A/N: Troy is in Iraq even though I'm sure you could have figured this out on your own. I hope nobody finds this offensive I don't think it is, but then again I don't know anyone personally serving in Iraq. I fully support the troops 100 I just don't support the war if you know what I mean.
Flashback"Can you believe we've graduated? We made it." Troy smiled at Gabriella's excitement. "I just can't wait for college, me and you everything's going to be great, just like high school, only better." Troy looked at her uneasily.
"Gabi, I have to tell you something." She looked up at him and saw fear on his face.
"What's wrong Troy?"
"I'm not going to college."
"What do you mean you're not going to college? Troy, come on you got accepted to several different ones not to mention all those basketball scholarships." She looked up at him. "Is it me? Do you not want to go to the same school? If that's it Troy-"
Troy cut her off. "None, of that has anything to do with why I'm not going."
Gabriella was confused. "Then what is it?"
"I'm going to Iraq. I enlisted for the army. I leave for boot camp in a couple weeks."
Her eyes widened in fear. "B-but why?"
"I just feel that it's something I need to do."
She started to cry. "You feel the need to go and kill yourself?"
"Oh, baby don't cry." Troy took Gabriella in his arms and attempted to soothe her.
Three weeks later"Well I guess this is it." Troy's flight number had just been called. He was going to be on his way to boot camp in just a couple short minutes.
Gabriella engulfed him a bone-crushing hug. "I don't want you to go," she wept.
Troy felt his throat begin to tighten. "It'll be over before you know it."
"I'm not going to see you for at least six months, maybe longer." She was barely audible.
Troy showed her a picture of the two of them that he was carrying with him. "This right here, will get me through anything. I'll come back for you. I love you Brie."
"I love you too!"
Troy hugged both of his parents good-bye and turned around to head towards the gate. Just as he was about to walk through the terminal he turned slightly to see Gabriella's tear stained face.
He quickly disappeared into the terminal. Gabriella's legs gave out and she fell to the ground and sobbed.
Present TimeIt had been about four months since she had last seen Troy. They had continued to write to each other back and forth but it just wasn't the same. Gabriella returned from her class and dropped her books on her bed in her dorm. She glanced at the picture of her and Troy, which rested on her bedside table. 'God I miss you,' she thought. 'Only two more months until I can see you again.' She turned the television on. She decided to keep the news on, even though normally she would quickly turn it off not wanting to hear anything about the war. She didn't want to hear about how many soldiers may have been killed that day. She always feared that one of them may be Troy, so she figured it was best for her own sanity, to just watch something else. Ironically, on this particular day she chose to keep it on.
The television blared. "Twenty-two soldiers were killed in Iraq today by a road side bomb." Gabriella felt her stomach churn. She knew the chances of Troy being one of those twenty-two was very slim but she couldn't help but worry. She quickly turned the TV off. She began doing homework.
A couple hours later Gabriella was still hard at work on homework when her cell rang. She looked at the id and 'The Boltons' popped up. She turned her ipod off and picked up her cell.
"Hello?"
"Gabriella honey, we need you to get here now," Lucielle Bolton's voice said.
"What happened?" Gabriella asked shakily.
"We'll let you know when you get here."
"No, please tell me-" The connection was ended.
There was a pit in Gabriella's stomach throughout the entire ride to the Bolton's home. She couldn't help but believe that something terrible had happened.
'Not Troy. Please not Troy,' she prayed. As she drove she glanced at the promise ring on her finger that Troy had given her a day before he left.
Flashback"I can't believe that this is our last day together," Gabriella said sadly.
He lifted her chin to look at him. "Only for now. Think about it baby, six months apart, but after that we have our whole lives to spend together."
She smiled up at him.
Troy pulled something out of his pocket. Gabriella noticed. She pointed to the small box. "What's that?"
Troy grinned. "Why don't you open it and see?"
She opened the box to reveal a beautiful fourteen-karat, white gold, heart promise ring. "Oh my God Troy, it's beautiful!"
"So you like it?"
"I love it." She leaned up and kissed him.
"That, is my promise to you. I'll come back, we'll get engaged we'll get married, and someday we'll have a family. See there's no way I'm missing out on all that."
"I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too." And they kissed.
