End of the Line
By ChocolateEclar
Disclaimer: I do not own A Madness of Angels or The Midnight Mayor. Those are the creations of the wonderful Kate Griffin, aka Catherine Webb.
Epilogue: Together
In which everything is just a point of view.
Oda found us one morning with our socks off and our feet dangling over a wooden bridge and into a stream. It was in the Middle of Nowhere in a place between one part of Civilization and the next.
Before, I would have hated it. No main or gas lines. Not even the rumble of a distant car hobbling over the dirt road. There was simply nothing for miles. Except. The water was cool on our toes and the stones at the bottom of the shallow stream were smooth and vaguely brown and dark grey. In comparison to the city, there was almost complete silence. The rustle of leaves and birds chirping and creatures burrowing and water dribbling was almost unnoticeable.
And we could actually sense some of the power of that constant, steady flow and how timeless it would be if we gave into impulse and reached down to take up a stone and skip it across the water in the deeper parts to the west.
We are willing to try almost anything. At least once.
With a little effort and a crease between our eyes, we willed a tiny swirl of water to skim off the top of the brook and curl in the air. It was harder than manipulating water coming out of a tap or running grimily through the sewers. This was, as far as standards went today, relatively untouched and so we could barely grab hold of it without pollutants to influence.
"You must be getting bored," Oda said behind us.
Hands wrapped around the lower beams of the railing on the bridge, we leaned back with our feet still dipped in the water and grinned at her standing above us in her workout clothes. While she had been off in the trees beyond our camp doing her usual morning training, I had slipped off to alleviate an itch burning at the back of my brain.
"It's just another challenge," we said. "A point of view." I kept the rest unsaid. The itch scorched my tongue.
"You want to go home," said Oda.
"I'm the Midnight Mayor of London," I said gloomily. "I feel very irresponsible."
"London doesn't revolve around you."
"My apprentice needs me. The last time I left one alone shit happened."
"Yes."
We laughed at her exasperated expression. There was a part of us that was amazed every time she responded in some way that wasn't disgust or loathing or just plain indifference.
"I win at understatements," I said gleefully.
Oda rolled her eyes and held out her hand. I took it, feeling the calluses rough against my skin, seeing how pale my hand was in comparison, but how both of us were scarred and burnt in a pattern on our fingers, and helped her pull me up. She met my eyes squarely and then turned to walk back to our camp.
We would run into the Order in London. We would run into the Order probably anywhere eventually. But London was home and we were Midnight Mayor and blue electric angels and sorcerer and me and she was Oda and psycho-bitch. There wasn't much we couldn't achieve as far as I was concerned.
I didn't let go and neither did she.
A/N: The end. And just in time for this story to become AU with the release of book 3, The Neon Court. Ha. However, it has only been released in the UK so far, and, as I live in the US, I won't be getting it until the end of March. Therefore, please don't tell me about it until then. After that, let's chat?
EDIT (2/16/11): I ordered a UK copy of the Neon Court because I couldn't wait any longer so I have now read it and, if you've read it too, you'll understand why I was so devastated and yet in love with the end. If anyone wants to discuss it, let me know.
Please tell me what you thought of this fanfic. Thanks for reading.
