Notes: This is it, the very last chapter. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read this story as well as to those who left reviews, it kept me going. I know how frustrating it was to wait for an update, it was even more so when I couldn't post one. I apologise in advance for any errors in the following, I did some shoddy editing work and considering how little time I have had recently, I opted to post the story versus no story at all for a while yet. I did my best to add my own personal touch, tying loose ends but I also didn't feel like repeating everything we saw on screen unless I could add something to it. I hope you enjoy and God bless you all.

The End

Nick's heart nearly gave out when he heard his name on her lips and turned to find a pair of bright blue eyes brimming with a strength and selflessness that confounded him still. They had been there before, he thought wryly. The last time, they had stood in the middle of their loft on the night before he left for Germany and Adalind was so uncertain of the future. He'd been eager, back then, to get to the Black Forest and find the buried treasure. He thought nothing of leaving her behind because he believed he'd come back. Just as before, Adalind was letting him go to do what he had to do in spite of the pain he knew it caused her, only now he wasn't so certain of their future. It dawned on Nick that this could be their last time together and so he finally said the words he'd guarded in his heart so selfishly for months.

"I love you," he said effortlessly.

"I love you," she sighed almost breathlessly, her eyes dancing sweetly for him under the moonlight.

Adalind's arms swiftly enveloped him, holding him tightly.

How could he leave her? He'd sooner cut out his own heart but his duty beckoned him, like the cursed siren's cry.

He reluctantly broke away from her, got into his truck without any further goodbyes. Why tell her goodbye when he had every intention to return to her side?

Nick watched her distinct form get smaller and smaller in his rear view mirror until the trees eventually hid her completely from his sight. He would come back for her, and for his family. He reassured himself repeatedly, the only outcome he dared to entertain, Zerstörer be damned!

Although Sean Renard had volunteered to protect his family, it took everything within Nick to walk away as he did, leaving the most precious people in his life in the hands of his Captain, once ally turned enemy and now…ally once again. He had to trust that man, the same man that tried to put Nick in prison under false pretences, the same man that tried to kill Nick at the first chance he got, the same man that stood by as Bonaparte nearly choked Adalind to death because she refused to reveal the location of their loft. Nick could feel his hands twitch tensely as he barely quashed the doubts flooding his mind over his Captain. He didn't trust the man but for the first time in years, Nick had no other choice.

As he made his way back into the city, his mind should be trained on finding and stopping Zerstörer but Nick's thoughts drifted back to Adalind. He couldn't help replaying their last moments together. He'd finally told Adalind he loved her, something he should have done upon returning from Germany but Nick was a coward. He could stare death in the face and never flinch but the thought of telling the woman he loved how he truly felt about her had robbed him of all courage. It galled him how he'd made excuse after excuse to justify his reticence, such as how "it was too soon after Juliette" or that "she was a Hexenbiest again and lying to his face". When that no longer mattered after Bonaparte, he simply made up more excuses, more arbitrary than the last. So much time he wasted and now it could be too late….

Too late to be happy and free to enjoy what he never thought he would find, but he couldn't think like that. He couldn't afford to.

Nick had fallen true and hard for Adalind Schade, he thought without hesitation or regret.

In truth, he didn't intend for it to happen yet it did, to look beyond the 'biest and see the real woman, her strength and forbearance. His ancestors' books told him he should have hated her until her dying breath and she, him and they both knew it but something beyond themselves set them on a different path. Monroe talked about predestination, how everything that ever happened, happened to bring them all into this point in time, a conspiracy among the stars working behind the scenes to an end, he hoped a good one.

He would never forget the day Adalind came to him in the precinct, her belly round and full. That day would forever be etched in his mind, her defiance and courage in the midst of her enemies. Although he couldn't have admitted it at the time, the encounter at the precinct wasn't the first time that Nick had seen the real Adalind, the woman with whom he'd soon fall in love. He'd gotten a fraction of a glimpse much earlier one night, years ago when Adalind had stood cold and wet, in the middle of his house holding a tiny bundle in her arms but too much anger and resentment had blinded him back then.

"You're choosing her over me!" Juliette had viciously accused him as she confronted him in the hallway of his precinct. Nick had denied it. He was choosing his son, even though Adalind had presented him with zero evidence of his paternity. Nick took her at her word. One look in Adalind's eyes, that's all it took to know the truth. He could always read her like a book. Thus, he found himself planted firmly between the two women and whether or not he realised it at the time, Juliette was right. Nick did choose Adalind.

That wasn't all he remembered.

Eve told him just as much when they were both trapped in the other dimension. It wasn't an accusation. It was a coming to terms with the truth that was before them, that had perhaps evaded even Nick. From the moment Nick met Adalind, he'd chosen her over others whether unwittingly or purposefully. When the queen Mellifer threatened Adalind, Melissa Wincroft was the one who ended up with two fatal gunshot wounds to the chest. When he discovered that Adalind was Hank's date one evening when they went on a double date, instead of exposing her to his partner and Juliette, he kept her duplicity secret. When Hank's life hung in the balance after she cursed him, of the million-and-one things he could have done to get his blood into her system, Nick fervently kissed Adalind. He told himself it was the only way to make sure she'd taste his blood.

Memories, some recent, others nearly forgotten flickered in his mind as he attempted to trace that single moment when his feelings for Adalind changed. He loved her. He adored her, impossible though it seemed. He went through his…their past together searching for the impossible as though he could will himself to relive the past with fresh understanding. Could he have done things differently, had he known all along just how precious she would be to him? Adalind had become an extension of him. A connective tissue had formed between them in secret, hidden, as it grew neither unhindered nor impaired.

So much time wasted.

Nick flew across town to catch up with Hank and Wu. Zerstörer hadn't hesitated to pile on the bodies beginning at the gas station. When he arrived, the place had been littered with dead bats. He concluded that they were the same bats Zerstörer had used to attack him and Eve in the other dimension but Nick couldn't account for why they were all dead. He also discovered that Zerstörer could woge into human form and his first thought was to call Adalind and warn her. Renard had offered to trade places with Nick as if Nick was standing idly by, doing nothing while this thing hunted Nick's family. It killed him to be away from them but he was their best chance at surviving and as much as it galled him to admit, Renard knew it to be true.

