A/N: Here it is – the final chapter of "Full Moon Rising." I hope that everyone really enjoys it, let me know what you think! Take care, everybody and Happy Holidays! : ]

-

Cora

They were the strangest visions I had ever had, but each one flashed so quickly that they were gone before I was even able to really see what they were. Did this mean that I was dead? There were things that I was able to recognize, and some that I didn't understand. Quick snippets of my entire life were flickering by that seemed to be going backwards. I felt the weight of something in my arms and the instant I looked down to see that it was an infant, he was gone. I felt my heard thud happily and felt a dull pain in my lower stomach for the split second that image lasted. I saw a television screen with a fuzzy group photo of a bunch of guys I don't think I recognized, but it was so fast that I couldn't be sure. I saw Lewis, awake and alert in his hospital bed as I had just seen him. I saw Dr. Denman barking orders to her lackeys on her yacht. I saw Emma on one of our jogs a few weeks ago. Zane, the night he had approached me in the alley. Rikki and Cleo bickering about something, Nate at the restaurant, Max in his workshop before he had died. Then I saw my sister, and my parents.

Yeah… I was more than likely dead. I'd heard that before you die sometimes your life flashes before your eyes, but some of the things I had seen I definitely didn't remember, like the brief image of the tiny fidgeting baby in my arms. I had held babies a million times, but never a brand-new-newborn like he had been, and it had certainly never felt like that. Why couldn't the visions have lasted longer? They were gone so fast; my mind felt like it was reaching out to hold onto them only to have them yanked away. I thought that once you were dead, you weren't supposed to feel pain or anything else anymore? As the visions flickered by I could feel happiness, sadness, fear…every emotion I had ever felt; in addition to the fact that it still felt like there was a fire burning through my chest. In fact, both the emotions and the pain seemed to be getting stronger and stronger by the second. They were so strong that they were actually overpowering the visions now, which had now begun to blur into meaningless blurs of bright color in my head.

I felt my breathing start to come harder, which was making the burning in my chest worse. I tried to stop it, to calm it down but it wouldn't come. The bright colors were fading fast now, and everything was becoming dark again. The voices and sounds from the visions on the other hand just kept getting louder and louder. I was breathing so hard that it felt like if I wasn't dead already, then I would be soon. The voices and noises were so loud now that it felt like I was suffocating; drowning, which was unnerving for someone who had been able to breathe underwater for nearly 6 years. I panted hard, my chest lighting on fire every time I inhaled and exhaled and every breath got more difficult.

Suddenly, my eyes opened. My chest was still burning and I found myself in darkness. But this was a different kind of darkness than the one I'd just left. My eyes began to adjust to it; to make out shapes around me. I was still panting and I was really hot, like I had been sweating. I lifted my head a little bit and saw light coming in through a door to my left – I was in a room. I blinked and looked down. I was lying down and I could see bright white blankets in the dim room. I was in a room in a bed. Then I saw the IVs on either side of the bed and noticed the white hospital bracelet on my wrist: I was alive, and I was in the hospital.

I remembered how I had felt when I had woken up in Max's test pool after my 5 days in Denman's lab. A lot of things were fuzzy to me about those 5 days now, including how I had gotten out, but I had thought that I was dead then, too – but I hadn't been. It felt a lot like this, but the visions I had just had of my own past left me feeling really strange. I moved less than a fraction of an inch – instant pain. I heard myself whimper a little and bit my lip and immediately re-thought that plan.

I adjusted myself and tried to calm my breathing down, succeeding only slightly. The dampness from my sweating was unpleasantly cold and I very slowly moved my arms to tug the blanket up around me a little more. The second I lifted it up I frowned – even in the darkness, I could see the glinting of the tiny, tiny amount of light coming through the door bouncing off of my silver scales. It had been years since I sleep-changed, and even though no one was around to see it, it was still humiliating.

'Like wetting the freakin' bed for mermaids… ughhhh… Classy, Cora. Real classy.'

