A/N: Last chapter of Fireheart and the Tiger before the third installment, which will be mostly comedy. This chapter is mostly an epilogue, so it is much shorter.
Do I even need to tell you what the song they are using is? It's from Hamilton.
Chapter 26: The darkest hour is just before the dawn.
Harrison softly played piano. A week had passed since Eli's soul was shattered, and everyone was taking it hard, the hardest were Jaay, Harrison, Kelly and especially Felix and Zoe.
He began to quietly sing, "There are moments that the words don't reach
There is suffering too terrible to name
You hold your love as tight as you can
And push away the unimaginable
The moments when you're in so deep
It feels easier to just swim down." Everyone else in the room joined in, seeing Zoe outside in the garden, weeping. Gabriel was watching from a distance away.
"Zoe and Gabriel move uptown
And learn to live with the unimaginable."
Zoe walked alone at midnight, broken-hearted. She didn't look healthy. She hadn't eaten in a week, unable to hold anything down, and she was already getting thinner. Her hair was greasy and unkept, and she had such dark bags under her eyes it looked like she had gotten two black eyes. Her sapphire eyes were dulled to a faded grey-blue. She didn't even look like the same woman.
She looked around the city, remembering when she and Eli walked through the city the first night they had met. Easily one of the best nights of her life.
"I spend hours in the garden
I walk alone to the store
And it's quiet uptown
I never liked the quiet before
I took the children to church on Sunday
A sign of the cross at the door
And I prayed…" she looked at her hands, the hands that had caused so much bloodshed. She didn't not believe in God, she merely though the idea of God loving all of his creations and not just using them as playthings was debatable, a cold and ruthless bastard. But that was her opinion, even if Eli's fate made that even easier to believe.
"That never used to happen before."
At school, Marinette and Adrien were explaining the basic events to their classmates,
"If you see her in the street, walking by herself, talking to herself, have pity.
She is working through the unimaginable."
Their other classmates decided to spread the word and made sure to have Nadja Chamack stay away,
"Her hair is going grey. She passes every day
They say she walks the length of the city
Can you imagine?"
That night, Zoe sat in the guest room, where Eli had been sleeping. He looked so damn peaceful, like he could wake up at any moment. But she knew he wouldn't. Ever.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to see Gabriel smiling sadly, guilty as hell.
"What do you want?"
"Look at where we are." He sang softly,
"Look at where we started
I know I don't deserve you, Fireheart
But hear me out. That would be enough." He looked down at Eli,
"If I could spare his life
If I could trade his life for mine
He'd be standing here right now
And you would smile, and that would be enough." He shrugged, gesturing to the wheelchair he was confined to ever since his legs had been announced permanently crippled, and he could only walk with the Miraculous.
"I don't pretend to know
The challenges we're facing
I know there's no replacing what we've lost
And you need time.
But I'm not afraid
I know who I adopted.
Just let me stay here by your side
That would be enough."
For the next three days, Hawk Moth could be seen walking and talking with Fireheart. The citizens lost it, horrified that their fiery hero was being pleasant with the man who had terrorized them.
Kelly was the one to explain things, as a lie, saying the witch Mara had possessed him as she had Adrien and Lila and he wasn't at fault for his actions. And he and Fireheart were actually friends.
The reason they didn't bust Gabriel's ass was for a number of reasons. Punishing a bad person rarely made them good, and since the fashion designer didn't give a damn about himself anymore, that didn't work as a good punishment. Also, he and Adrien were going to counseling—like marriage counseling, except for father and son—and they were getting there; they weren't at the level of normal parent and child, but they weren't estranged. And Kelly himself always liked to keep his friends close and his enemies closer.
"If you see him in the street, walking by her side, talking by her side, have pity
He is trying to do the unimaginable." He pointed out the window to Nadja, where Hawk Moth and Fireheart could be seen eating ice cream while walking in the park.
"See them walking in the park, long after dark
Taking in the sights of the city
They are trying to do the unimaginable."
Cut to Adrien, who was watching his father mourn Emilie Agreste.
"There are moments that the words don't reach
There is a grace too powerful to name
We push away what we can never understand
We push away the unimaginable.
They are standing in the shrine room
Fireheart by Gabriel's side
She takes his hand...
It's quiet uptown."
Everyone gasped, "Forgiveness. Can you imagine?
Forgiveness. Can you imagine?
If you see him in the street, walking by her side, talking by her side, have pity
They are going through the unimaginable."
OoOoO
Kelly had had enough. Ten days, and his daughter was just breaking. Gabriel had been able to help a little, but only to get her eating. Eli was her other half, he had known they were destined to be together the second Zoe was born, so losing him was like losing part of herself.
He knew something could be done. Mara wasn't the type to just kill someone. She played with her food.
So he used his mind powers to open a gate to Mara's prison, and saw the woman he had used to see as a sister bloody and broken on the ground. He grabbed her wrist and forced her up, and he held up a bottle of Advil.
