A/N So thank you again for the wonderful reviews. Does anyone else get insanely excited when they get any notification for ? lol. Well, enough stalling. Here's the next installment. Again, I apologize for it being sad, but I didn't write it or own it. If I did all of the actors would serenade me constantly.

Classes were cancelled for the remainder of the week when the devastating news got around. Not that anyone would go except for maybe Otto and Georg. And probably Hanschen.

Ernst locked himself in his room for 2 days and refused to come out, even for food. Once he stopped crying, he just laid there in disbelief over what had happened.

The day before the funeral, someone came to visit Ernst. He was sitting under a large oak tree in his backyard when he heard footsteps. When he looked up, he could not believe his eyes.

"Hello Ernst."

"Hanschen, what brings you here?"

"I came to see how you were doing."

"Oh. Thank you for your concern," Ernst said as he glanced over Hanschen's shoulder.

"I see that my concern has reason to exist. Ernst, you look rather pale."

"I will live, Hanschen. I would like to be alone now."

"I am afraid I simply cannot allow that."

"Why not?" Ernst turned on him.

"Because you are clearly upset and I do not wish anything to happen to you."

"So? Why can I not be upset? Moritz is dead, Hanschen. DEAD. He is gone. Forever," Ernst said, holding back tears.

"Ernst, you were not very close with Moritz. Why is this bothering you so much? I mean, I understand why Melchior is a mess, but not you."

"Because I saw Moritz before he died. I talked to him. He told me he was quitting school. I never imagined he would … he would…" At this Ernst began to cry again.

Hanschen then realized the problem. Ernst had tried to help Moritz and had failed. Ernst was suffering from guilt.

"Ernst, you know that no one could help Moritz. Not Melchior. Not Ilse. Not Martha. Not even you," Hanschen said as he sat beside the weeping Ernst.

To acknowledge his help, Ernst leaned towards Hanschen. To his amazement, Hanschen pulled him closer so that Ernst's head was on his shoulder. Ernst continued to cry until all of the tears seemed to be gone.

"Thank you Hanschen."

"My pleasure little Ernst," he said as he stood and headed towards his home.

All of the children sat with their parents at the funeral. They were kept on very short leashes since the "incident." Everyone placed a flower into Moritz's grave. Standing next to it, Moritz's mother was crying softly. His father acted indifferent, but if you looked closely, you could see the faint tracks of tears on his cheeks. Melchior had not set foot inside of the church; he had waited outside, but he was there at Moritz's grave.

When the final rites were said, everyone began to depart. The children were all ushered to their homes. However, their parents did not expect them to sneak out and return to the cemetery.

Georg, Anna, Otto, Thea, Martha, Ilse, Hanschen, Ernst, Wendla, and Melchior all stood around Moritz's grave, grieving in their individual ways. When Anna and Thea began to cry, Georg and Otto offered their shoulders. Both Ilse and Martha were crying openly, as was Wendla. She kept her distance from Melchior, knowing how much hurt he must be experiencing.

One by one, they paid their last respects and sadly made their ways home. Otto and Thea were the first to leave shortly followed by Anna and Georg. Then, Ernst gave hugs to both Ilse and Martha as they left, knowing their fondness for Moritz was making his death harder on them. Hanschen took his leave after that, taking one final look at Ernst to make sure he was alright. Wendla left next after touching Melchior's shoulder with no response, leaving only Melchior and Ernst.

Ernst approached Melchior slowly, not knowing how emotional and erratical Melchior might react.

"Melchior," Ernst began, "I spoke with Moritz before he… before he… well, you know. He said he was quitting school. I never imagined that he would do something like this. I am so sorry that I was unable to stop him."

After saying this, Ernst waited a few moments to see if Melchior would say anything. When he did not, Ernst began to leave.

"It is not your fault Ernst. It is mine. I should have helped him more. I got distracted and he slipped through my fingers."

"It is not your fault either, Melchior. We could not save him, no matter how hard we tried."

"I can only hope that you are correct."

"I am," Ernst said, reassuringly. "Here," Ernst said, handing over Moritz's razor, "He would have wanted you to have it."

"Thank you Ernst."

"It is the best I can do to help," Ernst said as he left his companion behind, not knowing that he would never see him again either.

A/N So… what did you think? It's one of my longest chapters and it's rather sad, but there's a bit of hope in it. And I apologize in advance because there will be another sad chapter or so, but I'm not sure if I'm going to write them first or the vineyard scene. Your opinions?

Funfact: I just sit down and start typing/writing. I never really know where my chapters or stories are going. Anyone else write like this?