Two years later

"And that's why you never have to be afraid of the dark," I said quietly.

Murky moonlight spilled into the upstairs room, lighting up toys scattered across the carpeted floor and the family portraits that were hung next to the crayon masterpieces of similar images.

The milky rays stopped at the foot of the thick quilt which I lay on top of, on my side to face the lump of sheets and scrunched up quilt near the pillows.

"Is that how you saved Uncle Techno and Uncle Tommy?" The lump asked, his bright eyes peering up at me with wonder that only came with the magic of being a toddler.

Underneath the bundles of sheets, pink fur and tiny tusks stared at me in a cluster of his yellow onesie with a bee stitched on the front with the steady sewing of Ranboo's hand.

The toddler was a zombie pigman, adopted from the Nether after Ranboo and Tubbo found him all alone. He was adorable, his playful and bright personality never failing to make me smile on the days when I visited Tubbo and Ranboo's new home in the snowy village of Snowchester.

Michael. That was the boy's name in all of his cheerful and sunny light, reminding me of the same light that bloomed inside of me with my magic.

I had just finished telling him of the bedtime story of my fight two long years ago, keeping the gory and nightmare-fueling details out of the retelling. Images were painted in his young mind, the twists and turns more dramatic with his youth.

So I smiled, resting my head on my propped elbow. "Well, your uncles saved themselves, but I helped them with a little bit of my light."

Golden light appeared in my hand, twinkling like the long-set sun and the lotus constellation that was perfectly seen from the winter across the room. Those familiar wells, long ago healed, spewed my magic steadily.

No longer did it need to be on constant watch, waiting protectively for a threat to carve itself out of the dark corners or the pitch-black depths of the nightmares that had plagued me during the first year of healing.

Michael's eyes glistened and he watched with joy, but I could see his eyes drooping. It was long past his bedtime after being allowed to stay up late to spend time with his family and unwrap the final gifts.

I let the light wander from my hand to settle in the lantern on the bedside table, just warming the room enough for Michael to sleep with ease. Then I leaned over his head, placing a soft kiss on his forehead as his eyes lulled.

"Are you going home?" He mumbled, sleep tugging at him.

I stood, smoothing the quilt over his shoulders. Lightly, I pulled off the small golden crown Techno had gifted him from his head, placing it next to the glowing lantern.

"Yes, but I'll see you in the next couple of days, okay?" I hummed, opening the trapdoor in the ground.

Michael turned on his side, nodding as I stepped onto the ladder below with the wolf plushie I had made him hugged against his chest. The plushie was the spitting image of Ghost, the wolf clinging to Michael as soon as they were introduced.

My magic gave a gentle throb with love for the little boy and his sleepy eyes that were too adorable. He was still so little.

"Say hi to Uncle Dream for me," He muttered, finally closing his eyes. "Merry Christmas, Auntie."

Love took the shape of a nurturing smile on my face as I said to Michael, even if he was already asleep, "Merry Christmas, Michael."

As quietly as I could, I closed the spruce trapdoor and climbed down the ladder, landing on the floor below with a soft thump of my socks. A crinkling sound followed when I turned around to look at the room.

Ranboo and Tubbo, happily married as platonic husbands, lounged together on the maroon couch next to the twinkling spruce tree that was dressed head to toe in lights and handmade ornaments.

Many of the decorations on the tree were made by Michael, paper snowflakes and plush gingerbread men, while others were crafted with wood by Techno and Tommy's learning hands.

My eyes skittered to Phil on the other loveseat where his grey and never-healing wings were wrapped around himself and Ghostbur's dull shape. Both were asleep, father piled on top of son.

That left Tommy leaning against the couch on the floor, Techno sitting next to him to show his brother how to wield the new enchanted crossbow he had gifted. A creaking sound emitted as Techno watched Tommy pull back the unloaded bow.

Crumpled balls of golden and glittering wrapping paper and long red ribbons skittered across the floor as I shuffled through them, wind howling outside with the oncoming storm of snow flurries.

"Techno, was it a good idea to give him a weapon?" I asked amusingly, standing in front of the two.

Tommy's brows scrunched together with mock offense, a ripple of laughter behind his clear eyes. He aimed it at me with his invisible arrow, Techno pushing it towards the ground a second later.

"If he keeps aiming it at people, then yes, it was a bad idea." Techno chuckled, the flowers intertwined in his braid bouncing.

After unwrapping his gifts from Grandpa Phil and Uncle Techno, Michael had begged to do Techno's long hair with my trained hands to help.

Techno allowed it without hesitation, soon having popping lilacs, pure white roses, and one singular golden lotus placed amongst the messy braid. Even when Michael was falling asleep, Techno left his hair untouched.

Retirement was treating Techno well, the voices quiet for the majority of the months. He still had days every blue moon when he had to hide away from us all, but he wrote letters with his familiar scrawl to wait out the storm of blood.

