A/N: Well, guys, here is the epilogue of Conspiratio, and I hope you enjoy it! I can't believe that I've finally finished my first fanfic, so this is very very very exciting for me! I want to thank everybody who has reviewed, favourited and followed this story, it makes me really pleased that people are enjoying my writing. I especially want to thank Eraman, who has reviewed every chapter of this story, and has also helped me with many parts of it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.
Jeff and I made it to Athens safely, and although it's not the same, it is our home now. We found a nice house on the outskirts of the city, and were lucky enough to find that we had some of the kindest and most accepting neighbours we could have ever hoped for; one of them even went so far as to find a priest to marry us.
So, that's what we did. Within a week of being in Athens, Jeff and I were married in front of our new friends. We've met some wonderful people, but they're never going to replace Wes, David, Sebastian or Hunter.
I still miss them, and even four years later, I think about them everyday. I asked Jeff once whether he felt the same, and he laughed and told me that one time he'd woken up in the middle of the night thinking that he'd heard Sebastian's voice somewhere near him, but he assumed that it was just a vivid dream. I have dreams like that too, sometimes, I'll dream about the day we left, and in my dreams, Jeff and I turn around and hurry back towards Wes' place, but we never make it there before I wake up, and I always wonder whether that means something.
I shouldn't dwell on the past, I tell myself that all the time, but I often find that I start trying to picture what our friends are doing at that current point in time. Is Hunter with Sebastian? Or is he on a military exercise? Has Sebastian gone into politics yet? Did Wes, David and The Warblers ever go through with any plans to remove the Emperor?
That's the one that piques my curiosity the most, because somebody did do something to the Emperor in the end. Jeff and I heard from our neighbours that the Emperor had been driven from Rome, and had then committed suicide while in exile, in preference to being killed by his enemies.
We also heard that my father had been killed in the downfall of the Emperor. I wasn't entirely sure how to take the news; on one hand, I was relieved that he could no longer haunt me and Jeff, but on the other hand, I felt disrespectful if I didn't feel some sadness at his passing, for he was my father after all. In the end, I just curled myself up in Jeff's arms, and let his presence comfort and reassure me.
I don't know what happened to my mother, and sometimes, when I think of her, I wonder whether she thinks about me as well. I doubt she does. I doubt she even cared much when I ran away all those years ago, but I do wonder what she said about me when she found out I was gone.
I wonder what everybody said once Jeff and I were gone.
But then I think of the present, and I don't linger in the past anymore.
Both Jeff and I found jobs in the city. I've fulfilled my dream of becoming a poet; an acquaintance of ours introduced me to some members of the upper circle of society. I read one of my pieces at a dinner party that was being hosted, and, from then on, I've been receiving request after request for new works, and also invitations to more readings.
Jeff, originally rather surprisingly, became a teacher. I knew that he had an aptitude for learning, and an insatiable hunger to discover something new everyday, but it turned out that he had a talent for languages as well; within a week he'd mastered a basic understanding of Greek, and within a few months, was almost as fluent as me.
He loves his job, it's evident with the amount of passion and effort he puts into his lessons. The local children love him too, and we can barely walk down our street before someone calls out to him. It makes me proud to see the success of Jeff's teaching, and it makes me even more proud to know that I was the one that first taught Jeff all those years ago.
We've also achieved something that we never thought would ever happen for the two of us. A few months ago, the woman who lived next to us sadly died in childbirth whilst giving birth to twins, and her husband practically abandoned the babies as soon as they were born. Jeff and I woke up the next morning to find them on our doorstep, and we couldn't just leave them there, so we took them in and claimed them for our own, since nobody else appeared to want them.
We named them Wesley and Sebastian. One of my biggest wishes is that one day they might meet their namesakes, but all I can do is pray that might come true.
I'm still waiting for that knock on the door. The knock on the door which I can answer and see those familiar faces looking back at me.
"Nick!" I'm suddenly jolted back into the present by the sound of Jeff's voice. He sounds strangely urgent.
And that's when I hear it.
Three short knocks and two longer ones.
Warblers.
Jeff is looking at me with wide eyes. We've both dreamt of this moment, and now we're frozen in place, too shocked to even move.
Three short knocks and two longer ones.
In seconds, I've shaken myself from this stupor I've fallen into, and I'm practically forcing Sebastian into Jeff's arms as I run towards the door. I pause in front of it for a second to collect myself. I consider the possibility that it's just a neighbour using a similar amount of knocks, but surely that would be too great a coincidence?
I open the door, but ready myself for disappointment; I've been disappointed for the last four years, thinking that it might be them every time I open the door.
But I'm not disappointed. There, in front of me, stand both Hunter and Sebastian, looking barely a day older than they did four years ago. They've got their arms around each other, the same way that they had when Jeff and I waved goodbye at the Porta Capena.
