Title: The Final Goodbye
Status: Complete
Characters: Fang, Anon, Naser, Naomi, Trish, Ripley, Samantha
Rating: SFW
Classification: One-Shot
Author: Pathied
Summary: Don't really care for the normal E1 ending. Wrote something vastly different, enjoy.

 The long day had been marred with dreary rain that seemed to continue for weeks on end, ever since that incident. Two long weeks, two weeks without a single thought of school or the work that had been piling up since.. Since his world ended. They always say that you never notice the signs, but.. But he knew. The conversation he had on the roof, he could have tried to listen for once but he didn’t. Now it seemed so simple; she was trying to reach out to him for help, for somebody to talk about her feelings and he tried to play it off as a simple joke to make her laugh. That should have been enough for him, but the distance he felt from her ever since prom… And her last conversation with her? How could it not be his fault anymore? She was practically saying she was leaving to end her life. Telling him how much she loved him, and that she’d see him tomorrow. There was no tomorrow that he saw her. Just the start of this nightmare.

 There was no way to say, like all of those other bastards at school, that there was no way they could have seen this happen. The same people who pointed and laughed at her, recorded her breakdown after her performance at prom, along with the endless jeering afterward. They expected him to believe they somehow now cared about her. Bullshit. They never did. That gym meeting was a fucking joke.

The hole in his heart kept taking his breath away, making it impossible to breathe. His eyes were baggy, those tears flowing from them stopped days ago; replaced with an empty stare that had no focus on anything, nor found any spark of interest in the world. Now though, his only interest was the coffin that was placed in front of him. Surprisingly, he was allowed to be here. He didn’t deserve it, he never did. He couldn’t even believe that he wasn’t hogtied, thrown into a van, and never seen again. Yet, seeing her face the last time… Was.... Was the biggest mistake in his life. He could see her face now, the grayness that replaced her lovely color sent chills down his back. Her ghastly face was something that everywhere he looked, seemed to be in the corner of his vision. He could imagine her breathing in her coffin like she would just get up and say,

“You retard, you really thought I was dead Anon?” Her signature giggle would follow afterward, but instead, a cold reality that he would never hear her voice again hit him instead. Her eyes were closed, but for some reason he could feel her still staring at him, demanding to know why she was in this coffin. Why wasn't he there instead? 

His body began to shudder, he could feel himself struggle to breathe as he continued to walk by her coffin. Somebody, probably Naser, had placed some dino nuggies next to her; along with a few of her stuffed animals that he had once seen in her room. There were a few other things he wasn’t sure what sentimental value they had to her, but each item no doubt contained at least one story that was now sullied by his mistake. He wanted to run, to get away from here. Why didn’t Moe kick him out? Moe stared him down when he entered the funeral home, like he was telling Anon that he knew this was all his fault; not to mention that he could have done something to help her, yet all he did was hurt her more. He didn’t have time to continue down this train of thought before he was face to face, or well more like face to chest, with the one man he didn’t want to meet. He could barely make eye contact with Ripley, but where once he saw anger and fury; it was now little more than a somber gaze. He could see the emotion in Ripley’s face, yet the two didn’t share words. Only a simple handshake, before Anon continued on his way; to the next person he didn’t want to meet. 

A rather short pterodactyl that looked as broken as he did. The two looked at each other, the few seconds felt like centuries.

“It isn’t your fault Anon, if anything don’t blame yourself… It was her decision, you couldn’t have known she would have done this,” Samantha spoke sweetly in a voice that was interspersed with small sobs. Ripley, in his own way, confirmed her statement with a small huff. He broke eye contact with her, leaving with a simple shake of his head instead. Their daughter was dead because he didn’t do anything to help her; hell her probably made her fucking worse. How could he deserve their pity? How did they put what he was feeling ahead of the anger they no doubt had for him? He knew if he was in this position, the man who led his daughter to the grave would have been six feet under. But instead, they offer him sympathy and kind words he never gave to her? What a cruel joke. 

