Thank you. I really appreciate all your reviews.

I'm sorry this chapter has taken a long time to update. Updates will be slower and a bit irregular now. Like what have been mentioned from Chapter 5 about Danse Macabre, for this chapter, I used a couple of classical references. I've tried to explain them bit by bit as the chapter rolled on. So if there's any one of you who's unfamiliar with these classical pieces, I hope the series of events and references in this chapter work to your full understanding.

I want to express my special thanks to DatHeetJoella for doing the beta for this chapter. She also gave me her honest opinions, precious advices regarding this chapter and encouragements. You may visit her profile page. She writes great Free! fanfictions!

This chapter will be the longest one among the other chapters I've posted. All I can say is I hope you like it and enjoy the ride!

Chapter VI

The Personification of Death

:-:

Makoto was immersed in his tears and relief. He finally took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Haru," he said, "thank you."

Thank you for giving me strength, he thought, thank you for staying within my heart.

Then Makoto opened his eyes, turning his head to each side. His eyes were swollen by tears, and they blinked in confusion. It wasn't the fact that he was in the cemetery that confused him. It did surprise him, but what seized his attention the most was a sound caressing his eardrum.

A soft sound—like a harp playing. One, two, three—several plucks of a harp string on the same note. Seven, eight, nine...

Twelve times. He barely knew this piece, but he'd listened to it before. Twelve harp plucks represented the clock struck midnight.

The sound was then followed by another sound—high-pitched, back and forth between two notes. The sound of bow rubbing against strings of violin.

And the sound was getting closer.

Voice of The Joker came out of the speaker, but he couldn't pinpoint where the speaker was. "Be ready to play your next game, Tachibana Makoto."

:-:

"How can we be sure where the graveyard is?" Rei asked, his breaths were rapid in exhaustion. Helping Sousuke to walk took more effort. Nagisa had also helped him to support Sousuke. "This is like gambling."

"Rei-chan, we have no other choice! In this kind of situation, we have to 'feel' the right path." Nagisa was also drenched in sweat, fatigue starting to wash over his body. "Keep going, Rei-chan!"

"Judging from what we've seen in the area around the merry-go-round, a graveyard will be so out of place." Sousuke explained. He tried to accelerate his pace to match with his companions'. "The best option we can do now is to go to the other path we've not taken in the first place."

"That's right. Remember the first time we entered this place? The path was diverged into two. Left and right. I have a feeling the left path leads to a different theme of this amusement park." Rin said, "The right path has led us to a more cheerful, carnival-like place with merry-go-round and such. The other path may probably lead us to a darker theme of this park, a place for games like the haunted house or anything similar. A graveyard is most likely near there, too. If it isn't, then this park was designed by a poor-skilled architect—oi, Haru. Since when you can run so fast?"

Haruka was practically dragging Rin across the brick path. He'd been impatient, and he clenched his teeth the moment Rin uttered his small protest. "Makoto is in danger."

"Yeah, we know, but—" Rin almost stumbled so many times already as his shoulder was pushed forward with force by Haruka. "Seriously, are you trying to make me fall?"

"Rin." Haruka's voice was icier than ever.

Rin finally sighed. "Fine." After a brief moment of hesitation, he added, "Sorry."

Rin could feel Haruka's fear, manifested in his shaking body. Cold sweat broke through Haruka's temple, and his breaths were uneven. Rin understood that Haruka was in his worst anxiety, and for his friend's favor, he tried to inhale as much air as possible and braced himself for a run. At the moment, he didn't care anymore about the venom in his body. If running would accelerate the spreading of venom to his heart, so be it.

Just after Rin had started to breathe heavily, Haruka finally stopped him, holding his shoulder tighter. "I'm..." Haruka started between his heavy breathing, "I'm... sorry. I forgot. I'm sorry, Rin, but Makoto..." his hand moved up to his head, clutching his dark hair. His jaw clenched in frustration. "Everyone."

