A Final Gift of Peace

Previous Chapter - Pain of Loss

The Curse Of Not Knowing
After being swept away from many of the others, Fiona now stood in what looked like a large storage room that had been emptied of supplies do to the recant war with Nature Hunter. She found herself somewhat liking the quiet, however she was unable to relax because of what was going on next to her. Even since she had pulled her away from the others and found them somewhere private, Jaina had been tapping her peg leg on the floor while leaning on the wall opposite the door. Her pace had increased more and more as time went on, apparently growing impatient.

Fiona had considered starting a conversation, but found the idea of talking with her now somewhat unnerving. It was like standing in a room with a bomb, fearing that any action would set her off. Just as she had worked up the courage to say something, the door creaked open and Konoha strolled in with Kat following a bit later. A vein popped in Jaina's forehead as she smiled at Konoha, pushing off the wall towards him. "Hey there Ogre. You didn't forget about me did ya'?"

"Much as I tried to, it beats the punishment I would've gotten from you..." He said shuddering before turning over to Kat, "Alright you two, it's time to clear the air on this situation, we both have been in your positions before." Konoha said as the sisters looked at the two older people in the room.

"Hold up Ogre, first thing's first." Jaina interrupted, pushing Konoha aside and holding out her hand. "Kat, give me the book." Kat backed away a little, beginning to feel cornered. "I'm not asking again..." Jaina took another step forwards. "Cough it up runt."

"No." Kat responded flatly. "I'm throwing this damn thing in the ocean on the way back home. Until then nobody's getting hold of it. Not even you Jaina..." She moved the book just under her chin, still backing away from everyone. "It's the only way to be sure nobody else get's caught up in one of mom's stupid traps again."

"The hell it is." Jaina replied impatiently, rubbing her forehead over her eye patch. "What? I got to fight ya' for it? Is that what you want?" She rested her hand on her hip and grinned at Kat. "Because even without half my limbs, I'd be willin' to bet I could still kick your scrawny butt."

"Ms. Jaina, maybe it'd be better if I..." Fiona was about to say, but was stopped by Konoha, who shook his head. He knew that the only way someone like Kat would ever listen to reason was that it be used by force, something she had to witness to understand what was going on with her sister.

Shadows began pealing off the floor around Kat while she hunched over the book. "I don't want to fight you Jaina. Just let me do this..."

"Well to bad runt." Electricity began to ark from Jaina's body, and Konoha pulled Fiona away from the both of them. "Because I'm getting sick of watching you mope around." Lightning jumped from Jaina's outstretched hand, carving through the floor at Kat's feet.

Kat thought about striking back, but one look at Fiona took the fight right out of her. She spun on her heel for the door just in time to see Raven enter behind her, blocking the way out. She tried to fade away with her Shadow Magic but the book was knocked from her hands by a sudden burst of Raven's flames. Still knee deep into her own shadow, Kat watched the book slide over to Fiona, who kicked it in Jaina's direction just as Kat remerged. "No, don't!" Kat cried as Jaina stopped the book with her peg leg and bent down to it. Kat jumped at Fiona, shielding her from whatever was coming as Jaina flicked the cover of the book open.

Kat snapped her eyes shut, not wanting to see what would happen as both she dragged Fiona to the floor. She waited for something, anything, to happen; sure that any minuet something would tare through them all. She heard a page flip, then another, and another. She heard something hit the ground next to her head and immediately tightened her grip around Fiona, thinking this was it.

Kat waited for a moment, until she finally had the courage to open her eyes again. She looked back to see Raven's foot only a few inches away, his burning eyes staring down at both she and Fiona. There was no grin on his face for the first time she could remember, just what she could only assume was his version of pity. "All this because of some moldy old book? Wow..."

"It would seem that you were wrong Kat, it turned to be nothing more than a book" Konoha said as Fiona managed to get herself out of her sisters grip, going towards Jaina as she took the book from her hand, looking through some of the pages to see what was so special about it.

Kat slowly rolled over to watch Fiona flip through the pages, growing tense with each new turn of a page. "No way..." Fiona was about half way through the book by now, and Kat rolled over to lie on her stomach. "There has to be something... There has to."

Jaina took the book back just as Fiona reached the last page, dangling it in front of Kat's face by the cover. "Afraid not runt. You got all worked up over nothing." She suddenly snapped the book closed, sending a small cloud of dust into Kat's face. "Still not convinced? Here..." Jaina stood up and handed the book to Raven "Torch it, as you would say."

Raven glanced at the book, then Kat, then back at Jaina. "Uh... You sure about this?"

"You pick now of all times to question weather to light something on fire?" Jaina snapped, another vain popping in her forehead. "Are ya' freakin' kidding me!?" Everyone backed away a little, fearing another outburst. "Light it up pyro!"

"No, don't do that!" Fiona said quickly grabbing it as she looked at Jaina, who showed anger as she was defied yet again. "I don't understand why she did it, but Sabriel kept this book for a reason. We can't just burn it, we already proved it's not dangerous." She said looking back to Kat as she stepped forward towards her.

