A/N: Hey everyone! This is now officially the second-to-last chapter of this fic. I'll post the final chapter within the next few days, but for now, here you go.

Twelve

Soon as Clara went into her garden she could tell something was not right. It was a nagging feeling at the back of her head, making her glance around quickly to assess the situation. She couldn't hear the ever-present wind, even only a slight breeze, which made her eyes grow wide in terror. Climbing the ladder that gave her access to the beach, she went to go over the seawall, only to discover that there was a new barrier around her property… one that was keeping her in. She attempted to pound on it, only for there to be a flash of light and an invisible force tossing her back onto the grass.

"Clara?!" Ian gasped, noticing the magic out of the corner of his eye. He dodged a blast of water from Innes and ran over to the wall, scrambling up the ladder that was on the beach side. The sight of Clara laying unmoving in her garden enraged him, to the point he attempted to punch through the barrier with his bare fist.

"Not as simple as that, my dear," Innes smirked. She held off her attacks to watch him beat at the invisible magic between him and his mate, that being much more entertaining than she had anticipated. "She's merely stunned, you know—can't have her interrupting our little tiff."

"LET ME GO TO HER!" he demanded. Ian's eyebrows were knit in unmitigated fury, his eyes nearly alight with fire, and his upper lip curled into an intimidating sneer.

"You wanted to keep her safe, so safe she shall stay," his opponent claimed. As she watched the selkie take out his rage on the magic barrier, she quickly grew bored and just a smidge jealous. "Umm… Ian…? Did you forget what's going on? I'm still here."

"I didn't forget," he growled between punches. "All I need is a little time!"

A couple more punches and he did it, breaking through Innes's magic that she had put around his protective ward, keeping Clara in as well as the fae out. Ian rushed over to the mortal and cradled her in his arms, silently hoping this was not it for her.

"Ian…?" Clara muttered softly.

"Good, you're alive," he breathed. "Get back in the house, where it's safe. I don't want you caught up in what's not your fight."

"What's your fight is mine now as well," she said, becoming more conscious by the second. "I'm a human, not an idiot."

"I never realized there was a difference," Innes chuckled. Ian and Clara both looked to see her standing on the garden wall, the former's handiwork preventing her from coming any closer. "You really need to keep your wits about you, or something bad might happen." She then hopped off the ladder, vanishing from sight.

"Please, don't even argue," Ian requested. He kissed Clara tenderly before running back to the beach and the battle.

"Oh, that idiot!" she huffed. Clara looked around frantically for Ian's seal skin, finding that she had been laying on it. Picking it up, she slid one arm of it on, feeling the magic embedded in the jacket-like garment begin to pulse. It didn't fuse with her, or do anything else that she imagined would ruin the opportunity showing it off would give, so she kept it on as she crept over towards the sea wall.

Still at it, Innes and Ian were going full-force again, completely ignoring her presence. Clara found that whatever spell had been used to keep her contained had been shattered, as she was able to get her hand, as well as her whole arm, over the wall. She watched intently, waiting for the right moment to play her hand. Knowing full-well she had the ultimate prize, playing it too early or too late could spell disaster for both her and Ian, let alone the whole island. It made her sick to hide there, watching and waiting, contemplating what could happen if things went wrong.

Then, suddenly, the moment struck. Ian lost his footing and fell into the wet sand, allowing Innes to gather a glob of ocean water and surround him with it. He laid there, choking and panicking, the last of his air beginning to leave him.

"Stop!" Clara shouted, making the final leap over the wall. She placed herself between Innes and Ian, holding the skin so that it remained hidden behind her back. "Leave us alone, or I'll make this all for nothing!"

"Silly mortal," Innes sighed. "What can you possibly do that can change my mind?"

"Put on this."

Clara lifted her arm, showing that she was already wearing one arm of the jacket-skin. Innes dropped her arm that was keeping the water-spell in place and stared as the human checked to make sure the selkie was still alive. He was, sputtering out seawater with furious contempt, much to Clara's delight.

