Broken Angel

Epilogue: A New Life

Sara sighed.

Six months had passed since she and her mother had fled through the rift into this new world, and, to her surprise, she found that being surrounded by humans wasn't as bad as she had expected.

After all the constant change and danger, things had at last begun to settle down for Sara and her mother, with the exception of a few last changes. Sara had become Sera, short for Seraphina, in memory of her mentor, one of the few people in her life who hadn't betrayed her. Her mother, Innari, had found herself a boyfriend, Karl, and they were thinking of making it a more long term arrangement, and his son, Alex didn't seem too bad either.

Together, Innari and Karl had set a successful art business, dealing mostly in fantasy art. He never ceased to be amazed by the realistic quality to her drawing and paintings of hybrids and 'untouchables', never suspecting that Innari's daughter had modelled for several of them in her various hybrid forms.

They'd also bought a house, which they hoped would become a family home, if that was what the future held for them, where Innari and Sera lived. It was a gorgeous country house that smelt of wood and wet grass, with a huge garden with an orchard at the far end. The rooms were spacious with high ceilings and several of the bedrooms had en suite bath or shower rooms.

She sat up with a start, banging her head on the window at the sound of a voice calling her name. With a laugh she realised it was Alex. She grabbed her keys and ran out to meet him, before they both headed off, past the orchard at the end of the garden, following the stream on one of their many walks, laughing a joking and teasing each other.

Her face clouded slightly as she remembered the last time she'd felt this close to perfection, but she pushed it away. What had happened in her past was exactly that; her past. Now she had a future to look forward to and she wasn't about to let regrets about what might have been ruin that for.

She was dragged out of her reverie by the shock of a bucket of icy stream water being thrown at her. "Wake up sleepy head!" Alex laughed as she set off after him, her own bucket full of the clear, icy water.

She might be surrounded by humans, she thought, pinning Alex to the ground and tipping her bucketful of water over him, but she was a lot better off, a lot happier than she'd ever been.

If only she could capture this moment and save it forever, to look at and remember whenever things were looking bleak. But then, what are memories for, if not that?

She turned and ran, tears of laughter running down her cheeks as Alex tried hopelessly to catch up with her and throw another bucket of water over her, circling round to lose him in the small copse by the bank of the stream, their laughter echoing through the trees long after they'd left.

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Cirindë: Heyo people!!!!!!!!! Finally, we reach the end of our quest! Pat yourselves on the back and congratulate yourselves on a job well done; you've survived all twenty-two instalments, hopefully without suffering too much emotional trauma.

I really hope you liked reading this, it's my first ever successfully completed story, and I'm rather proud of it :) Sorry about the sappiness of the ending, but I think she deserves it after everything I've put her through; not least having to survive all this time in my head! Lol. But survived she has, and I think she deserves a muffin. *Gives a muffin*

Sera: *blushes* Can I go now? I have - er - a muffin to eat, and - er - humans to kill and - er - *runs away*

Cirindë: Bless. She's just shy. Muffins for all! I love you!!!!!!!!!! ^.^ *wipes tears away with hanky* See you all hopefully on our next crazy trip! I think there's going to be a sequel to this, and my head's already ticking over possible ideas, including the idea you gave me, Kismet (anyone who hasn't read any work by Kismet Truths had better go do so now :) she's so talented!) *Wanders round star struck for ages* And Theatreoftheabsurd is amazing too. Anyone read Null yet? No? Why not?!?!?!?! Go read Null! I am. I'll have more time to devote to reading it hopefully now.

Well, I will disappear for now, but I shall be back before you know it, to yet again lay a humble offering at your feet (along with a whole new load of bribes. ;) lol) and hope it satisfies your needs. Until then, a tout a l' heure! (sorry if that's not accurate, but I haven't done French in just over a year now.)

Cirindë x