Lady Of The Island

Epilogue

Well,
I suppose you want to know what happened next, yes?
I shan't say too much, as it hasn't been that long - but I'll explain as much as possible.

Azure and I have bought a little house in the heart of Wellsworth, so Lavender is near her new school and friends! She's settled very well for someone her age. She seems to have taken an interest in true crime detective novels, films and TV shows because SOMEONE thought she was mature enough for it.
Once she got past the nightmares for the first few days, her curiousity got the better of her and she managed to deep dive into the genre. She takes after me in a way, I suppose.

Azure got hired at a local botany research centre, it's a beautiful building and he's always full of facts when I arrive home to see him. It's nice to see him like this, you know. Open about himself, not ashamed to be who he is.
I love him so much.

I got hired at the biggest news station on the island, situated right in the middle of Wellsworth City! My boss - Frank Parker (He likes to call himself Captain Frank Parker) is glad to have me on the team. 
My favourite coworker is probably the one I share an office with and banter around with all the time - Andrea Evans. While her curiosity can get the better of her, I'm glad I've got someone with me throughout the day to laugh with. It's a great change from my past time on this island.

Every Wednesday, I meet up with Louise Stone and have a coffee and a catch up in this local french-inspired cafe near my office. We take our lunch break and just talk. She's a good friend, although can be quite weird. Sometimes she just doesn't talk and only stares.
She's mentioned her ex-husband and her daughter, Lily, who both live quite a while away. 

Burnett unfortunately decided to move away from Sodor, retiring to a coastal holiday spot in Italy, and he intends to stay there until he dies. Sometimes he writes, sometimes he doesn't. He's still quite the enigma, huh?

I managed to reconnect with Ruth a month or two ago. She's certainly moved on fast, I must admit. Found a girlfriend, sells little inventions in a cozy storefront...so sweet. She's discussed her want to get enough funding to create a university for elite education, offering both conventional and uncommon courses to really put the town on the map. Good for her.

Once he understood what had happened, Bertram was slowly reintroduced into the world  and relearned all he needed to learn about railways, and was reappointed as the controller of the line, much to public approval. Due to his age, however, he had to have an assistant do whatever he couldn't, that job went to Archie. They're both very happy.

The remaining engines that helped us through this story were all given large rewards, along with an extensive overhaul.

Becca was reintroduced to full express trains, not afraid to be seen in public by others. She wears her scars with pride and finally removed the shielding remains of her smokebox, so everyone can see her large smile.

Derek's overhaul managed to solve every issue he had with his engine, replacing it with a much quieter one that only seemed to purr instead of rumble. He doesn't suffer from stopping and starting all the time now, and has recently become Bertram's private transport!

Clarence is still relearning speech, unfortunately. No overhaul could fix such a problem, but he's made progress. He can speak in almost full sentences now, but is often in a depressive state due to how much he misses Neville, and everyone.

Rawlinson is still quite new to the concept of being recognised, and begins to panic whenever someone asks her for a photograph. She has this habit of just running off and hiding, it's probably why she doesn't get put on the day roster, most of her work is during the night when there are barely others around.

We don't hear much from Kelsee or his friends. We know he's working hard there, and sometimes - now, you shan't say a word - he sometimes sneaks onto the island using those magic buffers to visit us.....

The wedding plans are full steam ahead, for the record.
And this is going to be perfect.

***

Closing down the computer, I took a deep breath and turned in my spinning chair. My new office was really nice, honestly. Andrea had left a short while earlier, and I was left alone. The deadline for my new article about Jane and her attacks was quickly approaching, and I was all finished. 

Knock, Knock.

The door slowly opened, and Azure peeked his head in grinning. He looked a little different.
"This is nice!" He walked in and shut the door. "I am jealous-"

He looked onto my desk.
There was a picture of me, him and Lavender on a winter trip, covered in snow and laughing. 
"Is that..."

"Your favourite picture, yeah." I turned the monitor off and picked up the picture. "You look different in it though." I playfully stuck my tongue out. "Have you changed something?"

He pointed at his hair. It was now a dark blue colour, in a long ponytail. His glasses were the same though.
"Har-Har, Sugar." He booped my nose. "You know that this is always how I wanted to look..."

"And I'm certainly not complaining." I growled, brushing his ponytail as I stood up.

Azure picked up the photograph on my desk again and smiled, he held it infront of us as he wrapped his arms around me.
"You see this?"

"Yeah, it's hard not to." I joked.

He grinned and leaned closer into my ear.
"We may have been together for years, but this....This is where our adventure begins."

He placed the picture back onto the desk, pulled me into a soft kiss and slowly walked me out of the office.
As the door closed, the lights stayed on for a moment or two, before flickering off for the night.
And everything was still.
Everything was

Perfect.