The rest of the group immediately turned to him.

"Slow down." Haruka breathed, "Take it slow. Rin and Sousuke will be in danger."

"Haruka-senpai is right! Rin-san, Sousuke-san, sit down and take your time." Rei looked upset, "I can't believe I forgot—how could I forget about that?" Rei's purple eyes shifted down, hands curled up to form fists.

Sousuke wanted to tell them that they're okay, and Makoto was their priority for now, but his body betrayed him. He immediately collapsed to the ground, feeling even more sick than before. "Dammit. Damn this venom." He whispered to himself.

"Sousuke..." Rin wriggled out of Haruka's arm and walked toward Sousuke. He sat beside his best friend. "Guys, I don't think Sousuke can take more than this."

"No! Please don't run any more than this!" Rei exclaimed, "You too, Rin-san. Just sit and stay there." He took out another water bottle from his bag, "Here, Rin-san, Sousuke-san."

Rin took the water bottle, heaving before opening it. "Thanks..." he muttered, drinking almost half the content. He passed the bottle to Sousuke, and Sousuke drank until the last drop of the water.

Haruka fidgeted in his place, completely restless and worried. "I will go by myself."

"No!" Nagisa shifted beside him, "I will go with you, Haru-chan."

"Are you suggesting us to separate?" Rei's eyes squinted, "We can't risk that—"

"Risk what?" Haruka seemed like he's about to erupt in fury, "What are we risking right now? Rin and Sousuke are resting now, and we're going to risk losing Makoto because we can't risk being separated?"

"I..." Rei was speechless. He adjusted his spectacles with shaking hand.

"Calm down, you two. We're racing against time." Rin said, "Just go, Haru. I'm sorry we can't accompany you. Promise us that you'll bring Makoto along with you when we meet again."

"Of course we will. I'm going with Haru-chan. Rei-chan, you may stay with them to make sure they're okay." Nagisa settled his hands on his hips, "We're going to save Mako-chan."

Rei finally nodded. "W-we don't know how much longer Makoto-senpai can wait if he's really buried under the ground. Do your best, Nagisa-kun, Haruka-senpai."

"Best of luck." Rin gave them a small smile, "I really want to see Makoto. I miss him."

"M-me too." Rei said, smiling a little, "Please."

"Fight, if you must." Sousuke said, "Don't be an emotional ball of stress. Fight for your life and Makoto's life. If you give up, I'm not going to hesitate if I have the urge to beat you to pulp."

Haruka and Nagisa nodded. They looked at each other in new determination before running off, as fast as their legs could manage.

:-:

"It's a game of cat and mouse. The dead want to dance with you. Can you escape the hands offered to you?"

The music was becoming more rich in tones. Makoto noticed that he wasn't alone in the cemetery. There were people coming in line, slowly to the cemetery. It reminded him of the line of people carrying the dead old man who gave him two goldfishes when he was young, toward the grave.

Their faces were so pale and they practically dragged their feet toward the graves. Their awkward movements and appearances made Makoto thought they've lost their souls, and what he was seeing right now were probably bodies that weren't alive nor dead. Each person dressed in a different costume. Some of the people wore seemingly expensive garments, some of them wore usual clothes, and the rest wore torn, ragged clothes.

Watching them in horror, Makoto tried to grab his cane in panic. He wished Haruka was here with him, allowing Makoto to hide behind his back, holding his hand firmly and taking him away from those people—like what Haruka did in their childhood. Yet, instead of a cane, or Haruka, he grabbed something else—something that felt like a hand, its fingers moved slowly under his palm. It wasn't Haruka's hand. Makoto gulped before turning his head slowly to his hand.

He was grabbing an extremely pale, familiar hand he'd encountered in the clinic. A hand belonged to the crawling puppet he'd just burnt a while ago. This time, the puppet had lost most of her hair, and her face was so grotesque—more like a monster rather than a woman now that her face had been burnt. Her eyes were redder and wider than before, her wide mouth melted and pasted all over her cheeks and chin.

