A/N: Calypso1997, I totally lied in the message to you. I thought I had uploaded more than I actually had. This chapter is the second-to-last; there'll be one more after this one.
And on that note, this story is coming to a close. Now, I forewarn you all, I suck at endings and I tend to just put in as much of a conclusion to everything as I can, but I never know quite how to word it. I always imagine it like a movie and putting that into words for a story is harder than putting pictures.
A shout-out to BitterSweet256, ninetaileddemoness, and MadderThanAHatter2 for joining in on this story with their support!
Now at the end of this, please feel free to write a review or PM me if you don't want the world to see it. I might do a "double feature" and post the final chapter tomorrow (only if I like it enough and think I can't do any better). But we'll see!
Upon her request, Geryon dove down towards the abyss. Flashes of flesh passed Draco's vision as he pried his eyes open to see all that was passing him by. Heat would kiss his face but would be wiped away from his touch by the bristling wind formed from their speed. Hands grasped out to clutch the creature's wings or a stray limb. As their fingers closed around him, Draco could feel the bubbling blisters and slickness of blood as they flew just out of their reach. He was so engrossed and what was around him he failed to notice his partner allowing a tear to slip past her guarded eyes.
"Do not cry, Princess. They are fools to hope this far below the earth," the voice reassured her.
They fell until the air turned from searing to arctic. The heavy breaths of Greyon bellowed around them with the sudden temperature drop that their vision was clouded. Abruptly, the great beast stopped, but the beating of its wings continued. There was no ground below them, but he could go no further.
"Thank you, Geryon. You have gone much farther than you ever should. For that, I will reward you in your eternity," Morgana whispered in his ear. She looked over her shoulder at her lover, her Dragon. "Do you still trust me?"
Draco nodded. "Endlessly," he simply stated.
His words made Morgana's heart drop to the darkness below her. "You shouldn't have, my Dragon." Morgana slipped away from him until she was free of his grasp and Geryon's back. All his eyes could see now was his love blending with the darkness and her face looking up at him with remorse.
He didn't see her land. He couldn't hear her voice or her thud into hard surface. He no longer could feel her warmth in his pulse. There were no words that Draco could form, but only action. There was no consciousness as he followed her headfirst into the midnight pool around him. It felt as if he was falling for minutes, but soon his vision was crowded with white ice. Shutting his eyes to the impact, he awaited his end.
Before the purity of the ice could be marred with red blood, Morgana used her instinct to stop Draco's impact. It was as if a hook was lodged into his diaphragm. The sensation pulled at his gut and knocked the wind out of him, but he did not see his end. Peeling one eye slowly open, he was blinded by the whiteness that now overflowed his sensory intake instead of the anticipated darkness of his demise. He did not see Morgana's eyes flash a dangerous blue before turning back to their soft darkness.
Draco slowly touched down to the ice before looking straight at his little fairy in the eye. Only she was the one to notice chains break the ice around them and slither around his wrists and ankles.
"I'm sorry that you trusted me," she whispered before kissing his lips softly. The small contact was enough to rid the coldness on his lips, but the contact was short and quickly missed.
It was her time to go now that he was intact. She slowly turned her back to her partner and with no explanations to his questions, she kept walking away.
She wouldn't turn around no matter how loudly he voiced his demands for an explanation. It was only when he tried to go after her, to make her look at him, did he feel the resistance of restraints around him. A half step towards Morgana, heavy metal rattled.
"I will come back for you, my fiery dragon. You will not freeze for all of eternity."
Allowing his foot to go back to its original placement, Draco took the time to look around. There was no sound other than his breathing. Little was there to the view of the vicinity around him save for miles and miles of ice white surface, broken by little peaks. Squinting his eyes to see further was only when he noticed the special trait of his placement. The peaks on the horizon weren't breaks in the flat surface; they were frozen statues. Bodily forms were twisted, bent, or placed in odd positions that were nearly impossible. Their details were lifelike save for their unmoving factor.
A chill ran through his blood, but he shook it off. The hairs on his skin started to prickle up until every surface of him begged for the conduction of heat. As he went to crouch and rub his arms and legs against each other, he was stopped mid-motion. Ice had started to accumulate around his feet, gluing him to his spot instead of the chains. As the ice travelled ever slowly up towards him, the chains broke and disappeared without a rattle or crack.
She knew what was happening to Draco, but she couldn't stop it. She wasn't allowed to stop it. His trust in her was his doom – it always was with those that got close to her. It wasn't a curse of any kind, but merely just fate. Her end destination was always mapped out for her, and she had always known how far she had to fall to reach it.
"You have come at last, Princess." The voice was no longer in her mind, but in front of her.
"For coming all this way to finally speak to you, the least you could do is show yourself," she demanded of the ethereal voice holder.
He yelled out for her, but it was if he was mute. Draco couldn't even hear his own voice, the silence drowned him out. He watched as Morgana stood with the dragon on her back turned to him. She was so clear to him, but she was in her realm. A figure emerged in front of her. He knew this was where she was headed this entire journey. What he imagined was nothing that his eyes were telling him now. The Devil was always depicted as this large, inhumane creature, with red or black skin, so full of fire. But this was just a man before Morgana.
