A/N: O my god you guys, I'm sooooo sorry for taking so long. The chapter has put up a hell of a fight, but eventually I won. I'm not sure if I like it. I'm sorry if it's disappointing.
Before I go on, I want to thank all of you for reading/reviewing and all your support. I have never finished a story, so I have no experience what so ever with writing endings.
Thank you for sticking with my version of Jack and Kim, thank you for not killing me when I hurt him. Thank you for embracing my new characters and the ones that you already knew.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kickin it.
We walk away from eternal damnation
Jack's POV
I can't believe I did that. I kissed her. I'm stunned by myself. I never thought I would have the guts. I mean, face down an evil thief king on my own sure, but tell a girl how I feel, no way. I get back to our hideout in the forest. Milan is sitting on a fallen tree, the others are nowhere to be seen. 'And, did she hit you?' He grins. I laugh and drop myself next to him on the tree. 'She tried to.' He puts his hand on my shoulder. 'I told you man, don't say I didn't warn you.' I grin. He did warn me. The others have been surprisingly relaxed about the idea of leaving. After everything that happened in this damned forest and village, it's time to go.
I mend what I said to Kim. We plan on leading a honest life, even though we're not sure how you do that yet. Cray didn't know, but we held back some of the money we stole from time to time, and together, we have quite a lot. Probably enough to buy a small farm and keep ourselves alive until we can make some food of the lands. We decided this a few nights ago. It was Jason who said it. We were sitting up in some trees, relaxing, talking. 'Why don't we just go.' He said, out of nowhere. The rest of us were quite confused and Jerry was just about to tell him that when he continued.
'What is keeping us here, in this damned forest, we have been haunted, hurt and almost killed here, let's just go. Go south, find a new place to live. Somewhere they don't know us. We can start fresh. No more looking over our shoulder. No more sleeping in the trees to make sure we don't get killed in our sleep.' He paused. 'Think about that, what is keeping us here?' He was saying the last part mostly to me. He could already tell Eddie and Milan liked the idea, Jerry was looking at me. I don't remember exactly how we got to the subject of Kim, but I think Jason was the one that suggested I wasn't that excited to leave because of her. I finally admitted it was true and the guys started discussing what to do next. I decided to go see her and that's what I told them before I left. I need to work on my truths you see. And then Milan warned me she was going to hit me. Jerry agreed with him. I went anyway.
Now, we wait. Wait till it's dawn, wait till we leave, and wait to see if she comes. Otherwise, I guess we're leaving without her. Milan and I chat about unimportant stuff until the others come back. Apparently they went to see if the kids had left anything behind when they made the camp disappear. They came back with a few small items, they were getting sloppy without us. We knew that the boys who had chosen our side in our little stand-off were working for a rich farmer just outside town. They were doing good, Eddie told me after going to see them. I was grateful even though nothing worked out the way we planned and they ran. They were still brave enough to stand up for something. We talk until we can feel dawn coming. When you live in the forest like us, you learn to tell when dawn is coming. We pack up the little stuff we have and start going towards the crossing of the southern and eastern road.
It's a silent walk. Nobody dares to mention Kim, and any other conversation would seem forced now. It's not really a uncomfortable silence, more a heavy one. No one knows how I will react if she doesn't come. Neither do I. I am still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I'll probably never be seeing these woods again. You are probably also wondering why I didn't go see Kim earlier after my wound was cured. Well, I have a good explanation for that. At least, I think it's a good excuse… explanation.
I didn't think I would make it out of that fight alive. When I did, I actually had to think about what I thought of all this crap. I had to decide what to do. Who I trusted, how I felt. I had to punch Jason in the face. I needed to make sure I knew where I was standing in all of this and it took me a while. So yeah, I avoided Kim. But I made sure that Jerry was keeping tabs on her. Not that he minded, he thinks she's cool.
When I was in her room again it felt so weird, so surreal, so normal. I felt like something had to have changed, but it hadn't. Well, the only thing that had changed was the fact the Kim was wearing my leather bracelet. The one I gave to Jerry to give to her. I have to admit that is something I enjoyed seeing with my own eyes. I mean, sure, Jerry had told me but… well it's Jerry. We arrive at the crossroad, I can feel dawn is coming up. The road is empty and the forest quiet. 'Now, let's wait.' Milan says, climbing swiftly up a tree.
*6 months later*
So, here we are. In Kiron, a small town about two days journey from the castle. No one has heard of Cray, no one has heard of his thief's, it's amazing. We got to start over. We bought a small farm on the outside of town. The first month's it was really strange, we had to get used to the new life. We got to make a new impression. Make new friends. Find new ways to live. I've changed. I'm more relaxed. I don't see danger everywhere. I have more faith in the good in people.
But it has also been hard. We miss the forest. We miss our "easy" way to "make a living". We have been earning our money in completely legal ways, and it's weird. But Kim has been amazing. O hadn't I mentioned? She showed up at the crossroad just before sunrise. The guys are completely used to her being around all the time. It was a bit strange for them at first, but they're cool. She's been working really hard. She's shining, smiling all the time. I'm really happy that she's happy.
Then of course you next question is, how are you and Kim? Well I'm not going to tell you to much, because that is none of your business, but we're great. She's amazing and I still can't believe she actually likes me, or loves me. I know I love her though, she's been there for me all the way, even when I left her, she came right back. The guys gave up their teasing about 2 months ago. She loves the fact that she's not a princess any more, and that she can do what she wants. She told me she left letter for her dad and brother telling them not to come look for her, that she was fine and that she was happy.
Missing her family was one of the things that was difficult for her. Us boys had no family, so that wasn't that big of a problem. We still have some money from six months ago left and Kim took some from the castle, so we're good. We'll probably be able to live a nice life. A good life. I'm happy for the first time in years. I feel good. I have the most amazing friends. The most amazing girl. I've started over. We can buy our food, we are liked by almost all the people in the village. We tell stories about thief's and princesses to the little kids in town and they love it.
I think I finally got my happy ending.
A/N: Thank you again.