A/N: The epilogue is optional. The epilogue is optional. THE EPILOGUE IS OPTIONAL. THE EPILOGUE IS OPTIONAL.

Final Chapter:

The blade slid easily, cutting deep. One firm diagonal shove, and it was through Madara's heart. Another, and it was piercing Sasuke's as well.

An expression of shock was on Madara's face, though Sasuke knew in his soul that it was from the pain, and not the action causing it. Madara probably hadn't hurt physically this much in his life before. However, the emotional distress was something that he had endured time and time again. How could he afford to offer surprise in the face of Sasuke's betrayal? If there were something to look so caught in the headlights about, surely – it was the blade stabbing through his heart, and not the hand that held it.

"S-Sasuke... Why?" Madara asked. His eyes were full of love and concern. Still not hate. Never, ever, that. Sasuke had expected the hate. He'd thought that in Madara's final moments, he'd quit all the smoke and mirrors and make some big reveal that he'd never loved his nephew. But no. Even now, they seemed only able to gaze at each other with wonder.

"Because you're miserable and lonely without them," Sasuke responded, his voice clear. He was not as affected by the pain as Madara was, even as the world began to blur and darken, and he coughed up at least a pint of blood. Madara, not as tolerant and used to physical distress as his nephew, continued to stutter, his eyes wincing closed.

"N-Nuh...No... Love," His voice quivered with effort, "N-not.. Not me... Why?... Why you..t-too?"

"Because you'd be just as miserable without me as you've been without everyone else. I understand now, Uncle Mada. You never could have truthfully chosen. You've always needed all of us, and now we'll all be together."

Sasuke answered as if it was the obvious thing. As if both of them dying together had always been how their story would end. Madara considered this, and laughed. A sick and distorted sound of agony and despair... But, even then, not disappointment. "Idiot..." He whispered, hoarsely.

"Are you glad that it was me, Uncle? Are you..." Sasuke coughed, violently, the sword twisted in his hand, and pushed deeper into them both, urging a spurt of blood to rush out of Madara's lips. Sasuke's words came out with much effort now, he could barely see, and felt oddly at peace with that, his only remaining fear was that somehow this would kill Madara and not him. "Are you...G-glad that it's... m-me?"

Odd as it was, Madara understood the question perfectly. Even now, at the end of it all, Sasuke was hurting and insecure. As they drew their last breaths, his beloved was still concerned that Madara had wished to die by Izuna's side instead.

"Sweet Child," Madara murmured, his voice coming out strong with sheer determination, "It could not have been anyone else."

He knew as he said it that it was the truth. That Izuna had been everything once, but that now, now that his eyes were unseeing and more open than they'd ever been – now Izuna was nothing. A memory, a nostalgic dream. A beautiful stranger who he knew so well.

But Sasuke? Had there ever been anything in this world that held relevance aside from this wonderful blessing? How had he not understood before that nothing – nothing – mattered, aside from the smile on this glorious boy's face?

Had this been what they'd told him about? Was this what Sasuke always felt? Every single day? How horrific. Madara couldn't imagine it. How on earth could a person live on this way, knowing down to the very essence of their core that nothing was important. Nothing was real. Nothing was true, except for the beating of your lover's heart.

Except..

Sasuke's heart wasn't beating anymore. Madara had felt it before, he knew he had. The steady, frantic, and then slowing pulse. After all – the same sword was going through both of them. How could he not have felt it?

But now – there was nothing. No gentle thump-thump-thump against his chest, no shaking, labored breath, there was no Sasuke anymore, and the sheer amount of tragedy that this fact held was too much for Madara to behold. It was indescribable, because it was unimaginable. Knowing Sasuke was gone felt more like his heart being split than the sword going through it.

Why? Oh, why couldn't he have died first? Had he been so cruel and evil in life that he deserved this? Why would Sasuke have chosen a method that took so god damn long?

"Don't be a fool, Madara. Your body has been dead for nearly three minutes now. Perhaps if your soul would stop clinging to that dreadful child's corpse, you might be able to pass with him."

Madara knew Izuna's voice better than he knew his own, but he felt like he was burning on the stake just hearing it. Clearly, if his brother was speaking to him so casually, it was true – he was dead. He tried to drift farther from Sasuke's still body, tried to ease closer to that place just in the back of his chest where he heard Izuna trying to gently pull him. It was hard. Dying was hard. He'd always assumed that it would be easy. He'd caused the deaths of so many people and now here he was, trying his best to die, and somehow it just wasn't happening.

"I know you're afraid, darling." Izuna's voice again, soft and sweet, "It's okay. We're both right here waiting for you, my love."

