Disclaimer: Yeah, right.
A/N: I'M BACK!!! Sorry about the ridiculously long delay, but I've been in the process of moving, and have been too busy to do anything but review occasionally. Thank you for your patience, and now, ON WITH THE STORY!!
Oh yes, if you don't like sad stuff, skip this chapter, ok? Ok.
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The next morning, Rogue, Bobby, and the Brotherhood stood before the Institute gates, Jamie's body in Bobby's arms. They had decided (after much bickering) that it would be wise to visit the Institute, if only to bury Jamie.
Pushing the gates open, the morose group slowly walked to the hill near the woods; the hill where Jamie had loved to sit and play GameBoy.
Lance had brought along a shovel, and soon a six-foot hole had been dug in the shade of a large oak tree. Wrapping Jamie's body tightly in a blanket, Rogue and Bobby slowly lowered him into the ground.
With tears flowing freely down their faces, the two stepped back to join the others. The hole was quickly refilled by Freddy and Pietro, and Lance embedded a simple wooden cross with Jamie's name cared into it firmly in the ground. The group stood silently, for his death had affected them all—even the Brotherhood, for they had had found themselves hoping desperately that Jamie would survive.
After a time, Bobby's voice broke through the still air. "Earlier, I was thinking, and I realized that Jamie would want us to keep going, and not stop everything and give up just because he was gone. He wouldn't want us to be so sad.
"I found this poem," he continued, "that I think fits." Clearing his throat, he began to read aloud from a scrap of paper in his hand.
When I am dead...
Sing no sad songs for me
Plant no roses at my head
Nor shady cypress tree.
Be the green grass above me,
With showers and dewdrops wet.
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.
For I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain.
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise or set
Haply I may remember.
And haply, may forget.
His voice broke on the last few words, and Lance and Rogue put their hands on Bobby's shoulders, offering what silent comfort they could.
Soon, everyone began to go, but a clear alto voice stopped them from leaving.
No one told me it was gonna rain todayTurn my face down from the sky.
Something broke inside my heart today
Christmas presents on the day he died.
Crippled dreams are never mentioned;
Broken dreams that will not heal.
People say that I should give it time.
Tonight I cannot help but cry,
February twenty-nine.
In a world of dying children, rain never seems to cease.
I will hope for things unseen now, One day my heart will be at peace.
Hope there's a place that's so much better,
A place where children never cry—
Where no one's ever cold or hungry;
A place where you cannot go blind.
Turn my face up to the sky now,
Wipe the tears from my eyes
It will take for me much longer time,
February, February, February twenty-nine.
In a world of dying children, rain never seems to cease.
I will hope for things unseen now, One day my heart will be at peace.
As the last note faded into the air, Rogue closed her mouth and lowered her head, refusing to let more tears fall.
The rest of the group left one by one to leave the singer to her privacy,
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The poem is When I Am Dead, by Christina Rossetti. The song is 2/29 by Brave St Saturn, and although the song talks about February 29, this story has no real dates over which it happens. (It's figurative, so to speak)
Let me know what you think, ok?