A/N: Thanks for returning and continuing this! I've decided to go with the less bloody outcome. After this, there is only one more chapter and then a pretty long epilogue which I might cut into two parts. Should I post it here? Or as it's own little one shot/two shot. Let me know! Excuse any mistakes! I really wanted to get this out before the new year! I hope y'all have a Merry Christmas!

"Sam Glass."

Claire kept her gasp and worrying to herself. Since Myrnin wasn't here, she should have known that Oliver would go after the next person closest to Amelie. She was also a little shocked. She was sure Sam would have had the common sense to leave as Myrnin had.

Sam was escorted to the stage by two of Oliver's lackeys and flanked by them as he stood in front of Oliver. Claire thought that Oliver would use this time to gloat or try to humiliate Sam but was surprised when he got straight to the point.

"You can never come back here: you are exiled. Almost exactly as your lover had you before except that you may never set a foot in this town. If anyone ever sees your face after tonight they will kill you immediately or face the same punishment. Be gone before night falls tomorrow."

Sam looked angry but turned from Oliver. He knew when he was defeated and Claire felt so bad for him. Amelie, the love of his life, would remain in a place he could never return. This was the worst punishment for Sam and Oliver knew it. Without a word, Sam left the stage. Claire was confused when, instead of leaving, Sam made his way toward them until she saw him embrace Michael and whisper something to him that was too low for her to hear. Then, with that, he was gone.

The square was quiet for a while until Oliver clapped his hands together. "Who will be next?" Claire had to stop herself from rolling her eyes because she was sure he knew his list and knew exactly who would be next.

One by one, Oliver called up Amelie's biggest supporters and handed out punishments. Claire was surprised that the harshest had been Sam's exile. There were a few that were sentenced to jail for a year without feeding, a few sentenced to be injected with silver but not killed, and some other ones but no deaths or serious tortures. Claire was calming to the thought that maybe, maybe, what was coming for her and her friends wouldn't be so bad.

"And finally," Oliver's voice caught her attention. "the members of the Glass House." The fact that they were called as a group when no one else had been sent off an alarm in Claire's head but they were already being herded onto the stage before she could say a thing.

As calm as she tried to be, her heart started to race and the realization of what was about to happen hit her. She and her friends were about to be punished for being on the wrong-no, not wrong: losing- for being on the losing side of the war.

Glancing back quickly, she looked at Eve's parents who were holding her babies again as she headed to the stage. The trip up the stage felt like a journey of a thousand miles that ended with them being in a line shoulder to shoulder: Claire between Eve and Michael with Shane on the other side of Eve.

"Ah! The brave members of the Glass House. What should I do with you four?" Oliver chuckled as he moved to Shane's side. "I know! Let's start with Mr. Collins and Ms. Rosser." Claire felt Eve's hand gripping hers without realizing she had moved. Michael grabbed her other hand and Claire was sure Eve had Shane's. Oliver noticed. "Such solidarity. What a shame it is that I must split it up." He spoke this only to them before raising his voice.

"I'll offer you a choice and you can decide your fate. You two can either become creatures of the undead or…" Oliver turned an evil smile on them. "leave Morganville, never to come back-"

"Gladly!" Shane interrupted and Claire had to agree that it wasn't a punishment until Oliver continued.

"never see one another again."

There was a short silence which Eve broke it.

"What?"

"You heard me: become vampires or leave my town never to see the ones you love and cherish most ever again."

There was another pregnant silence.

"I'll do it." All heads snapped to Shane.

"Shane?" Eve asked.

"Sorry you guys. I can't become a vamp, you guys know that, and I want to live. Y'all know I love y'all but it's the only choice that I can live with."

"How touching." Oliver mocked. "Your choice Eve?"

Claire could see she was holding back tears as she thought. Finally , Eve sighed and looked down at the stage. "I'll do it too: I'll leave." She mumbled.

"Wonderful." Oliver said as he moved around them to Michael. "Ah, now Mr. Glass. What should I do with you?" Claire half-expected Oliver to banish him like he did with Sam so what he said next surprised her. "Your punishment will be a week of imprisonment with only the bare minimal of blood to keep you alive. Likewise, you can have no contact with your former housemates once they leave the borders of our town."

Claire saw the confusion in Michael's eyes but he wisely didn't comment. Claire, too, had realized just how simple and...relatively easy going this punishment was for one of Amelie's main followers/supporters. Yet from what she knew of Oliver there had to be more to it then prison and no contact. She couldn't contemplate any more because she realized that it was her turn.

"And finally, sweet little Claire who had such a big role in this war and in me winning." She hated how that sounded: it made her out to be a traitor. "I've decided that your punishment isn't much of a punishment: more like a reward." He paused but Claire kept quiet, holding her breath. "I will allow you and your children to leave Morganville." Claire waited for the rest but he said nothing so she looked at him, wide eyed.

"That's it?"

"That's it. You can take your children and spend the rest of your life elsewhere, although you can never see anyone here ever again."

Claire didn't know how to feel. She was getting everything she ever wanted for herself and the twins but losing the family she had made. She was still trying to digest this when Oliver resumed talking.

"These are your punishments. I will allow you one last night in each other's company but all three of you must be gone before night fall tomorrow. Mr. Glass will also be collected around that time for his punishment." They were then ushered off the stage.

The rest of the meeting was a blur for Claire. She couldn't focus on Oliver's speech but she was sure he was going on and on about things changing. Claire felt a pang of relief and guilt when she realized she wouldn't have to worry about this because she wouldn't be here...but Michael would. Looking up into the face of the guy she'd let herself fall in love with, although she knew it was foolish at the start, Claire felt the chill of sadness sweep through her. They were leaving Michael here all by himself. Sure he'd have some of the other people and vampires here to talk to, but they were like a family...no, they were a family. Feeling tears come, she grabbed his hand and, when he looked down, gave him a small smile. Upon seeing it, he squeezed hers and pulled her closer to him.

