*So as we've all pretty much established that we felt the ending of Requiem was lacking and was in need of being tied up a little bit better I decided to write my own version of the ending. It includes a small episode directly after where Requiem finishes as well as an epilogue quite a while after maybe 5 years later. I also feel that a lot of the epilogue type pieces on here only really sum up what happened to Lena which I find a little frustrating as they are so many other characters who also need closure. Therefore I have tried to find cessation for as many characters as possible. I am also a firm believer that not all endings are happy so this contains a mix of your classic happy endings combined with a few melancholy moments*
Grace scrabbles over the tangle of rubble, broken glass and wire shouting wildly as she goes. I have never seen her so vibrant and full of life. It is now that I fully understand the extent of Gracie's resistance. She was a born resister. Her stubborn silence was her own muted stand against life with the cure. Against our lack of choice and opportunity, our lives mapped out in front of us from the day we were born removing all chance for faith and judgement. But as we tore down the walls and allowed freedom to flow back into Portland, Grace's private rebellion disintegrated into cries of pleasure and joy.
I struggled behind her, striving to keep up with her stealthy movements as she rushed effortlessly over the pile of debris and scree. Her little head bobbed up and down as her slight form dodged fellow people climbing the heap. Her head disappeared into a throng of people tearing determinedly at the cement. My heart hammered a pounding rhythm in my chest as panic and dread flooded every inch of my body. I couldn't loose Grace, not now, not after I had just got her back, not now we had succeeded. My eyes wildly scanned the crowds of people rushing around me searching for that tangled web of matted hair that belonged to my Grace. I was on the edge of hysteria when I heard it.
A bubbling cry filled with elation and the promise of liberty. Desperately I focused on the ecstatic cheer blocking out every other noise and sight until all there was, was her laugh. Blindly I stumbled onwards drawn towards Grace's spirited call. I burst forwards onto the precipice of what once was the wall that banished love into the Wilds and I saw them.
Their heads were bent together as if devising a conspiracy. An unruly mass of burning autumn leaves tussled in the wind contrasting with the twisted lacework of sandy locks. As if he could sense my penetrating gaze he raised his eyes towards mine. An arrogantly beautiful smile crooked across his face and I could feel the corners of my mouth defying gravity and pulling upwards so that my face mirrored his.
Looking into those pools of golden honey that were his eyes I was finally certain of one thing. Whatever happened in the future I knew Alex would face it with me. In that fleeting moment I finally understood the reality of amor deliria nervosa. When Alex infected me I intrusted him with my heart and he gave me his. We were each other's guardians. We would do anything to protect the fragile heart we had been granted, even die. The disease was deadly.
As all moments do, it fluttered briefly between both of us then evaporated just as quickly. But it was long enough for us both to realise that our future was together.
Alex then bent and swooped Grace swiftly onto his muscular shoulders in one fluid movement. Perched high above the ground on Alex's shoulders Grace babbled excitedly but neither Alex nor I were listening. Without loosing each other's gaze we gravitated towards each other.
Slotting my hand into Alex's we looked out over the Wilds, which rolled out lazily before our eyes. His large tough hand grasped my thin wiry extremity that had been weathered by the Wilds tenderly, and we stood just like that until the sunset and longer, two pieces of a puzzle fixed together never to be separated.