The insane musings of the authoress: I finally got around to writing the last chapter of 'Glass Roses'! Well, I actually wrote a version of the final chapter weeks ago, but I was under extreme exam stress at the time, and it sucked.
So, I started again in order that I would be able to give you the final chapter of this as your Christmas present. I hope you like it! Oh, and although this is the last chapter, there WILL BE AN EPILOGUE, okay: -)
Disclaimer: CCS is not mine. Also, I don't own the poem in this chapter - I'd love to be able to say I wrote it, but I found it in a book by an author called Malorie Blackman, and it struck me just how much it reminded me of Eriol and Tomoyo in 'Glass Roses.'
Special thanks to: Everyone who reviewed the last chapter and everyone who has supported 'Glass Roses'. Thank you all so, so much.
For Lily - 'Glass Roses' started out with only a dedication to her, and that's how it will end. Merry Christmas, little sis! Thanks for supporting 'Glass…' all this time.
Glass Roses
Chapter Fifteen
What Happens When: There's a Happy Ending
"Eriol, wait!" Tomoyo shouted desperately as she and Touya ran through the crowds of people, looking startled at the outburst of the dark-haired girl. The man she was shouting to turned and looked at them, surprised, the look in his sapphire eyes uncertain, perhaps even confused.
And pained.
"Daidouji-san…" he said when she and Touya reached them, panting.
Beside him, Nakuru smiled, although he didn't notice.
'Ah,' she thought, 'I knew that everything would turn out okay.'
She smiled and her attention was suddenly focused on the handsome man who had stopped beside Tomoyo.
"Well," she said, looking at the man, "I don't believe we've met before. Perhaps you and I could go introduce ourselves about, oh, several hundred meters away?" Nakuru asked, frantically signalling with her eyebrows.
The tall man looked as though he was desperately fighting against a laugh, but he forced a serious look on his face and said gravely, "of course, Madam. Allow me to steer you away."
Grinning now, he came up to Nakuru and offered her his arm. Laughing, Nakuru took it.
"I'll bet she's more than willing to let him steer her away," Eriol muttered. Tomoyo heard him and giggled, but the other two didn't seem to notice.
"You must teach me how to wiggle my eyebrows like that…" Touya was saying to Nakuru as they walked away.
Eriol returned his attention to Tomoyo. She could see that the look in his eyes was definitely pained. Her breath caught in her throat - I made him that sad, she thought guiltily.
"Daidouji-san," he repeated. Tomoyo looked at him with timid eyes. "Why - why are you doing this? It hurts… It's unfair, Daidouji-san. I thought that if Nakuru and I left as quietly as possible it would… Be better."
"How is it better!" Tomoyo burst out. "How would it better for me to lose two of my best friends without them even saying goodbye?"
"I don't know! It seemed like the logical idea at the time - goodbyes are hard things, Tomoyo-san. They're made all the more difficult when you're saying goodbye to the last person you want to leave behind. Okay, so maybe I was cowardly about it, but you must see how I… Why I…"
His brow was wrinkled as he fought to try to get her to understand.
She continued to look at him. There was something in her gaze that he couldn't define.
He turned away from her.
"Stop looking at me like that! I - I won't be able to leave if you -" he burst, then his voice trailed away into something soft and heartbreakingly sad.
He felt something grab his sleeve.
"Then don't leave! You can't leave, Eriol. You can't - you can't leave me!" Tomoyo said desperately, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.
He turned back to her at that.
"And why not? If it's easier to leave, then why shouldn't I?" he asked her. Her eyes were very wide, he noticed. Her grip on his sleeve was as sure as ever.
…
"Okay, so seriously, who are you? Tomoyo-chan's big brother? Oh God, please don't tell me that you're her boyfriend/ secret husband. Because that would really screw up this little picture I had in my head of Tomoyo jumping into Eriol's arms and declaring that she loves him…" Nakuru said to Touya once they were out of earshot of the younger couple.
Touya grinned.
