He looked back down at his love, which slept soundly. He didn't know what to do, as the battle raged around them.

And then, an insane thought crossed his head. It was so stupid and crazy it might even work.

With the symphony of roars and groans that lifted the air around him, Will slowly lowered himself to Lyra's face. His hair fell in front of his eyes and tickled her features, as he slowly closed his eyes. Kirjava stopped licking Pan and looked up at him, as the world around them slowed down, until it almost stopped.

There was not a sound, except for the ominous beating of the two lover's united hearts, and Will's quick breath.

Then, in an explosion of lights, his lips touched hers and pressed together tightly, as if trying to lock out the evil and pain around them. Will kissed Lyra, at last doing what he had dreamed about for the past three years, letting the craziness of it all surround them both.

Then suddenly, his lips let go, screaming to return, and everything sped up again, and all the sounds came back. Somewhere, Equinox snarled and Solstice whined softly, as Tenebrus bellowed.

Will opened his eyes, still inches from Lyra's face, and saw her dark optics gazing into his lovingly.

"I heard your call, Will. . ." She whispered. He smiled and felt tears sting his eyes, but quickly blinked them away. He sat up straight again and saw Kirjava and Pan embraced tightly.

Gently, he helped Lyra sit back up, and saw she swayed a little. Her gaze shifted slowly to the battle around them, and she seemed veiled with sorrow.

"Will, I was so stupid to trust him. . .I should have known! And Pan was warning me about it since the start!"

Pan gave her a meaningful look but left it there, forgiving her. He returned to licking Kirjava's fur with great care.

"It wasn't your fault. I was no one's fault, but Aurore's. But that doesn't matter; we'll talk about all that later. Now, you need to take this, and do as I tell you. You need to call upon all the powers you have, and unleash them into the blade. It will guide you to your goal, which is killing Aurore." He handed her the leather case containing Forseti, but she didn't take it. He lowered the holder to his lap and looked at her.

Lyra looked back at him, shaking her head.

"I've already failed in seeing through him, Will. I don't want to fail against him again." She said sadly.

Aurora bit her brother's hand, and started to show signs of tiredness that Will could see. He knew they had no time for this, so in a final and desperate move, he suddenly put both his hands behind Lyra's head, and pulled her in.

Their lips connected softly, and he kissed her passionately, holding her against him with all the love of the world. Then, with certain regret, he let her go, and they gazed deeply into each other's eyes.

"You won't fail." He told her in a voice so confident she couldn't contradict him. Again, Will handed her the case, and this time, Lyra took it, drawing out Forseti. She gazed at the blade in awe, for it was beautiful, made of silver and threaded with gold, with the light reflecting in it like a rainbow.

But she hesitated, looking back at him.

"What powers do I have?" She asked, frowning. Will realized he didn't know, but just then, with a terrible roar, Solstice came flying at them, and with a scream, they scrambled out of her way.

Lyra managed to get aside, but the daemon hit Will, throwing them both into the nearby stream. The boy pushed the lioness out of the water, and followed her. Lyra stood a few feet from the, near a tree, clutching the blade, panic in her eyes.

Will turned his head in time to see Aurore throw his sister off himself. The girl hit the ground, and didn't move.

"LYRA, DO IT!" The boy screamed, as Aurore turned his cruel eyes to them.

Lyra held up the blade and concentrated. But what powers did she have that would be enough to defeat the man?

It didn't seem to matter, because he was already advancing on Will, knowing nothing present in the clearing could hurt him. Equinox roared and continued fighting, stumbling with pain and burning with rage.

Lyra gritted her teeth, and suddenly wished her parents were there.

(0)

In the Abyss, four pairs of eyes opened at the exact same time, anger blazing in their irises.

"Lyra need us. . ." Mrs. Coulter whispered, her daemon snarling, as if something was menacing them.

"We're coming." Lord Asriel answered, his own daemon distorted with fury.

And suddenly, they slowly stopped falling, until they stopped in the middle of the dark emptiness. They were all looking upwards, where there was an opening to the World of the Dead, and then, into the world of the zalif.

"WE'RE COMING!" All four bellowed and suddenly blasted upwards with amazing speed, squinting their eyes against the wind that stung their faces, and at a small square of light that was coming steadily closer.

