Forgiven

Tying the end of the golden chord to her wrist after tying the other end to the bird's slender foot, she admired the large but almost weightless bird resting on her shoulders. Its long fancy and metallic colored tail glistened under the moonlit sky and demonstrated neither intimidation nor power but elegance and strange magnificence. The bird turned its head and looked at its captor as if mirroring Lauren's awe filled eyes. It shifted its attention to Lauren's bleeding arms and sang a short verse of a lullaby. Lauren's wounds from cutting herself to stay awake slowly closed and vanished into smoke. Swallowing hard at its beauty and power, her hope for saving Bo became stronger. The bird stretched its colorful wings and lowered its head in respect. Lauren understood it as a motion of readiness for service and looked at the petrified body of the wolf under the tree.

"He's my friend.. Can you save him?"

It took off from her shoulders and as it did, the golden chord attached to its slender foot stretched and faded into nothing but thin air. Still, Lauren knew the chord was there as she could feel it around her wrist. The bird landed under the tree and put its head in a small opening. Lauren walked over slowly observing how it was pulling something from the hole. She knelt beside the bird and it finally pulled out a small bottle of water. It used its foot to roll the bottle towards Lauren. Locking the strands of hair behind her ear, she picked up the bottle and stood up. The bird flew back to her shoulders and looked at its captor observing the bottle.

"Holy water… just like in the story.."

Lauren briskly walked towards Dyson, opened the bottle shut with cork and poured half of its content over Dyson's petrified head. After a few seconds, Dyson's petrified body began to crack from his head to his feet. Confused about what was happening, Lauren looked at the bird. It opened its beak and let out a faint breath through its nose giving a hint to Lauren what to do.

"Breath.. you mean?"

She knelt in front of the stone Dyson and let out her warm breath directly on her friend's face. The color of stone peeled off from his skin. Lauren watched this happen from his head to his feet. Finally, Dyson's curse was lifted.

"Dyson.." She called out his name a few times before touching his shoulder.

Dyson slowly opened his eyes, his hand went over his face and then looked at Lauren as if he just woken up from a peaceful sleep.

"Lauren..?" It took a few seconds before he could recall his thoughts and welcome reality again. After all, his dream was, in every way, his dream life with Bo. Dyson noticed the bird on her shoulders and felt the weight of his failure in proving his love for Bo. He felt that it was a little unfair as he had always chosen Bo over anything. In the bird's illusion, he also chose Bo—a life with Bo. "How could I have lost..?"He asked himself a question that echoed in his head strangely increasing his agitation.

"I caught the bird. Bo can be saved.." Lauren said restraining her child like anticipation. "Are you ok Dyson? Let's go.. We have to go back."

"She .. caught the bird."He felt small. "She can save Bo and I can't" He felt useless. "She will own her."Jealousy filled his heart ; with rage he let his part wolf take over and hit Lauren hard on the head knocking her down. Her head hit a rock. Dyson took the bird that fluttered beside Lauren on the ground. It neither struggled nor tried to fly away. It shook its body hard and left a copper colored feather right on the blood stained ground.

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Munin and Hugin had been resting up on the tree in their ominous crow form since after their little quarrel. Hugin had thrown rocks at his brother who forgot to hand Lauren and Dyson the bag of limes. Their employer—Eyes—had given them specific and strict instructions which was to make sure that one of them carrying the bird would be smoked back and forgetting to give Lauren and Dyson the bag of limes just happened to ruin any good chance of any one of them getting back. Still, they had to wait and hope that a miracle would happen that one of Lauren and Dyson would be able to fight against the bird's lullaby and resist falling asleep without the limes.

Mugin, who was resting on a lower branch, flapped his wings in boredom and plucked off some insects under his feathers. If Hugin could roll his eyes in irritation, he would but shifting to a crow had some limitations. He just focused on the mountain track looking out for any sign of Dyson or Lauren. Catching a figure slowly coming towards them, he waited for it to become recognizable before he cawed to alert his brother. The crows flew down and shifted back to their humanly form.

