OK guys! this is it. The final chapter to The Stakes Raised High/Asphyxiate. This is an epilogue to the story so it's going to be kinda a wrap up to what had happened after the chapter before this one.
I can't believe that I am almost done with it. It's been a few months since I started it!
Haha thanks to all of those who have reviewed, supported, nagged me to continue,messaged me some AWESOME stuff, and looked over my work! You guys all get virtual hugs! 3 haha X3

so shout outs to you guys who stood out from everybody!

Kberry, Thehotgingerone, Vampanezegirl97,Raven1454, BrizzyBabber and BeautifulNoMatterWhat!

Thank you guys for everything! I hope that you guys will like my future stories and other things that will pop into my head to write later on! Glad that you like it and thanks for all the things you do!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my OC. SHOULDN'T YOU KNOW THAT BY NOW!

A few days had passed since Mr. Crepsley had found that I was alive. I still slept for about twenty hours a day. When I wasn't asleep, I would go and walk (or at least try too) around the cirque with the help of my friends.

Speaking of friends, Evra came into my tent the day after I first woke up and apologized for everything that had happened. He admitted that he was a jerk and he regrets it immensely. I forgave him but on one condition. He had to tell me why he did what he did.

"Well, I don't really know. But I think that I did it because he told me things about you that I didn't want to believe. But after a while, they started making sense. He told me that I should hang out with him because he wouldn't ever let anything ever happen like this again to me." Evra stared at his feet. "I really am sorry, Darren."

"It's okay, Evra. Let's just put it behind us. Okay?" I said, smiling up at him.

Evra's face beamed up as he nodded his head.

Chris...

I couldn't wait to see what damage I did to HIM!

***the next day!***

I woke up and yawned, stretched, and rubbed all the sleep from my eyes. I looked to the left, expecting to find Mr. Crepsley sitting right there, waiting for me. But today (or was it night? I could never tell until I went outside...) he wasn't there.

Shrugging, I pulled on my shirt and went outside. It wasn't morning yet, but it was about to be in a few hours. So, I guessed it was about three in the morning?

Barely anybody was up because of the show we had the night before. So I went over to the fire and put water on it to put it out completely.

I'll get some wood later during my run, I thought. Speaking of which, I looked around, finding no one around. If Mr. Crepsley, Evra, or Harkat didn't come in about five minutes, I'd have to go by myself. I sighed and put my face in one of my hands. They always hate it when I do that. Apparently, I can't go running without help.

I sat down on the log and waited for about ten minutes, then got up and started to run into the meadows outside of the Cirque.

I felt my hip starting to protest before I pushed it harder. Mr. Crepsley had said that it wasn't a good thing when I did that, but I thought that maybe it would help it get stronger. After all, you push yourself in gym to get stronger, right?

Sweat started to streak down my face after a few minutes of straight-out sprinting. My breath started to turn into pants and I started to slow down. My hip had started to scream out in pain at me. I actually stopped for a while and had to sit down to keep myself from fainting. The first night I had done that was with Mr. Crepsley and Harkat. They weren't so happy when I woke up. They said I wasn't supposed to run alone for a while until I got better.

I got a little sick when I was recovering. I say it was from the infection that had set in on my hip, but Mr. Crepsley said that it was from all the pushing myself over the limit crap. But I didn't believe him.

Anyway, I sat there, panting and wiping sweat off of me. After a while, I got really tired and laid down. I closed my eyes for maybe a few seconds when I heard some footsteps running towards me.

"Darren, get up. You look like you have died again. Have you not been drinking blood again? You know how it affects you!" I look up to see, who else, Mr. Crepsley shaking his head down at me.

"Nah, I just pushed myself over the limit again. Hey, don't give me that look!" Darren snapped playfully at Mr. Crepsley, who had raised one of his eyebrows at Darren.

"Darren, you are an idiot! You should know that you shouldn't push yourself over the limit. Your leg is not healed or ready to be pushed so hard. Come, let us go back to the Cirque now. Dawn is on its way." Mr. Crepsley said.

We started to walk off towards the Cirque as I told Mr. Crepsley what I had done to my leg. He wanted to know how long did I run, how fast did I run, and how much it had hurt during my run.

