Don't You Come Crying When They're Rippin' Out Your Throats (Sequel to AsHollow)

Epilogue: Don't You Come Crying...

One year later.

Life in Grandomina had gotten a lot better in the small space of a year. The whole city and the surrounding villages and towns were a lot more prosperous and thriving, people coming more alive and out of their shells now that they all knew that this time there was no reason to be scared. The Cardinal really was gone and he wasn't coming back, his followers all but wiped out and whatever he once stood for was gone.

The buildings that had been destroyed over the course of the fighting were all fully restored and back to normal, and the palace had been more than half built. We were staying in the liveable part of the palace now, using the little house on the edge of the city as a getaway space, and a safe house should we ever need to use it for that again. The liveable part that had bedrooms already built was quite small, which meant some of us had to double up - not that that was a problem for the Timids, or Kier and I.

It had taken everyone a little while to get back on their feet again, no one really knowing quite what to do with themselves and the wounds and injuries all taking time to heal and sort themselves out. Even though it had and still was taking a while, we were all doing fine and getting on with it, trying to keep our heads up and stay positive about everything. We had all been helping each other out, supporting one another to make sure that we had all the help that we could get - and that was the same through all of Grandomina.

Barrone had been particularly good with this. He'd sat down one day with Crilly and had measured out his good arm, then proceeded to build him a mechanical one to replace the one that was lost in the fight, using cogs and clockwork to get it all together. And since then things have been very good for Crilly - he doesn't have to rely on people to help him with some of the simplest tasks and he can get on with it. I think that's what makes him the most happiest now. Most of the time if you're looking for him he's away training and practising his punching with the new arm, clearly thrilled to bits with how it was working. If there's anything wrong with it, or it needs updating then Barrone is never too far away to sort it out for him.

He'd also made a few other pieces for different people who had lost limbs in the fight, but thankfully there wasn't that many so he wasn't exhausting himself all the time - only the odd one here and there.

When I wasn't overlooking the building and helping with it, I was normally either with Kier in the bedroom - leave that to your imaginations - or I was with generals and higher ranking officers that hadn't been working with The Cardinal and talking about plans that in all honesty, bored the utter shit out of me. But they had to be done. It was a rare time now that I could get away from them without one finding me and wanting to "walk and talk". That really only took the joy of walks around the gardens away, an activity that I had more fun doing with Luke and Drew.

But today I found myself away from all of that and standing at the top of the stairs inside the half built palace, looking down at the people going to and from their destinations and trying to get their jobs done. I only vaguely recognised some people from the battles, or those who worked in the old palace before it burned to the ground.

I let out a small sigh as I started down the stairs and into the thin crowds of unfamiliar people - only to be greeted with a familiar bearded face. He limped up, leaning on his walking stick heavily but a grin was still spread out over his face. He was looking a whole lot better though - and had greatly improved in a year, his wounds near enough completely healed other than the small limp that he still had obviously.

"What's that cheeky grin for?" I questioned, not being able to hide the suspicion in my voice.

"Oh nothing," he answered sweetly, batting his eyelids.

"Bullshit," I laughed and Luke joined in too.

"Okay, okay, I've arranged a big lunch for us and our friends in the dining hall because fuck it, I've missed those - and I have a surprise for you."

"Should I be scared?" I asked, stepping back and narrowing my eyes.

"No!"

I stayed in the same place with the same look and he started laughing before motioning me to follow him through to the dining room that we'd set up. I complied and as we walked in I saw Falkor and the Timids sitting at the table already, sipping on juice and chatting away. They all looked up and smiled as we came in then went back to their conversation.

There was a large rectangular shape at the end of the room that was covered up with a white sheet and I frowned at the sight of it, looking at Luke in confusion but he just smiled sweetly and went to lean against the table to join in the others conversation. I just rolled my eyes at him as the rest of them all walked through the door, Kier walking up to me and wrapping his arms round my waist, kissing me and smiling.

Luke seemed to have waited until everyone was in the room, uttering a finally and standing back up. He went over to the rectangle shapes and looked round, making sure to have everyone's attention.

"So, I thought seeing how well everything's going with the palace and... Well, life, and considering how much Laurence has went through with everything that he could do with some cheering up and something different that could make him smile and bring back memories. So-"

He pulled the sheet off to reveal two frames with two different paintings: one was an exact replica of the one with my parents and I when I was a young boy that perished in the flames, and the other was one of me now. I knew my mouth was hanging open slightly as I stared at the two, feeling my eyes water up slightly and my mouth go dry. I was completely speechless at the sight - more so the one with my parents seeing as I thought I would never see it again. I dropped Kier's hand and reached out, barely noticing how much my hand was shaking and place my fingers gently on the painted faces of my parents, biting my lip.

"Do you like it?" he said, clapping his hand on my shoulder. I could only nod in response, my mouth still too dry to form any words on the tip of my tongue. And I think Luke saw this too as he grinned even more. "I think we need some champagne with this," Luke said, going to a cupboard in the corner and pulling a bottle up, and with the help of Lucy - the nurse that was helping him - got another one out and then eight glasses to put it in and the pair came back over, grinning at one another.

Kier took my hand again and pulled me over to the table as the food was brought out and Lucy started pouring the champagne for everyone. We sat down and pretty much dived into the food that was being put in front of us, everyone probably feeling as hungry as I was at that moment, and as I thought that my stomach grumbled in agreement, earning a smile and a chuckle from both Luke and Kier, and I couldn't help but do the same in return.

Drew raised the glass of champagne and made a toast to everyone - speaking about friendships and the love that we all had, something that made everyone smile. He finished it off by leaning down and pressing a light kiss to Barrone, and the two of them smiled a whole lot more at each other.

I looked round the room at all my friends, clinking their glasses and laughing with one another as they ate round the table, the noise in the room slowly rising as more and more conversations started.

For once in my life things didn't look bleak, I could actually see a happy future in front of me. Full of people that I loved.