Final Part: An Epilogue

On a pleasant day, in the generous spring, the village of Harmonica showed little worry. The Town Hall stood as it always had, quiet inside and out as the school children played away, and the same steadfast clerk perched behind it's desks with a heavy stack of paperwork piled meticulously under his nose. The ledgers were flipped and turned, perused once more for good measure, and finally passed to the other side of the countertop.

A second occupant on the reverse side of the counter followed suit: paging through, calculating quickly, and initialling where necessary. When it came to the last page the clerk pressed his palm over it, redirecting his gaze.

Gill's frosty blue eyes had not lost any intensity with age, "You're sure about this?"

The man in question smiled, repositioning his heavy glasses with a practiced finger at the bridge of his nose. He brushed the covering hand away dismissively, much like he had his father's concern and levelled the pen again. Unbeknownst to the other an orange light hovered over his left shoulder, blinking like a firefly.

"Van?"

"Who...what are you?"

"I'm a Harvest Sprite!"

"...A guardian spirit? Really?!"

"My name is Finn, and I need your help."

"Van," Gill pressed, bringing him back to the room.

Van nodded, his glasses slipping once more, "Yes, I'm sure." The pen moved with light scrawling letters- indecipherable; a doctor's handwriting. Today he was a doctor no more. Gill retrieved the paperwork, tapped it in line with one sharp gesture, and began his furious stamping. The deed was slipped into a manila envelope and passed to him.

"Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of one government property ranch."

Van grinned, casting a surreptitious glance to Finn who had begun to clap excitedly at their success.

Gill's lips drew a line, and he recited his next lines peaceably, "Please check over the enclosed conditions of your loan and see to it that you are not late on your payments.

"You've made the right decision," Van promised.

"Show me that I have," Gill approved.

On the way to the farm Van walked the path he had known and loved all his young childhood. His books already having been transported, he carried his entire life in one meagre duffle bag. Finn was a buzz, making plans, recalling stories, laughing at his own boundless exuberance. Van couldn't help but get caught up in the sprite's enthusiasm as well; it'd been a long time since he had felt so certain about any one decision and even longer since he'd been excited to meet the outcome.

-If your mind is open and your heart is good... How long had it been since he'd considered those words?

In the summer of his seventh year the girl farmer Akari disappeared. She had always been such a tenuous presence that he had never felt entirely safe in his adoration of her, but there had still been no stopping it. Her departure sent ripples through the entire village; some you could see and some that were too faint to notice without really looking. Van himself had never quite gotten over it.

That is until he met Finn.

"Do you know where Akari went, Finn?" the boy Van had asked. At once he was scared of the answer but desperate to fill the hole that she had left inside his heart.

"I know," Finn sang, gliding gracefully on dragonfly wings.

"Can you tell me?" Van clipped eagerly.

Finn spun, "I can do better that that!" tiny bug-black hands reached for Van, closing over his face as gentle as a gust of air.

In an instant Finn's features were diminished behind a scene of cloudy sky. Van was up high, further from the sea than he had ever been, and all around was dust and rock and thin oxygen-starved trees. And then he noticed, further away, the circle of wildflower. Colour and radiance bloomed in a lavish puddle set the middle of the rock.

Van gasped. There she stood not a day older than he could remember. Her face was alight with a smile; a reflective beauty he had never played spectator to before. Her hands were clasped between two larger ones that belonged to a man Van had never met. He in turn had a sort of solitary happiness about him, as though he too had just taken a step into the unknown. It swelled like a slow fire that suited his colouring. One after the other, Akari and the unknown man slid thin golden bands onto corresponding fingers.

Cautiously, gently, he bent to her and presented her lips with a kiss. Van blushed, squeaking his humiliation at witnessing such a thing, but was soon distracted by the thousands of tiny faces that shimmered and appeared all around the two. Finn, he thought, or creatures like him- and so many! Akari wept, gladness in every tear, and she clung to the man tightly.

"Thank you," she whispered, the image dwindling, "Ignis, thank you."

Ignis, Van thought.

An important person; an important name.

In the present day, Finn tugged on Van's earlobe. "Get your head in the game, Van; this is the first day of forever!"

The boy-turned-man laughed mirthfully at his co-conspirator and proposed, "For Akari?"

Fin threw his hat high, "For Akari!"

~FIN~

A/N: Thank you for reading :') this story is dear to my heart. Please review and let me know what you thought.

Just a few final notes that were not shown explicitly: Van grew up knowing Finn from a young age but he continued to complete his schooling and study as a doctor. Eventually he took up residence at the clinic without ever enjoying his career and finally Finn helped him overcome the fear and follow his dream: to pick up on the farm where Akari left off.

After returning to the goddess, Finn had been reborn inside the Goddess Tree's fruit to find a new farmer. Although he had never technically been present during Akari's lower moments he still knew and felt her pain during this "dream sleep." The Goddess is healthy and well but slept in order to birth more sprites into the world. The farm had become an integral part of the natural balance in keeping her fit and alive on the island.

As for Akari and Ignis... I hope we can all agree that they lived happily. Forever or for what time they had together.