and as it happens, this chapter is the epilogue. I didn't realize at the time that I wrote the last one that it was the last one, but after the fact I decided I actually like that! I think it's a good stopping point. It has a nice ending sort of ending. I didn't expect the ending now, but I'm not surprised either- this is around how many chapters I planned for this story to be. I can't believe it's been almost a year since this story started! It's a little bit emotional, but to be honest, I'm also pretty excited! This is the first significant story I've finished. I mostly just write oneshots here and am nowhere CLOSE to being done with any of my original stuff!
I want to thank the people who helped me out here! Nacho Cheese Man first of all- for helping me come up with the idea in the first place and then encouraging me to put it into words, and also just for being a good friend and all-around cool person. And Yakall and Alyssa Belle for having been here since I started and also just for being my friends in general. And also to NaoSa and Katie for taking the time to review so much and the guest(s) who've been encouraging me to update recently! And thank you to everyone else who's reviewed this at all, or even just favorited or followed. I appreciate all of you, and you all helped me to keep writing. It has meant so much to me to know that you appreciate my writing.
I make no promises that I won't write anything else for this universe at some point though! From the start I had a vague idea for another mythology-inspired au in the same world, I do intend to come back and edit this story at some point, and as I've found that for fics I tend to prefer oneshots, I wouldn't be surprised if I ever decided to write one (or more) set in this world.
Once upon a time, a girl went out for an adventure and stumbled upon the home of the Underking.
And as in the fairytales that same girl so loved to read, she found out that a figure of most people's nightmares had a soul after all. The Underking, for his part, found that people could see past first impressions and reputations and really care.
As the days went by, the two grew closer. They became friends and discovered along the way that they'd been friends once before, long ago. And in the time that passed, they each learned that the other was more important to them than they'd realized.
Love had never been a thing to come quickly, and that stayed the same. Circumstances prompted their marriage, not love, and that was something neither of them had hoped for. Their feelings were just that- feelings- not enough to initiate such a relationship (yet). But they chose to make the best of it.
The Underking and his adventurer were close. They were friends, and they cared for each other. And they knew that, with time, their relationship could- would- be the type they wanted.
Because love was a choice.
It was a choice to make every day, to wake up and want what was best for another. To make the decision to do what was best for each other.
And the two of them made the choice to choose love.
Even in dark times that seemed hopeless, they would not let their circumstances defeat them - because they knew that this was just the start of a new adventure, and there would be many more to come.
Not all stories had happy endings- but theirs did.
Persephone and the lord of the dead
do we all go down for a season?
the creatures that we see
the images we collect
you can't bring them into the spring sun
