Michael was the first to regain his vision after the blinding flash of light broke from Katie's wrist, he looked to where the vortex had been, closed now, no trace of the dimensional rift, save himself and the others. He sank to his knees and buried his face in his arms. "Oh god," he murmured, letting his sorrow fully seize him. "Oh god!"

Tears seemed to will themselves from his eyes, and sobs wracked his body. He couldn't breathe.He couldn't think. All he could do was sob his soul out onto his sleeves. Sleeves that would not, no, could not contain or absorb the all-encompassing anguish that filled him. Alex heard the sobs, gut wrenching and raw. The deep, heaving, breathless gasps redefined agony for him, and as his sight slowly returned to him he saw Michael Guerin, a man he once thought to be a cold and unfeeling rock of resolve, howling in sheer torment at losing the only thing that gave him hope.

Alex felt his heart go out to the boy, but didn't move to comfort him. There was no comfort in this world for Michael now, not after having to walk away from the only light in his heart. Alex turned to see Isabel crying silently and put his arms around her, trying to keep his tears away. He had to be strong for her, for all of them. But it was so hard…

Max looked around, the last to regain his sight. Tears touched his eyes, but he managed to rein them in enough to survey the room they had been dropped into.

It was beautiful, silver draperies and tapestries of the most exotic silk and the most radiant colors. The floors were tiled, immaculate white and black, a huge staircase of white marble steps led up to a doorway, and a balcony, both of which overlooked the great hall, which they were in.

He looked at his friends and the absence of one struck him like a punch in the gut.

"Where's Katie?" he asked frantically. To lose Liz and Maria was enough, but to lose the incarnation of his sister too…

Isabel looked up, and around her, and began to sob loudly, her cries almost as devastated as Michael's, though the boy hadn't heard Max. "No!" Isabel screamed, choking on her own sobs, and Alex let his tears slip silently down his cheeks. He hadn't known Katie at all, but she had been kind, gentle, and moreover, impressive. "NO!" she sobbed again, and Max stood dumbfounded as the hall filled with heartache, the sobs and silent tears of his friends broke him, and he crumbled.

Collapsing to the floor, he let himself cry for everything that he'd lost, his sister, his love, and a good friend. He cried for Michael's loss, knowing that there would be no solace for the young man without the bold pixie at his side.

Then, a laughter from the top of the stairs broke everything, though it was rich and beauteous. "Don't cry now, little ones," a woman said, and through their tears Max, Alex and Isabel saw a woman, tall a slender, with long auburn hair flowing down her back. "There will be time for sorrows later. Now, rejoice, for you have returned home!"

"Rejoice?" Isabel shrieked, pulling away from Alex and starting towards the stairs. "We've lost four of the most important people in our lives, and you expect us to rejoice?"

She was climbing the stairs quickly now, ready to confront the woman with whatever strength she possessed.

"I understand your sorrow," the woman said softly, stepping away, "but there is more for you to be glad of than there is to feel loss for."

"No, there isn't," Michael said, and his voice was hideous. It was empty, no anger, no perfect lilt, only empty pain, pain that knew no bounds. He looked up at the woman with dead, red-rimmed eyes, and she felt a pang of regret.

Turning the mysterious woman said "be sorrowful if you will, but do not blame anyone but yourselves."

Isabel screamed as she reached the balcony, sinking to her knees and bending over something beyond the sight of the others.

Alex was at her side in a flash, and looked down at us in horror. "Oh no," he murmured, and Isabel rocked over the broken body. "No, no, Isabel don't…"

"Why?" she demanded to no one that could hear her, "why both of them?" and there weren't words to describe the hatred in her voice.

Alex wrapped his arms around her as she shifted the limp head into her lap. He let her cry, and slowly Max brought Michael up to see what it was the otherssaw.

Michael choked, a fresh torrent of tears escaping him, and fell to the floor, his knees giving way underneath him. If it hadn't been for Max, Michael would have tumbled down the flight of stairs. "Katie," he whispered, unable to tear his eyes from the girl's beautiful face.

She was no longer broken, beaten and bruised, but as beautiful as she had been in his memories. Her perfect, pale skin no longer flashed with the color of life and her eyelids never fluttered, not even once, to reveal her infinite green eyes.

"Oh Katie," he murmured, and dragged himself over to the body, lifting her into his arms. "You idiot!" He cried, "you stupid fool!" and he wept into her shoulder, though her arms did not wrap comfortingly around him.

Max carefully let himself onto the floor and leant back against the cold marble wall.

"Why did you die?" Michael asked, and none of them could tell if he was asking Katie or Maria, or both. Not that it mattered, neither could hear him, neither would want to have heard him.

Michael was a dying man, slowly decaying on the inside as his heart lost every sensation while the realization that he was so utterly alone, and without hope in this new world, because he had walked away, flooded into him.

He had walked away.

Never mind that she had all but begged him to leave, never mind that he too would have died had he stayed with her, never mind that she would have perished as he was perishing had he not done as she had asked.

He had walked away.

And to Michael Guerin, walking away sealed his fate.

And that fate was filled with desolation.

Unending, boundless desolation, all for him, and him alone.

So they remained on that wide marble balcony until evening fell, and they were reluctantly brought to separate chambers for the night.

Three days passed, and the four friends did not part company once.

They went to see Katie's cold body being dressed for her burial ceremony together. They were called to the crystal hall, but did not go, and stayed together in the gardens.

None of them spoke-they didn't need to. They conveyed all that needed to be said through their sorrowful glances. Michael didn't sleep, he only cried softly through the night, and waited during the day for more tears to collect in his eyes.And so it was, that on the afternoon of the fourth day in the palace of the crystal, that Isabel Evans, Alex Whitman, Max Evans, and Michael Guerin carried themselves mournfully towards the keeper's bluff for the burial of their lost friend.

