I know I said this was only a twoshot, but after some reviews saying I should carry it on to show the memorial... I decided to do just that. This is the last chapter, as it will round everything off in a special goodbye.
Hope you all enjoy
McKinley High School was silent. The normally loud, noisy hallways filled with chattering student were deserted. The classrooms were silent as the chairs balanced on top of the table, waiting to be used the next day. The Janitor was wiping the floor, in a world of his own, whistling a tune as he went about his job. The only other place in the school which was currently been used was the auditorium, which held special memories for the students of McKinley High. The auditorium was gathered with Glee club members past (Puck, Mike, Santana, Kurt, Quinn and even Matt had returned to say goodbye to his friends) and present (Brittany, Tina, Blaine, Artie, Jake, Ryder, Marley and Sam) were gathered along with Mr Schue, Coach Silvester and Coach Beastie, Ms Philsbury and Principal Figgins, Burt, Carole, LeRoy and Hiram to say a private farewell to Rachel and Finn. Rachel's funeral had taken place exactly two weeks after Finn's and they had been buried next to each other, at a strange and haunting request from Rachel, what Kurt had found stuck to his mirror on a post it note the night Rachel had taken her life. They all took their seats as Principal Figgins took to the stage.
'We are all here this evening, to pay our private respects to two students who graduated from this very school, just a few months ago. Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry were two students who were very committed to making something of themselves. The Quarterback and The Rising Star, never the ones to let anything stand in their way. We now, very prematurely, celebrate their lives, by sharing some of our memories of Finchel, as they were christened. I will now pass you over to Mr Kurt Hummel... Kurt, up you come' Principal Figgins said, smiling gently at Kurt as he made his way up to the stage. Kurt cleared his throat, before he began to speak.
'Well, I never thought I'd be up here, finding the courage to speak about the death of my brother and now, one of my closest friends and would have been future sister-in-law... Rachel was heartbroken over what happened to Finn, but I never thought she would've taken her own life. She had her whole life ahead of her. She had just got the role of Fanny Brice on Broadway when she had gotten the news...' Kurt cut himself of ass he choked on a sob. He sniffled before getting himself under control. 'Sorry, erm... Finchel. Finchel is what we called them. They had their ups and downs as a couple, but they always made it back to each other. They were endgame, Finn actually told Rachel that once. Nothing could break them apart, not even death could...' Kurt broke himself off again, as he took a deep breath through his nose. 'I remember when they got back together after losing Nationals in junior year. They came back from New York and a few weeks later, I finished school early, so I went home ready to start my weekend and I saw them fall asleep on the sofa with smiles on their faces, the TV playing away to itself. It was the first time I'd seen Finn truly happy in weeks. They may have been asleep, but when you live under the same roof as him, you tend to pick thing up' Kurt said. 'I'll never forget my brother or my closest friend. Tonight we will honor them in our own way and I'm glad that I'm honoring them with you guys...' Kurt said, before nodding at Puck to say his piece.
'Well, never did I think we'd be saying goodbye to Rachel Berry. She and Finn... They went through a lot together, but when I heard that Finn had...' Puck stopped in his speech, his voice choking a certain word. Quinn looked surprised at watching her ex. Out of everyone, she never expected Puck to be the one to be stumbling over his speech. Although, she knew that he hadn't even grieved for Finn's death either.
'Puck?' she called, his eyes snapping to his. 'It's okay. Take your time and relax' she told him gently. He smiled lightly and nodded.
'Sorry... erm..' Puck cleared his throat before continuing. 'Finn and Rachel... they went through a lot together. But each time they did, they went back to each other stronger than ever. Finn once told me... the only thing to truly tear them apart for good was death and... well Rachel proved him wrong... I'll actually miss Berry and her annoying little traits. They grew on you after a while...' he stopped and chuckled along with everyone else, before carrying on. 'Anyway, The Quarterback and Rising Star, you better be looking down of us right now!' Puck said to the ceiling, but people knew he was talking to Finn and Rachel. He gave a single nod of his head and walked from the stage, wiping his eyes as he did. Matt stood up then, walking to the stage with his hands shaking.
'Hi guys. For those who don't know me, I'm Matt Rutherford. I used go to school here and was part of Glee club at one point' Matt introduced himself, before looking at Schue. 'Heard you finally won Nationals, Mr Schue. Great job' he congratulated him. Mr Schue smiled at him, before Matt carried on his speech. 'Anyway, I also knew that Finn could speak better through a song, and after being at school for so long, I soon learnt that too. So, instead of talking about them, I'm going to sing a song for them...' Matt said, heading for the stool what was placed on the stage and a microphone.
Memories
All I have is memories
All I have is memories
Memories of you
Now you're gone
They linger on, these memories
All these precious memories
Memories of you
How they linger in the twilight
In the morning in the small hours
Just before dawn
Matt looked at the others sat watching them. He never thought that he'd be back here, singing tribute to two of his friends. He always thought he'd be singing at their wedding, not their memorial.
Memories
Of summer days so long ago
People in the places
That we used to know
Oh those memories
How they linger in the twilight
And in the wee small hours
Sometime just before the dawn
Oh those memories
Oh happy times those memories
All I have now is memories
Memories of you
Oh memories
All those precious memories
All I have is memories
Memories of you
'Rest In Peace, guys! You'll always be with us' Matt said, his voice thick with emotion. He was about to step off stage when the doors banged open, making the others jump and turn round in their seats.
'HOW DARE YOU?! HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME MY OWN DAUGHTER WAS DEAD!' screamed Shelby, as she stormed up to LeRoy and Hiram, who got to their feet.
