Hey everyone.

Here it is folks, the last chapter. I can't believe it. This is the final chapter of this story. It's...over. "puts on Bon Jovi's It's my life" Ok, I promised myself that I wouldn't get sappy so I'll keep it short and sweet. You guys rock. Thank you so much for reading this thing and sticking with it through all the spelling mistakes and weird quirks. A very special thanks goes out to three people who have helped push this thing along when it was on the verge of derailment. GoldenPeaches, Rachael and StormSister, kudos to you ladies. Thanks for the vote of confidence, you've done the boys proud. And for the rest of you awesome readers out there, rock on folks because you guys rule.

Now let's get this thing over with and party on!

This is our story baby so be excellent!

For the last time,

Happy Reading

Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod, one night sailed off in a wooden shoe;
Sailed off on a river of crystal light into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going and what do you wish?" the old moon asked the three.
"We've come to fish for the herring fish that live in this beautiful sea.
Nets of silver and gold have we," said Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song as they rocked in the wooden shoe.
And the wind that sped them all night long ruffled the waves of dew.
Now the little stars are the herring fish that live in that beautiful sea;
"Cast your nets wherever you wish never afraid are we!"
So cried the stars to the fishermen three - Winkin', and Blinkin', and Nod

Fay sniffed hard as she ran the back of her hand across her eyes, blinking hard as her vision began to blur. The house was silent now; the only sound that could be heard was the steady tick tock tick tock of the pendulum tail of the Felix the Cat clock that hung in the kitchen. Clearing her throat, Fay exhaled a shaky breath as she carefully began to wrap the large Elvis bust in two layers of newspaper before she placed it into a cardboard box labeled "fragile, this side up" in black magic marker. An entire day had come and gone already and the world went on when Fay fully expected it to come crashing to a brutal halt. But life isn't that easy. There is no easy way to get out of or to deal with this kind of pain. All one could do was go on living.

After making sure that the Elvis bust would be safe, Fay moved towards her large dresser and grabbed the last few knickknacks off of the hand-made lace doily that her grandmother had made for her mother as part of her wedding present decades ago. Grabbing another sheet of newspaper from the large pile that sat on her bed, Fay began the process of wrapping the fragile objects with an almost robotic motion while she fought to keep her mind blank and numb to the fact that it was almost sunrise. The sunrise of the second day, the second day without the boys, the second day alone. No, she couldn't start thinking that way.

"Stop it." Fay muttered to herself as she shook her head in an attempt to scatter the slyly forming thoughts that were creeping out from the barred region of her mind. Think of something else, anything else. How did the rest of the rhyme go again?

So all night long their nets they threw to the stars in the twinkling foam.
'Til down from the skies came the wooden shoe bringing the fisherman home.
'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed as if it could not be.
Some folks say 'twas a dream they dreamed of sailing that misty sea.
But I shall name you the fisherman three - Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.

"Maow?" Figaro quietly mewed from the hallway as he pressed his nose against the closed door, sniffing along the doorframe as he tried to push the door open with his head. Elvis sat on the running carpet, quietly batting away at a piece of carpet fluff while waiting to gain entrance into the master bedroom. When Fay had gotten home last night, she had fed the cats and went up into her room, locking the door without saying a word. David had shown up just before sunrise and instead of attempting to let Fay know that he was there, he had simply gone straight down into the basement and created temporary sleeping quarters for himself in Fay's windowless cantina and spent the day sprawled dead to the world alongside bottles of home-made wine while Fay kept herself in isolation, not even coming out when the cats food bowls were empty. When nightfall came, David left as silently as he had come and only then did Fay leave her room to grab a stack of newspapers and a few cardboard boxes to begin the long process of packing up her belongings.

