A/N: had two very busy weeks. It's the end of the semester, so it's pretty much expected...anyway, finally an update!

Chapter 37

Bo put her arms around Tamsin's neck and hugged the Valkyrie tight. She could feel the cold sweat on her back, the cold sweat from realizing how close she had been to death, or rather, how close both of them had been to death.

She hung on to Tamsin as she forced herself to breathe. She was shivering, and her throat was clogging up. She had a million things in her chest, and they were screaming to get out.

There was the relief of being alive for sure. There was the gratitude of Tamsin risking her own life saving was some pure joy, as well as some fear.

The strongest among them all, however, was something that she could not put a name to. It pushed against her chest like a tireless tide. It made her fingers shake and her her heart flutter.

She looked at Tamsin's wings. They were so beautiful and she couldn't move her eyes away. There was a painful happiness inside her and it was squeezing her heart softly.

It wasn't about herself being alive or anything. It wasn't about herself at all. That happiness, it was solely about Tamsin. It was about Tamsin getting her wings back. It was about her getting her powers back.

Bo could see it in those light eyes. That fearless, strong Valkyrie she had once known was back in full force.

For a brief moment, she had forgotten about herself, or anything else. She had forgotten about the world ending, evil Hades, or the Tartarus shadows breaking out.

She had forgotten about everything but Tamsin. At this moment the Valkyrie's well-being outweighed herself and everything else.

For some reason Bo suddenly felt free and complete. She had never thought she'd find a small moment of peace like this, but she did. She had no idea why Tamsin getting her powers back would make herself feel that she was completed somehow, but that feeling rolled inside her, overwhelming everything.

Tamsin's Chi danced inside her body. It tickled her warmly and nervously, like a deep, deep secret surfacing joyfully. A secret she had been holding back for too long. A secret she had never thought was there. It was that ultimate question, as well as the answer to it. It was something, or perhaps the only thing, she had longed for.

Bo took a deep breath as she buried her face into the blonde's neck for a second. She inhaled Tamsin. She inhaled everything of Tamsin, that sweet scent, that warmth, her passion, her fears, her love for her, her vulnerability, and that incredibly bright soul that had been drawing her near in a way she struggled to fathom.

"I think we probably should go up now," Tamsin's voice interrupted her train of thoughts. Holding Bo firmly, she let her wings flap in the air softly.

"Yeah, we probably should," Bo agreed, nodding. Her nose brushed gently against Tamsin's collar bone.

She raised her head and looked into Tamsin's eyes. For a moment both of them were lost in the other person's eyes.

Both of them started to close the distance between them, and eventually their lips met. It was a brief, soft kiss, nothing more than a gentle peck, but it lit up both of them, granting them strength.

With her wings beating, Tamsin ascended towards the platform cautiously. The moment they landed on the platform, she put Bo down and shielded Bo behind her.

It was a mess up there. Kenzi was lying on the ground with her eyes closed. Neither Bo nor Tamsin could tell if she was still alive.

Dagny was fighting the beast form Zagreus. She had bloody tear wounds all over her, among which there were a few that seemed to have been caused by sharp fangs. Her skin looked even paler in contrast to the blood that stained her.

Zagreus wasn't any better either. He had several crimson burns on him. Two were along the width of his stomach, and the deeper one almost looked black inside. He got a few burn on his arms and one on his cheek. Whenever he moved, some of the burns would shimmer and he would growl like they were hurting him.

Casually standing beside the patterned rock which had turned red for absorbing Melinoe's blood, Hades was watching those two fighting against each other intently as if he was enjoying a play in the theater. He seemed to have completely ignored Melinoe's dead body that was right under his feet.

When he heard Bo and Tamsin, he turned to them with one of his eyebrows raised. He seemed genuinely surprised.

"Well, well, well," he drawled as he eyed Bo and Tamsin. "Look who's back."

After giving them a wicked smile, he continued, "I guess I was right. Both of you are just so damn stubborn."

Bo shot him a furious stare, before she rushed to Kenzi with Tamsin. They were both relieved when they found out that Kenzi was still alive. She just passed out and wouldn't respond to them no matter how hard they shook her.

