Hey, guys. I'm really sorry about not updating anything for so long; the truth is, my laptop was ruined. A full cup of water was spilt on it (Thankfully it was turned off) but it wouldn't turn on again. My dad spent about three days straight rescuing my hard drive and my files before sending it back to the makers. If he didn't do that for me, I would have lost everything for the second time. It was a couple weeks before he implanted my stuff onto the family computer, and then life got crazy with school, and I've been editing spellings, this that and the other, etc. the point is, I'm sorry and I hope you can forgive me. This series is quickly winding down and then next (And final) one will start soon, featuring Gabi's youkai form! XD If you really want to flame me, I guess I deserve it.

Chapter 32

For the Love of His Daughter

Weakly, Gabrielle fell over on the ground. Morpheus was also exhausted; he knelt, breathing hard. Even being near his natural element was not enough to strengthen him. The natural energy of the world was beyond his grasp as long as the Rods causing it were not his. His abilities had atrophied while he had his followers to do everything for him. He needed the Rods.

Hiei struggled to his feet, bleeding from his mouth. "Hiei… stay down…" Gabrielle said.

"And let that freak finish us off? I don't think so." He growled back.

"I can't heal you! You have to rest!!"

"If we both stay here, I'll die anyway." He argued, yanking her up.

"You can't run in your condition, Hiei-"

"Quiet, onna, I know what I'm doing." He picked her up like a half-empty sack of flour over his shoulder. He leapt up the rocky walls of the cove, leaving their foe behind. Hiei made it as far as the city, crossing the two miles in less than thirty seconds. His strength gave out in the middle of the road and he fell; Gabrielle fell a short distance away from him. Blood gushed from his mouth and he collapsed.

Gabrielle struggled to muster any strength she had left. She sighed in defeat and lay still. A dull hum filled her ears and grew louder; like an engine. Two motorcycles blazed up beside her and stopped. "Child, wake up!" her father's voice cried, slapping her cheek with his hand. She opened her eyes weakly, "No ... strength." she mumbled. Kurama and Yusuke did what they could to help Hiei; Kurama took off his long sash and wrapped it tightly around his ribs. The little Koorime coughed up more blood, but he could breath easier.

Daren's worried eyes softened, "Its all right, pup, you did fine."

"No!" She breathed hastily, "Still need to fight! Still... alive!"

"He's still alive?" Yusuke cried. The ground under him began to shake, the glass from all the buildings around them shattered. "Earthquake?!"

"No, worse," Kurama replied. "Look!" off in the distance, the mountain peak glowed red and shot sparks into the air. Soft, snowy blackness rained down on them. "Ash! We have to leave or the air will kill us!" Weather sirens blared in the streets as the island shook violently. The ground beneath them cracked and split, ripping a hole into the cavern beneath the island. The stretch of concrete tilted and fell with them on it; they landed a hundred meters down, half cushioned in hot water, which began to recede at an alarming rate. "He's pulling all of the water out from under the island! It's going to cave into the volcano's roots!" Daren cried in disbelief.

Kuwabara propped Gabrielle up while Yusuke gave her the last of her thermos of coffee. She stood, facing the coast, watching for her foe. Her reiki was still gone, but she could stand. "We have to get that Rod back in the Gate."

"We have to get rid of him first, Gabi." Daren said, pointing to the figure rising up from the sea. Her mind raced, trying to form a plan. Morpheus had caught his second wind, and was going to drown them all, or force them into the boiling fissure below. "The Calvary has come!" a high voice shouted. Botan swooped out of the sky into the blazing heat. "I came to help!" she said, hovering next to the group on her oar. "Koenma forbade me from coming, but I put my foot down!" she giggled. Gabrielle's mind hatched a plan.

"Daren, Give me the Rod!" she said.

"What? Absolutely not!"

"I have a plan! Give it to me!" she snatched it away from her foster-father. "Botan, fly me to the Gate!" the blonde hopped on her oar, standing up on the paddle. The ferry girl zoomed up the cliff face; Gabrielle opened her mind to the power source in her hands, and for the first time in her life, she felt frail.