About half-way there, Mr. Crepsley had asked me something that I never imagined he would have asked in my wildest dreams.

"Darren, nobody had ever told me how you had gotten that injury. You had told me that you had gotten in a fight a few times after Evra had betrayed you. But who exactly did you get in a fight with?"

I stopped walking and looked at him wondering if I should tell him or not. I hadn't seen the damage I had done to Chris, and I wanted to see him before I told my mentor.

"Well. I dunno if I should tell you. I mean, I wanted to get revenge on him for what he had said to me about you. But, I got it. I haven't seen him, but I got what I wanted. If you really want to know, ask me later. After I see him, okay?"

He nodded.

"By the way, how was that new boy that had arrived a few days before we came-what was his name? Christopher?"

"Chris. And he was...a challenge."

"He seemed like a very nice man. You know, I knew his mother. Very nice woman. Too bad that she passed away though."

I mumbled some things about him under my breath. "What was that?" Mr. Crepsley half heartily said.

"Nothing, just me saying how ama-" I stopped and gasped as I fell to the ground.

My hip had had enough for that night. And I felt every last bit of its protest. I groaned and held my hip. Mr. Crepsley turned around and bent down next to me.

"Are you alright?"

"My hip hurts too much to go on. Sorry."

Mr. Crepsley sighed and picked me up. "This is why you cannot run by yourself and push yourself over the limit anymore."
He kept going on and on about this. I wished that he would stop sometimes.

Then Mr. Crepsley had asked more about Chris.

"What did he do when I was gone? Did you become friends?"

I almost laughed at this. FRIENDS?

"Um...no. NOT AT ALL!"

"Well, then what did he do?" Mr. Crepsley pressed on.

Well, I suspect that all of you know how mature I am, how smart I am, and above all, how devilishly handsome I am. But that doesn't mean that I can't make mistakes.

"He's the CENSORED WORDS that I got in fights with and gave me my hip injury."

Mr. Crepsley had stopped so abruptly that I almost fell out of his arms.

"HE IS THE ONE THAT DID THAT TOO YOU! Oh..." He yelled so loud that he actually echoed around.

Them he started to flit straight to the Cirque. He dropped by my tent and dropped me in my hammock. Then he flitted out of there and straight to wherever Chris was.

The poor soul...

I wanted to go and stop Mr. Crepsley but I was so tired that as soon as he put me down, I fell asleep.

***the next day***

I woke up about sunset and I was just in time for dinner. I walked out of the tent and over to the fire where all the food was waiting for me on the grill. I sat down on a log got a hot dog off a stick and started eating it.

Evra sat down next to me and we started to chat about what we did that day. Mostly, it was what he did because what I did all day was sleep.

"Hey, do you still have to replace your bandages?" Evra asked me when he was chewing his food.

I thought about this for a moment, trying to remember if I changed them yet.

"Um...I don't think I have. Will you help me tonight?"

"Yeah, sure."

We went into my tent, and Evra helped me take off my shorts while I undid the bandages. He looked away until I told him he could look. He didn't want to "disturb me in anyway." Whatever that means.

He did, however, cringe when he looked at the wound.

I guessed it wasn't that bad, but when I looked at it, it almost made me throw up.

The wound was healing, but it was taking its time. The red flesh was bloody and bruised, but it was still better than what it looked like it did the first time. (I'm NOT going into detail on THAT!)

Just as Evra had started looking for the spray to squirt on the wound, we started to hear somebody coming. Evra, being the awesome friend, told them that now was a bad time and to go away.

But it turned out that it was Hans. He called through the tent door, "Sorry to interrupt, but Larten is looking for you guys. He said that he needed to replace the bandages and tell you guys something. What do you want me to tell him?"

Evra glanced at me then back at the door. "Tell him that we are currently working on the bandages right now but he can come and tell us whatever he needed to, though."

Hans walked away and Evra continued on the search for the antibacterial spray.

After a few minutes of no luck with the spray, Mr. Crepsley could be heard running towards us. He slowed down a little before barging into our tent. He ran a hand through his hair and walked over to Evra.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping Darren replace his bandages. But I needed the spray so I'm looking for it."

