Chapter Twenty Nine - As My World Falls Down

Alright guys, it's time to find out what happens with Teague and Mina. Lysander is dead, so there's not much more for Teague to do there. I know it's not mentioned, but Teague did bury Lysander's body, and not out of guilt. Well, not entirely. It was also because of their years of friendship before Teague was stabbed by the dagger.

Remember, this is the last chapter guys. No epilogue, or other chapter, will follow.

Guest 1 : Well, Jared didn't know it would have that effect on Mina. It was Lysander's idea to kill Teague - therefor killing Jared - because that would end his curse. c: Jared was just trying to split so he could get back to Mina. Mind you, he was blocked, so he wouldn't know if Mina was falling for Teague or not.

xXMADD1EXx : Actually, I can. cx Of course, we don't know if she'll actually die till we read - well, you read and I write - this chapter.

Evx : Haha, you'll have to just see. But it would be rather conspicuous, killing Jared first. Just saying. People might suspect something is up with Teague then. xD

Guest 2 : Perhaps. We'll have to find out.

so in her own head : I guess we'll have to find out. :3 My evil fanfiction side totally came into play with this story. And here I was thinking it was going to be all rainbows and butterflies.

Guest 3 : Well, it's not going to be like Forever. No Death Reapers or anything of that sort. c:


Teague's POV


Jared glares at me when I approach the staircase in Mina's home. I've only just arrived from the Fae plane, not even speaking a word yet, and he's already mad. Geez, who mixed hot sauce in his applesauce? Not that he looks especially hot. He's actually downright ugly, inside and out. He's gotten really overprotective of Mina according to everybody else, which I guess makes sense. So, there's no doubt that he's going to try and turn me around. Hopefully I can get upstairs civilly, without knocking him out. I can't have him suspecting that I'm up to anything, now can I?

"What, am I not allowed to go up the staircase now?" I try to joke around and bring an air of humor into the situation, but Jared's not having it. He really does hate me.

"I don't want you to go anywhere near her." He can't be bothered to even say Mina's name? How rude. Then again, I guess it's implied that we're discussing Mina. "She's mind. She always was, and always will be." He glares at me even harder, if that's possible. What, did he catch some of my dark side when we split?

I sigh, and bite back a snarky response about him doubting that since he won't let me near her. "That's why I'm here."

He scowls. "You can't take her from me."

I want to scream at him. Geez, dude, must I spell it out for you?

"I don't plan on it." I force myself to remain calm. "I just want to say goodbye to her. Then, I'll get out of your hair for good."

Perhaps not, actually, but I need to soothe him. I'm also tempted to kill him, but I'd need to wait for that.

A look of disbelief climbs onto Jared's ugly thing that he calls a face. "You're going to leave?"

"Yes." How can he not have gotten that message yet?

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Against his better judgement - I can tell that fact by the look on his face - Jared nods. "Alright. Five minutes."

I can't help myself. I have to say something sarcastic to that. I mean, seriously, five minutes? "Thank you, O Gracious One."

"I can change my mind." And now he's threatening me."

"I'm going, I'm going!" Pushing past him, I hurry up the stairs. I don't want to make him mad now.

My feet carry me on their own accord to Mina's door. I'm so worried about this - and the object that is currently weighing my right pocket down - that I didn't even realize it. But then again, I was very lost in thought. Now I need to focus. I have to do this. Hopefully she'll be rational right now. If she's not, this may not go down as quietly as I'd like it to.

I end up just opening her door, deciding that that's better than knocking and having to wait those few agonizing moments. Plus, if she's in her 'lets go kill Teague mode,' then she'd have time to prepare and kill me. This gives me the element of surprise, and takes that from her. "Mina?"

I peer into the room to find her sitting on the bed. Her left hand kneads the blanket, while her right hand grips it very tightly. It's almost confusing to me as to why, till I catch a look at the expression on her face. She looks at me, and no recognition flares in her eyes. Just pain and madness. No doubt the music is in her head, filling her mind and thoughts. It's clouding her memory too. No wonder she's grabbing at the white comforter in such a way. She's in pain as a tiny part of her brain fights the awful music that fills her head. She suddenly tenses, and I'm almost worried she's going to spring. But the tensing is followed by a violent trembling, and the madness fades from her eyes. There's just pain for what seems like years, but what is most likely only moments, until she finally relaxes.

"Teague?" She says my names so tentatively and with the greatest care, but her eyes are closed, so I can't tell if it's a devious trick or not.

"Open your eyes." I make sure to not sound too demanding when I say that, but to make it sound more like a gentle wariness. It's a precaution I must take, just in case.

Slowly, she opens her left eye, and then her right. Not a single complaint leaves her lips. Wow. I'm impressed. She'd normally have a fit if I was telling her what to do. Of course, all those thoughts are shoved aside as the she love she has for me shines through her eyes once more. I gulp involuntarily. That love makes everything so much more difficult. If only she were trying to kill me right now. Then the task would be so much easier on me. I wouldn't feel quite so guilty about it then.

