Yep. You read that right. This is the last chapter in the story. I've had so much fun writing it, but all good things must come to an end. Anyways, please enjoy!

Reyna was carried away from her village for hundreds of miles, not even bothering to ask where she was being taken. She had figured that the Locust had found a way to get back underground, seeing as that's where their crystals were dumped.

So it was very shocking to her that she was being carried to a giant cavern. He carried her into a large cave and what Reyna saw made her gasp.

In the cave, near the entrance were several glowing red pods, and Reyna had no clue what was in them. There are also red vibes surrounding the walls, glowing and connected together, similar to the veins of a heart. But that wasn't what made Reyna gasp.

In front of her, in the middle of the cave, were several giant veins with smaller veins on top of them. The larger veins were covering something, and Reyna assumed it was whatever was making them glow.

She was gently set down on the ground and the creature that had carried her got down on one knee and bowed to her. "Why am I here? " Reyna asked him in Locust.

The creature tilted his head at her, as if he didn't understand. Reyna repeated, this time in Tyran, "Why am I here?"

"You are here to rule us my Queen," the creature said.

"You speak," Reyna marveled. She had never seen a Locust that could speak fluent Tyran, and if they did it was never in full sentences.

The creature nodded and said, "They call me the Speaker."

"Okay then Speaker," Reyna said, also not used to a Locust that had a name. "Why don't you know how to speak Locust tongue?"

"We are not Locust my Queen."

"But you are the creatures that we encased in crystals, aren't you?"

"We are my Queen. But we are something much greater than the Locust."

"Where did you come from?"

"The originals, the ones in the crystals, are called Scions. I am their leader, but you are still our Queen."

"Why do you need me? Why don't you rule each other?"

"We need a Queen to function. Without you, we are nothing."

"What if I refuse?"

"We have forceful means to make you cooperate."

Reyna thought about what he said, frightened. "Wait a second," she said. "What are you using those creatures with the glowing stomachs for?"

"They are used to spin the pods." The Speaker then gestured to the glowing pods surrounding the cave.

"What are the pods for?"

The Speaker opened his mouth but stopped when he heard one of the pods bubbling. "Watch," he said.

Reyna looked at the pod as it bubbled and eventually exploded, sending a strange gooey substance everywhere. There was a grayish white body in it, covered in small veins. The body rolled over and Reyna saw it had pure white eyes and was incredibly small.

It got up and pounced towards Reyna, but the Speaker held a hand out in front of it. "She is our Queen," he explained to the creature.

The small creature didn't seem to care and merely saw Reyna as another human and continued to claw at her. The Speaker grabbed it by the neck and snapped it in two, ending its short life.

Reyna looked at the small creature, horrified. "That used to be a human?" Reyna asked, horrified.

"Yes," the Speaker said. "They then climb down into Nests and turn into full soldiers. The smaller ones attack in groups."

"This is horrible! What happened to the Berserkers?! How you used to breed?!"

"We are not Locust. We must increase our size some other way."

"But this is wrong!" Reyna turned to leave, but the Speaker grabbed her by the arm.

"My Queen?" he asked.

"Let me go," Reyna said, her tone reminding her exactly of how Queen Myrrah used to command her subjects.

"We must serve you. You will lead us, one way or another."

Small veins from the heart came undone and latched themselves onto Reyna. Several of them wrapped around her body, and Reyna struggled to move. She attempted to detach one with her free hand but flinched in pain.

"Resistance is futile," the Speaker said. "Those veins are connected to your life force now. If you are released, you will die."

"What are you doing to me?!"

"What we must my Queen. You will eventually turn into a suitable Queen for us, or die."

Reyna struggled more but stopped as she felt a shooting pain from her arm where there was a vein attached.

The Speaker laughed at her menacingly and left the cave, leaving Reyna tethered to the heart.

As Reyna stood there, she started to hear voices. At first, she thought this was nothing but then realized that it was all of the people podded. Most were begging to be let out until their voices stopped, indicating their life had ended.

Some of the voices Reyna recognized were from the village, the Outsiders, struggling for breath. Reyna couldn't hear Oscar's voice, however, and hoped he was somehow safe.

As Reyna stood there longer, the voices started to fade away and she knew that none of the villagers made it out alive.

As Reyna stood there for several hours, almost half of the day, the Speaker returned to her and picked up her left arm, examining it. Reyna gasped both due to the pain it was causing her and at the sight of her limb. It had swollen significantly, but her fingers remained the same. The Speaker chuckled menacingly and said, "Mmm, good."

