Man, i can't even BELIEVE how long it took me to post this... I'm ashamed :( But i felt that since this is the very last chapter *sob* I should make it nice and long! :D So here it is, the final installment! Sorry if it's a little weird... i was listening to vocaloid the whole time! Thank you for choosing this story to read, review, and enjoy! Oh, and if you have any suggestions for my next story, I'd be more than happy to hear! Ciao!

I closed my eyes, breathing deeply and evenly, putting all my concentration into locating Ivan. It was obvious he was coming for us, but how close was he? How many men did he have with him? What sort of weaponry was he carrying? All these things could be determining factors in this battle and the last thing we needed was to be caught off our guard more than we already were. They weren't listening to me… and I was the only one who knew that we were all about to die.

Nonchalantly, I stood and gave a stretch, my back muscles tense and burning painfully, before heading for the door. No one made any move to stop me, too absorbed in their own conversation to notice as I slipped out into the hallway alone. The air outside the room was even heavier, brimming over alarmingly with a demonic presence that had me gritting my teeth from its intensity. I swallowed back my nausea and pressed on, searching intently for an arsenal. If I was going to fight in this war, I needed a weapon of my own, and though I'd never wielded a sword before, I was determined my blood would take over and guide me through the fight.

Setting my shoulders, I pushed into the nearest room and flipped on the light switch, disappointed when I only found an assortment of old furniture covered in white cloths and a thin layer of dust looking back at me. I turned with a sigh, the door creaking ominously as it closed slowly, setting quietly back into place as I continued down the hall. Just as I was nearing a corner, my neck hair prickled, shivers rocketing down my arms, and I spun quickly, only to find that there was nobody… I was alone in the hallway with nothing but the urgent voices of my fellow conspirators around me. Cautiously, I looked all about myself, the uneasy feeling in my chest continuing to grow as the minutes ticked by.

He couldn't be too far now… If only I could find a weapon.

Taking a deep breath, I concentrated only on moving forward and paying attention to the footsteps that were growing louder and nearer by the second. Each echo shook me to my core, my heart leaping nervously as I realized that this was only a game in Ivan's eyes, one that he couldn't possibly lose, and that with every movement, he was getting closer to merciless slaughter. We would have no time for training, no time for even turning his army if we weren't quick about it, and without the warriors fighting on our side… death would be inevitable.

As I stopped to think, another strange thing occurred to me. The hallway was deathly silent aside from the footsteps closing in. The others had been talking in their weird code language just seconds earlier… Unable to help myself, I turned around to head back, to make sure they were okay, only to find myself face to face with a young, beautifully familiar man, wearing a snowy kimono and an apathetic expression. His eyes were darker than usual, his black hair and eyes startling against the white of his clothing, causing him to almost seem ghost-like in his appearance as he grabbed onto the front of my shirt to steady the both of us.

My relief was immediate. "Kiku," I breathed, pulling him into a hug. "You're alive." So this was who I'd been sensing earlier.

He made no move to push me away, but also no move to return my embrace. "So it would seem."

"Who took you here?" Suddenly, I felt rage boil up inside me, my fists clenching as rare fury consumed me. "Was it Jingle?"

His eyebrows went up and a startled smile flashed across his face. "Jingle? You mean to say that you think a small kitten brought me here? Of course not. No one made me come here. I'm here of my own volition."

Confused, I stared down at his innocent face, seemingly completely clueless as to what was going on. "B-but… Kiku, do you know where Jingle is now?"

A mischievous smile flashed evilly across his face and his eyes that were usually so bright and calm narrowed cruelly into black heartless pits."Hai. He is right behind you."

My heart leapt in my chest and I spun around, quickly reaching for the only weapon I had on me.

A perfectly handcrafted wooden cross necklace, a treasure that had been another keepsake from my mother as she died.

