Author's Note: Here we are, folks, end of the line. It's been fun and thank you ALL for sticking with me. I have two other Karneval stories in mind, but I REALLY must be getting back to "Another Way Part 3" soon. Oh, and so far, Gareki hasn't had the chance to write out what kind of speech he'd give, and I really don't want to assume, I'm worried I'd try to make it sound bad $$ and fail miserably at it, so that's why I don't write one in. However, as Gareki is a self-taught explosives expert, and most of the Circus attacks are German words (Yogi's Dornkiste = Thorn Chest or Thorn Cradle, Iva's Kronesaphir = Crown's Sapphire), Gareki's Explosionswelle here is German for Explosion Wave. This I kind of guessed at for his special ability, though it'd be really awesome if we ever get far enough into the story to learn I guessed right. Anime-Frekkk, BlueDragon2908, Cade Mistral, ariados26, Zeroize, and Diamondx, you've all been complete dolls. I hope you guys enjoy this final chapter, I've got a bit of a surprise in store for you all at the end.

Chapter 29: Where We Belong (Finale)

Yogi was sent out to lure the Varuga in. It was Natsuno's belief that since Yogi had been the last one to do it damage, it would want to even the score. Sure enough, Yogi wasn't gone long before he came flying back to the others, with the Varuga hot on his trail, the bells sounding off madly as it gave chase.

Natsuno blinked at the sight. "That… has to be… the most surreal thing I've ever seen," he stated, having paused not out of discomfort, but out of sheer shock. The giant mass of black ooze with a clock face for an eye, chasing after the flying violet eyed blonde had simply caused all rationality in his mind to finally shut down, forcing him to stop and collect his thoughts before he could properly speak. This thing really did look just as they had described it. Tohru was speechless, an unusual occurrence, but completely understandable.

Yogi lead the creature back to Gareki. "Garekiii-Kuuun, Varuga incoming!" he exclaimed.

Gareki raised an eyebrow. "You were only supposed to be pretending to be afraid of it, idiot!" Gareki grumbled.

"Yeah, I know," Yogi whimpered, floating just above Gareki's head, his violet eyes quite lachrymose. He clenched his hands into fists just below his chin and glanced over his shoulder at the oncoming Varuga. "But, it's really, REALLY angry!"

Gareki sighed and closed his eyes. While he could sit there and call Yogi an idiot all he wanted, he had to admit the reaction was sort of cute. "EXPLOSIONSWELLE!" he shouted. BOOM! An explosion just beneath the Varuga stopped it in his tracks. It opened its mouth an let the bell sound out as if giving off a loud roar. "Tsk. Are you quite finished?" Gareki sneered. "Let's get this over with, I have injured I need to attend to."

Yogi turned to face the creature, summoning his epées. The two began to give their required speeches, weaving them into one another, much as Tsukumo and Iva had done working together at Smokey Mansion.

"From the Government Defense Force, Circus…" they said simultaneously.

"Second Ship Fighter, Lieutenant Yogi…"

"Second Ship Combat Physician, Gareki…"

"We challenge you!" they finished unanimously.

Natsuno shook his head and sank to his knees, suddenly this was too much flamboyance for him to take. Tohru blinked, "Wow, that was really cool," he muttered. Tsukumo put a daintily curled hand to her lips and giggled. It was the first time Gareki had used his special attack, the first time he had the chance to give his speech in battle, Tsukumo thought it combined with Yogi's quite beautifully.

Once more, Yogi and Gareki found themselves in what appeared a pointless battle. The Varuga's body seemed to remain unscathed, no matter what they did to it. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Gareki scoffed.

"How is this thing still moving!?" Yogi exasperated. "We've blown it up, shot it, stabbed it, and torn bits and pieces of it off with my thorns, and still nothing's stopping it."

"Trajectory Arrow!" Tsukumo tried to intervene. The Varuga simply swatted the arrow aside as if swatting a fly.

"NO WAY!" came the unanimous reaction.

"How the hell did they make a Varuga that's impervious to all of our attacks?" Gareki exclaimed.

