(Continued from The Ascent.)

Sebastian woke, his consciousness rising slowly through a sleepy fog that thinned little by little until. It felt like he had been asleep for hours, yet he was still exhausted. His energy felt almost completely drained. Aside from that, he had had the strangest dream: it had been very colorful and there had been a battlefield full of dead soldiers. Somehow he had transformed into a beast that could bring them all back to life. Tarin had been there. And Ghost. It had all felt so real.

The unicorn man quirked an eyebrow up at the circular walls that supported the cave-like ceiling so far above him. One didn't normally wake up from a dream to find themselves still in the room where the dream had taken place. He pushed himself to his elbows and blinkingly surveyed the room. Blood stained colosseum floor, but there were no dead to be seen anywhere. Everywhere he looked, people were picking themselves up, brushing themselves off, and making their exit.

If this is a battlefield where there were no dead... Sebastian's brain raced to reconcile the images from the dream with shat he was now seeing. Holy Hades.

He was running before he had even realized he had stood up.

It had all been real. He and Tarin had raised the dead. They had raised Lee. They had raised Ghost.

Ghost had died.

He ran faster. His eyes scanned for white hair. Things had looked so different in the dream, he had been so much taller then.

There!

Sebastian knelt by Ghost's side where she lay beneath someone's coat.

“Maya?”

Eyes open. Mouth open.

Breathing. Breathing was very important. She could do with more breathing despite the fact that from the moment she opened her eyes, she'd been gasping for air. There wasn't enough. Not enough of what she needed. She couldn't take it in fast enough.

Sensation came back all at once. Fingers, toes, knees, nose. There was something wet on the back of her neck and she moved her hand to wipe at the collection of tears that was pooling there. She felt like cardboard. Or laundry after a spin cycle.

That tear-wiping arm displaced whatever was over her enough to catch sight of someone moving fast toward her.

She cringed. More than cringed, she curled up in a little ball as fast as a rolly-polly. Her forearms covered her head, the better to ward off blows.

Under her blanket coat, Ghost curled up and hid her tear streaked face beneath her arms. Sebastian wanted nothing more than to pick her up and hold her, but it seemed like it would be unwise right this moment to touch her. He crouched slowly next to her where she lay curled.

“Maya,” he said as gently as he could, “It's me, Sebastian. It's all over. We can go home.”

All they had left to do was to walk out of the prison, and the month of hell would truly be over. Home was so close he could almost feel it, would reach out and embrace it, if only Ghost would acknowledge him.

Maya shook her head. This was just cruel now. Gas and dead people. Riding around in a giant. And then... and then...

Big gulps of air helped.

And then... she'd fallen asleep.

She didn't hurt, wasn't getting shocked and wasn't murdered because was asleep now. And if this was her dream then that was Sebastian. It felt like slow motion as she moved her head. One eye peered between her arms for a better view.

Sebastian confirmed. Initiate launching sequence.

As fast as she'd curled up, Maya uncurled and wrapped her arms around Sebastian. It was as forceful as she'd ever been. She had to do it quick before her mind changed its mind and turned this dream into a nightmare. She had to hold him close because he might slip away.

"I miss you." She whispered it past the lump in her throat and into his ear. Her face buried in his hair. Maybe he would hear her... somewhere, wherever he was now.

Not even a tail could counterbalance the weight on someone suddenly attaching themselves to a unicorn man's torso. From his crouching stance, he sort of caught, sort of toppled on top of his suddenly clinging wife.

“Oof.” Sebastian tried to maneuver himself so his weight was mostly on his elbows and knees and not crushing the air out of the previously gasping aeromancer beneath him.

“You aren't allowed to miss me any more, silly. I'm right here.” Sebastian kissed the ear that was right next to his lips. It was so wonderful to have her back again safe and whole that it was hard to believe that this wasn't a dream, but he could feel Maya's heartbeat, hear her breathing, and smell her scent undiluted by daily showers. She was too real to be a dream.

As was the hard concrete floor beneath them, the rough fabric of the coat between them, the bloodstains drying all around, the people milling about staring or trying not to stare at the couple lying on the floor. Naked, without even any corpses to loot.

“I think it's time to go home.”

