Okay, i'm back! Barely was able to wait until now to post this chapter, but i did! XD Oh, and to the one person who recognized the Black Arrows in the last chapter, yes, those were indeed borrowed from The Hobbit. I meant to mention that last chapter and forgot. The last chapter was sort of me saying, "You thought this was going to have a happy ending? Well, hah! Take that!" This chapter, however, will finalize everything. And the darklings were defeated in the last chapter, i just forgot to actually say that. XP Anyway, go, satisfy your curiosity as to what happens. Have fun! XD Oh, and to everyone who said that i couldn't have actually killed Gingka and he must still be alive somehow... I did actually kill him. He exploded into flames. He's dead. XP

"I can't believe it…"

It had been one week since Gingka's death. Madoka had spent most of that time locked up in her own room, sobbing. Ryo paced the city blocks in shock. Zero and his friends suddenly didn't feel like battling, or even like touching a bey. Setsuna had flown off somewhere, carrying with her a jar that contained only ashes.

Many others, both shifters and humans, were still in shock. Gingka's human friends were still trying to register in their brains that he hadn't been fully human, and now they had to deal with his sudden death on top of that. The shifters were constantly chattering in many different animal voices, discussing the halfbreed's demise.

Yuki and Dynamis, although partially afraid of the shifters, seemed fascinated by them. Kyoya didn't mind being around them at all, as long as they didn't bother him too much. The greenete was currently swatting at a small bird that had decided to perch on his head.

Titi chuckled as the Leone blader became more and more exasperated with the shifter, who settled back down in his hair every time he calmed down. The Quetzalcoatl blader, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind the shifters, judging by the fact that no less than ten of them were perched on his head and shoulders.

"Madoka? Are you alright?" Kenta called, knocking on the brunette's door.

"I'm… fine…" Madoka's sobbing voice replied.

"No, you're not. Can i come in?" Kenta asked.

"No… Just leave me alone…" Madoka sobbed.

"Let me try." Hikaru whispered, coming up beside the Sagittario blader.

"Be my guest." Kenta stepped aside.

"Madoka, it's Hikaru. We need to talk."

Madoka sighed and lifted her tear-stained face from her pillow. "A-about what?" she sniffled.

"About you. You haven't come out of there for days. You're clearly not alright. Come on, you can't just lock us all out like this. It's unhealthy." Hikaru replied. "Please, just let me in."

Madoka sighed and got up to unlock the door, realizing that Hikaru was right.

"You haven't even changed your clothing?!" Hikaru reprimanded as she entered and noticed Madoka's clothing, still stained with Gingka's blood.

Madoka looked down sadly. Her stomach chose that exact moment to rumble loudly.

"You haven't eaten either, have you?" Hikaru asked gently, going to Madoka's closet and picking out a change of clothing for her.

Madoka shook her head. She had been too upset to eat after what had happened.

Hikaru sighed. "Come on, change into this and go get a shower. Leave your dirty clothes outside the bathroom door so that i can wash them. Then we're going to get something to eat." she said, handing Madoka some clean clothes and gently shoving her towards the bathroom.

Madoka sighed and obeyed, tears still streaming down her face. She climbed into the shower, enjoying the feel of the warm water running down her body in spite of herself.

"Is she okay?" Kenta asked as Hikaru came back downstairs, headed for the laundry room.

"I hope so. She hasn't changed or eaten yet. I'm changing that now before i try talking to her." Hikaru sighed, pushing through the inquisitive looks and getting to the laundry room with no further trouble.

"One other thing i'm wondering though." Kyoya sighed.

"What is that?" Dynamis asked.

"Where his mom went. We haven't seen her since she left with his ashes nearly a week ago."

"She's probably got her own way of grieving." Chris said.

"Grieving is almost a foreign concept to us shifters." one of the birds perched on Titi's head chirped.

"It is?" Kyoya, who had given up swatting at the shifters, was surprised.

"Yes. We are practically immortal unless killed. If nothing injures us, we do not die. We merely live on. It has been hundreds of years since a shifter died."

"Wow…"

"And we're fast healers, too! If we get the medical care we need after an injury, we can heal and be back on our feet in half the time it takes you humans to do it." another bird spoke up.

This comment caused the whole room to burst into excited chatter, and all of Gingka's friends soon knew the entire backstory of the shapeshifters.

