Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn.

A/N: Here we go! The final chapter of An Inextinguishable Light, and thank you guys so much for sticking with it – I appreciate all of your interest in this story, which gave me the drive to finish it. ^_^

An Inextinguishable Light

Chapter Seven: Reunited, At Last

For a moment, all Beth could do was stare, her mind blank with absolute shock. "Hannah...?" she whispered, frozen in place. "Hannah, is that you?"

I thought you were gone, swallowed up by the wendigo spirit, oh God Hannah you were there all along –

Hannah looked a little dazed and confused, but as she looked around, blinking, her surroundings finally seemed to properly register – and a wide, happy smile spread over her face at the sight of her sister. "Beth!" Then her expression changed to utter horror as she noticed the Makkapitew advancing on her twin. "Beth!"

There was a confused blur of movement, a flash so swift Beth could barely track it – but suddenly Hannah was in front of her, facing the Makkapitew, her stance furious and defensive. This close, Beth could see little wisps of the burning red energy still clinging to Hannah, but she had hardly registered them before they suddenly flared, bursting out in a wave of malevolent energy – and at the same moment Hannah screamed.

It sounded so like a wendigo's shrieking scream that Beth instinctively leapt back, despite knowing that it was Hannah making the noise; the Makkapitew halted in its tracks, clearly startled, by the unexpected sensation and noise coming from what should have felt and sounded like prey.

And that moment of lost concentration proved vital to the struggle between the wendigo and the threads of shimmering blue fire. They pulled taut, flaring with muted ghostly light and the Makkapitew let out a scream of its own, a distinctly frustrated and enraged sound, before succumbing to the pull and dissolving into an amorphous cloud of ethereal red energy. It funnelled down through the floor, phasing through the ground in the direction the threads pulled; at the same time the little wisps of red energy were drawn from Hannah's form, following the Makkapitew down through the floor, and a second later, the blue fire winked out of existence.

Silence fell.

Beth was distantly aware of their utterly shocked audience of living humans, but for a moment, all she could see was her sister, as Hannah turned to face her.

Her twin's spirit was undeniably worse for wear, oddly faded and worn-looking in places; if she'd been alive, Beth would have said she looked like she was recovering from a long-term illness. Nonetheless, her dark eyes shone with light and her smile was wide and bright. "Beth," she said again, her voice choked, as she reached out and took her sister's hand.

Beth froze. The touch was light and still mostly insubstantial – but more solid than any interaction she had ever with the living world. And it was Hannah, Hannah was holding her hand, Hannah who she'd thought was gone forever –

She threw her arms around her twin, drawing her into a fierce hug. "Fucking hell, Hannah," she muttered, her eyes burning with tears she was no longer capable of shedding. "Don't ever fucking do that to me again, you hear? Because I'm not afraid to haunt your ass for all of fucking eternity."

Hannah gave a choked laugh as she hugged her back, burying her face into her sister's neck. "Love you too, Beth," she whispered.

"…Love you too, Hannah."

xxx

In the end, it was Jack who restored a semblance of order.

He recovered first and started barking orders in his usual gruff way at the shell-shocked teenagers, who followed said orders in a dazed state at first, and then with more focus as their tasks gave them purpose.

Within an hour, the line of talismans had been restored, all the doors into the sanatorium and the chapel had been locked and barred, and a fire had been rekindled in the massive fireplace. Blankets were pulled out of cupboards, a massive pot of coffee was brewed and an extensively stocked first aid kit was fetched, mainly for Mike and Jessica.

Jessica woke up mid-way through having her wounds swabbed with disinfectant and screamed bloody murder, terrified and disorientated – chaos had reigned until Mike had managed to calm her down, curling around her on one of the old battered sofas and holding her tightly as she clung to him, sobbing in remembered terror.

After everyone calmed down again and everything had grown quiet, there was time enough for talking. ("None of you idiots are going anywhere until dawn," Jack said firmly. "Then, you're all gonna get off this mountain and never come back, y'hear?")

Beth wasn't sure exactly what Hannah said to the others; they spoke to everyone individually, and separately, but she was willing to bet her twin's conversations were every bit as emotionally fraught as hers. There was a varying degree of guilt and anger in every exchange, alongside the grief and gladness, running the gamut from Ashley's floods of tears and constant stream of apologies, to Emily's terse words, on the surface rather unfeeling, but with genuine regret written on her face and plain in her dark eyes.

And then there was her conversations with Chris and Sam and Josh, uncomplicated in that regard, but paradoxically full of both grief and joy, for the chance to speak again, but also to say goodbye.

("I don't think we'll be able to stay for much longer," Hannah had said mournfully, when Chris had raised the tentative question right at the start about returning to Blackwood to visit the twins at some point, voicing the painful longing obvious in Josh's eyes. "I can feel it now that I'm not trapped anymore. Can't you, Beth?"

And she had, as soon as Hannah had spoken and drawn her attention to it. An odd pulling sensation, not unlike what she imagined the Makkapitew had felt, except that it was gentle and insistent instead of painful. There were no threads of blue fire either, and no urge to dive underground; just an intangible, unquantifiable tug, pulling her… elsewhere.)

