Chapter 100. Epilogue: One Year Later....
Rifiuto: Non Miniera
I want so, so much to do a sequel......
I asked at the beginning of this story for you to decide if this was repetitive of Changed? Well, what's your verdict?
You can do this..... you can do this....just.......publish it.....No!....You have to......*sniffles*.....I've prolonged it long enough......it's time to say goodbye.......I CAN'T!!!! I will not cry.....I will not cry...I will not......*cries*
I've loved writing this story, and I'm sad to see it end. You've all been wonderful, I've enjoyed reading your reviews. I never enjoyed writing words in chapters as much as I enjoyed writing the words in these chapters for this story. I loved writing this story as much as I enjoyed writing Changed? Maybe even more so. I truly loved writing this story, and never got bored with it. I'm so glad you followed Fae through this and stayed to see her get back to her parents.
I want so, so, so, so much to do a sequel........
You've all been wonderful readers and reviewers. I loved opening my e-mail to find a stack of reviews for this story almost every night. Some of them made me laugh, some made me cry, but they all made me remember why I love to write. I loved the short two word reviews and the paragraph reviews, they're all wonderful and I'll miss them dearly.
I started this story wondering how I was going to make this different from Changed? and by now, I know how I managed to make it different. I had Fae discover secrets that her parents- particularly Elphaba- kept buried for years, and I made her accept the fact that her parents- especially Elphaba- are human beings. They are just that--human. I had Fae discover that her mother kept a secret that nearly destroyed her in the process; that her mother was just as agile as any other human being, and that she could and would break if pushed to her brink. That Fae had to discover her mother's secret to forgive her, and by forgiving Elphaba, she forgave herself for refusing to see that her parents were breakable.
I think I accomplished that with this story. I hope I did.
Thank you to Elphaba1Fan, ReallyObessiveWriter, Akasharouge, populardarling, xEastendersFan4Lifex, TillITryIllNeverKnow, Kirei Yuki Tenshi, witch-of-the-west9482, Elphiethegood, -greenTARDISgal-, FaeYero4ever, Beautifully Tragic Ozian, James Birdsong, and SoConfusified for taking time......*wipes tears away*.....reading and reviewing this story, you all have been wonderful and I've enjoyed every review written.
I hope you all come back to read more of my stories, and possibly the sequel to this- if I decide to do a sequel.
Before I wrote this A/N, I went back and read the six pages of reviews on this story, and I noticed that you all loved it. I never read my own finished work if I can get away with it, but seeing the wonderful reviews I've gotten, I think I will read this story back to front. My great-great-great-great uncle Oliver Wendell Holmes, the writer, was quoted as saying,
"Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked."
I think it's true. My mind has certainly been driven to the brink of insanity trying to come up with the perfect ending to this story. And then I realized, that this story will never be perfect, because nothing is perfect.
"Every idea is an incitement... Eloquence may set fire to reason."
Reasons for writing this story were set on fire, my incitement to continue came with each review I recieved. Every review I read made me want to make this story the best it could be. I didn't aim for perfection, I didn't achieve perfection because I didn't aim for it. I aimed for my best, and it was good enough. I hope.
When I first joined, I thought that my stories wouldn't be good enough. My first attempt, Cinderella, turned out to be good enough. I wrote several more, and then I wrote Changed? and I got reviews begging me to continue. And then I wrote this one. And at first, I could have kicked myself for writing something exactly like Changed? But it soon took on its own life, and became something entirely different to Changed? while still maintaining the essence of its predecessor. And now, here it is, 100 chapters and 81 reviews later, so unlike Changed? but so similar in its own respect. I've never been more proud of my writing than I am with this one.
Thank you for letting me share this story with you. It's been a pleasure writing this, and I hope my other stories turn out as good, and well loved as this one.
Thank you.
"A thought is often original, though you have uttered it a hundred times."-- Oliver Wendell Holmes
~Fiyero's Girl-Elphaba
Elphaba turned, to see her husband standing behind her.
Music sounded, and couples enjoyed themselves on the dance floor. The reception started three hours earlier, after the wedding ceremony, and was still going strong.
