Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Defy and Comply ❯ Lesson 25: To End It All (Pt. II) ( Chapter 28 )

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Defy and Comply

By: Melissa Norvell

Lesson 25: To End It All (Pt. II)

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"I'd prefer we burned together. Like hell I'm letting you live." Even if he never leaved the grounds of Shinjinku, he wasn't going to let Kaizer roam free to do this to anyone else again. He wasn't just stopping a mad man, he was stopping an terrorist's reign.

"Even if they all get out, I can still alter their memories," Kaizer wasn't going to let them get away free. He had worked far too long and hard on this plan only to have it be foiled in the end. It took him years to establish his reign and he wasn't ready to give it up just yet.

"Not if you're not alive. Letting me live was pretty stupid. I've come to realize a lot of things, and unlike you, it's far better to face your past than to live with it and feed off of your own shame." It was the thing that made him grow and mature. Leo had risen above his circumstances and stopped plunging himself into darkness. It was time to face this part of his past as well, and lay everything to rest.

"You should come with me. I can make you a great man, more so than you were. You can have power, control, anything you wish. Think of the possibilities," Kaizer owned all of Japan, all of its population and anything was at his dispense. Leonardo could have that too, if he chose to work with him. The green-haired man had already proven himself an ample warrior.

"The only possibility I'm thinking of is the possibility of me killing you," Leo was serious. This was past the point of the two being classmates. Kaizer was the biggest criminal there could be, in the worst case scenario. Leo wasn't going to let him get away with that.

"I am the Emperor of Japan! I can give you the world-" Kaizer argued, holding out his bloodied hand with a wide, crazed smile plastered on his face. Leonardo was an idiot for turning down such a position. Surely, he didn't realize what he was missing.

"You'll use me with your ELF waves, just like you have with everyone," Leo wasn't convinced with him spewing promises of power. It was just another way of making him a puppet.

"I'd let you in on my secrets. We could be partners, more than anyone you understand what I went through. I was once normal. They were trying to make me normal to see if I could live with you humanity." For once, Kaizer wasn't going to use him as a puppet. No, he had already done that for years and again and again, Leo had proven himself to him. He was good enough to be his equal.

"You failed," Leo's words were like steel beams, coming down on the white-haired clone's shoulders.

Kaizer could do nothing but stare at him.

What a pity.

A part of him didn't want to kill Leo.

"The sad thing is, ya couldn't get over it. You actually believe and have idealism that clones are perfect humans. Really, you are just a clone. It doesn't make you better or worse, it makes you an equal. We had some fun memories, didn't we Kaizerschmarren?" The memories came flooding back to Leonardo of times of old. They swam at the pool together, attended their senior prom, threw snow balls at each other in the winter and posed in group pictures together. Kaizer was his classmate, but those sepia memories were nothing but dust now. "I don't think they felt ya were any less of a person. You were one of us."

No one had ever judged Kaizer based on who he was. In fact, if he wasn't so cold to most of them, they would have bonded with him even more than they had.

"I was no such thing. A clone is a clone-"

"You're different," Leo's eyes bore a hold through the clone's soul. At that moment, Kaizer felt like cellophane, but still he wanted to hang on to a little shred that made them different.

"I am superior."

"We're the same."

"No, I will not have it," Kaizer would not believe that a clone and an original could ever be at the same level. The originals were imperfect, which was why they created clones.

"I don't hate you. I think you're pretty sad, a poor, unfortunate soul, plunged into darkness deeper than hell in the prison of your own mind. You were born into emptiness and found your way to darkness because no one cared about you. In a sense, you always knew that your heart was on its own, and maybe a part of you hated that humans possessed the bonds and feelings that you didn't. I think you're insecure, and that you feel like you're less of a human because you were created as a vessel and betrayed by all you thought loved you, but you misunderstood that some of us did love you," Leo wasn't going to keep letting the clone live in his own delusions. He was sick of hearing his excuses, but in many ways he pitied him. If Kaizer had grown up in a different environment, then perhaps he wouldn't have been so cold.

It struck him, more than he would have liked to admit. Maybe, in some senses, Leonardo was telling the truth. However, he wasn't about to admit such frivolous things now. Even if he changed or decided to, a world of cruel fates awaited him. Kaizer was going to fight for what he believed, or he was going to go down trying. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he burst with laughter. It was as if Leo had told him the best joke he'd ever heard. "You came here to pursue your deepest urge. We're here together based on that decision. No second thoughts, Leo. This is your decision. You're past the point of no return, and there are no backwards glances. There is no use resisting the blood that will stain your hands. There is no if or when, so abandon those silly thoughts. The raging fire fills your soul. These games of make-believe are truly at an end. There's only one determining factor that lies before us."

