A/N: Hi! :D It's :D 4:00am :D here :D and I :D am very tired! :D

I think I've read this like 3488573 times but I bet there's still something wrong :)

I hope you enjoy it, even though it's kind of sad. Also, it's not 100% medically accurate. The eye condition mentioned does exist though.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.

part i

He notices there's something funny going on with his eyes.

Small, dark patches are present on random places in his line of vision. It's as if he had some dust in his eye, but can't rub it all out, even when he makes sure his contact lenses are clean. Looking in the mirror, it doesn't seem like there's anything wrong from the outside. He decides to book an appointment with the ophthalmologist, thinking it's nothing they can't treat.

He doesn't let Ally know where he's going, just so she doesn't get worried.

It turns out to be something called choroideremia. The doctor tells him that it's a rare hereditary eye condition which would've started off as night vision blindness and short-sightedness.

(Now he understands why he relied on his ladybug nightlight so often.)

The young doctor, Piper – who insists he call her on first name basis – continues, informing him that it will result in a slow, progressive loss of vision which will eventually lead to full blindness in his 50's, or if he's lucky, maybe in his 60's.

There's no treatment, but at least he doesn't need to worry too much about it now. Piper assures him that those patches clouding parts of his eye will not grow bigger any time soon.

He decides not to mention his condition to Ally because there's nothing to worry about until he's fifty, which is ages away from now.

Oh how wrong the doctor is.

He notices the patches have slowly, but noticeably become bigger, and the next time he visits the specialist a month later, Piper tells him some unexpected news.

He has three months at most.

Three months before he fully loses his vision.

He can't fully comprehend what's going on. It's like the information hasn't settled in his mind yet.

He looks at Piper, most of her face appearing in his line of vision. A small blurry dot lines up with the side of her nose, and he tries to imagine what she'd look like with a nose piercing. He ignores that part of his strange mind, and furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

"But, uh, didn't you tell me before that I wouldn't lose my sight until after fifty?"

"I did. But loss of vision occurs at different rates in different people and unfortunately we couldn't precisely predict when you'd lose yours. The earliest we've seen is at forty years of age. I'm afraid your situation just happens to be an extremely rare case. Because of that reason, you need to visit me once a week for a check-up, just in case it becomes worse."

Austin ends up blocking everything else. He doesn't notice Piper apologising, nor does he see her pitiful smile.

He's becoming blind.

He knows that soon, he won't be able to see anything. Not his friends, not his family, not his world, not his Ally.

He comes home, and luckily Ally hasn't come back from her recording studio yet. He walks into their bedroom, slamming the door shut.

There's a short space of silence before a distressed scream escapes his lips. He pushes over the closest thing to him, the tall lamp, not caring if it breaks.

Why is this happening to him? What had he done to deserve this?

He moves on to swipe off whatever's on the dresser, the bottles of perfume and cologne shattering on the floor. He doesn't even take notice of the fragrance that they emit.

Why is he going blind, especially now, when everything is absolutely fine? His relationship with Ally is great, he's currently peaking number one on the charts, the film Dez had him act in was successful – why did it have to come crashing down with just one diagnosis?

Why had nothing been found sooner?

Why is there no treatment?

Why, why, why?

His eyes are blurry with tears when the blond targets whatever's on his bedside table, and by the time he realises what he's broken, it's too late. He crouches down and picks up the photo, carefully clearing away whatever broken glass sticks to it.

It's the photo of him and Ally from their prom. He remembers the night as if it had happened yesterday. He'd been so mesmerised by the sight of her; she'd looked so beautiful in that red dress. There was no other girl who had shined brighter than her that night.

He's so lucky to have her, he thinks. He remembers how she'd been by his side every step of the way when he'd temporarily lost his career. If she'd done that, what would she do if she found out about his oncoming blindness?

How was he going to break the news to her?

She comes back to their apartment, realising that Austin's already home. He's nowhere in the lounge room, and he's not in the kitchen, so she decides to check their bedroom.

She makes her way to their room, noticing the door is closed. She slowly opens the door.

"Hey, Au-" she freezes when she sees the state of their room.

Their belongings are scattered across the floor and there's a strange smell in the air. The lamp her aunt gave her has a huge crack in it (though to be honest, she never really liked it anyway), her makeup products are strewn either on the dresser or beneath it, and there's pieces of glass on the floor too.

And there, on the bed, burying his head in his pillow, is her boyfriend. Austin, hearing her voice, sits up, turning around to face her.

Ally notices the redness around his eyes. Had he been crying?

