A/N: After the epic weekend that was Faebles 2, I'm back writing more of this. I'll be adding in a couple of characters in the next few parts that may be making a return to our screens in the second half of season 5 (namely Aife and Bruce). Thanks for all the reviews, you're all awesome, they really do make the writing process easier.
x-x-x
Tamsin hadn't been able to sleep that night, so instead she sat on the sofa at the Clubhouse using the laptop to try and find everything she could about the human myth of Pandora's box. She knew to delve deeper on the Fae side she would need to go and see Trick, that would have to wait, she was pretty sure he wouldn't be too happy with her turning up there are stupid o'clock in the morning. She was struggling to keep her eyes open at around 4am, so she decided to rest her eyes for a few minutes, and that's how Bo and Lauren found her when Lauren was leaving for work at 9am.
After Lauren left Bo carefully lifted the laptop off Tamsin's lap. As she moved it onto the table the screen came back to life and Bo saw what Tamsin had been looking at. She couldn't help but think that Tamsin was investing a lot of time in the box idea she'd had the night before. Bo stood up, taking the laptop with her, she put it on the island in the kitchen before walking back to the sofa and putting a blanket over the still sleeping Valkyrie. Standing there for a few moments she watched Tamsin sleep.
x-x-x
A few hours later Kenzi walked downstairs looking a little concerned. Her expression softening when she saw Tamsin sleeping on the sofa.
"I got a little worried when I saw she wasn't asleep and her bed hadn't been slept in," Kenzi said, walking over to the island, "I mean, Lauren spent the night last night, thought that might have been the last straw."
Bo didn't even look up as Kenzi was talking.
"Interesting porn or something Bo?" she asked, walking around behind the Succubus, seeing what she was looking at she laughed, "not the usual kind of box you look up online."
"Tamsin thinks the music box my father sent me is some how connected to this..." Bo said, rubbing her eyes, "I've been reading this for the last few hours, none of it makes any sense."
"I'm not that hot on mythology," Kenzi said as she grabbed a coffee, "weird considering I spent the last five years practically living it... But Pandora's box... That was in Tomb Raider 2 right?"
Bo arched her eyebrow as she looked at Kenzi.
"Oh come on," Kenzi said rolling her eyes, "it was one of those sequels like Grease 2, the concept was good, the movie not so much... Basically Lara Croft fights this crazy ass British guy over this box... Mad scientist or something. Wait, does Lauren know about the box?"
Bo was about to say something when she heard laughter coming from the sofa. Tamsin was awake.
"From what I've been able to figure out," Tamsin said, sitting up on the sofa, "the human myth points to Pandora's box bringing around the end of the rein of the Ancients, including your father... Pandora opened the box and released darkness into the world. I'm going to go to the Dal and see if Trick can be of any help on the Fae side."
She stood up and walked towards the stairs.
"First I need to shower." she said with a little laugh.
"Why do you care so much?" Bo asked.
Tamsin stopped and took a deep breath before turning back to face the Succubus.
"I'm a Valkyrie, we never go into a battle without knowing most of the facts," Tamsin replied, "I like to know what I'm up against. We already know that this is serious shit, Ancients fighting here, in our colony. Maybe this way we can find a way to stop them, leaving as few casualties as possible."
Bo nodded a little as Tamsin turned and walked up the stairs.
x-x-x
A little over an hour later Tamsin was at the Dal. She had called Trick in advance and asked him if he had any books that included anything about Pandora's box.
"Why the sudden interest in Pandora's box?" Trick asked as he put down a coffee next to Tamsin.
"I was talking to Bo last night, and she mentioned something about how opening the music box would release her father," Tamsin replied picking up on of the books, "it got me thinking about the myth, how Pandora was given a gift from a God and told not to open it. She did and released pain and suffering into the world."
"Ending the last rein of The Ancients," Trick said as he looked for another book, "it's said that the Ancients defeated the Titans..."
"A 10 year battle, at the end of which they basically drew lots to work out who would rule over what..." Tamsin replied, remembering something she had been told as a child, "Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the water... And Hades got the Underworld."
"Which worked out well for Zeus, Hades was growing more and more powerful, and the others were starting to worry he may one day cause their downfall too," Trick said, "so, with the help of Freyja, and a few other very powerful beings Hades was trapped in the Underworld, well Tartarus, never able to leave. Other than the connection of Zeus, how does this involve Bo?"
"I take it you know what Bo's name means..." Tamsin said quietly, as she looked at Trick, "God's Promise... In the Pandora myth Hades believes that nothing perfect exists on earth, so he creates it... Pandora... He created Bo, Trick. A being so perfect she shouldn't exist. Everything about her is a contradiction... The very essence of what she is, a Succubus with the heart of a human, she loves so completely, but there's that darkness always lurking... What if Hades created Bo, not just to bring about his return to our realm, but also as a weapon to defeat the Ancients?"
"I don't think I'm going to be of much help to you here Tamsin," he said with a small smile, "but I know someone who might be."
The look of obvious confusion on Tamsin's face caused Trick to smile again.
"My daughter, Aife." he said.
"Aife that no one has seen since she escaped from Taft Industries after Bo and I went there to find Dyson?" Tamsin asked, "that Aife?"
"Before your rebirth a spell was cast on everyone who knew Bo, causing us to forget her," Trick said, "as far as any of us were concerned she never existed..."
"I remember Kenzi telling me something about that... Something about a card being the only thing left at the Dal..." Tamsin said, her eyebrows furrowed as she spoke.
"Aife remembered..." Trick continued, "she came to see me one night, blaming me for her losing her daughter... I obviously had no idea what she was talking about... We fought... The spell was then broken, causing me to remember everything... Everything that I had done to my daughter, every time I had failed to protect her and also Bo..."
