Sorry this wasn't posted on Tuesday like normal, but yesterday was crazy! Anyway, this is the final chapter of Phoenix Down, the story will continue in "Limit Break" - coming next week! Make sure you follow me if you want to get notices when the story comes out. Thanks for reading.

I'm lying on my left side in a bed of lilies in Aerith's old church in the Sector Five Slums. I can breathe easily and smell the flowers, but I'm paralyzed. Oddly enough, none of this bothers me. A beautiful redhead woman sits crossed legged by my head. She soothes me, petting my hair. Her face is blurry, but I don't remember Aerith ever wearing black.

"This length looks good on ya, Reno. It's just like when ya were a little boy." Her voice is just like I remember it when I was twelve years old. I try to speak her name, but nothing comes out.

"Hang in there, little bro," Karina says. She looks concerned. "You've got a tough choice ta make and ya don't have a lot of time. So listen up: you can fight or you can flee. You've always been a fighter, and there are people rootin' for you this time. It won't be easy, but you're not alone. You've got Shera ta protect ya this time. And where in Gaia did ya find a hot guy like Vincent Valentine? Ya lucky bastard. Shit, if I were you, I'd live through the pain for that ass, yo!"

I'm fightin', Karina, I want to shout, but again nothing comes out. She nods as if she knows anyway.

"Keep fightin', Reno," she says. She touches my chest and the pain fades just a little. She disappears.

"Thank you for making him happy," says a new voice. I don't recognize the brown-haired woman in front of me. She has beautiful, sad eyes.

Who are you? I want to ask.

"I'm the one who made Vincent so unhappy. Thank you for allowing him to love you so fiercely, for being unafraid."

Lucrecia…

"Yes, and you've fought for him when I wouldn't. Thank you for always putting him first. He's fighting for you, right this moment – don't make him struggle in vain. When you make it back, tell him: I'm sorry, and that I wish him all the happiness on the Planet." She also touches my chest and I feel even better.

Of all the people I expect to see, Rufus is perhaps the only one I don't want to talk to at all.

"So, you found somebody else," he says, scornfully, standing over me, his hands on his hips. "All that damn whining about love, and Valentine of all people: two freaks who deserve each other. Did you even wait for my body to get cold? Of course you did, but you know what? I never cared about you, Reno. On this side or back there, you'll always be trash parading as class." He walks away without touching me.

"Reno," Aerith says, "it's time to wake up. Everyone is waiting on you, but it has to be your decision, I can't make it for you, and neither can Vincent; we've done all we can. Your life will be filled with pain and love – you can't avoid either one – or you can stay here in the flowers forever, and leave love behind with the pain. Which will you choose?"

She gestures to the water that's pooled around me, in it I see Vincent. He's holding my hand, his head is bowed as his lips move in a quiet prayer. "Wake up, Reno, please don't leave me. Fight, damn you, you promised."

The pain returns, spreading like wildfire over my chest. I gulp for breath, but it hitches with only a wisp of air in my lung. That's it, that's all I'll ever have; it feels like the air is being squeezed out of me quicker than I can take it in.

"You've been forgiven, Reno. So, which do you pick?" Aerith asks me.

"Vincent..." I push his name out with the little air I have. He's there, looming above me, he pulls my eyelids down; I shy away as black sparkles fill the air. Then I… sleep.

My world is a microcosm of agony; I pull up my legs and try to roll onto my right side, but strong hands push me back.

"Guarding is a very bad thing," a woman says, but I don't know her voice and I don't care what she says; I fight her.

"Reno!" Vincent's voice cuts through the pain. "Put your legs down or they're going to restrain you."

I'm panting, trying to fill my lung up, and his voice is the only thing I can hear. Only he can convince me that I can't roll up into a ball and die; I uncurl as much as I dare.

"Reno," he says. "That's right, relax, I'm here." I open my scrunched shut eyes and he is there, right in my face, his hands on both cheeks so I have to look directly at him. There is nothing else in the world but him and the pain.

"It hurts, Vin –" I don't have enough air to finish his name, so I gulp more "– cent."

"Can you give him something for the pain?" He turns away to ask someone behind him, but then he's there again, his dark red eyes reflecting my pain.

"Try to get him to stop panting. If I can assess him properly, I'll prescribe more pain relievers."

