Well, Ramendobe, my friend, it took me four years but I finished it! Thank you for writing such a wonderful prompt, you helped me refine my writing abilities and discover a faith in myself I didn't know I had. This is the first big self-assigned project I've ever finished and that is a major accomplishment for me; I have pretty severe ADHD, one of the hallmarks of which is starting projects but never finishing them.

Anyway, without further ado...the final piece of Swansong. Thank you all for reading and for all the support you've sent me while writing, I can honestly say this project would not have been completed without your help. I love you so, so much.

If you have any questions or would like to follow me on tumblr, my username there is nientedal! (I also have a pillowfort but I still need to set it up.) My ask box is always open!

EPILOGUE - Iza Ngomso - Christopher Tin

A few weeks later, Megamind climbs up to the roof of the Lair at sunset. It rained earlier in the day, rained hard, and the roof of the Lair smells of lovely warm earth instead of asphalt and tar.

Minion is already up here, humming to himself, getting damp soil in the fur of his arms and caked between the joints of his hands. He's planting in his garden, something Megamind knows he's wanted to do for some time now but never really had enough hope for until recently.

He truly is doing an excellent job of it. Personally, Megamind has always thought of gardens as just collections of plants, but Minion, it seems, has been thinking of them as more than that—as arrangements of stones and little statues and pots of annuals among the rooted plants, mosses in the shady places and tall flowering grasses in the sunny ones. He really is much better than Megamind at this whole decorating thing.

Also, he's weirdly insistent on lilacs. Megamind had needed to come up with a solution for those; their roots aren't terribly shallow and some of the roof had to be modified so they would have room to grow. But that's okay, Megamind didn't mind helping. It was nice, actually, to follow Minion's directions and specifications, for a change.

And the lilacs' leaves are a pleasing enough color, and Minion claims they'll smell wonderful when they establish themselves and start flowering next spring. Megamind likes to tease him about this because Minion can't actually smell anything, but really he's touched that Minion considers scent a factor, and Minion knows it.

Roxanne is up on the roof already, too, looking out over the lake at the sunset-fire lighting up the water and the dissipating thunderheads. She's leaning on her elbows on the low railing Megamind installed around the patio at the end of Minion's flagstone path, just at the edge of the roof. Megamind smiles briefly over at her back, at the way she looks silhouetted gazing away at the sun, and then he picks his way carefully over the dirt to where his oldest and dearest friend is crouching over one of the flowerbeds.

He announces his presence by fluffing the fur of Minion's shoulder with his fingers, and Minion turns in his dome and grins up at him from under the brim of his floppy straw hat. "You finished it?" he asks eagerly. "Can I see?"

Blushing furiously, Megamind shows him the result of his latest project. Minion nods his approval, beaming.

"It's beautiful, Sir. Do you have any idea what you're going to say?"

Megamind grimaces, laughs a little. "Minion, my main man," he groans, "I have entirely too many ideas."

Minion sends him a smile and bumps him with his elbow instead of patting him on the back with a muddy hand, then turns back to his work. "You'll do fine, Sir."

Megamind nods and takes a deep breath, then turns to go watch the sunset with Roxanne.

The past month has been…

Weird.

Megamind still isn't completely sure how his brain is supposed to work, these days. He can think more or less the way he's used to, can speak without stumbling again—well, mostly; he occasionally tries to say three things at once and ends up spitting out gibberish—can see what needs to be done again. But he has more trouble than he used to in other ways. Like, for example: he gets hungry, now. It's incredibly distracting. He's not a fan. And he loses himself in projects much more quickly than he remembers doing before. Before, Minion could almost always tempt him away from his frustration on one project by redirecting him to something else, but now that doesn't seem to be working as well. They'll have to figure something else out, there.

Minion is more serious than he used to be, and less patient. This is not quite as much of a problem as it might be because Megamind couldn't take him for granted anymore if he tried, and is much less inclined to dig in his heels when Minion gets a certain look in his eye, but still, it can be jarring. For both of them, really.

(They aren't entirely sure how many of their changes are due to the link versus the effects of post-traumatic stress, but either way, it's an adjustment.)

