Bo felt more than heard the rumble of Dyson's deep growl as they watched the Wanderer descend from his raised platform down to where the succubus and her friends were all now gathered around the fallen valkyrie.

"And just what the hell do you find so funny, Wanderer?" the succubus snarled, her throat raw.

"You, my daughter, and your little gaggle of friends shedding tears over this pathetic creature," the Wanderer sneered. "Do you know what her last thoughts were about? Not of the many wars she altered by the force of her will or nations that rose and fell at her whim. But her feelings. Specifically how she felt about you," he ridiculed and nudged with his foot the arm of the valkyrie who, just as prophecy foretold, had sacrificed herself willingly and suffered her true death.

The wolf snarled in response at his disrespect and almost lunged for the leg of the man who was mocking the life, death and sacrifice of a person he knew as a friend and partner, or so the influx of new, conflicting memories had informed him.

"Down, dog, or I will begin to rethink your placement in my kingdom."

"Ask me if I care," Dyson's growl became more pronounced.

"Dyson," Bo urged and with great effort, he forced down the almost overwhelming urge to rip this man's throat out.

The succubus looked over at the wolf to see whether or not he was about to attack her father anyway when she noticed that Dyson was frozen in place...as was everyone else.

"I figured we could use some father-daughter alone time," the Wanderer replied scornfully. "It would seem, Isabeau, as though you have a few things you'd like to say to me, though why you'd speak on behalf of this worthless being is beyond even my infinite knowledge."

Bo rose unsteadily to her feet and regarded this man, her father, with disdain. "This woman you're belittling was noble," Bo defended. "She suffered a lot of shit over the millennia and I have no doubt that you issued quite a bit of it all on your own. But when she had a chance to make a choice that mattered, she chose honor. She chose friendship...and love."

"She chose sentiment over serving her master. She chose weakness, like she always had, child. When I first offered her the chance to save herself, she jumped on it, no questions asked. She was so desperate to save herself she didn't care what I ordered her to do as long as she came out on top and her life cycles were restored. That is the hard truth behind your noble, loving valkyrie." He paused for dramatic effect. "Not that I actually would have kept up my end of the bargain and expended a scintilla of my life force restoring her, of course," the Wanderer added blithely.

"WHAT? Why wouldn't you?"

"Because she was more trouble than she was worth, for one thing. I am a god, Isabeau. My powers extend far beyond what mere mortals or fae can possibly comprehend. I hold the power over life and death, and Tamsin never fully respected that power. Never respected my authority. She was too willful and had defied me one too many times to be allowed to continue to exist past her usefulness to me. She should have realized her folly; instead she chose to compound her long list of mistakes and rebel yet again."

He added almost as an afterthought, "What made her actions today especially pathetic was the fact that even though she knew she was going to die, that you were going to kill her," Bo winced at his cold recitation, "she also knew I was not going to revive her," the Wanderer taunted, knowing he was riling his daughter up. He was testing her, and she was failing. He shook his head almost mournfully.

"Such weakness I see in you. So emotional. So caring. All of this will soon change, my daughter."

"Never," she snapped at him.

Bo felt the anger he was stirring in her turn into something dark, and the pull was almost too much for her to suppress or disregard. It was the same sensation she felt after defeating the Garuda and the power she gained from her enthralled team made her hungry for more.

She recalled a conversation she had with her grandfather a year prior or so to the Garuda incident when she was planning on going after Vex for his role in killing dark fae LuAnn Hinderger's human family, where he gently reminded her that as a succubus, she was her own weapon and could use her powers in an offensive attack. She rejected the idea, not wanting to lose control that way.

"At a certain point, it's not about losing control anymore," Trick advised. "It's about taking it." And over the course of the last couple years, she had given in to that call. Against the Lich and his vessels. Against everyone in the Dal after she failed her Dawning in one reality, and to save Dyson after she passed her Dawning in another.

But it wasn't a place she would willingly choose to go. Ever. The pull of that power was just so strong. So tempting. She couldn't give in to it.

"Like I said. Weakness," her father replied to her thoughts. "You know, your valkyrie actually believed that in giving you all of her chi she could subvert my plans for you and that you could somehow fight me. Silly fool. You neither have the will nor the power to end my existence. Only I do. Only I choose who lives and who dies."

