Flashes. Memories. Jowee, Wilfur, The Creator, Heather, Mari… Mari… "I saw you, Mike… I saw… you."
I jerked awake. Light. So much light. It was so bright. I turned over, groaning. I heard a few gasps.
I opened my eyes.
Raposa.
The village.
It was back, they were back… I was back.
The Raposa were looking around, just about as shocked and confused as I was. It'd been quite a while since… the accident. After waking up, and leaving the Raposa, I felt as if a part of me was missing. As if the adventure had ended, and nothing was left, even though I knew I was recovering, and that, soon, life would be back to normal.
It just didn't seem the same. The short time in the dreams had changed me.
But now here I was again. Here they all were, again.
In my shock, I was vaguely aware of Heather running up to me, back in her Raposa form, looking absolutely ecstatic. It took a while for me to hear her words, but eventually, they came. "We're back, Mike! We're back!"
I got up, and Heather barreled into me, hugging my chest. I looked around. I saw lots of Raposa looking around the village, inspecting it, wondering if it was a trick or a lie, believing it was just too good to be true. The rest of the Raposa, though, including Jowee and Mari, were celebrating, shouting, hugging one another. It was a true celebration.
I won't lie. When we faded, I had absolutely come to terms that it was the end for us. Not at first, of course. But at the end, completely. And I knew it meant life or death for Mike. And I knew that we were just one of many like the Raposa out there. Creatures of creation and imagination, that had to be shed and discarded when the time was right, when it was essential that childhood beliefs had to be left behind, simply to allow the development to reach a new stage, or, in rare cases like Mike's, to allow the mind to leave the childish realm it was clinging to in times of stress and return to the body and the real world.
But now, we were HERE. The village was back, the Raposa were back, Mike and Heather were back, the color was back, and the shadow and Wilfre were nowhere to be seen.
And then, it got even better. Daddy was back.
After a tearful reunion, and lots of happiness and joy without question from everyone there, I calmed down, and started wondering; how had we gotten back? Why weren't we gone? Erased? Discarded? Did Mike and Heather make it out at all? What, exactly, had gone on between now and that… time? A seed of worry planted itself in my mind. Had something gone wrong? Was she imagining this? Was this all just some-
Then I felt a feeling. It was wonderful, and silencing, and reassuring. It was like a father figure laying his hand on your shoulder, to calm you down, to tell you that everything was alright. Everything was going to be fine.
I spotted a tall figure by the trees. A black cloak, the face of the girl inside only barely visible, with a lock of red hair spilling out. Her arms crossed as she watched the Raposa.
The Hero, the Creator. And she was smiling.
My mouth fell open. In all the time I had been around the Hero, she had smiled exactly three times. And once was a sad one. But this smile was kind, and kind of sad, too, but in a happy way. It was the smile of someone who had just done something that they knew meant a lot to someone, and they were happy, because that person meant a lot to them.
Apparently, everyone else had felt the same sensation, and looked in the same direction I had. And then I knew, but I figured I should have known sooner: The Creator did this. They had fixed everything, they had made everything okay. It would all be all right, and everything had been alright. Everything was going to be okay.
And without realizing it, me, and everyone else, smiled back.
We all knew the Hero's ways, and knew that she would know how thankful we were, and that she would be more comfortable if we simply nodded and went on our way. And we did. But that nod conveyed so much emotion that it was worth a million thanks and more, and her smile widened an infinitesimal amount, but that was equal to a nod from her as well.
And so, life went on. There were no more adventures, no more troubles. I found out that Mike and Heather dreamed of us and joined us each night in their time, and thus, we still existed, even while they weren't here. I found out that Daddy had learned quite a bit in his time with the Creator. I found out exactly what happened to Mike and Heather in their world. I found out that, even after almost three years of trouble and pressure and hard times and complete chaos, everyone seemed to settle down back into their used-to-be-usual routine in the village with little trouble at all. But it all seemed so strange to me, so hard to readjust. Jowee tried to help me settle down, back into the normal life we had before the shadow and all the troubles it led to, but I needed a bit of the old adventure that just wasn't there anymore.
So me and Jowee snuck out, back to the old places we and the Hero had explored before. And I found out that while the Hero always seemed to be everywhere in the village at every time, watching fondly in the shadows but not talking or being involved, but helping when needed, they weren't always in the village. I found out that the Hero had a bit of the same feeling I was stuck with, and decided to visit the same place me and Jowee visited in the same night. Lastly, I found out that, even after all we've seen and gone through, the Hero still thought we were a bit young for going off alone into the woods, and felt it fit to punish us for it. But it wasn't a very bad punishment at all, though. It was more a reward for being brave enough and having enough adventure in your blood to sneak out, just for the sake of old times. We got an escort.
Me, Jowee, and the Hero, adventuring again.
Just like the old days.
What I wish had been slapped onto the very end of DTL: The Next Chapter. I loved the series far too much for it to end so abruptly, and even while the ending was tear-worthy and amazing, I still wished there was room for imagining. So I imagined room for imagining.
Oh, and if you're confused, the second part of the story is from the point of view of Mari.