The Moonlight on my Face

Epilogue

MYRTLE

Myrtle watched her thirteen-year-old girl, Fiona, laugh and prance as her gaze followed a monarch butterfly. Adelle and Dia stood beside Myrtle like guardians, sharing her happiness about Fiona's splendid upbringing. 

"She doesn't really look like you, Myrtle," Dia noticed. "She looks like a kinder, more innocent version of her father," Myrtle told her in a lowered voice. She never told Fiona about Goldenknife, wanting to keep her daughter's life pure and joyful. She knew Goldenknife was dead, killed by his former assassin, but she didn't grieve. He had been an awful man. Nothing like he was in his youth. Nothing like the man I fell in love with. 

"Mother! Look!" Fiona squealed, pointing at an iridescent blue morpho butterfly that had appeared out of nowhere. "Wow, what a pretty butterfly!" Myrtle said. She thought her daughter's obsession with the fluttery insects was adorable. 

Fiona looked dreamily at the shiny blue wings as the monarch butterfly and the blue morpho butterfly spun and twirled together in the air. "Are you happy, Myrtle?" Adelle asked, gently elbowing her friend in the ribs. Myrtle laughed. "Why are you even asking?" she asked. "You BET I am!" 

No treasure could compete with the value of her daughter's bright smile and her happiness. Myrtle would do anything to keep her in this beautiful state of life. She needn't know about her father. She needn't know about his crimes.

She just needs to be happy. That's the main thing in life. 

JOY

"Daaaad! DAD! JOEL IS SQUASHING ME!!!!" Brian screamed, writhing around on the floor. "Okay," Jack said, gently pulling Joel off of their oldest son. "Joel, remember what I told you?" "But Brian is fun to squash!" The three-year-old boy insisted, looking down at his gasping eight-year-old brother. 

Skyler, who was seven years old, was sitting and reading a book, ignoring everyone and everything. Her expression was achingly similar to Sky's. "No, I am NOT FUN TO SQUASH!" Brian cried once he had regained his breath. "Maybe YOU'RE fun to squash!" 

He leaped playfully at his younger brother and his father, but Jack and Joel stepped back. "Enough," Joy said gently, pulling her son into her grasp. "Haha!" Joel giggled as his brother tried to escape. Joy smiled down at the dark-haired boy she was hugging.

"Mother," Skyler said suddenly, "When can we visit our cousins and Aunt Sky?" "In a few months, honey," Joy promised. When they manage to clear the blood from the carpets. When they manage to remove the stench from the house. 

"I miss Uncle Alan!" Brian declared. "He is very fun to play with!" Jack laughed. "And I'm not?" he asked in a charming tone of voice. "You're a little fun," Brian said. "Oh, come on!" Jack said with fake sadness in his voice.

The whole family broke out laughing. I love my life, Joy said. I love the new rules, I love Jack, I love my adorable children. Nothing is any more perfect than this. 

SKY

Her four kids were gathered on the beach. Their grandparents, their mother, and their father were there with them. Too bad they couldn't meet Nettle, Sky thought regretfully, remembering Goldenknife's blade stabbing through her throat.

"Okay," Sky said commandingly, her eyes briefly looking at the calm water. "Today we are going to practice swimming. Everyone except for you, Silver." Silver was only two. He would be hard to manage with the other three kids scampering around like wild animals. 

"Let me take him," Ophelia offered. "Alright," Sky said, handing the small boy to his loving grandmother. "I LOVE swimming!" said Star, Sky's oldest daughter, who was eight years old. "Me too!" said six-year-old Bryony. "Yeah, but you're bad at it," said Gordon, Star's twin brother. "You're bad at swimming, too," Star said. "But I am the BEST!" "Shush!" Bryony said, tackling her. The two girls rolled in the sand, giggling.

"The last one to the ocean is a rotten oyster!" Alan said suddenly, running off towards the beach. Gordon silently followed him. Bryony shrieked angrily. "Daddy is a CHEATER!" she hollered as Star disentangled herself from her. "Stop yelling!" Star ordered, following her brother and father into the water.

"I don't see how I'm ever going to organize them," Sky said with a sigh, watching as Bryony ran to the ocean, tripping and nearly falling several times. "Well," William said with a small shrug, "Maybe you don't have to. Maybe they're destined to be free and wild."

"They're not animals, William," Ophelia said, exasperated. Sky got up and went into the ocean, where the kids and their father were splashing and laughing.

She felt purely happy. Nothing could be better than this life she was living now. "OKAY!" she yelled over the joyous yelps of her little kids. "EVERYONE GATHER AROUND ME NOW!!!" 

As her cute children gathered around her, she felt grateful that they weren't growing up in the dismal underground city. She was grateful that she had escaped, that they, just like her, got to feel the moonlight on their faces.

THE END

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A/N

The end! That was a nice story. Title drop in the epilogue. Hope you enjoyed! Bye, and see you next time!

-Blizzard