"Beyond the point of no return," the words slipped from Leo's lips. It sounded so final when he put it that way. Then again, he couldn't afford to have any pathos on Kaizer at this point.

Whatever they had in the past was long gone.

"What unspoken secrets will we learn in this final threshold?" Now was the time for everything to come out. If one of them were to die, this would be more than opportune to be stripped of everything as well.

"The is the moment where words run dry, when things go silent. No second thoughts. No going back," Leo reasoned with himself.

"This is past the point of right and wrong. Blood will fly and the flames will consume us. Someone will cross the bridge and watch it burn. Only one question left...which one of us will die?" That was the one fate that determined all outcomes of the situation.

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Luckily enough for everyone, the force of the explosion had managed to blow the doors open. After they had made their way through the flames and smoke, everyone started to run down the flights of stairs. If they didn't hurry, Shinjinku was going to go up in a big ball of flames and no one was going to live.

Everyone's forms were bathed in orange, gold and blue lights as the flames blazed from the upper floors. All that could be heard was the heavy breathing, jingling of their weapons and footsteps as they all desperately tried to outrun a fiery fate.

"Where's Leonardo?" Sunoma asked.

"I can't find him. I think he's still with Kaizerschmarren," Taiga educated everyone on his boyfriend's whereabouts.

"He'll die if he doesn't get out of here," Kazoo said with urgency. There was no time for him to stay behind and try to be a hero.

"So will we!" The yakuza snapped, "we have to trust that he'll find his way out." That was all that they could do. It was stupid to stay back and wait for him now.

"I just hope he can make it out," Kazoo was concerned. He wanted everyone who was left to make it.

"He'd better. That bastard already faked his death on me. He swore that we'd come out together, that we'd both graduate together," Taiga's voice was emotional as they headed down each flight of stairs, and then headed through a door to another flight of stairs.

"Man, this is a lot of stairs." Of all of the days for Tsukimi to wear heels, today was definitely not that day.

"Who gives a shit as long as we get the hell outta here." That was the only immediate concern Taiga had.

"We have to hurry while the dome is open." If the flames did anything to that button, it could trigger the dome to close again and trap them all inside. Sunoma didn't want that to happen. It would be awful.

"I'm glad I remembered where the emergency staircase was. If my memory serves correctly, we should come out on the first floor." Kazoo instructed everyone. "Get your asses moving!"

'Leo...you gotta come out alive. You can't make all this for nothing.' Worry crossed Taiga's face. He knew that Leo was out there facing off against Kaizerschmarren and as much as he wanted to go back and help him, he knew their prime objective was to get everyone out safely. The more survivors that there were, the better.

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Clash, clash, clash! The sound of blades connecting as the two fought in the raging fire, swinging their weapons at each other. Sweat was pouring down their bodies as the two men were locked in battle. The smoke filled their lungs and made it hard to detect each other. Carnage infiltrated their senses as their stage burned around them.

"This is invigorating! It heightens the sensation!" Kaizer announced it as if it were a good thing. Truly, it had been a while since he had a battle of that caliber.

"We're gonna burn alive," Leo, on the other hand, wasn't too hot on going down with the demonic school.

"Then you would turn your face away from the garish light forever. The light is cold and unfeeling," Kaizer said those words from excitement.

Leo swung his weapon and Kaizer dodged it, trying to stay out of the flames. The green-haired man spun his scythe and released it. The blade circled around the bottom of his spiked collar as he maneuvered it from the opposite side, but that left him wide open. Kaizer's blade dug into his shoulder. It pierced his body, tearing his muscle and bone away as he called out in pain. Leo lost his footing and fell backwards, his body resting against a small patch of floor that remained. Kaizer loomed over him.

"Surrender to the dark dreams, close your eyes and rest forever. We'll caress each other in the black waltz of death," his words offered dark promise to the rock star.

"Fuck you," Leo spat in defiance, staring up into the face of insanity above him. The flames dancing around Kaizer's form made him seem like the devil himself.

"You cannot fight the darkness." Before Kaizer could say anything more, the two fell through the weakened floor.