"Merw? Merwow?" Figaro meowed, louder this time in hopes of getting Fay's attention as he paced back and forth in front of the closed door, wanting to be let it. But the door remained shut. Elvis looked up from his make-shift toy and peered up at the door handle for a moment before he rose to his feet and leapt at it, his paws swatting the handle as he hit the wood with a muffled whump. It was a good try but there was no way a cat was going to open a locked door from the outside.

"What we do now?" Elvis seemed to ask Figaro as he lightly head butted the door with his head. Figaro pawed at the door before he resigned to the fact that Fay wasn't going to open it and instead of answering the younger cat, the striped tabby sat down by the doorframe and wrapped his slender tail around his paws. Waiting was the only option they had left. An hour crept past without anything happening and just as Figaro was about to leave to go use the litter box, the phone rang and the cats leapt to their feet and pressed their faces up against the door, trying to hear what was said in the other room.

Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring…

Fay looked over at the phone that sat on her night table but didn't move to answer it. Instead she just continued to empty out her dresser drawers and pack away her clothes, not bothering to find out who was calling her at this hour.

Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring…

Fay neatly folded her t-shirts as the phone began to ring once more and once again Fay ignored it. She wasn't going to deal with anyone tonight. When the phone started to ring a third time Fay crossed the room, picked up the receiver, hung up on whoever it was who was on the other end and placed the receiver on the table, leaving it off the hook. Giving it a final look, Fay turned her back to it and looked out the window. It wouldn't be long now.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiing…

Fay slowly turned around as the drawn-out ring faded and her momentary puzzled expression darkened to one of understanding as she went over to the phone and picked it up.

"What do you want." Fay stated in a monotone voice as the other end suddenly came alive with noise.

"Fay? Fay! Why the hell aren't you answering your phone? Is everything? What's going on over there? Comara Antoinette is on her way over there right now, she just flew out of Cleveland two hours ago. Fay what's going on?" A female voice said as static crackled over the line for a moment before clearing up. Phone calls by magic weren't the easiest things to accomplish and the line always had a habit of going dead in the middle of a conversation.

"It's nothing Theo. I'm…I'm fine. Nothing is going on here…" Fay began as she cradled the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she began to clear the items out of the night table, putting them on the bed to be packed in a separate box.

"Nothing? You call a sudden family-wide bout of depression nothing? Fay, don't fuck with me girl. I know that something is going on over there and whatever it is it's not good because it's got every single aunt, niece, cousin, mother and grand-mother in the Prima family worried sick. What's happening over there?" Fay's first-cousin and fellow witch Theodora demanded and even the cats in the hallway could hear her voice loud and clear. Fay winced slightly at the sudden change in volume as she continued to pack up her clothes.

"Theo stop it. Nothing is happening. I'm leaving Santa Carla ok?" Fay snapped as she threw a pair of fat cat pajamas onto the bed and grabbed the phone from her shoulder.

"Leaving? Why are you leaving?" Theo snapped back, not one to give away any ground. If Fay wanted to be all mysterious and un-talkative that was fine, but Theo was going to get answers even is she had to pry them out with a crowbar.

"Because Theo…I can't stay here any more." Fay muttered and before she could say another word, Theo cut her off.

"Why can't you stay Fay? Hmm? Can you tell me that? Why?" Theo barked and for a moment she kind of sounded like a Beagle that was chasing after something. Fay instantly curled her lips and hissed into the phone and Theo's responded with a deep dog growl.

"Ok, fine I'll stop. Can I do anything then? Do you want me to send you some cash? Help? A few of Zia Elvira's hit men to kill anyone for you?" Theo asked more gently this time.

"No, I don't need anything. But…" Fay answered as she chewed her lower lip, thinking for a minute. "You can do something for me."

"Ok, shoot. What is it?" Theo asked and Fay could hear other voices talking in the background before Theo shushed them with another growl. How typical of her relatives. Everyone's got to know about everyone else's business. Pure Italian Prima mentality.

"Call Zia Elvira for me. No I don't want anyone killed. Just call her and tell her that I'm coming over to stay with her for a while." Fay said as she picked up the body of the phone and walked around the bed so that she could grab another cardboard box without having to put the phone down.