They had not seen the light of day for three years, having fallen in the Abyss all this time. And during those three years, angels were working on closing the huge window, now having only a small part of it left to shut.

But it was a hole bit enough to let both humans and their daemon through.

They burst out of it, and the dead and angels gaped up at the four beings. All looked at them, in awe, as they turned their heads towards the window to the zalif, and flew right out of it, joining at long last the world of the living.

They flew over the world, and up into the skies, searching for a window, or a passage to their daughter. It was not long before they realized there was no way of reaching her.

"We can't get through to her! She needs us, Asriel! What will we do?" Mrs. Coulter exclaimed as they floated in midair.

The man didn't answer at once.

"Hear her words and have faith." He said at last with a smile over his lips. He then shut his eyes and tilted his head to the side, as if he was listening. The daemons and Mrs. Coulter copied him, and suddenly, they heard Lyra.

"Mom, dad, where are you? They've asked me to do something, but I don't know how to do it! And I see him walking towards Will, because he's going to kill him. Please, don't let him hurt Will! Mom! Dad!" She screamed so loud with her very soul that the fabric of the worlds could not hold back her voice.

And suddenly, all four of them started to turn gold, until they were only a mass of particles floating in the air, amidst millions of other particles.

They followed Lyra's voice and very suddenly, found themselves in another world, standing near a girl with golden hair and dark eyes. They took their solid form again, and the girl's eyes flew open, gaping at them.

"Mom? Dad?" Lyra wondered, awed. They smiled at her, gliding towards her and placing themselves at her sides, as if readying for a war. The monkey and Stelmaria snarled at the raven-haired man that walked towards a boy and a large lion.

Aurore looked away from Will and Solstice and at the girl. She stood there, holding that forsaken Forseti, with two people at her sides, with their daemons. But they were not normal people: they were floating a foot in the air, and he saw that their Dust was mixing with the Dust of everything else.

The man gasped. "No. . .how can this be?"

"Go, Lyra." Will smiled. He knew she could do it.

Lyra scowled angrily, and shut her eyes. Forseti glowed, and her parents started to become golden again, turning into Dust.

Tenebrus blinked at them, stunned, and didn't see Equinox as the mighty lion threw himself on him and bit his side. The morphed wolf fell to the ground and screeched, Aurore following him into the dirt, hand over his heart.

Equinox held the daemon as hard as he could, praying this would help the girl. With a smile, he saw what was left of her Dust flow into the knife, which glowed stronger still. Her daemon also became gold-like, joining the blade.

Her parents and their daemons finally became golden particles and flowed into Forseti. Lyra opened her eyes.

Something flashed in them, and she was illuminated with a gold light that came from the knife. Aurora rolled over, groaning and looked in awe as the girl walked towards her brother, brandishing the blade.

"Let it guide you, Lyra. . ." She murmured, and fell back down to the ground, exhausted.

Will looked at his love, as she reached Aurore. The man then managed to get up, with a cry of pain, and started to run from her, leaving his own daemon behind.

Lyra stopped, and held the blade to her fore head. She started to glow with it, and Aurore turned around, horrified.

Before their eyes, Lyra disappeared, and at her place floated a huge golden bird, with a long neck and twisting tail. It spread his wings, opened his pointed beak and sang a note that sounded softly and distantly in the starting night.

Then, it flew upwards with two flaps of its great wings, singing its song like a bell of war.

Aurore tried to run, but Equinox bit Tenebrus harder and the man fell back down, whimpering in the grass as the bird flew back down at him.

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" He finally bellowed, as the huge bird swooped down at him, and went right into him. Aurore screamed, Tenebrus roared, and suddenly, the morphed daemon vanished into a puff of smoke.

The man was dead.

The golden bird flew out of his body, holding something black in its claws. It was Aurore's dark Dust, in the form of a small dragon, twisting and turning in the creature's grasp.

But the bird landed a few feet from Will and crushed the small dragon. It vanished like Tenebrus had.

Then, the bird turned to the boy on the ground and again sang that soft song, before also disappearing. Lyra lay in the grass, Forseti at her side, where the bird was a few seconds ago.

Will got up with a groan, and stumbled to her, kneeling at her side.