"No, I'm not Tomoyo-chan's big brother, or her secret husband, or her boyfriend. In fact, I'm just some creepy stranger who offered her a ride to the airport," he said, sounding perfectly serious.
Nakuru looked shocked.
"Really!" she asked. Touya laughed.
"Of course not! Honestly, I'm Kinomoto Touya, Tomoyo-chan's big cousin who is fed up with seeing her miserable without Hiiragizawa. Nice to meet you," he held his hand out to Nakuru and she shook it.
"Akizuki Nakuru, Hiiragizawa Eriol's big cousin and housemate, friend of Tomoyo-chan and matchmaker," she said with a smile.
…
"This is why not," Tomoyo said quietly, and she rose herself on her tiptoes, pressing her lips ever so gently to his. It was over before Eriol could even think about it, and she was a step backwards again, those violet eyes nervous and uncertain.
Eriol touched a finger to his lips, blinking. He couldn't comprehend what had just happened.
You bring a sweet embrace
And with the smile upon your face
You bring me grace --
"I was stupid and afraid. I kept pushing you away because I was scared to let myself feel. I was scared that, if I let myself have a moment of weakness, if I let myself fall in love with you, I'd be hurt again."
She paused to impatiently dash the tears from her eyes.
--You bring me autumn days
Turn my face to golden rays
I love you, come what may --
"But I can't just stand by and let you walk away, not now that I know how I feel! Not now that I finally…" she said, her voice trailing away as Eriol's arms began to encircle her again and he was pulling her closer, closer, and her eyes were falling closed.
"I finally…" the words were a whisper.
"Yes?" Eriol murmured an encouragement.
"I finally understand." Her eyes opened again and she looked at him, allowing herself a small smile.
She'd never been happier than at that moment.
--And what was life before you?
And do you know how I adore you?
And it scares me how I feel,
You make all my past scars fade and heal --
"I want to wake up beside you every morning, and be the last person you see at night. I want to take care of you, love you and be loved by you. You're the only person I could ever be happy with, the only person I could ever love… And, now, of course, I feel so stupid for almost letting you slip through my fingers. I want to stay with you…" she said, tears gathering in her eyes again, but this time in happiness.
"Because you are the one I love the most."
The last words were a whisper as her eyes fell closed again and, smiling, Eriol's hands slid up her arms to rest on her face and she dissolved into his kiss.
…
"Oh, isn't that lovely?" Nakuru asked Touya tearfully. Touya nodded.
"Well, it certainly is nice to see her crying happy tears, for once," he mused.
Nakuru nodded, her lip quivering.
"Would you like a tissue?" Touya asked her kindly.
"Please!" she sniffed.
Touya handed her a spotless white handkerchief and she dabbed at her face. Then she paused, her mouth forming an 'o' of horror.
"Oh, Isabelle must be going spare! I swore I'd call her to tell her how things went, as she couldn't leave the bakery!" the redheaded woman exclaimed suddenly.
Touya looked confused. Who was Isabelle?
Nakuru proceeded to dig in her pockets for her cellphone, and, when she found the slim, pink object, she flipped it open impatiently and dialled the number of Chase Bakery so hard she nearly dropped the phone.
…
When Isabelle heard the bakery's phone ring, she fell off her chair. Literally. However, she recovered quickly and leapt to her feet, almost tripping in her haste to get to the phone out in the back of the shop.
"I'm here, Nakuru!" she exclaimed breathlessly into the phone as soon as she picked it up. On the other end, Nakuru laughed.
"Everything's fine," Nakuru said vaguely. Isabelle pulled a face.
"Oh, that's descriptive!" Isabelle burst out, her cheeks pink in excitement. Nakuru burst into sudden laughter.
"Sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist! You're so excited, I knew it would annoy you not to have all the details right away," the redhead explained. Isabelle fumed silently.
"Okay, now out with it! Judging by the fact that you're not weeping and wailing over how stupid Hiiragizawa-san and Tomoyo-san are, you're not on your way to Osaka right now, but I need details, dammit!" Isabelle exclaimed.
