I had been staying with Elizabeth for the entirety of her recovery at the hospital. I hardly left her side, the only times I didn't were when I needed to rest for my disguise. I had done her a favor the first day I was with her, she wanted some of her clothes from her house for when she would move around. She asked the doctors about it and said light wear stuff, no jeans or anything like that.

She gave her parents the go ahead and I ran over there to get the clothes. Her mother was there for me thankfully. She gave me the clothes and she had questioned how I got here without a car. I just shrugged and she just brushed it off.

I had Elizabeth a black shirt with some blue sweat pants. She appreciated it and after that we would just talk like we normally would.

What we talked about, what a little depressing. She talked about everything that happened to her…. Sunny, her wounds, the fear…. And even when she nearly decided to end it. Her words brought more meaning, and more sorrow then I had ever felt. Not only did the words do it, but I could feel her sorrow, it was overwhelming, sensing, and basically feeling her pain, it was too much. All of this brought me to tears, and I kept on apologizing, and apologizing. Even when she said it was okay I kept on, I couldn't forgive myself.

She was pained to see me the way I was, and she carefully hugged me, trying not to irritate her bandages. I returned it and did the same. That night became a little more cheerful after that, but it was still very depressing, it was only a day after the events. Especially for her, this was her first time experiencing something like this. Pain, trauma, death, and even murder. All of this in one night, she experience all of that. In. One. Night.

Dinner that night was much more pleasant. She was embarrassed to go out because of the bandages, but I was able to convince her that it didn't matter. She came reluctantly after she got dressed. We went to the cafeteria where there actually weren't many people. The hospital food was decent, but it seemed that Elizabeth wasn't interested in it. Thankfully there were a few restaurants nearby, and I decided to get her Subway.

She wanted a cold cut with all veggies, shakers, oil and vinegar added on top. I did the same, but instead of oil and vinegar, I got siracha. I got us each a bottle of Coca-Cola and walked back over to the hospital. We sat down and started to eat.

"So uh… What exactly happened, after y'know, they picked me up?" She asked.

-Well, I had a very interesting conversation with the officer that was on duty,- I said taking a bite of my food.

She just took a swallow of her drink, "Really? Like how?"

-Well she was basically trying to pin me down as the one who let those things in,- I explained.

Elizabeth was shocked by that statement, and seemingly offended, "How dare they! You saved me, and they want to try and pin this on you?! Weren't there other witnesses?!"

I shook my head, -You and I were the only ones to leave the school alive….-

She realized her mistake and looked down. I took this as an opportunity to take another bite of my sandwich, and she did as well. We ate our food for a few more seconds before we spoke again.

She started, "So… what does that mean then?"

-I think it means you are the only witness besides me, that means your word is law,- I answered.

"What?! What about you?" She asked me.

-I'm not the one who was put in the hospital, I'm not the victim, they are going to believe your word more than mine,- I explained.

She took another bite of her food, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna let them lock you up, you saved me, and I'll make sure they know that."

-Thank you… You know your mom even backed me up,- I told her.

She looked shocked at that, "Wait.. really?"

-Yep, she was one of the first people there y'know? She was at the scene just a minute or so after you left,- I said.

I saw for a brief moment, but Elizabeth had smiled. It didn't last long, but I was able to catch a glimpse of it. But she couldn't hide it, I could also sense she was happy.

I spoke to her, -Y'know, it's good to see you happy…. Despite everything…-

She shook her head, "I already told you, that's not your fault, even if it was related to you, even if it was because they wanted to get at you, that. Was. Not. Your fault. And I will drive that message into your brain if I have to."

I huffed and took a bite of my sandwich, once I finished I continued, -Maybe, but still…. I have regrets…-

She looked down, "We all do…."

The silence after that just left us both sad. We just ate in silence, waiting for the other to spark a conversation with the other. But after some thinking, and soul searching, I was able to speak again.

-So um…. Heard anything from your parents?- I asked.

She replied quickly, "My mom should be coming to visit soon, I was surprised by that front, but after what you told me it made sense…"

-You know… My parents weren't exactly perfect,- I said.

"Well, not that anyone's are, but you haven't really gone into detail before now," she said finishing a bite of her sandwich.

We stayed silent, I had something I needed to tell her about but didn't really know how to go about it.

She noticed though, "You're not eating, what's gotten into you?"

I was surprised by the response and jumped up, -Heh, seems you're better at reading people then me…. Look I got an email from the school… the funerals will be on Friday next week.-

"Funerals?" She asked.

-Yeah… from the school…- I said.

A look of realization quickly plastered itself on it's face. Her eyes showed worry and concern, realizing who the funerals were gonna be for, and she looked down scared. She started shaking a bit.

-Elizabeth, just calm down ok?- I said.