Nick hadn't finished walking the crime scene when Eve called him and asked him to stop by the spice shop alone.

"It's urgent." She insisted.

Nick found the back door unlocked and made his way into the basement, where the rest of the gang was no doubt waiting for him. To his surprise and relief, Teresa Rubel was also there.

"Trubel," he heaved excitedly.

"Nick!" she called out to him as they embraced tightly.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're all right." She said.

He wanted to know everything, when she returned, Black Claw.

"Black Claw's done. The war's over."

"There's nothing left?" He asked.

"Every cell was destroyed."

That was a relief. If Bonaparte was truly aligned with Zerstörer, without Black Claw to pave the way for him, there was a chance they could defeat him, he thought as a sliver of hope crept into his heart.

"Nick, that's not why I'm here, I came because I had a feeling something terrible was happening and it looks like I may be right."

"Which brings us to the stick," interjected Monroe.

What followed next was a rundown of the possible history behind the stick, why it was so important and so powerful, yet another reason for Zerstörer to cross into their world.

"But I thought he was after Diana?" Nick pointed out.

"We think he's after both. Think about it. He's got the most powerful staff in the world but he's got a piece missing and Diana is the most powerful Hexenbiest in the world. What do people with power want?" Monroe asked rhetorically.

"More power," Nick answered.

"Exactly!" His friend exclaimed.

"Do we know who had the other pieces of the staff before he could put it back together?" He turned to the rest of the group.

"Unfortunately any information about our stick was lost when they sacked Constantinople," Monroe reiterated.

"What are you thinking?" Rosalee asked him.

"We know seven Grimm buried the stick. We know that I can handle the stick without suffering any problems. Zerstörer knew I was a Grimm when he first saw me and he's been two steps ahead of us this entire time. He's been playing us from the very beginning. It's possible he knows I have the stick. In the other place, he threw us around making a show of his power. He could have killed us a hundred times over but he didn't."

"Yeah, that was because he knew he needed a Grimm to cross over."

"True, but what if that's not all it was?"

"He's been stuck in that place with no way of opening the portal. I couldn't open the portal from this side except with the stick."

"So you think he knows you have the stick? Well, he sure as hell better not get a hold of it then!" Trubel said sternly.

Nick's phone rang.

"It's Hank. You're on speaker." He told his partner.

"Nick, we just got a hit on the APB. He's not even trying to keep a low profile," said Hank.

"You need to hear this," said Nick and then he proceeded to tell his colleagues everything that his friends had discovered.

"There's something that just occurred to me. Earlier, Diana said 'He's coming, he's coming' repeatedly. Hank, a few years ago we worked on a case, Melissa Wincroft."

"Oh yeah, I remember her," said Monroe.

"What about her?" his partner asked.

"She was a Mellifer, a queen to be exact."

Monroe then went into explaining what Mellifers were and what they did.

"Anyway, there's something I never told you. Before she died, she said something to me that I didn't take as seriously as I should have at the time. I had just become a Grimm so I was struggling with everything that was happening to me and what that meant," he said as he eyed Eve warily.

Nick explained to them how Adalind's firm had targeted Melissa Wincroft's mill in a hostile takeover because of what she knew, how they were afraid she'd warn him in time to prevent some calamity from happening.

"Before she died, she told me he was coming for me. She said 'Beware…it is close'. Melissa had used the words 'He' and 'It' interchangeably. At first, I thought she was referring to the Royal in Portland and some event related to him. I knew that Adalind had a connection to him but I never figured it out until much later and nothing major came of it. Maybe I was wrong the whole time. I'm thinking the queen Mellifer was talking about Zerstörer. He was the 'It' she tried warning me about and I was too stupid to realise." He sneered at the memory.

They all looked at him as the pieces began shifting into place. A picture had begun to form in his mind, mocking him for not figuring it out all those years ago.

"She was so desperate to convince me. She had already killed two of the three Hexenbiests that worked her case. It never made sense to me why she went after the lawyers and not Ameri-Mill, the company that swallowed up her family business. She didn't even go after Harrison Berman and his senior partners who'd assigned the case to Adalind and her co-workers. She insisted on killing Adalind as if that alone would make things right. It was a conspiracy, she said. For a woman that committed two murders, she wasn't so cut up about losing her family's newspaper mill. I should have done more, demanded she tell me everything she knew but it all happened so fast….

"Adalind's law firm used Ameri-Mill to silence Melissa Wincroft. After Kelly, Adalind went back to Berman, Rautbort, and Associates after a run in with a colleague claiming Berman would hire her back in an instant. I was suspicious about the job offer from out of nowhere but things between Adalind and me were still tenuous at that time so I said nothing. Later, Berman personally introduced Conrad Bonaparte to Adalind at her law firm threatening my son unless she did what they wanted. I may be grasping here but that's simply too many coincidences for me to ignore. I'm willing to bet when Viktor finds that contract that Adalind signed, we'll find a connection between Zerstörer and Diana which will make three for three." He said grimly.

A chill went down his spine. The queen Mellifer had been more determined to kill Adalind to stop whatever she tried to warn him about from ever happening. She was a clarion, and as his books said, she was trying to balance the ecotone but Monroe had called them nothing but gossips. Melissa clearly knew something big was about to happen and that it involved a Hexenbiest only she didn't know which until Adalind took on Ameri-Mill as a client. Apart from trying to warn him, she had killed two Hexenbiest and would have killed Adalind had he not shot and killed her. Nick had saved Adalind's life at a time when her death would have suited him more at the time. After the night he'd had with jumping through portals and hearing about prophecies and destinies, it was easy to let his emotions be carried away with all this information slowly coming to light.

Without Adalind, Hank would never have almost died. Nick would never have taken her powers. Adalind would never have slept with Renard, thus conceiving Diana. Adalind would never have gone to Stefania to get her powers back. His mother would never have taken Diana from her. Adalind would never have taken his powers, thus conceiving his son. Juliette would never have become a Hexenbiest. His mother would never have died. He would never have gone to the Black Forest to find the treasure. Black Claw would never have taken Diana and used Adalind and his son against him.

