Above Ground: Graveyard

The graveyard is carefully kept, however there are no fresh flowers by the headstones as that would attract unwanted attention.


The names engraved on the headstones are magically charmed to only appear by someone who cared for the deceased. To anyone else, the headstones' engravings are too faded to read.

Here lie the bodies of:

Calista Casillas
Armando Casillas

Darien Vaight
Diana Casillas

Eglantine DeLanquar-McKevin
Horatio McKevin


Sevastyan & Amaranth Kaminski

Michael Blackwood
Bellatrix Rosier-Blackwood

Heather Addams
Erica Addams

Ethan Malachi & Juria Addams

Jaylin Addams & [Blank portion for Val]

James Addams ~Beloved Son~

Helena Capulet

Ciaran McConn
Kiara Riddle-DeLanquar-McConn

Darius made his way through the graveyard. Him, unlike the other members of the remnants didn't have their parents buried here... that he knew of. Thus, when he first came on board, he always felt very uncomfortable whenever he past by the Graveyard... especially when there was someone quietly making their respects. He'd just slowly walk on by.

Nevertheless, he felt a certain... pull to go the graveyard. He didn't exactly know why... but who was he to argue with this seemingly supernatural pull...

He walked carefully through, minding that he wouldn't accidentally step on someone's grave until he met those who were laid with his name.

Armando and Calista Casillas were Will and Eliza's parents. He went here countless times with Fitz or Eliza as they looked at their parents' graves with a somewhat somber look. He just stood by his foster siblings, quietly just giving them company. They didn't seem to want any comforting words... He never knew what to say, anyway.

Diana Casillas was Nicolas' fifth cousin and his first wife. Darius was rather shock to find out that Nicolas had married her, however, Nicolas had assured Darius that it was legal to marry your third cousin, and Diana had been his fifth. And besides, he'd only done it to protect her. They were great friends and Darius enjoyed the stories Nicolas told about her.

Darien Vaight was Ana's brother... and that's pretty much all that Darius knew about him. Ana never talked about him, and Nicolas would always tense up and act very oddly whenever he was mentioned.

Darius sat in between Diana and Darien's headstones. He crossed his legs comfortably, took his sketchbook out and proceed to sketch.

Michelle wandered through the graveyard, her black hooded cloak wrapped snugly about her small frame as she read the names of the dead and buried. Some of the stones were rather pretty, when one didn't think too much on the fact that it meant someone was buried in the space between you and said marker.

Her godparent and biological parents were buried here, and to be honest she felt both comforted and unnerved by the fact that she now lived so close to their graves. She was comforted under the notion that perhaps their ghosts were protecting the place from detection of the 'bad guys' that were after them... but yet it unnerved her that someone would put a loved one in the ground like one would plant seeds in a garden.

Noticing a figure sitting between two headstones, Michelle strode closer for a better look at the person. Were they Remnant, or was it a stranger passing through? They didn't look like the type of people Tav, Val, and Ed warned them about. She smiled when she realized it was Darius. Had this been the time or place to laugh, she probably would have done so upon realization that three people with D names were all lined up in a row. Diana - Darius - and Darien. Vaguely she wondered if Darien and Darius weren't related, simply because their names sounded so similar.

Seeing that Darius was busy sketching, Michelle sat with her back to a gravestone with a heart on it and watched him draw. From this distance she couldn't see what he was drawing, but she didn't want to interrupt. Jade eyes meandered to the pair of stones next to Diana's but immediately refocused her gaze onto Darius......

...... for the names she'd read were none other than Michael and Bellatrix Blackwood: the parents she barely remembered.

Darius was drawing another wolf. Well at least this one looked decently like a wolf. He thought critically. It could pass for a german shepard... if you closed one eye and looked at it from a far...

Then Darius got that jump in the gut feeling that he was being watched. He looked up and had to consciously stop the yelp that wanted to come out. He identified Michelle sitting not to far from him. "Geeze, Michelle, you scared the living day-lights out of me."

Michelle jumped when Darius reacted to noticing her sitting there. She blushed a little, not having meant to stare at him so as to make him uncomfortable. "Sorry, Darius..." she chirped quietly from her place.

"I didn't make you ruin your picture, did I?" she asked, giving him an angelic smile that, had either of them known, looked uncannily similar to her mother's smile. "I didn't say anything 'cuz I didn't want to interrupt," the girl explained. Though she had started out as the spitting physical and behavioral image of her mother, Michelle's time with her Godfather had turned her into a sweet little girl.

A sweet little girl with the "occasional" ulterior motive... but the latter was beside the point. Had she been able to go to Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat would have had little qualms with placing her in Slytherin.

