You guys must totally think that I fell off the edge of the Earth! I know it's been a few months since my last chapter.. which is terrible of me seeing how I left you at the climax of the story. My bad. I had this chapter written, but I was without a computer for a good long while and then I started summer school which is trying to drain my last ounces of sanity. *sigh... why can't life just slow its roll? I know you're like... excuses... excuses.. so I will get on with it. Here is the final chapter of Crystal Claire. Enjoy!

Someone Has to Lose

"Hey, Jake."

"You sound tired, Quil."

"So do you."

"I heard about Claire. I'm sorry."

"So am I. What do I do, Jake? How can I let her die like that?"

"Quil, there's something you should know. I didn't want to tell you, but if you're having these conversations, you should know."

"What?"

"Renesmee's been dreaming. She's with Claire. They're always running from something, hiding.

"She's scared all the time, Quil. Wherever they are, she's in pain."

"Wh- how- Are you sure she's not just dreaming? She and Claire can't actually be together."

"Maybe not."

"Thanks for letting me know."

"I'm sorry you and her parents have this decision to make."

"Me too."

Claire

"I can't do this anymore, Renesmee!" I screamed as I slowed down my pace behind Renesmee. "What are we even running from?"

"I think you know," she said.

"Why are we always running from it? Getting caught can't be worse than hiding from it."

"Claire, if you get caught, it's over. You'll never seen your parents, never see Quil. You'll never wake up."

"Don't you get it, Renesmee? We're never going to wake up. We're just prolonging the inevitable." I knelt down and hugged my knees. "I can't run anymore."

"You can't give up, Claire. You need to fight. People wake up from comas all the time. We'll find a way out."

"How do you know that?"

"Why can't you just trust me?" Renesmee yelled.

"Because you're a monster!" I regretted the words, but I didn't retract them. "I know you're the good kind and won't hurt me or whatever. Doesn't change anything."

"You're so full of yourself, you know that? You think your blood is so desirable that it's all I think about when I'm with you? If you want to feel sorry for yourself, don't try to put that on me. If you're so intent on labeling me a monster, at least consider the fact that in the face of death, we are in the same place running from the same thing. Would that happen with a real monster? Bottom line, I plan to wake up, and you're going to be awake with me." I started drawing in the dirt. I was embarrassed for my outburst. She had been protecting me for how long and all I could do to repay her was remind her my sentiments of something that was really my problem, not hers. She was right. I was being so selfish when she had always put my needs before her own. She was here because of me, but never once threw that in my face. I looked up, about to apologize for my stupidity, when she held a finger to me to shut me up.

"It's here," she said. "We have to run. Now!" I scrambled up and obeyed her. I could hear the smoke chasing us. I knew we couldn't outrun it, but maybe we could confuse it to buy us some time.

"Hey!" I called to it. I began to run away from Renesmee, praying the black smoke preferred to kill the weaker, slower human.

"Claire!" she called

"Find a way out, Renesmee!" It was the best I could do to show her my gratitude for her sacrifice. I hoped she would tell Quil I loved him. Tell him I was okay and I wanted him to find someone so he wouldn't be lonely.

I hid behind a tree as the smoke passed me and headed the other way. I was sure the smoke couldn't see, so it was using some other sense to track us, which allowed us to evade it for so long. But it managed to corner me against the edge of the cliff that Renesmee and I sat on the first day we were here. I saw her. She had followed me.

"Claire, do you trust me?" The smoke was getting closer. I looked at her. She was peering down over the edge of the cliff. I hoped she wasn't thinking what I thought she was thinking.

"Yes," I said truthfully. She took my hand. Closer the smoke got, surrounding us as if it knew we had nowhere to go. At least neither of us would die alone.

"I'll see you on the other side, wherever that is," she said. With that, we took a leap together and plunged straight for the rocks and waves below.

My eyes opened. I found myself in a hospital bed hooked up to a beeping machine. My parents were asleep on a couple of chairs beside me.

"Welcome back." I turned my head to see Quil standing over me on the opposite side. "You gave us a scare."

"How long was I out?" He touched my cheek. I could see the tiredness and relief in his intense eyes.

"Just a minute." His smiled faded and he brought his forehead to mine. "Don't do that again, Claire. I told you were the only thing that could destroy me."

"I'll try." He kissed me softly.

"I should wake up your parents." Quil went over to them and tapped them on the shoulder. My dad put his glasses back on and hugged me.

"Hey, Princess. You have any dreams while you were sleeping?" I thought about it.

"If I did, I don't remember."

Quil

"Hey," I said as I knocked on April's door.

"Hi, Quil," she said putting down her book. I walked in uneasily.

"I wanted to come by and say good bye." She smiled.

"Your girlfriend woke up."

"Yeah."

"I'm so glad. She's a lucky girl."

"How's your heart?" I asked.

"It'll hold for now."

