Here it is! The last chapter in their little adventure! Sorry for the long wait...but i hope you enjoy! Bit of a warning, a lot of shooting people in this...nothing gruesome, just a lot of...shooting...and death.

Jo x

"But…how can we be dreaming? This doesn't make any sense." Mary exclaimed as another brick fell from above.

"Mary, stay out of this. In fact, can you just leave now?" Matthew replied, impolitely trying to send her on her way.

"Oh! Well, I can see when I'm not needed."

"Will you two just shut up?" Dom shouted as a bullet shot past his turned head and into Mary's side. She dropped to the floor like a stone in a pond. Everybody's stunned expressions turned to stare at Vera; shot gun in hand and the look of sheer hatred on her face. Matthew crouched down to Mary's side as he felt her pulse in her neck.

"Dead. Stone cold." His heart sank. "But she's just a projection, so there's nothing to worry about I guess." CRASH! A pile of rubble came tumbling down the chimney and spilling out into the room.

"Look, Vera. You don't want to hurt us. I know you're angry with me…but just please…" Anna cautiously approached the older woman, but stopped in her tracks as Vera fired at her and almost clipped her ear.

"Run!" Ariadne screamed as shards of glass began to fall from the roof.

They headed for the stairs on their left and ran up the staff staircase. Branson grabbed hold of Sybil's hand as the group made their way to the first floor, shortly followed by the lunatic projection. Vera fired up through the centre of the winding staircase as Dom's bullets fired down. An almighty explosion echoed up the staircase as Sybil questioned,

"If the dream is collapsing and we're all going to be killed, why are we trying to dodge Vera's bullets?"

"Because maybe if we stay alive long enough the time on the dream might run out and we'll wake up." Arthur explained.

"But we need to kill Vera yes? To trap her in Limbo?" Anna added as the group pushed their way through the doors and onto the first floor.

"Yes, since we're using a sedative, if we die we go into limbo. Hang on a minute, did we use a sedative to dream? I can't remember." Said Ariadne. The group looked at each other in confusion.

"I'm not sure. That's the_" Dom was interrupted.

"Erratic nature of the dream, yes we know." Replied the young American.

"But what we if we don't kill her and we get killed?" Asked Matthew as they ran round the landing, stopping every so often to shoot and hiding behind the slowly crumbling walls.

"If we're using a sedative then we go into limbo and she doesn't. She'll just disappear as the dreamers are in limbo and can't control that dream anymore. If we're not using a sedative then_" Dom launched another few bullets at Vera.

"Then where do we go then?" Mathew grew impatient.

"Well, we'll just have to find out won't we?" Dom shouted back as Robert came hurrying out of his room full of rubble from above and into the landing.

"What on earth's name is going on?" He bellowed as a bullet went into his heart. They group paused for a moment before Sybil spoke up,

"After you your Lordship." And pushed Matthew forward to start the group running again.

By this point, almost all of the rooms on first floor had collapsed in on themselves, so the group run back down the staff staircase, and down to the staff level, where they were met with a crazed atmosphere of footmen, maids, valets, housekeeper and butler panicking over whether to escape the disintegrating house. The high tension was made worse by the ominous sound of gunfire echoing round the quarters.

"Get under the tables!" Anna burst into the dining room with the others, but it was too late for some as Vera came in right behind and shot William and Bates in the head. The

others didn't listen and ran straight for the exit into the courtyard as soon as the battle moved into the hallway. The rooms began to shake at the shockwaves of explosions and implosions happening above, as bedside lamps and other objects began to tumble and plummet to the floor.

"You flirt of a housemaid! You whore! You husband snatcher! What do you know about my John?" Vera cried as another bullet whizzed past Matthew's shoulder.

"I'm sorry Mrs Bates! I'm sure you realise you can't help who you fall in love with! Otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't have paid the slightest bit more of attention to your husband than was necessary, Lady Sybil here wouldn't have defended Branson as much when he was about to be fired, and Mr Crawley and Lady Mary would definitely have been married by now!" Anna shouted back as the group at each other as if some high level security secret had just been revealed.

"Sorry's not good enough!" Vera gave another scream as she launched a bullet that went straight into Sybil's side. Sybil's cry of agony was enough to make Branson's heart crumble, much like the crumbling house around them. He pounced to her side and tried to stop the bleeding.

"What's going to happen to her?" Branson spoke; his voice wavered as the group stopped in the hallway, blocked by Sybil's weak body lying down the middle. Nobody could run from the bullets now, so they dropped their arms with their guns to their sides.

"Like we explained, if we're using a sedative, she'll go into limbo. If we're not, then…who knows where she'll wake up. Probably back at the warehouse in Paris." Arthur stated.

"This isn't making sense." Branson stroked her face as Sybil took another look at her beloved chauffeur. She could smell all kinds of scents. Mrs Patmore's bacon rising from the kitchens, the tulips in her vase on her bedside table, the soft soapy smell of her bed linens. She could hear the birds tweeting outside the house in the trees. It left her feeling very confused. BANG! Ariadne grabbed hold of Dom's gun and shot Sybil in the heart, leaving a lifeless body.

"What did you have to do that for?" Branson's leapt up from the floor; faze ablaze and almost with little puffs of smoke coming out of his ears.

"She was going to die anyway, but don't worry! She's not really dead. I just put her out of her misery."

"Well, that almost clears the hallway." Vera muttered as she fired at Branson's head; his body falling to the floor "Now it's clear!" She spoke with a joking, sarcasm in her voice.