Bo felt a chill at those words having heard something similar coming out of her mouth a few weeks ago. The idea that this evil being might possibly be influencing her or that she could be like him in anyway...she shuddered.

And then she remembered how just a few short hours ago, she had used her power to exact revenge on Tamsin for what now seemed like a minor infraction.

Perhaps she was more like her father than she wanted to admit.

"But not enough," the Wanderer said in response to her inner dialog. "You see, Isabeau, your ties to these lesser beings have made you small...made you less than what you could be. You fear the power you have when you allow your emotions...your rage...to drive you. It's why you will inevitably lose to me."

"I have no such weakness," the Wanderer snarled, as his hand shot outward and grasped Bo tightly by her throat.

The succubus jolted as an enormous burst of power coursed from her father and into her body. She was immobilized, as unable to move as everyone around her who had been frozen in time. His pendant and eyes glowed a bright purple and Bo watched entranced as the color extended past their boundaries and began to slowly encompass the rest of his body.

Her father was right. He was just too powerful. There was no way she could muster the power needed to stop this. To stop him. Quicker than she could have imagined, the glow had almost fully encompassed the Wanderer's body and was creeping up her arms and down her torso, as if to emphasize the conclusion she had drawn as to the impossibility of resisting.

Thoughts that were not her own began to intrude into her consciousness about what he intended to do with her body once he was in control and she was no more; how he'd pretend that he was Bo and would leave this place and enter her world and live a lie, lulling everyone around her into a false sense of security before slowly revealing himself. His army which would supposedly disband after this battle would rise once again to his call.

And as Bo, he would use his powers enhanced by her own to kill all of her friends and loved ones, starting with the annoying little human who had done so much damage and served as the biggest impediment to Bo's evolution into what she should have been. For that, she would pay with her life and would pay dearly.

The succubus sensed he had just changed his mind about her own fate. Rather than completely eliminate his daughter, he would let her continue on as a helpless bystander to her own body's actions, unable to prevent herself from wreaking havoc on the world at large, starting with those she cared about most.

Bo cringed internally as he revealed to her how her body would be used to murder Kenzi; deliberately this time, not accidentally in an uncontrolled fit of range like she had in that one reality. Other visuals appeared in her mind, taunting her with how she would eviscerate the wolf and decapitate the siren in as gory a manner possible. And what she'd do to Trick, she couldn't bear to even think about it.

But not only would she be forced to think about it, at some point she would be compelled to witness it all as it happened, completely powerless to stop what her own body was doing.

She shuddered, horrified by what would happen to those she loved and sickened by the understanding that they would all die believing she had turned on them, and that they would not comprehend or have any reason to know she wasn't in control anymore of her own actions.

That Kenzi would believe her best friend betrayed her in the most fundamental way possible.

No. She couldn't allow this. She couldn't passively accept defeat like this.

She had to do something.

Her eyes instinctively looked past the glowing form of her father to the body of the person who had sacrificed herself to save her knowing she would not be reborn. Knowing it would be her last act on this earth.

Tamsin had been so desperate for Bo to hear what she was saying as she was fading away. She begged the succubus to not let her death be in vain. She begged her to fight. But how could she fight against this? What could she possibly do to stop him?

Then she realized, her father in his arrogant dismissal of her had given her the key. He had told her the way to defeat him, but could she really go there? Would allowing her fury to take hold and enhance her strength really be taking control as Trick had told her before, or would she lose everything in the bargain?

The cost of this decision would be great, no matter the outcome. Even if this worked, she could lose herself like she feared when she faced the Garuda, when she implored Kenzi to kill her rather than let her live as something dark and unrecognizable. But she was choiceless, and she knew it.

She wondered if the Wanderer could still hear her thoughts since he wasn't reacting to anything she was thinking; but it seemed as though he was either too focused on what he was doing to notice or he truly did not believe she would find the will to do what needed to be done.

Yet another in a long line of assholes who underestimated me, Bo growled internally, feeling his control of her body strengthen and his influence almost eradicate what was left of what made her Bo as the purple glow covered all but her face.

