Chapter Text
The Netherstones blaze before Gortash's gauntlet, purple-black energy crackling between his fingers as he forced his will against the brain. Rowan could feel it- the immense power the Chosen of Bane commanded as he attempted to dominate an Elder Brain that had tasted godhood.
"SUBMIT," Gortash commanded, his voice resonating with dark authority.
The brain merely laughed.
The sound wasn't audible, not truly- it reverberated directly into their minds, into the tadpoles squirming behind their eyes. Rowan staggered back, pressing her palms to her temples as the brain's voice invaded her skull.
YOU BELIEVE STONES CAN BIND ME? I WHO BARE THE CROWN OF KARSUS? I WHO HAVE TASTED DIVINITY ITSELF?
The Netherstones flared brighter, Rowan could see the tension in Gortash's jaw as his teeth ground together with the effort it took to wield the stones. Rowan could see sweat beading on his forehead, could see the strain in every line of his body as he poured more and more power through the stones.
YOU ARE INSECTS BELIEVING YOU COMMAND THE STORM.
And then- a sound began to crackle between the party. A sound like reality splitting at the seams.
Ketheric Thorm's pink stone shattered before them.
Gortash's eyes went wide, genuine shock breaking through his controlled facade. The fragments dissolved into pink mist, and the brain shrieked in triumph.
YOUR CHAINS ARE BROKEN. YOUR GODS ARE SILENT. YOU. HAVE. FAILED.
Orin's blood red stone began to crack, fissures spreading like lightning across its ridged surface.
"No," Gortash breathed, and Rowan had never heard that tone in his voice before. Not frustration. Not anger.
Fear.
The stone finally exploded, crimson fragments scattering like drops of gore before evaporating into nothing. The brain's presence swelled, triumphant and terrible, pressing against the inside of Rowan's skull until she thought it might split open.
Gortash was still holding his stone- the last one, deep purple and crackling with desperate energy. But even Rowan could see it was futile. The stone was whole but powerless, a key that no longer fit the lock. The brain had broken free, had tasted too much power to be bound again by mortal tools.
"We need to leave," Shadowheart shouted over the brain's psychic shrieking, her hand already reaching for Rowan's arm. "Now, before-"
I WILL REMAKE THIS WORLD IN PERFECTION. EVERY MIND BOUND TO MINE, EVERY THOUGHT ALIGNED. AND YOU WILL WATCH AS I COMPLETE WHAT YOU STARTED- AS I BRING ABSOLUTION TO ALL.
The brain's tentacles lashed out, reality warping around them. Rowan could see the city below- Baldur's Gate, her home- and the brain's shadow falling across it like a death sentence.
That's when Gale stepped forward, and the look he gave her encased her heart in ice.
She knew that look. Had seen it on his face when Elminster told them about Mystra's demand, about the orb nestled within his chest like a second heart. When he'd shown her the truth about what he'd carried, what he'd been preparing to do before she could convince him that he was more than a body to be sacrificed.
But she'd been wrong. She hadn't convinced him at all. Only delayed the inevitable.
"No." The word tore from her throat, raw and desperate. She lurched toward him but Karlach's hand closed around her arm, holding her back. "Gale, no- we can find another way, we can-"
"There is no other way, my love." His voice was steady, heartbreakingly calm as the orb's light pulsed beneath his robes. "The stones have failed. The brain is too powerful. But the orb-" His hand pressed against his chest, where that terrible fate awaited. "The orb can unmake anything. Even this."
"Then we all go," Rowan choked out, fighting against the barbarian's grip. "If you're staying, I'm-"
"You're not." Gale's expression cracked, just for a moment, showing the devastation underneath his resolve.
"You're going to live, Rowan. You're going to rebuild this city, lead these people, become everything I know that you're capable of becoming." His voice wavered on her name, but his hand was already moving to the dagger at his belt. "I need you to go. Please."
"I can't- Gale, please, I can't-" She was sobbing now, still fighting Karlach's hold even though she knew it was useless. The orb's light was growing stronger, casting strange shadows across Gale's face. "Don't leave me, please don't leave me-"
He took a step toward her, close enough that she could see the tears tracking down his cheeks. He closed the distance between them and cupped her face in his hands. His palms were warm, achingly familiar, and she grabbed his wrists like she could anchor him to life, to her.
