Nothing Less than Extraordinary

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Final Author's Note: Howdy.  Even though it took my six years to finish, I really enjoyed writing this book and the first one. I hope y'all enjoyed, but even if you didn't, thank y'all so much for reading! Feel free to vote, leave comments or send me a message. This chapter is strictly an epilogue to this series just to eliminate any chance of "write another sequel" commentary that could very well happen. (I have another book I'm writing that ties into this Special world though, oof). So again, THANK YOU.

*****************story start********************

=XXX=ALMOST SIX YEARS LATER=XXX=

I finished putting a blue flower clip into Cariba's hair. I stepped away and she faced the mirror to examine her final look in her white dress. She only looked at her reflection for a second before turning to me and hugging me tightly.

"Thank you," she told me before pulling away. "Now, get out there so we can wow you with our entrance. We're already running late," she scolded. I playfully rolled my eyes before exiting her room and nearly running into Cariba's fifteen-year-old sister who was rushing to enter Cariba's room for last minute preparations or whatever else required the delivery of the gift bag in her hands. I simply smiled down on myself as I walked down the narrow hall anyways.

I wasn't exactly surprised when Cariba and Warren decided to get married. Soon after we all left DC, Cariba had messaged me saying that Warren proposed to her as soon as she got her deportation papers because marriage meant she could get her green card and stay in America with her friends, but of course she denied him back then. So they had gone back to New Zealand to live with her parents like she told me. Warren stayed with them the first year until he moved out and naturally became a fireman while Cariba went to university before joining an organization meant to clean oceans and aid marine life plagued with oil filth and plastic build up. New Zealand and Australia were thankfully more liberal when it came to mutant rights so their transition was quite easy especially since their careers lined up with their Special talents. As long as you didn't have criminal intent with your powers, they weren't very regulatory towards it and actually passed legislature protecting rights about discrimination towards explicit mutations. Either way, Cariba and Warren fell easily into their studies and careers and had little strain on their relationship. Hence why they got married at the end of last year and decided to have a reception six months later in America for virtually all of their loved ones which included us former Academy kids and even Warren's dad who he found after years of searching, unlike his mother who had passed from cervical cancer only a couple years after Warren fled.

I continued walking down the hall towards the reception hall and then a door opened to my right before Warren emerged.

"Hey," he greeted and even gave me a hug because even though I had spent the week with Cariba here in Hawaii, I hadn't really gotten to see him today. He pulled away and I could tell he was looking over my head in curiosity. "Where the hell is Zaine?"

"I have no idea," I answered honestly. He checked his watch.

"I thought I'd have time to at least take a shot with my best man before this whole thing starts, but I guess you'll have to do," he suddenly said before pulling me into his dressing room. He already had two shots poured into glasses on the dresser. Unlike me, Zaine was actually a witness for their courthouse signing in New Zealand. I had no doubts they would've taken shots beforehand if it was an actual wedding just like tonight's shindig. I grabbed one of the glasses while Warren poured another glass, this one with Fireball instead of the clear vodka. "Zaine can catch up," he decided while drinking the cinnamon liquor and then grabbing the other clear one and looking at me. "Cheers," he said before we touched glasses and I threw the shot back. I felt it slide down my throat and sit warmly in my chest with no real affect. Warren took all three shot glasses and moved them to the bathroom sink where he rinsed them out. "So, how's my girl doing?" he asked me from the bathroom. "Is she acting like this is no big deal or is she totally nervous and acting like she's not?"