It was a crisp autumn day in Las Vistas as the community of humans and mutes alike all gathered at the base of a large tree in the Timbercat village. A few nights ago, a cured Brad had peacefully passed away in his sleep from old age. Amy was understandably broken up over the curing and the fact that it drastically shortened Brad's lifespan tore her apart even more. Every night, the poor rat mute would just cry herself to sleep and look like a train hit her the next morning, every square inch of her snout was matted with tear tracks.
The community decided to pull together and hold a funeral for Brad, all dressed in their usual attire. Brad was never a rat to dress up for formal occasions. Literally, the only one dressed the most traditionally was Jamack with his signature black suit and tie. Amy was clad in the same sleeveless, open spring green vest she always wore as she knelt in front of a shoebox that served as a makeshift coffin that housed Brad's corpse. Everyone sat in silence for a few minutes before Kipo placed a comforting hand on Amy's shoulder, "Ready to sing the song I taught you?"
Amy nodded as Kipo picked her guitar up off the ground and started tuning it as Amy spoke into a microphone, "Listen up, everyone. I'd like to dedicate this song to my good friend, Brad. We've been through so much together and life's put us through many trials. Unfortunately, it seems like Brad's trial is up so with Kipo's permission, I'll perform this song in remembrance."
Amy cleared her throat as Kipo strummed the first few chords. The rat mute then began singing into the microphone:
We may not have sunshine
Or starlight or weather
But we've got each other
And that's even better
You don't need the sun to keep you warm
When you've got arms
Wishes come from you and not
A random shooting star
We may not have storm clouds
But the sky's always blue
We've got something special here
And what we have is you
What we have is you
What we have is you
As Amy finished singing, a single tear slithered down her muzzle and dripped off the edge of her pink nose, landing upon the cardboard lid of Brad's tomb. Tears were falling from human and mute eyes alike and many had goosebumps from Amy's beautiful singing.
"That was amazing!" Kipo gasped in awe, patting the rat's back, "I didn't know you could sing like THAT, Amy!"
"My singing's better than my French, I guess." Amy joked tearfully, trying her best to crack a smile but it wasn't long for that smile to falter. She took a deep breath, blinking at the sting of tears and trying to compose herself. Kipo gently rubbed Amy's vest clad back to further help soothe her before stepping away and sitting beside Mandu to give the rat some space.
"Brad was..." Amy swallowed, her throat tingling a bit, "Brad was the light of my life and he could light up just about any room he stepped in. He was so kind and selfless and had a great sense of humor. We lived together in our van for a little more than a decade. Being with Brad and building Ratland together were some of the happiest times in my life. At first, we weren't so trusting of humans until we met this wonderful young man named Liam. He was feeling a bit lost so we reluctantly gave him a ride but once he opened up to us, he planted the seed in our head that mutes and humans could get along and coexist so we decided to turn our park into a safe zone for humans. Unfortunately, Song told me about what Emilia did to him..." A warm tear rolled down Amy's snout as she mourned a bit for Liam as well, "Just like Brad, his life was cut so short." Sniffling, she dragged her arm across her snout, "Emilia has robbed us of so much. One of my favorite things to do at Ratland was to sit back and watch the fireworks with Brad by my side but ever since prom, I've become frightened of fireworks. Just the sight and sound of them causes me to have panic attacks to the point where I throw up I get so scared. Whenever I got scared of something, Brad would just hold me and tell me jokes to make me laugh. He was the nicest guy you could ever meet. I remember one time, he helped a young child who was having a meltdown at our park and as it turned out, the child was on the autism spectrum and couldn't stand all the bright lights and loud noises. So in an act of selflessness, he gave the child his sunglasses and a pair of earmuffs to cancel out the bright lights and loud sounds. Brad was a beautiful light in this dark and scary world and now that he's gone, the world just got a little dimmer. Even so, he'll always live on in our hearts and memories. Truly, he was a gift to us all."
There wasn't a dry eye in the crowd as Amy concluded her speech. Even the normally sarcastic Puck had tears rolling down his muzzle as he held his hat to his chest, the softly crying Theaotter receiving a comforting rub on the back from Molly Yarnchopper whose own stoic shell was beginning to crack. Good Billions was removing his glasses to dab at his watering eyes as his cured brother whimpered beside him. Benson and Troy were also hugging and crying. Label was ugly bawling as Zane awkwardly comforted her. Kipo herself had tears streaming down her face as she stroked and petted a forlorn Mandu. The only one who wasn't crying was a mysterious male human figure with brown hair who was nervously watching the whole thing go down from some nearby bushes.
It was then that Amy felt a pair of arms wrap around her and hug her tight. It suddenly dawned on the rat that it was Kipo who was hugging her so she just hugged back and forlornly rested her head on her shoulder, "Thanks, Kipo..."
