GAH I kind of sorta ship Dex and Tam after this chapter and I'm kinda mad about it. Just goes to show. Anything can be a ship if you try hard enough. Also, I haven't read a Keeper book with a Funeral/planting in a while so I'm sorry if I'm not accurate about it.

KOTLCHOOHP: Nice username. I LOVE TORTURE… No, I don't… Yes, I do. I'm sorry. If it helps, I cried writing it.

A Very Obsessed Fangirl (on every chapter): A. FAN READ MY STORY! I kid you not when I got all of your reviews my history teacher was talking about Buddhism and he was all "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. DEATH IS INEVITABLE. YOU'RE GOING TO GET ALTHIEMERS AND THEN YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO READ" and I got the email and I started FREAKING out. I was grinning like an idiot while my teacher went "YOUR DOG IS GOING TO DIE" AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT. I agree with what you said about Authors being untrustworthy. I read all of John Green's books at one time and I don't trust anybody anymore.

Tam's POV

Green isn't my color. Funerals aren't my thing. But here we are.

I had Dex dye my hair back. It's black and silver again. I just… Couldn't. Dex dyed his teal, which is nice, but every time I looked in the mirror and saw the Ice Blue I started crying. I'm outside of the wandering wood with Linh, waiting for everyone else. I don't know what to do with my time anymore. I train with Dex, I eat, I sleep. You should see me. I actually have muscles. Dex doesn't. He made all these special gadgets that make him stronger. I'm not trusting enough to put my trust into a few pieces of metal. Dex is the opposite. He doesn't trust himself anymore. Linh shifts from one foot to the other pulling her slightly too big green cape closer into herself. It's cold out like the wood is matching our mood. Perhaps it is. Perhaps the wood is always this cold because nobody comes to the wandering wood for a nice stroll. I see in the distance a large spot of teal. I squint as he runs closer. He's heaving by the time we come face to face.

"I, I need to fix that crystal," he heaves, "It's a little off," I laugh. Which makes him laugh. We don't do much laughing anymore, but it feels good. I hear a whooshing noise in the background. Marella zaps into view. Dex and I turn to face her. Green is her color. I might be gay but I can still see that she looks nice. I watch as she leans in to whisper something into my sister's ear. She then takes Linh's hand and they walk into the wood. Linh looks over her shoulder to make sure I'm okay. I nod at her. She smiles and then turns back around to lean on the blonde. I'm glad they're a thing now. I turn back to Dex. He's wearing a green tunic.

"You look nice," I tell him, though his eyes are red and his face is stained with tear lines.

"Thanks," he smiles shyly. We're not a thing. I'm not dating him. Maybe someday, but I don't want to fit the hole Keefe left in my heart just yet. Actually, I know for a fact that it's always going to be there, spilling feelings and pain out of it left and right, but I know that as an elf I am capable of love. I will love again. Just not now. Right now Dex and I are what we need most to be right now. Friends. He knows what I'm feeling because he's feeling it too. Right now kisses will not heal the pain but long midnight talks and helping each other through panic attacks will. I take his hand as we turn to face the wood.

"You ready?" He asks. I feel him shaking, and squeeze his hand. Then I snort.

"Not in the slightest. But it's not really time for ready, is it?" He shakes his head weakly.

"Well, here we go,"

We walk into the woods. There aren't many wanderlings, though that is to be expected. We walk past Jolie's tree, stopping for a second to admire it and the friendship bracelet that hangs off of the lowest branch. We walk a little further, the paths are a little more crowded now, headed towards the joint planting. Keefe and Fitz are sharing. They probably would've wanted it that way anyway. I can see a large crowd of people at the top of a hill just ahead of us, but Dex has stopped. We are standing under a large periwinkle tree. I remember all the things they told me about Dex and Sophie getting kidnapped years ago. I detangle my fingers from Dex's so I can wrap my arm around him. He leans into me, still shaking.

"I have one, he has one, but I'm standing here and he's not," I pull him even closer into me and then press my other hand into his heart.

"He's in here instead. Possibly the best place of all," I'm not facing him so I can't tell if he rolled his eyes at my cheesy remark or if he actually appreciated it. Probably a mix of both. After a minute we trudge further up the hill, passing Kenrics wanderling. We stop at the top of the hill. Alden, Della, and Biana stand next to two holes in the ground. We approach them. I let go of Dex as Della wraps him in a hug. I stand back, smiling slightly as I notice Biana watching Sophie climb up the hill with her parents, holding a large scrapbook. I glance up at Alden, who is looking at Dex and Della's embrace scornfully. You don't have to be an empath to feel the hate. After a minute, Dex and I go to hug Biana and then move to stand with the rest of the funeral party.

It is a grimm service. It would hurt to tell you the details so I'm not going to. We get in line to give one last look at what became of Keefe and Fitz. Biana goes first. She leaves Keefe a hairbrush and her brother a photo of Dex. Nobody else thought to bring a photo of him for Fitz, and the discovery makes me cringe. Then Sophie. She leaves Keefe a scrapbook, presumably the one we made him of all the stuff he missed in his coma, and Fitz a ring. It takes me a minute to realize what that meant. I guess there's no such thing as just one in a set of two Cognates. Linh and Marella go next. They each leave a box of prattles and a tin of ripple puffs. Linh is crying, I watch as Marella pulls her away from the already blooming sprouts to comfort her. It feels like the end of an era. Then there's Dex. He leaves Keefe several prattles, pins, and a gadget. Then he pauses at Fitz's grave, which breaks him. Tears stream out of him as he shakes quietly. I walk past Keefe's wanderling, stopping for a second to say I love you, letting it stay suspended in the air. I leave him a gulon I made with shadows, it'll disintegrate soon, the shadows will seep into the shade the tree casts or into the ground, but I don't mind. At least a part of me will be with him. I leave a shadow animal for Fitz, then go to stand by Dex. I pull him into me. He's a good six inches shorter, so his head fits in the crook of my neck perfectly. I let his tears wet my green tunic, and then guide him away from the newly planted Wanderlings so that Alden and Della can say goodbye. As we reach his Wanderling he unfolds himself from me and reaches for my hand.

"What now?" He asks me. I turn to look him in the eye.

"We do what we've been working for," he raises his eyebrows questionably,

"Which is what?"

"Now we fight back,"

Whooo, that was a doozy. That's the end of this story, I think it was good, but I dunno. I take constructive criticism if you think I could do better in a future story. I already have the first draft half written of a new Fedex story and the plot I came up with is like... Pretty good. So look out for that. Thanks for reading this story!