never said that victory came without casualties | axel's funeral

[Thomas]

[align=center][div style=" background-color: transparent; border: 0px solid black; width: 530px; min-height: 9px; font-family:; line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; padding: 20px"]Thomas was no stranger to funerals. In his former realm, people died all the time. Royals, common folk, castle workers, enemies. When he was 19, his younger sister murdered his mother and father. With a bitter taste in his mouth, he recalled the fact that there had been no funeral. His beloved mother and valiant father were tossed into hollow, unmarked graves. He had not even known of their passing until two months afterward. Oh, how slow news traveled to fields of battle. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought back to these events.

Now, not only were his parents gone, but so was Kaarina. He closed his dark golden eyes as her face appeared in his mind. He could see her fiery hair, always long and flowing and burning brightly in the sunlight. He could count the freckles that dotted the bridge of her nose. Her vibrant green eyes glowed with laughter and love. She was always laughing and smiling. He would forever hear the smile in her voice when she greeted him in the mornings. He would forever see the smile on her lips when she patched up children in the kingdom, fixing their bumps and bruises from game play. He would forever see her laughing and spinning around in that green dress he had bought her. That is how she would be in his mind forever: happy and loved and always healing.

But she was gone, like all the rest. They all perished at the hands of some horrible thing or some dastardly someone. His parents were murdered by his sister. His kingdom was destroyed by the world when it fell. Kaarina, the love of his life, died of a sickness she could not heal. And Faye...? He had not a clue, and despite all she had robbed him of, he prayed her death had been swift and painless. He could not bear to know his once sweet little sister had been hurting in her final moments.

'Stars above.' This lone thought broke through his remembrance of all that had occurred before his time in Blackfall. Blackfall. That was right; that was where he was. The lionhearted man's eyes watched Cain as he neared the docks. The torches made everything seem so eerie and awful, but Thomas knew there was nothing soft, delicate, or nice about death.

"May peace find you in the next life, always, evermore," he spoke, voice quiet and not at all commanding as it usually was. The somber feelings of this event were clearly reflected in his speech - the words uttered whenever someone from his home passed. He watched as the boat was consumed by the starved flames. He hoped Axel could find his peace now, if he had not known it while alive.