Bo closed her eyes and focused all her energy on her rage. On Tamsin, who suffered and died because of her father. On Kenzi and Lauren, who were killed in one reality because of her father. On what he intended to do to those she loved once he was in control.

But rather than try to tame the emotions those thoughts generated, she instead concentrated on increasing the intensity of the storm they created. The helplessness and fury she experienced when she considered how he'd use her to maim and brutally murder friends, loved ones and total strangers in his quest for global domination and force her to watch.

His punishment to her for being weak.

The succubus snarled internally, enraged by the unmitigated gall of this man who saw her as just another he could easily conquer and discard, that he believed she'd just roll over and succumb.

She would NEVER give in. And why should she? She had his power, the power to take life and the power to give it. She also had other gifts passed on by Aife and by Trick. Her powers far outmatched his. She knew it, and could feel that he knew it too; but he believed her ties to humanity had made her weak, unworthy of being anything more than a vessel for his use.

Perhaps he was right, she wondered as she felt the addictive dark energy extend throughout her body. Perhaps compassion did keep her from reaching her full potential, keep her from what was rightfully hers by birthright.

If anyone should rule the earth, it was her.

In one small part of her mind, Bo was distantly aware that his influence on her was making her think and feel things she normally wouldn't consider; but she also knew that if she had any chance at defeating him, she would have to embrace the darkness and pray that she would somehow be able to regain herself when the battle was over.

And so the part of her that only minutes before had been horrified by the idea of giving into these dark urges made its choice to retreat to the recesses of her mind and commit fully to the intoxicating power, letting it take over her.

The succubus opened her eyes, the bright blue glow perceptibly startling the god-man; and she growled audibly as she broke his control of her by the power of her immense will. She grasped him tightly by his throat, her lips twisted in a snarl.

No, this isn't possible, the Wanderer thought in stunned disbelief, as the glow that had almost fully encased his daughter and would have merged them into one being instantaneously retreated back through his body and into the amulet.

"And why shouldn't it be?" the succubus responded to his thoughts with an eerie, multilayered voice, strangely devoid of all emotions save one...scornful rage. "I am the child of a god, the daughter of a succubus and the grand daughter of a blood sage. My power far outstrips your own, old man," the succubus's eyes grew even brighter as she continued to tear into and through his thoughts and ignored his piteous screams.

"I control will. I control desire. I have power in and through my blood. You are nothing but a pathetic artifact, a wannabe deity desperately clinging to an ancient prophecy about something that will never be; seeking one last pathetic grasp for power and glory. There will be a victor today, one who will leave this place and will soar to greatness; but it won't be you. I am the one with the power to remove anyone who stands in my path."

The energy racing throughout her body boiled over as she and her father, still in her grasp, rose several inches off the ground.

"I am the one who chooses who will live and who will die."

And with that proclamation, she willed his mouth to open with her thoughts and his very distinctive purple chi came pouring into her.

Time began moving forward again, the Wanderer no longer able to maintain the freeze, and the entire crowd was completely mesmerized by what they were witnessing.

Suddenly the air above them was filled with a near blinding light as long streams of chi flowed freely from from the Wanderer's fae army and into the waiting the super powered succubus, who was easily taking in all of the energy being sent her way.

Long seconds passed until she finally had her fill and was done with this man and his supposed army, who all crashed to the ground after losing so much chi all at once. All except the Wanderer, whose throat was still held tightly in his daughter's vice like grip.

The succubus's eyes continued to glow...but now they were the same bright purple her father's once had been before she had robbed him of such an enormous amount of life energy.

"Puny god," she sneered, as she grabbed his amulet with her other hand and ripped it from his neck before shoving him forcefully upwards and back to his platform to land next to the bodies of his oracles, who hadn't survived the succubus taking the Wanderer's chi from their reanimated bodies.

Without the amulet to anchor him to this realm and having been seriously weakened by his daughter, the Wanderer was completely unable to keep himself from being sucked forcefully back into his realm, cursing and screaming as he disappeared into nothing, leaving the bodies of his two dead oracles and his unconscious army of fae behind.

