And the Clock Struck Twelve

By seraphimstarlight

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Tales of the Abyss or any of its characters.

Author's Note: All right. It took me over a month to get this part done, but, here it is! The Epilogue of And the Clock Struck Twelve! This is dedicated to all the readers who have supported this fic through thick and thin. It's because of you that I was able to finish this! Thank you so much for making this fic the success it was!

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Some months later

Guy slumped down wearily on the garden bench and sighed, thoroughly relieved. To tell the truth, he was grateful to have escaped with his sanity intact. Honestly, he hadn't thought it would be this bad.

The ceremony had ended so suddenly that, before he was even aware, the vows had been taken, the blushing bride had been kissed and the happy couple had been ushered out the doors.

Both had breathed a sigh of relief that, after so many months of planning and rehearsal the ceremony was finally over. At last, they could finally relax.

She had moved to slip her heels off, all the while debating whether or not wearing heels during such a long ceremony constituted torture to which he had replied that the ceremony had gone by relatively quickly to which she had retorted that he had been wearing flats.

He had laughed at the look she had given him and started to say that it would have been odd of him to wear heels when, suddenly, he realized that she was no longer standing beside him.

Just where had that crowd come from?

Within a matter of minutes, the newlyweds had been dragged away in separate directions to be trussed up for the wedding reception.

And quite a reception it was indeed! Though he had expected the feast to be grand, he had never imagined anything of the sort. Lavish decorations, wonderful music, and enough food to possibly feed the entire population of Auldrant! Which was just as well since the entire populations of both Kimlasca and Malkuth seemed to be in attendance.

He had thought that in between the congratulations from King Ingobert, Emperor Peony and the hundreds of other dignitaries (as well as some forced congratulations from Alpine and his son and several other nobles) that he would at least be able to talk to her. But, to his dismay, he had found it a difficult thing to lean over and talk to her when the majority of eyes in the room seemed to be fixed on the two of them.

Oh. Right.

Mental note: revenge on Luke for the embarrassing speech.

(He was already considering what to say at the red-head's wedding which was still a month or two away. And considering he'd pretty much raised Luke, he had more than his share of stories to tell. But that was something he'd deal with later.)

At any rate, after several hours, the reception had finally come to an end. He had scanned the room, looking for any sign of her, only to discover that she had, once again, disappeared.

He had managed to slip out unnoticed, deciding that she had headed out into the garden for some fresh air when he saw no sign of her in the hallway, which led him to where he now found himself.

Turning, he glanced back towards the castle which radiated light and music, and, because Baticul was so high up, it seemed to be set against the stars. This palace—he mused—would soon become his home. He thought, for a moment of his manor, but quickly decided that, for him, home was where she was.

He stood and turned to head back inside. After all, he had spent the better portion of the last hour searching to palace gardens for her, only to realize that she wasn't there.

Maybe she had retired for the evening. He would just check on her to make sure she was all right. A quick trip to her chambers, however, revealed that she was not, in fact, there, so, bewildered, he continued his search trying to find where she had gone to.

(The thought that she might—for whatever reason—be in the kitchen had occurred to him. At that, he had wanted to run, but, to his relief, she was not there. It was the only place in the entire castle he was glad not to find her.)

From one wing of the castle to the next he searched, but there was still no sign of her. In the end, he once again ended up in entry hall of the castle. He leaned against the stair rail and thought briefly about heading up to sleep himself but knew that he would not sleep until he at least knew where she was.

Maybe he would search upstairs one more time.

As he climbed the stairs, however, something caught his eye—something glittered on the landing. As he approached it, he realized what it was.

It was her pendant. The one she always wore.

He picked it up and turned it over in his hand. The metal of the pendant was still warm—as though she had just lost it. She had passed by here recently, but, which way had she gone? Had she headed to the upper floor or returned to the lower one? Was it possible to tell?

He looked around for some sign—any sign of her.

Unconciously, he gripped the pendant tighter in his hand.

Please. Please show me the way.

Silence.

