Okay…so this is it. This is absolutely, positively, the last chapter of Sealed With. I thank you all again for reading, for the favs and follows. You're all wonderful, and love you, and I'm glad I able to entertain you. With this last chapter, I hope to break a few more hearts before we go.

They don't talk to each other for a week. They don't text each other, Desmond doesn't come into the lab, and they avoid each other on the company's messaging system. In that week, Desmond takes some time to think. And he does realize he was a total dick and that was all the wrong way to react to something like that. He thought it over, and while there was no proper way to react to being told your best friend was gonna let himself get infected by his own handmade virus, well…

Desmond had a whole apology ready when he walked into the lab after that week where they ignored each other. Alex didn't even so much as turn to look at him as he walked in. The wriggling mass that was Blacklight however, launched itself at Desmond the moment the door slid shut. Desmond held up an arm to let the virus wrap itself around him like a long, living glove. He let himself be distracted by the virus as it spread over his arm and rubbed itself against him as if it had forgotten what he felt like.

"Hey Alex" Desmond finally says, not taking his eyes off the virus quite yet. Alex doesn't respond to him. "Alex?" Desmond tries again, reaching up with his other hand to peel the virus off his arm. Blacklight wraps around his hand instead, and he loses it in a mass of smooth blackness, but still able to open and close his hand, as well as wiggle his fingers around. Desmond sighs in defeat.

"Okay, fine. I'm sorry. I get it, I was a huuuuge jerk about it. And you have every right to be mad at me"

He pauses. Alex still has his back to him. So he continues.

"I just…It's not the world's most perfect excuse? But I just like, got really scared for you? I still don't know much about your puppy here," and Desmond karate chops the air to send Blacklight flying from his hand. "But I don't think having it inside you is the most safe thing in the world. I mean you've told me everything about viruses, so what makes me think putting one inside you isn't deadly?"

He watches Blacklight crawl away across the lab to climb into its fish tank. Desmond strides away to the bench Alex is working out to stand next to him. "Basically what I'm trying to say is" he continues quietly. "I don't want anything to happen to you. Cause I care about you a lot. I'm sorry I made you really angry"

Desmond glances down at the "work" Alex is conducing. Alex has been writing out some paper the whole time. But the scribble scrabble on the paper isn't his horrible handwriting, it's literal scribbling. Alex hasn't actually written anything the whole time. Desmond looks up just a little to see Alex's face. Alex is staring hard down at the paper. Dark rings are around his eyes, like he hasn't at all gotten that sleep Desmond told him to get s week earlier.

Those piercing blue eyes flicker towards him.

"Don't" Alex finally says. "I'm not the one you should be worrying about"

"Well I kinda already spent a week agonizing over it so…"

"It'll be fine. I'll be fine"

"Will you really though? Can you positively guarantee that you will?"

"No" and a hand curls around one of Desmond's. "But I'll fucking try"

It's good enough for Desmond, who squeeze's the hand in his own. And just like that, everything resumes to normal.

x-X-X-x

Alex is even busier after they made up. Even more projects he's not allowed to tell Desmond about. Projects he works on in a completely separate lab and doesn't tell him where it is. Meanwhile, Desmond is left to essentially babysit Blacklight, and that's fucking terrible all on its own. Locked in one room with the incredible blob monster is not Desmond's idea of fun, of an afternoon, or of safety.

Dealing with Blacklight is a lot like dealing with a two year old crossed with a monkey that is also Flubber at the same time. It's also a very touchy feely two year old monkey Flubber thing. Desmond literally can't keep the damn thing off him, it loves to give "hugs", and meld itself against his skin. If Desmond's not careful, he'll forget Blacklight is still on his arm, or leg, or neck, then nearly unlock the door and walk out with it.

Alex had given him clear instructions long ago to not let Blacklight out of the lab under any circumstances. It's not that Blacklight isn't ready for the outside world, it's not really to deal with people on a larger scale. One of Alex's fears is that Blacklight will panic and attack someone, either killing them or infecting them. And while that is the whole purpose of Blacklight, it's not meant to just be set loose and have at it.

That and Blacklight doesn't like people. It obviously likes its creator and Desmond. It's okay with Lucy, for a while, then it gets irritated with her presence and she has to leave before something happens to her. It's downright hostile with any of the other scientists on that floor that come in to see what Alex is up to or bring him a new head to split open. The best that can be done is that Blacklight slowly adjusts to the idea of people and gets introduced to the world outside the lab gradually. When it finally infects Alex, the idea is that it won't be a problem anymore, it'll be in its true element and will function properly.