In fact, everyone had improved greatly after the final fight.

Tommy's trauma from manipulation and exile had quelled, Tubbo's fear of fireworks and loud noises softened, and Ranboo's forgetfulness a thing of the past.

All thanks to Puffy and her motherly love, her patient heart taking on the job of opening a therapy office. She immediately was thrown into a heavy schedule of patients seeking comfort.

I had been one of those patients, my time with Puffy much shorter than Dream's and Tommy's. But nevertheless, I spent my time there winding my way through the crushing grief that had returned from Noemi's death.

"I can do whatever I want with this, thank you very much," Tommy said with authority, drawing me back. "It's the happiest day of the year, I shouldn't be scolded. Especially since it's my favorite holiday."

I laughed along with everyone else that was awake.

Laughter was a sound that could be heard regularly and it came with ease, no longer muffled behind masks or silenced by the look of a dark god.

Snow finally began to fall outside, released by the heavy clouds that circled the bright moon. It pattered softly on the roof, tapping the frosted glass in little flakes that each had their own shapes.

"I better get home before the worst of the storm gets here," I said warmly, walking towards the door to tug my boots and purple cloak on. "Dream will be getting worried."

"Clingy bitch," Tommy muttered under his breath, my heightened senses catching it.

I shot him a look, making his teasing seriousness dissolve into a playful smile. If anything, Tommy was the one who was more clingy now, constantly crashing at Dream and I's house.

The two had rekindled their brotherly friendship after six months of talking about their past year's pain and spilling their secrets to Puffy. Now, they acted as if nothing had happened.

"Fine, fine, say hello to lover boy for me," Tommy said, fiddling with the crossbow again.

Techno nodded at me, saying in a tired but cheery voice, "Be careful on the ice out there. I'll see you at the New Year's party at your house?"

I smiled, the approaching excitement of colorful fireworks and silver party streamers appearing in front of my eyes. "Yes, I'll see you then. Merry Christmas everyone."

Flakes immediately clung to my hooded head, sticking to my dark boots in layers outside on the stairs. I had to lift my feet high to trudge through the snow, Snowchester's usual weather unbothered.

As I passed by the window, just low enough for me to see inside the house, I paused just for a second despite the approaching clouds on the ocean's horizon behind me.

Peering into the yellow candle-lit window, I saw a family that had gone through hell and back, yet here they were, cuddled together on the night of wonder and child-like magic after their relationships had been healed.

-

Dream and I had torn down the old house near the courthouse, its large interior no longer needed and the dark and dusty corners were unwanted with their reminders of the past.

A small pale blue Victorian-style cottage sat in its place, the black roof completely covered with snow and ice at the moment. The thick hedges in front of the fenced-in yard were dusted with flakes and strings of lights.

In the front window sat our own dazzling tree, the deep evergreen sending a waft of lumber and forest through the house. Dream had chopped it down and dragged it home as a surprise.

The blazing fire was also visible in the fireplace through the iced window. Two fully grown dogs were cuddled together, one smaller than the other but creating a yin and yang with a tawny cat sprawled next to them.

Ash was asleep in her stall which was attached to a large pasture on the side, her grey head hanging over the gate. On the ground, placed in the snow as her gift of shining red apples.

"For a second I thought Tommy was holding you hostage for more gifts," The familiar voice my ears would recognize anywhere said from the covered front porch.

I rolled my eyes, stepping through the break in the hedges to make my way through the shoveled path. Dream stepped off the dark porch, a lively smile on his face underneath his jolly eyes.

It still sent a jolt through me when I looked at him and didn't see the white mask. But the smiley face was long gone, deteriorating on the mountain that no one returned to.

Today, his green jacket had been replaced with an ugly Christmas sweater sporting a lopsided snowman George had desperately tried to make. Dream's teammate, George, had of course blamed it on his colorblindness.

The two had returned to normal, including Sapnap. Their friendship was closer than ever, apologies and tears happening long ago when wounds were still fresh.

"Don't worry, I would've escaped just to see this sweater again," I mused when we met halfway, him wrapping his arms around me. "It's truly a masterpiece."

He faked a gasp, mischief sparkling in his eyes. "How dare you insult George's hard work. I think it's truly amazing. More amazing than yours."

"Hey, at least mine lights up. Sapnap and I definitely won, no matter what you and Mr. colorblind say."

I was referring to the too-competitive sweater-making contest we held a day prior. Sapnap and I had definitely won with our light-up evergreen tree sweaters, even if technically Karl and Quackity had won.

And I would never admit it, despite the accusations, but I had helped the two winners by adding permanent snowflakes to their sweaters with my magic.

Dream giggled, the light wheeze having returned with his progress in therapy. He had 'graduated', as he put it, from his trips to Puffy after she deemed he would be okay just a month ago.

He intertwined our fingers, pulling me back down the path away from our home. We passed our rowdy neighbors, George and the three fiancés wide awake with energy and taking shots of punch inside.

