Eulogy
May looked around her prison cell, she could barely sleep. She wasn't surprised seeing Andre or Socrates sleep their way through all of the day, they were tired from the media accolades that came their way. They had experienced two days of flashing lights; constant talking and new reporters coming in while the other ones leaving the so called phenomenon of the talking cat. It was ironic on what once was intended to be a punishing centre turned out to be a haven for publicity and media attention for both Andre and Socrates. However May could disagree entirely, despite her occasionally posing for the cameras and somewhat enjoying the spotlight that was put on her. It was only until she realized that the others were gaining much more attention, she found herself at a point of envy and didn't enjoy the attention that they had gathered. The girl could just imagine the reaction of Lisa finding out that they generated much attention due to Socrates- a cat being able to talk. She shivered at the fact that Lisa, if she ever did visit the prison would give scold them harshly or even leave without a word. Even travelling together and being friends with Lisa, May felt that sometimes she couldn't dependent on Lisa too much and felt that she was a bit cruel.
But the strange thing was, they could always break out of the prison. It was at a pretty poor state with many cracked walls and because of their magic, they could always escape. Andre with his powerful strength could break the already rusted bars. Socrates could probably easily squeeze through while May's power can take on any threat from a distance. May made sure before she got out of the bus, she hid her bow at a very remote spot of the bus, but despite not having her bow, she was still capable of other powers as well. May tried to think of a solution to get them out of this mess, but was stumped at every single thought having known that nearly all of Mexico and pretty much the rest of the world that might of known who they were. She shook her head and felt disillusioned once she looked back at her fellow cellmates. The prison wasn't much of a prison, much more just a cellblock in a big police station, daily May would just watch the TV screen that was positioned above a high shelf that she could see diagonally from her cell. The guards who were on duty around the areas would regularly watch the TV as well. Even in a foreign language, May took interest in the TV because she knew that there wasn't anything else. As she gazed up at the television, the news was on. While she quite couldn't understand it, she knew that there was something peculiar with all the exclamation marks used in the segment. She later than saw hundreds of mountain goats surrounded by a high peak and only noticed three words in the report. She also caught a mountain goat with a golden star patterned on its skin and knew that it had to do something with the astral beast. May tried to remember this as hard as possible as she knew the next location for where they should travel to.
Claire rushed towards the stadium to see a familiar face that she knew. "Finally you're here. You kept us waiting for a long time!" Lucy joked, smiling happily. Ricardo gazed at her with a sense of understanding and smiled, while Lucy caught him with the corner of her eye. She dropped her concentration on him and focused on Claire who hugged her tightly. "You're never this affectionate towards me! What's happened to her Adrian?" she asked, her smile gleaming when she saw Adrian. It was as if she saw the sight of happiness when she saw Adrian as Ricardo observed and directed a smile towards himself when he witnessed Lucy in high spirits. Adrian caught up, panting and trying to catch his breath. "Maybe she's just really happy to see you." He struggled, while panting. Claire nodded her head cheekily and went on to greet Ricardo. Lucy put a peculiar stare towards Adrian, pouting her lips and raising her cheeks. "You really do know what to say to make someone feel better." She muttered to herself.
"So are we going to see the show?" Claire asked in a very childish manner. Her excitement grew as Ricardo nodded his head. "More than that little miss, I'll take you on a tour of the stadium." The girl ran around in excitement, contented and jumped with joy. "Well follow me" Ricardo instructed and both Adrian and Lucy did as they were told with no hesitation, they too were excited for the tour. "Come on!" Lucy said, encouraging Claire to follow along. Claire though felt something suspicious, her amulet was glowing again she was slowly left behind by the others by a long round corridor inside the stadium. She received a gentle tap on her hand. On her guard, she was scared of what it could be. The perpetrator laughed in a very child-like laugh. "It's me silly. Who did you think it was?" a little boy stated. "Victor! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at school?"
The little boy nodded his head. "Well, lets say I ran off from school. I just really wanted to be here!" Claire shook her head. "No, you shouldn't now get to school quick before you get caught."
"No! I'm going to stay here at the stadium and see what's going on for today's show." Claire gaped her mouth and looked despaired. She tried her best to deter him from leaving the stadium. "Claire? Where are you? We are up on the seating. Just go a bit further and you'll see a few stairs!" Adrian called out. Claire snickered. "He's always like that…" she said towards Victor. "I'm coming," she yelled out and then she looked at Victor in the face, "Please do the right thing Victor and go to school. Your mother's going to be worried once she knows that you weren't there." She said with almost looking and sounding desperate because of her concern. After, she raced to the stairs and caught up with the rest hoping that Victor listened to her plea.
"Finally you're here, we were worried about you!" Lucy stated. "We thought you were going to run off on us."
