Thank you to all who have given me such positive reviews! I appreciate it greatly! As always, I do not OUAT or the characters.
Chapter 14
As the group of living followed the siren towards the spirit group, Lorelei turned to Henry and told him, "I need to speak to you a bit Henry, away from everyone else." Henry nodded but Regina and Emma began immediately protesting. Smiling, Lorelei waved her hand and both women splashed into the ocean waves. She lifted a brow at David and Snow and although both shook their heads no, she waved and all four were swimming for shore. "There. Now it's just us!" She put her hands on Henry's shoulders, and looked him in the eye very seriously. "I need your help Henry."
Henry nodded saying, "that's why I'm here. I want to help."
Nodding to him she continued, "I know. But it could be dangerous. I don't mean like a broken bone or something pleasant like that…" she then removed her hands from him and removed the silver charm from her chest, bouncing it a few times in her palm before she spoke again. "This charm, it's sort of like my heart. It's the best parts of me. I don't have to have it. I can perform all my magic and all my music without it. But, kind of like your heart, I need it to really feel things."
Nodding, Henry added, "like the way Cora was evil and crazy when she didn't have her heart for most of her life, but now she can love people and be loved."
"Exactly! Now, I'm going to give this to you. I don't usually give it to men, it feels weird you understand, but you're the only chance I have in this case…" She trailed off and gently pulled his shirt collar down, and pressed the charm on to him. It flashed a moment before settling in to look like a silver tattoo. "I am going to do some pretty dark things soon. I don't want to, but it's the only way to stop Hades. The thing is, I need someone to believe I can be brought back to give my charm to. As long as you really believe I can be saved, maybe I can be. But I don't know exactly what is going to happen to me… I have an idea but, I just don't know."
Henry touched the mark on his skin, it felt cool to the touch, but nothing overly unusual. "Well, why not Cora? I mean, she loves you, if anyone can believe in you she would."
Lorelei smiled at Cora, who had stepped a little ways away to let them talk, she already knew what they were discussing anyway. "I'm not sure she has enough hope, even for me. I have never come across someone like you Henry. You might be the only person in any realm who will believe I can come back from what I'm planning."
"Well, me and you."
"No." The siren shook her head sadly, "That's the thing though, I am giving the best piece of me to you because I don't believe I will come back from the darkness. If I keep that piece, I know I will corrupt it too."
Understanding widened his eyes then, "You really think you can't come back from the things you're about to do…"
"No, I don't. I have to trust you to have hope for me too…" Looking past Henry towards the very irate group of living coming out of the water, Lorelei told him quickly, "As long as this is on you, I can't hurt you. No matter what, if that is on your skin, I can't hurt you Henry."
"But, if it's the best piece of you and you turn evil, how am I supposed to bring you back and give it back to you if you can kill me once I take it off?!"
She looked him deep in his eyes then and whispered to make sure only he could hear, "That's just it Henry, I don't know. I have no idea what I will become or how you could possibly save me. I just know that you are the only chance I have."
Regina reached them first, she had dried herself and everyone else and then made a bee line for the siren. She used her magic to slap Lorelei so hard the siren nearly fell over. Holding her cheek she glared at Regina, but didn't say anything, after all, she deserved that one. Emma, David and Snow stood back a bit and Regina pulled Henry over to them. Cora stood by the siren, after kissing her cheek.
"Henry, what did she tell you?" Looking him over quickly, Emma decided he wasn't hurt.
"She just told me I will be safe no matter what. She needs me to believe in her. That's it." Henry told them. It wasn't technically a lie.
Emma and Regina looked skeptical, but since he looked fine, they let it go.
Everyone gathered around the siren then, a thin mist of silverish fog surrounded them all and before transporting them she told them, "Alright. I will take the living to a safe place on the mountain, then I will join the rest of you. Kill the demons by beheading, we don't want them coming back soon. And if you are undone yourselves, go back to paradise. Mostly I need distraction and chaos, just a few minutes of no demons around. So all the spirits in the inner circle can move freely."
When the bright flash cleared, the living, Cora and the siren stood on a large rock outcropping over looking what must be the inner circle. Henry gasped in shock as he looked down at the area. It was a massive crater with steep sides all around. He could see spirits in chains and cages and hanging from structures, and he could see demons torturing them. If he had to guess, there was maybe 200,000 spirits down there, being tortured by half as many demons. A commotion on the far end of the crater was pulling most of the demons away from their tasks, it was a shining array of heroes cutting and slashing through any demonic throat that came near them. So far, the spirits were still restrained and the heroes would be over run in minutes…
"Everyone stand back closer to the mountain, except Henry, I need his voice for this first bit." When the two mothers hesitated at leaving him up there Lorelei was going to use magic to push them back.