'Shelby, we had no clue where you were' Hiram said
'I WAS IN NEW YORK! I LIVE THERE!' she screamed at her daughters Dads.
'You weren't even in contact with Rachel at the time of her death! She hadn't heard from you for a few weeks' Kurt said, walking up the few steps to confront Shelby.
'I always wanted her to make the move. I always left the ball in her court at whether she wanted me as a mother or as a friend! So don't think for one second that I don't care about my daughter!' Shelby hissed, pointing a finger at Hiram and LeRoy. Mr Schue stood up to gently intervene.
'Shelby... You're more than welcome to pay your respects for your daughter, but if not... I would like you to leave. We're here to remember Finn and Rachel in our own way, so please respect it' he told Shelby. She sighed and looked round at the student gathered.
'If your honoring my daughter... Then the least you can do is let me say goodbye through a letter what I wrote?' Shelby asked. Mr Schue sighed and looked at the students gathered, some of who nodded, some shrugged their shoulders and some didn't do anything.
'Hiram, LeRoy... It's up to you' Schue told them, looking at them and headed back down to his seat. Hiram and LeRoy sighed and thought for a minute, before relenting.
'Okay... Fine. Just don't make a scene' said Hiram. Shelby nodded and looked grateful, heading towards the stage, climbing up the steps gracefully and walking towards the microphone. She cleared her throat before beginning.
'My darling Rachel... If there's one thing I regret, it's not allowing myself to get to know you sooner. You were my first and only child, my little ray of sunshine, even if I didn't get to hold you after you were born, I saw you for a spilt second and you were perfect... When you contacted me when you were eighteen, I felt like my whole world just brightened. But then, I realized that I had missed out on so much and that you didn't really need a mother... Because you were you and you were growing up so fast...' Shelby broke off as the realization that Rachel wouldn't be around anymore shook her to the core. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoudler and looked up to find Hiram stood next to her. He gently pulled the piece of paper from her hands and finished reading the letter to Rachel.
'I got the second chance to be a mother again to Beth, but it wasn't the same. I love Beth like any mother would love her child, but I also wished that I had that kind relationship with you... I alway left the ball in your court because I wanted to be sure it what's you wanted, for you to know me. I would never try to pressure you into something what you didn't wan to do, which is why I always left the contact up to you... Look after my little girl, Finn. Goodnight, God bless'. Everyone in the auditorium was sobbing, even LeRoy. Hiram led Shelby off the stage, passing Santana, who was making her way up to the stage and walked towards the mircophone.
'Erm.. Okay, as most of you guys know me, Frankenteen and Hobbit didn't always get along, but after moving to New York and moving in with Hobbit, she was actually quite fun to live... If you took away the annoying habits she had of singing every single minute of the day, and her need for everything to be clean. So, I prepared a little DVD tribute for them... So, this is for you, Frankenteen and Hobbit!' Santana said, looking upwards and slotting the DVD into place, before stepping off stage and back to her seat. The DVD started and white curvasive writing appearing on the screen:
Finn and Rachel
Afterwards a few pictures showed up on the screen, before they cut out and a video came up.
'Finn, get the camera out of my face!' Rachel squealed
'Oh come on! It's the first day of Summer before senior year and we have to celebrate it!'
'Not with a camera in my face first thing in morning! I look horrible!' Rachel said, attempting to pull Finn's duvet over her head. The camera blurred as Finn turned the camera to face him.
'She looks beautiful, right? The most beautiful girl I've seen in the morning!' Finn said, before spinning the camera back onto Rahcel, who had peeked out ofrom under the duvet and her cheek tinted red.
'Promise me, no one will see this?' Rachel questioned. Finn chuckled.
'I promise, baby! I promise' he said, before the screen slowly faded black and a few pictures of them at their senior prom came up. Just then, they heard the gentle sound of 'Faithfully being sung by Finn and Rachel, as the video slowly came on screen.
'So, lookie here at what we found' Santana said to the camera, before peeking the lense over the little ledge on the door, so they could see Finn and Rachel sat on the floor, watching the sunset, singing.
'How cute are they?' they heard Kurt squeak
'Like two love sickened teenagers' they heard Puck say in the background, before it faded to show a final photo of the two, taken by Santana at one point. They both had smirks on their faces and Finn had his arm wrapped tightly and protectively round Rachel's waist as she leaned into him. Underneath the photo, their dates of births and dates of death appeared on screen, along with a single sentence.
They are Endgame.
Half an hour later, they were all stood outside, in groups of three or four (Puck, Quinn, Mike, Tina), (Burt, Carole, Kurt), (Santana, Brittany, Mike) (Coach Sylvester, Coach Beastie and Artie), (Jake, Marley and Ryder) and (Mr Shue, Ms Pillsbury and Principal Figgins) to send off some Chinese lanterns, which were Blaine's idea. After lighting them all, he handed one to each group and counted down from three.
'Ready? Three.. Two... One!' he called and they all let go of the lanterns, watching them as they floated off into the night sky. Kurt felt Carole and Burt squueze each of his shoudlers as he sniffled.
'Bye brother, bye Rach... Till we meet again' he whsipered, saying a private farewell to them. a steps away from them, Puck had hold of Quinn as she sobbed softly into his shoudler, while Mike held Tina tightly as her legs gave away from under her. They watched as the lanterns became little orange dots in the sky and smiled proudly, sensing some closure from the pain what they had been suffering the last few weeks...
R&R :D xx