A oneshot of the season 3 finale, but with a different outcome.
The box is whole again. All that was left to do is have Pandora use it to siphon the energy from the Hidden One. But in order for it to fully work, it would need the eternal soul of a Witness: Abbie's.
"It linked to me. I have to do this," Abbie explained.
"No," Ichabod denied. "There's a way. There's always another way." Ichabod refused to lose Abbie again after losing her so many times. And Jenny was with him. She already had to say goodbye to Joe. She doesn't want to lose her sister too.
"There is another way," a mysterious voice from within the Archives said, surprising the group.
"Who's there?!" Jenny called out, pulling out her gun. "Show yourself!"
From behind a bookcase, a black woman with curly hair in a brunette jacket appeared. The intruder didn't seem friendly, but she didn't seem malicious or evil either.
"Who are you?" Ichabod questioned.
"Name's Billie. I'm a reaper."
A reaper? What's a reaper doing in the Archives?
"What did you mean there's a another way?" Abbie inquired.
"That little box," Billie pointed to Pandora's Box, "needs all of your soul for your plan to work, but there's a way to counteract it."
"How?" Ichabod asked. If there was a way to keep Abbie from sacrificing herself, he would take it in a heartbeat.
"You see, souls are full of energy. They hold the power of 100 suns. The soul of a Witness, like yourself, has more power than the regular soul. If you can gather enough souls, the box can still be used," Abbie was skeptical about this.
"But where would we get that many souls for the box?"
"Me," Billie answered, creating looks of shock. "There's a place called the Veil, where souls linger when they can't go to Heaven or Hell. I can take some of them from there and you can use it in lieu of the rest of the soul."
"But wouldn't Pandora's Box need my whole soul for it to work?" Abbie spoke up.
"Yes, but there a spell that can convert the normal souls into a whole piece of the soul that you need." Billie added. "First, I need to see the box." The reaper put her hand out, signaling Ichabod to hand it to her. Reluctant, he gave the box to the reaper. As she opened it, hundreds of white wisps of light appeared around the Archives and flowed into the box.
"So, those were souls?" Jenny questioned.
"Mm-hm," the reaper answered. "The souls I've given you should help you with your problem. And one more thing." Billie walked over to Ichabod and gave him a small slip of paper with an incantation. "This is the spell you need." As Billie began to walk away, Abbie had something to say.
"Why are you helping us?" she asked. Billie looked back with a small smile.
"You're not the only people in this world trying to stop an apocalypse," she replied. She walked out the door and just like that, she was gone.
"Should we trust her?" Jenny thought.
"If this means we can save the lieutenant, I'm willing to do this," Ichabod said.
The battle was intense.
The Hidden One was dealing with Abbie and Jenny's relentless attack, while Ichabod ran and gave the box to Pandora and she was able to emerge from the mirror she was sealed in by her husband. As she opened the box, it began draining the Hidden One's power. But before long, the box had reached its limit and closed. The Hidden One started to regain his powers and Pandora realized that Abbie was holding back.
"In order to stop him, you know what it needs, Abbie. You're resisting. You're holding on to hope. It hungers for the light at the center of your being. It needs... a binding agent to hold the darkness together, Abbie. He's getting his power back. It needs the rest of your Eternal Soul." she explained. Before Abbie could fully surrender, she remembered something.
"Wait! Crane! The spell!" Abbie yelled.
"Spell? What spell?"
"Yes, yes!" Ichabod grabbed the incantation from his coat pocket and started the spell. Maris ilum feni konte," Ichabod slowly chanted and the box opened and glowed again. The box was now draining the rest of the The Hidden One's power. In a few short moments, he was completely powerless, barely able to stand and a near husk. And Abbie was still alive. Pandora walked up to her now weak husband.
"Feeling contrite, I imagine," she said to him. "Beg for forgiveness. Beg for your life."
"I would do whatever you ask," he said with a raspy voice. But seconds later, a bullet cracked the air and he fell dead.
"That was for Joe," Jenny called out to his now dead body, gun in her hand. This made Pandora furious.
"How dare you. This was my victory, not yours."
"Pandora. The threat is over," Ichabod pointed out.
"My soul Pandora, give it back," Abbie demanded.
"No. I'm through being ordered around," Pandora rejected.
"No, no. We retrieved this Box for you. We gave you everything you asked."
"And now you can be the first to worship me. The Hidden One is dead. I have his power now. I won't ask much of my followers, only that they serve me, obey me, and as is fitting, fear me."
"What's going to happen to my sister if her soul isn't fixed?" Jenny questioned.
"If her soul isn't recompleted, she'll begin to fall apart and die. I didn't have a recourse but to use her whole spirit to reform the Box, but because you used that spell I didn't know about, I figured I could improvise."
"So you used us?" Abbie inquired.
"We used each other. Let's call it even." Pandora replied, infuriating Ichabod.
"Damn you. Damn you!" he yelled and ran towards Pandora but Abbie held him back.
"No, Crane, wait. We need her to get the other part of my soul back." Team Witness looked towards the now powerful Pandora.
