And here it is, finally. The last chapter. I'm sorry it took me this long to get it finished! Thank you all for reading and your comments. Without further ado, the epilogue:

Epilogue

Five days had passed. It had taken one whole day to get the kidnapped people awake, and three more days before the doctors agreed to release Hikaru's parents from the hospital. During the fifth day Hikaru began to suspect they still should have stayed there – that would have at least given him a chance to escape his father's unending tirade full of indignant disbelief over this outrageous affair that never could have happened in Japan. (Hikaru wasn't quite convinced of that – it seemed to him this could have easily happened just about anywhere in the world – but for once he kept his mouth shut.)

His father spent much of that day on the phone, while his mother sat quietly, lost and frightened look in her eyes. On the sixth day, one day before they would finally return to Japan, Molly came to bring the things Hikaru had left at her parents' home, and deliver an invitation for a dinner. Hikaru's father, frowning at her dyed hair and piercings, was about to decline, but now Mitsuko suddenly gave a start, as if waking up.

"Oh, aren't these the people who let Hikaru stay with them while we were… were… away? We should go to thank them."

And so they arrived at the Carpenters' house, Hikaru with a little embarrassed feelings – he had never told his parents just how short a while he had actually spent at that place. He had seen the many-colored car parked outside (and the look his father had given it), so it was no surprise for him that Dresden was there as well. His parents had of course heard of a PI who had been helping with the case, but hadn't seen him before. Hikaru couldn't help grinning at his parents' expressions as they met the man. His father wasn't short – for a Japanese man – but Dresden stood a full foot taller than him, and his mother practically shrank down at the mere sight of the wizard. A moment she looked like she would just want to flee from the place, but then they were practically overran by the children who rushed to greet Hikaru with happy shouts.

Charity ushered everyone in with calm and kind efficiency, and as they sat down, looking at Hikaru and the children playing on the floor with Dresden's giant dog, they finally relaxed. "Dogs really do remind their owners," Mitsuko whispered to her husband with a quiet laugh, and was deeply startled Dresden grinned at her, replying in perfect Japanese, "Come now, I'm not that hairy."

Hikaru had worried that the dinner might turn quite awkward. His mother didn't really speak any English, and though his father certainly would manage, he wasn't quite sure how sociable either of them was feeling. It took one mouthful of Charity's stew to shake Mitsuko out of her stupor and get engaged in a lively discussion with Charity on the culinary arts, which Dresden ended up translating.

Maybe not knowing English isn't all bad, Hikaru thought to Sai as he tuned out of that discussion, happy he didn't have to be the translator. A moment he tried to listen into his father's discussion with Michael, but it was too much work, and very soon he focused all his concentration on food – which he had to admit was delicious.

Sai just smiled a little at him and left the table. Hikaru froze for a moment, staring after him. Just after a few meters the ghost started fading and then disappeared completely. Hikaru was about to call him back, aloud, no matter what others would think of his sudden outburst, when he saw Mouse wag his tail and roll on his side, offering his stomach to be rubbed. He relaxed and took another bite. At least he knew where Sai was – but this had to be fixed. As it was, it was too easy for them to get separated.

"Talk with Dresden," Molly, who was sitting next to him, whispered to him with broken Japanese. She nodded a bit toward Mouse as Hikaru glanced at her, surprised. "You… Sai…" She brought her two hands together, locking the fingers, and Hikaru nodded.

He went on eating, watching the girl out of the corner of his eye. She hadn't yet said nearly anything to him, just sat there much more awkwardly than what he had expected from his parents. She saw his glance and looked shortly away, but turned then to the boy with a soft sigh.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I… I not you safe." She bowed her head. "Moushiwake arimasen deshita."

Hikaru blinked at her polite apology. Then he laughed out loud. Sai, heard that? He thought before he remembered Sai couldn't hear him at the moment. "Well, damn, the one time someone's apologizing like that to me, he's not hearing it."

Molly was looking at him with a confused expression, and he forced himself to stop chuckling. "I'm very sorry as well, please do not trouble yourself," he managed to reply with a straight face, and Molly's confusion only deepened.