She carefully navigates herself towards him, making sure not to step on any pieces of glass.

"Austin, are you okay?"

Austin hastily rubs his eyes with the heel of his hand. She notices his hesitation, before he speaks. "Yeah, I'm fine."

She moves to sit down on the bed next to him, and lies her hand on his arm. "Austin, the room is a mess and it's clear that you've been crying. You're definitely upset about something. Please, you know you can tell me anything."

"Really, Ally, it's-"

"Please, Austin…"

"It's- alright- fine, it's just about an argument I had with my parents. It just got me so worked up."

Something about the way he says this makes Ally believe that Austin isn't telling her the truth. She thinks that there's definitely more to this than him just arguing with his parents. They've known each other for almost 7 years, not to mention they'd been dating for 3 of those years, and this wasn't including the times they'd dated and broken up when they were still in high school. Austin has never destroyed a room like this in the years she's known him.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He shrugs. "Not really. Actually, now that I think about it, it's not that important now that I've calmed down."

Just as she's about to ask Austin more questions, he suddenly leaps off the bed, tugging at Ally's hand.

"Anyway, I am starving! Let's get something eat!" The blond grins widely, and while it seems like Austin is back to himself, Ally has a feeling that there is still something bothering his mind. She decides to let him off today – Austin would eventually talk to her if there was really something wrong, right?

That night, as they get into bed (after clearing the mess Austin had made), Austin catches her off guard.

"I love you." It's not that he hasn't said it before, but it's the way he says it with such intensity.

"And I love you. What is this about, Austin?"

"Nothing. I just want to say it to you every opportunity I get."

She shuffles a bit, turning to face him. "Wait, what do you mean? Austin…are you okay? You're scaring me."

"No, I'm just saying, 'cause, you know, life's short, and we have no idea what will happen in the future. I was thinking about us, and how lucky I am to have you, and I just want you to know that it'll always be you. And if I ever do anything to hurt you, or if, somehow, there's a crack in our relationship, please remember that I'll always love you."

"Austin, I-"

"Shh, let's just enjoy this moment."

She wants to question him further, but he interrupts with a short, chaste kiss on her lips, before he snakes his arms around her and then shuts his eyes. She still wants to say something, but seeing the peaceful smile on his face makes her decide that she'll just bring it up later.

He embraces her in such a strong grip, as if he's afraid that Ally will disappear.

But no, Austin has nothing to worry about.

She's not going anywhere.

From that day, Austin's back to normal. Well, kind of. It's like the crying incident never happened, though she hasn't forgotten what he said that night, and can't help but feel like something's not right, although she doesn't know how to bring it up.

She observes him when he thinks she's not looking and notices him look upset or frustrated with himself. Sometimes he doesn't not pay attention to whatever they're doing at that moment and Ally has to snap him back to reality. (And not to mention, when they're with Dez and Trish and she's in a conversation with one of the two, she'll catch him with her peripheral vision starring at her for significant periods of time, as if trying to engrain her in his memory.)

She knows his mind is still occupied with whatever secret he's hiding, but whenever she asks him what's up, he tells her it's nothing and even though she tries to get something out of him, sometimes, instead of pushing him, she stops because she doesn't want to see him angrier or more hurt than he already seems.

But she constantly tells herself that she needs to figure out the secret that's been causing his change of behaviour soon.

It goes on for the next 2 weeks and she finally has enough. She asks herself why she hasn't acted sooner, but it's better late than never, right? Since Austin's currently out, Ally decides to give him a call, just to check up on him. She really wants to talk to him about what's been going on, and this time, she won't take no for an answer.

She calls him, waiting as the dial tone comes on, though after the fourth ring, it reaches voicemail. She finds it a bit unusual because he usually picks up before the third ring. She tries again a few more times, and after reaching the same thing, she gives up.

Maybe he was currently recording a song and couldn't answer his phone? Austin had told her he would be recording a few songs today, including a duet with Cassidy (which she doesn't mind because she trusts them both not to do anything of that sort).

She decides to ring Cassidy.

She picks up after two rings.

"Hey, Ally!"

"Cass? Are you in the studio right now?"

"Yeah, just about to record something...why?"

"Is Austin with you?"

"No, he left like two hours ago, saying that he was going home...is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no, don't worry, I thought he was with you." She smiles hesitantly, even though she knows she can't see her.

"Well, anyway, got to go. Bye." She puts the phone down before Cassidy can get a word in.

So had Austin been lying to her?

Where was he really?