"Where are we going?" I asked, trailing next to Dream.

A secret whispered in his smirk and dancing freckles when he looked at me. "I'm taking you to your Christmas gift. But you need to close your eyes."

I lifted an eyebrow. "You better not lead me into a ditch."

He placed a hand to his chest in mock pain. "Ouch, you're really going for the heart today, aren't you?"

I laughed, warmth blooming through my heart. Dream's face melted, the teasing disappearing within a second of my laughter.

"I'll close my eyes if you stop looking at me like I'll melt in the snow," I said through a smile.

The dewy and fond look didn't disappear, instead, it only strengthened. The look was a regular one as I caught him looking at me while we prepped evening meals or even when we traveled through the Nether for our routine visits to Techno.

I rolled my eyes, closing them a second later. His clasped hand led me carefully through the Community House and past the Nether portal, its presence known by the whooshing.

He in fact did not lead me into a ditch, but leading me where the ocean's soft laps could be heard splashing against the shore. The permanently light smell of gunpowder wound itself around me.

I immediately knew where we were from the smell that had been tried to be covered up with glass and the planting of orange trees. Yet L'manberg's doom remained in its TnT smell.

I knew though, after a team had covered the crater with glass, rebuilt some of the buildings as a memorial, and Tommy started a community garden, that the tangy and fruity smell of oranges wasn't just a coverup.

Tommy had planted the orange trees in memory of L'manberg and his brother, who I knew watched above with pride and relief.

Old L'manberg had always smelled of oranges during the spring, the fruit ripe on trees inside the walls.

Dream finally stopped me, coming around behind me to place his arms around my waist. His chin settled on my head in a loving and protective way.

"Okay, you can open," He mumbled softly.

When my eyes fluttered open, any teasing words and breath left in an instant. Tears quickly welled, slipping down my cold face and dropping onto the swaying docks.

Scattered in front of me, floating in the clean and teal water of the ocean on the North side of old L'manberg were about a hundred golden lotuses.

Their roots spindled down to the sand where coral radiated and fish swam below the clusters of flowers and lilypads. There was a halo of light around each flower from the coral's light, lighting the whole ocean.

My heart stopped and started again, the image of my sunlit mother appearing above the ocean.

Somehow, after I had healed and recovered from the fight with DreamXD, my light must've broken the wall between the afterlife and reality because one night, I appeared in the meadow in my dreams.

Then there was Noemi, shining and as bright as before. Her form was see-through, but her hug had felt solid and tender just as it was before.

We spent too many nights in a row talking and crying, trying to grasp the idea that we were reunited. Memories and tales of when I was a toddler were spoken, making me laugh.

But still, the sight of my mother's flowers and her presence in them made me pause.

"How ... How did you get them all here?" I asked, awestruck with my eyes skittering to each flower.

The smile in Dream's voice was undeniable, "I had Sam help me out, along with Tommy now that he has some skills in gardening. We grew them in secret for a year, then moved them here earlier."

Words tried and failed to be produced, but all I could do was stare. Even my magic had paused, sputtering and bobbing at the sight of my mother's flower.

When I could finally tear my gaze away, I fiddled with the new corded bracelet on Dream's wrist that had been my gift to him.

I had worked for hours on it, perfecting the little engraving of Patches on the small metal plate in the center of the cords. Techno's craftsmanship had even been needed to make the metal piece.

"Thank you, Dream," I said, words unable to express my gratitude. "But I feel bad, the bracelet seems crappy compared to this."

He suddenly spun me around so I was facing him with my head almost touching his chest.

"Don't ever feel bad, I love the bracelet," He said quietly, a more serious look in his eyes now. And I swore I saw tears prick his eyes when he spoke again. "Your love is the best gift I could ever have."

Embers burst around us, my magic and heart no longer able to contain the sappiness. Love and happiness flooded through, washing over even the magic's waves and making my smile return in full force.

After the two years of normalcy, the discs and darkness forgotten, I found myself thanking the good gods above for this gift. I was wrong when I thought there was no good left in this world full of shadows.

I didn't have to fear shadows again thanks to the bright and guiding beacon that illuminated around Dream from his love and endearment.

Under the stars, golden and sunny light reflecting off of the flowers in the clear water onto my now warm face and Dream's emerald eyes, I pressed my lips to his.

With all the cheer in the air around me as white specks of snow fell on the Christmas we had made it to, I vowed to protect Dream and our sewn-together hearts.

~~~~

well chat, that's the main ending for ya

this is the happy ending and the main one. I wanted this book to end happily so the alternative one is not the main ending lol. It will be out soon, so be ready for pain >:)

love you all so freaking much, and thank you so much for all the loving comments on the last chapter. I cannot tell you how many times I cried reading them from all the support and kindness

see you all in the alternative endings! make sure to stay safe and drink water OR ELSE DUN DUN DUNNN