He passed by the two, the third he couldn’t face. He walked by him without so much of a glance, yet his words were still something he heard.

“She isn’t wrong Anon… At least talk to me, man... Aren't we bros?” Anon’s chest somehow got even tighter, and his vision seemed to slowly blacken as he rushed his way to the back of the room. He didn’t want to be here any longer but yet... He knew he had to. Fang would have wanted him here, how could he have spent so long not realizing how much she loved him? Let alone how much she needed somebody to support her, rather than try to fix her themselves. He felt no better than Naomi, or even Trish. Moe’s words were something he threw away, without a second thought. He felt so foolish. He passed by Naser, struggling to walk straight. 

The rows of chairs that were set up were filled by people Anon never met, probably family members considering how most of the school treated her. Reed wasn’t here from what he could tell, or maybe he was. That man always had a weird ability to show up when he was least expected. As Anon neared the window in the back, he saw a familiar flash of purple walking by the sidewalk. Trish. 

He followed her as she moved to the entrance of the funeral home, his eyes only stopped when Moe stood in front of the doorway. He couldn’t tell what conversation was happening, but he could tell that it wasn’t a good one with the anger that appeared on Moe’s face. Anon told them what Trish did a few days after Prom, or well more specifically Naser. Whose conversation was once again overheard by Naomi, who went to Spears about it. No doubt angry that her plans to “fix” Fang still weren’t working. Why was Moe stopping her out of all people felt.. Felt wrong to Anon. And for the first time, he felt something towards Trish that wasn’t anger. It took him a few seconds before his legs started to move before he thought about it. He was trying to resist the urge to run towards the door. His thoughts were running wild with what to say. Would Moe even listen to him? Moe lost, to him, a family member. One he knew for years. Even before he opened the door, he could hear the raised voice of Moe.

“How could you do dat to my Lucy, she trusted ya. What did ya do? Her one chance to show everyone she improved, all that time she spent with Anon; all to show up all dose punks and you pissed on her dreams!” His fiery accent was a pain to understand, and the anger in his voice made it all that much harder. 

“Moe..” Anon’s voice was barely higher than a whisper as he struggled to speak, his tongue felt like it was tied and suddenly his mouth felt uncomfortably dry. Even with the rain that was falling outside, Moe quieted down the moment Anon spoke. His large head turned towards Anon, and the fiery anger in his eyes died quickly.

“Trish. Trish knew Fang as much as the rest of us. I-If,” his voice was struggling to be audible above the rain, he could feel himself wanting to run away yet something was still stopping him from fleeing like he always wanted to. Moe waited patiently, Trish stared at Anon unsure of why he was standing up in her defense.

“If I can be here, she should be allowed to be too,” He looked up at Moe, whose eyes seemed to be studying Anon intently. Who waited for Moe to simply hit him, to yell back at him like he had been doing to Trish. Hell, he expected Paulie or another one of his workers to show up and drag him away. Instead, there was dead silence for a few moments, Moe turned his head back towards Trish, whose face was indistinguishable from water and tears. 

“For ya kid. Get in there before I change my mind,” Moe’s voice lost the anger it once held, the tone was similar to that of Samantha’s. One that caused Anon to wince when he heard it, he couldn’t believe their kind treatment towards him.  Moe wandered back into the building, leaving a silent air between Trish and Anon; only the pitter-patter of the rain filled their ears. 

A silent thank you radiated from Trish’s eyes. Anon felt himself shudder. Trish looked like what he felt like he looked like. The once bubbling anger that raged whenever Trish was around, no longer surfaced for Anon. Instead, he felt a hint of understanding. Maybe if the two had worked together, tried to understand each other’s problems with one another that maybe; Maybe Fang would have still been here. But, like the idiot he was, he never saw Trish as anything more than one of those “waste oxygen” people that he and Fang talked about. They helped break Fang apart. Anon had the sneaking suspicion now, that if he tried to be more upfront with the band… If he tried to show how amazing Fang was at music when she could do what she wanted and showed Trish that Fang was happily playing the Guitar; that maybe. Just maybe Trish wouldn’t have done what she did. There were so many what-ifs that were so obvious to Anon now, but instead, for every single one, he tried to remain the same. 

