REUNION

Enough was enough. Fay brought her leg back into her center and quickly and with all of the force she could muster kicked back, pushing him out of her and off of the bed. She crawled to the edge of the bed and got off on the opposite of Him, just to keep the distance between Him and her. She kept flexing her fist over and over again and kept taking target glances at Him, Irving, the door and the window.

Cracks began forming in the wall, the ceiling, and the floor, most of them back behind Irving, and under Him, "If you ever see the light of day again, I pray you and I never meet again..." She said before balling up her fist. Vines shot up from under the ground and in one with one loud crack Him was dead. Every bone in his body, broken and a river of blood was flowing freely from his body.

She glanced over at Irving, the tears came back. She, not even saying a word she ran out of the room. She remembered where the bath was, that was where she was heading. She opened the door and saw Her was gone, she wanted Him out of her, but didn't have the time, she needed to leave and just grabbed her slip, she wanted to get Irving out of the shackles. She pulled it on and walked back to Irving slowly.

The vines snapped the chains behind Irving, freeing the thief. He rubbed his raw wrists. Him's bloody and battered body lay before him, the thief giving it a few swift kicks for good measure. He knew Fay's shame would cause her to hide himself from him, but he had to see his beloved.

Turning the corner to wander the halls, the thief's jaw dropped when, instead of Fay, he was greeted by a monstrous, huge winged demon with insane fangs and razor sharp claws.

"Alright you bastard." Irving said, grabbing his daggers. "I don't know who you are or what you did to Fay, but ypu picked the wrong time to mess with me."

"You!" Fay shouted, in Irving's place she saw Him, walking in her direction with an evil grin plastered on his face, "I killed you!" She shouted, the ceiling cracked above her and a sharp piece of stone fell into her hand. Her body began to ache. In between her legs began to hurt with every beat of her heart as the sight of him made her mentally relive what he did to her.

She had lost all of her courage, and began backing up, she then looked up at Him, "I'm stronger then you..." She whispered. She gripped the jagged stone blade so tightly it cut her own hand, "I'm stronger then you!" She shouted before charging at "Him".

The demon snarled at Irving, baring it's hideous teeth at the thief. Irving swallowed hard, as this was unlike he had ever faced. Still, he needed to find Fay and if it meant slaying this wicked beast, then so be it. For her, he would walk through the fires of hell.

With a mighty cry he charged back at the demon, swinging his dagger madly right at the beast's throat.

Fay saw Him draw a dagger from his robes. She missed his attack barely, though it still got her shoulder and cut her. The blood leaked from the new cut and soaked the white fabric covering her body. She started backing up, noticing that Him was following her. She opened the nearest door, the door to the bath. She entered the bath, followed by Him \the floor was slick with water and she would have to watch her footing. She gripped the stone in her hand and charged at him, at an attempt to end his pathetic existence.

When the blade had grazed the hideous demon, Irving saw it's thick, sickly green looking gel ooze out of it's festering wound. He winced at the creature's horrible blood, and followed it earnestly to the bathing room. Due to the slick nature of the stone floor, he could tell it's balance was very unstable. Seizing this chance, he ducked it's initial attack and plunged the blade right into it's rotten heart.

Fay gasped, "No..." She said in the loudest voice possible, which, because of the pain was very quiet. She saw who this Him really was, Irving. She fell backwards, her body limp. The dagger was still in Irving's grasp and blood flowed freely from the laceration in her chest.

She lay on the ground, gasping for breath and clutching her heart, blood spilled through her fingers, staining the white fabric that covered her body. She just stared up at Irving, her eyes were spiritless, and confused, yet, her face was completely blank. She showed no signs of feeling pain even though this was the worst pain ever felt by the woman, next to child birth.

Somehow, once the dagger had sunk deep into Fay's heart, whatever spell was over the thief had vanished, as he could now clearly see he had just killed his wife. What followed a scream so loud, so intense, that everyone in the huge stone temple heard it. It was a cry of anguish, terror, pain, shame, humiliation and defeat.

"No, no, no, no...God, no...please...no, no, no, no...." he kept saying, clutching on to her tightly, his tears falling in a shower on her pale skin. "Please don't leave me, Fay...please...don't leave me....I'm so sorry..."

Throughout all of this, hidden in the shadows, Her watched in her cloak. Her face too was slick with tears, as she watched the beautiful rose slowly lose it's petals.

She could slowly feel her soul breaking free from her body, she lifted a weak hand up, the one that wasn't clutching her heart, she refused to let Irving see what he did to her. She rested it on his cheek. Each beat of her heart brought her closer to her death. She was shaking due to the loss of blood, her body was going into shock. Her mouth was dry and she felt sick to her stomach. Her skin was cold to the touch, except in her center.

"I-I'm sorry..." She whispered, she stroked his cheek with her thumb and wiped away some tears, "I'm sorry I let him do that to me..." She whispered her blood ran from her body to the water on the floor and into the pool, "Take care of the children, and tell them I love them, and that I'll always be with them..." She whispered, a tear ran down her cheek.

