This three-shot is based off a post I came across while doing some research on Zack's fan-wiki. It went into detail about speculated endings for the game. Of course we all want to believe Zack and Ray just ran away together and spent the rest of their lives happy until Ray asked Zack to kill her when the time came that they were both happy with the lives they lived.

So, there are 3 speculated endings in this post. I'll just get to writing and if you want to know more, I'll be posting an explanation to the endings if you are lost on something.

We good? Good! On with the story! The most unlikely, but still very sad, ending is first.

Rachel's assigned therapist, Dr. Mary, walked her back to her room, as per usual. Her time in the mental institution had quickly become a monotonous routine; wake up, join the other children for meals and "mental health exercises," spend time hidden away in the institute's library, go to therapy when she was called, and go to bed. It was rinse and repeat every day. She hated how the adults looked at her. They gave her such pitiful gazes when she passed by.

When she first arrived, she begged any official she could find to let her know if Zack was okay. He needed to live. It wasn't just about his promise to kill her. If something awful happened to him, it would be all her fault. He would be hurt all because she was selfish. She already accepted that he wasn't her god, but he was still an important person to her. When she would tell the doctors that he was her friend, going even further and refuting their claims that he kidnapped her, they would just say, "Oh, you poor thing." Zack wasn't that kind of person. He wasn't the type to hold someone against their will. He cut people down quick and easy. But every time, she could hear them whispering about Stockholm Syndrome.

It's not true! Rachel would find herself screaming in her head, even though her facial expression was completely blank. They would never understand. She could tell how none of them knew what it was like to be broken. She and Zack came together under that similarity between them. He helped her face the side of herself she wished didn't exist, who she denied was a part of her. But Zack was the first person to accept and fight against that side. He was her precious friend, who helped her see the truth of the life she was leading.

The blonde girl strode quietly behind the doctor, lost in thought, but immediately stopped when she no longer heard the doctor's footsteps. She looked up to meet Dr. Mary's hazel eyes, still filled with pity, pity she didn't want or need. The young woman looked ready to say something but seemed to be restraining herself. Her eyes darted around the hallways until they dropped back to meet Rachel's eyes.

"It's sort of against the rules," Dr. Mary whispered as she bent down to Rachel's height, "but I hope this will help you rest at ease." Rachel's eyes widened slightly, already predicting what she was going to say.

No… Please don't, she begged silently.

"That killer who kidnapped you" Don't say it! "has been sentenced to death." The blonde's knees shook, threatening to collapse. "So that's one less thing for you to fear. Sweet dreams, Rachel."

Once the doctor escorted Rachel into her room and shut the door, that's when the girl fell to her knees. The world felt like it was going to rupture and swallow her whole, refusing to give her the sweet release of death in the process. "How?" she whispered into the silent room. "How is that supposed to make me feel better…?"

Rachel scrambled to the desk and took out Zack's knife, which she had hidden in a secret compartment. She gripped the handle tightly, whispering apologies repeatedly. She wanted to cry, but none would come. She always assumed that she cried so much already that her eyes had none left to shed. Zack was going to die, and it was all her fault. If only she could go back in time. She would avoid getting severely injured, so he wouldn't have to turn himself in just so she could receive medical attention. She would ensure Doctor Danny was permanently dead. However, she wouldn't change going into that building. She'd never regret meeting Zack. But that was only her selfishness talking, because a misery-bringer like her could only ruin people's lives.

The knife was the only way she felt close to Zack, so she took it to bed and expertly hid it under her pillow. Rachel felt just a tad more comforted by having a piece of Zack close, a piece he willingly gave to her. With that final thought in her mind, the blonde fluttered her eyes closes, expecting another sleepless night. She tried to prepare herself for the many that would come in the nights to follow. Death was so far away while she was in the institution. And the one she could confidently call her best friend was on death row.

What felt like hours passed in the silence of her room, and Rachel felt like the void was repelling away from her rather than pulling her in. She curled up tightly. She wanted to see Zack again, even if one more time. She at least wanted to tell him how much he meant to her, and to ask him one final time to kill her. But now, she'd wouldn't get to do any of that.