This made Nakuru laugh even more, and it was a few seconds before she got herself sufficiently under control to allow herself to speak.
"Well…" Nakuru began, after Isabelle had stopped yelling at her to stop choking and get on with it. At that very moment, with simply horrid timing, the bell rang, announcing the entrance of a customer to the bakery.
Isabelle gave a scream/growl under her breath at the interruption, and said to Nakuru, "hold on a second, there's someone here."
Isabelle lay the receiver down on a table then popped out to the store front to tend to the customer. There wasn't, she discovered when she got out there, one customer, but two. One was the dark-haired Ichiro-san (A.N. You might not remember who Ichiro is - I totally don't blame you if you don't, I actually forgot his name and had to go look it up ((sweatdrops sheepishly)). Anyway, Ichiro is the man who flirted with Nakuru when she was covering for Tomoyo at the bakery in chapter six, I think, when Tomoyo was getting her portrait painted by Eriol. Remember him now?).
But the other… Oh, the other… Was a man she had never seen before. Well, she imagined that if she had seen this fine specimen before, she'd remember. Put it that way.
When she caught sight of him, she froze, and could feel herself blush. Not exactly the most dignified way to greet the most handsome man she'd seen in -oh, she didn't know how long.
However, she managed to catch herself after a few seconds, and, shaking her head, smiled at them. (Although she had a horrible feeling she was staring at Ichiro's companion.)
"Hello, gentlemen. I'm sorry I can't serve you right now, I have an extremely important phone call waiting," she said in her most charming voice. "Would you mind terribly if I got back to you in a few minutes?"
Ichiro's companion smiled at her (cue Isabelle's blush worsening) and replied, "oh, yes, I'm sure that would be fine. We're not actually in that much of a hurry - I'm sure he'd be quite happy to wait around all day for her."
For some reason, Ichiro-san blushed as his companion gave him a teasing glance.
Hmm…Isabelle mused. Most interesting…
"Well, then, I'll be back in a second," she said hurriedly to the two men, before dashing out into the back of the shop.
…
Eriol smiled at Tomoyo.
"Okay, they say it's third time lucky, so I'll ask you this again - Daidouji Tomoyo, will you marry me?" he asked her. Tomoyo's gentle smile became a beam.
"Of course I will!" she said.
"Then," Eriol said, reaching into his pocket, "I believe that this belongs to you."
He slipped the engagement ring onto her ring finger and she looked at it, turning her finger this way and that in the light, looking at it as it sparkled. Then she looked back at him and smiled.
"That's more than an engagement ring, you know," Eriol said. Tomoyo raised an eyebrow at him, smiling.
"Really?" she asked.
He looked very serious.
"Yes - it's a promise, too. I promise I will always love you, and I will never leave you."
Tomoyo grinned slyly.
"So does that mean you won't be attempting to hop on any more planes to Osaka?" she asked in an innocent voice.
"Well," he said, grinning himself, "at least I'll warn you in advance next time."
…
"They just got engaged, by the way," Touya said dryly to Nakuru. "While you were on the phone."
"Really!" Nakuru squealed happily. "Oh, where is Isabelle! I want to go congratulate them… Oh, Isabelle, you're back!"
…
As soon as Isabelle turned the corner, she leaned against the wall and sighed.
Okay, Isabelle, get a grip on yourself… she thought firmly.
She happened to pass a mirror on her way back to the phone and, when she saw her reflection in it, she groaned. She was wearing a stained apron, there was a huge streak of bread dough over one cheek and the bridge of her nose, and her hair had been thrown haphazardly up into an untidy bun.
She sighed, managed to drag herself away from the mirror and spoke into the phone.
"Hello, Nakuru," she said.
"Oh, Isabelle, you're back!" Nakuru exclaimed on the other end. "Who was it in the shop?"
"Oh, Nakuru, it was Ichiro-san - I'm pretty certain he's looking for you," she began, and she could practically see Nakuru's blush. Isabelle grinned wickedly.