In those few seconds of being lost in his thoughts, Trish already walked by without a word. Leaving Anon alone, the rain finally began to drench his signature shirt. The cold sank into him, yet it didn’t replace the feeling of numbness that overtook him. Spear’s words range through him, ‘You are not the only person in the world.’ If only he took the time to actually understand his words, much like Moe’s… To try and think about somebody other than himself for fucking once. He walked down the sidewalk a little, where a wooden bench was laid. He didn’t want to go back into the building, he figured going back in would cause him to pass out. There didn’t need to be another scene, another issue that he created. Instead, he sat on the sodden bench, not about the water that collected there already. Part of him hoped that maybe the rain would let him feel something other than the numbness, the emptiness he felt. 

Nothing came to him. Nothing other than the memories he had with Fang. The times he spent together with her; the softness of her hands as she tried to teach him the guitar, her gentle voice that spoke to him whenever he was having a bad day, the fun the two had going to the aquarium… At the time he had believed what he felt was only a product of Naomi’s doing, how wrong he truly was. His last argument with her ran circles around in his head. How could he have told her about Naomi’s idea so soon after prom? But then again… That could have all been avoided if he was more upfront with not only himself but Fang. Trish, Naser, hell everybody who he met because of Naomi’s actions; it wouldn’t have mattered if Naomi planned for Anon to enter Fang’s life to “fix” her. She needed someone to support her and instead, he pulled her apart much as Trish, Naser, and even Naomi did with all their attempts to repair Fang to something she didn’t decide herself.  Maybe it wasn’t all his fault, but it sure as hell felt like it. 

Anon stared up into the sky. He slammed his hand onto the bench, as he felt his tears begin to fall once again. The moment of anger turned into an overwhelming wave of emotions that he had no control over. He placed his hands on his head, his a few inaudible sobs tried to escape from his throat. His world really felt over. He tried to talk to his parents but they didn’t give a damn, a simple few words is all they said and he never heard back from them since. They didn’t even ask him anytime before this how he was doing. Naser? How could he remain friends with somebody whose sister he felt he directly killed? No way in hell. Trish? No way in hell, that bridge was burned so long ago. His thoughts were a swirl of what to do with himself now, he didn’t even notice the change in weight in the bench as someone sat down, nor the rain that no longer landed on him. The rat-tat of rain hitting an umbrella covered Anon from the rain. By the time Anon noticed he wasn’t feeling the rain anymore it had been more than a few minutes, as he struggled to clear his eyes, the person spoke. 

“Anon. I know you did your best. I failed her as much as you did, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t do your best,” the voice he heard sent a chill down his spine, the one person he didn’t want ever to see again was sitting right next to him. Ripley. 

“Sam- We, we didn’t invite you so you could sit out in the rain alone like this. I had a responsibility as a parent to be there for her, and yet I wasn’t. I figured what she felt was a phase, which is why I was so hard on her; and you to an extent. Both of you seemed like similar kids who,” Ripley stopped speaking for a second, his tongue clicked as he tried to figure out the right words to say. 

“Who lost themselves along the way, I figured the two of you would eventually find your way. Like I did, or like Samantha. We knew we couldn’t make everything better for her, so we hoped that with time she would figure herself out…And to always be there, even with all the harsh words she leveled at us,” A silence fell between the two for a handful of minutes. Anon wasn’t sure if Ripley was done speaking or not, deciding to remain silent. Ripley didn’t need to hear his excuses. 