Makoto jerked his hand off hers and burst in dreadful scream. He frantically reached his cane and tried to get away from the puppet. His heart slammed hard against his ribcage as he saw some of the graves around him were opened, and more people-like creatures were climbing out of the graves.

What truly shocked him was a familiar sight of the clown-like murderer from the REDRUM room in the clinic, looking even nastier. He swung his axe around like a toy and walked across the graveyard toward him, grinning. His teeth were sharp like knives.

"Game start." The Joker said, before his voice completely faded.

The violin played louder tones in forte, and the people started to take each other's hand, dancing along with the music.

:-:

Haruka and Nagisa ran back to the place where they've first encountered a diverged path and two signs to the right and left. This time, they quickly took the left path. It was even darker than the right path and Nagisa had to stop for a while and took out his flashlight. Old leafless trees were planted along their path. Their overhanging branches were obstructing their way. Dry twigs blown by night wind rained all over the ground. Haruka smashed, charged through, and cut off the branches with his kitchen knife in frustration.

After a running down the path that seemed to take forever, Haruka and Nagisa finally stopped in front of securely locked gates, with high arch at sides of them, forming a curved structure at the top. There were large letters along the top of the arch, indicating the name of the place they'd arrived at.

Nagisa took several steps back and lifted his head high, casting his flashlight toward the arch and trying to read the words. "Welcome to... nothing. The rest of the letters are missing from this arch. Just a 'Welcome to'."

"I don't care." Haruka muttered, slamming his body to the gates. As expected, the gates wouldn't budge.

"Haru-chan, look." Nagisa approached him. His index finger pointed toward something attached to left side of the arch. It was a paper, its four edges taped up on the solid lower part of the arch. "Let's see what it is."

Haruka sighed. When he finally stopped, he became aware at how fatigue had consumed his body, and how his clothes were drenched with sweat. He took some brief steps toward the taped-up paper and read it with Nagisa's flashlight.

"A pleasing land of drowsy head it was,

Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;

And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,

Forever flushing round a summer sky."

— James Thomson, "The Castle of Indolence"

"A poem?" Nagisa read it over again, "A riddle? No, it's a poem, probably."

"Riddle..." Haruka said, "maybe... this poem is a riddle."

"I agree. There must be a reason why this poem is attached here." Nagisa fished out his phone from his pocket. "It's better for us to take a picture."

Nagisa took a shot at the poem. "If only Rei-chan were here, he could probably help us figuring this out." He read the poem again several times. "Ugh, I don't get it. Haru-chan, what do you think of this?" He looked up, but Haruka was no longer at his side. "Haru-chan?"

He heard faint clashing of metal chains, and found Haruka in front of the gate, trying to pick the gate padlock. "Wha—Haru-chan brought a lock picker?" Nagisa walked toward him.

"Rei gave this to everyone in the bus. Remember...?" Haruka was still struggling with his lock. He rarely cared about locking his door, so trying to actually pick a lock was hard for him, as he'd never done it before. He fought the urge to slam his body to the gates again.

"You're right! I almost forgot. Can you do it? Haru-chan, let me try."

Haruka sighed, finally giving it up to Nagisa.

It took Nagisa a whole ten minutes to finally open up the padlock. The blonde squealed in triumph, but Haruka was getting more and more frantic as the time passed. Haruka was pale and his body shook even more when he imagined Makoto might not survived the lack of air under the ground.

"H-Haru-chan, calm down. Let's get in." Looking at Haruka's expression, Nagisa was alarmed. He quickly pushed the gates opened as hard as he could, and they both started to run inside.

:-:

He couldn't run.

Not with his injured leg, which had become more painful at his every attempt to avoid the people approaching him. The crawling puppet and the clown murderer had cornered and pushed him to the center of the graveyard. His cane had flown away and cluttered on the ground after it connected to the sharp edge of the clown's axe, leaving Makoto unable to even stand properly.

