Okay, I finally finished the last chapter. I've been working to make this perfect for a while, but I think I've always known how I would end this story.

Now, without further ado, the final chapter of Daughter of Difference.

Chapter 28

Rosalyn Violet Carlyle was eighteen years old, as of today. Which she certainly couldn't have forgotten, considering that everyone was reminding her of that fact all day.

"You only turn eighteen once," Anne said kindly as she styled her daughter's hair.

"You only turn every age once, Mom," Rose responded, unable to keep from grinning. Just six years ago, she would be treating this day like any other. However, she wouldn't be able to even describe all the things that had changed since then.

There was a knock on the door, and Phillip opened it. Lucas was resting on his hip, giggling a little as he saw Rose, reaching for his sister.

She stood, smiling happily as she brushed off the nonexistent wrinkles on her long, blue dress. It was the same light color that she had always loved, coming down to her ankles with white ruffles. The puff sleeves came to her wrists, and were decorated with little white flowers, just like the collar.

Rose pressed a light kiss to Lucas's hand as the nine-month-old babbled away.

"You look lovely," Phillip complimented, and Rose smiled widely.

"Let's go, Jackson and Eva are waiting for us downstairs," Anne hurried them along, and the four walked down and into the living room, where Jackson was holding a very intelligent conversation with two-year-old Evangeline.

However, the moment Rose walked downstairs, his eyes were fastened to her. Eva raced up to her, loudly exclaiming, "Rosie! You look so pretty!"

Rose hugged her sister, smiling happily.

"You look lovely too, did Jackson do your hair?" she said, and Eva nodded happy, her braids swinging around.

Rose looked up, glancing at Jackson. He walked up and gave her a quick kiss, returning her bright smile as he handed her her coat.

Once they were all ready, the family of six left their house and began the walk to the circus, traveling down the icy and familiar streets that were their home. Rose couldn't help the relief she felt at knowing Eva and Lucas would grow up here, in a mostly accepting and forward-thinking community, surrounded by people who cared.

Then again, it may have taken years before she had that, but now she doubted anything could take it away.

"Rose!" Caroline called, running forward to hug her sister, with Helen following close behind. "You look wonderful."

"Thank you," Rose said happily, hanging up her coat. Now that they were out of the public eye, she intertwined her hand with Jackson and allowed them to be dragged away, vaguely registering that Lettie and Charity were taking her siblings away to play with them and some other adults.

"Now, we have all the food, and the dance floor, and a very fun afterparty planned," Caroline said, lowering her voice conspiringly as she said the last words. Rose rolled her eyes a bit at the theatrics, but she was still smiling.

"Is Aaron here yet?" she asked, and as if on cue Caroline's suitor and partner appeared out of the crowd, giving her a gentle smile.

"Hello Rose, happy birthday," he said.

"Hi Aaron, and thank you," Rose responded. They had an easy relationship, both quite content to sit in comfortable silence around each. But sometimes their friends would leave the room and come back to see them engaged in a riveting debate or conversation. She was glad Caroline had found someone like him.

"Now, are we celebrating or what?" Helen asked, spreading her arms as though she was about to hug them all. Jackson cheered a bit, and the five hurried away to the food table, talking and laughing while they walked.

"We're going out for a quick stroll," Jackson called to their parents, who nodded absentmindedly to show they heard.

The group left the circus, heading down the familiar roads, occasionally kicking pieces of snow at each other and exchanging easy conversation. They greeted and waved to some of the people on the streets. Caroline and Helen may not live there, but the circus and everything around it was still their home.

As they neared the circus again, Caroline was hit in the back of the head with a snowball. She turned to see Helen stifling her giggles, and before any of them knew what was happening, snow was flying through the air and hitting Helen in the side.

"We should definitely have a snowball fight later," Rose said, stopping them before they could all ruin their clothes. The others nodded in agreement, but not before Helen tried (and failed) to throw another snowball at her sister.

The group turned the corner, now immersed in comfortable silence as they looked around.

"It's rather pretty, isn't it?" Rose said. She didn't have to look away from the snow-capped buildings to know the others agreed.

And then, as all good things are, their peace was interrupted.

"I can't believe it, it's really you."

The voice was unfamiliar to all but one of them, and they turned to see a woman standing behind them. She was old, gray and sagging, but something in her eyes made a chill go down their spines. They were steely, dulled down from an endless rage by the passage of time, and fixated on Rose.

"I thought maybe I was imagining things, but here you are," she sneered. "Dressed all fancy, I suppose you think you're better than us now."

Rose was frozen, staring at the woman.

"Rose?" Jackson asked, nudging her hand with his. His voice seemed to snap her out of her trance, and her eyes narrowed.

