Trigger Warning: Death

River didn't make a sound for the entire journey back to Bobbys place, silently carrying the lifeless body of her sister to the boat, then to Bobbys car. The afternoon sun was still shining bright, and as Bobbys old car made its way back towards home, River couldn't help but think how wrong that felt. But the weather doesn't listen to grief.

Once they reached home, Bobby held open the cars door as River lifted Melody out.

"Do you want me to help you carry her out back? You know we have to giver her a hunters funeral" He said quietly.

River nodded to show she understood, but carried Melody by herself to the back. Laying her gently on the ground, she helped Bobby build a pyre, but once it was time to light it, she couldn't watch. Couldn't face that she would never see her sister again. Never hear her voice singing some off-key pop song in the shower, never see her dancing to some tune only she could hear, and not caring if anybody saw her.

Feeling more tears springing to her eyes, River did what so many hunters do when faced with grief and loss. She ran. River ran into the house, up the stairs, to the little bedroom River had claimed as her own once she and Melody got too big to share the one across the hall. She locked the door, standing with her back to it until her legs seemed to give out under her and she sank to the floor, Melodys anti-possession necklace in her hand. The tears came now, so many, and Melodys last words echoed through Rivers mind.

"It's not your fault…"

But it was her fault, wasn't it? She should have convinced Melody to stay home, to not go on that hunt. She should have made sure Melody was with her before moving onward into the house. She should have done something, anything to save her sister. River had promised she would keep Melody safe, such a simple task. And she'd failed even that. Why did everyone she loved have to die? Her parents, Melody, it was like she was cursed.

Everyone she was close to died, so she made a silent promise not to let herself get close to anyone again. She couldn't lose anyone else. So from now on, she would lock those feeling up, deep inside her, never to see the light of day again.

┝┈┈─╼⊳⊰ ? ⊱⊲╾───┈┈┥

After a few hours, the flames of Melody's pyre had died down. Bobby Singer carefully buried her at the edge of the auto lot, marking the grave with a small wooden stake. He would replace it with a cross carved with the girl's name later.

Bobby's gaze kept drifting back to the house, where River had disappeared off to hours ago. Bobby knew what she must be feeling. He had been forced to kill his own wife years ago when she got possessed by a demon. The death had been his entry into the hunter's world, like many other hunters, and had hit him hard. He still saw her sometimes, in dreams. But he didn't know what to say to help ease her grief.

Then, and now, there was guilt and blame. The girls had been his world, the children he never got the chance to have. He hadn't wanted them to become hunters, because of what had happened to their parents. River never really had a choice, she had already started training when her parents died and felt it was her only possible destiny. But Melody could have grown up normal. Gone to school in Sioux Falls like everybody else. Lived a normal life. Bobby knew that he should have told her she couldn't hunt. He should have left her at home while he and River went on the demon hunt. But Melody had always insisted on following River wherever she went. He had decided to let her along on the demon hunt, and she had died.

He hadn't even been able to do anything. The demon had knocked him out cold so that River had to deal with it on her own. Now she was off who-knows-where, and he was too much of a screwup to know what to do.

End of "The Coda"

(Authors Note: In case nobody noticed, the name of this story arc has hinted from the beginning where the story would progress. In music, the coda is the end of a song or a "melody", and in this arc, we saw the end of a melody, namely, Melody Temple. The chapter titles also gave hints, from "Searching for a Song" to "Melody Cut Short". Just a little easter egg for the readers I may or may not have!)