A/N: Again thank you ubergrif500 :D I know I was sad to see her have to leave as well... but once it got to this point the story seems to be completely writing itself, at it's own pace! :P life of it's own... it's spooky... :/ Oh Al and Lucy? Weeelll... I guess it's never really explained here (I'm still debating on whether or not to make a sequel to this), Al is at least sort of falling for Lucy, but Lucy is genuinely dense (like Ed), but she has the slight problem of never really staying any where long enough to notice when someone shy honestly begins to fall for her. That and she thinks of Al like a little brother and a very close friend, because of how he treats her and so on.

/essay

Anyway, earlier than I thought, here is the 15th and final {:'( } chapter of Rays of Bitter Sun Light!

An Ending, A Beginning

The next day consisted entirely of Zarraq and Lucy preparing for their journey. Lucy had never really moved out of her bags from force of habit, but she seemed to take a very long time in her room packing it up.

The two siblings went out to buy provisions and warmer and cooler clothing depending on where they would go, and Lucy picked up a few more alchemy books on the way. She needed some form of entertainment.

Meanwhile, the others went on as usual. Alphonse went to study, looking more miserable than usual. Edward was quiet while he wrote his reports, ignoring the office banter, the mixture of euphoria and depression was a strange one to handle. Winry worked on her commissions, having to force a smile when a customer walked in. Elysia was miserable in school, refusing to communicate even with her closest friends. Gracia ended up taking the day off work and spending her time with Leo and Rose. Rose and Gracia talked about nothing in general while Leo, who didn't quite understand the idea and consequences of Lucy leaving, looked confused.

None of them saw much of Lucy or Zarraq that day. Even in the evening, Lucy seemed to refuse to come out of her room, making final adjustments, and going over what Zarraq had in his bag (he had left his… borrowed flat and come to stay with Gracia for the night).

Alphonse went straight to Gracia's house that evening while Edward went to go speak to Winry.

The two sat in her flat, on the sofa, Winry in his arms as the wireless played. They spoke, kissed and fell quiet, in turn, depending on their mood. But all the time avoiding the inevitable subject of their friend leaving.

Finally Edward bit the bullet.

"I think we should go over," he said finally, as Winry pulled away from his lips, leaning on his chest.

She stared then sighed and rested her head on his chest, as though drained. "I can't Ed… it's bad enough I have to see her off tomorrow…" Edward loved the fact that she understood exactly what he said even if he was being vague, "it's like watching you and Al run off on your adventures all over again. I was never good at good byes."

Edward pulled himself into a sitting position and wrapped his arms around her. He still couldn't believe he could do that. "But this is Lucy-"

"That's why… I don't want to say good bye too often. It just gets harder."

He sighed. "I have to go over anyway," he murmured, "Al won't leave unless I drag him away."

Winry chuckled. "He really is attached…"

"Yep, but it's not a bad thing."

"Ed I can't," she sat up properly and looked at him, "I just can't. I said bye to you guys too often. Way too often. I don't want the same with her. I want to say bye to her tomorrow, then wait for her to come back again. Not to say bye repeatedly."

He sighed, and stood up. "All right… if you feel that way."

"Ed-" he cut her off with a kiss, his hand at her cheek.

"It's fine," he murmured pulling away, "I promise. I'm fairly sure Lucy's run off her feet at the moment anyway, she probably won't even have time to to acknowledge me."

Winry chuckled and shook her head. "If she does find time, tell her I say hi and… and that I got caught up with work."

He grinned, kissed her forehead and left quickly. Winry sat back, closing her eyes gently. At least one of them went to see her. She knew she could not have been the one to do it.

*

Edward arrived at dinner time, meaning he got whisked off to the dining table to sit with the others. Eylsia looked murderous while Zarraq looked almost uncomfortable. Gracia sat Edward by the older man, and seemed to return to her conversation with Alphonse. He looked around.

"Where's Lucy?"

"Still in her room," Zarraq sighed, "she's making sure she hasn't forgotten anything."

Edward frowned. Was she trying to clear out all remnants of herself from the house? He wouldn't have put it passed her.

He shrugged off the thought and attended to his meal. Beside him Zarraq tried to persuade Elysia to eat.

The blonde alchemist had been surprised to see Elysia actually listen to Zarraq, evidently her trust for him had improved. Though perhaps she still didn't like him all that much. Did she blame him for Lucy having to leave? It would not have been surprising if she did…

The meal ended and Alphonse immediately got up to help Gracia tidy up as Zarraq took charge of trying to keep Elysia's spirits up, offering to tell her the legends of his people, Lucy's people.

