Hi, guys, Vy here.

Okay, I was just reading 'The Host' by Stephanie Meyer, and I was wondering what the last scene would look like if it was Ian narrating the story. What would he think when he woke up to find Wanda gone?

So I started typing, and before you know it, I had 17 pages of fanfic-ness on Microsoft Word, just waiting to be uploaded!

This was originally meant to be a oneshot, except, 7000 words is a bit long for one, so I decided to split it up into chapters.

It starts the morning after Wanda 'leaves', Ian's POV.

Enjoy and review. Seriously, don't just NOT review, it's common courtesy.

Thanks :)

...

'I, the soul called Wanderer, love you, human Ian...'

Her words still echoed in my head, causing my mouth to stretch into an automatic smile. I yawned and stretched out on the mattress, keeping my eyes shut. I didn't want to ruin this moment; it was so perfect. Lying here, in this warm, comfortable place, with the girl I love sleeping right next to me. Wanda.

My Wanda.

'I, the soul called Wanderer, love you, human Ian...'

When she said those words to me yesterday, I'd literally never been happier. Of course, I always knew she loved me, deep down; I could see it. But when I actually heard those words come out of her mouth, seen the love in her eyes, love for me, not Jared; well, that was the best moment of my entire life. Because from that moment I knew, Wanda was mine.

Of course, her feelings, no, Melanie's feelings for Jared will surely get in the way a little, as will Melanie herself, but we'll work through it. Nothing can tear us apart now.

It's so hard to believe yesterday started so...wrong. At first it was fine, there in the southern caves, listening to her talk so kindly to the soul my idiot brother brought back. And then...hearing her plans to get herself ripped out of Melanie's body, out of our lives, out of my life...I can't describe the anger and...and the pain I felt. It was...unbearable.

Of course, that's all over. I still can't imagine how she thought I'd let her get away with something like that in the first place. She probably thought she could hide it from be because she didn't know she loved me.

But now she does know. She loves me and I love her. Of course she wouldn't leave us now; she would never do that to me. Not my Wanda.

I stretched again and, sighing, opened my eyes a little. The sky through the crack in the ceiling is still a pearly grey colour. It must be early.

Shifting, I reached my hand out across the mattress, searching for hers. Nothing but empty sheet. I frowned, reaching further. She didn't roll off the mattress in the night, did she? I turned onto my side to check.

There was nobody there.

I sat up, looking around.

'Wanda?'

But she's wasn't there. Just me, alone, in an empty cave.

I scratched my head. Where was Wanda? Had I gotten the time wrong? Maybe it was later than I thought.

I stood up and made my way to the door of the cave. I must have overslept; Wanda must already be in the kitchens. But why hadn't she woken me? I suppose she just didn't want to disturb me. She knew I must be tired, and wanted to let me sleep.

Right, that must be it. How typically Wanda.

I left the cave and headed down to the kitchens, smiling to myself at the thought of seeing her again. As I walked, I began to notice that it was unusually quiet for breakfast time. Shouldn't there more be noise coming from the kitchen tunnel? And where were the field irrigators? They should be at the cantaloupe field by now, but I can't hear them...

I quicken my pace, hastening along the tunnel. Just round this bend and I should be at the kitchen...

I step round the corner, my eyes scanning the wide tunnel. It was empty, just like my cave. Nobody was here. The basket of rolls that were made yesterday was still on the counter, untouched. Realization dawned on me slowly.

Breakfast had not been eaten yet. Nobody was even awake. Wanda was gone. Which could only mean...

Before I could even finish the though, I was running, my footsteps echoing loudly off the stone floor.

Oh, God, she didn't! She wouldn't! She couldn't! Oh no, no, no, no...

I sprinted down the dark corridors, my feet skidding as I rounded bend after bend. I could see the end of the tunnel, the weak early-morning sunlight coming from the plaza. I was so focused on running; I didn't need even notice that there was someone at the mouth of the tunnel until I crashed straight into them.

'Oh! Sorry!' I huffed, catching them before they could topple over, my eyes fixed on the crevice at the other end of the plaza; the tunnel that led to the hospital.

I was just about to start running again, when a familiar flash of mahogany hair and tan skin caught my eye. I turned back to the person I had just run into, and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

'Oh, Wanda! Thank God' I pulled her towards me, my arms wrapping around her. 'Don't do that to me! When you weren't in the room, I got so worried! It's silly, I even thought that you might have...' my voice trailed off as I noticed the tears streaming down her face.

'Wanda? What is it? Why are you crying?' I said in alarm. Wanda said nothing, keeping her face down and crying silently. What was going on?

'Oh, my Wanda' I said, pulling her to me again and hugging her, stroking her hair. 'Shhh, it's okay. Everything's okay' I murmured, trying to comfort her. 'What happened, hmm? What's wrong? Tell me'

But Wanda still said nothing; she only began crying harder. My worry grew; what happened to her? 'Wanda?' I asked, anxiously, putting my hand under her chin and tilting her head up, forcing her to look me in the eye. 'Wanda, please, tell me, what's-'

I stopped abruptly, every inch of my body turning ice cold. The light from the mirrors on the ceiling shone down onto us, into her eyes. And her eyes shone back a dim reflection.

A human reflection. Nothing more.

My hand dropped from Wanda's face as if it'd been electrocuted.

No, not Wanda.

Melanie.

Her head fell forward again, the tears flowing faster; her breaths coming in quiet sobs.

'M-Melanie?' I whispered, willing it not to be true. She nodded glumly. 'Yes' she whispered brokenly back.

'No...' I could feel my own tears trailing down my cheeks.

'I'm sorry' Melanie sobbed quietly. 'I'm so sorry, I tried to stop her, she wouldn't listen...'