Minion had some trouble, at first, with spending much time in Main Storage. The high ceiling and lighting were unsettling, he said. That was all he said about it, but Roxanne coordinated with the brainbots to replace the Lair's blue-green LED spotlights with sunlight bulbs, anyway, which seems to have helped.

Roxanne finally admitted to Megamind a few days ago that yes, the link is definitely affecting her as well, even if she can't consciously pick up on it the way he and Minion can. She's developing an actual rapport with the brainbots, she says, enough that she'd like to work with Megamind about looking into some kind of neural interface for her (he is wildly excited about this idea). And her job doesn't seem quite as interesting as it used to—she still loves it, but the downtime is becoming excruciating.

And she came home from work one day last week in a kind of daze, and when Megamind asked what was wrong, she said, "I think I solved a corporate embezzlement mystery today? I'm still not sure how, I just…everything lined up and it all just made sense, and…next thing I know, I'm giving a statement to the chief of police?" After the shock wore off, she and Minion both found the whole thing riotously funny; Megamind still isn't entirely sure why.

But relationship-wise, the past few weeks have passed smoothly enough to border on absurd, considering how worried he was to begin with. The ring Roxanne gave him helped a lot. The lawyer Wayne recommended is still reviewing case law, trying to figure out what documentation Megamind is going to need to bring with him to apply for a marriage license, so they haven't actually been able to tie the knot yet. But being able to look down and see Roxanne's love on his hand, being able to feel her love physically even when he's wearing his gloves—that helps a lot when Megamind starts feeling like everything is impossible and closing in around him. Which happens more frequently than he would like, but less frequently than he thought it would. And he does think it will happen with decreasing frequency as time moves forward. He's making progress; he's sure he is.

(For example: sometimes he has positive interactions with other citizens of Metro City and doesn't panic immediately afterward! This! This is progress! The first time he panicked he wasn't expecting it, wasn't prepared at all, and Wayne found him in a ball behind a dumpster in an alley with his massive head between his knees. Megamind snapped and snarled at him, threatened him with all sorts of terrible fates and injuries, but Wayne stayed anyway and sang exceptionally terrible improvisations about people passing on the street ("oh, uh…there's a lady with a poodle with a bad hair-cut / oh she just stepped in a puddle 'cause the puddle's in a rut / wow that's a really deep puddle, oh no / um, and now the poodle's wet and so are her shoes and she's—uhhh—yelling—") and, when that didn't work, sat down in the alley-mud next to the dumpster and talked Mandelbrot coordinates in base eight until Megamind could pull enough air to explain. And it was—god, it was stupid, really—it's just, looking and being looked at, speaking and being spoken to by strangers—doesn't—Megamind isn't used to that ending well for him.)

(And then Wayne got sort of quiet, but all he said was, "Tell you what, little buddy, let's go make cake, I bet maybe you'll be better at cupcakes, maybe cupcakes are a better starting place for you," and that was what they did for the remainder of the afternoon.)

(Which. Megamind is. Going to need to talk to Roxanne about…some things, there.)

(Wayne was right about the cupcakes, though! Megamind only burned a little over two thirds of them! And his icing came out semi-edible, if somewhat runny! More progress!)

He makes his way down the flagstone path to their patio. Roxanne is still gazing out over the lake, but she turns and smiles back at him with the sun behind her and the wind in her hair when she hears his footsteps approaching. That's another new thing: in spite of his misgivings, Megamind is learning to make a little more noise as he walks. Is learning it's not such a terrible thing to be noticed, to be seen.

Slowly, he comes to stand beside her. Even more slowly, takes her hand, and allows his shoulders to relax and drop as he straightens his spine. Roxanne is slightly taller than he is—or she would be, if his head was smaller—but he doesn't mind. It's nice, really, to slip his hand in behind hers and hold on that way.

Roxanne glances over at him again, still smiling as she squeezes his hand and leans gently against his arm. "It's a really pretty sunset," she remarks. "I'm glad the storm cleared up, those clouds are amazing. Were you able to reduce the turn radius on the hoverbike?"

He actually finished that project a couple days ago, but he doesn't tell her this yet. He just nods, and she hums, pleased. Then she pulls away for a moment so she can look him up and down. "You look nice," she tells him, sounding almost surprised. "I like that shirt on you. You look pretty good in white."

