a/n: Originally written for SMACKDOWN 2011 on Fief Goldenlake. Warning: character deaths.

Glory
By icecreamlova
10. End

- : -

There was a rushing river, and the far bank was shrouded by mists thick enough to hide something as large as the limitless city he had somehow escaped, if such a city, indeed, stood on the other side.

Briar was not a stranger to this place in between. He was not familiar with it, precisely; his visits totaled exactly one, and his distantly-remembered previous journey had ended in an overgrown garden in the city he'd left behind. It was, however, better than your normal human facing death for the first time.

"Thief-Boy."

Tension that he hadn't noticed in his shoulder dissipated.

Briar turned, barely noticing that, here, his body was young, or that his limbs were whole. He was too busy noticing that about Daja, Sandry, and Tris.

They were lounging by the side of the river, around a rock as tall as Daja, who leaned absently against it. Tris was perched on top, legs crossed, and eyes slowly coming back to focus as she over her spectacles at him. Sandry sat beside Daja, plucking bits of hay and smiling at the warm sunlight on her face - funny, how he hadn't noticed the sun until then. Funny, too, that he was not remotely surprised his foster-siblings were the ones who sat there, rather than his wife or even his children.

"What took you so long?" Sandry asked. "We've been waiting for ages."

Briar scoffed. "'Scuse me for getting lost in the-" Unsure what to call the labyrinth of houses, which had seemed to him, while wandering its paths, as large as any continent, he merely gestured behind him. "Its pathways."

"We found our way easily," Tris pointed out, "and we all entered the city at the same time."

Daja merely sighed, and nudged Sandry, also drawing Tris's attention. "Isn't it enough that he made it?"

Sandry shook her head with mocking sadness. "Just like a boy," she teased. "Always taking forever, making us girls wait."

Tris hopped down from the rock, staggering a bit. She was not graceful, not athletic, and seemed perfectly comfortable with the hand Sandry rose quickly to give her. "But now that you're here..."

Briar turned back to the river. A bridge stretched towards the far bank, disappearing into the billowing mists.

"Ready?" Sandry said, lifting her stubborn chin to meet his eyes squarely.

"Yeah."

And one by one, they walked over the bridge.