"No," Darius said apologetically smiling. He didn't mean to make such a big deal out of it. It was just... well she scared him. He had been solely focused on drawing that he hadn't heard her approach. It was rather odd since Darius usually prided himself on having good hearing. And he supposed, Graveyards just had that effect on people. "My drawing was... ruined in the first place."

"So whatcha doing here?" Darius said, but just as he said it, read the headstones "Michael and Bellatrix Blackwood" and wanted to take it back. She probably wanted to pay her respects or something... Of course Michelle was yet another one who'd lost her parents... little did he know, he did as well.

Michelle nodded, but didn't quite understand how a picture could be classified as ruined so swiftly if one had just gotten started on it. But maybe Darius hadn't just started it?

She was about to answer and say she had simply fancied a walk when Darius read the names on the headstones. "Yeah... mama and papa..." she murmured wistfully. "Wish I could remember them better... Grandpapa Horatio used to tell me stories about them," Michelle added somberly. Without really thinking about it she stood and walked over to where the boy sat, making sure not to walk where the bodies surely lay some several feet under.

Michelle sat down again and adjusted her cloak. "What about your family?" she asked in return, not really wanting to dwell on her woes.

Darius nodded in understanding. Elizabeth couldn't remember much of her own father and mother either, at least, not as much as Will... and Will hardly remembered them at all. He was barely six when his father died.

Michelle asking about his own parents made Darius feel slightly uncomfortable. His parents, the parents that he knew were alive and well. In fact they were rather eager to have him back at home and he was here... He took a few seconds before he said a reply. "They're... they're alright...."

The hesitance in his voice told her that Darius really wasn't keen on talking about family. Michelle personally couldn't be sure she was even capable to speak of her godfather in front of someone that wasn't family, as she had been very close to the man. He was the father Michael didn't have very long to be.

"That's good..." Michelle offered hollowly, wishing she could say the same of her own family. Her parents, grandparents, and godparents were surely all dead... all she had left was Edwin, Ewan, and Ean, whom were like brothers to her. The Remnant was her new family now, in a manner of speaking.

"What were you drawing?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Oh," Darius was rather relieved to find that Michelle offered to change the topic. It wasn't as if he didn't like talking about his family... he loved Nick and Ana... but it was just that every time he talked about them, he felt as if he was flaunting it, that his parents were alive and the others were not. He felt down-right guilty for having parents who were alive and well... he felt even more guilty for thinking something like that. Here Darius was, having a father and mother alive who loved him and he was wishing that wasn't the case just so he could fit in the Remnant with his Will and Eliza and everyone else. It was one big guilt trip.

"I was trying to draw a wolf... but I can't seem to get it right... though I suppose this would pass for a German Shepard... maybe even a husky if I'm lucky..."

"Oh - can I see?" she asked excitedly and without waiting for permission leaned toward the boy for to see what he'd drawn.

If she were to be highly critical, which would really be no problem, she would say it did indeed look like a dog. However, the fact that she viewed Darius as a friend and that they were so close in age prevented that side from showing. "It's very good, Darius!" she exclaimed truthfully.

Michelle took a moment to inventory what little she knew about dogs. "I think it looks like a husky..." she declared and reached forward to pretend to pet the image atop its 'furry' head.

Darius chuckled and slightly bushed at Michelle's compliment. "Thanks... maybe I should just stick to drawing dogs then huh?"

Darius put his drawing away. He sighed and looked at Michelle. "Do you think I should go away? Back to my parents I mean..."

Michelle didn't notice Darius's blush. Or, if she did, she wasn't letting on that she'd seen. "I would keep trying... that's what we're doing with the Purgers, isn't it? Trying to overthrow them by possibly going back to the past?" she answered, sending a sad green-eyed glance toward her parents' tombstones.

The girl looked startled by his initial question, but calmed down when he clarified. She had thought he meant... Michelle wasn't about to say it. "I-I dunno, Darius. I mean, I'm here 'cuz I have to be: most if not all of my family members are gone... I know if I still had my parents I'd want to be with them, but yet I'd be worried about Ewan, Ean, and Edwin..." she explained at length.

"By staying with us, you're probably in danger of being wanted by the purgers... but yet that might not change anything by being with your parents... if they're in any way connected to Dark magic... even just a little..." Michelle went on, though shook her head. It really wasn't her place to tell him to stay or go. She also didn't want to worry him.

"...Why do you ask?"

Darius sighed. "Fitz wants me to go back. He says Dad is terribly worried about me. He says that I shouldn't be here and that it isn't my fight. He says that he'll be too busy watching over me to really concentrate fighting the Purgers. He and Eliza say that I am safer at home."