"Oh yes, and I heard you two were getting closer - Hiiragizawa-san told me you went to dinner at his house one night…"
She could see Nakuru's blush intensify.
"Isabelle!" she spluttered indignantly, unable to think of anything else to say. Isabelle laughed.
"Of course, I'm enraged at the fact that you didn't tell me, and I would bite your head off right now if we didn't have more important matters to discuss," Isabelle said.
"Well, this is what happened - Eriol and I are at the airport, about to board our plane. Eriol looks miserable because he's leaving the woman he loves without even saying goodbye. I look miserable because I thought that we'd failed at the last hurdle - I had all but given up, convinced that Tomoyo-chan wasn't going to stop us.
Then, Tomoyo-chan and a man (who I later learned was her cousin, Kinomoto Touya), come running up to us. So then Tomoyo-chan yells, "Eriol! Wait!""
On the other end, Isabelle gasped.
"Really! Oh, how dramatic!"
"Wait, it gets better! So she and Kinomoto-san reach us, and Kinomoto-san and I excuse ourselves none-too-subtly in order to let them talk. So then, Tomoyo-chan and Eriol have what looked to me like an argument. Then, Tomoyo-chan says some stuff to Eriol, then she kisses him!" Nakuru said, practically squealing in her excitement.
"How romantic!" Isabelle sighed.
"So they say some more stuff - I couldn't hear, because I was so far away, but it must have been something like 'I love you', because then they kiss again!"
"WAI! I wish I could have been there!" Isabelle exclaimed.
"AND NOW THE ENGAGEMENT'S BACK ON!" Nakuru screamed happily.
"YOU'RE KIDDING! I'm so happy! They're getting married! Oh my God!" Isabelle exclaimed happily, only just resisting the urge to dance around the back of the store and sing.
Then, despite, herself, Isabelle felt her eyes mist with tears.
"Y-you guys have to hurry home soon, okay? I want to talk to everyone," Isabelle said. Nakuru narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Your voice sounds choked up, Isabelle - are you crying?"
Isabelle laughed through her tears.
"Okay, you got me - maybe a little. I know it's silly to cry over something so happy, but I just can't help it! Emotional things like this always get me teary-eyed."
Nakuru laughed.
"Don't worry about it - I was all weepy a second ago. Think of the state we'll be in at their wedding!" she joked.
Isabelle laughed.
Then, Nakuru's voice went quiet, and she said the next thing in a very hush-hush manner, telling Isabelle that this next part was for her ears only.
"Listen, I was thinking - Ichiro-san mentioned that his best friend was going to be in town, and I just -"
"Oh, I think I've already met him," Isabelle said. "He's outside, actually, with Ichiro-san - I forgot to mention it to you."
"Well?" Nakuru asked excitedly. "What do you think?"
Isabelle sank to sit on the floor.
"He's… Ohh, Nakuru…" Isabelle said, exhaling.
Nakuru giggled.
"I thought you'd like him!" she exclaimed.
"He's gorgeous! All blond hair and brown eyes… And I look a mess," she said into the phone, sounding dejected. Nakuru made a sympathetic sound.
"Oh, honey, don't worry - I'll have the two of them over for dinner and we can dress you up," the redhead promised.
"Really?" Isabelle asked, sounding hopeful. Nakuru smiled.
"Definitely. Listen, I think Eriol, Tomoyo-chan, Kinomoto-san and I will be heading home soon, so we'll see you at the bakery, okay? Tomoyo-chan and Eriol will be able to give you a much better account than I could," Nakuru finished.
"Okay. See you, Nakuru. Bye," she said, and hung up the phone, feeling much better. Talking to her best friend always made her feel better.
…
"She's pretty, isn't she? Cute with the dough on her face," Ichiro's best friend, Rai, said to Ichiro. Ichiro had to fight to hide a triumphant little grin.
Just like Akizuki-san and I planned, he thought.