They both looked at me, but when Mr. Crepsley had seen the wound, his eyes had almost tripled in size! He took a step towards me and knelt next to me. His hand hovered over my wound as he looked at it. He barely touched it, and I groaned in pain. He jerked his hand back and then he just stared at the wound.

I motioned Evra to hurry up and find it, and he obliged. He found it within ten minutes.

When he needed to put it on, Mr. Crepsley wouldn't budge, so we had to make me stand up, and move out of the way. When Evra had sprayed it on, it stung, but then he put the bandages on. It felt so good! Epically with the ice pack that went over it.

They kept telling me that as soon as I put on my bandages, I had to go to sleep. I did just that. Mr. Crepsley had gotten up when Evra was leaving and told us both something.

That if we heard screaming, growling,barking,cursing,fighting, or anything out of the ordinary, that we should just stay in our tent.

We nodded and he left. Then Evra asked if he did a good job putting on the bandages, if I'll be okay, if I needed anything, stuff like that. After I had totally reassured him that I was alright (it took like 30 frigging' minutes!) I started drifting off to sleep.

But not before I heard some yelling, and a wolf snarling.

-the next day!-

I woke up about forty five minutes from sun set, so I could get up before Mr. Crepsley if I wanted to. But my stomach disagreed and made me go get some food.

As I walked out of the tent, I saw everybody looking in one direction. Then I looked over to find the grass turned up in several spots, blood splattered in other places, and a lot of scratch marks in the ground. Like...claw marks from...CHRIS!

I gasped in surprise and ran to where the tent I was looking for was.

I entered the tent to find that he was wrapped in bandages in most places on his body. He was conscious, but he didn't look like he was in a very good mood. He turned his head and his eyes immediately had hatred in them.

"What do you want?" Chris barked.

I put my hands up and shook my head.

"I wanted to know a few things from you. Is now a good time?"

Chris shrugged and turned his head the other way. "Depends on what you wanna know."

I went over to the little stool by his bed and sat on it. "I want to know just three things. Why you were so mean to me, what happened last night, and what's going to happen to you now?"

He snapped his head around so fast I thought that his neck snapped. He just stared at me, not even blinking nor breathing. After a while, he sighed and went back to his original position.

"To the answers to your questions, I was mean because I didn't like you. You had everything that I wanted. I don't want to be a dog, I want to be a vampire, but I can't. And you have so many friends here. I don't. So I guess I was jealous. Then what happened last night? I got into a fight that I shouldn't have. It almost cost me my life. That's all I am saying on that one. And what's going to happen is...well, I can't say. But you'll find out soon enough. Now, I answered all of your questions. If that's all, leave," Chris growled.

I turned and walked out of the tent and went to go eat some dinner.

***line***

I was eating a hot dog when Mr. Crepsley came out of his tent. He had a few scratches, but nothing scar like. He stretched then made his way over to me. He sat down next to me.

"I am sorry about what had happened to you while I was away, Darren. It was not wise of me to leave you here with a dog. I should have-"

"What happened last night?" I interrupted him.

"Well, I fought Christopher. He turned into a wolf and I fought him. When I thought he had learned his lesson, I told him to stay away from my assistant and not to bother me nor him ever again." He had grown a smirk while saying this.

I looked down at my plate. I should've felt like the world was just handed to me; Mr. Crepsley had just fought Chris for me. But instead, I felt ashamed.

I stood up and started to walk away. Then walking turned to running then sprinting. I was running faster than I had ever run before. When I was about to fall to the ground from lack of energy, I stopped. Then I looked down. It was the exact spot that Chris and I had the fight, and where I fell into the water.

Well, the night was beautiful. So, I guess it wouldn't be that bad...

So, I took a deep breath and jumped into the water, off the cliff, to the place where I had almost drowned.

***line***

I swam up to the surface. Then I went over to where you were supposed to go if you were cliff jumping and needed to get out. AKA: the side of the cliff. So you better hope you're good at rock climbing!

When I returned to the Cirque, Mr. Crepsley was waiting there. He held out a letter to me as he walked past me, mumbling he'd be back in a minute.

I opened the letter and read it. When I finished, I was in shock.

