A/N: Well, this is it! This is the last actual chapter of the fic. I have a wrap-up chapter (it's almost an epilogue) that I'll post in a bit, once it's polished. I hope you enjoy this, and I also hope, in retrospect, that you enjoyed my entire Slayers cycle of stories. Thanks again for your support. I'm very fortunate to have you all as readers.
Lina was dimly aware of hearing herself scream as she watched her lifemate sprint towards their son, the two of them disappearing inside the immense sphere of magic. "Xellos!" she shrieked, crawling along the ground until she could scramble into a run.
"Don't go near it!" Zelgadis shouted, standing to go after her, but before anything else could happen the black orb suddenly disappeared, leaving a golden figure in its place. Gorran lay at the figure's feet, his face pale, but he was breathing.
"It's happening again," Amelia said, restraining Kerra as the young woman tried to run to her lover.
"No," Lina sobbed, tears running down her face as she looked upon the countenance of her husband. Never had he looked so beautiful as he did then, bathed in gold. His skin was golden, his dark hair was now golden; Xellos was heartbreakingly lovely in monochrome. She stopped in her tracks as his head swiveled her way, his slightly slanted eyes taking her in coolly. The sounds of battle quieted behind her as the others realized what was happening.
Lina had never seen such cold wisdom, such eternity in a pair of eyes before, and nowhere was there a trace of the man she loved. Power radiated from the golden being like heat from the sun, but there was no sign of Xellos' energy, no hint of his impish wit or passion, not even a trace of the darkness or violence of his deepest personality. A hush stole over the clearing, the dust and smoke settling on the ground, not even the animals or wind stirring. It was as if time had been frozen, and considering who stood before her, Lina wasn't sure it wasn't actually the truth.
"This boy," the figure said, Xellos' clear voice ringing throughout the charred clearing. "This man gave his life for this boy, for all of you. It was his dearest wish that you be delivered from shadow."
There was a clank from behind her and Lina turned, seeing the Greater Beast kneeling on the ground, head bowed. Slowly the Beast reverted to a more human form, the silvery-gold hair trailing in the dirt and ash. "Mother," Xellas intoned. "You grace us."
"Mother?" Dolphin-Dynast shuddered, eyes wide. "You can't mean to say that this is the Lord of Nightmares?"
Xellos' expression was impassive as he tilted his head slightly, regarding the creature before him. "You are not one of my creations," he said, his gaze shifting slowly over to Lecia. "Nor are you."
"Forgive me," Lecia said, following Xellas' lead and kneeling on the scorched ground. "I became this to save the people I love."
Lina's knees shook as Xellos' body stepped over Gorran, walking by her without a glance. His cape whipped in a nonexistent wind, and she could feel as he moved past that there was nothing left of his soul. Pure power inhabited him, and as he passed her tears rolled from her eyes and down her neck.
"Xellos," she choked, hands clenched into quaking fists.
As the Lord of Nightmares approached the Dynast-Dolphin creature it turned to run, but the Lord merely raised his hand and stopped it in its tracks, a pitiful howl issuing forth from its throat. "Why, Mother?" it wailed. "Why do you attack your children?"
"Fools," Xellas hissed, raising her head and standing. "We are all her children."
The Lord didn't look at Xellas. "It is because that is what this man wished,"
"Why do you favor that mortal's wishes over ours? You created us to destroy, and destroy we must!"
The Lord raised a hand and the creature yelped as its lovely mouth was sealed, its eyes wide with terror. "I am the power of wishes. Nothing is stronger and more chaotic than the wishes created by the heart in need. I am chaos, I am order."
"We mistook destruction for chaos," Xellas said, fixing Lina with a stare. "That is why humans exist now. We failed, Dolphin and Dynast. This world has rejected its gods and demons."
The Lord opened his hand and clenched it abruptly, an earsplitting screech coming from the creature as its body burst into dark flame, shreds of clothing and astral flesh suddenly airborne in the cyclone of power that surrounded it. Lina raised a forearm to shield her eyes as she heard her friends cry out behind her, Val sheltering Lecia with his massive wings. "Mother!" the creature screamed. "We only ever obeyed! Mother!"
"Eternity has no mercy, only balance," Lina murmured, looking Xellas in the eye.
"And the world has been thrown out of balance. We must put it back," the Monster replied.
