I decided to write a post 6x05 fic because I was unsatisfied with the direction GG had taken this season. So I gave Blair a brain, gave Dan a backbone, didn't make Serena pathetic, and gave Nate a storyline. If people are expecting this is specifically a DS or DB story, it's not. You will have to read equal amounts of them. Also, it will have some NJ as well.

Dan

I'd rather be with no one then you

He grabs her wrist before she can walk away. "Hold on, you're really going to say something like that after everything we've been through."

"You slept with Serena!"

"Because you left me for Chuck!" Dan looks at her incredulously. "If you had told me you loved me and then I left you for Serena, what would you have done? And don't bullshit me because you slept with Chuck the instant you and Nate broke up," Dan says clenching his jaw and meeting her eyes. "You're such a hypocrite." Dan scowled and the corner of his eyes crinkled. "I am so tired of you. All you've ever done is hurt me. So you win. I hate you, and I'm happy you're with Chuck because you deserve to be treated like shit."

Dan lets go of her wrist and turns his heels to leave the ballroom. He's done with Blair Waldorf. There was nothing left for him in the Upper East Side.

He goes back to Blair's penthouse and packs his things, throws his cellphone in the trash, and catches a cab to JFK airport.

After buying a ticket to the first flight to Los Angeles, he passes out in lobby of his gate, waiting for departure. It's become official, he's moving on from New York. His father isn't his role model anymore, the girl he loves more then life itself is callous towards him, and he's left alone to sulk. He can't think of a time where he felt more lonely.

After arriving in Los Angeles, he finds a shitty motel to stay at with the money he has left over. He's alone and still trying to figure out what to do. He looks around for work and gets a job as a server at the local cafe in West Hollywood. Writing was supposed to be his career, but he couldn't do it anymore. Everyone burned him and writing only reminded him of that. College is an option, but he doesn't want to take out loans to pay for school.

One day, he's walking back to his motel after work and his eyes catch a shiny blue burst acoustic guitar placed behind the windowsill of the music store. His father taught him how to play, but his heart always lied in writing. He's thinking he made a mistake.

He buys the guitar and begins pouring his heart out into the musical poetry he's been writing down on his moleskin. Singing on lonely drunken nights makes him feel better than he has in a while. He discovers a new passion, one that fills the void of his passion for writing.

Soon, he begins going to bars and asking for gigs. With each gig, he only gains more confidence and word around the city spreads about a smooth curly haired hipster singing about lost love. Eventually, he begins getting gigs out of state and it leads him to plan a summer of traveling along the west coast while singing in a variety of bars and halls.

He doesn't have time for love and spends most of his time writing lyrics and musical notes. There are one night stands here and there, but only occur if someone from the audience actually catches his eye.

The biggest difference from the west coast and New York is that he can be driving on the road for miles and not spot a street lamp. The silence is something he's still becoming accustomed to. He recalls staying up to write in the office of the loft in Brooklyn and hearing the construction coming from outside his window.

The Pacific Northwest is exactly how he imagined it, cloudy with a high probability of rain. Now he understands why Seattle has the highest suicide rate. Of course Seattle can be pretty great as well. It has it's own charm. Boston's historical, Chicago's the place to be if your single, and New York's the trendiest, but Seattle is just Seattle. Nothing stands out about it, it's just a nice city with a little bit of everything.

One of the first thing he notices is the large Japanese population. Most of the residence of Seattle are the outdoorsy type. Before his gig at the Showbox at the Market, he decides to go sight-seeing. He visits the guitar shop Jimi Hendrix bought his first guitar, but that got boring fast so he leaves and visits the EMP museum which is filled with exhibits of the Stones, Hendrix, and Nirvana. He realizes music is interesting, but it will never be as satisfying as writing.

After his experience in Seattle, he drives back through Oregon and realizes it's all woods. He had a gig in some cabin like bar and thought the whole town was stuffed into the cabin when he began playing. From his experience visiting small towns, he's learned that people are a lot more friendlier. They're just like him and have the same values, no one looks down on him for being from Brooklyn. They even dress like him, which is somewhat refreshing.

After his set's over, he gets a drink at the bar, and finds a group of kids his age. One of the guys wearing a plaid flannel with a beanie on the top of his head and he thinks the kid has good taste. The blonde girl seems to have interest in his love life while the others are more curious about Los Angeles and New York. It's weird that they ask for his autograph, but then again, they have more faith in his singing career than he does.