"Thank you," he replies, barely able to hear his own voice over his pounding heart.

For a while, they watch the thunderheads change colors as the sun dips low over the water, Megamind grappling with himself in silence as he tries to figure out what to say. This is ridiculous. He feels nearly as dizzy and cut-tongue as he did when Minion was lost. His thoughts are spinning out and turning over and discarding possibilities as quickly as he can think of them.

Well…maybe he doesn't need to do this right now. Maybe he can wait. There will be other sunsets.

He relaxes a little.

"I still don't understand," he says, after the shadows have lengthened somewhat and the light is fully gold around them, "how you could just…take me in like you did. Find me on the street and carry me home and bring me into your life. Despite all our exceptionally one-sided history. I don't understand."

Roxanne leans into him again and squeezes his hand, but doesn't reply just yet. She's not terribly surprised to hear him bring this up; she's learning this is just his knee-jerk response to happiness. To question its origin. It probably will be for a while.

"You completely upended your life for me," he says. "You couldn't have had much time to stop and think about sending me somewhere else." She can hear the frown in his voice. "I know I…I can't have been unconscious for very long in your apartment, but you already had my bed made when I woke up. And you never complained. Not once."

"Sweetheart," she says, "I really can't express how much you were not a burden. The only thing I did differently was make more food."

"But," he says, but she isn't finished.

"You didn't upend my life. Yes, it was a change, but…coming home to you instead of just coming home was the second-easiest thing I've ever done, I promise." She lets go of his hand in favor of slipping her arm around his narrow waist.

"Second-easiest," says Megamind, startled but putting his arm around her as well, resting his hand on the smooth curve of her hip. "Second-easiest? What's the easiest thing?"

"Loving you," she says simply, and he makes a sort of low, broken-off sound. She knows without looking that he's wearing his shocked-heartsick face. "You're an easy man to love, Megamind. I don't even know when it started. But letting you stay was just…I don't know." She's quiet for a while, holding him against her side and thinking, until finally she settles on, "It felt like the natural response to whatever led me to find you in that alley. There you were, and there I was, and," she shrugs, "I had a choice to make. I don't think I could possibly have chosen otherwise."

Megamind steps behind her so he can wrap both arms around her like he'll never let her go. He presses his lips to the back of her shoulder, his nose in the curve of her neck. She feels his chest shudder a little, feels his throat move, and she raises a hand to brush her knuckles softly back and forth over the side of his head.

The light slowly fades out of the sky above them and concentrates in the clouds along the western horizon. It really is a lovely evening. And this high up, on the roof of the old power plant, there's a good breeze and not many biting evening insects.

After a while, Roxanne stirs. "Do you want to know the hardest thing about bringing you into my life?" she asks, and she feels him give a hesitant nod.

She grins. "Carrying you up the stairs." Megamind bursts into startled laughter against her back. "Seriously!" she exclaims. "You weigh, like, a thousand pounds! And people were waiting for the elevator on the first few floors; I had to drag you up three flights of stairs before I had a clear shot!" She rolls her eyes. "You were worth it, of course, but good lord."

"What would you have done if someone on an upper floor wanted to get on?"

She snorts, lifts a hand and waves a vague gesture out at the lake. "This isn't the lift you're looking for," she says, deadpan, and Megamind laughs even harder. "Move along."

"Yes," he chokes, "but I am the nerd, here, obviously."

"I never said I wasn't one," Roxanne tells him, grinning. "Just that you're the biggest one I've ever met."

"I love you," Megamind says fervently, still laughing, "Roxanne, I love you so much." He steps back so she can turn around, and then he finally leans in and kisses her, still chuckling in his throat.

He hums as he breaks the kiss, then sweeps her bangs towards her ear and cups the side of her neck, his thumb brushing her jaw. "I wonder what would have happened if you walked away," he murmurs, eyes sparkling in the light of the sunset.

"I don't know," Roxanne replies, troubled at the idea. "I don't think a universe exists where that happens."

"There has to be at least one," he points out, cocking an eyebrow. "In an infinity of universes, an infinity of variables…"

"Not necessarily." She turns her head to press a kiss into his cool palm. "You never used the reset button."

