Beautifully Dark Places
Epilogue
Two Months Later

"There is no real ending. It's just the place where you stop the story."
― Frank Herbert

Water ran down the window panes of the classroom, distracting me from the day's lesson about something horrifyingly uninteresting. Lightning flashed through the streaked up window, and I further distracted myself by counting the seconds between the lightning and the thunder. It was about four miles away, maybe more. It reminded me of the night I'd found myself on my back beside a log behind my school. For those first few moments, I thought it had all been a dream; that maybe I had fallen off that log and passed out. Maybe only a day had gone by.

It took only a short walk back to my house to know differently.

I'd been in Wizard City for about a month. I'd been missing from my home for about a week.

Of course, my parents had given me the lecture of a lifetime, complete with a life sentence of grounding. I deserved it, too. I knew that now. I listened to every word my Mom said to me and told her I was in full agreement. She'd been so surprised that she sent my Father to finish speaking to me and left the room. My sister showed up, too, and went between shaking her finger in my direction and smothering me in hugs. Apparently there'd even been a search for me, and the world no longer looked at us as the 'perfect' family, but I was beginning to doubt that they ever really had.

Now, it had been two months since the fight with Morganthe. Two months since I promised I'd find a way back. The stress of everyday life no longer had a place for me; people my age were stressing over exams and their boyfriends buying them Valentine's gifts while I was losing sleep at night over whether or not an evil warlord was still threatening both of my worlds and if my boyfriend was even still alive.

I found solitude in research. I hadn't bothered trying to tell anyone what really happened—I wasn't stupid, I knew they'd think I was crazy—but that didn't mean I hadn't developed a slight obsession with researching the history of magic here on Earth. My constant trips to the library and earned myself a position in a group of sweet friends, though they weren't the magic wielding idiots I was used to.

I missed them. No matter how many book club meetings I sat through or how much cake I stuffed in my face, I still couldn't get the constant thought of them out of my brain. I had always heard people say that it was worse to try to live without something you had once had rather than something you had never had. That was now something I understood completely.

Now, when I saw the rain, I saw magic cascading from the clouds and dancing as it fell from the heavens. When I opened a fantasy book, I could see the shimmer of gold and blue in the space between the letters. When I saw a casket and its selection of dark-clad guardians, I saw purple and black swirling around them in a silent comfort. I could see it everywhere I looked: at the grocery store, in the middle of a math lecture, and even in the women's department of the shoe store.

It was everywhere and it was everything.

I was still sad. I would always be sad. I might not have belonged in Wizard City, but the Spiral would always be home to me now. My home didn't feel like home anymore, and I was suddenly aware of how much it had felt like home before I left. Now, it felt empty and cold, much like how I first felt when I opened my eyes after I went through the portal. It was odd, how a few weeks could complete make you and then break you.

The seat beside me moved, though my gaze stayed trained on the raindrops streaming down the glass of the window. I wondered if Boris could make it rain all the way in Wizard City… I wondered if he was still alive, too. Ryan would be devastated if he wasn't.

I'm sure they're fine. My thoughts felt empty. I gotten so used to having them invaded with a voice other than my own that now I felt as though I was sitting in an empty room in my head. I pulled my sleeves down over my hands and propped my head up on them. What was worse: not knowing if they were alive or knowing that they were dead? I could barely even process the thought.

There was a clatter on the space of desk beside me, and I jumped slightly as I was pulled from my thoughts. I turned sharply to snap at whoever was so careless as to throw their things down when someone was thinking, but found myself staring into the same eyes I thought I'd never see again. My thoughts sputtered in my head, and I wasn't quite aware that my mouth was hanging open.

Nolan had his hands folded behind his head and was leaned back in the rolling chair beside me, staring at me as if I might suddenly disappear. There was something that bordered the line of anger and relief on his face, but I wasn't sure which was that emotion was going to fall. My first reaction was to grab him by the shoulders and shake him. "What are you doing here?" I'd ask him, but I knew the answer to that.

As if in response to my unvoiced question, he held up his wrist, which had the porting necklace wrapped around it.

"Why'd—"

"It's been almost a year," he sighed, suddenly looking everywhere but at me. I glanced over at my teacher, who somehow missed some random guy in robes walking into his class and chattering away to his student, and then back to Nolan.

"I keep forgetting time is different there." I mumbled, sitting back in my chair. "Why can't they see you?"

"Charm." He was still avoiding my gaze. I wasn't sure why. "I need to talk to you."

Ah. Breaking up with me already? "I assumed that when you showed up to my math class of all the times."

"It's serious, Dawn." I stood up, catching the attention of my teacher, though he didn't question me as I slipped out the door of the classroom. Nolan was right behind me as I shut the door back and leaned against the wall.

