Alright, here you go. This is the longest chapter I've ever written and I wrote this all the way until 1 in the morning so I hope you guys like it. I'm exhausted but I was determined to finish this for all of you. Thank you so much for your reviews and your patience. Hope you like it. Please, review, I love those.

Epilogue

I couldn't figure out how to pull myself out of my connection to Baset. I could still see Alek and Jasmine, who now stood in front of me. They were both trying to get me to respond.

"Should I slap her?"

"Jasmine," Alek snapped angrily.

"I'm just asking!"

One more thing, my Uniter. It is very crucial you understand what I'm asking.

Yes?

The Goddess and I stared at each other. As a parting gift, she showed me the world she wanted. The lives she wanted to give the Mai, she didn't want any of her children to die. I found myself nodding though I didn't really understand. The Goddess' eyes turned sad. I took a step closer. To apologize – to say well anything – but the words caught in my throat.

Close your eyes, my child.

I did. When I opened them, the throne room was gone, I was back staring at Jasmine, and Alek's worried faces. I blinked.

"Thank God," Jasmine muttered. "Thought we lost you there for a second."

Alek didn't say anything. He stared at me with a look of determination on his face. The thought that he saw what Baset wanted crossed my mind before I disregarded it as ridiculous. What I saw was for my eyes and my eyes alone. I stared back at my boyfriend, wiping off any emotion. He frowned.

"We're almost back home," he informed me. I glanced around. We were at the end of a tunnel, a manhole directly above us, and three small dots letting in what little light we had. I wrinkled my nose in disgust, as I realized what this tunnel used to be. Around us, the Mai that escaped crowded together. Sam clambered up the ladder and pushed the manhole out of the way. He stared down at everyone.

"Who's first?"

It was well after dark when we got the last Mai out of the tunnel. Sam sealed it back up. Alek placed a hand on the small of my back.

"Chloe, we're all headed toward Valentina's. She's summoned an emergency meeting with all the pride leaders."

Were we already back at the city? I didn't recognize any of my surroundings. I nodded. Everyone began to run, taking off towards the direction to Valentina's I suppose. I pulled the back of Alek's collar before he ran. He whirled to face me.

"I…There's something I have to do first. I'll meet you there." I could already see his disagreement starting to form. "Please, jus trust me on this. I'll meet you at Valentina's, I promise."

I could see him battling with himself. Finally, he nodded.

"One hour," he said. "I want you there at one hour or I'm coming to look for you."

I kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

We ran together until we saw buildings I recognized. I took off in another direction and was grateful when Alek didn't follow me. I needed to do this.

I reached my destination a lot quicker than I expected. Now or never, King, I thought. I ignored the shaking of my hands and my racing heart as I mounted the steps. This was long overdue. I opened the front door and stepped passed the threshold.

"Mom?" I called out timidly.

It was as if my voice had conjured her from thin air, because suddenly she appeared at the stairs looking at me with wide eyes. She practically flew down the steps shouting my name at the top of her lungs. She threw her arms around me in a hug and I stood there frozen before returning her embrace. I had tears streaming down my face and I buried my head in her shoulder.

"Thank God, you're home," she breathed. "I was about to file a missing person's report."

She ushered me into the living room and we sat down on the couch.

"I can't stay long," I said, wiping away my tears but more were falling in their place. "I just wanted to see you one last time."

"Chloe, what are you talking about?"

"Something very important is happening and I don't want to put you in the middle of it. I'm going to need to be apart from you and I don't know if I'm going to be coming back."

"For God's sake, Chloe, you're sixteen not eighteen! Where is all this coming from?"

Now or never.

"Mom, there's something you need to know about me…"

I returned at Valentina's a few minutes before Alek was going to look for me. I knocked on the door, and he was the one who opened it, wearing a black jacket and shoving his phone in his pocket.

"I was about to look for you."

"I know."

He glanced at the duffel bag at my side.

"You went to see your mom?"

I nodded slowly. I waited for him to scold me, but he took in my puffy eyes and flushed face and he held the door open wider. The living room was crowded, with more Mai than there was last time. A few nodded in greeting. Alek grabbed my hand and led me toward his room.

"The leaders are in Valentina's office. They're staying in the city until we figure out a plan."

"Okay."

He shut his bedroom door behind us. I dropped my duffel bag and approached the window. I lean my head against the cool glass, tears finding their way down my cheek and I don't do anything to stop them.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked from behind me.

"No." My voice shook and he wrapped his arms hesitantly around me. He nuzzled the side of my neck in a sign of comfort. I leaned into his touch. He stayed with me until sleep finally claimed me.

The next morning, Valentina woke me up early so that I could attend the "War Council Meeting." I groggily pulled myself out of bed and hurried through my morning routine. By the time I entered the packed meeting room, they were already heavily into the discussion. They barely noticed me take a seat. I listened carefully. Everyone in the room wanted to attack full force. it was a heated debate about who would be the first team in and who would be reinforcements, where should they strike first. It went on for hours, because people kept going back to the same points. Finally, Valentina brought me into the conversation.

"What do you want to do, Chloe? The entire Mai are under your command."

And suddenly, everything Baset wanted from me clicked into place.

"Hold off for now. If we're going to do this we can't afford mistakes. I want to see whatever battle plans anyone of you has."

They nodded, agreeing.

"Alright, this meeting will continue tomorrow," Valentina announced. "Good day to you all."

They all got up to leave. I stopped Valentina as she passed me.

"Valentina," I asked. "Do you have a pen and paper?"

