The final chapter of the Elementals series. It's been a long road, but I hope that you enjoyed it. Sorry it took so long to finish. I don't own Harry Potter, only the original characters and storyline.

Severus couldn't fathom why Lando wanted to speak with him Sure the two of them had come to an understanding and ever created what one might call a friendship, but it was unusual to ask him to meet outside of Severus' classroom.

It was even more unusual to ask him to meet in the room of Requirement.

Severus walked the hallways until he found where the Room usually was and waited. The door appeared and Severus sighed before walking in.

"Alright Lando, what was it you needed?" Severus said before looking up and realizing that something was wrong.

Lando was not in the room, but Airiala was.

She was tied to a chair her mouth gagged, looking positively livid.

Severus moved forward and quickly un-gagged her. "What happened?"

"It's a trap!"

Severus' eyes widened before he turned and saw all three Elementals standing on the other side of a glass wall, barring him and Airiala from the only way out.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"You two have been avoiding each other," Lando said. "So, we set this up so you two can talk."

"We aren't letting you out until you have talked through everything," Raina said firmly.

Pyro, at least, looked ashamed. "Sorry, I couldn't stop them."

"Guys, this isn't funny or appreciated," Airiala said, her voice low and angry. "Let us out right now!"

"No," Raina said firmly.

"Something is going on here," Lando said. "We've noticed that something is different." Airiala tensed up Severus noticed, but her face remained angry. "We may not know what it is, but we are pretty sure it has to do with some unresolved issues between the two of you, so get to talking."

Severus narrowed his eyes at the trio before walking over to untie Airiala. She stood from the chair and glared at the other three Elementals before turning to Severus.

"They're serious," she said. "We have to talk." Airiala took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "there is something I've been needing to talk to you about anyways."

Severus narrowed his eyes. Airiala suddenly looked very nervous, like one of his students he had just caught skipping class.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes tight. "I'm pregnant."

To say that Severus was surprised would have been an understatement. He heard the other three Elementals gasp in surprise themselves at the news but he just stared at her.

Pregnant? Airiala?

He looked over her then, really looking at her. Lately he had avoided doing so because he had wanted her too much and was hoping that the feeling would subside a bit if he didn't look at her.

Now that he did, he noticed things he hadn't before. She was a little rounder in the stomach and she had a glow about her cheeks that she didn't before.

"How far along are you?"

"Almost four months."

Calculating back, that was about the time the two of them has slept together in that one passion-filled night. Severus moved to the chair Airiala had previously been occupying and sat down.

Airiala looked at Severus as he took the news of her pregnancy much better than she anticipated. He hadn't yelled or accused her of anything. He also hadn't asked if the child was his or not.

She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Neither noticed that the other three Elementals had left the room, effectively allowing them the freedom to escape.

"How long have you known?"

"Since I got back and Poppy re-examined me, right before I returned to my own room."

He looked up at her, anger in his eyes, but also sadness.

"Would you have ever told me about my child?"

He knew it was his, he accepted it. It filled Airiala with such relief that he didn't doubt her after the way she spurned him back then. Then his words hit her and she frowned.

"Yes," she said truthfully. "I've been trying to figure out the best way to tell you, but you seemed to be ignoring me and the timing never seemed right."

Ignoring her? He thought back and realized that he had been doing just that. He couldn't look at her and not want her. Even now he still did. He had thought she didn't want him, like she had told him before the battle.

Lando had said that Airiala and Severus could be together. Airiala never seemed interested in Lando in that way and Airiala, even after they slept together, still showed signs of being attracted to him, despite her words of indifference.

Was it possible that her words then were to push him away for some reason? Was there something they were missing between them?

"Airiala, do you want to have this child?"

Airiala's eyes flew to his so quickly that he thought she might have hurt herself. Her eyes were filled with shock at his question.

"Of course I do," she said, her hands covering her stomach in a protective gesture. "How could you ask such a question?"

"I'm a man you said that you didn't want," he said, her eyes widening at his words, sadness filling them. "Why would you want to have a child with me when you don't even want me?"