It splintered away beneath them and as they were sinking, Leo grabbed his chain and threw it. It stretched up towards one of the supporting pipes and wrapped around it several times. His hands gripped the bottom of the scythe, the blade digging into the blade as blood ran down the sharp surface. Leo could feel the pain digging through his muscle, and cutting into the joints of his fingers. The blood became too much and Leo's fingers slid all the way down the blade as he fell to the ground, his back colliding with the floor of the next floor. The pieces of burning wood fell around him, catching everything ablaze again.

Kaizer was stumbling around. Crashing to the ground caused him to lose his equilibrium and the ground beneath his feet felt unstable. Blood streamed down the corner of his mouth and pain radiated through his body. "Die!" The clone charged at Leo as he rose from, weary from their fight.

Turning to defend himself the only way he knew how, Leo turned to punch the clone in the stomach, only to have his hand sink into the hole that Taiga had put in him with his shoe. His fist went into the white-haired man's body, encased in blood, muscle tissue and organs.

"Please rest, Kaizerschmarren," Leo said lowly as he pulled his arm back out of the clone's body.

"You...I..." Kaizer's voice was notably anguished. He couldn't even finish his sentence before vomiting blood onto the other male.

"Know this, Kaizerschmarren. You died as a person. One of us. I consider you more Kiyomaru's twin. You two hold very different personalities even though you look alike," Leo's words were sincere as the clone heaved. Bile and blood mixing together as he held his new wound. Still, he clung to life.

Kaizer wasn't about to die just yet. He shoved Leo away from him with a demented, bloody smile on his face. Whether he was crazed from the extent of pain he suffered or if he had already been crazed to begin with was unclear.

"Then grant my final wish! Give me my own, special execution!" Kaizer pointed at him with his free hand, blood coated it as he attempted to stand straight and proud.

"What?" Leo was confused by this. Was Kaizer just giving up?

"I want you to execute me." There was no way that he was going to get out of this alive. Why not just kill him now? At least, he would go down with some sort of dignity.

"You'll die of blood loss," Leo noted the problem at hand.

"I'm not going to go out like this! I am going to choose my own death! This is my final wish!" That was the very least Leo could do for him. There was no way in hell that Kaizer wanted to go down in a burst of flames or suffer the shameful death of blood loss. If Kaizer was to go out, then he was going to go out with a bang.

"But...the building is burning." If Kaizer wanted an execution, then he could have asked for it earlier. Was he really being serious right now?

"To the trial room!" Kaizer pointed and made his way out of the room.

Leo frowned for a moment. He really didn't want to waste time in the burning school, but at the same time, he figured that he should at least honor the clone's dying wish. After a moment of silence, he finally hung his head in defeat. "Fine, I'll do it, then I'm getting the hell outta here."

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The trial room was a place that Leo never wanted to be again. So many people had lost their lives here. So many convictions were made, and so many tears were shed. It was nothing but a room of torture, pain and despair and yet, Leo found himself in it with the mastermind behind so much pain. The two of them stood outside of the circle of podiums and Kaizer held up a commanding finger.

"Let the final execution commence!" He shouted.

Leo could feel the cold, biting metal of the iron collar as it clamped around his neck under his spiked collar. His face lit up with shock as he was drug backwards at a high speed. His hands gripped the collar in order to loosen the force on his neck.

What in the world was happening?

Did Kaizer betray him?

Were they doing to die together? Was this his plan?

'I got tricked! I'll die here!' As he was drug, he could see portraits flying past him. They were all sepia pictures of his old classmates, and some people he didn't recognize. The faces watched him in judgment as his body slammed against a large, metal pole. The breath was beaten out of him as he desperately tried to pry the collar off. His black, painted nails dug into his skin as he clawed at the object in a futile attempt to remove it.

Widened eyes, full of fear stared down the crazed clone who stalked towards him like a predatory animal. Pain, happiness and instability mixed together as Leo stared into the face of the white-haired clone. Kaizer's blood-stained smile was eerie, yet somehow happy with its circumstances.

Kaizer accepted his fate. He ran a bloody hand down the side of Leo's face and caressed his cheek. "This is my gift to you." His words were calm, almost as though he had feeling to them.

Just then, their lips touched and Kaizer kissed him sweetly. It would be his last affectionate gesture before he passed on, and he couldn't have had it with a more deserving person. The mixture of blood and saliva as their tongued danced in that final moment was something he could die happy with. When he pulled away, his words were low.