Darren,

Hey. I know that we never got on like we could have. But, like I said before, I was jealous of you. So I took all of my hatred out on you. I started rumours about you, fought you, stole your best friend, even gave you a wound the size of a baseball glove. But, one of my deepest regrets is that I knew what you were really hurt by: Larten leaving. I took advantage of that when we were fighting. I'm sorry for that. I am also sorry for cheating you. I didn't fight fair like you. You would have won fair and square. But I almost killed you. For that, I am sorry.

As your questions earlier: I NEVER guessed that you would come and talk to me. But your questions, for the first two, I answered. For the third...to be honest, I didn't know what I was going to do.

But now I do.

I am going to go. Leave. I have no idea where I will leave, but I'll let you know when I have an idea.

Hope you can forgive me.

And if it's not too much to ask, maybe we could consider being friends someday?

~Chris.

I just stared at the letter. Read it twice, three times.

Wow.

I couldn't even put what I felt into words. I guess relieved, maybe glad.

But I can't even now put it into words.

A few minutes later, Mr. Crepsley came out. He locked eyes with me, then told me to follow him.

We must have walked about five miles before he started to speak again.

"I saw that you went cliff diving again."

"Yeah, is that a bad thing?"

"No. not at all."

A few more miles had passed before I broke the silence.

"Why did you attack Chris?"

Mr. Crepsley slowed down his pace a little before continuing like normal.

"Because nobody gets to harm my s-assistant but me."*

"Oh."

We walked a few more miles before I looked up and saw the moon.

"Mr. Crepsley! Look at the moon."

He looked and we laughed. It was the same moon that hung in the sky when I came back from the dead. Blue.

***line***

Mr. Crepsley and I walked side by side. It had been twenty years after I had jumped my last cliff and I had learned that Chris was gone. He had died a few days later from infection in his wounds. But before he died, I already considered him as my friend.

Mr. Crepsley looked at me and smirked.

"What is so funny, Mr. Crepsley?"**

"Nothing. After all, that is what you said when I saw you trying on my cloak."

"Will you forget about that? It was two days ago!"

He laughed and I walked ahead.

It was about two or three in the morning and we were stretching our legs from all the sitting around we had done in the last few days.

As we were walking past a memory flickered in my head.

This is the way I went when I was going to have "fun". Then Chris attacked me. Wait- cliffs!

"Mr. Crepsley, is this not the way to where the cliffs are?" I asked my mentor.

"Yes. Why?"

I looked at the moon and almost gasped.

There was a blue moon and there were shooting stars around it.

"Follow me!"

"Darren." He groaned and turned around to see where I was heading.

I ran to the edge of the cliff and looked down. It looked almost the same as it did the last time I was here.

"Do you think that the water is going to be the same temperature as it was when I jumped off twenty years ago, Mr. Crepsley?" I asked, turning towards him.

"Possibly. I doubt it though."

"Want to find out?"

Mr. Crepsley grabbed my shoulder. I turned around to see his face had gone red.

"I um...never have been cliff diving before. Do you think that you could teach me how?"

I grinned and grabbed his hand. "Of course."

We took a few steps forward and looked down.

"Well, maybe I will be able to do this, but you might not be able to do so."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I am sorry, but that is a secret kept to me." After a glare from him I changed my mind. "I am just doubtful that you will be able to get out without drowning."

He smacked me upside the head and scoffed. "I shall be able to get out just fine. I am more concerned for you. After all, how will a child be able to get out of the water without a nosebleed?"

I glared at him.

Then I guided him, I still had his hand, and we jumped off the cliff. Into the water.

"Vain old git!"

"Rude young brat!"

Okay guys! Sorry it was so long. But I wanted everything to be in this. Not cut out a lot of stuff that I think you guys would have liked to see!

okay, here are some things that you might have noticed.

*= Mr. Crepsley was about to call Darren his son! Aww...Not too fluffy is it? Eh, who cares, my fanfic,I can make what I want to happen. I think that Mr. Crepsley had a father/son relationship. But that's just me.

**=Darren had picked up Mr. Crepsley's no conjunctions rule. If you looked you could tell that Darren spoke exactly like Mr. Crepsley.

Well, that's the end of TSRH saga!

Hope you guys loved it!

Please review and check out my other stories too!