I dropped the blanket and groaned, leaning back on the pillow and idly letting my hand rest on my lower stomach. It felt a little strange, and my mind instantly flashed to Lewis. My body tensed painfully for a split second before I remembered that he was fine and relaxed a little bit. I would worry about getting in to see him again in the morning. My body had suddenly gotten very weak and I was tired again, despite having just woken up. I let my head roll back onto the pillow and felt my eyes slide shut.

-

Lewis

"You guys will be perfect – just think about all the other people you've tricked over the past few years! I'm not saying destroy anything, just… just give me a diversion." I was practically begging. Mom had been in here first thing in the morning and had only just left, and now my friends were able to come in and visit with me. I had told them about my plan to get Cora into the water and they seemed… concerned.

"He's right - we have pulled off some pretty impressive stuff…" I heard Rikki mutter and saw her smirk. Rikki's smirks never meant anything good; she was undoubtedly remembering something bad that she'd done.

"Are you sure about this, Lewis? Did your doctor even give you clearance to get out of bed…?" I heard Cleo ask.

"Positive. It's the only thing that will really help; medicine only does so much, you guys have seen that. And, I'll have ya know that yes, I do - as long as I move really, really slowly. I'm stuck here for another night but both my doctor and Cora's have said that if I want to get up to see her, then I could."

They were quiet for a minute and I stared at them expectantly. Emma was fidgeting a little and was standing the furthest away from me, but she spoke first.

"Of course we'll do it, Lewis; whenever you're ready." She said. I caught Rikki and Cleo stare at her in disbelief but all I could think was: victory! If Emma, the panicky one, agreed to it, that meant that the others would too. I sighed with relief and thanked god for my panicky friend.

"Thank you. And, I'm ready now, of course," I felt a triumphant smile spread across my face. Then I remembered something important, "Well. Give me 5 minutes to put some clothes on first," I added. Rikki was the first to bolt out the door, then Emma, then Cleo who shrugged and walked out, shutting the door behind her.

-

"All right, how long do you need? Hey, over here, wake up, kid." Rikki asked, snapping her fingers in front of my face. We were standing outside of Cora's room now and even though I knew I needed to explain myself to them in order to be even remotely successful, all I really wanted to do was just get in there and see that she was really okay. I sighed and began.

"I'd like it if she could have 20 minutes in the water," I said quickly, but I immediately added, "I know, I know, I'm asking for a lot but it will do so much good, I know it! Please, guys."

The girls stared at me unblinkingly. For a second I thought they were going to back out, but then Emma spoke up.

"You've got it. We can give you an hour with her without interruptions."

"Emma! What are you doing, we can't do that! This is the ICU; they'll want to check on her every half-hour, if that!" Rikki spat, staring at her. Emma didn't flinch.

"I'll handle it, Rikki, don't you worry about it. Go on, Lewis. We'll be out here." She said sternly, staring at me. I was curious, but I knew that Emma wouldn't lie about something so serious and I decided not to push my luck. For a minute it looked like she were about to cry, but she was holding herself together so well that it looked like it might have been just because she was angry about what Rikki had said. I nodded gratefully and slipped into the room quickly.

I felt immediate relief when I saw her in the bed. Even though Cora was asleep, she was alive and she looked peaceful. I smiled and wanted to hold her just to prove to myself that she was really there, but I had something to take care of first. I closed the door behind me and went into the room's small bathroom – thankfully, much like I was counting on, the ICU bathrooms had bathtubs and I started running the water in the tub. I knew that Cora was used to cooler water and I would adjust it as she felt better, but for right now I just wanted to ease her into it and that included keeping the water just a little warmer than usual. Thankfully, the tub filled halfway quickly and I shut the water off and returned to the main room. She was still asleep when I reached the bed, but I started very carefully peeling away her bed sheets. She didn't even flinch when they were gone and I just stared down at her for a second. It took a minute for me to convince myself that she wasn't dead. I had thought that I had definitely lost her yesterday, but here she was – breathing, although not very deeply, and already the color had come back into her skin. I looked at her hands and both were securely wrapped up. I smiled and felt more relaxed, but I was conflicted; half afraid to touch her, half just wanting to hold her and not let go.