"Ok, I won't ask why because I know that you won't tell me. When should she be expecting you? Are you going to travel alone?" Theo asked as the faint sounds of a pen scratching on a piece of paper could be heard through the phone line.

"Tell her that I'll be there in a couple of days and that I'm bringing someone with me ok?" Fay asked as she put the empty box on her bed beside the full one and sat down on the edge of the mattress.

"Ok. Anything else?" Theo asked just to make sure that she had all the angles covered.

"Yeah, tell everyone there that they can mind their own god-damn business for once and what's going on here is none of their concern." Fay muttered darkly while Theo couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Will do Fay. Oh and Fay? If you need anything, and let me stress anything, don't be afraid to call ok? I'll make sure that no one is around if you want to talk." Theo said as Fay fiddled with the frayed edge of her old over-sized t-shirt, her eyes staring at nothing as she breathed in deeply.

"Thanks." Fay said and hung up the phone. She sniffed once more as she looked around her bedroom, glancing at the bare walls and empty drawers as she wrapped her arms around herself, sitting there on the edge of her bed, alone and uncertain.

"What am I going to do now?" She whispered out loud to the empty room and no matter how hard she wished it, there was no response. Heaving a heavy sigh, Fay glanced down at her right hand and traced the permanent welts that ran across her palm with her finger, trying not to think about what had happened two nights ago.

Knock-knock

"Fay?" Fay jerked slightly when she heard her name being said and glared over her shoulder at the door, knowing full-well whose voice had said her name. Grabbing her cane from where it lay on the bed, Fay went to the bedroom door and slowly unlocked it. She stood there for a minute, watching the door handle to see if David had the guts to open it but for that minute the door handle remained untouched. Glowering Fay grabbed the handle and turned, cracking open the door just enough so that she could see David standing in the hallway. Figaro and Elvis had positioned themselves further down the hall

as if staying near David would cause them to cough up hairballs or something equally painful.

David kept his eyes lowered, not willing to meet her eye-to-eye because he knew that if he did she would most likely kill him where he stood. He didn't want to be standing here anymore than she wanted to see him but he knew what he had to do and as much as it made him feel physically ill, he had no choice but to do it. Fay had willed it and it had to be done.

Fay didn't say a word as she opened the door wider and stepped out of the bedroom, just enough so that she was in touching distance of David but also enough so that she could scoot back into her place of refuge within a blink of an eye if need be. She stared at him as she gripped her cane and the urge to ram the sword cane into his heart was so powerful that she had to take a step back and grip the edge of the door with her left hand to prevent herself from doing so. The cats watched on like silent sentinels as the witch and the vampire stood at the end of the hall, each one waiting for the other to begin. When it was clear that Fay wasn't going to speak to him, David raised his eyes slightly and handed Fay Marko's leather jacket. He had gone back into the cave that night to retrieve it because Fay had mentally told him that she wanted something personal of Marko's but didn't tell him why. Fay looked down at the jacket for a while before she made any move to take it from him and when she did, she cleared her throat as she raised her eyes up to David's face.

"And everything else?" She asked her voice cold and clear while her eyes quickly filled with tears that didn't fall. Like hell would she ever give David the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Fay never cried in public, never. She would never allow people to see that side of her. Fay always grieved in private without anyone knowing and she couldn't care less what people thought of her. If they thought she was a heartless ice-queen then so be it. Better an Ice Queen than ever being labeled as a vulnerable weakling, or so she thought.

"I took care of it. There's nothing left but the graffiti. No one will ever know we were there." David said quietly as he avoided looking at Fay. Instead he stared straight ahead, eyeing the painted doorframe above Fay's head. Fay nodded slowly, digesting the information as she cradled Marko's bloodied jacket to her chest. The blood had dried and caked onto the leather and the colorful patches and Fay knew that no matter how many times she cleaned it, the blood would never really come off.