She motioned a drawer at the corner of the room. I grabbed one and the pen beside it. I scribbled down what I wanted to say before folding it in three. I thanked her and returned to Alek's room. He was sitting on his bed, flipping through a magazine. He dropped it when I walked in.

"What's that?" he asked. I placed the paper inside one of his bedroom drawers.

"Plan B."

"Let's see it," he said starting to rise. I shook my head, hurrying over to him and pinning him to the bed, straddling his hips with my legs.

"It's not important right now."

"And what is?"

"The fact that you're flipping through a Victoria Secret magazine," I said with a smile.

"It's Jasmine's."

"Sure it is."

He grinned, all teeth.

"If you're jealous, you don't have to be. I still think you're the hottest girl alive."

I rolled my eyes but smiled softly at the look he gave me. After all, every girl wanted someone that looked at them like they were the only thing they had left in the world.

Alek's POV

Chloe had been on edge all week. I barely saw her except for when she came in, well late into the night, to sleep. She never talked about the meetings, but when weapons were brought in little by little every day and stored in the spare bedroom we had, it wasn't hard to figure out what page all of them were on.

I went out to train with Jasmine and when we came back we found Chloe sitting on the couch, looking exhausted. I sat beside her and kissed her cheek.

"You okay?"

She smiled tiredly.

"Yeah, just glad that it's over," she said. She followed me in the room as I went to take a shower, and I found her staring out the window when I finished. She had her back to me; her arms wrapped tightly around her torso and she was frowning down at the city.

"Chloe?"

She jumped. "Don't sneak up on me like that," she scolded me.

"I'm not behind you. In fact, I'm eight feet away."

She whirled around and forced a laugh.

"My fault, then, I keep getting distracted. I haven't been able to focus all week."

"Worried about how the war we're about to ignite will go?"

"I haven't said anything about a war."

"You didn't have to. Everyone knows its coming."

She frowned again, deep in thought. Then she walked toward me and wrapped her arms around my neck pulling me down so her lips could meet mine. I wrapped my arms around her, kissing her back, before pulling away when I needed air.

"What was that for?"

"For being you," she said.

"I haven't done anything special. Though I will take the compliment," I said.

She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. I could tell something was wrong. But I also could tell that she wouldn't tell me what it was even if I pushed her. So we began to talk. She sat on my lap and we both looked out at the city through the buildings, at the rooftops that we scaled once before. And she started to tell me about her father, how she didn't really know what happened to him, he just disappeared one day. I noticed she avoided to mention her mother. She listened when I told her about when I first moved in with Valentina.

"Is it weird that I'm not surprised you were always a trouble maker?" she asked. I smirked at her.

"Don't like dating a rebel?" I taunted. "I never liked following the rules."

"Neither do I."

"I've noticed."

She nudged me with her shoulder before motioning for me to go on. I told her about learning how to start over, and how Valentine taught me how to properly use my abilities. Jasmine knocked on my bedroom door sometime later.

"My mom wants to see you, Chloe."

Chloe sighed. She kissed my cheek before getting off my lap and leaving the room. Jasmine was looking at me.

"I feel like I'm about to witness a tragedy."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She held up her hands, knowing that she offended me.

"Nothing," she said.

Then she walked out of sight leaving me alone. Chloe came back in the room, five minutes later, and without another word, crawled into bed pulling the covers over her head. I wanted to join her but stayed put. I stared out into the city and tried to figure out what she was frowning at earlier. I spent hours just sitting there, thoughts turning over and over in my head, none of them felt like the right reason. I watched the sun set and night take over for those few blissful hours we were meant to be resting. I gave up and went to bed; maybe I could ask her about it in the morning. I wrapped my arm around Chloe, pulling her against me and closed my eyes. I dreamt of Chloe standing on the shore of a beach, the waves lapping over her ankles and toes, the ocean a beautiful blue and the sunlight creating a halo around her head. She held her hand out to me, her blue eyes inviting. And she smiled, her whole face lighting up like an angel.

I was pulled out of my dream when I felt her moving to get up.

"Where are you going?" I mumbled.

"I'll be back," she whispered. I felt the feeling of her lips brushing my forehead as she leaned down. "I love you."

I must've smiled before falling back to sleep, wanting nothing more than to continue dreaming of the girl I held so dear to me. And dream I did, but this time she was standing on the same shore, her hands at her sides, her eyes no longer inviting but sad, and the water behind her was now a dark red color – it looked a lot like blood.

Jasmine woke up me the next morning, shaking my shoulder so hard I almost punched her.

"Alek wake up!"

"What?" I demanded, pulling the pillow over my face.

"Have you seen Chloe?"

I shoved the pillow off of me and was on my feet in the next second.

"What?" I repeated but in a completely different tone. I could hear scuffling around the apartment beyond my bedroom.

"She's not in the apartment and a variety of weapons are missing from the weapons room."

I wanted to go into shock but I forced myself to think. Why would she just leave? Think, I ordered. Think! I glanced at my drawer, where her duffel bag still lay with her phone lying on top. And I remembered.

Plan B, she'd said.

I pushed past Jasmine and ripped open the drawer, unfolding the paper, where Chloe's messy yet elegant handwriting was sprawled across, as if she'd written it in a hurry.

Alek,

I couldn't bear the thought of losing another Mai. I ordered Valentina to call off the attack. Please forgive me for not telling you and for going off on my own. But I have to do this. It's my destiny to end this. And I will. It has to be me. Just me.

I love you

Chloe

"She's gone," I whispered. "Chloe's gone."

All the missing pieces and things that weren't really explained are all supposed to be revealed in the sequel. Any ideas? I'd love to hear them. Tell me what you think, PLEASE.