"Hey brother.." Mugin called out. "Is that .."

Hugin let out a long sigh. "Yap. It's Dyson.."

The brothers walked towards the wolfman carrying a cage with a bird inside.

"Go take him back." Hugin ordered his brother. "I'll handle it from here." Mugin nodded as his brother shift again to his crow form and flew back on the tree branch.

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If Hale and Tamsin didn't know any better, they would think that Kenzi was such a lit-nerd. Kenzi couldn't stop rereading the story over and over asking Eyes questions which required more than three complex sentences of explanations. Kenzi had already figured out that there would be something that would come up which they should be prepared for. Eyes didn't mind answering Kenzi's queries. More than something to keep the siren and the valkyrie off his neck, he was actually enjoying their 'discussion'. At the heat of the lit discussion, the Russian girl asked random quick questions.

"So, where did ya come from?"

"From somewhere.."

"What's your real name?"

"Doesn't matter.."

"Why are you here?"

"Because of a reason.."

"I'm listening.."

Eyes opened his mouth in reply—just opened his mouth without any sound.

"Alright.. I get it. You're not telling."

Eyes smiled showing his full set of teeth. "Finally, you got it."

"You seem to be enjoying this. You talk like one of those people who use their bodies as some kind of transportation for their brains.." Fishing for any information was a failure. Kenzi finally dropped the book on Bo's bed in surrender and sat down beside her lying best-friend.

Eyes chuckled and said "It's in the genes."

"What now?" Kenzi asked. It was a short question but they both knew it was probably the most complex one to answer.

"We wait."

"Oh ok.. so we wait for the one who's gone 'frenzied' carrying the bird and then?"

Hale and Tamsin who had been standing at separate side of the room leaning against the wall looked at each other confused and then shifted their eyes to Kenzi for an answer. "According to the story, the envious brothers would bring the bird back to the kingdom leaving the youngest brother to die."

"So you mean, one of them is gonna betray the other?" Tamsin said twitching her eyebrows.

"No. Lauren won't do that.. and not Dyson." Hale crossed his arms shaking his head.

"The bird's dung will not only cause a person to turn to stone. After one reverts back to his human form, the curse will enter one's heart and escalate their inner most negative feelings." Eyes explained.

"And knowing Dyson and the Doc, their rivalry for Bo's love will be the trouble." Tamsin got the idea.

"So.. one of them will come here with acquired fae bipolar disorder" Kenzi rolled her eyes.

"What now?" Hale asked as if echoing Kenzi's last question.

"We wait." Kenzi and Eyes answered in unison—a strange understanding between them was building up.

"I guess we'll have to wait.. for the real captor to come back and.." Kenzi elaborated.

"and.. make the bird sing." Eyes finished her sentence.

"In the story, it was the old man who helped the youngest prince to recover. What about in Lauren or Dyson's case? I'm sure it wouldn't be literally the same." Kenzi asked.

Eyes leaned back to his comfy chair and crossed his legs. "Again, it will be love."

Everyone knew that the Fae world was complicated and love could mean not just the person of interest but the extensions of love itself which could mean a lot of things.

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"Hey.." A voice called out. A hand caressed Lauren's face waking her up. Lauren slowly opened her eyes seeing a strong light and a familiar figure seemingly glowing in front of her.

"I didn't expect to see you so soon.." Her deep voice; the silhouette of her curly hair; and that strong but gentle hand were all too familiar—Nadia. Lauren couldn't say anything remembering everything about their tragic love story. She loved Nadia and was loyal to her for so many years. Being in the service of the Light Fae as a doctor, slave and chattel of the Ash, her love and devotion to Nadia were tested greatly. Lauren never gave up on her, she held on to her comatose body for years without anyone else's loving caress until Bo came into her life. Somehow, the blonde felt guilty about it even when she continued her relationship with Nadia after she had woken up and drew a fine line of friendship between herself and Bo.

