"Epilogue"

Caliope's POV

I wake up slowly, my mind at least does. I can't manage to open my eyes yet as I feel them almost glued. I must have slept for several hours. My mouth feels dry and realizing this triggers an uncomfortable sensation in my throat; I am so thirsty.

I feel movement near me, I panic briefly but then I calm myself as I sense Amra's aura; he will always be that warmth and peaceful presence that calms me down. 'My Asteria... you are awake, finally...' I hear him in my mind. I try to open my mouth and feel the horrible sensation of dryness, so I nod. 'Yes, I think I am'. I sent him back.

"Is she ok?" I hear Nessa now from not too far. My dear friend, she must have been worried.

"Yes, she is waking up slowly, I think she is thirsty..." Amra says to her and I nod quickly.

"I will go tell the others and bring her a big jar of juice!" I hear her enthusiasm as she runs away.

'Let me help you...' He reaches to me mentally but I feel him get away briefly. He comes back soon enough and I feel some wet piece of cloth rubbing slowly on my forehead and eyes. He moves it slowly as I sigh.

Last thing I remember was when my vines took away Ignitious' life, his soul, his essence. As the last energy I had, which was borrowed from Amra already, was drained from me. I saw the ancient evil machine crack open and from within, the body of what my visions told me was Gaius, laid unresponsive. That was all I saw until my eyes shut down, as well as everything else. I simply couldn't stand on my own any longer. I fainted.

I try again to open my eyes and this time I make it, the light slightly bothering me as I get used to it again. At first I see Amra a bit blurry, but then I can see him in all his glory with a bright smile. I can't help but to smile back at him. "You had me worried... it has been five days since you fainted..."

I gasp and my eyes widen. Five days? I have been out for five days? Why I can't remember even a dream or anything else? Was this normal?

Nessa walks in and she smiles at me. "Baby! Gosh you had me so worried! But the guys here kept saying you were fine, that you were just resting and recovering some energy..." She brings me a big jar of purple juice and a glass, I extend my hand to it and she pours me some.

I haven't felt so good in ages, the way the liquid refreshes my mouth and throat makes me sigh and smile. "Yep, she was thirsty all right." I hear Nessa giggle.

I open my mouth and extend the glass to her. "More... please." I whisper with a raspy voice and she grins as she fills my glass to the top. She makes sure I catch the big ring on her finger and I widen my eyes as I look at her. "Congratulations! I am so happy for you!"

She grins and smiles and twirls around with happiness. "Thank you, he proposed yesterday..."

I see Elaine walk in with a wide smile as she sees me drink my juice. She looks well, happy, different. Perhaps a bit aged as well; but then, everything that happened has made us all age one way or the other. "Darling, finally you are rested. How do you feel?" Wiltshire comes right behind her, always at her side.

"I feel ok, normal? I was just, very, thirsty..." I chuckle and Amra smiles at me.

"Yes, that could be normal, you were resting for long. Pronab wanted me to nudge your head when you woke up, something about you pushing yourself too hard when you had all of us to fulfill the task. Yet I am not going to do that, but at least I delivered the message." She giggled and that was a sign of the old Elaine I knew, sweet and loving.

I smiled at her and shook my head. "Thank you... Where is he?"

"Well, things have changed a bit... Hard to pick where to start..." Elaine began. "There is a pact between the dark Angels and us; Angelus and Pronab have volunteered to lead the new movement we've called 'The Vindicators'; they lead together with two of their side, a specific group who is in charge of closing every research facility they had. Long ago, there were leaders who agreed to give the researchers some free will on what to experiment with and where, as well as with whom. They only kept a basic record of locations, but nothing more, they were that free."

"So they agreed to close them all?" I asked, really surprised but not less happy.

"Yes, they did. Alexander didn't hesitate to agree when I presented him with the idea." Elaine nodded.

"So... what happened after I fainted? And the machine?... And... what happened with Gaius?" Suddenly my fears of us reaching him too late made me shiver. Amra sat next to me in bed and shook his head as he took my hand.

"I can answer that..." A strong voice echoed the room as I saw Gaius himself walk in tall and proud. He seemed normal, healed completely, and in full strength. "Hello Caliope, it is a pleasure to finally meet you." He bowed his head and I blushed.

"It is an honor to meet you, I am so happy we weren't too late..." I managed to voice out.

"Indeed, I am surprised to this, but thankful of it. I had been dormant and drained from all energy for decades, without knowledge of anything happening. To me, it was like I had just been awoken from a large uncomfortable dream state." He smiled sadly and I lowered my head, I could imagine how it would feel like for him and it really moved me.