"Moms, it's ok she can't hurt me even if she wanted to, and she needs me so she will protect me. I believe in her and you should too." As he spoke he pulled his collar down and showed them her charm on his chest. They nodded reluctantly but stepped back with the Charmings. Henry nodded at Lorelei to tell her he was ready as he stood a foot from the edge of the drop off down to the crater.
Taking a deep breath, Lorelei nodded back at him. Then she smiled wickedly at him and whispered, "Help me light 'em up Henry." She winked and raised her arms as the heroes below began to sing in unison and perfect pitch to the opening off one of his favorite songs.
"Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa."
Henry felt the tiny violin on his chest flash and his voice belted out louder than he thought ever possible, and his heart soared at the amazing feeling of the entire experience. As he sang, the siren raised her arms to the sky where dark clouds began appearing and swirling.
"B-B-B-Be careful making wishes in the dark, dark
Can't be sure when they've hit their mark
And besides in the mean, mean time
I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart"
The music poured from the siren herself, only the words came from Henry, her magic was building and her runes were flashing violently in time with the beating of the music. The clouds swirled faster above the crater as the heroes cut down scores of demons at a time.
"I'm in the de-details with the devil
So now the world can never get me on my level
I just gotta get you off the cage
I'm a young lover's rage
Gonna need a spark to ignite"
The Lorelei called out the next lines herself, her magic shooting to the dark clouds in blinding streaks of silver lightening.
"My songs know what you did in the dark"
As Lorelei sang the next lines, Henry had to close his eyes because violent streaks of lightening shot from the swirling clouds, thousands of blots hammering into chains and cages, leaving the spirits untouched, and free.
"So light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up"
"So light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up"
The heroes and even the living's voices joined forces and called out in perfect time,
"Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
In the dark, dark
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
In the dark, dark"
Henry watched as the siren appeared in the middle of the crater, short swords in hands and seeming to direct the lightening. The freed spirits had joined the fight now against the demons and there were not many left as Henry sang on, as hard as he could.
"All the writers keep writing what they write
Somewhere another pretty vein just dies
I've got the scars from tomorrow and I wish you could see
That you're the antidote to everything except for me, me
A constellation of tears on your lashes
Burn everything you love, then burn the ashes
In the end everything collides
My childhood spat back out the monster that you see"
Lorelei stood on top of a large mound of rubble as she sang out the lines next; spirits, heroes, Henry and the living sang out with her, causing the entire crater to tremble with the force of their voices as lightening freed the rest of the spirits and struck down the demons a thousand at a time.
"My songs know what you did in the dark
So light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
So light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
In the dark, dark
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
In the dark, dark"
Henry began with the next line, pouring all his energy into the words, and when the siren picked up the second line, the clouds themselves seem to shatter from the force of thousands of bolts of lightening, killing the last of the demons on the battle field as the song drew to a close.
"My songs know what you did in the dark
(My songs know what you did in the dark)
So light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
So light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up"
The heroes on the field ended the song with their voices and Lorelei sent them back to paradise cheering and celebrating.
"Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa."
Breathing heavily, Henry sat down and took a few moments to catch his breath. The siren appeared on the slab of rock with him and he jumped to his feet, eager to do more. She ran to Cora whispered in her ear and kissed her hard, as if trying to pack every shred of feelings she had in to the kiss to make Cora feel what she felt. Cora staggered when the kiss ended, a little surprised at the emotions in it. But she nodded at what Lorelei had told her and waved her arm towards David, Snow, Emma and Regina. They vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving Henry alone with the siren.
"Where did they go?!" Henry asked frantically.
"Somewhere safe from me… I hope. Henry, this is where things get bad…" The siren grimaced as she opened her hand to reveal the vial Demeter had given her. She stared at it a moment more and seemed to be deciding on whether or not to use it.
