Lovespell: Chapter 9

A/N: And here we have it, folks, the big finale. You didn't really think I'd be so heartless as to kill Nita, did you? Well, read on for the answer to that…

Disclaimer: Diane Duane owns all. I own Atin (yes I still need to say it even though she's dead)

Chapter 9: The End

Copper light filled the Lone One's vision. He screamed silently, crumpling face-first into the gray stone. Stupid…wizards… he muttered before closing his eyes completely.

Far above them, the main Lone Power, he who controlled all the fragments of himself that wandered the worlds, also gave a wordless howl of anguish as It felt one fragment of Itself be winked from existence.

Kit stood paralyzed for a moment, waiting until the Isolate was completely motionless, lying facedown in the ashes that were the remains of Atin. Then he ran to the still form of Nita.

As he kneeled down beside his dearest friend—and secret admirer, as he now knew—he cried. Kit considered himself a man, too old to cry at any but the most sorrowful of times. This was one of those times.

"Nita…" he muttered to the body. "Nita…why did you die…just when I found out…oh I never knew…if I had, I would have…" his babbling trailed off as he dissolve into sorrow.

As Kit cried, oblivious, a change came across the gray world. The stone lightened to a pale peach color, and the sun at last began to rise, giving the whole place an ethereal gleam. This was no longer the cold, gray wreck the Fallen Power had made of Nita's innermost world, but Timeheart. Eventually, all of us come to Timeheart, some sooner than others. Nita and Kit had been to Timeheart many times before, to give their final farewells to long-lost friends. Now, Kit was coming there for Nita.

The girl stirred…some hidden sense within her told her where she was…and she sat up. It was Timeheart, of course…but Kit was there with her.

"Kit?" she asked, incredulous, "Kit…are we where I think we are?"

He looked up, finally, and saw their surroundings. Timeheart. And in front of him…Nita. Kit realized what had happened: they'd been granted time for a final farewell.

"Nita!" he yelled joyously, and gave her a huge hug. "Nita, I…there's something I need to say…thanks. Thanks for saving me. You…you really didn't have to do that…"

"Yes I did, Kit, and I'm not ashamed of it. I did it because I love you, like I said. Now do something for me: Go back to life, and…tell my family. They'll take it hard…stay with them. My dad…he was already so crushed from my mom…"

At that moment, a sarcastic, familiar voice broke through the sorrow-laden atmosphere. "Nita, Kit…there's no need for sorrowful farewells. At least not yet. Nita, if you haven't noticed, you dumb human: YOU'RE NOT DEAD."

Both young wizards looked up, to see a very familiar face: a brightly-feathered macaw that they both recognized as Machu Picchu, Tom and Carl's former pet parrot who was actually the Winged Defender (one of the Powers that Be) in disguise.

"Peach!" Nita grinned at their sharp-tempered friend. "Hi, nice of you to come. Are you the welcoming committee?"

"No," Peach replied insolently, "Of course I'm not. I'm here to tell you something you seemed to have missed before: YOU'RE NOT DEAD."

Nita frowned. "Yes I am, Peach. I killed a part of me…and the rest of me died. You saw it, back there in my world."

"You dense humans!" the macaw reprimanded. "Nita, do you remember what that girl you killed said to you back when you first met her? She said, I'm not you. My name is Atin. Yours is Nita. Did those words completely miss you? Atin wasn't you, she was a trick by the Lone Power to make you think she was you. She had a small part of you within her—so, while you aren't dead, you are rather sick and wounded—but she was mostly Lone One. So get the world out of this place and go home!" Peach commanded. She flapped her wing, and, before either wizard could say anything, they were…

…back in Nita's bedroom.

Nita lay on the bed, her left side and both of her hands throbbing with pain, feeling slightly dizzy…but most definitely NOT dead. Kit stood beside her, eyes still wide with shock.

"Nita…you're alive…" he whispered. "And hurt…"

She nodded frankly. "Yes, and I think we'd better keep my whole almost-death under wraps back home here. It'd crush my dad. So no mentioning, OK? Just say I got hurt on assignment."

Kit gave an ironic smile and saluted her like a general. "Ma'am, yes, ma'am," he managed to say before they were ambushed by Dairine, Roshaun, Mr. Callahan, Tom, and Carl all at once.

"Hi, Mr. Callahan. How's Nita doing today?" It was a week since their return from the strange adventure—the Lovespell Episode, he'd started to call it—and he'd finally worked up the courage to confront Nita about the secret she'd revealed at the Lone One's goading.

"She's great, actually, and I think she'll be happy to see you," Mr. Callahan said brightly. "Go on up."

Kit tentatively knocked on Nita's door, and was admitted. "H…hey, Neets, it's me," he said timidly. "I…I know this may seem direct…you're not over your injuries and all…but I want to talk to you about what you said in your world that day."

Nita turned to him, eyes sad. "OK, Kit, I'm sorry about that. I really wasn't meaning ever to tell you that…I'll try to get over it, all right? I promise. If it makes you that uncomfortable, I'll…" Kit cut her off with a shake of his head.

"Nita, you're jumping to conclusions. I…er…what I'm trying to say is that…me too, and probably almost as long as you have me…I'm just not the kind to vocalize things…I was certain you…" Seeing her confused expression, he stopped, "Ah, confound it all, what I'm trying to say is…I love you too, Nita."

Her jaw dropped so far he almost doubled over laughing, but didn't, as he didn't want to upset her. What he did say was, "Close your mouth, or I won't be able to kiss you properly, silly."

So she did…and they kissed. And it was amazing. Like they'd always imagined it to be.

Somewhere in the middle of it all, Nita heard a mind-voice in her head. I've wanted to do this for so long…

After getting over the amazing fact that they could mind-speak again, Nita decided to make a comeback after his earlier remark. What, the kissing or the mindspeech? she asked.

He mind-laughed at her. You know which…he told her sternly. And then they didn't say anything again until they broke off.

A certain alien, who'd been watching the whole thing from the door, crept down the hall to the room of his own sweetheart. "It happened," he told her, his voice grudging.

"Really? How'd it turn out?" his ever-curious girl wanted to know.

"He confessed. Appears she already had, and he hadn't told her he liked her back. They kissed. The end," the alien stated.

Dairine giggled and held out her hand to her boyfriend. "I told you they'd get together someday. Pay up, Roshaun. Five dollars."

Frowning, Roshaun forked over the money he owed her. "I should have never made that stupid bet about whether they'd hook up in the first place," he grumbled.

Dairine laughed for a moment. "Never make bets with Dairine Callahan. You're destined to lose…Ro," she told the dejected alien.

Then, like Nita and Kit, they too didn't need any words for quite some time.

Le Fin (for now)

A/N: Well, that was Lovespell. I'm currently working on a companion story, my theory on what happened to Dairine and Roshaun after WAW. But until then, R&R this one, and tell me what you thought!