Goose: Hey, sorry for the long wait! I was lazy, then I had to give someone marriage counseling, then Dwarfy kidnapped me...

Dwarfy: I was bored...

Goose: So you kidnapped me...

Dwarfy: Not literally. I just invited you over and wouldn't leave you alone until you said yes.

Goose: Okay, not literally, but... meh. Anyway, this is the last chapter. I originally had two or three chapters planned out, but they were all really short, so I combined them.

Dwarfy: Goose owns nothing you recognize!

Goose: By the way, thanks to kazorashi for helping me a whole bunch with improving my writing (see difference between chapters 1-2 and chapters 3-12), not to mention half the plot... hehe... love you!

Normal POV

Kukai refused to believe it. He wouldn't, he couldn't believe that she was gone. The text message... it had to be some sort of sick joke... yes, that was it, someone thought it would be funny to break his heart... but that couldn't be right. The Guardians were the only people who knew of Kukai's relationship with Nadeshiko, and none of them would do something so cruel...

He had to see for himself, see proof that the girl truly was nonexistent. He rushed back out of the house, ignoring his brothers, who were now yelling commands at him, and sprinted down the street. Skidding to a halt in front of the Fujisaki mansion, he pressed a shaking finger to the doorbell. After several moments, a distressed looking Baaya opened the door, at the same time wiping tears from her eyes.

"Oh, Master Souma..." she said, her voice breaking slightly, "I trust you are here to see... well... please, this way..." Baaya led Kukai inside and waved her hand in the direction of what he knew was Nadeshiko's bedroom. As he neared the door, slightly ajar, he heard gentle sobbing. Peeking inside, he saw Nagihiko kneeling on the floor in the middle of the room, and Kukai felt his heart stop...

"Nagihiko!" he yelled, rushing forward and grabbing the knife out of the other boy's trembling hands. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! You could seriously hurt yourself!"

Nagihiko looked up at Kukai, and first the first time ever, neither of them could give any friendly advice, joke around, or just laugh like the brothers they often seemed to be. They could just cry for the loss of such a good person and friend. They both knew that they weren't alone in their mourning, that they still had each other to lean on for support, but that didn't change the fact that this was hard. It was hard on both of them, and when they thought of the others, blissfully unaware of the hard truth, they could feel more sobs rising in their throats.

Tossing the knife aside, Kukai grabbed Nagihiko's hands to check his wrists. Kukai felt some of the tension lift when he saw that he had arrived at a good time, and that Nagihiko hadn't succeeded in what he had been trying to do. Kukai then looked into Nagihiko's eyes, which were empty, no longer sparkling with their caring warmth that could make anyone feel loved.

"We..." Kukai whispered, afraid that if he spoke too loud, the reality would come crashing down harder than ever. "We have to tell the others... they have to know... we can't just stay here." Nagihiko blinked and, eyes still showing no emotion, nodded. Kukai stood up and, still holding Nagihiko's hands, pulled him up as well. Kukai pulled out his cell phone and sent a text message to each of the Guardians: Meet in the park in fifteen minutes. Like when Nadeshiko had begun disappearing, this was not a thing to tell over the phone.

Twenty minutes later, six people were sitting under a tree, four of them waiting to find out what was so horrible for Nagihiko and Kukai to lose all of the playfulness that their eyes used to hold. Amu, Tadase, Yaya and Rima could all guess the heartbreaking truth, but would not believe it until they heard it from a witness.

Clearing her throat quietly, Amu was the first to speak. "So... is she...?"

Nagihiko looked up at her with his blank, lifeless eyes, and Amu felt her throat constrict, preventing anymore speech. Rima gently pulled Nagihiko into a hug, and that small act was enough. Nagihiko wrapped his arms around her neck and sobbed into her shoulder, and the others could all feel tears pouring down their faces.

Yaya stood up and looked around. "Why... why are we all crying?" she asked quietly. The others stared up at her in shock. Yaya continued. "It's not like we've lost everything... I mean, we still have each other. Mama always said that in hard times, friends are the most important. With friends, we can make it through the hard times... Yaya wants to help her friends in any way she can."

Wiping his eyes, Nagihiko looked up at Yaya, a spark of hope in his eyes. "Yaya-chan..." he said, "You brought... her... here, so... y-you can do it again...?" It was more of a question than a statement. At the pleading look in Nagihiko's eyes, Yaya grinned.

"Leave it to Yaya!"

~*~*~*~

Nadeshiko slowly felt herself slipping into consciousness... no, not that. She hadn't been unconscious to begin with... she could smell anything, nor feel any emotions. There was no air, yet she didn't have to breathe... she couldn't see anything, but it was not dark, yet it was not light either...

She tried to move, but she found that it was as if she had no body... she could not feel any surface... it was almost like she was floating, suspended... it was neither warm nor cold... eventually, she came to a conclusion... she was nothing.

