“I owe Aegis everything.  He saved my life, and I don’t know why he took to me as he did.  He’d seen so many friends and companions before me come and go through his long years, but he saw something in me, something I strove to live up to every day, and will continue to try and live up to until the day I die.

We wanted to build something, to create something lasting.  For years, I didn’t think we’d be able to make it work, but we built the Legendary Consortium, the two of us, and we made it work.  A group of individuals dedicated to working for and with this great nation.  It wasn’t easy, but Aegis knew that this was the way it had to be.  The world was getting too big for him to do it on his own, and we gathered a truly great team, a family, that is dedicated to keeping this world safe.  In his memory, I will keep the LC running, and we will continue to protect this world as he meant us to.”

Lady Sapphire looked down at the coffin.  It wasn’t her first funeral for a friend, but it was the first time she’d dressed in all black instead of of her traditional blue in a gesture of genuine mourning.  “Goodbye, old friend.”  A single tear rolled down her fair cheek.

She walked back into the crowd, Geoff meeting her and putting his arm around her.  The rest of the LC were gathered around her.  Israel alone stood at the edge of the cemetery, dressed in a black suit, his arm in a sling, looking out over the massive crowd that had showed up for the original Legend’s funeral.

“Why aren’t you with everyone else?”

Izzy turned to see Anna walking up behind him.  A brunette wig and big, dark sunglasses concealed her identity.

“Big public outing, all the remaining, injured LC in one place?  Somebody had to stand back.  They don’t put all the members of the cabinet in the same place at the same time.”  The logic was believable enough, though it would probably take a bomb to take out all the LC right then, and the few hundred yards Izzy had on his fellow Legends wouldn’t protect him in that scenario.  The truth was, he made an appearance because it was expected, but he had no right to attend Aegis’ funeral, and while Lady Sapphire had told him had to be there, he knew she wanted him there for professional reasons, but personally would probably rather not have Aegis’ killer attending his funeral.

Anna nodded.

“I thought Ellen’s funeral was today?” he asked.

“It is, later.  I’ve got just enough time to make it back.  I just, I wanted to pay my respects.  I can’t help but feel responsible.  It was my power that gave Ursula the ability to kill him.”

“Hey, look at me.”  He took her sunglasses off, looking into her green eyes.  “This is not your fault.  You can’t carry that weight around, for something you had no control over.  His death was tragic, but it’s not your fault.”

It was her fault, not in the way she thought.  Izzy had killed Aegis himself, because Aegis had decided that Anna had to die.  She couldn’t know.  No one could.  Lady Sapphire was the only other one who knew, and she’d agreed to keep the secret, protecting Izzy from the swarm of people who would come, looking to take a shot at the man who had killed the king.

“It’s a little my fault, and I can’t just pretend it isn’t.  I’m just here to pay my respects.”

“Then pay them, and go be with Macy.  She needs you more than we do.”  Izzy handed her back her sunglasses and gingerly gave her a hung with his good arm.

“Thanks.”

“And you’re not responsible for her death either.  Ursula is going to pay for what she did.”  The Sea Witch was currently being held in Lighten Prison, a maximum security facility on an island off the coast of Virginia that was run by a Warlock and former member on the LC.  Jeremy Karnath, the Soul Weaver, former Legend and current Warden of the most secure prison on earth, tasked with holding in check the most dangerous and powerful criminals, had sent his regards, a touching note to Stephanie and flowers honoring his fallen former boss.

“I know she is.”

“Go talk your way to the front of the line, say your peace and get out of here,” he said, giving his blessing to abuse her power.

“Izzy?”

“Mmm?”

“Thank you, for everything.”

One side of his lips curled upwards in a forced smile.  “Go on.”



Macy checked her phone for the umpteenth time.  Hers and Ellen’s happy faces smiled back at her from her screen, and there again were no messages.  She bit her lip and dropped her phone back into her purse and scanned the growing crowd again.  Still no sign of Anna.

“We’re so sorry for your loss.”

Macy smiled with her mouth and thanked the young couple, shaking their hands.  She knew them, they were Ellen’s friends, and on a normal day she’d be able to recall their names and how she and Ellen had known with them, but she was numb to the waves of condolences washing over her.  She didn’t want all these people she barely knew coming up to her and telling her they were sorry her girlfriend had choked to death.  

She’d decided to stick with the fabricated death scenario they’d originally conceived; despite Lady Sapphire offering to reveal that the Sea Witch had actually murdered her.  Macy had thought she was selflessly sparing Ellen’s family and friends the burden of the rage she felt.  But on this day she just wanted to see one of the few people who knew the truth, the only person who could take some of that load.  And Anna was nowhere to be seen.