She's not so sure she can tolerate Austin being secretive about everything. Of course there are a few things they'd keep from each other because no one tells everyone everything (heck, she doesn't even tell Trish everything – especially when it comes to her and Austin's sexual activities) and she didn't want to be perceived as that nosy, jealous type of girlfriend, but if her boyfriend's attitude had somewhat changed during the last two weeks, then she deserves to know why, right?

Which is why when Austin finally comes back home, she decides to confront him.

She's sitting on the couch when the door opens.

"Hey Ally." Austin puts his bag down and makes his way over to the couch, sitting beside her, their shoulders and legs in contact with each other.

"Where were you?" She asks softly.

"I was with Cassidy at the recording studio. Why?"

"I called her. She said she wasn't with you."

He stands up abruptly and looks at her in surprise, before she sees his hazel eyes swirl with betrayal.

"You called her? What, so you don't even trust me now?!"

She slowly gets up from the couch, maintaining eye contact with him. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You've been acting really weird ever since that day and I want to know what the heck is going on."

"There was no need for that. I'm fine." Austin says, though Ally isn't convinced.

"Have you seen yourself? You haven't seemed yourself lately. You may not have realised, but I do see you when you think I'm not looking. I can tell there's something on your mind, and I don't think it's about your parents. Just tell me, please!"

"There's really nothing-"

"Don't you lie to me, Austin!"

"Why can't you trust me?"

"I do trust you! Why can't you trust me? Why would you need to lie about where you are?"

Austin closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose before letting out an exasperated sigh. When he opens them again, he looks straight into her eyes, and he says something that causes her to freeze. "Look, you know what? If we can't get over this, let's just end it."

"…Austin what are you saying?"

The pained look on her face almost makes him look away, but he can't quit his act now.

"It's like you can't trust me enough not to tell you certain things. I don't want you to know. Stop pushing me to tell you. It doesn't concern you, okay? I'm tired, Ally."

He tries to keep his eyes focused on her, ignoring the voice in the back of his mind that's screaming for him to stop what he's doing and just tell her the truth.

"This is it, huh? We're actually doing this…wow. What, so you'd throw away our relationship just because of this one secret? I'm sorry that I've been pushing you because I'm been worried about you!"

The air becomes tense with silence and he tries to come up with something else to say that'll probably make her more upset, but it looks like he doesn't need to say anything else.

Tears have built up in her eyes, one falling down her face as she suddenly says, "You know what? Fine, we'll stop this. You won't see me again, Austin. I'm out."

He releases a bitter chuckle under his breath. Oh, the irony of that statement.

"I'll have Dez bring you all your stuff."

She nods curtly and heads to the door, uttering one last phrase.

"Good bye, Austin."

Once the door slams shut, he slumps back on the couch, cupping his face in his hands. Soon, his shoulders are shaking and he finds himself in a sobbing mess.

He's done it. She probably hates him now, or at least is upset with him.

He'd planned on breaking up with her sometime next week, but she'd given him a good opportunity. Doing it now would lessen the pain that he'd experience if he chose to break up with her later. He bets he might have backed out and told her the truth if he held onto her for any longer.

He can't tell her the truth though. He couldn't hold her back from her dreams. If his career dwindles because of his eyesight, he's not going to take Ally down with him.

Austin had already held her back once when she gave up her place at MUNY; he can't do it to her again, because he knows that as soon as he tells her what's wrong with him, she'll drop everything to look after him.

He knows that she still loves him, but he also loves her, so, so much, that this is the only way.

He has to let her go.

Trish and Dez let her stay at their apartment after comforting her about what had happened that day. However, she doesn't want to intrude on their relationship (which she still sometimes thinks is really peculiar because they used to hate each other's guts), so she decides that she'll stay until she can find another apartment to rent.

The next day, Dez brings back some boxes, containing all her items from their- Austin's apartment. When she thinks he's brought them all, he carries in one last box which she notices he's slightly hesitant to give her. She looks at him curiously.

"Uh, this is from Austin." He says, before leaving her to her own thoughts.

She opens the box, and finds that it's filled with items she'd given Austin. The songbook she'd given him when he was still having difficulty writing his own songs sits on top. She flips the pages, hoping that he'd written her some note, anything that can suggest that he still wants to be with her. She's left disappointed when she can't find anything that wasn't already there – many scribbles and crossed out words from attempts of writing his own lyrics. He'd barely used it anyway.