~*~*~*~

Amu dragged her feet home. It would be a few days until Yaya got all of the necessary chemicals to recreate the incident that had first brought Nadeshiko to the real world. Until then, there was nothing any of them could do except wait. She opened the door, ignored her father's cries of, "AMU! WERE YOU OUT WITH A BOY?!" and slowly made her way up to her room.

Opening the door (which she kept closed because Ami could not reach the doorknob), her eyes widened in surprise to see Ikuto sitting on her bed, waiting for her. He smiled, not his usual perverted smile, but a genuine smile, and patted the bed next to him. Hesitating only for a moment, Amu sat down.

"I heard," Ikuto said quietly. "About your friend."

How Ikuto knew, Amu had no idea, but the gentleness in his voice shocked her more than anything. Ikuto was not mocking her, not making rude remarks or cryptic hints about Easter. This small act of kindness touched Amu... she had never believed that he had actually cared about her... most of the time, it seemed like she was only a toy for him, to play with until she got thrown away... but no, Ikuto cared.

That night, Amu fell asleep crying in Ikuto's arms, and he gently tucked her into bed before kissing her on the forehead and quietly leaving through the window.

~*~*~*~

Tadase sighed as he sat in his room. He had been affected the least by this whole thing, but he couldn't say that he wasn't hurt. He missed Nadeshiko, and he wished that he could comfort Amu... but he knew that Ikuto would already be there, comforting his princess... his princess...

But he was wrong... Amu wasn't his, and she never was. Sure, they had dated, but they were only elementary crushes, not true love. She had only loved him for his princely image, and he had only loved her for Amulet Heart... they had only fallen in love with parts of each others whole personality.

He realized now that Amu belonged with Ikuto, his onii-san. Kiseki had told him so many times that 'a king never gives up' and 'don't surrender to that thieving cat, after what he did to you', but Tadase wouldn't listen. He knew that Amu was always careful around Tadase, as if she was scared of him... they were never in a serious relationship... but he shouldn't be thinking of these things now. He should be thinking of Nadeshiko. He should be thinking of getting her back.

~*~*~*~

Rima curled up in a ball on her bed. She was worried about Nadeshiko, and whether they'd be able to get her back or not. She was worried about Amu, because even though they were best friends, Nadeshiko had been her first friend. She was worried about Kukai, suddenly losing the girl he loved. But most of all, she was worried about Nagihiko.

Nagihiko hadn't said a single word to her. He had only cried, clutching onto Rima's shirt like a life preserver. She couldn't bear to see the usually calm boy break down like that. She had never seen Nagihiko even tear up before, and he was always so hopeful, even in the most terrible situations... and the look of hope on his face as he spoke to Yaya made her want to cry even more. What if Yaya couldn't do anything?

What if they couldn't bring Nadeshiko back?

~*~*~*~

For the third time that day, Kukai walked past his brothers without saying anything. He hurried to his room, where he locked the door behind him before sliding down to the floor. Clutching his head in his hands, he thought back to when he had been happy with Nadeshiko...

It had been their second date, and they were playing video games in an arcade. Of course, Nadeshiko had been humiliating him, all the while smiling that innocently sweet smile of hers... there had been a time when he had yelled at her for being out late at night, alone. He wished he could go back to that time and pull her into his arms, to show her that he cared...

He trusted Yaya, though. He knew she'd never rest until she found a way to bring Nadeshiko back. Then a thought worried him: What if Nadeshiko didn't want to come back? What if it was like living and dieing: The dead are supposed to remain dead? But no... Nadeshiko had always been so happy to be with her friends, and he could always tell when she was lying or acting...

He would wait for Nadeshiko to come back. He wouldn't dwell on it, because Nadeshiko wouldn't want him to do that. She'd want him to have fun, even if it's without her. She'd want him to live his life, even when she can't. So he would, if only to make her happy.

~*~*~*~

Nagihiko sat on a bench in the garden behind his house, watching flowers sway in the breeze, birds coming and going, splashing around in a birdbath, and water, sparkling in the small pond, where you could see fish swimming around. Nagihiko wondered how fish are never bored... they had no freedom, trapped in the pond...

He realized that's how his heart felt right now. He was trapped within his own emotions, some telling him to keep hoping for Yaya to bring Nadeshiko back, some telling him that it's useless, and others telling him to move on... and he didn't know what emotion to stick with.

He wanted to hope, to know that Yaya could bring her back, but if she couldn't, his whole world would collapse again. He had Rima, but Rima was not his little sister, the one he could talk to everything about. It was Nadeshiko who had set him and Rima up in the first place... but he couldn't hope for something, when it wasn't guaranteed.

He wanted to cry, too... he knew that there was a good chance that Nadeshiko would never come back... when he thought this, he could feel tears pouring down his face once more, and he would quickly try and force this thought out of his mind, and it was like he was fighting himself, a mental war...

And to move on... he couldn't move on, he couldn't forget her, yet this seemed to be the best option. He could hope and have his heart break, or he could cry until he couldn't cry anymore... neither of them would help him, but moving on could... if he moved on, he could focus on education, and going to a good college when he was older... he could focus on his relationship with Rima... but it hurt too much to move on.