"So you aren't under the effects of the music right now?" I ask it cautiously. Even though I can see it with my own two eyes, I want to be sure. I want to have her word, although if she's not rational, it might not even matter. I just need to hear the words coming from her lips.

"I'm not under the effects of the music." Her eyes look directly into mine, and I almost feel like she can see right through me and look directly into my soul. It sends a shutter through me. "But stop beating around the bush, Teague."

That makes me frown, and pause in my tracks. "What? Beating around the bush? There's no bush here, Mina."

"Human phrase." She mutters, before speaking up again. "Like I said, stop beating around the bush. I know why you're here." A tear runs down her face, but she doesn't let her eyes break our connection. That single tear cracks my heart. Can I do this?

"You...You know?" For some reason, I just assumed that she didn't. Did she figure it out herself? Lysander may have mentioned her knowing...

"Yes. In fact, I welcome death with open arms. But I can't do it myself, Teague, and I think you know that. It's part of the effect from the music; from this curse. This does count as a curse, does it not? I think it may have come partly from Lysander's curse, if he does have one, and I think he does."

I give a short chuckle about the part about this counting as a curse. "Yes, it does count as a curse. And yes, Lysander was cursed as well." The humor dies as quickly as it had crackled to life, smothered like the flame of the candle is by the wind. "I'm so sorry, Mina."

She tilts her head, and her brows furrow in though. Even her nose wrinkles slightly. It's very cute, when I get a good look at it. "For what?"

"For making it come to this."

She shakes her head in disagreement. "I heart about what Ever and Nix did the day of the deal. I know you would've come if you could've. I know that it's Jared's fault that I'm in this state." She gives a bitter, humorless laugh. "I hate myself, Teague."

"Don't say that." I sit down on the bed beside her, and pull her into my arms.

"But it's the truth. Would you rather I lie? I hate what the music has done to me. I hate what it's made me become. It's made me into a monster."

I'm about to respond to this statement, searching for comforting words to try and make her feel better, whenever she kisses me. It only takes me a moment to process it's happening and for me to kiss her back. I keep my arms around her, eyes closing instinctively. When she pulls away, I feel an immediate loss. It's like she took a piece of my heart with her. And she kind of did. That was a goodbye kiss. I know it was. And that thought makes me want to cry.

"Now I really don't know if I can do this." I whisper the words.

Panic flares up in her eyes, but she keeps a normal tone. "But you must!"

The pain wells up inside of me. "Are you sure of that, Mina?"

"Yes!" She nod firmly. "Do you not understand how painful this is for me? If you don't, my only hope will be gone. You're my only chance now. You're my knight in shining armor, like in the fairytales, coming to save me from my curse. You're the only one who can save me from this awful fate. A fate worse than death."

She's right, in a very upsetting way. I can't leave her like this. She'd always be in misery and pain. Never able to be with others, when at any moment she might snap and hurt herself or others. She's never forgive me if I didn't do this for her. My hand reaches into my right pocket, shaking.

Can I do this?

"Wait. You have to promise me a few things first." The tears flow freely from her eyes now. My heart cracks a little more.

"Anything." I mean it, too. I would give her the moon, if she'd only ask for it.

"Go easy on Charlie. Don't let him die from the Grimm curse, please. Or better yet, skip him completely."

"I promise, the curse will fall to someone else."

"Secondly, don't mess around with my friend's lives - or memories - anymore. They deserve their happy endings now. Unless they come parading into your life, leave them be. I understand that because I'm a Grimm, I don't get a happy ending, but I want them to get theirs."

It hurts to hear her talk like that. But, her voice has a sad truth to it. Love is grim, and it doesn't always end in a good way. Another crack runs through my heart, threatening to shatter it. "Done."

"And thirdly? Lastly?" She takes a deep breath to lead up to this. "Don't forget me. I'm not saying don't move on after me. I'd never say that. In fact, you have to move on, if that's even possible. And I think it is." It's not, but I don't want to tell her that. I waited over a century to find her already. I can wait till death to be reunited with her. Although I won't kill myself to get there. She'd hate me if I did. "Just...Just don't forget that I was your first love. Cherish the memories we made together. Please."

"I never could forget you."

"Then let's do it. Now." I found my gaze had flitted away from her at some point during the part about not forgetting her. So, I look into her eyes again as I pull the object that has been weighing me down this entire time from my right pocket.

It's a dagger. Not Erjad - I would never condemn anyone, especially Mina, to such an awful and dark death, and I don't even know where the stupid thing is - but just a simple, plain dagger. I know what I have to do. But the question just been nagging at me the entire time is still there, forcing me to doubt this. Can I really do this to her? Can I really go through with this? Can I really kill her?

