Great Angel of Fire

Epilogue

Kasadi looked up at the tall redhead standing before her. If she didn't know better, she wouldn't have believed that the woman in question was Meggie.

Before, Meggie had long, red hair, with a pale complexion and a smattering of freckles across her nose. She was slender with legs that went on forever, and for the most part- a smile on her face. The woman that Kasadi saw now had shorter hair, and her already lean figure seemed thinner, more muscular. Kasadi could easily imagine that this woman was very active. But the biggest difference that she saw between her best friend and the woman in front of her was that there was a spark missing from her eyes. Her deep blue eyes looked stormy and haunted. As if there were thousands of memories hiding behind them, but she didn't have the strength to release them.

"Meggie…" Kasadi said as if she was trying to convince herself that this was indeed her long lost friend.

"May I sit?" she asked. Kasadi nodded silently and Meggie sat in the chair across from her.

"Do you want something to drink?" Kasadi asked cautiously, still studying the other woman's face.

"Um…no. Actually, I can't stay terribly long. I just wanted to see you while I was in town, " Meggie replied and then glanced over to Rose-Marie who was quietly playing with her mother's spoon. "Oh Kasadi, she is beautiful."

"You're leaving again?" Kasadi asked, completely ignoring the compliment. "But you just got here!"

"I know, it's just…" Kasadi didn't even let her finish her thought. She just stood up and started bundling Rose-Marie up again to leave. "Where are you going?"

"I shouldn't have come here. I shouldn't have met you. I wouldn't have if I knew that you were just going to take off again," she replied as she put the baby's jacket on, followed by her own. "I can't believe I actually thought you might stick around this time. That life might finally go back to the way it was before Emma disappeared…or at least as much as it could without Emma," Kasadi looked up to the ceiling and blinked back tears, "I'm so stupid."

"No, Kas. You don't understand- "

"I don't want to hear it, Meggie." Kasadi slung the baby bag over her shoulder and walked out of the café. For a moment Meggie just sat there with her mouth gaped open, but that moment passed and she then moved to follow.

"Kasadi! Kasadi wait." Meggie dashed out the door of the little café onto the cold streets. She looked to her left and saw Kasadi walking briskly towards the nearest parking garage. "Kasadi! Don't be like this!"

The brunette turned on her heels and glared with a fury she was sure Meggie had never seen before. "Don't be like what! Hurt? Confused? Angry? Who are you to tell me how to be? You think that after disappearing without a trace for ten years that you can just come on in and just say 'Hey Kasadi, I've been missing for a decade but I just wanted to swing by and say hello before I leave town again!' did you really think that I would take that laying down!"

Meggie stood there and just stared at Kasadi who was clutching to her daughter in the wind, tears pouring down her face. "Why did you leave?" Kasadi asked,

"Because I wanted to find her," Meggie replied as she ran her hands through her hair, "When I couldn't find her, I shut down. So I hid."

"Where?"

"I spent five years looking for Emma and Hoshiko. I went back to Montrose, I tried North Carolina. I looked in Ireland, Italy, France, and anywhere else that I could think of. After that, I gave up. I ran out of ideas. So, since I couldn't go home, I went somewhere that I could at least try to call home. So I ended up in Australia. I was doing some vigilante work for a politician trying to clean up the streets. It paid good money and offered me a whole new identity so that no one would find me."

"Well that back fired on you, didn't it?" Kasadi seethed.

"Yeah…" Meggie sighed, "Then Serena ended up finding me. How? I still don't know, I didn't get too much into it. And after I saw her, I went to Hoshi. I saw the remains of her life, I saw the statue….and then I knew it was time to come home. It was time to stop hiding. "

"Why did you have to hide in the first place? Do you realize how much you missed? My wedding reception, for one. It was your turn to give the Maid of Honor speech and guess what? The Maid of Honor was gone. Not only that, but you missed the births of my children. You were gone. And then, I got the news that Emma died, and you weren't here. You didn't even know! And then Hoshiko was found and I couldn't go anywhere near her because Emma named you her guardian and you were nowhere to be found! Aunt Beth and Uncle Hotaka never got to see their granddaughter because you weren't there. And it's not even as if I could petition for custody against Serena because she's on the goddamn moon!"

