Detached [h.s au]

Epilogue

Elizabeth's POV

3 years later

The war lasted for two months. Thousands of people had lost their lives in the battle for freedom. I'm proud to say we've won. All of us were completely drained both physically and emotionally, but the sense of accomplishment was exhilarating. I'm happy I got to witness the change, I'm happy I got to fight for the world where everyone gets to make their own choices. The rebuild of the cities is still in progress, the borders and the walls surrounding them demolished completely. 

We are finally free from any form of control, but our lives haven't been easy. The consequences of everything all of us have been through are still present, not only in the form of ruined buildings and thousands of gravestones but deep emotional scars. The losses we had endured left us heartbroken, but time heals everything, so it helped with our wounds.

A rumble of laughter surrounds me as everyone laughs at something Louis said, pulling me from my thoughts. Every year we gather on the anniversary of Sarah's death and the beginning of the war, taking our time to remember her and cherish the fact we lived through the war and made a change, and will get to tell our children about it.  

Niall and Sam remained very good friends, but we all know there's more to that than just friendship. Apparently, she wanted to do things "the proper way" not be with him because "some greasy old man said they should be together".  Sam is highly involved with helping people who lost someone in the war, helping them cope and move on. Niall owns a drug company with Louis and they've been launching some successful projects over the years.

Louis and Jenna wanted to make things official and arranged to get married, forcing the new government to bring back the old ways. They're now expecting their first baby.

Zayn is single, but he's happy that way. He's one of the most inspiring people I had the chance to meet, and I'm honoured to call him my friend. He was elected the leader of one of the cities and is very engaged in the rebuild.

Liam was devastated after losing Sarah, but he's finally come to terms with her death over the years. Gemma and Liam have got very close and they're raising Katie together. He's working alongside Zayn, helping him with running the city.

As to Harry and I... well, we tolerate each other.

At least that's what we established the last time we saw each other.

He left after the war, deciding to deal with his state alone. In the meantime, both of us have slowly rebuilt our lives, but after three years, we're not together. We found each other again one year after our goodbye. He came back, but not for me like he said he would. I wasn't angry, on the contrary, I was happy to see he got what he wanted. He's finally living the life he deserves.