"What's so serious, then?"

"You need to come back." He paused, but continued as I opened my mouth, "I mean it. Ambrose has the Spiral key and won't let anyone even have a hint to where he hid it. This," he held his wrist up again, "is the only way back and forth now. When I go back, he's going to destroy it, and I have to be back by tonight."

I froze. Things weren't like before; I wasn't horridly unhappy with my life and looking for a way out. My family and I got along. I'd gotten a part-time job after school, my grades were getting better, my sister and I hung out every weekend, I had some friends, and I even had the opportunity to go to a poetry reading in Manhattan next month. The hot weather might have been devastating, but I wasn't melting. I was actually fitting into my world… I wasn't sure that I would ever truly fit into Nolan's world. I had minimal control over my power and there was no one left in the Spiral to teach me anything more about it.

"I…" I cradled my head in my hands. "Nolan… I don't know if I can."

He was silent for a few moments, biting his bottom lip as he mulled that over. "You don't know if you can, or you don't know if you want to?"

"Things are going alright here now…" I mumbled. "I can make things work here. In Wizard City, I'm just a girl who doesn't know how to use her powers. I don't know that I ever will. I don't know that I can ever really adapt to how things are there. I mean, it's like my home, but…"

"I know," he nodded slowly, understandingly. He didn't seem sad though, just like I had forced him to find a way around a road block. "So, you want to stay?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "I'm sorry. If you hate me then—"

His eyes snapped up to meet mine as he shook his head, fingers pulling the necklace off his wrist. "I could never hate you."

"What are you—"

"If you stay, then I stay."

My eyes widened. Would you really? "But what about Susan? Boris?"

"We said our goodbyes already. They already knew this would probably happen." He paused, grinning faintly. "Would you believe that Boris cried more than Susan?"

"You're practically his brother, of course he cried." I rolled my eyes.

He chuckled quietly, stuffing his hands into his robe pockets as he leaned back against the wall across from me. "What do you think about moving to the country side? I always wanted to. The houses were way too damn expensive, though."

"You moving to the country?" I laughed loudly, "have you seen the kind of clothes they wear?"

"No, but it can't be worse than the clothes in Krokotopia."

"Oh, it can definitely be worse."

He smiled, leaning his head back just enough so that the back of his skull rested against the wall. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. I'd been into Texas, but that was really about as country as I'd seen. Oklahoma was pretty country. It wasn't the deep South, and that was what I'd always wanted to travel to. Somewhere in Georgia? Florida? The possibilities were endless. I shook my head again, but more at my giddiness at the prospect of moving off somewhere with him. It had sounded too fantasy-like while we were in Wizard City, but now it was much more concrete. Definite.

"You're going to have to stop wearing those, though." I nodded to the robes. "People haven't worn those in hundreds of years."

"I don't believe your school is the appropriate place to try to get me to take my clothes off."

"I didn't mean it like that." I tried to look applaud at the thought. "You can borrow some of Isaac's again."

He nodded, slowly. Nolan sighed after a moment, pushing himself off the wall as he nodded to the door. "We're going to have to find somewhere for me to crash."

"You can stay with us." I shrugged. "Mom and Dad will want to meet you, but I doubt they'll tell you that you can't stay."

"I can always charm them into liking me."

"Hey, no magic-ing my parents." I punched him lightly and he laughed. I smiled; I forgot how much I missed hearing him laugh. I forgot how much I had missed him. Even I was surprised at how easily I waltzed through the portal without letting him talk me out of it. I'd never been that sure of myself. Not even now that I had no reason to be unsure anymore.

"I was referring to my ravishing good looks, but alright, no 'magic-ing' your parents."

"You're so arrogant."

"Uh, have you met Malorn?" He gave me an incredulous look before he rolled his eyes. "You must have since I distinctly remember him having his tongue crammed down your throat."

"Thin ice, Stormgate, thin ice."

"Is that supposed to be a pun?"

"It'd be a horrible one."

"That's the definition of a pun, though." Nolan grinned, wrapping his arm around my shoulder as he pulled me toward the door that I had ran out of so long ago. It seemed like forever ago that I was first ported into Wizard City.

"You're not funny."

"Correction, you're not funny. I'm hilarious."

"Mhmm, sure." I shook my head, pushing the door open as he followed behind me into the parking lot. It was bright outside, but that was nothing compared to the brightness in my soul. Everything was happy. I was pretty sure the world was about to morph into a Disney movie and that everyone would suddenly start harmonized singing and synchronized dancing. A smile tugged at my lips and I chuckled quietly at the thought. Nolan shot me a confused look but didn't question it.

Still, there were matters that had to be sorted out; the singing and dancing could wait.