"I'll give you this if you tell me how to save Eli." Ten days of infected wounds left Mara looking like those zombies, and a part of him wanted to be merciful and put her out of her misery. But no…
He expected more resistance, but Mara gave in. Then he remembered most of the 284 Blackwell witches had had a crush on him, being the only male that wasn't being fucked by their mother. Then a good chunk tried to go for Harrison, but dear Harry had chosen Amelia.
"You need to collect the shattered pieces of his soul and return them to his body." Mara wheezed, "There are thirteen total, each on a separate world." She gave him a charm on a small ship, "You can use this to travel in the Lanes Between. It grows into a full ship."
Kelly nodded, giving her the Advil—but not any water to take it with—"Thanks Mar." He left, and ran to Zoe, who was sitting by Eli's bedside, where she could be found if not out wandering the city.
"Zoe!"
OoOoO
Zoe was in the driver's seat in their Gummi ship—as it would thus be dubbed. On either side in the two other seats were Adrien and Eden. It was gonna be the three of them off on a grand adventure.
"Come on Zoe," Adrien begged, "Where are we even going?" He pulled up a huge backpack, "I just packed for everything."
"Good." She turned on the ship and launched them into the Lanes Between, "Let's go!"
Eden threw her hands up, "With fierce determination in their eyes, they posed together for an awesome picture as this is the season finale. Will they save Eli? Will Zoe take a dark turn, as did Gabriel? You'll have to wait until next season to find out!"
Zoe turned, "Eden…are you narrating?!"
"No! I am!" They all turned and saw a girl with wild dark hair and black-rimmed glasses, highlighting her chocolate brown eyes that twinkled with mischief. She was wearing an oversized Grumpy—the dwarf in Snow White—sweatshirt, a Hamilton t-shirt that was worn through and had a couple holes in it, and black sweatpants.
"Who the fuck are you?" The girl grinned,
"I'm Carly! The author here. Or is this better?" She snapped her fingers and her hair turned grey, she was wearing a green beanie and a grey summer dress, and her eyes turned ice blue as her glasses vanished.
"Hey!" Another voice was heard, "Don't forget about me!" Another girl appeared,
She was wearing a way too big sweater and leggings. Her hair was also dark, styled in a messy ponytail. She also had glasses but her eyes were grey-green. She was holding a chicken leg that she had clearly been eating.
Carly nodded, "Christi, how could I forget?"
"Are you two sisters?!" Adrien asked, looking between the two girls in confusion.
"No. Just best friends." Carly answered, and a third voice came. This was was much higher pitched, and the girl that appeared was no older than ten.
She, like the others, had brown hair, and she had brown eyes, which flickered between brown and blue for a minute, before settling on blue. She looked like she had been to hell and back, with a cold compress on her head, and wearing a pink tank-top and rainbow shorts.
"Carly, I'm your sister!"
"Paula, what are you doing here?!" Carly asked in bemusement, "You, miss, have a fever!"
"Yeah. But then these idiots broke the fourth wall and that summoned us!"
Zoe huffed, "Guys, I'm busy driving."
Carly came up next to her and frowned, "You just took a wrong turn." Zoe flipped her off as Christi came over too and Eden gave Paula some water.
"And now you missed your exit."
Zoe turned into Heartless. "Shut up or I will kill you!"
"But then you would basically kill yourself…" Christi mused, and Heartless stood up, using her foot to continue driving.
"Look at my face, bitch! Does it look like I give two flying fucks?!" She turned to Carly, as Paula had decided to leave, "NOW GET ON WITH THE STORY, YOU DILDO!"
"Woah!" Adrien threw his hands up, "No…that took a dirty turn." Carly just rolled her eyes, holding up a ring that could easily be mistaken for a cheap mood ring with the gem on it changing colors,
"Cheeto, transform me!" A small orange tabby kwami shrieked and flew into the ring, and the author girl lit up like a neutron star.
"Wanna try me, bitch?" She crossed her arms, as Christi had used her power to turn into a Tenshi-Heartless combo, that was a little strange. "Christi, come on. We need to perfect these things!" Christi changed back and sighed.
"We set you back on track, so we don't have to deal with that." They both started to fade, "Summon us by breaking the fourth wall. Farewell…."
Adrien frowned, "What the fuck just happened?"
"Good question." Eden replied, "Well, we're coming up on a world…it looks like—oh what are we coming up on….I was going to say Lion King, but this is definitely not that." It looked like a swamp with a dark cloud looming over it.
"Okay then… we were very ill prepared for this." Adrien mused, looking to Plagg, who was asleep in his hoodie, still mentally scarred by what Mara had put him through.
"Whatever." Zoe replied, loading her gun, "It's time to save Eli. It won't be long now, my love."
A/N: Give me suggestions for worlds they go to. I have many ideas, but I want to hear suggestions!