Darius then frowned. "But I want to stay here. I want to be with Will and Eliza and everyone else I want to stop the Purgers as much as everyone else. If I go back, I'll be so... worried about Will and Eliza..."

Michelle scooted over a little closer to Darius. "I'm sure he is worried about you. Your Mum, too... Not sure what I'm supposed to say, Darius, but I honestly don't think anywhere is safe right now..." she replied sadly.

"But what about you?" the twelve-year-old asked, eyes starting to sparkle with unshed tears. "You could get h-hurt if you face them... just like I or anyone else could..." Michelle had initially thought of a different word aside from 'hurt' but couldn't bring herself up to say it. She didn't want anything to happen to her friends. They'd become like a replacement family to her in these dark times.

"I want to stay here," Darius said confidently. He knew what he wanted and that was to be here, where everyone else was, where the action was. He wasn't the type to just sit around and wait for something to happen to him. At least if anything happened to any of his friends or his siblings he'd know that he did all he could to prevent it. He couldn't really say that if he was stuck at home.

Darius blinked slightly surprised at Michelle's show of emotions. "Hey..." He said in an attempt to sooth her. "I'm not... we aren't going to get hurt... we are too clever for that." He smiled.

Michelle smiled wanly at his confidence... Will and Eliza probably hadn't wanted to hear him say that. But if he wanted to stay: really, what more could they do other than deliberately sequester him out of Morpheus Keep while he was sleeping? It wouldn't be fair to Darius, of course, and there was a chance that he could always find his way back.

A small chuckle escaped the girl at his smile. They were a clever bunch, to have outlived their parents... though Tav, Val, her Godfather, Edwin, and her own father had a lot to do with that. If they hadn't found the Keep... they'd probably be in a real bad way by now. "But how long will we be able to keep out-smarting them?" she asked, uncertainty in her voice. "It's really scary out there, Darius, with them after all of us... I dunno what I'd do if one of us were to leave... t-to d-die... like everyone else has..."

Green eyes mournfully took in the sight of the graveyard in which they were sitting. Realizing that Darius was probably just trying to cheer her up, she forced a smile on her face as she looked to him. "Have you heard much of anything on the progress Tav and Val are making on the plan? I haven't heard much other than the occasional rumor..." she asked, trying to get the topic off of the darkness it was currently on and onto something lighter.

"Hey don't think like that..." Darius said gently. He put a hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. "We'll out-smart them plenty of times, we are smarter, better, younger and to be really honest better looking." He quirked his head up in a comedic manner. "None of us is going to die. I just know it. I'll make sure none of us get hurt." He promised innocently. He really meant it too. Young Darius hadn't really seen his fair share of the horrors of the times.

"And no, I haven't heard of anything on that front. I asked Will about it but he doesn't know anything either..." Darius sighed. "I wish I knew more about it to be honest."

The hand upon her shoulder reminded Michelle of the way Horatio would let her know he was there whenever she was upset, usually just before sweeping her into a hug or finding some way to amuse her. She couldn't help but giggle at his comedy. "Thanks, Darius - that made my day!" Michelle exclaimed sincerely.


"Yeah - Tav and Val are really keepin' it hush-hush, aren't they?" she remarked with a huff of restlessness to complement Darius's sigh. "I wish I knew more about it, too..."

"You know what we could do..." Darius said with a small mischievous glimmer in his eyes. "We could spy on them and get more information... well I really wouldn't use the word spy... perhaps... observe obsessively?"

Michelle noticed the glimmer in the boy's eyes, and couldn't help but allow her emerald orbs to reflect it. "Now that's an idea! 'Observe obsessively' sounds perfect!" she exclaimed happily.

"Wonder where those blokes are at now, anyways?"

"I don't know either," Darius said looking around... "Perhaps we should... stalk -eh - I mean look for them?"

Darius stood up and offered an outstretched hand to Michelle.

"Yeah, we should!" Michelle giggled and took the offered hand, hoisting herself up from the ground. However, once she was firmly upright she didn't let go. It was actually kind of nice, in her opinion: holding Darius's hand.

"Where should we start?"

Darius realized he was still holding Michelle's hand and he let go immediately. He blushed and covered his apparent flustered state with a nervous grin.

"I don't know," Darius said scratching his head. "Where do they usually go?"

Christine Rue Addams went over to the gravestones of Ethan and Juria Addams. She smiled as she remembered a few things that had happened when the good days were there.

Her mother always so beautiful and kind and her Father always made her laugh. Those were the good days. Christine smiled down at the gravestone, in her right hand she clutched a candy blue yoyo that her Father had given her; it was her most prized possession and always reminded her of her parents.

Christine got lost in her own memories that she didn’t notice anyone else near her for the moment.

((Ethan and Juria's stone))