Before I could even comprehend what I was doing, I charged at the beast that I had once held in my arms furiously. He was no longer a small, helpless baby tabby mewling for me to adopt him in the pet store, but a tall, lightly tanned man with a ruthless sword and hazel eyes burning with fire. He easily dodged my savage attack, light on his feet, his keffiyeh billowing around his head like a halo as he landed in the spot he had been. Wordlessly, he gazed at my panting, sweating body with a hint of superiority, a faint smile at his lips as he prepared for me to come at him again.

I held my cross like a tiny sword, any hope I'd felt earlier drained with the entrance of Gupta. What could I do but try again? I was weak and inferior, my physical power no match for the Egyptian's, but if I did nothing, I would die that much sooner, as would all of the conspirators. I had to try… Centering my focus, I ran at him again, this time trying not to be quite so predictable with the way I moved. His sharp eyes followed my every step, registering everything before I did it, and he was always there to block it. The smile on his face seemed to grow larger and larger with every lunge I made toward him, his eyes beginning to glow a dull red, his teeth sharpening into fangs.

I knew if he had wanted to kill me, he already would have done it. That only meant one thing; Ivan had asked Gupta to spare my life. And if Ivan had asked that, it was clear he wanted to kill me himself.

The thought had my head spinning and my back, which had already been sore and pained, roasting with intense heat as I tried to contend with a real warrior alone. Somewhere along the futile battle, Kiku had disappeared into the shadows, leaving me to fend for myself. He was… I couldn't accept that he had come here on his own to help Ivan. There was just no way he could have done it. Kiku wasn't that type of man in the least. He was strong and beautiful, a real Japanese gentleman with a pure heart and soul. They had to be controlling him somehow…

"Karpusi?"

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the exclamation, Sadiq's voice rising above all other thoughts/noises in the area, as usual. Distracted, I turned, only to have my cheek clipped by the edge of the Egyptian's sword as he brought it down, blood running down my face immediately.

"What the hell are you doing to Gupta?" he shouted, running over and pushing me out of the way. "No way am I letting Ivan fuck him AND you kick his ass!"

Resisting the urge to shank Sadiq with the cross, I stepped aside and wiped the blood off my face onto my sleeve, panting heavily from the exertion. If he was here, then the rest of them were bound to be coming soon, too. I sighed in relief, glad that they had managed to survive the explanation at least and were finally setting the actual plan into action. Still, this was no time to be lenient. Gupta was still Ivan's righthand man and very clearly under the Russian's control, even if Sadiq didn't want to believe it.

"If you side with a traitor, then I'll have to kill you, too," I told him, holding up my necklace for emphasis.

Under his mask, I was sure his eyes were gleaming wickedly. "With that piece of crap? Yeah, maybe if you ended up giving me tetanus."

"And you have something better?" He was actually kind of stupid, but hopefully he had taken the hint.

Arrogantly, he snorted and pulled out his own sword, holding it up against Gupta. "Of course I do! I'm an angel warrior, remember?"

I wasn't sure who I wanted to kill more at the moment, him or Gupta. Of course he had missed the hint.

Gupta, who had been quietly watching us in intense confusion, spoke for the first time that I could remember. "Are you planning on using that sword that you just aimed at me or were you just doing it for show?"

Sadiq seemed startled by the question, possibly taken off guard by the silent man's random speech. Then, with more malice than I had thought the Turk contained, he snarled back, "Oh, you can bet I'm definitely going to use it."

For the first time, the Egyptian's grin seemed less psychotic and more… real. "Then please do so."

With an almost growl-like exclamation, Sadiq threw himself at Gupta, who easily countered his movements with twists and turns of his own, cutting off the Turk's every opening with a casual, lazy grace. The sound of metal clanging filled the hallway with noise as they repeatedly blocked each other's advances, each one cutting down the other's attacks. They were an eerily graceful pair, the demon and the angel, disappearing before my eyes with their intense speed. Caught up in the fight, I almost didn't realize that Arthur had come up next to me and was muttering under his breath, eyes closed in deep concentration.

