Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Well, here it is. It's been a long ride but we're at the end of the series. I want to thank all of my reviewers, especially .- whose been here since the beginning (or close to the beginning anyway)! Without further ado, I present the final chapter of Dying Day, Dying Wish. Enjoy!

Jeff was silent as he waited backstage for his turn to go out to the ring. Although the show was booked solid, Vince had managed to find them ten minutes at the end of Raw. He insisted that since it would be Jeff's first night back on Raw since his attack it only made sense for him to be the main attraction of the night.

Jeff couldn't help but find it ironic that his first night back would also be his last.

He had accepted what he needed to do, but that didn't mean that he had to like it. He watched coworkers walk by, chatting and laughing, and felt jealous and angry of what they had. They had the rest of their careers ahead of them, years of wrestling and traveling and late nights spent at bars. Even if Vince let Jeff stay as Matt's manager, he'd never really fit in with the rest of the guys again.

"You okay?" Matt murmured as he came to stand beside his brother.

Jeff shook his head. "No, I'm not."

"You don't have to do this, you know."

"Yes, I do," Jeff insisted. "Matt, I don't want to get through a match and find out that I can't walk anymore. I don't want to stop wrestling, but some things are more important than that one, last Swanton."

Matt smiled bitterly. After months of denial, mixed priorities, and anger Jeff had finally realized what was most important and accepted it. "I just wish it didn't have to be this way."

"So do I," Jeff said quietly.

"Hey, Jeff, great to see you back!" Kennedy said. "Look forward to having another match with you."

Jeff forced a grin. "Sounds good, Ken," he said as Kennedy laughed and kept walking down the hall.

"You aren't going to tell him?" Matt asked softly.

"Why bother? He'll find out soon enough anyway," Jeff said. "Besides, this way I don't have to deal with talking to anyone about it before I actually announce it."

Jeff reached up to brush a strand of hair out of his eyes, allowing Matt a glimpse of what looked like red and orange marker on Jeff's arm. "What's that?" he asked as he grabbed his brother's arm and pulled up the sleeve of his sweatshirt. On his arm was what looked like a flame pattern drawn with Sharpies. "Jeff…"

"It's not what you think," Jeff muttered as he snatched his arm back and rolled down his sleeve. "It's not the blues and greens that it was before."

"Then why do you have it?"

Jeff hesitated for a moment before saying, "Its fire. It's cleansing. Y'know, the whole rising from the ashes symbolism and crap."

Matt nodded slowly. It was Jeff's way of remembering to move past his retirement and focus on the next stage in his life. "It fits," he finally said.

"Matt, Jeff, you guys are on in five."

Jeff nodded and the two stood in comfortable silence, neither of them feeling ill at ease in the other's company. Whether intentionally or not, they had settled back into their old routines. Finally, after weeks of struggle, they had moved past everything that had happened.

Jeff's music hit, shattering the calm atmosphere. Jeff took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "Here goes nothing," he murmured before walking out into the arena.

Jeff paused at the top of the ramp, looking out over the crowd. It suddenly struck him that he would walk down to that ring as a wrestler and walk back as nothing, but no one knew except him and Matt. Two words and his entire life would be changed, but the fans were acting like nothing was different. How could everything be so normal?

"Jeff? You alright?" Matt asked, just loud enough for his brother to hear.

Jeff started slightly; he hadn't heard Matt come up behind him. "I'm fine." They both knew that was a lie, but they also knew that Jeff didn't have any other choice but to follow through with this.

They made their way slowly to the ring, taking their time to interact with their fans. Matt kept a close eye on his brother, but Jeff was doing a good job of pretending to be fine. They rolled into the ring and Jeff had just grabbed the mic that was passed to him when a "Hardy!" chant started up.

Jeff did his best to block out the noise, knowing that if he started listening to the chant it would only make it that much harder to continue. "As you know, two weeks ago I was attacked at the end of the Raw show," he began. "I was hit in the back of my head and had a severe concussion." Can't forget to play up the storyline a bit… "Luckily, they caught the man who attacked me, but that wasn't the end of the story.

"Last week, after Raw again, I went outside to close my car windows and again was attacked from behind. This time, they hit me in the back. The next day I went to my doctor to see what sort of damage was done and he gave me something to think about."

Jeff sighed. That was the easy part. "I've had a good career," he said. "I had an amazing run as a tag team with my brother and an even better time as single's competitor. I may not have accomplished every single thing I've wanted to do, but I've done so much more than I had ever dared to dream of when I was first starting out.

"I'm not saying that it was all good. I had my rough moments, my dark times. I left WWE for a number of years and only came back a couple of years ago. I've been suspended, I've failed at my goals a number of times, but I've never let anything hold me down."

He could see a couple of people who had started to pick up on where he was going, but he continued his speech anyway. "I've never let anything hold me down until I injured my back. From there it's been one bad thing after another. Surgery, my moves being banned, feuding with Matt, and now these attacks on me- nothing had gone my way.