The ground was beautiful, and only one headstone stood along the whole ridge. It overlooked the sea, which sang musically as the four appeared over the crest of the hill.

The sole headstone was a large, elegant angel of the purest black volcanic glass. The hair was short, and wild around the perfectly carved face, and Michael forced back tears as he saw the exact likeness of his fallen keeper. Upon her back were huge, perfect black wings, and she looked, for the entire world to see, like a fallen angel, standing atop an altar of black cloth.

But what forced a cry from his unused lungs was the pale figure standing with her back to them, looking into the open casket. She had short, blond hair tossing in the wind, and a slender, small frame, clad in a shimmering white gown that flowed around her in elegant folds.

"No!" he cried in a hoarse whisper, and the others could not speak, but they all hurried closer to see if their eyes were fooling them.

The woman turned and smiled, and Max swore he could see large white wings behind her. Her smile was blinding in the sunlight, and Michael's breath caught audibly in his throat as he stopped short.

"Maria?" he whispered, and tears touched his eyes. "Is it really you?"

She smiled wider, and nodded, "yes, Michael, it's me…" she moved forward, her arms outstretched.

Michael shook his head in disbelief, "no, it can't be…" he murmured, looking up at her again, "things this good don't happen to me."

Tears of perfect silver fell from her eyes, "Michael," she murmured, moving to him, and he moved to her, despite his doubts. "Michael, don't you know anything?" she laughed, and he stopped, looking at her strangely.

"Could it really be you?" he asked, to no one in particular, "do I get another chance?"

Maria let a dry, listless sob escape her, "Michael, you never lost your first chance!" she cried, and shook her head.

"Oh god, Maria!" he cried, and ran over to her, capturing her up in his arms, "it IS you!"

He buried his face in her neck and drank in the scent that was purely hers. "I love you," he murmured, over and over, and she laughed, holding him tightly to her small body.

"I love you so much," she told him, pulling him so their eyes met, "I love you with the moon and stars, and I will never, ever let you believe that I will ever leave you!"

He smiled and kissed her sweetly, fantastic joy sweeping over and through him, but as soon as he pulled away his eyes caught the black angel and his heart ached.

"Katie," he whispered, and Maria's eyes wept without tears.

"She gave her life for mine," she said with a sad smile. "I don't know how, and I'm not sure why, but she loved us enough to give us the happiness she knew we deserved."

He nodded, but a tear escaped him nonetheless.

"She loved everything so much, didn't she?" Isabel asked quietly, and Maria turned to see her standing next to the black angel, her fingers running over the graven features.

"What?" Alex asked, slightly confused.

"Katydid," she murmured, "she loved everything so much, the moon, the stars, the flowers, the sea. She loved love, and lovers, and hope and peace. She loved her fate, even though she hated it, and she loved children and the old ones, she saved the souls of the lost forever, and never thought once of redeeming herself," she paused, smiling with a sad pondering quality to her gaze. "She saved us, despite the risk for her own soul. She saved all of us, and she died for us too…" she smiled and looked over at the large cherry tree the stood several feet away, 'nothing there,' she thought, and stepped down.

"We should send her to her peace," Max said, touching the cold cheek of the girl in the casket. "Let her join the others."

"Others like us?" Isabel asked with a small smile, she nodded, "others like us."

From beneath the great budding branches of the cherry tree three apparitions watched on in contented silence.

"They still don't understand, do they?" the small child asked, looking up at the young woman who held her hand. The girl shook her head, the blonde tousled hair lifted on the breeze.

"No, I don't suppose they do," she laughed, "We were the only one who knew, really."

"They are not so ignorant as that, are they?" the third asked, her silver hair tossing lightly in the breeze.

"No," the little girl said, looking over at the group with a smile as they let the casket down into the ground. "They are not so ignorant as to miss what's right in front of them. Give them time, you'll see."

The blonde woman laughed musically and smiled, stretching her shoulders before looking over them to smile at the large white wings that rested there. "Time heals everything, doesn't it, little one?" she asked with a smile, "keepers are redeemed, the lost are found, true love conquers all…"

"You sound like the ignorant one, my love," the silver hared one laughed, "there will always be sorrow, time never heals some wounds, and it always leaves scars, look…" a long slender finger pointed at the group, none without a tearful eye. "They weep for you, love, they will never stop that."

"But they would weep after the end of souls if I had stayed with them" she replied sadly. "My love for them means more than my life, and I am sworn to protect them with my soul."

The other two nodded, and watched on in silence as the group of five turned to return to the crystal palace.

Isabel was the last to turn away from the graven angel, and looked again at the cherry tree. She stared intently at it for a moment. "Nothing there," she sighed, and looked back to the angel, before returning her gaze to the tree, expecting to see nothing. Her heart raced when she saw three beautiful creatures hidden by the rustling curtain of cherry blossoms. They were clad in the most pristine of whites, large, graceful, angelic wings set upon their shoulders, and she knew them for who they were and smiled.

"Everything," she murmured and began to walk towards the others, "everything will always be there."

And she spoke true, for every year the cherry tree grew and blossomed, and every year Isabel caught a fleeting glimpse of the keepers, beautiful and ageless, standing in it's beautiful shade, cherry blossoms swirling about them, their hair caught up on the winds. She never spoke of it to the others, that was the one thing she kept to herself for always, within her heart.

The world had moved on, and with it it's people, but the keepers watched over their charges until the end of souls, for though they had redeemed their charges, and themselves, they were all at once the same…