The Storm's Thunder (#Wattys2016)

Chapter X

August 14th, 2021

Listen, by Earth Blaze
Listen and hear a song the birds are singing
Sit down a while and watch the flowers blooming
A pleasant breeze flows by, leaving the smell of starlight
A joyful flame sparks bright, lighting the dark of night
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A new wooden cabin on the edge of the woods glowed with light, a beacon of warmth in the chilly night. There were five people within, and the air was bright and dancing with laughter and the sound of the violin.
The source of the sound was a beautiful woman in the corner, long dark hair falling behind her shoulders and swinging as she sweeps the violin bow. Beside her is a slightly younger man, with hair with a sort of feathered look, with a blend of brown, gold, tan and hints of white. He laughed and leaned over, pecking the woman's cheek with a kiss. She blushes slightly and elbows him, cutting the music off and stirring the wolf on his lap.
Suddenly another violin picks up where she left off, and a tall silver haired man walks in, instrument in hand. A shorter woman with pale skin and silvery white hair follows and hugs him from behind despite his protests.
At the table is a woman with long brown her shrouding her. She is so silent she could be a plant - indeed, her green clothing could be mistaken for leaves. She is hunched over a paper, fiercely scribbling with a eagle feather pen, with a raven on her shoulder. Suddenly, she sits up and stares at the other dark haired woman.
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"Storm? Are you still writing that story?"
Storm laughed a bit awkwardly. "Yeah. Ever since we were in the forest, I've had so many ideas for stories. I even wrote a book about that. I hope that's okay with you guys. It's based on what I remember and what Thunder told me. I included bits of stuff that I wrote when I was in the forest at the beginning of each of my chapters. I'm just finishing it now."
"Aw!" The guy beside her pouted. "But Luna and I were never there! Are we in your book?"
The white haired woman laughed quietly. "Oh, that's fine. You don't have to put me in it. But if you need a cover, I'd be happy to draw you one."
Storm laughed. "Really, Eagle! Don't worry about that. The last chapter is an epilogue. All of us are in it! And I'd love that, Luna! I love your art! But don't stress yourself too much with it. Think of the baby!"
Eagle stood straight up, dumping the wolf out of his lap and slamming his hands down onto the table. Stripe yelped in annoyance and scampered across the room to Thunder. Eagle's eyes seemed to bug out and he kept glancing between Luna, Storm and Thunder. "WHAT?! A BABY?! SINCE WHEN?!"
Thunder laughed. "We were going to surprise you all. But Storm, how did you know?"
"Maaaagic," She answered, wiggling her fingers. When Thunder rolled his eyes, she added, "Besides, you think I'm blind? You've been acting like she's gonna shatter. That plus the baby bump, two plus two is four. Easy. What's the name?"
"We don't know if they're a boy or a girl. If it's a girl, then her name will be Kairi. If it's a boy, then his name will be Aiden," Thunder said, but Luna shook her head and chuckled a bit. "What?"
Oh right! You don't know?" She laughed again. "It's twins!"
Then it was Thunder's turn to have bugged out eyes. "What?!"
Earth laughed. "Wow, that's weird."
A little girl peeked in from the bathroom. Her hair was short and blonde, framing her face like a halo. "What's weird, Mommy?"
"So that's where you were hiding!!!" A tall man walked in from the yard. "I thought you were hiding outside!" The little girl squealed and ran behind Earth. "Mommy! Hide me!"
The man walked over and bear hugged Earth and the little girl. The raven lifted off of Earth's shoulder and circled in the air until the man let go, then gently settled on the five year old's shoulder. She laughed and stroked the bird's neck.
Earth turned and smiled at the newcomer. She reached up and ruffled his spiky brown hair. "So that's what you were doing all that time, Sora!"
"Yep! Our little Angel is getting too smart for us!"
"Moooommy!!!!! What did you say was weird?"
The quiet woman held up the paper she had been working on. It was a drawing of a group of people, six adults and four children. Earth and Sora stood on the left, with an older Angel between them. Storm and Eagle stood at the right, and a toddler with short curly black hair stood between them, holding their hands and laughing. In the middle stood Thunder and Luna. In front of them were two children. One had spiky red hair, green eyes like Luna's, and a mischievous grin. He wore a green tshirt and denim overalls. The other looked a lot like Angel, with light straight blonde hair down to her shoulders and ocean blue eyes. She wore a short, sleeveless, plain white dress and she gazed steadily forward.
Eagle laughed a bit. "Sooo, Earth, you sure you aren't psychic? Can you tell me my future?"
Storm elbowed him the ribs. "It's just a coincidence. Leave it be. And Thunder, Luna, that's great news. Ignore this idiot. But, Kairi? And Aiden? Veering away from the usual way of naming?" In their families, each child was named for something in nature. Luna and Sora were a bit different; they did have names meaning "moon" and "sky" but they were in a different language.
Luna smiled. "We read the names in a book. They mean Ocean and Fire. And if she ends up looking like Earth drew her as looking, then I think we named her well. Pheonix as well."
"Oh right! Speaking of books, Storm, you never said what your story was called!" Eagle nudged her.
"I didn't?" She seemed confused. "Oh, sorry. It's called The Storm's Thunder."

THE END

Thank you for reading Storm's Thunder! I had a lot of fun writing this story, especially this epilogue! I was originally planning on making a sequel, but with the epilogue I feel like it isn't really necessary. If you would like one, please vote or comment! If this story gets a thousand votes, I'll try to start a sequel. If I get a substantial amount more than that, I will MAKE time to write one. 😂 Thank you everyone! I hope you enjoyed this story!