[Kei Ochima]

Days had passed since the night of the sacrifice, bringing the day of John's funeral to finally arrive. Ashley stood in front of the mirror in her room, dressed in a black dress which came down her knees and black high heels, her hair tied back in a neat ponytail with a strand of hair hanging down in front of her left eye. The brunette wore her Vervain locket around her neck, along with small silver hoop earrings and her Lapis Lazuli ring. The past few days Ichiru had stayed with Ashley to try and pull her through his difficult time, to which he had actually made her feel a little bit better. Ashley's bags were already packed however, ready to leave town as soon as possible. She had compelled her aunt Jenna that she gotten accepted into college early and would have to leave after the funeral, so Jenna wouldn't have to worry about Ashley suddenly going missing.

"Hey." Jeremy said from Ashley's doorway as he knocked on it, bringing the brunette to turn and look at him.

"I'm almost ready." Ashley said as she turned back towards the mirror, Jeremy walking into the room and standing by his sister.

"Take your time. We still have a few more minutes." Jeremy said as Ashley nodded. A few moments of silence fell over the two, though Ashley turned around to look at her brother.

"How are you dealing with everything?" Ashley asked, now just finally registering that Jeremy was in a black suit with a white undershirt and a black silk tie, which actually belonged to John.

"I'm doing okay. Once time passes then you'll be fine too." Jeremy said, knowing the new heightened pain she was feeling.

"I'm so sorry Jeremy... that you lost so many people." Ashley said as she looked down, bringing the young Werewolf to place a hand on her shoulder.

"I still have you." Jeremy said as Ashley looked up, wrapping his arms around his sister. She returned the pressure, the blood lust completely gone right now since she indulged herself with blood pouches just a few minutes ago due to her going to be around humans in a few short minutes.

"I'll be downstairs in a minute. I just need to read something over." Ashley said as Jeremy nodded, exiting the room. The brunette walked over to her drawer that was holding up the mirror and pulled out a letter, walking over to the window seat and sat down, opening and reading the letter silently to herself.

Dear Ashley and Jeremy,

If you are reading this then it means that I'm gone, and for that I am so sorry. It's not easy being an ordinary parent to two extraordinary children. As you know already, the only reason I was in Klaus' trusted circle was to keep you two safe from him, and pray that he wouldn't find you before the sacrifice had to be performed; I tried stalling him, but I had failed. Each time I had visited you two in the past I had acted like a jerk who seemed to not care about you two, pretending to be the unpleasant uncle, but in reality it pained me to act like that, so I am so sorry about that as well. You two are my children and I love you so so much.

The founding families of Fells Church, the Gilbert's being one of them, were able to obtain special rings as you know, the Gilbert's having nine of them however. You two each have your own, and then there is mine which I was forced to take off, though I had left it underneath Ashley's pillow. The remaining six are hidden in my red suitcase in a white, silk cloth which I would like the two of you to split, giving them to your future children; as for my ring I would like you two to decide which one of you gets it without arguing. I love you guys with all my heart and always have, my biggest regret in life of not revealing to you two that I was your father sooner. I can't change the past, but you two can make a wonderful future for yourselves.

-Love John

Ashley finished reading the letter and looked out the window, tears instantly pooling her eyes each time she reads the letter. Her and Jeremy had found the letter the night after the sacrifice in John's room, laying right on his pillow as well as finding his ring under Ashley's pillow. The two siblings decided Ashley should have the ring, which was still underneath her pillow. Ashley took a deep breath and stood up, placing the letter back where it was and making a mental note to pack it before leaving town. She went downstairs where Bonnie, Jeremy, Jenna and Alaric were patiently waiting in the living room, the group walking out of the house and in the direction of the church that was across the street from the graveyard, going to the church first for the ceremony before the burial.


Caroline was in Kiseki's room getting ready herself, looking over her curly blonde hair which was pulled back into a bun, her black dress that came two inches above her knees and dark gray high heels, her Lapis Lazuli ring on her finger as well.

"It's almost time..." Caroline said as she turned to Kiseki, not a single hint of happiness in the blonde's features which was an rare thing to see. She walked over to Kiseki and gave him a soft kiss on the lips, the blonde walking out of the room and downstairs where she saw Ichiru, Kotomi and Isobel. "I'm ready to go whenever you guys are." Caroline said with a nod.



At the church the room was almost entirely filled with people, luckily this being a very large church so everyone wasn't piled up on each other. Normally all of these people would of made Ashley's blood lust go out of control, but she had thought ahead and drank a good amount of blood pouches, so she was perfectly fine. All different types of flowers in a various of colors were scattered throughout the entire church, making the room smell wonderful as Ashley's gaze fell to the front of the room. A light brown casket with more flowers surrounding it rested in front of the room, half of the casket being opened as Ashley and the group walked over to it, seeing John resting peacefully inside of it. John was cleaned up from the blood, dressed in a black suit and had fixed up his hair, looking as though he were merely sleeping.

"Ashley..." Damon's voice came from behind the group as they turned around, seeing Damon, Stefan and Lexi standing there. Tears instantly fell down Ashley's face as she tightly wrapped her arms around him, holding Damon tightly as the male Vampire did the same.

"Have you seen Ichiru and others?" Ashley asked after a few moments as she did her best to calm herself down.

"Not yet." Damon responded as the two released each other. "We've been here for about fifteen minutes and haven't seen them, but they'll be here soon." Ashley nodded at Damon's words, the group turning back around to look at the casket.