"You heard him, right? Slow, deep breaths. It may hurt, it may seem counter intuitive, but that one lung should take just as long to fill up as it used to. You've got to get through this panic, Reno, and then you can have medicine."

Slow he says, deep he says. So I close my eyes. Something cold touches my bare chest.

"Stay with me, Reno." I nod my head, but I don't open my eyes. I close my mouth and breathe as deep as I can through my nose, and I do it as slowly as I can. When I get to the end of it, I hold that breath and open my eyes. All I see in his eyes is hope, and that makes me slowly release the breath. He starts breathing again, too.

"Perfect, Reno." He leans in and kisses me, just a quick peck on the lips.

"His lung sounds excellent. I'll increase the dosage for the next two hours." Vincent grins, and then things get a little blurry at the edges.

"She said," I start and take another breath, "She said I'd have to pick between love and pain here with you, or wait on the other side. I picked you."

"Who told you that?" he asks.

"Aerith."

"And then she came and told me you were fighting."

"Aerith, was always a fighter. She would know."

"No, not Aerith, Lucrecia."

"You never knew her…" He thinks I'm confused.

"When she came, she told me her name, said she's sorry, said she wants you to be happy."

"The other side is a strange place," he says.

"I saw Karina and Rufus, too."

He bites his lip. "They had to give you four Phoenix Downs. Your heart stopped four times on the table, but I kept fighting for you. Even when they told me letting you die would be a mercy, I fought for you."

"Thank you," I whisper.

Through trial and error, I find that sitting at a ninety-five degree angle hurts the least, so I'm sitting up eating ice chips when the doctor comes in.

"Your vitals have stabilized and your color has improved. It's now time for you to get up and walk. We can't have you coming through the surgery, just to throw a blood clot and die during your recovery."

"Walk where?" I ask, my voice is still only a whisper, but I can get through more words in a single sentence now.

"Out the door, down the hall and back again, on your own, mind you. We'll be there to catch you, but you have to make it on your own. This hallway will be your best friend, because when you can get up and back at a reasonable speed, I'll send you home."

I'm the last room on the hallway, but I'm not sure how long the hall is to begin with. Vincent eyes are drawn and bloodshot; he's fighting sleep. "I guess I'm gonna have to pee soon anyway, so I might as well get started," I say. Maybe he'll rest when I get past this milestone.

"You've been peeing for two days now." The doctor smirks and that makes me like him better, until I realize what that means. I pull back the sheet and see the tubes snaking out from under my gown.

"Son of a bitch," I mutter, but since the sheets are gone, I've got no more excuses. I move my legs over the side of the bed and sort of unfold from the seated position. I grab hold of the bed as the world spins a little. Vincent rushes to me.

"Mr. Valentine, step back. I know it's difficult. You've been on your own for a while, but you are exhausted and we're ready to help him from here. You'll be his primary care provider for the rest of his life; allow us to take the burden for this moment." I look up at him, when I hear that word. I won't be a burden! Not now, not ever.

"He'll never be a burden."

"You look dead tired," I manage to say. "Sit down, Vincent, so I can stop worryin' about ya." Dragging the the pole on wheels with the IV and piss bag with me, I make it to the door before I have to cling to the jam and wait for the world to stop spinning again.

"You're doing great Reno, just take your time," the doctor coaches. He's right beside me, his hands open and ready to catch me. I know it can't be Vincent right now, he's too likely to help me cheat, but I don't trust this stranger. After a while, I turn and look down the hall. The far side might as well be as far from me as Midgar is from Kalm.

"Now, before he's cleared to leave," the doctor is telling Vincent, who has still refused to sit down, "you'll need to think about a new place to live."

"No stairs," I say, thinking about how hard it has been to move five steps.

"Not just that, but you need to get out of Midgar completely. The air quality is so foul there, I would have recommended he leave as soon as he was diagnosed. The Mako contamination in that city alone did more damage to his lungs than any one other thing. The left one isn't spotless; he needs to be somewhere far away from Mako reactors, preferably in a warm, dry climate."

"Costa del Sol?" I suggest hopefully.

"A good place to vacation in the dry season, but not for everyday living," the doctor denies my suggestion.

"Cosmo Canyon," Nanaki says. I look back to see he's under my bed. "The house next door to mine is for sale. It's bigger than your current place."

"Cosmo Canyon," I agree, and take the first step into the hall.