Chapter 247 - Farewell Snow ( Part 1 )

Jennie was falling.

The sky above her was disappearing.

The shattered Black Capital was shrinking, and the burning towers disappeared behind walls of crimson smoke stretching towards heaven. Far above, the World Tree Alas Ramus was visible in the sky, its huge branches distorting the already distorted heaven, and making it look nothing like that sky which Jennie had known. Blood-colored clouds hid the sun and made everything under them look blood-red and dark.

Below her were the Hells.

An endless abyss full of lava, black mountains and rivers of fire winding through darkness like rivers of liquid hate. The heat burned her skin, scorching her face and her arms, her whole uncovered body. It was a kind of heat which could destroy her, not killing quickly and mercifully, but slowly consuming, dissolving, annihilating.

Her silver-white hair flew around her face, the hair catching the light of the red lava and becoming flames. Her right hand was hanging useless next to her, and every broken bone in it sent new spasms of pain all over her body with each jerk. Her fingers were crooked in weird angles, swollen and colored in sickish shades of green. She could not feel them anymore.

All her remaining strength had nearly gone.

She could not fly. She could not call the swords. She could hardly keep her eyes open.

So this is how it ends.

These thoughts went through her mind quietly, peacefully, like leaves on quiet river. There was no fear in them, nor any desperation or denial.

Just acceptance.

She had imagined death many times in both of her lives. As Leonis KingHeart, she had seen many battlefields, where every step could cost her life—full of screams and the smell of blood, where life counted in seconds. As Jennie Queens, she had seen many monsters, demons, and enemies who believed her existence to be a mistake that should be corrected.

But she had never imagined dying in such a way.

Alone. Unable to help anybody. Falling into darkness while the world, which she had wanted to protect, was collapsing above her.

"Rudy..."

Her voice was lost in roaring of the abyss.

"Lilia..."

There was no answer.

Of course, there was no answer. They were dead. Rudy’s head had been cut off from her body by the Demon Emperor’s sword. Lilia had been executed in front of her eyes, her golden hair stained in blood, her blue eyes staring at nothing.

And soon she would join them.

For one minute she remembered Roxy standing in the courtyard of the palace, trying to smile despite her fear hidden behind jokes. She remembered Lucas’ serious face, which always tried to protect her even when she did not need any protection. She remembered Arthur’s scared eyes and Elena’s warm hands, the warmth of a family which she found during her second life.

She remembered the little silver thread around her wrist and little violet crystal hanging from it. The protective charm which Roxy had given her before leaving the Seraiya, which she had held in her palm with trembling hands and without words.

Jennie looked at it weakly. The thread was bleeding, but it had remained untorn. The crystal was still glowing slightly, with a soft violet glow seeming to fight with surrounding darkness.

"Sorry..."

One tear rolled down along her grimy and bloody face.

"I couldn’t... come back."

Above, near the remains of the palace, Zuko was watching her descending.

His enormous black wings stretched out behind him, making silhouette resembling wings of some ancient god of destruction. His horns were casting sharp shadows on the monstrous face, and the Astraeus was resting in his clawed hand, glowing with the power of seven Divine Swords.

Demon Emperor smiled.

"Fall, Jennie Queens."

His voice carried easily through the air, reaching her ears even when she was falling into the abyss.

"Fall until even your memories will become meaningless."

He turned away, his wings folding behind his back. For him, the matter was solved. The last resistance had been destroyed. The Queen of Seraiya was dead. The Divine Swords belonged to him, and the ritual had given birth to the power which he had been looking for thousands of years.

There was nothing left to be afraid of.

Then the roar tore the sky apart.

Not a roar of a demon. Not a monstrous thunderous roar. The roar which she recognized easily. A roar of fury.

Zuko stopped. His crimson eyes narrowed.

"What?"

A streak of white shot through the clouds below the ruined palace. Its speed seemed to exceed the speed of light, and it was leaving behind trail of snowflakes and pale blue light.

Snow.

Divine wolf burst through the clouds as a living ghost. Its body was covered with deep gashes and burns which were coloring its white fur. One of its ice wings was hanging at wrong angle, being broken and barely working. Few of its nine tails lost their glow, and now they were leaving behind only trail of the frost.