Adalind. Adalind. Adalind.

He remembered her blaming herself for everything that had happened as they drove to the cabin but it was crazy to think so then as it was crazy to think so now. Juliette and Eve's words also came back to him, Nick had chosen Adalind over Melissa Wincroft like every other time after that and he had to believe it was for a reason.

"We need to find a way to stop him. We have all of these books. There has to be a way." Rosalee said, her voice cracking from the strain they all faced.

"And we will," he said and watched as Monroe pulled his wife to his side to comfort her. He thought of Adalind, how every fibre in his being yearned for her, to be by her side and know that she was safe. However, first thing first, he had to find Zerstörer and kill him, he thought determinedly.

"We know he's still in the area. According to the surveillance camera, he was three blocks west of Hawthorne Bridge. There's probably more bodies besides the one attacked by a giant snake if this report is correct.

"I tried shooting this guy in his world. It didn't work." He told his partner.

"He's in our world now. We're headed back to the precinct to weapon up, as much as we can carry" Hank said on the other end of the line.

"I'll meet you there," said Nick and hung up the call. "We all need to be careful from this point forward."

"I'm going to Hawthorne Bridge," said Trubel, one more person for Nick to worry about but he tempered down his thoughts. Trubel was a Grimm just like him. She wasn't one to sit idly by and do nothing when there was a big bad to kill and she knew how to take care of herself. Nick realised he had to trust her, as well as his friends that that would all make it out of this alive.

"If you see Zerstörer, don't do anything. Call me." He cautioned her still.

"Hey Buddy, we'll do our part and keep looking through the books to find a way to beat this thing." Monroe assured him.

He gave his friend a nod and turned to leave but Eve stopped him, "Whatever you do, don't let that stick out of your control. It may be the only power you have against Zerstörer," she said as if he didn't know. He could already feel the heaviness tucked away inside his coat jacket weighing him down. As long as he had the stick, he still had the advantage.

They were dead, Hank, Wu and Eve. Nick had tried to use the stick to heal them as it he'd used it before but nothing. Both times Zerstörer toyed with him as he watched helpless while he his friends died. If he had any doubts before, Zerstörer certainly alleviated most of them, the stick was the only reason he was alive, but why? He wondered. Why was he still alive while his friends were dead? It couldn't be because of the stick protecting him as that illusion had dissipated like a puff of smoke on a windy day when he tried using it to bring is friends back and failed spectacularly. The stick was useless to him now yet Zerstörer failed to take it from him on two separate occasions and Nick couldn't understand why.

He had lost so much already but there was no time to linger on his losses when he had so much more to lose, especially after learning through Diana that Zerstörer was also coming after his precious boy. He had heard the fear as well as the defiance in Adalind's voice as she told him of Diana's dream. Nick had ordered Trubel to the cabin, much to her frustration but Nick wanted at least one Grimm to be with his family while he hunted down this demon, evil incarnate. He had even sent Monroe and Rosalee ahead of him to the cabin with a possible solution. Had they stayed even one more minute at the spice shop, they too would be dead like the others.

Thankfully, they weren't. He refused to lose any one else, he thought helplessly. Before they left, Monroe had found something they could use, The Strength of One's Blood as Monroe's family bible called it. They all hoped pinned their hopes on a single line.

"When the beast appears invincible and death the only fate to those who fight it, only the Strength of One's Blood can overcome the great evil and destroy the destroyer."

None of them knew what it meant but they found a blood spell. Eve had used her blood to open a portal. It seemed blood was god for more than just circling the veins. Rosalee knew of one particular blood spell, it was an impossible potion but considering everything that had happened since Nick became a Grimm, it didn't seem impossible anymore. Rosaleee had called the potion, the Force du Sang, which translated to the Power of Blood, a spell she read about in one of her parents' book while growing up. The Power of Blood…The strength of One's Blood, not exactly the same but close enough. It was all Nick could think, that it had to work because bullets were completely useless against Zertsörer in this world as they were in his.

His mind was frayed, his body, wrecked beyond measure but Nick had to keep pushing. Rest wasn't an option any more He fought his exhaustion fiercely but there was only so much he could take. He couldn't even remember the last time he slept which dangerously aggravated his physical and mental and by quadrupling his chances of making a mistake, especially when he couldn't afford to make any more than he already did. He drove Hank's car into the woods, cutting the engine about 300 yards away from the cabin so he could survey the grounds. Satisfied, Nick doubled towards the cabin and came across Trubel.

"Hey, where's Eve?' she asked him.

His silence spoke volumes.

"No." she said with feeling.

"Let's go," he beckoned as he walked past her towards the lit cabin.

He opened the door and suddenly froze. How would he tell his friends that Zerstörer was picking them one at a time while he was left standing? It was something he recognised from Monroe's bible, or was it from a long ago dream he had, he wasn't sure. Trubel pushed past him to announce his presence. Then he heard the most beautiful sound in the world.

"Oh God, I'm glad you're back, it's just so awful about Hank and Wu." said Adalind as she rushed into his arms. As much as he wanted to hold her forever, he couldn't.

"They didn't deserve that," added Renard.

"None of them did," said Nick sombrely.

He told them about Eve, how she died. It was a shock to them all but Rosalee took the news hardest. Nick told them how Zerstörer, for the second time, spared his life.

"He let you live again?" asked Renard.

"It's got to be the stick. I tried to use the stick but it didn't work." He declared, his anger mixing dangerously with his fear that perhaps there was no way to stop Zerstörer.

The cabin was silent as the full weight of his words sunk in. They had lost Eve, Hank and Wu. Nick took in every face still standing, how many more would he lose before this night was over, the wretched thought crossed his mind against his will as his gaze finally settled on Adalind? He felt his stomach lurch.

"I heard from my cousin Viktor." He heard Renard's voice, drawing him out of his morbid thoughts. "He forwarded me the copy of Adalind's contract."

"…And?" Nick turned to him cautiously.

Renard grimaced. He handed his phone to Nick for a view of the contract. The first think that caught his eye was Adalind's bloody handprint at the bottom of the page. It was old and worn but unmistakable.

