"Tom, I need you to remember that we are in Decatur and stay in this room. Don't leave. Take a nap if you can. Jay, just stay there." Derek instructed the two after convincing both to sit on the couch by offering to bring them another drink.

"Oh yeah, Seth died," Tom said as though he just remembered. He suddenly made a sad face, appearing on the edge of tears. "Why did it have to be him? It could have been me instead."

"Oh, shit. Emotional Tom. Ummm, look, man, it's not your fault. It just happened that way. And we are here to celebrate all the good he did." Derek tried to soothe Tom.

"Yeah, I know you're right. But I still feel re...respins...spironsible....sinsorible...I feel guilty." Tom finally spat out.

"I know ya do, buddy. But you're gonna have to let that go. Here, have another drink and remember the monsters." Derek said hoping it would distract him from Seth.

"Monsters?! Where?!" Tom yelled, jumping up from the couch and brandishing his drink like a sword, spilling its contents everywhere.

"Heyyy....that's alcohol abuse right there. You...you've been naughty." Jay slurred from the couch next to him after watching perfectly good bourbon go to waste.

Derek turned and ran out of the room, leaving a wide-eyed bartender calling after him. After he made it outside, Derek slowed to walk over to the stage where John was, reading over something on a clipboard. It appeared to be some kind of memo that had just been handed to him and he seemed upset by it.

"Everything going okay, John?" Derek asked.

"Hmm? Oh, no, not really. I just got a notice that Jeffery was seen trying to sneak back into town." John said seeming to ponder this deeply, a look of concern on his face.

"Jeffery? You mean Seth's dad? The guy that almost ruined the town?" Derek asked, suddenly concerned as well.

"Yeah, that Jeffery. I think it's cruel to not let him in for his son's funeral. But he was saying some disturbing things when we threw him out of town." John said, finally looking up from his clipboard, weariness evident on his face.

"Disturbing how?" Derek asked immediately fearing the worst.

"Mostly threats against the town, me, and you all most of all. He was really mad. Not sure what he can actually do about it, but I always try to take those threats seriously." John informed him, crossing his arms over his chest as he spoke.

"That is worrisome. I don't know what he would be capable of as he didn't seem like much of a threat at the time, but in this new world people can get stronger a lot easier than they used to be able to." Derek agreed with John on being cautious.

"I really want to let him in, but we would have to be extremely cautious," John said.

"I think we can handle it. There are a lot of adventurers with us from the quest. We can all work to help watch him. Why don't I go with you and we can talk to him." Derek offered.

"That would be great. Let's go talk to him. I think coming in for the second part, then leaving is enough for him to be a part of the celebration, but not get lost in the party." John decided, letting Derek in on the plan.

"Perfect. Let's go let him know." Derek said as he walked over to a golf cart that had been being used for the event staff for the day.

John hopped onto the cart next to him and pointed toward the south entrance. Derek pushed on the gas pedal, and the brake disengaged with a click before the cart took off. Once they reached the south gate, both John and Derek hopped out of the cart and walked over to the guard on duty.

"Hey, Tim. How's it going out here?" John asked the guard on duty.

"All's quiet out here, Mr. Mayor. Well, everything except him. He's been insisting he be let in to see his son." Tim replied gesturing at a very disheveled-looking Jeffery, sitting on the ground in the middle of the road.

His pristine white suit was ruined. The right sleeve of the jacket had been ripped and hung loosely from his arm, the tie was untied and dangling around his neck, and there were blood and dirt smears in various places. His hair was a mess, and his glasses were crooked on his face. He looked like he had lost a fight with something recently.

"Where is Seth? I want to see him." Jeffery looked up at John and Derek and demanded.

"Jeffery, we have some bad news for you. Seth didn't make it back. He was unfortunately killed in combat against the Devourer." Derek stated flatly.

"What?" Was all Jeffery could manage.

"We are so sorry for your loss, but we are having a celebration of life for him in town today. If you think you can be on your best behavior, we can bring you into town for the next part of the celebration, but you have to leave after that." John added with more compassion.

"My boy...is dead? How can this be?" Jeffery said, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

He suddenly balled his hands into fists and his visage changed to one of rage.

"This is your fault. If he had stayed here he wouldn't have died!" Jeffery began with a low volume, ending in a yell as he stood up and pointed an accusing finger at Derek.

"If he had stayed here doing what he was doing, he would have died as well. At least this way he died for something bigger than just this little town. He saved the whole fucking world." Derek responded with a building sense of anger.

"We were fine here. He could defeat any monsters that came to this town. He didn't need to go searching for bigger monsters. You did this. This is all your fault. I will kill you for this!" Jeffery was practically screaming at the end of his rant, spittle flying from his mouth.

"Well, I guess you can't come in after all now. We can't have someone causing this kind of a scene and threatening our guests. Derek, can you stay here while I go get some additional guards to watch him?" John said exasperated at this point with everything he was having to deal with.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Sure. I'll be here. Just hurry back. I don't want to miss the celebration." Derek replied without taking his eyes off Jeffery who was now fully crying in a fit of rage as he slung profanities and threats at Derek and his friends.

Hopping back in the golf cart, John took off to find some additional guards. Not twenty minutes later, he returned. Jeffery had mostly burned himself out and was now on his knees, a pitiful wailing cry coming from him as he mourned the loss of his son.

"I don't like how he's acting. I think he is losing himself to his rage. You may want to lock him up for today." Derek spoke softly to John when he returned.

"Do you really think he is that much of a danger?" John asked.

"I don't take anything for granted now that we can't call the police for backup," Derek replied. "We should do everything we can to ensure people's safety."

"Alright. Tim, get the others and take Jeffery to the jail for now. We will let him go again in the morning." John said to Tim, who nodded and motioned for the others to help him.