There was a deafening roar from the other side of the crater, on the edge above the rioting spirits. Henry didn't need to be closer to know it was Hades, and he was mad. Lorelei set her jaw and uncorked the vial, downing the tiny amount of magic inside the vial. Henry was knocked to the ground by an eruption of magic that forced his eyes closed. And when he opened them, he blinked several times just to make sure he was really seeing what he saw. Lorelei stood there, her runes brightly shining silver. But a massive pair of wings had appeared on her back. Her muscular body had taken on a sharper shape, leaner, harder. Her wings spread out to either side of her as she cast magic towards Hades. Henry expected fire, or lightening, but instead, hundreds of golden winged sirens descended on Hades, temporarily keeping him busy, but not for long, he was already cutting through them.
As Henry stared at Lorelei's silver feathered wings she pushed him back by the mountain wall, "Stay down. I can't hurt you and he won't try to, but shit happens you know." She glanced towards Hades, slicing through hundreds of screaming sirens. " Henry, Demeter's gift isn't just power and wings. Her magic is based on growing. With this power, I can absorb the spirits down there and grow my power through their destruction." She looked absolutely pained at the words she spoke. But Henry understood.
"The thing you love most is the dead. You give them paradise and make them happy until they can be redeemed. But these spirits won't ever be redeemed. They will never be happy, only tortured. They are the ones you love the most, because you know you can't help them at all, and you want to. You know they have no hope, nothing to ever look forward to or to strive for because they will always be here, always be tortured."
Lorelei nodded as a single silver tear leaked down her cheek. "I am going to destroy them, completely. It is the worst thing I can ever imagine doing. And they are the only ones who would give themselves to oblivion because they know they have no hope of redemption. Every one of them is willing to be destroyed. The reason doesn't even matter to them…" She trailed off as Hades howled angrily on the other side. "Henry, believe in me now. Bring me back."
"I will."
Lorelei smiled the most pain filed expression Henry had ever seen, "I don't think you can, but I hope you can…". And then she vanished, reappearing in the middle of the crater. The tortured mass of spirits swarming to her instantly. Hades was nearly done with the golden sirens now. He was cutting through the last of them as the spirits below became streaks of black and crashed into the sirens outstretched hands.
Hades roared and appeared behind the siren, knocking her to the ground, she drew her swords and they began to fight what they both knew would be the last battle as the spirits continued to pour into Lorelei in a blur. The spirits in the back fought to get to her, eager to be destroyed…
Hades felt her strength beginning to rise. He attacked her as hard and fast as he could, aiming to kill her as quick as he could. He was slicing her, but she was already quick… He felt fear then. She was already so strong. The tears on her face told him something he hadn't known… her sacrifice was hurting her far more than taking a life had hurt him. She felt more than he did. Oh yes, he felt fear. He should have come sooner, but the blood took so long to set on his sword. He should have attacked sooner, but those damned sirens distracted him. He should have moved faster…
She felt every single soul crash into her. Every one was like a jagged cut across her heart and mind. Thousands had collided with her. Hades cut her deeply, but not deep enough, she had expected him to be stronger… Hades was stronger now than her, but she gained a little speed and strength with each agonizing spirit she consumed and destroyed. She didn't know when the tears stopped. As she began to block Hades attacks instead of being sliced by them, she became less aware of the souls she absorbed…
Her wounds began to heal quicker, she began deflecting the attacks and then dodging them. She wanted the spirits to get to her quicker. She wanted more power. She heard something inside her, deep inside her call out that she had enough now, but she ignored that. There was no such thing as enough power. She wanted more. She spread her wings far to either side of her, giving the spirits more of her to touch. More of them could get to her quicker now. She smiled even as Hades frowned, she was stronger than him now… and he knew it. Still, no sense in leaving any spirits here, they all wanted to be destroyed. She laughed as they rushed to her, filling her with the power she didn't need…
All Henry could do was stare, the two warriors moved so fast he couldn't keep up with every movement. But every few seconds, the siren stopped long enough for him to see her clearly. At first, her silver seemed tarnished, dull. But as more and more souls disappeared into her, the silver gave way to grey. The grey darkened more every time he caught sight of her. When she stopped and spread her wings wide… The silver was gone. Her wings shined, but they shined with a black that looked wet. Her skin was covered in black marks now, where her silver runes had been, only a shining black remained. He frantically clawed at his shirt, tearing the collar, to see his chest. The rune on his chest was still there. It still shone brightly silver. He pushed himself back to the mountain wall and held a hand over the cool silver rune. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine pushing hope and his belief into it…
The song used in this chapter is "My songs know what you did in the dark", by Fall Out Boy. I do not own the song, lyrics, band or music. Henry