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"Damn...I'm impressed..."

Alfred listened as Gilbert's body hit the floor. An explosion of guilt filled his core. It nauseated him to the point where he was sure he would vomit.

The blonde slowly opened his eyes to find the demon clutching at his borrowed body's chest. Dark crimson blood was already leaking through and staining his even paler fingers. The black in his eyes was slowly retreating as it began to reveal Gilbert's red eyes once more.

"I must say...I didn't think you had it in you, pig.I thought you'd let this useless human live. Especially...after I killed those other swine."

He paused to take in Alfred's somber expression. After noting the pained look in his eye, the demon began to laugh one more time. However, he stopped short as he coughed up more of Gilbert's blood.

The demon removed the hand he had used to cover his mouth, eyeing the red liquid. "Heh...looks like your friend doesn't have much time. Guess its time for me to leave." He then narrowed his eyes dangerously at Alfred, a sinister smirk spread across his mouth. "I'll be back for you. Don't worry."

And with that, Gilbert's eyes closed and his body fell limply to the floor.

Alfred raced over, grasping at Gilbert's shoulders. "Gilbert! Come on. Come back. I know you're still alive!" He then glanced in Arthur's direction where the man seemed to be frozen from the night's events. "Call an ambulance! We can still save him!"

Without another thought, Alfred immersed himself in the task of CPR. He had to get his friend back. Gilbert couldn't die like this. Especially not without proclaiming his "awesomeness" one last time. There was no way.

Eventually, Alfred seemed to notice he was the only one in the room making any semblance of a noise. Shouldn't Arthur be on the phone right now? Was he still too spooked to move?

"What the hell are you doing, Arthur? Why aren't you calling 911?"

No reply.

"Arthur!"

"...What have you done?"

Alfred paused.

"What are you talking about? I'm trying to keep Gilbert alive while you just sit there, and do nothing." He replied, becoming irrate at Arthur's odd question.

"What have you done?!"

The former teacher jumped at the repeated question. Arthur's tone had raised rather considerably. Was he losing it?

Alfred slowly turned his gaze to find Arthur now standing on the other side of the room, a terrified expression on his face. That of course was to be expected. But Alfred couldn't help but wonder why that look was directed towards him...

"Arthur? What are you doing? I asked you to call an ambulance! Why are you acting so weird?"

The elder blonde's eyes widened even further if possible. "D-do you not remember...what you have done?"

"For Christ's sake! Just spit it out! What the hell are you talking about?!"

There was a pause as Arthur seemed to try and gather himself. He slowly stepped forward a couple of feet, pointing at the piles of ash that had once been a part of their group. Remarkably it seemed the fire had gone out, giving them a perfect view of the remnants of the three.

"You killed them. You killed all of them." He said, pointing in Gilbert's direction as well.

Alfred could only shake his head in shock. "No. The demon did. Don't go blaming me for trying to save your ass! You're the one who wanted to make a fucking deal with it!"

He watched as Arthur jumped at his raised tone. It took the Englishman a few moments to regain the courage to speak. And when he did, he only puzzled Alfred even further.

"Alfred? What are you talking about? What demon?"

Alfred could hear the fear building in the other man's voice. It was becoming so thick, he could feel it in the room.

It took him a moment to gather his thoughts. Was he really hearing Arthur right? How could his closest friend not remember this torturous past year?

When Alfred didn't reply, Arthur continued.

"We-we were worried about you...Kiku was the one who decided to meet over at my house...I...I knew you weren't well...b-b-but this..." He slowly trained his eyes back on Alfred. Now it seemed he had pity mixed in with the anxiety on his face. "I wanted to help you...I didn't think you'd get out of there..."

"G-get out of where? You mean the hospital? I wasn't even hanging that long. You found me soon enough...of course I would be fine..." He was unsure of whether or not he wanted to address the other statements thrown at him. Now Alfred was becoming afraid. Had Arthur totally lost it? What was all this crazy talk he was spewing now?

