Despite Proposal 8 passing on the November 2008 California ballot, Shawn and his companions never gave up the cause that they believed in. They strived for a state, and country, where two people can elope regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. Shawn's parents never fully accepted his lifestyle, and as a result, his relationship with them never grew back to how it was before his revelation to them. Shawn did not care, as he considered his friends and companions his true family. He eventually met another man, whom he started a romantic relationship with.

~~~

Dawson's experience inside of Melissa's house, while horrific, even reinvigorated his already great fascination with GTS subculture; he wished that he could relive being so tiny again, except at the hands (or feet) of a much more gentle giantess. Despite being impeded by his single arm, he eventually learned how to work with computer graphics, and he started his own internet video series that drew major inspirations from Melissa's "Bugman Games." He hoped that science would eventually allow him to have a high-tech prostetic arm installed on his stub; if such things like Shrink Rays could exist, why not robotic arms, he reasoned. He was never able to locate Milly, though all he had to go on was her first name and the vague memory of a picture that Matt once showed him.

~~~

After finding out that Gloria did not survive her kidnappers, her family organized a memorial for her. She was remembered not as the vicious gangster she once was, but as a promising young woman who was trying desperately to turn her life around.

~~~

While he did enjoy moderate success as a rock musician, in truth he only had one popular song; the rest were seen as mediocre at best. Due to a combination of his falling album sales and his own reckless spending, his fortune rapidly declined until he had barely anything left. Faced with steep debts and no friends to turn to, he commited suicide via drug overdose.

During his reign of popularity, Thomas and the other surviving Refugees were shocked, to say the least, to see that Ray had not been killed after all. Dawson, figuring out that it was he who deliberately led the Refugees into Melissa's waiting hands in exchange for his freedom, branded him as the true traitor of the Refugees.

~~~

Tiring of the calls from his persistent stalker, Carlos packed up and moved to Hawaii, telling no one but close friends and family. There, he was able to live in peace, and eventually settled down with a native of the island state.

Unforunately, his stalker did eventually locate him. Faced with no other option, Carlos ended the man's life, and made the circumstances of his death look like self-defense on his part. Carlos was not charged with the man's death, despite what the man's family wanted.

~~~

Jenna's mother finally tired of the physical and emotional abuse that she suffered at the hands of her husband for so many years, and divorced him. Jenna chose to live with her mother, much to the dismay of her father. Her mother eventually met another man, who treated her with respect. Jenna went on to attend UCLA, and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. Her hatred for her feet lessened, but only slightly.

~~~

Sheryl disappeared after leaving the Cruz household. No one who paid enough attention to her beforehand ever saw her on the streets of the small town again. Some of her acquaintances on the streets figured that she may have moved on to another town. Others feel that she may have found someone to take her in, or that she may have even found a husband to care for her.

~~~

Sent to foster care at a young age, Marcus made not even the slightest impact on the townspeople, not before and especially not while he was Homeless. As a result very few even vaguely recall his face. There was only one who has ever respected him as a person, and that person was Sheryl. To the other people, he was just another nameless man lost to the endless flow of time.

~~~

Bruce had left his family years beforehand, as he view them as anchors holding him back from the rest of his life. As a result, they had cut all ties with him and did not notice that he had gone missing. His conceited, "no one matters but myself" attitude gave him few people whom he could consider friends, but those "friends" were relieved when he had gone missing.

~~~

Reeve had come to California to pursue an acting career, believing that his good looks would make him a shoe-in in the industry. Unfortunately, that did not work out, and with no money and no way home, he was forced onto the streets. As he was a Homeless person, his disappearance was never reported in the media. Reeve's family back in Tennessee continue to search for him to this day.

~~~

Her family mourned her passing, upon learning about the murderous kidnappers that was reported in the news. The person who took her death the hardest was her twin sister Becky. She vowed to live the rest of her life for both herself and her deceased sister.

~~~

Matt's child was born into this world not knowing who her father was. Milly wept for her lost lover, and wished that he could have at least seen the beautiful baby girl that he fathered. For some odd reason, she felt it necessary to forgive him, though she could not figure out why. If anything, she had to apologise to him for thinking that he had left her on his own volition.

~~~

Claudia was never able to regain the relationship she once had with her eldest daughter Melissa, and she became a bit heartbroken when Melissa moved with her friend to New York City. While Melissa did call every so often, she did not say much, and seemed to have closed her heart off from her.

