So, this is the last part of the story. This is not always exactly how I imagined the story going, but I always imagined it ending in a vein similar to this. This story is not meant to be happy. It is meant to be a descent story. Not a descent into madness, but really a descent into a selfless sacrifice: Rosto let his heart go cold so that Beka could live her life the way she wanted to - the way she needed to. Where he ended up was a cold, dark place where he was no longer even Rosto the Piper. He was someone else entirely, but it was what he felt he had to do. There was never going to be a happy end for the story. Rosto was always meant to be the villain in the end and this was how it was going to be. Anyway, thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you think and leave me a review!

Tell me I'm frozen, but
What can I do?
Can't tell the reasons,
I did it for you
When lies turn into truth
I sacrificed for you
You say that I am frozen but
What can I do?
-Frozen, Within Temptation

V.

Frozen

It had to end now.

It had only been two years since Rosto had changed, but it had to end.

Terror gripped Beka as she walked resolutely down the street with her partner. It was too late for him to change now. No more changes. No second chance. Even as the Rogue, he was too powerful. Too strong. Too cold. He had had more than enough chances with the Dogs already.

She nearly burst into tears when his cold black eyes focused on her. He was so thin. So pale. It was so wrong to see him like that. He didn't flinch as he rose, asking her if they were there to carry out his death sentence.

A shiver visibly ran down her spine as he spoke. She was afraid. He could tell. She felt like his gaze was burning through her. He stepped down from the dais his throne was on, a look of sick amusement on his face. Another jolt of fear shot through her body.

Time seemed to slow for the next few minutes. Beka's heartbeat roared in her ears from the time he stepped slowly toward them to when he was on the ground with a knife in his stomach.

I trusted you once. Her eyes told him that. There was betrayal there. Heartbreak. Pain. All at his hand. The cold in his heart receded for a moment.

I did it for you. He couldn't say it. He never could. But he knew. He knew why things had to end like this.

It didn't have to end this way. She was right. She always had been. But this was necessary. Always necessary. The cold returned. No, it was a different cold.

In the instant Rosto looked into Beka's eyes for the last time, his frozen heart finally warmed. Too late. Tears dripped from her eyes, but he couldn't stop them. Not now. Not ever.

He regretted this. He knew it had to be done, but he regretted what had happened. I'm sorry, he thought. Beka gave a curt half-nod, as if his expression told her everything.

I know, her eyes seemed to say. Then the cold enveloped him again. His heart seemed frozen again, too cold even for him.

It was all over. The ice was flowing away with every weak beat of his heart. He knew it was over. As cold as he had become, it was nothing compared to this.

Beka watched him fade again, this time forever. She did nothing. She simply stood by. She couldn't. He was the Rogue. He was her enemy; he had killed and killed, never thinking about the day it caught up with him. There was nothing she could do anymore.

Once upon a time, he had been her friend. Once upon a time. Things had been different then. So different from now.

She wished it could have been different. Maybe then things wouldn't have turned out as they had. Maybe he still would have been her friend. Maybe then they could have had something together. Maybe then…maybe it wouldn't have ended like this.

It didn't have to end like this.