Author's Note: We live!!! Surprised, ne? Well, it seems out collective muses packed up and went on vacation without telling us but we're back with what we hope are the last two chapters of our story. With the long wait between updates, I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this but right now I think our goal is to simply finish this fic for OUR peace of mind. So we will continue on until the end! *salutes* Without further ado, the next installment.

Chapter Fifteen

(First Part by Iris Anthe)

(Second Part by Goldberry)

Hilde's gift of sleep was more than just a cessation of

wakefulness. With it came the healing of sweet and

loving dreams. As Dorothy slept, she relived all the

beautiful hours of her earliest days in which Lucrezia

held her and sang to her and showed her the wonders of

the natural world around her. She was bathed in the

light of an unending afternoon, heavy with fragrant

breezes and drowsy stories told in a foreign tongue that

seemed to translate directly into pictures in her mind.

She saw eternal spring and a beautiful clearing with two

thrones made of a silvery metal which looked as though

they had grown into the interwoven shapes they held

rather than having ever been made.

She saw a man, or what seemed to be a man but could not

possibly be. He was tall and fair and the regal arch of

his neck as he lifted a crown set with an opal so vibrant

and large that it seemed sparked with life itself. And

she knew that somehow this man was King of all the Fae,

and in truth no man at all. And he searched, endlessly

wearing the opal crown, for someone he loved and could

not find, until finally she saw him take off the crown

and it disappeared into the wind between his shining

hands. What replaced it was a silver mask, fashioned as

the sleek head of a raptor. Somehow she felt the

terrible coldness of winter as he placed the mask upon

his head and forever shut out the spring that continued

around him.

These were the songs that Dorothy had listened to as no

more than a babe, swaying in the willowy arms of her

lifelong slave, Lucrezia. These were the dreams she

lived, one after another, endless images, the continuous

music of Lucrezia's liquid voice. These were the truths

she had forbidden herself from understanding since the

day her father died.

***

The Lord of the Fourth House of Fae, kept his eyes

averted during the uncharacteristically physical reunion

of his high king and queen. Having never found a true

mate in all his eternal years, Quatre found himself still

too raw from his recent ordeal to bear witness to such

ardor, particularly since he found it difficult to filter

the emotions flicking out from the long parted couple in

fingers of searing fire. Truly these two were amongst

the most powerful of his kind. A lesser fae would have

been prostrate upon the floor, and not simply out of respect.

The human woman, Dorothy, the huntress who had been a

source of such grief gave a soft sigh from where she lay

sleeping on the ground. That small sound suddenly caused

a palpable change; menace filled the room. Quatre looked

up to see his lord king unsheathe his great lightning sword and point

it at the helpless human.

With speed to match thought, Queen Lucrezia moved between

the human and the blade, a look of grief upon her face.

With the eloquence of one forced to speak only with her

eyes for over fifteen years, Lucrezia pleaded to her king

to spare the young woman's life.

"Lucrezia, how could you?" came Zech's response. Quatre

could see that the bloody oath that his lord had made

when he donned the mask of the warrior king compelled him

to kill this human for all the wrong done to Queen

Lucrezia and his people. The queen, however, could not

find words, nor it seemed could she allow her husband and

lord to mete justice upon her tormentor.

"You have always been too soft with humans. Look at what

it has brought upon us all. This girl is

an abomination, and I will kill her. I would eradicate

humanity itself if I could, but they breed so profusely."

The enchanted animals ruffled themselves,

obviously readying for a fight to protect the Rose

Maidens. Quatre knew this was going wrong, but he simply

could not figure a way to make either his king or his

queen budge. They were each in their own way two of the

most stubborn creatures in creation.

The queen's voice was nothing more than a whisper that

each occupant of the little room strained to hear as it

blended so intimately with the muffled sounds of winter's

movement on the other side of the windows. "Zechs.

Husband. My King … you are wrong. The human race is no

more and no less evil than we. Have you forgotten

already the war in which you first donned the warrior's

mask? Was it not our own kind, kin of our fathers who

betrayed us so long ago? Was it not those wars that

diminished our numbers so? The humans are blameless for

our small nation, for once we filled this land as the

stars fill the backbone of night. Long before the first

human child cried out for its mother's skin, we had

already brought evil into the world. This human child

has done wrong upon me, but she was taught to do so by

her father. There was a time before the iron was placed

upon me that she loved me."

