TITLE: Final Musings
AUTHOR: Jackie
GENRE: AU
RATING: PG
SPOILERS: Everything Lone Gunmen
TEASER: Byers' POV about his final moments, as a faction the Gunmen 
had written about has targeted the Gunmen for permanent silence.


For all intended purposes, this was supposed to be my greatest 
achievement. An achievement has been made, however, I now realize 
that what I have done is not achieved what I had intended at the 
beginning. Instead, I had achieved quite the opposite: death. 
What I had tried to fight for, I had lost. In that, I lost what 
little hope I had that our fight was not in vain, that what I - we - 
had fought against would one day come to an end.

I know that my time is short. I can hear the pounding on the door, as 
those who killed my friends have finally found me. I am alone, and I 
am afraid, but it is not for me that I am fearful. I have to get word 
to our readers about what has happened, but I don't know if I'll be 
able to. The power has been killed, quickly and mercilessly, unlike 
that of my friends.  The monsters who took their lives made them 
suffer before killing them. The looks on their faces, their cries for 
mercy were ignored until finally they were taken from me.

As I sit and write out my last story on the only equipment that will 
get this out, I know there will be criticism in what has happened to 
us, just as there has always been criticism in our work: Why did we do
it, knowing that one day something like this could happen? The answer 
is plain and simple, but unless you have been around us, knowing what 
exactly we dedicated our lives to fight for, you wouldn't understand.

I try to ignore the pounding as I finally finish my story. I quickly 
send it to the one person that I know will take the appropriate 
measures. I think about what her reaction to this will be. Will she be
snooty and snide as she normally is? If Langly were still here, he'd 
say yes. I disagree. True, Yves has always had a peculiarity about 
her during our interactions with her, but she always proved herself 
to be an ally when we needed her the most.

Good, the file has been sent. I quickly destroy the hard drive, 
erasing any possibility of them finding out what I had done. Just in 
time, too, as the front door has finally broken under the stress. 
Armed men in dark suits rush in. I don't hide from them. Not this 
time.  I stand up tall and proud as they come in, surrounding me, all 
of them pointing guns. One of them approaches me, looks me square in 
the eyes, and asks me if I have any regrets. I tell him that I only 
regret not being around to see him and his faction be destroyed. He is
almost amused by this. 

He pulls out his gun and puts it right against my head, right between 
my eyes. I don't show any fear, nor do I feel any fear. Strange, 
isn't it? I usually tremble at the sight of guns, but not this time. I
know that I am about to die, but I also know that in my death, as 
well as the deaths of my friends, what we believe in will never 
die.    

I have seen to that.

THE END