"My husband let power go to his head. I won't make the same mistake. I don't want to destroy this world. I quite like it. As long as I am obeyed, I will be a benevolent goddess." With a snap of her fingers, she was gone, leaving Abbie, Crane, and Jenny alone in the Hidden One's lair.
After their confrontation with the Hidden One and Pandora, Team Witness headed back to the Archives to discuss their next move to get Abbie's soul back. They know that Pandora has the powers of a god now from the Hidden One with her box, but Ichabod says that she doesn't have one thing. Heading to a bookshelf, he pulls out the Blavatsky Map, with the ability of it being able to find out where she'll be next. Hours later, they found her in a cemetery, picking petals off a flower.
"Pandora! Again. My soul. Now," Abbie demanded once more, but Pandora only smiled.
"And if I refuse?"
"Crane?" Abbie looked to him. Ichabod stepped forward with the skull of the Horseman.
"Samael, Abbaddon, Dark Rider of the Apocalypse, I call you forth," he called out. As thunder began to rumble, something emerged from the box and from a distance, the Horseman came fast towards everyone. Ichabod put his hand out in order to stop him. "Horseman! I called you forth with a purpose. A common enemy." The Horseman then faced Pandora.
"I made very quick work of you before, and I will do it again," she said.
"You defeated him absent his true power," Ichabod pointed out.
"Wait, if you give him the head, doesn't the apocalypse begin?" Jenny thought.
"Moloch's apocalypse. Moloch's dead," he answered. He raised the skull to control the Horseman. "Avatar of Death! End her." The Horseman stepped off his horse and grabbed his skull thrown by Ichabod. Pandora then teleported to another part of the cemetery. "There!" The Horseman walked to Pandora, while she began her attack by throwing tombstones at him, which he easily deflects. The team decided to take cover behind a tombstone as they watched.
"You think he has a chance against her?" Abbie asked.
"He is the embodiment of death," Ichabod assured.
Before the fight truly began, Pandora offered the Horseman an alliance, but he ignored her offer and shoots her, but she flicks the bullet away. Before he take another shot, she throws another tombstone that he was barely able to stop. The Horseman then throws his axe, but she reflects it away and commences an unrelenting attack on him with fence posts and starts to absorb him back into her box. Seeing that the Horseman was being overpowered, Abbie and Ichabod formulate a plan: Ichabod would distract Pandora long enough for Abbie to grab the Horseman's axe. As Ichabod ran towards Pandora, she throws a magic blast that puts him on his knees. While she gloats about him and his friends not being able to stop her, she doesn't notice Abbie running to the tree, pulling the axe and tossing it over to the Horseman. Before she could do anything, it was too late and the Horseman slashed her down and continued his assault. Realizing that Pandora will die, Ichabod called out.
"Enough!" The Horseman walked towards Ichabod and pointed his axe to his face. "It's over. Enough death for one night. Leave." After a moment, the Horseman agrees to spare Ichabod and leaves him. Ichabod, Abbie, and Jenny walked to the dying Pandora.
"Death wins in the end, it seems, even for a goddess," she said as she looked at the two Witnesses. "You love her, don't you? She is your hope, your everything."
"Her soul. Give it to her. It's over," Ichabod urged.
"Her soul...shall be restored, when the Box explodes," she said with her dying breath. She was dead. Seconds later, the box began to glow.
"The Box... it's gonna explode again," Abbie noticed. Ichabod hurried and grabbed the box.
"Quickly. Okay. Quickly!" he yelled.
The team ran to the Munition Tunnels of the town and placed the box inside a room and shut the door behind. Before they could get far, the box created a huge explosion and blew everyone away. As they all came to, they looked at each other.
"Is it over?" Jenny wondered.
"I believe so," Ichabod said and he looked at Abbie. "And lieutenant! You're still alive!"
"Yeah Crane. You act so shocked," Abbie chuckled. And they all laughed with each other.
"Pizza and beer, anyone?" Abbie asked with two boxes of pizza and a case of beer in her hands. Ichabod, Jenny, and Ezra came up to help her at her house.
"Yes, please," Jenny replied. Opening the boxes showed that they had pepperoni and cheese pizza.
"How fascinating that kneaded dough, cheese, and a tomato sauce can make such a delectable dish," Ichabod explained. As everyone grabbed a bottle and a slice and sat at the table, they were all smiles.
"It's crazy to think that three days ago, I almost lost my favorite daughters," Ezra said.
"You mean your only daughters?" Abbie jokingly said.
"Guys, I'd like to make a toast," Jenny said and stood with her bottle in her hand. "To Joe. Thank you for being there and for always helping us out. Even though you're not here with us, I know that you'll be watching over us. To a good son, a good friend, and an even better man."
"To Joe," everyone else toasted with her.
"So, this was only the Second Tribulation, right?" Ezra asked.
"Yeah, which means there's still five more to go," Abbie said.
"But, as long as we have each other, nothing can break us apart no matter what may come our way," Ichabod said and Abbie agreed with that.
"Hear-hear."