Kaleb groaned as he stood from the couch. "You've got to be kidding me. You're here again? Did you call him over Anna?"

Xander walked into the living room and stood before Kaleb. "She didn't call me over. I came here because I wanted to see her."

Anna closed the door and sighed as she walked over to stand between Xander and Kaleb. "If you guys are going to argue, just leave. I've had enough of you two arguing for one day!"

"She doesn't want to be with you, dude. Get it through that fucking thick skull of yours!" Kaleb was about to pull Anna away from in between him and Xander when he stopped short at what Xander's words.

"She doesn't want to be with me? Hell, it definitely felt like she wanted to be with me each time I kissed her." A smug look formed over Xander's face.

The room was silent for a moment before Kaleb directed his gaze to Anna. "You kissed him?"

Anna's eyes were wide and at that moment in time she wished she had never allowed Xander to kiss her. The pain in Kaleb's eyes made her heart constrict in pain; made her heart fill with guilt. "No, Kaleb, I never kissed him—"

"You're really going to deny it Anna? Don't you fucking dare deny the times we've kissed." Xander snorted and shook his head.

Anna ignored him and reached out to place her hand on Kaleb's arm. He flinched at her touch and that hurt Anna more than anything. He was disgusted with her. "Kaleb, I-This is what I needed to talk to you about. I didn't want you to find out like this. I just... Kaleb?"

There was no way in hell that Kaleb would ever want anything to do with her after discovering this.

Kaleb gave a dry laugh and said nothing. He shook his head and looked down at the floor before looking up at Anna in the eyes. "Why didn't you ever tell me anything before? Do you think I would have liked to find out like this? Why didn't you tell me the first time he kissed you? I would have put him back in his place, Anna. Why would you allow him to kiss you again?" He shook his head once more as he continued to look at her intently. "Unless you liked it—like him. Do you like him?"

Anna shook her head vehemently. "No! I d—Kaleb…" Anna remained quiet for a moment before nodding and looking up into Kaleb' eyes. He at least deserved to know the truth. "I really like him, Kaleb."

Fury flashed through Kaleb's eyes as he pushed Anna out of the way carelessly. He lifted his arm and let his fist crash down onto Xander's face.

Xander was still absorbing what Anna had said and was taken by surprise by Kaleb. He stumbled backwards and crashed down onto the floor. He shook his head slightly and brought his hand to his mouth, the taste of blood invading his mouth. He stood up and faced Kaleb, making no moves to hit him back. Not even the fact that his lip was split open would stop him from taunting Kaleb.

"Hitting me isn't going to make me go away. It also isn't going to stop her from caring about me." Xander shook his head and brought his hand up to his lips. "You know something? You fucked everything up for me. All of this shit was never supposed to happen." He chuckled and looked at Kaleb with a smirk on his face.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kaleb stared at him intently and stepped closer to him.

"It was all simple, really. I had seen her even before bumping into her at that fucking café! The first time I saw her was when she was leaving the school that same day. Can you fucking imagine it; I had driven past the school to see what it looked like, that was the only reason I was there. But then I saw her—you." He then faced Anna and stared into her blue eyes intently.

"You were coming out of the school with him," he said, referring to Kaleb, "I thought he was your boyfriend when I saw you get into his car. For the moment I didn't even fucking care that he might've been your boyfriend. You just looked so fucking beautiful," he scoffed, although she was sure she could see his eyes soften at the memory. "And you still do. I remember thinking that there was no fucking way I was letting you out of my sight. You looked so happy. I had no idea what could have made you look so fucking happy but I remember being jealous because I thought that the fucking idiot beside you was making you that happy."

Her eyes were watering up as she stared at Xander. A small amount of dry laughter escaped her throat as she recalled the day. "Midterms were over that day, that's why I was so happy."

"I still don't get it," Kaleb cut in, "How did I 'fuck everything up' for you?"