It took me a second to figure out what he was doing and by the time it had registered, he had already flung some kind of magical beam at Gupta, who, preoccupied with Sadiq, didn't turn in time to see it coming. For a horrifying moment, I was sure that he was going to be hit, hit and murdered by the spell that had been cast at him, brutally bloodied in front of Sadiq. Even a demon that followed blindly after Ivan didn't deserve that sort of death, no matter how evil he was. Just as I was about to act, there was a bright flash and suddenly, the beam of magic was headed back this way, flying toward the unsuspecting Arthur at a velocity much higher than it had been cast.

He barely had time to duck as it flew over his head. "Bloody HELL!"

We both watched in shock as it zoomed down the hall, dissipating into the dark, empty abyss. His eyes were bright with adrenaline and shock, and, in typical him style, he turned to give whoever the heck had done that a piece of his mind, face reddening with anger. But the second he saw the offender, he paled shockingly and took a shaky step back, falling from his instability. Smiling from where the two Middle Easterners fought, his own eyes blue as the sky, was Alfred, his hands raised in a shield-like fashion.

"A-Alfred?" Arthur's voice was weak and trepid.

And then it dawned on me. This was Ivan's plan to get to us. He was sending the love interest of every single warrior we had to throw them off. Did that mean Kiku had run off to go find a weapon to fight me with? If that was the case, then if I wanted to leave here alive I would have to find a real sword of my own and quick. Getting to my feet, I brushed past the battling, ducking into the closest room and scanning it hurriedly for something, ANYTHING that wasn't this precious keepsake from my mother. As the other room had been, this one was relatively empty, lacking only the sheets over the furniture and the thick coat of dust. I walked further in, barely registering as this door also slammed shut behind me. There had to be a weapon somewhere!

Just as I was ready to give up and try a different room, I turned to find that in the spot where I had just been standing not two seconds before was a blade, gleaming silver in the milky dark light that poured in through the large, dirty bay windows. Settled calmly in its hilt like a jewel was the Greek flag, the very symbol of my home country. It was a breathtaking rapier, words from my language carved with gold into the handle, the words for "peace" and "love" shining in contrast to the rest of the impressive silver blade. I blinked once in confusion before taking the weapon into my hand, its weight and power strengthening my body.

"That is a very beautiful sword… it is inlaid with the touch of an angel's power."

I turned around slowly, holding my new rapier up before me, my jaw set even as I laid eyes on Kiku. He had his own katana drawn, his hand clutching its handle with obvious tension. His eyes, which had earlier been black, were back to their usual chocolate brown. If not for the weapon clenched in his hand, I might've even believed it was the real him. I narrowed my eyes, not ready to trust this man for a second.

"Heracles… why are you pointing the sword at me?" His eyes were wide with apparent fear, the perfect amount of terror seeping into his expression.

I took a step closer, until the blade was right at the pale white skin of his throat, nearly nicking his Adam's apple. "I can already tell you aren't Kiku by the way you hold yourself," I said fiercely. "If you think that I would fall for something like this… you must really think I'm stupid."

The figure wearing Kiku's face looked surprised for a moment, blinking up at me with his innocent eyes curiously. Then, like a nightmare, his face warped sickly and the Japanese man that I loved melted away, leaving nothing but an empty corpse at my feet. Sickened, I took a step away from the body, the intense demonic power almost knocking me down as it had before. I gripped the wall to keep myself standing, gagging helplessly from the nausea, sweat beginning to form on my neck and forehead. This wasn't Kiku's body… it couldn't be. He couldn't be dead. Ivan was cruel and sick, but surely he would at least use Kiku instead of murdering him. Shakily, I made myself check the dead man's face once more, just to be sure.

The corpse's features were crystalline and perfect in shape, a young boy lying calmly in death, a light smile on his lips.