Edward was left to his own devices. Time to talk to Lucy.

But when he tried to enter her room, he found the door locked. He frowned. Her door was never locked. He hammered on the door hard, yelling her name.

"What!" came the muffled reply.

"Let me in!"

"I need to finish-"

"Just let me in! I haven't see you all day!"

"You saw me yesterday."

"You're leaving tomorrow!"

There was silence. The next thing Edward knew, the door was opening, and Lucy was stepping out the door, looking him, eyebrow raised.

"Hello," she said sarcastically.

"Why are you in such a bad mood?" he demanded, crossing his arms, glaring at her.

She shrugged, looking away. She was dressed in her pyjamas, loose pants and spaghetti strap top. Her automail arm was on show, but she seemed to be half consciously hiding it by holding it close to her body, her right hand running up and down the metal absently. Meanwhile her glove was back on her right hand and her sunglasses were clutched in her left, spinning in the metal fingers absently. She looked strangely uncomfortable standing before him in such clothing, though he didn't understand why.

"Is that all you wanted?" she demanded, "I've got work to do- I leave in the morning."

"Exactly- come spend some time with us-"

"No, I have to get this done," she turned her back on him very quickly trying to re-enter her room. He grabbed her automail wrist.

"Lucy," he snapped, "stay with us- Alphonse is missing you already and Elysia looks ready to kill Zarraq."

"He's a big boy… he can handle it."

"Stop being so cold."

"I'll be as cold as I like." She seemed to try and pull away from him, she still hadn't turned to look at him. But Edward was just as pig headed as she. He pulled on her arm, jerking the joint at the elbow a little, the jarring forced her to turn. At which point he dropped her hand.

Lucy barely wore any make up. She wore a little concealer perhaps, a little lip balm, and quite a bit of eye liner, the habit appeared to have been picked up from Marie. But just then it was all pointless… the concealer was big slowly removed while her eyeliner caused the tears down her cheeks to turn black.

"Lucy I-"

"Shut up," she snapped, "you have no idea how hard this is for me."

"But I thought that… you were so used to travelling…"

"I am. I'm not used to leaving people…" she paused, her eyes fixed on the floor as though she were angry with that particular patch of carpet. "leaving people I care about. It's strange. It's harder than I thought it would be."

"So come sit wi-"

"How can I? I'll just cry for the rest of the night and not have the guts to leave," she shook her head. "Ed I can't face it… I can't face them. I'm having trouble with just you standing there, if I see Elysia or Alphonse I'll break down entirely."

Without thinking, as always, Edward reached out and pulled her into a hug. His arms wrapped around her upper torso, pinning her upper arms to her body. Her head rested on his chest, but she made no move to hug him back.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking up and away, still holding the girl close, "I didn't mean-"

He felt her arms move. Though… not to hug him. She placed her palms firmly on his chest and pushed him away. She was smiling sadly through her tears.

"Stop it," she sighed, sounding tired, "that's enough. You apologise for no reason, I seem to have that effect on you."

"But-"

"No, enough is enough Edward," she sighed, "sometimes… you holding me close like that drives me mad."

He frowned. "What?"

Lucy shook her head. That small sad smile was back. "It really doesn't matter. Just don't do that right now. I'm incredibly unstable. Go keep Elysia from killing my big brother, I wouldn't put it passed her right now. I still have a lot to get through."

"You've been in there for hours-"

"I'm on a man hunt," she said firmly, "no risks." With that she turned opened the door and walked in.

Edward stepped forward , only to have the door slammed in his face, knocking him backwards with a sore nose. He rubbed the end of his nose slightly staring at the door. Tentatively he tried the handle- it was locked.

He growled. Just liked Lucy to be that pigheaded. Even if she did have a slight point. Just then he didn't want to admit it even to himself. Though he wandered at her comment; "sometimes you holding me close like that drives me mad." What did that even mean?

He sighed, rubbing the back of his head, walking back down the stairs to the living room where Elysia and Zarraq were while Gracia was talking to someone in the kitchen, though Edward wasn't sure if it was on the phone or to Alphonse.

As Edward walked in, he looked around. Previously Zarraq and Elysia had been sat on the floor playing a tense game of snakes and ladders. It had been strange to see the tall man sitting on the floor playing such a game. Stranger still to see him being the one who appeared to be most afraid, Elysia rather continuously casting him 'death glares' as it were.