"Where is she Trick?" Tamsin asked.
"You have to try and understand, her mind is broken..." Trick started to say.
"Where is she?" Tamsin asked again.
"There's a facility, owned by the Light..." he said with a sigh, "she needed medical treatment after her visit..."
"You physically hurt your own child?" Tamsin asked, her disbelief evident in her voice.
"She would've killed me, given the chance," Trick replied, "I felt I had no choice."
"There's always a choice..." Tamsin said.
Trick fought to keep the smile from his face, as Tamsin realised what she said. As a Valkyrie her duty was to kill, to maim, not to look at the other options.
"She may be able to help you with what you want to know," Trick said, "If anyone knows what Hades has planned for Bo, it will be Aife."
"Then take me to see her." Tamsin replied, it wasn't a request.
x-x-x
Trick lead Tamsin down a long corridor, at the end of the corridor was a single door. One of the many security guards unlocked the door.
"I think it'll probably be best if I go in there alone." Tamsin said to Trick, "if she tries to kill you again I don't think I'd stop her..."
Trick nodded a little as Tamsin walked towards the door and took a deep breath before she opened it. Walking into the room she saw Aife sitting on the floor surrounded by drawings. From where she was standing Tamsin could see that the drawings were of Tartarus. Aife looked up as Tamsin closed the door.
"I'm not dead yet, you can't take me." Aife said.
"I'm not here to take you, Aife." Tamsin replied with a little smile, sitting down on the floor near the door. "I actually need your help."
Tamsin sat in silence as Aife studied her face, a hint of recognition in her eyes.
"I know you..." she said.
"We kinda met, at Taft," Tamsin replied with a little smile, "I was there with Bo."
"My Bo..." Aife said, her whole demeanor changing, "my daughter. Is she okay?"
Tamsin took a deep breath, fighting the emotions which had flooded to the surface as she saw in Aife's eye just how much she loved her daughter. Tamsin nodded a little.
"Don't lie to me Valkyrie." Aife said.
"She's okay," Tamsin said with a sigh, "her father sent her a gift, for her birthday, I was hoping you could tell me more about it."
"Her father..." Aife said, looking through the pictures on the floor, till she found one she was obviously looking for, she handed it to Tamsin, "he tried to take her from me, but I didn't let him. He can't have her."
Tamsin looked at the picture that Aife had handed her, it was a view of a room through bars. There was a man standing close to the bars, Tamsin couldn't see his face, in his arms he held a sleeping baby. Bo.
"Hades..." Tamsin said quietly.
"You work for him." Aife said, standing up and backing away from Tamsin, "he sent you here."
"No," Tamsin replied, also standing up, "I worked for him once, past tense. He hired me to find Bo..."
Tamsin figured that honesty was probably the best bet with Aife, she didn't want to have to hurt her if she decided to attack her.
"You betrayed him," Aife said, walking over to Tamsin slowly, "to save my Bo..."
She stood looking into Tamsin's eyes, like she could see all the answers to her questions there in the Valkyrie's ice green eyes.
"Your Bo..." Aife said quietly.
"She's not my Bo," Tamsin replied, "Lauren's, Dyson's maybe, but not mine..."
"Your heart belongs to her," Aife said with a little smile, "I may be certifiably insane, but I'm a Succubus."
Tamsin laughed a little as Aife sat back down on the floor amongst her drawings, she also sat back down.
"The gift..." Aife said, "what was it?"
"A music box," Tamsin replied, "made from adamantium..."
"The ore of the Gods..." Aife said, "They're here?"
"Zeus, Hera and Iris... Yes." Tamsin replied with a nod.
"Then it has begun." Aife said, "the end of the world as we know it... Have you ever survived the end of a civilisation, Valkyrie?"
"Not like this..." Tamsin replied, "not an end so complete."
"Bo must open the box, releasing her father," Aife said, confirming what Bo had already told her, " together they will destroy the Ancients. Darkness will flood the world... Mankind will bow to the Fae... The Fae will bow to the Gods... Side by side they will rein... Nothing but death and destruction... Darkness everywhere..."
"How do we stop it?" Tamsin asked, "can we destroy the Ancients without Hades?"
Aife laughed, it was probably the most spine chilling thing she had ever heard.
"We can't stop it," she said, "it is destined."
Tamsin didn't say anything, she just sat looking at Aife.
"I tried to save her, get her away from him," Aife said, recalling that day years ago, "I had the midwife take her, and run. I told her to give Ysabeau to a nice family, a couple who couldn't have kids, that could give her the life I couldn't... Human parents, away from the Fae world... Safe from Hades, from her grandfather... From anyone who would want to hurt her..."
Tamsin felt her heart burning in her chest.
"The only thing I could ever do for my daughter, and I failed her." Aife said.
"You didn't fail her," Tamsin replied, "don't ever think that. Your choice that day made Bo the woman she is, and I, for one, will be forever grateful for that..."
"Only family can destroy the Ancients..." Aife said, "including Hades..."
"You and Trick are Bo's family..." Tamsin replied.
"Her true family," Aife said with a smile, "Fitzpatrick and I are her blood, the connection she shares with her true family runs deeper than that. She must release Hades. Together they will destroy the Ancients. To destroy the Ancients, Bo must completely embrace who she is. She will need someone to ground her, to remind her who she really is... Only then will she be able to defeat Hades. Confine him back to the box, back to Tartarus... The box must be returned to Tartarus."
"Only the damned can enter Tartarus..." Tamsin replied, the realisation finally hitting her, "a soul condemned to Hel..."
She looked at Aife.
"What would you do to save my daughter?" she asked.
"Everything." Tamsin replied honestly.