Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally or any characters I didn't make up.

Previously…

"He's… dead, Austin," Cassidy sobbed.

Austin looked around him to find a stable spot to focus on, but he saw double and the room was spinning around him. He couldn't even hear their words. He felt his back hit the wall.

"I-I can't understand you guys," he finally said in complete confusion.

He drew in deep breaths to try to get some air in his lungs, but he wasn't successful. He started panting and sweating as his mom begged, "Austin, please calm down."

He couldn't hear her. His senses seemed to have stopped working in that moment. He felt his legs involuntary drag him up the stairs in a dizzy, heaving mess. He held onto the wall of the swirling hallway to his childhood room which he burst into. He fell onto his hands and knees and tried to steady his breathing. He looked around him, but all he saw was the room spinning as his world crashed down around him.

This is not happening. This is not happening.

Ally sighed happily as she drove herself to the Moons' house. She missed them all and couldn't wait to see them, especially Austin.

Finding out his infertility couldn't be treated shocked her. She spent that night twisting and turning in disappointment, but she didn't let him know. She knew better than to made him feel bad for something he couldn't help. Besides, there were always other options.

Her phone started ringing, so she accepted the call and set it on speaker.

"Hey, Cass. I'm on my way right now."

"Ally," she heard Cassidy sob. Her heart dropped, and she fearfully asked, "Cassidy, what's wrong?"

"Please… hurry… Austin. He's out of control," Cassidy cried.

A million scenarios rushed to her mind and she sped up, "I'll be there."

She hoped that Austin wasn't attacking Mike again. She hoped that he controlled his anger and kept his hands to himself until breakfast was over at least. All she could imagine was Mike ending up bloody on the floor and Austin with a bloody fist standing over him.

Goddammit, Austin.

She parked her car in front of the house just as she saw Elliot get out of his car, equally flustered. He ran up to her and quickly asked, "You got the same call I got?"

She nodded and they ran to the front door together. Opening it without knocking, they hurried to the living room where they found Mimi and Cassidy crying. Elliot held his girlfriend in worry as Ally questioned, "Where is he?"

A crash upstairs answered her. She found herself at the doorway to his old room in a heartbeat. Broken frames, a flipped over desk, holes in the wall, and more decorated the room. She quietly made her way to the bathroom where she found Austin leaning over the sink and white-knuckling it.

He looking into the mirror, and the biggest amount of disgust and hate Ally's ever seen took over his face before he punched the mirror.

"Austin!" she exclaimed. He ignored her and walked past her. He picked up a fallen frame and hurled it at the wall. "Of course, he leaves us!" he shouted, "He just has to hurt us!"

Mike left?Ally wondered.

"He comes here for two years, get close to us, and then strikes again! How did I ever believe he changed?!"

"Austin!" she tried again.

"I warned them! I warned them! But he made his way into my head and made me think I'd actually have a dad! This has been his plan the whole time!"

He punched the wall. This time, Ally ran in front of him yelling, "Austin!"

She wasn't successful. He still pushed over the bookshelf and threw any breakable object at the wall. Sometimes, Ally had to dodge.

"Austin, stop!"

She was scared now. She feared his next step was to take his anger out on her. She screamed when he threw a chair towards the wall she was standing in front of.

Elliot ran in and pinned him to the wall, "Austin, snap out of it!"

"Austin," Ally whimpered. He slowly started gaining control of his breathing again and looked around him to see the mess he created.

"W-What?" he dazedly asked. Elliot carefully let him go and backed away.

Everything that happened came rushing back to him. It didn't take long for him to remember. He's dead.

"Are you okay?" Ally asked as she made her way to him. "He's-He's gone, Ally."

"I'm so sorry," she pulled him into a hug, "I know you loved him."

Austin buried his face into her neck and let his tears out.

"This can't be happening," he whispered.

If he could choose to be anywhere else to be in, he would. He was sick of the fake 'I'm sorry's he was kept being told. He hated seeing people who haven't spoken to his dad in years cry about his death. He tried helping his mom through her grief, but there was only so much he could do when he himself busts out crying every time he looks at the coffin. The last straw was when his dad's other family showed up, a petite woman with her teenage son.

He felt suffocated in here. He needed some air. He made his way out of the sympathetic glances and meaningless hugs to the backyard.

The only good side from this was that he figured out what his nightmares made him feel. It wasn't sadness or relief; it was guilt.

He felt guilty for never listening to him, for never telling him the truth, for trying everything to ruin him, for never letting him in.

He felt like a horrible son.

"How are you holding up?" he heard his sister ask behind him. He turned around and shook his head.

"You know, I don't get it. You hated the man, and you suddenly love him after he died. A little too late, don't you think?"

"I know," he whispered.

"If you hadn't tried to expose him for his other family, he wouldn't have been distracted while driving, and he would still be alive."

"I know."

"I was right. You were the one ruining our lives, not him."

That broke him. He looked her in the eyes and snapped, "You would have been dead if it wasn't for me."

She scoffed, "Oh, yeah, I bet. A happy life with both of my parents is more like it."

"Oh, really? Because as I remember, I was the one there for you when he never was. I was the one to play his role because he was too much of a coward to do it. Maybe I was not the best son, but I was the only one."

"Austin?" Ally interrupted, "Are you okay?"

He looked at her and nodded. Cassidy walked back into the house as Ally came up to him. "I love you," she said. He merely nodded and stared at his shoes.

"I'm here for you," she continued. He nodded again. He rarely talked to her now, to anyone really. Just short answers if you were lucky. She heard him talking to his sister and hoped he'd talk to her, but as it seemed, he was still not ready.

I thought you hated Mike, but your reviews show otherwise. He'll be missed. This is probably the most depressing chapter I've ever written so far.

This story is coming to an end soon. Maybe 5 more chapters mostly.