"…okay?" the girl asked, hesitant.

"Okay," Hikaru grinned at her. Yeah, maybe she hadn't been able to keep them safe in the Undertown, but in any case she had been a great help. And she had kept his parents under the veil during the last battle, even though she had been completely exhausted by then. He remembered Michael carrying his daughter out when all was over, Molly lying in his arms nearly unconscious, and his grin faded away. "Thank you," he said with emphasis, and meant it.

Molly smiled at him, and they went on eating in silence.

After the dinner when they gathered into the living room Dresden finally managed to slip away from Charity and Mitsuko, as Molly (equipped with her dictionary) took his place. He nodded at Hikaru in the passing. The boy followed him quietly upstairs, into that little guestroom where he had been staying. On the table, next to the sewing machine, lay a white skull. Hikaru frowned at the sight, and even more at Sai's, quiet, Oh, Bob.

Who's Bob? he thought back, but Sai just shifted a little and didn't reply.

"Listen," Dresden said, "it seems your connection isn't quite yet back to how it should be."

Hikaru and Sai both nodded. "Yeah, if Sai leaves me far enough, I can't see him anymore. It wasn't like that before."

"I, on the other hand, still can see him, though I shouldn't. So we've got to do something about that." He looked at the ghost. "Sai, if you'd enter the skull again for the time I work out the spell, first to severe our connection, then to connect you two again."

Hikaru watched with raised eyebrows as Sai floated into the skull. The ghost hadn't seemed to be at all surprised at the request, so apparently he had done something like this before. He had left it out when he had told Hikaru about what had happened after they were separated, and the boy made note to ask about it later.

Dresden placed the skull on a paper on which was drawn a complicated pattern. "This will take a moment," he said to Hikaru, who nodded and sat down on the floor, leaning against the door – just in case someone would come looking for them. He wasn't quite sure what his mother would think of this scene.

Dresden kept on muttering something, holding a hand on the skull, and Hikaru yawned. This kind of magic really was a tiny bit boring – though after all he had been through, boring was just fine. After a while he started to think of go problems just to pass time, but in the end, it didn't take that long for Dresden to be finished.

"Alright. Done. You can come out now."

Hikaru stood up eagerly, but nothing happened. Dresden frowned and glanced at the boy.

"Do you see him?" he asked the boy who shook his head. "Hey!" he tapped the skull lightly. "I said you can com…"

"Shhh!" someone hushed him. "He's thinking, boss. We're having a round of speed go."

"What?" Hikaru said, while Dresden groaned and rolled his eyes at the ceiling.

"I just want to see that this worked!" the man exclaimed. He shook his head, muttering something Hikaru couldn't hear under his breath. Then he glanced at Hikaru. "Knowing how focused your friend can get in a game, maybe it's best to wait until they're finished. Bob!" He knocked again on the skull. "When the game's over, send him to the kid. It's after sunset anyway, so he can come out without any danger, even if the spell didn't work."

"Bob," Hikaru said slowly. "Bob?"

Dresden heaved out a great sigh and turned to the boy. "I told him to stay quiet, but no, I guess that's too much to be asked." He sighed again. "Well, whatever. No harm in you knowing, I guess. Bob's my aide, an air spirit, tied to the skull."

Hikaru blinked slowly. "Okay… And he's playing go? With Sai? Inside the skull?" His eyes widened even more. "Can I get in too?"

Now Dresden gave a little laugh. "Sorry, no. But hey, I was wanting to talk with you a bit." He sat down on the chair. Hikaru sat down, too, now on the bed, still staring at the skull with a baffled look.

"So, how are you doing?" Dresden asked, and the boy took a deep breath, finally tearing his eyes away from the skull.

"Okay, I guess. Considering," he replied quietly. "Mom's having nightmares," he added quietly.

"But you're not?"