'No...' I repeated, shaking my head. This had to be a dream. This could not be real.

'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry' Melanie kept saying through her sobs.

Hearing that voice. Her voice. Only she wasn't there anymore. Wanda was gone.

The sound of her voice felt like a knife to my heart.

And suddenly I was furious. How could she do this to me? How? Didn't she know what she meant to me? How much I loved her?

I looked up to see Melanie turning, about to walk away. I grabbed her arm and span her around to face me.

'Where is she? WHERE IS WANDA?' I screamed, shaking her.

'I-I don't know! I just woke up, n-no one told me what happened to her!' Melanie paused for a second, catching her breath. 'B-But she wanted to...she was planning to...' she stuttered, 'but I don't know if Doc actually did...' she stopped, crying too hard to speak.

'If Doc did what? What, Melanie? What was she planning?' I demanded.

She looked down at her feet, her throat thick with fresh tears.

'She wanted to be buried, outside, with Wes and Walter. She made Doc promise, before' she choked out in a whisper.

My breath stopped.

She lied to me. She never wanted to go to another planet. She...She wanted to die. Die here, buried in a dark, dusty grave.

And I knew; I knew Doc would never break a promise. Even one as heinous as this. And if he kept his promise, then that would mean Wanda was...

NO! She couldn't be dead! NO! I'll strangle Doc with my bare hands if he killed her! No, no, no!

It was only after Melanie's sobbing grew louder that I realised I'd said that last part out loud.

'No...My fault...Not Doc's...Should have found a way to...to stop her...I'm so sorry...' she wept.

'She can't be gone...she can't be' I whispered, trembling all over.

'Ian...' Jared's voice came behind me. I hadn't heard him arrive.

'Ian, listen...' he said. Anger flushed through me again, and I span round to face him.

'Shut up, Jared, just shut up! You've got your Melanie back now, and Wanda's gone for good! Isn't that what you wanted?' I spat. 'You hurt her so much, and now she's gone! She's gone; she's dead, because of YOU! IT'S YOUR FAULT, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU...YOU...' my shouts turned into gasps and sobs as tears blinded my eyes.

'Ian, just listen for a sec...' Jared began, putting his hand on my shoulder.

'NO!' I cried, wrenching away from him and sprinting down the south tunnel to the hospital.

It was so dark. I couldn't see.

But that didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

I ran blindly, stumbling on loose rocks. A big one caught my toe and I went down, scraping my face against the wall. I felt the skin tear and blood ooze down my chin, but I didn't care. I pushed myself off the ground and began to run again.

Soon, I saw the light of the hospital up ahead, but I didn't slow. Instead, I barrelled in and jerked my head around until I spotted Doc at his desk.

Fury surged through my veins. I ran straight to him, coming face to face with him as he turned towards the sound of my entrance.

'Ian! Your face! What...?' he began; evidently surprised at my murderous expression as well as my scarred cheek.

'WHERE IS SHE? YOU KILLED HER, DIDN'T YOU? YOU KILLED HER!' I screamed shoving him hard against one of the cots.

'I-Ian! Wait! Stop!' he cried.

'WHY?' I shrieked in his face. 'WANDA'S DEAD! WHY SHOULD I DO ANYTHING ANYMORE?'' The tears were making it hard to see again. That didn't matter. There was nothing left for me to see now. I looked at Doc's helpless face and felt my anger melt away. My body slumped and I crumpled onto the floor; curling in on myself, trying to lock in the pain. My eyes squeezed shut.

'Wanda, my Wanda...' I sobbed into the ground. I felt a hand on my back.

'Ian, listen to me' I heard the words, but they were meaningless. Just sounds. 'Ian! Wanda's alive! She's alive, she's here! Ian!' My head snapped up. Wanda was alive? I scrambled to my feet, grasping Doc's arm for support.

'What? Where!' I gasped. He lifted his hand and pointed to his desk, where a Cryotank was placed. There was a light atop it that glowed a dull red. Doc walked slowly towards it, and I followed.

'She's in here, Ian' Doc murmured 'She's safe'

I stared at the cylinder, reaching out my hand to stroke its metal surface. Wanda was inside this...this thing. I expected that to feel strange, weird, but it didn't.

All I felt was relief.

Wanda was alive. Wanda was safe. Wanda was here. And that was all that mattered.

I turned to Doc.

'You broke your promise to her' I said. 'Thank you'

He glanced down, pain and guilt written all over his face.

'I have never been more ashamed to say anything in my entire life, Ian, but...' he began, pausing to take a deep breath. 'I did not break my promise. Not of my own will. However hard it would be, I was set out to fulfil Wanda's terms, her last wish. And I would have, if it weren't for Jared'

This caught me off guard. Jared?

'Jared?' I said out loud. Doc nodded. 'He came in as I was extracting her threatened me, held a knife to my throat. And he held it there until I had Wanda safely in a Cryotank'

'Jared...saved her? Saved Wanda?' I said, guilt growing in the pit of my stomach.

'I'm not as big a monster as you think, Ian. I do actually have a heart, you know' Jared's voice made me jump. I turned around to face him.

'It appears I owe you an apology' I said quietly, holding out my hand. He grasped and shook it, nodding in understanding.

'It's cool, man' he said 'I would have done the same if I were you'.

'Yeah' I said. I turned back to Wanda's Cryotank, picking it up and cradling it in my arms.

'So what about her new body, then?' I murmured to Jared, my eyes still on the tank.

'We thought we'd head out later today to look for one, go into town. Mel and Jamie will be coming too' he replied.

'Mmm' I nodded 'Make sure you pick out a good one for her'.

This seemed to surprise him.

'You aren't coming?' he asked 'I mean, don't you want to help...' I cut him off.

'I don't care what she looks like. She is Wanda. And that's enough for me'.

...