Bo and Tamsin nodded at each other, before they quickly moved Kenzi to the side. They tried to help Dagny afterwards, but got stopped by Hades.

Hades forced them back with his bident. "Let's not disturb the fight, okay?" He said softly, "because I really want to know which one of them is stronger."

"You fucking-" Bo yelled at him as her rage burnt crazily inside her. She stopped abruptly, though, when she noticed that other than the stone right beside Hades, there was a second rock that had turned red.

It didn't take her too long to realize that the blood she had spilled for being stabbed by Hades had completely disappeared. There wasn't a single drop of it anywhere on the ground. She figured that the second stone had absorbed her blood just like the first did to Melinoe's blood.

Confused and panicking, she turned to wanted to ask the Valkyrie how this could have happened. She thought Hades had to kill her to get that stone to glow, but she wasn't dead and it was glowing right now.

Before she had asked that question, a loud, painful cry from Dagny stopped her.

Zagreus seemed to have finally gotten close enough to Dagny. With a loud growl he grabbed her and slammed her into the ground. He slashed his claws at her stomach before anyone could stop him.

A gaping wound appeared in Dagny's stomach. Her blood gushed out. She let out a furious hiss as she squeezed her fingers around her weapon hard.

When Zagreus launched himself at her again, Dagny hit him with her blade and forced him back. She was immediately pulled back by Bo and Tamsin.

Bo quickly gave Dagny some Chi before it was too late. They were both choking when Zagreus ran towards them like a predatory animal in frenzy mode.

Dagny's blood red eyes flashed even brighter. Anger swirled in them. As she struggled to get up, Tamsin stepped forward and stood between her and Zagreus.

Tamsin stared at the enraged beast as that familiar rush exploded inside her. It was her Valkyrie power, something she thought she had lost forever. It felt so new, so strong, as if it had been reborn with her.

"Stop, you stupid animal," she commanded as she stared into zagreus' eyes. Layers of shadows covered her fair skin, turning her face into a skeleton.

Zagreus growled, and stopped momentarily. He put his hands over his head and shook his head violently. He tried to fight Tamsin's power, but it was something he had never experienced before. It overwhelmed his mind, giving him a sharp headache as well as a cloud of doubt.

"Your enemy isn't us, but him," Tamsin told him with a calm, indifferent voice as she turned to Hades briefly.

Zagreus staggered back and forth, before he hesitantly turned towards Hades. He growled again and dashed towards him.

Hades sighed and stopped him by simply holding his bident up and forced him to stay away. "Oh this is getting boring," he complained.

He reached his hand out and gripped one of Zagreus' arm. It immediately glowed bright blue. Zagreus let out a loud, and perhaps the most painful scream that anyone had ever heard as he trembled under Hades' control.

"Kill her," Hades commanded firmly. "Kill them all!"

Zagreus howled. His eyes glowed blue as he launched himself at the three women again. He slashed his claws at Tamsin. His attack was so fast and fierce, that Tamsin barely dodged it. His claws left a few long, deep wounds on the side of Tamsin's body.

Bo grabbed him before he could hurt Tamsin again. She choked him and started to take his Chi. She could feel him getting weaker in her grip, until a sudden, piercing pain hit her in the chest.

She cried out as she let go of Zagreus. One glance at her chest, she knew it was Hades manipulating that hand print with his power to make her suffer.

Zagreus hit her on the side of her waist, knocking her down. He went after Tamsin again, but Dagny stopped him.

The young girl rose into the air and stayed between him and the other two wounded women. She held her weapon with the blade pointing downwards. Crimson energy swirled around her blade, as if blood was dripping down from it.

Her eyes were bright, so bright that they looked like two lit up pools of boiling blood. Crimson energy radiated from her body like a patch of red fog.

She had her wings spreading like two pieces of shadows that were darker and more dangerous than any hell spawn. Now they beated furiously behind her. Her enraged feathers fluttered in the air flow, hissing.

She raised her weapon, dragging a long, red tail of energy in the air. She struck Zagreus with it when he came at her.

