Hey everyone I know this is way overdue but the alternate ending is finally here. Let me know what you think

The bells chimed incessantly, budging my feet into a frenzied trot. My last hope of salvation lay hidden amongst the eaves and tombstones and he was waiting for me to arrive. My naive heart rattled like a fluttering bird in a cage. I didn't know what to expect... so much had changed.

My trot slowed to a stop as the mist parted and revealed him crouched amongst Wendla's and Moritz's graves. A silver blade hung poised above his soft skin, hungry for his permission to taste blood. As a watched his hand hang like a pendulum, my heart sank. He was going to leave me like all the other ones. Like everyone .

His tears streamed openly and around him a beautiful blue light shown, cast in tumbling elegance by the moon. He hadn't noticed my timid arrival and held his gaze to the friends who lay beneath him. An ancient moan of anguish escaped his lips and for a moment I thought his fingers would slip releasing his life and soul back to the earth.

" Are you going to leave me too?" I wasn't asking him to stay. I wished he would but I knew I could never hold him here against his will. It would be like trying to command the wind to stay warm and never cast a golden autumn leaf. He slowly looked up and met my eyes. They were so changed, they mirrored his aged soul that I knew resided in his youthful prison.

" No. I am not going anywhere. Even if I did, it would still all be there in the darkness." The blade clattered to the freshly turned mound of earth and he tentatively wrapped his arms around himself, as if to stimulate a single memory of gentle contact. I walked to him, vapors of lives and emotions wafting from the graves. Each step brought a bitter and sweet taste of my irretrievable childhood. By the final step I felt I could handle what was left of life... as long as Melchie remained by my side.

With quaking fingers Melchior began to bury the razor in between his two friends graves. He was burying the black tomahawk that had swept over our innocent bunch.

"Come with me." Once again it was a soft request. He hadn't touched me yet and my body sputtered and flamed for his caress. Advancing and retracting his hand snaked away from his body and finally alighted on my cheek. His fingers were fire and sent shock waves through my entire body and I finally felt something for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

"No. I told you I am not going anywhere. I love you but I am not good for you. I destroy everything I get close to. You need a new start just as badly as I need one and if that means leaving then that's what has to happen. I'm sorry." He hugged me but I was numb. I hadn't heard what he had said. My body wouldn't let me. "I am so sorry but I need to fix things here. I've… I've ruined everything and I need to try and make things right. And you need to go and get out of here. They won't understand you."

I laughed. He was telling me what I already knew. I wasn't right. I was a ruined human and nobody understands broken things they just throw them away. Melchie looked one final time at me and left. Just like that. His shoulders were slumped and tired as his white shirt bobbed into the blackness until he was no longer visible. He was gone. I was alone crying in the cemetery. How fitting.

I threw myself to the ground breathing in the earth, grasping at the graves of my fallen friends. I wanted to be with them. My hand searched for a way in and brushed against the freshly turned pile of earth Melchie had created. Frantically I pulled myself to my knees and removed the earth.

He may have left me behind but he had saved me. I picked up the blade. Unveiling the razor, I hefted it as if it were a thirty pound sword. It held possibility. And escape. I was never very brave or smart. I was never anything so what would it matter if I just went away.

I didn't cry as I brought the blade close to my wrist. For once in my life I didn't cry and I felt brave and cowardly all at once. I pressed lightly testing it. It bit softly in and a thin spider's tendril of blood pooled up. I knew this would be a nice way to go. Quit and unassuming. They could even have an open casket service for me since half my head wouldn't be blown away, that is if they have a service for such a disgrace.

"You don't want to do that." Hanschen burst through the mist startling me. I pulled the blade away and stared listlessly at him. He was breathing heavily and his shirt was torn. His lovely blonde hair stood in wild shocks as if he had been in a fight. "How can we look back thirty years from now if you aren't alive?" His voice caught. That more than anything else made me put the blade down next to me. I wasn't chickening out just curious as to what he was doing here. It was still in reach.

"You know I don't like surprises. I think your actions warranted a few moments thought don't you." He looked pleadingly at me and waited for a reply.

"No I don't. You should have come. I needed you." I was angry. He thought he could just jump back and have things be the same.

"You show up on my doorstep in the pitch black nearly making me burst with those kisses. I could hardly think. Then you ask me to leave my family, my friends, everything I have ever known. You put me in quite a situation. Leaving now would severely screw up my whole biding my time plan." He had worked his way over to where I sat on the ground. He knelt and pulled the rest of his sleeve off and wrapped it around my still lightly bleeding wrist pulling tightly. We didn't talk and I hated that my heart still pounded when he touched me.

"Then why are you here?" I looked at the dirt and knew he would not reply and leave me sitting here happy hading made sure I wasn't going to die and he could still have his way with me.

"Because I realized that everything I knew wasn't my home or my friends or the school or my father. It was you." He pulled my chin to look at him. His words shocked me and the fact that he hadn't pushed my lips into his in his controlling manner surprised me even more. With his hair frazzled and his blue eyes frightened he was closer to me than ever. "I closed the door on you and I felt the door closing on my happy life. I ran upstairs grabbed a bag and filled it with some necessities. How were you going to run away with out any money food or clothes?" He smiled and I felt the beginnings of a blush. "So I ran back downstairs and as you can imagine father was not very pleased with me leaving. He did everything he could to stop me even resorting to pulling my shirt." He laughed as he looked at his lopsided shirt. I lightly touched his bare arm remembering how strong his arms were. Capable arms. Gentle arms.

He stood up and walked away. My heart dropped but before I could miss him he was back with a satchel. He pulled it open and revealed a near fortune. My jaw dropped.

"Hanschen… how did you…" he smiled his entrancing devilish smile.

"Father was not particularly upset about me running away but he was rather peeved when his money went with me." He closed the bag again and briefly brushed his nose against mine still not kissing me. He was being so patient. He stood up and held his hand out to me. "We better get moving, you forget we are felons now."

Everything was happening quickly but I could feel the pressures and weight of the world rising. I gave him my hand and he pulled me up. Before running he pulled me close to him and kissed me. He kissed me and kissed me and kissed me. He left room for escape but I would never want to leave those seductive perfect lips. He knew he had won but the victory was truly ours. Finally sighing happily he pulled away.

"God you control me." He brushed the hair away from my eyes. I laughed and the noise sounded alien. I controlled him? I had so much to learn about him and his strange affection. But for the first time in all my life I felt like I was seeing the true him. He was away from his life and his search for perfection. His hair was wild and free and his emotions were just as free. I think feeling frightened him just as much as it did me.

"You are not looking for perfection anymore." I squeezed his hand. I felt like I needed to comfort him since he had had to settle for me instead of someone who would have made his life easy.

"I've already got it." He kissed me again making me blush and smile as our lips met. "But for now I think we should probably run for our lives." He tugged my hand and we were off. I was off with the Hanschen who didn't know I existed for so long. I laughed realizing it was this new Hanschen that I didn't know existed.

Well there it is. This story is officially complete. I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are really great to get and I really appreciate them