"After everything you've been through, a hug's exactly what you need, Amy." Kipo replied, stroking the depressed rat's fur. After about a minute, Kipo released the hug and Puck ran up to Amy.
"That speech of yours!" Puck replied, wiping his tears away, "It was just so beautiful it got me all choked up! And trust me, it takes a LOT to get me to shed tears. Have you ever considered becoming a playwright? You seriously have a natural talent!"
"Why thank you!" Amy blushed, giving the otter a warm hug, "But now's not the time for that."
"Sorry." Puck apologized, frowning, "Just take all the time you need, okay?"
She just nodded in response with a smile. Puck could be surprisingly sweet at times. The otter backed off and stood over by Jamack who just rolled his eyes. A dead silence filled the air, only broken by the occasional sniffle and sob. Closing her eyes, Amy felt a few tears run down her long snout as she hunched over Brad's shoebox casket, "Goodbye Brad, I'll miss you..."
"Zoop!"
Amy looked over to where Tad Mulholland was standing. The water bear had wiped the salty tears from her snout and crafted them into a beautiful rose which he offered to her, "Now now, there'll be no more tears from those pretty pink eyes of yours, Amy."
"Thanks, Tad. You're so sweet." Amy took the rose made of her tears into her paw and it melted into her palms, "But now's the time to bury him. I don't know how much more my heart can take this."
"That's fair enough." Tad nodded in agreement. And so, Amy watched as Wolf dug the grave with a shovel she was carrying. Not a single word was spoken among any of the humans or mutes as Wolf gently lowered Brad's casket into the hole, Kipo clasping hands with Amy the whole time.
After Wolf filled the hole in with dirt, Benson walked up from the crowd with a can of cheese in his hand, "Now hold up, we can't conclude this funeral without giving Brad a proper sendoff." Shaking the can, Benson sprayed a glob of cheese upon Brad's gravesite, "There. That should do it. Now he'll never go hungry again."
Suddenly, Amy was overcome by emotion so much she ran up to Benson and tackled him into a bone-crushing hug, "That was SO sweet of you, Benson."
Benson was shocked and just how tight a hugger Amy was. It almost felt like he was being squeezed by an anaconda but despite the discomfort, he returned the gesture before they broke the hug, "That actually kinda hurt a little...I think I need to catch my breath."
"Sorry." Amy apologized, sadly hanging her head.
Dave walked up beside Benson as he laughed in a teasing manner, "Seriously Benson, getting hugged by Amy of all mutes gets you out of breath? Either you're a complete lightweight or she's been working out."
"As a matter of fact, I have been working out!" Amy perked up with a smile, "Been lifting weights with Label and taking self-defense classes with Wolf so I'm much physically stronger than I was before!"
"WOOHOO! GO CARDIO!" Label yelled from across the funeral crowd.
"Wait a minute, let me feel." Dave begged, giving puppydog eyes to the rat.
"Sure thing!" Amy replied, letting the insect crawl up her arm and feel her muscles.
Dave gasped with utter delight, "Oh wow, you HAVE been working out! Those are some rock solid guns you've got going on there."
Amy just chuckled and blushed a bit, "Awww, thanks Dave!"
Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes and a man of average build emerged from them. A dead silence filled the air as all eyes were on him. Time seemed to stand still when the man suddenly bolted. Immediately, Wolf got up and started chasing after him with shovel still in hand with Amy chasing after her. "WOO! You go get that creeper and deck him with those new muscles of yours!" Dave cheered while Benson facepalmed.
"Well...um...looks like the funeral's over and I gotta bus to catch. Bye!" Kipo stammered nervously into the microphone before chasing after her friends who were in hot pursuit of the mystery man.
The man rushed as fast as his legs could carry him before tripping and falling on a tree root. He attempted to get up but was struck on the back by a shovel, "Why are you running from us!?" Wolf demanded from behind him.
Rolling over onto his back, the man looked up and saw the now teenage Wolf holding the shovel above her head as if poised to strike, "Tell. Me. Your. Name."
The man suddenly panicked and shielded his face, "Jesse! My name is Jesse Whitmore! Just please don't hurt me!"
"Why were you creeping around in those bushes? You weren't even invited to the funeral!" Wolf interrogated, anger surging through her.
"Wait. Let me explain. I-I came to apologize to Amy!" Jesse replied frantically, looking over to where Kipo and Amy stood.
"Apologize for what?" Wolf asked in an annoyed tone.
"I was the masked soldier in Amelia's squad who pulled the trigger and cured her friend. Brad is dead and it's all my fault." Jesse answered, on the verge of tears. Kipo, Amy and Wolf all just stared at Jesse with looks of complete shock and disbelief.