Natsuno looked the creature over. "That can't be," he thought out loud, "EVERYTHING has to have a weakness of some sort." His eyes landed on the clock face. "No way?"

"Natsuno?" Tohru asked.

Natsuno started to laugh. "Don't tell me it was something that simple?" He smiled. "Oi, Gareki! You and Tsukumo both, aim for the clock's face!"

"Huh?" the others replied.

"The face?" Tsukumo asked.

"You're attacking the body, which is just the Varuga cells," Natsuno pointed. "The Varuga cells themselves are capable of healing, they are after all corrupted versions of your Incure cells. The true creature is the clock."

"Of course, why did I think of that before?" Gareki quipped in realization.

Tsukumo nodded. "It's worth a try." She turned and aimed for her arrow. "Gareki-Kun?" she asked.

Gareki aimed his gun. "I'm ready!" he replied.

"NOW!" they both shouted, as they released their projectiles.

The shots hit at the same time, the energy from Tsukumo's arrow combined with Gareki's bullet, causing an explosion within the clock itself, destroying the clock and it's internal mechanisms. "We did it!" Tsukumo exclaimed happily. "Natsuno-Kun, that was a stroke of genius!" she praised.

Gareki grabbed Yogi's wrist and pulled him back to the cave entrance. The Varuga's body began to shatter and fall apart. The clock gave out one last, slow bell toll which sounded as though it were breaking down. They began to see the sparks, much like from before the computer at the lab blew up. "This is it, guys," Gareki said. "If this works, we're headed home."

"Take care of yourselves," Natsuno said as Tohru wrapped his arms around his waist.

Gareki looked up at Natsuno. He smiled, reached over, and shook Natsuno's hand. "You too," he said, "Be sure to get that looked at as soon as you can make your way to a doctor," he ordered, pointing at the bandages around Natsuno's throat. He'd miss these two, but neither him nor Natsuno were the type for long goodbyes.

Yogi and Tohru, on the other hand…

"Whaaa! I'm gonna' miss you guys!" Yogi threw his arms around Tohru.

"Oh Geeze!" Natsuno and Gareki both rolled their eyes.

"Yogi, come on," Gareki sighed, gently grabbing Yogi's elbow and pulling him back. "Don't make it any harder than it already is," he whispered. He knew what was going on in Yogi's mind; the violet eyed blonde hated having to say goodbye to friends he knew there was little to no chance of ever seeing again.

Suddenly, Natsuno swooned, feeling extremely dizzy. He had been unconscious during the last transportation, he had hoped to still be conscious during this one. "Natsuno!?" Tohru caught hold of him, worriedly.

"Natsuno?" the others exclaimed. Gareki bent down to check on Natsuno. But it was too late, the teleportation had begun.

*TIME SKIP*

"Natsuno? Natsuno!" Tohru's voice pleaded. "Come on, Natsuno, wake up, please."

"T-Tohru-Chan?" Natsuno blinked his eyes open.

"Oh thank goodness," Tohru sighed, hugging Natsuno tight.

Natsuno's vision became clearer and he let his eyes wander about, taking in their surroundings. It looked like the inside of an old rundown mansion. "Where are we?"

"Um… Yeah, about that," Tohru said with a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand, still cradling Natsuno in his other arm.

"How is he?" Yogi's voice came softly from the doorway.

"He just woke up," Tohru answered.

Yogi smiled and approached them. "That's good. Tsukumo-Chan finally managed to reach Hirato-San. They're on their way, and will take us all straight to Research Tower for check ups," he explained, kneeling down beside them. "It's nearly dawn, Tohru-Chan, you should get some rest."

"Wait…?" Natsuno sat up. "You mean we…?"

"When you fainted, I bent down to check on you," Gareki's voice came from the doorway. "Rather than sending the two of you back to where you came from, we all got sent back to our world, right inside the very mansion we had been sent to investigate in the first place. Our ship should be here within the hour. You should both get some rest until then."

