Epilogue
Opal: *sniff* This is the final chapter of Two Sides of The Same Coin. I can't believe I'm done!
Angela: *pats on shoulder* There, there. Now you can focus on your other fanfics. Like the Insanity Saga. Which ones are you doing of that again?
Opal: I'm writing the Inheritance Cycle and Lord Of The Rings fics, as well as half of the Doctor Who one. And helping you with any angsty bits you need written for the Hobbit fic.
Angela: How do you do it?
Opal: *shrugs* No idea.
Angela: Anyway, last disclaimer for this story! I'll be nice and let Opal do it. It's her fic after all.
Opal: Thank you. I-
Alanna: Opal doesn't own Lord of the Rings- *is bound and gagged by Angela*
Angela: Shush you.
Alanna: Mffle! (Translation: NEVER!)
Opal: *clears throat* I don't own Lord Of The Rings, but I do own Alanna and Charlotte.
Angela: Well said.
Opal: *bows* Thank you. With that done for the last time for this fic, on with the epilogue.
oOoOoOo
Valinor, 250 years later...
"Alanna..." Legolas said, poking his wife in the shoulder.
Alanna rolled over and yanked the covers over her head. "No," she grumbled. "I'm not getting up. It's warm and comfy here."
"Can I at least have some of the covers then?"
"No."
"Ah, the joys of married life," Legolas sighed. He gave up attempting to wake her up properly, and chose to get dressed instead.
"Save me some toast," Alanna mumbled.
"Yes dear," Legolas sighed.
He opened the door and stepped out, descending several flights of stairs to the corridor to the kitchens. Legolas reached the bottom of the stairs, took one look at the corridor, and groaned. Wonderful, the elf thought. The corridor looked like several spiders had woven their webs inside it... If those spiders had been drunk and had made their webs out of string. Legolas returned to his and Alanna's room, opened the door and poked his head in.
"Allie, you may want to see this," Legolas told her.
Alanna groaned and slid out of bed. Pulling on a dressing gown over her nightdress, she stalked outside, followed her husband downstairs, and promptly walked into one of the pieces of string.
"What the..." She stopped and looked at what she had walked into. Legolas could practically see her coming to the obvious conclusion regarding the perpetrators. "I hate them, I really do."
"Well they are your brothers."
"And they had help. I know they're working with my daughters, I just know it!"
"Allie, they're just kids. Let them be kids."
"I'm not against them being kids, I'm against them pranking me all the time."
Legolas kissed her forehead. "Ah, but I suspect that this is the work of your brothers, not our children."
She folded her arms. "Then I'm never letting Elladan and Elrohir be in charge of babysitting them ever again. I should never have let them tell my girls what a prank war is."
Legolas raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you say that the last eighty seven times?"
Alanna scowled. "I mean it this time!"
"You said that the last eight six times," Legolas muttered.
"What was that dear?" Alanna asked sweetly.
"Nothing!"
"Morning you two," called a cheery voice from behind the two elves. "I thought you'd be getting breakfast at this time of morning."
"Good morning, Erestor," Legolas responded, turning around to greet the elf. "Normally we would be in the kitchens, but certain people thought it would be funny to block the corridor."
"How so?" Erestor moved so that he could see the corridor in question. "Oh. I see that the Monthly Prank War has begun. Do we know who-" Erestor caught sight of Alanna's expression. "Of course we do."
Legolas nodded. "I wouldn't want to be them right now."
Alanna turned on her heel and stalked back into her bedroom. She returned a few minutes later holding her sword.
"Good thinking," Legolas nodded.
Without further ado, Alanna began slicing through the string maze until she made it to the kitchens.
"We should probably go and make sure she doesn't do something drastic," Erestor commented from the other end of the hall.
"Probably," Legolas agreed, making no move to follow his wife.
"But Alanna has always been the twins' favourite prank target and now she's had enough?"
"Pretty much."
"So Elladan and Elrohir deserve everything they get?"
"Uh-huh."
Twin yelps from the kitchens informed the two elves in the corridor that the twins were in the kitchens. Legolas and Erestor exchanged looks, before tentatively following Alanna. They found her sitting at the table, calmly drinking a cup of tea while Elladan and Elrohir tried to make themselves inconspicuous behind a rack of pots. The other door to the kitchens opened, and two girls entered, whispering animatedly to one another. One was clearly older than the other, looking to be about twelve, while the other appeared to be around ten.
"Morning Naneth," the girls chorused. "Morning Ada."
"Morning kids," Legolas responded.
"Ella, Char-" Alanna began.
"Call me that and die," the older child growled.
"-lotte," Alanna finished, ignoring her elder daughter. "Is there anything either of you would like to tell me about the state of the corridor outside the kitchens?" The children simultaneously pointed to Elladan and Elrohir. "Just as I suspected."
"We're innocent!" Elrohir protested.
Alanna took another sip of her tea. "I've a good mind to tell Ada," she responded.
Elladan scoffed. "We're adults, Al. We're not scared of-"
Alanna's smile turned slightly sadistic. "Who will ensure that you two don't have any dessert for a month."
The twins blanched, and Ella and Charlotte started giggling. "We're sorry!" Elrohir blurted out suddenly. "It's only tradition!"
"Ah yes, the Monthly Prank War between you two and your nieces. Well then, if that's the way it is, perhaps I ought to find a way to make things more interesting."
"How so?" Elladan asked warily.
Legolas completely understood the wariness. He had spotted the evil gleam in Alanna's eyes, and remembered that this was the girl who had a wolf as her rethos form. There was a reason behind everyone's form, and Alanna was no different.
"Well, I thought that I might join in," Alanna said coolly. She finished her tea and stood up. "Be afraid, brothers. Be very afraid."