The group began to run for the stairs to see if they could escape these maze-like corridors, but the staircase had fallen to the floor and the ceiling above them was about to cave in. The only escape was out into the courtyard, where they were greeted with the sights of seemingly unconscious or dead inhabitants or staff of Downton, with large pieces of masonry from the building lying next to them. The sight was gruelling for Matthew and Anna, but all that was forgotten when a large brick came hurtling towards the ground and knocked Matthew dead. There was no time for mourning as what was left of the group and their chaser ran out round to the front of the house; bullets firing everywhere and the sound of chaos and disaster echoing round the nearby hills. As Vera's taunting words grew ever louder and closer, Anna pulled Dom's gun out of his hands and shot Vera's foot. The woman collapsed in the shade of a tree in the gravel at the front of the fallen house. The injury wasn't enough to kill her, and Anna was thankful for that, but it was enough to stop chase. Dom carefully prised Anna's clench on the gun apart and took it into his own hand again.

"You'll live to regret the day you cam across me Miss Smith! In reality I will make you're days a living hell. I'll drag John away from you even if it kills me!" She screeched.

"Maybe. But if it does kill you, at least John will be free. Free from you and free from any woman who could cause him heartache." Anna spitted out with a sense of gut-wrenching despair. She couldn't imagine how she could survive without him in her life, but if Vera died trying to separate them, then at least he'll be free from any guilt. Anna would have to bear that herself, but it was a price worth paying for the man she loved.

CRACK! The sound of the tree trunk snapping came as no surprise to Dom, who at this point had slowly drawn Anna and the other's away from the shadow of the tree. It came tumbling down like a pile of bricks. A pile of bricks used to build this nightmare of a dream. They turned away as it crushed Vera underneath, leaving the group in utter shock.

"Shoot me! Shoot me now!" Anna wept the last remaining tower of the house began to rain down on them. "Shoot me NOW!" She shouted again as a bullet went through her brain. Another bullet cascaded and shot Ariadne, then Arthur, and Dom was just about to shoot himself in the head but was knocked dead by the dream well and truly collapsing.

Matthew awoke with a face full of gravel as his eyes fluttered open to see the imposing sight of Downton in front of him. He looked around he looked around him and grabbed hold of his walking stick next to him. He came to his feet and steadied himself on the drive before pulling out his totem (the hairclip) from his pocket. The flowers were fake. He was in reality. He was sure of that now. He assumed it was the morning after he'd first fallen asleep and awoken in the dream (or so they thought it was a dream, they weren't 100% sure). As he limped his way towards the house, he saw the door open and Mary emerge. She calmly walked towards him and gave him an amicable hug.

"I heard that you were quite the hero in battle. You must be ever so proud of yourself. I know papa is." She gave him a faint smile. He thought that was a bit odd. Before the "incident" Mary had been a bit sour towards him as she didn't see him as a "hero" because he hadn't of been able to save his fellow comrades. Maybe she's changed her mind? Maybe things have changed because of "the incident"? He linked his free arm with Mary's as they walked towards the house (which had no been turned into a convalescent home he'd heard).

Anna yawned her eyes open at the sound of Daisy knocking on her and Ethel's door.

"Six o'clock!" The scullery maid called out.

"Thank you Daisy!" She heard her roommate reply. Anna pulled out her tiny glass box and carefully opened the lid. She knew she was in reality. The hinge was so tiny that no one who designed this dream would've been able to notice that, therefore, she concluded that this was the real Downton. After she'd dressed she made her way to the dining room where she sat down and picked up one of the un-ironed newspapers that had been left around for them to read. 15th October 1916. The morning after she fell asleep and had that crazy adventure. She noticed John's amazed expression on his face from his letter and she asked,

"Are you alright Mr Bates?" as she slurped a spoon full of soup.

"Err…yes. It's nothing. Um…Vera…she's been declared M.I.A." He gulped.

"What's M.I.A? Daisy enquired.

"Missing In Action." John answered. "She's dead." Anna's gut instinct turned from that of concern for John, to simple guilt as the shock silenced the room. They all sat there for a minute or so in silence, before Mrs Hughes spoke up.

"Well, I hardly think that's nothing Mr Bates. I'm sorry for our loss. That's dreadful news."

"Don't worry about me." A vague smile appeared on his face. "I'm free." He smiled at Anna as the rest of the room looked confused.

Sybil stretched and yawned as her eyes slowly opened to find herself tucked up tight and snug in her bed. She couldn't quite believe that it felt like only a few seconds ago she was gazing at Branson's beautiful face, hearing what must have been the sound of the birds outside and the smell of bacon rising up the house and into her room where she now found herself. She jumped out of bed and pulled out her die. She carefully rolled the die on her cabinet. One. Her heart sank a bit as it she discovered she was back in reality. That dream was the last chance she would ever see Branson's face. The last time she would ever see him alive. She could feel her eyes welling up, so she decided to dress herself in her nurse's uniform and head downstairs for some breakfast and another hard day's work mending broken soldiers. Maybe that would take her mind of him. After she was dressed she slowly came down the stairs, trying not to become publicly teary, but she stopped when halfway down the stairs at the sight at the main doorway.

"Branson!" She came running down the last few steps, turned the corner, ran across the hallway and into his outstretched arms. "I thought you were dead! I must be dreaming, I must."

"I'm not dead and you're not dreaming! Don't worry! I'm here to take his Lordship to the bank. Are you alright milady?"

"Tom, please! You don't have to call me that." She whispered as her hands began to roam his back.

"Are you alright, Sybil?" He whispered back as he tucked a loose bit of hair behind her ear.

"I am! Now that you're here." She gazed into his eyes before reaching up and placing her lips on hers. She didn't care who might walk in on them that instant, and neither did he. All that mattered for her was that he was alive. Somehow.

Aahh! That's really got you confused now hasn't it! Fear not my lovelies! I will explain all in the sequel...so watch this space! :D