The succubus's attention turned to the corpse of the valkyrie; and the part of Bo that cared about such things knew there was something she needed to do. The voice was small, but it was insistent; and the succubus finally gave in to its persistent pleas.

"My power. My will. My choice," she declared authoritatively in that same creepy voice, as she spread her arms and multiple, large, powerful streams of purple energy flowed rapidly out of her mouth and down to the deceased valkyrie. The Wanderer's chi not only felt different from anything she had ever tasted before, it behaved differently too. Instead of going straight into Tamsin's mouth, they wrapped themselves around her multiple times, lifting her up so that she too was floating several inches off the ground. Once her body had been totally been encompassed by the purple chi, then and only then did it forcefully enter her mouth at a velocity most bystanders believed was impossible for her to withstand.

Long moments passed, so long that many believed the succubus's efforts were futile. But finally Tamsin's eyes blinked open wide and glowed the same bright purple as the Wanderer's chi, which was in the process of restoring countless life cycles so that her energy level was comparable to what it was during her first lifetime. She coughed and gasped, completely overwhelmed and unsure as to what was happening to her; when finally the flow of purple chi stopped and she crashed back to the hard ground beneath her, shivering and unable to catch her breath or process the chaotic mess within her mind.

Dyson and Kenzi rushed over to the shivering valkyrie's side to offer any kind of assistance they could. Tamsin's eyes glowed bright purple and her expression was frantic. She was confused and unsure of who these two individuals were and why they looking at her with such concern.

But they were patient; and as the valkyrie's eyes slowly returned to their natural icy green, her fractured memories started to re-piece themselves together. She knew these people. That was her partner Dyson on the right and on the left...

"Shortie," she whispered with a gravely voice and smirked lightly for her diminutive friend's benefit. Both the wolf and the small goth girl released the breath neither had been aware they were holding, relieved that they actually got Tamsin back, despite the incredible odds against that happening.

They each heard an odd noise and turned to see Bo drop swiftly to the ground grunting on impact, no longer under the hold of her father's powerful chi but struggling nonetheless with dark impulses and the influx of energy she received from the fae army. The succubus was kneeling and she curled in on herself and trembled, overloaded with too much power burning hot trails through her, making it difficult to think through the haze.

She felt rather than saw her human friend tentatively approach her and she held an unsteady hand out to halt her progress. "Kenzi, d-don't," she warned, her voice strained and gritty but otherwise back to normal. She remembered in vivid detail how in one reality she brutally attacked Kenzi, sending her flying through the wall in the Dal Riata. The human had been trying to reach her, trying to calm her and comfort her after her failed Dawning and the devolved succubus rewarded her friend's loyalty and commitment by killing her.

She would die before she would allow that to happen again.

Kenzi remembered too, the second set of memories of Bo's Dawning gone bad confusing and frustrating her. So she took Bo's warning to heart, and now Trick's as well which he had silently issued with a stern look from where he knelt several paces away next to a perplexed looking Vex and Hale. She remembered both the emotional and physical pain she felt when Bo had struck her and it was not an experience she was interested in repeating anytime soon. Like ever.

Especially the part that followed, what with the whole dying thing and all.

At the same time, she knew Bo needed her like never before. She'd just have to be a smidgen more careful this time.

"KENZI!" Bo growled at her again. "I-I can't...don't...you have to get away...for your...o-own good..." the succubus cried out to her; and the young human was overcome with empathy and love for her fae sister who had the presence of mind to put her well being ahead of her own just like she always did, but especially now through this difficult struggle.

This was her Bo. She was mostly here, unlike the underfae Bo who had been mostly not.

She just needed a push. Kenzi-style.

The young human grinned to herself, having totally come up with the perfect way to reach her friend.

"I've got one really perf reason why I won't leave you to deal with this shitstorm alone. Wanna hear it?" the goth smiled softly as she paraphrased the beginning of a conversation she had with the succubus a few scant hours ago.

The trembling succubus slowly met her young friend's concerned eyes, and Kenzi's heart broke all over again at the confused and overwhelmed shining bright blue gaze staring back at her. "W-what?"

"My reason for staying," Kenzi repeated patiently. "Do you wanna know what it is?"

