Prompt 229-Eulogy

What would you like said about you at your funeral?

“Are you sure you don’t want to hang around?”

Ali laughed. “For my own funeral?”

Koenma shrugged. “It is how I convinced Yusuke to take my offer of a second chance at life.”

“Yeah but he was just a kid then,” Ali said. “And unaware of how many people loved him.” She looked out over Spirit World towards the River Styx. On the other side, her family and friends were burying her physical body. She smiled. “I am neither young nor ignorant. There will be no second chance for me now. I know just how much trouble I caused these last few months and I am aware of the troubles yet to come.”

“You think they won’t mourn you?” Koenma frowned at her. “You know, for a woman who seems to know everything, you really are an idiot.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know how they feel. I know how they probably feel. And I know how I hope they feel.”

“And how is that, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Ali closed her eyes as the clean air of Spirit World cooled her face. “It’s selfish, but I hope they remember me fondly. I hope they remember me as the woman they saved, the woman who became one of their strongest allies, and the woman they loved. I hope they understand why I did what I did. That I didn’t die to save the worlds just to be a hero. That I did it so they would have a future to live in. That I did it because I love them.”

Koenma nodded solemnly. “I’m sure they understand. Although some understand more intimately than others.”

“We agreed that was the right course of action,” she sighed. “Besides, I have no illusions about what is to come.” She held back a small grin at that personal joke. This was not a time to be light-hearted. “One way or another, those children will meet. When they do, we must be prepared to deal with the aftermath. The fewer people who know what is coming, the better our chances of survival.”

“I’m not disagreeing with you on that point.” Koenma’s eyes pitied her. “I just wish you wouldn’t be so hard on yourself is all. You’re asking all of us to put our faith in you. Well I’m asking you to have some faith in them as well. You might be surprised.”

“Hopefully not too surprised,” she smirked. After all, carefully laid plans would be reduced to rubble if they did the unexpected at every turn. Still, she harbored the secret hope that she wouldn’t be hated until their next reunion.

Notes: I spent a good portion of this weekend in Ali’s story and decided to write her take on this. There’s a prompt toward the end of the book that tells you to write your own eulogy so I didn’t want to end up doing that here. Ali’s story has a good spot where she could ruminate on what she hoped people might say about her at her funeral, namely after her sacrifice. The second story is called Betrayal because of her actions about halfway through. It’s due to these events that she doesn’t see herself worthy of any sort of praise even at her own funeral. But still, she thinks it would be nice if they would acknowledge all the good things about her life.

I’ve gotten a lot better about not hating my writing as soon as I finish a piece, but I don’t think distance is going to make this one any better. It was pure word vomit to satisfy a prompt and get me writing for an hour. Still, can’t edit what isn’t there, and any words are better than no words. Hopefully I’ll have something a little bit better for you tomorrow night!

See you then!

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