"It mentions a reclaiming of a Hexenbiest from beyond but nothing on Zerstörer, at least not specifically. It doesn't mean he's not connected to this somehow. Stefania did a lot more than she let on…"

"And I was too gullible, following all her instruction without realising what it meant for my baby." Adalind said with palpable self-reproach. Without thinking, Nick drew her closer into his side. Nobody judged her for the past, least of all him and he hoped that his presence would help ease away some of her guilt. They were all in this together.

"There's a particular clause," Renard said, taking his phone from Nick and zooming in to a specific place before handing it back to Nick.

"We think this may refer to Diana directly, which doesn't make sense because the deal was for Adalind alone and her daughter as payment. It says, 'the huntress shall come forth and reign.' It's odd considering Hexenbiests aren't known for hunting. That's you and your kind." Renard tipped his head in Trubel's direction before settling on Nick.

"…And Diana the goddess of the hunt and the moon," Nick concluded, looking at Adalind.

"I didn't have a name for her until it came to me on that last day at the precinct." Adalind said wistfully.

"I hate to say it but your friends may be right. We've been dancing to someone else's tune this whole time and I don't like it. I don't like the idea of someone else controlling my moves as if I'm a pawn on chessboard. It's the reason why I stayed away from my family when they came calling and asking me to return into the fold."

…But you came running when Black Claw called, Nick thought bitterly but the time for anger and resentment for the past was over. They all had to focus on the present, on making sure they all had a future.

"What I don't understand is why your family do this to Diana?" Nick turned to Renard.

"You don't know my family but even then I don't think they did this. They didn't even know about Diana until after this Stefania woman got Adalind's signature."

"If I had known…." Adalind started but Nick cut her off immediately, taking her whole into the comfort of his arms.

"You couldn't have. None of us could have known what all our actions wrought. What I do know is that we are going to stop him, I promise you that." He breathed into the halo of her hair.

"You can count on us Buddy. This Zerstörer is going down." Monroe said and took his wife's hand in a show of solidarity.

"Where's Kelly?" he asked, tipping Adalind's chin expectantly.

She gave him a wan smile as she took him by the hand and led him into the basement where the children slept. Nick held on tight to her hand even as they went down the steep steps. He didn't care how awkward doing so felt. He did not intend to let Adalind go from this point forward. They found Kelly and Diana still fast asleep. They stood silently side-by-side as they watched their children at peace, he hoped completely oblivious to the reality of their situation. Satisfied, he led Adalind to sit with him on the third step from the bottom. It was a tight fit but he didn't care, it allowed him to keep her close to him as he slid his arm around her shoulder.

"I'm sorry." They both spoke at once.

"What?" he turned to her.

"Why?" She asked him at the same time. She sighed warily. "I'm really sorry about Hank, Wu…and Eve. I feel so terrible. like the old selfish me because you're still here with me and I'm relieved because the truth is I don't know what I'd do if you weren't. But you lost your friends, I know how much they meant to you and I wish I could take this pain you feel away, to tell you everything will be alright…"

"Adalind," he stopped her, his eyes welling up with fresh unshed tears.

It was too late for his friends, and it hurt like hell. He just hoped their deaths would not be in vain. Nick, using his free hand, tilted her chin so she could look into his eyes. "I love you." He said with sincere feeling. He watched as her eyes brighten much as before at hearing those three little words. Nick rested his forehead against hers and eventually his lips against hers. Adalind wriggled closer into his chest, sliding both her arms around his lower back.

"God, I love you so much," he said desperately between her kisses, drawing out her own breathy confession of love.

He felt his heart quicken with every kiss. It took several moments for him to calm himself long enough to pull away, albeit reluctantly. However, Adalind chose instead to bury her face into his chest, holding him close.

"I too am selfish, you know."

"You?" Adalind snorted sceptically.

"I am." He repeated

"Says the guy who practically gave it all up to protect the woman he had every right to hate."

"The woman I'm in love with," he corrected her and gave her another kiss to drive his point home. "I'm sorry I never told you how I felt when I needed to, when we still had time. I was afraid. I thought keeping it to myself would somehow keep you safe. Ever since I became a Grimm, I realised how easy it was to lose those I loved and I did not want to lose you. I was wrong and I don't want to lose you, not now, not ever. I already lost my mind when Black Claw took you away from me. I can't let Zerstörer anywhere near you. I too don't know what I'd do if anything were to ever happen to you and the kids."

They heard the muffled sound of steps above them get nearer to the opened floor panel at the top of the stairs.

"Hey guys we're ready."

It was Rosalee calling them back to join the rest.

"We're coming." He shouted back to her.

"I know you said bullets didn't work on this guy, this potion we're putting together should. It will." Adalind said. Her countenance assured.

They climbed the stairs, Nick following closely behind Adalind and joining everybody else at the main able where Rosalee had worked, preparing the potion and waiting for the final ingredient of his blood, Adalind's and the blood of a wesen, in this case, Monroe. Adalind went through the steps, telling them exactly what had to be done. The blood of three opposing forces used as a last resort to stop that which was unstoppable…so far. All three placed their right hand, one on top of another over the clay bowl with the placid broth, both Adalind and Monroe were woged as Renard plunged the dagger through the back of their hands, not once but twice to ensure a free flowing of the blood to merge and fill the bowl below. They stood silently as they watched the spell began to steam and then bubble furiously filling the cabin with a pungent smell. It smelled like death.

Rosalee grabbed a spoon and began to stir the broth, making sure it was evenly mixed but the metal began to sizzle in her hand before she dropped completely into the bowl. She jumped back in fright, examining her hand for any sign the deadly potion made contact with her skin. It didn't.

"I've never seen that before," commented Rosalee as they all peered curiously into the bowl.

"Let's hope that's what happens to Zerstörer," said Monroe, speaking what was probably in everyone's mind.

"Mommy." They heard Diana's voice and turned to face her as she came up from the basement.

"Is everything all right, honey?" Asked Adalind.

"I feel different, and I can't sleep." Replied Diana automatically.

Something was wrong; he could sense it in the air, in Diana herself….