"I'm getting there." Xander then turned to face Kaleb, any softness in his eyes gone. "I always saw you guys together the first few days of school. I thought you were together and that pissed me off. How could the most beautiful girl in the world be taken; the girl that I couldn't get out of my mind? But then she told me that you guys weren't together. I was so fucking ecstatic when I heard that shit." He chuckled as his eyes took a darker shade of gray. "But that changed pretty quickly, didn't it?"

Xander paused and shook his head as he winced at the stinging of his busted lip. "I had everything already planned out. She was single and I was going to do everything in my power to get her to like me. There was no way that she wasn't going to fall for me. But you fucked that up, Kaleb." He sighed as he remained staring at Kaleb. "You just had to go and confuse the fuck out of her. You told her you cared about her as more than friends, and she thought she could one day feel the same way."

"She cares about me, I know she does. She may have some sort of fucking crush on you but I'm the one she loves. She can't love someone she barely fucking knows! She's known me for over seventeen years, we deserve to be together." Kaleb snarled as he prepared himself to throw another punch in Xander's direction.

Xander actually laughed at this and ignored the stinging of his lip. "How are you so sure about her feelings? I could ask you the same thing. She might have told you she cares about you the same way you care about her but she could be lying. She probably had the friendly love she feels for you confused for real love. After so many years of you two being together and sharing everything she might feel obligated to feel the same way." Xander chuckled and shook his head at Kaleb. "She's never told me her exact feelings for me out loud, but I can see it in her eyes. She doesn't need to tell me that she cares about me because her eyes say it all; her eyes and her kisses. What she feels for you is platonic, nothing real. How about you get that shit through your thick skull?"

Anna's eyes were wide at his words. Everything she had been struggling to understand in the past weeks had finally clicked. She finally understood what she was feeling on the inside.

Kaleb had had enough of Xander and threw himself onto him, both tumbling down onto the floor. Xander had the air knocked out of him and couldn't find the strength to push the entire weight of Kaleb off of him.

Anna yelled at both of them as she bent down trying to pry them both apart. "Are you two stupid? Stop fighting! This is completely unnecessary!" She thrust her arms in-between the two in an attempt to break them apart. After realizing that her attempts were in vain she wrapped her arms around Kaleb's body in hopes of pushing him off of Xander. "Kaleb get off! Kaleb stop it!" Her yells weren't heard and Kaleb simply reached behind him and pushed Anna away from him, knocking the wind out of her as she hit the ground a foot away from them.

Kaleb then returned his attention to Xander and began to bring his fist down onto Xander repeatedly. Xander tried to shield himself from Kaleb's fists as he looked over in Anna's direction. He desperately wanted to go over to her side and make sure she was okay, but he knew he couldn't while he still had Kaleb pummeling him from above. He mustered all of the strength within him and pushed Kaleb off of him.

"I should have done this shit since day one!" Blood dribbled down the corner of Xander's mouth as he threw himself onto Kaleb.

Anna coughed a few times and sat up, holding onto her chest as she looked over at Kaleb and Xander. Kaleb had to have been blinded by anger. Never had he intentionally harmed her or caused her pain. Anna's eyes went wide as she saw Xander reach into his pocket. She saw a glint of silver and immediately she knew what he was holding. She stood and made her way over to stop Xander but the damage was done by then.

Xander had brought down his fist over Kaleb's heart, the gray pocket knife held firmly in his grip. Kaleb's eyes were wide as he stared up at Xander, not completely sure of what was occurring.

There was no remorse in Xander's eyes as he stared down at Kaleb. There was no mercy on Xander's part as he yanked the pocket knife out of Kaleb's body. He then stood, his breathing heavy as he looked down at Kaleb's face. Kaleb's eyes remained open as his breathing ceased.

Anna froze as she stared at Kaleb's body on the floor. What was occurring wasn't real; it was all a horrible nightmare that she would soon be waking up from. It had to be a dream. Xander would never…

He simply couldn't hurt anyone, let alone a fly. He cared about her! He knew this would hurt her, he would never! The sound of movement pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked over in Xander's direction. His gaze was fixed on her and it made goose bumps form all over her skin.

He approached her and she took several steps back. "Don't come near me, Xander. I swear to God… Xander…" She turned and made to run but he was too fast for her.