Dagny was beyond surprised, and even a little bit scared, that she could throw such a powerful strike. It gave Zagreus a blow so heavy that it threw him back and knocked him down before he could even react.

A strong rush seized Dagny immediately when she saw that deep cut she had made on Zagreus' chest. Other than his blood that was pouring out, there was a deep red, almost black, glow inside.

Dagny reached her empty hand out and closed her fingers slowly. As she was doing that, the dark red glow grew stronger. A stream of red energy rose from Zagreus' wound. Slowly it left his body while he was screaming in agony.

Zagreus struggled to stand up and fight but he couldn't stop that energy from leaving his body. The energy surrounded Dagny like a cloud of vaporized blood. She inhaled deeply, letting the cloud enter her body. As she was doing so, her eyes glowed brighter.

Zagreus eventually collapsed into his own blood. He stopped moving after some futile struggles. His blood, just like Melinoe's, got absorbed by a patterned stone.

The last stone had turned red too, after taking in the blood Dagny had shed. The four of them glowed together.

Bo swallowed hard as her heart thumped in fear. She knew something was about to happen, when she saw that look of excitement on Hades' face.

She reached for Tamsin's hand, and the Valkyrie immediately held them. Both of their hands were covered in cold sweat now, and they could feel each other's crazy heartbeat on the tip of their fingers.

A suddenly tremor came, like the ground had suddenly jolted under their feet. It almost threw them down. Then, they heard something coming from deep down.

It sounded like a hum, or a deep vibration that had come from the core of hell. Soon, everything started to hum and shake as if an earthquake happened.

Dagny pulled her wings hard to stay in the air, while Bo and Tamsin both tumbled on the ground. Hades, however, seemed to have not been affected by the quake at all. He stood there with that signature smile as he looked at them.

Behind him, from the bottom of the abyss, a vortex of darkness appeared.

At first, it was just a small, almost invisible swirl that spun softly in the air. As it rotated, it grew bigger by gathering all the darkness that came towards it.

The air became putrid, too heavy for anyone to breathe now. There was a pressure in the air, something that hammered against everyone's heart. They could hear vague growls and wails coming through the vortex, as if a million of torture souls were screaming behind it. That sound got louder, piercing into their ears like needles.

"Behold, kids. Here comes your ancestors," Hades said as he rested his bident over his shoulder lazily. "Well, the remaining part of them anyway. The darkest part."

With that, pieces of thick, shapeless shadows started to escape from the vortex. At first there were only a couple of them, squeezing through the center of the swirling darkness. They shuddered, twitched and struggled, like they were using every bit of strength they had left to get out from whatever that was that bounded them inside.

As more and more of them escaped, though, they became strong and they moved faster. Some of them disappeared the moment when they got out while other hovered above the women restlessly.

At one point Bo thought for sure they'd attack them, and she had no idea how they could fight back when being attacked by some shadows, but the shadows quickly left the place they were at and dashed towards the exit.

They brought a strong gust as they moved across the air. It looked as if there was a torrent of darkness above the three women's heads.

Bo turned to Hades with both anger and fear. "You have to stop it," she bit out. "You can not let them out like this! People are gonna die!"

"Oh, yes I can, and hey, I am doing it right now," Hades said while shrugging at her. "And you, my dear, probably should worry about yourself first. You think I'd let any of you walk away twice?"

With that he leaped while raising his weapon. He struck down at them with his bident. Dagny shielded Bo and Tamsin and blocked Hades' attack with her own weapon.

The crimson and the blue clashed, causing a powerful stir while pushing everyone back forcefully.

"Hmm...not bad," Hades commented as he adjusted his tie with his left hand while brandishing his bident with his right. His voice sounded casual, but the look in his eyes were beyond serious. There was even a hint of caution and fear in them.

Dagny sneered and shot up into the air before she dived down at Hades. She waved her weapon in the air and thrust it at Hades.

Bo and Tamsin wanted to help, but they couldn't get close enough because the strong clash of the power of the other two kept pushing them back.