"There's no need to be scared, sweetie." Adalind said as she approached her daughter.

"I'm not, not anymore." Diana said more robotically, which cause the hair on the back of Nick's neck to stand of end while his body tensed expectantly.

"Well, good because we have something that'll take care of him once and for all."

"Oh, so you know he's coming here."

"What?"

"He knows where Nick is," said Diana with a strange gleam in her eyes.

"…How?" Several voices said in unison.

"The stick tells him."

The cabin began to shake violently, the walls, the floor, everything.

"Oh no!" Nick cried out but before they could all react, Zerstörer burst through the door.

He lifted his staff into the air and Nick recognised his signature move immediately and shouted for everyone to get down but it was too late. Zerstörer slammed his thickly against the floor sending them all flying in different directions except for Diana, who'd remained firmly planted in the centre of the cabin, unmoving and unafraid, as if enthralled by the Destroyer that crossed dimension for her. Long gone was the little girl who'd screamed in terror and cried into her parents' arms, afraid.

Zerstörer extended his hand towards Diana. Without hesitation, Diana took the Destroyer's hand in hers and she walked out of the cabin with him, deaf to both her mother and father's cries for her to stop.

The Force du Sang was a complete bust.

He didn't believe it possible and in spite of everyone giving it all they got to stop Zerstörer, Nick watched as his friends fall prey to the Destroyer.

"When the beast appears invincible and death the only fate to those who fight it…." The words came to him like a rush of sharpened blades against his skin, piercing and shredding until there was nothing left. Zerstörer had killed them all.

Renard.

Trubel.

Rosalee.

Monroe.

Adalind.

All gone.

Nick knelt down at Trubel's body as his he searched for signs of life. His refusing to acknowledge what his head knew for certain. She was gone, they all were. He looked down at his hands and for the first time he saw them, stained red with blood, her blood. Adalind had died defending him, putting herself between him and the Destroyer. In a fit of rage and grief, Nick began to rub his hands furiously trying to remove Adalind's blood. The memory of her last moments began to choke him. He should have yelled for her to grab the kids and get away, but she would not leave his side and now he was all alone standing between this beast and their children.

"We're ready."

He heard Diana's strangely affected tone. Nick lifted his head and what he saw in her eyes wasn't natural even for Diana.

"My brother likes you too," She said to Zerstörer as if engaged in some telepathic conversation with him.

No.

"NO!" Nick let out a guttural sound he barely recognised as his own. "You've taken everything from me. You're not going take my son."

"That doesn't need to happen. None of this does." Zerstörer raised his hand in a pointing gesture around him.

Nick felt like he was in some twisted game where the rules changed on a whim but he was a quick learner if nothing more.

"So it's the stick is what you want." He stared down the Destroyer.

"It is."

"Only you can't kill me as long as I have it," Nick said spitefully.

"I'm willing to give you something in exchange for it."

"I'm not interested."

"You will be."

Zerstörer took two strides and touched his staff against Trubel's neck. Suddenly her body grew hot and then warm before she started gasping for air, coughing and life returned to her flesh, to Nick utter shock and disbelief.

"Trubel." He cried out in a mixture of hope and wonder.

"Nick, did we kill him?" were the first words out of her mouth.

Typical Trubel, under different circumstances he would have smiled but he couldn't.

"No." He replied.

"Then why are we alive?" She asked him in confusion.

"I can give them all back to you," said the man, demon standing above them.

I can give them all back….

What's a stick for his friends, for Adalind?

For the first time that night, Nick was at a crossroads. He could feel the stick burning a hole on the inside of is jacket, almost begging him to pull it out and simply hand it over

"What the hell is going on?" It was Trubel yet again but he was no longer paying her any attention.

I can give them all back….

"You can have it."

Resigned, Nick pulled out the stick and held it towards Zerstörer. Both staff and stick began to glow the same colour as Zerstörer's eyes and Nick could swear it felt like a heavy weight was lifting from his shoulders.

"No, Nick! You can't give it to this lying son of a bitch devil. If he wants the stick so bad, why doesn't he just take it? Why is he asking, when he can just take it from you? What is he not telling you?"

He heard Trubel's words but nothing registered. Nick turned to look at Diana and Kelly, which wasn't lost on Zerstörer.

"You might want to ask your children what to do," said the Destroyer and then he walked out of the cabin without looking back. It felt like a swift kick in the gut.

I can give them all back….

It's all he heard, over and over insistently

"Nick, you can't give it to him." Trubel reasoned with him.

"I want the people I love to live again." He said desperately as he pushed passed her chasing down Zerstörer. "Take it!" He cried out.

"No, Nick!" Trubel forced herself between, pleading with Nick to listen to her and not hand the stick over.

"Don't!" He yelled at her, trying to push her aside.

"I understand what you want, but this'll be the end of humanity as we know it. This isn't about us or the ones we love. I can't let you do this."

"Get out of my way!" he grunted furiously.

"No." Trubel said quietly but defiantly.

Then something happened that he never imagined; she attacked him, knocking the stick into the ground. Trubel quickly grabbed the stick and made for the woods. She had not made it past a hundred yards before the stick burnt her hand and she was forced to drop it, giving Nick enough time to catch up and thus tackle her to the ground. Nick had now switched from defence to the offence as if it weren't a thing. He was bigger and stronger than Trubel. His rational mind told him to stop what he was doing but the grief and adrenaline that rushed through his veins were at over capacity as he pummelled Trubel as if she was sandbag at the precinct gymnasium. He wanted to stop but he couldn't. Luckily, Trubel was no shrinking violet. She gave as good as she got. Nick registered a torn lip, broken nose and even a cracked rib or three. If he wasn't going to stop then neither would she.

However, they couldn't go on like this forever, he had to end this quickly. Nick saw his chance. Trubel had left her guard down so with everything he had. He knocked her off her feet and was about to deliver a final blow when something made him pause all of a sudden, fist still in the air. He felt sick within himself. This was Trubel, a fellow Grimm; someone he once took under his wings and was practically a part of his family and he was close to doing the unthinkable….

Grunting, he got off her and picked up the stick, with renewed determination.