"I hope you get your new one." She crossed her fingers, her good luck mojo. "I wanted to say thanks. It was nice chatting it up with you. I think you kept me from losing my mind."

"You must really love her," she said. I nodded.

"I really do."

"I'm glad to have helped."

"You did." I glanced at the clock. "I should head back. We're taking her home today."

"Take care of her, Quil."

"I promise." I leaned over and kissed her forehead, a purely platonic one, but it felt right to give her that kind of gesture. "Bye, April."

"Good bye, Quil."

Claire
Knock knock. I was pretty sure they already knew I was here, but it was nice they didn't freak me out with it. It kept things at least a little normal.

"Hi, claire," a beautiful woman greeted me as she opened the door. I guessed that she was Renesmee's mother, but she looked my age. "I'm Bella." I returned her greeting and she led me inside.

"Is renesmee home?" I asked nervously.

"She's in her room." Bella led me through the house and knocked on her door.

"Come in," Renesmee answered. Bella let me open it and left.

"Hi, zrenesmee," I said.

"Hi, Claire," she greeted me. I was surprised yet relieved that she was so friendly despite my behavior towards her. She was sitting at her desk at the computer, a very normal thing to do, I admitted.

"I wanted to come by to thank you." She pointed to her bed and I took a seat. "I know what kinds of risks you took helping me. Heard you
even fell into a coma. I never would have done that for you." She nodded.

"You belong to Jacob's best friend. I wanted to help." I nodded in understanding.

"You're an amazing person, Renesmee. You had everyone against you. Your dad, Jacob, the pack, me. No one wanted your help, but you saved
my life! You're just.. So amazing. You're.." i thought for a second how to word it, "beyond human."

"Are you still worried.. about what I am?" she asked. I took my time in answering, making sure I was absolutely truthful.

"No," I was relieved to say. "I trust you." She smiled, relieved as well.

"I'm glad." So that was it. We became friends. "I heard you were really into dance," Renesmee cleverly brought up to break some potential silence. "I was actually thinkning about taking a class at the community college." She pulled out some booklets of the class schedules. I flipped through the ones she had dogeared.

"Ooh, salsa!" I exclaimed. "I didn't even know they had these kinds of dance classes."

"I'm trying to get Jacob to take one with me. Hey, do you want to take it together?" I got excited.

"How awesome would it be to see Jacob and Quil doing salsa?" We eneded up talking for hours from dance to high school to books, even a little about her and her family's lifestyle. It wasn't so bad once I realized their value of human life. I could feel that wall I had built up between us falling apart. She was like my kindred spirit. I couldn't believe I had been missing out on her friendship; she really was an incredible person.

Quil

I didn't know what happened between Ness and Claire, but he moment the two had woken up, they were inseparable. I mean, what kind of conversation would have made them so close? Jacob and I actually spent more time together because Claire and Ness would often go off on their own. In the end, it was what both of us wanted... her being close to Renesmee... but I couldn't tell you how much Jake and I resisted those damn dance classes. Jake and I had the coordination of a pile of mud. We still lost, of course. Damn.

Claire even convinced Ness to come out to the parties and barbecues. We couldn't even just simply visit Emily's house without Ness on Claire's arm. I didn't mind; she was alive and happy. They both were. Claire didn't even bother to ease Nessie in with everyone. She just dragged her out excited to everything there possibly was. Jacob was right though. Claire was the liason that allowed everyone to fully embrace Renesmee, even the parents with their kids.

"Quil!" Claire called as she burst into my house. "I got my scans back!" I came out of my room. Her smile said it all. I ran up to her and picked her up as I hugged and spun her around a few times before putting her down. "Though technically you can't say you're ever cured of cancer, so I have to go back for checkups and stuff like every week or so, but still!" I kissed her long and hard. I got her back. My Claire was back. I pulled back and just held her close, and then heard Jacob's door room open.

"Ness! I'm not sick!" she exclaimed loudly and ran to hug her friend.

"That's so great, Claire!" They jumped in circles as they hugged. Then Jacob hugged her.

"Glad to have you back, kid."

"So, we have to celebrate," Renesmee pointed out.

"Oh, I know! I'll try to get my parents to do something. We'll plan it!"

"Can we have seafood? I'm discovering a new love for seafood."

"I love those cocktail shrimp and the sauce."

"My grandpa likes to fish a lot. Maybe we can send him and Billy on a retreat..." I leaned over to Jacob who was standing beside me with his arms crossed as we both watched the girls slowly forget that we were here.

"Think this is a good time to tell them those dance classes got cancelled?" I said out of the corner of my mouth. He smiled at the news.

"This day just keeps getting better."

THE END

So... There is the long awaited final chapter of Crystal Claire. Thank you so much for everyone who commented. You guys make me smile. I love writing for you guys! Thanks for sticking with me till the end and I hope I didn't let you down. Go Twilight!