Part 11/11: time begins again (Maria)

A minute went by. Two minutes. Three. I turned to Michael and cleared my throat. "Do you think she meant it?"

But Michael hadn't heard me at all. He was staring at the sky, completely transfixed.

"Michael?" I tentatively touched his arm, and he didn't pull away.

"The stars reappeared again," Michael stated, half to himself. He was still looking up at the sky.

"I didn't realize they'd gone anywhere," I said, slightly amused.

Michael turned to me with a thoughtful expression on his face. "You know, in a way, I don't think they did ever leave."

"Wait...I'm seriously confused. What are you talking about?"

Michael shook his head. "Nothing."

"Oh."

Another silence followed. Then, "Maria?"

"What?"

"I think she meant it," Michael said slowly.

"Really?" This was a shock to me.

"Really."

I sighed and started walking down the street. Michael followed. "You know what? I think so too."

Michael then changed the subject. "You remember when I told you that everything was going to be okay?"

I nodded.

"I meant it."

"I didn't exactly completely believe you," I confessed.

"Well, I don't blame you. But now...I think actually think...I think everything's going to be even better...than okay..."

And walking around with Michael outside the now-deserted Crashdown Café, a new song already forming in my mind, I couldn't have agreed more.

The End.

A/N: I just want to thank everyone who stuck with this story till the end (or just skipped to the last part, whichever.) I know the writing is a bit unpolished and the ending rushed. I contemplated making a few changes before I posted, but I didn't really have time for that. Besides, I think that editing it now would've been unfair to the original story.

Next, I'll be posting my old Tess-centric fanfic, "Silver," so look out for that. If you aren't such a Tess fan, I'm also working on a new M/M fanfic as part of my multi-fandom series, "Somewhere in this Wide World." And if you enjoyed this one, please consider leaving a review!