"It might not be..." Kat rolled up to sit against the wall, unable to believe what she was seeing. "But she still did something to you Fiona. I don't know what it was, but it can't have been good."

Jaina took a deep breath to calm herself, then leaned back against the wall again. "Look runt, I looked over the doctors notes. The shrimp's as healthy as ever. You're all battered and bruised, but the only thing different now is that her Lacrima's toast."

"Sis, what she did to me was something she never did to me in the entire time I was born: help me... She gave me my life back, no more pain, no more... I don't know why, but she showed kindness..." Fiona said looking towards her sister as she walked towards her, holding the book before getting to her knees and attempting to get Kat to see her.

"Just like that?" Kat asked, pushing herself against the wall behind her. "Just in that one second, she felt bad for us? Do you really think that Fiona?" Many of the others sighed, but Jaina was the only one to speak.

"You know what runt? Maybe your right; maybe in the end, she didn't change." The others slowly looked up at her, though Jaina didn't miss a beat. "People can weird things when they don't have time to think, right? Maybe the pressure of being attacked got to her. Maybe losing an arm to Leo and Raven's combo attack gave her the ultimate head rush. Maybe the nine inch blade sticking into her stomach sent her into shock or something. Or maybe she legitimately felt bad about everything she had done..." Jaina stepped up and cupped Kat's jaw in her hand, leaning down to her level. "But it doesn't anymore, she's dead. We'll never really know what her intentions where now." Kat went wide eyed for a moment as Jaina released her grip and stood back up. "But how you chose to remember it.. That's probably going to affect you for the rest of your life, runt."

Kat shuffled along the wall away from the others, slowly getting up to her feet and supporting herself on the wall. "I-I need to do something." Kat made for the door, pushing past Raven on the way and disappearing a moment later. "Sorry, I got to go..."

Fiona looked back at Jaina, glaring before she ran after Kat, hoping that she would catch up to her before she would try anything stupid as Konoha stood next to Jaina, putting his hand on her shoulder, "Those two will really be something else in the future." He said looking at her.

"Yeah, well I'm to pissed off to care right now." Jaina huffed, shaking his hand off her shoulder and placing her hand on her hip. "Life's way too short to act all paranoid and spiteful like that." The stump of Jaina's shoulder suddenly began to ach, and she softened her expression a little. "Just look at what happened between me and Isa. We get into some stupid fight and the first thing she hears about me in two years is that I lost half my limbs..." She began rubbing her shoulder, thinking back on the event.

After watching Fiona disappear down the hallway, Raven looked back at Jaina with his usual evil smile. "What's the mater boss lady? Starting to feel regret's in your-."

"If you say old age I swear to god you'll be swimming home." Jaina interrupted, returning to her annoyed tone almost immediately. She grabbed Konoha by the arm and pushed past Raven on her way out the door. "Come on Ogre, I need a back rub."

"Fine, might as well help you out." Konoha said as he followed Jaina all the way to her room. Raven chuckled a little, stopping when his stomach began to hurt, and left as well. Heading out to meet up with the rest of his team.

Beyond the Grave
Kat ran through the guild, pushing her way past just about everyone she came across. Fatigue set in fairly quickly and her many wounds began to ach, but she kept her pace as she descended through the guild. Fiona kept up with her, book in hand, trying to make sure that she didn't lose sight of her, following her around most of the hallways of the guild, wondering where it was Kat was leading her to.

If Kat was aware of Fiona following her, she didn't show it. Even as they sailed down another flight of stairs into the medical ward. Kat stopped abruptly to look for the the head doctor, while Fiona stayed back out of the way. She spotted him and his assistant Tori, apparently having returned with Jaina, providing medical care to a number of civilians and rushed to his side. "Where's mom?"

Kolter looked up, apparently taken by surprise by Kat's sudden appearance. "Where's who?" He thought for a moment, piecing everything together in his head, then raised a hand to point at a set of stairs leading down another level. "We had to move her to make room for the injured. Why?" Kat turned away without answering, causing Kolter to become concerned about her intentions. "Hey, what are you doing?" His numerous patients stopped him from following after them, however he gritted his teeth as he watched the two women disappear from sight. "Oh boy, I'm in trouble for this."

There wasn't much to the lower level, just tiles covering the floor, walls, and ceiling, and a massive door across from the staircase. Large back letters along the wall spelled out 'MORGUE', and the sisters could feel a slight chill emanating from behind the door.

"What is this suppose to prove Kat? She's gone, what else do you need to see from this..." Fiona said with a worried tone in her voice, never seeing her sister like this before.

Kat ignored her and pulled on the large doors handle. It was slow to move at first, but it soon creaked opened and a wave of frigid air washed over the sisters. Kat stepped inside the dimly lit room, looking over the numerous smaller doors that lined the walls. They all looked exactly the same save for a single number plate, however Kat felt herself being drawn to one in particular. It was something she couldn't quite explain, but she soon forgot about her feeling when she drew the door opened and a shelf slid out with the body of Sabriel Gulwick resting on top.