Arthur's eyes narrowed some. Now confusion was added into the mix of emotions he could read on the man's face. "You really don't remember any of it? You were in the psych ward. We had you committed..."

"Yeah! Because of the demon! You guys got me out though so you could do that 'exorcism' thing."

"No. That never happened...We put you in there because we were worried about you. You were angry and-"

"NO! That isn't what happened! Are you even listening to yourself right now?! Do you know how insane you sound?! I was possessed by a demon! You got it out when I tried to hang myself, and then it went into Gilbert! So you tried to save him by sacrificing yourself! Don't you remember anything?!"

"Alfred..." Arthur began as he shook his head in a solemn manner. "None of that happened. You began killing your students, so to save you from the death penalty, we convinced you to stay in that asylum. We all came to visit you regularly, the five of us. But...we began to notice you weren't doing well there. W...We met here tonight to talk about moving you elsewhere...b-but you got out...You killed them all..."

This couldn't be true. He had to be dreaming. There was no way four of his friends were dead, and the fifth one was accusing them of their deaths.

But just as he was beginning to speak once more, flashes of images began to bombard his mind.

So much blood...

So many bodies...

So...much...

Enjoyment?

Was he honestly feeling pleasure at these bloody scenes? And this familiarity...Were these...memories?

"AGH!" His head began to throb with an unmeasurable amount of pain as everything seemed to swarm him at all once.

"This can't be true. This can't be true...This can't be true!"

There was no demon? No demon that had possessed him?

No...he was the demon...

Memories of past murders flooded his mind. The awful things he had done. He began to remember his time in the asylum, plotting his escape, and revenge. He hadn't wanted to plead insanity. He had welcomed his sentence to death. It was a fitting end for such a life. Like closing a circle of death he had caused...

And those bastards had ruined that symmetry for him!

"Heh heh heh..." He finally released his grip on his head, slowly raising his gaze to Arthur. "I guess I just have to finish this with you then. Though, I guess I should thank you for helping me remember." The knife still clutched in his hand slowly raised, as did his body.

Arthur instinctively took a few steps backward. "Alfred...you don't have to do this...You don't have to kill me...I just want to help you..." That panicked look was back and it caused an immense amount of excitement for Alfred.

"Oh...but I think I do. You couldn't just let me have what I wanted, could you? Do you have any idea what they did to me in that place? Of course not. Because you were still living your comfortable life here at home. Hmm...maybe I should dope you up with drugs and strap you to the bed while I electrocute the shit out of your head to make you 'uncrazy'? Or maybe I'll strip you of every personaly thought by torturing you with so much pain, it'll downright almost kill you?" Alfred shook his head as he grinned maliciously at the one person he thought he could trust. "But I'm not in the mood to wait to see you die. I'll just cut you open, and see what your guts look like."

Before he could take another step, sirens could be heard, piercing the once quiet neihborhood.

Within an instant, the police were busting through the door.

"Oh thank God you're here..." Arthur said, some of the tension leaving his shoulders.

"Drop your weapon." One commanded, his gun pointed at Alfred.

"What if I don't?"

The officer seemed taken aback by the blonde's comment as he hesitated. "We'll shoot."

Alfred seemed to ponder that idea for a moment. But he quickly shook his head in utter refusal. "I don't think I like either of those choices to be honest with you. I have another..."

Arthur watched as the blonde raised the knife, and sliced across his neck. Blood instantly pored from the gash, but he continued to smile. He fell to his knees and the knife dropped from his hand.

"Call an ambulance!" Another man shouted, seemingly stunned by Alfred's performance.

Everything seemed to be a blur to Arthur as the officers raced about, trying to keep Alfred alive. He had lost so much in the span of a night. Everyone closest to him lay in his living room, dead. And he had failed to help the one person who had needed him most.

He sank to his knees, all of his strength gone.

"Hey! This one's still alive. Let's hurry and get him to a hospital."