…
Isabelle pulled the tie from her hair that was holding it up and shook her head, fluffing it out around her face. She also untied the marked apron. (Unfortunately, she forgot about the dough.)
"Sorry I took so long!" she said as she re-emerged from the back of the shop.
"Thanks for waiting so patiently! Now, how may I help you?" she asked cheerfully.
"Well, you look considerably more bouncy now, Miss -"
"Isabelle. Isabelle Chase," Isabelle helped him.
"Miss Chase. Good news? Who's getting married?" Rai asked. Isabelle nodded, a bright smile adorning her face.
"Great news. A couple that Nakuru and I were matchmaking - lovely people - are getting married, and the best part is that they almost didn't make it, and -" Isabelle babbled happily, then she froze.
"Sorry, couldn't help overhearing," Ichiro apologised, reading her expression properly.
But wait a minute, if they overheard that, then what else did they…
She looked, feeling horrified, at Rai. He gave her a sheepish look.
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…
Her face caught fire and she wished for nothing more than for the ground to swallow her up.
"Well, it's great news, and we're all very happy," she babbled in her nervousness, suddenly very interested in the ground.
"Anyway, what was it you wanted?" she asked again.
"Well, originally we came to see if Akizuki-san was here," Rai said, "but as she doesn't seem to be here, I wonder if I might request something else."
"Really? What might that be?" Isabelle asked, rather more harshly than she meant to, her gaze still on the floor.
"A date. With the lovely Isabelle Chase."
Isabelle's head snapped up and she looked at him, utterly bewildered. He was smiling at her.
Well, she certainly hadn't expected that!
…
"Let's go home," Tomoyo said when she and Eriol, hand-in-hand, had walked back to Nakuru and Touya.
"Best idea I've heard today," Nakuru said happily, proud of herself for resisting the urge to glomp the two of them and start squealing about congratulations and weddings and kids.
Touya noticed the ring sparkling on Tomoyo's left hand. He hugged her, suddenly, and she smiled, letting go of Eriol's hand momentarily to wrap her arms around his. He kissed the top of her head softly and she craned her neck to look up at him.
"Touya-kun?" she asked uncertainly.
"I'm very proud of you, Tomoyo-chan. You came after the person you loved, even though you were scared, even though you might have been too late. And now, might I just say that I'm very happy for the two of you, and may you live a long, love-filled life together," he said.
"Hear hear!" Nakuru said, smiling.
"Thanks, Touya-kun," Tomoyo said quietly, looking up at him. "If it weren't for you, I might never have figured out my feelings. Eriol and I might never have made it. I owe you big time!"
Touya grinned.
"Anytime, sweetheart." Then, with Tomoyo still in his arms, he turned to look at her fiance.
"Now, you - this young woman here really loves you. I know, because I helped -" he shuddered - "prove it, by a method I hope to never have to employ again. Now, Tomoyo-chan doesn't have a scary big brother to say this for her, so I'll do it - hurt her and I will personally tear you apart and feed your bloody remains to starving killer Dobermans, okay?"
Eriol's eyes widened, and he coughed.
"Thank you, Kinomoto-san. That was appropriately… Eloquent. But believe me when I say that -" he reached out and took Tomoyo's hand again, and she came gently out of Touya's embrace - "I think everything will be fine from now on."
Touya allowed himself a smile.
"Somehow, when you say that, I don't doubt that it will."
It was at that moment that Nakuru's will broke, and she rushed forward to glomp all three of them, weeping and babbling incoherently.
…
It was the night before Christmas Eve, and the Daidouji mansion in Tomoeda was decorated beautifully - lights shone, tinsel twinkled, mistletoe… Um… Hung.
There was a massive Christmas dinner party going on to celebrate Tomoyo's return to Tomoeda and her engagement.
"How things change in four months, huh?" Sakura asked Tomoyo. Tomoyo simply smiled.
