Hello. This is the last chapter. I wanted to write a note up here because I think A/N's at the bottom ruin the impact of the ending? ANYWAY

Thank you all for sticking with me on this! Its really hard to stick to a multi-chap! *laughs* I hope you all had a fun time, and the ending was satisfactory. Please keep supporting me!

The first thing that Ivan did was call Matthew up to his chambers. He had seen the way the human slave looked at the gold rose Alfred had been fondling the day before, and he wanted to know why.

Matthew was trembling in the doorway in under a minute, the Troll servants knowing better than to defy Ivan more than necessary.

"Matthew…" Ivan said as soon as he saw the boy. He was seated on the edge of the bed, trying to transform his brittle grin into something more welcoming, but he could not. He did not want to, not badly enough. "Matthew, come in, sit down."

Unlike any of the others, who would have run from the room – they had, before, when Ivan had tried to make friends with the other humans – Matthew shivered, entered, and sat as far away from Ivan as he could.

Well, that would have to do.

"Matthew, you saw that rose that Prince Alfred was carrying, did you not?" Ivan asked, not bothering with niceties.

Matthew nodded quickly, jerkily, something shadowy covering his eyes.

"You recognized it, didn't you?" Ivan pressed. "I saw the way you looked at it. What was so special about it?"

Matthew looked terrified, as if someone had discovered a terrible secret of his. He bit his lip.

Ivan leaned closer, knowing that he was only exacerbating the problem, and knowing that he didn't care. "What. Is so. Special?" he repeated slowly.

Matthew closed his eyes, and murmured something under his breath.

"I can't hear you," Ivan told him cheerily. "Please speak up!"

"If I tell you, you can't tell the Troll Prince," Matthew repeated. "You can't; they'll go and look for him!"

Ivan blinked.

"I won't tell," he promised, momentarily non-plussed. "You have not noticed, perhaps, but the Prince and I do not get along."

And at that Matthew had the gall to ismile/i at him. So maybe the boy had not been afraid of Ivan at all, but rather what Ivan could ido/i. Well, that was certainly an odd thought.

"It belonged to the man that I lived with, before I came here," Matthew said softly, playing with the hem of his shirt. "It could be none other than his… I only hope that he is safe, now that someone else has his treasure."

Ivan frowned. "The question is how could Alfred get it, yes? That would be quite hard. I do not believe his blind man tale."

Matthew shrugged. "I don't know, I just worry…"

"Matthew! Damn it, Matt, that fucking prince has it! So help me you were iright/i that ipompinaio/i has all three!" A strident voice was swearing up and down the hallway, coming closer quickly, followed by two sets of footsteps. Matthew looked up in alarm, running to the door.

"Romano, stop, wait, I'm in here with –"

The other got to the door first, followed by a third, and Ivan found himself grinning, rather unhinged, at the other two humans of the castle, Romano and Roderich.

They saw him as well, Roderich going white as snow and Romano flushing deep red. They both bowed, jerkily, sending panicked glances at Matthew.

"I- I - shit, we didn't…" Romano stuttered.

"Come here," Ivan ordered. "What were you yelling about?"

Romano looked at Matthew helplessly, but Matthew only smiled a little and ushered him in the door. "Go on, I don't think he's gonna hurt us."

Ivan really hated people assuming that about him, but he decided to leave it. He crooked a finger at Roderich as well, who shuffled into the room.

"I – we - merda, it's just –" Romano tripped over himself. "That prick - I mean 'Prince'! - He has my… my… he has Antonio's tomato!" He stared at Matthew as he said it, looking desperate.

Matthew frowned deeply, putting a hand over his mouth.

"You were right!" Romano told him in a frenzy. "The monster has Antonio's tomato and he's got Francis' rose –"

"- and Gilbert's… bird creature…" Roderich interjected.

"- but none of them are here so I don't know what happened!" Romano finished, looking angry and scared and worried all at the same time. He caught his breath, realizing he had been swearing and yelling in the presence of the future husband of the Prince of the Trolls, and blanched. Ivan just smiled.

"I see. So all of you have seen something from your former life in the castle, yes?" Ivan asked. The three of them nodded quickly, and Ivan fingered his scarf.

