"Are you doing okay, Missy?"
"I don't want to be here anymore, Mark."
"It's only a little longer, Jassy. Can you wait that long?"
"She doesn't want to stay though, Mo. I don't think we should make her."
"I know, I know. But Daddy and Aunt Melissa will want us to stay."
"I'm still here, you know."
"Jasmine, Mark, and Monet. Be quiet." It was then that Melissa Bell snapped her fingers in front of their faces, her harsh tone, though whispered, getting them to shut up instantly. The trio exchanged glances, their cheeks flushed in embarrassment by the fact that they had been caught, before looking down at the floor, remaining quiet so the rest of the funeral could continue. None of them dared to look up to the front of the room to lay eyes on the coffin in the front of the church.
Jasmine Ender sniffled, brushing a strand of golden hair over her shoulder as she laid her head on her sister's shoulder, a few tears sliding down her face. Monet Ivory sighed softly and laid her head on top of her, resting a hand on Jasmine's knee, like she was trying to let her know that she was there. Mark Nijer shot Monet a sympathetic look, grabbing a hold of Jasmine's hand and giving it a small squeeze. Today was going to be very hard for the twins. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. Ever since they had found out their mother had died a few days ago, Mark's mother had made it very clear that Monet and Jasmine were going to need him more than ever now. After all, how do you cope with something like that? So, Mark had done everything he could to make them feel better. Monet and Jasmine, when she wasn't at her Aunt and Uncle's, spent every moment they could at his house. The past week had been a mess, with Melissa and Henry Bell trying to get custody over their niece, since Clara Ender's will made it clear that Jasmine wasn't supposed to go to her father. He'd overheard his parents talking about it. It was a mess and the twins were caught right in the middle.
Still, there were some positives in the middle of the muddy mess. Mark had more sleepovers with the twins over the past week than they had over the past summer. After all, they hadn't been able to spend that much time together since the divorce and when things finally seemed to be straightening out, Jasmine got a job as an actress in a movie, so that meant that the three of them hadn't spent more than two days in a row together in a long time. Still, Mark wished it didn't have to be a death to let that happen.
Eventually, Jasmine whispered something into Monet's ear. A second later, Monet was standing and Jasmine was quick to follow, tugging at Mark's hand to get him to follow. This time, their families didn't stop them and they quickly left the sanctuary and into the common room, Jasmine's hand still wrapped tightly around Mark's and holding onto Monet's jacket sleeve. None of them spoke and their parents didn't follow them so Mark assumed that they knew just as he did. They couldn't handle being in the room anymore, speaking about Clara and her death and what would come after. And so, they left, wandering the church building until the stopped just outside of the bathrooms.
"I couldn't be there anymore," Jasmine whispered softly, leaning back against the wall, sliding down it to sit on the floor. She pulled her black tight-covered legs up to her chest, wrapping her small arms around them and hiding her face in her knees, causing her next words to be mumbled. "I just want Mom..." Her long, blonde hair, reminiscent of her mother's, pooled around her, shining bright like a halo against her black dress. Monet didn't waste a second, dropping down to her knees in front of her sister and holding her arms out to her, like she was asking for a hug. Mark dropped down beside her and Jasmine looked up for a second. She only hesitated for a second before jumping into their arms, hugging them tightly as she cried out. Monet whimpered slightly, laying her head on Mark's shoulder and letting her short, shoulder-length hair cover her face like a black veil. He wanted to say something to make them feel better but he wasn't sure what he could say. He didn't know what it was like to lose a family member, especially someone as important to them as their mother. And what were you supposed to say to crying girls? Sure, he'd dealt with them when they were being emotional before but he'd never seen Jasmine cry, not in all the two years he'd known them. Monet was a different story but that wasn't the point. He wasn't sure how to make Jasmine stop crying and he wanted to do nothing else more in the whole world right now.
"Do... Um... Well, do you want to talk?" Mark asked quietly, feeling the way that Jasmine squeezed his shirt tightly in her hand when he asked that. Monet shook her head quickly before dropping it down on his shoulder again and hugging her two companions just a little tighter. Jasmine also shook her head but it was a little more subtle. Mark sighed but he guessed he understood it. His mother had said that they probably wouldn't want to talk about it, since it was so new. They actually hadn't talked about it at all. Instead, they'd been playing whatever game they could, like Monet and Jasmine lived for the distractions now rather than reality. Maybe that's what they wanted right now. A distraction from the reality that their mother really was gone. "Well, do you guys want to play? Maybe Blaten's got a new quest for us to complete."
