And I'm back. Man, can you believe it?! We're closer to the end. Ah, I gotta tell ya, writing this was not easy. I couldn't believe that we were actually getting to the end. I was dreading it because I knew we were getting to the end. And that just scares me more.

But that doesn't mean it has to be the end. When something comes to an end, another beginning begins. I don't know what lies ahead for this fanfic, but I'm grateful that I had my friend, darkgirl11, through this story. Thank you for always having my back, Brittany. Here's to you. *raises a glass in your honor*

Anyways, as always; read and review. Everything will be explained in the end.

"Why do you want to leave everything behind?," spoke Wirt. "Why now? After everything you've been through?" He suddenly felt tears he didn't know were there. "Is it really that great to leave everything?"

"Wirt," said Sara, worry tugging on her. Behind her, Jason shared her same concern.

Ereyon didn't have the gull to say anything. Or maybe he didn't have anything to say to counter that.

Wirt was shedding the tears. The pain in his arm, which at first was sharp, was now dull and distant. Everything was collapsing all at once. And he wasn't ready to see it through.

The red-haired angel folded his wings, a plaintive look crossing his face. He glance over at the circle. He saw Iophiel, waiting for him to make his next move. Although he was confused about this interruption, he was eager to get this moving along. Deep down, Iophiel was ready to spend the rest of his existence trapped in the spell.

"I've caused so much grief, Wirt," replied Ereyon. He looked down at the bottle in his hand. The final ingredient to the spell. "My brothers expected so much from me, and I let them down." He closed his eyes, his fist closing around the phial. "My incompetence put everyone through strife, all because I'm too scared to face my problems."

Sara bit her lip in resolve.

"I could've faced my problems head on," stated Ereyon, opening his eyes, "but I couldn't. I probably could've stopped all of this from happening, but I was too stubborn to believe I'm stuck being one way forever. I let everything get so bad that I couldn't fix them."

"Well, that's how life is," spat Wirt, "sometimes you can't fix everything."

"I don't believe that," rasped Ereyon. He looked over at the circle and at Iophiel. The others would be waking soon. "And I'm fixing it."

Wirt's heart skipped a beat. He might have heard it shattering. Knowing what was about to transpire, he did what he had to do.

He ran towards him and plucked the phial from him. He stood back, tears streaking down his face. The angel looked back at him, face blanched. Sara, Jason and Greg looked on, yearning to interfere but wisely stayed put.

"Wirt," uttered Ereyon. "I don't want to have to fight you. Give me the phial." Wirt shook his head.

Sara and Jason traded soulful looks.

"Wirt," repeated Ereyon. But the boy did not respond. His fist clenched the phial, almost to the point of breaking, but he loosened his grip.

"I won't let you do this," answered Wirt. He wiped away the tears with his other hand. "I won't. I won't!"

"Please," said the red-winged angel, "I don't see no other resolution. This is the only way—"

"To hell with that!" More tears rolled down his cheeks. Wirt's heart raced like mad.

"Wirt?," peeped Greg, hiding behind Jason.

"What are you saying?," asked Sara.

An immeasurable silence passed through.

"I," sputtered Wirt, "I'm saying that...Ereyon wants to trap himself with them." He cleared his throat. "And... I don't think that's the right choice."

"How can you be sure?" Ereyon was sounding exasperated himself. Even more so than Wirt. "I've spent months trying to hide from everything and it eventually caught up to me. I thought living among humans could make me better, but it hasn't."

"I'm not sure that's true," said Wirt. The redheaded angel blinked. If he could get some sort of self-worth from him, then all he could do was listen.

"Hear us out," spoke Sara. "We've spent enough time with you to know you're not like them." She glanced at Iophiel and his followers. "Well, not savage, like them. Oh." She shrunk back, looking down at the ground.

"I know what you're trying to say, Sara," said Ereyon. "I appreciate your faith in my goodness." He glanced at the grass, feeling his own eyes water all of a sudden.

"Look where you've gotten," spoke Jason, stepping out of the small group. "Y-You...you've come all this way and for what? So you can be trapped with them forever? Why? I just don't get it! Do you really think you deserve this?"

"I...I don't know," said Ereyon. "I don't know what I want anymore!" He grabbed at his head, tears streaming down his face. He dropped to his knees, wings snapping opened with a precise thud.

Wirt kneeled down before him. He placed a hand on his shoulder. The angel glanced up. Sara, Jason and Greg were now joining him for support. Wirt gave him a small smile, which softened the tension inside him. Wirt looked at the phial in his hand, the purple liquid resembling metallic nail polish. It was waiting to be let out, onto the circle. But he wasn't about to let that happen.