"Care to dance, my queen?"
A smile appeared on her face, lighting her eyes as she took his hand.
"I'd be honored, my king."
As he led her onto the dance floor, she caught sight of her daughter sitting alone at the table, swirling the champagne around in her glass. She looked bored. Not the way a nineteen-year-old should at her brother's wedding.
"What are you watching so intently?"
Elphaba looked back at her husband, startled from her observation.
"I'm sorry, what--oh....oof!"
As Elphaba had turned, she'd misstepped in the waltz they'd been partaking in, tripped, and slammed into her husband, causing the two to fall to the dance floor, Fiyero on his back, Elphaba on top of him. Other dancers stopped, to see the King and Queen laying in the middle of the dance floor.
"Oh...okay, normally, I would gladly welcome the position we're in, but.....Fae could you get off me, please?" Fiyero asked, rubbing his head.
"Oh, sorry-" Elphaba started, slowly sitting up. Liir, Candle, Musetta, Glinda, Boq, Nessa, and Fae had gathered around them.
"Mama, Daddy, are you okay?" Fae asked, offering her hand. As Fiyero sat up, rubbing the back of his head, a young man joined them.
"Are you all right, Your Majesties?" Elphaba looked up, to see the young man behind her. His grey eyes and dark auburn hair caused Elphaba pause.
If she were younger, and single.....
"I...I saw you fall. Are you all right?" Slowly, Elphaba nodded as Fiyero got up, and reached out to help her up. She took his hand, as well as the hand the young man offered.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." She said, as the others stood. "I don't believe I caught your name." She said, turning to the man. He chuckled softly.
"That's because I forgot to introduce myself, and I'm sorry for that. I'm Seltarik Von Cavelish, but my friends call me Trism. I'm one of Candle's closest friends. We grew up in Quadling Country together, and we've both attended Shiz. I'm currently working on recieving my degree in Business and Life Sciences, a second year." He said, blushing.
"Life Sciences?" Elphaba smiled, relishing in her own degree in Life Sciences. "Well, it's wonderful to finally meet you. Candle told us a lot about you."
"It's wonderful to meet you, Your Majesty." He replied. After a few moments of silence, he offered his hand to Elphaba. "I was wondering,"
"Yes?"
"Would you care to dance, Your Majesty?" Giving him a smile, Elphaba accepted. Fiyero watched the young man lead his wife in the dance, before he pulled Fae into his arms.
The young girl hadn't taken her eyes off Trism since he'd come to help her parents. She found him intriguing, and couldn't help noticing that her mother also found him intriguing. And if Elphaba liked him, the it had to be okay for Fae to like him.
"You like him, don't you?"
"I'm sorry, what did you say, Daddy?" Fae asked, snapping out of her study. Fiyero chuckled. He recognized the look his daughter wore. He'd worn it himself from the moment he met Elphaba, and every day since. It was a look not easily disguised.
Love.
"Nothing, my little sweet pea. Nothing important."
They danced in silence for a while, Fiyero leading his daughter in the steps. She danced as well as her mother, but lacked the grace her mother possessed on the dance floor. Finally, Fae asked,
"Daddy?"
"Yes, my darling?"
"Did.....did....how did you know you were in love with Mama?"
Fiyero searched her face, finally, she raised her dark eyes to meet his blue ones. For a moment, he saw his wife before him, in his arms, young and lithe on the day of their wedding. As beautiful and independent, wild and outspoken as the day they met. And when he blinked, his daughter was back in his arms, as gorgeous as her mother. He sighed.
"I....I guess....I knew I was in love with your Mama when I met her. We...ran into each other at Shiz and--"
"More like you ran over me." Fiyero and Fae looked up, to see Elphaba and Trism waltz by.
"All right. I may have.....accidently...run over Mama when we first met." He said, rolling his eyes.
"Accidently? You mean on purpose. And you were asleep when you ran over me."
He cocked an eyebrow.
"I did not run over you. I ran into you."
"Either way you ran to me."
"Would you be so kind as to remove yourself from the conversation, my queen?" He asked, waltzing past Elphaba.
