The light blinded all the former Dracs and Scarecrows outside, and when some came out of it, their masks and robotic uniforms were no longer. The ones that had just come outside for the end of the battle also faced their new free fate. Their faces then turned brighter than the light, bright with smiles and eyes full of life.
          Our team watched from inside Destroya, only mesmerizing stares at the sight before us. That was freedom. The army on the ground applaused to end this battle and the war with a huge win. Kobes looked at me with a loving stare, and I gave the same back. We then watched the scene with our arms around each other knowing that we for sure had a whole life ahead of us now.

When the light began to fade and the army below finally realized their freedom, we hopped out of Destroya to celebrate the win and the past few years of fighting it all and realizing now that it was all worth it.
          "We did it, we did it!" exclaimed Kid, jumping up and down.
          "Babe, we won!" Kobes yelled out as he picked me up and spun me around in a hug. "Your dreams came true!" Then we kissed long and passionately.
          All that I could do was smile and cry happy tears. "No. ALL of our dreams came true." He then put me down and let go, now holding my hand.
          Doctor Galaxy had been caring for those who had been injured throughout, saving their lives to get them back on their feet for the battle if they were able. Jet, who was helping her before and while Destroya was on its way, did some final checks on the injured Killjoys to try getting them up again to celebrate, but some unfortunately couldn't make it alive. We spent a few moments mourning the lost lives of today's battle and of all past battles in the war. "Let's all plan to make a big memorial wall of all these lives we lost in the whole war," suggested Jet.
          "Yes absolutely," Rainbow agreed.
          "So the generations after us will always remember this time and learn from it," added Poison. They turned in to our team, as all eight of us brought it in for a group hug.

"Our imagination was the ammunition," said Kobes in the group hug. I smirked at him and agreed, moving closer to him.
          "We stayed dirty and stayed dangerous, creating and destroying as we saw fit," added Poison.
          Ghoul nodded and jumped in with, "And we're free now because of that."
          Jet then looked at me. "And it happened more quickly because of you, Fireball."
          I was taken aback in the best way, but as I thought about it more, it was true. I chuckled. "I guess so?"
          The others laughed along. "Really, though," said Rainbow.
          "You were the one who saved our lives when we were saving Grace that one night, and you were always so committed and revolutionary," added Kobes.
          "So were you guys!" I exclaimed back to them.
          "None of us more than you, though."
          "I guess having parents who worked for the company for so long and tried forcing me into it made me that way," I joked.
          "It absolutely did," laughed Jet. Then we let go of the group hug.

Our cars and motorcycles were still sitting in the parking lot, and former slaves were still celebrating their freedom while mourning their lost loved ones. I was still hesitant to talk to my mom about the new freedom that I led, but I did anyway. Kobes stood with me for support. "How do you feel about all this?"
         She gave me a smile and hesitated to answer. "I'm actually very proud of you, Lucy." I could see by her eyes and body language that she meant it.
         Surprised, Kobes and I looked at each other with wide eyes. I looked back at Mom the same. "Really?"
         "Really. Because you did something that I was always too scared to do. I'm proud of you for not repeating my mistakes. And for actually taking a stand when I never did. You changed me, kiddo."
          I sighed with an unsure smile. "Thank you. Do you promise to prove to me through your actions, and not just your words, that I can trust you?"
          She held her hand out, sure as ever. "I pinky promise." We shook pinkies. As Kobes and I walked back to the rest of our team, Kobes gave me a proud hug on the side as to say that he's proud of me also, for changing Mom.

Over there with the rest of the team, I noticed my father pouting his life away over his loss like the coward he is. "I was really hoping we would run the world," he complained. "But we failed."
          "No, you didn't fail- because you already did run the world a few days ago," I called him out.
          "But I wanted to run it forever," he complained, about to fake-cry.
          "Boo-hoo. Oh you poor, poor thing," I said in monotone, mocking him. Then Kobes and I turned to each other and rolled our eyes while the rest laughed. "You're just mad that my mother never had to owe you anything in return for you doing one minor nice thing for her and you took that out on the whole world." I high-fived Kobes as the others called him out too.
          That's when my father went silent. Because he knew I spoke the truth. He sighed a pathetic sigh. "Whatever." Then he walked away inside the building to wallow in his self-pity.
          Mom gave me a smirk and pulled a pair of handcuffs out of her jacket pocket. "I'm running over there to put these on him. Anyone wanna help?"
          Both Kobes and I immediately raised our hands and went with her, following her to the building which was now empty and ready to be changed to something better. The rest of our whole army followed too. Kobes and I, when we found my father sitting on the side of the building instead, held one of my father's hands back as we walked him to inside the building. We strapped the handcuffs on his one hand while Mom put the other one on him, and took him to the elevator that led to the basement. Where there were jail cells.
          "Rot in jail! Rot in jail!" our army chanted, then we clapped for the moment.
          "See what it feels like for you to be embarrassed now after embarrassing your kid all these years?" Kobes asked my father, giving him a sarcastic smirk.
          No words. That's when he knew he'd be there forever with no way to escape without someone else coming to help. So we would leave him down there and let him rot.

The celebrations went on into the early morning of the next day, parading the streets with music, dancing, singing, chanting, and joining hands. I spent most of the night with Kobes, until we were tired and decided to celebrate more quietly at home. It would be one of the last nights spent in the diner whilst we Killjoys moved into city apartments.
          Kobes and I sat on the roof to watch the sunrise and held light, comfortable conversation and periods of silence when he just held me close to him. We would even go on to have these nights after we moved in together, just the two of us.

The former BLI HQ building was converted to a huge event hall on the first floor, a huge department store on the second floor, then the top two were turned into therapy offices because everyone needed it after fighting such a long war. Poison, Kobes, Ghoul, and Jet started up their band again, the one they used to have before the Fires, and they needed a drummer. So I learned fast.
          Mom and I also took time to reconcile and get on good terms, in which she did prove herself to me. In fact, she was supportive of my relationship and endeavors through and through. She's not perfect, and she's not our band manager, but she's a fan. I was even more happy to see her living her real life free from my father.

"I am so glad I met you," said Kobes one night, about a year after the fall of BLI, while we were curled up in a blanket on the diner roof watching the stars again.
          "I am too," I said back. I lightly tapped his nose, and I giggled at how cute the way it crinkled up was. "And I'm proud of us."
          "Me too babe. In fact, I just remembered something that's in my pocket right now that I need to give you." He then directed us to sit up. From his pants pocket, he pulled out a small box that had a beautiful diamond ring in it. Which reminded me that I had one in my jacket pocket too. Before he could say a word, I gasped and pulled my ring for him out of mine. He smiled big at me. "You did not."
          I could only laugh. "I did." He laughed along then.
          We got down on our knees and simultaneously in three, two, one... "Will you marry me?"
          Simultaneously in three, two, one... "Yes!"
          Then we wrapped our arms around each other with the cheesiest smiles on our faces, falling down onto the blanket.

Whatever our future together brought, we knew we'd only live forever in the lights we made. So we made them last forever, beginning from the very beginning of our lives.