She moved her hand from his cheek to his shoulders and removed her hand from covering her wound and placed it on his shoulder, she used the last amount of strength in her body to pull her self up to kiss Irving one last time, “I love you,” She whispered before their lips met, seconds later her body went cold and limp.

He did nothing but shake slightly, maybe even twitching if that's the word one would wish to use. The tears had stopped, but mainly because he was in such shock. His rose, his beloved, his Fay...she was gone. Forever. How would he break it to the kids? How would he go on? He could never love again, as Fay was his one-and-only. He had to stay strong for the kids, he had to, but his soul was giving out on him.

"...Fay..." he said quietly. His arms and legs shook like jelly, as every ounce of his body felt like it was on fire. He closed his eyes, hoping this was all a huge nightmare he'd wake up from, but it wasn't. It was real, very real. Leaning forward to kiss her pale, cold lips, he died on top of her of a broken heart, his body refusing to go on.

From the shadows, Her watched all of this transpire. She was crying hysterically, as she stepped closer to the fallen lovers.

"My dove..." she whispered. "I...am sorry. This is my fault."

Swallowing her spit, and focusing every ounce of strength into her powers, she held her hands up to the sky and with a voice full of confidence and dedication, shouted a series of random words in a strange tongue. A spinning vortex of white light ensnared the temple, spinning everything in a blender like motion.

"Goodbye my love..." she whispered, as she faded into the light.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ax fell down on the piece of wood, splitting it in half. Irving wiped his brow as he looked up at the hot summer sun, grumbling to himself about the massive pile that still needed to be split.

Fay stood up from the couch she was sitting on and opened the door to their house. She smiled when she saw Irving and walked in his direction, she saw that he was taking a break. She moved relativly silently and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind him and rested her head on his shoulder. She kissed his neck and pressed herself against his sweaty body, "You know... I could probably get that done in a few minutes, all you have to do is ask..." She told him kissing his neck again.
She was smiling, "Come on... My mom's not bringing the kids back for a few days, lets have some fun," She suggested.

"Well yeah, you could..." he said, loving her arms around his waist. "But..I dunno, I put you through so much crap, I feel like the least I could do is chop up some firewood, ya know? Why should you do all the hard work. You've earned a break."

He turned to face her, now wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Who says we have to go back home to have some fun, eh? We're in the middle of the wilderness, no homes, no nothing. I think the sun would feel rather good on us, don't you think?"

Fay didn't say anything, she rested her hands on his chest and stood up on her toes to kiss him lightly, while distracting him with the kiss as she unbuttoned his shirt with her thin and nimble fingers, she brushed the shirt off him and ran her fingers up and down his sweaty chest, she broke the kiss and smiled, "The first time we ever made love was outside... If you can call it that..." She said softly as she remembered that moment, she hugged him loosely and pressed her body against his, cringing for a second, she wasn't really used to him being so sweaty.

"Mmm...how could I forget?" he said, unfastening her pants. "It was in that damned castle. Kinda funny that one of the worst experiences in my life, lead to one of the most amazing things in my life." he added, tugging her pants down to her ankles.

"The best part of this is you can be as loud as you want, with no kids to wake up..."

Fay smiled and draped her arms over his shoulders, she kissed him softly, "And even better, no neighbors looking in on us," She told him kissing him again. She ran her hands down his chest and went to unfasten his pants when she heard someone behind them clear their throat.

"Grandma, why does mommy have her pants off?" She heard Jillian ask.

Fay quickly pushed away from Irving and scrambled to pull up her pants, she did so and walked out from behind Irving. She saw her mother holding Alexander, who was asleep on her shoulder, "Mother, I thought you weren't bringing back the children for a few more days," She said as Jillian ran to her. She hugged Jillian tightly.

"That was the plan, until Alexander here came down with a bit of a fever, I cured him, but still, all he wanted was his mom and dad," Fay nodded and walked over to her mother, taking her son out of her hands. Alexander didn't stir, and was still warm to the touch.

"I'm going to take him upstairs, Jillian, could you come with me?" She asked, Jillian was looking tired and she wanted to show her, her new room. The three disappeared inside of the house.

Fay's mother, Lida, eyed Irving, "I see you haven't run off with the first harlot you saw," She said bitterly.

Irving forced his best smile on his face, trying to swallow the irritation he always felt when Lida was near.

"Oh Lida, so nice to see you." he said through grit teeth. "And no, I haven't run off with a harlot yet...nor will I ever. I've learned my lesson, it was a one time mistake."

"But enough about me." he said. "How are you? You look tired, so maybe you should go take a nap? Back home."

Lida ignored the last part of what Irving had said, "I'm quite fine, thank you for asking, and I'm not tired, and I guess Fay didn't mention, but I'll be staying here for a few days, it does get quite lonely where I live," She told him, smiling a little.