Now both were sitting on the sofa. Elysia had curled up in his lap, leaning against his chest, her eyes half closed sleepily while he read her a story from a book in his hands. Zarraq had a strangely calming voice as he spoke just then, deep, gentle… almost musical. It appeared to soothe the still depressed Elysia who was almost asleep by that point.

Edward watched the scene, then realised what about the scene didn't make sense… yet some how did at the same time. Zarraq was twenty nine, nearly thirty… he could have easily had children of Elysia's age, his own mother had a son older than Elysia by that time and a daughter too by nearly thirty. Yet here he was, alone, unmarried, no partner… no girlfriend. He wandered what had made him be the way he was. Zarraq was hardly an ugly man, he was good looking, though perhaps not as striking as his sister (Edward wouldn't have called Lucy pretty, but striking fitted the bill).

The two siblings had a lot more in common than they had realised. The two had some how managed to cause some ruin in each other's lives, and yet still keep the other sane… keep the other able to look after themselves. Giving and taking, till the point where nothing was gained and nothing was lost. It was a strange cycle, and the blonde alchemist was suddenly very grateful it had been broken. Seeing him sitting on the sofa, his cousin by adoption curled in his protective embrace as he read to her… he was a good man. A little dysfunctional, but so was Lucy and they loved her all the same. Why could the same no happen for him.

"Is she asleep?" asked Edward.

Zarraq did not break his reading but he shook his head and raised a hand in greeting to him. He seemed to be quite good at that already. As much as Edward did not want to admit it, once Elysia had decided someone was trust worthy, he found his own judgement swayed. Even more so when the same applied to Leo.

Edward came and sat on a seat and picked up a book from beside the chair and started reading. He half wandered where Alphonse was, he would have been willing to bet he was still with Gracia, either reading an alchemist book or explaining the aspect of alchemy he had been reading up on that day. Either way, they were due there for a while longer.

Soon after, Zarraq suddenly stood with Elysia in his arms, fast asleep. He left the room silently, closing the door behind him. Edward barely registered it. A moment later Zarraq returned, empty handed, and had picked up a deck of cards from a table. He settled himself on the sofa and leaned over to the coffee table before him.

Edward looked up suddenly, frowning.

"Zarraq?" he said suddenly.

"Yeah," his voice was as gruff as ever, as was his persona.

"That circle on Lucy's palm."

Zarraq's strangely mobile face winced, as he gritted his teeth. "I made it…"

"I know… but she uses it for alchemy."

"I told you before, she scratched the symbol into her automail hand after that, wanted to make it easier to transmute. She loved Blake's work… guess it's no real surprise."

"Aren't you upset about it though? Isn't it blasphemy?"

He shrugged. "Depends on the person… I believe in Ishball… but I've also come to believe in alchemy… I don't see why one can't exist without the other." He shrugged again. "Why?"

"Undrawn circles… well circles being drawn out around the object to be transmuted in alchemy is almost unheard of. I can do it, but it's a mistake from my past," he was hardly about to explain that he could do fully circle-less alchemy to Zarraq, no matter how his judgement had been swayed, "beyond that it's very difficult. The fact that Lucy can do alchemy with circles on her hands… that… she must be a relatively competent alchemist."

Zarraq chuckled at Edward's choice of words. "The girl… she finds it hard to sit down and work. She's lazy like that, even if she has enough energy to try and save ten people from a burning building."

Edward could almost see Zarraq's mind replaying the scene in Charlotte's, they way he had perceived it. Clearly it had not been a very pleasant thing to imagine. The older man shook his head.

"She's lazy, but intelligent. With the right training she could become great… the problem is, she can only learn from books, she has no time to learn from other alchemists." He sighed. "It's the way she lives… if she'd just give it a chance, and really settle down, like she said she wanted to, she could have made a career out of alchemy. I'm not saying she's some sort of natural, but she definitely has a feel for it."

No… not a natural. Edward agreed with that. He learned alchemy from books too, as a child. He picked up more and more complex things from a teachers, but the majority of his learning was done through books. He was a protégé, but Lucy… she might have a natural feel for the science. Maybe someone training her… maybe if he trained her…

Edward hang his head in his hands. She was leaving. There was no more time.

"Why is she going Zarraq?" he mumbled, "why is she really going?"

"Revenge."

Edward looked up surprised.