I leaned down a little bit and very carefully slipped my arms underneath her. I could feel the thick bandages wrapped around her chest and the second I felt them, I felt the wound in my back twinge. I winced a little bit but the pain was fleeting. I lifted her up out of the bed carefully, glancing at the door once just to be safe, and headed towards the bathroom. I felt her stirring a little bit once we got inside, and my heart thudded. I looked down just in time to see her picking her head up very carefully, her eyes immediately flicking around. I smirked when I saw the look on her face – pricelessly confused.

"Hello, there," I said. I couldn't have wiped the stupid embarrassing grin off of my face if I were paid. She looked up at me and I quickly felt her body tense excitedly in my arms and she beamed sleepily. I was happy she was smiling, but she needed to be as still as possible "Hey hey… easy, sweetheart. You've gotta be still," I said, very carefully starting to lower her into the tub full of water. She obeyed and remained still and once she was submerged, I carefully pulled my arms out from under her. It was only a matter of seconds before she transformed. I watched over her silently for another minute. She would never tell me, but I knew that she was in a lot of pain; the same pain that I had been before she'd taken it away – though I'd only dealt with it for a few minutes. Regardless of the fact that she wouldn't tell me everything, I had to ask, "How… how bad does it hurt, Cora?"

She smiled at me a little and I didn't know if it was her smile, her powers, or a combination of both, but I felt a little bit better immediately.

"It's getting better already," She said, and I watched her try to sit up in the tub a little bit more. I was about to tell her not to, but the hopeful look on her face was hard to resist. I gave in and smirked and very carefully kissed her. Satisfied, she eased herself back down into the water, biting her lip slightly through the discomfort. She blinked up at me brightly anyway, "How are you feeling? Will they keep you here too much longer?"

"They said they would discharge me tomorrow. It's not so bad at all thanks to you, and also thanks to you, I can't feel anything from it right now. Even though I'm less than thrilled about what it does to you…"

"Well, I can't switch it off, or make it go backwards - tough luck," She giggled a little, "But… but I don't think that I would even if I could. I'm alive, Lewis, and so are you. And our friends are okay, and that's all that matters," She smiled reassuringly, "And don't worry about me absorbing your pain. The water cancels it out; I can't feel anything right now, so there." Cora beamed triumphantly, and it was contagious. I smiled back and pushed her hair back behind her ear. She was right; everyone who mattered was okay.

In the back of my mind I was wondering about what had become of Denman in her men. But right now, I was going to live in the moment that I had in front of me.

-

2 days later, Cora

Lewis had been discharged the day after I'd first seen him after I woke up. Despite my efforts to get him to stay at home, he'd been here with me every day for hours. I think he might have even slept here last night, though he won't admit it. For some reason, my doctor was really generous about letting him stay as long as he wanted, regardless of visiting hours. The girls and Lewis's mom had been by as well, to "update me on the outside world." The girls, of course, were giving me updates that were much different than the ones Lewis's mother gave me. There was still no word from, or about Dr. Denman and we were all beginning to get a little bit nervous. Thankfully, I was being discharged later that day and I would be able to get my outside-world-updates first hand.

I squirmed a little and sat up in the bed where Lewis sat with me, perched at the end next to my legs. The television was on in the background but neither of us were really listening to it; Lewis had a fishing magazine and Cleo had given me a book that I was reading. However, one lonely name from a breaking news report immediately caught my attention and my head snapped up: Denman.

"…The bodies of Linda Denman, John Matthews and Eric Vaughn were discovered this morning along Kirra beach…"

I froze when they flashed pictures of each of our "friends." I felt my stomach turn to ice when the picture of John popped up. There was the fuzzy group picture, now razor sharp, that I had seen in my strange vision the night I'd woken up here. This was what I had seen!

