A week later...

"Are you OK Jesse?" Lukas asked me kindly. I turned to him and smiled sadly

"Yeah..." I replied. "Just..." I paused. I didn't know how to explain how I felt... Down? Sad? Upset? Distraught? Broken? So many words, but none seemed to fit my mood... Lukas placed his hand on my shoulder and gave me a patient, comforting smile. I smiled back, though sadness still stirred inside of me ever so slightly. Today was the day of Hadrian's funeral and it was certainly... Unique. The people Otto and Harper hired commit to the funeral services in a much different way... The first was placing the incense, candles and lilies around the table by Hadrian's bed, and now the ceremony being held today, where we light candles and place flowers by Hadrian's grave as if we're 'giving his spirit our love and sincere farewells' they explained. They would also give their own short speech on Hadrian instead of his friends or family which may appear, all which will take place just outside of Beacon Town where his grave is placed. Usually, we would place all graves in the graveyard, but not only is the ceremony large and long, I decided that The Order and I would build a small home for Mevia to live in outside of Beacon Town near her husband's grave, which the funeral people also thought was a nice idea. While the funeral itself is certainly... Unique, it's different but very heart-warming and a perfect way to send our friend off, at least to me it was

As all this stirred in my head, I had almost forgotten Lukas was right beside me. I shook my head and looked over to him, to only see his smile had stayed there as he patiently waited for me

"Are you ready?" He asked me, still as kind and gentle as he always was. I smiled and nodded, prompting him to take his hand in mine, before we walked out of the room. In the main room stood the rest of the Order and Radar, all dressed for the funeral. For some odd reason, we were all asked to where black to the ceremony, which we all obliged to. Olivia was in a knee-length black, slightly frilled dress with black flats, her hair neatly tied up in a bun. Petra was wearing a similar dress, except not as frilled out. She also wore tights, small onyx earrings and her hair was down, though wasn't as messy as it usually was. Radar, Axel and Lukas all wore the same type of suit with minor differences between them, though were barely noticeable. And then there was me; Knee length dress, small heeled shoes and my hair tied up with a purple ribbon, Hadrian's favourite colour. I smiled sadly as Lukas and I approached the group. I was glad they had all decided to attend. I knew Olivia and Radar wanted to come from the start, Lukas was coming to comfort me, and to my surprise, it took little convincing to get Axel and Petra to attend. I was glad they were all coming, whether it was actually to send Hadrian off or not

"Is everyone here?" Lukas asked the group as we walked up to them

"E-Everyone is h-here" Radar stammered, both nervous for the funeral and in our presence. "Ivor and his group are waiting at the location, s-so we should start heading there"

"Right" I said. "Thank you Radar. Everyone, let's go" Everyone nodded, and in almost complete silence, we made our way out of the temple and through the town. The citizens were already aware of the funeral taking place, so none were phased or concerned as we walked through. However, it was nice to see some people had placed flowers outside their homes as their own gift for Hadrian's passing, which everyone appreciated. As we exited town, I looked up to see grey clouds in the distance. Hopefully, it didn't end up raining on us all...

We all walked in silence as we reached the location, only a small detour from the main path. Ivor, Otto, Harper and Mevia were already there, along with the people running the service. Otto and Ivor were both wearing black suits like the rest of the males, however Harper and Mevia's dresses were longer than our own. Harper's stopped at her ankles and curled almost like a rose. She wore high heels and a silver charm necklace with a redstone and custom made charm to look like a small robot (Presumably PAMA) in between another charm which said her name in lovely stylised writing. Her hair was also down, though I swear her hair was sparkling like someone had put glitter through it. And then there was Mevia; her dress was more shaped like a large gown, covering her feet, though from the height differences, I assumed she was also wearing high heels. She wore long black gloves, her wedding ring shining in the now beaming sun, along with a black collared necklace with a gold heart locket in the middle. Her hair was down and lightly tussled with, making it flow over her shoulders. She looked gorgeous, but also miserable... Her eyes were red and cheeks were stained from tears, constant crying, even when she went to stay with Harper and Ivor for close comfort. I couldn't help but tear up at the sight of her grief, as plain as an open wound bleeding out. She didn't hold anything back; no tears, no sobs, nothing. She only mourned for her husband every day and would most likely continue this for a long time...

"Hey guys" I spoke up. Mevia didn't look up and Harper was too busy comforting both her and Otto, though Ivor turned to us and smiled sadly

"Hello everyone" he said kindly yet quietly "We're all glad you came. We were waiting for you all before the ceremony started" I looked around. There weren't many people here at all, only the order plus Radar, Ivor, Otto, Harper and the people running the funeral

"Are there no... Family members of his present?" I asked cautiously. Ivor shook his head sadly

"Otto contacted his parents and other relatives, but they refused to come" He said. "They had all heard about what he did at The Games. They... despise him, to put it lightly..." I gasped.

"That's so mean!" I exclaimed, both angered and upset. "Even if someone from my family had done something horrible in their past, I would still come to their funeral, because... We all do something bad in our lives, some more extreme than others, but that doesn't always define who we are..." I decided to stop there before I rolled into an inspirational speech on accident. Ivor only smiled

"You're right Jesse" He said. "You're always willing to give others a chance and see them through to who they really are" I smiled back, though after the recent events, I didn't believe that anymore... If I saw everyone through, then how come I didn't see who Hadrian was at The Games? Why didn't I help him then...?