She continues to look through the box, and doesn't realise her eyes are watery until a tear escapes. She quickly wipes her eyes before Trish or Dez come in and see. She doesn't want to bother them with her heartache. They've already done enough for her.

After having taken all the items out of the box, she goes to put them back in, and as she's doing that, she realises something: Dougie the Dolphin, the stuffed animal that she'd given him when they were fourteen, is nowhere to be seen.

A week later, she still can't find an apartment she's satisfied with, though Dez and Trish had kept insisting that they didn't mind her staying.

They're eating breakfast, and as Dez chirps about his new film, her mind wanders off, and she finds herself thinking about Austin. She misses his embraces. She misses the kisses he'd planted on her. She misses his voice. She misses him, so, so much with every inch of her heart.

She still doesn't understand why he'd become so angry with her.

She knows that she shouldn't have pressured him to tell her what was on his mind, but it's not like she could have ignored it if she tried. The break up was so sudden, and she considers maybe, after having this whole week to calm down, they can talk it out. She still remembers what he'd told her that other night; perhaps he'd known something like this would happen. She knows deep down that they still love each other.

She'd tried to call him a few days after their breakup, but received no reply, and after trying again today, he still refuses to answer her calls, so she decides the best thing to do is visit him and actually see him face to face.

Ally stands nervously in front of his door. After a few minutes of contemplating whether this is a good idea, she knocks on the door, waiting for an answer.

It's a while before the door opens, only it's not Austin who greets her. A young, gorgeous blonde appears in front of her, poking her head out of the door, and she wonders if Austin had somehow moved on.

"Hi, how can I help you?" The woman asks, and she finds her words stuck in her throat. If Austin's with this woman, she's not so sure that she can stop herself from breaking down right there.

"...i-is Austin here?"

"You mean the previous owner? Sorry, I only moved in yesterday, not sure what happened to this Austin."

Her mind screams a relieved 'oh thank god', glad that there's still a chance that Austin hasn't moved on yet. But she can't help but frown, because she has still no idea where he could be.

"Oh, I see. Well, thank you." She says politely, and the woman nods, offering her what looks like a sympathetic smile, before closing the door.

She thinks to herself, where could he have gone? Maybe back to his parents' house? There's one place Austin should still be though - Starr Records, right?

She heads over to the building, seeing Cassidy walk out. She's looking up from her phone as Ally walks toward her.

"Ally! I was about to call you!"

"Hey, Cass. You didn't happen to see Austin here, did you?"

"Ally...he hasn't turned up in like, forever. I asked Kira, but she had no idea what was happening. That's what I've been meaning to call you about."

That wasn't like Austin at all. Why would he not turn up?

"I haven't spoken to him for a while, we kind of...b-broke up."

"Oh my god, Ally, I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay...I'm okay. I-I think I'll get going though." She smiles sadly at Cassidy, receiving her second sympathetic gesture for the day.

She goes back to Dez and Trish's apartment, where Trish and Dez are currently sitting on the sofa. When they notice her presence, Trish pats the spot next to her, and she thankfully sits down, leaning into her friend.

"He wasn't there, someone else opened the door saying that he moved out, and apparently he hasn't turned up to Starr Records either, "she mutters miserably, before she feels herself becoming frustrated, "I don't understand him! He never explained anything! We had one fight, and he decided it was all over! I mean, I know I walked out on him that day, but we've had fights before and we usually sort them out, so what the heck is wrong with him?"

"Wait, he's moved out? How? It's only been a week. Dez, did you know about this?" Trish glares at her boyfriend.

"...maybe," the redhead mumbles.

She moves out of Trish's embrace, craning her neck to look at him. "Wait, do you know why he moved out? Do you know where he's staying now?"

She's desperate for an answer. She wants to know that he's okay. Was his heart aching like hers? Maybe she has nothing to worry about. Or maybe he was fine without her. Maybe-

"I do, but…" Ally stares at him expectantly, while Dez tries to ignore the intensified glare Trish has given him.

"Dez, tell us right now where he is..." Trish demands.

"I...I can't! I really can't! He made me promise him not to tell anyone. You know I always keep my promises. Please don't make this harder."

Trish expression softens at Dez's distress.

Ally speaks up, "But he's okay, right?"

She takes note of his hesitation. "…yes, he's alright."

"C-Can you ask him why he's ignoring me though? He refuses to answer me, and I honestly feel so lost. I don't understand why he'd break up with me out of the blue over something like this. Please Dez..."

"I'll see what I can do." She knows it's a long shot, but she hopes that Dez will be able to help.