"Only Eirik hasn't…" Romano muttered. "But they have him serving that idiot of a King so we haven't even got to talk to him."

Ivan frowned. "I see…" he repeated. "Thank you. Now leave."

Roderich and Romano hastened to do as they were told, but Matthew spared on last look back at Ivan.

"Do you know what is going on?" he asked hopefully.

"Nyet," Ivan told him. Even if the languages were not the same, a negative was a negative.

Matthew bit his lip and left.

Ivan sat back on the bed, knowing what he would do that evening.

"…quick, before dad finds out!" Alfred hissed out the door. Yao slipped past him and into the bedroom, brushing in with a sense of dread and desperation. Tonight was the last night to wake Ivan. He would be married in the morning, and Yao had nothing more to offer the Prince to spend a night with Ivan, anyway.

"You have until –"

Yao shut the door on him, unraveling the bandages from his eyes as he paced across the room, only stopping to undo a hard knot when his knees brushed the bed.

As he pulled his blindfold fully off, he was grabbed around the waist and pulled down onto something firm and warm and strong.

"Aiya – !" Yao's voice was cut off by a huge hand over his mouth. He finally blinked, and looked up – straight into a pair beautiful, insecure, human violet eyes.

The vibrating tension that was the only emotion keeping Yao running violently snapped and he suddenly could no longer hold his body up anymore, collapsing into the willing arms of his Baixiong. They pulled him closer to a broad and heaving chest, heavy hands running along his sides, through his hair, deep voice muttering his name over and over even as Yao whispered back.

"Baixiong…" he said aloud. "Ivan…"

Yao could feel Ivan smile against his hair. "You came for me…" Ivan wondered aloud, and Yao let him run his hands along his body, savoring the feeling. A bear could not do this.

"Of course I came," Yao muttered. "It's my duty. I ruined you, so I am here to save you." Strange, that he was to be a guardian, when he felt safe only now, in Ivan's arms.

"You ruined nothing, only… stained it, for a while…" Ivan told him, rubbing Yao's shaking back.

Yao could not believe that they were here, finally – Ivan awake, safe, human, holding him. He closed his eyes and clutched the man tighter, feeling him chuckle.

"My Jao has found me. That is all that matters," Ivan said in wonder. "But how…?"

"… it was long. I had many friends. They helped me… I bribed the loud one – the prince – into letting me spend a night with you, but he drugged you, and I thought… that I'd lose you." Yao bit his lip angrily, already having become so vulnerable and unwilling to fall apart anymore. But Ivan, next to him, made falling apart so ieasy/i, always had, from the moment Yao had laid eyes on the stupid, complicated, frightening bear.

Ivan grinned, his face breaking into the most natural and easy smile he had had ever allowed, since he had first been transformed into a bear. He shifted away from the wet spot on his bed, where he had poured out the sedative tea Alfred had pressed on him, and clutched Yao tightly. "Jao was afraid for me? Jao went to so much trouble to find me?" he asked in childlike glee. "Perhaps… Yao loves me…?"

"…" Yao muttered something into Ivan's neck. Ivan smiled, again, relishing how easy it was.

"I'm afraid I did not hear that," Ivan said happily.

Yao colored, pulling away. He looked down. "I only… well, of course, you idiot, aru!" he exclaimed. "I spent a week trekking across the entire world only… only to… only to think that you'd be married or dead, aru, or … I didn't sleep and I can't believe any of this is happening –"

Ivan shut him up with what Yao firmly believed to be his first kiss. It was warm and comforting and insistent everything he wanted. Was it naïve, after this, to believe in fate and soulmates and just ifitting/i? Probably. But all thoughts of logic and maturity fled out the window when a white bear knocked on his door.

Yao knew that Ivan loved him, too.

They pulled away, breathless and dizzy, and Ivan looked both smug and exhilarated, in equal measure.

"S-so… how do we get you out of here, aru…?" Yao stuttered, trying to calm his heart rate. He ran his fingers along the sash he had tied around Ivan's neck; it was still there, he hadn't taken it off.

Ivan looked down at Yao, wanting to laugh at how childlike and tactile he was, needing something to do at his hands. "I like the scarf; may I keep it?" he asked.

