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When I woke, I wish I never did. I was lying next to Martyn's unmoving form, next to Sjin's twisted body. Minty sobbing on his shoulder.
Zoey came and helped me up, I leaning heavy on her. My wound had stopped bleeding.
"This might come as a shock," She choked up.
Xephos lay almost peacefully on the ground, his eyes gazing up into space. Blood trickled down the side of his head.
Honeydew was on his knees next to him, Lalna bowed his head in grief.
A salty tear fell onto my lip. I fell to my knees, silent tears streaming down my face. I shakily leaned down to kiss his forehead, my hair, crusted with blood and dirt brushed his face.
I am not afraid to say that I cried.

-----

"Three Heroes died in the Battle of the Wohdahs. Tonight, we say goodbye to Sjin, Xephos, and Martyn Littlewood. For they died a heroes death, saving their loved ones from their own deaths."
Strippin and Sparkles knelt next to Martyn's casket, the two of them leaving shards of Martyn's sword upon it.
Sips led Minty up to Sjin's grave. She lingered for a moment, her shoulders shaking with sobs. When she lifted her head, her eyes were brown, almost black with grief. Sips put a block of dirt down, Minty planted a yellow flower inside of it.
Honeydew, Lalna and I walked hand in hand to Xephos' marble encasement. Each of us left our own memoirs, Honeydew leaving a Jaffa cake, Lalna setting down his old goggles, the first pair given to him by Xephos. I left an owl feather, golden and red.
Lalna had found his enterprise badge that apparently Xephos had thrown to the side. I kept it around my neck, reminding me of what drove us to battle, and what caused him to die.

For the nights that followed, nightmares tore through my mind. Lalna spent the night sometimes and he would rush into my room, shushing me and waking me from my delusional state.
For a while I was in denial. Then denial slipped into anger, finally depression. I traded out my regular green forest outfit for a black one.
Minty had retracted from society. She hid herself in the Captive Creeper, only coming out in the early morning to watch the sun rise. I heard from Sips that he could hear her sobs at night.
Occasionally Zoey and I met up for tea. Zoey was always able to cheer me up, no matter what she said. Sometimes she was able to coax Minty out of her house and the three of us would chat over tea.
After a year, the nightmares stopped coming. I changed out my black clothing for a forest-green one. I didn't feel upset over his death anymore. I just had to move on.
It took Minty longer. Sips finally brought her around and the two of them were good friends, Minty working for Sips Co. Honeydew stopped spending three weeks straight in the mines, instead showing up with Lalna for a drink.
Strippin and Sparkles, Benji and Parv (who fully recovered) were occasionally heard from.
Life resumed. Nilesy and I worked around the island.

One night, I was taking one of my nightly walks around my island. I had lit up the place with torches so hardly any monsters spawned. If they did, I always had Xephos' blade slung over my shoulder.
My footsteps were the only ones that I could hear. Suddenly the wind picked up, blowing leaves around. My hand flew to my sword.
"Lomadia...."
Ice crept into my veins again, bringing back the numbness. I spun around to see Xephos, flesh and bone, eyes glowing.
"I believe you have something of mine," Xephos smiled.
I sprinted forward, leaping into his open arms.
He spun me around, laughing into my ear.
"How?" I whispered.
He unsheathed his diamond sword from the sheath hanging from my belt. "I'm not exactly sure. I, well, I saw you yelling and shouting at me. And you having nightmares. I was here all the time, I don't think you could see me though. Then Lalna finally figured out something, as he was running tests on souls for some mage or other and realized that if an normal inanimate object killed you while it was animated, then when it was unanimated it should undo all the damage it did. It didn't work, though, so Lalna went back to the site and found the Wohdahs that killed me. The poison infects the body, but spares the soul. The rest of you is so full of soulfulness, each of you have something to live for and protect that the poison fizzled out when near the soul. Lalna recovered my body and recovered my soul. I owe that son of a dog a extreme apology."
There were so many questions that clogged up in my throat I could barely speak.
"And yes, Martyn was able to be recovered. Sjin, well, his leg is a bit deformed but he's happy so far. Martyn went off and found Dream, and then also found Sparks and Strip. They got a bit of a shock but he's alright."
I shuddered. "Minty will be furious."
"I hope not," Sjin's voice said. I turned around to see him leaning heavily on a wooden stick, Minty's rose apparently alive in his hand. "Xephos is helping me get around. Do you think we can take a ship to Sips Co.?"

It was midnight when we got over to Sips Co. Minty opened the door to the Captive Creeper, smiling and cheerful and then screamed when she saw Sjin.