5 Years Later

My palms were sweating. The wedding band on my ring finger was slick with moisture. I was so nervous. After two years of planning, my idea to create the United Nations of Magic was finally happening. I could feel my heart beating in my chest as I got ready to make the inaugural speech for the newest organization. 

After Trey had forgiven me once the war was over, we set the date for our marriage to be the summer after our third year at Trinity University. We had been engaged for nearly two years and we had decided that that was enough time. During our third year, we had worked on our relationship. It had been rocky at first and it was a while before it had gone back to the way it had been at Trinity High. But we eventually got back to how we were. Now, four years later, we were happily married, had graduated from university and were working for the Trinity Government. 

Once the war was over, I had gone to visit Atlantis to see the results of breaking the elemental curse. I was welcomed with open arms by the royal family. Although the moment was bittersweet because of the loss of Prince Zayll and Queen Cordelia, I witnessed for myself the happily ever after of thousands of people. But as I rejoiced with the people that I had been destined to save, something had felt off. I still didn't like how Atlantis was so hidden from the world. This was a place where I wanted to feel like I belonged, but I knew I wouldn't be able to if it was so clandestine. 

When I had broken the curse and the Original Witch met me in my vision, she had shown me the beauty of Elysium as it was when it was peaceful and united. I wanted the world of magic that we lived in to be that way once again. During my year abroad I had visited each nation of magic to experience their culture and learn their philosophies. And although each nation was strong, I could see room for improvement and that improvement could have only been achieved through the unification of all of the nations of magic. And so after I graduated from Trinity University, I proposed the idea of the United Nations of Magic to my father and he happily agreed to helping me create it. 

The UNM was based on its non-Magii counterpart. I had contacted each of the hidden nations of magic that were all over the world and had proposed to them my idea of creating a united governing body that would maintain peaceful relations among all of the nations. The task was difficult, but I had the help of my father and Trey. I had used the connections I had made in my previous travels and appealed to them first. With those leaders on my side, it was easier to convince the other nations of magic, and soon, we had 54 total nations that had agreed to be a part of the UNM. 

Just like the non-Magii United Nations, the UNM was made up of several different committees. There was a General Assembly, a Security Council, a Council on Economy, and a Peace Relations Committee. The General Assembly consisted of a representative from each nation. The Security Council was made up of a single representative from each element. So there was a member from one of the fire nations, air, earth, and so on. Each of the committees presented to the General Assembly. Final decisions were made by the Big Six and the president of the UNM. The Big Six were representatives from the most dominant elemental nations. These included the modern Trinity nation, Atlantis, Aerya, Sylvanterra, Aghbad, and Aethereus, which was a small tribe of seers. The president of the UNM overlooked all of the committees and led the General Assembly. And the president happened to be me.

Because I was the one who came up with the idea of the United Nations of Magic, everyone thought it was best that I served as the first president for the four year term. It was an incredible honor and one that I was extremely grateful to be given. But it held a lot of responsibility and it made me nervous. 

"Hey," I heard a voice say from beside me. I looked up to see Trey standing beside me, looking handsome as ever in a dark grey suit. 

"Hey," I managed to breathe out.

"Scared?" he asked.

"I might throw up," I blurted out. He chuckled and took me in his arms, kissing my forehead softly.

"You saved an entire race of people and you're afraid of making a speech?" he asked me, his eyes bright with amusement.

"It's not just a speech," I argued. He shook his head and brought his hands up to my face, stroking my cheeks gently with his thumbs. 

"You're Caley Lucia-Vulcan, okay? You're the most stubborn, intelligent and beautiful woman I know. You can do anything when you set your mind to it," Trey said. I managed a small smile. 

"You think I'm beautiful?" I asked him jokingly.

"Always and forever," he responded. I let out a laugh and just like that, the butterflies went away.

"I love you," I told him.

"And I love you," he replied. He brought his hand down to my 9-month large stomach. "Both of you," he said. I smiled and placed my hands over his. He leaned down and kissed my lips longingly. When we broke apart, the electricity in the air around us seemed to be buzzing. "I'll be standing right here the whole time. You're going to do great," he said.

"I hope so," I mumbled. He kissed me again just as my father began announcing my name on stage.

"Now go. Make me proud," he said. I gave him one last fleeting smile as I turned to face the stage, focusing my mind on the task at hand. If there was one thing I had learned from my rocky time working under my uncle, it was how to stay completely focused.

"And now, it is with incredible pleasure that I introduce my daughter and your first president, Caley Lucia-Vulcan, to the stage to deliver the inaugural address for the United Nations of Magic. Please, give her a round of applause and welcome her to the stage!" my father said. After a split second, I heard the audience outside erupt in applause. My father turned his face slightly towards me, holding out his arm to me. Although he had aged considerably over the past few years and the damage from the war had left some permanent scars on his face, he was still as handsome as ever. He beamed at me from the stage and nodded his head at me to come out. Taking a deep breath and squaring my shoulders, I walked out onto the stage. My father, unable to control himself, hugged me tightly. I laughed quietly.