And that's all fine and dandy for whenever that happens. But Desmond is ready to lose his goddamn mind the longer he has to sit in the lab with that thing. Getting groped by a living virus thing is only uncomfortable for so long until it gets downright disturbing and no amount of yelling or threats out "time out" seem to work. Desmond really wishes Alex would come back.

x-X-X-x

Time flies by just like that. And everything comes together, and Desmond dreads every single second he crawls closer to it.

After some extensive talking, debating, and arguing, the final plan is finally set into motion. An experiment, to observe how exactly the Blacklight virus infects its host and how long it takes to assume full control. So basically every single bad sci-fi movie wrapped into one, that's basically how Desmond understood it. And somehow, someone, not him, not someone convinced someone else to let Desmond go along for the ride.

He was, after all, Dr. Mercer's only and most trust assistant, and the only other person in world that knew how to handle the virus. Which was very untrue, Desmond didn't fucking know what to do with Blacklight half the time. Hell, he fucking hated Blacklight. But unfortunately, Blacklight was over the moon with him so, Desmond didn't get a lot of options with this.

The plan was to lock the three of them in a room, no way in, no way out. And it would only open up when the virus was fully interrogated into Alex, when two became one and the real magic could start happening. Desmond really, really didn't want to be the one who sat there and got to see it all happen. But he loved Alex to pieces and wasn't going to let the smart idiot stay in there all by himself with no one to talk to. So even if Desmond was given a choice to go in or not, he'd still say yes because he was concerned about his friend and worried that this was gonna end badly.

(Alex just had to promise that Blacklight wouldn't go berserk and kill Desmond in the process of all this. Desmond couldn't be replaced, and the second Desmond flatlined, they wouldn't hesitate to shoot all three of them with as many lethal doses of bloodtox as possible. And if Alex survived that, he sure as hell wasn't going to survive anything that came affter, details Desmond never became aware of until weeks after the experiment.)

Their new "lab" for the experiment was a sterile, white room made of new, space age technology and innovations only Abstergo could come up with. Everything they would need, it would be provided. When the experiment was set to begin, Alex and Desmond walked into that room not knowing when they'd come out, or what exactly would happen to them, but what would happen would be an incredible advance in science, or so they were assured.

They walked in with only the clothes on their backs, Alex a small portable case with Blacklight inside. Alex walked in to set the case down on a bench to take Blacklight out. Desmond walked in, looked around the room, and then turned back to look at the hole in the wall that was their entrance and exit. And he watched, as the door slid shut and locked into place. The seems disappeared, as if the door itself was never there, and it had been a normal wall all along.

Which meant the experiment had begun.

x-X-X-x

o-O-O-o

Desmond still has dreams about it. Of back then. When he was just a dumb lab assistant avoiding the Animus Project. When he went out to get Italian food with one of his best friends every other night. When his shoulder still didn't occasionally throb with pain.

He dreams about those happier times, when his best friend wasn't dead. He still sees themselves, two guys at a booth, flicking olives at each other, bitching about pop culture, and nearly falling asleep where they sat. He still sees themselves in that lab, one trying to explain some quadratic formula to the other and that other just not understanding a damn word being said to him.

Sometimes it's the two of them just standing together, holding hands, arms around one another. Desmond never really saw how handsome Alex was until he's right there in his dreams where every detail is suddenly laid bare to him, and god, how could he let that get away from him? But he'll wake up from those dreams with tears dripping down his cheeks, and he's landed back into a very painful reality.

He blames Blacklight for putting the idea in his head. That Alex may have actually loved him that whole fucking time. He thinks he should have noticed sooner. But he knows Alex and Alex isn't the kind of person to just out right confess his feelings for a person. The more Desmond thinks about it, the signs were all right there. Alex never said how he felt, but he always showed it. And Desmond didn't even so much as blink at it. He just accepted it in any way Alex gave it to him. It was good enough for them.

Of course it only intensified while they were in that damn room. Alex, losing his goddamn mind, didn't feel comfortable in his own skin, what were they doing that whole time? Desmond just held him in his arms, and didn't let go for as long as he could. He used to spend hours with Alex's head on his shoulders, and stroking hair, and just letting him know he wasn't alone, Desmond was there for him.