He still lives in the same apartment. The day that Ally came over, he'd had Piper come over too. He'd been deemed legally blind and was given the option of either relying on someone to take him to the specialist, or have her come over. He'd chosen the latter, not wanting to bother Dez with his issues.

Knowing that it was Ally who'd knocked on his door, he'd begged Piper to answer the door and pretend that he was no longer living there.

Only Dez and Kira know about his eyes. He's not even ready to tell his parents yet. When Kira called him up, just over a week since the breakup, he's forced to tell her the truth when he realised that he couldn't get to the studio without looking suspicious. Besides, he would have had to tell her sooner or later, when he completely becomes blind and can't make it to the building by himself. Kira had promised not to tell anyone else in the meantime.

And he'd told Dez when he'd come by and picked up Ally's belongings. The redhead had confronted him, asking him why he'd broken up with the love of his life, and that was when he'd broken down and confessed everything. He had to tell someone. He knows he can trust Dez, but he'd made him promise not to tell Ally, threatening not to talk to him ever again if he spoke a word to her about his state.

He's painfully aware that it's nearly time before he becomes completely blind.

The blond sighs sadly when he realises there's still so much of the earth that he has yet to explore, knowing that it's impossible now. Of course he's seen a lot of sights during his world tours – the Eifel Tower, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and many others – but there's so much more that he'll never get to see now.

He tries to take in as much of everything he can still see, his apartment, the beautiful view outside, what Ally looks like...

He's currently looking at old photographs of them, trying to engrain every inch of her face in his mind. He's certain that he will be able to visualise her in his mind when he closes his eyes, but he just wants to cherish these images of his world before it's all too late.

Six weeks later, Austin starts having headaches. By that time, his eye sight's almost gone – there are a few fuzzy holes he can see through, but he has to strain his eyes to see everything.

Dez comes over that day and luckily he's there, because as he stands up from the couch to get something, the pain in his head becomes intolerable. It's so extreme that he eventually faints.

He wakes up, hearing strange beeping noises.

He groans because he still feels a slight headache.

A familiar voice exclaims in relief. "Austin, you're awake!"

"Dez? Where am I?"

"You're at the hospital. You fainted."

He faces the direction the voice comes from. "Can you, uh, turn on the light? I can't see anything."

There's a heavy pause before Dez speaks. "Austin…it's daylight..."

He starts to panic. So all of his vision is gone? He knows it was bound to happen one of these days, but it doesn't mean that he was one-hundred percent prepared.

"I-" His breathing rate increases as he realises that this is it. He can't see anything anymore. He'll never see anything ever again.

"Austin-"

"I'm going to live in the d-dark for the r-rest of my life! I don't know w-what to do!"

He feels a hand firmly grip onto his shaking one, Dez's voice calming him down. "Breathe, Austin, Deep breaths. I'm here buddy."

"I'm scared, Dez...we won't even be able to do our handshake properly...nothing will ever be the same." he utters once his breathing is back to normal.

"I know. But you'll get through this. And who says we can't still do it? You're Austin Moon. You'll always find a way."

Yet his mind objects. 'Maybe not this time.'

Dez never managed to slip a word out of Austin about their fight. It's about eight weeks since she'd last seen the blond, and although she still thinks about how he's been doing, she tells herself that if he's going to cut ties with her, she needs to move on.

'One more week', her heart begs.

She'd been occupying herself by visiting the recording studio and staying for longer hours, although today it's different – she finds herself being taken to the hospital.

On her way to record her latest song, another car had decided to drive the opposite direction, and while she had good reflexes and managed to avoid a full-on collision, the car still crashed slightly into her side causing the airbag to inflate and hit her head. Despite the fact that she thought she was fine (although slightly dazed), the paramedics had decided to take her to the nearest hospital just to be sure.

A few form fillings later, she's given the okay and finally she can leave.

She walks out of the room, bumping into someone.

"Eeek, sorry." She apologises, before she looks up, eyes widening at the familiar face.

A/N: Who is it?

Next/final chapter will be up sometime after I wake up! Well, I just need to fix a few things, but yeah :D I promise no one dies!

Also, I know A&A's ending in like 3 days (/screams/ NOOOOOOOOOO), but it is too late to make friends with anyone in the twitter fandom?

I'm there as rnoonlights (like r and n, not an 'm')! :D I'm not new to twitter btw; this one's just specifically for this fandom and I'm slowly starting to use it, haha.

If anyone actually follows it, I'll follow back when I wake up in like 12 hours, haha...zzZZZzzZ night!