There will always be Hope

Chapter 18: Rueben

A/N: Finally the conclusion of their adventure is here, I hope I managed to make this somewhat thrilling. I also now know that there will be 21 chapters in this.... all though I might have a few "missing moments/scenes" I want to add.

Enjoy, and thanks to Hookedonapirate for beta reading for me :)

Chapter 18: Rueben

Rueben watched his girlfriend in awe; her focus was so centered on the magic swirling around them. He felt her magic pulse from her hands, and when their eyes locked, he could hardly hear the ongoing battle in the garden. Giving her an encouraging smile, he focused on what happened within the small area where all their friends each stood on their own marked stone. The whole scene where Hope and Poseidon had sorted out their group to represent the four elements had been a huge surprise for Rueben. But now, seeing them all joined together like this made so much sense.

Hope still held on to his hand as she placed the pendant over the two symbols then placed her hand over the pendant. "Put your other hand over mine," she whispered.

When Rueben touched her skin, the shimmering blue light from her magic intensified into an almost blinding light.

"Now what?" he asked, looking around the group.

"Hold on," Hope said urgently, her brows wrinkled in concentration. "Focus on your element everyone!" She bellowed and looked at Rueben again. "We're the 5th element, we focus on the hope. This city had once lost their hope, now hope will be the answer to raise the forgotten city."

"As in raise it above water?" Rueben asked in shock. "How do you know?"

Hope shrugged. "My magic is being strange, and I just feel it." She looked sheepishly at him.

"I'm proud of you, my love. I know you've got this," Rueben soothed.

"We've got this." Her eyes burned with a fierceness he'd never seen in her before.

He nodded in agreement and focused on the magic pulsing between them and the hope required to raise this city.

The battle cries encroached closer and closer, but they had to focus even more on their own battle within the magic bubble they created. Rueben dared to look beyond the area they stood and realized the battle between the sirens and the Atlanteans was getting closer, as if the sirens knew this was the epicenter of what was going on now. Forgotten was the golden apple tree he hoped still stood tall where he'd grown it.

"Focus!" Hope yelled when the war cries were closing in on them.

Rueben looked at his friends with pride; everyone was focused on the stone—the element they each represented. When the ground began to shake under their feet, he looked at Hope again.

"It is happening," she whispered, then added a little louder, "Prepare yourselves."

He felt her hands grow warmer under his as she moved them over the pendant. The blinding light intensified and a large bubble of magic burst from their clasped hands, moving beyond their little circle. When it reached the fighting sirens, all the winged fighters screeched in pain as their wings caught fire and their skin was scorched off. The screams sliced through the air before eventually dying down. The sirens were all slumped down on the ground in piles of burnt flesh.

Rueben looked around, astounded by the scene before him. He had not seen that coming. When he looked back at Hope, he saw her focus shift to Poseidon who walked toward them.

Hope still held onto Rueben's and the pendant, "Your majesty, what happens now?"

"The darkness of the deep is conquered." He smiled at each of the friends still standing on their stones.