Disclaimer : I am not Amano Akira so...yeah
Warnings : AU!, Character death, A bit OOC!, Authoress' first fanfic
Elena
The house was filled with people that day. The house that I came to know and adore during these past two years. The house that she and her family lived in. The house of my beloved best friend, Elena.
"Why don't you go inside, dear? I'm sure Elena will not be happy if you stay out in the rain like this. You will get sick if this continues on. Elena will blame herself if that happens." My mother persuaded me. I shook my head and instead told her to get inside to pay her final respects to Elena. It was frustrating but I cannot seem to gather my courage to see her for the final time.
It was rather ironic that I was harming the life that my best friend sacrificed herself to protect. I had seen the faces of Elena's parents and fiancé, they were filled with grievance and sorrow, yet never once did they blamed me for being the cause of Elena's death which made me felt even more guilty. I then decided to wait for the house to clear out of people while looking for some solace at the stables.
Being alone at the stables made me remember how I first met Elena. The King was hosting a masquerade party to help the Prince to find his future wife. As a close relative to the King, my family and I were invited. Being the favourite niece of the King had its perks, people were afraid of approaching me in fear of angering the King. I merely scoffed and thought of them as cowards.
Yet, Elena exceeded my expectations. She bravely walked towards me and introduced herself with a bright smile. I smiled politely back and after introducing myself, I asked for her to accompany me for the rest of the night. She complied and we chatted the night away. Elena was a witty and nice person so it was really to get along with parents noticed and encouraged us to visit each other's houses from time to time.
Since then, we became the best of friends. We spent most of our days together and often had a sleepover to strengthen our bond. But this eventually led to other people's jealousy. To them, for a lower class noble to befriend a royalty was unacceptable. In other words, an abomination to the society.
One day, when we were taking a walk around the town, a huge commotion occurred. Then, I saw that the horses of a carriage were rampaging and headed towards our way. Elena and I started to run for our safety when I felt someone pushed me and I fell.
The horses were getting nearer at my direction and I was unable to neither run nor get up because I sprained my ankle. Closing my eyes, I prepared myself for my impending doom. Suddenly, I felt myself being pushed again and I heard many screams at the sounds of bones cracking.
I opened my eyes and to my horror, I saw Elena sprawling on the road, crimson liquid pooling around her. I crawled to her and nearly had a panic attack as I feared for Elena's life.
Before I knew it, I was at the hospital waiting for Elena. My right leg was in a cast while my parents and our attendants fussed over my well-being. Elena's parents and fiancé arrived half an hour later, patiently waiting as they were informed of Elena's condition beforehand.
After two excruciating hours, the doctor came out of the operation room and looked at us while shaking his head. Elena's parents and I broke down crying while the rest were shocked, unable to utter a word. Suddenly, two policemen walked towards us while dragging an upper class nobleman.
It was then revealed that the upper class nobles had planned the whole incident to injure me and place the blame on Elena so that the King would forbid Elena from continuing our friendship. Elena's fiancé punched the nobleman for intending to harm me and causing Elena's death. The policemen took the noblemen away and the doctor asked Elena's father to sign her death certificate after offering his condolences.
I could not help but blamed myself because my selfishness to befriend Elena and ignoring other people caused her untimely death. I locked myself in my room and refused to eat anything. After a few days, my parents finally managed to coax me to go out of my room and eat. If someone else were to see me at that time, they would be horrified and ran away screaming as I resembled what the society called a living corpse.
As I was eating my first breakfast after the incident, my parents informed me of Elena's funeral that would be held tomorrow. I merely nodded and went back to my room after I washed up.
"Crystal, dear? It's time to go home."
My mother's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I noticed that the rain had stopped and I slowly walked out of the stable. The edges of my black dress were stained with mud as the stable had not been cleaned. Moreover, my wet dress was not helping in that matter.
However, instead of entering the carriage, I finally decided to enter Elena's house and pay my respects to my late best friend. Everyone was shocked but they were pleased as they could see from my expression that I had forgiven myself.
Perhaps I had or perhaps I had not. The death sentence given to the perpetrators definitely helped to ease my guilty conscience. I kissed the corpse's forehead and walked back to my awaiting parents.
As we rode back home, I saw a glimpse of the clear blue sky, the sun shining brightly upon the citizens of Vongola. It was as if the incident had never happened but for me, it signified that the incident were already in the distant past with no way to change it.
Nevertheless, I smiled serenely as this scene reminded me of Elena's brilliant smile. I closed my eyes and once again, I walked down the bittersweet memory lane.
~ The End ~
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