"Do you think that all the monsters are out of the forest, Good Sir?" Jasmine asked softly, her voice shaking. She turned her head slightly so that she could see out of Monet's black tee shirt, curiosity dancing in her light blue eyes. Monet shrugged her shoulders, reaching her free hand up to wipe the tears from her face with the back of her hand. Monet didn't make a lot of noise when she cried, Mark noted. He'd have to remember to check on her often to make sure that she wasn't crying and he didn't know. After all, she was one of his best friends. He wanted to make her feel better.
"Maybe... I dunno, Missy. The Good Sir and I didn't double or triple check before... before we left," Monet replied softly. Her voice shook likely and she could barely be heard. She was a very quiet person, unless, of course, she needed to shout. Then she sounded normal.
"You guys were supposed to double, triple, quadruple check though!" Jasmine whined, sitting up and rubbing her eyes, trying to get the tears off her face. Mark didn't miss the way that she shook slightly as she moved, nor how her lip quivered as she spoke.
"Sorry, Missy. We'll double, triple, quadruple check now if that's what you want," Mark replied, pushing himself up off the ground with his hands. Jasmine gave a serious nod as he offered his hand to Monet, helping her stand up. "Miss Knight and I can go check now, okay? So that we can make sure that all the monsters are out of the forest for sure." Jasmine nodded her head again, already falling into her role in their little game.
"You better. Because they have to stay out of Blaten now so that they don't run into the town again. And light it on fire again. Because now we have to remake all the buildings again and you know that'll take forever!" Jasmine whined as Mark held his hand out to her as well. She took it and he pulled her up. Jasmine continued her little fit as she brushed down her dress and Monet reached over to help her out before speaking again.
"Don't worry, Missy. We'll double, triple, quadruple check super fast so that we can help you remake the buildings, okay? It'll be super-duper fast if we do it all together, right?" Monet replied, stepping away from Jasmine and reaching behind her. She pulled out her imaginary boy and notched an arrow made out of air into the string, pulling it back. She closed one eye, like she was focusing on a target, and looked around the church, watching it slowly turn into a forest of spiraled trees and laced vines, carefully looking around to check and make sure that there were no monsters in the rubble of the once beautiful town and the rows of destroyed cottages and burned shops. "Oh no! Good Sir! Look over there! There's a monster, don't you see it? I think it's a Wanding!" For now, the funeral was forgotten as Mark looked over to where Monet was pointing her bow, watching a giant scorpion-like creature sink behind a cluster of twisted trees and vines.
"Oh no! We should have double, triple checked, Miss Knight!" Mark gasped.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go! Get rid of it before the monsters come and burn down the town again, guys!" Jasmine basically cried out, like she was afraid of that monster, and hugged herself tightly. Mark looked over at her, nodding his head. Jasmine was the princess turned warrior, after all. She always had been. She didn't kill monsters with Mark and Monet unless it was a part of a quest. That's why she stayed back in the town, helping the people of Blaten fix their problems and telling other people what to do. It was a fitting game for her. Glancing at each other, a look of understanding passed between Mark and Monet and they were off, leaving the town in the dust and into the woods to chase down the monster before it could tell it's friends about the defenseless town of Blaten.
"Where did it go, Good Sir of Blaten? Did you see it?" Monet asked, stopping in the middle of a clearing in the Whisper Forest, turning in circles like she was trying to figure out where their Wanding monster could have disappeared too. Mark scanned the clearing himself, looking through the trees like one of them might give away the location of their target. His hand inched closer to his side, prepared to draw his sword any second that he needed it. Monet copied him with her arrows, ready for a battle. Their shallow breathing was the only noise in the room, though Monet's was slightly less than Mark's.
"There it is! Look out, Miss Knight!" Mark exclaimed, drawing his fictional sword and swinging it only a few inches away from Monet's side. The girl's bright blue eyes widened in surprise, her lips forming and O shape as she saw the monster that suddening arrived at her side, ready to strike without hesitating. She dropped her bow at her feet and reached down at her side, supposedly drawing th small dagger that she kept there, her second choice of weapon. With another attack of Mark's sword and a few stabs with Monet's dagger, the Wanding was dead at their feet. The two of them with seemingly fake exhaustion leaned forward on their knees, breathing hard. Monet took her hand off her black jeans for a second, brushing her bangs out of her face, their textured pattern making it hard to forget the fact that Monet had taken a pair of scissors to them a month ago herself.