"I mean, there's your fiancé standing over there, telling a lie with Yamazaki-kun. I'm so happy for you two - I've never seen you so… Alive, I suppose," Sakura said with a warm smile at her best friend.
"Well," Tomoyo said, smiling over at her fiancé, who smiled back, "he's the someone just for me. He's the one I love the most."
"And," Sakura said, "as Onii-chan likes to say, 'everybody will be okay when they're with their special person'."
Daidouji Sonomi came into the room, looking healthier and happier than she had in months.
"Dinner, everyone!" she called, and everyone made their way to the huge dining table in the centre of the room.
Tomoyo sat down in her seat between her mother and Eriol, and looked around the table. There was Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun, Yamazaki-kun with Chiharu-chan, Touya-kun and Yukito-san, Nakuru-chan and Ichiro-san, Ms Chase and INSERT NAME, Rika-chan and Terada-sensei, Kinomoto-sensei, her mother, Naoko-chan and, of course, Eriol.
To have all these people here, who love me, I really must be the luckiest girl in the world, she thought blissfully.
"Will you pull a cracker with me, Tomoyo?" Eriol asked her. He already had a paper hat balanced crookedly atop his dark hair from a cracker he had pulled with Yamazaki, who was sitting on his other side.
Tomoyo nodded, smiling, and grasped the other end of the silver-coloured cracker.
"Before we eat," Sonomi said, standing up and tapping her fork against her glass to get everyone's attention. Everyone immediately fell silent - Sonomi had that effect on people.
"I'd just like to say thank you to all of you for coming to this welcome home/engagement/Christmas party. I know I appreciate it, and I'm sure Tomoyo does too."
Tomoyo nodded and Eriol stood up beside her.
"I'd just like to say something, before we begin, if I may. I was going to make a speech at the end, you see, but I feared we might all be a little worse for wear by that point," he joked. Everybody laughed appreciatively and waited for him to continue.
(A.N. I know that, in the U.S., the age for being allowed to legally drink alcohol is 21, but in my country it's 18, and I'm basing it on that.)
"Well, I met Tomoyo four months ago - she had just moved to my little village and was working in the local bakery, Ms Isabelle Chase's bakery, actually - she's here tonight. When I first met her, Tomoyo was actually quite cold -"
There was more laughter at this, and also at the expression on Tomoyo's face.
"Well, I honestly did think you were incredibly handsome," she admitted. "Even at that point."
"Thanks," Eriol said. "I feel better now. Anyway, it was clear that Tomoyo had problems she didn't want anyone to know about. But we got closer, and closer, she told me her problems, and slowly, gradually, I fell in love with her. Of course, she didn't feel the same way."
There was more laughter from the table - practically every male there could sympathise with him.
"Or so she thought. Then, I decided that I was going to leave my village for a while - because I loved her, and it hurt to see her, knowing that I couldn't have her." - cue sympathetic noises from every girl at the table.
"It ended with Tomoyo making a mad dash to the airport to stop me. And I'm so, so happy she caught me. If I'd left her behind, I would have left happiness itself behind," he said, looking with tender eyes at his fiancée.
"So, I guess I just want to say thank you for entrusting me with such a special person. I know it must be hard for you all to let go of her, but I promise I will look after her with the intensity that you have looked after her. I will guard her fiercely like the precious jewel she is, and I will love her with all my heart."
The girls at the table were dabbing at their eyes with their napkins.
At that moment, Tomoyo stood up.
"Yes, dear, would you like to present your rebuttal?" Sonomi joked. Tomoyo smiled.
"There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said, but I'd just like to say thank you for welcoming Eriol in as friendly a manner as you did. As confident as he seems to be, he really was nervous about meeting all of you," Tomoyo said, her smile quirking into something perhaps a little more devious. Eriol blushed.
"And, I'd just like to say that I'm sorry for what I did. It was wrong of me to run away like I did, but I had to… Find myself. And in the process, I found something very special, too," her smile returned to being soft as she spoke.
