The silence was deafening as Andie and Zorak watched each other. Andie immediately had flames tickling her fingers, itching to fly. Finding her anger was easy. He'd trampled everything he'd touched, and it had to stop. She knew that she wouldn't be able to keep him busy for long, but she had to try. If all went well, she would just need a few minutes.

And Bane had managed to beat him, hadn't he? So why couldn't she?

"Humans are such foolish creatures," Zorak commented nastily. "They would sacrifice their lives for someone else's when they know they cannot come back."

"We probably are foolish," Andie admitted, "but at least we are capable of loving someone so much we'd rather die than see them killed. That's how much Bane's mother loves him. She knew it might kill her, but she was willing to protect Bane with everything she had."

"Love is a weakness!"

"You only say that because you know nothing of it." Andie retorted coldly. "Camille, Adena... you never loved them, not really. You simply wanted them. They are beautiful women," she conceded casually. "But it wasn't love. Humans can love, even animals can in their own way. But demons? They only desire. And anyone can desire, it doesn't make you any more special."

Zorak, whose face had been turning darker by the second, lunged for Andie who just managed to duck out of his reach. She raised her hands and thrust a fistful of flames in Zorak's face. He yelled in pain and stumbled backwards as Andie leaped back and threw her leg up before thrusting it down onto Zorak's back in a spin kick Bane had taught her. He retaliated with a burst of electricity that knocked Andie off her feet.

She fell to the floor, gasping, Flashes of the time he'd held her prisoner sped through her mind, but she pushed them away. That was the past. She was stronger than that. When he stood above her, she swung around and pushed her feet into his stomach. He was thrown backwards, giving Andie time to get to her feet.

Bane? Can you hear me?

No answer. Hoping that meant he'd gone through the portal, Andie spun around and ran down the hall, soon followed by Zorak, whose footsteps sounded like cannonballs. Andie was suddenly thrown forwards by another jolt of electricity. She threw all the flames she could muster at Zorak and used the few seconds that gave her to sneak through the study door and jump into the glowing portal. After a moment of whirling through colors and shapes she couldn't identify, she rolled onto the grass behind Bane's house. Thankfully, there was a tall fence around it to prevent animals from harming Robert's garden, so no one saw her. She lay gasping a few seconds.

"Mom... Mom!"

She looked around. Bane was leaning over his mother, who was barely conscious.

"Don't move her," Isabelle said. "The portal must have affected her somehow..."

"Uncle Robert!" Bane called.

Seconds later, Robert was running to the back door. He looked at them all and looked about to faint. He was so pale it was obvious even in the dim light.

"Oh, my God..."

He hurtled down the stairs and knelt next to his nephew and sister.

"... Camille..."

She looked up at him and managed a weak smile.

"... Robbie..." she breathed.

Bane was as pale as his uncle, his hands trembling as he looked to Isabelle.

"You... can heal her, right? You can help her? You need... water! Someone get some water!"

Isabelle was already hurrying into the house. Andie quickly slid down by Bane's side.

"Stay with me, Mom, okay? Stay with me, Isabelle's going to heal you, she'll be right back. She'll heal you, and you'll be fine..."

Andie had never seen Bane so scared, and it ripped her heart into pieces. Everyone else stood very still.

"It's so good to see you again, Robbie..." Camille said, a smile still on her pale face.

Her voice was paper thin and her face chalk white.

"I missed you too, Camie," Robert choked, tears gleaming in his eyes.

"Don't speak, Mom, just save your strength, Isabelle will be back any second..." He turned to the house. "Isabelle, move it!"

"I'm coming, hold on!" Isabelle said, hurtling out of the house with a bottle of water.

Camille looked up at Bane, her white hand reaching up to his cheek.

"Bane.." she whispered, her breathing growing more difficult. "... I'm proud... of the man you have become..."

"No, don't talk like that!" Bane cried, grasping her hand in his. "Just relax, you'll be okay..."

"I love you both..." Camille breathed.

Her hand slid from Bane's, and her head drooped slowly to the side as her eyes closed.

"Mom? No... Mom! Mom, come on! Please! Isabelle! Do something! Isabelle!"

But Isabelle, who had already dropped beside them, could only look tearfully at him.

"I... I'm so sorry, Bane... it's too late..."

"No, it can't be! Come on! Isabelle, you have to try!"