Megamind blinks a few times, then twitches a frown, cocks his head at her. Which means it's Roxanne's turn to be surprised, because—has he really never thought of this? "You said using it would collapse every universe created since and destroy everything in them. Right?"

Slowly, he nods.

"But we're still here," she says. "Which means, in an infinity of universes spinning off an infinity of variables, there is no universe in which you built and used the reset button. None. Not one." She smiles, puts a hand on his cheek to tip his face to a better angle for a kiss as his eyes go wide. "And I think," she murmurs, "that says one heck of a lot about you, Megamind. About who you are. And how absolutely good you are.

"So," she finishes, as he stares at her, "like I said: I hope there aren't any where I walked away from you without trying to help."

Megamind scrunches his chin, his eyebrows pulling together. "You always say the most beautiful things to me," he says, his tone almost mournful. "I don't know how I got so lucky, Roxanne, I—you—"

(It sounded like poetry, Roxanne said, weeks ago, explaining her truth in terms Megamind not only understood but had explained to her, himself, once. It sounded like poetry, of course I remembered. I wrote it down.)

This sunset, then. No more waiting. Suddenly dizzy, Megamind steps around Roxanne, turns sideways to lean his hip against the railing because otherwise he is going to fall over.

Roxanne cocks her head at him, looking curious. "You're wearing your Ideas Face," she observes. "What did you think of, just then?"

"Just—wait, just wait," he tells her, struggling to gather himself enough to speak without stammering, "wait a moment—"

He closes his eyes. Breathes deeply. Swallows hard.

Lifts his head and opens his eyes into the sideways glare of the sun and looks at Roxanne, who is haloed sideways by the same solar flare.

"I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, topaz," he tells her, because it sounded like poetry, of course I remembered, and because he means every word of this, "or carnation-arrows seeding fire." He forces himself to speak slowly, to breathe, be deliberate. "I love you as certain dark things are loved—secretly, between shadow and soul."

"What," Roxanne begins, startled, but Megamind continues to speak in his low, humming voice, with the damp after-rain smell of the rooftop garden rising around them and the sun striking his eyes at an angle that turns his irises into wheels of green fire,

"I love you as the plant that does not flower, but carries within itself, hidden, the light of flowers—and, thanks to your love, the dense scent that rises from the earth dwells darkly in my body.

"I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where," he steadies his voice with an effort and takes her hand, threads his fingers with hers, "I love you personally, without problems or pride; I love you this way because—because, I don't know any other way to love,

"except in this way, in which I am not, nor are you; so closely that your hand on my chest is my hand—so closely that your eyes close with my dreaming."

He stops speaking, then, and steps close to her, and bends his great head on his long neck and drops a kiss onto her shoulder. And silently prays for his knees not to give out.

"Oh," Roxanne says, after a moment, her voice thick. "Oh, I—I like that." She swallows. "That was…?"

He smiles. "Neruda," he tells her, stepping back to look at her again. "Soneto diecisiete, cien sonetos de amor." He clears his throat. "Roxanne, I finished my work on the hoverbike two days ago. I've been working on…something else." He takes a small bag made of the same shimmering black material as his capes out of his pocket and hands it to her, color rising across his cheekbones and crawling up his ears. "For you," he says. "I hope it's acceptable."

The ring is in his colors, blue and black, as she had requested. The three blue stones are tension set against curves of black metal that curl between and around them like waves.

"Acceptable?" she says. "Megamind, this is beautiful. It's perfect, I love it. I love you."

"I love you," he tells her. "Does it fit?"

She swallows. "Let's find out," she says, offering him the ring and her left hand.

Of course it fits; Megamind is nothing if not thorough. His blush intensifies as he lifts her knuckles to his lips, and then he ducks his head forward and nuzzles against her. Smiles at her with his heart in his eyes when she pushes back against him and puts her arms around his shoulders.

He clears his throat. "The, um. The stones are sapphires. The band itself is titanium."

"Huh," she says, surprised. "Why titanium?"

"It—well, for this kind of setting, titanium is best. But. It was. Going to be titanium, anyway. In, in this case it…isn't really jeweler quality," he says, almost apologetically. Roxanne holds her left hand up behind him; the ring looks fine to her. "I thought, at first, maybe—cobalt, or, or platinum, but…well. You gave me your grandmother's ring." He swallows, stumbling over his words as he so rarely does anymore. "So I…wanted to…it was. An engine component. Originally."

