all our demons laid to rest
┉┉┉┉┉
A companion to survive the night, trying to forget the memories. Because in the end, despite everything, Edge of Infinity is a story--or collection of stories--about hope. And healing.
This image of Kohao and Athena would be circa the 2030’s:
Kohao's a father by then, and Athena will have had Cooper, too, if it's as late as 2032. And they're still friends, still making music...but Kohao's lyrics are so much less angry, and Athena doesn't break her drumsticks quite as often. Kohao still goes to therapy--he needs it, and that's okay--but he's not constantly self-destructing. He's working, hard, to get better; stay better--so that he can be a good father and husband. And you know what? He manages it.
Athena sees that in him; has watched him over the years, healing and working his ass off to not fall back into the past--and that's what allows her to forgive him when he eventually spills it all to her: The reality of what happened back in September of 2011, how close he came to pulling the trigger on Seth.
Maybe she wouldn't have been able to forgive him back then, in the immediate aftermath, when he was just 16. Maybe not during his early 20's either, when he was angry at a constant, destructive to an extreme, and completely out of control.
But they find themselves in their late 30's, and he's a man she never expected to see him become: A loving husband, desperate to be a good father; anxious at the edges but kind and introspective and an unfalteringly loyal friend. So when he tells her the truth...she can forgive the man he's grown into. And her forgiveness allows him to close the book on a chapter of his life that he'd been haunted by for far too long.
Despite all the hell they went through, they make it: Athena and Teagan never stop dancing in the kitchen or splashing one another with soapy dish-water, and Athena loves the taste of motherhood she gets through Cooper--and truly enjoys the role she gets to play in their life.
By the 2030's, Kohao has ditched his guns and many of his vices; he's covered up a lot of his tattoos and cut back on smoking, but never stopped writing songs--though his favorite ones to play end up being the soft, loving, acoustic ones he writes especially for Willow. He really dedicates himself to fatherhood and becomes a damn good dad to Olivia--as well as a much-needed, supportive and caring father figure to her friend, Slick.
Yeah...in the end? They not only recover--they thrive.