They ask him to join them on a trip to Mt. Hood. He's got nothing better to do for the weekend so he decides to join them. Lana's the blonde who's crushing on him, she's petite, but pretty and he finds it enlightening that she has brown eyes. Tori's the brunette, she seems the outdoor's type and kind of a jock, but that only hides her beauty. Craig's the guy who dresses like him and seems to be a mix between the snowboarding type and hippy. Jimmy on the other hand is the epitome of jock. He's good looking, but doesn't have a brain.

They drive up to Mt. Hood and he can't believe how beautiful it is. As they drive on the road, he can notice all the different colored tulips fully blossomed. They finally set camp by the 40 foot waterfall. They sit by the fire and hand him some shrooms. He realizes this night is about to get interesting. He's never taken shrooms, but Chuck once told him to make sure he's in a good mood before taking them.

"We're in the middle of the woods and it's pitch dark out here. This has got to be the stupidest idea in the world," Dan says before he begins chewing on his stem of the mushroom.

They laugh and he can't believe he's doing this.

He wishes they had mixed the shrooms into something because they taste like complete shit. After he finishes eating them, it takes him half an hour and he starts tripping. Once it hits him, he realizes they should've been playing Mario 64. He stands up and looks at the waterfall as he stands off the cliff and thinks the little droplets of water has to be the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. There really aren't any hallucinations, it's more of an alteration of perception. The trip lasts for about 4 hours and he ends the night by having sex with Lana one of the tents.

The weekend passes and he has to say goodbye. He promises to send them a CD if he ever gets a record label and then leaves for the road, heading for his next show.

Summer ends and it's time for him to head back to California. He rents out a one bedroom apartment in West Hollywood and runs into Olivia while shopping with one of his friends in Rodeo Drive. They catch up, he's got nothing to lose so he asks her out.

They begin dating and he enters a new world. The Hollywood scene is a lot different from the Upper East Side. No one is really friends, just mere acquaintances who like to have fun. There's people like him who somehow get in with the hollywood circles and there are some just trying to claim their five minutes of fame, while the rest are trying to figure out how to spend their next paycheck.

He thought the UES was crazy, but it compares nothing to this. The amount of drugs consumed on a daily basis is something he has never witnessed. Even Chuck Bass would be shaking his head to what he has been witnessing.

Olivia has a lot of links and eventually lands him a manager. A month passes and he receives a call from an record label.

The record label changes his life, he's still not making as much money as he did with writing, but it was enough to live comfortably like his father had. If there was one thing he learned from his past experiences, money's the last thing he wants to be around.

Serena

The video's been released and Blair's yelling at her again. Serena thought she had explained herself thoroughly and concisely, but it seems Blair is ignoring her reasoning.

"I don't know how many times I have to point this out, but you love Chuck, so why does it matter," Serena asks

"Because you were clearly trying to hurt me," Blair yells

"Yes, I was, because you dated someone I love and obviously didn't care about him even though you told me you did. I have the right to hurt you. So I don't see why you're so hurt about this. Me sleeping with Dan shouldn't matter, you're with Chuck."

Blair's mouth opens and closes a few times and it seems as though the conversation is just going full circle. Blair's clearly insane and she's tired of the brunette's immaturity.

"You have two options here. Either you actually cared for Dan and I hurt you, or you love Chuck and didn't care about Dan, which means me sleeping with him doesn't matter and we're even," Serena says. "So again, what's the problem here?"

Blair takes a deep breath and looks to be gathering her thoughts. Her eyes were all over the place.

"I have to go," Blair replies her and walks away leaving Serena to shake her head.

Fuck this Bitch

Serena reaches her mother's penthouse and wonders what her life has become. Was she really preparing to say yes to Steven's proposal? She just spent the past summer growing, learning from her mistakes, and escaping these nutjobs, but for some reason, she's letting the Upper East Side drag her down with them.

She knows who she is. She's a free bird who doesn't play by the rules. Her life isn't supposed to be structured.

So what does Serena Van Der Woodsen want to be?

Modeling is the answer to all of her questions. She gets paid way more then she should and has free time to travel, party, and meet new people. She can model in New York and be paid in thousands for the hours she puts in for a day, or she can leave the country and go to some photoshoot in an exotic location.

Yes, modeling was so her.

