Finale(?): Part 4

Vivian leapt onto Dominic, who slashed wildly with Gene's sword. No real technique, just hoping that this monster would get off him. He took a step back, hoping she wouldn't respond, but she went back to pouncing at him, only to be met with an uppercut.

"You doing okay?" Bartholomew asked, not looking at him.

"Extremely." Dominic muttered.

Dominic took a step forward, swinging the sword at Vivian's torso. She blocked it with an ice-covered hand, only for Bartholomew to land a left hook in the burned side of her face, which caused her to fall back and scream in agony.

Nothing like sweet, sweet music to finish a fight with.

Ayana jumped out from behind her, jamming a knife into her burned shoulder, which Vivian responded to by jamming an elbow into her nose. Ayana lost her posture for a second, and accidentally sent the knife plunging further into her. Vivian's eyes bulged open, and she turned to face her. Ayana jumped back, and Sapphire punched her, before sending her back with a blast of wind, and Bartholomew hit her in the back of the head before she could do anything.

A small pop went off in Sapphire's direction, and she spread her hands outward, sending Dominic and Bartholomew flying back, before picking up Ayana and darting out of the way of the icebergs that erupted out of the ground. Dominic swung at it with the sword, and the ice shattered like a poorly made sandcastle, water weakly leaking out from it.

Bartholomew retracted the energy from his hands, giving an open palm slap to one of the icebergs, and a hole was made, with a small bit of water trailing out.

Dominic casually swung Gene's sword, and the two could see Vivian on her knees, looking at the two in contempt.

"What are you gonna do now, huh?" She barked, with tears leaking through her eyes. There was blood around her, coming through her back, which was slowly freezing into spikes. She took one out of the ground, throwing it at Bartholomew, who merely stepped out of the way. Vivian got up shakily, sending an ice blast towards Dominic, who merely lifted his sword in front of it, and it fell to the ground in a slushy mess.

Vivian was breathing heavily at this point. Looking at the two of them, with Bartholomew coating his hands in white energy, until she felt a tap on her shoulder. Her eyes bulged open, and she felt the fist hit her before she could even turn around.

"Sapphire, that's enough."

Zeb walked through the broken ice, looking towards Vivian's dishevelled face, her hair ruined, her one exposed eye full of desperation. She slowly approached her, with her stepping back as she did.

"W-what are you trying to do?" She screamed. "I killed Halford for you, i-it was him who made me do all of that!"

"Well then, may I speak to him? And ask why he's so obsessed with Gene?"

Vivian stood in silence for a few seconds. "B-but this was you! You and this entire timeline thing! I can't be blamed for any of this!"

"Excuse me?" Sapphire screamed, Ayana having to hold her back.

"Yeah! You think I want to be here? Stuck here with the essence of my friends stuck inside me? I'm a victim too, right?"

Zeb didn't react to this. She looked at this girl she worked against for five hundred years. And then she raised her hand, with a wave of purple energy emitting from it.

"This is for the best, trust me."

Vivian leapt back as far as she could, which wasn't much. Zeb retracted her plasma, and Vivian smiled for a second, until she felt someone behind her.

And then felt metal coming out of her chest.

She looked like she was about to scream one final thing as Dominic took the sword out of her, but no words came out as she fell to the ground.

"I-is it over?" Ayana asked.

Dominic nudged her with his foot, saw something twitch, and immediately planted his foot into her head.

"More than likely." He nodded.

Ayana looked over the body. "Clean stab."

"Wait, really?" Dominic smiled. "So the legacy of the assassin king could live on?"

"I guess if you want it to." Ayana shrugged.

Dominic looked at the sword. "Nah. Stabbing people is actually kinda gross."

"Cool." Ayana replied with a soft smile.

"Sooo…." Dominic started. "I saw something move there."

Ayana kicked Vivian in the head.

"First to stop the twitching is officially a godslayer." Dominic yelled quickly.

"You're on." Ayana replied with nothing short of cold-blooded seriousness.

Zeb found the container Gene was being held in, putting her hand on the freezing cage.