"I thought I told you to get back into the house," he said, trying his best to keep his voice down. "Now you're here, in danger, and have my skin out in the open and—"

"You promised," she interrupted. "You promised you would be there for me, and what kind of a person am I if I leave you alone to fight without your greatest asset?"

"Clara, my skin is not my greatest asset," he deadpanned. She hit him on the back of the head before offering a hand to help him up.

"I meant me, you silly seal," she teased. They stood together, watching as Innes pondered her next move. Smugness spread across her face as she decided on what to do, turning towards the ocean and placing her hands around her mouth.

"Oh Nuckie," she called out, "be a good dear and come help Mummy. There's some tasty morsels in it if you do." She turned back to the couple with her expression intolerably satisfied. "You've got exactly one minute before the nuckelavee answers my call. If I do not have the seal skin by then, you and the entire island will be subjected to his wrath. Though should you go and hand it over…"

In the distance, a softly-glowing bulge in the water's horizon could be seen as a magical being rushed through the ocean. Clara and Ian grabbed one another's hands, staying close.

"What's the plan?" she asked quickly.

"Plan? I haven't got a plan."

"You had a plan when you came down here."

"Yeah, and I didn't anticipate you waking up, now did I?"

"Tick tock goes the clock," Innes reminded them gleefully. "Are the two of you going to martyr yourselves and the entire island for love? I'm most surprised at you, Ian—we fae are supposed to be above such carnal desires." She then saw that the mound of water was nearly upon them. "Oopsie; I talked away the rest of your time. Now what's it going to be?"

The water finally reached the beach, ocean falling away in large splashes as the occupant stepped out. Instead of the nuckelavee, all gruesome and spite, it was a different figure: a beautiful woman eight feet tall, with hair of kelp and skin of grey. Her dark blue eyes were furious as she surveyed the trio on the beach. Ian held his right hand to his chest, palm facing the sky, and bowed deeply to the woman, with Clara quickly copying his actions. Innes, however, began to panic.

"Why, what a surprise to see you here, Sjeh Mither," she blurted out. "I thought I heard you were visiting the Faroes…"

"For a time," Mither replied, her voice as deep and resounding as the seas themselves. "You must be the one who let the nuckelavee roam free, despite it being nearly Summer. Do you realize what would have happened if he broke from the hairline hold you had?" Innes attempted to respond, though was cut off before getting out a syllable. "The Islands would have been done for; no one would survive and no one would want to live here again, mortal and fae alike. You nearly started the End of Ends, and for that you must be punished."

Innes dropped to her knees, dumbstruck, as an orb of water surrounded her. Ian lifted his head, reverently speaking to Mither.

"What do you plan on doing?" he wondered.

"She shall be presented to the Courts for punishment. You, my dear selkie son, may continue your life as planned. Will it be with this mortal?"

"Yes, it shall. Clara is the mortal who summoned me, and we have genuine feelings for one another. There is no doubt that she is the one I have been waiting for all these years."

"Then you have what few of us ever find," she smiled gently. Sjeh Mither bent and kissed Ian on the forehead, as well as Clara, giving her blessing. "Do not fear, selkie son and mortal daughter, for you are under my protection." She then left as elegantly as she came, retreating into the ocean in a grand display of sea spray and brine, taking Innes with her. By the time she had fully vanished, Ian and Clara noticed that dawn had broken over the land's horizon, painting the sky in calm pastels.

"That… that's it…?" Clara marveled. "You mean, Innes is gone?"

"Yes," Ian replied, his mouth lopsided in a toothy grin. "Sjeh Mither not only took her, but gave us a rare gift. Few fae have been privy to her kiss, and fewer mortals at that."

"She said we were protected," she stated. "That's good, yeah?"

"At least seven times more powerful than what I can manage," he said. He saw as Clara held out her hand towards him and he took it, lacing his long fingers with her shorter ones. Ian then let go, picking her up into a sudden hug, spinning around laughing like a madman.

They were safe.