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The winds whispered through the summer's green trees, quietly swishing below. A boy stood, picking sunflowers near the edge of the sheer cliff. He placed them upon a grave, almost robotically, having done this so many times before; but he didn't walk away this time.
Lucas stood, body feeling heavy and tense, watching the forest below him ripple with the breeze. The sound and sight were gentle, the kind you would see on a nature show, but it only filled him with fear to look so far below.
Two years had passed since he had pulled the final Needle. The world had been reborn, as had many people. He wasn't sure why some came back and others didn't; something to do with their tethers to the magic of the dragon. He didn't care too much. Claus had come back, as had many strangers, from times long past and times only a year or two before the old world ended; he had made new friends and even lovers of these strangers over the past years. But Mom had never come home.
The technology that Porky and his minions had brought to the islands remained. He had eventually gotten used to cell phones and computers, and he had found others that felt similarly; others who were shoved into the role of Earth's heroes. And he loved them. Only a few months after meeting online, they had all confessed to each other.
He loved Ness and Ninten. They loved him. Why did it still hurt?
Claus had come home. He has changed, but so has Lucas; their relationship hasn't. They stayed close, and so they still do.
Objectively, he thought, he had little reason to be doing this.
He had lost Mom, but he had gained so much.
He shouldn't have fresh wounds on his arms, he shouldn't have a box full of crumpled-up suicide notes from old failed attempts. It should be over. He should be fine.
Why is he doing this? Why does it still hurt?
Those were his last thoughts as he let himself plummet off the cliff, and fell a hundred feet down to that peaceful forest floor.
-----
The funeral was quiet.
Lucas's boyfriends, Ness and Ninten, had flown in from their hometowns the very night that Claus told them what had happened. They'd been staying in the inn, as had Claus. None of them could bear being in the room that should never have been emptied, the room that had belonged to Lucas.
Ness sat by Ninten, holding his hand during the proceedings. Ninten was shaking so hard that the chair he sat in rattled; Ness had soaked his sleeve with snot and tears.
Claus wouldn't move from the side of the casket, even as the priest spoke. His eyes were all blank, his body looked frozen in place; he looked deader than the corpse that was soon to be lowered into the earth.
Only after the body was fully lowered into the earth would the silence break into chaos.
It started with Kumatora, yelling out that it wasn't fair; then Ness, letting his quiet sobs turn into wails; and Ninten, smashing his bat on the ground in frustration; and finally Claus, collapsing from his trancelike state and begging that they pull his brother back out, screaming that this isn't right, he must be okay-
None of the efforts of the townsfolk would calm them. Duster had tried to calm Kumatora, but only joined her in her sobbing. While most left, those closest to Lucas remained, soon huddling up together and speaking; apologizing; wishing that they had noticed, wishing that they had stopped him.
It wasn't until morning had almost come that they all went to their beds, drained from crying and screaming.
Some thought they heard Lucas apologizing in their dreams.