CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"Oh my Gods," Aideen said as she realized what had happened. "They were Figments?"

"I did not see that coming," Shooter mumbled.

"My family is perfect," Eliza said. "Absolutely flawless."

"Eliza's quite talented with Figmentation," Luigi explained. "She descends from Vishnu and inherited the very rare gift. She's quite a find."

"Why would you do all of this?" Arnie asked.

"Being twelve, Eliza needed a family to take care of her," Luigi replied. "An unaccompanied child her age would not go unnoticed. You see, she and her brother were turned immortal a couple of centuries ago. Their entire family was brutally slaughtered in front of them, but these two were gifted, and they survived. The ones who captured them gave them immortality in exchange for their eternal service. The two wonderful children killed their captors and set about the world on their own."

"Brother? What brother?" Aideen asked. "Her brother vanished with everyone else."

"I do believe you've met him. Tell them, Eliza," Luigi coaxed her.

"My name is Eliza Esposito. My brother was Raphael, and he was all I had left, but your father killed him," Eliza said, her tone still disturbingly sing-song.

"You're talking about Rafe? Courtney's creep of a boyfriend? The one who caused all of this trouble?" Aideen asked in disbelief.

"Yes, and now you have to pay. Your sister's the reason he's dead. A debt for a debt, a sibling for a sibling."

"I hate to tell you this, Kid, but I don't die all that easily. Ask the bleeding warlock over there."

"My family will destroy you."

"Your family's not real."

"Don't say that. I don't like to hear that." Eliza shook her head.

"I advise you to do as she says, Aideen," Luigi said. "She was too young to be turned immortal. It had a bad effect on her mind, I'm afraid. She's really quite insane, but she's so talented I couldn't bear to do the humane thing and destroy her."

"Allow me, then," Aideen replied. She was about to send a killing spell at Eliza when Luigi knocked her down.

"Don't!" He said. "Kill me instead, Aideen. She's just a little girl. You can't harm her."

"She's no little girl, and I will kill you, don't worry. Where is Arnie's mother, Luigi?" She demanded.

"She's locked in an empty office now. She's perfectly fine. Arnie would know if she wasn't. Just get it over with, Aideen. If you don't kill me, I'll bleed out anyway."

"You didn't do the humane thing when you found this insane little kid. Why should I?"

"You are a better person than I."

"True, but that doesn't mean that you deserve mercy." She was horrified that, upon realizing a child was suffering, Luigi had left her to it just so he could abuse her power.

Instead of a killing spell, Aideen cast one which left Luigi unable to speak. They didn't need to hear his mouth anymore. She also cast one which slowed the bleeding so that he would take longer to die.

"You can't kill me," Eliza said. "No one can. I'm stuck like this forever, and because of your father, I'm all alone. Even Raphael is gone now. He promised. He promised he'd never go."

Aideen felt a surprising amount of compassion for the child as Eliza spoke. It wasn't her fault that she was unstable. Children weren't meant to be immortal. Their minds were not mature enough to handle it. Eliza had clearly been a young twelve, and she'd watched her family get slaughtered. The only reason she'd probably lasted as long as she had was because she had Rafe.

"I'm sorry for what you've been through, but this has to end," Aideen replied gently. She knew that she couldn't save Eliza. As long as she was alive, she'd remain psychologically trapped in the worst moment of her life. She would never be able to heal unless someone granted her the mercy of death.

Aideen sent a spell at the girl which stripped the immortality off of her slowly and painlessly. It took a lot of Aideen's remaining strength, but it was the right thing to do.

As Eliza grew weaker, she curled up in a ball and asked, "What happens?"

"What do you mean?" Arnie asked gently.

"What happens when you die? Is there anything more?"

"Your family will be waiting for you. Not the Fosters, but your real family." He wasn't sure how long they'd been dead, but something told Arnie that Eliza's family was still waiting for her to cross before they would move on.

"Will it hurt?" Eliza asked nervously.

"No," Aideen replied. "I promise it won't hurt." She placed her hand over Eliza's third eye and whispered, "Sleep."