She greeted mourner after mourner, perpetuating the lie with each person she thanked for their pity and condolences.  

“It’s just such a shame.  A tragic accident.  But she’s in a better place right now.”  A man whom she didn’t recognize put his hand on her shoulder.  It was a gesture meant to comfort, but Macy recoiled against his touch.  

“An accident?”  There was a hint of anger in her inflection, just a fraction of the rage suddenly boiling just below her surface.

The man looked taken aback, looking to Ellen’s mother for assistance.

Marcia Frederick quickly intervened as Macy’s breath quickened.  “Come on, get some fresh air,” she said, ushering Macy outside.  She pulled out her cigarettes and offered one to Macy.  Macy started to refuse and then on second thought, eagerly accepted the offer.  She hadn’t had a cigarette in over ten years.  She’d asked Anna to tell her to quit, and it had worked.  But today, she needed a smoke.

“God, I forgot how good these things are,” Macy said, exhaling a plume of smoke.

“It’s just so unreal,” Marcia says.  She’d managed to light Macy’s, but her hands were shaking so much she couldn’t light her own.  Macy took the lighter from her, her hands lingering on her late girlfriend’s mother’s hands.  She looked so much like her daughter.  Macy had thought a lot about the woman she wanted to grow old with.  Looking at Marcia was like looking into Ellen’s future.  A future that had been stolen from her.

“It is,” Macy replied, staring off into the distance.  It was very unreal.  Marcia’s only daughter hadn’t choked to death.  She’d been murdered.  By an evil sorcerous who was after Macy’s adopted sister.  She’d been killed just to prove a point.  A mere demonstration in a battle Ellen had no part in and no understanding of.  They’d taken her still warm corpse back to her apartment, dressed her up, and Anna had convinced the paramedics that Macy’s dead girlfriend had choked to death and they’d found her like that.

“It’s unfair,” Marcia said.  

Macy opened her mouth, her resolve to hold this secret to herself crumbling.  Marcia deserved to know that her daughter’s death wasn’t some cruel accident.

Her mouth snapped shut.  Her gaze drifted across the parking lot, watching as Tyrese made his way to the church.  His suit was too small, and the mountain of a man was about to burst out of it.  His arm was in a sling, and he walked with a pronounced limp, and even his dark skin couldn’t hide the bruises on his face.

“You okay?” Marcia asked her.

Macy sniffed, realizing she was crying, hot tears streaming down her cheeks.  “Yeah.  Thanks.  I see someone I should talk to.”

Marcia followed her gaze to Tyrese, raising an eyebrow.  Tyrese had spotted them and had stopped, awkwardly unsure of if he should go inside or approach them.

“He’s deaf.  He knows my sister,” Macy explained.  “I’m alright.  I’ll meet you back inside.”

Marcia rubbed her shoulder and stamped out her cigarette.  She went back inside, and Macy tossed aside her own cigarette.  She made her way to Tyrese.  She’d never actually spoken to him before.  Anna had told her all about him, but she didn’t speak sign language.  He wasn’t Anna, but he knew the truth of Ellen’s death.  He’d wrapped her body in a sheet and carried her out of that terrible basement.  And he was exactly who she needed to see right then.

She fell into his massive arms, weeping openly.  They didn’t have to speak the same language.  Grief is universal.



The funeral was long over by the time Anna got to the church.  She’d not even considered traffic in her plan to go to Aegis’ funeral before coming back for Ellen’s funeral.  She thought she’d be able to catch the end of the viewing and then be there for Macy for the funeral.  There had been a big accent and she’d been stuck sitting in traffic for hours.  She had no clue what had happened to the phone Izzy had given her, and she hadn’t had a chance to get a new one yet.  It had taken every ounce of willpower she had to keep from sticking her head out the window and screaming at the cars in front of her to just drive, even if they plowed into each other.

She started to pull out of the parking lot as soon as she entered, but she had business there first.

“Tell me where Ellen Frederick’s grave is,” she ordered the first person she found, an attendant cleaning up after hours.

He shrugged, her compulsion doing nothing to force him to offer information he couldn’t provide.

“The funeral this goddam afternoon.  Where the fuck is she buried!” Anna screamed, her frustration boiling over.  

The poor attendant led her through the dark cemetery to the freshly buried grave.  “Leave me,” she said curtly, and he scurried off.

Anna stood over the mound of fresh dirt.  She’d stopped her.  She’d faced the Sea Witch on the roof; she’d brought her down.  Ursula was sitting in prison now.  None of that could make up for the grave at her feet.

Anna dropped to her knees at the edge of the grave.  “I’m sorry.”  Tears finally rushed down her cheeks, and she choked out a sob.  “I’m so sorry.”