Diary
See disclaimer in Entry #1
:Those Left Behind:
It's over.
It's finally over. Or it's already over. Whichever seems more appropriate at the moment, it's over and that's what's important.
It's strange to think about it being over. We've been on the road, we've fought and laughed and despaired and triumphed against all odds and failed disastrously for so long together that it's so weird to realize that we don't have to do this anymore.
But it's over and that's something that's swept us off our feet and into the arms of all those who now call us their saviors.
It's over and everything has happened so quickly that none of us have even had time to think about what's going to come after the celebrations end.
I'm still dealing with the shock of everything that's happened, and the amazement that somehow, the six of us are still alive. Ursula helped us destroy all the odds, and we're still all together because of her. Then there's also the fact that both of my close childhood friends are dead. The grief is there, lurking behind all the disbelief and amazement, waiting for me to face it so it can sweep me back off to the land of my depression, and I freely admit, I have been putting off the day I'll have to. The pain will be lessened, however, by the fact that I have my dear friends here to support me. They'll be more patient with me now that we don't have anywhere else to go.
Ursula is gone. She obviously knew what destroying Hector and Seth would mean for her, even though she didn't tell us. But she used her power to save our lives, and she has bequeathed Riviera to us, to the ones she left behind, because she says we've won our freedom. That we're our own nation now.
It's another heavy responsibility, but I know that it isn't one I have to bear alone. Because Riviera belongs to all the Sprites—and even the demons—who live here, who need to decide what they're going to do with their land, who will war over it and celebrate it and farm it and preserve it and make it theirs once again.
And because I am of Riviera as well as of Asgard, protecting this land, kept separate from the human nations of the world for so long, is something that I will do gladly.
Because Riviera has become more of a home to me than I ever had in Asgard… and because all the ones I love live here. Because the ones I, in turn, left behind rest here. Because…
Because I love this place.
And because Ursula was right again in giving it to us: We who live here most definitely have the strength to protect Riviera, and we will.