They handcuffed Jeffery and took him away with no resistance, all his fight seeming to have left him in his sorrow. Walking him to another vehicle, they sat him in the backseat and drove off into the town.

"Now, we will just wait here until they return and we can join the festivities again. Thanks for helping with this by the way." John said to Derek, with a hand extended for shaking.

"No worries. I'm happy to help. Though I am worried about Jeffery now. But I can't let that distract me for now. We can think about that after the celebration." Derek replied taking a deep breath and focusing on the moment.

They stood guard for about thirty minutes until Tim returned with one other guard to take their post back. Hopping on the golf cart again, Derek and John rolled back to the town center to rejoin the festivities. Currently, people were on stage telling stories about Seth and remembering him fondly. Some of his friends described him as a badass dude who was always willing to help others.

"I remember this one time, one of the scrawny kids that would rather read a book than play sports was being bullied by that jerk Jackson. He was taking his backpack away from him and was just about to stuff him into a locker when Seth came rushing down the hall and drop-kicked him in the arm. The kid went flying down the hall leaving the scrawny kid and his backpack on the floor." The man said chuckling at the memory. "Jackson ran off crying like a little girl after that. Screaming he was going to tell the principal on Seth. If I remember correctly Seth got two days suspension for that, but Jackson was eventually expelled because so many other people started coming forward telling how he had bullied them. Seth was the one that made that happen."

Others told similar stories of how Seth had helped them with someone bullying them or when they had forgotten something how he had always let people borrow things he had. One family consisting of a mother and two children spoke about how he had paid for their groceries once when their card got declined. What Seth apparently hadn't known was that this family had just moved to town to get away from an abusive ex-husband. They had no job, no money, and no food. Seth had given them enough food to get them through to the first paycheck from a job the mother managed to find in town. He had literally saved them from starving.

So many little things that Seth had done that seemed like something anyone would do were spoken about and the impact they had on their lives. Derek reflected on some of the things he had done like this over his life and found he had no idea that could be the level of impact a simple action had on someone's life.

After another hour and a half of people coming up to speak about Seth, everyone began to filter out of the area to rest for a while before the dinner and final celebration. Derek headed back to check on Tom and Jay. Upon entering the bar area, he found Jay sitting on the couch reading a book, while Tom was asleep on the floor, mouth open in a loud snore with drool dripping into a puddle on the floor.

"For heaven's sake. He's still out?" Derek asked incredulously.

"He should be coming around any minute. But he did have more to drink than everyone else." Jay said, not looking up from his book.

"Yeah, he needed it. But he needs to get back up so we can get ready for dinner." Derek said.

"Actually let him rest. We have a couple of hours before that happens. He can keep sleeping it off and we will be sure he is ready closer to the time." John said walking in as well.

"Fine," Derek sighed. "I could use some rest as well."

He flopped down onto the couch across from Jay in the sitting area.

"I feel like we have been going non-stop for years. We need a better rest time when we get back to Dallas." Derek said rubbing the heels of his hands over his eyes.

"I hear that. This has been better than the road and fighting constantly, but being home in my space will be so much better." Jay said, looking at Derek and putting one finger in the book so as not to lose his place.

"Sounds like we won't even get that though. Going to be hitting the ground running when we are back as well." Derek replied in an exhausted tone.

"We will take it one day at a time for now. That's all we can do." Jay stated, opening the book again and picking up where he left off.

About two hours later, John returned to the bar area and informed them now was the best time to begin getting Tom up.

"Alright, sunshine. Time to rise and greet the world." Derek said moving over to Tom and slapping him less than softly on the face.

"Huh?! What?! I'm up!" Tom spoke quickly, his eyelids barely half open as he lifted his head trying to appear alert.

"Gotta get ready for dinner. That should sound good to you. Oh, can you also cast your healing spell on yourself and see if that cures the drunk?" Derek asked Tom, trying to make his tone sound sweet.

Tom stared in confusion at him, then the realization came over him and he sat up and began looking at a menu. First he looked confused and then once again realization dawned on him and he focused his eyes again as he closed the page. Purple light surrounded him and he sighed.

"That's better. It doesn't really take away the drunk, but it cures the hangover I was getting." Tom stated as he rubbed his neck.

"Glad to hear it. Because we have to head out to dinner soon. Then it's time to cut loose again and party." Kedron said having come in with the rest of the party behind John.

"Just let me go freshen up a bit. It's nice to be using a bathroom again." Tom commented, standing up and walking to the bathroom in the back of the bar area.

About ten minutes later Tom reappeared from the bathroom and the party made their way out to the town to find the dinner service area. It was set up outside again near the courthouse. The final meal for the day was what everyone was saying was Seth's favorite meal, hamburgers. Several men had propane-powered grills set up at one end of the street and were grilling the burgers to be put out for service.

A line formed of people to go through the dinner buffet and the team joined them. After making their burgers and then sitting down to eat them, a generator was heard being fired up in front of the courthouse. Lights came on near the generator and speakers came to life with the first music the team had heard since the power went out. The tune that played was Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. Seth's favorite band.

Conversations started up about the song and many people began to sing along. Male and female voices joined together with several harmonies as well as several who couldn't carry a tune if you handed it to them in a bucket. The singing continued to grow until everyone was singing the final chorus together, all thoughts of the events of the past few weeks melting away for that one moment.

Tom wiped away a tear as the song came to an end. More music continued to play until many had finished eating. John came up and mentioned that the rest of the evening was to be a party and the dance floor would now be open, along with a bar service that would be going until drinks ran out.

For the rest of the evening, the party just let go of what they were feeling and lived in the moment with each other. Feeling a sense of peace they hadn't had in weeks.