The nausea increased painfully inside me. No, it wasn't Kiku. But it was a child, a teenager by the looks of him, not yet scarred by acne or the pains of adulthood. His features were clearly Asian, with dark hair that seemed to go everywhere, one particular piece bent into a strange almost soul-like fashion on the side of his head. His look was one so serene and utterly peaceful; he almost appeared to be sleeping, lazily snoring the day away.

Ivan had done this.

Straightening, I pulled my new weapon back upright in my grasp, a new pain driving me to find this psycho and destroy him. Making my way back into the hallway, I found that in my absence, this war that we conspirators had so carefully planned out had finally come to play. Shocked, I made my way through bloody wreckage, the wounded bodies of the angel warriors we had called force strewn across the floor. It was painfully obvious that we were already losing this, especially as I neared the front line, where Sadiq, Arthur, and the rest of our army were fighting with all their might against the biggest group of demons I had ever seen conjugated in one area.

They were exhausted and bleeding, the majority of them with open wounds, and covered with sweat. How much longer would they last before they, too, ended up like the angels that were now suffering on the dirtied floor? Feeling there was no other option, I leapt in to join them, slashing at the never ending swarm of darkness with strangely skilled slices.

"About…. time!" Sadiq yelled, quickly dodging as claws shot out at him. "I… took out… Gupta! We c-couldn't… get him on our s-side though…"

Startled, I resisted the urge to look over at him. They hadn't been able to control Gupta? Did that mean he had been following Ivan's rule of his own choice? If that was the case, how many more of them weren't being brainwashed by him? Questions began bubbling in my mind quickly, but I hurriedly tried to suppress them, knowing my life depended upon concentration right now as I made a wide arc with my sword, taking out three of Ivan's thousands of followers. But Ivan's followers weren't enough to sate me now, now that a child had died before my eyes.

I would make him pay.

Caught in a sudden savagery, I cut an opening through the enemy wall, trusting my mother up in Heaven… or wherever she was… to protect me and keep me safe in my mission. I heard Arthur call something out to me, a shrill and terrified word, but I ignored him. I could do this. I needed to do this. I had to find Kiku alive. As if I were poisonous to the touch, the creatures backed away from me as I made my way toward Ivan, who was no doubt hiding behind this mass.

And then I heard the yowls. More than a little taken aback, I turned my head in disbelief as all the cats that I had ever owned (living and dead) plus some launched themselves at the demons with all their might, claws extended. They tore into their prey much more quickly than the angels had, the felines destroying the things en masse.

I smiled slyly to myself as I slid unnoticed to the back of the group. Hadn't I told them my cats would be useful?

"Strange. I am not believing that I let cats in to play my game." Ivan's voice was mildly disappointed. "But I suppose they can be playing too! I will still be winning!"

The second I was in his presence, my back caught fire again, burning with heated pain that had me cringing. He just smiled, his lilac eyes heavily-lidded with a certain malice that brought chills to my arms, our gazes meeting heatedly. I was surprised to find him alone, no henchman by his side to protect him from me, not even a weapon around beside my own blade. I gritted my teeth, my muscles tensing uncomfortably. If Yao wasn't with Ivan… then where was he?

"Are you here to be playing with me?" He looked like a pleased child getting what he asked for for Christmas, full of innocent joy. "And I was getting so bored! Let me be finding a weapon and then we can be having fun, da? Hmm, now I think I will be using… ah! My big sword!"

Out of nowhere, a massive all-black sword materialized in his brown gloved hands.

In response, I found myself drawing myself into a fighting stance that was both unfamiliar and confusing to me. Another shot of pain ripped through my spine, fiercer this time as it traveled all the way to my tailbone and shot back up to my shoulder blades. Suddenly, the violent despondency gathered in one spot, almost sending to my knees gasping. Then, weirdly, there was a shredding noise and as soon as the anguish had begun, it was over, and I felt as if a burden had been taken off of me. I found myself able to stand straight again, ready to take on the crazy man who was smiling manically in front of me.