"I know," Meggie replied. She wasn't even fazed by the complete meltdown happening in the street because she knew she deserved it. "I know I was wrong. I know it was wrong to hide. But being here drove me insane because I knew that my best friend was out there somewhere and I was sitting in Tokyo. And then when I couldn't find her, I lost hope. Emma was the only person on earth who could keep me in one place. And God, I hated leaving you. I did. I was wracked with guilt for ten years because I knew that I had hurt you so bad. And that's part of the reason why I couldn't come back. I couldn't face all of the people I left behind because I felt like that on top of abandoning them, but I failed them. Including you, and Rini and Kyo….and Okaa, and Papa Hanzo. I failed you guys and I couldn't handle that… I'm so sorry Kasadi. I really truly am. Please understand that…."

Kasadi didn't know what to think or say, which is why it was a good thing that Rose-Marie started fussing. "Shh , sweetie, I know," she whispered. She looked over to Meggie. She knew that if she walked out now, this may be the last time she'll ever see Meggie. But even if she didn't, it still may be the last time she sees Meggie. She might as well make the most of it.

"I have to take the Rosie home, and be home for the other two when they get home from school. Are you coming?"

Meggie smiled a small but sad smile, "Yeah, I'm coming."

"Did you drive here, or do you need a ride?"

"Um, I have a rental. I can follow."

Kasadi nodded and then turned to walk to the car again.

After putting the baby down, Kasadi went downstairs to her studio where she found Meggie looking at pictures on the wall. While here entire house was filled with pictures of her family, Kasadi's studio walls were dedicated to Emma. There were Pictures from back in high school, pictures of her and Sam's wedding, leading up to the few pictures of the Christmas Eve before she disappeared. Pictures of Hoshiko's first few months were also scattered across as well, but there were not nearly as many. After all, she was only two months old when she vanished with her mother.

Kasadi stood next to Meggie to look at the photos.

"You know, after word came that she was killed Josh prepared their house for the market. But he didn't have the heart to throw anything away. He put all of the furniture in storage, sent all the personals to Sam and Emma's parents. But, no one could bear looking at the pictures. It hurt everyone too much. So I took them. They remind me of the Emma we knew before her life crashed down around her. You know…the Emma we knew."

Meggie nodded in agreement, as she focused on a picture from high school. It was right before they left for New York City to do Junior Broadway. They were standing as a group; Kasadi, Kyo, Rini, Sam, Meggie. And off to the left was Emma, smiling her pearly smile- showing just enough gum that made her feel self-conscious.

Everyone would agree that Emma had easily been the happiest out of all of them. As long as she had her friends and family, she was content. That's all she needed. When Sam died, a huge piece of her was lost and she never recovered. Friends and family weren't enough anymore. They all came around to try to help, working together to help keep her head above water. But the second she was gone, all the family and friends that were so dear to her had begun to fall apart. They no longer had the bright and beautiful and loving super glue that kept the group together. Kasadi had seemed to be the only one out of all of them who even tried to keep it going. Now- Meggie had to try to help pull everyone back in again.

"Meg," Kasadi broke the silence, "Have you talked to Kyo?"

Of course, Meggie should have realized that in order to do that, she would have to face some fears. But this particular fear was going to be harder to swallow than others.

"No, I haven't. I don't think he's going to want to see me though."

"I think you should at least try," Kasadi encouraged, "It's the least you could do after leaving him in the dark like that."

"There you go being my conscience again…." Meggie sighed, "I guess I'm staying in Tokyo for a few days" Kasadi smiled softly and then turned to walk away. Meggie assumed that she was going to go look up Kyo's number.

Meggie looked back to the picture, specifically at Emma. She missed her so much, and let losing Emma drive a wedge between her and the people that she really needed to move forward and now, with Kasadi's help she was going to fix it. Or at least try to.

A.N: I cannot even begin to try to explain myself as to why it has taken me a year to update- the epilogue no less! As you know, Meggie and I started college and that ate up a lot of time. But that's not even the half of it. This year was very, very rough for both Meggie and I. I can't speak for Meggie, but I personally dealt with a lot of emotional strain that literally plugged up all creative outlets. On top of that, I was suffering from hypothyroidism which made life very difficult for me and made writing almost impossible. But now- I'm back. I'm feeling a lot better, and I finally feel the creativity settling back into me. As soon as this chapter is posted, I will be planning for Universal Chaos and will be spending all summer writing. I am so so so sorry that this is coming so late and I absolutely expect that very few of you are actually going to read this, and I completely understand. For those of you who are still reading and still looking for updates after all of this time- Thank you so much. I am so glad to be back in the saddle and truly hope not to disappoint you again.

Much Love

Emma