Then, he'd been toyed around. More unfamiliar hands grabbed him, pulled him, swung him, passed him from one hand to another, tossing him around like rag doll.

While Makoto was still struggling to get away—even with his palms and knees alone—he was immediately surrounded. Makoto helplessly watched the pale, ghostly faces of the people trapping him. An opened, empty coffin was behind him.

This time, he failed. It was unfair. The Joker didn't tell him about this. He'd lied to Makoto about giving him the chance to meet up with his friends once he'd won the hide-and-seek game.

Makoto fought his best to jerk off when cold hands were seizing his arms. This time, he shouted and struggled. He cried for Haru.

Haru didn't come.

:-:

Neither of them bothered to check the old houses lining up along their path. They seemed to have arrived in a very small, moonlit village behind the previously locked gates. It didn't take too much of their time until they spotted a rather large clinic, and a graveyard behind it.

Graveyard.

"Makoto!" Haruka shouted, dashing off toward the graveyard. The black gates of the graveyard were unlocked. The place was silent, with a lot of gravestones lining up and a huge, very old tree with overhung branches. The graveyard left both of them shuddered with the stillness. The silence was soon filled with caws of a crow, hoots of an owl, and the moaning, eerie sound of wind swirling around the moonlit graves.

Haruka shivered, but he stubbornly entered the graveyard and looked around. "Makoto? Makoto!" He called. Perhaps if Makoto heard him, he would shout back and Haruka could pinpoint his location.

"Mako-chan!" Nagisa shouted as hard as he could, his hands rested to the sides of his mouth. He inhaled a lot of air before pushing it out again with his loudest voice. "Makooo-chaan!"

They were expecting an answer, but instead of Makoto's distress voice, what they heard was the voice of The Joker coming out of nowhere. "Welcome to your first attraction."

"Joker..." Haruka breathed, his fist clenched in anger.

"Don't worry. It will be a good show. Have you ever watched a live version of the dance of death before? Enjoy the classical piece of Danse Macabre, or The Dance of Death. No matter one's station in life, the dance of death unites all. Who knows, maybe you'll be reunited again with Tachibana, whether he's dead or alive."

"I'm seriously going to kill you..." Haruka said in a low voice. He couldn't take it anymore. His body was shaking in pure rage.

"Try, if you can. You're our special guests, so we will give you the honor to take the spotlight of this attraction. Ready for your game?"

"Haru-chan." Nagisa turned to him, and Haruka immediately nodded.

"Spill your rules." Haruka said, still looking around for any sign of Makoto. He found none.

"Soon you'll hear a solo violin playing Danse Macabre. It will begin in twelve plucks of harp string, before the violin starts. Then, the dead will fill in the graveyard and dance with each other. They will be happy to dance with the living, and therefore, they'll offer you their hands to dance along with them.

"It's up to you if you want to dance with them or not. I have no particular rule. Just enjoy the little celebration. I only give you one task. Try to find the personification of Death in this cemetery. Once you've successfully found who's the personification of Death, you'll know what you should do. Nanase Haruka, this game will specifically depend on your good memories with Tachibana. Things will be, at least, familiar to you. I will leave you at this. We'll meet again, or not."

The voice slowly faded, until it was no more. Complete stillness lingered.

Until a pluck of a harp string was heard.

"Do you think..." Nagisa whispered, "we should dance along with them?"

Haruka closed his eyes, thinking. "We'll see. Nagisa," Haruka opened his eyes again, turning his head to the blonde, "give me that picture you've just taken."

After tapping several keys on his cell phone, Nagisa handed it to Haruka. A brief glance was exchanged, and Haruka started to examine the photo of the poem. These words were somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember what it was. In their private, precious times together, Makoto liked to show him a lot of things he'd just read in a book, so Haruka assumed this poem was one of them.

Sounds of a violin filled the air. Slow and high-pitched, they sent shivers through his body.

"Haru-chan, here they come."

