Author's Note: I know, I'm sorry! But between my Internet problems, this year's BBRae Week and just plain laziness it took me a while to drag my sorry ass over to the chair and start typing.

-=oOo=-

The End

She could feel it again. It was weak and torpid, uncoiling like a snake awoken from hibernation, slow and uncertain, dark and cold and hungry. She shivered as her mind touched it apprehensively. The contact was not an agreeable one; it was like sinking your fingers into cold slime. Even after all the years it lived inside her, she never got used to it. She never would.

She sighed inwardly before she resolutely shut herself off to the unpleasantness. It was just another curse that her father saw fit to burden her with. She bore it without complaining all this time; she would keep bearing it all her life. The fact that she was able to turn that same curse against its creator and all others like him didn't really make it easier, but it did give her confidence and satisfaction.

Clearing her mind of thoughts and feelings with an ease born of long years of training and practice she plunged in and embraced the power that was stirring again inside her. It was still tainted, but her father's filth was driven back from the shores of her soul, leaving a shallow, cleansed pool she could sink into. She allowed it to seep into her mind and mingle with her thoughts, pushing ever-branching roots deep inside her consciousness. She sensed again its familiar craving to gorge itself on her emotions, to devour them without consuming them and to grow ever stronger while stoking the fire of her feelings in a feedback loop that would quickly spiral out of control destroying everything around her unless she kept a tight rein on it.

There wasn't much of it, even after Garfield's efforts. She couldn't start healing herself – at least not yet. But it was enough for what she wanted to do.

Her right hand lifted and bent clawlike as a frown of fierce concentration twisted her features. A wispy black mist enveloped the mirror resting discarded on the floor and it floated up towards her, bobbing and weaving haltingly until she allowed it to drop in her lap, releasing a deep, relieved breath and wiping the perspiration from her forehead.

It worked, she thought with satisfaction while she waited for her heart to slow down and her breathing to return to normal. I can do this. I can help him.

The knowledge filled her heart with warmth that quickly spread out from her chest to tingle deliciously in her undamaged limbs. Her power drank it greedily, bubbling and churning in small, icy, demanding whirlpools. A tiny smile lifted the unscarred corner of her mouth up. Her hand grasped the handle of the mirror and lifted it to her face.

The mirror fell on the blankets with the softest of thuds. The dark, empty room waited silently.

-=oOo=-

A small frown creased Yellow's brow, her eyes following the giggling pink aspect as she made choo-choo sounds and pumped her fists backwards and forwards while trotting around them. The embodiment of Raven's common sense, wisdom and knowledge forced her face to smooth out and endeavored to smother the irritation that Pink's antics always brought up in her. Pink was stupidly naive, she refused to take things seriously and she never bothered to think. More than anything, she irritated the calm, logical and rational aspect without Yellow being able to understand why, and that was in turn frustrating, and that in turn increased Yellow's annoyance to absolutely unacceptable levels.

"Is this the one?" Garfield's question startled her out of her grumbling introspection and made her look up in surprise. She blushed, realizing she'd lost awareness of her surroundings for a few minutes, a completely inadmissible state of affairs. She felt the embarrassing heat burn her cheeks, confusing her even further. It was all Pink's fault, of course. Her annoyance rose utterly intolerably before she managed to get a hold of herself, bite back a nasty comment about the silly aspect's maturity and clear her mind.

"Hmm?" she mumbled with fake disinterest. "I'm sorry, I was thinking… about something."

Gar lifted an eyebrow and Yellow barely managed to fight the urge to swallow. Great, now Pink made her – Her! – look like an idiot in front of him.

"I asked if this was the archway to Grey's domain," Gar repeated his question as mildly as he could. As much as he wanted to tease Yellow for her obvious discomfort, he kept his mouth shut, his tongue firmly leashed and his eyes affectionate.

Yellow recovered quickly. "We've been to all the others. She's the only one remaining. Ergo, it can't lead anywhere else."

Gar managed to keep his face straight but his eyes sparkled. "Ergo?"

"Latin for 'therefore', you ignoramus!" Yellow snapped, realized she did so and blushed again.

Garfield turned to the other aspects to hide the grin he couldn't keep off his face any more. Waving a hand to signal that they should follow him, he stepped through the archway.