"Dad," I said, slightly embarrassed. He pulled away.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it," he said, his eyes sparkling with pride for his only daughter. "Go get 'em, kid," he said. I smiled at him.

"Thanks, Dad," I said. With that, he left me on stage. As he exited, the audience grew quiet until there was complete silence. I peered out at the audience in front of me. Throughout the audience, I could see all of the different leaders from the nations that I had visited when I was at Trinity University. I saw the entire royal family from Atlantis, Queen Maya and Rowan from Sylvanterra, Sultan Firaaz from Aghbad, and Kia from Aerya. In the very first row, I could see Abbey and Lance with their cameras out, as if I was their child. Abbey had starry eyes and a wide smile on her face. I could tell Lance was struggling to keep her in her seat. Next to them was Natalia, my mother-in-law. She smiled encouragingly at me and gave me two thumbs up. Beside her were Gerrard, Isobel and Dom. Gerrard was nodding at me in encouragement, Isobel was flicking me off, and Dom was trying to tell Isobel to behave. I felt myself smile as I saw all of the people that I loved supporting me with my newest adventure. Taking a deep breath, I began my speech.

"Thank you so much to all of you. I am so incredibly honored to be standing here in front of you to mark this milestone in magical history," I started. "About six years ago, I embarked on a quest to the different nations of magic in search of answers to help me break the ancient curse on the Aguamenti. On that journey, I not only found answers to my questions, but I developed new questions about something entirely different: the dismemberment of a once flourishing and beautiful civilization of magic."

"In my travels to the nation of Aerya, my good friend Kia told me about the very first magical civilization called Elysium. She told me how it was a civilization where all elemental Magii coexisted and supported one another to create a single thriving and powerful nation. But as with most societies, conflict arose and Elysium split. Elysium, which is Latin for paradise, split. When I found out about this, I remember thinking to myself, how could paradise fall? And the answer is human greed," I said. "As each elemental branch of magic developed, people grew more and more greedy. They were greedy for power and control, the very same things that tore apart the Trinity nation for so many centuries. And the fact that we ourselves destroyed our Elysium, that we destroyed paradise...that made me so sad. And so as I went along on my journey, I made a promise to myself. I made a promise that I would restore Elysium," I paused, looking around at the audience. "I made a promise that I would try and restore paradise," I said. To this, I had to stop for a moment because the audience erupted in applause. I could feel beads of sweat gathering on my forehead as I felt my stomach clench. I wasn't sure whether the clenching was due to my nerves or if I was having contractions. But regardless, I took a sip of water and continued once the audience settled down.

"Now, I can't actually recreate Elysium. The nations of magic have grown too far apart and too big to create one single nation of magic like Elysium again. In fact, I think it's good that there are so many nations of magic that are centered around each of the various elements. However, what I find concerning is how isolated each nation has become. We put up barriers to keep each other out or to keep others from finding us. We refuse to have any contact with one another. Even the nations of magic within a certain element don't support each other. And that is a problem. This disunity is a problem," I said. I took another sip of water as I felt my stomach clench again. "What we needed was a platform for all of the different nations of magic to come together. We needed a place where representatives from all of the nations could share their concerns, their needs, and their desires. And so, with that need in my mind, I came up with the idea of the United Nations of Magic."

"The goal of the UNM is to serve as a platform for unity among all nations of magic. Its purpose is to bring the nations together in a safe place where we can work together to break down the barriers that have been solidified for so long and to promote peace and unity worldwide. Even though we can't restore Elysium physically, we can embody its aspects through this organization and maybe one day in the future, the world of magic can once again live in peace. Thank you to everyone for coming out and supporting this organization and thank you especially to all of the nations that have agreed to have representation. Together we can achieve unity. Together, we can achieve paradise," I concluded. 

And with that, the crowd erupted in cheers. I stood and smiled and waved for a few moments, but my stomach clenched again and I felt my vision go blurry. With a final wave, I walked off the stage and right into Trey's arms.

"You were amazing!" he exclaimed. I pulled away from him, my face pale, beads of sweat gathering at my forehead. "Caley? What's wrong?" he asked.

"The baby," I gasped, as my friends and family came backstage to congratulate me, "It's coming. I think my water broke when I was on stage," I said.

Trey's face drained of color.

"Like...n-now?" he stuttered. I nodded, wincing as I felt another contraction.

"What's going on?" my father asked, holding me up by my arm.

"I think she's going into labor," Trey said.

"What?!" I heard Abbey exclaim. She rushed forward. 

"Someone get her a wheelchair!" I heard Gerrard yell out.

"Fuck the wheelchair. Someone transport me to the hospital!" I shouted. 