I don't know who moves first, but within seconds, I'm being almost smothered in a hug from Sebastian. And then Hunter's clapping me on the back and we're all laughing, and I almost lose myself to the sheer emotion I'm feeling.
"Nicky, is it them?" There's a hopeful inflection in Jeff's voice as it floats out to the doorway.
"Yeah, Jeffy, it's them!" I call back, and there's an excited cry from the blonde, as he rushes out of the room to meet our friends at the door as well.
He's still carrying the twins, Wesley is asleep on his shoulder, while Sebastian is squirming in his other arm, desperate to be given some attention. Both Sebastian and Hunter's mouths drop open when they see the children. Hunter recovers first and grins at me and Jeff, while Sebastian just flounders for a few more moments.
"How? When? I…" he attempts to actually say something coherent, but it fails, and the rest of us can't help but laugh.
It's back to feeling the same way it did four years ago.
"They're adopted," I explain, "This is Wesley, and this is Sebastian."
Sebastian grins as he nudges Hunter.
"See, they named one of their children after me," he says proudly.
Hunter just grins back and congratulates me and Jeff.
"Can I hold one, please?" Sebastian asks suddenly, holding out his arms. Jeff smiles and hands over little Sebastian to his namesake.
Sebastian, it appears, turns into a pile of sappy mush when handed a baby, and within seconds he turns from being sarcastic to cooing continuously every time the child in his arms so much as blinks.
"You've got to come in," I say quickly, realising that I should have invited them in immediately, but my hosting abilities have never quite been up to scratch; not that Jeff and I host many dinner parties.
The other two accept the invitation, and step across the threshold into our home. It's not exactly up to the standards they're used to in Rome, but it's enough for us, and we're happy.
"So," I say once everybody is seated, "I guess I should ask what we've missed over the last few years."
Sebastian practically bounces in his seat when I speak and it's evident that he's got something to share.
"Hunter and I got married," he blurts out excitedly, "The Emperor married some slave boy a year or so ago, and so my father decided to allow us to copy him."
Jeff and I congratulate them, and Jeff slips his arm around my waist. I grasp his hand and run my fingers over his own wedding ring, and he does the same to mine as well.
"I guess you two got married almost as soon as you arrived here," Hunter grins.
"Well, a weeks after, maybe," I grin back, "Some of the neighbours helped us find a priest to perform the ceremony."
"You've got nice neighbours, huh?" Sebastian asks.
Jeff nods.
"They're wonderful," he says, "And accepting too, which is always a bonus."
Hunter and Sebastian murmur their agreement.
"What about Wes?" I suddenly say, and the room falls silent suddenly. Hunter and Sebastian exchange looks with each other, before Hunter speaks.
"If we're honest, we don't know what happened to him. The Warblers eventually stopped a few months after you left, since it became far too dangerous for us to meet each other in secret. Wes, his father and David laid low for the next year or so, and only Sebastian and I were able to visit them occasionally."
"Until about a year ago," Sebastian takes over, "We went to their hiding place, only to find it deserted. There was no trace they'd ever been there; they'd even taken the patches off the furniture. If we hadn't known better, we could have assumed that no one had been near the place in years."
"We did find one thing though," Hunter speaks quietly, as though telling of a great mystery, "We found the broken gavel in the middle of the table we used for meeting. It was just sitting there. There was no note or message, just the gavel."
I feel Jeff shiver next to me. I agree, it is like a mildly creepy ghost story.
"Did you hear anything else after that?" I ask, wondering if there is a conclusion to this tale.
But Hunter shakes his head.
"We assume they must have left the city," he says, "Since there's no record of their arrest."
A silence falls over us. It's almost like a silence of remembrance.
And then, there's a faint scuffing noise from the front door, and it startles all of us.
"What was that?" Jeff looks at me in a slight panic.
I don't respond; I have no answer for him. So I get up and walk out of the room to find out what the noise was. The hallway looks much the same as it did when we left it earlier, save for a folded piece of parchment on the floor. Someone must have slid it underneath the door.
I pick up the parchment and carry it back to where everyone else is sitting.
"It's a letter," I say in bewilderment.
"Open it then," Sebastian says eagerly, leaning forward in anticipation.
I carefully unfold the parchment to reveal the neat rows of handwriting; it's oddly familiar, but I can't place it.
"Dear Warblers," I read, my eyes widening and tears threatening to escape when I realise what is written. The others are wearing similar expressions.
"Wes…" Sebastian manages to choke out, and I suddenly know where I've seen the handwriting before; it's Wes' handwriting.
Jeff pulls me into his lap so that he can wrap his arms around me as I read, while also awkwardly holding Wesley in one arm as the baby sleeps peacefully.
