Tales From the Cave-Beauty & the Superbeast

Happily Ever After

M'gann was pulled out of her shock for Wolfe and back to reality upon hearing Conner's moans of pain. She knelt at his side and examined his wounds. The bullets had impaled him deeply. His breath was growing short. She turned him over to look at his ugly face. So wrapped up in her fear she was, she didn't notice Jiminy Cricket fly up to the windowsill with his tiny umbrella.

He watched as M'gann cupped Conner's face, looking right into his eyes. "Conner, are you okay? Speak to me!" He coughed weakly. "You...You came back." "If course I did.", she said, trying and failing to hold back tears. "I'll always come back to you. I promise, I'll never leave you again." He tried to catch his breath. "I'm afraid I'm the one who has to leave now."

"No!", M'gann cried forcing him to look at her. "Don't talk like that! I'm here now! We're together! Everything will be fine." Conner weakly raised his clawed hand to touch her green cheek. "At least I got to see you...one last time." M'gann's hands reached up to touch his own as she closed her eyes and buried her face in his palm.

She felt his hand slipping, and she looked back to see Conner's eyes roll into the back of his skull before his eyelids closed over them. "No!", she cried, grabbing onto his shirt. "No, no, no, please! Please!" The tears came faster and faster, rolling down her cheeks onto his clothes. "Don't leave me!" She lay her head down on his chest, sobbing. "I love you."

As she spoke those three words, the last rose petal fell.
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Wally watched in triumph as the villagers fled in defeat. Geppetto and Pinocchio stood behind him, smiling, too. "We did it! Victory is ours!" He swept Artemis up in his arms. "Give your genius boyfriend a kiss, babe!" He puckered his lips and waited for her to plant one on him, but received nothing. He opened his eyes to see that she had gone stiff. "Artemis? Artemis?"

His heart broke upon realizing the truth. "Artemis..." He lay her down to rest. Raquel hobbled towards Kaldur, each step growing shorter. "You were so brave, Kal...", she said slowly. "Goodbye." Her drawers closed, and she stopped moving. "My love!", Kaldur cried. "Wha...What's happening?", Pinocchio cried, growing upset and frightened. Kaldur looked up at him sadly. "I believe...our time is up."

Zatanna came rolling up on the tea cart. "Robin?! Where's Robin?", she cried, sounding as if she were about to cry. "Where is he?" Those were her final words before her features faded away, leaving only shiny white china on the side of the teapot. "Zee!" Robin came falling down towards the ground. Pinocchio caught him just in time, but when he looked, he saw that Robin's face had disappeared as well.

"W-Wally...", Kaldur choked out, feeling himself be taken over by the curse. "I-I cannot speak..." "Kal, no!", Wally cried. Kal creaked out his last words. "It was an honor...to fight by your side." And with that, his facial features changed, and any humanity he had left died. Wally let a tear fall, the last tear he would ever shed. "The honor...was mine." He stood and succumbed to his fate, transforming into nothing but a mere candelabra.

Pinocchio stood in the middle of it all, staring at the Team's hollow bodies. Only they weren't the Team anymore. They were just common household objects, nothing more. "Guys? Hello?" He knocked on Raquel's drawers, but they didn't open. "Miss?" He knelt before Wally and cupped his mouth. "Sir?" Wally didn't move. Pinocchio stood up. "Anyone!" He waited for one of them, any of them, to answer his plea, but none of them did. The only response he got was the ticking of the clock that had once been Kaldur'ahm.

Realizing what had happened, Pinocchio looked down with tears in his eyes at the empty teacup that had contained Robin. Placing him gently next to Zatanna's porcelain body, Pinocchio sat on the steps, buried his face in his hands, and began to cry. Geppetto sat beside his son, grieving for the people who had been so kind to him that fateful day at the Cave.
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Jiminy removed his hat in respect for Conner as M'gann wept over his lifeless, misshapen body. All of the sudden, a great ghostly blue glow emerged from the shadows. Jiminy looked up to see a beautiful young woman standing in the room. She had hair as shining golden as the sun, skin as smooth and white as pearls, and eyes that literally glowed sapphire blue.  Jiminy recognized her at once.  "Blue Fairy!"