Author's note: I'll admit that it isn't one of my best chapters. It's on the short side, but I felt like that was the right way to end the chapter. Sorry.

7th October 2013

In the week leading up to her mother's funeral, Blue spent the majority of her time at the Benedict house. She didn't go to school and Karla didn't protest about Zed not going either- she must have known that there was no way she could get him to leave her at a time like this. She avoided being in her own house as much as she could, not just because she couldn't face Elliott yet but because she couldn't stand the sight of seeing her sisters broken over their mum's death. She knew that was selfish, that she was the eldest and was meant to look after them, but she hoped they understood that it would simply be too much for her.

She was at Zed's house from early morning to late night, only going home to sleep, shower and change clothes, and frankly she was relieved to have his comfort. She herself wasn't really good company for him because of how upset she was, but he didn't seem to mind that she didn't want to talk much and needed to cry every now and then. Blue never really had an appetite but now that he knew the truth, Zed made sure that she was well fed, including having one of Karla's infamous big meals once a day. After talking to Elliott about it all, he also made sure that she didn't forget to take her antidepressants, especially at a time like this. He had been so good to her, more so than she deserved or could ever ask for, and she could have sworn that the look in his eyes suggested he liked it. He didn't like seeing her like this and seeing her grieving, but he liked having the chance to look after her and be close to her. It was making her warm up to the idea of soulfinders even more.

The 7th of October was a bright Monday afternoon when Judith was finally being laid to rest. Blue was quite disappointed at the amount of people that turned up: her dad and her sisters were the only other family members of Judith's that showed and only a few of her old friends turned up. An old neighbour had turned up with her husband to show her respects. And the entire Benedict family had come, even though most of them had never even met Judith, and Blue guessed that Karla had used something along the lines of "Blue's family now and we need to support her, plus Elliott is a friend of the family now and we need to be supportive", and although she could tell that some of them were quite uncomfortable being there she was glad they were there. She'd been secretly hoping that the church would be packed with people that loved her mum but the miserable truth was that hardly anybody cared. She hated that.

Elliott was the first to say a few words, saying that although he and Judith had had problems, he had loved her. And that he was grateful she gave him three daughters. Blue didn't really hear the rest of his speech; she couldn't focus on anything he said. After he was finished, the priest announced that Blue wanted to say a few words.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Zed whispered from beside her, holding her shaking hands in his. "You don't have to, everyone will understand."

"No," she shook her head and pulled her hands out of his grip. "No, I want to do this. I need to."

She stood up and walked up to podium, her eyes drawn to the beautifully carved closed coffin. She gulped, smoothing her sweating hands down the length of her knee-length black dress before facing the small crowd. Conveniently, her dress had pockets. She pulled her speech out of the pocket and cleared her throat. She knew what she had written almost word for word after all the times she'd gone over it, but she still looked down at the paper and read from it so that she didn't have to look at anyone.

"My mum was a very special lady," she started. Her voice shook just as much as her hands did but she forced herself not to cry. Just be strong, she told herself. Just get through the speech without breaking down. "She made a lot of mistakes when it came to her parenting, some that were major and some that were only small, but I forgive her for all of them. I could never stay mad at her for very long anyway, she always had a way to make me laugh and make my heart feel a little lighter.

"She always told me and my sisters that we were beautiful. Every single day, without fail. I didn't always listen or believe her, but she never stopped telling me."

Overcome with a sudden inner strength, Blue looked up and met Zed's eyes. And then she screwed up the paper, deciding to do this differently. Honestly. Just like her mum would want her to. Her eyes scanned over her family, over her new family, over her mum's friends. "Last year, my parents told everyone that I went to stay with a relative out of town," she said to them all in a confident, strong voice. "But that was a lie. They said that because I was ashamed of the truth and they wanted to protect me. But I'm not ashamed anymore. And if the truth gets around the whole town after today, I won't care.

"Last year, I was very unhappy. I started to starve myself and exercise to the point of collapse; if I ever lost control and ate something, I made myself sick afterwards. But it wasn't enough so I tried to kill myself." Her eyes found Daisy's. "My sister Daisy found me just in time. If she hadn't, I would have most certainly died. I know that I probably traumatized her for life, I hear screaming from nightmares in the middle of the night and I hate that I did that to her."

