this is it, folks. if you are choose to read the AU version of the end of this book, you'll need to skip to the bit after the gif of ron eating the chicken. if you decide to go that route, you'll have to pretend that Sarah never 'died' and she was with gwen the whole time. that being said, you won't want to read the next chapter after, meaning this will be the end of me and you. thank you for taking the time to read my little book and i hope you enjoyed your stay here, even if it was traumatic and sad! enjoy your happy ending, but if you'd rather go with how the book is original set up, well, no need to skip to the end.

۫ ּ ִ ۫ ˑ ֗ 𓏲˖ 𑁍 ࣪ ִ ۫ ּ ִ ۫ ˑ ֗
࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ  ✩◿𝓓𝓣𝓐◸ 🂱 ࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ
CHAPTER FORTY NINE—
a bittersweet snow in the sun.

Between being under water for a matter of turn, in the late November weather, and the pouring rain, Sarah was running in the freezing cold. Her lips were blue and she'd lost her cardigan in the process of getting out of the lake, running in the red top that provided her no warmth. Her abdomen was punctured with a large thing of glass, yanking it free and crying out in the process as she had to stop running for a second. She remembered exactly where Robin took her from when he got to her at the lake, the exact route it took to get to the house.

Sarah got there fast, her ribs ached from running so hard but she genuinely didn't feel it yet. She ran up to the house, seeing the van in the garage. She knew that van, she's seen it times before. She panted, staring and trying to find a plan. She knew she hadn't been able to just bust into the house, but what other option did she have at the point?

Sarah went to the back of the house, hopping the fence as the mud shot up in her legs. She hurried to the patio, the water from the rain causing a pool under her on the concrete, giving the back door a small tug. It was locked, she grasped the flower pot on the chair and threw it on the ground, finding the spare key inside a she used it to unlock the door. She was thankful the door hadn't been loud, but that didn't matter to her when she was finally in the house.

She heard yelling echoing.

"Finney!" Sarah yelled out as she followed the shouts.

"Sarah!" she knew his voice, making her circle the basement stairs and see a large, metal door at the bottom wide open, a dog at the bottom growling at her. "Sarah!"

Sarah ran into the kitchen and yanked the drawers open, making a mess in the process until she found the knife drawer. She grasped hold of the biggest one and ran down the stairs. Samson was still barking at her, Sarah froze. That dog was much bigger then Bingo, and a lot scarier to look at. He looked like he was the type of dog to tear people apart, but Sarah wasn't about to stab him either. A thump from the steps behind her caused her to look back, seeing the dog treat bag had fallen over.

Bruce sent her back, using his energy, but Robin still had his.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Sarah ran back up the stairs, grasping the entire bag as she ran back down, throwing them over Samson and toward the gross bed in the middle of the room. He followed them, Sarah no longer meant a single thing to him. She sprinting the rest of the way, circling the small wall so fast she nearly slipped. "Finney!"

He was on the other side, the cord of a phone around The Grabbers neck. He looked back at her, when he did, it gave him a moment of weakness as The Grabber grasped onto him. Sarah slide across the floor on her side, scrapping her leg so bad that blood smeared across the floor, she threw her hand around the two, the knife right into The Grabbers neck as she held it there, breaking in deeply. "Let him go."

He did, the blade to his throat enough to do so. Finney latched onto the cord again, tightening it. His gaze shifted back at her, Sarah hadn't moved as that blade got tighter and tighter, just like the cord did. "Sarah, I need you to do something for me."

She took her eyes off the Grabber and looked at Finney. "What is it?"

"I need you to go to the phone, and hold down the switch hook for me." he saw the hesitated, not wanting to leave him here. He tightened his hold on the cord again as The Grabber choked worse, completely helpless. "I can handle this."

"Are you sure?" she nodded, but a big part of her was sure he could. Finney always had some sort of anger in him, something that he could use to defend himself but never did. Sarah use to like that, she liked that he never wanted to go the violent route. Now, all she wanted was for him to do it. Kill the motherfucker that killed so many boys she loved, and almost took yet another one.

