Endgame KOF: XII

Disclaimer: SNK owns King of Fighters and all the characters that appear. I own any original character appears. This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights and obligations.

A/N: Here's the finished epilogue. To all my readers, I had actually had the Epilogue and the previous chapter written ages ago. It was really that last chapter in the middle that really just wouldn't get written.

LSN: I did fully intend Ash Crimson to be the 'hero' so to speak in the way I wrote it. Call it my 'sick twisted humor', but he did save the world cos' a fully powered Orochi would have wiped the floor with everyone. I know it could have done with a lot more expansion and prose, but what was posted was the bare bones of what was going to happen. Anyway, that wasn't the end. There is the Epilogue.

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Epilogue

Billy and Kaia were at the hospital, thinking of what lie to tell Kai's family, "maybe an accident or something like that, some dodgily rigged equipment fell on him. I think we'll stick with that," Kaia suggested, as they sat by Kai's bed, in the hospital.

"The band will miss him for a year," Billy said, "maybe we'll have to get another manager, or maybe we'll just take the year off. I don't know."

"I'm sure we all will miss him for a year," Kaia replied. "We have to go soon, the others will be expecting us, at the party, I think we should at least drop by and say hello and good-bye," Kaia continued, as she got up from her seat, "The British government will fly him back on my request, and we'll put him in a private room. The doctors have a hard time explaining his condition, his body is fine, as long as it gets fed and the waste gets taken out through the tubes."

"Yeah, but will his wife make any trouble," Billy asked, having only met the woman once.

"No, she can't, he's not brain dead, it's as if he's just asleep, and anyway, life support can't get turned off without my consent, he had it done that way, needs both consent of me and her. Just like if I was marrying someone else, the right to turn off life support would be both his choice and my husbands, but you would not mind that would you?" she asked.

"No, of course not, I wouldn't," Billy replied. The nurse stuck her head in the door and told them that visiting hours were over for the day. Billy and Kaia got up and headed out, leaving for the party at King's bar, where everyone was celebrating the death of Orochi and hopefully the end of that particular threat.

The rest of the fighters had all gathered at King's bar that night their powers having returned to their rightful owners. This tournament was a bust, there was no clear winner the two teams in the final having disappeared, Ash's team was obliterated with Ash dead, Elisabeth dead and Ron missing, and HMK team had lost Kai for one year. Though the tournament committee had declared HMK the winners since they still had two available fighters compared to none, it just wasn't really the same, especially without Kai. The mood was thus, a bit dampened for Billy and Rock, as they thought of their teammate in hospital in his induced sleep.

"At least others are having unreserved joy, Billy thought, at a table with Kaia. Rock was finally free of his past of the sins of both his biological mother and father. He drank lemonade being still underage, as he sat with his parents at another table. Bonne Jenet came over to say hi, and Rock felt his blood run as he blushed.

As Billy thought of Rock, his thoughts turned to Geese and an idea for a new song began to form in his head. This one would be personal, for the man who's legacy was with them both. With his guitar and Rock's bass, a simple song probably with acoustic guitar and bass, unlike the usual heavy rock that he normally did with his band.

Athena, pop idol princess would be performing as well that night, Luise had started the night off and had now left to return home, to continue her search for her missing father. Apparently, Jivatma had escaped and ADDES was still somewhere out there, waiting to travel the stars, or so they claimed. Kyo, Shingo and Benimaru were sitting, chatting, drinking. K' and Kula were kissing in a booth in the corner, as was Diana and Maxima, their drinks untounched. Andy and Mai were dancing away to the metal band's tunes, along with the MOTW team, and the rest of Benimaru's team. Joe had flown off already, back to England, and to Lilly, hoping to spend time with her, before Billy got back. Kensou and Athena sat at another table, waiting for her turn on stage after Iori's band was done, drinking juice and eating buns, after their run in with Ron had fizzled. Kensou still sported some bandages from where Ron had extracted his blood in order to open the portal.

Ryo, Yuri and Takuma and Robert were sitting at the bar drinking. Ryo was chatting to King, distracting her from bartending, so she called one of her other staff to take over, as she and Ryo went to the office. Kim, Choi and Chang were sitting at yet another table, Chang downing a whole beer in one go, much to Kim's chagrin.

Some of the fighters of course, weren't there, Duo Lon had disappeared on his quest to kill Ron, Lin had disappeared as well. Gato had run off, Hotaru hot on his trail, a couple of steps behind. Duke had gone back underground everyone thought, though how long he would last with one arm was another question altogether, Nagase was missing no doubt the syndicate who had bankrolled her team took her, the anti-kyokugenryu team had declined to come because King had invited the Sakazaki's, Ryuji Yamazaki had gone back to his killing, the Ikari warriors had gone off on another mission for Heidern. The party continued into the wee hours of the morning, before everyone was all partied out, and flopped back into their hotel rooms or homes.