He shook his head. "So far, no. Though I'm not sleeping too well. Keep on waking up. Good thing Sai's there…" His voice trailed off and his eyes returned to the skull. Then he turned back to the wizard. "Are you okay?" he asked. He remembered what the man had looked, sitting by the swimming pool, the very image of utter and complete exhaustion.

"Yeah, well, I've had no trouble sleeping. Basically slept through the first two days."

"The way you, all of you, were fighting those monsters was beyond awesome." Hikaru shook his head. "I still can't believe you managed to keep everyone safe."

"There's two of us," Dresden grunted, shaking his head. "Ordinarily ghouls aren't too great a threat to me, these days, if I can go all out against them, but there…" He leaned back with a sigh. "Well, let's just say things can never be simple, can they?"

Hikaru shrugged, uncertain of what he meant. He gave the skull one more look, wondering what exactly was going on in there. Then he smiled a little. Sai… playing a game inside a skull. Why was he even surprised? No matter where he went, Sai would be playing go.

"You know," he said quietly, still watching the skull with a smile, "for a while there I really thought that all's lost, that it had been an awful mistake to go to that underground place. But it was the opposite, wasn't it?" His smile faded slowly away as he saw the look Dresden was giving him. "I mean… our luck… really turned, right? We found my parents and everyone else in time, and saved them…"

"Luck?" Dresden snorted. "Son, luck got nothing to do with it. The reason bad things happen to you is because you're a dumbass." He paused, looked expectantly at Hikaru who was frowning at him, and sighed then. "Just a quote, forget it. Accurate, though. Don't ever count on Lady Luck, she's the most unladylike bitch there is. All ended well, true, but it doesn't make what you did any less stupid. You took an awful risk there. Not to mention the danger you put Sai in."

"What?" Hikaru blinked, and gave little laugh. "But he's, he's dead already, you know! What could happen to him?"

Dresden gave him a long, steady look. "Well, he could be eaten by a wraith, for one thing. Or, if he hadn't been lucky enough to find my home in time, he would have dissolved at sunrise. That Sai you know would have been gone forever."

As Hikaru just stared at him not understanding, he leaned back with a sigh, running his fingers through his hair. "I told you once, didn't I? Ghosts aren't real people. They are an imprint the dying person left to the world, and consist merely of memories. The real Fujiwara no Sai who died a thousand years ago, his essence… call it a soul if you will, he has passed on. Don't ask me where, I'm just a simple wizard."

Hikaru glanced at the skull shaking his head slowly. "So you mean that, that Sai isn't… that can't be true! Sai is real!"

"I didn't say he isn't real, just that he isn't the original. Come now. Think of the alternative. That there would be someone running out there on the streets stripped down to his bare soul? And if something happened, he would be gone forever? Well… all things considered, this is exactly what your friend was doing." He shook his head with a sigh. "All I'm saying is that you should take better care of your companion. Without you, or some other sanctum like the skull here," he tapped it again softly, "he is much more vulnerable than you seem to understand."

Hikaru swallowed, looking at the white skull. Sai had disappeared in there… to play go… with an air spirit. He shut his eyes for a moment, feeling suddenly a little dizzy. There was so much going on here that he didn't understand. So much he didn't know. He and Sai had been separated, just like that, and if it had happened once… who was to say it couldn't happen again?

He remembered waiting in that little room, all alone except for the sleeping Molly, not knowing if he would ever find Sai again. Say the wizard what he will, they had been lucky this time. But on one thing he was right: there was no counting on mere luck.

Hikaru opened his eyes again, met the man's gaze. "You also said, back then when we met, that ghosts don't last forever," he said quietly. "That they need… a source of energy? Did you mean they can… die? Like, of old age or such?"

"I'm not an expert on ghosts, really," Dresden admitted. "Even so, your friend's quite extraordinary. It takes someone with a strong mind, with a great sense of self or purpose, to make a shade that would last for a thousand years and still maintain reason and individuality. I would have said no ghost would last this long, so… I can't really make predictions of the future. I'm sorry," he said more softly, seeing the look the boy gave the skull. "I don't think you have any reason to worry about that yet, though. He appears to be in quite good… health, if one can say that of a ghost."