"Nick! Nick, please don't do this!" Trubel begged him but he kept walking and let her cries fall away unheeded.

He was half way back to Zerstörer when the sky darkened and he saw strange lights or perhaps it was a flash of lightning with a roll of thunder right above his head. It grew louder with each step he took. He kept walking. Then he heard his name but it didn't sound like Trubel's voice, in fact, it sounded like…. No, he thought. It couldn't be. He shook his head as he kept walking but the voice grew louder, almost like it was right there beside him, the voice of his mother or maybe it was his aunt. He couldn't be sure.

"Nick. Nick. You must not. You cannot betray us and what we are. Stop! You must stop. Nick…"

"Nicky!" The voice said forcefully.

He turned around and there she was. He couldn't believe it.

"Mom?"

"You can't do what you want to do."

"How are you here?"

"Don't give away what you hold."

"They're all dead. I have no choice." He told her. She of all people had to understand he thought and turned away from his mother.

"Nick."

"Aunt Marie?" He said in shock. She was looked better than the last time he saw her, healthy but still leaning over her walking cane.

"What you think you have to do is not what must be done. Trubel is right," said his aunt.

How were they even there?

Unsure of his own sanity, he closed his eyes and shook his head for good measure trying to clear the fog clouding his mind. It did nothing for the heaviness in his heart; the pain from such a great loss weighed him down, possibly making him delusional. He opened his eyes and found his aunt and mother still standing there, to his left and to his right, their eyes stern but brimming with compassion.

"He can't take it from you. It has to be given to him," his mother said.

"That is why he has taken everyone you loved, Nick, so that you will give him what he wants."

He heard his aunt explain. It took everything within him not to break down and weep. No. He loved them but their words meant nothing to him, not when he was so close to getting everything he wanted, his friend and Adalind back. They didn't understand. He'd lost his mother and father too young. He'd lost his aunt and then by some miracle he got his mother back only to lose her again. He couldn't lose his family now, not after getting them back. His mother and aunt couldn't understand, Nick needed his family back and giving up the stick was the only way to do that.

However, his mother took him by the crook of his elbow, forcing him to face her, "If you do this, you will sacrifice the world to endless pain and suffering."

"…The world you saw in the Other Place."

"I want my friends back. I want Adalind and Diana. I want my son! I want them all back." He cried.

"Nicky, I know it hurts but do not give that stick to that monster. Believe me when I tell you that you can defeat him." His mother pleaded.

"I tried. I can't." He yelled and pushed past them but they held him back.

"You can," both women said at the same time, desperation in their voices.

"With the Strength of One's Blood." His mother said impassioned.

"We tried that and it failed. Zerstörer got up like it was nothing. I watched them die, one by one…. He could have killed me by he didn't and now they are all dead."

"Nick, you didn't use the strength of your blood," his aunt Marie said.

"Don't you see? He wants you defeated so you can run to him ready to give it all up. Don't you see? When the beast appears invincible and death the only fate to those who fight it, only the Strength of One's Blood can overcome the great evil and destroy the Destroyer. You can beat him. The strength of your blood, the blood of your Grimm ancestors, all of us it's inside you," said Kelly.

"It's what makes us who we are and Trubel too."

"…The strength we need that we all need comes from our family. It's where we've always found the way and the will to fight."

"And with that, we can defeat any evil."

"Together."

They were tag teaming against him but there was something in their words that he couldn't shake off. It was as though the fog had begun to clear despite his pain, despite the sorrow that threatened to drown him. While a part of him wanted to do as he intended and put an end to his pain, he could deny the fact that had heard his mother and his aunt and all they said. Nick realised that by denying Zerstörer what he wanted, he was giving up on those he loved. He looked down at the stick, still clasp firmly in his hand. He took a step forward and the two ghostly Grimm cleared a path between them and let him pass, his mind made up. His mother and aunt flanked him on either side as he marched through the last of the thicket and saw Zerstörer waiting at the fair end. He could see Renard's body lying on the muddy and frozen to the right of Zerstörer and his heart began to race thunderously as Adalind's lifeless body came into his view on the left side.

Nick quickly averted his gaze away from the woman he loved before losing what little remained of his resolve to do what he was born to do. He hadn't spoken one word when Trubel bounded from behind; imploring him not to give the stick away but he paid her no attention.

"This is what you killed everyone to get…."

"Give it to me," said Zerstörer.

Nick dropped the stick before coldly telling him to come and get it. Zerstörer angrily burnt away his human flesh and that's when all four Grimm surrounded their target. His mother was the one who threw the first punch. His aunt pulled a blade from her walking stick and sliced Zerstörer's back causing him to stumble forward where he and Trubel were waiting for him and wasted no time in getting into the thick of it. Four Grimm against one Destroyer or was that two Grimm, he wasn't sure. If the two women he grew to call "mother" were nothing more than a figment of his imagination, how did they manage to hurt Zerstörer? Nick didn't know how they were there but he was grateful they were. He lost them too soon after becoming a Grimm and he always longed to fight beside two of the most import people in his life, the two people who shaped him to be the man he was today.

They'd caught Zertstörer unaware. He must have thought that he'd face only Nick and Trubel but didn't count on more Grimm joining the fight but more to Nick's surprise, he found the stick he'd thrown on the ground still lying there, unmoved. Zerstörer had at least a dozen opportunities to grab it and bring about the end of the world but seemed to ignore it. It renewed the hope he'd long lost, perhaps there was a chance that this destroyer could be destroyed.

The fighting went on for what seemed like hours. Whatever Zerstörer was, he wasn't like any wesen he'd fought. There were moments when either Trubel or his aunt knocked him down and Nick thought it was for the count, Zerstörer got back on to his feet, to Nick's dismay and although he was tired and his body hurt like hell, Nick understood that giving up was not an option. He'd lost Adalind but his children still needed him and he'd fight with everything within him for them. He promised their mother before she died in his arms.

