And here we are, at the very ending. Sorry to you guys for the chapter being so short, but it was time to close it up and this style of writing isn't really up my alley. I did my best, and thank you all so much for supporting me throughout this whole story and helping me reach over 1000 reviews. You guys are the best, and I thank every single one of you.

Enjoy!

The bus bumped along the rode and Piper jostled in her seat, one headphone falling out of her ear. She cast a look over to see if Jason was awake, but he was still sleeping peacefully, his fingers loosely gripping hers. He was beautiful when he slept, she thought, with his blonde hair falling over to one side and his face fully relaxed. The last couple of days Jason had seemed troubled, his face creased, his eyes often half-narrowed as if he were trying to remember something.

It didn't help when Piper told him about her dream. Of course, her first instinct was to close up and not tell anyone, but Jason was different. He wouldn't view her as a freak for having a weird dream, she new. If anything, Jason would go to the ends of the earth and back just to help her find her dad, if that's what had to be done. Leo, too. Leo would follow them wherever they went, making bad jokes and creating miniature catapults with pipe cleaners.

So Piper told Jason one morning over breakfast in a hushed voice. At first he had been disbelieving, but seeing the fear in her eyes and the desperation on her face he had finally given in and listened intently to the whole thing. Afterwards, he had sat back with a loud sigh and run a hand through his hair the way he did.

"You say it felt real?" He asked, and Piper nodded with conviction. Even though it had to be just a dream, it had been far too realistic for comfort what with the hot flames licking at her face and her dads bloodied, beaten body hanging from a stake.

"As if I were actually there," Piper had answered. Jason had pursed his lips and shaken his head in defeat as no logical explenation came to mind. Piper could tell that something else was bothering him, and she tried her best not to pester him over the last couple of days —although some pestering had been done, especially the kind that ended up with Jason against a wall with Piper in his arms.

Now, they were off to see the Grand Canyon, and Piper could feel the end drawing near. She knew there were only a couple of weeks left until Jason would be whisked away to San Francisco and she was back to California with her dad, where they may never talk again.

That was, if her dad was still in California and not hanging over a purple fire, held hostage by a massive giant and tied to a stake. God, how weird that sentence sounded to Piper, but she couldn't deny how realistic the dream had felt. The fear. The terror. The gripping, gnawing anxiety for her father as she saw him helplessly tied up and beaten.

All of these problems she had spilled to Jason on the bus ride when she was sure no one else could hear. Jason, exhausted from a lack of sleep and mentally drilling for information from himself, had gone to sleep while still holding her hand.

"It'll be okay, Pipes," he muttered just before he fell asleep, his eyes half-closed and his head lolling. "Trust me, it'll be fine. We'll work everything out." At that moment, she had believed him, partly because she wanted to believe him, partly because Jason was never wrong and never lied to her.

This time however, he was wrong. This time, he lied to her, while not intentionally doing so. Because things wouldn't be all right when he woke up. Instead, when he woke up, her whole life would go to turmoil, and things wouldn't be right for a long, long time.

And there we have it. As anyone who reads Brotherbad will discover, I don't like happy endings, and this one was no exception. Besides, heroes never have happy endings, right?

One last time, thank you all so so so much for everything you've done.

REVIEW