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Every Heart: Notes for Chapter 24 (Epilogue)
Link to MM.org
Link to FF.net
And so, the thrilling conclusion to the epic story has been posted!
In our epilogue, we learn the fate of each of our main groups:
1) Kohaku decides to stay behind in the village of the western lands, for he feels like he failed in his mission. His soul is still tortured, and he still needs to find a way to forgive himself for everything he's done in the past, under Naraku's control. This, of course, breaks Sango's heart, but in the end, she understands that this is a process he'll have to complete on his own. She, Miroku, Kirara, and Hachi return to her family's village, where they will forge a life for themselves and prepare for the birth of their first child.
I contemplated a few different versions of this ending scene. It was always my goal to have Kohaku strike out on his own. I actually originally planned for Sango to miscarry her baby, but decided against this, feeling I'd made her suffer enough in this course of this storyline! I wanted to have her and Miroku's conversation about love and loss happen right after she bid her brother farewell, but for the purposes of the timeline, it worked out better to have it as it is written.
2) Kagome and Inuyasha return to Kaede's village in the aftermath of the battle. There were a few things that I needed to accomplish for them: I needed a conversation with Koga to take place (thanks to a throwaway line in Chapter 22, bah!), and I needed to figure out a way to have the well re-open after the destruction of the jewel (thanks to my fuzzy logic from the first three chapters). It was always the plan to have the jewel destruct in the final battle, for the point to be that it was a vessel for Kagome to attain the ultimate form of her powers. It's gone, because there is no need for it anymore: she has purified it to the point of unlocking all its secrets, and she has inherited all of Midoriko's powers.
First of all, the conversation with Koga: this was important, because I essentially brought him back after he was written out of the manga, following Kikyo's death. Of course he's going to still have feelings for Kagome, even if he realizes that she's made her choice. This little scene gave them both a bit of closure, and showed that Koga grew up a little, too, accepting her choice with no fuss. It mirrors their parting in the manga, which was an important image for me.
Secondly, figuring out how to return to the modern era. The biggest problem I had with this scene was to keep from falling back into the ol' trap of the double life. Kagome has made her choice: she wants to stay with Inuyasha. However, that doesn't mean she's ready to abandon her family without a proper goodbye. It's one of the things I disliked about the manga's ending, how she just left without telling everyone of her decision. Considering all the angst she went through about making a choice, it only seems fair to bid everyone a proper farewell, no?
I really wanted to bring Kaede back into the story as well -- she's often a forgotten player -- and who better to make Kagome realize the depth and breadth of her powers than the original observant miko? :) Yes, Kagome has always had the power she thought the jewel controlled, and thus, with one well-timed strike of her arrow, she can pass through the well again, even without the physical presence of the jewel. This imagery harkens back to the scene mentioned in the story, as well as the climax of the first movie.
Then I had to decide if I really wanted to break up the super-couple once again, just because she had a path to return to the modern era. I struggled with this for most of the downtime between chapters, before deciding it was better to have a way for both of them to return. After all, what better show of strength than for her to find a way for both of them to pass through the well with relative ease? I really liked the image of him at her back, a reversal of their usual positions, to show just how far she's come within the realm of this story. Tying it all back into the kyūdō steps outlined in Chapter 11 was just icing on the cake :)
There was also the question of whether or not they should be present for Sesshoumaru's marriage ceremony, considering the family ties. When I was first sketching this chapter together I had them present, to have the contrast between their close, loving bond and Sesshoumaru's formal, mostly hands-off relationship with his future wife. Unfortunately, this messed with the timeline of the story, plus the logistics of explaining the preponderance of humans suddenly staying at the youkai stronghold (because if Inuyasha & Kagome were going to be there, so was the rest of their crew!). Besides, I'm fairly certain neither brother shed any tears at Inuyasha's absence, haha.
3) Sesshoumaru and Snegura formally seal their alliance via a marital union. This was the original, predominant plan for this chapter, because it segues directly into future story plans LOL. Even though this was the "clearest" idea I had in my mind, it was the last one to finally be written, to my satisifaction. It was important to have some sort of opening into the changes of Sesshoumaru's and Rin's relationship, sparked by the final battle with Ryūtatsu. Originally Rin was present at the ceremony, stealing her lord's attention away from the matter at hand in her own, quiet way.
I know I've written her into a fairly dramatic role here, but I wanted to keep in mind her inherent maturity as well. Instead of the scene that made it into the story, I drafted out a scene between her and Sesshoumaru, where he's trying to send her away to live in the human village down in the valley, but she refuses. However, I just couldn't get Sesshoumaru's words to come out right, and thus scrapped the idea. Instead, SessMom proved herself to be very useful indeed!
