Author's Note: This is it. The last chapter. Thank you to those who stuck around for the ride :3

I stand on the corner of the main street, shaking my head with disgust. The shops are closed down, and there is nobody on the streets. The windows are boarded up, and there is not a car in sight. I am alone here, and justly so. The trees are dying, no longer retaining their shining brilliance. This street, this city is now dead, a shadow of its former self… and it is here that I now live.

I look around for a moment longer, before crossing the street casually, my hands are stuffed deep in my pockets. My used cigarette is long left behind, in a puddle just before the traffic lights. With my head down slightly, I continue to walk, shooting straight towards the shop before me. Its door is slightly ajar, and it conceals my destination. It hides the resistance, the people who fight against this apocalyptic world, and I am a warrior amongst them.

Nobody wants to live like this. Nobody wants to live in this.

I pull a hand out of my pocket, bounding onto this concrete sidewalk, and push the door open, ignoring the annoying whine of the hinges. Looking behind me one last time to make sure I'm not followed, I shut the world away, forcing the door closed entirely, and survey the desolate area. There's a table propped up against the wall, and one of its legs is broken. The windows are boarded up, the curtains are torn and dusty, the kitchen sink has a thick layer of grime on it, and the stove has dishes piled upon it. But I'm not interested in any of that.

I see the red rug in the middle of the timber floor. Smirking slightly, I push it off and see the trapdoor I was searching for, and swiftly, I put my fingers around the metal ring, pulling. The trapdoor opens, easing upwards. I see the small foothold, and cautiously insert one foot, and then another into the one below it. Fumbling around for the rug I moved aside before hand, I pull it over the top of the trapdoor, closing it thereafter. The rug hides this passage again.

Slowly, I continue my descent. The passage is dark, but I make my way down anyway. I've been negligent the past few times, and missed the footings, thus falling down entirely; but I make sure to pay attention this time. Soon enough, I'm at the bottom. The ground is solid beneath my feet, as I walk down the tunnel behind me, watching as the pale, yellow lights become brighter the more I go down. The air is… cloggy down here. I mean, it was horrid up on the surface, entangled with thick smoke, but down here, it's only a little better.

Soon enough, I'm met with one of the people I wanted to see. He smiles at me, leaning against the archway to one of the rooms, and stops fiddling about with his black ponytail. I smile a little too, and he waves at me casually, "Hwoarang."

"Lei," I say, bowing my head slightly as a sign of respect. The man started this small resistance, after all.

I'm in this group, with him and a few others. He's the leader, and he's dubbed me his 'other leader', and we work out these operations together. He wants me to take charge when he's gone. We don't have a long, super cool name or anything because there's no use for one. If anything, it'd be harmful. We just call ourselves the 'Resistance', literally just that. Such a creative title, no? Anyway. We're committed to bringing down the tyrant who has brought about all of this ghastly destruction upon the world – not just Tokyo, which is where I am; nor Japan, the whole world. He's got the whole world dancing for him at the ends of his fingers, and he can either pull the world towards him, or push it over the edge.

We want to fall, so we'll be free. Not to our deaths, but to our redemption. Because we can start again, then. We can build a new and better Earth, free of his tyranny. If he pulls the world towards him, then we'll all become like him, and we don't want that. The majority of the human race obeys his every command, fearful that if they don't, they will kill him. And I don't blame them, but I was raised by a good man who taught me to fight for what I believe in, and fight I shall.

I wince slightly at the memory. I had just returned from the site of the man's death. It was a painful experience.

"Do you know what happened?" he asks, looking to the floor. He was inquiring about my search.

"Mm… he was shot to death, about twenty minutes away from here. They left him by the side of the road. Didn't find anything on him that could help us fight against the Empire though. It was a death that shouldn't have happened…"

He nods a little, "Baek was an honourable man."

"Yeah."

