Sorry about the wait, I promised myself I'd have this story done by today. Well, here's the final chapter, I hope it's satisfactory.
Note – There will be a side-story to go along with this one about Kiyoshi's short life, so be looking out for that.
Another Note – In this chapter William and Yumi are 27 while the others are 26.
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William's POV
It's been nine years since Kiyoshi's death. Nine years since the discovery of a new disease called Xanraes. There still is no cure, a way to slow it down, ease the pain, but not stop the disease. We got lucky; Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi and I are still Xanraes-free. Many people have died and are currently slowly dying from it, but we're still working on a cure. I haven't seen too much of Yumi since about a month after Kiyoshi's death. It was hard on her and most of us lost touch. For the past few years we've had phone calls once a week though.
I think I've seen Yumi every day this week. There's a reason for that, a small reason, with wispy black hair and emerald green eyes. Her name is Athalia, and she's only one week old. She takes after me, quite boisterous, a trait I'm sure will only grow as she does.
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Aelita's POV
Strange how death can tear people apart or bring them closer together. With Jeremie's death we came closer, and after Kiyoshi's birth we banded together even closer than anybody would think possible. After Kiyoshi's death we spread apart. Split into small groups of one or two, though never really losing touch for too long. Birth seems to bring people together. Little Athalia came about a week ago and now it's just like with Kiyoshi, only different. With Kiyoshi, it felt as if some unnatural force held us together until he died, and that force disappeared.
Odd and Ulrich are still together. They love to see Athalia, Odd seems to love young children in general. William had to give her that voice though, a demanding child she is. People don't know what tired is until they are woken multiple times during the night by a demanding scream. I don't think I've slept for forty consecutive minutes in the past week.
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Ulrich's POV
Everything's good now, we're close to a cure for Xanreas. I've been watching Xanreas closely. The spread is random almost, hopping from person to person. I got a small sample of the Xanreas infecting to look at. Believe me, I wish Jeremie could get a look at this; he's the smartest guy I ever knew. I looked over his notes and stuff, I wish he had pictures. Xanreas reminds me eerily of XANA. When the marabounta was programmed it was programmed to attack a certain bit of programming right? Well, that bit of programming seems a lot like the virus that is Xanreas. The name too, who comes up with these things? Hopefully we'll put a stop to this deadly virus soon, but until then we can keep the people who are infected alive and more or less pain free.
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Odd's POV
Xanreas-free! All of us! We had a scare a while after Kiyoshi's funeral, we all came down with a cold; the early symptoms of Xanreas are the same as the common cold. Scared us all, but we're alright now. Well, for the most part. Aelita and William are tired as ever, don't blame them, you should have seen the way that William glowed when Athalia was born. Brighter than the sun and full of more pride than a lion. With good reason too, Tally's adorable.
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Normal POV
"The stone is broken, yet here we are, nine years and one child later and everyone is still alive." Jeremie said in disbelief.
"Apart from Kiyoshi." Aristide supplied, "But yes, everyone is alive and untainted."
"How?" Jeremie asked, "The prophecy-"
"The prophecy means nothing Jeremie." Aristide stated, waving his hand to silence his friend, "Not everything is written in stone."
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Well, that's all! I hope everyone liked it. Please review and tell me what you think! Also, don't forget to check out the forum, now named Xana's Lair; cl.yourbb.nl