PresentThankfully the ride to the Bolton's home didn't take too long since she only went to U of A which wasn't too far. She apprehensively knocked on the door. The door opened and revealed a red puffy- faced, and very tearful Lucielle Bolton. Gabriella became even more fearful after seeing this sight.
"G-G-Gabriella, dear come in."
"What happened?" Gabriella demanded while not really knowing if she really wanted to know or not.
"T-T-Troy."
Gabriella felt a few tears leak from her eyes. "What about Troy?"
Jack came over. "An officer stopped by right before we called you." Jack showed her Troy's helmet. "Troy was killed by a roadside bomb early yesterday. This was all they say that was left him." Jack's voice cracked.
Gabriella's stomach dropped. "No!" she wanted to scream but it only came out as a whisper. She fell to her knees and began to sob. "I-I-it can't be true! Maybe they got it wrong they had to have."
Jack wrapped his arms around Gabriella. "I wish that was true, but he's gone." Jack was crying. "My boy's gone."
The next few days were a blur. Gabriella stayed with the Bolton's because for one she needed the comfort, as did they and for another reason she knew she wouldn't be able to make it back to school in one piece. She wished that she could die she didn't want a life without Troy. At some point she remembered Chad stopping over. He was a mess as well.
"How are you holding up?" Chad asked.
"Not good," she whispered. She was in Troy's room just running her hands over his belongings.
"Yeah, me neither."
"I-I just can't believe it, I- I mean he was supposed to come home. He promised me." She broke down on the floor.
"Gabs, you know he didn't have any control over this. You know he probably gave every bit of strength he had to make it back to you. He loved you so much."
"I-I know," she whispered. "I love him so much."
"He was a brother to me or at least the closest thing I had to brother."
"He had a spot in his heart for you Chad. He loved you."
"I know." Chad wrapped an arm around Gabriella and both of them cried together until Taylor showed up.
"Hey guys."
"Hey, Tay," Chad said. Gabriella just sat there motionless.
"I'm so sorry Gabs," Taylor whispered.
"God, I hate that phrase, but thanks." Gabriella just looked at the ground as more tears leaked from her eyes.
"Gabs, have you eaten?"
Gabriella shook her head no.
"Come on Troy would want you to eat."
Gabriella's eyes flashed. "Don't tell me what Troy would want. Troy isn't here to tell me what he'd want so I'm not going to do what he supposedly would want."
"Sorry Gabs, I'll just leave you alone." Taylor exited the room along with Chad. Gabriella curled up on Troy's bed in the fetal position and just cried her eyes out.
At one point Taylor had convinced Gabriella to leave the house. They took a walk in the park where they ran into Sharpay. Sharpay looked at Gabriella. "I am so sorry Gabriella."
"Sorry? For what? For all the times you tried to steal Troy away from me? I don't want to hear your apologies. I know you're only saying them because you feel guilty."
"No, Gabi, I'm not."
"Don't call me that. Only my friends can call me that." Taylor then got Gabriella away from Sharpay before something bad happened.
Gabriella arrived back at the Bolton home. She saw Mrs. Bolton making plans. "What are you doing?"
"I have to make plans for Troy's memorial service." She put her pencil down and began to cry. "It's just so hard you know? I never thought that this would happen."
Gabriella enveloped Lucielle in a hug and they cried together. When the tears subsided, Gabriella helped Lucielle plan the service.
"Gabriella?"
"Hmm?" Gabriella was shaken from a daydream.
"Do you want to make a speech at the service?"
"Yes, please," she whispered.
Hours later Gabriella and Lucielle were going through pictures attempting to find some to display at the service.
"How about this one?" Lucielle held up a picture of Troy as a baby naked in the bathtub.
Gabriella nodded her head and tears were once again in her eyes as she thought about what Troy would have to say if he was here to see Mrs. Bolton showing these pictures to Gabriella. After they had gone through all of the albums that Mrs. Bolton had with her Lucielle asked, "Well I think that's all of them. Are there any others that I don't have that you'd like displayed?" Mrs. Bolton sniffled.
Gabriella nodded and went up to Troy's room. She pulled out a photo album that she had made especially of the two of them. She brought it downstairs and handed it to Lucielle. "Can we just display it as it?"
