I do not any way, shape, or form own Yu-Gi-Oh! or its characters. The OC characters Darren, Kili, Aya, and Trin are of my own creation and I own all copyright to them.

This story is rated Mature as it contains adult language, situations but no sex scenes in this final chapter. As it's the epilogue, I didn't feel it would really fit in to be honest.

Nor do I in any way make profit from this story.

Epilogue

It had been six months since Darren and Joey had gotten married, and for both of them life couldn't be better. Everyone who lived in the vast manor was doing well beyond words. Mokuba and Allister were planning to get married as well as soon as Mokuba turned seventeen. They already had permission from Mokuba's guardians after all. And Mikey was not only more than accepting of his brother's love life, he was adjusting to this new lease on life with remarkable skill.

Though the prince was still a touch uneasy about Kili seeing Pegasus, Joey managed to quell Darren's temper on the matter- with Trin and Raphael's aid of course. On the matter of those two, Trin was serving as Darren's official bodyguard and Raphael as Joey's, no matter how much they protested.

Elsewhere in the world, Kaiba Corp was reporting record business under Yami's leadership, while Kaiba's old manor was doubling as a girl's dormitory run by Serenity and Rebecca. They mostly took in young women who had nowhere Else to go due to pregnancy, abuse, etc.

Life was in a word: sublime.

Darren was sitting in a chair out on the front lawn, sipping a cup of tea while Joey sat beside him, reading a graphic novel. As he enjoyed his tea, he watched Kili, Mokuba, and Mikey playing a game of tag. It was a beautiful day, the sun shining bright overhead and highlighting the beauty of the vast grounds.

"This is what life's all about Joey, the simple days where one enjoys simple acts such as a cup of tea or a good book," Darren said, setting his tea down on the small table between them.

"Yeah," Joey agreed with a nod as he closed his book for a moment and watched their friends playing. "Gotta admit though, sometimes it all still feels like it could be a dream and I'm just waiting to wake up."

"I feel that way myself sometimes. Late at night when the house is quiet and all is still, I wonder if perhaps I've finally gone mad and this is all one big hallucination. But then I simply hold you closer and look over to our wedding rings on the nightstand to know it's all real and you're indeed here with me." Darren reached across the table and took Joey's hand in his own.

"Do you think all the hard times are behind us at last?" Joey asked.

"Not by a long shot imora. If this long life has taught me anything, it's that time will always throw something at you. All we can do is stay strong to get past it and always remember how much we love each other. Life is often little more than a series of comings and goings. We've all already had our share of goings, and we'll see more of them, but there will be many comings that bring light back into the world."

Joey sat back in his seat and looked out at their friends. "Yeah, that makes sense. Good thing we have forever to love each other."

"Indeed we do," Darren agreed, settling into his own seat a bit more and sipping on his tea once more as he picked up a novel he'd brought out to enjoy as well.

As they got ready for bed that night, Darren couldn't help but notice the way Joey was admiring his own figure in the mirror of their bedroom. Joey did this every night, and Darren knew he was wondering what the prince found so attractive about him, which usually ended up with Darren taking him in front of the mirror a few times to show him.

What was different about tonight was that Joey was once more wearing those lace panties he'd worn to the theatre on their date. Darren couldn't help but smile as he came up behind Joey and looked at his husband's reflection in the mirror. "They still look perfect on you," he said.

Joey bit his lip and blushed a little. "They actually got me to thinking. Well, the panties and watching the boys playing earlier."

"Oh? What about?"

"Well, Leviathan's a powerful goddess who can do just about anything with her powers right?" Joey asked, looking up at the tall Atlantean.

"Of course she can, she is our creation deity after all. So there isn't really much beyond the scope of her powers," Darren explained.

Turning his golden gaze back to the mirror, Joey turned slightly to the side. "Then I was thinking about asking her for something."

"What?"

"I wanna have babies."

The End

Author's Note: And there you have it folks, the conclusion to Shattered Dream. It's been a long time coming and I want to thank everyone for sticking with me all this time. I know this wasn't all that long a posting, but hey, it's an epilogue, not a full length chapter.

Now I know all of you are curious, will there be a sequel series involving Joey's little request at the end there. Yes, I can safely say there will be.

As this story is now complete, after three rough and tumble parts, and with that especially tragic first bit, I really wanna hear your opinions not only on the epilogue itself but on the story as a whole.