Was he afraid? Yes. Madara was afraid of death. He hadn't known it until that moment. His whole life, in all of his grief and despair – he hadn't once truly wished that death should be used as a method to escape the pain of survival. But here it was, terrifying and dark, and he did not want to pass into it.

Izuna was speaking to him once more, "Don't think of it like that. It's not about the end, it's simply different from what you have known. Just follow my voice, sweetheart. Come right here to me,"

And he did.

-Epilogue-

Mikoto sat, still, on the top of a great hill. She was between two of her cousins, and they leaned over her in turn, snatching things from each other back and forth. The incessant bickering was like a calm white noise to her, and she embraced it as she gazed down.

"Is that Madara down there?" Setsuna asked, squinting his eyes, "I thought he was supposed to be having that talk with Itachi."

Mikoto sighed, long since used to her elder brother's lack of commitment to droll tasks. She looked down herself, having better eyesight than Setsuna even in the afterlife, and nodded.

"Yes, that's Madara alright."

"Who is that with him?" Kagami asked, not even bothering to look over, as he was currently cleaning out one of his ever-so-cherished guns. Mikoto had no idea how such a weapon would be useful in the land of immortality but she couldn't stand how helpless she knew Kagami or Setsuna would look if she reminded them that violence did nothing here.

"Who else?" Setsuna asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Those two are just as stuck together now as they were before either of them died."

"If only that could be said for everyone…" Mikoto mused, leaning back onto the soft grass.

"Some people's deaths occurred during events that change relationships forever," A fourth person interrupted, stepping up to them all and placing a soft kiss on Mikoto's forehead, "How are you, mother?"

The only female in the group felt a bit in over her head with this crowd, but she smiled carefully, "I'm doing well, Itachi-Kun. How are you?"

It went without saying that most people's relationship with Itachi was pretty tense. He didn't seem to care though, he stared down the hill at the couple there, picnicking and playing with each other's fingers joyfully. Their lips met in a kiss and Setsuna smiled, while Itachi looked slightly perturbed.

"Do you think he made the wrong choice?" Kagami asked, and Itachi set his jaw, determined to ignore him. He merely clarified the question in response to his younger cousin's stubbornness. "Madara. Do you think Madara made the wrong choice?"

Mikoto bit her lip, looking worriedly at Kagami, "I think it was cruel of them both to make him choose," She whispered, "The grief it caused him gave me physical agony to witness…"

"It would not be the first time that either of them hurt him, and you're certainly mad if you think that either Izuna or Sasuke are in any way capable of sharing Madara as equals. Their fighting would have made him more tormented than choosing only one made him, and I personally think it was very brave of them both to make him decide, knowing that one of them would be facing an eternity of loneliness. There was no way for all three of them to be happy together, Mikoto, but stretching a relationship thin like that would have made all three of them miserable," Setsuna reminded her gently.

She nodded along, because everyone had told her that already, but she couldn't help but feel that this particular issue was a bit more close to home for her than the rest of them. Madara and Izuna were her brothers, Sasuke was her son. Each of those three men had a connection all their own with her, and she hated seeing any of them hurting. She hated it so much that she almost lost her mind thinking about it. Knowing that even as she stared down at Madara's grin as his lover laid their head on his shoulder, there was still someone else. Out there. Hurting. Hurting and alone and forgotten. Itachi set a hand on her back to calm her, seeing that she was near tears at their chosen subject of conversation.

"Mother?" He asked, looking at her with worry.

"You didn't answer my question, Itachi." Kagami insisted, "Do you think he made the wrong choice?"

"Yes," Itachi said easily, "But when you're given options like that, there isn't a right one."

Setsuna made an annoyed grunt in the back of his throat. "Don't get philosophical on us, kid. No one likes the guy who gives trick answers to yes or no questions."

"Then feel free not to ask me any more questions," Itachi retorted, "I just wanted to stop by with you all to make sure my mother is doing alright, but I really need to be getting to Obito now, I was supposed to meet with him some time ago and only just now remembered."

Anyone who knew Itachi could tell that it was a lie, as he was not in the habit of being forgetful, but they let him go. Even if only so as to not miss an opportunity to talk about him behind his back.

"Itachi and Obito. Now there's a friendship that I couldn't have predicted," Mikoto mused aloud.

"Well I could have predicted it well enough, seeing as they're both mutinous swine." Kagami pointed out.

"I was never the captain of a ship, Kagami. I can't have mutineers."

They all jumped, having not noticed that Madara was walking over to them, his arm wrapped firmly around the slender waist of his chosen beloved, and his eyes full of amusement.