Zerstörer was beginning to slow, He had that big staff in his hand but he used for nothing more than to block an attack. Nick realised that he was on the back foot and that it was their opportunity to overwhelm him. Nick saw his opening and pounced, landing several heavy fists to the face and ribs. He waited for the stick to turn into a snake or some other nightmare to take him out but nothing. Kelly pushed herself between Nick and Zerstörer and landed a slew of her own punches until Trubel stuck a knife on his left calf. He collapsed to the ground. Marie, using her blade, stabbed Zerstörer in the back of his neck forcing a guttural growl from the Destroyer. Then something strange and completely unexpected happened, the staff flew away from Zerstörer's hand.

Nick watched as his mother hack off Zerstörer's arm with a tang machete he didn't even know she had. He dropped his eyes and saw the staff lying barely two feet away from him. Nick barely took a stride as he stooped low and lifted the staff from the ground. Instantly he felt a throbbing pulse of immeasurable power rippling from the staff and throughout his whole body, much like the stick in those few days he held it in his hand but this time, a thousand times more potent and efficacious. His little stick began to glow and flew straight into the side of the staff now vibrating in his hands. He saw all the fractures melt away, leaving behind a wholly different staff much to Zerstörer disbelief. Nick stood sure in front of a kneeling and now weakened Zerstörer with the very essence of power to destroy in his hands.

Zerstörer growled defiantly.

"You wanted it?" he asked the beast. "Here it is!" he shouted and then plunged the staff into Zerstörer's heart.

The air grew thick with Zerstörer's pained growls. It took Nick a moment to realise that wasn't the only sound he heard. He lifted his head towards the cabin and saw Diana running towards him screaming blue murder but Trubel acted quickly.

"No Diana!" Trubel cried out. She held Diana close to her chest but Diana shrieked the louder and fought to break free, sending spiked chills down his spine.

"Diana's stay back." He said aloud but he may as well be talking to a statue she ignored his pleas.

Something was wrong.

"I can't hold her Nick!" yelled Trubel desperately towards Nick.

Diana's eyes already shone a violent shade of violet, one he'd never seen before. He looked down at the Destroyer on the far end of the staff and realised that as long as he still drew breath, he controlled Diana so Nick plunged the staff even deeper and speared him through and through.

"DIE!" Nick shouted emphatically.

Zerstörer heaved one last cry and then collapsed. A thick puff of black smoke escaped through Zerstörer's lifeless lips and evaporated into the air, the last they will ever see of the Destroyer, hoped Nick. At that moment, he remembered Diana and immediately turned towards Trubel and his heart skipped a beat as fear gripped his heart once more. Diana was motionless in the female Grimm's arms.

"Diana!" Nick dropped the staff and instantly he was by their side as Trubel laid her gently down on the frozen ground.

Trubel stepped aside and allowed Nick to check for a pulse. Nick leaned his ear over her nose and mouth, "No, " he said before lifting two of his fingers to the side of her and waited in agony until he could find a pulse. His mother and Aunt joined them and watched silently in anticipation.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

It was there, slow and faint but very much there.

"She's alive," he said with excitedly. He heard Trubel breathe a sigh of relief.

"Oh good," said the young Grimm as she flashed him a weary smile.

Diana began to groan and opened her eyes. He looked up at his aunt and then his mother. He had so many questions, like how they knew he needed them.

"We feel it," replied Kelly as though she read his thoughts as easy as hearing an audible voice.

"Why do you think Theresa came back? She felt it, too. We are all descendants of the first Grimm," said Marie.

"That stick you found, the one our Grimm ancestors buried is part of a much greater power. It is your responsibility now, yours and your descendant, guard it well," his mother instructed him.

You kept me from doing something terrible, he thought guiltily.

"We helped you find your strength." Marie told him without accusation.

"Take good care of my grandson. I like his name."

Nick felt a sharp pain in his heart. He remembered that it Adalind who had picked their son's name and now she was gone. Nick had been shell shocked after the sudden death of his mother and even though she had been the reason Adalind had missed out on the formative years of her daughter's life, Adalind had selflessly chosen to honour Nick's mother all the same. It was the first of many good surprises she brought into his life and now he had to find a way to live without her, he thought as he looked down at a still passed out Diana.

"I can't believe we did it. The two of us taking this thing down," said Trubel suddenly

"…The two of us? What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Me and you. Who else?" Trubel replied as she winced in pain.

Nick turned his head and saw nobody else but Trubel standing beside him. His mother and aunt were gone. He looked all around them at his dead friends until his eyes landed on Adalind.

"…But I did nothing for them." He said sombrely.

He stood and walked over to Adalind's side, heartbroken in a way he didn't expect to feel and feared all at once. He looked over her; she didn't seem at all like she was dead. She looked like she was sleeping. Her hair fanned out about her as though on a soft pillow in the bed they shared since the night they moved into the loft after he'd sold his house. She looked like she was sleeping but she'd never open her again, he'd never get to a chance to gaze into their depths, bright, blue, and so full of joy and love. He curled his hands into fists, that's when he realised he still had the staff in his hands and he flung it away from him contemptuously.

Nick dropped to his knees, his body sagging under the weight of the last several hours. He still couldn't believe that she was gone even as he took her cold hand in his. He was trying to be strong, trying to hold on to what was left of his fractured mind. He made the right choice. He knew he did yet there she lay still, cold and breathless. If he still had the strength, he'd shout into the void at how cruel fate was to rob him still of the one he loved so wholly and completely, something he only just recently discovered. He saw the ring on her finger, like a sick joke of what could have been. Many a times he radically wished to pull it from her hand, throw it as far from her as East was to West and replace it with one of his choosing but any chance of that was taken from him. Nick twisted Bonaparte's ring free from Adalind's hand and threw it away, caring not a whit where it landed but sadly he'd never get to slip one on her finger, he mourned.

"Nick." He heard Diana's tiny voice call him. She made her way towards him.

"Are you okay?" he asked her as he met her half way. She nodded, bopping her head up and down in quick succession but he could see that she wasn't acting quite herself. He scooped her into his arms.

"Where did they go?" Diana asked him.

"Who?" Asked Trubel.

"…The other Grimm fighting with you, the one who was my other Mommy and another one with a stick."

"They are gone now." He sighed

"Will we see them again?"

"Someday…. Oh, my God. I think I can bring them all back to life."