"O-of course!" Agreed Yao, caught off-guard. He was acutely aware that he was still sprawled across Ivan's lap. But neither of them moved to correct the situation.

Ivan was pleased. "Thank you. I like it, despite the stains."

Yao shrugged. "I can get them out for you, if you'd like. Tallow is not so difficult, if you know how. I just did not have time."

"You can remove it?" asked Ivan. "Isn't that difficult?"

Yao snorted. "How would you know, man-bear? I bet you have not done your own laundry in your whole life."

Ivan smiled sheepishly. "I live in a castle, yes? Not so much demand for that."

Then Ivan paused. Yao looked at him curiously, liking the innocent way his brow furrowed and the confusion on his face.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I think I might have a way to end the marriage…" Ivan said, frowning in concentration. "It… is a little dangerous – but you will trust me, won't you?" He looked at Yao with wide, piercing eyes, begging him.

Yao didn't need him to beg.

"I already told you, you great stupid creature – I spent a week traipsing across the entirety of the north looking for you! I don't care how dangerous it is anymore!" Yao huffed, smacking his arm. Ivan giggled, pulling Yao close to him again.

"Then we will challenge Alfred to a little contest, I believe," Ivan said.

"Contest?" Yao asked warily into the front of Ivan's shirt.

"You do not have to win, although I know that you will. We just need to make the Troll King angry," Ivan said, and would not explain further. Instead, he gathered Yao in his arms and scooted the both of them beneath the blankets. "We have some night left – sleep, Yao. You say you have not slept since I left. So sleep now and trust I won't go away."

Yao was comfortable and warm against Ivan's chest, but he was wary. "What about Alfred?"

"What about Alfred?" Ivan repeated. "Do not worry."

"But –"

Ivan looked down at Yao's red face, desperately trying to disappear under a blanket. He smiled softly, almost tenderly at the man. "You are worried about something else, yes?" Yao did not respond. "I have slept by your side every night for a year, and never once did I harm you. Trust me that I will not harm you now."

So much trust, Ivan was asking for. Yet, Yao had no trouble giving it.

And with that, he nuzzled quietly into Ivan's chest and they fell asleep, protecting each other.

When Ivan had woke, his first thought was of Yao, the mysterious beauty with a scalding fire. Or rather, he thought of Yao's eyes, as he had last seen them – sparking and golden and deep dark with a guilt and loss that he could not fathom properly –

And then he realized where he was, where he had laid for a week and three days. The castle of the Troll King.

In the bed of his son. On the morning of his wedding.

And, strangely enough, those eyes – no longer guilty or sad, but full of wonder and excitement – were still staring at him. They were smiling.

Ivan smiled back, realizing that he was not dreaming.

Then, the door burst open, and all hell broke loose.

"Hey, blind guy, you've got to – WHAT?"

Alfred actually screeched, the sound grating and startling; surely the entire castle was now awake.

"He's in bed with my husband – what are you doing with my husband?"

Ivan frowned – Alfred's choice of words was irking – and pulled Yao closer to him, as if to protect him from the wrath of Alfred. Alfred was ranting, and Ivan heard a commotion in the halls as the Trolls awoke and congregated toward the noise.

"And he's a human!" Alfred yelled, catching sight of Yao's wide and sleep-bleary eyes. By this time, there were guards at the door, surrounding Alfred and attempting to calm him. None of them seemed willing to enter the room, however. Yao quickly realized it was because of Ivan, and the look that he was giving the others.

The man in question set Yao gently on the bed and rose, still clothed from the night before, and glared at all of them. "I'd like to speak to the Troll King," he said. "It is about our wedding."

"No duh it's about the wedding, you cheater!" Alfred was in fine fettle, now. Ivan ignored him, helping a bewildered Yao to his feet and brushing out the door, past the guards and down the hall to where the King held court. None of the guards stopped him.

He kept a hand firmly around Yao's shoulder, and Yao struggled to keep up with his long strides. "Don't move so fast, aru," Yao muttered irritably.

"Would you rather ride on my back?" Ivan teased. Yao scowled and quickened his pace.

As Ivan burst into the reception hall, decorated in gold and blue for the wedding celebration, he was unsurprised to already find the Troll King there, perched on the edge of his impressive throne and staring at the commotion with impassive eyes beneath huge and ferocious eyebrows. King Arthur always seemed to know when something was about to happen.

