Epilogue

[Three Centuries Later]

"It's not very often we get to enjoy nature in its raw form, is it Jericho?" The young boy with sandy blonde curly hair looked up at me, shaking his head as he raised his arms in the air. He desired for me to hold him. He always wanted to be held by me since I adopted him. Not all of Jericho's line of descendants were cherished by me, some were real brats or evil incarnates. But this Jericho now in my arms, he reminded me of the very first one since I had taken him in.

I walked us to the top of the hill, feeling the full weight of Jericho's 35-pound body in my arms. My biceps were burning and about to give out when we reached the top of the hill. Surrounding us entirely was one of the last parks in London, preserving nature in all its natural form from the 21st century. It was a sight to behold. One I had missed over the years with progress, industrialization, and technology advancement.

I gently set Jericho down on the lush green grass before I sat down next to him. I twisted the fine blades of grass between my fingers. Attempting to memorize the feel in case it was too wiped out one day. Jericho began to roll around in the grass as care free as any boy of age three should be. The smile on my face kept growing as I recalled that happiness is here and now. And I always latched onto any joy in my one life.

My attention was suddenly drawn to something I never dreamed of seeing again. My focus darted from Jericho's tumbling body to two male forms off in the distance. A man with black hair and the other with brown hair. They too were laughing as they strolled by in the distance. I felt my stomach twist and my body take root in the ground as I recognized them.

I would recognize them anywhere.

In any life.

Jem and Will.

I shook off my fear and asked Jericho to come with me if he could be quiet for a few minutes. I shifted into an old woman, a favorite disguise of mine I picked up a century ago, and took Jericho's in my arms once again. I picked up our pace to catch up to a decent distance behind Jem and Will. Enough to catch their conversation.

In the next ten minutes, I had learned what I had always hoped for. Their next life would be of good fortune and not be tainted with the tragedies that befell them in their previous life. As young men now, they looked content in this life. From the snippets I could discern from their conversation, they were happy and okay. This time, I silently promised to them that I, Tessa Gray, would not be a burden to their friendship. Perhaps I could watch their friendship flourish from afar or maybe just leave them in peace from this point on. I would think on it.

I felt Jericho tug the collar my shirt and I knew he was ready to be put down. I set him on the ground and we retraced our steps back to the hill. For once, I felt inspired to tell the truth after all these years. To provide to one person, even just a young child, the account of what really happened. The true confessions of the clockwork princess.

It would be a story of love. Sadness. Growth. Strength. Redemption. Forgiveness. But most of all, it would be my story.

Author's Note: It is bitter-sweet to end this story. It was what first inspired me to come back to FanFic after a decade. I wanted to write an ending I preferred for Will/Tessa/Jem. I wanted to see Tessa as a stronger female lead and thought it was kind of crummy she only got Will and Jem for a human lifetime each while she had to live forever. Just a personal opinion, but I thought it was selfish of each of them to get their whole human life with her and just expect her to go on forever. That is why in the last chapter I made her challenge Will for a brief second to become a vampire to be with her forever. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the trilogy though!

I may come back and edit this one day. My writing has improved since I started this, and I feel I could do a lot better with plot development/detail/etc. But I also like the idea of leaving my first Fic as it is to preserve my growth in writing to look back on. Thanks all who joined me on this adventure. It is not the best story, but I like it myself. -Lalaland972