Coralyinn raises her hand and walls of ice shoot up from the railing around the roof, blocking off the rest of the outside world. She then turns and places her hand on the doorknob to the door, freezing the door solid and breaking the handle of the door off before she throws it across the roof, letting it roll and clatter to the ground as it comes to a stop, discarded.

"I tried to tell you. I tried to warn you. I played nice. I gave you enough chances to get out of my way, but it seems you want to keep delivering yourselves to me. How nice of you, Reine, to keep bringing back the chain to me," Coralyinn says calmly, "perhaps it's that you want me to succeed. Tell me, did you feel this same sense of urgency when fighting for little Elespeth? Your family tried everything to keep Gabriel and Elespeth away from my father, but it seems you made their efforts futile. How ironically breathtaking."

"Shut up!" Dimitri snaps, "you have no right to talk about Elespeth!"

"No?" Coralyinn raises a brow, "not even when we shared the same blood? Don't you get it yet? Don't you understand anything at all? Are the pieces not fitting for you yet?"

"You..." Suddenly everything clicks in my mind and my eyes widen, "your mother is Aislinn's mother, that's true, but you weren't hidden away due to her affair. No, you were hidden away by your father's wishes. That's why Mikasa couldn't see the truth. Your father is the one who assaulted Reine and Dimitri's mother. Your father is the one who their mother had Elespeth with and he wanted to take her away just as he did you. And I know my family housed the Primordial Relic, but what does that have to do with me? Why is your obsession with me?"

Reine's breath hitches and Coralyinn smiles cruelly as Dimitri clenches his fists and grits his teeth in anger.

"Because, don't you see, Gabriel?" Coralyinn muses as she walks forwards slowly, her daggers summoning, "you were the only one who would ever connect the truth. And you're the only one whose power I require the most. You see, you may have had the relic in your family, but you're special. Without your gift, I can't use the relic to its full potential. I wanted you to follow me here, wasn't that obvious? Therefore, you need to be mine."

Coralyinn suddenly spins and releases one of her daggers, aiming it directly for me. Ayette lunges in front of me and the blade clashes against her shield and Coralyinn scowls.

"Divide and conquer, as my father would say," Coralyinn hums and holds out her right hand before she clenches her fist and walls of ice shoot up in random paths, forming a maze of icy walls on the roof.

Ayette and I end up in the same area and we look at each other before we nod and begin to run through the maze. Loud bangs come from the left of us before Ciana yells out and crashes through six walls in a row, effectively shattering them to shards before she flies upwards and spins around in the air, crossing her arms against her chest before she forcefully opens them as she falls back down slowly and flames swirl around her before her wings and the flames explode, sending out waves of heat and melting all the ice before she lands back on the roof. Just as Ciana lands, Mikasa runs passed her and throws a giant twister full of wind and arrows of light towards the now visible Coralyinn. Coralyinn braces against the hit and when she looks up, her eyes widen as she sees Reine standing in front of Mikasa with a paper rune between her index and middle finger. Reine's eyes fly open and lavender flames burn around them as the paper lights up with bright blue flames and an army of ten foot tall soldiers forms behind her. Reine holds her arm out and the soldiers run towards Coralyinn, effectively ambushing her.

Coralyinn glances between the soldiers and Vivian before she slides across the rooftop and grabs Vivian, hoisting her to her feet with her hand around her neck. Coralyinn holds out her other hand and the soldiers all freeze solid before she clenches her fist and twists to the right, the soldiers all shattering to ice shards that lay on the rooftop.

"Wait!" I shout and everyone suddenly stops in their positions and looks at me and Coralyinn raises a brow as I look at her as I hold out my hands, lowering my katana to the ground, "take me, not her."

"What?" Reine's eyes widen, "Gabriel, that's suicide."

"Take me," I repeat once more, "and let Vivian go. You want me more, right? You can always get the relic back. But for now, take me and let her go."

As I look around at all my companions from the corner of my eye, I know in my heart that if this keeps going on, some of them may never make it back home, and I don't want that to happen. I'm not losing anyone else.

"Gabriel, don't--" Ayette starts.

"It's a deal," Coralyinn says, interrupting Ayette.

"Gabriel, I demand that you stop this nonsense right now!" Dimitri orders as I slowly start walking towards Coralyinn.

"I know what I'm doing," I smile sadly as I look back between him and the others.

Coralyinn keeps her eyes trained on me as I walk closer and I breathe out shakily as I stand within a few feet from her.

"I'm sorry, Vivian," I breathe out beneath my breath.

As soon as I'm close enough, I forcefully lunge to the right and push Vivian backwards. Vivian's eyes widen as she stumbles backwards and I summon my other katana, preparing myself to counter Coralyinn's attack as Vivian hits the railing and falls over with a shout. Zen immediately flies down to catch her as Coralyinn strikes at my side. I counter her hit with my katana and she continues angrily swinging, making me move backwards with every strike.