"Will, I did it." She laughed softly, and he laughed with her, tears streaming down his face. He had been so worried. . .

"I know. I'm so proud of you, Lyra. . .I love you so much!" He hugged her, and they cried together. When he let her go softly, and saw Mrs. Coulter, Lord Asriel and their two daemons standing near them.

"Mom, dad, did you see me? I did it." Lyra smiled tiredly at them. They smiled back.

"We saw it, Lyra." Mrs. Coulter said and a few tears fell from her eyes.

The girl sniffed, and Will wiped the tears that ran down her cheeks.

"So now, we're reunited, aren't we? You'll stay with me? We'll be a family again?" Lyra asked, looking at them with hope. But her parents looked down with a sigh.

Finally, it was Lord Asriel that spoke up.

"Lyra, we've been dead for a long time now. We've been falling in that Abyss since we defeated Metatron, three years ago. We came to you tonight because you needed us; we've been falling all this time because we knew that one day you'd need our strength. But now, it's our time to leave this world, and join the dead as Dust, and be everything, everywhere. We have to leave you now, but we'll always be there for you, except that you won't see us. Do you understand, Lyra?" His voice was kind and soft, and this convinced the girl. She looked down, but nodded.

Stelmaria and the golden monkey gently passed their paws in Pan's fur, as he lay in Lyra's lap, exhausted. The small daemon made a soft sound, and was answered by the two others.

"Bye, mom, bye dad. I. . .I'll miss you." The girl sniffed. Will held her hand to comfort her.

"We'll always be there, dear." Mrs. Coulter finally said. She smiled and waved, and Lyra waved back.

Then suddenly, they were all gone, leaving the clearing strangely silent and dark. It was Aurora that broke the silence as she sat up with a sigh.

Will, being the less weakened of them all, ran to the raven-haired girl to see if she was alright. She smiled and looked up at him.

"I told you that you could trust me." Aurora grinned.

Will grinned back, as Equinox helped Solstice to their human and lay next to his love. He looked at Will with grave eyes.

"You're quite the man, Will. And Lyra is the most amazing being that I ever saw. You were up to the challenge tonight. I congratulate you both." He said. It was the first time the male daemon spoke to him, and it warmed the boy's heart. He nodded at him.

"Will, you'll have to help us out here. Lyra needs more attention than me. Get some covers from Aurore's cave and wrap her up. The only thing that'll restore her Dust is rest, and she'll need the whole night of it." Aurora told him.

At once he obeyed her command, and took care of Lyra, which fell asleep in seconds. But not before Aurora promised her a few answers when she woke up.

After that, the boy lay down near his love and shut his eyes. Kirjava curled next to him, and both drifted towards sleep slowly, thinking over the strangeness of tonight's events. At least it was over.

(0)

TADAA! How was that? You'll learn what that golden bird was in the next chapter, when Aurora gets a few things clear.

Zaphdae: I like the plot, but I understand it's a bit shaky, because its hard to explain it to everyone and make sure everything is mentioned, when in my head, I already know what it is about.

I also know my writing needs a bit of works. I know it may seem shabby at places, but to make it perfect, I need several months of work on it, and I daresay I don't have that much time. : )

And I know the whole Lyra-Will thing had its meaning, because they would be reunited at last in death, as Dust and all, but I still disagree with it. It's just my opinion; I don't like the idea too much.

Thanks for your review, I appreciate it.

Ps: Your name is SO cool! It's really angel-like. I don't know if you were going for that, but its what it makes me think of.

Unnamed: Nope, not the last chapter yet. Last chapter is the next one, and yes, I'll talk about the sequel.

Quizgirl: No way that was the last chapter! Will and Lyra still have to figure out a solution to their love problem.

Thanks. I hope you update your story soon.

Dancerchick9293: Aurore is evil (duh). My book will be called For the cause.

FoxofRoses: That was the last one, I swear.

Kaiame: I don't know why, but I think I'm evil all of a sudden. . . it may have something to do with subliminal messages : )

Lobsstaceyters: Yeah, thanks. More coming up soon.

Next chapter, the fight is over, and finally, Lyra gets everything explained to her. And yet, there is still the fact that she doesn't want to be separated from Will. But the boy has found a solution to that: will it work?