Bo took a shuddering breath and tried to order her thoughts so she could answer her friend. This conversation...it was familiar to her. She remembered having it just a short while ago although it felt as though that particular chat with Kenzi took place years ago rather than a couple hours. She needed to hear what Kenzi had to say just as much now or even more than she had then. She nodded shakily to the young human's question and she could see that Kenzi was relieved and elated that she was even able to respond in the first place. "Go for it," she replied as she had earlier, her voice rough from over use.

Kenzi risked moving closer, needing to touch her friend. She could feel Dyson and Trick's disapproving gaze but they'd just have to deal. Her eyes filled with tears and she gently held Bo's face in her hands. "It's real simple. I love you with all my heart, Bo-Bo, and I'll never leave you, no matter what." She had forgotten her exact words from before but she figured what she said was enough to communicate her feelings.

Tears filled the succubus's eyes and she issued a watery smile. "I meant...what I said before, Kenzi. If...if you ever left me..."

"Hmm," the human interrupted. "Looks like blue glowy eyes affect not only your hearing, but your memory as well, Bo-bolicious. We gots to do something about that!"

Bo laughed tremulously. "Thank you...for saving me. Again," she whispered and pulled her friend close to embrace her lovingly, holding her head carefully to her shoulder. But even that was too forceful for Kenzi who hissed in response, still battered both from the fight as well as the from the trauma of having to integrate a second world's worth of memories due to the Wanderer's forced merging of realities.

The succubus pulled back, her features etched with concern and regarded her human friend with an odd expression. "So...listen Kenzi. I'm going to do something now...but like, don't freak, okay?"

Kenzi's eyes widened. "That was a bit too vague for my liking, Bo-Bo."

Bo's bright blue eyes softened. "Trust me?" she whispered questioningly, completely aware that the young human had plenty of legitimate reasons not to right about now and Kenzi knew she could have totally turned her down without hurting her feelings.

Much.

Okay, who was she kidding?

"Always," the human whispered with a shaky voice. Trusting, something unnatural to her on the one hand, was second nature in her dealings with Bo. She would not allow what happened in another reality or what she saw today alter what was a core element of her relationship with this fae woman.

The succubus gently opened Kenzi's mouth and leaned in almost close enough to kiss her, and focused on sending a gentle yet powerful stream of chi into her human friend. Not enough to overwhelm her, but enough to heal her injuries. She pulled back and gazed adoringly into her eyes.

Kenzi felt the warm energy suffuse her body and her cuts and bruises gently melted away. Her ice blue eyes widened in shock. "Dude! That was...t-that was..."

"Succumazing?" Bo teased lightly and Kenzi's grin widened in response.

"At least! Is that what you feel when you're hoovering someone's face after you get hurt? Because you know I could like totally go for a health plan like that!"

"The premiums would be too high for you, I'd wager," the wolf's voice rang out from behind the human and Bo carefully got to her feet and hugged the light fae detective, who returned her embrace. "Hey you," he whispered in her ear, his relief and joy at her being restored almost choking him.

She pulled away from him slowly and surveyed the wealth of wounds covering his body, some of them fairly deep cuts; and with great care, she leaned into him and kissed him, allowing her emotions to reign enough so as to amplify the healing chi she sent into his body but not so much as overwhelm her. And when she was done, he could see that the blue in her eyes had toned down measurably and she was no longer shaking, no longer overflowing with excess energy.

Bo was fully back to being Bo.

"Dyson," she began, her voice still raw, "I remember what happened to you. In the Temple and right afterwards and I'm..."

"It wasn't your fault, Bo."

"None of this is," Trick interrupted softly as he and the others approached her carefully. "Your father is the one who sabotaged your Dawning so he could ensure you'd be infused with a dark energy when he melded you both together in order to create the ultimate worthy vessel for his soul." Dyson growled at the notion but the Blood King disregarded the sound and continued, "That you were able to fight it off at all..."

"I wouldn't have been, Trick. Not if it hadn't been for...for Tamsin," her brow furrowed as she turned and looked over to where the valkyrie was now sitting up and leaning her head against the arms resting atop her knees. Bo had been so overwrought in dealing with what she had done to Kenzi and Dyson that she almost lost sight of the one person who had quickly become very important to her over the last several months. In both realities.