Ereyon reached for the bottle but Wirt inched away, holding his arm away from him.

Iophiel heard one of the angels stir. He looked over, realizing it was Veriel. He sat up straight, running a hand to his head. It took all the effort he had to force himself to turn around. When his eyes fell on Wirt and Ereyon he got ready for an order from Iophiel.

"Iophiel," he rasped, "the boy. We can still—"

But Iophiel held out a hand in peace.

"Stand down," he ordered, "I sense something off-putting in this...display." With no better word for it, he wasn't sure what he was picking up, but he was sure he was sensing despair in Wirt. Despair, fear, anger, passion, and disgust. Those emotions...he sensed them in Ereyon, too.

"What is it?," asked Veriel, leaning forward. Iophiel did not answer.

"Don't you see, Ereyon?," pleaded Wirt, "you don't have to force yourself into something you're not." He paused to muffle out a cough. "You can still do the right thing and still be yourself."

"How?" Ereyon wiped at the tears, a habit of keeping appearance surging up. Now that he was tearing up in front of his kind, he had no reason to put on a facade. "How can the other angels look up to me and still respect me if I'm this?" He pointed a finger at himself, signaling his current crying state.

"Nobody will think any less of you," said Sara. "I don't."

"I don't either," chimed Jason.

"Me too," squeaked Greg, threading through the gap between her and his brother.

"And I don't think you're indecent, unprofessional, or imperfect," said Wirt. Although he planned on say one thing, he felt like this was important. "You're none of those things."

Ereyon quickly glance at Iophiel and Veriel. Wirt grabbed his chin and made him look him in the eye.

"Don't worry about what they think," he said, "worry about you and what you think about yourself." Greg gave him a nod.

"He's right," interjected Sara. "We all have our flaws. We know we're not perfect, but we use our flaws to make us strong."

"There's beauty in imperfection," retorted Wirt. "Don't you believe that?"

"..." Ereyon held his breath. "Of course I do."

"Then what are you doing hiding behind a false mask?"

The red-winged angel fell silent. He looked over at the circle. The other angels—Merlac, Irithiel and Eryeequel were awakening from their short slumber. The three swiveled around, wings unfurled, then noted the unfolding drama. They were confused as to why Iophiel wasn't reacting or giving any orders. They saw that their commander was calm and not at all incensed by what was happening. If they were going were to get out of this circle, the least they could do is listen.

"I've been so lost," replied Ereyon. "I've never felt so lost. I... I lost all my brothers. I'm the only one left to take the Throne. I don't want to take over, but I have to. I don't know what to do. I don't know what I'm suppose to do!" He pounded the ground with his fists, teardrops falling onto the grass blades. The angel sobbed, unable to hide the heartbreak any longer.

Iophiel watched Greg crawl towards Ereyon and wrap his tiny arms around him. Sara stroked his back—or rather—whatever she could touch without brushing the wings. Jason interlocked an arm around the angel and leaned his head against his shoulder. Wirt was the last to embrace the redheaded angel. What he was witnessing was not a lie. What he sensed in them was not faked. This was something that could never be faked. This love was true. Is this what love felt like?

Ereyon sat up a little straighter and wiped his face. Closing his wings, he glanced back at Iophiel. Remembering they've been watching, he decided to end their suffering. He spotted Wirt's pocketknife on the ground. Picking it up, he broke away from his friends and dug it into the ground. A single slice was all he needed to free the angels, and they were surprised he was doing it.

Sara quirked a brow quizzically. Jason shrugged. The relics stopped glowing as soon as the circle dimmed.

"You're letting them go?," chirped Greg.

"Yes," exhaled Ereyon.

"Why?"

"That's what I would like to know," said Iophiel. Despite being out of the circle, he was still suspicious of Ereyon's motives.

"Why?" Merlac spoke. "You had us trapped, now you're letting us go. Why?"

"I no longer want to runaway and hide and pretend to be someone else," explained Ereyon. Rising to his feet, he dropped the pocketknife, head hung low, wings drooped. "I'm tired of waiting for someone else to swoop in and fix everything. I'm not hiding anymore."

Wirt and his friends also stood up, deeming it safe to keep their guards down.

"The world is unfair," said Ereyon, "and it's not going to change for anyone. I have to change. And in doing so, perhaps I can change the world for the better and remedy my crimes."

Iophiel and his followers did not move. Ereyon's words hit them and there was nothing they could hold on to contradict. There was nothing left to do except take that first step out of their turmoil.

"And what was up with you?," queried Sara. "What was up with that speech?"