Eliza fell immediately into a deep sleep. She stopped breathing moments later. Everyone remained silent.

"Well," Shooter said, finally breaking the silence after several moments. "That was unique. Just when you think you've seen everything..."

"Skip, are you alright?" Tammy asked, helping her boss stand up.

"I'm fine," Skip replied. "Physically. Emotionally, I'll get there eventually."

"We've got a lot of cleaning up to do," Shooter said, "but let's free Beth first."

"They captured Beth?" Skip asked.

"No, I did. She went super empath on us again. I locked her in a safe room."

"That was a good call."

"I do make them occasionally."

"I'll catch up with you guys," Arnie said. "I have to handle something."

They left, knowing he needed to be alone with his birth father. When it was just the two of them, Arnie stared at Luigi. "Let's try this again, Old Man. We're done here," he said. He fired a single shot into Luigi's head for the second time that night and watched him die. This time, he knew that it would stick.

He followed his instincts until he entered a room where a figure was tied to a chair. "Hi, Miss Keller," he said. "Did you miss me?" He untied her.

"Arnie!" Dawn cried. "I'm so glad you found me... Is it over? Is he dead?"

"He's dead," Arnie replied. "Again. And so are the zombies, and the evil people who caused all of this trouble." He hugged her. "I'm sorry I ran off on you. I couldn't accept it. I didn't know that I was adopted."

"It's alright. I'm sorry I had to tell you like that."

"For the record, you made a good choice of family for me. They were awesome."

"I knew they would be. They were some of the kindest people I've ever met."

"I don't know where I'm going to go now. Clarissa said she'd take me in, but I don't know if she'll be able to. My social worker always finds ways to disqualify good people from becoming my guardians."

"Well, if you want... I mean... If you needed to..."

"You know, Miss Keller, for an English teacher, you seem to be struggling with words right now," Arnie teased her gently.

She laughed. "What I'm trying to say is that I'd like to take you in. You don't have to stay with me. You barely know me. If you want to, though, the offer is out there."

Arnie paused. "Well, they can't really tell me that my own birth mother is an unfit foster parent, can they?" He wondered aloud. "But we can worry about that once you're out of the hospital."

"The hospital?"

"You're hurt. I can feel how badly, and normally I'd just heal you, but I've been healing a lot of people tonight and have no more energy. I'll get you to a doctor and when they clear you, if you still decide you want me around, I'll think about it."

"I always wanted you around, Arnie. I wish I could have kept you."

Arnie wasn't sure what to say, so he simply nodded. "Come on," he said, extending his hand toward her. "Let's get you some help."

~*~

When everyone had finally gone home for the night, Jade couldn't sleep as usual. She went for a walk, but she avoided the cemetery. The zombies were still putting themselves back into their graves. It would be a mess, and she prefer not to see another zombie for a long time.

She wandered, unsure of where to go. She finally ended up in Gallows Hill Park, her favorite place in Salem. The spot where Aideen had blown up had already been fixed by magick from the Salem witches, and the usual sense of calm and mystery hung in the air.

"You did the right thing," Spencer's voice said gently.

Jade spun around. Spencer stood manifested before her. She almost screamed, cried, and passed out at the same time. This was too much. She could not handle facing him.

"It's really me," he said gently. "And you know that it wasn't me before. I would never harm you or Cierra."

"I know," Jade replied. "I'm so sorry, Spencer..."

"For what?"

"For destroying your body."

"I am not my body, Jade. I didn't feel it. It didn't do anything to me. I'm still here. That body was only an empty shell."

"And I'm sorry for getting you killed."

"Not you, too," Spencer said with a sigh. "I had this talk with Arnie already. It wasn't your fault. It was a prophecy, Jade. I had to die the way that I did. It was the only way to stop him."

"You were protecting me."

"I walked in there knowing I was going to die."

"That doesn't make it okay."

"I'm sorry I left you, Jade. I'd have stayed if I could."

"I know that."

"I love you."

Her eyes clouded over with tears. "I know that, too." She paused. "I thought you were mad at me."

