The Funeral

Chapter 50: Funeral

The next day, Erza finished her job and hurried back to the guild looking travel-worn. The moment she stepped inside, she sensed something was wrong-the usually noisy hall was terrifyingly quiet today, and even Natsu and Gray were not fighting like they always did.

"What happened?" she stopped Macao as he walked past, a thick sense of unease already threading through her tone.

Macao opened his mouth, but couldn't get the words out for the longest time, ultimately just letting out a heavy sigh.

He haltingly told her how Blanc had gone missing during the mission to subdue the Beast King, and how Mira had witnessed him slowly dissolving in the Beast King's attack with her own eyes.

All the color drained from Erza's face bit by bit. She instinctively retorted,

"Impossible!"

Yet immediately afterward, she fell silent again.

She knew Mira's temperament all too well. That prideful Mira who never easily showed weakness in front of others.

If she hadn't truly witnessed that despairing scene, she would never have broken down into the state Macao had just described.

She clenched her fists, her body trembling slightly, and didn't speak for a long time.

Cana curled up alone in the corner of her dorm bed, burying her face in her knees. Her shoulders hitched, yet no sound of crying came out.

Ever since learning this news, she had been completely out of it.

Gildarts had been chased off on a job again and couldn't be reached; right now she didn't even have anyone to turn to for pouring out her feelings.

Looking at the strong liquor stored in the dorm, which was originally meant to be given to Gildarts, Cana couldn't help opening a few bottles and drinking straight from them, trying to numb herself with alcohol.

When night fell, Natsu ran outside alone and began punching a thick tree trunk blow after blow, hitting it until his knuckles seeped with fresh blood.

"Damn it, Blanc!" he growled into the pitch-black night, his voice shaking beyond recognition,

"Didn't you say that if I ever ambushed you again, you'd pay me back tenfold? Go on then, stand up and pay me back tenfold!"

Under the silent night sky, no one answered him.

Natsu's fists finally stopped limply, and he stared blankly at his blood-stained hands.

Tears fell without warning, hitting the dust-covered ground and blooming into a small dark patch.

Happy flew over, landing timidly on his shoulder, and gently rubbed his tiny paws against Natsu's cheek.

Yet he couldn't say a single word, only silently keeping him company as together they gazed into that empty stretch of night.

Gray sat alone by the riverbank outside the guild, right at that very spot where the four of them had opened their hearts to each other all those years ago.

A small ice crystal formed in his palm, but he had little mind to shape it, letting it gradually melt between his fingertips as cold water droplets trickled down the gaps of his fingers.

He thought of when Blanc had first joined the guild, how he had confidently stepped forward to provoke him, only to be knocked flat onto the ground by Blanc in a couple of moves. Though his mouth was thoroughly unyielding, deep down he had completely admitted defeat.

He recalled yet again how Blanc usually looked when quietly caring for the guild members.

"Such a meddlesome guy..." Gray muttered under his breath, his voice full of bitter amusement, while his eye rims uncontrollably turned red.

The older members in the guild likewise fell into silence.

Wakaba put a cigarette between his lips but forgot to light it, leaving it stiffly clamped there;

Macao's usually jeering mouth was uncharacteristically shut as well, as he simply poured cup after cup of heavy drink down his throat. The sound of glasses clacking against the tabletop stood out with jarring sharpness in the quiet hall.

"That kid... how old was he anyway?" Macao muttered dully, his voice hoarse beyond recognition.

Reedus sat alone in a corner of the guild. Spread out before him on the drawing paper was a portrait sketch he had previously drawn of Blanc, though unfortunately, halfway through sketching it, the sudden chaos in the guild had interrupted him.

Several young members gathered in twos and threes, unable to say anything, simply standing with red eye rims and softly sobbing.

Laxus stood alone by the second-floor railing of the guild, looking down disdainfully at the oppressive dead silence below. He said not a word, merely gripping his quest request until he had unconsciously twisted deep wrinkles into it.

The atmosphere in the guild grew heavier day by day. Finally, Makarov summoned all the members to the main hall.

"I know none of you want to accept this," the old man's voice was hoarse beyond recognition. "However... as the master of the guild, I must make a decision-to hold a funeral for Blanc."

"...Can we wait a little longer?" Natsu lowered his head as he spoke, his voice lacking its previous impatience, leaving only a hoarse exhaustion. "I'm just... not ready yet."

"None of us are ready, child." Makarov closed his eyes, his back hunched as if he had aged ten years in a single instant.