"Yeah," muttered Jason, "something you'd like to share?"

Wirt bit his lip. He fiddled with the phial, if it would so much as distract him for a short moment. Delaying the inevitable was trite, and he was caught in the middle. There was no escape now.

"I," he began, "I couldn't let him do it."

"Why?" Sara replied.

There were a million answers he could give her instead of the one lurking in his mind. He wasn't stalling anymore than he already did.

"Because." A surge of nausea rose up, mitigated by him breathing in. "Because I couldn't stand the thought of him being trapped forever." He felt new tears streaming down his face. "I couldn't stand being the blame for all of this, and I couldn't let Ereyon blame himself any more than he already did. If I didn't stop him, he'd try to trap himself. If he succeeded..." He wiped away the tears, he suddenly shivered. The wound in his arm burned. He wished with all his damnedest to tear it off. "I just want it to be over."

There was silence. He let it out, but not all of it. He still needed to catch a much needed breath.

"And," he huffed, "I can't face what my life would be like without Ereyon in it." He wished for the ground to swallow him in one gulp. "Because that is exactly what I can't handle."

"What are you saying?," questioned Sara.

"I'm saying," replied Wirt, he turned to look at Iophiel, "let him stay here."

Iophiel's wings snapped closed. What he was asking was something he couldn't allow. It was disappointing, separating them, but orders were still orders.

"I'm sorry," answered Iophiel gravely, "I cannot allow that to happen. Ereyon still needs to be punished for his crimes, and I cannot let it go unnoticed."

Wirt's face fell. He felt something brush against him, or rather wrap around him. He looked over and saw Ereyon's red wing encircle him. The angel smiled at him, and there was a trace of pity behind that smile.

"Wirt," he spoke, "as much as I'd love to stay with you, Iophiel is right. I have caused enough damage, and I need to be punished." He looked at Iophiel, strong but scared, but he was alright. "I'm ready now," he said, clearly and evenly. It wasn't forced or out of fear. He was meaning it.

Iophiel knew this was his cue. He cleared his throat. "Ereyon," he spoke, his voice cutting through the tenseness felt everywhere, "you are charged with failure to ferry two souls into the afterlife, and for betraying your kingdom and your people." He paused, calmly gathering his bearings. "However," he spoke in a lighter, "what I see now, the love you have for these humans and the love they have for you; and the lengths they'd go through for you, I see now that they are right in the sense that change must prevail."

Sara smiled at Wirt. Jason wrapped an around him. Wirt couldn't think what was more astounding: finding out that the angles have changed their minds, or the fact that Ereyon leaving wasn't getting to him as it was a moment ago. Even with him gone, he had his friends and his brother to get him through the hard times.

"Therefore," said Iophiel, "I hereby sentence you to five years imprisonment, and another three in Jeirehneen, where you'll have to wear an inhibitor leash. You will not use flight or summon ether to labor, only your two hands. That is the punishment most fitting for you."

"Thank you, Iophiel," said Ereyon, "I accept my sentence."

"Veriel," said Iophiel.

Veriel stepped forward and fished out a pair of silver cuffs. These were cuffs were heavier than the ones Ereyon had, plus the fact that they had chains to keep him restrained. The redheaded angel held out his hands, and Veriel placed the cuffs on.

"Open the portal," ordered Iophiel.

Merlac stepped out of the crowd and raised his arms. Gold ether knifed through the air like lightning. A swirling vortex of light spun. The portal to Heaven.

"Wait!" Wirt spoke, raising a hand. "Give me one last moment with Ereyon."

"Very well," replied Iophiel. "Five minutes."

Wirt approached Ereyon.

"Will I ever see you again?"

It was a hard enough question to answer. But he couldn't leave him without an answer. He clasped the boy's shoulders, making a mental memory to keep for the rest of his eternity.

"Wirt," he said, "I promise you we will meet again. Remember me always."

"I'm gonna miss you, too," chirped Greg, flinging his arm Ereyon's leg.

"I'll never forget you," he said, ruffling Greg's hair. He turned to Sara and Jason. "Or you two."

A smile crossed Jason's lips, while Sara gave him a quick nod.

Ereyon had last thing to ask Wirt.

"That night that you saw me," he began, "what did you think I was when you saw me falling out of the sky?"

The deepest secret he kept was about to be revealed. He couldn't keep it in anymore.

"I thought you were a shooting star," answered Wirt. It wasn't a complete lie, but he did indeed think he was one.

"Forgive me for being forward, but did you...make a wish?"

Wirt couldn't leave him hanging. "Yeah, I did." He was sheepish in admitting it, but at least it was out in the open.

