A/N: Yeah, I figured those italicized actions would be a bad idea. Now that I know for sure, it won't happen again in any story of mine. Ahem…

This will be the final chapter of When the Light Fades. After watching her friends die before her very eyes, one of which who confessed his love for her with his last breath, White Mage is now staring death in the face herself. Sure, from the beginning, you all knew what was going to happen to everybody in the end. But now, one has to wonder just how I will end it all. Heh… well, here we go. Thanks for all the reviews!

Note: The last part of this chapter will be a short dialogue and not inner thoughts.

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Chapter 4: White Mage

Fighter? Fighter! No! Please wake up! Please! I'm begging you! You… you're all I have left in this world! Please don't leave me! I don't want to face the darkness alone! Please… please…

This can… this just can not be. He is not breathing anymore and his muscles have gone limp. Is he really dead? No. Oh gods above, please tell me this is a nightmare! Don't let him be taken away from me!

He… he said he loved me. He gave his life to protect me. He died in my arms, and there was nothing I could do to save him. I-I could not even say anything after he said what he did. He passed away without even hearing a response from me. His life was slipping away from him and all I could do was cry. I'm so sorry for being so weak Fighter. Even if I am bound for heaven, I don't deserve to be there with someone as valiant and selfless as you. Rest in peace, dear Fighter. I wish I could've told you that I love you too. Even when my soul leaves this world, I promise I won't ever let you go.

Chaos: the epitome of everything evil that haunts our plane of existence. We have defeated fiend after fiend just to reach the moment when we could finally encounter their master, but for what? To fail like this? I have only myself to blame for our failure. Black Mage, Red Mage, and… Fighter… especially Fighter, fought so hard to destroy Chaos once and for all. All they needed me to do was to take care of them and kept them healed and refreshed. After all, it is my duty as a priestess of the Order of Light to do just that. If I were not so weak, I might have been able to carry out said duty. Because of me, the three closest people to me in my life have passed on. Why, oh gods of light! Why! Why couldn't you take me instead of them! I am without worth, yet a very heroic man died to protect me. Please tell me…

I wonder what everyone at the temple will think about me and my failure as a crusader and a healer. Would they cast me aside as I deserve to be done with? Or would they embrace me and forgive my failures as they have done for me in the past? Even if the rest of the world was against me, I'm sure the answer would be the latter. Despite that, even if I could make it back to our time and space, I could never show my face at the temple again. I could not bear to bring any more shame to our order than I already have. Father and Mother and all my beloved Brothers and Sisters of the temple, I hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive a shameful being such as myself, even if I don't deserve such a thing.

As for the people of the world, what would they think of us? How would they deal with the fact that their destined heroes were so easily defeated by Chaos? The temple would forgive us, but I doubt the world would. Do I blame them? Of course not. Everyone had such high hopes for us, and for us to fail and crush said hopes like that, well…all I can really say is that I wouldn't hold it against them. It's not like they'd actually hate us. They're just afraid, that's all. I wish I could have just one chance to apologize to the entire world before I passed on. It doesn't look like I'll get that chance.

This looks like this is it. Chaos has recovered from his wounds that Fi-… that Fighter dealt to him. He's coming over here now. It's time for me to pay for my failures. I-I'm so scared but… but if this means that, if I am truly heaven-bound and I'll be with Fighter once more, then, well… I guess it's worth it.

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"Worthless mortals. How dare you attack me!" bellowed the great demon in a dark and raspy voice. "It is of little matter now though. All that remains is the weakest of the Light Warriors."

He stared deep into White Mage's eyes, causing her to shake uncontrollably with fear. She felt as if her very soul was being peered into. He could feel the fear welling up in her and it brought endless amounts of joy to him.

"I'm almost disappointed though," said Chaos. "With you being the last one alive, I was hoping that you'd put up a better fight than that foolish warrior that you hold onto so tightly. Why would he fight so hard to protect someone as pathetic as you? I'll never understand the logic of humans."

Tears streaming down her face, she looked down at Fighter's face and ran her hands through bright red hair. He had died with a small smile on his face. Despite the small amount of blood that was splashed on his face, he looked very peaceful, even in death. Perhaps he died peacefully, glad with the fact that he finally told White Mage how much he cared for her just before he passed.

She looked back up at Chaos defiantly, tears still streaming down her face. "Of course can't! Your mind is far too deficient and your heart too black to understand simple concepts like friendship and… and love. These are joys that you'll never experience!"

Chaos laughed. "And I care because? In any case, I grow tired of this conversation. Therefore, it is time for you to finally die and join your weakling friends in oblivion. Take comfort in knowing that, once I've regained my full strength, I shall become manifest upon your world. Heh… in retrospect, I guess that's not very comforting, is it?"

She looked back down at Fighter. "Chaos… you may have bested us, but take comfort in knowing that, someday, another group of brave warriors will come here and destroy you once and for all! Oh wait, why should that be comforting for you?" She looked up and smiled at Chaos.

Chaos' smile immediately turned into a frown. "Insolent wench! To the void with you!"

A robed figure resembling the Grim Reaper slowly materialized behind White Mage. She knew it was there, but did nothing about it. She had already accepted her fate and was prepared to, hopefully (in her mind, we know better), join Fighter in heaven. She leaned down and kissed Fighter on the lips.

"I love you Fighter. If I am heaven-bound, please wait for me. I'm coming." She held Fighter as tightly as she could, even when the transparent sickle pierced into her back, which left no visible wounds but instead dealt a deathblow to her soul. She fell onto Fighter's chest, still holding on as tight as she could, even as the world darkened around her. "Fight... er…"

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So passes the last of the Light Warriors, White Mage. May your time in heaven be more blissful than it ever was on this mortal coil.

So… how was it? I personally felt more and more heart-broken every time I had to kill another Light Warrior. Haha. It took everything I had to prevent myself from making a somewhat happier ending. What I DID do though was leave room for another possible story. Since it take some time for Chaos to get healed up and since time may flow differently in his time/space, perhaps another group of Light Warriors can come around and put an end to Chaos. Not sure yet if I wanna do this quasi-sequel, but we'll see. Anyway, please leave reviews and I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it!