"I'm sorry, I just slowed down a bit that's all." Claire apologized. Ricardo was explaining to Adrian about his passion for bullfighting. "I've always wanted to do it, since I was a child. I dreamed of nothing else." Ricardo paused briefly for a few seconds and looked down at his shoes. "Cant say I have no regrets though." Adrian nodded his head to be sincere and to gesture him genuinely listening to Ricardo's confessions.
"Hey look! There's a little boy in the bullfighting area!" Lucy shouted. The shout moved their attention to the centre of the stadium and Claire in particular grew with more concern.
"What's Victor doing there?" Ricardo asked. Adrian shrugged his shoulders. The man looked around until he saw a woman and shook his head. "No… What is she planning to do?"
It was Mystic and with a lift of her arm raised the gates and a bull appeared out onto the arena. "No!" Claire yelled, closing her eyes. Victor faced the direction of the yells and before the little boy realized, a bull with a stars encrusted on it's horn was charging towards him. The boy stood in fear, too shaken to move he attempted to evade the charge like a real bullfighter, but failed and was gored by the horns of the bull and was dragged towards the wall. The blood from the poor boy draped around the bull's horns and caused it to become more furious and aggressive.
Mystic disappeared into thin air, witnessing the devastation that her 'pet' made and felt a slight remorse. Claire opened her eyes, with tears flowing from her eyes. "I killed him… I killed him. It's all my fault."
Ricardo stood like a statue, in shock of the events that have occurred. Visioning the horrific accident from what he loved and the death of the son he never really knew. He too, felt an insurmountable surge of guilt.
"We better defeat it before it escapes and runs into the city!" Lucy instructed. She readied her fan and threw it towards the bull. The fan circulated through the air and struck the bull, giving the bull a severe cut. Adrian raised his hands and a green slimy liquid rose from the ground and entrapped the bull, defeating it by circulating an acidic and poisonous slime. The bull lying unconscious on the ground. Claire couldn't muster the strength to contain it within her wand, still traumatized by the death of Victor. Ricardo stared at the three, wondering if anything he saw was actually true. "Claire, contain it before it wakes up again!" Lucy ordered. Claire hesitantly activated the amulet and raised the wand up to the sky. "Taurus… the raging bull of the Earth, aid us with your power and strength… Contain…" Claire said, distracted by the constant tears from her eyes. Unlike before, the corpse of Taurus didn't turn into an orb of light. "The process isn't working…" Lucy muttered. Another light from the opposite side of the seating areas was glowing. As soon as that light illuminated, the beast became a big sphere of light and its form was distorted into a large beam of light that headed towards the Astral Wand.
"Where's that light coming from?" Lucy wondered and she headed towards the other side to see. "Lisa! How on Earth… Oh…" Lucy then discovered that Lisa was the person on the other side supporting Claire to capture the power of the beast. She also witnessed that Lisa still has the Lunar Crystal- the necklace that her sister used to capture the threatening beasts at the times before.
"Finally… The beast of Taurus is sealed within the amulet." Lisa concluded, breathing a sigh of relief. Lisa, Mark and Lucy rushed towards Claire to see if she was in a better state. Claire, still dreading and feeling absolutely guilty leaned her head on Adrian's chest and muttered kept reciting the words, "I killed him."
Ricardo was in disbelief, all these events… It wasn't long the event runners saw the corpse of a young boy almost impaled by a bull's horn.
Days had passed after Victor's death. The young boy was buried in the local cemetery, Ricardo paid the expenses and he confronted Maria about their son's death. It didn't come with no disputes, eventually Maria revealed that she had enough money for both her and Victor to move away. For the first few weeks, she used it on drugs and alcohol as she was struggling with depression over her regrets. She then at the lowest point let Ricardo into her life and they together moved away from Mexico to try and recover from their losses. Adrian revealed the group's story in saving the world; both Ricardo and Maria wished them well. The last time the group ever saw Ricardo and Maria was at the gravesite of Victor Fernandez… His gravestone depicting a small picture in a frame of the boy, a few red roses for the love he never had from his parents during his life and candles to signify blessings of light and hope. Claire calmed down from her hysteria and went alone with Lucy and Adrian. "A life cut short... But he was a dreamer… Someone who believed in his dreams and made the best with the time he had." She said to the two, facing the gravestone. She then with a long match lit up a candle and recited the little boy's epitaph.
Victor Fernandez
"The little boy who might have lost his chance with his dreams… But won life with a champion's heart"
"Lets go…" Claire said wiping her eyes. "They are waiting for us at the bus to get to the airport."
The other two then walked away to the bus. Claire taking a few brief moments watching her candle burns strong, sending a small prayer that she hoped would reach him. All dressed in black, her hair swayed ferociously in the wind and as she walked a great distance to catch up to her friends, she looked back and saw her candle at that precise moment go out.