"I would like to add a provision to my wedding," Ivan announced without preamble, glaring at King Arthur. Arthur glared right back, and the young, pale servant at his side – Eirik, if Ivan remembered correctly – looked distinctly nervous.

"I do not believe you have any right to make demands," Arthur returned imperiously. "You will marry my son, and that is that." At his words, the son in question stumbled into the room, panting and red-faced. Ivan looked at him with disdain. "And you will rescind this attachment to this… unfortunate creature you have by your side." King Arthur inclined his head contemptuously at Yao. Yao glared back.

"Surely, you would be up for a challenge?" Ivan asked, his brittle, courteous smile firmly back in place. "It should not be so hard, if you are truly so powerful."

King Arthur frowned, and Ivan knew he had hooked him. "What do you propose?"

"An easy task," Ivan said. "But without magic." Now King Arthur simply looked irate. "I do not think it is proper for me to marry another who cannot remove stains. So, I propose this – I will marry whoever can remove the tallow from this scarf."

And Ivan removed the scarf around his neck, holding it up for inspection. Yao rolled his eyes, realizing what had come to Ivan's mind the last night.

"Prince Alfred would not be doing your washing, in any case!" King Arthur snapped. "It does not matter whether or not he can –"

"Any one of your maids will do," Ivan interrupted smoothly, grin widening dangerously. "Or can no one do it?"

King Arthur frowned, but even Yao could tell he had already been goaded past the point of no return. "Fine! Call for Roderich!"

The slave – the human slave – had been listening at the door; they all had. Roderich immediately came forward, bowing to the King and then nodding at Ivan, differentially, but knowing what was to be done. He would help out, no matter what the strange human's plan was – anything to get back at his captor.

"Can you remove the tallow stain?" King Arthur demanded.

"I believe so," Roderich returned, eyes trained on the ground, but anyone could see his hackles rising, being talked to in such a way.

"Good. What do you need?"

"Just a tub of warm water, lye, and salt," Roderich replied. Yao could not help but smirk. Whether he knew it or not, Roderich was definitely doing it wrong.

Sure enough, a half a tub of water splashed on the throne room later, the stains had not budged, and had in fact worked themselves deeper into the fabric. Yao frowned, not liking what the water was doing to the fabric, but not saying a word. King Arthur was gripping the sides of his chair viciously, desperate and impatient all in one. Alfred just looked fascinated, as if he had never seen someone do laundry before. He probably hadn't.

Finally, Roderich wrung out the scarf, showing the stained fabric to all in witness. King Arthur was beside himself with rage, leaping out of the chair and calling: "Enough! This is a bloody farce, and I won't stand for it a minute longer."

Yao jumped at the sound, and the feeling of static electricity in the air, as if raw power was humming around him. The other humans in the room shifted nervously, as did a few of the trolls. But Ivan just smiled implacably and patted Yao's arm. "I believe that you have yet to have my chosen mate try, yes?"

Yao did not know whether to be embarrassed, pleased, or furious at Ivan's choice of words. Instead, he drew all of it aside and tried to act imposing, snapping at Matthew and Romano. "I need a table and a hot iron, as well as some blotting paper."

As the things were fetched, Yao wrung the scarf out, drying it as best he could. He really disliked the attention focused on him – laundry was not a grand production! After accepting a hot iron wedge from Romano, carefully wrapped on the handle with thick fabric, he put the scarf on the table between two pieces of blotting paper and began to iron it gently. It didn't take long before the tallow to work itself out of the fabric and stick to the paper, and before long the scarf looked practically as good as new.

Yao allowed himself a small smirk at a job well-done, and held up the scarf for inspection.

King Arthur actually growled. He looked rather dangerous.

Ivan smiled at him triumphantly. "So, this is the one I will marry yes?"

The electricity in the room ratcheted itself up another notch, and Yao's skin prickled. He felt tense and wary and knew that something, something soon, would snap.

"How dare you reject royal Troll blood in favor for of a common human?" Arthur raged.

"He is not common at all," Ivan assured cheerfully, moving to Yao's side and putting a protective arm around his shoulder. "Better than your barely-cultured, ignorant brat."