Mark copied her slightly, shaking his loose hair out of his face, while resting his hands on his knees, covered by his dress pants that his mother had made him wear. He stared at his sword, like he was debating if he should pick it up or not but definitely needed that breather. That had been a hard battle, after all.
"Thanks for saving me," Monet said between her slightly forced pants. She stood up straight again and pulled her knife out of the now-dead monster, slipping it back into its place at her side. Then, she leaned down again and picked up her bow, her primary weapon. She couldn't just leave it there. Mark nodded his head and stood up himself, grabbing his sword and gesturing out of the clearing with it, motioning them back into the Whisper Forest.
"You're welcome. We need to check the rest of the forest super fast. And then triple check it and quadruple check it like Missy said so that we can get back to her and help her fix the town again," Mark replied, returning his sword back in its respective place at his side. Monet nodded her head in agreement and started back into the forest again. Mark was quick to run after her. Clearly, they hadn't done that good of a job last time they were in Blaten because soon, they were slaying monsters left and right. It got too hot really quickly so they both had ditched their jackets, tying them around their waists just incase they would need them later. But then, they had to triple and quadruple check the forest and that meant they had to kill more monsters. Once they both agreed that the forest was safe enough, they agreed to return to Jasmine. It was time to fix up the town.
"Okay, let's put that there and we'll move that... Oh good! You guys are back! We've been working on the town hall. What do you think? It looks pretty good, doesn't it?" Jasmine said, turning to face the others with a smile. Mark and Monet smiled at her as the world shifted from the twisted and spiraled Whisper Forest and into the smoke-filled town of Blaten. Rebuilding the town was their next task. The two that had just been monster fighting glanced over at here Jasmine was pointing, checking her work on the half finished town hall.
"It looks awesome, Missy! Good job! I love it!" Mark praised, holding his hand out for a high five from Jasmine. Jasmine laughed a bit and smiled, high fiving him. That caused Monet to giggle.
"You just got monster guts on you hand, Missy," Monet giggled, hiding her laugh behind her hand, but it could hide the way her eyes lit up as she spoke. Jasmine's face twisted into a look of disgust and she wiped her hand on Monet's shirt. Monet yelped slightly and jumped out of the way, swatting at Jasmine's hand. Jasmine moved after her and soon, the two of them were caught in a game of tag, dragging Mark right in with them.
It wasn't until Mark's mother, Rebecca, showed up did they even remember where they were and what was happening. The magical world of Blaten disappeared around them and they were left back in the church, in the middle of the mess that was their reality now. Jasmine gave both Mark and Monet a hug before running over to her aunt and uncle, ready to go home with them. She waved over at her two friends before turning over to her baby cousin, who was now her little brother legally to give him a smile. The family waved over at Mark and Monet before leaving. Monet grabbed onto Mark's dress shirt sleeve and tugged him out of the hallway, back into the sanctuary where they were cleaning up. Monet was going home with him since her father would be returning to work now. Timothy hadn't been able to get out of work on such short notice, despite it being his ex-wife's funeral.
Mark had helped his mother clean up some before giving up and returning to Monet's side. Rebecca had offered to help clean up after the funeral instead of Melissa. She knew it was going to be hard for her to deal with any of this and now she had Jasmine to take care of, who Mark knew first hand was having a difficult time surviving without her mother. Plus, since Rebecca had been such good friends of Clara's, it only made sense to her to be responsible for the event. So, Mark left her alone to clean up and returned to Monet, sitting down next to her and watching whatever movie Monet had put on her tablet. They didn't exactly sit in silence, since they had to comment about the movie sometimes but other than that, the energy in the air that had been there when they were playing Blaten faded into thin air completely.
Right before they left, ready to head home, the casket had to be loaded into the truck to be taken to the cremation center. Mark's job, according to his mother, was to keep Monet distracted so that she didn't see it, since she seemed to cry every time she saw it even slightly. And yet, despite his best attempts, Monet caught sight of the casket and the waterworks started up again. Mark hugged her tightly, trying to calm her down, but nothing seemed to help. So, he just listened quietly as Monet cried for her mother to come back. A wish he wished more than anything else in the world that he could make come true.