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End of season graves aren't pretty. At least, this time, the bodies aren't messy. BigB doesn't even have any injuries. He was killed by his snail. Cleo found him laid on the side of the grass, mouth half open, eyes staring vaguely. That was where the grave went.
It is, really, harder to dig a grave then it is to place someone inside one. Cleo grits her teeth and digs it out. They need—one, two, three places. Without even thinking about it, she adds two more. She's already won. Pearl has already won. By the time the bloodbath is over, there probably won't be anyone alive who cares enough to bury them. The extra places go in anyway.
BigB's body is shockingly light to touch and they lift, allow themselves a moment to examine the details on his body. His yellow eyes pierce straight through her and she closes them, gently, gently. They wish they could have buried him in the pale forest, but it's too far. Everyone will be dead by the time they get there.
BigB rests silently in the grave. Cleo clenches her jaw and goes to find Impulse. He hasn't been moved at all, and is significantly bloodier. Boiling hot anger flies through her, suddenly, knowing that neither BigB or Impulse are going to win, but there isn't anything left that they can do. She cradles Impulse in her arms, carries him to the makeshift grave and prays that no one tries to pick her off. No one does. Joel is probably digging his own grave for Gem. Grian is stalking around the top of the mountain. The others are... who knows?
Impulse's eyes are, thankfully, closed. His body flops in awkwardly. Cleo tries to straighten his limbs out. It doesn't really work.
Footsteps crunch in the grass behind her.
Pearl comes into view. Scott's corpse is slung over her shoulder and Cleo grimaces at the sight of his eyes. Pearl slides him into the grave and he goes, completely lifeless. They should be screeching at each other. It feels wrong... bile fills their throat.
"Joel?" Cleo asks.
"Etho," Pearl mutters. Her eyes are red. So is the skin around them. "He was aiming for Joel, but Scott killed him just as he fired and he... well..."
It's a disaster. The two people they needed to win are dead, and now Scott is dead too. This is just... the bodies are crooked at unnatural angles. They don't like this at all.
"I saw their zombies," Pearl continues, voice softer than snow. "Gem was trying to talk to me. The zombies all went straight for her."
"And, what... did they not..."
Pearl shrugs. "I think they saw me. But they didn't even look at me. They were so focused on trying to kill Gem that they didn't even look at me properly. BigB ran straight into me and didn't even flinch. It was... scary."
Images flitter through her mind. A parade, a hoarde, tearing and snapping. She pictures Pearl's pack of wolves and imagines them replaced with the faces of their friends, lifeless and driven only by bloodlust. No sentience. More bile fills her throat.
Cleo's hands curl around the shovel. What do they do, now?
"I'm so lost, Cleo" Pearl's voice thins in a way that suggests she's about to tremble.
Cleo will cover their friends with dirt, and stuff a pale wood sign to mark their grave. Pearl will find one of those stupid poppies that Scott likes and tosses some random things in. A dirty soup bowl. An amethyst shard. A piece of fabric that definitely belonged to Gem. It's ugly- its a disgusting grave, but it's more of a grave then they will get.
They will walk away in silence, clinging too each other, promising to try and help Ren win when they both know that they won't. Cleo doesn't want to admit that they will cry.