Disclaimer: I do not own +anima.
Warning: This chapter contains some slightly gory details. –Max"What did you say?" said Marca, blinking away tears.
"I said Fly's alive!" shouted Cooro. "He's over by the funeral pier!"
"Why didn't one of the townspeople tell us this?" said Soline.
"There hasn't been a funeral since he fell," said Cooro. "Oh, and Blanca's definitely dead. He told me that."
"Cooro, are you sure it's Fly?" asked a doubtful Husky. "It could be anyone."
"No, it's definitely Fly," said Cooro.
"I'll fly over to check his claim," said Soline to Husky. "Maybe he isn't lying." She spread her wings, flew out the window, and disappeared. 3 minutes later, she came back, grimacing.
"Is it Fly?" asked Nana.
"Oh, it's definitely Fly," said Soline, sounding a little sad and queasy. "But Nana, you might want to stay here. It isn't pretty." Soline looked at Husky, who was confused as everyone else, and Husky then understood.
"OH," he said. "Uh, Nana, you definitely want to stay here."
"Okay," said Nana, who was a little sulky. She sat on the bed while everyone else left the inn. But Senri stopped on the way out the door.
"Stay," he said. He sat down on the bed next to Nana and hugged her.
Cooro and Soline led everyone else out to the funeral pier. When they reached the far side of the hill it sat on, they saw him.
"You found me," said Fly.
Husky gasped. Marca recoiled in horror. Cooro and Soline's faces stayed blank, having already seen what had become of Fly.
After being out in the field for a while, Fly had become less attractive than a month old corpse. He was pale white all over, with half of his hair gone. He had scars (some still bleeding) all over his body. He was bent out of shape from the fall, his bones twisted into shapes that in some places came through the skin. His face was gaunt and dead, his skin was drained of all his color, and his eyes had sunk slightly back into his skull.
"I've been waiting for you," he said, in a raspy, dry voice.