A/N: Next chapter! Enjoy!

Liesel wrapped her hands around her bare arms.

Goosebumps cold as ice covered her skin all over.

Her skirt floated around her thighs. Her blouse, white as milk, puffed around the shoulders.

Her hair was tied into a pony tale. Pulled back and set high.

Already two years, though Liesel. Where did the time fly?

The small murmurs downstairs caught Liesel's attention. She could tell the police were downstairs speaking with the Hermanns.

She picked up the corners of her skirt and rushed out of the room and down the stairwell to hear the conversation.

"Now I assure you, sir, you are in good hands," said the officer. The Hermanns and the officer were speaking right beside of the door. Liesel knew by then that she had missed most of the conversation. "Just give us a call and we will be right here," he said. "And please be careful with the-"

The mayor nodded curtly. "I understand. It will be in a safe place."

What will be in a safe place? Liesel thought.

He shook hands with the mayor and nodded to Ilsa and proceeded out the door. A cold rush came in from outside and into the house.

The mayor turned around and looked at Liesel. "Are you sure we want her to be going outside this evening, Ilsa?" he asked. His face looked tired and his eyes were sunken around the corners.

Ilsa sighed but exchanged a look with him. "You do know that it is safer than being here, right?"

Liesel gripped the bars of the stairwell. She looked at the clock- Rudy was due five minutes ago. "What's wrong?"

Ilsa stammered. "It's nothing- it's just we have to be careful for the next couple of days."

Liesel frowned. "Why? Is there an update on the burglar?"

"No," said the mayor, clearly lying. "The police just informed us to call them if there was an emergency."

"Okay, but-"

There was a sudden knock on the door.

The tension in Liesel slowly drifted away.

The mayor walked back into his study. Ilsa looked at Liesel and nodded. "Don't be out too late, alright?"

Liesel nodded. "Okay."

"This place again?" exclaimed Liesel.

"What?" said Rudy. "Last time we had so much fun. I figured we'd do it again."

The smell of buttered popcorn danced into Liesel's nostrils. The sound of cheerful music brought back memories from the last time they were here.

Munich's Carnival.

"Aren't the lights so pretty," asked Liesel.

"Yeah, yeah," answered Rudy. "Come on, Saumensch. Our anniversary doesn't last for days."

Things didn't go as differently from last time. The environment was so joyful that it was contagious to both Liesel and Rudy. The loud noises, the music, the games, and the rides- could be summed up into an event known as the "time of their lives."

Rudy was dressed up in a casual attire. Dress pants and a plaid t-shirt that Liesel and seen him where a hundred times.

"Wait, hold up a minute," Rudy had said. "You bought a new outfit just for this day?"

Liesel's cheeks had turned red. "Well, I thought you were going to take me somewhere fancy downtown."

Rudy had erupted into laughter. Liesel kicked him in the shin lightly. "I'm not that good, Liesel. You know I'm not."

The evening eventually boiled down to both of them sitting on the outskirts of the fair- where the sounds and lights had died off- where the feel of central Munich had come back.

Both of them were tired from all the fun. 16 years old and still not too old to be at the fair having the time of their lives.

"I saw Kirsti yesterday," said Liesel. She tuned to look at Rudy, his expression didn't change. "She said she got into Humboldt."

Rudy drew in a strand of the air through his nose. "I heard," he admitted. "And I wanted to talk to you about something-"

Liesel cut him off. "I know you're not going to Humboldt this yeat but did you get accepted?"

And when Rudy looked at Liesel, she could see that his pupils had dilated. His blue eyes had frozen. "I did," he announced. He placed his hand on Liesel's and said, "and," he said slowly," I've decided to go this fall instead."

Liesel drew her hand from the touch of his. "What?"

Rudy dropped his eye contact with Liesel. "I'm so sorry."

A gallons worth of anger started to boil inside Liesel. Her palms started to shake. "What do you mean you're going?" she demanded.

"Listen please, Liesel. I know you're mad but I have something else to say-"

"What do you mean?" Liesel stood up from where she was sitting and looked directly at Rudy. "You know how much you and I meant to each other! You know that! That's why we made plans to stay with each other."

Rudy shook his head. "No," he said- his voice rising. "No, I made plans to stay! You-" he stood up to face Liesel, "you went on with your life and I was the one who had to compromise my future!"

Liesel clenched her fist. "I," she said. "I could have gone to college somewhere further as well! But I stayed as close as I could for you, Saukerl!"