"Teague, do it now." Her voice turns desperate, and she's demanding this of me yet pleading for me to help her.

"But I want to savor these last few moments that I'm going to have with you, if they must be the last." It's a pitiful argument, but I really don't want to kill her. The longer it takes probably makes it worse, but I don't care. I want to prolong the agony for as long as I can.

"Jared will be up soon because I'm sure he put a time limit on how long you were up here for, and I can feel the maddening music creeping back into my head. You must do it now, before it returns. I don't want to die hating you and trying to kill you. I want to die loving you, and knowing that you loved me."

I plant a kiss on her forehead. "Goodbye, Mina." The words are a mere whisper.

"Goodbye." She whispers the words in response.

And then I jab the dagger into her chest, before I can regret it and stop myself. It's hard to keep myself from pulling it out, because I know that it needs to stay in in order to kill her properly. She doesn't cry out in pain, because she knows it was coming. Only her eyes widening, signifying the pain that she's feeling, and her small gasp truly reveal how she's feeling. But there's relief there too, just like with Lysnader. I did this before I could regret it. But, I regret it now. I wish I could heal her, because I know that if I wanted to, I could. And I want to very badly. But that would make her even more miserable, so I manage to show some restraint and refrain from doing so.

"Thank...Thank you." She chokes the words out as her skin goes pale. Her white shirt begins to stain crimson, and it's hard not avert my gaze. Why is it that both times I've killed somebody recently, they've thanked me? It makes the whole situation even worse, oddly enough.

"I wish it hadn't had to happen like this." Now I'm crying, but I show no restraint in this either. I am within all my rights to cry.

"But it had to." She sounds so sure that it makes my heart ache even more. How it's withstood all this, I'll never know.

"It's not fair!" My voice grows louder, but she weakly moves her hand to grab mine.

"I...I l-love you, Teague..." She manages to choke these words out too, but her breath intake is slowing considerably.

I can see the light fading, and fast. I have to say it before it's too late. "I love you too!"

She nods painfully, and takes her last breath. I know immediately that she's gone, because her hand goes limp, sliding off mine. Her eyes have lost the light in them. I reach forward, and manage to shut her eyes. There. Now, there's the possibility that she could be sleeping. But the blood is a constant reminder that that's not the case. She's gone, and she's never coming back. She won't wake up, and she certainly isn't coming back. She's lost to me forever.

I want to take her body. I want to be the one to bury her. But I have to leave her here. At least, I have to leave her here for now. Maybe after they see her, so they know I didn't whisk her away back to the Fae plane, I can bury her. But not yet. They need to see that she's dead, even if it means that they know that I killed her and blame me for centuries. Kissing her forehead one last time, I stand up.

"Goodbye." I whisper the words one last time to her as I hear the footsteps that must belong to Jared on the stairwell. And then I too am gone, but not in the same way. No, I am only returning to the Fae plane. Mina? Mina will never return.

When I get home, I stare at the mirror that hangs in my room. My reflection reflects me perfectly. My anger, my hurt, my love, my sorrow. I shatter it angrily though, and some pieces litter the ground. The ones left show just how shattered I am. It warps the image seen, showing only bits in pieces. It's this reflection that makes me heart shatter. Just like this mirror, my heart is in pieces. This mirror reflects what's inside.

I turn away. This is wrong. All wrong! She wasn't supposed to have to die, and definitely not like that! I should've tried harder to save her! I should've tried to find a solution! This is all my fault! It's my fault that she's gone! It's my fault that Mina is dead!

I sink to my knees in the mirror shards, letting the tears fall once more.


And so ends Truth or Dare : Grimm Edition. What's your opinion? Happy? Sad? Bittersweet? Good ending? Bad ending? Let me know in your reviews. c: I know, I know, I'm probably very evil for doing that. But I thoroughly enjoyed writing this story! Except for this chapter. This chapter made me cry, just like Dancing made me cry.

I'm debating on making a sequel to this story. What do you think? Should I, or should I not? I won't spoil what the plot would be - that would be too cruel - but I'm honestly curious on what you guys think. I have a possible plot idea, but I would like to factor in popular opinion before deciding. c: If you do have an opinion, please review! Also, if you have any opinions specifically on what you'd be interested in seeing as a sequel, I'd love to see that too. Or perhaps a prequel, showing Lysander and Teague's childhood?

Also, I have another story coming (another AU, cause I've had a lot of those ideas bouncing around in my head recently) called Killer Of My Heart coming. If you like my writing style, I'd love it if you guys checked that one out! We're gonna get to see some assassin Mina and assassin Teague - so, in all senses, assassin Meague - in it, so if you think that's cool, you should definitely check it out! :3 It's pretty different from my other AUs, so I'm definitely curious on what you guys will think. :3

~ Dagger