Reapers - Master of Souls (Reapers Chronicles Book III)

World Warp V (A Reapers Year-End Special)

You can fix my heart
And I don't have to run anymore
Open my eyes, let me see
Give me hope and set me free  

∞XIII∞

Several people gathered in front of me. They were all wearing suits and black frocks like those we used to wear during missions. A dismal air filled us despite the bright rays from the sun that bounced off the verdant, carefully trimmed lawn.

I was surprised that I, myself, was wearing a black dress. A white rose was in my hand and I stared at it in an attempt to make sense of what was happening.

Max was standing beside me. He was in this black cassock and stole like he was some kind of priest. He placed a hand on my back and gently said, "Now, a few parting words from Aramis Rayne."

"W-what?" I looked down and saw a rectangular patch of freshly dug earth. In front of the hole was a dais on which a white coffin rested. Luci was standing beside it, crying her eyes out. So were Madame Roselle and Mr. S. From the sidelines, Vladimir peered at us from behind his thick glasses, his face unreadable.

I froze, feeling the tears trickle down my cheeks. I couldn't see who was lying in that coffin, but I knew. I just knew.

"Come on," Max encouraged, giving my shoulder a squeeze. "You were the last person Vincent ever talked to. You can work from that."

"I didn't... I should have seen it coming," I choked out before the uncontrollable sobs rendered me unable to speak. I caught my face with my hands and tried to muffle it to no avail.

Max stepped forward and read some bible passages. Then he said, "Suicide is not to be condoned. It is a cry for help..."

I couldn't stand listening to him anymore so I ran away. I ran as fast as I could, weaving between the tombstones in the graveyard, wishing this was all a very bad dream.

Vincent's gone.

I thought I would lose my mind hearing those words echo inside my head over and over. The thing about Vincent is, you would think he would always be around. Like he was somehow indestructible. But I was wrong. Even he had his limits.

When I slowed down to catch my breath, I saw Rosario watching the funeral from afar. As if sensing that I saw her, she looked at me long and hard before backing away.

"Wait!" I shouted at her.

It was like she hadn't heard me. She just disappeared all of a sudden.

In despair, I slumped on the ground and watched impassively as my tears fell onto the grass. I didn't know how much time had passed. The tears just kept falling until I couldn't cry anymore.

Not until I saw a firefly flutter right before my eyes that I found the will to move. Beating the numbness out of my legs, I got up.

I hurried toward Vincent's grave and found Mr. S standing there alone. Just the person I was hoping to find.

His lotus-shaped eyes lingered on me for a moment before he spun on his heels and started walking away.

"Mr. S! I need your help."

He stopped. "I can't help you."

"You said I can go back if I want to," I rasped, forcing back the sobs. "How do I go back, Mr. S? Please, I want to go back. I refuse to accept that he's gone forever. This..."—I pointed at the fresh mound of dirt behind me—"This can't be real. A world without Vincent is not my world. There's another world out there and I... I have to go back because I know he's waiting for me there."