The moment when she finally, finally met Sam's eyes, without distractions or the threat of imminent death, felt like it was a long damn time coming. "Soooo," Beth said eventually, grinning. "What's new? Anything interesting happen in the world in the last year?"

Sam laughed, her voice breaking a little part way through. "Oh, you know, the usual." Her tone fell just a little short of casual. "The aliens finally invaded – turns out you were right and they were hiding on Mars all along, just biding their time."

"Yes! I knew all those late night drunk-and-high alien conspiracy chats couldn't possibly be wrong," Beth cheered, playing along just to see the moment when Sam genuinely started laughing, even as she wiped tears from her eyes.

"God, Beth, I've missed you so much." Sam's smile was luminous, bright with elation and lingering sadness both.

"Fucking same." Beth sat down and smiled back at the blonde woman. "It's about time we had a catch-up."

And they did. Beth spoke to Sam for a long time, about everything and nothing, and in the end, finally broached the subject of what had been between them for a long time. "You know I loved you," Beth said, as bluntly as she wished had had the courage to do in real life, watching Sam's eyes widen in surprise. "Still do actually, and likely always will."

"Beth," Sam whispered, as her shock dissolved into pain, pain for opportunities lost. "I – I love you too – oh fuck, why were we so stupid!"

"'Cause we're stupid teenagers and we thought we were immortal?" Beth questioned, grinning. "Well – I mean, I'm immortal now, obviously, but I'm an immortal soul so I don't think it's quite the same –"

"Oh shut up, Beth," Sam laughed a little, even as she swiped tears from her eyes. "Ah fuck, this is stupid."

"Yeah. And speaking of stupid –" Beth glanced meaningfully across the room, to where her siblings were sitting together, Hannah chattering with bright eyes and a beaming smile and Josh looking at her like a blind man seeing the world for the first time, tears trickling unabashedly down his face. "I'm pretty sure I'm not the only Washington you have the hots for, Giddings. And I'd hate to see that squandered out of stupidity, obliviousness, or worst of all, some weird mishmash of lingering guilt and loyalty to my memory."

"Bethany Washington!" Sam spluttered, starting to laugh. "Are you actually trying to set me up with your brother after we've just confessed our undying love?"

"Yes," Beth said empathically, flapping her hands at her. "Because you've got a big old heart, Samantha Giddings and I'd hate to see you and Josh unhappy for such a fucking stupid reason – so consider this my blessing, you idiots. I don't mind sharing," she added, with a wink and a leer, as Sam groaned and then laughed.

"Oh God, Beth, don't make this anymore fucking weird than it already is!"

Her conversation with Josh lasted even longer, carrying them pretty much all the way to dawn. Her brother was a complete mess, putting it mildly, and she decided to open their conversation with her usual mixture of sisterly love, care and blunt honesty. "Josh, you know I love you to bits – but too far with the fucking serial killer prank, man. Although the fake body stuffed with pig guts was a nice touch, you've always had an eye for detail and shit."

Josh laughed until he cried and then cried some more, throughout which Beth held onto him as much as her limited tangibility allowed, and rambled about anything and everything that came into her head. (Starting with the fact that neither she nor Hannah blamed him for their deaths, "Get that through your thick skull, Josh!")

Eventually his tears ran out and he began replying to her as best as he was able through a clogged nose and throat, his voice thick and hoarse. The conversation gradually turned back towards the prank and Beth levelled her brother with a stern look. "Speaking of which – Josh, I saw the files in your workshop. You need to go see another psychiatrist; I know you don't like Dr Hill, but hell, go find someone else. I know you got frustrated, but you need to keep trying, keep trying to find someone who can figure out the right combination of meds for you. It was fucking agony to watch you suffering for all that time, and not be able to say anything. Please Josh – I know it's hard, but promise me you'll keep trying."

Josh nodded, swallowing around the lump in his throat. "I promise, Beth." His voice was a hoarse rasp, but the sincerity in it was obvious. Around them, the others were starting to gather their things, Jack organising them as dawn broke over the horizon, and Beth leaned forward to whisper in Josh's ear, her words masked by the sudden activity.

"Good," she said, a hint of mischief colouring her words. "And I doubt you'll have to do it alone, since I've given the lovely blonde lady we're both enamoured with my blessing to court you."

Josh inhaled in shock, his eyes going wide, and promptly choked; Beth immediately dissolved into laughter, while Josh glared at her through his coughing fit. "Fuck's sake, Beth," he finally managed to wheeze.

"Love you, Josh," she said, grinning affectionately at her brother.

His expression softened almost immediately, sadness and humour obvious in equal measure. "Love you too, Beth."

xxx

The final goodbyes were said not long after that, with many lingering backwards glances (especially from Sam and Josh) cast back at the ethereal forms of the twins standing in the doorway of the sanatorium.

Beth and Hannah watched the small gaggle of teenagers (shepherded by one wendigo hunter and two wolves) head back down the mountain, until they turned into vague smudges in the distance, and then completely disappeared from sight.

