Hey there! So this is very short (I must apologize), but I wouldn't have it any other way. I hope you'll like it anyway.

This very well could be the end, what do you think?

When Kahlan woke up, she found herself lying in her bed. Her head was pounding, her vision blurry. She breathed in deeply and it all came back to her... The fight... The Condar... The Sword of Truth in Richard's abdomen... Richard's eyes turning black...

She gasped when she heard: "You're awake Mistress."

"Where's Richard?" She asked to the confessed man standing next to her bed.

"He is being healed by the Wizard of the First Order. He hasn't gained consciousness yet." Explained Prince Timothy Travis with the look of a confessed man. Kahlan imagined that look on Richard's face and it made her shiver.

"Is he going to be alright?" She asked.

"Yes Mistress." Tim replied.

Kahlan felt relieved that Richard was still alive and with Zedd by his side, he will be healed in no time… but healed to live the life of a confessed man.

Tears escaped her eyes and she managed to say: "You will give me your knife and leave the room. You will not allow anyone in."

"As you wish, Mistress." Tim said, taking his knife from his belt to give to her.

Once Tim was out, she got up slowly and realized that she was wearing her white Confessor dress. She slowly walked to her desk and took everything she needed in order to write a letter. She knew what she had to do and nothing would stop her now. The image of Richard's face with black eyes came back again and she started to write:

My love,

You must hate me right now. There are no words to describe how sorry I am for taking your soul. My worst nightmare became reality and I can't bare it. Loosing you is much more than I can handle. You are the best thing that ever happened in my life Richard, those months spent with you, even at the hardest times, were the happier. You saved my life more times than I can count and it's time I save yours. I am not scared for I know I am doing the right thing.

I know that you are mad at me for choosing a mate and I can't blame you. I am not asking for your forgiveness, Spirits know I don't deserve it because once again I am choosing my duty over you. I've sworn to protect the Seeker with my life and the Midlands need their Seeker more than the Mother Confessor. You have to defeat the Keeper, save our world and you cannot be confessed to me if you want to succeed.

You've changed my life Richard Cypher, showed me what it was like to love and be loved in return and for that I will forever be thankful. My only regret is that I will never see the face of the child we often imagined we would have. Our daughter would have been beautiful and kind, just like her father.

You once said that I loved you across time and I want you to know that I'll love you across death. I am hoping that one day you will understand my choices, you may find it hard to believe it now but they were always made out of love, my love for you and my need to protect your soul from the darkness within me, from the monster that I am. I only wish that despite my betrayal we will find our way back together in the afterlife, until then I will watch over you.

I love you Richard, may the Creator protect you and may you live a long and happy life.

Forever yours,

Kahlan.

When she finished her letter, Kahlan realized that she's been crying, she dried her tears, grabbed her letter and the knife and noticed Richard's shirt on the nearby chair, the one he gave her before they arrived in Aydindrill. She took it and smelled it hoping to find Richard's familiar scent, but it was gone. Gone, just like Richard's soul. She dropped it on the floor and went back to her bed. She lied down and smiled, just like she wrote in her letter she was not scared. She was freeing the man she loved from the monster she was, preventing him to live as a slave. And maybe she would see her mother in the afterlife.

She took the knife, breathed in deeply and cut her left wrist with her right hand making sure to incise along the vein. It didn't hurt as much as she thought, maybe because she was determined to end her life to save Richard. As blood started to stain the white sheets of her bed, she tried to make herself confortable and closed her eyes. She only had Richard in mind, she tried to remember all the moments they've spent together because she was about to disappear from the world of the living. She couldn't help but smile when she thought about the first time he had touched her, in 'his' forest in Hartland. He tried to help her get on her feet and she had put her dagger to his throat. It was the first of the many times he had broken through her Confessor barrier, and probably when she fell in love with him. And now she loved him beyond everything. She prayed to the good Spirits to keep him safe. She felt her body go numb and smiled again, soon he would be free. She tried to focus on his smile but darkness took the best of her and she passed out.

He was free now and she was too...