A/N: Oh boy, here it comes! The actual end. *Forces back tears*. Must keep writing, must keep writing…

Epilogue

(Years Later)

"So what your saying is," Trixa tapped her chin twice in deep thought, "We were all together in our past lives, so that's why we're all together again now?"

"Precisely." I nodded, glancing to my right. "Roxas! I told you not to mess with that!"

My son, caught red handed, bashfully relinquished his grip on the candelabra, swinging back down the carpeted floor of the parlor, where he landed with an assassins' grace. His dark blue eyes were filled with childish mirth and his bright red spikes were beginning to fall into his face, they were so long. I would have taken him down myself, but alas I cradled his infant sister in my arms.

It had taken almost the entire day, but our story had been told. Trixa and her new husband, Yuro, had taken time off from their jobs in town to spend the day with my family in the old mansion, which we had fixed into our new home.

"But I don't understand," Yuro shook his head. "What ever happened to Roxas, Axel's friend?"

"We said our goodbyes." Axel explained, entering the room with his hands clasped around a plastic baby bottle. "We had a moment, before we had to go our separate ways. I guess that's the thing about hearts-"He glanced at me knowingly. "They have a way of finding each other again. Well, that is, Roxas and I didn't exactly have hearts at the time and all…"

"Thank you, Axel" I leaned up and kissed my husband on the smooth plane of his face, taking the bottle and letting our daughter suckle, "Cissa's been fussy all day."

Axel and I took to calling each other our former names when alone. To us, it seemed, our new names were a symbol of our new life. The life we fought for all along.

"How romantic…" Trixa sighed, leaning back in her seat. "Who knew you had a romantic bone in you, Aylee?"

I grinned, setting the bottle aside and patting Cissa on her back gently, eliciting a small belch from the tiny baby. Her glassy emerald eyes gazed up at me playfully, just like Lea's…

"Why did you wait so long to tell me?" Trixa asked.

I smiled and watched Cissa try fruitlessly to remain awake, her lovely green eyes slipping close. "Well, we had to wait until you found Royu again. It wouldn't be very fair to tell you your true love was right under your nose, now would it?"

We all chuckled as Trixa flushed. It was apparent that she had had to slum around with some serious frogs before finding Yuro. All those years he had been hanging around Rimina's shop, waiting for the girl with the pretty golden eyes and tawny hair to wake up and realize he adored her.

"Dad!" Roxas cried, breaking the silence by heaving himself into his father's legs, for that was how short he still was.

With a fictitious roar, Lea swung his son up over his shoulders so the little fire headed boy could ride them. Grabbing fistfuls of his father's hair, Roxas beat his little heels into Lea's torso until his father paraded him around the room like a prized stallion.

Kissing the patch of dark peach fuzz sprouting atop my daughter's head, I breathed in the scent of cinnamon and fire that clung to every room in our house. This was my life now, and I had waited nearly two lifetimes for it. Staring deeply into Lea's emerald eyes, his face twisted into an impish grin, and felt our heart racing.

When Trixa and Yuro said their goodbyes, after the children were tucked in and sound asleep, a strenuous task when it came to our son, Lea and I stole away to the front yard. Among splashes of pale moonlight splayed across wild grasses and blue star creeper, we grew throngs of rosebushes of all colors. My favorites, however, would always be the ruby reds.

Pausing to sniff a delicate, new blooming white, I glanced up to find a luscious red held out to me in pale, gloveless hands.

"Elexya…" Lea breathed, sidling up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist, his nose nuzzling the skin between my neck and shoulders. "The Agile Guardian of my heart."

"Will you ever miss it, Lea?" I asked, taking the rose and tracing the edges of the petals with my fingertips, leaving tiny intricate patterns of frost in their wake.

"What?" He asked, turning me and pulling me close in his thermal arms.

I raised a cool hand to his searing cheek. "The Organization, the freedom-"

He silenced me with a warm, smooth kiss, leaving me breathless and clutching at him with my free hand.

"This is my life now." He said, his voice low and rumbling. "You, Roxas, Cissa. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the worlds."

"Promise?" I gazed into his pure green eyes, pausing to speak between fervent kisses.

He grinned held me at arms' length. Tracing a small X from above my collar bone to just above my breast, he leaned his forehead against mine and I smelled sweet spices on his breath.

"Cross my heart."

A/N: Hope it was enjoyable and not too cheesy. Due to a threat to my life, apparently, I mentioned the final goodbyes of Roxas and Axel as best I could. I knew this moment was coming, but still it kills me to end this story. Sadly, I believe that sequels ruin stories, so as of late I have no ambition to continue this. Again, I hope you have enjoyed it all. Please leave a review if you can and I leave you only with the promise that I will never, ever quit writing.

With a heavy heart,

Phoenix Rising