Lionhearts ||Skephalo||

75: Epilogue

The warmth of the spring breeze passes by the lavender and foxglove planted in the garden, carrying Skeppy's voice to Bad as the healer kneels amidst the flowers, gathering the ones he needs.

Though it's been nearly three years, Bad can't make himself speak very often, even for Skeppy; but his housemate understands. They say the things they need to in how their fingers lace together when they walk, and in the light kisses on each other's foreheads.

Dream ceded the throne to his sister in favor of living in the Overworld with George; "A new era has begun," he'd opined, "I'm not fit to rule it anymore."

They live not too far from Bad and Skeppy, in a little blue house that more often than not smells of George's baking.

The village rebuilt itself when they were freed from the Nether; Dream and the king of the Overworld had negotiated and discussed with the king of the Nether before Dream stepped down, finalizing treaties and protocols in the wake of the disasters that had wreaked havoc on the world.

It took Bad a while to stop feeling as though they were his disasters, but he knows that they weren't, any more than it was his fault his body had been transfigured into its new state. Even now, though, he does feel guilt prickle as he thinks of it.

His claws click together as he cuts the stem of a small herb, adding it to his basket and standing up.

Skeppy waves to him, beaming. Assu waves from behind him, her skirts rippling in the breeze. Eagerly, Bad jumps to his feet and navigates out of the garden to give the piglin warrior a hug.

It was only fitting she took a role as ambassador after all the conflict; Bad still felt gratitude to her for all her help, knowing he'd have surely died without her help in the dungeons.

She shines in diplomacy now that she's been trained, her emotions tempered, and she finds joy in traveling the Overworld, not knowing how much of it was altered by Skeppy's godlike touch during the exorcism. She's been happy, she's always quick to assure Bad; but as a result of her new position, she rarely has time to visit them.

Skeppy plants a kiss on Bad's cheek, and a giggle escapes him.

He wasn't sure what their love would look like, back before everything fell apart. But in this small time of warmth, he's grown sure of it.

Their love is how Skeppy learned to sew and tailor clothing to fit Bad's tail and wings, how Bad leaves his favorite dish on the table with a note when he's out late, how they playfight and bicker through words and notes alike.

Their love is Bad making nightmare remedies for Skeppy when the voices come back and the dreams get too loud, even though Skeppy isn't a mage anymore. Their love is the journals they both keep and the pages dedicated only to each other.

Their love is staying up late waiting anxiously for messages, like the early months after the exorcism, when they waited for weeks for any word of Sapnap or KJ, only to hear nothing.

Even now, Skeppy sometimes wonders if they're out there or if something happened.

They could go looking, Bad knows. They aren't exactly caught up in duties like Assu or Techno. But for now, they stay at home, healing slowly.

Techno. Bad would've held a grudge, but he knew it wasn't Techno who did those things to him, nor was he completely in control of it all; even though he seemed to think so. He'd personally arrived, menacing mask set aside to reveal a fairly human face, and apologized to Bad—on his knees—for what the mage had gone through as a result of his actions.

And Bad accepted it; he couldn't say he forgave him, exactly, since he saw very little in Techno himself to forgive. The parasite, the cruel brutes in the dungeon, the Nether king...all were to share in the blame of what had befallen him.
But there was no use directing hatred to those who surely suffered for their actions when the fortress began to collapse from the earthquakes, he had long decided. His time was best spent living in now, making his life worth the pain he had been forced to endure to keep it.

And as Skeppy leans against his arm affectionately, his arm around Bad's waist as they chat with Assu on the way back to the cottage, Bad thinks that it's already worth it.

He has all he could want, even as his scars take their time healing; this is all he ever needed or yearned for.

And in his eyes at least, his world is at peace.

So, for the given moment in their lives, Bad is happy. His soulmate is with him, his friends are safe, and he is growing to be at ease in his body again, and Skeppy had learned to love his new body long ago.
Their climactic chapter is finally over, in the long book of life, and Bad's ready to write the new one; one of happiness and peaceful life shared in domestic bliss, where all that goes wrong are mundane day-to-day occurrences.

This is their new chapter, the first page of many. But let the book close; they've earned the right to the privacy of its pages.

-

Final A/N:

And at long last, we've reached it; the endnote. The very last chapter of Lionhearts, my first long fic to reach a conclusion. I'd like to thank you all for accompanying me on the journey; I'd like to think it was worth the tears on both of our parts! When I started writing this, back in October of 2020, I was 16 and just had gotten into mcyt for the first time in my life. It was a new territory! And I found my niche here, with my long ass Skephalo baiting (as I affectionately called this fic). Just as it was originally titled, this fic was my way of opening a new door you could say.
And now, as my 18th birthday draws to a close, I post these final chapters! I cried finishing this; I sat down for four hours and wrote an ending at long last. I wrote it as best I could and I wrote it with my heart, not my head (you can tell that much!)
If I don't post any continuation stories (equally likely and unlikely) then assume Karl and Sapnap are living in a cute cottage together and that they eventually reunite with the mage boys. A wonderful year to you all, and here's to many more stories!