Chapter 15: The End

Where there is great love, there are always wishes – Willa Cather

Keir’s voice reached my ears and I turned back to my friend. “I knew I’d be heartbroken when the time came for you to leave… but… I never thought it would hurt this much.”

I turned back to him, clutching my chest as little bombs went off in my heart. “I know how you feel.”

“I...” Keir’s expression was unreadable as he gazed at me. He took my hands, his hands brushing against my chest. “I’m very selfish, Kaie, because now I want to keep you here, no matter the danger.”

I smiled, tears stinging my eyes. “I like you when you’re selfish.”

“Kaie…” He opened his arms. “I’m going to miss you.”

“As will I.” Thomas added, witnessing the whole scene with eyes old enough to have seen this sort of thing a million times. As he spoke his breath disturbed the hair on the top of my head.

Vincent chirped miserably, winding around my legs like a cat.

“I’ll miss the three of you more than I can say.” I murmured, pulling close to Keir and laying my head on his chest. “I… won’t you all come with me?”

“Methinks your family will notice when you bring a dragon home.” Thomas chuckled. “I think it would be better if I stayed here. And Vincent can’t learn to fly in your home. I’ll watch over him until you return, if you’d like.”

“… Keir?” I whispered. “You’ve changed your mind about me staying, how about you going? I’ll protect you, I promise…”

“Kaie…” his voice broke. “I... I want to. More than I can say, I want to go with you. I never want to let you out of my sight… but our worlds are very different.”

“So?” My voice broke as well, and the tears that had been stinging my eyes began to roll down my cheeks.

Keir wiped away a tear. “I don’t belong in your world, Kaie.”

“Bullshit.” I whispered. “I can’t just leave you here.”

“You must.” He murmured.

“But… in your castle, you said…” my mind was filled with terrible thought of Keir’s depression taking over him and finishing him off. “Keir, I can’t…”

“Kaie,” Keir murmured, reading my mind and offering a sad, reassuring smile, “What reason would I have for dying if I have your memories to keep me company?”

My heart lightened and I hugged him tighter. “I’ll never forget you. You’re…” I couldn’t describe how much he meant to me and I was too sad to try much harder.

“Go.” He murmured, gently kissing my cheek. “Be safe.”

I turned and knelt quickly beside Vincent, putting a hand on his head and looking into his sad brown eyes. “I’m sorry. I won’t see you… I won’t see anything you do… so listen to Thomas and be good, okay? And don’t forget me.”

Vincent blew a tiny stream of smoke from his nostrils and flickered his snake-like tongue out to touch my face. I kissed him on the head, gave Thomas a hug, and then turned back towards Cerdwin’s castle, prepared to go home…

I turned around without warning and kissed him on the lips, determined to make him know how much I cared. He reached out to me and I put my hands on his shoulder, stretching my neck to keep our lips together. After an eternity I broke away, tears in my eyes.

“Stay alive. Be careful.” I murmured. He moved as though to kiss me again and I held him back with a shake of my head, whispering, “I love you, Keir. You’re my best friend.”

He stared at me, mouth agape, and I turned back towards the castle and ran, tears running down my face.

Kaie disappeared into the castle so fast that Keir almost allowed himself to believe that the kiss had been a dream, a creation of his mind meant to keep him from chasing after her. But no… he still felt the pressure of her kiss on his lips and the gasp of her hands on his shoulders. It had been real.

She loved him.

Of course, Keir understood that Kaie’s love was very different from his own. She loved as a friend, while is feelings where rooted much deeper than that. But still… to hear her say that… to actually hear the words said in her own sweet voice…

It made every stab of pain in his heart more than worth it.

Vincent watched the girl’s retreating form with panicked eyes, turning to Thomas only after she was out of sight. The older dragon looked away from Keir, who was standing with an astonished hand on his lips, and glanced at the pile of brown scales. “You’ll miss her.”

Vincent coughed then, though the sound was too peculiar to be considered a cough. It sounded more like a name: Kaie.

“Aye. I’ll miss her, too.”

Cerdwin had been waiting within the castle door and when I made my appearance she lead me to a room deep, deep underground. It took a very long time to get there and we didn’t bother filling the silence with words. Cerdwin didn’t comment on my thoughts, which were wild and untamable at that point, or on my tears.