Haruka broke his attention from Nagisa's phone, and he saw pale-faced, zombie-like people lining up, entering the graveyard. They somehow reminded him of his childhood, when Makoto seemed so scared after his old fisherman friend died in a storm. Makoto clung onto him on that day, and Haruka dragged him away from those people, taking him to safety—safe from his fear.

He would do that again for Makoto, at all cost.

More tones waved in. The people started to dance with one another. Haruka thought the dance would be awkward, but it was clearly energetic enough—too agile for people who dressed like the dead.

"Weird, isn't it?" Makoto's voice came out from his memories. Haruka remembered a time in the autumn when they spent their lazy day together in the calmness of Haruka's house, just lying down beside each other and exchanged stories. Makoto was holding a book, and Haruka was intently listening to his every word. "Look, Haru. This painting represents the Dance of Death. It's scary."

"If you know it's scary, why are you looking at it?"

"Because I'm so curious and I'll be alright because you're here with me. Anyway, look." Makoto's finger pressed on one page of the book he was reading, "Look how the dead seem so lively in this painting, that they're like dancing, and how the living seem so passive and awkward."

"And what's the meaning of that?"

"No matter one's station in life, the dance of death unites all. Haru, no matter who you are, or who I am, no matter if someone is rich or poor, we're all the same before Death. The glory of earthy life is that fragile."

"Haru-chan." Nagisa's voice pulled him out from the sea of his memories. "They're approaching us. Should we...?"

"No." Haruka shook his head, "Don't let any one of them take your hand."

Nagisa's magenta eyes widened in surprise and curiosity. "Why?"

"They'll drag you to your grave." Haruka took Nagisa's hand. "Run."

More grotesque creatures climbed out from the opened graves. Their bodies were thin, seemingly decayed, with unrecognizable, damaged faces. Nagisa's mouth gaped opened. "How is this possible?"

"Just a good make-up and costume." Haruka said, "Or possibly puppets, or probably... The Joker plays with the devil himself."

"Okay—Haru-chan, they're fast!" Nagisa dragged Haruka, forcing him to run faster. "Faster, Haru-chan!"

Haruka was furious with his own legs, pressuring them to break their limit. While they were running from all the creatures, a clown dressed in black abruptly emerged from behind the tree, ambushing them. Nagisa's scream caught up in his throat at the sudden outburst and he almost fell in his hasty stop.

"Nagisa!" Haruka shoved Nagisa to the side, forcibly pushing him until he fell. A swing of the sharp axe cut the air, where Nagisa's head was previously there. Nagisa's face crashed on the ground.

"Ouch..." he whimpered in pain. "Haru-ch—" he was quickly pushed to the side, and another swing of the axe powerfully dug through the soil beside Nagisa.

"Haru?" The clown murderer grinned, showing them unnaturally sharp teeth, "So you're Haru."

Haruka looked up, watching the clown's movement in wary.

"That guy couldn't shut up about 'Haru'. Haru this, Haru that." He swung his axe back and forth in the air, then he let the handle rest on his shoulder. The sharp edge of it was soaked with blood.

"Makoto?" Haruka's eyes widened.

"Oh, yes. Are you wondering about this blood on my axe?" The clown murderer lifted his axe to the front. The fresh, warm droplets of blood dripped from the axe and dampened the dry grass. "This blood belonged to a scaredy-cat named Makoto."

Haruka's blood boiled. He took and gripped his knife in that flash of fury, charging it toward the clown murderer. The clown's axe blocked his knife, and Haruka could see those teeth were exposed even wider. Haruka pulled his knife back, swinging it furiously to the clown, all of his attacks blocked by the larger axe. "What did you do to Makoto...?" Haruka asked between heavy breaths, "I will kill you—I'm going to kill you!"

"Haru-chan!" Nagisa grabbed his arm, "They're coming! Just run, or they'll get to you!"