"She wants revenge against Theodore Fuller. She had hoped to make peace with one brother, she wanted another connection to her father. But the moment she had a chance at that, he took it away by hating her. Then made it worse by not attacking her directly. Killing all those innocent people just for his anger against her mother… against her because she was a product of that marriage. And killing Harry Davis. She hates him, and she is going to make sure he pays. Which is why I'm going with her."

Edward frowned. "What?"

"She's going to kill him if she's not careful. I'll be there as voice of reason, for both of them. I was willing to help Fuller humiliate or alienate Chaandi. I was not willing for him to break her or kill others. I'm possibly one of the more despicable people in Chaandi's life you'll meet, and that is saying something, but I am no murderer."

"What about justice? I thought she-"

"Her justice. Elric, her justice is harsh. This is revenge pure and simple, can't you see it?"

He paused. That was all it could be. Cold revenge. Not that he blamed her, all those people… Harry… their lives taken away so quickly… and Fuller had blamed it on her.

"She's not coming back is she?"

Zarraq shook his head. "I've got no idea…" Edward looked at him sharply. "Honestly I have no idea. She might become more comfortable with travelling again, she might miss this place too much. Personally, I think… no… I hope she comes back. That Chaandi… she's… never been one to follow what anyone else expects of her."

Edward's sigh was heavy. "That's true…"

He glanced at the door way. He wasn't even sure why. He wanted Lucy to come through those doors and announce that she wasn't leaving. Then he could give her more of a chance. He knew she knew him better than he knew her… it sort of hurt that it was the case. He wanted to get to know her better, he wanted to teach her alchemy… improve her own alchemy, he wanted… he wanted… far too much from her. He knew that.

It didn't stop him from wanting it.

*

The afternoon was warm. There was no breeze, only a few clouds in the sky and the sun was shining brilliantly.

It seemed a little odd the the day seemed so cheerful when inside the station a large group of people looked as thought someone had died. They were all there. Zarraq and Lucy carried a suitcase each as well as a backpack each. Alphonse wasn't sure, but he was fairly certain she was wearing the same clothes as she had been when she arrived in central all those months before. At the transition between spring and summer.

A loose jacket over a tight long sleeved top. Loose jeans and short male boots with no heel.

Zarraq was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, a jacket was over one arm. They were prepared for anything.

One by one, without much speaking, Lucy hugged them all good-bye. Edward could not help but think that she hesitated before she embraced him for one last time. Elysia began to cry and refused to let go, Lucy appeared unwilling to stop her from holding on. There was a swift word from Gracia and the child let go still sobbing.

Though Lucy's eyes were once again hidden by her glasses, Winry, Alphonse and Edward were fairly sure Lucy was ready to cry as well. She muttered her final good-bye and climbed onto the train, followed soon after by Zarraq who had shaken hands with Edward, Alphonse and Leo, and embraced Gracia, Rose, Winry and Elysia, almost formally.

As Zarraq and Lucy sat down, the group paused to watch them then turned to leave. It hurt to much to watch. But that was when Elysia and Leo broke away from the rest of the group and went running towards the train.

"Big sister big sister!" they yelled.

The sound of their voices carried across to her, making her look up. There was a loud toot and the train began moving, very slowly.

Elysia carried on running to keep up, poor Leo fell behind, but he still called for Lucy. Without thinking clearly, Lucy got up and ran to the very end of the train, Zarraq getting up for a moment to follow, but stopped himself.

"Big sister!" Elysia screamed.

"What!" demanded Lucy from the back, Elysia looked up but carried on running to keep up with her.

"Are you going forever?"

There was a moment's pause. Lucy's glasses had come off, Elysia could see them in her hand as she looked at her younger cousin.

"Are you?"

Lucy started laughing, the train picked up speed. Elysia was finding it hard to keep up.

"Of coarse I'm coming back!" Lucy shouted through her laughter, "I have to come home don't I?"

The train finally pulled out of the station entirely, Lucy standing at the back of the train, smiling so broadly that you couldn't see her eyes, waving a hand at them all. Elysia had stopped running when she got to the end of the station, waving at her cousin, laughing with her.

Gracia caught up with her, and picked her up holding her close.

"You're a silly girl," chuckled Gracia, "of coarse she's coming back, she just didn't want to say good bye."

"I just wanted to make sure."

By the they had all caught up with them, Leo was looking happier in Winry's arms, if a little disappointed in himself.