Arthur's head jerked up to find that the paramedics had somehow arrived in his daze. They were now lifting Gilbert onto a gurney, and wheeling him towards the ambulance.

"G-Gilbert's...alive?" He heard himself ask.

"Oh. That's his name? Yeah. He should be fine. At least, that's what Jon was saying." A cop explained, gesturing in the direction of one of the paramedics. He then turned to face Arthur. "So...If you can just give me your statement, we'll finish up here, and be out of your hair sooner so you can go visit your friend once they get him fixed up."

Arthur nodded.

...

Seven Months Later...

Arthur sighed as he typed the last letter for his latest book.

"Done." He said, glancing at the computer screen before him.

"Well, its about time. The Great and Awesome me would've finished that book sooner." Gilbert taunted from behind him.

Arthur couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Gilbert, I'm not sure you should be making jokes like that. You know what this book is about..."

"Yes. I do. But, I also know the Alfred we knew wouldn't want us to be all depressing about his...end..."

Arthur shrugged, spinning around in his chair to face his friend. The albino had made a full recovery which was remarkable for how close to death he had been. "I guess you're right. I just wish things hadn't ended the way they did. Now everyone still thinks of him as a terrifying monster. I'm just hoping this book will help change their minds. Show them that he wasn't just a serial killer..."

"That, and they'll read about his freaky past. Anyway, I'm just glad you're finally writing again. Though, I don't see why the book couldn't have been about my awesomeness...but...whatever..."

"Anyway," Arthur began, "I'm sending it to my publisher right now. Why don't we head out for some lunch while I wait for her to respond?"

Gilbert nodded. "Sounds good. I'll go head to the car while you finish up here. Don't keep me waiting!" And with that, the albino left the room.

Arthur waited for the document to fully send before shutting his laptop. "There." He said, as he rose to his feet. He strode to his closet to grab a jacket. As he opened the door, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. His eyes quickly flew up to find the impossible.

There, Alfred's eyes met his, a sinister-looking scar spread across his throat.

"Al-Alfred?!"

"Goodbye...Arthur."

Arthur heard himself gasp. How was he standing before him right now? Hadn't he died? The hospital declared him legally dead upon arrival. So...how...?

"Alfred...how...what are you doing here?"

"Did you really think I was going to let you get away that easily? I'm not about to let you go on living when you've made my life a living hell. Nor will I let you release that stupid book." He then smirked at that last statement causing Arthur to become even more horrified by this man's presence. "I made sure to kill that bitch last night. Whoops. Guess your legacy won't be living on."

Arthur felt as he shoved the blade even deeper.

"Ngh...Wh-why? I...We just wanted to help you. Pl-please don't do this..."

"Hmm...I seem to remember begging you not to put me in that God-forsaken place. But did you listen to me? I don't think so. So, I guess my answer will be this."

Before he could register another thought, the knife was extracted from his stomach, into his neck.

"Arthur...you always made me sick. I couldn't stand the sight of you after you had me locked away. Have fun in hell."

Arthur could only sputter in response as more blood raced from his open wound. So this was it. In the end, he had underestimated Alfred, and now here he lay...

He listened as Alfred continued to laugh, mocking him. And then...everything went black...

"You couldn't think I'd be gone...

I'm never gone..."

And with that, he made his way out of the room. Ready to face the world again...

THE END

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Sooooo...who saw that one coming? MUAHAHAHA!

A lot of you had some awesome guesses, and I'm not gonna lie, I was almost going to go with yours AgiMeli. That was actually my original idea, but I thought this one would be a bigger surprise.

And I know its uber depressing and all, but I kind of wanted an ending that would stick with you, you know? Like one of those that's so immensely weird, that you're just like..."What the heck just happened?" I hope I accomplished that with this story, and I REALLY hope you guys enjoyed it!

I'm thinking about making another chapter with an alternate ending, but I'm not sure yet.

Anyway, let me know what you think, guys! And thank you all for your amazing reviews! YOU'RE AWESOME! =P