Mission Highly Unlikely: Mission Complete

[Odinsdottir]

I think I've got something in my eye.

[SadieHamming]

Aww! Yay for Nameless and Mary. They were always meant to be.

[ArtisticFantasy]

I'm blinking a lot... That was amazing! Nameless identified his feelings for Mary before her taxi got there! I'm amazed. *Dabs tissue to eye* I found a use for the tissues, too. The world is full of surprises. Anyway, I'm actually surprised that Mary didn't notice that Nameless and Holly weren't together. His face wasn't lit up with a happy-happy-joy-joy-feeling, was it?

[Wiry]

Blech. Happiness.

[lepapillonrouge]

We need someone to balance all the evil y'know

[Schipperke]

Epilogue

The events related in this manuscript all happened a very long time ago.  For years the details of my mission were a closely guarded secret, as it was feared the Evil ones might try to stage a comeback and it was important to keep them from knowing the strategy we had used to defeat them.  But recently this information has been declassified, allowing me to finally publish my memoirs.  Most of what you have been reading has been actual diary entries that I wrote at the time, supplemented with historical information contributed by my editor.

Mary and I did indeed get married, and enjoyed many happy years together.  Quiet, peaceful years of raising our family and enjoying life.  Our two children Arthur and Alice grew up into fine young people, and we are hoping to welcome our first grandchild soon.





I adore both the children that Mary and I have, but the loss of my first daughter Ashynna was always an ache in my heart.  Then one evening there came a knock at the door.  I opened the door, and there she was.



It had been many years and she had since grown up, but my heart recognized her immediately.  She said that soon after her Young Adult birthday, a man in grey had come to the house.  He had told her of a father she barely remembered, a father who had fought the forces of evil in a faraway town.  A father who kept his daughter's portrait beside the bed so it would be the first thing he saw every morning.



Ashynna was all that I remembered, and more.  I marvelled that two such imperfect Sims as her mother and I had managed to produce such a daughter.  She chose not to remain in our town, but we have kept in touch and there are plans to get together for Christmas this year.

For many years my identity was hidden, to protect myself and others.  It became second nature for me to avert my face when cameras were about, so there are no existing photographs of me from that time period.  Now I am old.  My face sags, my back is bent, and muscle tone is a distant memory.  I can't imagine why anyone would want to see a picture of me as I am now, but my editor insists - it's customary to show a picture of the author - so here I am:



Perhaps you are thinking, "Finally he'll reveal his real name."  But the long years of secrecy when I had to be nameless came to be such a habit, that Nameless feels like my real name now.  And it is a reminder to me that my previous fixation with Dynasty fame and position was not important.  What matters is what a nameless Sim has made of the life he was given.

As for my sweet Mary, age has not diminished her. 



She is more beautiful than ever, in both appearance and character.  I look at her and I am reminded of the words of the poet:  "Grow old along with me!  The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made."*  Every day that Mary and I are together is the best.

And finally, I hope you will forgive an old man a bit of moralizing.  Because I hope that any young persons reading my story may find something in these pages that they can use to help them along their life's journey.

Sometimes it's easy to think one's life doesn't matter.  You may think you have nothing to give.  Others are smarter, better-looking, more popular, more successful, whatever.  Life sometimes has a way of beating us down.  But please remember:  there are no superheroes in real life.  There are just ordinary, flawed people who see a job that needs doing and set about doing it.  There are no blueprints for life - we're all just making it up as we go along.  We make mistakes, we fall down and get hurt, and we get back up again.  Because that's what it's all about.  No-one knows what they may be capable of until they try. 

Do you remember what Mr Payne quoted, way back when I first met him?  "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."**  One good person can make a difference.  That good person could be you.  Never doubt this:  you can make a difference.

Thank you for reading.  Peace to you all.





*Robert Browning, in his poem Rabbi ben Ezra, 1864

**Edmund Burke, Irish politician and philosopher, 1770

The End.