"Yet this sorrow must come to an end eventually. Otherwise, this weight in everyone's hearts will never be put down."

The hall fell into a long silence.

In the end, Natsu said nothing more, merely clenching his fists tightly and lowering his head hard.

Three days later, the cemetery.

The guild members all gathered here, silently seeing Blanc off.

Elfman, wrapped in bandages, knelt before Blanc's tombstone as his entire body trembled, tears and rain mixing together as they continuously streamed down his face.

A strong sense of guilt weighed heavily on his heart like a massive mountain.

"It's... all my fault..." His voice trembled uncontrollably. "It was me... I killed Blanc..."

Mira stood silently behind Elfman, her body similarly wrapped in bandages.

"It's not your fault."

"Any living creature is bound to die." Mira forced back her sadness to comfort him, though tears still streamed down her face uncontrollably. "We have to keep living, carrying Blanc's share as well."

"Big sis Mira..." Lisanna, standing to the side, looked at her sister, her sorrowful face carrying a hint of deep worry.

Some of the people lowered their heads in silence, while others gazed up at the sky, as if wanting to prevent their tears from falling.

Beneath the falling rain, the atmosphere of the entire cemetery felt exceptionally heavy.

Meanwhile, not far away from the group, two figures were stealthily hiding around the corner of the entrance, secretly watching the scene inside the cemetery.

Blanc wore a terrified expression at that moment, his face somewhat twisted, and his eyes filled with panic:

Oh no, I'm completely done for! They've totally mistaken me for a dead man!

I never expected they would even hold a funeral. Even rushing back as fast as I could, am I still too late? Can I even make an entrance at such an awkward timing?

Should I just pretend I'm really dead and go back to Grimoire Heart to lay low for a while?

Beside him, a mysterious figure completely hidden beneath a white robe was also following along.

That mysterious figure looked at him and slowly said:

"What, aren't you going to go over and explain?"

Blanc's face twisted, looking at him as if he were an idiot, and he said in an extremely panicked, hushed voice:

"Big bro, take a look at the atmosphere out there, there's no way I can say anything! Things have turned out like this, how do you expect me to just walk over!"

Right at that moment, the heartbroken and furious roars of Natsu and Gray echoed from the center of the cemetery:

"You bastard! Blanc, if you do this, won't I never be able to surpass you!" Natsu pounded the ground in anger.

"I will definitely inherit your will and risk my life to protect every single comrade!" Gray clenched his fists, staring straight up at the sky.

"Damn it, how can an old man like me watch someone younger die before him!" Guild Master Makarov hammered his chest in reluctance, howling in loud cries.

No, stop hyping up the atmosphere anymore!!!

I'm trapped between advance and retreat now!

At that moment, a small blue cat that had just finished using the bathroom was slowly walking back toward the cemetery from outside the entrance, wiping away its tears.

"Huh! Are my eyes playing tricks on me?" Happy rubbed his eyes again and looked over intently once more.

Its expression instantly shifted from bewildered and dazed to sheer disbelief, followed by a look of wild joy.

It flashed the wings on its back and, with a swoosh, lunged forward at full speed toward the figure ahead:

"Blanc!!!"

Happy hurled itself directly and accurately onto Blanc's head, hugging him tightly and crying loudly.

"Shh! Shh!" Blanc hurriedly reached out to block it, motioning for Happy to keep it down, but Happy was in no state to listen at that moment, still excitedly shouting at the top of its lungs.

Happy's high-pitched cries instantly drew the attention of every member in the cemetery, and everyone immediately swept their gazes over in unison.

Seeing Blanc at the entrance, tangled up with Happy, everyone's faces instantly morphed into a colorful array of expressions, standing frozen in place as they completely failed to react.

Yet among all of them, the movement of one particular figure was faster than anyone else's.

Mira instantly lunged into Blanc's arms, hugging him tightly as if desperately confirming this wasn't a dream.

Mira buried her head tightly against Blanc's chest, concealing her expression, but a few murmurs laced with trembling sounds slipped out:

"It's fine... That's wonderful~"

With Happy still thrashing about excitedly in his hands, Blanc felt somewhat at a loss when faced with this sudden lunge.

He looked down at Mira in his arms, then turned his head with extreme stiffness to look at the rest of the group, who were all struck dumb and staring fixedly in this direction.

Finally, he raised his hand with a trembling motion, squeezed out an awkward smile, and said:

"Yo, everyone, nice weather today!"