A flat, grey, unadorned wall stretched as straight as a ruler all the way to the horizon on both sides. A simple rectangular opening in it stood right in front of them, unsettling in its nondescriptiveness. Gar took a step forward to enter the maze, but a hand touched his arm and stopped him.

"Wait," Yellow said softly. "You should be warned. Grey is…"

Gar looked at her quizzically. "She's what?"

Yellow stood silent, not meeting his gaze. The changeling's eyes swept over the other five aspects. Purple's face was hidden under the hood, Pink was hugging herself, Red was scowling at the floor and Green was pointedly looking away from him. Even Orange appeared unsettled.

"What's going on?" Gar asked as he felt a twinge of apprehension shiver down his spine.

"We can't fight her," Green growled quietly, as if ashamed at the confession.

Yellow took a deep breath. "Green sister is right. She's stronger than all of us put together. If we fail… if you fail, we will all…"

Garfield gulped, then his face hardened. "Well, then, I'll just have to make sure I don't, now, won't I?" he said coldly and turned to enter the maze.

"Hold!" a sudden snarl stopped him. He looked over his shoulder at Red. She walked over to stand beside him and jerked her head angrily at the other aspects. "They never understood her. I'll go with you. Leave them rotting here if they're so afraid!"

Green's eyes narrowed at the challenge. She grabbed Orange by the hood and pushed her forward towards the entrance, then glared at the others. "Let's go!" she commanded.

-=oOo=-

"It's useless," Yellow told Gar, seeing him drag the fingers of his left hand over the maze wall as they walked.

"Huh?" he turned to look at her in surprise. Yellow sighed. "You are trying to use the method of always turning left in order to find an exit from the maze," she explained. "It's useless, as I said. As soon as we turned the first bend, it reconfigured itself behind us."

Gar's eyebrows shot up. "You mean…"

"Yes," she nodded gravely. "There is literally no path out. We're at her mercy."

Garfield scratched the back of his head in confusion. "Then how…"

"If she decides she wants to meet us, she will," Yellow shrugged. "If not…" she left the rest of the sentence hanging over them like a sinister thundercloud.

Changeling scowled. "Then why walk? Why doesn't she simply come and talk to us – if she wants?"

"Rrrrn!" Red butted into their conversation with a growl. "Don't you know anything? She's Fear and Shyness and Insecurity! She doesn't go after anyone! If she wants to see you, she'll let the Labyrinth guide you to her, but don't expect her to look for you!"

Gar snorted. "If she's such a wimp, how come you're all so afraid of her?"

Red's four eyes blazed with rage and her hand shot forward to grasp the front of his uniform, twisting it furiously and dragging him closer to her snarling teeth. Then the hellfire in her eyes dimmed, the hand released him and she slapped his cheek gently a couple of times. "You'll see," she whispered ominously.

They continued their apparently random trek through the twisting passages. All of Gar's inquiries of "How much longer?" were met with silence and shrugging of shoulders. He felt anger slowly simmering inside him, threatening to come to a boil. A small, soft, warm hand took his own and he relaxed immediately. He looked at Purple, squeezed her hand back lovingly and smiled at her.

She made him stop and caressed his cheek. "Don't get angry. She'll sense it and become afraid, and she'll hide from us. You must be loving and understanding, and speak gently to her."

"I always do," he whispered, took her hand from his cheek and kissed it. She smiled and nodded her encouragement.

The suddenness was unnerving. They turned a bend and walked into a slightly wider area with no visible exits. Gar groaned, his legs tired and his frustration with the need to again retrace his steps flaring. He turned and was shocked to see that the passage they just came through was gone. There were no openings in the wall; they were effectively sealed in.

He fought down a rush of panic. Pink and Purple pressed themselves against him, and all the other aspects gathered closer. He looked around.

A tiny whimper came from the darkest corner of the chamber. "Wait here!" he told his companions and stepped towards it.

The darkness she wrapped herself into was unnatural. Even Gar's eyes couldn't pierce it completely. All he could see was a grey clump, an ill-defined mound huddled in the corner, shifting slowly and whining softly as he came closer.

"Hey," he whispered, crouching and keeping his hands visible in a non-threatening position, as if he was approaching a frightened animal. "It's okay."

The grey mound shrank away from him. He stopped his advance and sat down cross-legged, his hands resting calmly on his thighs. He waited patiently.

