Note: It's been a hell of a journey, but it's time for this chapter of our story to come to a close. Thank you so much for staying with us for this long. We hope to see you all again at the start of the new year for the beginning of Season Two!
"10% luck, 20% skill,
15% concentrated power and will,5% pleasure, 50% pain,
And 100% reason to remember the name."
-'Remember the Name.' by Fort Minor
"It's... all gone..."
Claire's words gave voice to the sad that they were all thinking. She, Hati, Micheal, Miriku, Ossa, Jamie, Aimee, Jess, Stacey, Monika, Danielle and Terrie all stood on the edge of of a ruined reading room, looking down at the destruction below.
Adrian's final act had destroyed a massive chunk of the lower portion of the Pillar of Knowledge and the surrounding rooms, carving out a sphere-shaped pit below them and it was easy to see several floors worth of rooms all at once. Those that had not been utterly destroyed were in ruins. Shelves had collapsed or been shattered, spilling books everywhere. Paintings had melted away, tables, chairs, couches all have been damanged or destroyed or burned. Piles of books lay scattered across the floors, burned or scroched while pages lay sprawled out everywhich way. They could other groups of Agents in the other rooms across the way, seeing the same thing they were
"I didn't even realize how big the Library was..." Monkia stepped closer to the edge and peered down and then up. "But just from here, I can see more damanged and opened rooms than I think the Society's every been in..."
"Whos knows how many books were destroyed or how much knowledge was lost in them?" Aimee murmured as she gazed out at the ruins of the center of the Library sadly. "Without knowing what was in them, we can't even begin to try and replace them..."
"This sucks! We fight so hard, Adrian dies and Tash nearly dies killing that bitch Willowe and it looks like we still lost!" Ossa swore in Vulcan and kicked a pice off board of the edge... and then swore again when it flew back up smacked her in the forehead. "Bloody Hell!"
"What the..." Micheal peered back over th edge and then leapt back as an intact bookcase nearly took his head off, raining books as it went up past their level. And as they all watched, the books all floating up to follow the bookcase. "Okay, say what now?"
"Look!" Miriku pointed down across the way and the Agents watched several of the bookcases flew back upright, the books all following it and shelving themselves on it while bits of the floor and wall began to crawl together, merging into a into a singl L-shaped piece that attached itselfs to the room, forming the corner.
They all stared in amazement as similar scenes began to repeat themselves all over the ruined Library- books shelving themselves as the bookcases rose up and returned to their proper floors while doors leapt back into their farmes, pictures straightened themeslves and unmelted, burned couches and chairs glowing softly as were suddenly whole again.
"The Library is... rebuilding itself..." Jess murmured in awe. "I know Adrian always said it was alive somehow, but I never really thought..."
"He always said that the Library needed a Librarian... and that if there wasn't one, it would die..." Micheal said quietly. "But... Tash is the Librarian now... she opened one of the door portals to get us here, just like he always did..."
"I guess that means he really is gone..." Hati said and leaned over to hug Jess with one arm, who responded in kind.
They all stood and watched as the Library slowly pieced itself back together and though there were all together, they were all alone in their thoughts.
TTTTTTT
Phoenixia gently pulled a blanket over the sleeping form of Emily, who was sprawled out on the bed in what had been Adrian's room, that room being the safest thing that Phoenixia could think of. (The poor thing finally ran out of tears it seems...)
Straightening, she glanced over to the letter that Emily had left on the nightstand. When she had finally met up with Phoenixa, she had been clutching it tightly and later, when she read it, she just burst into tears and hugged Phoenixia tightly, sobbing and choking out half-sentances about her big sister until she had just stopped talking and cried.
The older woman didn't know what it had said. She'd been too busy monitoring the Sues and Stus while they were in the Library, afraid that one of them might stumble upon them here..and after that, she'd been too busy coping with Adrian's death. And right now, she didn't care. Whatever was in that letter was for Emily, who'd share when she was ready.
Phoenixia glanced around Adrian's room, striding out of the bedchamber and into his living room. Unlike his office, which was sparse and uncluttered to help him focus, his private quarters were well decorated, with one wall be devoted ot paintings he, or anyone he knew had done.
One in particular caught her eye and she crossed the room to stand in front of it. It had been one Emily had painted just a few weeks beforehand. It showed Tash curled on Adrian's bed, smiling as she dangled a piece of string just above the fluffy-white kitten Adrian's reach, forcing him to stand on his hind legs to reach it while Phoenixia was in the background, watching them both and laughing.
A hand flew to her mouth as emotions welled up within her and Phoenixia slumped against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest, mewling and trembling and so desperately wishing she could cry.
