back. "At the hotel, I saw Shirley. I questioned what it was since she was dead, but he revived Shirley."

"Why would he do such a thing? She is an enemy to him." Avian questioned Amora's logic.

"Shirley has always been easy to convince. That's why." Amora said coldly. She turned around and grabbed onto her baby stroller, turned it around, and began to leave.

"Amora. Do not interact with Shogeki." Avian said, more so pleading.

"I'll do as I must," Amora replied, seeming like a completely different person. Her eyes had lost their shine, and her tone had shifted from hopeless and alone to confident and... malicious. Her eyes were a darker shade of red, much darker than before.

"Amor-" Alex called after her, but Amora simply left, leaving Cole and the others behind in the shack. She returned all the way to the warehouse, but instead of laying down, when Cole arrived back as well, he found her standing over her children. Elizabeth and Echo were older than they had been at the funeral. Cole was astonished to see their size had almost doubled, and they were able to crawl. Elizabeth looked over at Cole and giggled. She held onto her brother and once again, they began to age.

Amora stared blankly. Elizabeth was a special elemental, one of the ones that Cole knew of from stories in his past. One that can accelerate aging, not only of herself but of others. If she accelerated past elderly age, she would once again become a baby, and live out her life again. She was practically unable to die of old age unless she allowed herself to at an old age.

Amora turned to Cole and blankly stared at him, while his mouth remained wide. Elizabeth had to be around five years old at this point and she spoke garbled words, but Cole could make sense of it.

"Mama."