When we got to the room I had my arms wrapped around myself, trying to sooth the aching in my chest. When I noticed that Cerdwin had stopped I glanced around.

The room was ugly and empty, save for a plain mirror. I didn’t say anything and Cerdwin murmured, “This is your way home.”

“… A mirror?” I stared at her. “The way home is a mirror, too?”

She chuckled. “Do you know what the stone on your necklace is made of?”

“Yes.”

“Dust from that same path is in this mirror.” She pressed a hand against its frame “There are other direct portals to earth, but they are few and far between. Only a few powerful people have these mirrors, to guard them.”

“But then… why didn’t I come through to this mirror?” I asked.

“You where an inexperienced traveler.” Cerdwin replied. “You knew nothing of Deverell. So you didn’t know where you wanted to turn up. Thankfully, fate intervened and sent you to Keir.”

Yes, I wanted to say. That means I’m meant to be here ad you’re shipping my off like some load of trash. Thanks for that, Cerdwin. Because of you, Keir will be alone.

“I know you care for him, Kaie.” Cerdwin murmured. “I’m sorry. This is just the way things are meant to be.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.” I replied, and I walked towards the mirror. “I don’t care what kind of powers you have or if you can read my mind. Making me leave is terrible thing to do. Keir needs someone right now, and you’re just keeping me from him.”

“I realize that’s what you think.” She murmured, “And I’m sorry that I’ve hurt you so deafly.”

“Whatever.” My necklace began to glow. I hesitated, pressing my hand onto the mirror’s glass. It sat on the cool surface as though it where sitting on water.

“Goodbye.” Cerdwin said.

I began to walk through the glass, thinking of my home, the place that awaited me on the other side. It felt like I was going through liquid silver. Like when I was half in, half out of my mirror. I tried to take a breath but couldn’t. Fine, I thought, I’ll just stay here and she’ll have to let me come back.

Within a few moments, though, I ran out of air. I had no choice.

I took a step forward.

I fell on the hardwood floor of my room hard, a sigh escaping my lips. It was over. I was home. Looking down at myself, I saw I was still in my elfin clothing. I felt glanced at my hands and noticed that my ring was missing.

It hadn’t been a dream.

“Kaie! Hurry up!” my mom called.

“Yeah, hurry! I figured out how to work this thing!” it was my dad.

No time had passed. I’d been in Deverell for a very long time… a month at least… but Cerdwin had managed to set things right.

I still couldn’t forgive her.

Suddenly the door opened and my mom stood there. “Kaie, come on, sweetie. Didn’t you hear us? You favorite show is…” her eyes narrowed at my outfit. “Where did you get that?”

“Mom…”

I stood up and threw myself into her arms, crying uncontrollably. She lost her anger at once and put a hand on my hair, whispering soothing words into my ears until I calmed down. By then we were both sitting on my bed and she had arm around me.

“So… you know, then.” She sighed.

“Yeah.” I paused, looking down at the blank space where my ring should have been. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“Oh, Kaie,” she sighed. “I wanted to… but I couldn’t.”

I studied her for a moment and realized how much like me my mother was. Her hair was the same, only a little longer with a few streaks of gray, and her eyes were mine. Her body shape and her mannerisms where all the same as mine.

And knowing that she was the same as me, I understood. She couldn’t tell us without unearthing huge areas of her past, which she’d abandoned for love. It didn’t matter how deeply in love with my dad she was: the loss of Deverell still hurt her more than anything.

I understood now, because I knew how she felt. It didn’t matter how much I loved my mom or anyone else in my family: the loss of Deverell and Keir would always hurt me deeper than any physical wound.

“I have powers, mom.” I whispered.

“That means your sister will have them as well, more likely than not.” She sighed. “How did you train?”

“It’s a long story… I was there for…” I didn’t want to say exactly how long. I wanted to protect her from pos-traumatic worry. “… A while. Someone… reset time, so you wouldn’t notice.”

My mother shook her head. “I wish you would have come to me…”

“I didn’t know that there was anything to come to you about, at the time.” I reminded her. “But… mom?”