Kai was shipped home by the British and American governments back to London, and then taken to a nice room in a private hospital, the room began to fill with flowers, as members of the music community wished him well, and hoped that he recovered. Kaia and Billy wanted to wait for the year to pass quickly, as they were not going to get married without Kai's attendance, without him walking his sister down the aisle.

Kai's wife had taken it in her stride, and Kaia was sure that her sister-in-law would be angry for a while, before Kai would 'miraculously' wake up in fifty-one weeks time much to his wife's surprise. The accident story had worked, much to Billy and Kaia's relief, his wife had been worried when Kai had gone off to Southtown to fight, even though she knew he was an expert martial artist, raised by two champions even though he didn't like to brag about it except the time he had schooled a younger Rugal Bernstein, or participate in tournaments before this one. She knew a little about some of his special martial arts powers and had watched a bit of the matches on TV, seeing her dear husband keep up and beat other fighters much younger than him, gave her immense pleasure. At least her house never got robbed, or so she liked to brag to the other ladies in her knitting club.

They had said it wasn't a fighting injury but a freak accident afterwards when he was looking at possible venues for the next Heavy Metal Kingz tour of America and they had produced faked reports to back it up, courtesy again of the UK and American governments.

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Three months later, the band released their second CD, with a new manager, and once again it stormed to the top of the charts all around the world, but the band delayed any touring for a year, at Billy's insistence. Their new manager was perplexed at this bizarre request, but Billy explained that the Kai was soon to be his brother-in-law as well, and that he had to stay to support his fiancée, covering for the fact that he knew that Kai was going to get better. The new CD played softly, for heavy rock music in the stereo that Kaia had left there until the nurse had turned it off, though she made sure it was turned on, on the days no one visited.

Later that night, Kaia and Billy were at his house, eating reheated leftovers made by Lilly, who had excused herself, saying that she was going to bed or rather sneaking out the window to meet her boyfriend for a movie. Rock had also moved back to Southtown, now that it was relatively safer, so there was no one else there in the house. Rock and Billy had recorded for personal consumption, the song they had wrote and played together, about Geese, the man who was father to one, and like a father to the other; the man had touched them both in different ways. He had had an email from Mary Bogard about a week ago, saying that Southtown was now much quieter and nicer; adding on that Rock had started dating.

After dinner, they snuggled up on the couch, her head resting in his lap, a blanket covering her body, as they watched the TV, Billy and Kaia looked forward to the day of their wedding ceremony, in slightly less than nine month's time, having been legally married by certificate once they had returned to England. They fell asleep in each other's arms, eagerly awaiting that day. There were still many days before it, but with each day that passed, they were one day closer.

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1 Year Later

A man sat in his office reading the latest issue of Star Magazine. Emblazoned on it's cover was the headline "Rock Sensation Weds." Accompanying that headline was a photo of Billy and Kaia at their wedding, and the words, "we have exclusive pictures." The man flipped through the magazine, until he got to that story.

He started to read the article. "Last Friday, at a castle in the countryside of England, frontman of the multi-WMA winning Rock band, Heavy Metal Kingz, Billy Kane wed his sweetheart, Kaia Mellion in this year's biggest celebrity wedding. The blushing bride was dressed in a spectacular white dress that wowed all the guests or so the photos showed. He continued to read the article divulging the details of the wedding.

"We wanted to wait, at least until my brother got better," the magazine quoted the bride as saying. "We had always known that he was going to wake up some day," the groom had added. The magazine article went on for sixteen pages before it ended with a witty comment from the editor.

Another man laid bored, on the brown couch on the other side of the room. The first man, from behind his desk, flicked the magazine across to the man on the couch. "Soiree, take a look at this," the man behind the desk said, "don't you think it is about time to launch the next tournament."

"I'm ready any time," Soiree replied. "Especially if that team is going to be there again." He flicked through the story, and looked at the faces of the bride, the bridegroom, his sister, her brother.

"I doubt it, they'll be too busy enjoying their married life. That's good for us, one less annoyance to worry about," the man behind the desk replied, "Get ready, you are going into heavy training."

"Whatever, I told you, I'm ready anytime." Yes, the man behind the desk thought, now that Orochi's gone, it's time for the new order to make it's mark. Lord Kushiel, your time has come.