THE EPILOGUE: IN WHICH THIS STORY DOES END

"Are you sure we can not give you guys a ride?" Bethany asked from the passenger seat of Christopher's parents car as they stopped beside Emma and Tyler who were walking hand in hand on the sidewalk.

Tyler locked eyes with Emma momentarily and without even saying anything, they knew that they needed the time to talk. "We are sure," he told her with a smile. "But thanks anyways."

"See you guys tonight for our celebration dinner," Christopher said from the front seat. "Later."

"Later Emma," said as they drove away.

Emma and Tyler continued their walking hand in hand down the sidewalk in a comfortable silence. Both of them were utterly exhausted but glad to have made it through the tremendous battle that lay behind them. As they walked, both of them could feel as though they needed to speak about what had been said. Emma for her part was not sure if Tyler had heard her say that she needed him, and Tyler for his part wanted to make sure that Emma knew that he had heard her and that he agreed— he needed her too.

"Em," Tyler began as he stopped dead on the sidewalk, on a bridge, which went over one of the many creeks that wound their way through Brooke Falls.

"Yes Tyler?" Emma asked as she stopped beside him.

"Do you…" he paused and shook his head slightly. "Did you mean what you said to me… when you were trying to convince me to re-join you guys and throw off the shackles of the Shadow that was possessing me. Or did you…"

"Did I just say it because it was in the heat of the moment and I was afraid that I was running out of time?" Emma finished, surprised when Tyler nodded. She had not thought that they would have been on the same wavelength so quickly. Emma shook her head. "No," she assured him. "I did not just say it just to say it," her voice hitched and she bit her lower lip quite nervously. "I really meant it. I do not know why, but I feel as though I need you."

Tyler breathed a sigh of relief. "Me too," he agreed.

"So… where does that leave us?" she asked.

Tyler shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly I have no idea, but I know that I really like you."

"I really like you too," Emma told him. "What I would really like is to hang out with you a lot this summer… if that is alright with me."

Tyler smiled. "That is totally alright with me."

And so, with their feelings as tentative and as new as they were out in the open, Emma and Tyler continued walking towards their respective houses. They parted ways at the sidewalk between their homes and walked through their own front doors. When they compared notes later, they were both surprised to hear that neither of their mothers had made any comment about the world going black. In fact, there was nothing on the news, and nothing on the internet either.

"It is totally the strangest thing," Emma told Tyler that night as they sat opposite each other with their windows wide open— something that would be a staple of their evening for the rest of the summer to come. "I thought for sure that she would say something."

"I do not understand it either," Tyler said with a shrug of his shoulders. "But who knows why our mothers do no remember what happened."

"Maybe the group will have ideas," Emma suggested. "Zanders the smart cookie of the six of us, I am sure that he will have an idea."

"Yeah," Tyler agreed. "I'm sure he will."

When they brought that fact up with the group a couple days after the final battle, Zander mused that it was because when Iris left Earth, taking the Darkness of the Void with her, she ensured that the people's memories of the events of the night had been erased.

"But I really do not see why she would do that," Christopher said as they walked once more through the forest in the general direction of where Iris had first come to Earth. "I mean, what would have been so wrong with the people knowing what had happened."

"It would have been too much for them to handle," Emma told him, her voice calm with no biting tone to it. "Just think about how much you freaked out when you realized how much a part of this thing you were."

Christopher nodded. "Yeah," he agreed, not picking a fight with Emma at all, glad to have reached a semi state of understanding with his former girlfriend. He knew that she would never ever trust him again, and he knew that he did not deserve half of the friendship that she had extended towards him, but Christopher was glad to have the pieces of his life falling into place and he was happy that things would not be stressful amongst the group for the rest of the summer.

"Now would you look at that," Jennifer remarked as they came to the clearing where the light of Iris had first fallen. "There is nothing here."

"It is almost as though she had never fallen to earth at all," Zander mused.

"But we know she did," Bethany stated. "We're not crazy or anything."

"No," Emma agreed. "We are not crazy."

"Though it does seem crazy to think about it," Tyler pointed out.

"Crazy or not it happened," Emma stated. "We all know it."

"And you shall all remember it," came the voice of Iris and before their very eyes she appeared. "I am sorry for disappearing on you all so quickly, but the battle with the Darkness of the Void took longer and more out of me than I would have expected."

"But you are alright," Emma asked. "Aren't you?"

"And he is gone for good," asked Jennifer eagerly. "Right?"

"I for one do not want to battle him again," Zander stated.

"Neither do I," Bethany agreed.

"Or me," Christopher added.

"It is over right?" asked Tyler.

Iris nodded. "Yes it is over. The balance of the universe has been restored. The Darkness of the Void is out there, but he has learnt his lesson. Neither he nor the Circle of Light can be the dominate force in the universe, it would not be good for either of us…" she paused and looked at each of the six teenagers. "I am so proud of all of you. Thank you so incredibly much for helping me in this task."

