Epilogue
The sad truth is that even after great tragedies life still must go on. The battlefield had turned into a field of questions as Sky High students and teachers came out of their mind control experience groggy and confused.
It seemed that between Principle Powers and Jacob, the head of the Fire clan, that the situation was quickly cleaned up. The earth tribe fixed the land, medics arrived, and a proper story was given to the officials. The identity of the Tautha De Danann and even the existence of a "super hero" school in the sky were somehow kept under wraps.
Siobhan felt like a ghost. She barely ate and it seemed difficult to even speak. She saw faces swim in and out of her vision. First Casey, then Warren, her parents, Jacob, and others. But, she just couldn't focus.
She wasn't ready to move on even if life insisted that it would. She laid in her bed and started to refuse the food brought to her. She found herself wishing she could fade away. The pictures of the dead: her Maimeo exploding and her Dad covered in blood circled beneath her eyelids. "Take me away" she silently begged her goddess
Suddenly she found herself on the white beach of her mind, again. She sighed. She didn't have the energy to even care about that. "Maybe it is a sign that I am close to death" She thought
"It is not your time, my child" said the goddess with hair flowing down to her toes and draped in a blue toga dress
"I don't care. I want to go"
"I have someone to meet you" said the goddess
Siobhan couldn't help her curiosity as she lifted her head. She saw a younger version of her Maimeo walking toward her holding a baby.
"My dear Siobhan, meet your sister" said her Maimeo
Siobhan sat up quickly and held out her arms. The little baby fit perfectly and her heart seemed to swell up with more joy and sorrow than she felt possible as she brushed the feathery curls off of her soft baby forehead.
"Does she have a name?" Siobhan asked
"Aednat"
"For she had but a little fire in life. It is perfect" said Siobhan as white hot tears trickled down her face. "Why" her rebellious mind screamed
"Not all good happens to those who deserve it nor does all bad happen to those who deserve bad. One cannot value a gift that one easily gets" said Dana as if an answer to the silent wailing of Siobhan's soul
"We will be waiting for you" said her Maimeo
Siobhan held onto her baby sister and just stared into her Maimeo's eyes. She felt her wisdom, life, and then freedom. She was somehow glad that Aednat had Keeva with her despite that fact that it meant she had to lose her for a time. "Bittersweet" thought Siobhan
Her Maimeo held her arms and Siobhan gently kissed her sister one last time as she handed the baby over.
Her Maimeo with her baby sister walked away and faded from the beach. Siobhan turned to Dana,
"What now?"
"You live"
"Why?"
"For your people, your family, and for those waiting for you here"
"and in the quiet of the night?"
"You pray. I will always be here"
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Siobhan awoke from her vision and immediately ate the cold soup that was beside her bed. She felt like she was in a daze. She didn't really want to snap out of it and accept a world without her Maimeo yet she now didn't want to leave her baby sister alone in the afterlife.
"honey?" her mother's head peeped around the room divider
"Oh, Mamai"
Siobhan couldn't hold it in anymore and she cried. Her mother rushed forward and held her. Her arms were slim and yet she felt as safe as if she were inside a mighty castle.
When all the tears had been shed, Siobhan told her mother what she had seen. Her Mamai had closed her own eyes as liquid sadness slipped down her Mamai's cheeks. But, she did not wail. It seemed Siobhan had missed much in her own grief.
"We will never forget them. They will always be with us" said her Mamai
Siobhan nodded
Yet, she still felt wrong somehow
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Since her vision, Siobhan went to school. She tried not to talk to anyone if possible. She took to wearing all white for mourning and eating by herself.
She couldn't snap out of it and she couldn't stop feeling like a robot. She came home, she ate, she cried, and she went to sleep.
The same pattern for months occupied her. Her friends were all suffering their own grief and some of them shame from what was being called, "The Battle of the Silver Hand", since it had been fought at the Silver Hand Terrace Park.
In this Siobhan felt guilt. She should be suffering with them, sympathizing, comforting. But, she could barely comfort herself.
The battle had changed the relationship of the school to her people. Now tribe leaders were voting who would be an ambassador to Sky-High and who would be a teacher for the new class about the Tautha De' Danann. She knew that their mission to find the lost ones would be realized and that good had come of evil.
Yet…
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It was a Saturday. It's lack of school appealing. Siobhan didn't plan to leave her bed till noon. But her friends had other plans. Casey, Colin, Donald, and Ashling walked into her room at nine o'clock.
"What is this?" she asked from the safety of her warm blankets
"We have all been mourning and now it is time to live again" said Ashling
"Mmph"
"You are not getting a choice in the matter" said Casey as she pulled off the blanket and exposed Siobhan to the morning air
"It's cold" she pouted
"Get dressed" said Casey
"No"
"I think I saw the twins with water guns" said Colin
"Okay, okay, I am getting out of bed. What are we doing anyway?"
"Wait and see" said Casey
They dragged her out to a movie and then Chinese. She knew it was only because they wanted her to see Warren. She had avoided him completely or as completely as she could when bond to him. She vaguely remembered he had gone to the various funerals with her. Yet, this just didn't feel like dealing with him. She wasn't ready but her friends appeared to have different ideas.
She ordered the Orange Chicken and tried not to look in his eyes. Though, it didn't stop the warmth of concern that flowed to her from their bond.
After handing the plates of food to the proper parties, Warren sat down next to Siobhan
"Don't you have to work?" she asked
"I am on break" he said
"How are Ailill and Ailbe?"
"Fine, I guess"
"They sure are a pair of spunky kids"
"Yeah"
"You know; you owe me a talk"
"about?"
"This bond between us"
"I thought I already explained it"
"Yeah, well you need to explain it again. I wasn't really of the right mind set to listen"
"No laughing?"
