Leigh's Fanfiction Archive Stormkeeper's Fanfiction Friends Of Humanity Epilogue
Friends of Humanity
by Stormkeeper
Epilogue
And so we continued on, back to our home on An'zhina. Jean-Paul and his other Alpha Flight teammates were very eager to see it. I described it best as I could. "A paradise!" Silver Moon had exclaimed. "A sanctuary for us," Jeanne-Marie had said.
One evening, Jean-Paul and I sat together on the bridge, watching the stars zoom by as we headed for our future. We were happy. All of the X-men, even Wolverine, had agreed to spend some amount of time "vacationing" on An'zhina before we would return to earth for our next mission.
"I wonder if the Guiness Book of World Records is still being published," I mused. Jean-Paul and I were sitting next to each other, holding hands.
He turned his head and looked at me. "Why?"
"Because I think you and I qualify for a new category. Out of all the gay couples in history, we've gone the longest without having sex!"
He smiled and reached with his hand to tweak my nose. "I told you, mon ami. I do want you. But we need to wait. I need my time to get over Phillippe and respect his memory."
"I know, I know." I stopped there. He'd gotten upset the last time I had tried to coax him. And truly, I did understand his reasons for waiting. I still didn't have to like it though. : )
Later that evening, Jean-Paul gave me a quick kiss, and then departed for one of the meeting rooms. He and his sister were teaching young Stephan the French language. Stephan was a handful. The boy was no happier to be with us than he had been before, but the twins were trying.
So I sat on the bridge alone. I didn't mind being by myself. I actually quite enjoyed the chance to reflect. Looking at all those stars going by has a way of making your mind race, of spurring you on to thoughts of the future as well as reviewing the past. I thought of the last two years of my life, remembering everything I had been through and all the ways I had changed. I was a different person than the man Hank had traveled to San Francisco to see and had been forced to spend three hours attempting to convince to re-join the X-men. Back then, I had nothing. Now I had a family.
I have learned that people can survive absolutely horrible things and get through it. I had only to look at Jubilee----or Psylocke or Jeanne-Marie, both of whom had been doing much better lately by the way----to see proof of that. I've also learned that family is what you make of it, not what you're born with. I've learned that I'm a lot stronger and tougher than I ever thought I was.
Once I was done thinking about the past, my thoughts turned towards the future. What would it bring? Would we ever topple the Friends of Humanity and re-settle on earth? Or was the idea of humans and mutants getting along just a pipe dream? Perhaps An'zhina was truly going to be our home for the rest of our lives. I found that the uncertainty didn't bother me. Whatever future was in store for me, I hoped it would involve spending time with Hank and Panda, and Jubilee and Aurora, and Jean-Paul, and Wolverine and Storm, Rogue and Remy and all the other people I loved.
The End
A Final Thank-you from the Author
At long last, we've come to the end of this fanfic. I want to again extend a big thank you to everyone who has written to me to let me know that they enjoyed it, and everyone who has posted a review on fanfiction.net or on one of the X-men lists. Over 110 different people have contacted me to let me know they liked my work----needless to say, that is music to an author's ears. I save, print, and treasure all of your feedback.
May I ask one more thing of everyone who's been reading the fanfic? Can you write me and tell me two things: 1. What was your favorite part of the story? (This can be your favorite scene or what in general you liked about it) and 2. What would you would have done differently? Is there anything in general you didn't care for? This will help me a lot as a writer.
For months, this story has been my passion. Although I feel proud of it, I also feel a lot of sadness at having to end it. I began the story with only the first two chapters in mind, and everything else from that point on just kind of came to me.
I have good news for anyone who's been enjoying this story----I have already begun working on the sequel! I really like this AU I've created and don't want to leave it. I think a lot more can be done with it, too. So please keep your eye on fanfiction.net or the X-men groups at Yahoo/egroups----I hope to be able to post the first chapter in a few weeks.
A few special thank-yous are in order:
Ann, thank you for always being the Hank to my Bobby. `Nuff said. : )
Leigh, I've really enjoyed getting to know you and bonding with you over our months of beta testing. Your writing is incredible! I think we'll keep on writing to each other too.
Nadja, keep on writing!
Thanks again everyone.
Stormkpr (AKA Marianne)
(May 18 2001, Chicago, Illinois)
Chapter 21
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