She turned and left the room, leaving a stunned silence in her wake.
"No one appreciates a cliché like Allie," Legolas sighed.
"We're dead, so very very dead," Elladan and Elrohir stated.
"Something tells me that Nana's angry," Charlotte stated.
"Really?" drawled Ella. "I never would have noticed."
Charlotte scowled and tried to trap her sister in a headlock, but Legolas cleared his throat, drawing their attention.
"Girls, behave," he said firmly. "I'm going to track down your mother and prevent her from doing something stupid. Erestor could you..."
Erestor nodded. "I'll keep them out of trouble."
"Thanks." With that, Legolas turned and left the room. Once the door was shut, he leaned against it and rubbed his forehead. "Well, yet another long day to add to the list," he sighed.
oOoOoOo
I have no idea where you come up with these ideas, Charlotte told Alanna.
Alanna smirked to herself. My brain, dear Charlotte. Where else?
You have a strange brain.
Well I do have a habit of making conversation with another version of me inside my head. I'm pretty sure normal people don't do that.
... Good point.
A scream echoed through the corridors to the library where Alanna had taken refuge, and she allowed herself to smile slightly. Success, she thought.
No pranks were allowed in the library if you valued your life, Erestor was very clear about that. If you pranked the library, you faced the consequences. Those consequences were usually unassisted washing-up duty for a week, something that no one enjoyed.
Alanna leaned her head against the bay window she was sitting in, and looked out at the inclement weather. Rain was pouring down, and lightning occasionally flashed across the sky. It reminded her of her old home in Mirkwood, where it rained most days when it wasn't summer. Gods, that seemed like such a long time ago. An entire lifetime away... Well, it kind of was. It had been two hundred and fifty years since the War of the Ring, and two hundred since she'd sailed to Valinor. That was more than half of her entire life! And... She sighed, and a tear trickled down her cheek. It had been over two hundred years since Arwen died. No matter how much they fought back in the day, she missed her older sister.
Ella, her youngest daughter reminded her a lot of Arwen. She looked a lot like Alanna, and had her mother's sharp tongue, but her nature was pure Arwen. Quiet and gentle most of the time, and it took a lot to make her cross, but you did not want to anger her. In that respect she was a lot like Charlotte had been in the beginning.
Alanna thought of her eldest daughter (of the same name as her alter ego) and groaned. Charlie (as she preferred to be called) had been a handful practically from day one, and was a constant source of headaches for her parents (more so Alanna than Legolas). A prankster and a rebel, she was blonde like her father, but was the sassiest child Alanna had ever met, ignoring anyone but her parents who called her Charlotte and constantly talking back to people. She was the reason that Erestor had assigned washing up duty to anyone who pranked the library, and she was also the reason that Alanna no longer trusted her brothers alone in a room with a coffee pot. Needless to say, both incidents would not be quickly forgotten by anyone.
"Allie?" a voice dragged her from her thoughts.
Alanna looked around, and found Legolas leaning against one of the shelves. "Hey," she responded.
"Brooding?"
She rolled her eyes and threw a cushion at him. He (predictably) dodged it. "I do not brood," she sniffed. "I'm just thinking."
"You're brooding," he said flatly.
Alanna sighed. He may be Thranduil's son, but sometimes Legolas could be blunter than a dwarf. "Okay, a little." She bit her lip. "There's something I have to tell you."
"Should I be worried?"
"No," she said quickly. "Quite the opposite, in fact."
"Oh?"
She smiled. "I'm pregnant again."
Legolas grinned, picked her up and swung her around in a circle, before kissing her lips. Alanna grinned back and rested her head on his shoulder.
Yes, she thought. Life here is almost perfect.
The doors slammed open, and Elladan and Elrohir stormed in, closely followed by Ella and Charlie (both of whom were laughing so hard they were having trouble walking). Alanna took one look at her brothers', now bright pink, hair, and started laughing.
Scratch that, she amended herself. Life here is perfect.
oOoOoOo
A Note From Opal and Angela:
Angela: ... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Opal: ... YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
Angela: NOOOO- *is cut off when Opal gaffer tapes her mouth shut*
Opal: Well, it's taken me about three years to finish, but here it is. The final chapter. It's done. Finitus (pardon my bad Latin), fin, finished. *collapses onto couch* Whew. Also, if anyone finds the Kung Fu Panda quote, um... Imaginary cookies and hugs!
Angela: ... So... Now that this is over, we should tell our readers to go to our profile and check out the first instalment in the Insanity Saga featuring NinjaWithImagination! It isn't anywhere near finished, but whatever.
Opal: Now I can focus on my other stories... Of which there are four... And a half. None of them are up yet, nor will they be for a while, but this is one thing I can tick off my list. But now, the time has come-
Angela: The walrus said.
Opal: For us all to say goodbye.
Draxie: Bye!
Syletah: Bye!
Fanta: Blub blub... Er... Blub... (Translation: I will roast you over a low flame with lemon juice and pepper. It shall be a feast! Er, I mean... Bye!)
Scratch: Bye!
Alanna: See ya!
Legolas: Farewell!
Charlotte: Goodbye!
MishFish: Bye bye!
HighlySuspiciousAndMaybeInnocentAlthoughWeHaven'tClarifiedThatYet Bystander: Do I get to do a disclaimer now?
Everyone else: NO!
Angela: Bye readers. Thanks for sticking with us till the bittersweet end and putting up with our crazy disclaimers!
Opal: Goodbye everyone. I hope to see you all-
Angela: See?
Opal: You know what I mean! Anyway, hope to see you all in some of my/our other fics when I/we eventually get round to them (we're both in our final year of high school, so don't expect fast posting).
Everyone: Goodbye!