"I will let you go, but not until you watch as I succumb to my ultimate happiness. The thought of resting peacefully has broken into the wall of reality and so, here dies a great leader in the age old fashion that all terrorists and great conquerors have died in," Kaizer walked over to the middle of the podiums as rings lit up in a brilliant, neon red. He stood in the center, on a single red dot that completed the bull's eye. The walls were plastered with pictures of the dead. All of their eyes were on him, like a silent audience.

Leo looked to the picture closest to him and smiling back at him was Raiga.

"One day, we'll all wake up from this nightmare." The man with a large, black pompadour and purple eye shadow said to him.

The words echoed through his mind with clarity. It was as if Raiga were standing there with him, telling him these things. Leo smiled and closed his eyes.

'We will...surely...'

Kaizer held his arm out. "Behold! My captive audience! They all have the best seating for optimal viewing pleasure!"

The sea of pictures all seemed to stare at him, watching, waiting, exacting the moment when he would meet the same fate they all had.

"Give me the verdict," the clone commanded.

"What?" Leo's eyes popped back open.

Kaizer's back was still turned to the green-haired man. "I don't want to pass out before I can do so. I want to experience the release of death." He was truly at peace with the fact that he was going to face execution.

Leo closed his eyes and knitted his eyebrows, clutching the collar tightly. He hissed out the word guilty reluctantly.

"I hereby sentence myself..." Kaizer raised his hand as panels in the ceiling rose up and high-powered machine guns pointed to him. A wide smile crossed his face. To see all of those guns pointed at him made his heart beam with joy. He couldn't have been happier. "...to death, and the punishment is..." A bullet-proof shield surrounded Leo, protecting him from ricocheting bullets. "One-thousand bullets!" The clone gave the motion, throwing down his hand as he shouted the final command, "fire!"

The room was filled with gunshots. They were so loud that they sounded like drills or jack hammers, rather than guns. Kaizer's body jolted and convulsed as blood splattered all over the bull's eye. He laughed as if he were on an amusement park ride, rather than facing his death. Soon, the laughter turned into gurgles, then it stopped entirely as he fell to the ground, dead in a pool of blood.

"Kaizerschmarren..." Leo's voice trailed with sympathy laced in that name. Then, just as he had promised, the collar released and the bullet-proof shield lowered, allowing him to leave. He stared at Kaizer's unmoving body, riddled with holes.

"He kept his word...Time to get out of here." Taking a final glance at the picture of Raiga that hung on the wall. "It's over. Rest well, Raiga."

He took off running and never looked back.

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Everyone continued to run down the last flight of stairs. Suddenly, a loud crash shook the building. The group of teens struggled to stay on the stairs. Kazoo grabbed the railing to keep his footing. Taiga slipped and fell backwards, landing on his butt on one of the hard stairs. Tsukimi's high heels slipped and she did a belly flop at the end of the stairs and Sunoma's Mary Janes gave way, causing her to roll down a couple of stairs before landing at the bottom. The harsh corners of the stairs dug into her body on the way down.

"Is everyone alright?" Kazoo looked over his classmates.

"My ass hurts," Taiga complained as he rubbed his backside.

"Who cares about your ass? Let's keep moving!" Tsukimi could care less if they broke something; the point was getting out alive. If things were exploding then it was the other gas pipes or the stoves in the kitchen. They didn't have time to lick their wounds.

Sunoma pulled herself up off of the ground. "This is minor to bring burnt to death."

"All of the gas lines must be exploding," Taiga educated everyone on where he thought the source of the explosions was.

"I hope that Leonardo can get out in time." This was bad. This was really bad. Kazoo's worry was mounting.

"He made it through the last graduation. I believe that he can make it through this one," Sunoma wasn't about to give up faith.

"He's pretty tough. I think he can do it," the yakuza was going to follow suit.

"Yeah, we just have to worry about getting out. Keep your eye on the prize, and remember - once we get through those doors, we've graduated from Shinjinku," Tsukimi ran even faster, heading towards the exit.

"Man, fuck going to college after this. I'm so sick of fucking school," Taiga continued to complain. School was never a fun place for him, but now it held even more bad memories for him.

"I agree," Kazoo seconded that notion. "I can live with being poor with a shit job. It's better than this."

"No joke," Tsukimi agreed as they all ran down the hallway.

They ran past the elaborate decor of the bottom floor, towards the end of the room, there were two, large double-doors. The windows were filled with sunlight, shimmering in the air like particles of fairy dust, enchanting their exit to a world of splendor before them.

It felt like a fairy tale.

"The doors!" Kazoo exclaimed. Freedom was within their grasp, and the group of teens ran to them, flinging them open as they all ran outside.

