A/N: The final chapter is actually upon us! (gasps) I seriously can't believe this.

Thank you, so very much, for your reviews for the previous chapter! (HUGS) Your comments seriously mean a lot. Never think otherwise!

Awkay, because I'm pretty eager (and just a little bit anxious, because final chapters are always nerve wrecking) to get to the business… (smirks) Let's go! I truly hope that you'll enjoy the final piece to THIS journey. (Do read the ending author's note, yeah?)

Epilogue – This is War

/ The first time the Others were officially discovered two girls, identical twins at the age of six, were seen making small objects fly while they were spending a quiet afternoon at a park. Someone informed the right, or perhaps wrong, people. And in less than a week those girls were in Dr. Sandra Leonor's laboratory. Their parents were strictly against their children being poked and experimented on like that, of course, but they had very little authority against a pile of official documents. Sandra herself swore to them that their little girls would be alright.

She really shouldn't have.

Because halfway through their fourth week of imprisonment something went horribly wrong. A crucial, delicate test failed. Too much strain was put on the minds of two small children. They died right before Sandra's horrified eyes.

No parent would let something like that go unpunished.

A week later the father of those little girls stood on the road across Sandra's house, a gun raised against her son. An eye for an eye. A child for a child.

However, for the second time something went wrong.

Sandra moved at the last possible second and the bullet aimed at her son slammed to the back of her skull instead. It was her blood that became shed. Screams of terror echoed in the father's ears.

For a few seconds after putting away his gun the father stared, finding a hint of satisfaction from seeing all the blood. Then he met the eyes of the little boy he just made motherless. Saw the entirely too familiar pain and wrath.

The father used his ability and sped away. Left although there was no place in the world of the living where he wanted to go. Blissfully unaware that he'd just planted the seed for a war. /

It was two hours from when a certain profiling team had been brought in for questioning. They turned themselves in voluntarily two days after their disappearance, knowing that the agency had been looking for them. They hadn't been allowed to see each other since coming in. Each of them sat in a small interrogation room, waiting for who knows what.

Derek found it absolutely infuriating to be stuck there when he should've been somewhere else entirely. Especially after a couple of agents he couldn't remember seeing before had stopped by, accusing the most innocent person he'd ever met of things that made him feel sick to his stomach. Spencer was blamed on Jason Gideon's crimes while the young genius was fighting for his life, maybe even…

No. Derek couldn't let his thoughts take that path, for the sake of his sanity. He'd have to have faith. And he'd have to focus.

Because at that very moment the room's door opened. In walked a very beautiful woman with long, chestnut colored hair. There was something chillingly familiar in her sharp, icy eyes. In precisely two seconds he found out why. "I'm SSA Dr. Erica Leonor. I'm in charge over handling this new threat exposed to the entire human kind."

Derek swallowed, struggling to keep his startle from showing. Oh shit…! "A new threat?"

"Don't play dumb with me, agent Morgan." Erica leaned a little closer, her darkened eyes nothing short of murderous. "I have a lot of questions for you but I'm starting with this. Where is Spencer Reid?"

In the meantime at a small, private airport hardly anyone knew of two men observed how a jet was preparing for a take off. A shiver of overflowing emotions went through Jason Gideon while he watched Spencer being taken in, still heavily unconscious. He would've given a lot if he'd been allowed to see those eyes open.

"I suppose I should thank your connections for my freedom", William Reid greeted in a tight voice. The man didn't even glance his way."How is he?"

Jason inhaled a deep breath. At that very moment the young man they both considered their son was fully inside the jet, disappearing from his line of vision. "Fighting. It's still too early to tell anything else." He gritted his teeth. "He wouldn't have been ready for being transported yet but we had little choice."

William's eyebrows furrowed momentarily but the man didn't comment. Instead those eyes focused on Maeve, who also hurried into the aircraft. They stood in silence for a few moments.

"Maeve… She gave him a little bit of her blood, in hopes that her ability might help him", Jason revealed. "It was his only hope. We'll see if it was enough."

About a million emotions swirled in William's eyes, fear and helpless rage shining through the loudest. In the end they turned softer than Jason had ever seen them. "She'll take a good care of him."

Jason nodded. The jet's door closed under his careful observation. "And I'll have my people keeping an eye on him as well. Just like I have so far." And he wouldn't fail again.
William's lips parted. In the end whatever that man planned on saying at first became swallowed down. "Does he know?" the double agent asked instead. "That he's your son?"

Jason shook his head. A stab of ache, almost like longing, shot through him. "No. And as far as it's up to me he's never going to find out." That was the sacrifice he made a long time ago.

William nodded, understanding and genuine sympathy radiating from the man's face. With that it felt like all necessary had been said. Together they watched how the jet rose into the air, wondering with heavy hearts if they'd ever see their son again.

In the jet Maeve barely noticed the take off. All she could focus on was Spencer, who lay there right before her eyes. Still so very pale that it hurt but breathing on his own, hanging on to his life with tooth and nail. Holding on with all the determination she'd known him to have from the very beginning.

