Calliope sat on the roof top. She had wings just a second ago. Everything was all glowing and magical and she felt like she had drained every bit of black energy from Caliborn's soul... and now she was sitting on her ass in her human form. Her wand was gone, her a-phone was gone. She just sat here... being Calliope. Caliborn was face down on the ground, also in his human form. He groaned and crawled to his knees, looking like he had just woken up from a painful hangover. He was covered in black bruises and blood trickled down from his mouth. Caliborn reached up and felt for his horns, frantically grabbing the air because there was nothing there. He reached back and found that his wings had also vanished. Calliope watched him scramble frantically.

"You... you awful bitch!" he shouted. "I have no magic left!" he screeched.

Calliope held out a single pale pointer finger, holding it up to her face. She concentrated as hard as she could, and found that she could not conjure any kind of light at all. Not a bit of magic flowed through her finger tips and she felt as though she had emptied completely of any magical energy she had... actually, she felt fine. She felt more than fine, she felt hungry, and tired, and she felt surprisingly, well, human! She Calliope smiled, knowing quite instantly that Caliborn must have also been human. Her white magic had been strong enough to conquer Caliborn's black magic but it had not been enough to kill him, rather they hit each other with everything they got until it cancelled itself out and left them both magicless. Alive, but mortal.

"Well, at least it's stopped you. Now if you don't mind, I have an emergency to attend with," Calliope said politely, running off in a heap of heavy breaths to find Roxy as soon as possible. Without her powers, this stuff was harder to do than to say. Calliope could not approach the scene, the police had stormed the gates, so to speak. Calliope could only sigh, helplessly. She had no means of contact, she could only listen to the idle chattering of humans, when she heard about the hospital, so to the hospital she went.

"Roxy!" Calliope shouted, she ran to the hospital bedside. Roxy was half-awake, her mother Rose standing next to her. Roxy was smiling even though it hurt when Calliope hugged her tight.

"You're alive!" Calliope cried. Roxy patted gently on the back.

"What happened in there?" Calliope asked.

"Jake tried to shoot some kids so I stood in front of him and he shot me, then I sorta' black out but now I'm here... I'm on drugs Callie. All the stinkin' drugs..." Roxy said.

"I have to tell you something," Calliope said with stern and sorrowful tone. She wiped the tears from her eyes with her green sleeve.

"Yes?"

"I couldn't stop Caliborn. He made Jake go insane and shot people. He's been helping him the whole time. I couldn't kill him, I couldn't kill my brother, but I stopped him. We're both human. We cancelled out each other's magical energy and it made us human. I can't even connect to the angels anymore. I don't know where Caliborn is. I couldn't save you," Calliope admitted. That was her weakness. No matter what she did, Roxy could noth ave been saved by her hand. She could have only been saved by human medicine, which lucky for Roxy, is quite effective these days. Most gun shot wounds don't have fatal injuries and people can live just fine with part of a lung removed.

"It's okay, Callie. I love you, and that is what matters," Roxy said. She embraced Calliope, despite the crushing pain her chest. Things weren't perfect, but as far as she was concerned, the only heaven Roxy would be resting in was Calliope's embrace.

Last week, an armed gun man, Jake English shot into the crowd at a speech given by Betty Crocker's CEO, Jane Crocker. Jane Crocker was unharmed, as were the other two speakers, Dave Strider and Rose Lalonde. One person was injured in the shooting, Roxy Lalonde, daughter of the author, Rose Lalonde. Roxy Lalonde received two gun shot wounds to her torso and was instantly rushed to the a nearby hospital, but is in otherwise stable condition. There were no fatalities from the shooting, and criminal charges have not yet been pressed against Jake English.

[picture]

Pictured (left to right): Calliope, Roxy, and Rose Lalonde in the hospital.

Okay, show of hands: Who thought Roxy died? Truth is, I have an over-tendency to kill off the main characters in my stories, I do it like, all the time. This time I didn't. I just made it seem like I did. I'm sorry, but I just love fucking with ya'll. This isn't a Disney ending, but it's not a sad one either. Callie had to give up her magical powers and Roxy had a severe lung resectioning, but I think that is what makes a more believable ending. It's not so simple as "Roxy dies, Callie gets her wings", but rather "Callie gets her wings, then loses them immediately after, but on the bright side Roxy is alive even though she is injured". I'm happy with the ending, I hope you guys are happy with the ending and that you will, uh, forgive me for the fake out and understand that I did it just to make the real ending more of a relief.

Thank you so, so much for reading this story, I had a lot of fun writing it and it was pretty challenging for me at time because I don't do romance to happy disney endings and it means a lot to get feedback when I take risks and do something that is radically different. Please make sure you check out the AO3 mirror to see the pictures that you can't see above, if you're not already there.