Notes: Posting this a bit early since folks will be busy tonight - Happy New Year!
Also, we're almost done - all that's left after this is the epilogue!
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Helena advanced on the Bishop, completely blind and deaf to the staring faces and terrified whispers of the few clergy who hadn't yet run away. She was oblivious to all of it - the only thing she could focus on was her determination to finally meet her fate head on, whether it ended in her own death or renewed life for them all.
The Bishop didn't flinch or move away as she approached - instead, he waited for her with a cold composure that made him seem almost like an ice statue in his white robes. He held his staff in front of him with both hands as Helena stopped just out of reach - the staff meant he wasn't totally unarmed, but he knew he stood little chance against her if she had decided to kill him. "If you kill me, Helena, the curse will never be broken."
Helena seemed to almost be toying with him as she moved lazily into a fighting stance, but that didn't stop him from trying to reason with her. "You must think of Myka, and how she'll suffer."
"She's dead," Helena told him, praying it was still a lie. She wasn't sure why she even said it - maybe she wanted to wound him in whatever way she could right then, or maybe she just didn't feel he had any right to know whether Myka still lived and breathed. Or perhaps she hoped that he might believe her, if she failed and he somehow survived, and so give up his search for Myka.
The Bishop froze, and for an instant Helena saw her own suffering mirrored in the man's eyes - it changed nothing, in the end, but it did make Helena wonder if some tiny portion of his capacity for love had somehow survived his transformation into a greedy, unfeeling monster. Then his eyes widened in shock as they focused on something behind her.
"Helena, don't! I'm here!" Myka's voice - her *human* voice - rang out across the cathedral. Helena, shocked almost into immobility at the sound of the voice she thought she'd never hear again, somehow still managed to make herself turn to face its source.
Myka stood framed by the cathedral doors, her skin even paler in contrast to the darkness just beyond her. She almost seemed to glow, alive and radiant in her blue silk wedding gown - if Helena relaxed her eyes just so, she could almost imagine they were back in Steve's chapel the night of their wedding.
This was why she'd worked so hard to keep that dress safe for Myka, and for herself, these last two years - it wasn't just a dress, it was a tangible symbol of their hopes and their dreams and their happiness. Helena touched a hand to the matching blue scarf tied to her arm, and to the lock of hair it held trapped by her heart, then smiled at her wife through the tears that suddenly threatened - they both stared at each each other as time seemed to stop, unable to look away.
The moment stretched between them, though it didn't break completely, as Myka began to move again to join her wife - the others, there with her, positioned themselves to deal with anyone who might choose to interfere. Myka noticed none of it - she seemed unsteady on her feet, and almost uncertain of her own body, but the smile on her face grew with every step she took toward Helena. Helena, for her part, simply continued staring at her wife as she approached, drinking in the sight of her like someone who'd been lost in the desert until unexpectedly finding an oasis.
Suddenly remembering why they were all there, Helena turned back to the Bishop. She moved close enough to grab his robes in one gloved hand, sword pointed at his chest. "Look at me."
The Bishop complied without a word of argument, staring Helena directly in the eyes with the same cold arrogance she'd always known him to have. Helena, seeing the fear underneath it all, bared her teeth as she grabbed his jaw and turned his head toward Myka. "Now look at her. Look at Myka."
Hearing her name as she continued toward the altar, Myka paused and looked up at them both. As she stood there, a shaft of sunlight suddenly struck the floor directly in front of her - she simply stared at it in bewilderment, not quite able to comprehend that it was simply the sun beginning to emerge from behind the moon.
Myka hesitated for just a moment, doubt and fear in her eyes. Then she moved forward again, resolve growing with each step she took - Helena held her breath, felt the Bishop tense as he did the same. Watching Myka's progress, Steve, Claudia, and Pete crossed themselves in prayer while Artie mumbled under his breath in Hebrew.
The shaft of light seemed to widen and brighten as Myka made her way across it. Her body seemed to shimmer and glow as she moved, the curse struggling to assert itself - and failing. Myka stood frozen for a moment as she tried to absorb the fact that she was now once again fully and irrevocably human - torn between laughing and sobbing, she held a hand out to Helena as she began moving toward her.
Helena simply stared at her wife in awe and joy as she came to the same realization - they had been granted the miracle they sought, and the curse was well and truly broken. Unable to stop herself, she let go of the Bishop and ran to meet Myka - kneeling down before her, Helena took her wife's hands in her own as they simply gazed at each other in joyful disbelief.
"Look at them." Pete's voice unexpectedly rang out across the room. He'd circled around to cover Helena, and now stood beside the Bishop, the point of his sword at the man's throat.
Still clinging to Helena, Myka found her attention drawn back to the Bishop. Her green eyes filled with anger as she moved past Helena to confront the man who had tried to own both her body and her soul. Her hands clenched at her side as the Bishop stepped toward her - Pete didn't protest, knowing that he and Helena were there to protect Myka - and the two simply stared at each other as the Bishop struggled to absorb everything that had happened.
Finally, face full of both triumph and contempt, Myka thrust out a hand to show her tormentor the hood and jesses Helena had placed on her earlier. Without a word, she dropped them at his feet and turned away to join Helena.