"I say it's time for lunch," Alphonse said, grinning, "Coconut anyone?"

"We always go to Coconut!" complained Elysia, pulling herself out of her mother's arms.

"But it's nice," pouted Leo, "I want Coconut!"

As the other's moved off, Gracia stayed put for a moment. She was watching the train. It was almost lost in the distance, she could still see the tiny speck that was her niece. Behind her was another, an arm raised. Probably Zarraq. Gracia raised a hand of her own, not moving.

She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"She'll come back," Edward told her, "she promised."

"You weren't sure until she told Elysia were you?"

He shook his head. "She confused me last night… I'm never sure if she hates us or not."

"She can't hate us… she can't even hate Zarraq." She looked up at the blonde young man. That wasn't what was bothering him. "What did she say?"

"It's just that…" he sighed, it wasn't really the ache of a close friend leaving that had gotten to him. He had tried to convince himself that it was. It was the comment she had made when he hugged her… "Gracia you knew Lucy well…"

"Yes… she's my niece."

"Better than Winry?"

"I'm not sure, girls find it easier to talk to girls their own age."

"But you were more intuitive-"

"What's this about?"

"Last night… Lucy… she didn't hug me back… she told me when I hugged her it drove her mad… and today… she almost didn't… does she hate me? What I did I do to her?"

Gracia started laughing. She shook her head still chuckling to herself. The train had now disappeared and she turned her back on it, to catch up with the rest of them. Was Edward so stupid.

"Gracia?" he caught up with her, "what's so funny?"

Apparently he was.

"Edward… it's not really my place to tell you this… but Lucy isn't here any more and maybe things will change when she's back…" she looked up at him, smiling sadly, "Lucy was falling in love with you."

"What?!"

Edward stopped dead in his tracks. That didn't make sense! She teased him, laughed at him, treated him with scorn, her attitude towards him blew hot and cold. At best it was friendship. It had to have been.

"I know she treated you strangely… but… think about her up bringing? It's not very conventional… she had no one to refer to on a day to day basis. Besides that, she knew you were in love with Winry. She could see it. Do you remember the day when we were reunited?"

He grinned sadly, "that was a good day…"

"Yes… but she sent you off with Winry- instead of keeping you with her. Ever thought why?"

"I thought she was sick of me…"

"Ed… you still have a lot to learn," she smiled and waved at the others as Winry and Elysia called impatiently to them all, "we're coming!"

As they approached them, Winry accepted the kissed Edward offered her, though he still looked very stunned. As they exited the station, Winry hung back with Edward.

"What's wrong?" she asked gently.

"We lost a friend…" he said slowly, trying to push what Gracia said to the back of his mind.

"She's gonna come home."

"I know."

*

Much later that evening, Rose had taken Leo home, Alphonse had gone back to their room at the hotel to get an early night. He was both physically and emotionally exhausted. The remainder of them went back to Gracia's house.

Elysia too was exhausted, but appeared to be in a significantly better mood than she had been the night before. She persuaded Winry into a seat and got her to read her a story. Edward could not help but notice it was the same story that Zarraq had read to her the night before.

Gracia sat with them, smiling to herself, a glass of water in her hand. The three of them looked almost bitterly happy. It was a strange feeling… strange expression. Bitter sweet… sadness she had left… happiness that she considered Central with them a home. Lucy was a strange ray of light in their lives… a bitter but bright ray of sunlight.

'A bitter ray of sun light,' Gracia thought mildly as she looked about the room, 'sounds like something Blake would have said…'

Edward grunted and got up to get himself a beer from the was not in a good mood still. What Gracia had said to him had shaken him. Lucy had been falling in love with him? At least she wasn't in love with him. But… she hadn't said anything… she hadn't acted like she was… then again- she knew of his feelings for Winry. She had kept her own emotions under lock and key for the sake of their friendship… with all of them. Had she told Winry, nothing would have been able to happen with himself and Winry. Had she told him, he would have been uncomfortable with her. Or… no that was the only possible out come.

Was he glad she hadn't said anything? Was he hurt? Was he flattered? Confused? Confused was the best expression.

Standing in the kitchen another thought struck him. She had claimed she was going to come home. Was that… she had been in her room the day before for a very long time. She'd taken everything with her. She'd have no reason to come home if she had done that.

Suddenly furious with the girl, he left the kitchen, leaving his beer on the table and made a beeline straight up the stairs and to Lucy's room. Without thinking he knocked… then got angry with himself and put his hand on the doorknob. He hesitated. Somehow he felt like he was violating privacy. If she had left for good… that made no difference.