Rebecca was a rather outgoing teenager before Melissa shrunk her and her mother and kept them trapped in a dollhouse in the basement. Since then, she prefered to stay indoors and read. She rarely brings friends over anymore, and has even cut herself a few times. Because of her new antisocial personality, she has also closed herself off from her mother, as well as nearly everyone else in her life.

With one uncaring daughter far away and the other not very respondent to her anymore, Claudia eventually fell into a depressive state.

~~~

Edgar continued his work on his size altercation technology, among other projects. The Growth's Ray progress soon accelerated, as his team finally figured out how to prevent the living speciments from collapsing on themselves, though work still needed to be done on the device. He has also started work on a top secret project, one that not even the heads of his facility know about yet.

He provided a listening ear to Claudia, and visited her a few times, mainly to ease her troubled mind. His relationship with his daughter Melissa remained ever strong, and he may be able to bring her into the facility with him sooner than he thought.

Over the years, many of his colleagues noticed that he had slowly but surely started to grow into the role of what one would call a "mad scientist," though his sanity and close bond with his daughter still remained... for the time being. However, none could deny that his inventions could indeed change society as they knew it.

~~~

Robbie and Kim's relationship remained strong, and they eventually married after both of them finished training at a school of technology. They were both employed by the same video game developing studio, one that had opened nearby. Their friendship with Thomas endured timelessly, and they have also become close with Sayuko.

~~~

With his life back in order, Taro was able to continue to support himself and his sister Sayuko for as long as she lived with him. He also moved up in his law firm, gaining promotions and making a name of himself in the town. Through Thomas and Sayuko's relationship, he became somewhat of an older brother to Thomas. He was glad that his sister was finally able to put her trust into somebody other than himself, and he saw Thomas as an all-around good person.

He eventually did marry, to a woman who claimed to have come from Hokkaido, Japan.

~~~

Both Melissa and Lauren started work at a fashion company in New York City. Lauren held onto her dream to become a world-renowned fashion designer, and feels her job as the first step towards that goal. Melissa, however, merely sees it as a roadblock. She yearns for the day that she would be able to join her father in the lab that he worked at. That was her dream, and compared to that, no other career mattered.

Melissa learned about her mother's depression from her father, and feigned concern. The truth was, she could care less about the mental state of her mother. She cared even less about her now reclusive half-sister.

She would often have dreams about the Shrink Ray she once had, and the "Bugmen" that she would tread on as if they were indeed nothing more than just bugs. She dreamed of the day when she would be able to relive that time in her life, when she would have more tiny, hapless victims begging for mercy at her feet.

~~~

Like Robbie and Kim, Thomas also underwent training at the same school of technology that they attended, before being employed by the same game studio that hired his friends. Sayuko chose to pursue being a teacher's aide, and began to work with elementary-aged schoolchildren. She has also become a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Thomas and Sayuko's relationship grew stronger, eventually climaxing with their marriage to each other. Thomas' family adores Sayuko, and have taken her, as well as Taro, in as their own. They were happy that Thomas was able to find someone that he loved enough to spend the rest of his life with. Sayuko wished that her parents could have been a part of that joyous occasion, but she took comfort in the knowledge that they were looking over her from the other side, with content smiles on their faces.

Sayuko lives with Thomas in his apartment, though they both plan to move out into an actual house soon. After all, the apartment is a bit small to raise children in, Sayuko says (and she also wants to get a pet cat; large pets are not allowed in the apartment complex that they live in). She hopes to find a place close to where her brother lives.

Sayuko would still have nightmares of those uncertain days, where she would have to kill to save her brother, though they have become few and far between. Though when they did arise, Thomas would be right there at her side to comfort her.

Not to say that Thomas never had nightmares either. While he handled them better than Sayuko did, they were still quite unnerving. He doubt that he would ever forget that period of time in June and July of 2008, when he was only mere inches tall and fighting for survival. That he would ever forget the twisted face of evil known as Melissa.

He would not let it bother him, however. After all, he had his own life to live. One where both he and his wife would live together in happiness.

