AN: We've reached the end. Thanks for sticking by me. And thank you for all the story/author alert subscriptions (I mean, AUTHOR alert? wow). And of course, thank you for your lovely words through review or pm.

If you feel sad and lonely after this and are up for some fluffy/cute Faberry sexy time, check out Wake up! If not, you can still click on my profile to find links to my tumblr and twitter. Let me know who you are and I'll follow back.

The end is near and the reaper will strike again soon. I lost my soul to death itself when I was touched by one scraggy index finger.

Sometimes I wish I had just died instead.

Each day reminds me of another loss. They're too plenty to count them all and I'm beginning to forget their names.

Only three names I will never forget. And those are known by all that lives.

Once we're gone only the earth will remain. This planet is finally getting rid of us and hollow buildings will be the only evidence for our existence. Maybe, maybe someday someone will listen to the songs the birds sing and the wind will whisper our names. Maybe someday someone else will get to see the sun rise again and wonder if there was ever a time in which there was something other than emptiness inhabiting this place.

It will be then that our voices will be heard and the pleas I sent up into the sky will come raining down again, filling these strangers' hearts with the love we had for each other. The road will tell our story over and over again until no one has to ever ask: What became of those before us? I will make sure my family won't be forgotten.

Although I knew it had only been a matter of time it still caught me off-guard when Quinn started to cough. I closed my eyes and breathed out slowly. Quinn and I had always been alike. We were the strong ones shielded by stronger ones. I loved her like a sister, like a lover, like a mother, like a child. I loved her like my own life. And now I was going to lose her for good. She'd be with Rachel soon.

"Quinn?" I cleared my throat and squinted, unwilling to let the tears that kept welling up in my eyes run down my cheeks.

Of course I didn't receive an answer.

"Quinn… when did you and Rach…" The rest of the question got stuck in my throat. Why would I be asking anyway? It was clear that she was sick.

She ignored me, of course. Maybe she didn't even hear me. She was gone. She was searching for her girlfriend.

"Oh, Quinnie." Brittany didn't hold herself back from crying.

I looked over to her, pondering, uncertain what to do, even though deep down I already knew what was coming. I had killed for this girl once and I was about to do it again. The reaper was no longer a mask, it was my alter ego. Rachel had taken me with her. Or maybe I had gone with Noah. Or maybe I had killed myself instead of that first rabbit and its blaming eyes. Maybe I'd died with Kevin.

I would have taken the tiniest straw of hope and pulled at it until I'd find a way to safe Quinn, but I knew that wasn't possible. Brittany turned her head and when I saw how red her face was I made my decision: I was not going to lose her, too.

Taking a deep breath I pulled over as an hourglass grew from my chest.

"Get out of the car."

I said it while staring at the wheel in front of me. I said it as if I wasn't talking to my family. I was talking to a stranger instead, cool and calm.

Quinn didn't react and I gulped. When she coughed again and tiny sprays of blood landed on the glass to her side, my breath hitched and I finally repeated, emphasizing every syllable: "Get out of the car."

Brittany placed her hand on mine and I let go off the wheel I was clutching. How could she still love me when my eyes and my heart were long dead? How could she still love me despite the fact that I had become a monster without a soul or a name? How could she still love me with all the death surrounding us? How could she still love me when my hand had turned into a sickle? This couldn't be happening. This wasn't right. And worst of all: it wasn't just happening. I had to do it.

I opened my door and stepped out of the car. With a dark robe enshrouding my identity I was finally complete. Each step felt like my last and every tiny movement made my heart rip open. I opened the trunk and unloaded one of the bags with food and water and Noah's second gun and tossed it on the street. I opened the back door and repeated once again: "Get out of the car." I didn't dare to look at Quinn, who still didn't show any reaction.

I grabbed her arm and pulled her off her seat. "I will leave you some of our supplies." It was actually more than she'd probably need.

Still nothing. Maybe it was for the best this way. I turned back around one last time before rejoining Brittany. "I love you."

It was then, in the worst possible moment that Quinn snapped out of her coma and realization hit her. Her eyes woke up and she looked at me with panic.

"San, no!"

She threw herself towards me and tried to pull me into an embrace, pulling at my arms and hands and shoulders like a ghost to its vessel or an abandoned child to its parents or just someone you love with all your heart and who's about to kill you and for a second I gave in. "I love you." I repeated as I swung my arms around her, burying my hands in her hair one last time, feeling her heart beat against mine. But eventually I didn't have a choice. I had to push her away.

"I'm sorry."

Somewhere deep down I know she never judged me. I know she would have done the same. I know her love for me never wavered. Even when she started to cry and fell to her knees, even when she begged,

"Please! Don't leave me!"

I know we were still a family.

It's the cross I'll have to bear.

I shut down my senses and instead of using my mask I killed myself just long enough so I could turn around and get back into the car. Brittany had buried her face between her knees and was clutching the back of her head with both hands. She was shivering and sobbing, but she didn't try to talk me out of this.

"Don't leave me!" Quinn begged. "Please! Don't leave me behind!"

It was the last thing I ever heard her speak.

We've been driving for about a month since then and her plea still rings loudly in my head.

I love you, Quinn. I love you, Rachel. One day we'll be reunited. All of us.

"You know, San." Britt squeezes my arm and winks at me with a sad smile. "We could try and repopulate the planet." I don't look at her, but stare out on the road instead. We've seen the ocean and forests and fields and hills. We'll travel on until we can't anymore. I hold back my tears when I answer: "That's not possible. We're like Eve and Eve. We can't repopulate anything." But she just squeezes tighter and insists: "You're so silly. You know exactly that Adam and Eve couldn't do that, either." And I almost smile, because she's so adorable and, of course, absolutely right.

There're many stories I'll never tell, but Quinn and Rachel are a special case. Even though there might not be anyone left to listen, I want the earth to savor the memory of what was once my family. I want it to soak up our existence and store it in its core, ready to free our essence once we've waited long enough. I want the trees and the bushes and the grass and the wind and the birds to know that we lived; that there was a time when we were together; a time in which everything was the way it was supposed to be:

The four of us and the road ahead.

Thanks for reading!