Mikoto watched as Kagami and Madara bickered. Watched the way that even when Madara got excited, he only pulled his lover closer, more tightly to his side. Never did any degree of hand waving for the sake of dramatic effect manage to separate them. Uproarious laughter did not bring them a single inch apart, and every few seconds, just often enough to make it look like it wasn't something he was trying not to do, Madara let their eyes meet. And Mikoto saw the love there. She saw it all. The journey, the pain, and the relief.

And yet even as much as Madara loved this man, he loved the other. Itachi had been correct in saying that with the options Madara had been given, either way was the wrong choice. But, at the same time, when she saw him happy and glowing like this, she had to disagree.

Perhaps it didn't matter if it was Sasuke or Izuna at the end of it all. Perhaps this had all been over long before it started, and perhaps, Madara being content at the end was the only thing she could even hope for.

In the quiet moments though, Mikoto admitted something to herself. When she was alone with her thoughts, and brutally honest. Today, spontaneously, she decided to speak this admission aloud.

"It was always you," She whispered, and conversation came to a screeching halt as Madara's companion looked at Mikoto, eyes staring in a way that she wasn't used to, "There was never any choice to be made, right or wrong or otherwise. Because for Madara, it will always be you."

The man offered her half of a smile, and shook his head fondly. He kissed Madara's cheek, and then seemed to decide that it wasn't enough, and kissed his lips, before turning back towards Mikoto.

"I know," He said, confidently. "Madara's mind is so busy, and his heart loves so many, that at times, he forgets. But it was always going to be me in the end, and anyone who knew us as lovers in the real world knew that. Our devotion for each other is absolute, and while it does not require your validation, I do appreciate it."

Madara looked a bit troubled, but a squeeze of the hand revived him, and in that moment Mikoto understood why the choice had been such an obvious one.

Because they had both hurt him. Taken his heart in hand and crushed it, tread on it, sliced it to bits. They had both loved him. Deeply. Truly. Eternally. Irrevocably. Always. And they had both broken him, twisted their words and actions into powerful weapons of destruction and smashed his bones to dust with them. And when the pieces of him lay there, shattered beyond repair by those that held him dear, they had both tried to fix him. Picked up children's glue sticks and shoved him back together like a clumsy collage living in parody of himself.

But for all their juvenile attempts to right their wrongs, only one of them could ever truly repair the damage for good. And here he was, doing exactly that, as he crept a delicate hand up to the crease of Madara's elbow and pulled in the direction of the golden coliseum where they were known to spend their alone time together.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Madara asked, "When they talk about me and him?"

"The thought of you two together doesn't intimidate me. It never has. It's not my favorite past time, musing over your relationship with another man, but I've long since gotten over it. After all, It's not like you two being together was some brand new thing to me all of a sudden."

Madara nodded, "Yes, I suppose you've had to adjust to the idea."

"Hey," The man said softly, tucking a lock of Madara's hair behind his ear and staring into his eyes, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Madara said, and then looked him in the eyes and smiled, laughing, because the sheer sight of his face filled him wish so many good emotions that it wiped all the others out, "Yes," He agreed more honestly. "I'm alright."

Slender arms wrapped around the back of his neck and rested there, "Show me,"

Madara tried his best.

He kissed him, and he poured into it everything that he had never said, or never wanted to say. Everything that he should have done, but couldn't have. Everything that he could have done, but shouldn't have. All of his regrets, and his loss, and his disoriented life. All the pieces of himself that he didn't know how to put back together. He kissed him, and he held him, and let him feel how it was all real, and it was all true, but it didn't matter. None of it mattered. None of it had ever mattered, because here they were. Together. At the end of all things.

He rested their foreheads together, their breaths heavy and quick, "Do you understand?" He whispered.

"Yes, I understand," The man replied, "And, at long last, so do you."

A/N: That's it. That's the end. You guys have been pretty clear about not wanting my authors notes, but I figured it was only fair to make sure you're aware that this is the final chapter of this fic and there will be no further installments.

Thank You to all who have reviewed, favorited, subscribed, and private messaged on this fic. Your continued support gives this writer something to keep pushing for.

Much love to anyone who has taken the time to read any of this fic, and even more love if you've read the whole thing.

If you're reading this story after it's been completed, and have just had the whole thing in one go – sorry in advance. I've read it in one go myself and find the experience to be very … crippling.

I hold this fic very closely to me and I'm sorry to say goodbye to it, but it's been a really great ride, you guys. I'm so grateful for each and every one of you.

See you next time,

-Beloved