Feeling a sharp twinge inside she leaned closer and pressed her lips to his worryingly warm forehead. "Just keep fighting, you hear?" she whispered, her voice cracking slightly. "This world… It's in a chaos right now. And I need you to face it with me. There's so much lost time we need to make up for."

Of course there was no response. It hurt more than it should've. Maeve swallowed hard, rubbing soothing circles to the back of his hand with her thumb. "I'm… I'm right here, Spence. So… Please, come back to me. To us all. A lot of people are counting on you."

Maeve wasn't sure if she only imagined it. It might've very well been nothing but a trick of her imagination and exhausted mind. But in that very moment she could've sworn that she felt him squeezing her hand a little.

Despite all the uncertanties and terror going on in the world down below, Maeve smiled and held on tigher, for both of them.

When Martin St. John was named as the Director of National Intelligence only four months earlier he would've never imagined that he'd find himself facing the situation he was in at the moment. His hands trembled ever so slightly while he fixed his tie, then looked at his reflection on the mirror. A deep sigh left him.

Even at the age of sixty-one his hair was still perfectly black, without a single trace of silver showing. His blue eyes were piercing and furiously determined. He straightened his tall, lean frame, like a soldier preparing for a battle.

Wasn't that what he was right now?

Ten minutes later he entered a massive room to find what had to be two hundred cameras pointed at him. For a second or two he stared, then walked on. His expression was a picture of determination when he took his spot behind a podium, knowing all too well that nearly all of America was watching.

His voice was firm and authoritative yet smooth when he began to speak. "Fifty hours ago a research facility of the government was destroyed. Since then this whole nation has received a very clear, direct public threat. There's a hostile species threatening to destroy us all. If we don't act now there'll be nothing left of us."

Reese Grimes, a strikingly attractive twenty-seven year old with messily cut dark brown hair and stormy eyes of the same color, could barely breathe while watching the tv, glaring at Director St. John's face. Rage, boiling hot like lava, coursed through his veins while memories he would've been much happier without spun around in his head. Old wounds were torn wide open.

He was only six years old when he and his parents were taken in the middle of the night. All because his dad, a doctor, had been entirely too good at saving lives after a horrific school buss crash. He got out after almost a full year of experiments, pain, terror, agony, torture and nightmares. His parents weren't as lucky. He never even got the chance to bury them properly.

And now, those who put his family and most likely countless of others through that…!

'This is a warning to you all. We refuse to be pushed to the ground any longer. This is our battle cry. This is us taking the place that rightfully belongs to us', another public message announced earlier.

Reese functioned as though he'd been sleepwalking. With a grim look of fury and ice cold resolve on his face he looked at his hand to see electricity flickering on it. His path was clear before him.

Working half on instinct, half on some bizarre calling, he walked through the door and left.

"This is a dark hour. This is, without a doubt, the greatest threat that has ever come our way", Martin St. John continued. "Yet we'll make it through this like we always have. Together, us humans as one. We'll show the Others what we're made of. That while we may bend we do not break. This world is ours and we're going to fight for it, for the sake of ourselves and our children. To make sure that they'll have a future of hope ahead of them."

In less than half an our Reese had found a underground base where at least a hundred of his kind had already gathered. Stood on a platform before them was Daria Walter, a somewhat frosty little smile on her face. The whole room listened intently when she spoke.

"Welcome to the revolution", she greeted them. "For decades, since first discovering us, humans have been hunting us. Torturing us. Killing us. As of today, that era of fear is finally over. We refuse to hide in the shadows any longer. We'll take what's ours. When this war over is over there'll be only one species that reigns!"

The whole room exploded into a storm of cheers.

"We'll find them. We'll destroy them. For we musn't give in to fear. We won't rest until this war is over and the world is ours once more."

'An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.'

(Mahatma Gandhi)

End, for now at least.

A/N: And that's how a war begins. (sighs and shakes head)

So, here's the thing… I'm planning on launching a sequel for this story in a few weeks (in three or four, most likely). It'd jump a few years (maybe even ten) ahead in time and show what's happened to our favorite team and the world in general. The title would be 'The Others 2', though I may add something to it. How would that idea sound to you? Would you like to read the story? There sure would be tons of material to include…!

(The OCs to be kept in mind for the sequel: Daria Walter and Dr. Erica Leonor. The rest of the names mentioned you can pretty much push into the backs of your heads. If they pop up for some reason there'll be a reminder.)

As for this story… Thoughts? Comments? How did you like the final chapter? There's a box down below where you can drop a line or two. (smirks)

THANK YOU, so very much, for your company, love and support to this story AND for sticking around! This idea came to me out of nowhere and it's baffling to me that so many of you chose to join along. (BEAMS, and hugs) So thank you! It's been a fantastic journey (which highly likely isn't over yet).

I've gotta tune out now. Hopefully I'll be seeing you guys again!

Take care!