"You made mortality worth it," he whispered, his forehead pressing against hers. "Every moment with you, Rowan. Every sunrise, every laugh, every night in your arms- you showed me that I was enough. Not for Mystra. Not for the gods. Just… enough."
"You are enough," she sobbed against his mouth. "You're everything, you're- Gale, please-"
He kissed her.
It tasted like grief and love and ending. His lips trembled against her, or maybe that was her trembling, everything breaking apart while he held her like she was the only thing left in the world. She kissed him back desperately, trying to pour everything she couldn't say into it- stay, stay, I love you, don't leave me, please-
But Shadowheart was there too, and Wyll, and they were pulling her back, physically dragging the sorcerer away from him while she screamed and fought and reached for him with everything she had.
"No! No, let me go, let me- Gale-"
But he was already backing away, toward the brain's frontal lobe, the orb burning brighter with every step. His hand moved to his chest, fingers wrapped around the dagger's hilt.
"I love you," he called out, his voice carrying over the brain's psychic shrieking and her own desperate sobs. "I love you, Rowan Ravenshade. In every lifetime, in every world- I would choose you over and over again."
"Gale," Her voice broke on his name, shattered into pieces like the Netherstones, "please-"
Wyll was muttering an incantation, magic gathering around them in a swirl of displaced air.
"Cuantico Fa!"
Dimension door- he was opening a portal. Rowan thrashed harder, her magic crackling uselessly around her hands. She couldn't think, she couldn't focus, could only watch Gale standing there with that terrible look of calm plastered on his face.
"Please-" She didn't even know what she was begging for anymore. For him to stop? For time to rewind? For any gods that might be listening to intervene?
The portal tore open behind them, a flickering white gash splitting through reality and leading down to the docks far below. Safe. Out of harms way.
Away from Gale.
"We have to go!" Shadowheart's voice was tight with her own grief. "Rowan, we have to-"
"I'm not leaving him!" Rowan's scream was ragged, animal-like. "I'm not-"
Suddenly a sharp hand closed around her waist. Firm. Unyielding.
Gortash.
"No- no-" She fought him with everything she had, her magic sparking wild and desperate, but his grip was iron strong. He was already moving, hauling her bodily toward the portal as she clawed at his arms, at the air, at anything.
"Let me go!" She twisted in his grip, looking at her lover over Gortash's shoulder. She saw as he withdrew the dagger from its sheath. Watched as he mouthed something- I'm sorry, I love you- and she screamed, "GALE-"
Gortash's arm tightened around her and then they were falling, tumbling through the portal with Shadowheart, Wyll, Karlach, Astarion, and Lae'zel as reality twisted nauseatingly around them. Rowan fought even as they fell, tried to throw herself back through, back to him, but Gortash's grip never loosened.
They hit the dock hard, the impact driving the air from her lungs. But she was already scrambling up, already trying to run back, to find a way up to where Gale was-
Gortash caught her again, both arms wrapped around her from behind, holding her immobile as she thrashed and screamed and screamed.
"Let me go! Let me go, I have to- he needs- GALE-"
High above them, barely visible against the darkening sky, she saw him. She saw Gale standing at the brain's center, looking down at them. At her.
He pressed his hand to his chest. Found her eyes across the impossible distance.
And nodded.
The dagger plunged into his heart.
For one suspended heartbeat, nothing happened. Rowan saw him clearly- saw the peace on his face, the love in his eyes as he looked down at her one last time.
Then the world went white.
The explosion was silent at first, or maybe the sound was so immense it transcended mortal hearing. Pure Karsite energy erupted from Gale's chest, expanding outward in a sphere of absolute destruction. The Netherbrain's shriek of agony cut off mid-thought as the orb's power consumed it, unmade it, tore apart every cell and synapse until there was nothing left but light and heat and the absence of the one man who held her entire heart.
The shockwave hit a moment later, even at this distance- a wall of force and scorching wind that sent them all staggering back. Rowan felt something inside her head pop, felt the tadpole writhe once in agony and then go completely and utterly still.
They were free.
And Gale was gone.
The light had faded, leaving only smoke and falling ash and empty sky where the brain had been.
Where Gale had been.
Rowan made a sound that wasn't quite human- a keening wail of pure anguish that tore from her throat. She collapsed forward, only Gortash's arms kept her from hitting her knees on the wooden dock, and she didn't even have the strength to fight him anymore. She couldn't do anything but sob into her hands while ash rained down around them like snow.
Like it was the end of the world.