Fay walked upstairs with Alexander in her arms and Jillian holding onto her free hand. She let go of Jillian's hand and opened her door, "This is your room, I'll be back soon, I'm just going to put Alexander in his bed," She told Jillian who just nodded. Fay walked over to Alexander's room, which was just across the hall and tucked her son into his bed. She kissed his forehead and walked out, closing the door behind her.

"Oh? Staying with us? How...delightful." he said, still pushing that smile as far as it would go on his face. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed deeply, already not looking forward to the lack of romance he'd get to spend with Fay, with her Mom here. Plus, compound that with the fact that he had been left in a rather curious state of arousal, it seemed like it would be forever before he got any.

"So, where are you sleeping at?" he said.

"Guest room," Fay answered, as she approached the pair, "So I guess you found out... And don't give me the whole, "I didn't tell you," thing because I did... A few nights ago just before we went to sleep you told me, "Yeah, that's nice," and went to sleep, so I thought you would be ok with it, and it's only for a little bit, so don't worry."

Lida didn't mind Irving from the start he definitely wasn't her favorite person, or someone she wanted her daughter to marry, but now she despised him. She was a relatively pretty woman, though she was old the only signs of her age were very thin crows feet on the corners of her eyes. Her hair was extremely light blond and was almost white and her eyes were a stern icy blue. She wore a simple pale blue dress. If you didn't know her personality, you'd think she was an angel without her wings, but that was not the case, yes she could be nice, but once you got onto her bad side it was easy to see how horrible of a person she could be.

"You keep your hands off my daughter," She told Irving in a stern voice, she didn't trust him at all and believed that he would only hurt Fay.

"Ma, that's insane, we're married..." Fay said to defend her husband.

"Are you trying to have another child?" She asked.

"Well... No, not yet."
"Then there's no reason for him to have his hands on you, plus, if you did get pregnant again he would probably abandon you for some worthless harlot he found at the docks," She said.

That stung Fay, deep down in her heart, though she refused to say something, and prayed that Irving wouldn't open his mouth.

Irving grunted loudly, but quickly tried to cover it up by pretending to cough. His blood was boiling now and he could see the hurt on Fay's face, which just pushed him even closer to the edge. Just the blunt casual ignorance of the statement was so infuriating, yet he could also see the worry and concern on Fay's face, so for her, he bit his tongue.

"I really hope you enjoy your stay here." he said, feeling like he could go off the handle at any minute.

"I'm sure I will, now I'm going for a walk," She told them before leaving.

Fay waited for her mother to be out of sight before she sat down on the ground, she twisted her wedding band on her finger and stared at her hands, "Am I..." She started, she paused for a second and sighed, "...am I worthless?" She asked, she kept her head down but from the sound of her voice it was obvious she was upset. She just kept twisting the ring around her finger, it was starting to be a habit of hers, it was also a way for her to remind herself that Irving was there to help if she was in need. It simply made her feel safer.

Irving wrapped his arm around his beloved and kisses her soft cheek gently.

"You are absolutely not worthless." he said matter-of-factly. "There's nothing wrong with you in the slightest. You're a wonder, caring, warm natured person and if your mother can't see that, then it's her fault, not yours."

He sighed somewhat bitterly, as a thought just occurred to him.

"Though if she didn't like me before, she really has a reason to hate me now."

Fay held onto Irving tightly and rested her head on his chest, "Yeah..." She sighed, "She wants nothing more then to have you out of mine and the children's lives forever..." She told him before holding onto one of his hands, she laced her fingers with his, "But there isn't anything she can do to seperate us," She kissed him softly, "I'm not losing you again..." She told him before resting her head on his chest again.

She sighed, "Why can't she just be happy for me?" She asked.

Irving combed his fingers through his beloved's hair, letting her listening to his heartbeat, something he knew she enjoyed.

"She just has insanely high expectations for the guy she wants you to be with. It's best if we just bite our tongues for a couple of days, she'll be gone and out of our hair and we can go back to life as normal."

"Ohhhh Fay!" Lida shouted from down the path of their cabin. "I have something you wish to meet."

Walking towards the couple was Lida and a man, around Fay's age. Maybe older. He was tall, with a square jaw and chiseled physique. His muscles were well developed, but not excessively so. His hair was a rusty brown, with deep green eyes. The site of Fay caused his face to light up, as he offered his hand to help her back to her feet.

"Hello Fay." he said warmly. "Long time, no see."

Fay narrowed her eyes and slapped away his hand, she let go of Irving and stood up, "Not long enough," She snapped before pulling Irving up. She had an idea of what her mother was doing, "Johnathan, Mother, perhaps I should introduce you to my husband, Irving," She said to them before holding onto him again.

"I'm sorry Johnathan, but I'm married now and I don't do that anymore, and I doubt you're here for just a friendly visit," She told him, resting her head on the side of Irving's arm.