"What? What are you talking about?" Asked Trubel confused.

I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, if it worked for you, it can work for them." He said and put Diana down. He walked over to where he'd dropped the staff and picked it up. He felt the familiar throbbing, buzzing feverishly between his fingers.

"Nick, something's happening."

He looked up at Trubel and then turned towards Zerstörer's body. It had turned grey, like stone before turning to ash. He would not have cared as all until a gust of wind picked the ashes swirling them high above the ground.

"No." he said.

Nick heard his son's cries from inside the cabin as dread filled his heart once more.

No.

"No!" he bellowed.

He raised the staff in his hand as if to ward off whatever evil would come through the portal only he felt a force, much like gravity pull him towards the portal against his will. He did everything in his power to resist. He heard Trubel's distress cries, as he got closer and closer to the portal. The last thing he heard

"Nick, no!"

That was the last sound he heard before the portal swallowed him up to oblivion.

"Mommy, it worked. I got Nick back for you." He heard Diana's voice

Those were the first words he heard and the brought life into his bones as he quickly lifted himself up. He wasn't sure where he was but Adalind suddenly kneeling in front of him, alive, alive and smiling was the best gift he'd ever received and it wasn't even Christmas yet.

"Thank God you're okay," said Adalind.

"You're alive." He responded in disbelief.

"Yeah…so are you." She smiled.

Without thinking, he kissed her, possessing her lips like a starving man at a buffet table and swallowed her surprised but happy gasp. When he finally released her, he was able to look around him. He was at Monroe's house.

"Oh, my God. You're all alive." He exclaimed a bit maniacally.

Was he dreaming?

Did the staff work ?

How? He wondered deliriously.

Then a sudden thought came to him mind. If the staff worked and brought everyone back…he looked down at Adalind's left hand. There was no ring on any of her fingers. Adalind was alive. They were all alive. Nick didn't know whether to shout, dance, or check himself into a mental hospital for exhaustion. He just couldn't believe it.

"What happened?" asked Eve clearly confused.

"You're okay." He said quietly, still unsure of reality.

The front door burst open bringing in Wu, Hand and Rosalee, "Oh, my God, we're too late." She cried out.

It was déjà vu.

Somehow, he'd gone back in time to the moment he escaped Zerstörer's world but that didn't explain Bonaparte's missing ring. He couldn't have gone back in time if the ring was gone. The staff worked but it did more than just bring his loved ones back. Nick realised that everyone that Zerstörer had killed when he crossed through the mirror hardly twelve hours before was alive, the men at the gas station on the city skirts, the kids under the Hawthorne Bridge, the entire Central Portland Precinct…. They were all okay! He hugged each and everyone one of them a little too tight they began to notice his odd behaviour.

"You're all okay." He repeated.

They heard loud footsteps outside and in walked Trubel. Besides Adalind, She was the one face he was truly grateful to see.

"What are you doing here?" someone asked.

"I've been looking for you guys everywhere. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen but I guess it didn't. It's really weird because I was sure I was headed towards your loft but somehow I ended up here," replied Trubel breathless, he assumed from running through the streets of Portland.

She stood tall and strong, no bloody nose, cracked ribs or any injury he and Zerstörer inflicted on her over the stick. Nick pulled her hard into his arms relieved to see his fellow Grimm.

"I'm so glad you're here and I'm sorry," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Huh?" he heard her say but Nick just hugged her tighter.

He realised that without Trubel standing up to him the way she did, they may not all be standing in Monroe's living room, alive and well.

"Nick, he didn't come back through." Diana spoke in the midst of the grown-ups.

He didn't know what to expect, for a moment he thought he was the only one who remembered everything that had happened but the gleaming look in Diana's eyes told him wasn't alone. She too, remembered.

" No, he didn't." He said.

"He's dead, and I'm not afraid anymore." She said.

Nick went down on his haunches and smiled at her.

"Neither am I." He said and embraced her, holding her tightly.

It was all so strange that only the two of them would have their memories of the other place in tact while everybody else remained oblivious, even Trubel who had helped destroy Zerstörer had no collection of what had happened.

"Kelly! Where's Kelly?" He asked suddenly frightful that something could have happened to his son while he was gone.

"He's okay," said Adalind as she led him to their son who sat happily oblivious to the world around him.

"Hey," he greeted his son before instinctively turning to Adalind who had watched him curiously since the moment he came through the portal. He couldn't miss her loving eyes or what he saw in them, "Are you alright," they asked him silently as if they sensed something beyond the surface.

"I'm so glad you're all here." He said emotionally.

"Nick, are you all right?" Asked Hank, followed by a very concerned looking Adalind.

"I thought…I thought you were all…." He could finish as tears began to cloud his vision.

"Nick?" He heard Rosalee.

He walked up to Adalind and took her into his arms, not trusting himself to speak until he'd composed himself long enough. Adalind smiled encouragingly at him, a simple gesture but one that meant the world to him. He turned to the rest of the group and began to speak, trying to find the right words.

"I'm just so thankful you're all here. I know this isn't going to make a lot of sense, but when I was in the Other Place, I didn't know if I'd ever get back. And I felt what it would be like to lose all of you everyone I ever loved anyone who ever meant anything to me, my family." He said as he looked at each of them, thankful to see them all standing in front of him after all he'd witnessed, gone through.

"We thought we had lost you, too, man," said Monroe.

He turned to Adalind and smiled.

"I can't even imagine my life without you in it. I don't even want to try," she said as she caressed the side of his face.

"I love you so much." He told her before talking that same hand and planting a kiss on the inside of her palm and held it close against his chest.

His heart was so full he was sure it would burst. He was finally home and everything would be all right, he thought. They had faced the absolute worst of the worst and come out on the other side.

"I love you too," said the woman of his dreams, the mother of his children, the woman he intended to wife and love for the rest of their very long lives

The Beginning...

A/N: This is possibly the last story I will write for the near future despite still having ideas to continue with these two, some my own and others suggested by readers. If I had all the time in the world I would write everything down but alas, I must bid Nick/Adalind as well as you fellow Nadalind fans heartfelt goodbye (for now…I hope).