Merry Christmas to all! I know it took me a month, but here is a Christmas present from me to you.

Chapter 23: Final Chapter

Now while you may have thought the two would have stayed around for a while, shocked at killing their former friend but happy they did, they didn't do that at all. The first thing they did was run. A quick scan around the room revealed a door, one that was probably frequently used by Nico and his other companions. Grabbing onto Sonny, Chad pulled the two of them towards it.

Opening the door, Sonny realized that it was a staircase to the outside world. At the top was a small opening, with a little button near it. Of course, the button was extremely hard to find so that only those who looked for it could find it. Sonny thanked her good vision.

"We're getting out of this mess." Chad whispered excitedly to his girlfriend. We're getting out!" The trapdoor spiraled open, and they burst out into the light. It was a good thing, too, for a cloud of smoke began spiraling up out of the door, eating up the fresh air around it. As it spiraled closed once more, the two saw bits of fire flowing through the pathway.

The rain had completely stopped, and sun was beginning to poke out through cracks in the clouds. The earth had stopped rumbling, and even though everything around them was in ruins, it seemed calm.

The two walked calmly out of the small, ruined forest and into the bleak looking city. Survivors straggled out of buildings and around the streets, sobbing at the dead bodies. However, Sonny and Chad had no tears left. They only had hope.

"We did it!" Sonny announced, a beaming smile appearing on her face. "We did it!"

Out of nowhere, a deep voice came out. "No, you didn't."

The colour drained from the brunette's face. "Who is that?" She asked her boyfriend, gripping onto his arm as hard as she possible could.

"That hurts." He commented. "And I recognize this voice."

The voice appeared again. "Behind this building you will see me."

Sonny shook her head in an attempt to get him to steer away from the building. However, Chad continued to walk towards it. Behind it was a man, and a man they had seen before. But this man looked different from the one they had seen before, for he looked kinder, older, and not so dressed up.

The blonde stepped back in shock. "Mr. Condor?"

The man nodded.

"What are you doing here?" Chad asked, shaking Sonny off his arm.

"You can't tell anyone about what you did." The older man told them, staring them straight in the eye and giving an intimidating glance.

Sonny reluctantly let go of Chad's arm. "But why? Why can't we let it be known that we stopped the apocalypse?"

Mr. Condor chuckled. "You are too naïve, young Sonny." She took this offensively, wrinkling her nose at the word. "If you tell anyone, they'll come after you."

"Come after us?"

He nodded. "The fire may not have destroyed everyone. There are still people who might want to kill you, you being the ones who stopped everything. While I am going to assume you will both be okay, I have no guarantees. You've done a great favour to us, you know."

The blonde nodded, a teary smile appearing on his face. "We do know."

Mr. Condor sighed, shaking his head. "I lost people in this as well, and I could see it coming. My own daughter, such a shame."

While both Chad and Sonny couldn't stand Dakota, they never hated her enough to want her dead. So they nodded as well. "What do you mean by saying you could see this whole ordeal coming?"

"Are you some sort of physic?" Sonny asked, becoming excited once more.

The man shrugged. "I guess you could say that."

"But if you knew it was going to happen, why didn't you go and stop it?" Chad asked.

Mr. Condor smiled, closing his eyes. "I could tell that the apocalypse was going to happen, and I knew I couldn't stop it. However, I was aware there were two who could. I was also aware that these two were near me. So I told you all."

"You seem a lot less scary when you're like this." Sonny commented.

"I guess it's just what happens after you lose someone you care about." The man responded, a tear forming in his eye.

"I never figured this out." Chad told the man, not looking him straight in the eye. "But who were really the two to stop the apocalypse?"

Mr. Condor looked over at the blonde. "I believe it was you and Portlyn who really did it."

"Oh?"

He nodded. "While Sonny was a great help, you and her were the ones who actually killed the apocalypse."

Sonny looked bewildered. "Killed the apocalypse? How?"

Yet again, Mr. Condor just laughed. "I can't have you knowing too much about what you did, for you'll just be more dangerous. Let me just give you a hint: You killed him, and Portlyn killed the rest." He sighed, looking up at the sun. "I think I'll be seeing you around sometime. Goodbye for now, you two." With this, he got up and walked away.

"Well, that was confusing." Sonny announced, hand still wrapped around Chad's. But Chad stood where he was, looking down at the crumbled ground. "What's wrong?"

Chad refused to look up. "I feel bad for them." He responded. "Those people I killed. I know it needed to be done, but I can't help feeling they weren't there out of their own doing. They looked like they were in a trance, the more I think about it. And now they've been killed. Just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Sonny gripped his hand tighter. "You can't blame yourself for this. You did something I couldn't do, and killed a couple people so you could save them all. You're the hero."

A forced laugh came from Chad. "Killing? Since when is that a righteous thing?"

"You saved us all." At this point, Sonny took the liberty of walking around to see Chad's gloomy face. "Even me." Planting a simple kiss on his lips, she then pulled up his head to reveal watering eyes.

"I guess." He said, shyly.

The brunette smiled. "Good. Now let's get out of here." Sonny told Chad, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the darkness, into a new world yet to be created.

Out of the darkness comes a light.

FIN.

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Dedication: All of my amazing readers. Without you, this story wouldn't have been finished. My favouriters and alerters: Channylover9753, Kitkat299, Moniquelovesbooksandstories, MonStErScLosEt, Nina1274, Seelie', Trachie17, Viktorianna, Whoownsmyheart97, xUntamedSkyscraper, YummyChocolate17, ZoeSummerStarr, AngelOfToast, CookieCrispEtc, FarhannaLuvChanny'n'Tswift, Jenni56790, LiveLaughPeaceLoveChocolate, Luckyme123, TheSarahStar, and You Wanna Know Me.

As well, all of my spectacular reviewers: LiveLaughPeaceLoveChocolate, (Yes, of course we can still PM. And Yup, I did manage to randomly change your name in the second chapter you were in. Sorry about that. Something must have possessed me. :)) KitKat299, (It is kind of like that, yes) Seelie', MoniqueLovesBooksAndStories, x0xalexis8, MonStErScLosEt, anonymous, GirlTech101, TVDTSCHANNY, Ashley, Rex, and YouWannaKnowMe. When I was down, you made my day. When I needed a confidence booster or inspiration, you gave it to me. Thank you.

I'd also like to thank the over 3,500 readers of this story.

Disclaimer: Santa asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I said the SWAC rights. Then I got kicked out of the mall. Just Kidding! But I don't own SWAC.

Author's Note: It's been over a year since I started this story, and so much has happened. I've lost friends, gained new ones, lost family, gained family. Everything has happened so fast. And now, it's over. In a little over a week, I'll be saying goodbye to the thing that got me writing: The SWAC FanFiction Archive. And while I'll still be here, (iCarly and Gakuen Alice) it's going to be a change. I might just miss it. :)

Once again, I thank you all.

Happy Holidays,

~OneDream 2Dream