KK This one is in Garu's POV. There's really no need to explain b/c PPDP did a pretty good job of doing that. Quick read, and enjoy!

I continued to walk through the forest. It seemed to go on forever, but I knew it would have to end sooner or later. Yeah, like that made a difference! I doubted that a few miles would have stopped him. I leaned against a nearby rock under a tall mountain, and took out the threatening message.

I'm coming to finish what I started.

I recited the message to my self again and again. Well, as far as I could tell, I had three options. One, go back to Sooga and put all my friends in danger, two, run further and further away until I found myself cornered sooner or later, or three, commit suicide. But, there was one thing that I knew for sure. It didn't matter which option I chose, because either way, I was going to die. But depending on which option I chose, other people would die with me. Since I didn't want that, option one was out of the question anyway. So, maybe I would try the second option until I reached the bottom of the barrel, so to speak, and then end up proceeding with the third. How easy it was to think about my own death! Thinking about and planning it was one thing… but actually following through? That was another. I sighed as I placed the paper in my pocket and stared up at the mountain peak. If I was going to run, then over the mountain would probably be a good start. I climbed to the peak effortlessly… well, maybe with a little effort.

Not a thought crossed my mind, not a word passed my lips. I reached the peak and brought myself to the edge. I looked down to the ocean below, and to the small sliver of land that led to the bridge at the base of the mountain. It was so far down, I could barely see it. The land… just a blur of green down below. Then, my attention turned to the ocean. It was clearer to me than the land, and I could see the angry waves crashing against the shore. It was slightly frightening, but yet, strangely beautiful.

I pictured myself, wasting so much precious escape time climbing down this thing step by step by step…. How stupid it was to waste so much time! I thought again. Then, another visual occurred to me. Feeling the waves on my skin. Angry at me. Killing me as each second passed, numbing my pain and making it disappear, making it… fade with the rest of me.

Well, why not? I would rather die than be dishonored. I was going to choose option three anyway, so why not now? I edged closer, now on the balls of my feet. I could see the waves battering against the line of the blurry shore, spraying big white clouds of sea foam into the sky. As high as I was, I could hear the downward hiss of the air as it crashed into the water, atmosphere colliding with hydrosphere. The harsh wind nipped at my face again and again, which tempted me even more. I inhaled and exhaled. Through my nose and out my mouth. The wind teased me… it played with my hair. My eyes watered, and I sighed. The memories of why I was standing here and the thoughts of death and dishonor flooded back into my head. I closed my eyes and winced. Any amount of physical pain would have been better than the one I was feeling in my chest right then.

I imagined her… my mother. I imagined being with her, and experiencing all of the things that I couldn't for seven years, with her, and that I would probably never experience as long as I was still alive. Her face, her breath on my face as she would whisper how much she loved me… her sweet smile, her beautiful scent as I would hug her and fall back, like a robin returning to the sanctuary of his nest, his home…. Then, a faint sound that I would crave… her beautiful lullaby. A fading memory, still distant in my imagination. I so desperately wanted to see her, to be with her again, the one parent out of two that treated me like a son…. I opened my eyes. I knew I was imagining it… yet… I didn't care. Even as the waves and wind, crashing, hissing… became humming. That ever so distant melody was being replayed. I grinned as I listened.

I tilted slowly closer, too close. My foot slipped and I started to fall, but I managed to grab the edge just in time. I was hanging by one hand. I could have easily climbed back to the top, but why? The humming called me again. It lured me, tempted me to let go. So I did. The wind rushed past my falling body, and I plunged into the freezing cold water.

-squeal- NO GARU DON'T!!!!!!!!!!! ... too late. He's so sad that he wants to end his life... I always told him to go to therapy, but would he listn to me? Noooooo! Of course not. No one EVER listens to me!