"Dear Warblers," I begin again, "I know this is unexpected, but I also know that you've been waiting for it for far too long now. I'm sorry for just abandoning you like that, but there was too much danger in Rome, and we needed to get away from it. I won't tell you where we went, and I can't tell you where we are headed next. I bring sad news, my father died earlier this year from ill health; I'd suspected he was ill for a while, but he'd never have consented to giving up our cause in favour of relaxing."
I pause for a moment, as we all bow our heads in a sign of respect to the passing of Wes' father. He'd been the nearest I'd ever had to a father figure in my life, and I'd often wished I could have disowned my own father in favour of Wes'.
"I know you have all heard news of the death of Nick's father last year," I continue to read Wes' letter, "And I should admit to having a major hand in his death. We met him on the road outside of Rome; he was alone, and he was actually running away from the revolts that were occurring inside of the city. He begged us to help him save himself. Sometimes I feel that I am a coward for leaving the city behind when the danger of the city became too great, but I have never thought of anybody more cowardly than that man; he ran away rather than face the mess of the political system that he'd made, and he was now begging those he had hurt for help. I'm not particularly proud of what I did, but I do not feel very guilty about it either. I killed your father, Nick, I let my anger get the better of me, and I just thought of the way that he always treated you and Jeff."
This time nobody bows their head in respect. The death of my father means that he can no longer hurt us, and we deem him unfit for respect, especially since he had denied any respect to any other person during his life.
"I wish you every success in life," I begin the conclusion of the letter, "Sebastian and Hunter, when you return to Rome, keep an eye over the old city for me, won't you? I'll always miss her. Nick and Jeff, and I suppose I should add Wesley and Sebastian on the end here as well, I'm glad you've found happiness together at last. I admit to being rather excited when I found that you'd named one of the twins after me, and I imagine that Sebastian reacted in a similar way. Maybe one day we'll all meet again somewhere, but until then, remember me. Wes."
I turn the paper over in my hands as though I am desperately searching for more evidence that my friend is alive and well, but all I find is David's signature, scrawled in one corner as well.
"He never talks about himself," Hunter speaks up suddenly, "He writes almost as if he's dead, yet here is a letter signed by him."
"That's Wes for you," Sebastian points out, "He's always been an enigma."
Suddenly, something occurs to me, if the letter has just been delivered, then Wes must be in the area. I jump up and run for the front door. I hear Jeff calling for me to wait, but I can't, not if there's a possibility to see Wes again.
I run out into the road calling Wes' name, and receive a few strange looks from the other people who are passing by, but it doesn't bother me. Behind me, Jeff, Hunter and Sebastian gather on the doorstep, watching me run wildly down the street.
I stop at some point to ask a passer-by if they might have seen Wes. Even when I give a description, however, they shake their head and continue on their way. It's the same with every person I ask. Even the street vendors, who I know would have been in the same place in the street earlier, and therefore should have been able to see anybody delivering anything to our door, deny having seen him.
It's like Sebastian says, Wes is an enigma; it's as though he's invisible to others.
At one point, I think I see him at the end of the street, on the corner where the road turns into one that leads right to the heart of Athens. I call his name and run to the corner, but by the time I reach it, whoever I saw there is gone.
I give up eventually, and return home. The others are still standing in the doorway. Jeff sees my dejected expression and pulls me into a tight hug, kissing my forehead gently.
"I don't think we're ever going to see him again," he sighs, "I think that this is how Wes wanted it; he wanted everything to end like this."
"He wanted us to be sad?" I ask in confusion.
"No," Jeff shakes his head, "No, he wants us to be happy, because even though he's not here, we're all together again and we've got our whole lives ahead of us still." I smile up at Jeff because I know he's right; he's always right.
That's when I hear Wes' voice in my head.
"I'll always be with you, little Nicky, even if it's not physically, I'll be there watching over you and Jeff."
And I just know that everything is going to be okay, because even if we do never see Wes again, it doesn't mean that he isn't keeping an eye on us.
FIN
A/N: Wow...it's over...though I do feel a sense of achievement now. I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it!
Please don't forget to check out my new story, which is called Second Star to the Right and is, once again, a Niff centric story.
Historical Points:
1. Nero was eventually driven to exile in 68AD and committed suicide on 9 June, instead of being captured and killed by his enemies. His exile was the result of a number of rebellions, in particular, one by the Praetorian Prefect, Nymphidius Sabinus; which, with a bit of creative licence, we can assume Hunter had a hand in it!
2. Nero did also actually get married to a male slave, in fact, he got married to two or three male slaves, despite also marrying three women as well, so it was clearly feasible to two men to be married in Ancient Rome, and therefore, this is why Hunter and Sebastian are allowed to marry. In Ancient Greece, however, it was slightly less accepted for two men to get married, but, you know what, Nick and Jeff have nice neighbours, so yeah, they're married too!
Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought! Or to ask a question about the story or the history behind it!