After a while, she seemed to relax a little. The eldritch darkness shrouding her cleared slightly and a hooded head lifted slowly, her beautiful eyes watching him fearfully. He breathed with unhurried regularity and made no move, looking at the wall beside her and letting her study him carefully.

"I'm sorry…" she whimpered. Gar's lips curled in a small, accepting smile, but he still kept his eyes away from her. It seemed to encourage her, because she shifted a little and a small hand appeared from under the grey cloak.

"I… I know you don't like me," she whispered. "Because of what I did. Because of what I have to do."

He shook his head very slowly and carefully, his eyes glued to the wall beside her. "I could never not like you. You are a part of her, and I love you as much as I love everything else about her."

She swallowed. "Even…"

He nodded slowly. "Even Red. Even Orange." Finally he allowed himself to look at her. "Even you."

She fell silent. His eyes returned to the wall and he sat smiling like a slim jade Buddha. She ventured to move a little closer.

"Gar…" she whispered, then looked down. "I have to do it, Gar. I'm sorry."

Again he shook his head slowly. "You don't. But whatever you do is all right with me." His eyes sought hers again. "I will always love you."

Her finger drew a convoluted path on the floor. "You're not making it easy for me…"

"I know," he sighed softly. "I'm sorry."

"You… won't hate me?"

"I could never hate you."

Silence descended between them. They sat immobile for a while. Then her hand lifted.

"It will be painless," she said hoarsely. "It's the least I can do. Please forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive," he murmured. "I love you."

Two tears slid from her eyes to meet at the point of her chin. Her hand rose. The other emoticlones rushed forward in desperation.

Her gaze lifted and she merely looked at them with infinite sadness in her eyes. Time stopped. All of Raven's aspects stood perfectly still and powerless. Garfield couldn't move a muscle; he couldn't breathe and his heart was not beating. But somehow he was still alive… yet. She looked at him again, leaned closer and her lips barely touched his.

"I love you, too," she told the ensorceled green youth quietly. "Thank you for understanding."

Sadness enveloped him. I've failed, he thought. It's all over. I just hope… maybe there's a place we will meet again.

The thought gave him strength. He wished he could close his eyes and take a deep breath and carry the sweetness of her scent with him to oblivion. But nothing moved; not the air in his lungs nor the blood in his veins.

Her hand lifted.

I love you, Rae.

-=oOo=-

"Wait."

Grey's hand descended and hid under her cloak. "Elder Sister, I'm sorry…"

Some of his senses worked in spite of the absolute paralysis he was under. He couldn't turn his head and look at her, nor could he breathe in and smell her. But he heard the unmistakable, quiet scuff of her soft boots as she approached.

She wasn't limping.

If his heart wasn't paralyzed together with everything else it would have burst with joy. A thousand, a million confused thoughts broke loose and sprinted through his head, crackling like electric sparks, burning his mind from numbed dazedness to euphoric overdrive and back. How? When? Why?

"I'm here to stop you," Raven said gently as she lowered herself into a lotus position beside Garfield. Her hand grasped his, and his mind cleared and calmed instantly, but he was still unable to move.

Grey shook her head sorrowfully. "You can't stop me, Elder Sister. If you try, I will have to destroy you, also."

Raven's eyebrow rose. Gar couldn't see well, unable to focus on her, but he was sure he could hear a note of amusement in her voice.

"If you tried that… assuming you actually succeded… it would mean you would disappear, too."

"I know," Grey said, then lifted her tearful eyes to gaze at Raven. "It would finally end it."

Raven chuckled. "It would end in any case. There is no life for me without him."

"Then there is no need for you to try to stop me," Grey's voice became uncharacteristically strong. "It will set us free from all the pain, all the suffering, all the loneliness."

Raven clicked her tongue in playful disagreement. "There are much better ways to deal with it," she smirked at the grey aspect. "Besides, I won't let you."

Grey hunched her shoulders. "I wish you could stop me. But you never could, and you never will." Her eyes turned to Garfield and her hand appeared from under the cloak again. "Goodbye, Gar. And… forgive me."

A second passed, as long as a century. Grey's eyes widened in shock and fear. She turned to Raven and the sad, understanding smile on her face.

"Do you remember what he told us so long ago?" the sorceress spoke softly. "You think you're alone, Raven, but you're not. I wasn't in love with him at that time, but even so his words sealed my fate." Her hand moved and touched Grey's cheek tenderly. "You no longer have power over me."