"Most people don't know, or remember, the sheer amount of damage my back was in before my surgery. Even after my surgery I was supposed to take it easy and be extra careful of my back. With everything that's been going on, that hasn't happened. And now I'm paying the price.

"I hadn't thought about my doctor's advice, not until I woke up yesterday after a house show and couldn't move because my back was in so much pain. I realized then that I couldn't keep doing what I had been doing. I agonized over this for hours, but I finally had to admit that I had no other choice."

Most people had guessed what was going on by that point and many of them seemed to be in disbelief. Jeff looked out at the crowd, knowing that these were his final moments as a wrestler. "I'm retiring." The crowd began shouting, but Jeff did his best to speak over them. "I had no other choice. If I kept wrestling my back would only get worse and worse. As it is, I'm going to be in pain for the rest of my life. I'd love to stay as Matt's manager, if Vince would let me, but my wrestling days are over."

The shouts from the crowd were drowned out by the sound of Vince's music starting up. Matt and Jeff turned towards the ramp as Mr. McMahon began walking down to the ring. "Jeff, are you sure about this?" he asked as he climbed into the ring. "Once you walk out of here, this is final. You can't turn back."

The three of them all knew that what he was really asking was, "Is this legit or for a storyline?"

"I'm sure," Jeff said, ignoring the cries from the crowd. "Honestly, completely, one hundred percent, legitimately, serious."

Vince nodded slowly. "I don't know what to say. This was certainly unexpected, but everyone retires eventually. Matt, I will expect you here next week as usual. Jeff… I'll let you know whether you're needed."

Jeff frowned as Vince turned to leave the ring. Why had he seemed so happy if he was about to lose one of his most popular superstars? Something suddenly clicked and, before he lost his chance, Jeff blurted out, "Did you plan it all or were you making it up as you went along?"

Vince stopped and turned back around. "What the hell are you talking about?" The fear the briefly crossed his face was visible to everyone in the ring.

"I'm talking about all the shit that's happened to me since I got injured," Jeff said. "Do you want to hear how I think it happened?" Vince said nothing, so Jeff continued.

"You've never been huge fans of Matt and I. The only real reason that we've gotten to where we are today is because you know that the fans love us, which makes you richer. You were probably a bit happy when I got injured, and I'm willing to bet that you gave Matt all that time off just so you wouldn't have to deal with him either.

"When I injured my back even more, you started to think about what would happen if I didn't return. And you were looking forward to that phone call, weren't you? A chance to get rid of the troublesome Jeff Hardy without having to fire me. Instead, Matt calls to tell you that I healed up perfectly fine and as long as I didn't hurt my back too much I could wrestle for years.

"Was that what gave you the idea to ban my moves, Vince? I'm willing to bet it was. You pinned in on Mickie and Jericho and the others so that no one could blame you. You're ultimate goal was to have me turn on Matt to draw viewers, and I played right into it. You were probably hoping that would continue for awhile, but it didn't.

"You were pissed, weren't you? Especially since we were doing our own thing. You needed us back under control and fast. So what do you do? You hired those two people to attack me in hopes that it would be reflected back to a feud on Raw, one that you could control every step of the way. Not to mention it could always be a way to get rid of me when you wanted to."

"You're crazy," Vince snarled. "I should just fire you right now."

Jeff chuckled humorlessly, his eyes blazing with anger. "Good luck with that."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Vince asked for the second time that night.

Jeff motioned towards the top of the ramp and Vince slowly turned around, his eyes widening with shock and fear when he saw nearly the entire roster standing there. In front were Mickie, Jericho, Hunter, and Miz, looking absolutely livid. "You try to fire me and I'm willing to be that more than a couple of people will be quitting," Jeff said. "The secret's out and you're going to have to deal with it. Maybe you should start with those four in the front, the ones that you threatened into doing your dirty work for you?"

Vince was speechless, clearly struggling to gain control of the situation. "This isn't over, Hardy!" he finally snarled. He threw down the mic and started to walk up the ramp, before realizing that four of the people he had wronged were in his way. He looked around for a moment, before climbing off the ramp and exiting around the side of the stage.

Back in the ring Matt was in shock. He had spent weeks trying to figure this out. How did Jeff manage to piece everything together so fast? "How did you know?" he asked his brother, just loud enough for Jeff to hear.

"I didn't," Jeff said. "Not for sure, anyway. I had a hunch and ran with it."

Matt laughed. "Seemed like you got lucky then," he teased.

Jeff laughed as well and the two of them watched their coworkers at the top of the ramp. A couple of them had already headed backstage, but most of them were still discussing what had just taken place. The four in front were glaring in the direction Vince disappeared and Hunter at least looked to be on the verge of following him.

"So where do we go from here?" Jeff finally asked once the wrestlers had started to clear away.

Matt shrugged. "Dunno," he said. "But whatever happens next it's sure to be one hell of a ride."

A/N: And we're done! Or are we… Limited offer for you guys! I know there are some scenes I want to write that take place after this, but not enough for another story. Give me ideas for what YOU want to see and I'll compile some of them into a collection of oneshots. Thanks again to all my lovely readers and I hope you've enjoyed the series!