"I don't...I don't understand," Bo murmured as she looked at the vortex. It had grown so big now, that she feared that it would eventually devour everything. "I thought he had to kill all four of us to open the hellgate."

"Maybe the only thing the gate needs is your blood," Tamsin pointed out the obvious.

"Then why did he try to kill us? I mean, I get that he wants to kill me, and maybe Daggs too, but why did he kill Melinoe? Why did he watch Zagreus die? I thought they were so damn loyal to him. He didn't have to kill them, right?" Bo said as she glanced at the two dead bodies not far away from her.

She then turned to Hades and Dagny, who were in a fight so intense that she and Tamsin could barely keep up. "Shouldn't he be like enjoying his moment of victory now? Why does it look like he has to kill us right here right now?"

Tamsin vigilantly watched Dagny and Hades as she pondered Bo's question. She knew that none of them were Hades' favorite. He had wanted to kill them all alone. But, Bo was right. There was something else to it, something other than him hating them. Somehow she was certain that the death of them fit into his plan too.

"You know, when I got here with him before you showed up, I confronted him," Bo said to Tamsin while monitoring all the Tartarus shadows. "I said that he kills for a reason, and he basically admitted that."

"Yeah..." Tamsin murmured, frowning. She knew this probably wasn't the best time for her and Bo to solve a mystery, but she had a feeling that the answer to their question was very important. "Yeah, he kills for a reason…."

She trailed off as she looked at Dagny, who now was shrouded in crimson energy. Then, she turned to the two dead bodies, before her eyes finally stopped on Bo's face.

"Yeah...he definitely kills for a reason," she murmured as she looked into Bo's eyes. "The reason is that...he doesn't want to be locked up like his father."

"What do you mean?" Bo asked, a bit confused since most of her attention was drawn to the fight.

"Remember that he said soon he'd be the only one who could close this damn gate?" Tamsin said. "I think he said that because he was planning to kill all of us, and some of us are actually able to close the gate."

"Who?" Bo frowned at her.

"You," Tamsin said, "and Dagny, and of course those two as well if they were still alive."

Bo paused as she looked at the two dead bodies again. "H-how…?"

"Hell, I have no idea, Bo, but the gate...didn't that bastard say that the gate would respond to the hate between parents and children or whatever? Didn't he say that they locked up their own father with it? I think he wants to kill you because you are the only ones who are able to lock him up. If he kills all four of you, he'd be truly free because there would be no one who could put him behind it. He-"

A loud cry interrupted their conversation. Tamsin barely managed to catch Dagny with her arms when the young girl got thrown into the air by Hades' strike.

Dagny hissed, anger burning her eyes. She raised her weapon again as she stared back at him.

Her hand print glowed under her torn t-shirt. She clenched her teeth as she fought that pain. She hid all her fears behind her tough, furious look, but only she herself knew how shaky her hands were. Her legs were about to give out, and her wings had become weak too. She wasn't sure if she could stand up straight and face him for another round.

"Oh please, like you can really kill me," Hades taunted. "You are not gonna kill me, kiddo. You can barely use your power properly. I mean, if you were a pure blood Ancient, you might stand a chance after years of training, but you are not a pure blood. Blame your mother if you will. Look how long it took for her to finally get her power back, and how weak her powers are. It barely tickles me."

He looked at Tamsin condescendingly as a sneer left his nose. He looked at her as if she didn't even deserve his attention.

His attitude hurt Dagny more than it did to anyone else. It reminded her all the horrible things that he had done to Tamsin. She remember when he first showed up at their place, it almost broke her mother. She hated him. She loathed him. To her he was the absolutely worst existence. She just wanted him to disappear. She wanted him to get out of her life, and of course Tamsin's life, for good.

She bit back her tears of rage and pulled herself up. Anger burnt inside her as she stared back at Hades. Her hands shook hard when she thought about how he might hurt Tamsin again.

She couldn't do anything for her mother before, but she could now. The urge of wanting to protect Tamsin from him gave her strength. It ravished inside her along with her power.

She had never felt anything as strong as this. And with that power exploding inside her body, she raised her blade, pointing its tip up.