"Anyway, when I locked eyes with her, I knew she was the one. I knew she was the one that I was going to marry, and I knew that I was going to make her a mother someday. I knew, because when I looked in her eyes, I saw our future. This future." He studied her face silently, before smiling. "I saw you."
Fae couldn't stop the smile on her face. She threw her arms around his neck, and he held her close, kissing her temple gently.
When the music ended, Fiyero and Fae watched as Trism bowed to Elphaba, kissing her knuckles gently. When he led her back to her husband, he nodded to Fiyero.
"I enjoyed dancing with you, Your Majesty." He said, bowing. Then, he turned to Fae. "I....don't believe we've met."
Fae blushed.
"I'm Fae." Slowly, Trism looked between Fae and Elphaba, seeing the resemblence.
"You're the queen's daughter." He said, eyeing her softly. She nodded. "It's....nice to meet you, Your Majesty. W...would it be all right if I asked you to dance?" He said, glancing at her parents. Elphaba nodded, as Trism led Fae onto the dance floor. Fiyero slowly wrapped his arms around his wife's waist and kissed her temple.
"Do you think he likes her?" Elphaba asked.
"I think he likes her." Elphaba turned in his embrace.
"Really?" She asked, wrapping her arms around his neck. He nodded, and rested his forehead against hers.
"Yes. I think he does."
"Your parents are.....certainly unique." Trism said, as he waltzed Fae around the dance floor. She laughed.
"Yeah, they're.....definately a pair. But they're....beautiful together." She said, watching her parents converse softly.
"You know, you're.....quite the dancer, princess." He said. She laughed.
"I'm not as good as my mom. She's the real dancer."
"You're still a wonderful dancer." A light rose blush covered her cheeks.
She was cute when she blushed.
Quickly, Fae glanced back at her parents. They were locked in a passionate embrace, oblivious to everything going on around them. Then, she watched them slip away.
"Oh Oz!" Fae grasped his shoulders as Trism dipped her, their faces inches apart.
"Sorry, did I scare you? I seem to have that affect on people." He said, giving her a bright smile.
"That's what Mama says." She replied.
"Yes, well, she's right. But in so many different ways."
"Do you always charm so easily?" Fae asked, eyes locking with his. He chuckled softly.
"Do you always enchant so easily?" He replied. "I've heard that the Vinkun Queen is enchanting, but I never knew her daughter was."
She blushed.
"Your really are your mother's daughter."
And he kissed her.
Her eyes closed instinctively, and she gave in to the kiss. Butteflies erupted in her stomach, and her knees weakened. Dizziness overtook her. This must be what Mama felt every time Daddy kissed her. Joy, excitement, love.
Pure, unadulterated love.
When they broke the kiss, Trism set Fae on her feet, and the two left the dance floor, heading for the table Fae's parents were sitting at. As they moved, Fae caught snippets of the gossip flying around the reception, that set her curiousity on edge.
"Do you think the queen will be able to handle it? Her son married, and one daughter in college. Her youngest buried in the cemetery, and another one on the way?"
"She's barely showing. Do you think it will be a boy or a girl?"
"She's not that far along, and she's already glowing."
When Fae and Trism joined her parents, she jumped before Elphaba could speak.
"Mama, are the rumors true? Are you having another baby?"
Elphaba blushed, giving her a small smile, before gently resting her hands on her stomach.
"W...how? When?"
"September."
With a small smile, Fae threw her arms around her mother's neck.
"Oh Mama! Congratulotions! Is it a boy or a girl?"
"It's too soon to know the gender, my sweet. I'm only two months along." Elphaba replied, hugging her daughter back.
"Congratulotions, Your Majesties."
"Thank you, Trism."
After an hour or so of relaxing with Fae's parents, he then led her back to the dance floor. As they waltzed, Trism dipped her again.
"Would you stop that?"
"Not until I do this."
"Do what?" She asked.
He kissed her. Long and tender, he kissed her. Slowly, their arms wrapped around each other, and they reveled in love's first kiss, like her parents had years before.
They say history repeats itself.
Like mother, like daughter.