Lina exhaled sharply, the realization of what Xellas had been planning hitting her with the force of a runaway wagon. Xellas had planned from the beginning to turn Lecia into a Monster, that was true, but it had been to keep the balance in the world. Her mere existence was enough to balance out that of Val's, keeping the order of light and dark. Looking at her daughter, who was standing with her lover, tears pouring down her cheeks, she knew that her daughter was not evil, only eternal and one side of the equation. Val and Lecia had been slated to inherit the roles of light and dark, and Gorran would help the humans with his enormous power. The joy of it would have made her whoop aloud, if her heart hadn't already shattered from the loss of her love, of her life.
The creature uttered one last scream as it disappeared into oblivion, not a trace of it left on any plane. The Lord of Nightmares turned to them, cold and endless as he moved amongst them. "This mandesired absolution. Are you without sin?"
"No," Lina said firmly. "We are not. But we forgive one another."
"It was all he asked for, daughter," the Lord said, suddenly appearing before her and caressing her cheek with a golden-gloved hand, his cloak and hair blowing about in the invisible wind. She clutched at the hand, soul screaming for any sign of warmth or familiarity, but all she felt was the dark, gaping maw of chaos.
Dumbstruck, she merely watched as the Lord of Nightmares walked away from her and stood regarding the group. Without another glance or other indication at all, the Lord closed his eyes and slowly began to dematerialize. Lina looked around, panic shredding her awareness as her heart thundered in her ears. Everyone was staring, shocked, and she felt the breeze cool the tears on her face. "No!" she screamed, ripping her vocal cords. "No!"
Gathering all her remaining strength, Lina darted forward, grasping at his wrist as he disappeared. She was dimly aware of the others shouting as Zelgadis made a grab for her, but suddenly everyone was gone. Space surrounded her, dark and warm, and all she wanted was to close her eyes. Oblivion was peace, she realized. It was peace from the driving need to destroy, to create, to live, to love. It was forgiveness and it was punishment. Her eyelids fluttered as she succumbed to the warmth, the golden figure rising into the black eternity above her, the only light in a sea of darkness.
The last of her energy surged within her veins, pulling her upward, and she began to battle the darkness, struggling as if trying to swim through tar. "Wait!" she called to the retreating light. "Please!"
The figure did not slow, still diminishing in her sight. She thrashed upward, her hair sticking to the sweat and tears on her face, choking. She remembered the first time she saw Xellos, standing atop a beam of a building she had just ruined, looking down at them, his grace as he jumped. She remembered everything. His fingers left warm trails on her body in her memory as surely as in real life, and she increased her efforts. "I know I'm not the best person," she shouted, her voice sucked up by the darkness. "I know I've hurt a lot of people, and helped some, too. I haven't done all I could, and sometimes more than I should have done. I've been selfish. I thought power and knowledge was more important than everything else, that's true, but you know what? It's not all there is. Because of you, Xellos, I've known the beauty of a baby's first smile, the joy of hearing my children laughing, pride at the people you helped me raise them to become. I've understood the joy of giving someone my heart and soul and having it returned to me better than I gave it. I've been able to share happiness and pain, and you know what? I wouldn't take back a single blasted second of it. All the times we hurt one another, I'll take them. All the times we loved one another, I'll take those, too. Damn it, Xellos, damn it, Mother, I'll do whatever it takes. Absolve me or condemn me, I don't care. Just give him back!" Lina roared as she channeled all her power into her limbs, cutting through the darkness like a star as she began to rise with speed. The golden figure grew larger in her line of sight, traveling across eternity slowly. Clawing her way up through the black of chaos, she clamped her hand on a golden wrist, hauling herself up to be on a level with his face. She couldn't breathe; it felt as if her mouth, nose, and lungs had filled with molasses. Choking and gagging, she clenched her teeth and stared into the golden face before her, the eyes looking rightat her and yet seeming sightless. Grunting and expelling the last of her air as the darkness compressed her ribs, she grasped him and pulled him to her, trembling with the remains of her strength. She might fail in saving her love, but she would try. Lina Inverse had always been the one who saved everyone, and this time would be no exception, not when it was her most precious person on the line.
"I love you," she mouthed, unable to speak, and laid her head against his chest. Even though no heart beat within his rib cage, the thin, wiry muscles of his chest comforted her. If she was by his side then she could go peacefully, for there was no way she would rather have it. Contented, she surrendered herself to the darkness.