With both of her hands, she held the end of the hilt and waved it at Hades. Hades snorted and raised his bident to block her attack, but when her weapon hit his, that arrogant smile on his face disappeared.

He clenched his teeth as he held his bident firmly attempting to force her back, but Dagny's attack seemed to be unbelievably strong, and instead it forced him back.

The pressure from Dagny's power hit his chest, stopping him from breathing. He bit out a loud grunt and fell back. He let Dagny push her weapon further towards him, and then he flung his bident upwards thinking he'd jerk her away like he had done before. But, this time he failed. He lost his balance for throwing his arm too hard and stumbled back. The next thing he knew was Dagny pushing her blade into his chest.

The searing pain came. It was something Hades wasn't familiar with at all. He had not felt this kind of pain for a long, long time.

He looked down at the blade lodged in his chest as he staggered further back. Dagny's blade left his body and left a deep wound there. It looked like a crimson burn, only that a few inches of his flesh underneath seemed to have been completely melted into a mixture of red and black.

He hissed furiously and slashed his bident at Dagny, but his arm fell abruptly when Dagny started to pull the crimson energy out from his body.

It was a bit different than what happened to Zagreus. This time the stream of energy spurted out and shot right back at her. She inhaled it, and was empowered by it.

Dagny pulled her lips into an evil smile as she let out a deep breath. She had takned in so much energy that even her pale skin had a tint of red.

Hades growled in great frustration, fear and anger. He stopped himself from panting as he raised his empty hand. He tried to call his power and hurt Dagny through that hand print, but all he got was a faint blue glow ground his fingers.

"This is...not possible..." he squeezed those word out and stumbled back further. After he had taken a few steps, that short spear, Zeus' lightning, fell off his belt.

The sound of it hitting the ground served him as a lovely reminder. He quickly reached for it, for he knew that it might be the single most powerful thing here right now. But, before he could grab it, Bo dashed out and got hold of it before him.

The Succubus cried out in pain the moment her fingers touched the spear. Her body was seized by a strong shock. It was as if every cell of hers was being scorched by some intense heat. The pain was so overwhelming that her tears started to burst out.

It was then she remembered the things that librarian told her and Tamsin. He had said that neither of them could wield Zeus' lightning because it would burn their souls into ashes.

Bo clenched her teeth as she hold on to it, just so Hades couldn't use it against Dagny, or anyone else. However, her body was out of her control. Her muscles started to spasm and her fingers loosened against her will.

The spear fell into the ground again, tumbling back and forth between two slightly elevated places.

Hades punched Bo hard and pushed her away before she could grab it again. Then, he choked Tamsin and flung her aside when the Valkyrie tried to pick up the spear.

He let out a few deep, rapid gasps and reached for the spear again. Before he could hold it tight enough, Dagny grabbed the other end of it and yanked it away from him violently.

The young girl clasped her fingers tightly around the spear and hit Hades in his chin with the handle of her weapon. Then, when the unbearable force shocked her, she let out a loud scream.

It felt like a strong burn in her hand, like she was holding a burning coal or a piece of almost melting metal. But, at the same time, it felt like a cold rush too. It froze her to her bones.

She fought it with her own power, forcing a crimson cloud around the spear.

The spear vibrated in her hand, as if it was responding her power in excitement. It slowly changed into a bolt of lightning, something too bright for her or anyone to look at.

She cried out again for she thought she was being electrocuted. A strong current ran through her body and exploded inside her. She wasn't even sure if it was killing her or energizing her.

She saw a vague image of Hades standing in front of her reaching for the lightning, and she used every bit of her strength to swing the lightning bolt at his chest.

She heard a loud bang and a series of noisy sizzles. It rang in her ears, making her feel dizzy.

She knew she had hit him, though, since it was the first time she had heard Hades yowl.

Her senses was being forced out of her by the lightning, but when she saw him reaching for the spear again, she swung it at him and hit him again.

Then, she had to let go of it before it burnt her hands off her arms. The lightning fell down, and turned back into a short spear before it even hit the ground. It lay it quietly.

