AN- First off I would like to apologize for not updating. My summers are a bit busy with work/family/belly dance/ect. SO we (my friends and I) are thankful for Autumn and that the creative part of my brain has had a chance to be re-engaged. Second this is the last chapter of this part of the story, and I have started the second part. I also plan to make a story to bridge the gap from this one to the second.

Thank you to all of you whom have stuck with this from the beginning and given me advice and encouragement. Time to read the next installment!

Chapter 17.

Mellonah awoke late that morning, or she thought she had. Loki wasn't there in bed, nor did she hear the shower running. Getting up she went through her normal morning routine of washing up, dressing, and making something to eat. But as she was preparing to make breakfast, she stopped at the sight of Loki's book, with a folded piece of paper resting on top.

'Mellonah,

I am grateful for all the care you have shown to me, though the time for me to depart has long since passed. I have found that you a weakness to me and to remain would be foolish.

I do not say these words to harm you. I only wish to protect you from the dangers of my vendetta, as I will be seeking to right the wrongs done to me.'

At this Mellonah rolled her eyes yet continued reading, ' I do not ask for your forgiveness for even as a god I am not worthy of it, I only ask for understanding, as this is one of the few things that keep me from staying in this place with you.

I once warned you that I am not a kind man and that I may end up breaking you, though I wish for you to know that if anyone could teach me to love it would have... no, is you. Before meeting you my mind and heart were filled with not but rage, pain, and a need for vengeance; but now I also care and feel concerned for you. I have many that wish for my demise and that would use these feelings that I have for you against me.

I do hope that should I be able to return, I may be welcomed into your home once more.

-Loki'

Mellonah wasn't surprised that he left, though she would be lying through her teeth to say that his sudden departure didn't bother her. Ok it more than bothered her. Mellonah had for a foolish time thought that he would choose peace over chaos, her over revenge.

She felt a numbness creep over her, as loneliness made its self known. The house hadn't felt this empty since her grandmother passed away. It was in this moment that disgust filled her. Not at Loki and his leaving, but at how she was acting to the fact. Had she become so dependent on one person in less than a year that she had lost the will to be on her own?

Mellonah sighed as she set the letter on the table and hauled herself back up stairs. Pushing open the doors to the studio, she shuffled to the player and pulled down a record that was hidden, and put it on a modern record player.

The snaps and pops along with a smooth and gentle piano melody filled the as a soft and mournful young woman's voice filled the air, soon Mellonah began to pour herself and her emotions into her dance.

'-Every moment spellbound, echoes back a sweet sound, rise into the great divide. When we were young, and carefree, running through the corn fields, bare feet in the clear blue stream. We were dancing, dancing to the melody of life'

Her movements expressed her feelings better than any crying, screaming tantrum. They spoke of pain, confusion, and disappointment.

'-We were dancing, dancing to the melody of life. We were dancing, dancing to the melody of life. Still dancing, dancing to the melody of life... dancing.'*

Too soon the record moved on to the next song, but it was upbeat and happy, not at all what she was feeling so she skipped it.

As the piano started again she not only began to dance but sing as well, "- A silent prayer to call her exiled children home. A western wind that wailed through ancient stone and rain. The holy ground laid barren in a stranger's name. Oh, sullen night, oh, let them stay. Erin Beo, mo thir go deo. Your heart was broken to see them go, but still your prayers, your faith held strong. A song that carried on the western shores. They heard your voice, a voice of hope."**

By the end of the song Mellonah's voice was so broken up that she couldn't even whisper the next song. Tears that had started had long stopped running down her face, and all that was left of her small meltdown was salt trails, aching muscles, and the desire for a hot herbal bubble bath.

Trudging down the hall with her arms crossed and the record playing on, Mellonah felt that Loki had left with a piece of her. The piece that was self-assured, determined, and independent.

The soft light of the afternoon sun reflected off the bathroom walls and steam from the filling tub as Mellonah's, now damp, clothing fell carelessly to the floor; and if she had taken the time to but glance over her shoulder into the mirror she would have seen the beginnings of a mark. A mark of duel serpents creating a Celtic knot on her right shoulder-blade, one green and the other blue.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

* 'Melody of Life' and **'Erin Beo' sung by Lynn Hilary

AN: I do not own these songs. they are owned by their respective song writers/record companies/etc..

Again this story line isn't over just this part of it. I will do my best to get the next story up and running soon

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to seeing you all when I get the next story up 'The Coming of the Death Courter' (Spoiler: We will be seeing more of Mellonah's family and one character that made a brief appearance in this story)