"Gareki…" Natsuno groaned, "This Doctor Akari of yours?" Yogi shivered at the mere mention of the name. Gareki and Yogi both landed their eyes on Tohru, as if they knew where Natsuno's train of thought was going.

"Don't worry, Natsuno," Gareki assured him, "Hirato and I didn't let them dissect Nai, I won't let them hurt Tohru, either. Besides, he'll probably be too preoccupied chasing Yogi around trying to get a simple blood sample."

Yogi flinched again, his face almost turning green. He'd hoped that with Gareki becoming a combat physician, he wouldn't have to deal with Dr. Akari any more. What none of them were aware of was the blessing in disguise they received in being sent to Akari, rather than back to Sotoba and Doctor Ozaki, who had slowly been going mad during the boys' absence trying to figure out why so many villagers were dying. A Shiki on his autopsy table would have been a gruesome sight.

The next time Natsuno opened his eyes, he was in another hospital bed, having been the only one out of the group of six that wasn't given a clean bill of health. Tohru's situation was a bit different. Considering his 'condition' as a Shiki, he was completely healthy, though, once again, he had to rely on medical blood supplies while Natsuno recovered. He soon found himself disliking Doctor Akari as well, for while the doctor didn't try to take him apart to find out what made him tick, he certainly did joke about it. Of course, Gareki and Hirato both spoiled his fun when he did so.

"What's his problem?" Dr. Akari asked, as Natsuno stared daggers at him.

"Two things," Gareki chuckled, "One, he knows you've been scaring the hell out of Tohru, much as you seem to love to do to Yogi." Dr. Akari raised an eyebrow, Gareki's voice almost sounded threatening in this statement, making the doctor wonder what exactly had happened during the mission that he had missed. "And two, he hates your eyes and hair," Gareki crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway with a laugh.

"What's wrong with my eyes and hair, you disrespectful little punk?" Akari exclaimed, leaning in toward Gareki.

"They're PINK!" Natsuno and Gareki both answered in unison.

"Don't worry, Natsuno, you'll get over that color soon enough," Gareki joked, "Our resident bitch is a giant blueberry."

"Don't let Kiichi-Chan catch you saying that about her," Akari warned, turning to leave the room. "Whatever, give the kid two days and he'll be back on his feet."

"No need to wait," Natsuno said, tossing the blankets aside and dragging himself out of the bed. He froze when his eyes landed on the sleeping Shiki on the guest chair next to him. "I've been here a while, I've not been able to open my eyes, but I've heard everything, every time he came darting in here to get away from you, Doctor," he said. "Has he been fed?"

"I promised you I'd make sure he was taken care of," Gareki assured him. "Akari-Sensei's only been teasing him, but it's been enough to make him react the same way Yogi does. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the 'good doctor' has a fetish for watching blonde men squirm."

"You've been spending too much time with Hirato," Akari scolded, "Don't make me start to dread your visits here as well, Gareki."

Natsuno rubbed his hand on his neck, he couldn't even feel where Megumi's teeth, or Tohru's for that matter had pierced his skin. "Did I dream that yesterday, or was there a point where the machines flat lined?"

Gareki and Akari both froze. "H-How do you know about that?" Akari asked.

"Wait a minute!?" Gareki suddenly realized, "Natsuno?"

Natsuno looked down at Tohru and ran a hand through the Shiki's silken blonde locks. "Like I said, I'm not going anywhere without him," he thought.

Tohru stirred, the sun finally going down. Tohru blinked his eyes opened and looked up at Natsuno. "N-Natsuno~? You're awake?" he murmured, happily as he sat up. Gareki flinched, they hadn't even told Tohru about the incident, because Natsuno had only been legally dead for a half a minute before his vitals returned, and they had slowly been increasing until they became stable and normal since. Tohru flinched, when his eyes met Natsuno's, however. "N-Natsuno, your eyes?"

They looked human, still the beautiful purple orbs Tohru loved, but they were distinctly different. Natsuno sighed and nodded. Tohru's reaction had confirmed it. "Natsuno, you're…" Gareki started.

