A/N What?! ...I'm angsting out here. Rent can't be ending. I can't believe this is goodbye D:.
Uhm so this was pretty much written quickly, but I had to do something to be an homage for my love for Rent.
Amazing Grace
The ceremony was simple, candles in a few corners, a few pews full of people who had known and cared for him, an unused piano standing in the corner, and a simple coffin in the front of the aisle.
Mark stood up first, walked slowly to the front, and ran his hand over the smooth pine coffin, choking back a few tears.
"It's right," he said, turning to the pews once the silence became too much to bear. He choked back another sob as he realised those were the exact words Mimi had used to start Angel's eulogy with, as well. "It's right," he continued, as though he hadn't stopped, "that he went next." No one asked what he meant. And it was enough. He stepped down then, feeling as though he couldn't continue.
Roger took the floor next. "Collins had a grace that the rest of us couldn't touch. He was funny and serious, smart and oblivious, optimistic and bitter… lucky and damned." He took a shaky breath, the action echoing in the deafening silence. "He was lucky to find someone, someone who loved him for who he was. It was cruel that the same thing that took that someone away takes him away from us now."
Maureen stepped forward next, silent tears dripping down her face. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, and upon finding herself unable to speak, opened it again with a determined gleam in her eyes. "Amazing grace," she started, the first few notes shaky and strangled with tears, "how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me." Here Joanne joined in, the two voices blending in imperfect, sweet, coarse harmony."Was lost but now am found… was blind, but now I see."
Mimi was the last to stand, an odd, sad smile on her face. "I don't think he was scared," she said finally. "He knew he had to go sooner or later, and frankly, after Angel died, he seemed as though he preferred the sooner with all the stupid things he was doing." A few disquieted chuckles met her statement. "We'll miss him, but he's in a better place now." She smiled wryly, a few tears slipping down her cheeks. "Besides, wherever he is now, we know there's at least one Angel there with him."