It's been months since she's heard from Blair or Dan, and to be honest, they've been peaceful. She's still trying to get over Dan, the boy who's mourning over the loss of Blair Waldorf. If she wants to find herself, she needs to stay away from men. She's only 22 and there is so much more she needs to experience before she even thinks of settling down.

Her mother's miserable, she can see the marriage waning on her mother's eyes. Leaving Rufus was something her mother would always regret but would never to admit to it.

Her brother comes back during winter break and she couldn't be more excited. Eric's hair's darker, he has a slight five O'clock shadow that makes him look older, but he's the same old Eric. Of course he asks for Dan, and is disappointed when she tells him she doesn't know where he is. No one knows where Dan went. She even went to the loft to ask Rufus, but Rufus hasn't heard from him either.

Dan Humphrey has disappeared off the face of this earth

Blair

We can't be together

It's happening again, it's like she's in some sort of cycle. She can't even see a hint of happiness coming from the love of her life. Yes, he failed, but she succeeded. She put in hours and hours so they can get engaged.

She's crying, but Chuck's at the bar, drinking in his own misery, worrying about Bass Industries. Chuck has already contradicted himself. He told her in his limo after they found Serena that he would even give up his hotel for her, but here she is, waiting for him, and he can't be with her because of a stupid pact. A pact that includes the hotel he sold her for. Chuck lied, Bass Industries is more important then her.

Is this what she wants?

She rips the necklace off her neck and slams it onto the wooden bar next to Chuck.

"I'm done," Blair says

She walks off and doesn't look back

She's stuck running Waldorf Designs now. This is her future, even though she's horrible at it. It just means more hours for her and less of a social life. Now she knows why her mother was away all those years.

She leaves for Paris without a goodbye. Everyone can go fuck themselves in her eyes. The only thing on her mind is to have a strong financial quarter.

Paris, me voici

Nate

It's funny how everyone forgets about him. Everyone left without a goodbye after Bart took over Bass Industries and now everyone is leaving again without saying goodbye. He's dated many girls, but one way or the other, they've always hurt him.

Blair left Chuck and now he's gone A-wall. He's staying at the Empire alone and has no idea where Chuck has gone.

The Spectator failed miserably and he's become the laughing stock of the UES. He's alone and has to figure out a way to dig himself out of this hole. After mulling it over for weeks, he decides to go back to school and major in Law. It's time to go back to his family roots and get into politics.

Columbia's waiting for him

He hasn't heard from anyone and winter break passes. The second semester of Columbia is starting. He decides to live on campus so he can be closer to his classmates.

Columbia's fun, he likes being a kid again because at the end of the day, he still is. A 21 year old shouldn't be running a company, the only problem is that he had to fail for him to realize it.

His roommate's sort of a nerd. Well, he's actually confident he's a nerd. Paul Smith, tall and lanky, has probably never been laid, and breathes irregularly while studying. Getting Paul laid has become one of his goals for the semester.

After the first week, he realizes that he's been missing out. The parties are fun and everyone seems to like him. There's no drama in college, it just consists of studying and partying, not trying to take down the CEO of a Multinational firm.

After getting Paul a makeover, and giving him weeks of training, Paul finally gets laid. Of course the girl isn't the prettiest in the world, but it'll do, especially because Paul won't last 2 minutes.

He doesn't date, he only fucks because he can. It's just that simple, girls are all over him at parties.

Some things never change

People think he's dumb, but that can't be farther from the truth. He aces his spring semester and celebrates by throwing a huge bash at the Empire. Chuck isn't there, and neither is Serena, but he doesn't mind. It means less drama.

School's over and instead of doing an internship, he goes sailing for the summer.

Summer and Fall pass and he's sitting in his grandfather's mansion on the eve of Christmas when he receives a call from a number not listed in his contacts.

"Hello," Nate says knitting his brows together

"Hey, it's Dan."

He hasn't heard from Dan Humphrey since the Cotillion, but had seen pictures of him with Olivia in gossip magazines.

"What's up," Nate asks

"You should check up on Chuck, he might be dead," Dan says

"What! Where the hell are you," Nate yells

"Okay, so he's not dead. I had to catch a flight to Spain and I left him butt naked in the middle of the woods. He got pretty fucked up the previous night so you might want to check up on him."

Nate rubs his forehead with his fingers. "Dude."

"Yeah... So how's New York?"

So what do you think? Should I continue?

*Paris here I come- French Translation