"The game has become more interesting," he purred, letting his wings loose. "I did not think that you were having the wings."

Wings? The pain, the intense burning in my back… was that what that had been? Curiously, I tensed my back muscles and was surprised to hear the sound of flapping coming from behind me. So it was true. Now, I was officially an angel, one of the warriors meant to fight of the likes of creatures like HIM. Ready to end this, I simply stared, cocking my sword in his general direction. He gave an amused giggle and took my challenge, his strong, black glossed wings taking him high into the air. I followed the best I could, my newly born feathers causing my flying to be bumpy and erratic. The second I was within striking distance, he was after me, slashing mercilessly at my unarmored body.

I deflected and dodged, but I could tell he wasn't going to give me any form of opening to strike back. I was completely on the defensive against this magic-wielding, demon-summoning mastermind, and my time was definitely short. It wouldn't be too long before the demons finally overtook the conspirators and we were all dead. If I didn't stop him soon, I would never be able to save Arthur and Sadiq. I would never be able to find the real Kiku.

My head filling with unwanted pictures of Kiku's mangled dead body and that teenager's pale corpse smiling in death, I lashed out at the demon before me, furious. He dodged easily, his wings simply gliding his body out of my reach, and struck back out at me, landing a blow on my shoulder. I sucked in a pained breath, blood welling from the slice and running down my arm sickly. I bit my lip in a sad attempt not to cry out.

He just laughed, cutting at me repeatedly, his excitement growing as he slashed me again, this time on my face, cutting a long gash across my face. Blood ran into my eyes immediately, blinding me, and this time I couldn't help myself; I let out an agonized moan and blindly stabbed at him. Unable to see, I didn't expect the gasp of surprise that came from his lips as my sword made contact with his body, slicing into him. I took the opportunity to wipe my eyes free of their bloody burden, my vision returning to find that I had lodged my weapon right into Ivan's chest. His eyes were wide and cloudy as he tried to pry the metal out of himself, his hands shaking in surprise.

Equally shocked, I could do nothing but stare, stare as the life drained slowly out of him, my eyes on his, the pain in his expression completely human. As I watched, the lilac of his irises darkened to almost black, his whole body contorting in a strange way that didn't seem real in the least. Suddenly, his hair grew black, he became shorter and frailer, much like a woman in figure, and his clothes changed, the tan trench coat morphing slowly into a pale white kimono, now slathered in innocent blood, dripping red in the spot where my sword had made contact.

No…. Frantically, I looked around for any sign that this wasn't real, that this wasn't happening, that Kiku would be smiling at me in that calm way he always did from somewhere. When all I found was an empty room staring back at me, I yanked the sword out of his body hurriedly, throwing it recklessly to the ground and pulling his gasping body into my arms. He stared up at me, his dark eyes searching my face aimlessly, his snowy cheeks stained with red. As carefully as I could, I landed, and gently placed him on the ground, panic rising in my chest as I realized what I had done.

What I had done with my own hands.

I tried to speak, to say his name one last time, but my voice was gone. He brought one trembling hand up, placing it on my face blindly, tears started to form in his eyes. His mouth opened, maybe to tell me that he loved me, maybe that he was sorry for all that had happened, that everything was okay and this was just a dream, but I never got to hear it. Nothing but blood erupted from his lips as he spoke, his words cutting off painfully. I leaned toward him, desperate to catch one last word, to hear the sound of his voice one more time.

"G-gomennasi…" he told me before re-clenching his sword in his fist and shoving as far inside of my body as it would go.

"You bloody idiot! I swear, you're so easily manipulated! Don't you have a mind of your own inside that thick skull? At least I have the willpower to avoid being controlled by psychotic Russian men! You could've been killed, Alfred! Why don't you ever listen to me?"

"Yeah, but I didn't get killed! That's gotta mean something, right? Besides, you need to stop worrying about me so much!"

Arthur gave a heavy sigh. When he spoke again, his voice was thick with emotion. "Why should I? I… I missed you, stupid wanker."