He needn't announce his name or make a grand gesture; she knew who he was. Morgana looked up at the creature that looked like a man to the naked eye, but she could see his mauled, beaten face.
"I'm sorry that this façade only works so far for you, my dear," he said.
Morgana shook her head. "I only sought truth. It's just such a tragedy that what was once so beautiful is now doomed for eternity to look as it does."
He smiled an honest action. "I created such a beautiful thing with you. The only thing I can say is good. But enough of my talk. Please, sit! You came all this way to talk; we may as well be comfortable whilst doing so." Without any gesture or words, a comfortable chair emerged from the ice with its twin sitting across from it. A table between both seats held a decanter of a sapphire liquid.
"Lucifer, you know what I'm going to ask," Morgana stated with a pointed stare.
A sigh escaped the aged soul. "Your family isn't trapped here, Morgana. They chose to be here, to keep an eye on my creatures and me. Your bloodlines are allowed one thing that no other realm creature can – they can travel both up and down, but only as guards. So trust me when I tell you that they are a bigger threat than any of my minions."
"That isn't why I'm here. I know of my family's place in the worlds."
Lucifer pushed the drink across the table. "Have a drink. No need to worry, it's just the only alcohol that nether world members can drink. And I like the exclusivity."
Taking a cautioned sip at the liquid, it flowed down her throat with the smoothness of silk and the taste of sweetness. "Good, isn't it?" he asked. She nodded and placed the glass down softly against the table.
"Now, tell me about me. I demand it."
Before he continued to tell Morgana of herself, Lucifer poured more of the blue liquid to fill both their cups. "If you insist, Princess.
"There were prophecies of a child that would have the purest of blood and that could travel across all worlds and hold all powers. There was never a time, but only once in all eternity will this happen. The child, once born, can alter any prophecy, future, or fate. They would be as strong and bright as the heavenly diamonds, but hidden from all eyes.
"If you haven't figured it out yet, you are the prophesised child. But my brother and I tampered with that prophecy."
"Which brother?" she interrupted.
"If you're going to continue to be rude, I'm going to have to cut you off." Morgana shot a glare that elicited a chuckle from the hell lord. "Alright, Raphael was my partner in crime. The one who wanted to heal under God's command, and he thought you would be the one."
"I don't care much for your and your brother's troubled relationship."
"Hey, if I was an only child too, I wouldn't care about others' trivial sibling relationships. But you ought to remember, my brothers and I are the origin of 'family drama'. I digress!" The two chatters took a long sip from their glasses. "Back to you.
"We blessed you while you were still just an idea. When your parents, precious Sapphire and honoured Cristobal, got together the angels knew that their child would be the one. The universe shook when they sealed their vows. The creatures the gods created might've been unknown to it, but the gods and their archangels felt it. Even your favourite banished one, moi!
"So, with all the power the two families had harboured flowing through your veins, the books of spells from the birth age of words, and our blessings upon you, you became the prophecy."
"Why?"
"You have to ask why? Try to answer this question then: why not? This world is yours to rule, next to me of course, but also the world above. You could toss me out, toss my brothers out, fuck, and toss our father out and every other god that anyone believed to have existed! Fuck, Morgana, you are the only person of either of your bloodlines that can break any agreements! And what I wouldn't give to see the heaven's cry."
"Let my friends go for no price and I'll help you get what you want," Morgana conceded.
Lucifer slammed his glass down on the table. "Now that's what I'm talking about! But I need a little leverage over you."
Morgana drew her sword. The singing song of Ryuu faded along the still air of the depths of hell. The silence was broken when the dragon flew from her back and encircled the air above her head in its full length. "I will give you my dragon."
"Are you sure those are the words you want to exchange with me?"
"In exchange for the freedom of my friends from the Underworld and to allow them to continue to live on the earth until their time, I offer you the dragon along my back and the right to command it becomes yours forever, Lucifer," Morgana clarified.
"I would like all that, plus your services upon my request and you to live with me down here when your time comes to pass," Lucifer countered. The silence was palpable as blue liquid filled the two glasses set before him.
"I'll accept." Morgana raised her glass to clink against the creator of her demon blood.
With the snap of his fingers, a loud crack echoed around them. Debris fell from the skies above them. Morgana could feel in her hairs that something had changed. "The road won't be easy for you. They want their souls. There's only so much I can do. I did create them after all," Lucifer nearly giggled out. "I hope you know your way out."
As Morgana rose from her seat, she searched the horizon for the frozen sculpture that had become her Draco. She trusted the rest to be free, but Draco she knew would be harder than the rest. The ice around him had started to melt, but he was still locked inside with his heart standing still. Upon her immediate touch, the ice shattered into dust and Draco crumpled into a pile at her feet.
"He is still alive," a new voice said above her.
A/N(2): Okay, this was a little short, but I wanted to end it here. The final one is way longer than I normally post, so I hope it makes up for this little one.
Re-reading this chapter, I raised some questions for myself, but I don't know if they're really necessary to answer for the story or it's just me that likes to have all holes and questions filled in after I read something. To each their own, right? Without an opening, there is no creation. In concrete, it's harder to grow than in open soil.
So again, please read and review! (My endings are sloppy and I wish to improve!) Thank you!