HERE IT IS!

THE FINALE!

THE CLIMAX!

WILL SHE STAY OR WILL SHE RETURN TO THE REAL WORLD!?

I DON'T KNOW!

EXCEPT I DO KNOW BECAUSE I WROTE IT!

Sorry it's been a while.

Confession: It's because of Vampire Diaries. My friend got me obsessed with it. I watched 3 seasons in about 5 days. Season 4 isn't on Netflix but I have a nifty website I've used for a while that I can watch it on.

I'm team Damon guys. I was conflicted about Stefan and Elena in the beginning. I liked them but I also liked Damon. Then….STUFF (not spoiling) happened and now I'm totally team Damon. HEEHEE!

Also, I would like to give a shout out to CaitieCait101 who is actually writing her own version of this story. Other people writing stories based off of my work is kinda part of my 'Author Dream' so I was honored when she PMed me asking if she could. She posted the first chapter. The story is called 'Her Painful Past' and I'm curious what her take on the story will be. By that first chapter she is clearly talented so you should all check it out.

ENJOY GUYS! It was fun writing it. The next chapter I think I'm gonna do at least PARTIALLY in Zack's PoV.

But tonight I'm forcing myself to do some homework. I'd MUCH rather write the next chapter. Maybe I will. I'm babysitting right now and I'm gonna be here for like 5 more hours so, hey, I might still be able to.

PLLLLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE RRRREEEEVVVVIIIIEEEEWWWW! (In case you couldn't read that, it says 'Please Review')

Disclaimer: …

READ ON!

"I can't leave him." I told her, grasping at any possible excuse not to take up this offer. It was exactly what I wanted, and exactly what I previously could ever have. I was afraid that if I didn't have a reason to deny it, I would accept it. Which was exactly what It wanted.

"Who?" It/she/I asked. "Zack?" She laughed, but it was cold. It didn't bother me though, I mean, it was my cold laugh. What it did make me wonder was if this was how I sounded to other people. "You won't have to."

That's when another voice joined in, wrapping his arms around my waist lovingly. "You won't have to."

I was a half second from elbowing him in the gut…but I couldn't. Him or not him…it felt like it was him. Sounded like him. I wanted it to be him.

"I'll be with you the whole time." He insisted.

I froze, unable to move.

The fake me smile maliciously. "You met when you were three. You're parent's were friends. His mom is kind to him, but unfortunately his dad died in a car crash before he was born. Anyway, you were childhood friends. Had a childhood relationship. You know, the type in first grade? Were always such close friends. Inseparable. Started dating sophomore year. You've never been happier."

"Stop." I said quietly.

"Oh I'm just getting started." She said coldly, with a smile. "You date through college. In fact, its Zack's persistence and your mother's intelligence that aid you into getting into college." She leaned in and whispered, "School's a lot easier when you're not on the run, you know." She moved back again. "After college you become a writer-"

I laughed. "Ha. A writer? I'm friggen dyslexic."

"Not here you aren't. Now, hush. I'm telling a story. While you become a semi-famous author, Zack becomes a teacher. He loves children, you know. Or do you?" She smirked. "You marry at age twenty-six. Have you're first child at twenty-nine. A baby boy. His name will be Aaron. Three years later and you have your baby girl named Alana. They have a beautiful life. You have grandchildren by the age of fifty-two. You and Zack both die peacefully in your sleep."

Both bile and tears were caught inside me. "While in real life I'm killed heartlessly."

Zack laid his head on my shoulder and whispered in my ears, "You won't feel it. You'll know nothing of it. All you'll remember is this life. This brilliant life that you have always desired."

"You'll be happy, Lena." The fake me said, almost sounding sympathetic. "Zack will be happy. You're parents will be alive and happy. Isn't that what you want?"

It was the parent comment that shook me. Using my arms and shoulders I shrugged Zack off of me. "In this fake existence they may be happy and alive, but in the real world they'll be dead and ashamed."

"Ashamed for what, Silena?" She asked, sounding frustrated. "For wanting a happy life? A good life that you deserve? Even the great Purseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase would take the offer!"

"No they wouldn't!" I shouted. "They'd be loyal! They'd take death and torture to keep someone else from being on the receiving end!"

"That's not true." A voice said to my left. My father. He looked at me and smiled. "Even I would take this offer. A better life? You haven't even heard half of the tortures I went through." The reminder of how little I knew of my parent's stung, causing me to flinch. "I'd have taken this deal in a heart beat."