The Bishop seemed to accept this with the same equanimity as everything else - at least for a moment - then suddenly just snapped, face contorting with rage and jealousy. Moving far quicker than anyone would ever have believed him capable of, he exposed the blade hidden in the foot of his staff and lunged for Myka as he muttered fiercely to himself. "...no man shall!"
Pete saw it first, but was behind the Bishop - all he could do was call out a warning as he moved to intercept. "Helena! Myka! Weapon!"
Pete was fast, but Helena was faster - even as he moved to help, and Myka turned toward the threat with a startled gasp, she was already moving to end it. Acting on sheer instinct, she launched her sword at the Bishop - it was an impossible throw, but it struck true. The Bishop, impaled through the heart, was dead before the blade even fully finished embedding itself in the altar.
Myka stared in horror for a heartbeat or two, but Pete was already in motion and dragged her back behind Helena, where they could both protect her from any other threats. The three of them stood together in the patch of sunlight - Pete with his sword in one hand, Myka with her face buried in the crook of his free arm, and Helena in front of them both, ready to defend them with her bare hands if necessary.
They all tensed as a sudden wave of frightened, angry whispers broke the stunned silence - they had, after all, just killed the Bishop of Aquila in his own church with no explanation as to why. Then they all simply stared in equally stunned disbelief as they caught sight of the altar - the Bishop's body was gone, empty robes hanging from Helena's sword.
Instead, there now stood a scrawny, aged wolf, peering around the room with frightened, bewildered eyes. Baring its yellowed fangs, it fled the altar and ran for the doors, giving as wide a berth as possible to the three unknown humans standing in the random patch of sunlight. It scuttled through the horrified, dumbstruck clergy with its tail tucked between its legs, disappearing through the doors before anyone could think to stop it.
Pete and Helena relaxed when no other threat presented itself afterward, and Myka followed suit - Pete stepped a short distance away, giving his cousin and her wife their literal moment in the sun. Helena - heedless of the clergy surrounding them, or perhaps just tired of hiding - drew Myka to her. The light seemed to spread around them as Helena swept Myka off her feet, grinning at Myka's startled shriek of laughter as she spun Myka around and around.
She finally set Myka back down, only to pull her close again as Myka stumbled a little dizzily into her arms. Still either heedless of, or willfully ignoring, their surroundings, Helena leaned in to claim a kiss, the first since their wedding night - Myka returned the kiss in kind, deepening it as she pressed herself as close against Helena as she could manage.
Claudia continued watching as they kissed a second time, and couldn't fight the tears streaking down her cheeks. She also couldn't fight the urge to hug whoever was nearest - fortunately, it was Artie, who hugged her back without protest for a long, joyous moment before passing her over to Steve, who simply grinned as she threw her arms around him, too.
The gathered clergy, who'd fallen silent again, suddenly began whispering and talking amongst themselves as they recovered their wits. There was a rising murmur of confusion and disapproval as they realized that the Bishop was indeed gone and that Helena and Myka were standing there kissing in the middle of the cathedral - before anything else could happen, though, a sudden and very loud round of applause rang out from near the doors.
The honor guard that had let Helena through earlier stood there cheering their captain on - they'd known about her feelings for Myka far longer than anyone had suspected and were thrilled to see her finally get her girl. Their happiness was contagious, and the tide of disapproval began to turn as everyone gathered there realized that they were finally free of the monster that had terrorized them for years. Anything else, they collectively decided, could wait until later - a few of them even began to cheer and applaud as well.
Myka and Helena pulled apart as the noise finally registered, both looking fearful until they realized what was happening. Grinning, Helena swept Myka off her feet again and twirled her around some more, whispering in her ear as she did so. "I love you!"
Myka, giddy and dizzy, simply threw out her arms, letting Helena spin her. Her voice was caught somewhere between a laugh and a sob as she echoed Helena's words. "I love you! I love you! I love you!"
Pete moved in to hug both Helena and Myka the instant Myka's feet hit the ground again. Myka caught Claudia staring at them all and simply smiled at her - it did the same strange things to Claudia's insides that it always had, but she couldn't have cared less as she grinned back and let out a whoop. Laughing, Myka winked at her.
Claudia, blushing, looked away for a moment, then looked back - only to find Helena glaring at her with cold eyes. Her smile faltered - until Helena also winked at her and started laughing. Reaching out to grab Steve and Artie by the hand, Claudia dragged them over to join in the reunion - Artie grumbled as he found himself hugged repeatedly, but she could tell he was enjoying it.
"Peter?" The endless series of hugs and kisses was suddenly broken by a woman's voice, trembling with disbelief.
Claudia found herself crying happy tears again as Pete ran to hug his mother and sister - Myka's mother and sister were with them, and ran to embrace both Myka and Helena. Someone, it seemed, had sent for them all to make the joyous reunion complete.
In that moment, Claudia was happier than she had ever been in all her nineteen years. Every happy moment from here on, she decided, would have to be measured against this one, and would probably be found wanting.
She had actually lived the dream sung about in the ballads she loved so much, even if not the way she'd expected - and because of her, Myka and Helena would finally have the chance to live it too...