So Nagihiko remained on the bench in the garden behind his house, fighting with himself, trying to figure out how to feel, and none of his feelings were winning, yet none were losing... it was even, all emotions fighting their hardest to gain control, and he couldn't take it, and he felt himself drift off to sleep right there....

~*~*~*~

Kairi couldn't understand why he was there. He couldn't understand why Yaya had dragged him over to her house, and he couldn't understand what she was ranting about. Something about Nadeshiko... the former Queen? And Nagihiko? He had been told that they were the same person, but now Yaya was talking as if they were different.

"Yuiki-san, what on Earth is going on?!" he said finally, gaining the girl's attention. He really didn't know why he had a crush on her; she was almost as dense as Amu, and that's saying something.

"Oh, we didn't tell you?" Yaya asked. Kari shook his head. "Well," Yaya continued, "I accidentally spilled nuclear chemicals over Nagi, and they somehow made Nadeshiko real. But today, I guess the effect of the chemicals wore off, and Nadeshiko disappeared. We're trying to bring her back."

Kairi wasn't sure whether he should believe this or not. Yaya was telling him that she had spilled nuclear chemicals all over a boy (how had he survived that?!) and created a girl that wasn't supposed to exist. That was impossible! But hey, so are little people hatching from eggs and transforming with you...

"So what do you need me here for?" Kairi asked. If Yaya could just mix the chemicals again, she should be fine, so why was he there?

"Well..." Yaya said sheepishly. "I don't remember what chemicals I used. I only remember that it was bubbly, olive green, and smelled like grape jelly and Kukai's old gym socks." Kairi winced at this description; he had smelled Kukai's gym socks once on a dare and had no desire to do it again.

But Kairi knew exactly what would create such an appearance and smell, and if Yaya had the necessary materials, he could easily recreate the mixture. Yet there was still a thought nagging him in the back of his head...

"Ace," he said, gaining Yaya's attention again. "You do realize that there's no guarantee that recreating the event in which Fujisaki-san was created will bring her back again? It could merely cover the male Fujisaki with a disgusting mixture and scar him for life if he wasn't the first time."

Yaya looked thoughtful for a moment, before saying slowly, "I want to try it anyway. Kukai and Nagi and Amu-chi... we all want Nadeshiko back. We want to at least try. If we don't try, we'll never know if it works or not. If we do try, there's still a chance we can get Nadeshiko back, and then everything will get better again. Of course there's a chance it won't work. All those famous inventors... if they didn't try, we wouldn't have technology or electricity or Toaster Strudel..."

Kairi was shocked that Yaya could make such a passionate speech. Okay, the Toaster Strudel part ruined it a bit, but she had a good point. They would never know if they could bring Nadeshiko back unless they tried, and Kairi was determined to help now.

"Okay," he said, looking at the bottles Yaya had scattered across the table. "Here's what we do..."

Two Days Later...

Once again, Yaya had gathered Amu, Tadase, Rima, Nagihiko, and Kukai in her basement, except this time Kairi joined them in their impatient wait. The atmosphere was a lot more tense than it had been before, and all of them were praying with all their hearts that this would succeed.

It was Kairi who mixed the chemicals this time, for Yaya did not know which chemical was which, and even if he told her, there was absolutely no chance she would remember any of them. Looking up at each hopeful, worried face, he felt the pressure on him triple. He knew that if it didn't work, it wouldn't be his fault, but since he was the once making the mixture, he couldn't help but feel responsible.

Carefully emptying the right bottles into the cauldron, he couldn't help it when his hand began shaking with nervousness and his legs felt weak. Yet he still went on, pouring in each bottle in turn, emptying out every little drop.

For a moment, the potion looked nothing like the original. Yaya was sure that she had listed all the appearances of the original, and Kairi was sure that he knew what chemicals made it up. All of them could feel their hearts sinking down to the floor, when...

The potion turned olive green, and a split-second later, a silver mist began pouring out... they couldn't see anything, and struggled to find each other... several minutes later, the mist cleared...

Kukai and Nagihiko rushed forward and pulled the girl into a hug. Her face was bright with joy, delighted to be back in the real world. Kairi explained that she would have to drink the potion every few weeks to keep her real, but she didn't care. She was with her friends again.

"So... what was that text you sent me? You didn't finish it. What were you trying to say?" Kukai asked. Nadeshiko smiled and pulled him to the side.

"I was going to say... I love you." A moment later, Kukai found himself being kissed, and right then, he realized that he was happy with Nadeshiko. For a long time, he had wondered if Nadeshiko belonged with them in the real world, but it wasn't until then that he knew that she was supposed to be here.

The End

Goose: ...OHMIGOSH IT'S OVER!

Dwarfy: -throws confetti-

Goose: And... it's over seven pages! And over 3,000 words! That's a page longer than usual and almost 1,000 words more than usual! Ack!

Dwarfy: -sniff- It's over!

Goose: Yay! R&R, please! And if the ending sucks, don't hate me!