"The Lord gives, and He takes…"
The preacher's voice carried through the cemetery, thin beneath the sound of rain.
The sky had been mourning all week.
Heavy clouds hung low over the graves, and rain fell without mercy, soaking the earth until the ground had softened into dark mud.
Around Selene Riegrow's open grave, umbrellas bloomed like black flowers.
Caesar stood beside Chaos, both dressed in black.
Behind them, guards held umbrellas over their heads, their faces empty, their shoulders stiff beneath the downpour.
"Let us not mourn too deeply," the preacher continued, his voice solemn. "For the dead find peace when they return to their Maker."
Chaos stared down at the grave.
Selene's coffin had already been lowered. Now soil was being poured over it.
One shovel after another.
Dull. Heavy.
Final.
Around them stood extended family members, old friends, business partners, and people who had come because Selene had been a Riegrow wife, and Riegrow grief was the kind people attended even when they did not care.
One by one, they stepped forward and dropped flowers into the grave.
White lilies.
Red roses.
Orchids.
Expensive funeral flowers chosen more for appearance than meaning.
Selene's mother, Mrs. Hart, stood close by, silent and unreadable. She wore dark shades, a black dress, and a wide black hat that cast a shadow over her face. Whether she cried behind the glasses, no one could tell.
Chaos did not look at her..He did not look at anyone.
He only watched the soil fall.
Soon, the grave was covered.
The preacher lowered his head as the service ended.
The guests began to disperse.
They came forward in turns, offering words that sounded polished by repetition and emptied by use.
"I am so sorry for your loss, Mr. Riegrow."
"Selene was a lovely woman."
"It must be hard for young Adrian. Poor child."
"If there is anything you need at all, please contact me."
"She was so full of life. I still cannot believe she is gone."
Chaos stood through all of it without speaking.
Each condolence slid past him like rain over stone.
One by one, they left.
Cars started in the distance. Umbrellas closed and opened. Shoes sank into mud. Voices faded beneath the rain.
Soon, only Caesar and Chaos remained by the grave.
Caesar turned first. "Let's go."
Chaos did not move.
Caesar stopped and looked back. "Adrian."
"I'm not leaving," Chaos said.
Caesar's expression hardened. "Boy, of all the times to be stubborn, do not make it this day."
Chaos's eyes remained on the grave. "I'll meet you back at home," he said. "Let me be. I need a moment with her."
Caesar's jaw tightened.
For a second, he looked as though he might drag Chaos away himself.
Then Xavier stepped forward.
"Maybe ten minutes alone will do," Xavier said carefully.
Caesar's gaze snapped to him.
Xavier lowered his head. "...Sir."
The silence stretched between them, then Caesar exhaled sharply, his irritation barely contained.
"Ten minutes. Say your goodbye. The jet is waiting."
He turned and walked away.
The guards followed him, their umbrellas moving after him like shadows.
Xavier remained behind, holding the umbrella over Chaos.
The rain had grown heavier now, striking the fabric above them with relentless force.
Xavier looked at his young master.
Chaos had barely spoken since Selene's death. His face had remained mostly blank, his voice quiet when he was forced to use it. But Xavier could see it clearly enough.
The death of Madam Riegrow had hollowed something out of him.
And Xavier, who had only been at his side for a handful of days, understood that there was little he could do. He could not fix grief. He could not soften death. He could not return a mother to her son.
So he stood there quietly and held the umbrella. It was the only help he had to offer.
"Leave me," Chaos said.
Xavier hesitated. "Young Master… the rain."
"Just a few minutes, Xavier."
Xavier remained still for a moment longer. Then he bowed. "I'll wait by the car."
He lowered the umbrella slightly, placed it nearby, and stepped away.
Chaos was left alone beside the grave.
Rain soaked through his black suit almost immediately. Mud clung to his shoes. Wet flowers lay scattered around the fresh mound of earth, their colours darkened by the storm.
In his hand, Chaos held a single daisy.
He had not thrown it in when the others gave their flowers.
His fingers tightened around the stem.
Selene had always loved daisies.
Would she have liked this one if he gave it to her?
For some reason, he did not want to let it go. Slowly, Chaos bent down beside the grave.
Rain ran through his hair, down his face, along his jaw. His dark suit clung to him, soaked and heavy, but he did not seem to feel the cold.
"Pitiful, isn't it, Mother?" His voice was low. Almost swallowed by the rain.
"We both never belonged anywhere."
He raised the daisy slightly, looking at it with a strange, bitter emptiness. "Now look at you."
The flower trembled in his grip.
"Who is more of a sorry flower?" he asked. "You, who could not leave a marriage you hated… or me, who still clung to you?"
A laugh escaped him.
Cold.
Miserable.
Broken in a way no scream could have been.
"Hahaha…"
He lifted his face toward the sky and laughed louder.
Thunder cracked above him, drowning the sound until it became impossible to tell whether he was laughing or falling apart.
Then he lowered his head.
His gloved hand reached out and brushed over the wet soil.
"How could you leave me?"
His voice sharpened.
"Everything I am now… everything Father will make me become… it is all your fault."
His fingers dug slightly into the mud.
"How dare you blame me and then leave me?"
The rain poured harder.
Chaos stared at the grave, his pale blue eyes red but dry.
"You chose to hide," he whispered. "You were a coward, Mother."
His throat moved. "We could have fought him together." He lowered his head. "I could have killed him for you."
The words came out softer now, like a child confessing a secret.
"You just had to wait a little longer." His hand curled into the mud. "Now you're gone."
"What am I supposed to do without you?" His voice broke
There was no answer.
Only rain, thunder.
Only the fresh grave of the woman who had loved him too late, lost him too early, and left before remembering how to come back.
Chaos looked down at his hands. "I am a sorry flower, truly."
Slowly, he removed one glove.
Then the other. They fell onto the grave, dark leather against wet soil.
His bare hands hovered above the earth, he hesitated for a moment, then he pressed his palm against the grave.
Bare skin to mud.
Bare skin to the place where his mother had been buried.
"I ruin everything I touch."
A footstep sounded behind him.
Chaos's head lifted, Irritation flashing across his face.
"Xavier, I said to wait... "
He turned.
But it was not Xavier standing there.
Kashi Saints stood beneath the rain, an umbrella in her hand.
Water dripped from the edge of it, falling around her like a curtain. Her expression was unreadable, her gaze fixed on him with quiet curiosity.
"Wait for what?" she asked.