"Just don't shut the world away this time, alright?" he stands, moving towards me, and pats me on the shoulder, "Baek wouldn't want that. When you first came here, you were so hesitant and unsure. You shut us all off, even him at one stage, but once you realised exactly what we were doing here and all, you came around. Stay with us, we'll look after you. You may be twenty-five, but you're still like a kid to me, even if you are one of the oldest."

I nod again, accepting his comfort, and pass him, seeing our stash of food. I move towards it, eager to pluck something from the bag, and satisfy my hunger. This house above us, it once belonged to one of our members' fathers – she insists that it's her house, but Asuka's what, twenty-one? Too young to be owning a house, in my opinion. Anyway, he had a secret basement, and along with Lei Wulong, he started The Resistance, using the basement as our base. He was soon killed for attempting to assassinate our target far too early. Lei's been looking after us all since then.

Marshall and Forrest Law joined too, in the early days. They were killed. Ling Xiaoyu joined as well, around the same time, and she was driven to insanity, eventually killing herself. That kid thoroughly believed that she could save him. The only way to 'save' him is to kill him, and she just… refused to accept that, you know? Poor girl. Her friend, Miharu, joined with her, and found her in the house, hanging from the ceiling. Was really disturbing. Miharu is still with us, but she's changed so much. She used to be so headstrong and confident. Now she's silent and wants to be with her Mother, Father and brother. Sadly, she doesn't know where they are.

Miharu's only one of seven. Me, Lei and Asuka are another three. So this leaves… Miguel, Lili and Lars. Miguel joined The Resistance as soon as he heard about it in the underground, swearing revenge for his sister's sake. She was going to get married, and on her wedding day a few years back, she was killed by the tyrant's air strikes. He's thirsted for blood since. I don't really talk to him much. I mean, we have a common goal but otherwise, he just bugs me. I'm usually hanging around with Lei, Asuka and Miharu. Sometimes Lars too, but our friendship is more on a formal, respecting basis.

Lili's this… prissy blonde, all the way from Monaco. She's the youngest of us, at a mere twenty, and she packs a hell of a punch – I should know. She wants to get rid of the tyrant to help her Father rebuild his oil company, who is – or was – an ally of the Empire. I say good luck to her but, another ally is another ally. And last but not least, Lars. He's our current strongest link. See, he actually works for the Empire, as the leader of his forces. Pretty soon, we're gonna conduct a mission, hopefully bringing it down from the inside via Lars. He's a pretty cool guy, really nice and level-headed. He had a robotic friend called Alisa, whom he tried to have repaired after the sixth tournament. Sadly, the tyrant killed the only two guys who could have fixed her. He's been a silent mess ever since.

There were others too, but I didn't know their names. They died in the most recent attack, but I couldn't find their bodies. I only found Baek, who had been running from the area. There was another guy, he was about my age, just a bit younger. He had dark blue hair and was also Korean, but he hated fighting. I asked him once why he was fighting. He said because he couldn't stand seeing everyone this way. He was a sweet kid, it's a shame he died. He was too trusting. Until proven the enemy, everyone was his friend; and that was his downfall. He joined with another girl, she had fucking gorgeous green eyes, I swear to God. Very, very quiet girl.

There was another person who looked like her, with blue eyes though, and a totally different accent. Was just coincidence that they looked the same. Where as she had green eyes and had an unidentifiable accent with her English, this one was undoubtedly west-coast American, and was rebelling against the world for her sick sister's death. The hospital was bombed, or so she said. She was with a male friend, who had black hair and looked Korean too, but I wasn't so sure. He had a wicked scar though. There were more, heaps more, but they were the most recent who died, which is a shame. But they died doing the right thing, and they have my respect for that.

"There's nothing much there," Asuka says, disturbing me from my thoughts. She walks past Lei.

I grab a red apple, which is the only appetizing thing there, "Yeah, I know."

"I'm sorry about Baek."

"It's not your fault, so don't apologise."

