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Limp arms drag along the ground, raking the grass underneath. The torso tills the soil with its weight, damaging the undergrowth. A sweet aroma flows from the broken blades; the only sweetness that comes from death.
The head is facing downwards, just as unreactive as the rest of the body. The grass leaves imprints on its skin, and the corpse doesn't react as small plants and dirt delve into its open jaw, getting stuck between its teeth.
Your hands clasp around the ankles ever tighter as your biceps start to fail you. Constantly dragging the body through the land is taking its toll on you. It's tearing your muscles apart. But if you manage to pull through, it would be worth it.
This was the fifth body of the day. At first, you'd carried them in your arms. That was when you first began your project. You held them close, with care, as if one more wound would be enough to turn them to dust.
As if.
It was the only way to get her out of the ravine. It was a way to celebrate he who finally broke his cursed streak. And in general, it was just a way to commemorate everyone who fell along the way, even despite your conflicting feelings towards them.
Your eyes had looked down at the body in your arms. Her head hung back despite your hold on her shoulders. Her braid swung back and forth with every step you took, every so often brushing against your arm. How strange it had felt not to receive a sword to the face at that moment. She was made to fight back.
Your stomach twisted and acid hit the back of your tongue.
You had to look away.
A battle between two factions, neither of whom you really belonged to. If things had gone even slightly differently, you might've been on her side instead.
If you'd been on her team, maybe then, she would've won instead of you.
Maybe then, you'd be free like everyone else.
You wished you could trade places.
Her eyes were empty, one of them literally so, corrupted and mangled by the void. Neither was looking anywhere, yet they were set on the far beyond. Blood had coagulated across her legs, her arms, her torso. Everywhere along the slashes and arrow wounds you and Pearl had inflicted on her.
Pearl had looked the same in your arms. You'd propped her up in such a way that you could pretend for a second that her back wasn't completely shattered. That her impact against the cold stone floor hadn't mangled her spine beyond recognition.
She had looked the same as Gem later did, her long hair swinging back and forth, brushing against you with every movement. Both pierced by arrows from your own hand, sword slashes nicking and gashing deep within their flesh, inflicted by each other.
When you finally made it to the site, you gently untangled Gem from your body. After kneeling down, you set her body right next to Pearl's.
Like they had wanted to be. You didn't miss the regretful glances and words between them as the arena fell into chaos and everyone fell into their respective sides.
They had wanted to be friends, but the universe had other plans for them.
You knew that better than anyone else.
After a while, carrying the rest with dignity felt like a chore onto itself.
After a while, you couldn't deal with their empty gazes, with the softness still in them.
It was not worth the effort and pain it caused you to kneel down and pick them up.
Your back had never hurt as much as when you started dragging the bodies along. As when you started twisting yourself into an uncomfortable position just to miss their faces and the human softness of their arms and legs. Clasping onto their ankles was the only way.
And sometimes, it was not even possible to hold them up. Despite your upper body strength, there were many people you simply couldn't carry if you wanted to, their dead weight and size outside of your own scope.
But that's alright. It's not like they were alive to care.
None of them are.
That should be all of them, now. The bodies used to be dispersed across the arena, many in different holes, or traps, or over a mountain, or inside a hole trap in a mountain. You picked up, or dragged, every single one of them here. The pain across your back was unbearable, but eventually, every member laid sprawled over your garden of sunflowers.
You were lucky there were no wild wolves around to scavenge and bite off their flesh, and that zombies aren't interested in corpses. That just meant it was a fight against the elements to get everything done, without animal or mob intervention. And now you've got everyone.
Except…
The first to die.
But she was impossible to get to. Buried deep within the void, her body falling indefinitely, long after her heart stopped beating. As soon as her heart started spasming, her body was impossible to retrieve.
The sun is about to set.
Tomorrow is another day.
The chickens woke up with the clank and thud of your shovel against the dirt. But you couldn't care less.
Plant the shovel against the soil. Stomp and push with your foot until the blade digs deep inside. Then scoop the soil with your weary arms, your aching shoulders, and power the lift with your equally as destroyed legs. The rising sun hits your eyes directly as you look up from your work. You've really been here all night, yet you don't feel like resting.
Not until everyone is put to rest.
You keep digging, and hope you don't pass out from exhaustion before the last grave.
You wake up in the middle of the night from a curled up kneeling position on the soil. Not even passing out cared to spare you from the pain. You wince as you straighten up, each vertebra falling back into place.
Gaining height, a stabbing pain pierces your knees in half. You stumble, holding onto the shovel as your sole support as your legs lay practically useless behind you. Good thing the shovel is still firmly fixed into the ground. Otherwise, you would've fallen into the pit alongside the body.
You have to keep going.
Your calloused hands press the last bit of dirt around the stem. It's not even necessary, the roots are already well underground and the stem is perfectly secure and in place, but it had to be perfect.
You dig the blade of the shovel into the ground and push yourself upright.
Looking out into the field, you sigh.
The sunflowers have taken root wonderfully.
The graveyard shines gold against the morning light, all coming together to watch the sun rise. You, too, look out into the horizon line. Orange to yellow mixing into white, mixing into blue. A breeze of fresh air brushes against your face, and you push your chest out, shoulders back, to breathe it all in.
You glance behind you, and the sea of yellow and green smiles back.
Finally, you're weightless. Each and every person you killed, everyone who succumbed to someone else or themselves, they were all here, now. Everyone who took you in for a brief moment, everyone who pushed you away, everyone who you stomped over, believing deep inside that you were better off embracing the role of the villain than trying to make amends against fate. They would all live a new life around you
Only one was missing, but there was little you could do about it.
Each of their bodies now a sunflower, you hold the shovel with both hands and nudge your legs apart. Little by little, you go down without bending your knees. Once you are close enough, you drop to a sitting position, then fall on your back.
It's so soft around you. You sink into the grass.
Fresh grass, with new nutrients.
Their bodies hug you from below.
Maybe now, maybe like this, you are finally home.