Airiala's eyes filled with tears. She didn't cry often, but when she did Severus wanted nothing more that to pull her into his arms and hold her. He took a couple steps towards her, but didn't lift his arms to embrace her.

"Please explain it to me Airiala," he said softly. "I need to understand."

Airiala took a deep breath. "I can't," she said firmly. "If I try to explain it to you I could accidentally blurt it out and I have to think of this child now, not just myself."

Severus took a deep breath. "Blurt what out?"

"The Ultimate Truth."

Severus froze. It was true that he wanted to know what that truth was and why they seemed surprised that Airiala was still around after saying it. But she seemed almost terrified of revealing it.

"Are you scared?"

Airiala nodded. "The Ultimate Truth has been the cause of death for many other Air Elementals before me." Severus took a deep breath. Airiala used the Ultimate Truth, knowing that it might kill her? "The fact that I'm alive must be because the power sensed the child within me and chose to protect both of us."

"You don't sound sure about that," he said.

Airiala looked up at Severus. "I'm not, but the only other explanation I already know can't be true. There isn't any way." Airiala's eyes filled with tears and this time Severus didn't hold back. He pulled her into his arms and let her cry on his chest.

She didn't struggle as he thought she might, instead she leaned into him, her hands resting on his chest.

Severus didn't know what the other explanation could be that Airiala had already dismissed.

Honestly, he didn't care anymore.

Ultimate Truth or not, Airiala was the only woman he wanted. Lily was gone, he had accepted that a long time ago. He wouldn't ever forget her, but he could move past her.

As Severus held Airiala he could feel her slightly rounded stomach and couldn't help the joy he felt at knowing that she was pregnant with his child.

"I love you, Airiala," he said softly.

She froze in his arms. She pulled back and looked up into his eyes, her own filled with surprise. "What did you just say?"

Severus took a deep breath. This was the most awkward he had felt since he was teenager. "I said that I love you, Airiala. I want to marry you, if you'll have me?"

Severus watched Airiala's face as the words connected with her, as she realized just what he was saying to her.

Suddenly it was like a light had gone off in her and she started to shine brighter than he had ever seen before. Every part of her seemed to glow as she smiled at him. Even her skin felt warmer.

She jumped up, wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing his lips against his.

Severus wrapped his own arms around Airiala's body, holding her against him as tight as he dared with her pregnant stomach between them. It had been too long since he had last kissed her, too long since he had last held her like this.

She pulled back and looked Severus in the eyes.

"I love you too, Severus," she said softly, her gray eyes sparkling. "It's always been you. I was just too afraid to hurt you or be hurt by you. Then I learned the Ultimate Truth and what it was capable of and I couldn't tell you because if you rejected me then if would have killed me. I hoped but never imagined that the real reason I was spared from death was because you loved me too."

Her arms wrapped tighter around him as she hugged him close, her joy infections. "Of course I'll marry you."

Severus didn't understand most of what Airiala had been going on about when she was talking, but he understood every emotion she said it with. She loved him, only him, and she wanted to marry him.

It was only when they pulled apart that they noticed that they were in the center of a cyclone. A cyclone filled with fire, water, wind and earth.

They held each other as the cyclone continued to swirl, slowing down and separating until the four elements were each alone.

Airiala and Severus looked around the room. There was a small tornado of wind, a bubbling pile of water, a large flame and a constantly moving pile of dirt.

"We are the pure elemental forms."

Four voices, in perfect harmony, spoke as one. It was beautiful, yet haunting.

"We have been traveling the world in human forms for centuries, searching for any shred that human life was valuable. We have seen countless wars, countless deaths and countless suffering. There was aspects of human life that we did not understand, those being love and heartbreak.

"So, as human life was starting to shrink the world with colonies and discoveries, we Elementals decided to test the human race with the Ultimate Truth. Air was chosen as the sacrifice as only Air was able to be a true test. While Earth, Fire and Water could all travel the globe, only Air could travel uninhibited and untouched. If the Air Elemental could fall in love, wanting to remain in one place and change Air's very nature then perhaps we could start to understand the concept of love.