Roxanne blinks at him. The way he's stammering, she's sure this is significant, but she must be missing something.

"From my spacepod," he says, and time, for Roxanne, stops.

There wasn't a lot of room for trinkets in the little cobbled-together pod his parents hurled into the sky. There wasn't much time to gather things together. Other than the de-gun's B.I.N.K.Y., a few pages of writing Megamind was only sort of shown how to read, and Minion, the pod itself is really the only thing he has left of the world and people who bore him.

"Because I wanted to give you something of my history, too," Megamind says, kicking time back into motion, "and this is all I have."

Roxanne inhales and drags him in against her, clutches him to her like she can somehow press their hearts together if she gets close enough. Because, good lord. Megamind. Megamind with his I love you secretly between shadow and soul, with his this is all I have, with his snowflake kisses, with his gentle hands. Megamind, turning his life in an entirely new direction because his childhood bully said I know you can do this and I need you; Megamind, who still can't really believe in himself, holding firm in his resolve to try something he thinks is impossible because a couple of other people seem to believe in him; Megamind, melting down an engine component from the ship that carried him away from a black hole to make a ring for her and saying it isn't jeweler quality like that's somehow a downside.

She disentangles herself and kisses him as hard as she can, with one hand on the back of his head and her other arm wrapped around his shoulders, because her only other option right now is to burst into tears.

Honestly, she still hasn't ruled that out. Megamind is smiling even when he opens his mouth under hers and locks his strong arms around her, but it's all Roxanne can do not to start crying into him right then and there. He's standing here, in her arms, kissing her under this alien sky on an alien world, and he and Minion so very nearly lost each other—after losing so much already, their planet and their star and their families and their whole culture—and Roxanne is so fucking relieved they were able to come home to each other in the end. And so glad to be bound to both of them in this strange new life they're building for and with each other.

"Roxanne," Megamind says, breaking the kiss and blinking at her in what looks like a combination of amusement and alarm, "please stop crying? I don't want you to cry."

"Tough," she chokes out, laughing through her tears as he scowls at her and wipes her cheeks with his thumbs, "tough cookies, Megamind, you're too fantastic for me to not cry over, with—with your I don't know any other way to love—holy shit, I love you so much," she drags her fingers in the back of his shirt. "Hold me?"

"Yes, of course, always," he says, wrapping his arms around her again and pulling her in. It really is ridiculous how strong he is for his size. It really is ridiculous how insanely good he is at hugging despite his relative lack of experience.

Roxanne drapes her arms around his neck and leans into him, tucking her head down against her shoulder with her face turned toward his neck. He's not wearing his platforms, just regular shoes; she doesn't even have to stand on her toes; he really is just the perfect size for her. Megamind hums at her, pleased at the cuddles, and tips his head sideways on top of hers.

For a while, they stand like that—holding each other in the fading light, in the clear air.

Eventually, Roxanne stirs. "Really do love you," she sighs, and Megamind hums again.

Then Roxanne moves her head, tips back and opens her mouth to press her teeth into the skin of his throat in a gentle bite. Megamind jumps, then shivers.

"Oh," he says, dropping his voice into its old growl, "my dear Miss Ritchi, what exactly do you think you're doing?"

"Oh I think you know exactly what I'm doing," she murmurs back, straightening up and leaning in for another kiss. This one has significantly more tongue than she's used yet this evening, and also involves her trailing her fingernails very lightly up and down the back of Megamind's neck, until he's shuddering and gasping under her mouth and hands.

That's where they pause, because, "Either cool your jets or take it inside, you two," Minion calls over his shoulder, not turning around.

Megamind bites his lip around a breathless laugh as Roxanne calls back, "Sorry, Minion! Aaagh," she adds, dropping her voice, "I completely forgot he was over there."

Megamind steps back and stretches. "I didn't," he admits, "but I was trying to be quiet, I didn't think he could hear us."

"You were very quiet, Sir," Minion calls back. "I couldn't hear a thing, but you're both completely predictable."

Megamind rolls his eyes and blows a raspberry at him, laughing, then glances out over the lake. The sun is below the horizon, now.