"Let me go, Nagisa! I will kill this bastard—"

"And we're going to be surrounded in no time!" Nagisa pulled Haruka with force, "He's wasting our time! Remember what Sou-chan said—don't be an emotional ball of stress, Haru-chan!"

"Fine!" Haruka replied in anger. When he turned around, a pale woman was trying to take Nagisa's hand. Haruka immediately pulled Nagisa away, taking another direction to run. He was being deceived. The clown murderer almost got him, and Haruka regretted the fact that his emotions was being played with.

"Wha—" Nagisa exclaimed in surprise as his ankle was caught by a hand shooting up from the opened grave, trying to drag him down.

Haruka hesitated for a second before he finally charge his knife toward the hand—letting it penetrate through its seemingly decayed flesh. His eyes widened in surprise as blood burst out from the hand. The hand weakened its grip, and Nagisa jerked his ankle off. That hand belongs to a living person, Haruka thought, I hope it won't kill the person.

He knew Makoto didn't want him to kill anyone, in all situations. Haruka realized that he couldn't really kill a person—even though that person was a murderer, or Makoto's murderer. He pulled his knife out from the flesh he'd just stabbed. In his fear of his friends' life, of all the people trying to drag them to the graves, and his fear of his own self—of what he was capable to do—Haruka ran away.

"Haru-chan, don't forget—about—the personification of Death." Nagisa managed to say in his blocked air circulations. He was so out of breath at the endless running. "We should—find out—who is it."

Haruka looked behind. The people were now dancing with each other, and they'd created quite a good, safe distance from them. "Here, Nagisa..." Haruka breathed, gesturing Nagisa to follow him behind a large tree.

Danse Macabre, isn't it?

He took Nagisa's cell phone and read the poem once again.

"When the clock strikes midnight, Death, or the personified Death, will play with his fiddle to summon the dead out of their graves. They will dance with his music." Makoto said to him in his memories, "Haru, may I..."

"Stay at my place? It's okay."

"I'm sorry. Now I can't help but imagine a harp starts to play in the middle of the night, followed by a violin, when I'm sleeping. It will probably be my nightmare!"

"Stupid Makoto."

"The one who plays with the violin, he's the personified Death." Haruka finally said. Nagisa stared at him, his jaw dropped.

"That's cool! How do you know?"

"Makoto told me once. Not too long ago."

"Haru-chan, do you realize...?" Nagisa smiled at him, "The music is clearer here. The personified Death must be near."

Haruka still couldn't take his mind off the poem in Nagisa's phone, but they didn't have any more time to waste. They walked hastily, too tired to run again, following the direction where the sound of the music was coming from.

"There..." Nagisa whispered to him. There, the violin was particularly louder from behind the huge tree. The tree was larger than the one Nagisa and Haruka used to hide themselves previously.

They nodded to each other before advancing to the tree. Haruka and Nagisa huddled on the side of tree trunk, taking a careful peek. Judging from the sound, the personified Death was probably sitting on the other side of the tree, playing his violin.

They saw a black horse, huffing restlessly on the ground in front of the tree. Its leg stomped the soil, leaving dirt all over its shoes. Nagisa blinked in confusion. He clearly didn't expect a horse to be there. The violin was still playing, just behind them at the other side of the huge trunk. Nagisa squinted his eyes, squirming his small body away from Haruka's, sneaking carefully until his vision caught whatever it was that was resting on the other side.

The moment Nagisa saw who's sitting against the trunk, he made a surprised, hasty step back to Haruka. His face was pale, and his hand slapped onto his jaw, his finger pressed on his lips. Haruka's mouth parted opened, expecting Nagisa to tell him what he'd just seen.

"Headless..." Nagisa finally whispered to him, "A man without his head was playing the violin."

Finally, everything clicked.

"It's a nice poem for a lazy day. I just found it in an old translated literature I've just read. This story opened up with a quote taken from The Castle of Indolence . I thought it was used to describe the village which is the setting of this book I've read."

"What is that book?"