Desmond started really questioning himself after that. Did he love Alex in return? Did he ever think of him as more than just a friend? And does it do him any good to dwell on it now? It's a little awkward, and a little too late to staring falling for his best friend after his said friend is already dead.

o-O-O-o

Sometimes he swears he can see Alex out of the corner of his eye, like he's just standing there right behind his shoulder. But whenever Desmond turns to look, there's no one there. He blames that on the lack of sleep he's been getting, and the dreams he keeps having. Sometimes he can't sleep because his shoulder is throbbing. He can't sleep because he feels so restless. He wakes up a lot in the night from his dreams, his nightmares.

It's been weeks now, and Desmond is still recovering from the experiment.

His shoulder is fine, just some slight scarring, but that's it. Yet he still feels pain, can still feel those claws sinking in if he concentrates on it hard enough. Especially after a particularly bad dream. The most common one is him and Alex together…Then being torn away from him. And no matter how much he screams and begs and fights, Desmond can't get Alex back. Desmond will bolt upright in bed, sweating from every pore, his whole arm on fire.

He's since been back to the lab where it all started. Or to at least pack up all of Alex's work. Every trip down there is more painful than the last, because Desmond can feel his chest tighten the moment he walks in, and it gets tighter and tighter until he leaves. He won't deny it, he misses Alex. He misses him so much, everything hurts.

It hurts more when the reality of it comes into play. Alex did it all willingly. He let himself die. Those projects from before the experiment were everything he needed to get done and he could in a relatively short amount of time. The only one that mattered to Desmond was bloodtox as it had already saved his life. And of course, leave it to Alex to think up a plan for when shit hit the fan.

A month passes, and Desmond wants to feel like he's over it. It's all in the past, he has to let it go, move on with life. He wants to move on so badly, he takes Lucy out to dinner, at Shoni's. And it goes well, it's like they never stopped going for a while, like nothing ever happened. Desmond pretends that Alex isn't there because he's holed up in the lab, that silly workaholic.

But he takes it a little too far. They get back to Abstergo, and Desmond hits the wrong button the elevator. The button he hits takes them to the labs. He doesn't realize it until Lucy points it out to him. Desmond breaks down from there because he's still not over it.

o-O-O-o

StillHere has begun chatting with you

SH: I need you to come see this

WE: Am I gonna like it?

SH: Nope.

WE: Where are you?

SH: Take a wild guess.

WE: Fuck

WE: I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?

SH: Maybe

StillHere has logged off

o-O-O-o

He didn't like it, just as Lucy said.

Desmond practically drags his feet down to that surveillance room. Lucy is waiting just inside for him with the current guard of the hour. Lucy doesn't say anything, and the guard brings up a camera feed on one of the larger screens. A cold feeling of dread takes root in Desmond's stomach.

Blacklight is pacing back and forth along one wall. His mouth his moving like he's talking to someone, but of there, there is no one else physically in the room with him. He's visibly agitated, downright distressed. He keeps scratching at the back of his neck, or flexing his hands, grinding his teeth. Whoever he's talking to, he's not happy with. He seems to grow more and more frantic with each passing moment. At one point he slams the wall he's pacing next to with a claw, pausing to seemingly catch his breath.

It's then that Desmond notices it. There is something scratched on the wall above Blacklight's head. The dread in Desmond's stomach spreads when he reads it;

BYE

Desmond really wishes it doesn't mean what he thinks it does. But he feels like he knows better than that by this point. The guard hits a few buttons on the computer console. "Been screaming this all day" the guard grunts, and audio filters into the room.

"Aleeeeeex" Blacklight's voice is all but screeching. "Alex this isn't funny anymoooore. I told you you can't hide from me. Come out, come out wherever you are. Aleeeeeeex"

The screams only escalate from there. Blacklight soon turns from distressed to furious, throwing another one of his tantrums as he stomps around the room calling for someone who isn't answering him back. To anyone else, maybe Alex was just asleep, really really asleep and wasn't talking back. But Desmond knows what's going on. Without even having to be told, he knows what's happening. He walks out of the room unable to watch any more. He knows, yes, but he needs to know.

o-O-O-o

Desmond doesn't return back to his room, but heads into an elevator and hits the button to take him to the basement.

