Work Text:
The end of an era
Peace.
The Agreement.
It was not going to be an overnight change, but it was the start of piecing together a new future, one that would hopefully be prosperous for all. The old ways were changing, in with the new, in with the better they all had to hope. Blood, sweat and tears were all shed along the way, lives lost to make it to that point, innocent ones at that.
There were personal stories within the group, like Michelle’s brother and how her differing thoughts to Erin nearly tore them apart. Jenny’s party was a mistake, but mistakes were allowed to be made. Missteps would always occur. Nobody could be perfect, and in a peaceful world there was room to be able to put a foot wrong, to then learn from it to do right. To do the just thing where it was needed, to bask in happiness when it was found.
None of them were ready for the future but they would grow into it, because in truth, it was the step that no one was prepared for. Some rushed into it while others tiptoed carefully, not wanting to rock the boat and start a ripple effect. Everyone was different.
Adulthood meant breaking the group apart though.
Clare was heading back to Strabane, and providing her A-Level results were positive, heading off to Belfast to go to University. She’d never quite been able to pick up the potential of a relationship with Laurie again, her presence reminding her of the night she lost her beloved Da, the grief just a wee bit too much to deal with. They remained friends though, if nothing more, and there would be plenty of other chances down the line for her to try her hand at love again.
Orla would be staying in Derry, whether her results were good or not, looking to take on a more practical job if she could. There were plenty of jobs that she liked the look of, and for a charming young woman such as herself, the sky really was the limit. She wasn’t ever going to be comfortable at Uni, living that sort of life, but at home surrounded by her family with the right job, she knew she could be successful.
Michelle was staying at home too, to pursue a career in retail. Dennis’ wee shop provided her an oddly good grounding to begin with, and though she would be leaving over the summer, he’d already given her a good reference for the jobs that she’d applied for. Yet to choose which one of the two she’d been offered, her path was clear for whichever of the two she went with. She wasn’t just going to be an average worker though; management was her goal. There wasn’t anyone, peace or no peace, that would ever stand in her way.
James didn’t quite know what the future held. In truth, he’d never really been sure from a long time before he first arrived in Derry. Yet spending years in a country which he should have been itching to leave the second he got the chance, he found a life he could thrive in, even if he was up against it a lot of the time. Film making was the goal, though he was still uncertain as to whether or not he would achieve the grades he needed to attend Uni. Still, he had something to cling onto, in a city where for so long there was only the promise of something better. Now they had the reality. And his reality would not be one faced alone…
Erin’s plan had always been the same for years, though now more than ever she felt it was coming to fruition. Confident, quietly so but confident nonetheless, she would be attending Uni too. Her dream of being a writer was now not just pie in the sky thinking; there was a genuine chance she would be able to follow it through. Her parents were right behind her every step of the way, Granda Joe too, encouraging her to never give up, just like those who wanted peace. Eventually, good would come. Where she would go, she did not know, most roads leading away from her family, but not from everyone she held dear.
When they’d finished filming at her eighteenth, an agreement of their own was made. Wherever they both went, whether it was to same Uni, different Uni’s or no Uni’s at all, James would be there for her. They were together without the words cementing it, albeit Michelle’s silent blessing had already been received, not that it would have stopped them anyway. Nothing was certain, nor would it be when they received their results and worked out what they were going to do.
Like with the Agreement itself though, there was a foundation to be built on, for both sides to contribute to. The future was going to be what they made of it.
A new leaf was turned, a new time of their lives beginning.
It was the end of an era, a farewell to the youthful years that made all five of them who they were.
That time was over.
But it wasn’t half bad, was it?