Aria was whole
again. She was human, with memories and
a past. She could hear with her own
ears, and she could see with her own eyes.
She could see that old witch closing in on Ashtyn. She could see the others struggling, fighting
against the twisting and warping environment that threatened to swallow them
whole.
She could see Q, standing
there, frozen in fear, unable to fight.
She could see the pain he had been feeling all those years, and how it
paralyzed him.
She could hear Ashtyn
calling out to her, yelling for her to sing.
Aria didn’t think. She just opened her mouth, a familiar melody
passing from between her lips. She could hear the strength in her voice, and
feel the warmth of each note as it gained strength.
She closed her eyes,
letting the song take over, and she could sense the light from her heart
beginning to glow, spread out past her body, and into the Witch’s Throne
Room. She could hear that old witch
howling as the light began to destroy everything she had built. She could feel the power of that old, black
magic fade as the song from her heart over powered it, pushing it back into
whatever dark abyss it had come from.
***
Max watched as the cages
began to shatter. He rushed to Clare’s
side, catching her before she hit the ground.
She was warm and
alive. She was looking at him with her
very human, beautiful eyes.
He held her close,
kissing her cheeks, her forehead, her lips.
He was crying, but he didn’t care.
She was back. He had her back. That was all that mattered.
They didn’t speak. They just held each other, letting the
bright, warm light of Aria’s melody wash over them.
***
Kurt was on his feet,
brushing off the crystal dust from his now disintegrated cage. He could see Bobby in front of him, lying on
he floor, still naked from when he had been snatched in the shower.
He scooped his boyfriend
up in his arms, holding him next to him, shielding his naked body from the
erupting crystal around them.
When he had been taken,
Kurt had feared that he would never again get the chance to hold Bobby again,
but thankfully that wasn’t the truth.
They kissed as the light
surrounded them.
***
Q stood over his mother’s
huddled form. Ashtyn and Rita stood next
to him.
How quickly her power had
abandoned her. Her body was decaying
rapidly, her skin flecking away like bits of broken glass. Her mouth moved, her rotted teeth shattering
as she attempted to form words.
She was dying. Truly dying this time.
He wept for her. She had been turned into a monster, but
somewhere, deep inside that withered old husk was the woman who had loved him,
and raised him. There had to be some
part of the good women that remained, that used her magic to help others.
In moments his mother was
nothing more than dust.
“She’s at peace, Q.”
Aria’s voice made him turn.
She stood there,
smiling. He ran to her, hugging her, feeling
her warmth once more.
“You’re back.” He kissed
her.
“And now I must leave you
again.” Her eyes were sad, but she still wore a smile. “I have been gone too long, Q. My body has
become a part of this place. I cannot
return to the mortal realm with you.”
“But…” He tried to speak,
but one finger gently placed on his lips made him stop.
“Know Q, that I am free.”
She kissed his cheek. “I’m no longer the
girl in the orb, or the singing bird in a cage.
I am free.”
He wanted to pull her
close, to pull her back into his world, but he knew that he couldn’t. He needed to let her go. He knew that she was no longer a prisoner of
his mother, that she could be at rest, and truly know peace. He couldn’t keep her locked away, his little
songbird. Then he would be no better then the monster his mother had become.
He kissed her one last
time, letting the feeling of her lips against his burn into his brain.
Then she was gone.
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