She nods, placing a small hand on my right shoulder, and rests her head on my left one in a comforting manner. I shrug her off, but tell her that I appreciate her support, before wandering over to the wooden chair next to the foot pile. It's backwards, I note as I sit, but I don't necessarily care. Lazily placing my arms over the back of it, I watch as Asuka turns her attention back to Lei, speaking, "We're all ready for tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah," he answers, "Lars is just sleeping at the moment. Best not to wake him. He already knows about our new asset."

"New asset?" I pipe up, mouth full of food, "You mean like, we've got a new type of gun or something?"

"Not quite," Lei says. He looks to his right, where more people are coming. I see Lili and Miguel entering together (as always), and I see Miharu trailing behind them, her head down and her hair forward. After they're all in the room, our leader clears his throat again, "There's a new member of The Resistance, guys. She's twenty-four, and comes from America. She hates the tyrant as much as we do, and will stop at nothing to bring him down. Don't let her sweet nature fool you."

I bite my apple, eyebrows flying up as you enter the room. You're wearing a jean skirt that comes to the middle of your thighs, and a plain, white tank top that comes just above your belly button. Your hair is plaited, falling down to your sides, and you have small, light brown gloves on. And you look damn good, but there's something about your face that disturbs me. You're sad, you're upset. But you're resilient, because you want to keep going through this terrible time. What has hurt you so?

I'm too lost in my thoughts. I don't even catch your name, even though I've met you before – we all have, in the old tournaments - but you bow to us all and say that you are glad you found us. We all bow back, or wave lazily in my case, and return to whatever the hell we were doing before hand – eating, for me. My eyes are still locked onto you, as I take another bite of the apple. You look at me for a moment, that lazy, blank look on your face, before turning away, refocussing your attention onto Lei, who is briefing you of our current situation, and telling you about tomorrow's attack.

He soon leaves, saying that he needed to use the bathroom, leaving the two of us alone in the area. You timidly stalk towards the food pile, ignoring my piercing gaze, and go pilfering through it, hoping to find something good to eat. I speak, despite myself, "Nothing decent in there, sweetheart. Best thing in there was this apple."

"And you had to eat it for yourself, of course," you reply absently.

I hold out the half-eaten apple with a lopsided grin, "You can have the rest if you want."

"I don't even know where that mouth has been," you snit.

"Hasn't been around a vagina in ages, if that's what you were wondering," I answer, amused.

You sit up straighter, eyebrows furrowed, one hand on your hip, the other hand holding a small amount of food, "I don't need to know that."

"Looks like you could use some nuts, if you know what I mean," I jest, flicking my head towards the food in your hand, "They're not a good enough substitute."

You look to your hand for a moment, and the pieces click. Your cheeks burn, and you clench your hand around the food you have, but I can see amusement glitter in your eyes, "You filthy, filthy pervert. Get your mind out of the gutter."

"You love it," I take another bite out of the apple. While munching on the piece in my mouth, you turn back to the food pile, rummaging about for anything else aside from nuts and seeds that interest you. Bored and guilty, I throw the red apple in my hand at you, and with lightning reflexes and surprise, you catch it, looking at it in your hand. You look at me as I sit up and wander towards you, "I was serious when I said you could have it."

You look at it for a moment, before wincing and taking a bite out of it yourself. Nodding appreciatively, you put half of the nuts back into the bag, and look to me, swallowing the piece of food in your mouth before speaking, "We've met in the tournament, numerous times. In the Third Tournament, you had a purple shirt on. In the Fourth, you had run out on the army, and had this stupidly short hair –"

"Don't remind me, woman," I snide, palming my forehead.

"- And in the Fifth and Sixth, you look pretty much the same as you do now. But I must ask, seeing as we're going to be working side by side, what is your name?" You furrow your eyebrows, looking down to the ground and at our shoes, afraid to meet my gaze, shutting me and the rest of the world out from you. I can sense your pain, its emitting so strongly, but I wonder if you know that the world can feel your anger and your hate.

"Hwoarang," I say, "Like, Hwa-rang."

You smirk, "I see. Nice to meet you, Hwa-rang."

I reach out a hand and ruffle your hair teasingly, "Nice to meet you too. Your name is?"

