A/N: Please put up with the vagueness I had to settle for with regards to the funeral. I don't know how this stuff works and my research was only partially helpful, so I don't have many details to go into. Sad sad.

It's a super short chapter for the above reason, but you'll get the next one soon. Promise!

The scent of incense was strong. It brought back memories of when I was much younger, crying, "Mommy! Mommy!" over my mother's dead body lying lifeless in its casket. She'd been given a traditional Christian burial, minus the religious parts, but my father had still wanted to offer incense. Ever since then, incense became the smell of death.

Igneel's funeral was non-traditional in the sense that it was being held seven years after his death, but the police had only released his body from forensics a day before the wake was held. And since his body had been maimed and mummified, it was to be a closed-casket funeral.

Natsu and Uncle Atlas were the primary mourners, greeting friends and family as they paid their respects. It was a small affair; most of the people who knew Igneel in life had already moved on to other places. But I was there, and so were the rest of Natsu's friends. We stayed close together, not knowing any of the other adults present. I took Wendy under my wing, holding her with an arm around her trembling shoulders. This was her first wake and her first funeral, and I feared it was soon to be one of many if more victims were found.

But that was an issue for another day. Right now, I kept my focus on Natsu's face, his furrowed brow and the slight downturn of his lips. It was going to be a difficult day for him. He already had the wake yesterday, the funeral today, and there was the cremation later. I wondered how involved Natsu planned to be. This all couldn't be easy for him to handle with only Uncle Atlas for support.

The funeral went by relatively quickly. Once the priest arrived, he recited the sutra, we all placed incense, and then it was time for everyone non-family to go home.

I approached Natsu. "You okay?" I asked, studying his features. The circles under his eyes were dark.

"Yeah," he croaked. "Sleepy."

"I can tell. Will you be all right?"

"I got Uncle Atlas with me. It'll be fine."

"That's the spirit," I encouraged. I gave him a hug, squeezing him tight. His arms circled around my back to return the embrace. We stayed like that for a little longer than usual. He probably needed it. "Just give me a call if you need anything, all right? We're all here for you."

"Yeah. Thanks."

As I was checking to make sure I had everything before I left, a funeral home employee approached Natsu a few feet away. "A couple people left condolences cards," he said.

"Oh," said Natsu, taking the small pile of envelopes into his hands. "Thanks. Who are they from?"

"I wouldn't know," the man said.

"Okay." Natsu started walking toward me as he shuffled through them, checking the names on the back of each one. "I don't recognize any of— Hm?" He pulled out one of them that was plain white, but on second glance, it wasn't an envelope at all; it was just a folded sheet of paper. Natsu opened it up, and instantly stopped walking.

"Who's it from?" I asked, trying to resist the temptation to peek. But when he continued to stare in horror at the card, I gave in and peered over his shoulder.

Dearest Natsu,
Your sister will get to see her mother soon.
—Acnologia

My blood ran cold.

I looked around frantically for the man who'd given the cards to us, but I didn't see him. He would be able to tell us what the man who'd given the letter looked like, maybe. But I couldn't see him; he'd disappeared as soon as he gave Natsu the envelopes.

I ran up to the employee by the casket. "Hey, where's the guy who collected the condolences cards?" I asked, voice shrill with panic.

This other employee looked confused. "Condolences cards? There were the money envelopes yesterday, and the gifts, but if you're looking for cards, you might just want to wait for them to come in the mail."

"But someone just gave them to Natsu. Someone from the funeral home. He was wearing the uniform."

The man gestured behind him to the men gathered in the hallway waiting to move the casket to the crematorium. "Well, there's just me and the other three here." But none of those three were the man, either.

"But..." He had to be here somewhere. I wasn't just seeing things, right?

The worker in front of me seemed to be catching on that something was off. "Look, I don't know who gave him those envelopes. Why, is something wrong?"

"Yes. There's a letter in there that we need to know who it's from. There's a threat."

The man was startled. He seemed to be familiar with the circumstances around Igneel's death. "A threat? Should we call the police."

"Yes," I said, maybe a little too quickly. I glanced back at Natsu, but he was still in shock staring at that letter. Angry tears were starting to fall from his eyes. "Yes, please do that for us," I said again. "Get them here as soon as possible. Tell them that the deceased's son just got a note from the killer."

A/N: Bum bum buuhhhmmmm. To be continued...