Fuelled with anger on behalf of the rest of his family, who had believed what Lucy had said, he pushed the door opened and stormed into the room.

He stopped, suddenly. Looking very surprised.

The room… it… looked lived in.

The room itself was modestly sized, there was a window opposite the door, a bed pushed into the right hand corner. Lucy had neglected to make the bed that morning, as such the covers were still messy from a possible sleepless night. A bedside table on the left side of the bed, there was a light left on, a pile of books beside that, alchemy and story books.

There was a dressing table along that same wall, there were still more books, along with a few items of make up and a brush. She had not emptied the brush, there were strands of black and silver hair.

On the opposite wall was a large wardrobe, a door had been left half open, revealing many clothes left. He recognised some of them as the clothes she had brought with her, a few were clothes she had bought a long the way.

On the wall on the same side as the door was a modestly size book shelf. It was mostly empty, though the beginnings of a collection could be seen.

The floor was wooden with a plain cream coloured soft rug beside her bed, and a couple of bean bags on the floor, something Elysia had clearly come up with. There were also the pyjamas she had worn the night before on the floor.

The walls were a sort of purplish white, but little could be seen of that. Instead the wall that was not covered by furniture was utterly covered by photographs, drawings, pictures, writing- everything! It was all to do with her life in Central.

She had well and truly made the room her own. It looked like a place she was planning on coming back to. She had been telling the truth.

He glanced at the bed. The saw something he hadn't been expecting. An envelope.

Feeling more self conscious about being in that room, he picked his way through nervously and picked it up. There were more beneath. Strangely he saw his name on the top one.

He turned it over. Written in scrawly, spidery hand writing he read 'because I knew you'd come into my room first'. He chuckled to himself and checked the other envelopes. There were two. One for Elysia and one for Gracia. He returned them back to their position and left the room.

He darted off to the bathroom, and locked the door. His hand shook a little as he opened the letter. His eyes darted across the page, reading quickly. He frowned, then read again. His golden eyes widened and he smiled to himself.

Lucy knew Gracia better than the older woman had thought. More than that she knew him better than he had realised… it was almost frustrating. But at the same time, yet again she had promised she was going to come home. She didn't say when. The promise had been made, and that was final.

He folded the letter and put it in his top pocket of the jacket and left the bathroom and headed down stairs. He made for the kitchen, picking up his beer, he then walked into the living room, when Elysia was asking Gracia for dinner and Winry was laughing. He walked straight over to Winry and kissed her gently.

"What was that for?"

He shrugged. "I felt like it," he told her, "and I need a hug." He sat down beside her and pulled her into an embrace. She leaned on his chest and smiled softly.

"Yeah… I know what you mean."

Gracia smiled gently. 'I hope you know what your doing, Tash…' she thought sadly, 'Maes look after your niece.' Then turned her attention to Elysia.

*

"So," Zarraq said, as he and Lucy returned to their places, Lucy having returned her glasses back to their proper position on her face. "Where are we headed? This train goes to Rush Valley."

"I figure we go to Rush Valley for some information. It might be a mechanics Central, but because of that there is always a lot of information. We see what we can dig up, then move on. The reports say he's got family there anyway, so we'll check it out. He might be hiding out with some uncle or something."

"You're really intent on this aren't you."

"Hell yes," she looked at him and grinned wicked her, her glasses having slipped a little, she winked at him. "Big brother, I want to get this over and done with as quickly as possible… I want to go home."

He laughed. "I never thought I'd hear you say that."

She giggled coyly, pushing her glasses up her nose. She sat back and crossed her arms, looking out the window, "yes well… now we have a real family to go back to. And you know what?"

She was looking at him again. Zarraq leaned foreword on his knees and shook his head. "Tell me."

"I'm actually looking back to going to the same place over and over!"

He smiled sadly, and moved to sit beside her. "So am I, Tash, believe me so am I."

The siblings looked at each other, smiling happily. And looked outside, gazing forwards to their destination. For the time being, they had to keep looking forwards, before they could look back to go home. It was the best they could manage. For the time being, that was all they needed.

Outside the day was warm, the only breeze was being made by the train. The sun was bright, the sky was clear. It looked like a happy ending. It was an ending… but only an ending before a new beginning was about to start, and this time Lucy… Chaandi… Tash… she was ready for it. More than she had ever been before.