Reyna thrashed but stopped as she felt incredible pain through her arms and neck. The Speaker glared at her and said, "You must be important to those humans. Troops have spotted them storming into one of our bases. They have escaped with one of our podded humans who barely lived. They have discovered where you are and intend to save you. We will not allow them to."

"Kaitie," Reyna said quietly, before attempting to cover her mouth and flinching in pain.

"Ah, so you know one of them."

"No, please, don't hurt her!"

"Her. So the one you care for is female. Good. It's a shame that she must killed, but you will not be rescued."

The Speaker turned to leave and Reyna sighed, knowing she has dug herself into a hole. She hoped desperately that Kait wouldn't be hurt, but she knew that the Speaker and the rest of this new species would kill anything that even attempted to save her.

With no other option left, Reyna started sobbing, something she hadn't done since Diaz had died all those years ago. She sobbed and sobbed and wished she could move her arm to wipe her face.

As she sobbed for hours, she eventually closed her eyes, exhausted. When she opened them, she was not in the cave anymore.

She was looking through faded vision and saw as four soldiers approached her, all in full Gear armor. She attempted to crawl away towards a large gun, a Boomshot, but then felt as her legs were being dragged. "Not so fast," a familiar male voice said to her.

She was forcefully turned onto her back and saw that JD and Del were pulling her by the legs, glaring. Reyna then remembered how these creatures were all connected through the Hive mind that she was attached to and realized she was looking through the view of a Scion. Because it was missing a hand, it didn't take Reyna long to guess which one.

As JD and Del held shotguns at the Speaker's head, she could hear a very familiar voice. "You Swarm are all 'connected' right? In your hives," the voice said as the Speaker looked over. Reyna felt an immense wave of happiness as she saw Kait, glaring menacingly at it. Reyna noticed she was in armor too, but she would question her about that if she was rescued. The way Kait was glaring at the Speaker, Reyna no longer saw her scared little daughter that still missed her dad, but rather a strong confident woman who was willing to do anything to rescue her mother.

"Well then broadcast this," Kait said to the Speaker. "We're getting my mother back. And we're burning your goddamn hive to the fucking ground!" Kait them turned the Speaker's head towards her as she curb stomped it, ending whatever connection he had to the Hive.

As Reyna blinked her eyes, she was back in the cave, and couldn't feel more proud. Her daughter and her friends was coming to save her and wanted everyone to know it. She had killed the second in command behind Reyna and made her message clear.

But the thing that made her most happy was the fact that Kait was even alive. Reyna had been sure that Kait and her friends would have fought off the 'Swarm' as they liked to call it for a bit until finally being killed. It wasn't that she didn't believe in them, but there were so many Swarm that Reyna was sure that they would easily overwhelm the three of them.

But there weren't three of them. There was a fourth one with them. The Speaker said they had rescued him from another one of the Locust burial sites. And based on JD's last name, Reyna knew who it was and where Kait had gotten that armor. The fourth soldier with them was Marcus Fenix, the man who had killed her mother.

Reyna now realized that she was completely alone. The Speaker, while terrible company, was the only thing she could talk to. And, as much as she hated him for taking her from her new life, Reyna still missed having someone to talk to.

She tried to hear around for any new voice, but was met with nothing but complete silence. She tried to move her arm to look at her swollen limb, but screamed at how much the pain was hurting her.

Reyna sighed and closed her eyes again, hoping to see through the eyes of another Scion. When she couldn't, Reyna just stood there, miserable yet hopeful. There was a small chance she would be rescued, a small change she would be freed, a small chance that-

Reyna stopped her thoughts when she realized the issue with her being rescued. The Speaker had said to her very specifically, "Those veins are connected to your life force now. If you are released, you will die."

If her rescue ever did get there, they could do nothing. If they cut the veins, Reyna would die. Reyna knew that there was no way in hell that she would lead the Swarm into taking over the planet, succeeding where the Locust had failed. The Speaker had said, "We need a Queen to function. Without you, we are nothing."

If Reyna died, perhaps the species would die with her. Kait had revealed that they were indeed related, so they would probably go after her next. But Reyna knew what to do. She would tell her daughter everything that she had not over the years, every secret, every lie, all of it. Kait might hate her for keeping all these secrets, but Reyna had no choice.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of large stomps on the ground and the sound of a single helicopter's blades. She heard a loud roaring and knew that whatever the Swarm had put to guard her was fighting against the group.

The fight went on for several minutes, even though Reyna couldn't see it. She heard the creature utter a final roar the sound of the stomps ended.