"Don't look so sad Lauren. I don't blame you for anything." Nadia said giving her that smile Lauren fell in love with.

Lauren thought that she never gave herself the time to grieve over Nadia's death properly. It was something she felt guilty over the years after her death but that feeling was brushed aside when Bo and she decided to be a couple. It had been a rollercoaster ride ever since because of the many complicated things in the Fae world. At some point, Lauren thought of it as her punishment for Nadia's tragic end. It hadn't sunk into her why she was seeing Nadia yet. All she knew that it was a chance for her to properly apologize to her for everything and so she began "I.." but Nadia's lips sealed all the words she wanted to say with a gentle kiss.

Nadia pulled away smiling at Lauren and said "You did everything you could. I know that you wouldn't accept that fact even if I tell you that you did everything you could for us. If you need to hear another phrase from me then I'll say it." Nadia paused for a while and continued "I forgive you." Lauren couldn't help but to sob suddenly.

"She's waiting for you Lauren.." Nadia held her cheek. "Bo's waiting.. go back.."

Lauren nodded.

Lauren had been lying unconscious on the ground beneath the tree when her consciousness was somewhere meeting Nadia. Her blood spilled on the ground. A soft moan came out from her lips as she turned and lied on her back. She traced the blood from her ear towards the cut on the side of her head. Lauren assessed her head injury and considered her lucky to be alive. After all, she was knocked down by a wolfman and hit a rock. "Wait.. I'm alive?"Her thoughts were getting clearer and finally she felt a burning sensation from her wound—a sign of healing. Dyson had been her rival for Bo's love for years and they had some heated rival moments but they were friends. She never thought he would do that to her. "Something must have happened" she said to herself but figuring it out was something she couldn't do given her situation. "Damn it.. I can't think clearly.".Her senses came back in slowly after she smelled something burning coming from her side. Turning her head, she saw a burning feather. "The bird…"

"Bo.."Lauren stood up and let her fingers trace her completely healed wound.

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Black smoke appeared in the room where Bo had been lying still and where Kenzi, Hale, Tamsin and Eyes had been waiting. Kenzi and the rest stood alert knowing that the person who came back first, between Lauren and Dyson, was someone who betrayed the other and was currently not in his or her right mind.

They first saw Munin who looked stupid as ever and behind him was Dyson. They looked at him observing any explicit sign of insanity. Except for the cuts on his arms which all of them knew was inflected by Dyson himself during the process of fighting the drowsiness, his eyes look awfully tired and disturbed with his dark eye-bags. They had talked about what to do before, that was to just ride along and wait for the real captor—Lauren—to come back. At first, the three found it absurd to just wait and see what would happened especially the hot headed Valkyrie but everybody eventually agreed to just go with the flow and avoid triggering any unnecessary fight.

Dyson walked slowly pass Munin towards Bo carrying the cage with the bird seconds after the black smoke faded away. Everyone in the room inhaled deep and kept their eyes on Dyson and the bird in the cage.

"That's the peacock in the story?" Kenzi said after squinting her eyes hoping to get a better view of the bird in the cage. She was hoping it was something burning like a phoenix or a bird with feathers that glow. Everyone found the bird strange looking. It did not resemble any bird they knew but it didn't look 'maginificent' at all.

Reaching Bo's bed, Dyson's eyes were fixated at Bo noticing the black veins that had been slowly crawling from her wound to the rest of her body. He opened up the cage and took the bird by letting it hop to his wounded arm.

"Bo.. I'll save you." Putting down the cage on the floor, he whispered and turned to the bird. The bird just looked at him in return. Everyone observed and waited for it to show any sign of its power.

"Sing.." Dyson commanded the bird but it only looked at him.