Lucielle nodded. "He never showed me this." She was flipping through the pages. She saw pictures of Troy and Gabriella hugging, laughing, candid pictures, and a couple of them kissing. "This is really beautiful."
The day of the memorial service arrived. Gabriella arrived with the Bolton's all of them dressed in black. She looked around at everyone entering the church. Chad arrived with Taylor, Jason with Kelsi, Zeke and Sharpay, and Ryan and Martha.
Kelsi walked up to Gabriella. "You are the strongest person in the world."
"N-No I'm not. I'm trying so hard to keep it together when all I want to do is die. I don't even know how long it's been since he died. All of my days are just passing like a blur. I don't know one day from the next."
"Are you sleeping at all?"
Gabriella shook her head. "I-I can't. All I see is Troy and then I wake up." They saw the Reverend enter the church.
"I guess we better go sit down." Kelsi gave Gabriella one last hug and they both went to sit down.
The Reverend stepped up to the podium. "Today we are here, not only to mourn, but to celebrate the life of Troy Bolton. He was a son, a boyfriend, and a best friend. Troy touched the heart of all he knew. He will be deeply missed. Mr. Jack Bolton has some words he'd like to speak on his son's behalf."
Jack walked up to the podium. "Troy was my son, my only son. It's hard to believe that I'll never see him again. We had so much in common with each other. We both had such a deep love for basketball. I feel incredibly guilty when I think of the times I was hard on him…" Gabriella felt herself tearing up more (if that was even possible) during this speech. Jack's speech came to an end. "Not only was Troy my son, but he was my best friend." Jack stepped down from the podium and Gabriella stepped up.
"Most of you know that Troy was my boyfriend. We had been dating for almost three years." She felt her throat tighten up. "It's so hard to speak of him in the past tense. I so badly just want to see him again. He promised me before he left that he would come back." She held up her hand. "He have me this promise ring saying that he would come back. I love Troy so much and I know he loved me. Sure we had our rough patches, but doesn't everyone? He was the one person who made me complete. When I moved to Albuquerque I was terrified of being the 'freaky genius girl' again. Troy treated me as a person. We confided in each other as friends before anything else developed. The winter musical was the best thing that has ever happened to me. It brought us together, it gave us our first kiss. Not many people know this, but Troy was a romantic. He was such a corny person but I love him for it. I know that Troy would want me to move on and find someone else, but I know that isn't possible." She began to sob. "I can't even think that way. I can't believe he's gone. I just keep waiting for him to walk through that door." She pointed at the back of the church and as she did so she saw a sandy- blonde haired, blue eyed boy. "Troy?" she said.
The entire congregation turned towards the exit. A loud chorus of gasps was heard. There in the flesh stood Troy Bolton. Gabriella ran from the podium to Troy. She ran into his arms and they stumbled backward. She sobbed into his uniform.
"Shh, Brie, I'm here." He ran his fingers through her curls.
She was so content in his arms, it had to be a dream, but she smelled him and could feel him and could hear him. "How?" she whispered.
"I promised you remember?" he grinned at her.
She did a slight smile back. "B-but how are you here? We were told you were dead, by a roadside bomb."
"They must have delivered the message wrong. I wasn't in any roadside bomb accident. I was missing. I got separated from my unit and was taken hostage. I broke free, hence, why I'm here."
"They took you hostage? Oh my God are you okay?"
Troy laughed. "I'm fine." He looked up at everyone in the congregation and said louder, "I'm fine."
His parents then ran up to him. He was engulfed in a three-person hug between Gabriella, his mother, and his father all of which who were crying. Chad, Taylor, and all of his other friends came up to him after.
"Dude, this is freaky," Chad said.
"Would you rather me be dead?" Troy joked.
"Don't make jokes like that!" Gabriella said, "They're not funny."
"I'm sorry baby Brie."
"Please Troy don't ever scare me like that again! These last few days have been hell for me."
"I promise I'm here to stay for now on. You'll never lose me now."
"Good," came Gabriella's muffled reply.
Gabriella looked up into Troy's piercing blue eyes. He leaned down and kissed her passionately.
A/N: Ok so how many of you thought he died? There are rarely character deaths in my fanfics. So please review it makes me smile!