Chapter 7: I Won't Give Up

Author's Note:

This chapter, like the chapter before it "Safe and Sound", was originally intended to be a separate one-shot. I decided that I was going to convert those one-shots into the final two chapters of this story. As you may've guessed, this is the very last chapter. I thank every one of you who have read this fanfic from beginning to end (or are just starting to) for taking time out of your already busy lives to do so. It really means so much to me. Anyway, please enjoy!

-Voltalia

It had been several weeks since the Naga Royalty War. The Warden's road to recovery, although sluggish, had had no major problems so far and was expected to get better from there on out. His left leg, despite being a patchwork of burn scars, had healed up nicely and his kneecap had seamlessly fused itself together again; however, the explosion from the metal barrel that had created these injuries in the first place did leave him with a permanent small limp. There was also another catch to that explosion as well that changed his life in a huge way. Not forgetting the fact that his scrotum had gained a huge wound that opened and left parts of his privates totally exposed to an infection, that infection had gotten so bad that he had to be castrated so his health wouldn't get any worse and he wouldn't die. It didn't bother him at all that he had lost the ability to produce any more children, since neither he nor the wife were interested in procreating again anyway.

The Mistress, her twins, her husband's intern Kyoto and her own intern Nannerl were sitting in the drawing room, conversing over how well Superjail had been readjusting since the Naga Royalty War where several hundred of its prisoners were killed off because they were sucked right into the chaos that Kordora and Vulla's family had created. Not that it was surprising that many inmates were usually constantly slaughtered to begin with, but that war had taken a heavy toll on many of the survivors who had known these victims, some who eventually lost their lives. Some had even gone out of their way to commit suicide because they couldn't imagine going on without them for just one second.

Anyway, the three staff members and two children had been talking for about seventeen minutes when a knock at the door caught them off-guard. Lo and behold, when Nannerl went to open the door, she was surprised to see that Warden was there, having apparently made a full recovery and was now able to stand erect without experiencing any agonizing pain from his left side.

"Oh, hello, mein guter Herr!" Nannerl greeted with a cheerful smile on her face. "Please do come in."

Warden did so. His daughter Adele immediately got up out of the Victorian-era sofa she, her twin brother and their mother were sitting on and ran to her father until she pounced his legs, not caring at all that her daddy had just yelped in pain.

"Oh, Daddy!" Adele cried as she hugged his legs. "Please don't leave! I don't want you to go!"

Ajax rolled his eyes at what his sister just said, but Mistress caught him and slapped him in the back of the head. Warden chuckled slightly.

"Miss Adele, don't worry." he told her once she calmed down. "I don't plan to leave again for a long, long time."

"Good." Mistress finally spoke up. "I hope you can keep your promise. These children still need you…and…and…"

Her voice started to break, despite her best efforts to stifle it.

"I can't imagine life without you anymore."

Without warning, she broke down and started crying. Kyoto and Nannerl, uncomfortable with this situation, took the kids away so their supervisors could have their private moment.

"I'm sorry…" Warden said. "Why do you cry?"

"Oh, I don't know." the wife sniffed. "Maybe it's because I thought for the longest time that you couldn't evolve into this responsible, considerate man from…an overgrown manchild. Or…"

"What?" the husband asked.

"Well…" she began once she calmed down. "Let me put it this way. This whole romance all began almost nine years ago when we first met, right? Well, at least with you at first." She, of course, was referring to that fateful day when her prison airship crashed into Superjail.

"Yes. Yes, it did." he answered.

"Anyway, when we first met, I just COULDN'T stand how…ugh, I can't think of the word right now… well, I hated your child-like spirit. But at the same time, you were so…charming." She abruptly stopped speaking her stream of consciousness, unsure of what to say next.

"What about when you hijacked Superjail while my crew and I were away for a whole month?" Warden suggested.

"Oh, yes. There was that and then there was 'Stingstress' which did not work out in the end. When Jared and Cherice had set us up for a date after that, I still couldn't tolerate…how much of a…"

She slapped herself in the face in frustration and groaned with her lips pursed. "And then, I can't seem to remember anything else. Oh, God. I'm sorry. I'm just very…emotional right now."

"It's okay. Take your time." he told her.

Mistress let a few tears roll down her cheeks and then sniffed quietly.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is…" she resumed. "I am amazed by how far you've come. At times, I wonder how old your soul is. But one thing is certain: I won't give up on us, at least not in this life."

"Oh, wife!" Warden cried in glee. "Thank you for not losing faith in me after all these years!"

He pulled her close to himself and let out a long, drawn-out exhale.

"And thank you for growing up for me…" she sighed. "One day, they'll tell the story of us and how we were the lucky ones."