"This might hurt a little."

Purple energy shone past the edges of the ice, and it slowly lost its shape, melting slightly. Zeb pushed her palm harder, and the ice shattered, showing a freezing Gene inside of it.

"Gene!" Bartholomew yelled, cradling him. He wasn't talking, but he was breathing. Bartholomew took off his tuxedo and put it over him, picking him up fairly easily.

Sapphire looked over at Lainey's body, shedding tears over what happened. Zeb looked at the scene, looking over at her body.

"She's fine, right?" Sapphire asked.

"Excuse me?" Zeb replied.

"There's an afterlife, right? She's going to be fine, right?"

"I can assure you; she'll manage fine."

Sapphire turned to Zeb, hugging her, while Zeb pat her on the shoulder. Sapphire eventually let go after what felt like an extremely long time to Zeb.

"But…can we get her back?"

"If I learn we can, I'll tell you immediately."

Once everything was dealt with, Zeb gathered the five remaining people. Sapphire had Lainey's phone, breaking the news. Dominic and Ayana were casually bickering over who actually landed the final blow on Vivian, and Bartholomew was helping a disoriented Gene back on his feet.

"Okay, are we ready to go back?" Zeb asked.

The world closed until they were surrounded by endless indigo, the world warped around them, and they were back at Ayana's house, where Yuna was waiting for them. Ayana went to her to explain the situation, while the men sat on her couch trying not to vomit.

"Does that get any less nauseating?" Bartholomew asked.

"Not in our lifetimes." Dominic retorted back.

Gene couldn't hold anything back, just throwing his guts up over the couch.

Yuna looked over at Sapphire, her new caretaker, who tried picking her up.

"You taking her on the boat?" Dominic asked.

"I mean, I don't really know what to do about the boat. I'll probably find somewhere to leave it and live wherever Lainey was staying, I guess."

"So, Ayana, we leaving you here?" Bartholomew asked.

"Nah, I have plans. I'm going to England."

"Excuse me?" Bartholomew asked.

"Moving in with Dominic. Police will start looking for me eventually, so I had to leave sooner or later."

"What happened, exactly?"

"Killed a man and helped kill a second man."

"Oh, I see."

"Zeb, you mind letting me get my stuff?"

Once her stuff was in some trash bags she found, the portal opened and the world shook again. They managed to put Sapphire's boat into the portal. The world shook again, and they were back in England during a normal, if slightly sunnier day.

"How close are we to your house?" Zeb asked.

They were in a field, with Buckingham in the close distance.

"I can walk." Bartholomew replied calmly. "Just gotta reclaim my destiny and get Gene somewhere to sleep."

Gene nodded and managed to say something, but it was incomprehensible.

"We'll be fine, Zeb." Dominic yelled, giving a thumbs up.

The four of them walked off, and Zeb moved Sapphire and Yuna into the portal. The world was encased in indigo, and the three of them landed in a New York alleyway. Zeb changed to her human form as the three stepped out.

"This is New York, right?" Zeb asked.

Sapphire looked over across the busy street, with Mephisto's café looking at her in the distance.

"It is." She spoke.

"Alright, good to know. You mind doing me a favour?"

"What, exactly?" Sapphire asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I'm gonna have to inspect the neighbouring timelines, so I'll need you to fill in the role of this timeline's leader."

"Wait, me?" Sapphire asked. "Why not the actual leader you have on your payroll?"

"Who's that?"

"Bartholomew. Tall guy with the accent."

"Oh, him. Guess I trust you more."

"So, what am I supposed to do, exactly?"

"Enforce justice. I take it our ideas of that are similar. I'll find a place to leave your boat before I go."

"So, what are you doing in the other timelines, anyway?"

"I'm going to find Ulrich, what else?"

"But…isn't he dead?"

"We don't know that. If he's out there, I want to bring him back."

"Well…good luck."

"I wish the same to you." Zeb nodded, walking back into the alleyway.

Sapphire picked up Yuna and went back into the alleyway, but when she inspected it, the demon queen was gone.