Dagny panted hard as she fisted her fingers. She feared that if she didn't fist them hard enough they'd fall off because she could barely feel them.

In front of her, stood a stunned Hades. Other than the crimson burn in his chest, he got a long, messy mark across his body. It looked as if a part of him had been charred. Crimson energy seeped through that mark, and entered Dagny's body.

Hades looked down at the mark, before he looked at Dagny. He seemed to still have a hard time believing that Dagny was able to hit him with the lightning.

He fell back weakly, forgetting how close he was to the edge of the platform. As one of his foot step out of the platform, he jolted in fear. He tried to pull himself forward but he tripped.

"No!" He yelled as he fell off the platform. But, instead of falling down, he got sucked into the vortex.

The three women looked at the vortex with their breath held and their eyes wide open. Eventually they all let out a deep breath and looked at each other.

"Did I…?" Dagny murmured hesitantly. "Did I really hit him with the lightning?"

"Yeah, you did," Tamsin told her.

Dagny nodded, but was too stunned to say anything else.

"We...we need to close this damn thing," Bo suggested as she watched more and more shadows escape.

"How?" Dagny asked with a low voice as she fought the remaining power of the lightning.

"Maybe one of you need to slit his throat and spill his blood over those stones or something," Tamsin said as she looked at the four red stones.

Bo swallowed hard as she looked around wondering if there would be any clue of how to close the gate, though after a second or two her attention was drawn to a sudden screech coming from the vortex.

Turning to take glance at it, she was shocked to see a human shaped shadow clawing its way out from the vortex.

It looked like a charred Hades. He no longer had his nice suit, or that sly smile, or anything of him really. There were two glowing spots on his face, and Bo assumed that those were his eyes, or what was left of them. They looked as vicious as they could ever be.

A twitching hole appeared on that face, as a deep and malicious voice came out from that hole.

"The throne should have been mine!" The charred Hades yelled with great rage. He came at them, jumping, limping, crawling, and scrambling. He looked like the worst nightmare anyone could ever have.

"It's mine! Everything should have been mine!" He announced as he launched himself at Dagny.

Dagny struck him with her weapon, but it went through him like going through the air. It hit nothing. It was as if his physical form no longer existed.

The charred Hades laughed. His voice bounced back and forth between the walls. It sounded like Tartarus itself was laughing at the three women.

Then, he turned to the spear and made his way towards it like some sort of hungry beast. "This is mine! Mine!"

He picked up the spear before anyone could stop him, but as he held it, the spear slowly slipped out from his grip like falling through a thick, dark fog.

He tried again, and again, but he was no longer able to hold it, not to mention to use it. He growled furiously as he started to smash anything and everything that was in his way. At one point he even managed to get out a long piece of shadow which looked exactly like his bident.

He eventually decided to take out his anger on Bo and Tamsin. He attacked them, strangling them in his shadow form. He couldn't really grab them but his existence was like a toxic fume. As he got close enough to them, they started to choke.

"Leave them alone and die!" Dagny bit out as she picked up the spear again. She hurled the lightning at him and it pierced through him like a dart.

A part of him disappeared, like the shadow form of his got dispersed by the lightning. He wailed loudly, letting go of Tamsin and Bo before coming at Dagny.

Dagny slammed him back with the spear. She clenched her teeth and bit her bottom lip as she swung the lightning at him over and over.

She couldn't feel her fingers. She couldn't even feel her arms. She could barely see, or hear, or even think. She wondered how long it would take before the spear would burn her into ashes. She just kept hitting him, until she forced the rest of him to the edge of the platform..

"I guess you weren't wrong when you bitched about that curse. Karma is a bitch, and go to hell, dad," Dagny bit those words out one by one as she flung her arms out and tossed the lightning at him.

It cut him into half. The two pieces of charred Hades, or the shadow Hades, got pushed off the platform again. The vortex sucked him in, but his loud, shriek cry of fear came to the three women.

"It should have been me! It should have been me! The throne...there shall be no God but me…."

His voice got weaker and weaker until it finally stopped. The three women waited nervously and cautiously as they wondered if he'd come back again in a much nastier form.