This was part of the universe that has always been and would endure forever until the unmaking of the world. She felt the overwhelming, unlimited reign of the strength of a god and she hated it! She had to put it back. Mortals were never meant to command the composition of the universe. The Rod of Ivory cast its spell, turning night to day. The tide shifted and receded and Morpheus fell from his perch. "Grab him!" she shouted down to the others. Botan let her down in front of the Gate, but a jet of gas blew her away. The ferry girl was forced back and spiraled downwards.

Gabrielle pulled the doors to the Gate shut and set the key into the lock. No longer in her control, the tide rolled back and shook the island's roots. Morpheus was held in Daren's spell, defeated. The earth shook again and the fissure that Daren had found the first time ripped open even further. The perch the Gate stood on cracked and crumbled; it fell into the liquid rock below. The Gate itself was not destroyed, it could never be, but it was no longer reachable by human hands; it and its mate, the Gate of Horn was both buried in liquid stone.

The ground caved in and exploded under Gabrielle's feet; she was bombarded with loose stones and knocked out. Lava poured down the mountain, burning up the island from beneath and above. She fell backward, tumbling a ways down the mountain before stopping on a perch-like level. The jut of rock was for or five meters long and reached up hill, keeping any lava from immersing it. Her right arm hung off the edge lifelessly. She sighed, causing a small cloud of dust to swirl around. With a groan, she cracked her eyes open. A burning scene of red and orange surrounded her, giving off immense amounts of heat. Her hair, soaking as it was, fluttered against the rising heat waves. Her vision began to blur as a flying shadow leapt up to her. She closed her eyes.

A pair of arms lifted her up, making her feel weightless…

Like she was flying…

Soft cotton…

Gentle hands…

Botan, who was stronger then she looked, managed to hold Gabrielle on her oar and steer back down the mountain at the same time. Daren took her from Botan and laid her on the ground, seemingly unaware of the fissure that ripped open the street two blocks away. Ashes and sparks rained down on them, sulfur and other poisonous gases were filling the air. "Koenma, GET US OUT OF HERE!!" Yusuke roared into is communicator. The shimmering edges of a circle began to appear in the air beside them.

Daren was as calm as thunder before it strikes; as the eye of a hurricane; as a dying tiger before his final battle with all the fierceness burning in his heart. "No if we all leave, he'll get away." He muttered.

Gabrielle suddenly realized what he wanted to do. "Dare-" he silenced her with one finger to her mouth.

"My child, you know what I am about to do. I have to give you something, the most important thing I possess; this key." He pulled a silver object from his pocket on a chain and looped it around her neck. "With these final words, I must leave you all."

"Daren-!" she cried.

"Hey," Yusuke interjected, "What do you mean leave us?!"

The were-wolf hanyo kissed the girl's forehead, "I love you, my daughter. I never regretted dedicating my self to you. Goodbye." He waved his hand for his final spell and the troop flew backwards towards the opening portal. "Daaaaaareeeeeeen!" she cried, reaching out to him. The portal opened and they fell through. The circle closed and a blast of heat was cut off. The five were on the floor of Koenma's office, surrounded by papers that were sullied by the ash that covered the five. The all-seeing view screen showed the island breaking up, lava spewing up and out in all directions. The screen showed a close-up of the sorcerer and the dream-weaver. Daren held the deceiver in a spell, fighting him to the last.

Morpheus struggled against the magic that held him, but the were-wolf's spell was fueled by emotions, not reiki, and held firm. "Say goodbye," Daren laughed; he turned and smiled softly, wanting his daughter's last vision of him to be good. Looking directly into the view screen, he knew it was there, and the screen cutout, showing a static-filled view of the entire island crumbling, melting, tumbling into the sea. Hoards of ships swarmed like ants to get away from the island. The sun had crept over the horizon, bathing the fiery destruction on a glorious golden light, like the Fire that created all fires. The glittering ocean around it was too much to look at and they turned their eyes away, blinking away lingering spots.

Gabrielle, too weak to move much more, let out a soft, "No!". She had moved towards the screen, but fell weakly to her knees. Yusuke held her still, tears streaking his face, "It's too late, Gabi! He gave his life for all of us! We can't go back, he's gone."

"No, Yusuke, he can't be gone," Kurama, said, "He gave only his body; if his spirit were dead; the portal would not have closed to protect us."

Crushed, the blonde cried herself out in the spirit detective's familiar hug.