As if on cue, the sisters turned to look at each other. "Do you want to wait for Jack to come back before we go?" Hannah asked, smiling.

"Nah," Beth grinned. "I've already said my goodbyes to him too."

("So thanks for letting me bunk at your place, old man, and for putting up with me being your annoying poltergeist roommate. By the way, it was actually me that rearranged your sock drawer, because I've never seen someone so hilariously obsessed with matching socks – sorry, not sorry," she had said, grinning like mad.

"No shit. I didn't think it was the wolves that did it, girl," he had replied witheringly. Then, grudgingly, he added, "You're welcome, I suppose. Your company wasn't completely god-awful – I've had worse. Good luck with your afterlife too, or whatever the hell it is that comes next."

"If I could hug you, old man, I would," Beth had told him, serious but still grinning. "I mean it. None of this could have happened without you."

He had only rolled his eyes and grumbled in a vaguely embarrassed way, while Beth had laughed, more than a little giddy at how well everything had turned out and at the same time amused as hell by how badly Jack handled compliments.)

"That's good. Though…Beth, before we go…" Hannah bit her lip and looked down, misery and guilt stealing across her face. "I have to tell you – I – I'm so sorry –"

"Stop," Beth said firmly, already aware of where this was going. "It's okay Hannah –"

"It's not okay!" Hannah burst out, jerking her head up to look at her twin. "Beth, I ate you –"

Beth caught her sister's wildly gesturing hand and used it to tug her in close for a hug. "Don't," she said, "Be ridiculous. I was there when it happened. I know why you did it, and I forgave you pretty much as soon as it happened. Okay?"

Hannah shook her head against Beth's shoulder. "I don't deserve a sister like you," she whispered, sounding like she would be crying if she could. "But I'm glad you don't hate me."

"I could never hate you," Beth said firmly, stepping back a little but still holding onto Hannah's shoulders so she could look her twin directly in the eye. "You're my sister, I love you, and a little bit of cannibalism isn't going to change that."

She winked and Hannah made a choking noise, half-amused, half-appalled. "Beth!"

"Well, it's true." Beth's tone was purposefully breezy. "And with that, maybe we should get this show on the road?"

"Oh, okay." Hannah nodded, straightening up and making an obvious effort to compose herself. "Time to go, then?" she asked nervously, unable to keep from rocking a little on her heels.

"Yeah, I reckon so." Beth reached out to take her sister's hand, giving her an encouraging grin; Hannah settled back onto her feet, her nerves fading as she squeezed Beth's hand back.

"Okay. Okay." Hannah took a deep breath and smiled back at Beth.

Then, simultaneously, they stopped resisting the pull, the tug urging them on, relaxed – and let go.

There was a brief, indescribable moment; a weightless instant, like falling and flying, like leaping into the blackest void and incandescent light at the same time –

– and the Washington twins stepped forward, leaving the world as they entered it. Together.

A/N: Aaaaannd that's a wrap! xD Thank you guys for your patience in waiting for this fic for so long and supporting it regardless. Hopefully I delivered on the happy-ish ending – at the very least Beth and Hannah are together, everyone survived the mountain and Josh left in a much better state than he arrived in. :)

Again, thank you for your support, and please let me know if you enjoyed this final chapter. ^_^

P.S. Also, just to clear up a few things in case you're wondering; the blue fire that pulled the Makkapitew underground was in fact the influence of the mountain itself. I like to headcanon the mountain as having a sort of sentience, and I noticed in-game that whenever you kill a wendigo and release its spirit, it seems to head back underground/back into the mines – so I decided that in this ghost!verse, the mountain itself draws the wendigo spirit back underground, into mines, and into a sort of semi-dormancy until another suitable host body comes along.

Hannah is not still under the influence of the Makkapitew. Strands of its power still clinging to her, along with familiarity with its nature after a year of body-sharing, allows her successfully mimic the sound and sensation of a wendigo for a few seconds, but that's all.

The whole thing with Beth feeling the tug to move on after Hannah is freed too, comes from the classical ghost thing of not being able to move on because of unfinished business – namely in this case, being unable to move on because some part of her couldn't accept the fact that Hannah was truly gone and still wanted to help her sister. (That part turned out to more accurate than she gave it credit for. xD) The 'unfinished business' expanded to including helping her friends and her brother (especially Josh) move on from her and Hannah's deaths after she witnessed what the grief had done to him.

I also chose not write out Hannah and Beth's conversations with everyone in full about the prank last year, because dear God, that would have sixteen separate conversations. 0_o I decided to streamline it instead, and focus on the three that had the most significance to Beth and who she'd been most heavily concentrated on throughout the story (aka, Sam, Josh and Hannah).

P.P.S. If you're interested in the sort of themes in this story, I've got two-part UD story going up relatively soon (within a week or two) that focuses on a slightly different universe, where Hannah's spirit is freed from her wendigo body after the Makkapitew dies /is released when the lodge fire happens at the end of the game – and then Hannah's spirit is sent back in time by the mountain to her old body on the night of the prank one year previously. ^_^