Before any more conversations could be sparked, the funeral started unexpectedly and we were all asked to take our seats. I was sat at the front with Radar, Otto and Harper and of course, Mevia, as we were all deemed to be the closest friends/family to Hadrian. It was almost an honour to have been seen as a close friend to him despite our past, and Radar looked a little confused yet proud to be Hadrian's friend. I don't know what his interactions with him were, but knowing Radar's gentle yet bumbling personality, he got along well with Hadrian

The ceremony started with one of the people giving a short speech which they deemed 'The circle of life'. They spoke on how we all come into this world to play the game that is life, that notch granted us a wonderful world to play in, though that all games must come to an end. He proceeded to briefly talk about Hadrian and who he was. From the slightly disturbed faces of the Old Builders present, they didn't get all the correct information... Even Mevia, who had been sobbing non-stop, was halted and almost looked disgusted by the information told. I was also making a face, hearing this speech. Before anyone snapped or broke down into tears however, the speech ended and we proceeded to the candle lighting. He asked us all in the front row to light three candles for Hadrian, which we all did, though I couldn't help but notice how shaky both Otto and Mevia were. Those poor guys... Next, the rest of the guests were asked to light one candle each, which all did with the uneasy silence that had lingered throughout the whole ceremony... Then lastly, the flower laying. We had all gotten flowers and were asked to give them to the people to look after before the ceremony. All of us in the front were the first to lay our flowers down. Mevia laid down a wreath shaped as a heart with small yet bright, vibrant blue flowers. Tears ran down her cheeks as she placed it down, sniffling and trembling

"Forget you I will not Hadrian..." She whispered. "I love you..." She started to sob a little. I leaned over and patted her on the back as Harper and Otto placed there flowers down; a bouquet of pink and white roses. Harper pulled her brother close to her, who seemed to also be crying. Radar was next, who placed some purple flowers with white spreading from the middle. He smiled at me sadly as I placed my wreath down, small white and pinky-purple flowers lining it. The store owner offered these specific flowers to me as they meant something special, though I never got to hear what... Tears filled my eyes as the rest of the group laid their own flowers down; Axel and Petra laid down a wreath of clean white flowers. Next, Olivia placed a bouquet of blue, overhanging flowers, followed by Ivor who placed down some bright yellow flowers. Finally, Lukas laid down a wreath of pink flowers gently in the middle, before coming to my side. He held my hand gently, which I squeezed immediately to stop myself from crying. As we all kneeled by Hadrian's grave, one of the people started to speak once more. He spoke on how the sinful are taken to an internal nether, and those who were innocence, find The True End, but that none should be judged and instead should be remembered for they were someone in this world to one, someone's friend, someone's lover, someone's enemy and someone's family. As he spoke, someone else from the funeral service had carved Mevia's name also onto Hadrian's grave below his, however it was coloured red. They spoke on when his love passes into the afterlife, only then would they be reunited once more, and the red stain of pain would wash away. I looked over to Mevia, who had her head buried into her hands as she sobbed, with Harper and Otto desperately trying to comfort her. I teared up and placed my head on Lukas' shoulder, making him pull me closer to him. To think Mevia would never see Hadrian ever again, until her own life ends... None of us would see Hadrian ever again...

He was gone...

The ceremony ended fairly quickly after all that, however we all stayed back for a moment to comfort and console each other. Harper was trying to console Otto, however he kept insisting that Mevia needed comfort more than he did, though it was obvious he was broken from this loss... Ivor stayed by Harper in case she needed condolence, and the rest of us all clustered together, silent. We didn't speak a word to each other. We only viewed the candles lit and flowers placed by Hadrian's grave. I felt myself tearing up once more, but even though I felt extremely depressed by all of this, I didn't cry. Not once. Not even Mevia's countless sobs made me break. It's almost like I felt nothing as I stared upon the grave, but I knew I was upset by all this. I had been ever since I knew he was going to die. I still felt guilty, thinking that maybe, maybe I could've saved him if I had just helped him before! But I didn't, and his fate was sealed... Those around him, those who loved him were hurt, broken from the loss of their friend. Every time I see the old builder group now, my throat becomes tight as I hold back a sob. They were all close to Hadrian in their own way, whether best friends or in Mevia's case, married... He didn't deserve this fate, not this early and not in this way, not after I discovered who he was. I wanted to break and shout 'IT'S NOT FAIR!', but not only had I been beaten to the punch twice already, it was futile... It wasn't going to bring him back, it would only deepen our grief...

"Jesse?" Lukas asked me. "Are you OK?" I looked up to Lukas, who brushed a tear away for me. I didn't even notice I was crying... Before I could respond a large, low yet loud rumble was heard. Everyone in my group immediately looked up to see dark grey clouds draped over us like a blanket. The low rumble was heard once more, before I felt a drop of water on my nose.

Rain

Without a warning, it started to pour down on us all. With no umbrellas in our inventories, my group quickly build a small shelter for us all. As we all scurried under for shelter, we all watched in almost silent horror as the rain put out the candles by the grave and drench the flowers we laid, making the ceremony's efforts almost futile. Now I really wanted to break and just... Cry, scream and yell. This was too much, this wasn't fair. I don't care about what he did in the past, he deserves a good funeral, a sincere farewell! And now nature was on our opposing side! I knew I wasn't the only one pissed; Mevia had started to cry all over again, completely broken from it all. Harper and Otto were also in tears as they watched the storm ruin all the work that had been done. The majority of my group were complaining, and even Petra was cursing the rain for ruining the ceremony. I only watched as the last candle was put out with the wind, the flowers starting to topple and sway. It was then;

I broke

It started light, but I suddenly collapsed into a fit of sobs. Lukas was the first to come to my side, immediately followed by Olivia and Radar, but despite their efforts to console me, I ignored it all. I needed to let it all out. Everything that had happened, Hadrian didn't deserve. He didn't deserve all this! First he passes away by such a horrid occurrence, his family refuse to attend his funeral, and then it gets completely ruined by rain! Everything seemed to be against Hadrian, even Mother Nature itself...

IT'S NOT FAIR!