"I'm sure." he nodded, Sarah stood up and hurried around the corner again. Samson was still going after the bag of treats, not paying her any mind as she ran to the phone on the wall. It was missing the receiver and the the cord, but she didn't need that. All she needed to do was hold down the little button that hung up the phone, pressing her finger into it.

"It's for you." she could hear Finney say from the other side, but she didn't hear anything else. Not like him and The Grabber had. She didn't hear the boys, but that was okay, because she got to listen to the life drain out of The Grabber from the other side. One final crack echoed, and it went quiet again. Sarah held the button still, glancing at the slightly bloody space ship rocked ontop of the phone, the picture of her and Billy next to it. Her free hand came up and grasped it, holding it there before footsteps made her look over.

Finney circled the corner and threw a raw meat toward Samson, distracting him from the treats. His eyes locked with Sarah's, letting her know she could let the receiver go. She had, dropping her hand and hurrying over to him. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, his did the same. Neither of them said anything, there was so much to say but nothing at all at the same time. Finney was in shock of what he'd just done, that it was all over, and Sarah was trying to convince herself that this was real. That she wasn't dead still, that it wasn't just some dream, it was all real. He was alive, with her, this one didn't end the way all the others had.

"I thought I lost you." she told him honestly, her hand pressed into the back of his head.

"I thought I lost you too." he told her, still having the faint feeling that she was dead still after that phone call. Sarah pulled back, placed her hands above his ears and kissed him on the forehead. It lingered, like it would be the last time. But, it wouldn't. It really, really wouldn't.

"You ready to get the fuck out of here?" Sarah gave him a hopeful look.

"Yeah. I really am." he nodded his head, wrapping his arm around her waist as she put hers around his shoulder. The pair went up the stairs together and out of the front door rather then the back. Police cars had lined the house across the street, the rain was barley a drizzle now as the sight of covered little lumps starts to roll out of the house in the gurney. It was the boys remains, barley anything there, but still shown the dignity to be properly moved from the place their murder bodies were buried.

Gwen had seen them, standing up from where she sat on the fence and came sprinting across the street. Sarah looked over to the black van in the covered part, letting Finney go. "I'll be right back."

Gwen was wrapping her arms around him before he could say anything to her. Sarah walked to the van, using the end of her shirt to open the doors so her fingertips wouldn't affect the soon to be crime scene. Black balloons flew out in her face and into the sky, letting her see the back of the van alone. She stared at Robins bandana, the knit necklace Vance had worn a few times, Griffins bike, Bruce's watch, and Billys jacket.

"Sarah!" Jason ran to her, making her look back and see her grandfather had tended to Finney and Gwen. "Oh my God."

"Did you find them?" she stared at him. "The boys?"

"Yeah, we did." he frowned. "Their bodies are being properly buried."

"Put to rest." Sarah nodded as she looked at the van again. "I think he took trophies for the boys he killed. Like they're lives just weren't enough already."

Jason put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them. "Let us take care of this. You can rest now, Sarah. You can take a breath."

Finney was alive, and the spirits of the boys she loved were being put to rest. She could take a breath, but when she did it was too many as her chest heaved a little. Jason wrapped his arm around her, leading her toward the ambulance as the rain in the sunshine turned to snow. Sarah froze as she looked up, the little snowflakes dropping down onto her human skin, melting to nothing even though she was suffering from hypothermia.

They said they'd try to give her a sign, and that's exactly what they did.

"Hey, Sarah." Gwen gave her a tiny smile when Jason brought her to the ambulance. "So, this was the errand you had to run."

Sarah smiled at her, climbing into the ambulance to sit behind them on the small bench as the paramedic got back there as well go look her over and wrap her in a warm blanket. Finney looked back to watch her, to make sure she was okay just like how her eyes kept flickering his way.