"And Eriol omitted a few things from his version of our tale - the fact that Touya-kun and I had to ride for seven miles on a bicycle to catch him at the airport being one of them," she said dryly. There was a rumble of appreciative laughter at that. Yukito looked particularly amused.
"So, in closing, I'd just like to wish everyone a merry Christmas!"
And, with that, she sat back down.
"I think," Sakura said quietly, smiling despite the tears clouding her vision, "Tomoyo made the right choice."
"Yes," Naoko said gently, "and although it will hurt for her to move away, we will never truly lose her."
"That's true. A part of me will forever remain here, in Tomoeda, with all of you," Tomoyo said softly, her violet eyes shining.
"And besides," Yamazaki said, in an attempt to lighten the suddenly heavy mood, "it's not about losing or letting go, it's about seeing our Tomoyo-san go on to different things."
"Yes, not better things, just different," Chiharu mused, then smiled. "Wow - you actually said something sensible for once!" she joked to Yamazaki.
"With the person just for her," Rika said, her usual calm, serene smile on her face.
"And what could be better than that?" Fujitaka asked.
"Well," Sonomi said again, rising up off her seat to stand, clutching her wineglass in one hand. Everybody followed her lead and got to their feet as well.
"I think I speak on behalf of everyone here when I say we wish them the best of luck," Sonomi said. Tomoyo looked at her hand, clasped with Eriol's, then smiled up at him. He smiled back.
-- You bring a quiet time
Life has meaning, thoughts have rhyme,
You bring down all my fences,
You invade my heart and senses --
-- Take a look,
Stop and stare,
Love is shining,
Everywhere.
There is nothing
Left to fear
I am with you
Always near
And if this world should make me bleed
I'll remember you're all I need --
I really, really am the luckiest girl in the world.
…
And this is where we leave our tale of two lonely people who managed, somehow, to find each other. Who would have thought we'd end up here - it all began with a teenage runaway, miserable and frightened, timidly letting a caring young man get close to her.
Sure, it hasn't been an easy ride - they've had to deal with fears, scars, secrets and painful pasts along the way, and they almost didn't make it.
But they just couldn't let each other go, and love refused to let them part. Well, love and a cast of determined characters!
Well, I said that was where we would leave it, but I think we've got time for one last thing…
…
"To Tomoyo and Eriol!" Sonomi cried finally, and everybody raised their wineglasses in a toast, before together repeating what she had said in cheerful, loud voices.
"To Tomoyo and Eriol!"
…
A.N. Oh my God, that was a long chapter. I really didn't know where to end it - unlike 'Butterflies', I really didn't know what the last line of 'Glass Roses' was going to be. Well, I originally did, but then the fic's original ending got scrapped and I had to re-write…
((Shattered has just realised that 'Glass Roses' is now over.))
Hold on a second! That's… I've just written the last line! Oh my God! ((Begins to weep very loudly)) It's OVER! I can't believe it! I'm so miserable!
Well, I'm both miserable and pleased, in a way. 'Glass Roses' has been through a hell of a lot in the year it has taken me to write it. It has survived being ignored for a long time, due to plain laziness (I abandoned it for weeks around the chapter five mark simply because I got stuck and couldn't bring myself to write it) and also the pressures of life (exams and such).
It survived having a crucial chapter deleted just after completion (chapter eight was deleted by my computer right when I had finished it, and the chapter took me weeks to write the first time around!).
And it has survived having a total lunatic as its author.
I'd just like to thank everyone who took the time to read 'Glass Roses', your support had really meant a lot to me, and I think that this fic will forever have a special place in my heart.
And although I'm glad to see all my hard work pay off, I'm so sad to let it go ((sniff)).
Anyway, DON'T FORGET TO LOOK OUT FOR THE EPILOGUE! I can't guarantee when it'll be finished, but I hope it won't be too long.
It's been an incredible journey - thank you for sharing it with me. I hope you enjoyed your Christmas present, and I hope you all have a happy holiday.
Shattered Midnight Dreams…zzz…
Because life's like that sometimes…