I gave her a second to stop, and she eventually was able to.

"Ok, ok I'll be fine," She said, "It's hard… y'know?"

-You seem to get nightmares now…. You scream in your sleep,- I explained.

"I what?!" She asked concerned.

-It's nothing… It's probably ptsd, it's not your fault or anything,- I said.

"Oh…" I said.

That wording didn't seem to help her, GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!? Why did I say that?!

-Well I mean wait, no it might not be that, I mean like it's just uh…- I couldn't think of anything to get my ass out of this one.

She laughed a little, "I see behind all that seriousness and worry, you're still that awkward person I came to know!"

I looked up to see her smiling at me, -Heh, I guess so, and your still the shy girl I came to know as well.-

We both started to laugh at that. It felt good, after all of this, just to laugh, and at the simple fact we were still us. It was kind of sad, but it was still something, we needed something to enjoy. Anything, anything at all.

After we ate I started to lead her back to her room, on our way there a doctor had bumped into me. He told me to watch where I was going. Her really should not have said that, because Elizabeth went off on him.

"YOU FUCKER! You ran into him! He was clearly watching where he was going and you walked into him, how dare you!" She yelled.

"Woah! Young lady please, I'm sorry I didn't-" He started but was cut off.

"NO! You piece of SHIT! How dare you, now you want to apologize HUH!? Well sorry, no fucking way you are getting off with that god damn it!" She yelled.

I gently got in front of her and pushed her back slightly, she shot me a glare that sent shivers down my spine, why was she so angry?

I gripped her hand in my disguised paw and started to lead her away. As we started walking her gaze turned soft, and it seemed she realized what she did.

"Wait did I just? Why did I yell at him like that?!" She asked.

-I, I don't know, what got into you there?- I asked.

"I.. I'm not that aggressive… so why?" She asked herself.

I just shook my head and we went inside her room.

-Maybe, just try to rest, okay?- I asked.

"Maybe…" She said.

I thought for a minute, -Y'know, it's a little boring here, would you want me to bring my game system over here, it works as portable system too, so you can play it here…-

She smiled, "Yeah, that sounds good, thanks."

-No problem, I'll be back soon,- I said.

I quickly left the hospital, and took to the woods so I could move quicker. I got back near the school where I saw there was still police investigating there. I ignored it and continued back to my place. I picked up the system and it's charge cord and ran back using the same route.

When I came back I saw she was just watching the TV in her room.

"Oh hey!" She said.

-I got it,- I replied.

"Oh cool!" She replied.

I had the two controllers and I was able to set it up on the table next to her bed. I handed her a controller, brought over a chair, and we both started to play the game together. The doctors had to come in a few times to check things and I would leave to let them. I would leave the room as they changed the bandages for her or whatever.

After that I came back in to enjoy the game with her.

The next few days had followed the same basic pattern, I would bring her food from some of the local restaurants nearby the hospital, we would play games or watch TV, and the doctors would swing by to check up on her. After the few days we were there her mother came by to visit. Her mother gave her a caring hug, and made sure to be careful about it.

Her mother stayed and talked asking about what went on, how we were, and things like that. She asked her daughter about how her wounds were doing. This was the first I had heard about this since she really is self conscious about them. Apparently they were healing like they should, but they would definitely scar, no doubt.

I felt bad for her, I knew she was already shy, this wasn't gonna help any. But her mother gave her some kind words about worrying about her appearance, she was just glad her child was alive. Her mother apologized saying that she should have been there for her.

The whole conversation in the end was heartwarming, and real. It was something my mother would say when I got bullied, it truly was a nice moment.

Her mother had again thanked me for saving her daughters life. I returned with a bow.

After a while her mother had to leave to get ready for work the next day, and the rest of the time Elizabeth seemed to be in a much happier mood.

Then the day finally came, she would be able to leave, the first step however, was to finally have her bandages removed. Since it wasn't a huge procedure I was allowed to stay in the room. Her parents were here for her as well to see the damage.

They started with her leg, which in turn had a nasty gash on it. It had scarred over, and thankfully it wasn't too noticeable, just long pants and nothing to worry about.

Next they removed the bandages around her arms, a large gash was on her right arm, like the creature had dug it's claws in. There were also some smaller scars, possibly from the glass that cut her.

Next up, they took off the ones on her waist, which I casually looked away. Once she said I could look, I saw that on her waist were some small scars, and her left shoulder had some bigger scars, but thankfully her shirt would cover it.

Then we got to the last thing, the bandages on her face. The first to be removed was the ones on her left cheek. Raked at an angle were three scars lined up together. They took up a good portion of her cheek, and one reached up near her ear. This is the one I feared, that she was most frightful of.

She held her hand to it, "How does it look…?"