Oof just about summed it up. Cold hard concrete was not what Ghost would have imagined rushing up to meet her.

Prince Sebastian kissed her ear and woke her from her extended slumber.

He was right there. Like he stepped right out of the looking glass. But then... all the people. Maya's head lolled to the side, the grain of the cold concrete pressing into her cheek. A lot of them had fallen asleep too and now they were awake and walking. Bloodstained, but whole.

A shiver ran up her spine. Thing just weren't adding up. What she knew, what she had seen... Maybe it was just time to go home. "Does this mean we can leave now?" No more dead bodies? No more blood? No more buckets of bleach? A little extra moisture made her eyes shine with emotion kept in check.

Maya gave him a good squeeze with her arms and... moved a hand lower... and then way, way higher.

"Sebastian," cool and controlled as the concrete beneath her she spoke, "you're naked." What a strange day this was turning out to be.

Sebastian smiled as the realization dawned on Maya that she was free to go, “Yes. We can go home, we can bring Jude home, and we can finally be a family.” He was still grinning when he added, “I'm so glad to have you back.” In fact, he couldn't probably couldn't stop smiling even if he wanted to. If you're happy and you know it, tell your...

Woah. They were still in public. Ghost seemed to realize this and moved her hand quickly.

>>>“Sebastian, you're naked.”

Sebastian grinned some more and kissed Ghost's nose. He couldn't help himself. “I suppose I am. You are too, you know, and we have only one jacket between the two of us.”

So that's what that was. She supposed that she should have been embarrassed more, but if she was embarrassed more there would be no blood left in the rest of her body.

Back on topic! "It's uh.. It's really over then?" She felt the need to ask... again. Her hand went to her neck. (That was safe territory.) Gone. The collar was just gone. How'd they get it off? She made small movements as if she wanted to sit up, but... well... who would get the coat?

>"...We have only one jacket between the two of us.”

A thought occurred to her. Probably wrought of too much blood in the brain and a sudden sense of too much freedom.

"I'd rather it be around us." And if it were around them then there would be nothing between them.

She coughed. "Who needs a coat? Let's just go." They were all adults and... and if they weren't then she could ghost and Sebastian could have the coat. Either way, staying there like that was not going to happen.

Ghost started to get up. Whatever happiness she had started to leek when she drew in more details of their surroundings. Later she would ask him what had happened here. Later.

“It's over,” Sebastian reassured his wife once again. He didn't mind at all repeating himself. If there were any rooftops or mountains available, he'd gladly shout it to the world a hundred times over. Though, the world outside was still volatile and most likely hostile; it was more likely that when they got out they would all slink back to the Underground headquarters than run around yelling the good news.

The unicorn man raised an eyebrow to his wife's suggestion about wrapping the coat around them. That would make it distinctly harder to walk.

>>>"Who needs a coat? Let's just go."

Sebastian nodded, very grown up of her. “You might change your mind when we get outside. It's still winter. We can swing by the mountain of confiscated clothing and rummage up something warm enough, I'm sure.” As he spoke he stood up, then, ever the gentleman, offered his hand to help Ghost. Together they walked to the stairway and started the seven story climb out of hell.

Sebastian was quiet as they walked, his euphoria at having Maya's hand in his was slightly sobered by the scenes of violence in the hallways. Not everyone had been as lucky as those that lost their lives in the courtyard and were brought back again by the manipulations of the merged mutant unicorn. While the number of deaths had been greatly reduced, it hadn't been to zero, and every extra life that hadn't been restored felt like a stone hung around his neck. Walking on air wasn't quite as easy with such a burden; joy and sorrow made a very strange potpourri of emotions.

Back on the first floor, where he had first entered, Sebastian found the room where the pilfered items had been collected. Mr. Stone was long gone, but his reverse trophy was still in the wall. Sebastian tried not to look at him as he dug through the clothes until he found something suitable for each of them.

One more staircase. Then, it was over. The bitter cold air stung at his nostrils; it cleared his head and banished the lingering scent of blood. His mismatched shoes crunched the fresh snow that was slowly accumulating, filling the tracks of those that had gone before. It was a fresh start, a new year.

“Come on. Let's go home.”