Okay, here is the very final chapter to Just Look. Hope you all enjoy this very much and I'm glad that you took the time out to read this. Thank you all so much for your comments and reviews, I appreciated them all so very much.
Epilogue
"I don't see why we're coming back here again," came a tired high-pitched voice. Golden locks bounced as the lithe female figure whirled around to face her companions. "We've already seen this place; didn't you do what you had to do last time?"
"Do you ever shut up?" Dark eyes narrowed in a glare and Orphen continued past the ticked off girl, ignoring her tongue stuck out at his back. Majic stifled a giggle at the sight of Cleao and Orphen at it again. It was comforting to be back in a scenario he recognised so intimately and could deal with quite easily.
"Actually, Master," Majic interrupted, thinking on something as he caught up with Orphen. "I wouldn't mind knowing why we're coming back here either."
"You'll see," Orphen replied mysteriously, a hint of a smirk playing about his lips. Majic sighed and Cleao just rolled her eyes at the sorcerer.
"Any bet you don't know either," she muttered darkly.
"I do so know," Orphen snapped back, getting riled up just being with her and her attitude again.
Majic sighed as the inevitable argument ensued and he smiled at Leki, who also seemed to be looking at his Mistress and Orphen in resignation. "Well at least things are the way they're supposed to be now," he commented with his cheery smile.
Leki barked his agreement, wagging his tail. Suddenly though, he went still, his ears flattening back against his head. He whimpered softly for a moment, then suddenly started barking almost excitedly, running off down the road.
"Leki!" Cleao called out, running after him.
Orphan and Majic sighed. "That pup is almost too much to deal with at times," Orphan grumbled as he and his apprentice headed off down the road to catch the other members of their band running away swiftly. "Of course it has its uses, unlike someone else I could mention."
"What was that?!"
Majic stared in amazement as Cleao yelled at them from a few hundred metres away. "Wow, I had no idea her hearing was that good."
"Me either." Orphan actually looked slightly impressed. "Did you find him?" He called out to her as they continued walking.
"He's not the only one I found."
Majic frowned as Orphen smirked and headed up towards Cleao. "Did I miss something?" he wondered aloud, but, as usual, it seemed he was ignored. "Boy it sure is great to be with people who care again," he muttered, though he still smiled as he followed his master and Cleao.
"Master," he groaned as he crested the large hill, "why …" He trailed off as he saw exactly "why" Orphen had brought them all back here.
"Nice to see you again Majic," Hartia greeted from his seat atop the tall hand. Majic stared at him open-mouthed for as moment before his stunned thoughts were interrupted.
"Majic!" The blonde mage turned as he heard the familiar excited yell.
"Eris!" He gaped at her just as she flung herself upon him. He managed to catch her just in time and just stare in amazement. "What … how …" his incoherent stuttering trailed off as he looked around to see a lot of his former classmates grinning and waving at him. He glanced over at Orphen, who had a faint smile on his face and then over to the other two magicians still perched upon the tall hand-shaped statues on the hill.
"We thoughts we'd come for a small 'excursion'," Hartia told him flippantly, jumping down. Lai snorted as he got down as well and Hartia glared at him. "Fine, a small visit to old friends as well."
Majic grinned. "Aw, you missed me that much Hartia?"
"We missed you that much," Lai informed him, moving beside Hartia and smiling at Majic. "Tough it seems that there's no need for us to be overly concerned about you, you appear to have been doing quite well since you left us." He shot a pointed look at Hartia who grinned weakly back, stepping away slightly.
"Well, I thought it might be a nice idea just to check," he defended himself half-heartedly.
"Aw, you were worried about us Shrimpy, how nice." Cleao smirked as Hartia glared at the use of the hateful nickname.
"Don't call me that," he growled, hands twitching slightly in annoyance, as though wishing to wrap around the obnoxious girl's neck. A few students giggled as the banter between the two.
"What?" Cleao asked innocently. "Name? Oh, do you mean 'Shrimp Man'?"
Lai chuckled as the two continued their lively debate, much to the amusement of Hartia's class. They hadn't really seen the young magician act quite so young before, Hartia always seemed so serious, though still approachable and fun at times. Lai himself rarely got to see Hartia so light-hearted, he rather enjoyed the spectacle because of that.
Majic and Eris had gone over to talk and laugh amicably with the other students, them all catching up with things that had happened since Majic's disappearance. Lai watched them with a small smile, glad that Majic was still so respected by his former classmates.
"I'm glad to see that things are getting back to how they were."
Lai glanced to the side and eyes Orphan curiously. "Before? Things can never be quite as they were Krylancelo, you should know that. I would have hoped that something of my tutoring sessions sunk into your skull."
Orphen grinned brashly at him. "Yeah, I'm not saying that we'll go back to having everything the same, it's just nice to know that some things stay the same no matter what."
"Like Hartia's enthusiasm," Lai mentioned, understanding.
"Yeah. I do kind of miss him."
"I know. He's of a similar opinion."
"Is he all right after what happened?"
"We both were eventually. Like I said, not everything can be the same, but some things will always stay the same."
"Like your feelings for him?"
Lai glanced at him to see Orphan smiling slyly. "And just when did you figure that one out?"
"A while ago, though sometimes you two are thicker than I am so I'm not so surprised it took you both so long." He looked away into the distance, his face relaxed and pensive. "I'm glad for you both, at least now I won't have to worry about you too much, you'll always have each other."
Lai smiled, looking over at his beloved still talking heatedly with Cleao about something. "Yeah, we always will," he promised softly.
Hartia looked up and over then, something distracting him from the teasing blond girl. He caught Lai's gaze and smiled at him, knowing exactly what he was thinking: It didn't matter that things were different and that all their friends wouldn't' always be around for them like this, they were always there for each other. Forever.
AN: And that's it, something short and slightly fluffy to wrap up everything, I hope you all enjoyed the epilogue to this and the whole fic actually. I know Hartia/Lai isn't one of the most popular couples in the Orphan fandom, but it's my favourite and both characters I love to watch and read about. I'm so very thankful for all of my reviewers who took time out to comment and praise me (very much like praise ^__^ hehe) I would especially like to thank Seeker who has been with this fic since the beginning. Your reviews were so thoughtful and kept me going a lot of the time, I loved receiving them. But a very big thankyou to you all for reading.
Okay, now I did mention a sequel and I do have a basic idea and the vague formings of plot and structure going on in my head, but it might take me a while to get things onto paper (or screen … both) It will probably be slightly more dramatic and action based than this one and the second series will again have no bearing whatsoever on it (seeing as I still haven't seen it) Still, I am planning things and hopefully I'll be able to have something to show soon, I just want to finish of a few other things first …
So, until we next meet in the vague unpredictable digital world (or wherever)
~Vialana