The succubus knelt beside the blonde and carefully tugged on the hand her forehead was resting on, urging her to make eye contact. "Tamsin," Bo whispered tenderly as the valkyrie's dazed gaze finally met her own, green eyes to succubus blue. Tamsin was entranced as she watched the blue in Bo's eyes finally soften to its natural warm brown.

"What's up, succubus?" the blonde asked casually, a haze of exhaustion and total disbelief as to what she just experienced coloring her tone.

Bo gamely played along. "Well, you know. Fought a demon version of myself, killed someone I cared about, came dangerously close to having a dark entity take over me body and soul and chi sucked an army. The yuzch."

"You excluded something pretty important, succulette, or at least important to me," Tamsin reached a tentative hand out and gently traced the contours of Bo's cheek as unshed tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Heart-to-hearts really weren't her forté, but for Bo, she'd give it her best shot. "You left out the part where you brought me back to life and restored my life cycles to a point I haven't been at in thousands of years. You...you saved me," the valkyrie choked. "No one else from my many lifetimes would have even bothered trying. None of my so-called friends...no one. I've...I've never met anyone like you...with a heart like yours."

"Oh my God, are you kidding me?" Bo returned valkyrie caress. "I killed you, Tamsin! It was my fault that you were dead in the first place! Anyone else in my position..."

"...wouldn't have given a damn." Tamsin completed. "Believe what I say on this. I have thousands of years of history to look back on," she smirked. "And stop blaming yourself for what happened. It was your asshole father who put you in that position in the first place; that wasn't your choice. And it was my decision to give all of my chi to you, so you didn't have a choice there either."

Bo looked the serious blonde in the eye and suddenly burst out laughing. Tamsin regarded her succubus friend and wondered if perhaps the pressures of the day had finally caught up to her and made her slaphappy.

Or completely cracked.

Either one.

"You wanna tell me what you find so hilarious, Bo?" she grinned, unable to keep from responding to the brunette's contagious humor.

Bo wiped her eyes, allowing the laugh trickle down to a random chuckle, her overwrought emotions and overwhelming relief making the situation a little funnier than it usually might have been otherwise.

"You are, Tamsin. I swear. You don't see it, do you? And you say I'm stubborn?" The valkyrie frowned, not understanding what she was getting at. "I'm sitting here listening to you tell me about how amazing I am and how big a heart I have and that you've never met anyone in your many lifetimes who would bother risking their life for you like I did. Well, let ask you something, blondie. Have you ever bothered looking into a mirror? Because you just described yourself. That's how I see you; the woman who risked herself and traversed dimensions looking for a hero. The one who willingly gave all that she had to stop my suffering and save my life, knowing it was the last thing she'd ever do. Knowing you wouldn't be sent to Valhalla and be reborn, that it was your true death."

Bo took a shaky breath and cradled both of Tamsin's cheeks lovingly. "I've never met anyone like you either, valkyrie, with a heart like yours."

The blonde gasped softly, completely unprepared for either the determined, passionate tone in Bo's voice or the loving way in which she regarded her. No one had ever spoken to her that way before and truly meant it and no one had ever, ever looked at her with an expression of such pure adoration.

Dyson had heard the whole exchange between the two fae women and he ducked his head, knowingly. Perhaps in a reality where Tamsin didn't exist, he pondered, he might have had a second shot with Bo. The wolf looked into both of their eyes and came to terms with the fact that his time with her had passed; and that, whether she knew it or not, Bo's heart had moved on to another. Granted, to as unlikely a suitor for Bo as he could possibly imagine given the valkyrie's checkered background, but yet still somehow a perfect fit for Bo.

It's a good thing wolves appreciated irony.

Tamsin had been overwhelmed by what the succubus had said to her and was about to respond when a noise from the opposite side of the arena captured all their attention.

Across the sea of the still mostly unconscious fae bodies, a silhouette of a familiar form came into focus.

"Oh boo, it looks like I missed all the fun this time, didn't I?" Aife grinned.

"Aw hell," Trick muttered under his breath.

A/N: You all didn't think I was actually going to leave my girl dead for too long, now did you? ;)