When Heaven meets Hell

Epilogue (Part II) ;

Three years later...

The cold wind made her white skirts whip around her ankles, gentle hands caressing Joan's face as she walked the familiar path to her parents' graves.

Bare tree branches whacked against one another, dead leaves crunching under her boots. She ducked under an arch of branches and stepped onto the familiar patch of family graves . She picked her way through the worn gravestones.

Her parents' graves were hard to miss, well maintained as they were thanks to her weekly visits. Hello mother and father. She greeted, bending down and brushing away dead leaves, pulling out a few odd weeds that had dared to grow there. As she worked, she hummed a tune under her breath, a song she heard at the theatre some days ago. When she was done, Joan straightened up and stood back to admire her handiwork. She then picked up the two bouquets of black and white rose she had brought along.

For you, Heidi and Avander. I hope you both are in peace.

Three years ago, her parents' graves had become the place she paid her respects to her two friends, all the people she loved in one place. A great time had passed and much had changed, but the ache surfaced every now and then, lodging itself in her heart and making hear look back at the ones she left in the past.

She thought back to the day, three years ago when she had returned to London after completing her mission. The angels had her in their custody previously, taking it upon themselves to provide her with asylum for some time, until she was fit to return home and the last of the demon army had been sent back to Hell. Joan had returned a few weeks after, composed and steady, not a tear to be shed. It was a mask of course. She was a wreck on the inside. She spent a few nights crying under the covers. But she had pulled herself together eventually, determined not to descend into despair as she had before. It was fortunate that Rita dropped by a week later, doing her routine checks and house cleaning. It was thanks to her that Joan soon busied herself with putting the household back together. Arnold and Edger came hurrying back as soon as they received word, overjoyed to see their mistress had returned.

In a matter of a few weeks, Hale Manor had come alive again, bustling with servants and visitors. Joan integrated herself back into society. She picked up where she left off with her family businesses, goods and merchants soon drifting in and out of the manor. She became richer than ever before.

But wealth was not what brought her joy. What really made her happy was to interact with people, and to put her wealth to good use. She turned her attention to orphanages and charity, things she had completely forgotten in her darker days. She knew these small acts of kindness could never make up for her sins, but she enjoyed meeting with the orphans and the needy. It kept her busy, keeping her mind off the memories desperately vying for her attention.

Every now and then however, her attention would drift and she would painfully remember the ones she had lost. In all honesty, she could not make herself forget her parents' warm embraces and loving words, Heidi's beaming smile and the feel of Avander's lips against hers. Nothing could make her forget, nor dull the pain anymore than it already had.

Alone, always alone. She thought with a sad smile and then a shrug. Perhaps it's just how the way it's supposed to be.  It is for the better I suppose.

She turned to leave, switching her attention abruptly to the meeting she had later the evening with the head of a tea company. She had barely taken a few step when a voice made her stop.