"So, Morganthe is dead, right?"

"She's… no longer a threat." Nolan rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "We couldn't kill her, but we subdued her long enough to get her locked up in best guarded prison in the Spiral."

"She'll probably get out. That's how these things go."

"Don't say that." Nolan snorted, stopping in middle of the parking lot. "We couldn't have done it if you hadn't done what you did, though. Ambrose wanted to thank you himself, but I guess that's not exactly a priority." He laughed slightly, pulling the necklace off his wrist again and sliding it over my head. "We let everyone think you died. Only our friends know you're still alive. I figured it'd be easier for you that way."

"Thanks," I nodded in relief. "I'd hate for anyone to, you know, coming looking for me."

"Ah, well," he crossed his arms and sighed. "I guess I'm the typical boyfriend. Sue me."

"Wait, is suing even a thing in Wizard City?"

"Yes," he grinned, "but just know that they frown upon trying to sue an arrogant Necromancer for defiling your sister."

"Oh my God, you didn't really." I pressed my palm against my face, attempting to stifle the laughter that threatened to spill out of my throat. I could just imagine the look on Malorn's face… and Susan's. She probably chased Nolan around with a frying pan for the next month or two.

"I didn't say I did anything."

"What did you even sue him for? His dog?" I couldn't think of anything else Malorn had that was worth suing him over.

"No, for that sweet sword he's got. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get one of those? It's nearly impossible."

"So… you used your sister to try to steal his sword because you couldn't get one?"

"You're supposed to be on my side." He teased, leaning forward to kiss me on the forehead. I blinked in surprise and then rolled my eyes.

"What about Genevieve? Did they let her go?"

"Malorn took care of it. I didn't really get too involved with that." He shrugged slightly. "She's not exactly at the top of my to-do list." He frowned instantly and shook his head, eyes widening. "I did not mean that like it sounded. I swear on my life."

"…But she is on it." I snorted.

"No!" Nolan argued defensively. It was hilarious how he went from smartass to mushy to defensive in three seconds flat. It was even funnier that I'd gotten so used to it that I barely even noticed it anymore. I smiled; there wasn't any darkness left inside me anymore. Maybe I had imagined the rain earlier, or maybe I was imagining the sunshine now. Somehow, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that Nolan was back, and he was staying.

"What do we do with this thing?" I asked curiously, holding up the necklace he had put on me a few moments ago. The response was a shrug.

"I guess destroy it. That's what Ambrose would have wanted."

"What if you decide you want to go back?"

"I won't." He stated it as simply as if he was telling me Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. I stood there for a few moments, just staring at him staring at me. Why hadn't things always been like this? It would have made life so much simpler. So much happier.

"So, what do we do next?" I asked carefully, looking out over the horizon line, almost sighing when I saw buildings instead of the giant tree from Ravenwood. I smiled slightly.

"For once, I don't really know." Nolan, turned his head to the side, watching the buildings like I was. "That's actually pretty liberating. Let's go rob a bank and throw something at a window."

"Careful or you'll be spending the night in jail instead of my house."

"Jail," he mused with a grin. "I've never been arrested for anything. Sounds pretty adventurous to me."

"This is Earth. You work, you sleep, you die. There is no adventuring."

"Hey, I don't fit a mold, Dawn. I'm a free spirit." He threw his hands up in the air at the last part, and then rested them atop his head. If he was going to be a free spirit, drifter, Rambo-idiot then I'd have to lock him in his room or something.

"Yeah, then I'm a Ghost Buster."

"A wha?"

"Nothing." I grinned. Then, I turned to him with the best serious look I could pull off. "So, do you want to watch the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or Disney movies first?"

"Uh," he paused, looking slightly afraid. "Which one did you say was the one about the weird witch dude?"

"Harry Potter, and he's a wizard. Seriously, you can't even remember your own kind?"

"He sounded like a wimp to me. I don't claim wimps to be part of our kind."

"Hey, Harry Potter is awesome. Don't insult my childhood."

"Wait, I thought this was a movie." He looked extremely confused now.

"It is. I just watched it as a kid."

"Yeah, and I kicked Firecat kittens as a kid but you don't see me sheltering them from meanies and their words."

"Smartass."

"I told you I was hilarious!"

"Not even close." I laughed quietly, pulling him after me as I pointed out the road that led to my house. I could already imagine the look on my mother's face. Too bad I couldn't tell her anything about our amazing adventures in a parallel universe and how he'd given up his world to be with me in mine. It sounded like a story even to me. I smiled.

I always thought that if my life was a story, that I would be a meaningless little side character.

Turns out; I wasn't.

