Author's Notes

*Bows, bows* So- this is the final chapter, and for those of you who don't know -most of you- I suck at endings. I tend to leave small things unsaid in order to give the reader something to think over, and no matter how much I think over the ending, nothing ever wraps up the way one wishes it to. Nonetheless, here it is~

R&R and enjoy!

-The following morning-

"Oz! Wake up!" Elliot called. His hands clapped together sharply as he rounded the corner in the long hallway to yell up the stairs. "Oz! Come on! Everyone else is up. You'll miss breakfast!" After the words left his mouth, a faint thud was heard. Clearly someone was not keen on missing their food.

Elliot smirked to himself, giving a shake of his head. He turned to walk back down the hall and into the dining room, knowing Oz was well on his way.

The kids at the table were as loud as ever. Thankfully, no food fights had begun between them. Then again… food fights only tended to happen when Oz was dining with them. A hefty sigh left Elliot's lips as he leant against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. His expression faltered for a second as he moved, something of a flinch crossing his features.

"You should be resting." Came a certain breathy voice.

Elliot's azure eyes flickered over to the owner of said voice; Leo. With a shrug, that only happened to bring another flinch to his face, Elliot parted his lips to reply:

"I'm fine. My shoulder's fine. Everything is fine."

Leo sighed heavily and stood beside his Master. He was about to give his own response to that, but a blur of blonde rushed by him before he could make a sound.

Elliot's brow twitched and his teeth gritted together in response to the flash of motion. "Oz, don't run in the halls. We've talked about this." He snipped.

Oz paused in his tracks, very nearly knocking into the table, and looked over his shoulder with wide green eyes. "Sorry, Elliot. I won't do it again!" He beamed before taking his spot beside Philippe and James.

Leo chuckled quietly as Elliot held back his temper. The younger of the two blinked his single eye as he began to rock on the heels of his feet, watching the children with a content smile on his face. Alas, the happy silence did not linger on for very long. Leo soon tilted his head to whisper to Elliot, his face taking on a more serious look as he spoke.

"The Mayor and Mister Raven are… disposing of the curse this moment."

Elliot shifted his weight from where he stood, tilting his head in order to listen to Leo's words without letting on too much suspicion from the kids. "And they're sure they know what they're doing?" He asked quietly, raising a hand to press against his chin in thought.

Leo shrugged, gaze flickering to the floor. "They seem pretty confident about it." He murmured, looking back up to the table. He was hardly surprised to see Oz was looking their way. Such events could scar a child for life, but Oz was taking it all pretty well.

"Remind me again what they're doing." Elliot spoke up as he pushed off of the wall, albeit hesitantly, and started to trail down the hall.

Naturally, Leo followed after the older man, and replied with a weary smirk. "They're dropping the doll, the one we captured the shadows into, down the well. Then they're going to board up the well itself and apparently things will go back to normal."

"That's all? Why not burn the doll instead?" Elliot scoffed, reaching the front door in a matter of moments and stepped out onto the porch.

"I suppose they fear the shadows would escape if the doll was destroyed. If its keeping them prisoned, then we should not let any harm come to the doll, don't you think?" Leo replied slowly, closing the door behind him after he had joined Elliot's side.

The two remained silent after that, choosing to watch the town come to life as it does every morning instead of waste their breath on something they wished to forget. While being stranded out in the desert, neither of them had imagined they would ever make it back home, so now that they were finally back, they simply needed a moment to appreciate the little things.

In the distance, Charlotte was seen helping a very bruised and battered Fang out to sit on the porch swing connected to their own house. Levi was carrying boxes of books up into his bookstore while the house beside him sounded with shrieks and giggles from his children. Lacie was walking over to the bar, nodding politely to anyone she passed by, including Elliot and Leo. Reim was standing just outside of the church, discussing something with one of the other townsfolk, and Lily was seen skipping through the town's street as she took her dog for a walk.

"Elliot…" Leo murmured, elbowing his Master to grab his attention.

Elliot's eyes flickered over to the spot Leo was pointing to, seeing Gilbert and Break step out from the water well's location. Elliot was thankful the well had always been out of the way, unlike other towns where their wells usually sat in the middle of the street. Both the Sheriff and the Mayor turned to look over to them, giving stiff nods of confirmation before going their own ways.

"As simple as that, huh…" Elliot muttered, crossing his arms yet again.

"Indeed." Leo agreed mildly, scratching his non-bandaged cheek as the street was filled with a shrill shriek.

None other than Miranda appeared, angrily stomping her way down the dusty road, screaming things like 'I have never been so insulted in my life' and such. Rufus followed along after her in silence, keeping his head low as he swiftly made his way to the exit of the town, and behind him, Arthur was rushing after his siblings, dropping papers and murmuring apologies to anyone he bumped into by accident.

"I hear the Sheriff's brother is coming to town, possibly to stay." Leo chirped, changing the topic altogether to cover up the irritable sounds of Miranda complaining.

Elliot rolled his eyes. "Really, after they-" A long finger pointed to the red-headed family making their exit, "-have just decided to leave? And now another newcomer…?" He sighed heavily, craning his head back.

Leo simply chuckled, clasping his hands behind his back. "I'm sure it would be no trouble. We're a simple village with absolutely nothing to hide, right?" He hummed playfully, turning back to head inside.

With another small, irritable groan, Elliot followed his servant, closing the door securely behind them both. "You know… we never found out what Oz's wish was. In fact, I never found out your's, either." He challenged, tilting his head.

Leo chewed his lip, keeping his back to his Master as he moved along towards Elliot's office. "I think it's best to leave these things in the past, yes? This is our second chance to start anew~" He announced, flashing a small smile over his shoulder.

Elliot stiffened for a moment, a tad annoyed he may never find out either of their secrets they so desperately wished to keep from him. Nonetheless, he really did not wish to start a fight so soon. With reluctance, the man stepped into his office, as Leo held the door open, and seated himself in his chair with a long sigh.

"You're right," the Carer nodded, "we all deserve a second chance."

Leo smiled in response to that, quickly moving to the corner of the room to the drinks cart and poured Elliot a glass of lemonade and one for himself. He stepped over to the desk in the room and handed out one of the fizzing drinks once he was done. "To second chances."

Elliot smirked and reached for the glass, taking it into his own hands before adding, "…And new beginnings." The glasses made a small ting as they made contact, the soft sound then echoed through the room to resemble such promises; second chances and new beginnings.

From outside the room, Oz was lurking in the hall, having been listening in to the men's conversation. A silent sigh left his lips when the realiastion dawned on him that this whole ordeal, the curse specifically, was over for good. A tug on his sleeve brought his attention away from these thoughts and his eyes flickered over to meet Philippe who had ahold of his sleeve.

"...What was your wish...?" The small brunette mumbled. "When we read the book thing.. what did you wish for?"

Oz tilted his head and willed a casual smile. "I wished that the curse was real~" He let out a small laugh before darting down the hall, "come on! Let's go play before class begins!" And with that, the blonde bolted out the front door and embraced this new beginning. His second chance.

A/N

I wanna just say thank you to all of you who enjoyed this story and made it worth writing. Honestly, it was just going to be one chapter as a one-shot I wrote for Halloween (two years ago). But then all these comments flowed in and people wanted to see what happened next so.. this happened. And what better way to post this than New Year's Day. Hope you enjoyed, and who knows, I may write a sequel in the future.