"Okay Kat, why are you doing this? Are you so filled with hatred and hurt that you're going to hit an already dead body? Examine her and see if she left any traps? Look at yourself! You're beginning to turn into the very thing you hated in Mom!" Fiona said in her own shock as she realized what she had just said.

"What? No!" Kat said in disbelief. "How could you think that? I'm nothing like her!"

"I don't know who you are Kat! For the past few days, all you've been doing is rejecting everyone, thinking we're all under some kind of spell, all because you refuse to accept that for once in her life, she tried to make amends... I trusted you with my entire future Kat. Why don't you trust me when I say she cured me?" Fiona told her as tears began to go down her face, clutching the book tightly.

"That's because she..." Kat trailed off, realising she was yelling, and glancing back at their pale mother's face. She calmed slightly, but was still unable to look Fiona in the eye. "Because she's never tried to help anyone before." Kat clenched her fists, flipping between sadness and anger with each passing second. "How was I suppose to react? I thought you were going to die sis... I thought she killed you like she killed dad, just like she would have killed June if Rift and the others hadn't helped her out." Still thinking too fast to process, Kat realized she was yelling again and lowered her voice. "And I killed her because she was coming after you..."

"Sis... I saw you... you didn't kill her on purpose..." Fiona said with a hushed tone, "If anything, it was an accident".

"It doesn't matter if I meant it, I still did it." Kat fell back against the metal door next to Sabriel's corps, only now noticed the numerous wounds covering her body. "I didn't think she was done fore after I stabbed her, and I thought she had attacked you." Kat felt her face grow flush and her eyes become watery, trying to remember her exact state of mind at the time. "Then there was that book, and escaping with the others, and finding out you where ok, and Jaina yelling, and..." Kat stopped, finally coming to one overpowering realisation. "And she tried to help you." She smiled weakly, letting a few tears run down her face. "I killed her, and she helped you."

Fiona walked towards her, leaning against the door with her, "I... I don't know what was going through her mind, but I think maybe the real answers, are in here..." She said showing Kat the book.

Kat watched the pages of the book flutter with the movement of the frigid air in the room, remembering having it red to her several times in her early years. A small scrap of paper flew out from between the pages by the time they had reached half way through the book, catching itself between Sabriel's lifeless fingers. Kat took it before it could be blown away again, but gasped and dropped the book the instant she looked at it. "No way..." She slid down the wall to the hard tile floor, clasping her hand over her mouth as more tears ran down her face. "This can't be..."

Fiona looked over to see what Kat had in her hand, and was shocked by what she saw, in the picture was a baby Kat being cradled by Sabriel as she smiled lovingly to her young daughter as she was kissing her on the forehead. Fiona looked Kat who was dropping tears down her face as she went to hug her. "In the end... she had a heart. Underneath all the chaos and destruction, she still had some form of heart".

Kat wiped her nose on one of the bandages on her arm, then rested her head against Fiona's shoulder. "Yeah... Yeah I guess she did..." Kat smiled, for the first time in what felt like forever, and passed the picture to Fiona. She smiled as well, happy to see Kat starting to come back to her old self, and leaned in closer. The two sisters continued to sit in the frigid morgue for hours, all with the realisation that the nightmare was finally over. Every emotion they had bottled up over the last week spilled forth in a flow of tears.

Days passed, and the cleanup of Utopia had hastened exponentially. resources that had once been used to safeguard the city where now reallocated to rebuilding it. Many of the Blazing Soul mages where also lending their aid, ether by repairing structures or helping to heal the injured. The two guide masters, Davin andJayapura, where sharing a drink together within the guild, accompanied by Davins's two kids Leo and Shelly. "We really messed this one up..." Davin murmured, taking a slow sip from his cup. "Anyone but those two would have been fine. How could we let this happen Jay? How could we let her own daughters kill her?"

"It was never you old friend, all you ever did was help, if anyone is to blame for this travesty it's me. I had believed somewhere along the line Sabriel might see the error of her ways, and resign herself willingly, but it was my blunder that caused this." Jayapura said taking a long swig of his drink in frustration as he poured another.

"I-I'm partly to blame too..." Leo stepped forwards, pulling himself away from Shelly's hold. "I tried to get her to surrender, but she wouldn't listen. Then I fought her, me and Raven, nether of us could get her to back down. Then Kat showed up and... Well..." He glanced back at Shelly, who smiled weakly at him. "You know the rest."

"It's not your fault." Davin assured, spinning around on his chair and placing his massive hands on his son's shoulders. "From what Terra told me you where incredible. Fighting off a number of her hunters, her personal familiar, and Sabriel herself." Davin couldn't help but feel a slight amount of pride for Leo, despite the grim nature of the conversation. "Yoshi would be so proud of you."

"He's right, all of you fought proudly and greatly, it was my carless actions that resulted in this..." Jaya said with a sad tone as he drank another glass.