Boris was sprawled out on the couch in Susan's livingroom, robes twisted around him from sleep and spiked hair now flat from tossing and turning. The skin around his eyes was just as puffy and red as the throw pillow he was lying on, and tip of his nose was just as perfectly matching. There was a soft drizzle outside, just enough to cover the windows in a sheet of distortion and slick the sidewalks enough for novices to fall into the streets. It was a fitting atmosphere for the mood in the house.

Nolan had left that morning—around lunchtime-and everyone had met up at Susan's house to say goodbye. After that, nobody really wanted to leave. Ryan was sleeping on a makeshift pallet in the floor. Malorn had crashed in the spare room that used to be Kymma's. Susan hadn't come out of her room since Nolan left, and Boris hadn't really spoken to anyone since then.

Now, Boris was awake, but he was only staring out the window at something blurry off in the distance. Ryan stirred quietly on the floor beside him.

"You awake?" His voice was rough and horse as a result of the tears shed hours ago.

"Yeah." Ryan's voice was still laced with sleep as she rubbed her eyes. "You alright?"

"Yeah."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not really." He shook his head slowly, covering his eyes with one arm.

"Do you think they'll come back?"

"No, I don't." He was quiet after that. Ryan let the room swirl in its silence before the sound of rain on the drift lulled her back to sleep. After several minutes, the only sound in the room was her soft snoring and the pitter-pat of the raindrops on Susan's roof. Boris let the sound continue, knowing full well he could stop the rain with a wave of his hand and simply not having the energy to pick his arm up.

"You, too?" Malorn's voice echoed off the empty-feeling walls. Boris nodded without looking away from the window, but he pulled his legs up so that Malorn could sit down at the foot of the couch. The Necromancer moved slower than death itself, and slowly settled on one of the brown cushions and propped his elbows up on his knees. "I never thought I'd miss that asshole."

"He kinda grows on you after a while." A faint smile tugged at the corner of the Diviner's lips. He and Nolan had been friends for a long time, and that was just enough reason to tease the poor kid every chance he got.

"In a parasitic sort of way, yes." Malorn rolled his eyes. "Enjoying making it rain?"

"That is technically my job."

"I guess." The black haired boy leaned against the back couch cushion and sighed. "What do you thinks going to happen now?"

"Nothing, I guess. Morganthe is taken care of. Genevieve is in jail. The Spiral key is locked away. What else is there to deal with?"

"We're sort of… meaningless now."

Boris glanced down at him, raising an eyebrow. "You're starting to sound like Nolan."

"I think he had a point, as much as it pains me to say it." Malorn propped his elbow up on the armrest and leaned his cheek against his fist. "We've always been the ones sent out to deal with things when everything goes haywire. We finally got it under control, and now it's like we don't have a job anymore."

"I heard they were looking for volunteers to help in Celestia, if you want to travel."

"I've never been big on travelling. Or water."

"I wouldn't go to Celestia, then."

"Hey, guys?" A flash of Susan's hair was the first thing Boris saw when he looked over the back of the couch. She was leaned against the doorframe of the hallway, with one hand holding her arm as she stared at the ground. Malorn turned around in his seat to look at her, slightly surprised. "He'd be back by now, wouldn't he?"

"Time is about six times faster here than it is on Earth, from what I could find in the library." Boris nodded slowly. Nolan had left about ten hours ago, which meant it had been almost five hours on Earth. That would mean sundown was getting close.

"He still has a few more hours." Malorn shook his head.

"He would have been back by now if he was coming back." Susan sighed, pushing herself off the doorframe and leaning against the back of the couch. "Kymma wouldn't have made him wait this long to port back. He's not coming."

"Why would she make him stay?" Malorn looked lost. "This is his home. She cares about him; she'd want him to be happy."

"He is happy." Susan smiled sadly, glancing between the two of them. "She makes him happy. He left knowing full well that he probably wouldn't come back. I'm fine with that, as long as he's happy with where he is."

"Yeah," Boris nodded slowly, smiling down Ryan as he spoke. "I can understand that."

"You gonna be alright?" Malorn glanced back at Susan, patting the hand she had on the back of the couch.

"I'll be fine. It's in my nature to worry over him." She shrugged slightly.

"He'll be fine." Boris noticed how the rain was slowing to stop, leaving the dark world outside damp and silent. It didn't seem eerie, though, since most of the monsters had been driven away after Morganthe was defeated. "He's smart. I'm sure they'll both be fine."

"And they'll be fine together." Malorn added with a quick nod. "We'll all be fine."

Aaaaaand there!~ Have your happy ending that you wanted! The forum for the SYOC for the sequel is up, so if you want a character in it (even a main character!) then go check it out! There's a link on my profile.

Also, I know I've got some loose ends to tie up here. Don't worry! They'll get resolved in the sequel.