He never came out, and after having stared at the vortex long enough they noticed something else.

The swirl of darkness had slowed down. After a while, shadows stopped coming out from it. It eventually stopped spinning and faded into the air.

The slight tremor they had felt had stopped, and the red stones had turned pale again. It was as if nothing had happened.

"Is it...closed?" Bo murmured as she stood there looking at the dark abyss.

"Well...I guess...since it's gone," Tamsin said hesitantly. "I don't think any more shadows are coming out either."

It was then that Dagny had finally let that painful cry out. She collapsed, panting hard. She looked at her own hands, shocked to see that both of her arms were beyond pale, but at the same time, they looked very much burnt.

"You okay?" Tamsin grabbed her shoulder and held her in her arms. She looked at Dagny, worried.

Dagny gave her a nod. "It's just a...mosquito bite."

"Ugh huh," Tamsin rolled her eyes as she carefully touched Dagny's skin. It felt more than normal, and that gave her some relief.

A moment of silence came to them, and the three of them looked at each other while deciding if they should hug each other and cry or cheer in joy now. Before they had made a decision, Kenzi woke up in a loud gasp.

"Holy mother of Russian what happened?!" Kenzi exclaimed as she looked around. When she saw the dirt, blood and the torn clothes on the other three women, she asked, "y'all okay?"

After getting a nod from all of them, she let out a deep breath and lay there like a wet dog. "I'm never gonna step into this hellhole ever again."

Bo chuckled and stroke her hair. "What happened to you?"

"Do I look like I know, missy?" Kenzi grunted. "Something hit me hard…I think."

Bo couldn't help but chuckle again. The feeling of relief and joy had finally hit her and it made her dizzy.

"Didn't that a-hole say that some freaking palm reader told him that he'd open the hellgate and rule the world? I guess the palm reader sucked balls," Kenzi murmured.

"No," Bo corrected her. "He only said that she told him that he'd open the gate. He didn't brag anything about her saying anything about ruling the world at all. I guess she didn't tell him that. I guess maybe...maybe the oracle only saw him opening the hellgate because that was the last thing she could see in his life."

"The last thing of him, maybe," Tamsin said with her eyebrows furrowed, "but don't forget we have like a million of angry shadow fuckers to deal with now."

"Yeah, I guess we'll have to figure out a way to haul those Tartarus asses back and lock him behind the gate again," Bo said.

Tamsin nodded. And then, her eyes met Bo's. Neither of them could stop smiling, and both had tears welling up in their eyes. They started to giggle at each other while trying to brush the dirt off the other person's face.

As their hands gently moved across the other person's cheek, they both inhaled painfully and inched forward.

Their lips finally met after the forever hesitation. They kissed each other breathlessly, with giggles, tears and two fluttering hearts

"Oh, go get a room, you two," Kenzi complained with an eye roll and threw her hand out.

- A Year Later -

Kenzi was helping Dagny wiping off the orange juice the young girl had just spilled when someone stormed into the Dal like a bullet.

It was a short man with a big beard. He rushed to the counter. After stopping beside a bar stool that was an inch taller than him, he took out a small horn and blew it hard.

A loud, unpleasant sound burst out. It caught everyone's attention. When he saw that everyone was looking at him, he shouted, "is there someone name Kenzi? Do I have a Kenzi here? Is there a Kenzi here?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, I am Kenzi. Kenzi is moi," Kenzi replied as she raised her hand. "Do I know you, sir?"

"I certainly hope not," the man mumbled, "but I have a mail for you."

With that he took off his backpack and pulled out a roll of tattered paper that was bound together with a leather. The thread looked just as tattered as the paper.

He tossed the roll at Kenzi carelessly, and the petite woman almost fell off her stool while trying to catch it.

"This is a mail, for...for me?" Kenzi frowned at the roll of paper in her hand.

"You are Kenzi, aren't ya?" The man asked her impatiently.

"Yeah, I am."

"Then yeah, it's for you. Now spit," he told her as he took a step forward towards her.

"What?" Kenzi raised her eyebrows.

"Spit," the man drawled.