In his memories, Makoto handed him an old Japanese book. Haruka realized it was a translated version of an English literature. The title was still written in English.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

"Good thing I read it when you were slumbering beside me, Haru, or I don't think I would manage. Sleepy Hollow is most famous with the ghost of a headless horseman, rising up from his grave at night, riding on a horse and searching for his lost head."

"And?"

"I don't really like the ending. You see, they finally—"

Haruka's memories turned hazy. He couldn't remember it well.

"W-we've found who's the personified Death is. W-what should we do now, Haru-chan?"

He couldn't answer. The Joker said it was based on his memories, and Haruka couldn't remember it. A headless horseman, risen up at night, searching for his lost head.

Should they search for his lost head?

"Haru...chan..." Nagisa's voice was low and scared. "Behind..."

Haruka turned his head, following Nagisa's gaze.

A man, dressed in black cloak, sitting on a black horse, was standing behind them. He had no head, and the hood of the cloak covered his bloody neck. The violin had stopped playing. Replacing the violin, a huge axe was in his hand, with something like a head—probably his head—at his other hand, resting in front of the horse's saddle.

"Uh..." Nagisa's dry lips uttered in hesitation, "R-run!"

They dashed off, legs be damned. The headless horseman, to their horrors, followed them behind. When Haruka made it to the previous part of the graveyard, he found out that it was empty. Along with the abrupt stop of the music, all the people had left. Haruka cried for Makoto in the silence of the cemetery, but he didn't get any answer.

"Haru-chan, duck!" Nagisa jumped onto him, pushing Haruka to the ground with his body. A large swing of the axe cut a bit of Nagisa's blonde hair. The horse leapt over them. Nagisa pulled Haruka to stand up, running to the other direction.

Haruka's eyes spotted something outside the graveyard. A bridge made of wooden planks.

"I—I saw—" Nagisa panted, his legs quivering in fatigue, "—a bridge! There, outside the graveyard!"

Haruka's memories rushed in again.

"They reached a bridge. Ichabod ran over the planks. He made it to the opposite side. He thought he's safe, but then, the headless horseman hurled the head in his hand toward Ichabod. It crashed tremendously on Ichabod's own head and—I really don't like it, Haru. Well, in the end, the headless horseman passed by like a whirlwind."

They would probably die there, just like Ichabod, the main character of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Then again, what if Haruka and Nagisa were able to dodge the head hurled toward them? Were they going to survive afterwards?

If they ran in circles around this graveyard, their bodies wouldn't make it. They would be too exhausted. Sooner or later the headless horseman would cut off their heads, and Haruka realized that they had no other option but to follow the original story in the book.

And hope for a different ending.

"To the bridge!" Haruka commanded, "Let's go!"

The soles of their shoes trampled the dry grasses along their path. Haruka felt like his heart would burst in his constant running, it pumped so powerfully and blood rushed wildly in his ears. Nagisa's smaller hand had an iron grip, wrapping around his wrist, pulling him together to their safety. Disturbing sounds of a horse's panting and tackled grasses were heard, really near behind them.

They finally reached the bridge and they didn't hesitate to cross it. Their legs were stomping against the weak planks. Haruka preferred a thousand times better if he had to fall to the water below rather than his head being cut off.

"Nagisa—be ready to dodge!" Haruka breathed, barely pushing his voice out of his vocal cords.

The headless horseman stopped before the bridge and lifted the head in his hand. He was in the very act of hurling his head toward them, just like Haruka had predicted. The creature shot his head in a powerful force. Haruka's hand clawed over Nagisa's head, crashing their bodies to bleed on the dusty ground. The hurled head thundered on the ground at a great distance in front of them. It broke open and colored liquid spurted out from the head. Haruka realized it wasn't a head—but a pumpkin.

Haruka quickly turned his body to see if the headless horseman was there. He breathed in relief when he saw the creature speeding off, leaving the bridge in front of him.

The headless horseman left them to safety.