"So now... what is to come? Or what had come since I was gone...?" This time I sat straight on the bed, eager to hear about the changes.

"Like I said, the dark Angels and us have come to an agreement, about the Vindicators and also about our Earth itself. We can't do much about the fact that everyone now knows about us, so we agreed to try and affect as little as possible in their lives. Similar to the unspoken agreement we already had going for centuries, yet this time is written literally in stone and paper, signed by both sides." Elaine filled me in details, I was excited to hear it. "As about us, we have made an important change in regards to the human world politics; a gathering has been created, of our people to aid humans in their social and political issues, we have all agreed to interfere as little as possible but offer them assistance if they seek for it."

"We will see how this experiment goes; so far in the bigger picture, no riots or large scale movements. Small groups complained about us and some even tried to initiate trouble by wanting to push us out, but it didn't grow big. It has been an interesting couple of days." Wiltshire added and I smiled at him.

I am really amazed by everything, and couldn't wait to be able to walk amongst people to feel what it was like now, with all the changes.

"It seems not only you have awoken, Caliope... but all humanity did." Gaius spoke and drew my attention back at him. "They have come to worry less about their skin color differences and worry more about doing the right thing, they are seen doing more social humanitarian activities; I guess that knowing we are real and we are here watching over them has made a great impact on all."

I nodded, he was right. I could see how the news and information about the existence of angels would force humans to double think their priorities and their actions.

"Well I have to prepare myself and I am sure this young Asteria has plenty to catch up with her loved one, so perhaps we shall meet again in another time. It has been the greatest pleasure to meet you Caliope, and trust me, the honor is mine. Your courage and heart had made the difference in the last battle." Gaius bowed to me and I was left without words. I was moved by him, touched by his words. He turned around and walked out followed by Elaine, Wiltshire and Nessa, leaving me alone with Amra.

"Where is he leaving?" I asked him as soon as we were left alone. "Isnt he going to rest? Is he going to be sent to another place already?"

"He is going to see our Father, and recharge his energies with him... he has been called back and in his place, I was appointed as the guardian of this Earth... temporally." He said with a grin and I couldn't help but to grin as well.

"That is fantastic! I am so proud of you! I don't think I was ready to know you were going to be called back now that all was over... I didn't want to hear something like that..." I admitted as I pulled him for a tight hug.

"I doubt our Father would do such thing. Gaius has been gone for long from events and incidents happening here, his heart is in the right place but he needs to go back to him to recharge and relive the faith. That is what we call it when someone is called back after a long time away." Amra laid in bed and pulled me in his arms.

"Can I ask you something about Elaine? I keep seen her and Wiltshire very close together but never came to understand what really was happening...?"

"We can only have one Asteria in our lives... they lost theirs, so they have a second chance with a companion... it is not the same as an Asteria, nothing ever comes close to one, but our Father would never let us suffer alone either... we are granted the choice of a partner for life, and they both mutually seem to fit and have chosen each other for that." He said with calm as he caressed my arm. I smiled, the fact that they were given a chance to be happy again was really beautiful. They deserved it. "Gabrielle has found the same in Angelus apparently, she traveled with him and Pronab and they had been together more in the last few days." That was also good news, I could tell something was going on between the both of them the day he came into our lives and she saw him.

We held silent for a while before finally he spoke again. "I was put in a place I am learning to love... Before you, I didnt cared for... anything... after you, everything changed... I wanted you to be safe, and with that, end the war. But with you I learned to love this earth, the humans in it as well... I respect their free will, I understand their difficult choices... I can see how they can be manipulated for either side, and how most of the time our side prevails... I want them to continue this way, and I am more than ready to learn how to protect them... specially since I have you at my side."

I kissed him, filled with love and touched by the meaning of his words. He has changed so much from when I met him long ago. He was right, these were new times and a new vision was required. Nothing could go wrong if our hearts were in the right place. We both were in love of each other, and in love of our home. This is a new age for humanity, and we are ready to live it together..

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A very simple but meaningful thank you, to all of you who have read this story and allowed it to touch you. It is hard to explain, this story means a lot to me; coming from someone who has troubles in believing in God, I struggled with me most of the time to make this story believable. I wanted things to make sense, and that someone like me, that had a hard time in believing, could read and give a small room for believing in something when they read this.

I still have trouble believing, but after writing this story, I find myself with a more open mind and heart.

B.

P.S.: This story will go through a big editing phase soon. Since I started writing it over a year ago to now, I have learned so much and improved my grammar, so I will be correcting and doing the proper fix on it soon.