"Will you tell me?"

"I can't tell you that." It was only appropriate to be playful if it would distract him from the inevitable. "Then it won't come true."

Ereyon pulled Wirt close and hugged him. His red wings encircled him once more, only he wasn't turning invisible this time.

"Time's up," said Iophiel. The hurricane of light and wind would only last until the angels entered.

The redheaded angel broke the hug. He stooped down to give Greg a quick one before turning away.

"I must go," he said to all four of them. "May you have Heaven in your heart, starlight in your souls and angels all around you."

Ereyon turned around, walking towards the portal. He stopped in front of it, looking at the four humans one final time. He smiled.

"Bye," uttered Greg.

Ereyon stepped into the portal. The rest went in after he did. Once Irithiel, the last angel in line, entered the vortex it was gone in a matter of seconds. It was just Wirt and his friends alone in the field. Wirt glanced over at the circle and the relics. They were of no use now, they've lost their powers. He wondered whether he should hide them or not. It would be a long time before someone found them.

And a long time before he crossed paths with Ereyon.

The light shimmered off the ground, stretching from one end to the next. Streaks of light peeked through the canopies, bringing light to the smallest of forest plants. Birds left their nests in search of food. Twigs snapped with every step the group took. Holding the map in his hand, Wirt glanced up. The way out was just a few more miles. He looked over at Sara and Jason. They hadn't said a word since they woke up in the field.

It was a surprise they lasted a night in the forest with no animals trying to hunt them. But his time in the Unknown made him remember spots he'd seen before. If he was right, they'd be seeing the entrance to the forest soon.

"Wirt, hey Wirt." Greg piped, tugging on his brother's shirt.

"Yeah, Greg?" He could use the time converse right now, if it could take his mind off last night.

"What are we gonna tell Mom and Dad?"

Wirt sighed as he folded the map. "I don't know," he replied, shoving the folded-up map into his pocket.

"What if they ask about Ereyon?," he inquired.

"We'll just say he's...hanging out with his own new friends." It was simple enough. Short, quick and believable. Their parents won't ask them any further.

"I don't think my Mom will believe any of this either," said Sara.

"Mine neither," quoth Jason.

Sara had the urge to ask Wirt a question, but halted a few times before she could muster the courage.

"Did you really mean what you said back there?" Sara did her best to sound sympathetic. "Did you really want him to stay?"

"And what was up with all that talk about a shooting star?," queried Jason, eyebrow arched.

His nerves were getting riled up, but he wasn't going to snap at them. "I thought he was a shooting star," answered Wirt, brow furrowed, not bothering to look at them.

"Did you really make a—"

"Yes!" Wirt blurted, exasperated. "No! I don't know..." He spun around, chest heaving with every breath he took. Their eyes showed sympathy, fear, confusion and hope all in one. Perhaps it was a good thing Ereyon was gone, so he couldn't hear him.

"I wanted him to stay," he said, gazing at the ground, "but I knew I wanted him to go back. And...criminal or no criminal, I still see him as my friend. Don't you guys think so?"

"Of course, Wirt," hooted Sara.

"I do, too," retorted Jason.

"Next to Francette, he's the best friend I ever got." Greg replied.

Wirt looked up at the sky. Clouds scudded the otherwise serene golden. He wondered if he could see Ereyon up there. Maybe he was already in angel jail.

"And I know one thing for sure," said Wirt.

"What?," said Jason.

"That I'm going to see him again." A smile formed on Wirt's lips. He looked at each of his friends. "And I'm going to wait for him."

"Me too," chirped Greg, raising a hand.

"And me," uttered Sara.

"You can count me in," remarked Jason.

"And I know Ereyon will be waiting to see us, too," added Wirt. "He won't know what he missed."

Sara wrapped an arm around Wirt and vice versa. Jason joined in and Greg was the last to squeeze in. Together they continued their hike toward the trail that would lead them out of this forest.

"Did you really make a wish on Ereyon?," asked Greg cheekily.

"Why not?," retorted Wirt. "There's nothing that says I can't."

"Well he's not a genie, that's for sure."

"He'd be a cool one."

Sara burst into laughter.

And so they trekked through the path, their fears and worries slipping away from them. They knew they were ready to face the world head on. And they would have each other to fall back on.

All would be well.

This isn't the end. There'll be another chapter, and then an epilogue. You guys won't be disappointed, I guarantee it. :D

P.S. The prayer that Ereyon said to Wirt and his friends; I found it on Google images. I don't know who wrote it. Excuse me for not being original, but this stuff's hard.