Zen flies back up with Vivian before he hovers above the tower and Tien's eyes widen in realization.

"Zen! You need to shatter the relic!" Tien shouts and drops his weapon as he runs out in the open.

"What?" Zen's eyebrows furrow in confusion and Vivian's eyes widen in fear.

"Do it and hit me!" Tien shouts.

Zen nods before dark energy swirls around him and Vivian, putting extreme pressure on the relic. Vivian cries out and I try to push down the guilt inside of me, knowing she's only an illusion, but it doesn't help much. She was my sister, illusion or not, and I wanted to save her. The Primordial Relic shatters into golden dust that begins to blow away in the wind and Zen captures it in a burning blue energy orb before he hurls it at Tien. I glance back briefly and my eyes widen as the sudden realization hits me.

"She's capable of anything in creation, whether that be changing time..."

"Don't you see, child? In order to do what you desire the most, you must die."

I watch as Tien flies backwards and slides along the rooftop, the blue flames dispersing as he lies there unconscious and the others watch silently with various expressions ranging from surprise to confusion or understanding. Tien's eyes suddenly fly open and he climbs to his feet and looks at his hands, which are now faintly glowing with white energy.

"I understand now," Tien breathes out, "in order to save Coralyinn, I had to let my current self die and be who I once was."

Tien's eyes meet mine as I continue fending off Coralyinn and I silently plead for him to distract her.

"Coralyinn!" Tien shouts and her eyes flicker over to him before her breath hitches and her eyes widen.

Tien's image flickers back and forth between that of his current and old self with the white light and Coralyinn watches, stunned.

"Coralyinn, you need to let this go," Tien says, shaking his head, "doing this will not solve anything. Please, trust me. Look, I even left my weapon back there. I promise I don't want to fight you."

I take Coralyinn's moment of weakness to grab ahold of her arm and her wide eyes flicker to me. I begin to absorb her abilities and she retaliates by stabbing me in the side angrily, attempting to take them back as I'm taking them from her.

"Gabriel! Stop it!" Reine shouts, "taking that many abilities will kill you!"

"I don't care," I breathe out as my eyes search Coralyinn's, "I need to do this. I have to do this."

Bright blue and white energy swirls around my entire body and Coralyinn narrows her eyes angrily. My vision begins to go blurry and white around the edges and Coralyinn takes her dagger out before she stabs me in the side repeatedly in a vicious attempt to get me to let go. I grit my teeth through the constant pain and continue to absorb her abilities, unsure how many times she's hit me now.

"Gabriel!" Ciana screams out and her and Reine come running to my aid.

Zen lands on the rooftop and flames ignite where he walks before a giant rune that fills the entire rooftop lights up in blue flames as wind whips around him and he holds out his hand, aiming towards Coralyinn. Flames begin to engulf Coralyinn, but she remains standing in front of me, ice radiating off of her and keeping the flames at bay.

"I'm sorry," Tien whispers lowly before he holds his hands to the right of his body, bends his knees, and lunges forwards in a streak of green energy.

A black and green energized scythe forms in his hands and he slashes directly towards me and Coralyinn as my ears start to ring and I find myself letting go of Coralyinn as energy explodes around me and I end up flying backwards, the muffled sounds of Reine, Ayette, Aislinn, Dimitri, and Ciana running towards me as I hit the ground. I manage to see Reine's face worriedly looking down at me and the entire world goes white as she bends down in what looks like slow motion, her long hair grazing the side of my face as she says something I can't understand.

***

I wake up to hear muffled sounds of talking I blink a few times, the world seemingly rocking back and forth as my ears start to ring. I notice skies of blue and white puffy clouds and as my head lulls to the left, I'm able to see Reine looking at me worriedly as she's walking along a dirt path by fields and hills and I furrow my eyebrows because she speaks, but I'm only able to understand half of what she's saying. I attempt to speak, to answer her, but the words don't leave my mouth.

"...Gonna be okay..." I hear Reine say through muffled tones as her lavender eyes focus on me worriedly.

My head lulls back to looking at the sky before I close my eyes and find myself blacking out again. The next time I wake up, I hear faint beeping coming from the right of me and I look over to see a hospital monitor. I look down at myself to see myself lying in a red and gold colored bed in a warm toned room, wondering where I am. A gasp comes from my left and I turn to see Reine sitting there, her hands clasped to her mouth and tears streaming down her face.

"Gabriel! You're awake!" she cries out happily and I furrow my eyebrows.

"What happened...?" I trail off, searching her eyes for answers.

"You've been out for two weeks," Reine explains and my eyes widen, "Coralyinn's...dead. You and Tien are what killed her, the combination of both of your abilities. You weakened her enough for Tien to get in a lethal hit and she died on the rooftop in Ione."