Emma smiled at Iris. "Thank you," she said. "For giving us the opportunity to save the world."

Iris laughed. "I shall leave you now, though while you may not have the power, you shall always be the Circle of Light." And with that said, Iris vanished in a flash of multi-coloured light leaving the six teenagers alone in the middle of the woods.

"Well," Emma said her voice catching with emotion, "I guess this is it,"

It was the end of summer, the Circle of Light, which had been completely inseparable from the time that Iris had left them was now broken. Christopher and Bethany and Zander had already gone to their respective universities to move in leaving Jennifer as the last one to leave Brooke Falls, Emma and Tyler behind. Tyler was busy working at the Ice Creamery, with the battle against the Darkness of the Void over he got himself over to Emma's Aunt's shop and got a job on the spot.

"Yeah," Jennifer agreed with a tear in her eye as she closed her suitcase.

"It's going to be so strange," Emma began as she sat down on her friend's front porch. "Not being able to see you every day."

"You're telling me," Jennifer agreed as she sat down beside her friend.

"You're bound to have a lot of fun though," Emma assured, though she wasn't one hundred percent sure as to who she was trying to convince— herself or her friend. "And you are bound to meet a whole whack load of people and become good friends with all of them…."

"Em,"

"You probably won't have a lot of time for me."

"Oh Emma don't be silly," Jennifer told her friend as she gave her a huge hug. "There is no way that I could have ever not had time for you before, and now after what we've done, what we've accomplished, well that makes me even more determined to make sure that we don't lose touch…" she paused and pulled out of the hug to look at Emma in the eyes. "And besides, who's to say that you won't be able to join me in a year."

Emma gave her friend a sceptical smile. "I really don't think that I'm the university type."

"You never know," Jennifer said with a mischievous glint in her eye. "You and Tyler might be able to do a lot of study sessions over the next year."

Emma laughed, knowing exactly where Jennifer was coming from. Since the end of the threat of the Darkness, she and Tyler had been nearly inseparable. She had finally gotten him that interview with her Aunt and they had been working side by side for the reminder of the summer. The thought of them both working really hard and getting into a college or university together had admittedly crossed both of their minds but it was something that both of them was going to have to look into to make sure that it was something that they both were really wanting to do.

"I'm going to miss you," Emma said through her laughter, feeling as though it was the end of her world, and that that was coming crashing to the ground.

"Yeah," Jennifer agreed with a tear in her eye. "Me too."

The two friends hugged, and only broke apart when the honking of Jennifer's parent's car broke them apart. "Guess that's my cue to go," Jennifer said with a sniffle as she took a step down the porch. "I'll call you when I get there."

Emma shook her head. "Call your boyfriend first Jen."

Jen smiled. "Okay. Take care Em…" she said with a wave of her hand as she walked towards her parents car which was packed to the brim with stuff. Emma could not do anything but watch as her oldest and dearest friend got into the pickup truck which had the bed tied down with boxes and stuff— and then she just had to wave as the car pulled away.

With nothing left to do at Jennifer's house, Emma got on her bike and peddled through the streets of Brooke Falls marvelling at how quaint the simple town was. The people were going about their business, as they had been all summer, completely unaware of what had transpired weeks before. For Emma, she felt as though her world had completely changed. She saw things in a different way. There was something about coming to the end of her life, and feeling as though her soul was being ripped out, which gave her a brand new appreciation for life and as she parked her bike outside the Ice Creamer and stood there watching Tyler work.

She had not been standing there for long when Tyler came out to greet her. "Hey," he said with a smile as he planted a chaste kiss on Emma's cheek. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," she said with a heavy sigh.

"Jennifer's gone," Tyler guessed. "Off to the big "U" right?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah."

"Well do not be too sad Emma," he said with a false pout of his own as he wrapped his arms around Emma. "You have still got me."

"I know," Emma said with a nod of her head as she wrapped her arms around Tyler as well. "Guess it's going to be just the two of us till at least the winter holidays."

"Yup," Emma agreed as she leaned into his shoulder. "Just the two of us."

Tyler pulled Emma's face up towards him and planted a soul searing kiss on her lips. Emma instantly fell into the kiss and found that all her troubles were melting away as they always did when Tyler kissed her. When he pulled away she just smiled at him. "Love you," she whispered, uttering the words for the first time.

"Yeah," Tyler agreed, not pausing at all to react to what Emma had said for if the truth were to be told, he had been waiting a while to say it himself. "Love you too."

And with those sentiments said, the two love birds just stood in the middle of the sidewalk, knowing that not matter what came their way, they would be able to handle it. After all, after facing down the Darkness of the Void, everything else they figured would be simple by comparison.

THE END

Author's Note: And that Ladies and Gents... is the end of another National Novel Writing Month challenge. My win - loss ratio is 50 / 50 and while this story is admittedly not the strongest, I'm still super proud of it and I hope you'll leave a review now that it's all said and done.