Someone grabbed me by the arm and told me to hold tight and in the next moment, I was in a busy hospital emergency room. My vision faltered as the contractions grew worse and the world seemed to be spinning around. I felt someone push me down into a wheelchair and rushing me to a room. All around me, people were talking and yelling and shouting. I couldn't make out any faces or any voices. I was in pain and all I wanted was for the baby inside of me to get out.

I was changed into a hospital gown and pushed into a bed. I could faintly hear the doctor scolding the people around me for allowing me to give a speech standing up for so long when I was due to go into labor at any moment. I heard the nurses yelling at people to leave the room. There was so much noise and commotion. I wanted it to stop.

Just as I felt like I was going to vomit, I heard a voice clear through all of the commotion.

"Caley, you're going to be fine. I'm here," I heard Trey say. I followed the sound of his voice until my eyes fell on his face.

"Promise you won't leave my side?" I managed to whisper to him. He took my hands in his.

"I promise," he said.

Just as he said this, I shouted in pain once more. All of a sudden, the room grew a lot quieter. I was able to regain my vision and the room steadied itself around me. I could feel Trey's hand in mine, supporting as he had promised.

"Cervix dilated 7cm," I heard a nurse say.

"Okay, Caley? Sweetheart? Are you with me?" I heard a doctor say. I blinked and made out the face of my doctor, who was none other than my friend Samantha from university. 

"Sam? Oh my Merlin. I feel like I'm dying," I gasped as a nurse patted my forehead with a cold towel.

"It's going to be all right. Everything is going smoothly so far. You're in good hands, I promise. We're going to get this baby out of you safe and sound, okay?" she assured me. I nodded and squeezed Trey's hand.

"8 cm," a nurse called out. 

"Okay, Caley. You're almost fully dilated. You're going to have to be really strong now. When I tell you to start pushing, you're going to have to work with me, okay?" Samantha said. I nodded, gasping for breath. I glanced at Trey, whose face was probably paler than mine.

"Trey?" I whispered to him. He broke out of his trance.

"I'm okay," he told me. I wasn't sure whether he was trying to make himself feel better or me.

"I love you," I said.

"I love you, too," he replied, managing a strained smile. 

"She's almost fully dilated!" I heard a nurse shout. 

"Okay, Caley. I'm going to need you to push as hard as you can, sweetheart. Can you do that?" Samantha said. I nodded, but I wasn't sure if I could.

The next few moments went by in extreme agony. The last time I had felt pain this incredible was when I had poison pulsing through my veins after the blood oath curse had activated inside of me. I flitted in and out of consciousness, but despite the pain, I tried to follow the doctor's instructions and I kept pushing. And then after what felt like ages, but was only a few minutes, it was over. The umbilical cord had been cut. The baby had been born. My lower half ached but when I heard the sound of a baby crying, all of the pain I had felt just moments before disappeared. My vision cleared and I saw in the doctor's arms my very first child. When my eyes fell on the little baby, I felt all of my pain vanish and become replaced with a sense of relief and peace. Samantha wrapped the baby in a blanket and handed it to me with a smile.

"Congratulations, Caley. It's a girl," she said. I felt my eyes well up with tears. As soon as the baby was safe inside my arms, she stopped crying. She let out a small whimper as she snuggled into the blanket, quietly cooing. Beside, I felt Trey lean over to gently touch her little hands.

"She's so beautiful," he said.

"And she's ours," I whispered. Trey let out a small laugh and kissed the side of my head. 

"We'll give you two a moment before we have to run some tests to make sure she's healthy," Samantha told me. I smiled and nodded at her, unable to take my eyes off my new baby girl.

"What do you think we should name her?" Trey asked me, sitting on the bed beside me and putting his arm around my shoulders.

"Elysia," I said without hesitation. 

Because unlike me, my child was born in a time of peace and a time of global change and unity. The world was changing for the better now and I was comfortable knowing that my daughter would grow up in a world that was safe and peaceful; a world that was as close to Elysium--to paradise--as it could get. 

THE END

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A/N: Yay! It's over! I finished it! Tell me if this epilogue was complete rubbish. I wasn't going to do the baby being born, but then I wanted the baby's name to be Elysia and I wanted to incorporate that so I had to put in the birth.

Anyway, once again I can't thank you all enough for all of your support and kind words. I'm so incredibly grateful and honored to have been able to share this story with all of you. It's a bittersweet ending, indeed. I'll miss Caley and Trey and all of their friends, but every story needs an ending. I hope I was able to do justice for this one.

As I said before, I will be taking a break from writing for a while. Maybe it'll be a year. Maybe it'll be less. Maybe it'll be more. It depends on where life takes me. But for now, I hope you enjoy the stories that I HAVE written and that you share my stories with your friends. And hopefully soon, we will be reunited.

Until next time, whenever that may be...

XOXO