"And…?" Fay asked as she looked down at the jacket once more, gently running her left hand over the fringe work that had been sown onto the left shoulder, remembering how Marko looked while wearing it. Even though it broke her heart to hold onto it, Fay stood there without wavering, waiting to hear what David was about to say.

"I pitched the bikes over the bluff." He said before he squared his shoulders and toyed with the edge of one of his leather gloves. Here goes nothing.

"The Emersons burned Dwayne's remains in their backyard during the day and there's nothing left of Paul. I…I burned Marko's body on a pyre and let the wind take care of the rest. As of now, they never existed." David said and waited for Fay's reaction. There was none. Fay just stood there, holding onto the jacket and her cane while watching him. David dared to look at her for a moment and was utterly surprised with what he saw. She wasn't looking as if she were about to breathe fire nor did she appear to be greatly distressed. To David, Fay looked hollow. No expression, no emotion, nothing.

"Fay?" He asked quietly while wondering as to what the hell he was doing but Fay didn't seem to hear him.

"We're leaving tomorrow night at sunset. Make sure you're ready." Fay mumbled as she retreated back into her room and closed the door in David's face, locking it once more. David blinked and for once didn't know what to do. He stared at the door and then down the hall and would have continued to stand there if Figaro hadn't hissed at him, clearly telling him that he was no longer wanted in the hallway. Taking his cue from the cat, David quietly made his way down to the basement while Figaro and Elvis took up their positions by Fay's door once more.

Now Winkin' and Blinkin' are two little eyes and Nod is a little head.
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies is a wee one's trundle bed.
So close your eyes while mother sings of the wonderful sights that be.
And you shall see those beautiful things as you sail on the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three – Marko, Paul, and Dwayne.

Marko…Paul…Dwayne…

Fay started to shake as she hugged the jacket tightly to her chest, holding onto it as hard as she could. The cane dropped onto the carpet as she let it go and crashed to the ground, landing heavily on her left side as she instinctively curled into a fetal position as best she could, the jacket cradled to her chest. She shook in waves as she tried to fight back the tidal wave of emotions that were rising up in her after being held at bay for two days. She wheezed and gasped as she fought for breath, the shakes and tremors were that strong. It looked as if she were having some sort of seizure but she was conscious and aware of what was going on around her. Clutching the jacket like a man clinging to life, Fay didn't feel the hard object that was wrapped up in the folds the leather garment until it fell out of one of the sleeves. Fay grabbed it and looked at it before crushing it to her chest along with the jacket. It was the little statuette of Bast that Dwayne had found and put back together more than a year and a half ago when Fay had first moved away from Santa Carla for a lengthy period of time. Fay closed her eyes and buried her face into the jacket as she slammed her fist into the floor over and over again, the jacket barely muffling a scream of anguish that came from her as she lost the emotional siege.

"Why…oh my god…..why…why god why….WHYYYYYYYYY!" Fay screamed as she rolled onto her back, rocking back and forth as she cried and sobbed and choked. No matter what she did she couldn't get it out. Rolling onto her right side Fay clenched her teeth together as a howl of pure animalistic pain erupted from her, the sound of it caused the hair on the back of David's neck to stand on end as he kept himself hidden in the basement. At that sound, the two cats started to yowl their own lamentations as they bumped into the door and ran up and down the hall, sharing Fay's grief as she shrieked over and over again, slamming her fist, her feet and even her head on the carpeted wooden floor as she tried to beat out the pain.

"Oh god….boys…my boys…why….why my boys…why…" She whined as she cried into the leather jacket. It wasn't the cries of an anguished lover or sister or friend that came from Fay. What came from Fay was the sound of a heart-broken mother having to bear the loss of her children alone and there is no sound on this earth that is more heart-wrenching or more woeful than that.

And that folks is the true story behind The Lost Boys.