SessMom was originally going to be in a scene with her son, discussing the strategy they would employ to handle the political side of his union. Basically, both Sesshoumaru & Snegura had already signed their written agreement, but the marriage ceremony was for the benefit of the others, a formidable show of their united strength. She was originally to argue for spreading a rumor that Snegura was already carrying his child, which he would shoot down as putting a price on her head and thus, throwing them all into unnecessary danger.
Instead, I came up with a much more underhanded scheme for her: realizing her son's changing feelings for his human ward, she takes it upon herself to recruit Jaken in a scheme to lock the girl away, "for their own good". The plan backfires a bit, however, when Rin realizes it wasn't Sesshoumaru who issued the order (though she doesn't know who did).
Basically, this is the avenue I want to explore in the sequel to this story: the relationship between Sesshoumaru and his mysterious bride, Snegura; the relationship between Sesshoumaru and Rin, and the tension they all feel because of it. Snegura has her own destiny to fulfill, which will lead her away from her husband, leaving him to tempt his father's fate with the very willing young girl who somehow blossomed before his eyes without his realizing it.
There is also a probable Inuyasha/Kagome storyline in the works as well, as they attempt to forge their own life and struggle to have a family. Sort of a duality between the brothers' lives, but it isn't really sketched out quite yet. Just a few threads dangling to keep this universe open to me :)
As for the "ENDING" -- I'm torn as to how I should feel about this, probably because its the middle of the night, haha :) On one hand, I'm absolutely thrilled beyond belief, to finally have this piece completely finished. I have never had much success finishing my multi-chapter epics (*thinks back to her Russian tragedy trilogy which languished during all her years of high school*), so this is something of a minor miracle for me. I'm also happy I was able to finish this within the time period I gave myself, during this small opening in my increasingly-busy school schedule.
On the other hand, I am sad to see this piece come to an end. This was something of a unique journey for me, as I started it right before applying to graduate school in March. As I look back on it now, it's like reading a personal journal: so many of my own hopes and dreams are interwoven into the characters'. It's hard to say goodbye to the story that's become my "safety blanket" in a lot of ways, even though I know it's time to move on :) There are other irons in the fire which are increasingly demanding my attention, but I felt I really owed it to this story to give it a strong ending, and I can only hope that I have delivered on this score.
I've dedicated the final chapter/epilogue to those lovely people who have followed me from the beginning and reviewed almost every chapter. I hope they have enjoyed the ride, and will not say "goodbye" just because this story has now ended.
Link to FF.net
And so, the thrilling conclusion to the epic story has been posted!
In our epilogue, we learn the fate of each of our main groups:
1) Kohaku decides to stay behind in the village of the western lands, for he feels like he failed in his mission. His soul is still tortured, and he still needs to find a way to forgive himself for everything he's done in the past, under Naraku's control. This, of course, breaks Sango's heart, but in the end, she understands that this is a process he'll have to complete on his own. She, Miroku, Kirara, and Hachi return to her family's village, where they will forge a life for themselves and prepare for the birth of their first child.
I contemplated a few different versions of this ending scene. It was always my goal to have Kohaku strike out on his own. I actually originally planned for Sango to miscarry her baby, but decided against this, feeling I'd made her suffer enough in this course of this storyline! I wanted to have her and Miroku's conversation about love and loss happen right after she bid her brother farewell, but for the purposes of the timeline, it worked out better to have it as it is written.
2) Kagome and Inuyasha return to Kaede's village in the aftermath of the battle. There were a few things that I needed to accomplish for them: I needed a conversation with Koga to take place (thanks to a throwaway line in Chapter 22, bah!), and I needed to figure out a way to have the well re-open after the destruction of the jewel (thanks to my fuzzy logic from the first three chapters). It was always the plan to have the jewel destruct in the final battle, for the point to be that it was a vessel for Kagome to attain the ultimate form of her powers. It's gone, because there is no need for it anymore: she has purified it to the point of unlocking all its secrets, and she has inherited all of Midoriko's powers.
First of all, the conversation with Koga: this was important, because I essentially brought him back after he was written out of the manga, following Kikyo's death. Of course he's going to still have feelings for Kagome, even if he realizes that she's made her choice. This little scene gave them both a bit of closure, and showed that Koga grew up a little, too, accepting her choice with no fuss. It mirrors their parting in the manga, which was an important image for me.
Secondly, figuring out how to return to the modern era. The biggest problem I had with this scene was to keep from falling back into the ol' trap of the double life. Kagome has made her choice: she wants to stay with Inuyasha. However, that doesn't mean she's ready to abandon her family without a proper goodbye. It's one of the things I disliked about the manga's ending, how she just left without telling everyone of her decision. Considering all the angst she went through about making a choice, it only seems fair to bid everyone a proper farewell, no?