Looking back out at everybody else's shocked faces, she continued. "I didn't go to stay with a relative. I went to a rehabilitation centre, diagnosed with an eating disorder and severe depression. The centre helped me get better, but I wouldn't have been able to do it if wasn't for my family. Especially my mum. She stayed there with me for the first few weeks because she was so scared of leaving me alone. That was what really made me regret everything I'd done, really made me push harder to get better. To be myself again.

"When my mum lost the love of her life, she started to have her own problems and I didn't get to see her much anymore. And when I did see her one time, she didn't speak to me at all. But I know that wasn't really her. She was broken. Everyone keeps saying that she took her own life out of sadness, but I don't think that was it. I think she took her own life out of happiness- she was happy because she'd found a way to be with the one she loved. And I think it must have took her a lot to do that, she must have been very brave. I know exactly what it's like, and no matter how hard your life is, it's not easy to end everything.

"She was always there for me and always so supportive and I'll always remember that. I understand why she left us, and I forgive her. I will never hold it against her. I'm thankful for having the time I did with her, even if it was short, and the good memories are what will stay with me. More than anything, I wish I could see her smile just once more, hear her tell us that we're beautiful no matter what anybody says. Because I believe her now. I used to hate myself but I'll never let that happen again because I know my mum would hate that. I'm beautiful because she was beautiful." Her throat clogged up and she could no longer hold her tears in. "I forgive her for everything," she said one last time before starting to make her way back to her seat again.

"I'm proud of you," Zed said gently as he wrapped an arm around her for comfort.

A few minutes later, the priest was saying a few final words when he was interrupted by the sound of the church doors being slammed open. Men dressed in black stormed into the building, some wearing balaclavas and some not, but all carrying guns. "Nobody move!" One of them shouted. He had dark hair and seemed to be the leader of the group, standing the tallest and the proudest. "If anybody moves, we shoot you all."

"Me and Trace don't have our guns," she heard Victor whisper. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him pushing his pregnant fiancée to the floor so she was hidden from view. "Everyone do as they say."

Blue could tell that Zed wanted her to get out of sight too but they were sat too close to the end of the pew and therefore had already been seen. Instead, he pulled her closer to him and attempted to shield her body from the men with his own. She peered over his shoulder to see the dark haired man scanning the crowd, a malicious look on his face.

"All of the Benedicts in one place," he said in a British accent, his voice deep and menacing. "Guess it's our lucky day, guys." He pointed towards Uriel and Xav, both of whom were sat at the end of a pew on the other side of church, sat apart from the rest of their family because there hadn't been enough room for them all on just one of the benches. "Take those two. They'll do for now."

Two big, burly men stepped forward and grabbed the two brothers, pulling them off the bench and keeping a tight grip on them. Blue held her breath in a tense silence, heart pounding loud in her chest, as Uriel and Xav both attempted to fight back. But they weren't as strong as the two men in black and were losing.

"Vick, no!" She heard Hazel hiss in horror. Blue looked to see Victor stand up, leaning on his crutch, with a look of pure anger on his face. If Blue hadn't been so close to Victor to know that he was really a big softie, she would have been terrified.

"Get down, Benedict!" The dark haired man shouted, aiming his gun at Xav's chest. The two men had now got a hold on the brothers, who had gone still when Victor stood up. "Sit back down and don't move otherwise I will kill your brother. And after that, I'll pull your little soulfinder out from where she's hiding on the floor and I'll kill her next. Would you really want that for Xav and Hazel?"

"Vick just stay there!" Uriel called out, his voice panicked. "Don't let him hurt, Hazel. Don't! Just stay there."

"You should listen to your brother," the man laughed darkly. He grinned when Victor slowly lowered himself back down to the bench, looking even angrier than before if that was possible. His face was flushed red and his body was stiff and tense.

All eyes went back to Xav and Uriel. "Knock them out," the man said as if bored of all this already. The two men holding the brothers pulled something out of their pockets and Blue realised that it was a needle just as they each plunged one into Xav's and Uriel's necks. Almost instantly, the two brothers' eyes closed and their bodies went limp in the arms of the men holding them.

Karla let out a loud, scared sob.

And then the dark haired man left the church with his men following behind him, carrying Xav and Uriel with them, and there was nothing any of them could do to stop them.

A hint about the next chapter: The dark haired man's identity is revealed.