That did it.

The air in the room was sucked away in a vicious vacuum, but before anyone could move it rushed back in with a violent screech, hitting like a projectile, a wall – King Arthur had leapt to his feet, his eyes blazing and fingertips glowing. He was so angry that he lost control of his magic, and now it was wreaking havoc.

As the air hit, Ivan wrapped his whole body around Yao, standing firm as the thunderclap of suction hit the opposite wall of the chamber and shattered. A huge, gaping hole appeared, and shards of rock blasted from the gash.

People were screaming, running, the chaos was immediate and consuming. Arthur's skin was still glowing, but the fear was, in fact, not from him – the hole in the wall was so large that the entire structure was collapsing.

Ivan moved quickly. Yao realized, with some detachment, that he had been expecting this all along. Then, he was swept up into very strong arms, tossed over a shoulder, and carried out of the room. Yao knew he really ought not to be so exhilarated at being manhandled, but all that he could do was cover his head and pray they did not get hit with falling rocks.

He was vaguely aware of others, following them – peering up, he saw other humans; four of them. Ivan seemed to know them, and he led the way out of the crumbling castle, past screaming Trolls. They were ahead of them all; Ivan had planned this, and knew the exact route to leave the keep walls.

A harrowing crack echoed down the empty hall, then another. Yao saw Matthew's face twist in panic. Then another crack, and suddenly Yao was shoved between a hard surface and Ivan's shoulder as a roar shivered around him and the world went black.

When the dust cleared and Yao stopped choking on his own tongue, the light had still not returned. He was not thinking about the lack of light, however, but about the pain in his chest at the impact and the heavy weight atop him.

"Ivan?" Yao asked in a tight whisper. "Ivan?"

His panic was assuaged by a calm chuckle and a body rolling off him. "Yes, I'm right here. I believe the roof collapsed."

Surely enough, Yao's eyes began to adjust to the darkness and a pale trickle of light shone in from a very apparent gap that led to only open, grey sky.

They were pressed up against a wall, caught in a triangle made by the floor and the perpendicular, as well as a slab of ceiling that leaned precariously against them, forming a small pocket of safety. Yao pushed his way out from behind it, and gasped at what he saw.

It was nothing; nothing at all. Nothing but obsidian rubble, an ocean of it. The castle had completely imploded upon itself. Nothing was left, and no one.

Or perhaps not no one.

"Romano?" Matthew was yelling, folding out form his own position behind a stronger bit of wall.

"Che pallo, I'm right here!" Romano answered.

"Are you all unharmed?" Roderich asked, as he climbed into view as well.

"I have Eirik!" Matthew shouted, pulling the boy in question to his feet.

Their voices echoed eerily across the rock.

Yao's eyes swept through the landscape – a huge, desolate island home to nothing more than gravel and a few sturdy walls, the only reminders left that a castle once stood here. None of the trappings of the keep were visible – but neither were bodies. It was as if everything had disappeared into smoke. The Trolls were gone.

"What the hell, there's someone with a boat," Romano yelled. "They're on the beach!"

"Brother!"

The screamed words were the first Ivan ever heard uttered from Eirik, the personal slave to the king, and the boy immediately streaked across the uneven rocks, stumbling as he went, throwing himself into the arms of Orin. Orin was still, obviously shocked, but he folded his brother close into a crushing hug.

Yao smiled looking at the scene, as he felt Ivan snake a hand around his waist. "Orin promised that he would come back for me, aru, and here he is. We are going home."

"Home?" Ivan repeated, not quite understanding if the way Yao spoke of it was the same way he hoped.

"Yes, home," Yao returned. "You promised… you promised I would be your companion. You promised I would live with you. You owe me a cottage in the woods like the one that disappeared, and I expect to rebuild it with you, aru."

Ivan buried his face against Yao's hair, ignoring the dust and debris in it in favor of savoring this closeness, the closeness of the man who had truly rescued him and freed him of his enchantment.

Yao would not have any of that, the hidden smirking and tacit touches. He immediately turned around, yanked Ivan down by the scarf, and kissed him full on the lips.

The moon set in the west and the sun rose in the east and Yao was content to wander no longer.

And so, it ended happily ever -…

Well, you know.