"No laughing"
"Well, then…I guess I could talk to you about it again"
"Good, it will be our first date"
"Really?"
"Really"
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Later that night when the moon glistened in the sky like a bright candle wick in a black, black, room and the stars seemed like tiny pricks of needles against the brilliance of the moonlight, Siobhan sat in her bed clutching her pillow and looking out her open window
Her wet eyes made her view grow fuzzy and flicker in and out when she blew her nose.
"I miss you, Maimeo" said Siobhan
A brief bit of wind brushed her hair. Siobhan imagined it was her Maimeo's gentle hands brushing her hair away from her forehead. She smiled faintly as silent tears streamed down her face.
"Good-bye" she whispered
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Three Years Later:
The sun rose up from the sky in yellow brilliance. The dark blue clouds faded to white and the purple sky to blue. Siobhan's eyes opened from her meditation and she sighed. The flowering sun rise was beautiful. It brought her a painful joy. She still keenly felt the loss of her Maimeo and her baby sister. Yet, time dulled the pain. Her newfound relationships and duties occupied her and somehow her faith had regained strength.
"Ready?" a voice along invisible lines asked her
"Heading out now" she replied
Siobhan quickly stuffed a black robe and cap into her backpack and walked out of her room. Her family were just finishing breakfast. She had woken several hours earlier due to nerves and had eaten before them all. She did not think that her life would have led to her graduating from Sky-High. She had figured she would drop out when they had found enough "lost ones" so she could focus on her Shaman studies. She had never foreseen the war that Bruce had planned thereby leading to her being the Shaman. And never in a million years would she have thought that the administration of Sky-High and the Clan leaders of her people would be working hand in hand. The future was surprising.
She smiled as she watched her two brothers bicker and her Dadai kiss the top of her Mamai's round belly. Life had thrown her family many curve balls and yet here they were still fighting and still living.
"Thank you Dana" Siobhan whispered under her breath
"Are you coming?" Warren asked through their bond
"Your too impatient" she replied
"I will meet you guys at the school. Warren is taking me" said Siobhan
"O.K. Honey. We will see you at the school" said her Mamai
"We are so proud" added her Dadai
"I love you guys"
The front door closed softly behind her as Siobhan turned and faced the rebel without a cause on the black motorcycle with red and orange flames painted on it.
"It is amazing that you don't get more tickets with that thing" said Siobhan
"Oh stop picking a fight and strap on your helmet" said Warren
"I was not"
"Really?"
"Whatever, take me to the school flame boy"
"With what elevator?"
"We are picking up Casey and Colin, right?"
"Well picking up is an interesting term. You do know a motorcycle fits only two right?"
"Colin is from the air clan"
"Oh, an elevator"
Siobhan laughed as sat behind Warren and tucked her hair into her helmet.
"It is good to hear you laugh"
"You don't think I am morbid for being melancholy for so long?"
"Sometimes it takes a long time to say goodbye"
"Thanks"
Warren twisted round and gently petted Siobhan's cheek with the tip of fingers
"For you..."
Then he kissed both of her cheeks
"anything"
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The school gym was packed. There was a sea of folding chairs and parents surrounded by the small waves of siblings, neighbors, and famous super heroes. At the front was a platform and it was from there that Principle Powers spoke, that the Valedictorian spoke, and that Jacob (of the fire clan and also now the ambassador for the Tautha De' Danann) spoke, and the stage were Siobhan, Casey, Colin, Donald, and Ashling received their diplomas.
The roar of hands clapping as each student walked down the stage was overwhelming. Siobhan's own clan let out loud hoots as well as clapping their hands. She felt such love pouring out from her family and her friends. The look of affection from Warren's mother, Susan, and the look Warren gave her was the last straw for her emotions. She stepped down from the stage with tears down her cheeks.
Her heart was overwhelmed with happiness and just a tinge of sadness because she so wished her Maimeo and baby sister were here. Aednat would have been a bouncing toddler. Yet, she was filled more joy than sorrow. She would have gladly fallen into Warren's warm arms for a hug and then received various forms of congratulations from her family but Jacob stopped her
"You did more than graduate today Siobhan. You changed this school, found the lost ones, and defeated a great evil. I salute today as my Shaman" said Jacob
"Have I not been the Shaman these last three years?" said Siobhan
"It was more of trial period" said Jacob
"Oh"
"For a while your grief was so strong, the council did not know if the goddess wanted you or another for the post"
"I see. Well, I look forward to fulfilling all my duties in the future"
"We look forward to years of blessings with you as our Shaman"
"I live to serve"
"Thank-you" said Jacob
"Your Welcome"
Siobhan felt a bit unsettled after Jacob's revelation. She had not known her inheritance was in jeopardy. But now, her position was secure. It was a shocking swirl of mixed emotions that had stopped her happy tears. She just wanted a reassuring hug now and her thoughts immediately turned to her mate.
Warren was talking to her Dadai. Her Mamai and Susan were also chatting. She knew her ten-year-old brothers were bound to be around the food table. In the chaos of it all, Siobhan walked over to Warren's side and slipped her hand in his.
"Hi" she said in the part of her mind they shared
"Welcome home" he said
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A/N: I know I keep saying this story is finished and then I keep changing it and tweaking it. I am sorry but I feel that it is better now. This feels like the proper ending. So, again, I announce the end of my story.
A message to a couple reviewers:
Aine Hathaway – I am sorry I was not able to take all your suggestions and corrections into the story. I had a problem with fanfiction and trying to edit my story. I am afraid I am a bit of a newb at story writing on this site. This story is my first story. So sorry! But, I liked what you wrote and would have loved to make my story more "real". I hope you enjoyed what I have done with it anyway!
Samantha – I changed the ending and I hope you love it now!