I blink a few times and brief memories of seeing Tien crying and holding a limp Coralyinn in a puddle of blood come to my mind as I remember someone lifting me up and hurriedly trying to get me to safety.

"What happened then?" I ask.

"Word spread of Coralyinn's defeat and most of her followers stopped doing her work. Some of them are still out there, which is to be expected, but all of the sectors celebrated. Aiden organized a restoration party to help fix the Winter Sector's damages and Aislinn helped. Eden has been gone helping heal citizens and giving spiritual guidance to those in need. She should be back today. She wasn't here when we arrived, but she sent a letter saying she's excited to see us," Reine explains with a sad smile, "we all made it out safely from Zanu. Aislinn immediately took us to Orina and we treated your wounds. Coralyinn stabbed you nineteen times, Gabriel, but you still survived, even while absorbing all that energy. It's honestly...a miracle. I was really scared for a while. I'm so glad you're okay."

"What happens now?" I groan out.

"Now, we enjoy each other's company and figure out what to do next," Reine says as she gets up and leans over, pressing her lips to my cheek before she smiles, "I'll let you be for now. Rest, okay? I love you, Gabriel."

"I love you too," I smile back at her before she makes her way out of the room, pushing open one of the stained glass double-doors.

***

Later that day, I find myself in decent enough condition to head out and meet Eden and the others whenever she arrives back at the palace. I first meet Aiden, Bridgette, and Azuma in the throne room, along with Ayette, Dimitri, Ciana, Aislinn, Nathan, Mikasa, Zen, Reine, Tien, Renee, Renji, Sion, Tsukumi, Mirana, and my father. Ayette spots me and gasps before she runs over and pulls me into a tight hug, making me wince from my stitches.

"Be careful," I groan and she chuckles before she pulls back.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she breathes out and I smile.

"Me too," I chuckle.

Dimitri walks over and places a hand on my shoulder as he stands beside Ayette and smiles approvingly before Ciana rushes me and tackles me from the side while Reine giggles.

"What did I just say about being careful?" I say and Ciana laughs and ruffles my hair.

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist," Ciana beams.

"Hey, dude," Nathan waves from over beside Aislinn, who also smiles and waves gently, "glad to see you're still alive."

"We all are," Mikasa smiles softly, clasping her hands in front of her chest, and my father nods in agreement, his eyes proud.

"Hey, how're you doing, hero?" Aiden chuckles and I roll my eyes.

"It wasn't all me, you know," I say and Bridgette smiles playfully.

"We know," Bridgette says, "trust me. It was everyone and we're all so thankful at what you've all accomplished, and we'll always keep the ones who were lost along the way in our memory."

"I'm back!" Eden announces as she swooshes through the doors to the throne room and smiles as she looks around.

Azuma's eyes light up upon seeing his wife return and he smiles warmly as she runs over to him and he picks her up and spins her in a hug as she laughs.

"It's so nice to see all of you," Eden smiles before her eyes land on Ayette and she gasps.

My eyebrows furrow in confusion as Eden runs over to Ayette and pulls her into a hug, smiling gleefully.

"And congratulations!" Eden continues to smile as she pulls out of the hug from a startled Ayette, who's looking at her in confusion, "I'm so sorry I wasn't here to properly congratulate you."

"That's okay?" Ayette smiles awkwardly and rubs the back of her neck, "I mean, lots of people congratulated all of us on def--"

"Do you know how far--" Eden starts at the same time Ayette speaks and they both pause for a moment, looking at each other.

"Eden, I don't think they know, Sweetie," Azuma chuckles at his wife's expense and Eden's lips part in realization.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Eden smiles awkwardly, "I tend to do that..."

"Uh," Dimitri rubs the back of his neck, "what're you talking about?"

"I suppose I should explain myself now," Eden chuckles nervously as she looks between Ayette and Dimitri, the rest of the room silent in confusion, "my gift not only allows me to see the future, but it also allows me to sense energies. I sensed two different energies coming from Ayette, and so I...naturally, I just...assumed..."

"Wait..." Dimitri's eyebrows raise as Ayette's eyes widen, "you mean...?"

"I'm...pregnant?" Ayette breathes out in shock.

Eden nods and I swear you could hear a pin drop in the room before suddenly Dimitri smiles and he picks up Ayette, spinning her around as she lets out a surprised yelp and grabs onto his shoulders. He then places her down and laughs out as he hugs her tightly to him and she smiles warmly before she hugs him back.

"That's...that's wonderful!" Dimitri beams and Ayette smiles up at him before he bends down and kisses her passionately.

The room bursts into cheers, yells, and whistles and I find myself smiling, happy for them. I exchange a glance with Reine and she smiles as well as she claps for them happily. To be perfectly honest, in this very moment, with these very people, I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life here. In fact, that's exactly what I plan to do.