"Julia," you say, grabbing my wrist, taking my hand away from your head – but I realise that you don't let go, "Like, Ju-lee-a."

I curl my fingers around yours, igniting more colour in your face when you realise what we're doing. Your name rolls off my tongue with ease, even as you slip your fingers away from mine, but I can see in your metal-coloured eyes that you liked the touch. I smirk like you did, placing my hand back in my pocket, "Julia."

END

Author's Note: THERE IS YOUR MYSTERY LADY. IT WAS JULIA. ALSO, WHYYY DID I ACTUALLY GET THIS ONE DONE BEFORE "NO TOMORROW" THAT I WROTE AND BEGAN FIRST? –face wall- Because it was too much fun, that's why :3 I just really wanted to thank you guys for reading (and to those who have reviewed, too!), it means a lot to me. A lot of you guys who have followed me since the start have said that this is one of my stronger works, and I'm inclined to agree – honestly I feel that this is the best piece of work I've produced so far, by far in a way.

It's very short compared to what I usually write, but as some of you have already guessed, this entire story was spawned when Breaking Benjamin released their tenth single entitled "I Will Not Bow" (from their fourth album entitled "Dear Agony"). Seriously, I was so stoked/hyped for this song, and when I heard it I was like "…well fuck". The bare bones of this fic came into place merely because of the LYRICS of this song (and if you notice the chapter titles when you jump between them, it's the chorus' lyrics :3). I listened to it one more time, and I had every single detail fleshed out. So basically, this whole fic was thought up and expanded upon in about seven minutes. Which is ridiculous imho, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Only one major thank you this time, but it's for a damn good reason, and I'm not being unthankful to anybody, but I really want to say this (again). I want to again thank TeaC0sy for sticking by me like glue and freaking the fuck out whenever this fic got updated. It means a lot to me that after all of this time (Nov 2007 – now. Kid, I've known you for over three years now, sheeeeet XD), watched my writing progress and my voice and so on and so forth. I dunno where the hell I'd be without you here, but I certainly know that I would not be trying this hard. I miss you like crazy sis, you need to lmap Bakky og stuf onto my MSNM when you can.

You guys, you know that her fic "Jayu" needs a lot more love, right? So go love it, because, we were thinking about collaborating on it for ages, but she really really reallyreallyreally wanted to do it, so I just told her to go do it (plz finish it soon? D:!), so then this was born as a consequence (because I liked the mood/idea a lot myself). Go give it love like you love me. And, also lastly, and she'll likely smack me across the face with Micky Yoochun for saying this, but…

TeaC0sy, this was for you. To you, I dedicate "I Will Now Bow". For all of your love.

And I can't forget the rest of you guys, so, many thanks to: AmberAnodyne (AMBABABA, DON'T FEEL LEFT OUT OF THE BIG FAT THANK YOU'S, YOU'LL GET MORE DW, I miss you and less than threeeeee and thank you!), Thunderxtw (your ass, on messenger, now pl0x, miss you!), HOIME G (thanks!), Dollsi, SeungSeiRan, Temptation Of Lacuna, lazyguy90 (I love your penname XD), Darial Kuznetsova, Nadia Blackrose, P.O.J.A. (thanks, you!), Sage Pagan (I AM NOT WORTHY HEART HEART HEART), AngelEyes87, hplo, Hunty, Another-of-Me, spongecake 2 (hey ho, thanks for the reviews. You cannot has your greetings back!), storytime, hwoarangfan2011, I Am A Legion, Anonymous, reviewer without a name, Ghostkerchief, Erinnyes (all hail me? Lol. I'm not a God, but your comment was adorable XD), Toxic City (cheers, dude!), and last but not least, Dechuu (thanks bb!).

Now for those of you who were as confused as all hell about this story and have not worked it out yet, all I can say is that I strongly, strongly encourage you to read it again, particularly now that it is complete as it will make a heap more sense… Read the story backwards. Because that is the real story there. Anyway, thanks again, guys!