Okay, you know the new chapter I posted yesterday?

Completely forget about that.

I don't care how many chapters or reviews or follows or favs this story has, I'm finishing it.

Yup, tragic, I know.

OakeX, thank you for your review. That actually made me change the ending. You should feel special.

Please don't hate me... *cringe*.

:)

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5 YEARS LATER

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"Bye, Bradley! Thanks for taking my shift. You're the best!"

Her heels splash in the puddles outside the cafe as she walks. It's been raining non-stop for the past three days, and she doesn't know why, but it's got her down in the dumps.

She's never liked rainy weather.

She walks towards the park, heels clicking and suit seemingly getting tighter and tighter with each step. She feels suffocated in her own clothes, and it gets to a point where she can't breathe anymore, so she rips her dark blue jacket off, and continues walking. She knows that walking around in the rain dressed in a short skirt and thin button-down shirt will most definitely give her a cold, but she doesn't care.

Right now, all she wants to do is run away.

The chill in the air gives her goosebumps, and she wraps her arms around herself to save some body heat. Her loose blonde hair flicks outwards in random directions, due to the slight breeze.

She reaches the park, with all it's wonderful views and spectacular lake.

But she's not here for the scenery.

No, it's something much more important.

She heads straight for the statue, the one she visits everyday after her work in the cafe. Only this time, she's here much earlier than most days.

She doesn't know what drove her to come here. She doesn't know what forced her to head out early, to give polite young Bradley her shift. She just knows that today, she needs to be there earlier than usual.

Hans Christian Andersen is right where he always is. She walks up to him and tells the joke she's been repeating for the past few years.

And she's no longer in Central Park.

Instead, she's in Faerie. The place she's grown so used to.

And, as always, Mustardseed is waiting for her at the small bench near where she's standing.

They greet each other in a simple fashion, no more than a few quick exchanges of 'Hello' and 'How have you been?'.

He leads her down the same path they've been taking all these years. Past the castle and around the back. He opens the gate to the garden, muttering some ancient Fae spell that allows him access into the vast jungle-like area.

"I'll leave you two alone, then."

He steps aside to let her pass, and she nods her thanks to him. She'd thought that by now she'd be used to this, and they'd be better at making civilized talk, but they're not.

Not when her reason for visiting is so much more personal.

She takes her time getting to him. Usually she'd just take the shortest path to reach him, but today is different. She walks through the Fae plants and trees, her bare arms and legs brushing against them and sending chills up her spine. It's not cold here, but she's still slightly drenched from before.

When she finally reaches him, in that same spot he's always waiting for her, she smiled. It feels so good to see him again. The familiarity, the happiness; it all comes rushing back.

So does the sadness.

She walks over to him, standing tall and proud in his little patch of grass, surrounded by various plant-life. His grin is plastered on his face, that charming smile she's grown so fond of. It brings a fresh wave of happiness, and along with the feeling comes tears.

She sits down near him, but he doesn't. He still stands tall, even when she sits by his side.

He doesn't say anything, and so she starts off the conversation.

"Hey Puck."

He still doesn't answer, so she keeps talking.

"I've missed you," she offers, as if by saying that very sentence, she could give him a reason to talk. He doesn't though, and so she blinks back the tears and moves on.

"I came to say hello. It's the anniversary today, you know. Five years! That's like... it's like..."

She trails off, because even she's not sure what she wanted to say. It has been five years, and even though it's been half a decade, she remembers the day so clearly.

"So how have you been?" No answer. "I've been alright. So has everyone else. Dad's making progress on hunting down the Scarlet Hand's master. Uncle Jake and Daphne are helping him, and they're making big improvements. We took out a lot of their members yesterday. Swiped out around three dozens of them, thanks to Daphne's new magical traps."

Silence.

"I've been thinking a lot about you, Puck. I've been thinking about how nice it would be if you came back, you know, to just-" her voice breaks off at this point, because she can't, god dammit, she just can't. Her palms are getting sweatier and sweatier, and she has to ball them up into tight fists to keep from punching him.

The blood is rushing to her head,, and with each drumming thud of her heart, her eyes sting even more, until there's a watery wall blurring her vision. She doesn't hold back anymore. She let's the tears fall, and she doesn't realize she's sobbing out loud until a strangled choke escapes her throat involuntarily.

"Why won't you answer? Just say something, anything. It doesn't have to be long, just say something so I know you're listening. Please, Puck. Just let me know that...let me know that...that you...you"

A repressed cry rips itself from her throat, and she can't control it anymore. She curls into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around her bare legs. She shakes, body wracked with sobs as she rocks back and forth, her mind going completely blank.

She can't remember the last time she's cried this hard. She doesn't know why she's even crying this hard in the first place. She just knows that this is the right thing to do, and at the moment, she's not ashamed.

After a while, she gets to her feet and slips on her jacket again. She looks at him, and a small smile tugs at the corners of her lips. Just the look of him, in all his glory, makes her want to grin, because it's just so...him.

She walks closer and slips her hand in his, holding it for a few seconds. Then she lets go. Turning away from him, she allows the smile to fully show, and before she turns away completely, she notices the plaque again. The same plaque she's looked at everyday, the plaque that's positioned right at the base of the statue; the statue that's positioned at the head of the grave.

"Here lies Puck, Crown Prince of Faerie, also known as 'The Trickster King'. He died a brave and noble prince, and he shall forever be in our memory. May he hold a special place in our hearts, and may he find peace, in mind and in soul."

...