A/N: So here it is...the final chapter. Thanks, kids - it's been fun.
Chapter 31: And They Shall Inherit
That night, the mansion gathered silently around a white marble marker, erected next to Hank's and Bobby's near the rose garden. They had engraved it with her code name – the only name they had really associated with her – and the words "For The Many." Kurt placed his offerings on the cold marble and brushed the name that had been his world.
No one spoke. It had fallen to Kurt in the past to speak over the dead, but now he couldn't bring himself to say anything. He couldn't express the sudden emptiness in his heart, the knowledge that he'd wake up the next morning alone, the strange pride that she'd been strong enough to let the Phoenix save their world – and also hating the Phoenix for taking her. It was too much to feel and too much to say, so he didn't try.
Slowly the crowd dispersed. As the sun set, he was left with Logan looking down at the white stone. They stood silently, thinking, mourning. Kurt wanted to be left alone but he couldn't think straight. His mind was filled with that white stone and the woman who lay six feet beneath him. He idly fingered his rosary. Before they'd left New York, he'd strung her engagement ring so it dangled next to the crucifix – his two greatest loves, always with him, always reminding.
He didn't care that the whole world had been saved by her sacrifice. He didn't care that she'd brought down Apocalypse. He wanted her back…
"I wouldn't give up," Logan said finally. "I mean, it brought Jean back…seems like the Phoenix doesn't keep people for long."
Kurt could only nod, staring down in the fading light at the marble stone. Logan clapped him gently on the back and left.
Kurt crouched in front of the tombstone, staring at the words and watching them blur as tears fell. The candle sat unlit on the marble, next to one white rose. He ached for her – the knowledge that she'd chosen the sacrifice was a small comfort. If God had offered, all Kurt would have asked for was a chance to say good-bye. But she was gone…the one woman Kurt had ever truly loved and trusted, taken for the sake of billions.
He reached for the matches to light the vigil candle, but before he could even move to strike it, the candle wick flared and blossomed into light with the faintest of raptor shrieks.
Despite everything, he felt a smile. He reached for her rosary and heard the now-familiar clink of her ring against the crucifix. Pressing both to his lips, he searched the sky, looking for another flare of fire and yet content knowing that he'd seen enough. He needed no other sign.
"Thank you, Liebchen."
-the end-