“What you ,” he stressed the word with an odd inflection that Anon couldn’t place what it was. He originally thought Ripley was going to come out here, and threaten him with a very real gun or a knife, but by now Anon wasn’t sure why Ripley was giving him such kind words,

“Did Fang wasn’t even close to the harm we heard about from Naser on what Trish did, what Naomi did, and everyone else at the fucking school,” Anon took a quick glance at Ripley, the fury that was present in his face stayed only for a few moments before returning to a more neutral look. Anon quickly looked back at his feet when he saw Ripley’s eyes dart back to him.

“The love you felt for Fang was real, kid. I could tell by the way you looked at her and how often you showed up to help her write for that damn prom show, that you truly wanted to help her. You didn’t do it for some selfish goal, you didn’t force her to try and be someone she wasn’t. You tried to help her in what you thought was the best way, and sometimes that ain’t good enough,” Ripley’s words finished with him placing a hand on Anon’s back, not to harm but to try and give Anon some comfort. Anon stared at him. He was wrong, there he knew. Spears told him to grow up and be a man, but he didn’t. Moe told him that Fang needed support, not someone to try and decide what was best for her like he tried numerous times. He never listened to her problems, her feelings, always trying to make it into some joke for her to laugh at instead; to avoid the pain. Every step of the way he failed her, he could have sworn what he was doing helped in some regard. She seemed so much happier than normal some days with him, even the day before that incident. She told him that she loved him, that she’d never leave him. 

“Anon. Enough, ”Anon swore under his breath. He’d done it again, the mumbling. As he was shooting out an apology, Ripley continued to speak over him,

“You knew her for barely four months. As I said before, you seemed like a kid who barely could understand his own feelings, his own future that he didn’t see. Unsure of how to make a path for yourself in this world. It would be absurd to blame you, and only you for Fang’s death. Look at me kid,” Anon felt his heart pound as he looked eye to eye with the seemingly huge pterodactyl, his eyes didn’t seem to pierce through him like before.

“We are all at fault, every single one who cared for Fang, to some extent. We all failed her in her time of need. We all had signs that we noticed, yet didn’t do anything, or whenever we did; we didn’t help her. The difference is intention. Your intentions were good, even if misguided. Whatever Moe or Spears told you, yeah maybe could have saved Fang; but would that still have been enough? I ask myself the same question as a father, but sooner or later you have to realize that what’s done is done,” Ripley broke eye contact first before looking into the distance. Anon wasn’t exactly sure if he had a point or not. Maybe Ripley did, but even then..

“What if though Sir.. Don’t you blame me at all for not trying? For still being the worthless person I am?” Anon looked at his feet, his hands fumbled over each other much like his words stumbled out of his mouth.

“There will always be what-ifs in life. Do I blame you? No. If it wasn’t for the meddling of Naomi, you may not have even known Fang to begin with. There is always time to be a better person Anon. Even if you were a better person, I’m not sure you alone could have saved my daughter,” Anon saw a tear streak down the normally stoic face that he never expected to cry like everyone else. He stood up and faced Anon with an open hand.

“Come on kid, Naser’s waiting for you and so is Reed. Pretty sure some green stegosaurus wants to talk to you as well. Not to mention my wife is worried about you too,” Anon struggled for a few seconds. His body was wracked with the struggle to breathe as he let out soft sobs. He couldn’t believe that this person, the same one who threatened his life on so many occasions and one he assumed to be here to beat him to death; to comfort him more than his parents ever did or would.

He reached up and grabbed Ripley’s hand. He was swiftly embraced into a hug that he never expected but welcomed all the same. As he buried his head into Ripley’s shoulder, Anon cried for what felt like hours. When he was finally done, Ripley led the way back into the funeral home. Anon wasn't sure what he would do after this, but now all he wanted to do was see her once again. Even if it the last goodbye he ever said to her. Perhaps he could move on and find his way in life, or he may not. Anon hoped that after today he'd get some type of answer to his question of; what do I do now? 
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