It was the day of the funeral, and the atmosphere in the air was suitably sombre to match. "Sombre" – Clumsy had needed to have that word explained to him by Brainy.

Many smurfs had remained scattered throughout the village these days, many rarely emerging from their homes. It was possible that some of them weren't even fully aware that funeral preparations had been underway. Full attendance was only to be expected, Brainy had explained to him, which is why he'd been sent to go check on smurfs and remind them that today was the funeral and they were expected to be there. Not that anysmurf would be planning on not attending, but you could never be too sure, had been Brainy's way of looking at it - that's why Clumsy was currently wandering about from home to home.

"Sloppy, is that you? Just droppin' by to let ya know that-"

"Sloppy? Sloppy Smurf?! You think I-?!" the other smurf seethed, absolutely incensed.

"Oh gosh, sorry Vanity, I didn't mean – my mistake, I shoulda known better, just kinda assumed because well-" Well. He found himself looking about. It was Sloppy's house that was usually such a mess, after all. Then again, although this place didn't currently smell the best, Sloppy usually smelled far worse. He shouldn't have assumed, and should have probably paid more attention to whose house he was entering, but it was also completely unlike Vanity to not keep himself and his dwelling tidy.

Clumsy could see the embarrassed flush that lit up Vanity's face. He was just making things worse. "…Sorry. Just remindin' you about the funeral today, is all."

"R-right. Thank you, Clumsy. Now please, just leave me." He began searching about the floor, muttering to himself. "My mirror, where's my mirror… a mirror… Surely – I've got to see…"

"I'm real sorry again, I can leave if ya really want, or-or- would ya like some help?" Clumsy ventured.

Vanity continued looking about moodily, still no mirror in sight. "Of all the unsmurfy things- ooh, I've never been so humiliated in all my life…"

"Vanity, d'ya need – would ya like some help there?" Clumsy asked again.

Vanity stopped, sighed. "Why don't you draw me up a bath?" he suggested.

Vanity was all washed and ready with time to spare before the funeral, and even sprayed on some perfume when he found a bottle so he could go back to being his usual nice-smelling self. Clumsy offered to help him clean up his house a little bit, but Vanity cautioned him against it.

"Ah… I guess, yeah, I might just make more of a mess, huh?" Clumsy guessed. He really was keen to help, but he wasn't called "Clumsy" for no reason.

"Oh, it's not really that- it's just that, er… I don't want you to get hurt, or accidentally get any cuts from uh… broken glass. I may have broken some of my mirrors."

"Wh- Vanity, how'd ya manage an unsmurfy thing like that? You're sayin' there could be glass shards lyin' among this mess?" Clumsy cast his gaze about once more, seeing if he could spot any. "That's uh – dangerous!"

"I know, I know. I think I got around to cleaning most of the glass up…" he sighed. "I just, hated seeing those mirrors. I think I've seen enough of myself for a lifetime! If only I hadn't been so attached to that stupid – me and that enchanted mirror basically caused…!"

"H-Huh?! No, Vanity, that's not true!" Clumsy protested.

After a moment, Vanity pulled himself together once more, speaking dismissively. It was obvious that he didn't believe Clumsy's words of reassurance. "Well, whatever. I didn't like seeing my mirrors, so I broke them. It was stupid of me, but it's done now."

Clumsy did his best not to let his shock at the fact that the act had been intentional show through. Clumsy had caused glass to break an unfortunate number of times, but he couldn't quite grasp the notion of doing it on purpose. He opted to pull Vanity into a hug. "Hey. It's gonna be okay. We jus' gotta support each other."

"Thanks, Clumsy, I mean it. I'm glad you – I mean, if any other smurf had seen – I think I simply would have smurfed right then and there."

"An' even if I might not be the best smurf to help ya out if there might be hidden glass around, I'm sure anysmurf'd be happy to help clean up an' get this place back t' normal. Looks a bit much t' handle on your own-"

Vanity pulled back from the hug sharply. "Oh, no, you can't tell anysmurf about-" he gestured about at the mess, "this. Heavens, no! It has to stay between you and me, Clumsy. I'm sure I can… get this mess under control. I'll be fine."

"Er, are ya sure?" it was a tall order, but he supposed if Vanity set his mind to it, his house could be returned to its normal meticulous state.

"It's just a little-" Vanity gave a brief, humourless laugh, "-hard to care these days, but I'm sure I'll manage!"

"Uh-"

"But say, don't you still have smurfs you need to check on before you get ready for the funeral?"