My mom appeared on my right. "This is a great offer, Silena. Don't be stubborn."

"Don't be stubborn?" I repeated. "Mom, that's the very definition of you! Stubborn and prideful!" I whipped around to my father. "And you?! You'd never abandon anyone when they needed help! Loyal until death, isn't that you?" I laughed bitterly. "Except it's not, is it? You're not my father! You're some creation by a sadistic, cruel, vindictive monster." I turned to the fake me. "You. You're horrible."

She showed no emotion. "Yes, Lena, keep going," she said monotonously.

"You're malicious." I spat.

She took a step forward. "Yes, I am."

I took a step forward too, looking her into her eyes. My eyes. "Malevolent."

"Of course."

"Soulless."

"That's a given."

We were nose to nose. "Heartless."

"Yup."

"Impassive."

"Correct."

"Detached."

Her eyes were challenging. "How you wound me with your words."

Rage filled me. Consumed me. It controlled me. "You're a MONSTER!" I shouted, tears leaking through my eyes.

A small smile appeared on her lips. She tilted her head in thought. Then she leaned in until her mouth was right by my ear. I became tense, filled with revulsion.

"Now," she whispered, "who are you really yelling at? Who are you really afraid of? Me?" She leaned back to look me in the eyes. "Or you?"

I stumbled back. I knew the answer.

"Show me my fears,"I had challenged. "I know exactly what I'm afraid of."

And It had shown me.

My worst fear was myself.

She smirked as realization dawned on me. "You don't have to be afraid, you know." She said. "Live here. Live fearlessly."

"Screw fearlessness." I told her. "I'd rather have bravery."

She tilted her head. "The difference?"

I took another step forward. "The difference is bravery is being afraid, but acting as if you're not. For a long time I couldn't make out the distinction either. I had preferred fearlessness and had blocked out my fears, along with my emotions. I know now that that was actually cowardice, not bravery."

"You're insane." It snarled.

I laughed, feeling the exhaustion of, not just this day or week, but of my life. I was tired. I was just now realizing how exhausting my fearless façade had been. No more. No longer. I was not fearless.

I was brave.

"Maybe I am." I agreed. "Maybe I'm a raving lunatic, but whatever. I'll deal with that myself. I don't need a big trick of mind to help me get rid of it, because you don't get rid of problems like that and you don't just deal with them. You accept them and let time heal them."

Her face contorted with rage. A malicious and volatile rage I'm not sure I was innocent of. "And what of me? I am not a trick of mind or an emotional problem."

"You're right. You're a monster, true to every sense and form and definition." I looked her in the eyes and I saw every thing I hated about myself.

I saw the sadistic, cruel, vindictive, horrible, malicious, malevolent, soulless, heartless, impassive, and detached monster that I became after my parent's death. After I decided I wanted to kill myself. After I killed to men, but I wasn't just a murderer, I was a thief of the worst kind. I stole away two men from their families and their lives.

This was the person who haunted me and scarred me. The one who shoved me in when I tried blocking out my pain. The one who clung onto me and never let me have a moment of true peace or happiness. The one who needed to die, along with the Memory Monster.

I looked myself in the eyes and felt my grip on my sword steel. I felt every injury in my body, and used them as an anchor to the real world. My wounds and pain were real. This world wasn't.

"You're right. You scare me, or rather, I scare myself. I'm afraid of what I'll do. What I'm capable of. I'm afraid of my past and my future and my present."

That's when I brought my sword up, with speed and agility I acquired over years and years of being hunted, and stabbed her right in the stomach. Her eyes were wide, as was her mouth.

Disgust coated my face. I looked her in the eyes. "But you, and my fear, will not control me. Not anymore. So, go to hell, and tell Hades I said hello." Then I mercilessly yanked my sword out and she fell to her knees.

She grasped her wounds, which were bleeding gold instead of rust. She looked up at me, shocked beyond belief.

Then her figure began to blur and change. I couldn't make out Its form. At one point I saw a horrid creature. A disgusting beast with talons and razor teeth. Then she fell to the ground.

The world around me blurred. I looked at my parents quickly, trying to engrave their looks into my mind. Fake or not.

That's when a searing fire spread through my body. I gasped and clenched my eyes shut. It was the opposite of the cold that usually accompanied the Memory Monster.

It was the memory Monster's grasp on me leaving.

I fell to the ground, the fire and heat becoming nearly unbearable. Through the pain I chuckled. How ironic would it be to die while being freed of the Monster's curse?

That's when I blacked out.

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