Lady Of The Island

Our Happy End

As Becca trundled along the Sudric railway, my eyes remained on Azure, slightly suspicious still. He seemed to be shaking slightly, for someone of his personality, he wasn't usually nervous. When he was, he would try to talk about plants or the other person, but he just couldn't. He couldn't even look me straight in the eyes.
"Azzy..." I slowly held his hand. "Is everything okay?"

"Hm?" He looked at me, not in the eye. "Oh...yeah! Do not worry."

"Usually people talk on dates, you know." I cheekily smirked. "So..."

"I know.." He paused for a moment and sighed. "This is not how awkward I imagined it would be..."

"It doesn't need to be awkward." I laughed. "Baby, what do you want to talk about?"

"I do not...know.." He looked down at the table that seperated us. He never seemed to be this nervous, ever.

"Hmmm...." I thought back to what I had been told a while ago. "I have a question, about plants."

His eyes pricked up.
"Oh?"

"What's the science behind dock leaves? I know they're relievers, but how?"

He grinned and immediately snapped back to his usual self.
"Okay, so, dock leaves, known scientifically as Rumex obtusifolius, but I will refer to them as dock leaves for convinience, they contain a natural antihistamine in the sap, which eases stinging sensation from harmful nettles! The leaves of the plant actually contain this interesting acid called oxalic acid, which stops herbivores from eating them! Did you know that some animals have actually learned how to use these? Is that not amazing?!"
Azure's eyes were filled with wonder as he continued an explaination.

"Not as amazing as the sight infront of me." I winked.

Azure quickly went red and hid his face, due to me catching him off guard.
"H-hey! I am supposed to be the one-" He rubbed his face. "Mmph!"

"What about corpse flowers? I noticed that in one of your books when you placed it down, they seem interesting."

"Oh!" He giggled. "Yes, those are actually endangered, well since the publication of that book..."

He continued to explain how they worked, where they were from and things like that.
I just sat there and listened, just thinking how lucky I was to be sitting here with him.
To be his boyfriend.
To love him.

***

After a while Becca slowly blew her whistle and began to come to a stop. 
"Here we are!" She smiled. 

I took a quick glance out of the window and gasped.
She had stopped at the most beautiful place imaginable.
Upon a lush, healthy landscape full of trees, a single line of rails intruded the peace, and stretched over and beside a peaceful waterfall, thrusting against the small rock formations that laid at the bottom of the bank, which slowly evolved into a river, where fish would swim up and down.
The bridge on which we had stopped was surrounded by a large wood, full of chirping birds, delightful deers and other harmless wild animals.
As I hadn't been doing much on Sodor apart from hunt down Lady and Jane, I never really got to experience the slow and subtle beauty of the island and the raw power that nature held against life across it.
"Oh my god..." I stammered. "It's beautiful..."

"I know." Azure grinned. "That is why I picked it for us."
He skipped out of the coach and onto a pre-set picnic blanket in the clearing, which surrounded a little heart-shaped box.
"Come on!" He laughed as he sat down.

I slowly climbed out of the coach and felt Becca smile at me. Did she know something I didn't?

As I sat down, Azure laid onto his back and blew out a deep breath.
"This is harder than I imagined..." He trailed off.

"Hm? Baby, what's wrong?" I twitched my head in his direction, holding a concerned expression.

"Nothing is wrong..." He smiled, sitting back up. "I just...need to...AUGH!!" He buried his head in his hands. "This is so embarrasing."

"Embarrasing?" I smiled. "I'm never embarrased by you."

He smiled, raised his head and held my hand as he stood up, bringing me with him.
"Gray, you are...well, I am not sure I can find the words to describe you. You make me feel more complete that anyone ever has. You are so perfect, I just...cannot...describe you. You actually CARE about my interests, and do not judge me for that. It is so refreshing. Whenever I am near you, I think that I am the luckiest person on earth - scratch that - in the universe."
His face went redder with every word.

"What are you doing?" I cocked my head and let him continue.

"You see, when you were here and I was home, I could not help but worry about you. All I could think about was you, and how you were doing. It made me realise how much you mean to me. I could not imagine a world without you. I hope you know that the time was hell for me, yeah?" He playfully punched me. "Do not do it again, please. It killed me."

"I won't..." I laughed in response.

"I just...realising how much you mean to me made me...it made me think about our relationship, and...I-"

His eyes met mine.
And he panicked.
He quickly dropped down onto one knee.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you!" He shouted desperately, losing all composure and going quite red. "Please marry me!"

...

My heart melted.
"Holy-" I stepped back a little. "Of course! Yes!"
I quickly pulled him onto his feet and pushed him onto the floor in a hug.
"What made you so nervous? Of course I'd say yes!"

Azure didn't reply. He just hugged me tighter and lightly sobbed. He didn't usually cry, so it was a welcome adjustment.

Becca watched from a distance before blowing her whistle.
"You're forgetting something!"

Azure quickly wiped his tears and laughed.
"Oh! Right, I forgot!"
He pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket and opened it, to reveal a custom made Moissanite ring, with both Chalcedony and Sapphire stones placed on the top. Grey and Blue.
Our colours.

"Oh, baby, it's beautiful." I felt the tears swell up. "How much did this cost you?"

"It does not matter." He placed the ring on my finger. "I would pay any price for you."

He pulled me in quickly and gently kissed, only caring about each other in that moment. We didn't care that Becca was watching, we didn't care that the sun was setting quickly.
All we cared about was each other and our happy end.

And this, my friends, is the happy end to our story. 
Sodor was safe, I was happy.
Justice had been served.
The Lady Of The Island had been defeated.
All my love,
Gray Marshall