[Schipperke]

Dear readers,

First, I want to thank everyone who has been following this story.  Knowing that people are reading a story means a lot to a writer, and I'm very glad you found time in your busy lives to follow Nameless and Mary's adventures.

Special thanks to those who have left comments.  Your encouragement helped me feel the saga was worth doing.  Frequently your comments would spark some idea for a story twist.  Thanks to those who found their comments or even their usernames inserted into the story at various points - I appreciate you being such good sports about it! 

Extra special thanks to Ombradellarosa for recommending Goodwin.  His presence in the story made the final outcome possible and, I hope, believable. 

Double thanks to Wiry for suggesting William's appearance in the story and for coming up with the "Adolph Simler" name.  Both those characters added immeasurably to the story.

Second, on the question of Nameless' true identity.  I know some of you thought you knew who he was.  I'm assuming you may have thought he was Leo SimVinci because of certain physical similarities - correct?  Sorry.  Nameless always was just Nameless.  He came into being in Create-a-Sim specifically for this story.  Mr Payne needed a slob, and this one was made to order.

Third, I hope you're not too disappointed at not seeing a fancy wedding and babies.  Truth is, I'm not at all good at making pretty weddings.  As others have commented, I'm far more likely to spend my time designing slums and dilapidated surroundings.  So rather than coming up with some second rate wedding, I decided to leave the wedding and babies to your imagination.  I'm sure your imaginations can come up with a beautiful double wedding for the two happy couples that would be far more impressive and lovely than anything I could create.

And last, I want to say I've had a blast working on this story!  Of all the stories I've done, this is the one that I've gotten the most involved in.  Now that the story is over, I'd appreciate any feedback you feel like sharing.  Don't be afraid to critique the story, the writing, or anything about it - I'd really like to know your thoughts on it.  I've been playing with the idea of having a character take on recurring missions and wondering if that would be of interest to anyone.  Of course, the specific missions would need to be different so it would depend on me being able to come up with enough ideas to make it work.  But I'm wondering what you'd think of something like that.

[Odinsdottir]

Oh, my heart is just singing!

[JessieJJJ]

What a great ending!

[RaiaDraconis]

I am in tears reading this. That was a beautiful ending.

[sdhoey]

Roses roses roses all around. That was a grand exit. Nameless did a wonderful job. And as a writer, you are beyond any words I could express.

[Magz from Oz]

Schipp,

Thank you for this beautiful, intriguing story.  I enjoyed the twists and turns in the plot and especially the happy ending.  I enjoyed the narration and am in awe of screenshots throughout because you got your characters to do what you wanted them too.  I enjoyed the characters because they were so well rounded and believable. 

I will admit I wanted to see the faeboos because I enjoy seeing faeboo toddlers, I think they are soooo cute.  Your story was the first thing I looked at whenever I turned on my computer.  I also enjoyed the comments from the forum.  Initially I just read your story posts and then started contributing because I think it's important to give feedback and I enjoy interacting with the people on this forum.  I've never met any of you, but I feel I have a dozen friends to talk to everytime I boot up.

I also like your idea of a recurring protagonist.  Perhaps something like "Quantum Leap", but with a good witch leaping from place to place, setting right what once went wrong.  I think you're the perfect author to take on that quest.  Whatever happens I'll be reading.

Margaret

[ArtisticFantasy]

Beautiful. Just beautiful. I'm going to miss this story! I'm happy for Nameless and his children, and for Mary too. Send my happiness to all of them when you can! (Even if it isn't going to be in a chapter.) Loved the ending!

[Hazelstar]

What can I say? This was an amazing story. Nameless was such an amazing character, a very relatable hero. I enjoyed reading about his adventures, and while he didn't end up with Holly, I'm glad he found Mary. Though I am sad that Holly and Mary never engaged in an epic smackdown..

[ladyaya]

Awwe, *sniff*
I love that ending, it was just so cute.
Nameless reminded me of Marc from Twinbrook just with that hair, the fact that it was blue-ish and that jacket from the back/side in the pictures where he asks Mary to marry him.