"Cora?" Lewis had immediately stopped reading his magazine and his eyes flicked to the screen. He must have noticed my strange reaction, but I honestly didn't understand what I had seen enough in order to even try to articulate it. I felt my hand brush across my lower stomach and shook my head a little and kept staring at the television screen.

"…amount of wreckage found with the bodies appears to suggest an accident. The coroner reports that all three victims appeared to have drowned and states that he's found no signs of foul play…"

The report went on for another few seconds, but I had stopped listening and from the looks of it Lewis had, too. We stared at one another for a moment, and even though I felt like a weirdo for it, I smiled. But so did he. We were flat-out grinning. It was only a matter of another minute that Cleo, Emma and Rikki burst through the door.

"Did you guys see?!" Cleo exclaimed, then noticed the television was on and that the reporter had just finished her story. Her face fell a little, "Oh, I guess you did."

"I can't believe it… she's really dead." I felt the words come out of my mouth and to some degree I felt bad for the woman; Protector sympathy, no doubt. Denman had been brilliant, although crazy, and even though she had been trying to kill us for months, we hadn't wanted anyone to die on that yacht. However, I shook myself out of it. We hadn't had anything to do with her death; Denman's own stubbornness and insanity had gotten her killed – it was just a shame that two others had to die with her.

"Ah-ah! Hey! I know that tone, Dean, don't you go feeling bad. This psycho had it coming and we had nothing to do with it." Rikki barked at me. I smirked a little bit – she was getting to know me too well, which was something I had never thought I'd be able to say.

"You're absolutely right, Rikki." I smiled and sighed, my body relaxing the most that it had in the past 6 months.

"Good riddance, life-destroying bitch." The remark came from Emma and sounded so dark that even Rikki looked shocked. I tensed a little bit again and felt my hand press down gently on my lower stomach again. Rikki turned to face Emma.

"Emma Gilbert! Whoa!" She exclaimed, raising her pale eyebrows with a smile. Emma blushed but she still appeared to be fuming. She tugged at the hem of her shirt and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Sorry." Emma muttered shyly. Cleo pricked her head up and looked around.

"Well… does anyone else think that we should celebrate?" She said, her voice excited. Lewis flipped his magazine shut and grinned.

"I sure as hell do!" He said. I smiled and squirmed up a little higher and I could feel my heart fluttering a little bit. My chest still hurt a lot every time I breathed but I couldn't help breathing a little heavier now. This meant… oh my god this meant so much! This meant that things were different now. This meant that we didn't have to hide anymore; didn't have to worry about being killed every time we left the house. It meant that none of our loved ones would have to be in danger because of us anymore. I felt a wide, relieved and happy grin spread across my face.

"Me too! Let's start by getting me out of here." I giggled a little bit and sighed, calming down finally. I looked up and around at my friends who smiled back at me.

"You've got it!" Emma said with a smile and hurried out of the room.

I sighed happily and leaned back on the pillow, feeling Lewis's hand on top of mine and smiled as I watched Rikki and Cleo smiling at each other and giggling happily. It may have felt morbid, but it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of our chests. There was no more dark lightning-filled cloud hovering above us. No more shadows lurking in our wake wherever were went. It was over.

I let my eyes close briefly. Just over 6 months ago I had come here with the intention of helping the girls and Lewis lead Denman astray. And even though things hadn't gone exactly the way that I had thought they would, everything had finally come to a close. Things had come to an end, even though some horribly misguided people had to die in order to end it. Things had come to an end, and that meant one thing:

We could start living.

-

A/N: The end! I sincerely hope you all liked this series : ] I appreciate everyone who stuck with me here till the end, everyone who read and/or reviewed! Take care everybody, and if you're interested in a third installment of a story with Cora and the H2O gang, read "The Sertori Sister's Secret" by ParadoxTremors. It's a fantastic and original story and I've written a few scenes coming up, so go and show ParadoxTremors some love on his story! : ]