Hikaru nodded. "Maybe." He would need to talk about this with Sai. Make sure the ghost would tell him if anything was wrong right away. And he should do some research, perhaps. He would not let Sai just disappear again, ever.

He gave a start. An orange light flickered in one of the skull's eyes sockets, after a while a purple one lit in another, and before he knew it, Sai was standing in front of him.

He jumped to his feet. "Sai!"

Dresden gave a look around, and smiled then. "Good, I'm not seeing him anymore. Bob, you think it worked?"

"Of course it worked," a voice replied from the skull. "I did aid you with that spell, remember?"

"It feels right," Hikaru muttered, hugging Sai. "All I can say."

So it does, Sai agreed with a little smile, petting his head. The boy looked up at him.

"So how did it go?" he asked eagerly. "The game? Is that spirit a good player?"

Sai coughed a little. Well, yes. He is… quite excellent.

"Indeed I am, aren't I?" Bob sounded quite smug. "Just spit it out, why don't you?"

The ghost glanced at the skull and sighed. He won, he said at the same time as Dresden asked, frowning, "Wait, did you win, Bob?"

"I sure did!" the skull exclaimed happily. "Shame I couldn't get him to bet on it, though…"

Sai gave a little shudder. Thanks to the gods I didn't, he muttered.

"For real?" Hikaru stared at the skull with wide eyes. "That's amazing!"

"Amazing's my middle name, kid," Bob stated.

Dresden rolled his eyes. "You don't even have a surname, so." He gave the skull look. "Is that what you've been doing the past few days? Practicing go?"

"You think I'd need to…" the skull began, but cut himself off at Dresden's frown. "Well, it was one way to pass time while you were sleeping," Bob said then. "Given that you still haven't bought me the newest volume of…"

"You'll get it next week," Dresden snapped. He grasped the skull and pushed it into a bag that had been lying on the floor. "And now, quiet."

"Aye, sahib," came quietly from the bag as he pulled the zipper close.

Thank you for the game, Sai said, pending over the bag. It was quite inspirational. He turned to Hikaru as he straightened. I'll have to show it to you soon! He made some unbelievable moves.

Hikaru grinned at the excitement in Sai's voice. Can't wait!

"I think it's about time for us to return to the others before they think you're kidnapped or something," Dresden said, unaware of their short discussion.

Hikaru nodded. He looked at Sai who stood next to him, the familiar sensation he couldn't quite put into words returned to what it used to be. No, to more than what it used to be, now that he had become more clearly aware of it. He bowed, deep and proper, the kind of bow his mother probably wouldn't have believed he knew how to perform. He more felt than saw Sai bowing as well.

"Thank you," he said, unable to find words for all that had happened. "Really, just… thank you so much for your help."

"It's what I do, kid," Dresden said quietly. "I can't beat up all bad guys in the world, but I sure can keep them out of my town."

"She really picked the wrong town for her ritual, didn't she," Hikaru said with a wry smile. "Speaking of her… what happened to her? I didn't see her anymore after I got up from the pool, and Sai said he either didn't notice where she went."

Dresden shrugged. "Don't know, to be honest. Murphy's men said she disappeared at the moment when her spell broke, together with her pet and monsters." He frowned. "I haven't really heard of that kind of thing happening before… I'll have to do some research about it."

Hikaru released his breath, shuddering a bit. "I sure hope she won't be back", he muttered.

And the man? Sai whispered to him. Hikaru waited a moment before remembering Dresden couldn't hear the ghost anymore.

"What about the man, with the ghouls?"

"Not your problem," Dresden said shortly. "Just forget him."

Easier said than done, Hikaru thought to Sai, who placed a hand on his shoulder.

We'll manage, he said to the boy. You'll be so busy with your pro schedule once we're back home you have no time to think about him.

Hikaru smiled a little. Dresden gave him a questioning look, hand on a door handle, and opened the door as the boy nodded.

Yeah. There's a new life waiting back home. For both of us. He grasped tightly Sai's arm as they headed back downstairs.