I really wanted to bring Kaede back into the story as well -- she's often a forgotten player -- and who better to make Kagome realize the depth and breadth of her powers than the original observant miko? :) Yes, Kagome has always had the power she thought the jewel controlled, and thus, with one well-timed strike of her arrow, she can pass through the well again, even without the physical presence of the jewel. This imagery harkens back to the scene mentioned in the story, as well as the climax of the first movie.
Then I had to decide if I really wanted to break up the super-couple once again, just because she had a path to return to the modern era. I struggled with this for most of the downtime between chapters, before deciding it was better to have a way for both of them to return. After all, what better show of strength than for her to find a way for both of them to pass through the well with relative ease? I really liked the image of him at her back, a reversal of their usual positions, to show just how far she's come within the realm of this story. Tying it all back into the kyūdō steps outlined in Chapter 11 was just icing on the cake :)
There was also the question of whether or not they should be present for Sesshoumaru's marriage ceremony, considering the family ties. When I was first sketching this chapter together I had them present, to have the contrast between their close, loving bond and Sesshoumaru's formal, mostly hands-off relationship with his future wife. Unfortunately, this messed with the timeline of the story, plus the logistics of explaining the preponderance of humans suddenly staying at the youkai stronghold (because if Inuyasha & Kagome were going to be there, so was the rest of their crew!). Besides, I'm fairly certain neither brother shed any tears at Inuyasha's absence, haha.
3) Sesshoumaru and Snegura formally seal their alliance via a marital union. This was the original, predominant plan for this chapter, because it segues directly into future story plans LOL. Even though this was the "clearest" idea I had in my mind, it was the last one to finally be written, to my satisifaction. It was important to have some sort of opening into the changes of Sesshoumaru's and Rin's relationship, sparked by the final battle with Ryūtatsu. Originally Rin was present at the ceremony, stealing her lord's attention away from the matter at hand in her own, quiet way.
I know I've written her into a fairly dramatic role here, but I wanted to keep in mind her inherent maturity as well. Instead of the scene that made it into the story, I drafted out a scene between her and Sesshoumaru, where he's trying to send her away to live in the human village down in the valley, but she refuses. However, I just couldn't get Sesshoumaru's words to come out right, and thus scrapped the idea. Instead, SessMom proved herself to be very useful indeed!
SessMom was originally going to be in a scene with her son, discussing the strategy they would employ to handle the political side of his union. Basically, both Sesshoumaru & Snegura had already signed their written agreement, but the marriage ceremony was for the benefit of the others, a formidable show of their united strength. She was originally to argue for spreading a rumor that Snegura was already carrying his child, which he would shoot down as putting a price on her head and thus, throwing them all into unnecessary danger.
Instead, I came up with a much more underhanded scheme for her: realizing her son's changing feelings for his human ward, she takes it upon herself to recruit Jaken in a scheme to lock the girl away, "for their own good". The plan backfires a bit, however, when Rin realizes it wasn't Sesshoumaru who issued the order (though she doesn't know who did).
Basically, this is the avenue I want to explore in the sequel to this story: the relationship between Sesshoumaru and his mysterious bride, Snegura; the relationship between Sesshoumaru and Rin, and the tension they all feel because of it. Snegura has her own destiny to fulfill, which will lead her away from her husband, leaving him to tempt his father's fate with the very willing young girl who somehow blossomed before his eyes without his realizing it.
There is also a probable Inuyasha/Kagome storyline in the works as well, as they attempt to forge their own life and struggle to have a family. Sort of a duality between the brothers' lives, but it isn't really sketched out quite yet. Just a few threads dangling to keep this universe open to me :)
As for the "ENDING" -- I'm torn as to how I should feel about this, probably because its the middle of the night, haha :) On one hand, I'm absolutely thrilled beyond belief, to finally have this piece completely finished. I have never had much success finishing my multi-chapter epics (*thinks back to her Russian tragedy trilogy which languished during all her years of high school*), so this is something of a minor miracle for me. I'm also happy I was able to finish this within the time period I gave myself, during this small opening in my increasingly-busy school schedule.
On the other hand, I am sad to see this piece come to an end. This was something of a unique journey for me, as I started it right before applying to graduate school in March. As I look back on it now, it's like reading a personal journal: so many of my own hopes and dreams are interwoven into the characters'. It's hard to say goodbye to the story that's become my "safety blanket" in a lot of ways, even though I know it's time to move on :) There are other irons in the fire which are increasingly demanding my attention, but I felt I really owed it to this story to give it a strong ending, and I can only hope that I have delivered on this score.
I've dedicated the final chapter/epilogue to those lovely people who have followed me from the beginning and reviewed almost every chapter. I hope they have enjoyed the ride, and will not say "goodbye" just because this story has now ended.
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And...well...it's been a few months since it was nominated, so I'd say you came along for at least part of the ride, LOL :) Unfortunately that was when Real Life intervened and I couldn't keep updating it like I wanted :-/ Ah, well. All's well that ends well, yes?
Or, in this case...for now :)