Grey's lower lip trembled and her eyes filled with tears. Raven opened her arms welcomingly and the anguished aspect fell into her embrace, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Shhhh. It's okay. It's all right. We still love you. You're still one of us. Calm down."

It took a long while, but Grey finally stopped crying. She huddled in Raven's embrace, shivering and sniffling. Raven kissed the top of her head, then cupped her chin and brought it up to look into her eyes. "It's time for us to join again."

"D-do you r-really think so?" Grey stuttered. "A-after all I-I've done?"

"It wasn't your fault," Raven assured her. "It was him. But he won't be able to touch us ever again."

"W-will the others be t-there, too?"

Raven nodded. "I'll meld with them right away. Don't worry, you won't wait long."

The timid aspect sniffled once more, wiped her eyes and offered her hands to Raven. Their fingers touched and Grey's form became incorporeal before she sank into Raven to become again an indivisible part of her. The sorceress sighed and remained motionless for a moment, then smiled and waved her hand. The emoticlones surged forward on their previous trajectories and ended up in a multicolored heap on the floor.

"Up, ladies!" Raven's voice cut through their mutual wrangling over whose elbow was in whose ear and which fat cow was smothering who. One by one the aspects disentangled themselves, became ethereal and fused with Raven. Purple remained last, waiting for all the others to merge before she leaned and began whispering in Raven's ear.

The sorceress' eyebrow slowly rose as she listened. Purple finished and they both turned their heads to gaze at Garfield with a… disturbing expression in their eyes. Raven turned to Purple.

"With compound interest, you said?"

Purple nodded. Both directed another glance at the changeling, who by now was free of the paralysis. It allowed him to gulp and run a finger under the collar of his uniform.

Purple's mischievous giggle faded as her body lost substance and was absorbed into Raven. The sorceress winced a little and floated up, stretching her legs to the floor.

Her legs, Gar thought. Her beautifully sculpted, delicious, exquisite legs. He tore his eyes away and looked into the breathtaking amethyst beauty of her eyes. Both her eyes.

Her face was unscarred, the lips he loved to kiss and nibble so much perfectly pale and invitingly full and curled ever so slightly upwards in amusement at his gaping.

"Rae…" he croaked through a parched throat, "are you… healed?"

Her smile widened. "Of course not, silly. Healing myself will take weeks. You see me like this because you're in my mind. You see me the way I want you to see me."

He jumped up to his feet. "I always see you like this," he told her in all seriousness. She sensed his sincerity and blushed.

"Let's go," she muttered, trying to ignore the heated fluttering inside her. She bit her lip, took his hand and opened a portal to her room.

-=oOo=-

He took her in his arms and kissed her passionately as soon as they stepped out of the portal.

"Gar…" she moaned and tried to push him away. She was again the same scarred wreck, and the shame she felt about the way she looked wasn't entirely Trigon's doing. "No, Gar, please! I'm –"

"– Beautiful," he interrupted her and lifted her easily in his arms, carrying her to the bed. He laid her gently down and again his lips fused with hers. "Did Purple tell you about my debt?" he hummed in her ear after the kiss ended.

"Y-yes," she gasped at the sensation of his lips gliding down over her throat, his fingers already busy with the clasp of her cloak. Her entire body tingled; now finally free of her father's loathsome influence she could at last give herself up to his love without shame or regret. "Gar…" she called his name again, as if she was trying to convince herself it was not a dream.

"You said it would take weeks," he mumbled as his fang grazed the skin of her neck, just over the carotid. She shivered and hissed in a sharp breath, expelling it in a long, lusty moan, not really understanding nor caring what he was talking about any more. "I don't want that compound interest to accrue too much."

A small modicum of sense returned while he peeled the leotard off her body and hastily removed his own clothes. "Gar…" she breathed his name yet again. His arms went around her and his mouth and teeth searched her skin hungrily, making her head spin. He rumbled a long "Hmmmm?"

"Shut up and love me," she demanded in a hoarse whisper. He grinned and kissed her, and focused on granting her request.

-=oOo=-

Another Author's Note: Yeah, it's finished, but it's not over yet. There are quite a few loose ends to tie up, and I'll do it in a hopefully-soon-to-come epilogue. So stay tuned, I have some ideas that'll keep it interesting!