"Why on earth would I be mad at you?" Spencer asked in surprise.

"I couldn't save you, and you never came to see me. I'm a necromancer. I deal with spirits all the time. I searched and searched, but I couldn't find you."

"I knew that you needed time to face what had happened, or it would never become real and you'd never heal from it. You needed distance from me so you could process my death."

"I needed you... I still do."

"You've done well on your own. I'm here now, and any time you need me, you can call. You're ready now. I promise I'll come to you."

"I know I'm strong, but... It's hard, Spencer. It's so much harder than I wanted it to be. I swore after Joey's dad died that I'd never care about someone that much again, and then you came along and it was the most intense thing I have ever experienced. Then I lost you. Do you understand what that did to me?"

"I know that you've been hurting. I wish I could have taken your pain away, but that would have been wrong."

"I'd have smited you if you tried."

"Good. If I had tried, I would have deserved it." He smiled at her sadly.

"I love you. I hate that I do, but I do, and I can't turn this pain off. I keep trying to pretend it's not there, but it won't go away."

"Time will help. It brings perspective."

"Screw that..."

He smiled at her again. "You're going to survive this, Jade. I know you will."

"I hope you're right."

He kissed her. It didn't feel like it would have if he had been physically present and alive, but it was like a butterfly's wing fluttered across her cheek. She allowed her guard to drop as his energy embraced her. She never wanted it to end.

"Let Corey take you home," Spencer said when he finally released her.

"Is that dork still following me? I can't ditch him no matter what I do," Jade complained.

"He's a good bodyguard, Jade," Spencer replied. "And he cares about what happens to you. Let him help."

Jade sighed. "Fine. You have to go, don't you?"

"Yes, but the second you need me, I'll come to you."

"I'm going to hold you to that." She watched him fade away. After a minute, she took a deep breath and said, "Okay, Acne Boy, come on out."

Corey emerged from his hiding place nearby. "Who were you talking to?" He asked curiously.

"Spencer," she replied.

"Oh..." Corey said awkwardly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt that."

"He manifested for me. I guess he wanted to make sure that I knew he wasn't mad about his body."

"Are you okay?" Corey asked gently.

She considered his question carefully. "You know what? I think I might be," she decided. "It still hurts, but being able to talk to him helped a little bit."

"Good. Can I take you home now?"

"Sure. I need to call Alestair and tell him that the world's not ending after all and he can return my son to me."

"Wait a second... You know the Ultimate Evil?"

"He's the Ultimate Darkness, actually, and yes, I do. He's my son's guardian."

"That was a creepy choice."

"I'm a creepy girl."

"That's okay. I kind of enjoy creepy," Corey said with a laugh.

"And apparently, I can tolerate geeky," Jade teased him. "Come on, stalker... Take me home."

~*~

Arnie spent the night at Aideen, Clarissa, and Courtney's house. Alex and Melissa stayed over as well. He knew it couldn't last, but the sense of peace he finally felt was a welcome relief.

"Are you okay?" Melissa asked him when everyone else had fallen asleep.

"Basically," Arnie replied. "I'm kind of freaked out about everything, but at least it's over. I know the truth now, and it hasn't changed who I am."

"I still love you, you know," Melissa said softly. "Even if you don't want to say that to me."

"Missa, I love you more than I've ever loved any other girl. You're the only one who has my heart... I just can't give you the label of girlfriend. It's too dangerous, even with him gone."

"Who needs labels? They're overrated. All I need is love."

"You've got that in spades."

"So do you." She kissed him. "What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. Miss Keller asked me to move in with her. Maybe I will... I'm not sure yet. I have to think about it."

"Well, if nothing else, you know that Clarissa will let you stay here, or you can stay with Alex. Screw the system! Fight the power!"

"For all these years, I've been searching for a home, but I already had two. It's kind of ironic."

"Three. You live in my heart, Lover Boy."

He kissed her, holding her protectively in his arms. Somehow, on top of Salem's most recent apocalyptic event, he'd survived his own personal apocalypse and was still standing. No matter what came next, he'd get through it, as long as he had his friends.