Down in the basement, the Apple of Eden is waiting for him. He hates that dumb little ball. If it wasn't for that Apple, maybe none of this would be happening. Desmond marches in to the room it sits in, and snatches the Apple off its lone pedestal.

"Where's Alex?" Desmond snarls at it. "Fucking tell me!"

The Apple begins to glow a brilliant gold color. It encases him in a shower of golden light, arcane runes and the likes floating around, foreign sounds echoing off the wall. There's an intense whispering that ripples through the chamber. as if the voices the whispers belong to are debating among themselves.

"Answer my question!" he snaps at the air.

The cloud around him spasms, followed by more whispering until part of the cloud dips forward and swirls in place until a shadowy figure floats before him.

"Gone" the shadow replies, its voice booming as a hundred shadows answer all at once through one mouth.

"Where?"

"To where he has peace, no longer trapped, no longer sealed within the confines of his own mind"

"Was he consumed?"

"No. He has left by his own volition"

It's not what Desmond wants to hear.

"I want him back" Desmond demands. "Isn't there a way to bring him back? Can't he and Blacklight exist at the same time with their own bodies?"

"No. He does not wish to return"

"Not even for me?" Desmond inquires. "Doesn't he fucking love me enough to come back for me?"

And the shadow asks him back, "Did he love you enough to stay?"

Desmond's shoulder begins to throb. He's been asking himself the same question for weeks. The fire in him fades away, and Desmond is back to being a heartbroken mess.

"Is he happier?" Desmond asks quietly.

"Dr. Mercer is at peace. in essence, he is happy"

Desmond slowly nods. He's very willing to accept that. He can't have Alex back, no. But if they say Alex is happy, and if Blacklight is all alone in that head of his, then that's good. The first good thing Desmond's heard in a month.

"Thank you for your time then" Desmond says and sets the Apple back on its pedestal. The shadowy figure vanishes, and the golden cloud around him dissipates. Desmond turns and walks away back to the elevator. The doors slid shut behind him.

o-O-O-o

He dreams of Alex that night. They're just sitting in an empty expanse, side by side, hands together, fingers entwined. There's nothing to see, yet they stare out into the expanse as if if's the most interesting thing in the world. They could just sit there forever, together. If eternity could be spent there with only each other, then nothing would make them happier.

"Do you love me?" Desmond asks.

"Yes" Alex replies.

"For how long?"

Alex thinks.

"A while now"

A pause.

"Do you love me?" Alex asks back.

"Yeah" Desmond grins. "As much as a guy can love a dumb idiot like you"

Alex laughs. Desmond wishes he could hear him laugh like that more.

"Are you happy?"

"I'm always happy around you, Desmond"

And they actually look at each other now. It's like nothing has changed. Alex looks healthy, healthier than normal. Those rings around his eyes are still present, but his skin isn't deathly pale, his cheeks are full, eyes clear. They're smiling at each other, happy to be around one another indeed.

Surprisingly, they lean in, and kiss. They never kiss in Desmond's dreams, this is the first time it's ever happened. Not that Desmond complains. Alex feels warm to the touch. And he kisses back, and lets his free hand come up to hold Desmond's cheek. Desmond's other hand comes up to Alex's hair, soft and silky. Desmond doesn't know how long they stay there locking lips. Maybe it was only a minute, maybe more. Maybe days, or weeks, maybe even years. But he wouldn't mind, because this is where he wants to be, he's sure.

They stop as suddenly as they started. They go back to smiling at each other, just for a little bit. Desmond takes in a deep breath of air, what he says next, he know will hurt somehow, but it's so important that he does.

"You have to go now Alex" he says.

"I know" Alex nods.

"I'll remember you" Desmond promises. "I'll remember you, forever. Even when they strap me into the Animus, and I go crazy or whatever…I'll still remember you"

"I'll worry about you" Alex says sadly.

"Don't" Desmond shakes his head. "I'm not the one you should be worrying about"

"Stay safe, Desmond"

"I'll fucking try"

Desmond wakes up right after that, just as the words pass through his lips. He never dreams of Alex again.

There. That's it. I'm done. No more Sealed With. Officially. It's over. Done. Not writing this anymore. There's nothing left to write. I promise this time. But do know, that this was actually the happy ending you were all hoping for. How is this happy? It just is. They confessed, they kissed, Alex is still dead and Desmond is still heading for the Animus one day. AWESOME.

Bye.