"Finney." Terrence came crying as he hugged his son. Gwen looked back at Sarah, watching her father cry as he sunk to his knees. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Finney looked back at Sarah too, moving his head just a little to encourage her to come sit with him and Gwen now that the paramedic had walked away. She did, on his other side as the three watched him cry on the ground beneath them.

That night was the first time Gwen had slept fully since Finney went missing. She slept knowing her brother and Sarah were right next to her bed, sitting across from each other betwen the bed and the wall, talking quietly. Finney had told Sarah everything after she explained it all. "They really said that about me?"

"You were really the only thing we all had in common." Finney nodded. He looked a lot healthier now after spending all day at the hospital, about four showers, and plenty of food in his system. He got rid of those jeans and that blue baseball tee he never wanted to see again, changed into clothes that were too big on him but comforted him tremendously. "They kept saying you were gonna do something. Everyone was really worried about you."

Sarah felt bad for making the boys worry like that, shaking her head a little. "I was just scared you weren't gonna come back either."

Finney frowned, rubbing her ankle because that was the closest part of her that was near him. "Do you think they're okay now?"

"Yeah." she nodded her head. "I know they are."

Finney was relived, nodded his head with a sad smile. "Sarah?"

"Yeah?" she hummed.

"My eyes are all messed up." he admitted to her as concern went across her face. "I didn't want to say anything. Everyone was already freaking out enough."

"Your eyes?" she scooted closer and used her flashlight to shine her light into them, looking for a mark. "Can you follow it?"

His eyes followed it at first, but then they kinda froze. Sarah frowned as she nodded her head. "Nothing some glasses won't fix. Try mine for now."

She pulled her bag closer and dug the thick rimmed ones out, giving them to him as Finney put them on his face. "Better?"

"Jesus." he had to say it. "No. I didn't know you were blind."

Sarah gaze an offended look, making Finney smile. "Not blind. Just a little far sighted."

He pulled them off and laid them back in her back. "Let's just worry about it after a few days of just...nothing."

"You got it." Sarah leaned against her knees and gave him a tiny little grin. "Before we do absolutely nothing, there's something I wanna tell you. Maybe it's bad timing, but I know that maybe Denver is the last place you wanna be?"

"You're right." he agreed with her. "What is it?"

"Back when I first got my scholarship to Saint Bellmont, back when I turned it down at first, I gave the headmaster your file because I thought you were a perfect candidate. They didn't take middle schoolers, but you're not in middle school anymore." he blinked as she went on. "Earlier, when you were at the hospital, I made a couple calls and there's a spot open that's yours if you want it. You'll get the hell out of Denver and go to school with me, live up there in the dorms with me. I even convinced him to let Gwen live on campus with us while she attends the public middle school down the street, until she can go to high school."

Finney sat up some and stared at her. "You did that?"

"You didn't have to make a decision right now. I just thought that if leaving Denver would help, or maybe it won't, you know for sure that you have that option." she nodded her head, hoping she wasn't putting too much on him too soon. "There's a teaching spot open too. I don't think we're the only ones who need to leave."

"Let's do it." he answered nearly immediately. "Let's just go and never come back."

It made Sarah happy to hear him say it. "Really?"

"What's keeping us here if everything will be in Aspen?" the truth was that Finney was just gonna follow Sarah wherever she went. They'd always been connected and so close, but what happened made them closer, it trauma bounded them differently. There was absolutely no way they'd be able to separate ever again. Sarah planned to stay in Denver if he'd have said he didn't want to go, but he planned to do the same if she said she wanted to come home for good. Neither of them wanted that though. They didn't genuinely want to be here anymore. "When should we go?"

Sarah rubbed him on the head. "Whenever you want."

Gwen smiled as she pretended to sleep, listening to the life she'd live with the two people she cared for the most.

•

kylie speaks

bittersweet.

au.

Sarah wasn't allowed to, but she went into the house Gwen lead them to. Her Grandfather and Father searched it as she did the same, not getting her prints anywhere. "Finney!"

