Candles and Broomsticks

The End and The Beginning

My happy ending is the beginning of many more stories.

This is the end of innocence and childhood and carefree living. I am not longer free to live with the idea that I have endless possibilities. I know the path I'm on. A path destined for greatness. The long future ahead of me would not be easy but it would be easier after today.

The dress was not white. No more white. No, my dress was a deep crimson and the train was long and wispy in the wind. I held a basket of rose petals. Their scent reached my nose and infiltrated my mind with thoughts of gardens and birds and trees and I was transported to a field that would only ever live in my mind. Too perfect and artificial to be found on Earth.

Perfect is overrated.

I looked at the crowd of people and smiled. I wanted the messy and the broken. I wanted the people who would fail me again and again but never back down and never stop trying, never stop messing up. They were the ones that would last.

All eight of them stood up there. Treasure seemed distracted and she blinked and smiled at me. The seven boys all seemed absolutely giddy. Hoseok was bouncing up and down in his red cloak. Jungkook joined him, flapping his like a bird. Namjoon put a hand on both of their shoulders and they straightened. They formed a large semi-circle on their raised platform. I approached and knelt in the middle of them. 

Taehyung and Jin stepped forward. Jin was the oldest and the founder of the coven. Taehyung was the one who invited me in. They joined hands and walked up to me.

They spoke in unison: "Raven Faye Delarosa, today we initiate you into the coven of the Army Rose. You are to guide your fellow members to greatness and to rely on them in sadness. Today you become family with the members you see before you. You are to love these people before yourself and to keep them in your heart always. Your story will be our story. Your song shall be our song. Your goal, our goal. Your dream, our dream. We are one. If you accept this, stand and join hands with the coven."

Taehyung and Jin held out their hands while the other coven members joined hands with them. Jin and Taehyung split apart and held out their hands to me. I stood up and walked forward. I turned and took their hands. I felt a snapping feeling within me.

"We are one." My mouth moved with theirs. 

The crowd clapped. We let go of each other's hands and everyone rushed to me and started a large group hug. I laughed as they all crushed themselves further in.

"How do you feel?" Taehyung laughed. I grinned over at him.

"Ecstatic." My voice came out more of a laugh than a formation of an actual word. 

"I can't believe you got the High Witch to join our coven!" Jimin laughed. 

"I know right." I rolled my eyes and put a hand on his shoulder. "He owes me twenty bucks for it."

"Exposed!" Jungkook laughed.

"I love happy endings." Treasure smiled.

"This isn't an ending." Taehyung took my hand. "This is just beginning."

"Being the high coven won't be easy." Namjoon smiled.

"You can thank Tae for that one." I laughed. 

"Thank you." Namjoon smiled at him.  Taehyung let go of me and hugged Namjoon. Jin came up to me.

"You and Wen are still best friends, right?" He asked. I let out a small laugh.

"Of course." I nodded.

"And if in two years, someone in this coven who loved her very much invited her to be in Rose Army, would you have any objections?" Jin was staring at his hands. I laughed and he looked up at him in alarm.

"You can tell that member that I'd love it if Wen joined." I smirked and shook my head and beamed over at me.

Taehyung ran over and spun me in a circle around the stage. He dipped me and held my face close to his. His lips brushed against mine like a feathery thought flashing across my mind.

"You're stuck with me now, Ray." He let a mischievous smile escape from his lips. I traced them with my finger. 

"Forever and always." I smiled into his eyes.

"Forever and always." He said back softly.

I doubt most things I do. It's human to doubt. I didn't doubt this. I knew I had made the right decision and that my new family would be with me for the rest of time.

I was ready to face the world with my new coven by my side. Anything was possible. Everything was possible.

And it was all because of him.

My Rose Bloom Path Maker.

My Taehyung.