Author's Note: I'm going to be changing the posting day from Thursday to Friday for the final chapters. Sharing this utterly gorgeous fanart from @artbym.m18 on IG this week. All the detail in this picture is incredible! They both look so beautiful! 

Vandel

Finally the last thread broke.

I couldn't stay in the air anymore and I found myself falling. Luckily I was able to muster a few more flaps of my wings to land without crashing to my demise.

Not that I probably had much time left regardless.

I lay breathing heavily on the ground, my vision beginning to blur.

I heard the Bone King laugh and my gaze flickered up just in time to see him standing over me.

A smirk tugged at his lips as I saw Ridley moving, his hand reaching forward to crush me. A horrible feeling of hopeless defeat swept over me and I braced myself for what was about to come next.

"Nice try," the Bone King sneered. "Goodbye, Vandel--"

And that's when Ridley suddenly grabbed hold of the Bone King instead.

The Bone King didn't even have time to scream. His eyes bulged, horror flaring wildly within them as Ridley's hand mercilessly squeezed closed. The brittle crack of his spine rang through the air, his ribs and organs crushing in on themselves before he finally went limp.

The moment his head fell back, his body began to disintegrate.

Pale skin shattered into ash, as fine and white as powdered snow. It fluttered down around us like a gruesome snowfall, filling the air with a soft white haze.

Or perhaps the haze came from the fact that my vision had already begun to blur.

Despite my exhaustion, a huge grin spread across my face.

And as everything started to go dark and I felt my consciousness slipping, I could see Ridley beginning to change. He was rapidly returning to his normal size, the color rushing back into his face.

"You did it, Ridley!" I choked, feeling the happy sting of tears brimming my eyes. "I knew you could."

Just like all the countless times Ridley had thrown himself into danger to achieve some seemingly impossible goal...finally, I had done it too. All on my own.

I hoped he'd be proud of me.

And with that thought, the world finally slipped into darkness.

Ridley

I blinked, my vision slowly coming back into focus.

With a start, I realized I was in the chamber the Bone King had showed me.

I shook my head, a memory suddenly rushing back. I had seen him moments ago. I hadn't remembered who he was at the time, but I knew he wanted to hurt the person I loved and I had to stop him.

The second I killed him, it was like I could finally breathe again. My entire life had rushed back into my lungs that had once been filled with only that horrible red haze.

I took a step forward only for my boot to come down on something splayed across the floor. Slowly, I looked down, my heart jumping into my throat at the sight of the broken corpse of one of the knights laying before me. My head jerked up, my pupils shrinking as I at last took in the sight surrounding me.

Scattered across the ground was a sea of bodies.

My heart dropped. That's right...the Bone King had killed all the Demons and then threatened Vandel...VANDEL. Where was Vandel?!?

Panic seized my gut, my mind reeling in terror.

"VANDEL! Where are you?!?" I cried out, my voice echoing around the empty chamber.

"He saved me," a trembling voice whispered from behind me.

I spun around. Standing there was Erica. She was shaking violently, appearing as if she might collapse at any moment. Slowly she emerged from behind the pile of bones she'd been hidden behind.

She didn't approach me. In fact...she looked terrified of me. "He protected me," she continued, tears brimming her eyes. "I'd be dead if it weren't for him."

"Where is he?!" I pleaded desperately.

With one trembling hand, she slowly lifted a finger, pointing to a crumpled figure lying amongst the bodies.

My heart jumped into my throat.

No.

I ran to him, horror crashing down on me like a tsunami. I collapsed to the floor beside him, arms wrapping around him as I hugged him to my chest.

"Vandel...please..." I begged, cradling his broken little body in my arms. "You...you can't die. Vandel, you can't...you can't leave me..." I began to sob. Thick unforgiving tears rolled down my cheeks as if they intended to drown me.

I had never cried like this.

I had never felt like this.

Despite the frantic rise and fall of my chest, it felt as if no air was entering my lungs. I was suffocating and I couldn't breath and I was never going to be able to again.

Someone was screaming and it took a moment for me to realize the sound was coming from me. Horrible, guttural sobs echoed around the large white chamber as I clung to him tightly.

The pain and grief and emptiness came crashing down over me in wave after wave, ripping me apart.

I could never be happy again.

Not without him.

Not without Vandel.

"I love you," I choked out helplessly.

"I should hope so...after all the fucking bullshit....I just had to pull for you..." a soft voice rasped.

My heart skipped a beat.

"V-Vandel..." I sobbed, my voice trembling.

"The one and only." His eyes were half closed, his voice hoarse and wrecked.

I felt tears continue to stream down my cheeks, but they were no longer tears of grief.

"I-I thought you were dead," I stammered between pathetically loud sniffles.

Vandel cast me a small smile despite the fact that the action was clearly painful.

"I figured as much from the reaction. Can't really blame you though..." he murmured, his breathing shallow and ragged. "Who'd want to lose someone as fuckin' awesome as me?" He laughed but it quickly turned into a hollow, rasping cough. "Jokes aside. I seriously thought I was a goner. Guess I was a little more powerful than I realized..."

"We need to get you out of here," I said quickly. "If we don't get you medical attention soon, you could still..." I swallowed hard. "We need to get you to the Demon Castle now." My nerves were starting to kick in, panic seizing me once more. "I could carry you back, but even then it's going to take at least a day and we...we might not have that long." I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, trying desperately to think of a solution. "If only we had a horse...something to get you out of here."

I realized with a start that Vandel eyes had grown wide.

"Uh...Ridley," he said hoarsely, staring intently at something just beyond my shoulder.

Slowly I turned to look behind me, shocked at what I found there.

A large, horse like Bone Monster was standing before us.

Vandel and I tensed, waiting for it to attack us, but the creature didn't move.

Vandel suddenly tugged on my sleeve. "Ridley...I think you created it. You wanted a horse, and just by thinking of it, that...thing appeared."

I shook my head. "That's impossible. Only the Bone King can create monsters."

"Unless..." Vandel looked to me, his eyes still round as saucers. "Ridley, what if by killing the Bone King....you became the Bone King."

"That...that can't be..." I looked to the Bone Monster and the second we locked eyes, the creature began to move. It gently approached us, lowering its head just as it reached us.

"We'll talk about this later," I stammered. "First we need to get you out of here and...well...surprisingly this Bone Monster seems like our best bet."

I scooped him up princess style. This time the Demon Prince was far too weak to protest. His gaze fluttered to Erica who was still cowering in the corner. "How about her?" he asked softly.

I slowly turned to look at her. My most recent memories were still a blur, but the last thing I could remember clearly was watching her and the fellow knights trying to murder Vandel.

"She can stay here," I stated sharply.

Vandel shook his head weakly. "Fuck no. Not after all the effort I went through to save her."

I cast her a dark glance, but Vandel's resolve never once faltered. He stared up at me, large eyes silently pleading.

Finally, I let out a heavy sigh. "Fine. We'll take her with us."

"Good," Vandel said, smiling again despite the pain. "I always knew you could never deny me anything."