The ride home was quiet. Even Natalie and Nathan were silent from their seats in Shane's and Claire's laps. This changed as soon as they were in the house. The twins were sat on the living room floor to play and Eve was in tears almost instantly.

"I-I won't get to see them grow up! I-I-I won't get to see Claire run around after them and laugh! I won't get to see whatever girl is weird enough to marry Shane and to see the kids they have. I-I-..." She was balling by this time and so was Claire as she moved to comfort Eve in a hug. Michael and Shane followed and they stood there hugging and crying: the girls a lot and the guys trying to hold it together but ultimately failing.

When the tears eventually dried up, Shane pulled away. "Instead of crying like some wusses, let's have some fun our last night together." They pulled away and laughed and decided that was better.

Much like the night before, there were many laughs and jokes in the room. Shane and Michael played video games, Claire fixed dinner, and Eve focused on spending as much time as she could with her niece and nephew. As the night drew to a close, the dark cloud hanging above them got darker.

"I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow." Eve said.

"Me neither. I always thought that if-when we escaped this hell hole it would be together."

"I did too, Shane, but now we'll never see each other again." Claire said.

"It's sad but it's for the better. The alternative was Shane and Eve becoming vamps and your children growing up in this God forsaken town. Compared to those, it's a small price to pay." Everyone looked at Michael, surprised, as he continued. "We all love each other so much and have so many good memories together. This may be goodbye but we won't forget each other and we're smart enough to find some way to keep in contact somehow."

Tears had gathered in Claire's eyes as he spoke. "How can you be so optimistic or sure of that? Y'all are the family I never had, the types of friends people dream of, and we're being forced to part. I don't want to be separated. I love you guys so much."

"None of us do but we have no choice. Michael's right: we'll find a way. If anyone can find a loophole, it us." That got them all to laugh. "Look you guys, we still have tomorrow: let's save our sappy goodbyes and tears til then, okay?" They agreed. "Well, I'm going to go enjoy my room and pack."

"Night Shane."

As he made his way up the stairs, Eve glanced back in the living room. "If you don't mind, I'd like to keep the twins for the rest of the night."

Claire nodded. "Of course."

Eve vanished into the front room, leaving Claire and Michael alone.

"Would you like to-"

"Do you want to-"

They said at the same time before laughing. Michael grabbed her hand. "I would love to spend a few hours of our final time together with you." She smiled.

A little bit later, she found herself cuddling against him in his bed, fully clothed. They'd been like this since they entered his room and Claire didn't mind whatsoever. The quiet and his presence was peaceful. With his hand running up and down her back and his face pressed into her hair, Claire could almost forget about their split tomorrow. They'd been together for almost two and a half months and Claire was both sad and angry that they wouldn't be able to explore their love to it's fullest potential. She loved him and although she wasn't sure if it would have worked out (due to his vampirism) but she would have liked to see it play out.

Even if they hadn't been meant to be, they were still friends. She'd known him for more than two years, gone through so much with him that those two years felt like a lifetime, and he was one of her closest friends. Her sadness and anger gained a new friend: guilt. They were friends and she was leaving him all alone to deal with Oliver. They were leaving him. Her guilt knew no bounds. She was doing what was best for her kids but Michael...Feeling tears threaten yet again, Claire turned and buried her head into his chest.

"What's wrong?" He asked softly at the sudden movement to which she shook her head. He turned to look at her face but she hid it deeper in his chance. "Please tell me. I don't want you to be thinking of something upsetting that I can help with." He felt her take a deep breath.

"I feel so guilty." She breathed so softly that he wouldn't have heard it if he wasn't a vampire. Shocked, he pulled away from her until he could see her face. Tears were slowly making their way down her face while she avoided his eyes.

"Guilty? Why?"

"We're leaving you here! We all get to leave this horrible town, find new places to live, meet new people, and start over. You have to stay here with Oliver and some almost equally bad vampires and do it all by yourself. It's not fair!"

"Life is never fair, sweetheart. We have to live with the cards dealt to us."

"I know. It just sucks that I got this and you didn't. Not to mention that our friendship and relationship are abruptly ending."

He pulled her closer and kissed her forehead. "I know. Although us being together came as a surprise, I'm happy for the time we got to spend together. We loved each other and not everyone gets to experience that so even though it's ending prematurely, we're lucky. I'm lucky to have had such a wonderful, brilliant, and beautiful girl love me and want to be with me."

Claire was moved to tears but these were happy ones. "And I'm lucky to have had a talented, amazing, and downright sexy guy to love and want to be with me...and I'm talking about you too, not just Shane." She giggled and he laughed too before giving her one of his breathtaking smiles and kissing her. She smiled for a bit before it dimmed. "You meant a lot to me even before we started dating. You're one of my closest friends. I don't know what I'm going to do without you. Without Eve! Without Shane."

"Live." She looked into his eyes and saw him staring at her intently. "You're going to live as we all will: as we all should. It'll hurt for a while but we just have to keep going. Someone once told me: it's always darkest before the dawn."

"Well, it's going to be a very Black Dawn."

Michael chuckled a little. "I guess."

She settled back next to him, noticing how much better she felt. "Thanks for that."

"You're welcome." He stroked her face once more before placing his lips over hers.

A/N: Thanks again for sticking with me. It means a lot! Just one more chapter and the epilogue to go!

R&R Please!
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