"S-spit?" Kenzi frowned hard.

"Oh come on, young lady. I have lots of mails to deliver and lots of places to go. Let's just get this done, okay?" The man demanded.

"Ummm...get what done again?" Kenzi was beyond confused.

Dyson, who stood behind the counter watching Kenzi and the short guy the whole time, could no longer hold his amused laugh. "He's a..." he tried to explain to Kenzi what type of Fae the guy was but gave up quickly since he couldn't remember the exact name. "You need to spit in his face. It's like a payment as well as your signature. Proof of delivery, something like that."

Kenzi grimaced. She had to close her eyes when she spat into the man's face. The guy grumbled and mumbled, before he left in a hurry.

"Is it really a letter?" Dagny asked curiously as she stared at the roll of papers.

"Ummm…I don't know...why don't we-" Kenzi murmured as she pulled the thread off. She unrolled the stack of paper, and then she frowned when she saw Bo's name as the sender. "Hey, it's from Bo."

"What? Really? This is from Bo? She wrote us a letter? Like...a real letter letter?" Dagny exclaimed. "What she lost her phone and can't video chat with us either or something?"

"Hey, technically neither your Mama or Bo-Bo has contacted us in a while, so I am kinda relieved that she actually took time and wrote me something," Kenzi murmured.

Reading through the letter, she explained, "well it looks like Bo-Bo and Tam-Tam are in some Fae tribe and those tribe people loath modern tech. I guess that was why she wrote us instead of calling us…."

"What else did she say? I mean, are they okay? Are they coming home soon?"

"Not anytime soon, I'm afraid," Kenzi read the letter carefully, "but they are still breathing and in one piece. They have managed to lock up some of the Tartarus shadows and are searching for the rest."

She read a few more lines, and announced, "your Mama said if you do well in school they'll let you join them this summer. Quote unquote, this summer and this summer only."

"Really?!" Dagny cheered. After getting a nod from Kenzi, she couldn't help but cheered. She bounced around like a happy bubble, before she ran to Mark to tell him the good news.

Kenzi shook her head in a smile as she continued reading the letter.

"Kenz, I'm not gonna lie to you. It's basically monsters and near death experience everyday for us, but I guess with Tamsin beside me, I no longer fear anything.

"About that question you've asked me, Kenzi, I think I'm finally able to give you an answer. I figured it out a long time ago, actually, when we were in Tartarus. When I fell into the abyss after being stabbed by Hades, Tamsin jumped down for me. I guess she wasn't really trying to save me, but rather ready to die with me. Then, her wings came out. You know, when I saw her wings, I felt so happy, like really, really happy, but it wasn't because we were saved or anything. I just felt happy, for her, but not just as a friend or anything like that. I can't really explain, but when I saw her wings, I felt like suddenly I found the things that I've been looking for. I have never felt anything like that before. No one has ever made me feel that way before. I don't think I'd ever have anyone else like her in my life. I couldn't have asked for anyone better, and I hate myself for not realizing this sooner. To answer your question, she's everything to me, Kenzi. Tamsin is everything to me.

"I know I still have a lot of things to figure out, and I want to figure those things out with Tamsin. We are taking things slow and enjoying every minute of us being together. I feel that as long as we are together, we can do anything and everything. Anyway, talk to you later, and hopefully we'll soon be able to use our phones again. Love ya. xoxo."

Kenzi couldn't stop herself from smiling after she finished the letter. Then she covered her forehead and sighed when she saw Dagny bumped into someone and knocked a table over.

"Oh boy...here we go again," she murmured and rushed over to help with a heart full of joy and peace.

[THE END]

A/N: Whoa, the last chapter! I thought I'd never finish this story! This is a hard to write one, and I've felt brain drained many time when I wrote it.

I know it's not a perfect ending. They didn't get married or anything like that, but I think it's best to end this story here. I think they'll be okay from now on.

I won't be doing any more Canon-verse Valkubus stories, because the Canon-verse is too fucked up to put them in. I'll be writing my other stories.

Thanks for everyone who have read, liked and reviewed this story! Long live Valkubus!