𝓞𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓪 𝓓𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓻 (Freedom AU Book 9) [FNAF/UT]

✦Epilogue✦

  There was a light wind outside, the colorful leaves on the trees rustling with the breeze. The sidewalks of Newer Home were dotted here and there with the odd fallen leaf, that continued to be tossed about. The tree just nearby one of the studio's windows was also gently swaying, a leaf occasionally making a slow, graceful decent from it's branch and into the grass.

From inside the studio, music could be heard. Not music from a CD, however. A piano had been brought in as of recently, per the ballet teacher's request. There she sat, playing the instrument in a rather graceful manner. Her four daughters sat still on the top, listening to their mother's playing. The five had arrived to the class early just so she could practice the songs for that day's lesson.

As the song came to an end, the four sisters gave a small applause for their mother. "That was pretty!" Rosette complimented, to which Ballora smiled. "Is that a new song?" Mina wondered, head tilted a bit in curiosity. "It is." Their mother replied. "It's going to be a song for a new dance I will be teaching you all." The four's eyes widened a bit, Tina pipping up with, "Really?"

"Yes, really!" The 'Minireenas' all sported the same excited look. "When will we do the dance, mama?" Ballora hummed, thinking a moment. "Well, I'm planning to have you all ready to perform it for the next recital coming up." She answered. "What's the dance called?" Rosette wondered. Ballora gave her a smirk. "I'm not going to say until the rest of the class gets here."

"Awww!" Came the girls' jinxed response. Their mother laughed a little. "It shouldn't be much longer now, don't worry." She assured them, reaching to give one of them—being Mina—a light pat on the knee. As if on cue, two of Ballora's other students walked through the door, setting their sweaters aside on the bench against the wall. "Hi, Miss Ballora!"

"Hello Alice, hi Maven!" Ballora greeted, turning to face her students. Both kids made their way over to their teacher. "We're happy you're all better!" Alice, the fire monster said, smiling brightly. Maven then held out a flower to Ballora. "I picked this for you!" The mouse monster told, as his teacher took it. "It's lovely, thank you!" She thanked, setting it down gently on the piano—onto the ledge meant for piano books and sheet music to sit on. "I'll be sure to put it in water when I get home."

"Miss Ballora?" Ballora looked back to Alice. "So like, are you still gonna be able to dance?" With a half smile, Ballora gave a small shake of her head 'no'. "But, that doesn't mean I'll stop teaching ballet. I don't need to be able to dance to teach." She explained, tone remaining light. "Oh... well, I'm glad you're still going to be our teacher."

"Me too." Ballora agreed, just before spotting more students arriving. "Well, looks like it's time for class to start."

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

"I love fall," Ella commented, taking a bite from her own blueberry muffin. "All the colors of the leaves are beautiful!" Everyone smiled, while Fritz added with, "There's still a lot of green right now. Not very fall looking, to me." Ella simply gave him a light, teasing smack to the shoulder. "Hey-!" BonBon then suddenly pointed a finger at her, "Be nice!" Ella merely hummed, almost laughing a little at seeing the small bunny's fake scowl.

"So Bal'," Ennard began, swallowing the last bite of the muffin he'd had. "How'd your first ballet lesson back go?" Ballora gave a half shrug, answering with, "Great. My students were all happy to see me." She then smiled. "One even picked me a flower as a 'welcome back' gift." She told, sounding for a brief moment like she was the luckiest person in town. "Oh! What kind of flower is it?"

"It's a... um..." Ballora's brow furrowed a little in confusion. "It was small, and pink. Not sure what kind though." She replied, in answer to Gus's question. "Hmm... You should ask Francine. Maybe she'd know." He suggested, before taking a bite out of his strawberry muffin. "That sounds like a good idea." Ballora agreed, just as Puppet wrapped an arm around her. "You've got wonderful students, you know that?"

"Trust me, I do know that." She answered, smiling happily. Ballora then glanced over to their daughters, who were playing in the park nearby where the picnic blanket had been set up. Following, she felt a light kiss to the top of her head, to which she smirked in response. The group heard Fritz quietly mutter something to the effects of, "get a room".

"Excuse you?" Ella asked, giving the fox a glare. "What? I said nothing!" Fritz defended, though he couldn't help the small smile of guilt finding it's way onto his muzzle. "Likely story." After starring at Fritz for a beat longer, Ella then suddenly planted a kiss on Ennard's cheek with no warning—despite him chewing a bite of muffin. Fritz shook his head and laughed. "Now you're just rubbing it in."

"Yep!" Ella exclaimed, the proud look on her face contrasting Ennard's look of confusion. Ballora laughed at the sight. "You're the worst." The ginger gave a nod, as she took another bite of her muffin. "What were you expecting?" BonBon suddenly commented, raising a brow in the fox's direction. "Good point."

"So Bal', how are you going to teach ballet if you can't... dance anymore?" Gus wondered, almost feeling a little bad for bringing the topic up. Ballora simply gave him a reassuring smile. "It's not impossible. I don't need to be able to dance to teach my students. There's still ways for my to teach them." She explained. "On the plus side, I'm able to now play the music for them to dance to on a piano that was brought into the studio."

"There's a piano now?" Ballora nodded. "It's actually a lot of fun seeing them all dance to my playing. I enjoy it!" Gus smiled, his small amount of guilt from a moment ago dissipating completely. "That's great!" He complimented. "Yeah, I'm glad you can still do ballet—in a way." Ella added, happy for her sister. "Me too."

~fin~

''CALL OF THE SHADOW <---- (previous)

(next) ----> 'Hold My Hand'

A.N. Thank you all so much for reading this book! I hope you enjoyed it! Have a lovely day, and until next time! ~Maple