~~~
~~~

Thomas stepped off of the elevator and headed down the hall towards his apartment. It had been an especially tiring day at work today, but with it being Friday, he knew that he could get some good rest in over the weekend.

Reaching his apartment, he unlocked the door and then opened it, before entering inside. Sayuko was sitting in a chair near the television, cradling their two-month-old son in her arms. She looked up from the infant and towards him, and gave him a warm smile.

"Welcome home," she said. "You're home later than usual."

Thomas walked towards her. "Kim had to work late today, so she took the car. I had to carpool with Robbie to and from work."

Upon reaching her, he bent down and kissed her on the lips. Then, he sat down on the couch near her, while looking at his son. Sayuko saw this, and also turned back to the child.

"He just fell asleep," she said. "What a cute child."

"Well, he IS your son," Thomas responded.

"He's your son, too."

"True enough. I wonder if he'll inherit my geekness."

Sayuko shook her head. "No... I want him to become a doctor. Or a laywer like Taro. Or a scientist."

"He can still be those things and still be a geek."

"But I don't want him to be distracted."

"He won't be if he properly manages it."

"He better. Or else, I'm going to be raising another you!"

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Thomas laughed. "Hey, when are you going back to your work?"

Sayuko looked towards him. "In a few months, hopefully. They gave me extra time off to be with little Kenji here."

"That's good. But who's going to watch him when you go back?"

"The school has a daycare center."

"Oh yeah. That's right. It all works out."

"Mm-hmm."

Thomas looked towards the television. Sayuko was watching a sitcom, one that Thomas was unfamiliar with. A male onthe program mentioned Portland, Oregon, which reminded Thomas of something he had been told by Robbie that day at work.

"Hey, honey," Thomas called.

"Yes?" Sayuko responded.

"I just remembered... Robbie told me about this story he read about on the internet. Back in 2009, some guy in Oregon was kidnapped and held prisoner by this woman. Actually, she kidnapped a whole bunch of guys. The guy eventually made it out, but when he went to the authorities and told them what happened, they threw him in an asylum."

"Oh wow, really? Why would they do that to him? Why didn't they go after the woman?"

"That's where it gets interesting. The guy said that she used a 'shrinking gun' on him and the other men."

Sayuko's mouth dropped in sheer disbelief.

"All of the other guys were killed, but he made it out alive, though the woman restored him back to his original size. They did not believe his story, nor was ever he reported missing. They also had no records that the woman he was talking about ever lived in the state, let alone the city. When he kept insisting, eventually becoming manic, they got him institutionalized."

"...Do you think it was Melissa?" Sayuko asked in a worried tone.

"No... Melissa moved to New York, remember? I don't think she would have moved again not even a year later."

"Yeah... ...So this was someone else."

"Looks like it."

Sayuko sighed heavily. "What's going on with our world? Why are so many dangerous things being invented? I don't want Kenji living in a world where something awful could happen to him at anytime."

"I don't either," Thomas said. "Whatever they're doing in that lab, they need to stop."

Suddenly, their son's face started to stir, and his eyes opened. Sayuko looked down at him, and smiled at the child.

"Oh," she said affectionately. "He's awake."

Thomas moved closer to Sayuko and his son. "Hey, little guy," he said in a soft tone. "How are you doing?"

The infant looked towards Thomas, and reached his tiny hands out towards him. Thomas brought his right index finger to the child, before the child grabbed ahold of it and began to suckle on it. Sayuko chuckled, while Thomas smiled a little.

"You're always sucking my finger," Thomas said. "You know you can't get anything from it, right?"

The child persisted.

"Why don't you suck your mother's fingers instead?"

"I tried already," Sayuko responded. "He doesn't like mine."

"Aww man..."

As Thomas watched his son hold his finger in his mouth, he knew more than ever that Sayuko was right. A dangerous world where people on the streets are used as guinea pigs for the latest scientific endeavor was not the world for his son. He did not want him to go through the horrors that he, Sayuko, and many others went through those many years ago.

He wanted his son to live a normal life. He wanted to see which path his son would take in his life, and where it would lead him. He did not want his son, or any other child that he may have in the future, to die before he did. He knew that his wife Sayuko felt the same way.

Little Kenji deserved at least that, did he not?

~~~

Edgar sat at his desk in his office, resting his elbow on its surface, and his head against his fist. He stared at the wall, looking at nothing in particular, but just passing the time.

After a while, Tobias' voice was soon heard from the open doorway.

"Prof. Cruz," he called.

Edgar turned his head slightly to look at him. "...What is it?" He curtly replied.

"It's done."

As soon as he heard these words, an evil and twisted, yet anxious and ambitious look appeared on Edgar's face.