She searched all the rooms, even the ones the two already looked in. It wasn't until she walked into the kitchen when she saw her Dad smile, looking out the window. "Sarah, you're gonna wanna see this."

She hurried to the window, pushing into his side as she stared out. Her heart did backflips in her chest, staring at the lawn across the street as Gwen hugged Finney tightly. Right next to him, Robin stood. Robin Arellano, alive. Just as Finney Blake was, wrapped in his sisters arms. Sarah bolted from the house, her long legs making her travel fast. "Robin!"

He looked away from Finney and Gwen at the sound of her voice, squinting from the sun he hadn't seen in a week. But, he saw her. "Sarah!"

He met her half way, weak and not able to run, but meeting her a little closer so her journey to the other side of the street wasn't longer then it needed to be. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, holding him in place with a thankful laugh. "Oh my god, you're alive."

"Yeah." he hugged her back. "You came home?"

"The second they told me you were taken." she pulled back, kneeled down on his level and cupping his face. No matter how old or tall Robin got, he had such a baby face and Sarah assumed he probably always would. He gave her a sad smile as Sarah did the same, hugging him tightly.

"Mom!" a new voice made her look up, still hugging Robin. Griffin Stagg came running from the house, sprinting to his mother in her long skirt as they sunk to the ground together. Finney hugged Sarah as she kissed him on the head, the four huddled together.

Bruce Yamada was lead out with the house by an officer.

"Bruce." he couldn't hear her because she said it so quietly, breaking away from the young trio as she ran to the steps.

"Sarah." Bruce cried and smile all at once, holding his arms out as she hugged him so tightly. "God, I was never mad at you. I-"

"It's okay." she promised him, holding onto him so tightly and so dearly. The town was wrong, he wasn't dead. Robin wasn't dead either. Nor with Griffin or Finney. The four boys were alive, Sarah felt a sense of sadness lift off her each time she saw a new face. "I should have been here."

Bruce held her tightly, inhaling deeply as if trying to memorize the way she'd smelt, the way she felt. He loved that girl to death, and she'd never in her life let him go again.

"Bruce!" Mr.Yamada yelled, stopping the car. Amy and Mrs.Yamada were with him, getting out as well. Sarah let him go, letting him go to his family a she walked a little deeper in the house. She was scared, scared of what she might find. Billy was the first to go missing, meaning there was a possibility he was an experiment. Tested to see if The Grabber enjoyed killing. Then, there was Vance. His anger issues made Sarah fear that something he said or done had made The Grabbed snap and kill him out of anger.

But, there Billy was, being lead from the basement.

"Hi." Sarah stood at the top of the stairs as he stared up at her. All skinny, dirty, and looking pretty much dead, but not. Stood only half way up the stairs.

"Hi." he whispered back, a sad smile going across his face as she hurried down the stairs and tossed her arms around him. The officer steadied the pair considering Billy was very wobbly, and Sarah had no self control as she held her bestest friend ever. Held his alive body, holding him so tight. "I missed you everyday."

"You have no idea." Sarah agreed as she squeezed her eyes shut. "I love you to death."

"Sheeps?" her eyes opened up widely, looking over Billys shoulder as Vance stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring up at her face just over Billys shoulders.

"I'll be in the ambulance." Billy promised her, the officer lead him away.

Sarah laugh and smiled so widely as she stared at Vance. She'd never forget about all she'd felt for him, but remember versus genuinely feeling where two entirely different things. She spend her days worrying for him and no longer being able to feel love and comfort. That changed in those moments, he held her like she'd held the other boys after she forcefully jumped the rest of the way, not bothering you take her time on the steps.

"You're fucking insane, Sheeps. What are-" he began before she pulled back, cupping his face and kissing him for the first time in over two years. Two long years without him, without knowing if he was still here. He was, he was right here, and Sarah could finally rest knowing they'd get the time they deserved, the time that they were robbed of by a now dead man.