"The sunset's mostly over, anyway," Roxanne says, echoing his thoughts and reaching to take his hand almost before he's finished stretching. "Shall we bring this inside, then?"

"I like that plan." Megamind curls a little smile at her, his eyes half-lidded, but—then he glances down at their joined hands. His leather gloves, her bare skin.

His smile turns shy as his gaze flicks back up to her. "You really want to marry me?"

"I really do."

Megamind nods, takes a deep breath, gazes around at the patio, Minion's garden, the city rising behind it. "And you—you really do think I can do—this?"

She turns to face him and takes his chin in her free hand, her left hand, the one wearing his ring, and tips his face down so she can press her lips to his forehead.

"I really do," she repeats softly, stroking the soft line of his goatee with her thumb. "I know you can.

"But if you can't," she adds, before he can ask, "or if you decide it's too much, or you don't want it—I love you. No matter what you do or don't do. Or can't do, or won't do. I love you," she smiles, lifting his hand and turning it to place his palm flat against her chest and press it there, "so closely that your hand on my heart is my hand," she leans close and moves his face so she can brush her lips over his fluttering eyelashes, "so closely that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

"And I want you to be happy. And yes, Megamind, I also want to marry you."

Megamind goes quiet, just gazing at her with his heart in his mouth and his eyes glittering in the dusklight.

"There you go again," he complains thickly, after a moment, "with the—saying of the nice things to me."

Roxanne grins and releases him, dropping their hands and threading her fingers between his. Megamind swallows and opens his mouth—

—and then he tweaks an eyebrow at her and his expression goes mischievous and his hand goes tight. He ducks forward and spins down, slides his free arm behind her knee, pulls up—

—rises with Roxanne draped around his shoulders in a fireman's carry. "Clearly the only thing to do is kidnap you," he declares, and she bursts into peals of startled laughter, "and bring you home and keep you there with me forever so you can continue saying nice things to me."

He marches back along the path. "Yes," Roxanne agrees when she can breathe, "yes, clearly, that is the thing to do. But you've forgotten to secure both my hands, Megamind!" and she pinches him all up and down his side so he yelps and chirps and flails around until he manages to catch her by the wrist.

"That's not nice," Megamind protests, panting, holding her hand well away from his body.

Roxanne wriggles a little, pleased with herself. "Have to keep you on your toes somehow."

He scoffs in the back of his throat, but she can hear him smiling. And she's struck, suddenly, by how very different he is from the man she brought home with her in May—the same man, certainly, but able to be himself now in a way he wasn't, before. She loves him regardless, but it is so lovely to be able to snark with him like this. Nice to be caught by surprise and swept off her feet.

"Minion, I have kidnapped Miss Ritchi," Megamind announces as they approach. "Would you be so kind as to get the door? She is insisting on being difficult."

"What else is new, Sir," Minion sighs, but he's already waiting by the door and he's grinning as he holds it open for them. He winks at Roxanne as she goes past. "Have fun, Miss Ritchi."

"Thanks, Minion, I will," she says cheerfully, wiggling her fingers at him from where Megamind is still gripping her wrist. "Good night!"

Iza Ngomso (Tomorrow be Today), adapted from 'Keramos', by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Xhosa translation by Kanyi Maqubela and Vuyelwa Maqubela

Imvula izawubuya ezulwini / Umphungu uphinde ube imvula namafu / Ndizawuqabela / Apho amatapha nentsimi eluhlaza / Izikhephe ezizotyiweyo zibhabha emoyeni / Njengentaka ndiyabhabha, / Ndibamba umoya / Njengentaka ndiyabhabha, / Ndibambelele ngamaphiko / Iza ngomso / Kuzawubalela / Makube ngomso / Iyeza imini / Ndibhabha, ndidada—

The rain will return to the cloud / The clouds bring down the rain / I will climb / Where over fields and pastures green / The painted ships float high in the air / Like a bird I fly / I'm holding on to the wind / Like a bird I fly / I'm holding on by my wings / Come tomorrow / The rain will clear / May it be tomorrow / The day is coming / I fly, I swim all over the lands / I'm holding on to the wind / Over desert sands, over gulf and bay / Like a bird I fly / Like a bird I sing—