"And I Feel Fine"

They awoke on the shores of Saint Francisco, overlooking the Golden Gate strait, the famed bridge crossing the water to their left. Zipper and Grace sat on the sand for a long while, the smoking ruins of downed spaceships rising from the water. It was night, with a clock on a towering starscraper across the bay proclaiming the time to be five minutes to midnight.

Footsteps rustled behind them. Billy stood there, Grace’s raygun in hand, aimed straight at X’s killer. Nobody said anything. Time ticked down. Life continued on.

“I’m sorry,” Grace said, accepting her fate. Her right hand was still colored red-and-purple, frostbitten by X’s freeze-ray.

Billy stared at her. Then he let go of the raygun. The tide swept it away. 

“Killing you won’t bring her back, I ‘spose. And maybe you’ll do something good for someone else one day.”

“Where will you go?” Grace asked.

Billy offered a distant smile. “I’ve never fully trusted or even enjoyed other people. But X told me not to lose faith in them, so I’ll try my best. Maybe I’ll join a soccer beer league or something, who knows?”

He waved goodbye, then walked off into the night, off to find his own happiness.

“And what about you?” Zipper asked.

Grace glanced down at her damaged hand. “I guess the scars here will be our covenant. My mark, I suppose. It’ll be a reminder of the people I’ve hurt, and the promise to try my best to do better. I got my two followers…it’s time to treat them as friends.”

She gazed out across the bay. “I think I’ll keep wandering. At least for now. Walking the earth. Maybe take a vision-quest just like yours, eh? Spread some happiness and learn a little, live a lot…I need to find out the truth behind my father’s arrest, too. One thing at a time.”

As she stood in the moonlight, Grace tilted her head. “Thanks, Zipper. Maybe the only thing I ever needed in life was to meet someone like you who could point me in the right direction.”

“Aww, jeez…” Zipper blushed a bit.

“Take care, Zipper.”

“You too, Grace.”

Once Grace was gone, Zipper sat there, comfortable being alone.

Isn’t life a grand thing? That I’ve met and helped so many people? Just by being me? Just by trying to improve and by Doing Something?

She grinned.

I always knew I was a brave girl.

“Zipper!” called out a familiar voice. Down the shore rushed Magenta Sue and Nat Cool, arms outstretched, like the ending to one of them movies. Zipper rose and charged towards them, ready to meet in the middle and embrace, but she tripped one last time and skidded across the sand.

Sue and Nat pulled her to her feet.

“We just came from the Presidio!” Sue exclaimed. “We did it, ol’ chum! The Martians and Do-Nothings won! Lawrence and Nixon were arrested, the Polymermen were defeated, and the President and Congress lifted martial law!”

“Fantastic!” Zipper held them all close. “I doubt things will be that simple going forward, though. We got a big mess to clean up."

She scratched her head. "Say, how was that merged-consciousness deal?”

Sue raised an eyebrow. “The wha?”

“You know, that whole thing with humanity having all their minds connected, losing their physical forms, and returning to the Garden of Eden?”

“Wha? That’s crazy. You must’ve hit your head. Today’s battle was a blur, sure, so my memory’s a bit foggy, but we didn’t do no Eden crap.”

“Uh-huh,” Zipper said. She chuckled to herself, and decided not to press it.

Nat urged the trio towards the Golden Gate Bridge, up where the victors were celebrating, waiting for the new millennium. They got there just in time, everyone hugging and embracing - Kaede, Kyoko, Azuki, Joe, Walrus, Slow, Rango, Charles, Altamont, even that ol’ rascal Scottie.

“I still have a warrant out for my arrest in Japan!” Sue yelled out into the night, utterly delighted with life and everything that goes into it.

Zipper supposed that at this very moment, she had that same feeling too.

"Here's to the new millennium, friends."

Things aren’t guaranteed. Failures will happen. Problems go dormant, not extinct. Political crises, deadlocked Congress, inept Presidency, martial law, political feuds, extremist movements, instability, war - they’re just as inevitable as entropy. Things rise. Things fall. It’s all part of the natural order of things.

All we can do is try our best. Some good might come along the way. But there’s only one way to find out.

The clock struck midnight. Celebrations went off all over the galaxy, humanity briefly coming together as one to ring in the new era. Now maybe that new era isn’t too different from the old era. But it’s fun to believe. And as long as time exists - then new beginnings are always possible, for both you and me.

As everyone came together for the mother of all parties, Nat stood by the edge of the bridge, gazing out into the bay and the lights of the city. She squinted an eye, raised a finger gun, and fired.

“Bang.”

THIS IS NOT THE END

THIS IS JUST THE START OF A NEW CHAPTER IN THE GREATEST STORY OF THEM ALL

AND WE CALL THIS STORY - "LIFE"