Several groups of voices came and receded outside the door as I lay in the hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling. The wound in my lower abdomen burned, but the pain in my heart was worse by far, demanding my attention. I couldn't pretend anymore… Kiku was dead. His delicate life had been stolen by my sword. In a desperate attempt to take me with him, he'd slashed me open, but it hadn't been fatal. He'd been too disoriented by near-death to aim properly and take me out. Now I was lying here, living, while Kiku was far away, somewhere that, maybe, he could be happy.

I closed my eyes as the tears started to well in them again, the thought of my crime pulling at my mind and soul.

Kiku had been the single fatality that night, aside from the teenage boy who I'd learned was Yong Soo, Yao's younger brother and a few cats. Ivan had disappeared without a trace, even leaving both of his henchmen up in Heaven in an effort to escape death. There had been many wounded, though, and most of the injured lay in different rooms healing quickly, as angels did. As I did. Angelic blood ran through me, just as much as demonic blood. Which, as we figured out, resulted in even faster healing than angelic from Gupta. Sadiq had all but skewered the Egyptians heart out when they found him, but, only three days later, he was fully healed.

I curled up into a ball, seeking the comfort of a fluffy cat and a long, long nap. I wanted to go home, back to reality and sanity, back to the place where everyone was who they seemed and no one was any stronger than anyone else. If only I knew Kiku would be waiting there… Unable to stand being here any longer, I stood up, much to my body's protests, and opened the window, prepared to leap. Just as I was about to go, the door slammed open and somebody grabbed onto the back of my shirt.

"What do you think you're doing? Jumping out a window isn't going to get you home, it'll get you killed," Sadiq lectured, pulling me back inside. "So I know what you're thinking right about now. You murdered your true love brutally and in cold blood, so now you think that you can kill yourself and it'll all be better, right? WRONG! You don't NEED to die, because guess what? Angels reincarnate! In fact, Kiku already HAS! So if you kill yourself, you'll have to go through this big huge thing where you're both reinvented and have to meet up again and blah blah blah. But if you stay alive and you still want to be with him, all you need to do is have a little patience and wait for him to grow up again! Yeah, you'll be a teeny bit older but do you realize that Kiku's soul has been reincarnated almost twenty times now? In full reality, you're still ten, maybe fifteen, times younger than him because you're still on your first life."

I stared at him uncomprehendingly. Was he trying to save my life…?

"Who did he reincarnate as?" I wondered blankly.

He snorted, apparently amused. "As another one of Yao's little brothers. They knew it was him, so he's still named Kiku and everything. Anyway, they said you can come and see him when he's older. You'll be a kind of… brother to him for a bit, I guess."

"And… will he remember me at all?"

"Eh, probably will. I mean, it's hard to forget someone who killed you," he snickered.

I didn't have the energy to fight back.

Just then, the door opened again, and Gupta came in, looking just as mysterious and refined as always. "They are departing for Earth."

It was hard to miss the way Sadiq's eyes lit up when the Egyptian came in. "Hey, come on, if you're well enough to attempt suicide, why don't you come back home with us?" Sadiq asked.

Nodding, I joined them, following out to the others before we departed, knocking me completely unconscious yet again.

This time when I opened my eyes, I knew I was home. Everything was familiar; the sight, the sounds, even the smell brought comfort to my heart. I stood and stretched, the pain in my abdomen the only reminder that any of this had ever occurred to begin with. A plethora of cats coated in bandages sat everywhere in my room, exhausted from their courageous escapades in Heaven, furthering proving that this was no nightmare.

I really had killed Kiku.

My stomach roiling from hunger, I almost didn't notice the piece of paper lying on my bedside table as I went to search for breakfast. Confused, I picked it up.

He is safe in my hands, aru. Come visit when you like.

Despite it all, I couldn't fight the smile that came to my face as I pulled on a jacket and meandered out the door.