Inferno

Chapter 30: Back to the Start

Chapter 30! Holy crap. Remember when I said I was going to end this story like four or five chapters ago? Lol whoops. Sorry this has taken so long to get out. I've been busy with school and I have all these other story ideas floating in my head.

Did you guys see Beauty and the Beast? I've seen it three times. I can't get enough of it!

It's heating up in this chapter, folks. We're finally getting to the plot line I've had in my head for over a year now.

Much love to all of you who read, vote, and comment on my chapters as soon as they're posted. You make my heart happy.

~Caruscus

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3 Years Later

"Catch me!" A little girl's giggle floats over to me. The toddler stumbles over to me with a wide smile on her precious little face, arms up and waiting as she jumps towards me. I let out a laugh of my own and bend down to grasp her under her arms, throwing her up in the air and catching her again. Her blonde hair flies wildly around her. Tiny fingers grasp at my face, looking for something to hold onto. She finally wraps her arms around my neck and rests her head on my shoulder, out of breath.

"Tired already, Serenity?" I look fondly at the child resting against me.

"Mm." She mumbles, closing her blue eyes and pretending to sleep for a moment before throwing them open again and letting out a laugh.

I laugh again. "I thought you were sleeping!" I exclaim, going along with her game.

"Nope! Down!" She orders, wriggling in my grasp. I set her down on the ground where she runs away with a squeal. I plant my hands on my hips, rolling my eyes with mock annoyance.

"She's a handful, isn't she?"

Hendricks walks over to me, standing at my side. He has a proud look on his face as we watch the tiny person run through the field of Amity workers with joy, interrupting their jobs and causing them to start smiling as well.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't want her any other way. It would get boring otherwise."

"That was real nice of you to watch Serenity for Ange while her and Harry get ready for the arrival of their little boy."

"Yeah, well, I've spent a lot of time with Serenity. Every since Ange and I first left for training and she told me she was two months pregnant. Then she gave birth to that whirlwind and took her to some of our training here." I elbow the older man playfully. "Plus, I got to spend more time with you when she went on maternity leave. So there's also that."

Hendricks throws his head back and laughs. "That first year was interesting, wasn't it?"

"Oh my God," I say with a hand resting lightly over my heart, "it was hectic. 'Interesting' doesn't even begin to cover it."

"Everything was hectic for a while." Hendricks says quietly, sobering our mood a little bit.

Everything was hectic. The ideas I had conjured in my mind all that time ago actually came to life, thanks to that little meeting we held with the leaders of the other factions. Surprisingly, Jack Kang chipped in a lot more than people expected.

The placement testing is gone. For the past three years people have been free to choose where they want to go based on what they like, not based on where they're told they should go. Any rules on visiting families have also been lifted, so people are free to go between factions without punishment. This also resulted in marriage between factions being allowed.