Her mother and father didn't know what to say, it was bad, no question about it. But I did her something better then lying, I just held her hand, and I smiled.

She looked over at me, "I know you are just trying to make me feel better, but I know it's bad…. Even still, thanks."

Her mother smiled, "They aren't really that bad dear, I mean, so what, if anyone even tries to make a comment I will personally make them regret it!"

"Thanks mom," She said.

"It'll be fine dear," My dad said.

The last bandages came off around her head, she had a good sized scar on her forehead towards the left side, it was bad, but her hair would cover it.

The doctor then spoke, "That seems to be everything, she is now ready to leave."

Her mother was worried however, "So, all of them have healed like they're supposed to?!"

"Yes ma'am, everything has been watched and accounted for," he explained, "But one thing I must ask, Elizabeth, have you had any weird thought, or different behavioral patterns then normal?"

She got scared about the question and looked to me. I shot back a serious look, nodding at her to tell them.

"Y-yes… I had an outburst for something so simple, it was like I was more aggressive then I should have been, it wasn't normal," She explained.

"Hm… Yes I see, that must've been the change we looked into…" He said.

"You mean the brain damage?" her mother quarried.

"Yes, as we said it was very small, but it could have had a slight effect, this seems to be it," he said.

"I see…" Her father said quietly.

"My advice is just keep her calm and don't do anything to rile her up, doing that will give her time to get used to these feeling and get back on track," The doctor explained.

We all agreed to these terms, her parents had to sign a few papers, and after I packed up she was finally able to leave the hospital and go back home. After saying my goodbyes I headed back to my cave, went and brushed my teeth, got myself cleaned up at the falls, and went on to sleep after returning to my cave.

After a couple of days it was time for the funerals. The few days I had to prepare I went and bought more appropriate clothes for a funeral, just dark colored long shirt and pants. I could hold my disguise for a good bit of time at the funeral, it was no big deal. After putting it on and heading to the funeral site I tried to meet up with people I knew. There were a lot of people here, and it made sense, for a massacre to occur at a school, it would cause a lot of commotion.

I was actually able to join up with Elizabeth, and even saw Bruce.

"Hey, I was waiting on you," Elizabeth said.

-Yeah sorry, took me a minute to figure out how to get into this,- I said.

"Yeah, wouldn't the waist be too big?" she asked.

-It is, I'm using a belt, and cut a hole for my tail to hold it up as well,- I explained.

"Ah, I see…" She said.

Bruce had walked over to us, "Hey guys…"

-Hey,- I said.

"H-hi…" Elizabeth said looking down and holding a hand to her cheek.

"Elizabeth… I'm so sorry that happened to you," He apologized.

"It's okay, it's not your fault," She said.

"Still, it wasn't something you deserved, you or… Sunny…" He said sadly.

We both looked down.

"Well… the service should be starting soon, we should be there for it," He said.

I nodded and Elizabeth agreed.

The service was hard to be there for, and I know it was horrible for Elizabeth, she probably saw some of these bodies. I saw her nearly go to tears when they mentioned Sunny's name, and I noticed a couple start to cry their eyes out, and the mother of that couple was hysterical, it was obvious who they were.

The ceremonies concluded and people were able to go up to each their own grave. Elizabeth was at Sunny's and I joined her.

Sunny's parents were here as well. Elizabeth was trying to console them about their daughter, it felt awful listening in, cause what were you supposed to say to grieving parents about their daughter? It's just not that simple. It seemed Elizabeth was talking about the experiences she had with Sunny. Apparently they met in high school, it was during one of the classes they had together. Elizabeth had started getting bullied by a couple of girls in class, calling her four-eyes, and just being mean in general. Sunny was there to stick up to those bitches, and even called one out on being a slut.

It didn't really relieve their pain, but I think it gave them more memories of their daughter so that they never forget them.

Eventually we got to talking again, and their parents went off to talk with relatives they knew. After a minute some girl went up to Sunny's coffin.

"Well, looks like the annoying bitch went and croaked, finally now I wont have to hear her mouth run," She said.

I had heard this crystal clear and became a little pissed about it, but I wasn't the only one to hear it.

"What was that?" Elizabeth said while walking up.

"Oh? Hey! It's four eyes! Well it's seems this nosy bitch finally got what was coming to her, she just needed to learn her place is all… and seeing that how you are now even less attractive then before, I think you need a new name, hm… how 'bout, 'Cut Less,' I think it fits!" She said.

Elizabeth smiles, "Say I got a name for you as well!"

"Oh, and what is I-" Before the girl could finish Elizabeth slugged her and the girl held her face in pain, causing most of the crowd to look on.

"It's, 'Butter Face,' Bitch," Elizabeth yelled out.

The girl fell to her knees, holding her nose which was bleeding.

I saw Elizabeth about to try and kick her but I held her back.

-Elizabeth! Stop!- I yelled in her mind.

She squirmed in my arms, but eventually calmed herself.

That girls parents ran up to her and yelled at Elizabeth.

"YOU CRAZY BITCH! ARE YOU INSANE!" The mother yelled.

"DID YOU HIT YOUR HEAD OR SOMETHING?!" The father yelled.

Elizabeth realized her actions and backed off scared.

I got in between the parents and her and tried to cover Elizabeth, while also backing her away.

After not being able to use words while trying to calm down the parents, Elizabeth just kept repeating the words, "I'm sorry," over and over.

Elizabeth's parents didn't really know what to do in that situation, but they did come over and try to calm the parents down.

-Elizabeth, let's just walk, okay?- I asked her.

She nodded and told her parents, her mother gave her the O.K. and we were on our way.

She was crying, "Why, why, why, why!?"

I just continued to walk with her and comfort her, -It's okay, it's going to be okay,- I repeated.

"I didn't want to hurt her, but I couldn't help it, why couldn't I stop it!" She said.

-Elizabeth, it's going to be okay, that bitch was disgracing the dead, and your friend, you had every right to do that,- I explained.

"But that isn't right, I didn't want to do it!" She shook her head.

-I know… This is going to take time for you to get used to, so please, just please don't become upset, you are going to be okay,- I promised to her.

"But, what if I'm not, what if I don't get okay!?" She yelled back.

-Then I will help you! I will help you till you are! I will make sure to help control your actions, I will make sure to help you! In any way I can!- I promised again.

"What if I hurt you?" She asked.

-Even if you did, you wouldn't be able to do much to me, I can protect myself, and if I am trying to help you, then it wont matter, as long as I know I can help you!- I explained.

She started to wipe her tears, and she hugged me gently, avoiding the spike on my chest. I gently returned the hug and we stayed there together in silence, nothing but the wind and chirps of birds breaking it.

After a bit we slowly broke the hug, both of us smiling at each other, -There's somewhere I want to go real quick,- I said.

"Where's that?" She asked.

I slowly led her to where I wanted to go. There was a duo set of graves, next to a smaller one.

"These are…" She put the pieces together.

-They're my family's,- I said sadly.

I just sat at the graves, nothing to say, nothing to do, I just wanted to sit. Elizabeth did the same, sitting beside me in front of them.

Again, the same silence continued, but it was not as tense as it once was. I imagined I was in the park, with Elizabeth still sitting next to me, the only difference being my family was also there, enjoying their lives, like they should be able to.

I imagined this for a little bit, before we were interrupted by someone's voice.

"You two seem peaceful," It was a woman's voice, and I recognized it.

I turned around to see my teacher, Mrs. Leonhart, with her brown hair in the wind as her blue eyes looked at me through her glasses.

I made a noise as a greeting to her.

Elizabeth got up with me, "This is one of your teachers right?"

I nodded at her.

"Yep, it's nice to meet you, I presume you're Elizabeth correct?" She asked.

"Yes, I am, how do you know?" Elizabeth quarried.

"Xeta used to talk about you sometimes in class… and I also heard about you from the list of victims, and I can see that… I'm so sorry, you shouldn't have had to go through all this," She apologized.

"Miss, it's okay, that was not your fault, not in the slightest Mrs…?" She asked not knowing the name.

"It's Leonhart, but outside of school I go by Mila," She said.

"Well Mila, what are you doing out here?" Elizabeth asked.

"Probably doing the same thing Xeta is here to do, visit someone," She explained.

Elizabeth was confused, "Really? Who?"

Mila walked away a few steps before answering, "My son…"

Elizabeth's eyes widened, I had realized when she said visit someone who it might have been.

"I'm… I'm so sorry…" Elizabeth said.

"It's fine really, I mean… it's not okay, but it wont stop me from living," She said.

"But why…? He was your son," Elizabeth said.

"That is true… but I came to realize, that after a while, I still have more here I care about, as long as you have something to care for, then life will always be worth living, no matter how much you lose… right Xeta?" She looked towards me.

I gave her a kind smile, and nodded at her.

She returned the smile, "You two stay safe, and… don't do anything crazy until after high school, there really isn't a rush, okay?"

We both gave an embarrassed laugh at that, "Okay, we wont," Elizabeth said.

"Stay safe you two," Mila said and walked off.

We both looked down at my families grave.

-She's right, as long as you have something to care for, life will always be worth living,- I said.

Elizabeth looked sadly down at the graves, and back over to where the funeral was.

"Yeah… No question about it… Let's keep fighting, okay?" She held her hand to me.

I didn't answer, I reached out, and planned to go forth into the future along with her.

… No matter what the cost…