Eyes walked slowly towards Tamsin who was a few steps behind the wolf and whispered as quietly as possible "Don't let him hurt the bird.." and Tamsin nodded.

"SING.." Dyson's voice became lower sounding the angry wolf from within him.

Hale knew Dyson for a few centuries and had worked with him for decades. From the sound of his low wolf voice which was rare to be heard, Hale knew that this Dyson would snap and would do something stupid like hurting or perhaps killing the bird. Hale didn't dare to say a word knowing it was useless. This Dyson in front of them was not the Dyson he knew.

After a few seconds, the bird turned its head, fluttered and began to preen itself mocking the demanding wolf in front of it. Dyson growled showing his wolf teeth which made everyone on high alert.

"Dyson, my man, chill.." Hale slowly took one step closer towards Dyson.

"SING….." He said once more. From the sound of his voice, everybody knew that if the bird didn't do what it was told, it would become the wolf's dinner.

"Dyson.." Tamsin called out as she transformed to her Valkyrie form and used her power of intimidation to control the angry wolf.

Dyson shook his head in resistance to the old valkyrie's power who increased the use of her power than normal. Tamsin found it odd that the wolf could resist her to that extent. After a few moments of fighting for psychological dominance, the old valkyrie almost fell on her knees as she panted heavily making everyone's jaw drop except for Eyes.

Dyson's wolf nails grew as he stretched his fingers in anger. Before the deadly wolf hand reached the unflinching bird that was resting confidently almost mockingly on his arm, he just couldn't move at all. There was a strange force stopping his movement. To everyone's surprise, it was Eyes who was restraining Dyson's movement. They all remembered about what Lauren had told them before, that Eyes was a Mesmer fae. Vex, who claimed to be the last of the Mesmer kind, could never even affect Dyson's blinking eyelids. So, how Eyes could control a wolf was a mystery.

"I can only restrain his movements.." Eyes's hand shook as he put more force in stopping Dyson.

"Take the bird.." He ordered Kenzi who was at the other side of Bo's bed.

She immediately went around the bed and went to grab the bird on Dyson's shoulders. "Hold him still.. I don't want those nails scratching my face ok?"

"Hurry up.. I cant hold him long."

Before Kenzi could grab the bird, it hopped on to her shoulder. "Oh, good bird…" Giving the bird a good remark it deserved.

"Out of the way Kenz.." Hale ordered Kenzi and did what she was told. Hale knew that there was no other way to stop Dyson but to knock him out. After taking a deep breath, the siren blew one hard note directly on Dyson's ear knocking him down.

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Hugin, seemingly yawned in his crow form while waiting for any sign of Lauren. All his wondering if Lauren could make it was stopped by the figure coming closer his way. Even in the darkness, he could see that blonde hair glowing under the moonlit sky.

"About time.." Hugin remarked as he flew down onto the ground meeting Lauren noticing the traces of dried blood from her head.

"You ok?"

"Yeah.. Lauren replied with a smile on her face.

"I assume something good happened."

"Yeah, I was forgiven." She replied looking up the sky thinking of her vision of Nadia

After a few seconds of silence, Hugin took one step closer to her and asked "Ready?

Lauren nodded and said "Yeah.. Bo needs me.. smoke me back."

~end of Forgiven~

A/N:It took a while before I could start writing again. After the season finale, I lost my muse and I just couldn't write. :(. _ It's probably because of the lack of Doccubus moments in the whole season 4; the Poll Wars (Zimbio, After Ellen, E!Online and the other polls) which took most of my fangirl energy from me.

I saw my previous author's note about Bo being revived this chapter but the chapter turned out to be longer than I intended so I had to split this into two chapters. I think Nadia's death was/should have been a part of the 'wall' between Bo and Lauren. So I guess, a part of that wall has been broken in this chapter. Do tell me what you think. :)

I hope that I can update my other fics as well especially My Boss Is A Succcubus since it's more popular than this one.

Thank you for your patience, support and reviews. :)