The wind was strong and it beat against them. For the first time in nearly a year, they could feel a significant breeze against their skin. They took in the sights around them before their eyes befell a blood-splattered Leo standing before them.

"Man, you guys are slow and ya had a head start...by a lot," Leo stood out in the courtyard by the fountain. Through everything, he was able to crack a smile at everyone.

They finally did it, they came out alive.

"Leo!" Sunoma called out in relief and ran up to him. "I was so worried."

"Shit, no worries here. I'm just going to need a shit load of psychotherapy." It wasn't like he didn't need it in the first place, but Leo wanted to make sure that he was able to cope with this situation the best he knew how. Now that Kaizer's possession wasn't in control, he would be able to heal properly.

"You fucker!" Taiga barked at him with clenched fists.

"I love you too, Taiga," Leo went in to huge the yakuza, but he stepped back as the rock star held out his arms.

"You look like a blood bath. Don't touch me," the blonde held out his hands, as if Leo had some kind of disease.

"Ah, yeah, let's just say a lotta shit happened," he didn't feel like reliving the past right now, but what happened to Kaizer still was fresh in his mind. The gun fire assaulted his brain as he saw the body dance in air with the force of the shots.

"What happened to Kaizerschmarren?" Sunoma's question didn't help.

"He's dead," Leo kept the answer short.

"Are you sure that he's dead?" Why did Taiga have to keep the topic fresh?

"I rammed my hand through his stomach and I watched him get shot a thousand times. He's definitely dead." If they wanted to know the truth, then he was going to give it to them straight up.

Tsukimi turned to the burning school as it belched out billows of black into the cloudy sky. A wind blew through her hair, toying with the strands of black, yellow and red and causing her bright yellow dress to wave in the wind. "Well, this is goodbye, Shinjinku Academy."

"Good riddance, what a shit hole." Taiga stuck his hands in his pants pockets.

"What are we going to do now?" Sunoma put her hands behind her back as she listened to the crackling of the fire.

"We're gonna live," the answer was simple to Taiga.

"I can deal with that. I won't try to kill myself this time." That was a promise Leo was sure that he could keep.

"I'll kick your ass," Taiga glared at him.

"So...uh...are you two dating, or something?" Tsukimi wanted to ask, but she never found the time to really question it.

"Well...actually..." Leo smiled, and his boyfriend looked away with blush staining his cheeks.

"We are," Taiga's words fumbled out bashfully.

"I'm sure you'll make each other happy," Sunoma smiled happily at the two.

"I care about Taiga a lot, and we sorta...just dove in head first. It wasn't too wise to get into a relationship but we had our reasons," Leo decided to finally explain their situation a little. Of course, they didn't need to know everything. That would happen in due time.

"I never knew you two were like that. I mean, well, Leo was always sorta gay," Kazoo scratched his temple thoughtfully.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Was it really that obvious? Leo never thought of himself as flamboyant or anything.

"You're Daifumi-sexual," Kazoo half-joked, "you liked Raiga and now you're all up on his brother."

"Well..." Leo paused, "that wasn't intentional," the green-haired man felt a strong arm around his waist as he was pulled into the yakuza.

"It's a long story, but I guess we have all the time in the world to explain it now," Taiga smiled at his boyfriend.

"Do you think our families are alive?" Tsukimi was curious to know what everyone thought. After all, she still needed a place to go to. She was afraid to return home because she was unsure of what she would find when she walked through the door.

"Mine has long been dead," Taiga already knew his home situation.

"If mine are alive...I don't remember. I think they're dead, though. Regardless, I'm not going to try and look," Leo wasn't trying to dig back up a body that was buried. He knew that his parents were more than likely dead. If they happened to meet later on, then that would be the workings of fate.

Maybe it would happen one day, but for now, he simply wanted to keep living and learn to cope with what he'd been put through.

"I'm not sure if I should," Tsukimi held her hand to her chest as a sorrowful and worried look crossed her visage.

"I'll look, although I have a feeling I know what I'll find," Sunoma's voice held sorrow. She had a feeling that her parents were dead, but finding them dead was better than not finding them at all.

She wanted closure.

Kazoo stood there, watching the school as it continued to burn. By now, half of the building was engulfed in flames and smoke. A smile crossed his face. "Happy graduation."

"Hey, Leo," Taiga turned to his boyfriend in question.

"What is it?" Leo looked up to the blonde.

"Come live with me in my family house. You'll be treated well." That was a promise. More than anything, Leo deserved to be given the finer things in life, and living in that little house of his wasn't going to cut it.

