Fictional characters aren't just fictional.

Fictional characters are more than just people in a book or on screen. They are people who come to life through the words on a page, through images on screen, through facial expressions and hand gestures. They are characters who you struggle with, through their dark times, and cheer with through their happy days. They are the people you look up to. They are the more than just fictional. To the fans, they are so much more than that. Fictional characters aren't just fictional. They are people you've never met and never will. But they are also people you've known for so long. You've grown up watching their lives unfold alongside yours, and you can't help but feel attached to them. You've grown up watching them grow as individuals and mature into adults. You've witnessed the situations they have been in, and you've been there alongside them. You've felt their anguish, their pain through all the drama and conflicts they've been through. And when they're heartbroken, you feel that sinking feeling in your chest too, weighing you down. You relish in their happiness, and can not help how elated you feel for them, because they truly deserve it after everything they've been through.

You've seen them through their best and very worst - their true vulnerable self stripped of all their invincible make-up, that raw emotion and sense of self they reveal when alone in the depths of the shadows in their silent homes at night. You've followed their journeys, and discovered something new about yourself in the process - who you aspire to be, who you don't want to be, what direction you want to take in life, and who you want to be there in that moment when you're dreams are coming true. You've formed bonds with them, people that have never existed, but yet they do. The place they've lived in becomes home to you. You've watched them go through their lives, and anticipated the direction of their lives will take alongside them. They've taught you the meaning of true happiness through their painstaking troubles, the strength of friendships under the constrains of reality and staying true to yourself by keeping your morals in check when tested on by the hand of others. These individuals have seen you through part of your life. They are long lost friends that you greet in passing when you visit their realities. And they will always stay with you, no matter how long after you've turned the last page of their chapter.