Then, footsteps stopped at the top of the stairs. He dared not hope it was her, so he waited for the person to pass, to go on their way and let him resume his search. And the footsteps did indeed continue—but they continued towards him.

"There you are, Guy."

At this, he did indeed look up.

And there she was, standing a few stairs above him as though she had been waiting there for him all this time. The obvious flush on her cheeks and her general, bedraggled state, however, told him that she, like he, had been searching the palace.

His heart swelled at the thought that she might have been looking for him. The more likely explanation however, was that she was simply searching for her necklace.

He held the necklace out to her.

"I believe you lost something important," he said, gesturing towards the necklace.

She smiled, but to his surprise, did not even glance down at the proffered jewelry. Instead, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing herself against him.

"Yes, I did," she murmured into his chest, "but I've found it now."

The pendant slipped unnoticed to the floor as he returned the embrace. His heart was so full that he did not trust himself to speak further.

After a long moment, she reached up and twined her arms about his neck.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you," she asked pouting, "that if someone's searching for you, it's easier for them if you stay in one place?"

He chuckled and brushed a stray piece of hair from her face. "I should ask you the same thing, you know."

"How so?" she asked. "I went looking for you first. I didn't see you in the reception hall, so I thought you'd headed outside. But you weren't out there, so I came back in here to look."

He stared, astonished. "I went outside to look for you when I noticed you weren't in the hall. I searched all over the place, but I couldn't find you. I was just about to head upstairs to search again."

"And I was about to head to the other wing of the castle when I didn't find you upstairs." She paused. "It looks like we just kept missing each other. If I hadn't realized I'd lost then pendant, then I might not have come back this way."

"And if I hadn't stopped to pick it up," he said, just realizing what had happened, "I might have already headed upstairs and possibly been searching in a different part of the same floor…."

His words trailed off as they both turned to look at the piece of jewelry which lay, neglected on the ground.

"I remember," she mused, "when Luke first gave this to me—he said that he believed part of Asch's will still remained."

"Do you think this means he approves?" Guy asked with a grin.

She smiled. "I'd say that's a 'yes'. After all, if not for this pendant, we'd still be searching for each other, right?"

"Yeah." He paused. "But you know," he continued. "It would be unlikely that something like this would ever happened again."

She arched a skeptical eyebrow. "How so?"she asked.

"Because," he said as he pulled her closer and rested his forehead against hers, "you'll always know where to find me."

"And where is that?" she asked, her voice a whisper.

"Right beside you," he replied as he closed the distance between them. Forever and ever.

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And so goes their happily ever after…

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Author's Note:

Wow. I can't believe it's over. It seems like only last month that I started this fanfic, but it's been just about nine months now. Just like a pregnancy, lol. But, in many ways, this fic was like a child to me, more so than a pet project. I know, I know, it sounds dramatic, but that's really how I felt about this story. I had promised myself when I started this that I would see this through to the end, no matter what. Never once had I imagined the fantastic response that I would get to this story!

Your support has meant so much to me over these past months. There were so many times that I hit roadblocks in this fic and, despite my promise to myself, felt like giving up. But when I remembered that there were people out there who wanted to read the next chapter of this fic, I knew that I couldn't just give up. Your support gave me the strength not only to break through the writer's block, but also to fight against my own innate tendency to leave things unfinished.

Even when I started pharmacy school and the work and exams started ramping up on me (I'm supposed to be studying for one as I speak, lol), your reviews and support reminded me that I could not just let this go—that there were people who wanted to see "The End". Thanks to you, I was able to finish this. Thank you all so much for not giving up on this story. Thank you for pushing me forward.

It seems like so long ago that I started this. It's strange to see how the story's evolved since then. It ended up being so much more different than my original outlines. I can't even begin to describe the differences. But I'm happy with how this turned out. I think it's better than my original plan.

Still, wow. I can't believe it's finished. Well, I've got the sequels to work on now. I'll have to do that in my spare time, but I'll do my best to get it done for your sakes.

Again, thank you so much for all your support these past twenty-five chapters and nearly 150 pages. I could never have done it without you!

--Seraphim Starlight--