TTTTTTT
"Well, everyone's okay, more or less. None of their injuries are life-threatening and none of them reported anything weird, though Micheal says he can't feel the Darkness in his mind anymore..." Valerie sighed and ran a hand a through her hair, setting the clipboard down and leaning back in the computer chair. "And the Counter Guardians all left a short while ago and they were just fine as well, though I think it's got something to do with being a Counter Guardian more than anything else..."
"You don't feel a thing, do you?"
Valerie nearly flinched at that the harshness in Tash's voice. "I do feel it, Tash... I feel everyone's pain and hurt and anger and sometimes I feel like I'm going to drown in it," she said softly as she turned to face the British girl.
Tash was curled up in one of the other computer chairs, wrapped up in one of Adrian's coats that they found draped across the chair. It was violet with golen detailing on the edges and Val remembered it as being the coat that he had been wearing when they first met the Librarian. "Why don't you... drown in it, I mean... I feel so empy inside... it has to be worse for you..."
Despite the sadness of the recent events, Valerie found herself smiling. "Because he's alive, Tash. I can feel it. Somewhere, somewhere, he's out there... I know it."
Tash glared at her. "Pretty unrealistic for an empath, isn't it?"
"No... it's not..." Valerie shook her head. "I've formed tight bonds with you and Adrain and some of the others... and sometimes it feels like, no matter how far apart we are, I can reach out and touch you. And I can still feel that with Adrian right now... like I can reach out for him... but I don't know where to look..."
The blonde looked at the healer for a long, long moment, then slid out of her chair and sit in Valerie's lap, burying her face in empath's shoulder as she started to sob.
Valerie rocked and soothingly stroked Tash's hair and back, wishing she could think of something to say that would help her, but she could feel the depth of Tash's pain and knew there was nothing she could do.
She blinked as she felt something brush her hair and turned to look, but there was no one there. "What...?" Then she realized Tash had stopped crying. "Tash...?"
The blonde girl lifted her head and her hand rose to her cheek, as she touched it lightly, confusion on her face. "I just felt... something... like a kiss on my cheek... like he always does when he's cheering me up... or seducing me..." Despite the pain and her teary face, Tash flushed red and trailed off.
Valerie laughed. "Even now, he's still trying to get into your pants."
And to her surprise - and Val's - Tash found herself flushing and giggling. The two stared at one another and then burst into outright laughter that drifted out of the monitor room and across the Library, leavning many of the Agents wondering what exactly was going on in there.
And hope still shone in their hearts...
"10% luck, 20% skill,
15% concentrated power and will,5% pleasure, 50% pain,
And 100% reason to remember the name."
-'Remember the Name.' by Fort Minor
"It's... all gone..."
Claire's words gave voice to the sad that they were all thinking. She, Hati, Micheal, Miriku, Ossa, Jamie, Aimee, Jess, Stacey, Monika, Danielle and Terrie all stood on the edge of of a ruined reading room, looking down at the destruction below.
Adrian's final act had destroyed a massive chunk of the lower portion of the Pillar of Knowledge and the surrounding rooms, carving out a sphere-shaped pit below them and it was easy to see several floors worth of rooms all at once. Those that had not been utterly destroyed were in ruins. Shelves had collapsed or been shattered, spilling books everywhere. Paintings had melted away, tables, chairs, couches all have been damanged or destroyed or burned. Piles of books lay scattered across the floors, burned or scroched while pages lay sprawled out everywhich way. They could other groups of Agents in the other rooms across the way, seeing the same thing they were
"I didn't even realize how big the Library was..." Monkia stepped closer to the edge and peered down and then up. "But just from here, I can see more damanged and opened rooms than I think the Society's every been in..."
"Whos knows how many books were destroyed or how much knowledge was lost in them?" Aimee murmured as she gazed out at the ruins of the center of the Library sadly. "Without knowing what was in them, we can't even begin to try and replace them..."
"This sucks! We fight so hard, Adrian dies and Tash nearly dies killing that bitch Willowe and it looks like we still lost!" Ossa swore in Vulcan and kicked a pice off board of the edge... and then swore again when it flew back up smacked her in the forehead. "Bloody Hell!"
"What the..." Micheal peered back over th edge and then leapt back as an intact bookcase nearly took his head off, raining books as it went up past their level. And as they all watched, the books all floating up to follow the bookcase. "Okay, say what now?"
"Look!" Miriku pointed down across the way and the Agents watched several of the bookcases flew back upright, the books all following it and shelving themselves on it while bits of the floor and wall began to crawl together, merging into a into a singl L-shaped piece that attached itselfs to the room, forming the corner.