"Me?" Leo jerked a thumb to himself. "Be a yakuza?"

"You don't have to be. I just want you to live with me," Taiga wasn't going to make him join his gang. That wasn't what this was about. He wanted Leo to live in luxury and he could provide that lifestyle for him.

"Are ya sure that's fine?"

"You forget who I am." It wasn't as if Taiga had to answer to anyone.

"What about my house?"

"Kazoo and I could live there," Tsukimi offered. She felt much more comfortable staying at that little abode than going back to her own house, especially when night fell.

The architect blinked a couple of times in disbelief as his face lit up with shock. "You want to live with me?"

"We lived together in school." Why not? Was it that bad of a problem?

"I thought you hated me." After all, he did kill her best friend.

"We shouldn't worry about the past anymore." Honestly, that was a year ago. While Tsukimi did care, and would never long to be too close to him because of that, she had matured over the course of time. Mishio's death was tragic, and Kazoo was a terrible person for it, but there were certain things that she had to come to terms with.

"Tsukimi..."

"I still want to make things work. I care about you a lot. You will always be special to me, Kazoo Iefumi." It felt wrong to have feelings for a guy who killed her friend, and she would never forget that terrible day, but at the same time, he was her first kiss and he had protected her for such a long time. Tsukimi had conflicting feelings about it, but she wanted to work towards finding peace, whether it was with him or not.

Only time would tell.

"But, I killed-"

She cut him off with a frown. "I still won't forgive you. You're still a heartless jerk for that."

"Forgiving is about finding inner peace with yourself," Kazoo explained. "To be honest, we've all killed. We probably killed each other's friends. I was punished. I have to live with it." That wasn't consolation, but at the same time, he wanted to make a point.

"It might take some time to reconcile."

"Tsukimi?"

"Yeah?"

"I still love you...I never wanted to hurt you, but I did what I had to do. I killed a lot of people...I'll do what I have to in order to prove it to you." That was something that Kazoo was going to make his new goal. His heart would never heal from the guilt that he faced, and he would work towards making things work with the bassist. No matter what happened in the future, he would show her how to trust him again.

"Then, stop being an assassin. You don't have to anymore. I love you too, as a friend. I don't regret what we've done together." It was wrong to feel that way, but she couldn't help it. Tsukimi knew she'd probably always feel guilty for it but at the same time, she didn't mind.

"Neither do I," Kazoo's words were low.

"I was happy to give you my gift," Tsukimi mentioned their night of love making.

A blush spread across the blue-haired teen's cheeks. "Even after-"

Tsukimi nodded,"I trust you that much. Don't make me question you again." She gave him a stern look.

"This time around, I want to do things right," Kazoo promised that he would.

Leo placed an arm around the lolita's shoulder. She glanced to him and said his name in question. All she got as a reply was a simple thank you. Sunoma questioned him as to what she was being thanked for.

"I couldn't have done this without you." When Leo thought about it, he was happy that he chose her to reveal his secrets to. The two of them did a good thing, and they saved more students than he thought they would. For that fact alone, he was happy.

"It's not the best ending, but it's the right one." Despite her loss, Sunoma felt validated as they were able to save some of the students.

"Where will you go from here?" He asked.

"I'm not sure yet," the lolita looked thoughtful. "I do want us to keep in touch." It would be a shame to just go their different ways after all of the time they had spent together. She wanted them to retain a sense of friendship. After all, they went through everything together and they could continue to lean on each other for support.

"You bet," Leo smiled. "I'll give ya my new number and come and see you in your mansion. I'll drag Taiga with me." In truth, he didn't want to lose touch, either.

"Let's all meet up here in this very spot a year from now, just to talk...and celebrate our dead friends." It would be like a reoccurring ceremony. It would give them a chance to talk about the past, and all of the memories they would have. Sunoma was certain that this was something they would never forget.

"I like that idea," Leo could agree to that. It would be a good way to grieve in their own ways as well as celebrate their new found freedom.

"Me too!" Tsukimi cheered. "Let's stay in touch!"

"Damned straight I will," Taiga agreed. 'I lived through the nightmare twice now, and even after all of this time, it's still a little hard not to think about it, but I think you'd be proud, Raiga. I finally woke up from the nightmare, and this time...I'm not alone.'

THE END

Story finished: 10/10/13

Time of Finished Writing: 11:35 p.m.

Date Finished Typing: 7/9/14

Time Finished Typing: 4:20 a.m.