Reyna heard eager bootsteps running towards her and knew that Kait and the others had beaten the monster.

Kait ran into view, a Lancer in her hand and her arms dropped at the sight of Reyna tethered to the heart. Kait had a look of both shock and terror on her face that Reyna couldn't even imagine feeling.

JD and Del both ran in after her and stopped as she said, "Oh my God."

Reyna's head was drooped down, too weak to move. She struggled for breath as she saw out of the corner of her eye that a fourth man, Marcus Fenix, walked up to Kait. Being tethered to the heart was quickly taking away all of Reyna's energy, and she had been there so long.

"You knew," Kait said, clearly choking back tears. "Didn't you?"

"Yes," Marcus said, voice sounding guilty. "But I didn't know we'd find this."

Reyna gave a raspy breath and looked up, showing Kait how her face had started to gray. She looked up at her daughter, her beautiful baby girl, and felt instant dread. All those years of lies, all those years of deception. For what?

Kait walked up to her mother, tears in her eyes. "If I'm released, I'll die," Reyna told Kait. "They've seen to that."

Reyna paused, both for breath and to give her daughter a change to react. Kait looked heartbroken, as if this whole journey was a waste. "Kaitie," Reyna said, saying her daughter's nickname for one last time. "Cut me loose. Please."

JD started approaching Kait and Reyna, also sad. "Reyna, please-" JD started until he was interrupted by Kait.

"JD," she said, putting a hand to his chest as he started to approach Reyna.

"-you can't ask her to-"

"Don't." Kait looked at JD, nodding her head slightly, tears still in her eyes. "Just let me say goodbye."

JD said nothing and walked away slowly before leaving the cave with the others. Kait held a small knife in her hand and stared down at it, unsure if she should or even could continue.

She gently grabbed Reyna's braid, looking at the ornamental piece in it like she had before. It had been tradition between mother and daughter to always keep their hair on their shoulders and Kait had to adjust it, one final time.

She looked at Reyna's free hand, the one not mutated, and saw she was holding something. Kait turned her hands over and saw it was the necklace that Myrrah had given to her daughter all those years ago.

Kait looked at it, tears now streaming down her face and looked at her mother, shocked she had taken it off. "Take it," Reyna said, voice incredibly weak.

Kait leaned forward and softly kissed her mother on the cheek. Reyna's head was now down and watched as Kait took the necklace.

Kait carefully walked towards Reyna and put her knife on one of the veins before cutting it.

Reyna gasped from the pain and Kait sobbed. "Again," Reyna said weakly.

Kait shook her head no and Reyna looked at her daughter. Kait was now sobbing and Reyna knew that she would never live with herself if she left her mother in this awful place. "It's okay," Reyna assured Kait.

Kait sobbed and cut another vein, making Reyna gasp again. Kait continued sobbing as she cut the veins. When there were only two left, Kait stopped to examine the necklace and gasped at the symbol on the back. "What…?" she asked quietly.

She looked back up at her mother who was struggling to even breath and Reyna slowly looked up at her. "I'm sorry," Reyna said.

Kait tucked the necklace away and cut the last two veins, sobbing as she did so.

Once the last vein was cut, Reyna closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was no longer facing her sobbing daughter asking to be killed, but in an empty white void. A figure started walking towards her and Reyna gasped at who it was. Shaggy hair, crystal blue eyes and a tall, muscular build.

Diaz.

Reyna ran up to him and pulled him in for a long, embracing hug as she sobbed into his chest. He smiled at her as he gently stroked her hair.

Reyna finally pulled away from him, tears still in her eyes and he held out his hand to her.

Reyna hesitated before taking it. He smiled at her again and guided her with him, into a bright light.

As she walked with Diaz, Reyna thought about her whole life, every good and every bad moment. And as she continued to walk, she felt something she hadn't felt for quite some time.

Peace.

THE END

*sniff sniff* I'm not crying, you're crying! But, seriously, thank you all so much for reading this story. It was so much fun to write it and I actually put several other stories on hold due to how much I enjoyed writing this. I'm sad that it's over, but all things must come to an end.

And, holy smokes was this thing long! My page counter says that this story was exactly one hundred and thirteen pages, which is absolutely nuts! With 23 total chapters, this is easily the longest sorry I have ever written, and I enjoyed every sentence I wrote. Once again, thank you so much for reading and hopefully enjoying this story. I'll see you guys next time for a new story or possibly one of my other ones actually getting finished. Time will tell.