"Haru-chan, Haru-chan!" Nagisa's tears flowed out from his magenta eyes. "Look what I've found near the bridge!" He handed Haruka a piece of paper, and Haruka quickly read it.

"The sight you see in the front yard of his house,

Where fresh flowers replaced the withering ones;

For the memories of two dead goldfishes,

Which you have revived with four living ones."

"A shovel! Haru-chan, there's a shovel near the paper!" Nagisa had stood up, holding up a shovel. "M-Mako-chan—we can finally find Mako-chan."

Haruka's wide eyes glimmered as he immediately stood up. His legs sped off back to the cemetery. Heat rose up to Haruka's head. He was horrified. They might be too late. Various emotions filled him, colliding with each other.

There, at the center of the cemetery. There was a small grave.

A perfect replica of Makoto's goldfish grave.

Without exchanging another word, they dug through the grave with the shovel. Haruka was doing the work, while Nagisa frantically dug his fingers on the soil, hoping in the very least, his attempt would help.

"Makoto!" Haruka kept saying his name like mantra, "Makoto. Makoto."

When the tip of his shovel finally landed on something even more solid, Haruka took another deep breath. Nagisa was almost hysterical. "Almost!" Nagisa screamed, "Almost! Mako-chan!"

They finally dug up the soil, until it was possible for them to open the coffin buried under it. With the remaining of his strength, Haruka lifted up the lid.

Makoto was lying inside, motionless. Blood had left his face. His mouth was gagged, hands pinned behind his back. Haruka had dreamt to see those lively green eyes again, but Makoto's green eyes were closed. His leg was wrapped in a tight bandage, dry blood visible on it.

Without uttering a word, Haruka and Nagisa pulled Makoto's body out of the coffin. When they finally managed to drag Makoto up and onto the upper soil, Haruka felt like his world would black out. This was worse than the terror of that one summer day on their training camp, where Makoto drowned in the ocean while trying to save Rei.

"Makoto." Haruka shook the body in front of him with trembling hands. Unlike what the clown murderer had told him before, he didn't see any serious injury caused by an axe, except his leg that had been treated. Nagisa initially released the rope securing Makoto's wrists and the gag from his mouth, letting more easy access for Makoto to breath.

He wasn't breathing.

Haruka shook Makoto's body again. He rested his head over Makoto's chest.

Makoto's heart was beating. Weak, but it beat. Haruka quickly did chest compressions, pushing Makoto's chest dozens of times. Haruka's fingers pushed Makoto's chin up and pinched his nose before he inhaled as much air as he could. He transferred the air, sealing Makoto's lips with his mouth. Nagisa was watching them in panicked anticipation. Haruka did it several times, his heart pounded harder in fear after each try.

After what felt like forever, Makoto inhaled. He was breathing again. Nagisa cried out his name, his tears broke out, staining his cheeks and leaving his eyes to swell.

Makoto's eyelashes fluttered, until those green eyes were opened, just barely.

"Ha...ru...?"

Haruka pulled Makoto in his embrace and burst into tears.

Notes:

Danse Macabre is a classical orchestral piece composed and written by Camille Saint-Saëns (in this chapter, however, the piece was performed only by a harp and a solo violin). It is based on an artistic genre of late-medieval allegory about the universality of death (no matter one's station in life, the Dance of Death unites all). Thank you to Wikipedia.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a piece of classical literature, a short story written by Washington Irving. It's most famous with its story about the headless horseman.

For kanamexzero fan: Thank you for your review! I hope you're satisfied with this chapter. I will reveal Joker later in future chapters!

For Lady of the west: Yes, it won't be, knowing this fic. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

For Otaku: Thank you! I'm sorry. I feel kinda sad too. I hope this one is more satisfying with the feels.

As usual, reviews are really appreciated. I would love to hear what you think about this chapter or this fic as a whole, or any part of this fic. I hope I will see you again in the next chapter. Warmest regards from Gariell. ^w^