"But that's what's different," said Rudy. "You at least want to do that program in the city. I don't want to stay home every damn day and watch my future slip away."

Liesel took a step back from him. "Wait," she said. "So you lied about having financial problem about going to Humboldt?"

Rudy sighed. The anger in his eyes disappeared. "I didn't know what else to do." Rudy said sadly. "And after I heard about all you're plans for your future I realized that that I have some for mine too. And I wasn't going to walk away from them-"

"You're cheap," Liesel announced. Her voice was cold and her tone was menacing. "You promised me-"

"I didn't promise you," he shot back. "And, I said I was sorry but please I need to ask you something."

"No," Liesel told him. She felt tears in the sockets of her eyes. "No, you don't- I don't want you too-"

"I bet you will go back running to that Theo Dietrich, right?"

Liesel looked up at him. "Excuse-me?"

Rudy scoffed. "You really believe he's your friend, Liesel? Has it ever even occurred to you that maybe that a person who lives in a tree might be the one to steal prestigious books for money?!"

It was as if an inflated balloon in Liesel had popped with a small needle. She searched her mind for words to say to the boy whom she trusted for years- the boy who she called her best friend and the boy she loved.

But she couldn't. No, not after that.

"I mean," Rudy went on, "I didn't want to say anything to you but-"

"NO!"Liesel yelled. She felt her cheeks burn. Her heart hurt hurt with every word she said. "You will say nothing more to me, you understand?" She looked Rudy straight in the eye and said, "How dare you accuse him when he has been nothing but there for me?"

Rudy stood still, mouth open.

"Do you have anything to say to that?"

He was speechless.

"I thought not. Go to Humboldt. I don't care," she told him. "I have nothing else to say to you."

With that said, Liesel turned around and walked home with her heart aching.

Liesel could sense something wrong even from one mile away.

Her legs were heavy- too heavy to drag across the dark and empty streets of the town.

Playing back memories from what had just happened, she got home quicker than she had expected.

At first Liesel was ready to proceed into the door of the house when she remembered that Theo was sitting guard outside of the library door. She was about to call out to him when she saw three police officers dressed in black near the window- each of them holding guns in their hands.

"Liesel!" someone called out to her. She turned around to see Ilsa and the mayor with an alarmed looking pasted on their face at the far end of the house. The police officer that she had seen earlier in the day was standing in front of them.

"Liesel!" Ilsa yelled again. "Come over here!"

Liesel looked around once again. Where was Theo? What was going on?

She jogged over to the mayor and Ilsa, her vision was sharp and her heart was racing inside of her. "What's going on?" she demanded.

Ilsa looked at Liesel with a terrorized face. "The thief,"she breathed, "we heard someone inside of out house again and we called the cops. They are waiting for the thief to show."

Liesel looked around the house frantically. Where was Theo? Maybe he left before the intrusion. Or maybe he ran away?

"Did you see a boy about my age around the house, officer?" Liesel asked.

The officer quickly looked back at her. He was writing something on a pad of paper. "No," he answered. He looked back at the house. "Oh, it looks like they are going in."

Liesel could see the police officers climb into the library window and enter the house.

As soon as all three of them were in, Liesel heard a gun shot.

And then another one.

Ilsa screamed.

There was a loud wail of an officer inside the house.

The officer in front of them froze in place. He dropped his pad of paper.

A minute later the front door of the house opened up and what Liesel saw would change her life forever:

Liesel saw him running out of the house at full speed. His dark curly hair was in the wind, blowing all over his face. His face looked red and his eyes were scared.

She could hear the polizei yelling, yelling something that she could not decipher.

And before she knew it she was running towards him, running towards Theo with her hands out- yelling for him. She didn't know what was going on.

A cold hand gripped around arm pulling her back. She tried struggling from the grip, but it she was locked in a tight grip.

But it was too late anyway.

Another gun shot was fired from the two police officers chasing Theo.

Liesel could tell she was screaming from the pain in her ears but she couldn't hear herself anyway.

Theo eyes locked with Liesel's one last time- his soft, pale, green eyes before before the bullet entered his head.

Blood splattered as he fell face first onto the ground- dead for sure.

A/N: Is this what you have been waiting for? I have been dying to write this chapter for months! Please review your thoughts on this chapter and have a Happy New Year! I want to thank every single reader who has supported me through out this year! Sadly, the next chapter will ultimately be the last and I am to sad to be departing from this. But, until that is posted (which will be in the next couple days) enjoy this chapter and please review!

Emma