Clearly, it had been fighting for long time after Demon general had lost sight of it .

Its eyes were staring at her falling form.

"JENNIE!"

Its roar rolled across the abyss with fury and desperation.

Jennie opened wide her eyes. For one moment, she thought that she was hallucinating—that her dying mind had created one more, cruel illusion.

"Snow...?"

He dived.

The air exploded around its wings as it was accelerating towards her, pushing its wounded body beyond its limits. Its flight was clumsy, painful, but it did not slow. It could not slow.

Its enormous body passed under her falling body, and its forelegs caught her just in time.

She swung at his fur with all her might. Snow yelped in pain, but held her close, protecting her from the harsh winds.

And then he flapped his wings.

Once. Twice. Harder each time he did it. But he lifted them up, away from the void.

Jennie gaped in horror.

"You...you’re actually..."

Snow looked at her over his shoulder. His playful face was gone. In its place there was something fierce, something desperate.

"Really thought I wouldn’t complain about throwing myself in a volcano for your own sake?"

Jennie opened her mouth. Her lips shook.

"You...you moron..."

"That’s right. And as far as I see it, I’m the only one who knows how to do anything around here."

Snow grimaced. A cough wracked his body, spitting out blood.

"Snow!"

"Don’t stare at me like that."

"You’re injured!"

"Well, duh. Maybe you could write a report about it next time we aren’t in immediate danger of being killed?"

Snow turned his gaze toward the sky. Far away, beyond the volcanic cliffs, there was a line of blue separating the burning continent from the endless ocean.

The Ashen Coast.

Its distant shores were shining in the dark, promising a bit of safety.

Snow turned his wings toward it.

"Hang on."

Jennie tightened her left hand in his fur.

"What are you doing?"

"Saving you."

"You don’t know how to fly!"

"At least I have awesome fur that serves as a good emergency carrier."

"Snow..."

Her voice cracked. Snow heard it. For a brief moment he didn’t say anything.

"I’ll try my best."

He tilted his head a bit, letting her rest against his neck.

"Just stay awake, Jennie."

His voice was low. Desperate.

"Please."

And they were not the only ones.

Over the ruins of the Black Capital rose yet another figure.

Noctis floated under the red sky, his dark cloak swaying in the wind. The Lord of the Seven Generals had survived the fall of the palace, his face blank as he examined the fallen stronghold.

After a while, his eyes fell on the fleeing figure of Snow.

"Divine Wolf."

He watched how the broken wings of Snow had trouble staying aloft.

"And White Sword Hunter."

Noctis lifted one of his hands.

Dark magic accumulated over his palm. It started off as a small black ball which grew into a long spear of compressed magic energy. It was covered with rotating symbols and formed into a point with a ring of darkness surrounding it.

The weapon vibrated.

Noctis aimed.

"Loyalty is something commendable."

There wasn’t any emotions in his voice.

"But it does not change anything."

He pulled his hand back.

And he cast it.

The weapon disappeared.

Not flying through the air like an ordinary projectile, it covered the distance with a single stroke of black light.

Snow felt it.

He flattened his ears and narrowed his pupils.

"Jennie!"

He tried turning his body.

But the spear hit him before he understood what was happening.

It went straight through his chest.

In that awful moment, the world went silent.

Snow’s body twitched in the air. The spear pulled out of him, its black tip shining with dark energy. Dark fissures spread from the wound and consumed the pale blue energy of the divine wolf inside him.

Jennie could feel his whole body spasm under her touch.

"Snow?"

His wings struggled.

"Snow!"

He made a sound of agony. The magic of the spear attacked him, assaulting the very energy that allowed him to be a divine wolf. His nine tails flickered, one by one, their light disappearing into the dark energy surrounding him.

Jennie stared at the sword inside his body. And at the blood covering his snow-white fur.

"No..."

She whispered.

"No, no, no..."

Snow started to fall from the sky. The shore was still far away. He had to keep going. Just a little bit more.

But the spear had gone through his heart.

The Divine Wolf was dying.