Suddenly, Rachel heard a knocking at her window. It was strange because she was on the fourth floor and the branches of the closest tree didn't reach her window. Rachel's hopes bubbling up deep within. Without thinking, she grabbed the boxes in her room and hauled them in front of the door. She could also hear someone panicking on the other side, but she was the adrenaline rush she was feeling blocked out the sounds. The blonde grabbed Zack's knife and stood a few feet from the window, anticipating the next event to play out. Just as she hoped, the window and the iron bars guarding it were obliterated. He looked like an angel standing there, bathed in the pale moonlight; her angel of death.

"Zack," she whispered, hands shaking.

"Ta-da!" he exclaimed, jumping down from the windowsill to approach her.

"You were supposed to be in prison…"

The bandaged man scoffed and chuckled. "Prisons were made to be broken out of! Now, come on! We don't have much time." He held is hand out to her and Rachel grasped it without hesitation.

"Hey Zack," the girl whispered, all the words she longed to say on the tip of her tongue. But the excitement for the fulfillment of their oath only the final words she wanted to say escape her lips. "Please kill me."

"Then stop your blubbering and smile!" Zack took the knife she was holding and plunged it into her heart seconds after she offered him her brightest smile.

"Thank you," Rachel managed to mutter as blood filled her mouth, her smile still in place. She could feel herself falling, and she could only guess it was Zack pulling them out the window. She could finally die in peace. She trusted her friend to find a nice resting place for her.

The next morning, the doctors had to call security when they found a patient's barricaded. But once they got it open, everyone in attendance gasped at the sight. There, lying in the middle of the floor in a blood of her own blood, was Rachel Gardner. A knife was plunged in her chest, staining her white dress crimson. A smile was on her face and her deep blue eyes were clouded. Her expression, along with the completely sealed room, indicated suicide. Security double-checked the iron bars and there were indeed firmly in place. From past records, the officials chalked her death up to an episode of mental delirium. She had probably seen something so horrific that she thought death was the only means of escape.

Her tragic death made it to the papers. The doctors would comment how she seemed to be making great progress in her treatment, even overcoming her obsession with the killer who kidnapped her. But in the same newspaper was an article about Isaac Foster's escape from prison just a day later in the week.

Zack cried for the first time in his life when he heard the news. He'd heard from the people on the streets about Ray's act of suicide. She must've heard about him being sentenced to execution and figured offing herself had become her only way to die. When all was still in the dark night, the dark-haired male searched high and low for Ray's grave. He memorized the squiggles that supposedly spelling her name. He was lucky enough to find it on a little hill, overlooking the rest of the graves.

Zack dropped to his knees in front of the grave, slamming his bandaged fist into the dirt. "Damnit, Ray!" he cried out, tears flowing down his face, wetting the bandages. "If you waited a little longer…" She once said that she'd bear the weight of their oath, so he didn't need to call himself a liar. But he couldn't help it. He wasn't there when she needed him most, and he'd have to live with that forever.

"I'm sorry!" He hit the ground harder. "Come back… I still need you… We're not done yet…"

So…crying yet?

This is based off this speculated ending:

Rachel has been canonically diagnosed with mental delirium. In this ending, she has an episode of delirium and envisions Zack visiting her and finally killing her. But she's actually plunging the knife into herself, committing suicide. She was so committed to dying by Zack's hand that her delirious brain conjured up the appropriate sounds and effects to fill the environment.

But, as I said, this is the most unlikely ending, because at the end of the game, the window of Rachel's room is shown. The glass is shattered, the iron bars are broken, and there's blood on the windowsill. She couldn't have jumped out the window as an act of suicide, since the glass is inside the room, indicating it's been broken from the outside, and she's not strong enough to break iron bars.

Anyway, the next chapter is almost done, so look forward to that ending.

Next Time: Official (Speculated) Ending