"Right, yeah. You wanna come with me?" Clumsy offered. He figured Vanity could certainly use the fresh air and some more time in other company.

"Oh. Yeah, I suppose I will. I'm already ready to leave, after all…"

They left the house behind, stepping outside. It was a little strange, not seeing Vanity accompanied by his standard handheld mirror, both of his hands currently empty. Even if he'd managed to find one to take with him – one that wasn't broken – based on the smurf's earlier words, Clumsy wouldn't be surprised if he'd still choose to leave it behind. He vaguely wondered whether any of the other smurfs would notice the absence, and whether Vanity felt strange at all leaving the house without it.

They visited the remaining houses without incident, then happened to cross paths with Brainy on their way to the designated location for the funeral.

"Oh, hi there Clumsy. Vanity, haven't seen you in a while… I suppose you're looking at arriving early? A good idea. As Pa-… That is, as the saying goes… "Better three smurfs too soon than a smurf too late"." A brief, awkward silence settled in.

"Hey Brainy, actually, good thing we came across ya. Vanity's gotten it into his head that he's responsible for what happened, he's gotten it all wrong an' I was hopin' you could help correct him, since you like correctin' other smurfs an' all. You could probably explain it better than I could," Clumsy said.

"Clumsy," Vanity hissed, but the words were already out in the open. Vanity might have asked the accident-prone smurf to keep quiet about the current state of his house and belongings, but he hadn't said anything about not bringing up Vanity's current self-condemning outlook. And just as well, as Clumsy couldn't allow him to go on thinking like that.

"Oh," Brainy looked a little surprised, "I can tell you right now that it's really not your fault at all. It's not the fault of either of us."

Vanity huffed. "That's a bit typical, isn't it? Refusing to shoulder the blame for something?"

There was a frustrated grimace on Brainy's face now. "I'm telling you-"

"What would you know?"

"More than you. You think I haven't smurfed about it? So I'm going to put this unsmurfy thought of yours to rest. Roesia's plans would have been carried out exactly the same regardless of whether we played into her hands or not. And I know this because I saw into her mind, which you did not. She didn't need to give us the Insight. She did so out of sheer curiosity, and because it simply helped her confirm for certain which smurfs glowed and which didn't, so that she knew who to target. She liked being precise about these things. But even if it weren't for that, she'd met most of us anyway to be able to tell for herself. And she could have simply used her magic to summon which smurfs were needed either way. So, you can spare yourself the needless sense of guilt, Vanity Smurf. It wouldn't change anything anyway."

"Well. That all sounds rather convenient."

"It's also true. Smurf what you wish about me, but if it were any other way, I'd be smurfing the same guilt. But that's not the case here. You need to accept that. If you'd seen into her mind, you would see it the same way I do."

Clumsy stepped in. "Y'know, I think he's right. Maybe just think about it, maybe just a little? An' there's no need to argue. 'Specially today of all days."

Vanity looked away, opting not to say any more, and Brainy nodded at Clumsy's words. "Well, if you two really do want to arrive early, maybe you'd best be going now. I'll see you there."

Brainy and Vanity next spoke soon after the funeral concluded and smurfs were dispersing.

It was Vanity who approached. "I'll… think about what you said."

"Hm," was all that Brainy had to offer up in response.

"Though… don't you think about what could've been different? What might've been different, if we hadn't accepted the Insight?" Vanity found himself asking. Brainy's version claimed that they really wouldn't have ultimately made a difference either way, regardless of what they'd chosen to do. But what kind of flow-on effect might a different decision have had? There was still that slight chance that it might have nudged things in a different direction, and that bothered him.

"…Yes. And you know what? It also could've been worse. If Roesia'd simply come up with a different plan to get her way, succeeded, then we'd all have died. It's pointless thinking it over. I don't know about you, but I've got far more pressing things to think about. And I've got reason enough to be miserable at this situation already without trying to add to it by illogically heaping blame on myself, so you shouldn't do that to yourself either."

"I… well. I suppose."

Brainy's words seemed to hold some truth to them; there was no real point trying to figure out who was more at fault. It was already finished. No point holding onto it… No point dwelling on hypothetical possibilities.

"No one hates you, no one's blaming you. The other smurfs understand. I mean, it's not like either of us could have foreseen Roesia's intent or have had any influence over her actions," Brainy said simply, his voice weary.

"Yeah. Guess so." Speaking of weary… Vanity felt it was high time he returned to his home. He just wanted to go there and – he should clean up first, he should get started cleaning up the place – but he just wanted to go straight to sleep. Sleep first. The mess could wait. He could get started on fixing that up later.