XLIX
Mourn the Dead

It's an eventful week for the Kardos-Cha family. The funeral for the family and dear friends, along with the other Royals from the other Kingdoms are coming to the funeral. Tomorrow is the burial along with his Dragon. His Dragon tried to attack Seung once the news broke of Minjun's death and Seung killed him without hesitation. In two days, Jaejin and I have our mating ceremony which will be in front of everyone, declaring ourselves to each other in front of the realm. It's a total of four days of endless plans, planning, and putting our leader faces on for the Kingdom of Black Soul. The Kingdom is in mourning for their King, wearing all black, and so are the Royals from the other Kingdoms who came to the funeral. The funeral is being televised for the Kingdom, so that the people can come to the terms they are saying goodbye to an era and hello to their new King. Tomorrow will be about Jaejin saying goodbye to his father, and I know today, Jaejin is having a hard time saying goodbye to his King. It was the idea of how Minjun was to rule that was his own demise.

"Today, August 8 of the year 5022, we bury King Minjun Cha, son to King Hyunki and Eunji Cha. We ask that the God Odos reunite Minjun with the ancestors of the Cha Line, that he be reunited with his parents, and his younger brother. Minjun Cha was born November 24 of the year 4970 right here in Sanseong like the rest of his ancestors. His Black Dragon was Agmong, who he bonded with at the age of 8." I can't listen to it, not anymore. Hearing his Dragon's name and knowing the meaning just makes me believe that maybe Minjun was just doomed from the start. His Dragon's name literally translates to, "Nightmare" Does it get any darker than that?

My nightmares are still bad to this day, all I can hear is Jaejin's screams, his pleading to his father to stop because he was his son. All I could think about was if my mother and when she found my dead body that there would be no treaty in the world to heal her again. All I could think about was the stress that it would bring my sister and my brother. I couldn't break their hearts. What if Minjun had killed me before Jaejin? Would Jaejin break out of the chains and avenged my death with the Cha temper? Would Jaejin be standing here at my grave instead of his father-

"Pluto," Orion whispers, and grabs my hand, its encased in fire, "You need to breathe, anaia." The draconei word for brother instantly kills my fire, and I look at him. His blue eyes are filled with concern for me, and I don't know when it happened; I can see the anguish in them, the demons, and the very wall he tries to put up because I am trying to do the same damn thing. I see my brother now, I see him in a light that I hadn't understood till now. I look back up to the front and see Jaejin speaking about his father. I can't listen but I can't move either, I am his Mate, I am the Future King of this Kingdom, and I can't move from my spot. Not especially with the cameras that sometimes pan over to me, luckily they are too focused on Jaejin at the moment.

"It hurts. My leg." I told Orion and he looked at me, looking at my leg and the cane in my other hand. He mutters something in Draconei, tracing his red brand on his arm, and instantly I can hear his steady breathing in my head as if it's my own voice. It seems to ground me and remind me what I have in my brother, that although he can be a stoic dickhead that he's my brother at the end of the day.

'You having nightmares?' His voice is deep, but underneath all of that, I can hear the concern in his voice.

'All I can hear and all I can feel is Jaejin's pain that day. All I can think about is how my Mate is forced to go up there and talk about how much he misses him when every night he wakes up in sweat. How much his people never really knew him, they don't know about-'

'Pluto, you need to control the fire. You are going to cause a scene, there's too many cameras, and Jaejin looks like he wants to march over here.' Orion snaps at me and I grit my teeth, calming down the small fire I had on my fingertips. I looked up at Jaejin and Orion was right, my Mate looked confused but worried at the same time. He wants to march over here and ask what's bothering me so much but I'm not ready, I'm not ready to talk about it, not yet. Not during this week. Too much is already on JJ's plate.

'Thank you.' I tell my brother and he sighs in my mind, not bothering to take his eyes off Jaejin as he wraps up the end of his speech for all of Black Soul.

'The nightmares don't ever really go away. They just become.. Dreams, and you can wake up from dreams. Remember what you promised, ama?'

'After all this family has been through, put yourself first.' I repeated the stable talk I had with my mother which seemed so long ago, but it wasn't really all that ago, a couple months, that's it. My mother was right though, I couldn't keep thinking about my past and letting Minjun haunt me. I needed to put myself first.

The next day is eventful just like yesterday, except this time we are burying the dead. It's a Black Soul burying ritual that was modified from the Fae-Bastards rituals. Ever since it was known that the Cha family could wield Acid, and tolerate it for long periods of times thanks to their Black Dragons; acid pools are in deep parts of the swamp, pools of it hidden in the water. It's always smart to travel with a Cha or a person of Soulian blood when going so deep in the swamp.

"We're almost there!" It's not a lot of people, Jaejin, his mother, old Court Members, close friends of Minjun, and me. Jaejin holds my hand and I walk with my cane in the other hand. Jaejin didn't even want me coming, not with my gimp leg, and the nightmares. Jaejin woke up with me everytime, calmed my fears, and reminded me that we weren't in that cramped room anymore. That room that smelled like blood, that room that smelt like my mate's blood-

"Here, here are the graves of our ancestors." The Royal Pastor tells us, although I'm not big on religion, I still know to respect the Gods and Goddesses of the Ecliaryne Pantheon. To be thankful for their blessings when it came to helping us win the Revolution War with the Fae-Bastards, but I am not one to sit on my knees and pray. The Black Soul Kingdom isn't all that religious, you have your few churches, and a steady amount of people who worship but also half of Black Soul just isn't religious. Including the Royal Family, they'll worship Vuna for a week and for her birthday, but that's about it.

The Swamp of the Ancestors always gave me the creeps, if anything it's a dare for teenagers to come out here at night because it's so creepy. I never did it, it seemed rude to disrespect dead Royals like that. The ritual goes like this, a prayer is said-

"We gather here in the Swamp of the Ancestors to add to the swamp, two bodies. The body of our late King Minjun Cha and his Black Dragon, Agmong. We give them back to the Swamp, and most importantly, back to nature and acid. We give their bodies back to you, Vuna. Vuna, our Goddess of Black Soul, and to your brother-husband, Odos, may he grant safe passage for the souls we are about to bury. To Demis, the King of the Gods and creation, to Aphion, the Queen of the Gods, and motherhood, we give thanks to the creation of our kind, and for you to keep on blessing Black Soul. In your name, we pray, benetan." The Draconei word for the old Eaqish word, amen. We watch as they dump the bodies into an empty swamp pool, both Minjun and his Black Dragon, tied down with chains that can tolerate the acid. The sink to the bottom and finally it feels like I can breathe. He's dead. He can't come back. He can't come kill me and finish his job.

So when Jaejin looks at me, I break and I fall down to the ground, crying.