Airlia's eyes glittered with excitement as she stood at the top of Mount Olympus. The bridle was fashioned like a belt, looped around her waist, glowing golden.
"You seem so content to not interfere," Bellerophon said, staring at the clouds. "Who will stop us now?"
Faith appeared in front of him, and she let go of the teleporter, then sent Bellerophon flying with a powerful roundhouse kick. "I will."
Instantly, the rest of the fighting party appeared, stepping out of portals or coming with teleporters.
Bellerophon flipped to his feet and he nodded at Airlia. "Now."
Airlia let out a deafening screech and she levitated a few metres in the air, her snake-like hair twisting and turning out behind her as she called more and more creatures to aide their fight.
"Lia!" Tru shouted, dodging as a Gargoyle came swooping at her. She hit the ground hard and rolled away, shifting into a Gargoyle as she did so. She flew up and joined the fight in the air.
Angel pushed one of the creatures off Serafina, snarling as he did so.
Luke was nearby, battling with another demon, his face vamping out as he was thrown back against the rockface.
"You're too late!" Bellerophon shouted at Faith, dodging her blows. "She will destroy it all."
"No," Faith answered, spinning around and bringing her knife down, slashing across his chest. "She won't."
Airlia was chanting, eyes rolling back in her head as she weaved her magic.
Tru finally killed the other Gargoyle and she took a deep breath before trying the hardest shift she'd ever done. Shifting human, she free fell for a few metres before managing to quickly shift into a version of herself with wings. Recovering from the effort after a second, she took off after Airlia, prepared to fight her sister, if that was what it came down to.
"Lia, stop!" she screamed.
Airlia looked at her and with a cold smile, she sent a bolt of lightning at her, forcing Tru to twist over mid air.
"I'm your sister!"
"I am no one's sister," Airlia answered cruelly.
Tru charged at her, a knife in her hand and the two tussled mid air, causing Airlia to lose her focus on her spell.
The sky darkened and the rain began to fall, heavy and dense, drenching them all in a second.
"Tru, no!" Faith yelled, before ducking and shooting her leg out to trip Bellerophon.
Tru had the upperhand and she was pulling Airlia back down to Earth. Once they were close enough to the surface, Luke grabbed Airlia's other arm and helped Tru deal with the struggling teen.
"Why would you want to stop me?" Airlia said to Luke. "Has this world been kind to you? You hide in the shadows, you fear this world and in your heart of hearts, you would see it's destruction."
"No," Luke said, holding her down. "I would not."
And with that, Airlia shot a spell at Tru, sending the younger girl flying back against a tree, leaving her fading in and out of consciousness.
Bellerophon used this as his chance, and he dodged Faith and made a break past her, heading to Tru, almost reading her when Serafina stepped in front of him, growling, game face on. "I don't think so, buddy."
"You are nothing but a child," he snarled. "Do you think you can best me?"
"Yeah," Serafina replied, headbutting him. "I can."
"Wrong, little girl," Bellerophon answered evenly. He grabbed her by the arm and swung her into the tree before pushing her over the edge of the mountain.
"Sera!" Angel's head snapped up and he raced to catch her, but he was there too late. He let out a howl of anguish before advancing on Bellerophon.
Tru struggled to keep her eyes open and with great effort, she stood on shakey legs and launched herself over the edge, shifting into a winged creature again in order to catch Serafina. She caught the other girl just before she hit the ground, then flew them back up. She let Sera go, and panted for breath as she landed.
Airlia sent off an explosive spell at Luke and Faith before levitating upwards again.
Zac
Zac had arrived with the calvary, as it were, and found himself busy with the gargoyles. Unfortunately, they seemed to still be able to move no matter how low he made their temperature. He supposed he could have increased their temperature so they melted, but Zac was a little reluctant to start a magma flow with so many of his friends and family around. So that left atom manipulation. Which proved rather effective in removing wings and claws.
In the midst of his dismemberment of the gargoyles, Zac tried to make his way over to Airlia. He didn't know if there was anything he could do to get through to her, but he had to try.
He reached the point where she had lifted off and looked up at her.
"Airlia? It's Zac!"
Airlia, Faith and Tru
Airlia looked down at Zac, then re-focused on her spell. She was opening a portal to release more hell creatures to overrun the Earth.
"Tru, help me," Faith said to her daughter.
Tru nodded and shifted, lifting her mother up to Airlia's level.
"Lia, listen to me," Faith began.
"That time has passed," Airlia replied, sending the two of them crashing back down with a swift spell.
Zac
"Faith! Tru!" Zac cried out, seeing them fall.
His eyes flicked between Faith and Tru, and Airlia. He licked his lips and was momentarily distracted by another gargoyle, whom he dismembers with the swiftness of practice.
"Airlia! You don't have to do this!"
He shook himself. What could he possibly say to her that would change any of this?
Faith, Tru, Angel and Airlia
Faith grabbed Tru and held the younger girl against her, cushioning her fall.
"Mom!" Tru yelled, sitting up and looking over at Faith.
"Go," Angel said, standing above her. "Get out of sight with Sera."
He helped Faith to her feet.
"What would you know about this?" Airlia asked Zac coldly.
Zac
"I know you're going to destroy the world on the whim of a man who stole you away from your family and friends," Zac replied. "From the people who love you most."
Airlia
Airlia smiled coldly.
"How do you know it's not my intention?"