They all stared in amazement as similar scenes began to repeat themselves all over the ruined Library- books shelving themselves as the bookcases rose up and returned to their proper floors while doors leapt back into their farmes, pictures straightened themeslves and unmelted, burned couches and chairs glowing softly as were suddenly whole again.
"The Library is... rebuilding itself..." Jess murmured in awe. "I know Adrian always said it was alive somehow, but I never really thought..."
"He always said that the Library needed a Librarian... and that if there wasn't one, it would die..." Micheal said quietly. "But... Tash is the Librarian now... she opened one of the door portals to get us here, just like he always did..."
"I guess that means he really is gone..." Hati said and leaned over to hug Jess with one arm, who responded in kind.
They all stood and watched as the Library slowly pieced itself back together and though there were all together, they were all alone in their thoughts.
TTTTTTT
Phoenixia gently pulled a blanket over the sleeping form of Emily, who was sprawled out on the bed in what had been Adrian's room, that room being the safest thing that Phoenixia could think of. (The poor thing finally ran out of tears it seems...)
Straightening, she glanced over to the letter that Emily had left on the nightstand. When she had finally met up with Phoenixa, she had been clutching it tightly and later, when she read it, she just burst into tears and hugged Phoenixia tightly, sobbing and choking out half-sentances about her big sister until she had just stopped talking and cried.
The older woman didn't know what it had said. She'd been too busy monitoring the Sues and Stus while they were in the Library, afraid that one of them might stumble upon them here..and after that, she'd been too busy coping with Adrian's death. And right now, she didn't care. Whatever was in that letter was for Emily, who'd share when she was ready.
Phoenixia glanced around Adrian's room, striding out of the bedchamber and into his living room. Unlike his office, which was sparse and uncluttered to help him focus, his private quarters were well decorated, with one wall be devoted ot paintings he, or anyone he knew had done.
One in particular caught her eye and she crossed the room to stand in front of it. It had been one Emily had painted just a few weeks beforehand. It showed Tash curled on Adrian's bed, smiling as she dangled a piece of string just above the fluffy-white kitten Adrian's reach, forcing him to stand on his hind legs to reach it while Phoenixia was in the background, watching them both and laughing.
A hand flew to her mouth as emotions welled up within her and Phoenixia slumped against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest, mewling and trembling and so desperately wishing she could cry.
TTTTTTT
"Well, everyone's okay, more or less. None of their injuries are life-threatening and none of them reported anything weird, though Micheal says he can't feel the Darkness in his mind anymore..." Valerie sighed and ran a hand a through her hair, setting the clipboard down and leaning back in the computer chair. "And the Counter Guardians all left a short while ago and they were just fine as well, though I think it's got something to do with being a Counter Guardian more than anything else..."
"You don't feel a thing, do you?"
Valerie nearly flinched at that the harshness in Tash's voice. "I do feel it, Tash... I feel everyone's pain and hurt and anger and sometimes I feel like I'm going to drown in it," she said softly as she turned to face the British girl.
Tash was curled up in one of the other computer chairs, wrapped up in one of Adrian's coats that they found draped across the chair. It was violet with golen detailing on the edges and Val remembered it as being the coat that he had been wearing when they first met the Librarian. "Why don't you... drown in it, I mean... I feel so empy inside... it has to be worse for you..."
Despite the sadness of the recent events, Valerie found herself smiling. "Because he's alive, Tash. I can feel it. Somewhere, somewhere, he's out there... I know it."
Tash glared at her. "Pretty unrealistic for an empath, isn't it?"
"No... it's not..." Valerie shook her head. "I've formed tight bonds with you and Adrain and some of the others... and sometimes it feels like, no matter how far apart we are, I can reach out and touch you. And I can still feel that with Adrian right now... like I can reach out for him... but I don't know where to look..."
The blonde looked at the healer for a long, long moment, then slid out of her chair and sit in Valerie's lap, burying her face in empath's shoulder as she started to sob.
Valerie rocked and soothingly stroked Tash's hair and back, wishing she could think of something to say that would help her, but she could feel the depth of Tash's pain and knew there was nothing she could do.
She blinked as she felt something brush her hair and turned to look, but there was no one there. "What...?" Then she realized Tash had stopped crying. "Tash...?"
The blonde girl lifted her head and her hand rose to her cheek, as she touched it lightly, confusion on her face. "I just felt... something... like a kiss on my cheek... like he always does when he's cheering me up... or seducing me..." Despite the pain and her teary face, Tash flushed red and trailed off.
Valerie laughed. "Even now, he's still trying to get into your pants."
And to her surprise - and Val's - Tash found herself flushing and giggling. The two stared at one another and then burst into outright laughter that drifted out of the monitor room and across the Library, leavning many of the Agents wondering what exactly was going on in there.
And hope still shone in their hearts...
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