Isabelle just looked at him, her eyes bright with sadness.

"It's okay, Bane... she left happy... that's what matters..." Robert said, his voice cracking.

As Andie held Bane and Isabelle sobbed into Zarias's shoulder, she hoped it was true.

https://youtu.be/V9NmrrOFiAk

The funeral was hard enough for Andie to bear, so she knew it had to be even worse for Bane. They weren't sure how he'd done it, but Robert had managed to explain Camille's sudden reappearance by saying she'd faked her death years ago to escape an abusive partner (which, Bane had noted bitterly, wasn't that far from the truth). She'd finally decided to come back, only to be struck down by a sudden heart attack (there were no wounds, so it was the only explanation that would be believed).

It was to be a small ceremony, with just Bane, Andie, Robert, the Galestones, Emily, Isabelle, Jessica and Zarias. Andie had expected him to tell Zarias not to come, but he hadn't. She wasn't sure if it was because he didn't care or if he just was too caught up in his pain to notice. She glanced at him. He never said a word, simply staring vacantly ahead. She couldn't even tell for certain if he was even listening to the priest read (a little awkwardly, she thought) about Camille, her life, how courageous she'd been to leave her child in safe hands and leaving to protect him.

It felt even stranger listening to this knowing a lot of it wasn't entirely true.

Maybe that's why Bane's tuning out... she thought sadly. I don't blame him.

She wanted to take his hand during the sermon, but had been afraid he might reject her. She knew he needed his space, and didn't want to pressure him. The burial was held in her original grave (which felt both strange and right to Andie, and she imagined the others felt the same). Robert had had one Camille's pictures enlarged for the ceremony, so as to keep the casket closed.

Andie couldn't help but agree with that decision. Bane was already so devastated, as was Robert, seeing her body in the coffin would only make it worse. Then, Robert gave a small speech about his sister, which brought Andie to tears. She'd often wondered what the smiling woman holding Bane had been like, and now she'd never get the chance.

Of course, that was nothing near what Bane and Robert were feeling. They had believed someone they loved was dead for years, found they weren't, and only moments after, lost her again, only this time... they really weren't coming back.

"And if there... if there ever was a quote to..."

Robert cleared his throat but couldn't continue. Hank quickly stepped up and took over, a hand on his shoulder.

"If there was ever a quote to describe her, it would be what my father always used to say. "You are the light you wish to see in others." She always wanted to see the good in people. She always loved unconditionally. Even being separated from her son, she never stopped thinking about him. I had no contact with her in that time, but I have absolutely no doubt about that."

Hank paused a beat, then went on.

"And while I wish I'd had more time with her, I take comfort in the fact that I was able to see her one last time, that her son was able to see her one last time. Comfort in the knowledge she found us happy, and the people she wanted us to be. The ones she knew before we did that we could be. And I know she'll keep watching over us, making sure we don't stray from our paths."

Andie wiped a tear from her cheek and glanced at Bane. A single tear slid down his pale face. She looked away to resist the temptation of brushing it away. As the funeral service ended, the casket was lowered into the ground in heavy silence, broken only by the drops of rain beginning to fall. Then, Robert took the first handful of dirt, seemed to catch his breath, then dropped it into the hole. Hank followed, then led Robert away. Slowly, everyone dropped a handful of earth on Camille's casket. Andie was behind Bane. She kept her hands clasped in front of her to keep them from trembling and fidgeting.

When Isabelle had taken her turn, Bane stepped forwards, almost as though he didn't even realize he was there. He took a fistful of earth and raised his arm above the hole, but couldn't open it. His whole body was shaking with grief. And Andie suddenly knew why. This would forever prove his mother's death. And he was probably thinking of the pain he'd felt as a child. How could he not?

Slowly, she reached up and very gently took his hand. Then, she peered at him, searching his face. He looked back at her, almost unseeingly. Then, slowly, Andie opened Bane's hand. The dirt fell down and hit the casket, and as Andie lowered Bane's hand and clasped his arm tightly, she tried to keep her own heart from breaking at the sight of Bane's tears. After a minute or two he'd composed himself enough to move away so the burial could be completed. When they passed Zarias, he tried to speak to Bane.

"Bane... I'm so sor-"

"Shut up!" Bane snarled. "Don't you dare."

And with that, he pulled his hand free and marched off into the rain.