Zac
"Because I don't believe it's something you would ever do," Zac replied. "Because I trust you and have faith in you. Certainly you never spoke of any desire to destory the world when you were around me. Albiet I haven't spend as much time with you as Tru and Faith and Serafina, but still..."
Airlia
"You have faith and trust in things you cannot possibly understand," Airlia replied. "This was my purpose, remember?"
Meanwhile, the fight raged on.
Zac
"Maybe I do," Zac replied. "But isn't that the basis of faith? And I believe your purpose was to be involved, but the final say in what you do today is yet to be decided. There have been so many apocolypses over the years, each one determined to end the world, and yet the world has survived time and again. The fate of the world is still your choice."
Airlia, Faith and Angel
"And what if ths is my choice?"
Airlia's smile was pure evil as she opened a portal and the walls protecting Olympus, started to crumble.
Faith looked at Angel and then Wesley, and Wesley started to chant the counter spell, hoping to at least slow the process.
Zac
Zac was silent for a time, uncertain of how to respond.
"Why do you want to?" he asked finally.
Airlia
"This was why I was created," Airlia replied. "Before this, I didn't know I'd want to, I thought I wouldn't want to, but now that I'm here... I want to."
Zac
"Is that because if you choose not to destroy the world, you won't know what to do with yourself?" Zac asked. "Will you feel like your moment has come and gone? Like perhaps, there's nothing left for you?"
Airlia
Airlia stared at him as if he were an idiot.
"Um, no. Actually, that's not what I'd feel."
She shot a spell at him.
"I made my choice, so let me make it. You're not my real father, you know."
Zac
Zac shrugged and froze the air in front of him just before the spell hit.
"I know," he replied. "I still love you like my own daughter though. I have a few daughters too, so I can say that with conviction."
Airlia
Airlia felt the coldness drain from her body and she struggled to harden herself again.
"What good is that? In a few moments, no one will have anything."
Zac
"Perhaps," Zac replied. "But right now, I have everything. I have a loving family and great friends. I have a successful career which involves doing the thing I love - music. You have those things too, y'know. Well, maybe not the career part, but you have friends and family who love you and who have been worried frantic about you the last few weeks. Who have left no stone unturned trying to find you and make sure you were safe, and were afraid that you may have come to some harm."
Airlia
A lone tear rolled down her cheek.
"They lied to me. Faith hid what I was from me. She lied."
And with that, the mountain began to shake.
Zac
Zac looked around nervously for a moment as the mountain shook. He took a deep breath.
"That happens," he said. "People lie. The truth hurts sometimes, and people think they can avoid pain by lying about it."
Airlia
"She's meant to be my mother!"
Airlia's eyes flashed and the mountain shook again.
Zac
Zac took a moment to steady himself.
"You put your trust in her and now you feel that trust was betrayed," Zac nodded. "We always hurt the ones we love the most - because if we didn't love them, it wouldn't hurt so much."
Hmm, there was a song in that - focus Zac, back to the matter at hand.
"I'm sure that Faith didn't mean to hurt you."
Okay that was a song.
Airlia and Faith
And with that, Airlia immediately closed the portal and the demons and Gargoyles vanished.
Faith looked around in shock, then over at Zac and Airlia.
Airlia let herself glide down to the mountain and she pulled off the bridle.
Zac
Zac walked towards Airlia and held out his arms to her.
"We love you, Airlia," he said softly.
Airlia, Faith, Tru, Angel, Serafina and Luke
"No," Airlia said, recoiling away from Zac. "This doesn't change a thing."
She shifted and promptly disappeared.
With a power kick, Faith sent Bellerophon flying off the side of Mount Olympus, before running over just in time to watch Airlia fly away.
"Mom?" Tru asked, appearing by her side. "Dad stopped her."
"I know," Faith said quietly. "Thank you."
Angel lay his hand on Faith's shoulder, looking over at Luke who was carrying a near unconscious Serafina.
"She'll come around," he said. "And Zac, thank you."
Zac
Zac shrugged, a little shaken at the final rejection.
"It was the only thing I knew to do," he said. "How's Sera? You guys okay?"
Angel, Faith and Luke
"She just tried to end the world," Angel said gently. "She's a little mixed up right now. She needs time to come to terms with it all."
"I guess," Faith replied softly.
"You did the same thing," Angel reminded her. "You turned yourself in and kept to yourself so you could think. She'll be alright."
Luke cradled Serafina gently in his arms. "I think she just needs some rest. She heals quickly."
Zac
Zac nodded.
"I should probably get back," he said quietly. "Unless you guys need me for anything?"
Faith and Tru
"No, go," Faith said, not sure whether or not to hug him.
Tru walked over to hug her father goodbye.
Zac
Zac gave Tru a great big bear hug, and kissed her cheek.
Hey, the world nearly ended. And she is his daughter after all.
"Let me know if you hear from her," he said.
Then he gave Faith a hug, not really caring at that moment if it made things between them even more awkward. In fact, awkwardness didn't even come to mind. It just seemed to be the natural thing to do.
Faith, Tru, Angel, Serafina and Luke
Faith hugged him back and stepped back, letting Tru lean against her.
"Thank you," she said again. "I'll call you."
Angel took Serafina from Luke and headed to the point where he could call his teleporter.
Zac
Zac got himself teleported back to the hotel. He hoped Airlia would be okay, and only fleetingly wondered about Taylor and Natalie and the baby before falling asleep in the bed.