Aaron's POV

A few days after the mission, the family of Bryan and Allen invited the whole of Team E to the funeral of Bryan and Allen through pigeon mail and we all knew it was time to say goodbye to both Bryan and Allen and thank them for saving us from being killed by the members of Xurenth. Aragorn glanced at me the whole time we were going to the funeral, worried about my mental health because I was sulking when I was talking to the other students, wanting to spend more time alone in my room reading books about magic and grieving for the death of both Bryan and Allen thinking it was my fault that I wasn't alert causing them to be killed. I smiled sadly at Aragorn and he smiled sadly back, knowing what I was thinking. We both were silent as we were walking to the place of the funeral, knowing that I need some time to collect my emotions because he knew that being able to get through the death of Bryan and Allen, even if it was still painful as I knew I could have prevented their deaths, in a few days was not an easy feat for a person who was close to them both to achieve. We all arrived to see the family members of Bryan and Allen were already there. Bryan's parents hugged me first, tears streaming down from their faces as they did so, as they and I were close and knew that I would have saved Bryan if I had a choice. I hugged them close to me as tears streamed down my cheek as well.

"Thank you so much for bringing Bryan's remains home, Aaron. I knew that Bryan and you were close and you bringing Bryan's remains home shows the respect you have towards our Bryan." I nodded sadly as I broke free from their hug, trying hard not to break down the second time. I turned to my right and saw Lucy glanced at me sadly and I opened my arms wide, inviting her for a hug. Lucy ran into my arms and immediately broke down sobbing as I held her, knowing that she had loved her older brother because she always admired how her older brother had fought against the enemy even if he was outnumbered and how good a strategist he was. I still remember that time when Allen and I came to Bryan's house to meet Lucy for the first time and how he had treated Lucy like a princess whenever we all gathered around for a large gathering, talking about random stuff as we ate and mingled with one another, getting to know the secrets of each other and promised that our friendship would never be separated forever. I hugged Lucy tighter as she cried, knowing that I could have saved Bryan if I had not been such a coward. After a while, Lucy cried herself to sleep and I handed her to her parents, telling them to take care of her, and placed the bouquet in front of the gravestone of Bryan. Then I turned to the gravestone of Allen and, with tears streaming down my cheeks, placed the other bouquet in front of the gravestone of Allen as well. 

Suddenly, I heard heavy footsteps coming towards me and I tensed, ready to strike when the person who had made the heavy footsteps suddenly pulled me tight in a hug. I glanced up and saw I was hugged by none other than Alice, Allen's younger sister. Suddenly she broke out from the hug and smacked me hard on the cheeks.

"Aaron. Why didn't you save Allen from this fate?!" I sobbed as I tried to explain to Alice how Allen died but she stopped me before I finished explaining.

"Aaron, I thought I could trust you with my older brother's life. Maybe I shouldn't have trusted you from the start." With those harsh words, she walked away from the gravesite leaving me standing there, clutching my chest in pain as tears fell freely from my cheeks in betrayal and pain. Aragorn gave me a worried glance but I didn't notice as Alice's words rang in my ears because I knew that she was right.

If I had gotten stronger, I would have saved Allen.

If I had not been a coward, I would have been able to save Allen.

The worse of all, if I had told Allen about the assassin earlier, he would not have died.

I was sinking too deeply in my thoughts to notice someone hugging me from behind, feeling warm arms around my back giving a warm comfort that I had not even felt for a long time even if I had my friends with me. I began sobbing freely as I clutched that person's arms, crying about the loss of my two best friends in Xurenth, the nightmares I had faced of all of my memories of my time in Xurenth, and the unfairness that god have to take them away from me. After a while I began to unravel myself from the hug and stood up, commander mood, and nodded at my friends, trying to not let my true emotion show. They all nodded and, using their magic, fired colorful lights up into the sky as a tribute to Bryan and Allen for saving our lives from the assassins from Xurenth. After that, I hugged the parents and family members, excluding Alice and Lucy, who was still sleeping due to crying to exhaustion, of both Bryan and Allen, promising to never forget to visit the grave of both boys to honour them and thank them for their sacrifice. Then, we went back to the academy, our home.