"You've nothing to apologise for," Francis said with a sigh. "You have a right to be upset. We did go out drinking with Arthur that night. Gilbert, Antonio, Lovino, and I. I actually talked him into coming along when he didn't really want to," he admitted.

Alfred didn't move. Matthew, who was still holding onto his arm, said what he knew his brother must've been thinking. "What happened?"

"I truly don't know," Francis said. "And that's a promise. We were too drunk to think straight, got separated, and something went wrong."

"He was with me," Lovino spoke up shakingly. Alfred and Matthew looked at him in surprise, while the others seemed knowing.

"You..."

"I didn't push him," he blurted. "Well, maybe I did, but I didn't know the train was so close! I tried to grab him," he explained franticly, sounding hysterical. Alfred could see that he was about to cry too. "But we were drunk and... it was too late..."

"It was just a silly little argument," Lovino continued. "Not even that. I didn't mean for him to die. I would've never wanted that..."

"You have to understand Alfred, I didn't mean it. Please."

He felt like he was drowning. His chest was tight and burning and he didn't know what to feel anymore. He wanted to be angry. He wanted to be upset. But his mind just came to a blank and he felt nothing instead. And for some reason the numbness was worse than anything else he could think of.

Lovino was still rambling in the background, but it was just white noise in Alfred's ears. The others had moved to console him, except for Matthew. His brother may have asked him if he was okay, but he wasn't sure. He wasn't listening anymore. He wouldn't have known the answer anyway.

"Lovino, stop," Alfred said. The words were lighter than air and he hadn't even felt them leave his lips, yet somehow everyone had heard. His blue eyes locked with the Italian's hazel ones. "You don't have to explain yourself. I get that you didn't mean for it to happen." The words felt strange coming out of his mouth after he'd spent the past two years thinking the opposite. Even he wasn't sure whether he believed them. "I... feel better knowing the truth about what happened."

And he did. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with this information now that he had it. In fact, he'd probably just end up keeping it between him and his friends.

The yearly anti-bullying assemblies would go on, and eventually they would get someone new to engross themselves with. The vigils would continue, until one year it would get called off because of the rain, and after that for some reason no one would question, they'd stop altogether. The amount of flowers left near the scene of his accident would lessen, as would those by his grave. There would be less visitors, and more wilted carnations bought at the last minute. The name Arthur Kirkland would fade. He'd be just another somebody. Just another story.

And Alfred would sit through it all, knowing the truth while everyone else cried over a tragedy they didn't even know the beginning of.

And one day, a boy who looked remarkably like Arthur but with bluer eyes would ask him if he knew the details, because his family had kept him in the dark about it and he'd been too young to remember, and Alfred would smile sadly and reply something along the lines of, "Kid, you have no idea."

But in the meantime, he stood between Matthew and Lovino, because Mr. Vargas had called for the silent part of the vigil to begin. They'd gathered together by the site of Arthur's death, and he saw his mom among the group of adults. She smiled at him and he smiled back, took his brother's and Lovino's hands, and they stood together in silence. His heart hurt, but for the first time since the accident, he accepted that his wasn't the only one.

And he knew that there would be peace at last.

OoOoOoO

"What is your problem?" Lovino growled. "Quit being such a dick!"

"I'm not even doing anything," Arthur said, rolling his eyes. He crossed his arms and some beer from the open bottle he held spilt out onto his school uniform. If he noticed, he didn't show it. "I'm just joking. You always have to overreact about everything."

"It's not joking if the only one laughing is you."

"Well it's not my fault you can't loosen up! You always have to be complaining about something!"

"If your definition of 'loosening up' is letting people walk all over me, then I'll pass, thanks," Lovino huffed.

"You know that's not what I'm saying, Lovino."

"No, I don't know!" he stomped over to the Brit. "Plus you're being a huge hypocrite right now! You may be too drunk to realise it now, but I have seriously never met anyone who nags as much as you do."

With that, he gripped the other boy's shoulders tight before, in a fit of anger, shoving him with all of his strength. He could see Arthur's eyes briefly widen in surprise as he stumbled back and lost his footing, since he'd been standing on the rail. He fell down between the tracks, and the bottle he held shattered beneath his hand.

Arthur gazed up at Lovino from the ground, cradling his hand, which now had a thin stream of blood on it, to his chest. He was a mess, with his missing shoe, ruffled hair, and stained school uniform. If only the school could've seen him. He would lose his spot as student council president, for sure.

"I'm sick of you!" the Italian shouted. "Go to hell!"

Arthur remained silent for a moment, as though he didn't know what to say. "Twat," he finally settled for mumbling. A bright white light shone on him then, illuminating his features oddly and sending long shadows down his face. He squinted against the light, suddenly looking older than he was.

That was when Lovino noticed the thunderous quaking of the earth around them.

He didn't need to look to see what was coming. Life seemed to slow as his eyes widened in horror. This wasn't happening. It wasn't real, he kept repeating in his head. It couldn't have been.

"Arthur!" he screamed, leaping toward the blond with his arm outstretched. Arthur barely had the time to looked shocked before Lovino was forced to stumble back as the train rushed past him.

He felt hot blood splatter across his face, along with icy tears.

Aaaaand.. It's over ;o;

Thanks to those of you who read this and everyone who reviewed/followed/faved!