PHOENIX

Epilogue

Air whips the hair around my head, pulling at the lazy ponytail I had tucked my hair into earlier. The strong winds of a November night cling to my face, turning my cheeks pink. Even though I detest the cold, I can't help but smile, glad to be in the air either way. Surrounded by clouds, silence albeit the wind rustling past me, the sun slowly turning orange and pink as it lowers from the sky to make way for the silver moon.

This is my paradise.

With control, I dive down until I'm just underneath the clouds. My eyes search the green forest below me, waiting for a sign of movement.

A second goes by, and then a gray creature launches itself into the air. The bird straightens its wings out and glides right to the side of me.

"How are you today, Ashes?" I ask, making sure to allow enough space between us so that my wings don't fry the bird.

Ashes whistles in response to my voice. For the past year, this sunset flying session was a tradition between the two of us. Just a way for me to relieve stress mostly, and a way for Ashes to stretch his wings.

"I might have to cut our flying short," I warn the bird, "There's a very important festival tonight."

Ashes chirps, and I smile, excited for the evening's events. It had been a year since the first L'Manberg festival, and in remembrance, all of the surrounding territories agreed to throw an annual festival, minus the bloodshed from the previous year.

So much had changed since then. New factions sprouted, turning into territories and kingdoms. Dream, Eret, and I had proposed an alliance to the leaders of these new factions, and they agreed. No more war. And that was how it stayed for a whole year. Dream and Eret came to an agreement, Dream deciding to be in charge of the SMP Territories' military and allowing Eret to make the bigger decisions for the land. Eret had then asked me to be the ambassador for the SMP Territory, leaving me in charge of making sure our relationships with other factions were in check at all times, and reaching out further to form alliances with new kingdoms. I gladly accepted, excited to be doing something I love in the place that I love.

And of course to be near the person I love.

Subconsciously, a soft smile spread across my face, more excited than ever to be ending Ashes and my daily routine short.

"Race you to the nether portal!" I call out to Ashes, diving forward.

—----------

"Do you think it's too much?" I turn to Callahan, already feeling the adrenaline coursing through my body.

He gives a short shake of his head.

"I just don't know," I let a deep breath out.

C'mon Dream. Get a grip.

"You could be wearing a clown suit and Nix would still be drooling," Sapnap cuts in dryly. "You two are always ogling at each other like that."

"You wanna talk about ogling, idiot?" I taunt, turning around to a sprawled out Sapnap. "You know how many times I've caught you checking out Quackity's ass?"

"Can you blame me?" Sapnap laughs, and Callahan smacks his head.

"Ow! I'm allowed to! We're literally married!" Sapnap sits up on the couch. "Anyways, you'll be fine, dude."

I turn around again, facing the mirror. My hair was neatly combed through, and I had already gotten into my tux for the festival tonight. For the past thirty minutes I had been debating whether the bow tie made me look fancy or just dumb.