The queen paused. Quatre shivered in memory of the iron

around his throat, and wondered whether his queen could

still be sane after enduring that torture for so long.

She held her eyes shut and he thought perhaps that she

might stay inanimate and mute for eternity in a pose of

supplication. But her voice sounded, rasping, once

again.

"And I loved her, Milliardo. If I had been stronger,

perhaps I could have raised her better even under the

sway of her wretched father. I loved her as I would have

loved our child had it survived. Please do not kill the

only vessel my love has had in all these dark years."

There was a moment of silence so pure that not even the winter birds outside the mansion dared interrupt the tension between the Faerie King and Queen. The human woman that had appeared with Zechs gripped her disarrayed braids tightly, knuckles white in the presence of such great beings. Strangely though, her wide blue eyes watched Zechs without fear. Instead, she seemed to be almost in awe of him, as if she had seen within him something that had banished what might have been terror and changed it into a mix of instant loyalty and admiration. Quatre wondered at seeing it in her, a mortal, but was kept from studying the woman further as his King finally spoke, his deep voice vibrating with long-hidden sorrow and grief.

"Our child."

Quatre felt his own eyes prickle as Zech's eyes reflected a pain the King had not expressed aloud in years. Not one lament had ever been sung for the lost heir, each faerie holding a secret hope in their hearts that the Queen and her child had somehow survived together. Without the knowledge of the Heart though, their wishes could never be confirmed and Zechs had refused to wear the crown and know for certain. He, too, had wanted to hope.

Tentatively, Lu reached out a trembling hand to her husband, tears dripping down her smooth cheeks as her fingertips brushed Zech's face, her palm cupping his cheek. There was a moment of stillness before the King finally lifted his free hand to cover hers against him, a shared sadness passing between them. A few feet away, Hilde sniffed and hugged the big cat at her feet for comfort.

Zechs took a breath. "Are you certain of this?" He pointed Epyon at the oblivious huntress on the floor. "It is because of her and her line that… our child… did not survive. I have learned that some mortals are not as evil as I once thought, but their souls shall always be easily corruptible." He glanced down at Dorothy, completely drained. "To let her go free… might require more mercy than I have to give."

"She shall not go unpunished, my king." Lucrezia said quietly. "What she has done she will pay for but neither you nor I will be the toll keeper. Fate will decide for the both of us. Until then, there are other things that require our attention." Dropping her hand from her husband's face, the Faerie Queen turned to regard Hilde and Relena and her face shone with shed tears and inner joy.

"Hilde, Relena," she said, and the sound of their names made both girls straighten, an invisible thread connecting them. "You have both grown so much. I cannot express how beautiful you have become, inside and out." Lucrezia's eyes fell on Relena who still lay cradled in the loose circle of Quatre's arms. "You have not wasted my gifts, and for that alone you are special among mortals. As the King has proclaimed, there is indeed those among humans who cherish love and light and laughter." The Queen laughed lightly then and held out her hands, one to Hilde and one to Relena. The girls exchanged glances before laying their trembling hands into the Queen's own, allowing her to pull them closer, a warmth spreading through them at her touch.

Lucrezia's gaze remained on them even as her words reached other ears. "Quatre, will you gather the boys? Theirs is a story soon to be finished."

Quatre bowed. "Yes, my queen."

"And Sally, child of Yulian." The woman who had appeared with the King raised her head, eyes shining. The Faerie Queen inclined her body to the mortal woman. "The heavens will surely reward you for what you have done today, but for now, I wish for you to remain with me a little while longer."

Sally bowed her head. "As you wish, my queen."

Still holding on to the girls' hands, Lucrezia looked up at her husband, face aglow. "May we leave here, my husband? I find I wish to feel the wind on my face once again."

Zech's expression cleared and he lifted Epyon. For a moment, Quatre had the suddenly feeling that his king wished more than anything to destroy the place where they now stood, but something in his queen's eyes must have stopped him for he smiled ruefully.

"As you wish."

In a glittering whirl of power, everyone in the room was suddenly caught up in the strength of the Faerie King.

Everyone, including Dorothy.

TBC…