"A Jinrou?" Natsuno growled. "I'm well aware of that. The only person in this whole building who is any more or as equally dangerous is probably Yogi."

"Akari-Sensei, he's probably hungry, I suggest we get him something to eat, before he decides to make a meal out of us," Gareki suggested, dragging the dumbfounded pink-haired doctor out of the room.

Natsuno smiled at Tohru, once they were alone. He could see his Shiki was trembling. "It's alright, Tohru-Chan," Natsuno assured him, "It's better for both of us this way."

After Natsuno and Tohru were both fed and Natsuno had a chance to shower and change clothes, the two of them were brought aboard the Second Ship and introduced to Hirato, Iva, Karoku, and Akari's mentor Ryoushi. Shortly thereafter, they were joined by the crew of the First Ship; Tsukitachi, Jiki, and Kiichi, particularly. There was also a special, though unwelcome on Hirato's behalf visit from his older brother Tokitatsu. There had been something Akari had been meaning to tell them for a while. Now that all the important parties were present, he would be able to do just that.

"Isn't this great, Tohru-Chan?" Yogi giggled, wrapping his arms around the Shiki's shoulders from behind, "You guys get to stay with us!"

"We're not a couple of stray dogs you can just drag home to your parents and ask, 'Can we keep 'em,' you know," Natsuno scoffed, looking over his shoulder at the violet eyed blonde.

"Actually, Yogi and I were considering asking Hirato and Tokitatsu if they could work something out to send you guys to night classes at Kuronomei. Natsuno, you'd make a brilliant strategist," Gareki interjected.

Hirato raised an eyebrow. "Just because I pulled some strings for you, Gareki, do you really expect me to do the same to recruit your new friends here as members of Circus?"

"According to our records, they already are," Tokitatsu stated bluntly, "Just slightly older and under different names."

"What?" the others asked, looking up at Tokitatsu.

"Why else do you think Akari-Sensei invited me here in person?" the General chortled.

"I see," Hirato grumbled quietly to Tsukitachi, "So Akari's to blame for him being on my ship. I'll have to think of something extra devious to get back at him."

"According to the DNA and blood samples I've taken, except for a few obvious color differences in eyes and hair, Yogi and Tohru, and Natsuno and Gareki are the same people. If not for those differences, you boys could pass as twins. Though, due to the age differences, older and younger siblings would be more appropriate."

"Wait, isn't there some kind of theory that two of the same person from two different dimensions can't be in the same place at the same time," Gareki started.

"Or the entire universe or multiverse will either collapse or implode, or the two dimensions will merge or something like that?" Natsuno finished.

Natsuno and Gareki blinked at each other. Natsuno smirked, "Yeah, I never believed in the multiverse theory either."

"Well, you four have definitely proven that theory wrong. You spent two and a half weeks in the other universe, and another two here with nothing happening," Akari pointed out.

Hirato chuckled. "Gareki-Kun? First Tsubame-Chan, then Nai and Karoku, and now Natsuno-Kun, here… Why is it that every time you go on a major mission, you come back with a bigger and bigger family roster?"

Kiichi glanced at her side, taking notice that Tsukumo's face had been slowly turning redder and redder with every passing moment after Akari had announced his findings. "Ne, Tsukumo-Senpai? What's wrong?" she asked.

"Uh… Um, excuse me…" Tsukumo said quietly, turning to walk out of the room. The door slowly shut behind her and the entire room flinched as they heard a loud squeal emit from the other side.

"What… was that all about?" Hirato asked.

"There she goes again," Natsuno laughed.

"Honestly, I never pictured her for a Fujioshi," Gareki chortled.

Iva and Jiki blinked, "Tsukumo-Chan's a what?"

"I never would have guessed," Iva mumbled.

"Th-there's still hope for me yet," Jiki thought.

Hirato approached Natsuno and Tohru with a smile. "Well, then, under the circumstances, I think Tokitatsu and I can arrange something. So, how about it, Gentlemen?" He tipped his hat and bowed to them. "Would you like to become Children of Circus?"