"What, nothing to say? I suppose it's a good thing you've stopped being so mouthy, you were an annoying child," the woman rolled her eyes.

"I'm not a child anymore," Rose said, her voice blank and devoid of emotion. "You made sure I would never get a chance to be one."

Realization seemed to dawn on the others, or at least it partially did.

"I guess you can talk back after all. No matter, you're still the same girl you were years ago."

"No, I am not," Rose hissed, and it was like a dam broke as her emotions spilled out. All of them, that is, except sadness. She was done crying about this. "I grew up, and I'm not a girl. I'm a woman now, and I refuse to let you do anything to me again. There are so many things I could say to you, so many things you deserve. I've thought about what I would do if I ever saw you again, but now? You're pathetic."

The woman's eyes widened slightly, but as she opened her mouth to interrupt, Rose held a hand up.

"No, I'm talking now. I honestly don't even know why I was ever scared of you, but that doesn't matter now. I made a life, a family for myself and I did it without you. Because I never needed you, not then and certainly not now. You don't get to invade on that or try to ruin it. And you can't, no matter what you do. But you can't do anything, can you? You were always just some pathetic woman who decided to take her anger out on a child. I didn't deserve it then, I don't deserve it now. And I'm done with you. You don't get anything from me, not my anger, not my forgiveness, nothing."

She motioned away, and the woman seemed as if she was about to say something, perhaps argue. But then she stopped, and met Rose's eyes for a second. She left without a word.

Once she was out of sight, Rose nearly collapsed. She probably would have, if Jackson hadn't caught her.

"You okay?" Aaron asked, worried, and she just nodded, a small smile growing on her face. She wasn't crying. No more of her tears would be wasted on her past.

"Yeah, I am."

Rose explained the situation in private to her parents later, but assured them she was fine. Surprisingly enough, she was. Of course there were the lingering memories of when she was younger in the back of her mind, but they were overshadowed by her relief and happiness.

She had finally finished that part of her life.

And, as the day continued, she found herself thinking less and less about the woman and focusing on her family.

Later at night, as people started to leave, the five friends stayed behind. Their parents reminded them to be careful, and left them alone. They would all be sleeping at the circus, so none of them had to worry about getting home.

After everyone left, Caroline took out the bottle. They passed it around, talking and making increasingly stupid jokes as they got more drunk. Helen was, of course, far less intoxicated than the others, but she still laughed the loudest. Eventually, around one in the morning, Rose was resting with her head in Jackson's lap as he played with her hair, braiding it and unbraiding it over and over again. He had found that it helped ground him a few years ago, and Rose had no issues with it. Caroline was telling an extremely exaggerated story of something that happened to her the other day, and they were all laughing too hard for something so stupid. She was pretty sure she dozed off soon after that.

The next day, Rose woke up next to her friends. She went home, and life continued. Because that was the beauty of it, wasn't it? Despite everything, she had made it. And she would continue to live her life to the fullest, no matter what.

And her future was certainly ahead of her. Just one day later, she raised herself high on her hoop, high above the judgment and watching eyes, and sang happily, her voice clear and melodious.

Years from then, she would get married in the same circus she had grown up in. Her entire family would be in attendance, including the now-reunited Ella and Vivan, their hands interlocked and eyes brighter than the matching rings on their fingers that no one but their family knew the meanings of. She and her friends would eventually take over the circus, and it would remain as famous as ever. And her future would be bright, filled with tears and laughter and Eva's random facts about anything under the sun; Lucus's wild ideas for inventions; Anne and Phillip's proud smiles as they watched her go through everything; Jackson's whispered and gentle words as he did her hair the days before and after their wedding; Lettie's beautiful voice when she taught Rose's adopted son to sing; Helen's reckless laughter while she listened to yet another awful pun; Caroline's shouts of joy whenever there was a newspaper article about them; Aaron's comforting silence; and everything else she had never imagined she would have.

But that would all be in the future and now, as she took her final bows with the rest of the circus at the end of their performance, one thing was clearer than ever to her.

She was Rosalyn Violet Carlyle.

And she had a home.

This is honestly insane. I kind of figured this would end up being a short story for me to experiment with my writing, but it's turned into one of my most prized fanfictions, both among the published and unpublished ones. My writing style has grown so much throughout it, and I couldn't be prouder of how much I've improved.

Thank you to all of you, and special thanks to Green Meadow1870, JustAnotherFanGirl2004, and Angryfanfic for constantly supporting me and this story.

Again, thank you to everyone who's read this, and I hope you enjoyed Daughter of Difference as much as I did.

-Creator of Magic