He had dropped the pocket knife and closed the gap between them as he wrapped his arms around her, turning her to face him and pulling her body tight against his. "I'm not going to hurt you darling, don't you ever think that."

Anna yelled and punched at his chest in hopes of pushing him away from her. How could he say that? He had already hurt her in ways she never thought possible. "Get away Xander! Xander! I have to check on Kaleb! Oh my God, Kaleb… I have to call an ambulance, the cops, anyone! Let me go, please…" Anna punched at his chest in vain as she sobbed.

"Anna, stop it. Fucking stop it!" Xander yelled as he stared down at her. "Why are you so upset? It was self-defense! You clearly saw that he attacked me first Anna! I was defending myself from him!"

Anna tried to push him away as she shook her head. "I have every fucking reason to be upset! You didn't have to stab him, Xander! Xander, you stabbed my best friend, the person that meant the world to me… How do you expect me to feel? Are you fucking crazy? If I had only told him what I felt, maybe things wouldn't have turned out like this…" Anna held back a sob as she stared up at Xander. "I never should have continued on with the relationship after the first day you kissed me! He would have understood! He always understood… He would have remained as my best friend and none of this would have occurred!" She let the sob escape her throat as Xander held her.

It killed him to see her so hurt and vulnerable. He placed a kiss on her temple and sighed. "I'm sorry for causing you pain, Anna. I never wanted you to feel this much sorrow."

Anna then pushed him away from her and took a few steps back. "If you truly meant that, you would have never done this Xander .I'm calling this in. I need to call—there's still hope!" Anna looked behind her and reached out to grab her house phone.

"Anna…"

She turned around and looked at Xander. His blood-stained hands were crossed over his chest and despite anything and everything occurring in the moment, he had never looked as handsome as he did in that moment.

"I didn't mean to… I didn't plan this. You believe me, right?"

Anna watched as the insincerity shined through his gray eyes. Tears streamed down her eyes as she nodded. "Of course."

— — — — — — — — — — — —

They were at opposite ends of her living room. Anna refused to look at Kaleb's body and she fixated her gaze at Xander.

She had called 911 and the cops were nearly at her home. Xander hadn't said a word to her since before the call and that's how she wanted it. Never would she find it in her heart to forgive him. Never would he be able to make the pain she was feeling disappear.

She had never experienced such a pain as the one she was living through at the moment. The boy she had known her entire life was gone. His life was ripped away from him by the boy she lo—cared for.

She looked out of the window beside her, the police sirens becoming stronger each moment. They would be barging into her home at any moment and pulling out of her home the bodies of the boys she cared about the most—one alive, one dead.

"I love you."

Her head snapped over in his direction and she could feel her eyes watering up once more. She hated him; hated him with such intensity that she couldn't see straight. "I love you too."

He quickly erased the distance between them two and wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. She should have pushed him away. She shouldn't have felt anything but hate towards him.

But she didn't.

She let herself be embraced by the boy she loved, the boy that had caused everything to come crashing down around her.

Unintentionally, of course.

He was suddenly yanked away from her and she immediately knew she wouldn't be seeing this boy for a long time. She wouldn't see those gray eyes she loved so dearly or the ever-present smirk on his face.

She caught one final glimpse of him as the cuffs were placed onto his wrists. The final look he gave her would haunt her for years to come, a look of anger, triumph, and love.

'I love you' he mouthed before being pulled out of her home and yanked into the backseat of a police car.

And I swear… I've never seen anything so beautifully dark...

— — — — — — — — — — — —

A/N: DON'T HATE, APPRECIATE.

I always intended the ending to be this way. I always knew that I wanted Kaleb to die, as cruel as that sounds. I feel completely content with the ending. I wouldn't have ended it any other way.

Last sentence: Aiden – Darkness

Since this is officially done and re-written (for now), I'll be taking down the chapters for The Past Should Stay Dead and I'll be re-writing that as well. Expect about three chapters of that up and re-written today.

Thanks for sticking around guys!

If you just read this for the first time, tell me what you thought in a review! I love to hear thoughts and opinions and what-nots (: