I felt so helpless, what could I do?

Remembering all the things we've been through.

In school they all stop and stare.

I can't hide my tears but I dont care.

I'll never forget him: the leader of the pack.

And then I was at the wake in a small, cheap funeral home, only two days later. I had to arrange basically everything by myself, as Leon had no family left. My parents refused to help, as they blamed Leon for his own death. I could not afford much by myself, so it was hard. Leon deserved the best even in death...but I could not give it to him.

But I think the hardest part was holding myself together as I did try to arrange all of these things. Through all of the phone calls and arrangements I felt so broken, trying desperately to forget all of the times that we were together. The newspaper for the obituaries, the hospital with his body, the funeral home, the cemetary, the graveyard, and the tombstone to be made...it was a complete blur. Still, I somehow did manage to hold myself together.

Now I was standing in front of his open coffin, tears falling in heavy waterfalls from my eyes. I wore black for the first time in my life, though my favorite pink ribbon I wore in my hair. Leon always told me how much he loved it, and I knew he was watching over me now.

Although his body was laying right in front of me, I knew that it was not truly him. The shut eyes hid his empty expression, making him look almost asleep. His skin color was off, hands folded. I let my hand drift through his long hair. When putting him together for the wake the people had wanted to make his scruffy hair look nicer, but I completely spoke against it. That wasn't him.

Then, Cloud and Zack walked in, both of them wearing black as well. This was the entire group who had come to mourn the loss of one of the most caring men in all of Radiant Garden, just the three of us. They sat at the back of the room in complete silence, looking towards the floor. They did not speak to me, or even acknowledge my presence...they never had liked me.

I brought my attention back to Leon, no longer touching him. He did not feel as he did, and I could not stand it. I pulled gently on the ribbon in my hair and it untied. I held it for a few moments, and then carefully tucked it under his folded hands. Just as he told me his class ring belonged to me, my ribbon belonged to him.

It was when his coffin was being lowered into the ground that the worst struck, that I knew I would never see him again. I would never hug him, never kiss him, never cuddle with him, and never stare into his dark blue eyes ever again. I began to sob again, and no one was there to comfort me. Once again, Cloud and Zack did not seem to care.

The rest of the week was so difficult to cope with, but at least I knew Yuffie and Tifa would be coming back for school. They would care, seeing as though no one else did. My father drove me to school that day, not saying a single word.

And then I told the story to Tifa and Yuffie of my summer. They acted just as I expected them to, full of sympathy, compassion, kindness. I started crying when telling the story, and they each hugged me in turn so that I was able to pull myself together.

"I'm so sorry..." Yuffie said while hugging me.

"It'll be okay..." was what Tifa said.

The bell rang for our first period class and I had to hurry off, having a different class than the two of them. It was during this walk that I noticed people staring oddly at me, but I did not pay attention. It was just my imagination...it had to be.

But then at break, after first period, I noticed what really was happening. Rumors were spreading throughout the school. I could hear a few of them as I quickly tried to get through the hallways. I wish I hadn't.

"Did you hear about that Aerith girl? Apparently she was dating Leon, you know, Squall Leonhart...he died a week ago."

"What did he ever see in her?"

"...sent him away, he sped away on his motorcycle, that's how it happened."

"She broke his heart..."

"It's her fault, all her fault."

"There she is." They would point at me, not caring if I saw them.

The rumors went only from bad to worse, and before long the entire school blamed me for Leon's death. Of course, I knew the truth, and that was all that mattered. Still, it hurt for them to be talking about Leon.

It wasn't much better when I walked past Cloud and Zack. They called out to me.

"Aerith," Zack called me over. I reluctantly and timidly walked over to them.

"Yes?" I questioned.

"Why'd you do it?" Cloud asked, slight anger in his voice.

"Why did I do what...?"

"Break his heart," Zack said.

"He loved you, I had never seen him like that before. He was always happy," Cloud added.

"Why did you take that away from him?"

"I...I didn't want to. I just...had to."

"What, he wasn't good enough for you?" Zack snapped.

"No, it's not like that!"

"Yeah right. So you just decided to let him go. You probably knew it would kill him, or at least you should have known. You probably didn't care," Cloud retorted.

"Of course I cared, I loved him..." I began to cry. The two boys only glared at me. Luckily for me, Tifa and Yuffie hurried up behind me and noticed how much they were hurting me.

"Leave her alone," Yuffie told them angrily in my defense, holding onto one of my arms.

"She didn't do anything wrong," Tifa added, holding my other arm. The two steared me away and to the girls bathroom. There they helped me to stop crying and once again get myself together.

This was basically the pattern for my entire day, although Cloud and Zack did leave me alone after that. Other people took their place, though, shooting looks of daggers at me. No one understood how much I loved Leon, not really. Without Tifa and Yuffie protecting me I probably never would have made it through that day. When the final bell rang, signaling the end of the day, it was a complete and utter relief. I hurried out of the school, clutching my books.

I had to work for a couple of hours at the flower shop, which was not too bad, actually. It gave me a chance to concentrate on something completely, taking my mind off Leon. After my shift, I walked to the graveyard which was not far away. Slowly I approached his small grave, the dirt upon it still fresh. I kneeled next to his tombstone, allowing myself to cry gently for several minutes.

"I will miss you, Leader of the Pack." I whispered, and upon his grave I placed a single pink flower.

Gone, the leader of the pack and now he's gone.

end

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A/N: It is finished. I have finished my first Kingdom Hearts fanfiction, even if it was just short songfic. Yay! Please review. Oh, and now I will go back to concentrating all of my time on Release My Darkness, Love.

Thanks for reading!