“Yes?”

“Is this why I’m so hooked on fantasy and I’ve always been so… weird?” I off.

“Yes.” She smiled slightly. “Are you ready to tell me your story?”

“I will be when you tell me yours.” I promised.

She nodded. “I suppose that’s fair.”

“So… does Dad know?”

“About my being from Deverell? No. He knows that there are things I can’t tell him, though.”

I bit at my lip. “I’m going to tell Drew.”

“I can’t keep you from doing that.” she replied. “But at least wait a while, until she’s older. She’s very different from you, Kaie. She’s never been into the fantasy thing to begin with, and she’s always known who she was. She never… struggled the way you did. I don’t want you to disrupt her now.”

“You make it sound like I want to destroy her mind.” I muttered.

“I know.” My mom gave my hand a squeeze. “But wait until she’s your age. Okay?

“I will. Tell dad I’m not in the mood for… whatever he wants to watch.”

“Okay.”

She stood and left my room, pausing momentarily at the door. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, Kaie.”

I shrugged it off, folding my hands in my lap as I’d done what seemed like an eternity before. “Mom, I’ve read your old journal. You were happy in Deverell. How did you ever find the strength to leave it all behind?”

“Yes, I was very happy there…” she replied, “But I’m in love with your father, Kaie… and true love is more beautiful than anything I ever had in Deverell.”

I smiled sadly, putting a hand to the empty space in my chest. I remembered Deverell’s beauty, the friends that I’d left behind, and the man who loved me enough to give up everything. “If you say so.”

After healing for a long time, Keir started home. After being away for so long, he wasn’t sure it’d be the same, especially now that Kaie and the dragons where gone. What would he do without his dearest friends?

What would he do without the girl he loved?

I leaned over the keyboard of my computer, trying to reply to a joke that my friend Leah had E-mailed to me. Instead of typing something significant, I typed three letters: LOL.

Earth was superficial. E-mail was superficial. Everything around me was structured and technological and fancy… everything on earth was that way…

Without sending the email, I turned off the computer, pushing the chair up to the computer desk and slamming the door behind me, remembering a place that was perfect in it’s untouched beauty: Deverell.

I hate it here.

I meandered from my room down to the living room where the piano was. I glanced at it, humming a melody that began to take the shape of a familiar, gray-eyed demon in my sad mind.

This melody wasn’t from any soundtrack or band. It was mine. It was Keir’s. It wasn’t complete, but I knew it was something I’d never find in a music store.

I can finish it, I thought. I can finish it for him.

I sat at the piano with a sigh. After a moment I began to play, first tapping out my melody and then elaborating, adding a chorus and a bridge. I wrote it out on blank paper, ignoring the fact that my treble and bass clefs looked too small and my lines where uneven.

Once I was finished, I sat back and stared at the blank spot at the top of the paper. After a moment, I penned a title: Keir’s Song. And when I played the completed version out loud for the first time, I felt Keir’s arms around me, and I knew that he was still okay.

Keir, now back at the castle, sat in the room he’d given to Kaie, soaking up the memories of what once was. He twisted the ring she’d given him on his pinky until the skin was worn thin, leaving an aching rink of pink flesh. He moved it to the other hand and continued the action.

He knew that Kaie was back where she belonged and that, eventually, she would forget him and find someone who made her happy. There’s bound to be handsome man that will fall for her and love her... the way I do. He sighed sadly. I have nothing to offer her… she’ll be better off on earth.

Tears pricked his eyes and he murmured, “I’ll never see her again.”

Except…

“I love you, Keir. You’re my best friend.”

Keir sighed. Things were going to be lonely without Kaie. But at least… at least he knew that she’d cared. At least he had been able to say goodbye.

A/N: Okay, so I had to add this. This is the last story of this story, HOWEVER, there is at least one more story to be told about Keir and Kaie, so go on my page there and you'll find Book Two up and running. Origionally there are supposed to be three stories, but I'm not quite sure anymore. Maybe there will be, like, two and a half...

So, please review and let me know what you all think! And if you want it to end here, fine, there's no need to read on. But if you want to hear more about the charectors I've come to know and love, like I said, Story 2 should be up.

Thanks for reading!