"What we didn't expect was that as we created the Ultimate Truth to find love, we would also create the Ultimate Lie consumed by hate. We also did not foresee the damage heartbreak would do to the Air Elemental, causing such a reaction that the host for the power would die.

"When we realized these things, we were too late and unable to stop the Ultimate Truth from becoming so powerful. So with each new incarnation the Truth was hidden from the new Elementals, at least until on them discovered it's existence on their own.

"As time passed we noticed that Ultimate Truth had a stronger power that could only be unlocked if the power of Truth, love, was returned to the Air Elemental. We prayed for the day it would happen.

"Then you, Airiala, met Severus Snape."

Airiala looked up at Severus and he down at her. It was starting to make more sense than it ever had before why the Ultimate Truth was so hard to pin down and why it was the only piece of information in Elemental history that was not passed down generation to generation.

The wind tornado moved forward before swirling into the image of a woman neither Airiala nor Severus recognized.

The woman moved to Severus and smiled at him. "I knew that moment we met," she said, her voice light and breezy, just like a spring day, "that you would be the one to end the cycle. That, this time, the Air Elemental would not meet with an early death."

"Why me?"

She smiled before placing her hand on Severus' chest, right over his heart. "Because you already understood the power of heartbreak and survived stronger than ever because of it. You were the first that the Air Elemental had fallen for that had known that pain. While the others were just as brave, smart and strong as you are, none of them had the depth of emotion and conviction that you do."

Severus didn't know what to say to that. It was true that his love for Lily had been unrequited and he had been saddened and angry to hear of her marriage to Potter, but he never imagined that, as a result, he would be able to save Airiala now.

The woman moved back and shifted back into the wind tornado.

"We are now able to see the grand power that love can have when returned. We can now continue to do as we always have and the Ultimate Truth and Ultimate Lie will fade naturally from Elemental history. Continue to be our source, Airiala, just as your child will learn of the wind as you did."

Airiala gasped and held her stomach. Her child was going to be the next Air Elemental. The Ultimate Truth would disappear and then would be no fear of the Air Elemental passing away from a broken heart ever again.

Like a curse finally broken after all this time.

"Thank you," Airiala said, although she didn't know what she was thanking them for.

Slowly each of the elements disappeared until only Air was left.

"Take care Airiala and Severus. You never know when we may need to call upon you again."

Then the tornado also vanished, leaving Severus and Airiala alone in the room once again.

"Is that why you didn't want to tell me the Ultimate Truth?" Severus asked. "You were afraid I would reject you?"

Airiala smiled at Severus. "When I saw you on the battlefield, passed out from the hit you had just taken, I was terrified that you would be gone from me. That pain filled me deeper than anything so I said that Ultimate Truth then. I never imagined that Harry would have heard me nor would I have realized that the reason I was able to wield the power of all the elements was because you also loved me. I thought it was just a fluke. Then I learned about the baby and thought that it was protecting he or she instead.

"I was terrified that you would reject me because I had already done the same to you. Plus, I knew of your love of Lily Potter and thought that there was no way that I would ever be able to compete with a memory. Then I was scared to say anything because I knew if you did reject me then it would kill me and this precious life I carry as well."

Severus cupped Airiala's cheek. "I will never cause you to doubt me again," he said. "Lily was a first love but you are a true love. Both are special and I wall always carry both with me, but only one comes first."

He leaned down and kissed her softly before pulling back and looking deep into her eyes.

"Perhaps we should find the others and let them know that their meddling succeeded yet again."

Airiala laughed. "I don't know. They kept locking us up together when they meddle. Perhaps we should keep this to ourselves for a while and see where else they decide to trap us."

Severus couldn't help the smile that covered his face at her words. "Perhaps we should give him a taste of their own medicine."

Airiala smiled. "I like the way you think, Professor Snape."

Her pulled her into his arms. "Thank you, Mrs. Snape."