"Seems like we've got some chattering in here." Hikaru said a few minutes later as she came downstairs with Madoka.

"It's getting them to shut up that's the problem." Kyoya groaned.

Hikaru chuckled. "Well then, we'll just leave you to figure that out. Madoka and i are going to go have some girl time."

"Alright, see you guys later." Dynamis said, opening the door for the two as they left.

"So, you wanna grab a burger and a milkshake?" Hikaru asked.

Madoka looked down at the ground as fresh tears sprung to her eyes.

"I'm sorry…" Hikaru muttered. "How about some food from that new restaurant? I hear it's really good."

Madoka was silent.

"New restaurant it is then. Come on." Hikaru sighed, leading Madoka off.

For the rest of the afternoon, Hikaru dragged the reluctant Madoka around, trying anything and everything she could to cheer the brunette up. Madoka moved in a daze, seemingly not seeing anything, even though Hikaru did manage to get her to eat a little. No amount of cute dresses, chocolates, or computer software could break Madoka out of her daze.

Eventually, the two found themselves down by the river, watching the sunset. Madoka still had silent tears streaming down her face as Hikaru watched her worriedly. The bluenette had never seen her friend this upset.

"Do you want to talk about him?"

"N-no…"

"Madoka, you can't just keep all of those feelings pent up like that. Trust me, i know. I lost my mother, remember? Just talk about him, or about whatever comes to your mind. I'm listening, and whatever you say i'll never repeat to anyone unless you want me to."

Madoka sighed. "I thought he was invincible… But he obviously wasn't."

"Because of those dragon's scales. I would've thought that too." Hikaru agreed.

"I thought that it was just some mean trick of his when i saw him laying there on the ground… He loved pranking people…"

"He sure did. Remember the time when he hid in a closet for four hours in a lion costume just to jump out at Kyoya and throw confetti at him on his birthday?"

Madoka couldn't help but chuckle at the memory despite herself.

"And then he ended up tripping over Kenta instead." Hikaru chuckled.

"And splatting his face into the cake that i was carrying." Madoka laughed.

Hikaru grinned. "Or the time you told me about that you convinced him to stay in bed and rest by giving him cake when he had a cold."

"That baka…" Madoka laughed.

"You know what i bet he'd say right now if he walked by and saw us here?" Hikaru asked.

"He'd not say anything, just jump over the railing, slide down next to us, and ask us what we were plotting, all with that cheerful grin of his." Madoka sighed.

"You know he would." Hikaru chuckled.

"We should probably get back… It's getting late." Madoka sighed.

"Yeah, the others are probably wondering where we are by now." Hikaru replied, getting up.

"Thanks Hikaru. I didn't really want to do this at first, to be honest, but now i'm glad i did."

"You're welcome. Now come on, let's get you home." Hikaru said, helping Madoka up and heading for the B-Pit.

"Madoka, run! Get out of here!"

"I can't leave you behind!"

"Madoka, trust me! I will not leave you alone!"

"I won't leave you!"

"Madoka, if you don't leave now-!"

"Gingka!" Madoka screamed as her friend burst into flames and rose high into the air, shapeshifting.

"Gingka!" Madoka yelped, sitting bolt upright in bed, a cold sweat forming on her forehead.

"Are you alright, Madoka?!" Ryo asked, rushing in in his pajamas.

"Nightmare…" Madoka sobbed.

"I see…" Ryo sighed, putting his arms around the brunette in a comforting manner. Madoka buried her face in the Phoenix's shirt and sobbed.

"You know, i gotta wonder one thing." Ryo sighed.

"W-what's that?" Madoka sniffled.

"Would you have ended up giving birth to a little girl with a tail and cat ears?"

Madoka paused, blushing. "W-what?"

"I'm serious. They'd have been a quarter shapeshifter, we both know that much. Ya gotta wonder if they would have had animal parts."

"T-that's absurd!" Madoka said.

Ryo shrugged. "Maybe, but you've gotta admit that it's possible." he chuckled. "Too bad he didn't have a Phoenix form. Wonder if it could have saved him."

Madoka gasped. "Phoenix?! Ryo, you're a genius!"

Ryo blinked. "Huh?"

"He had a dragon form, and he battled Ryuga. Any bey he had battled he could turn into! He battled both you and Ren! He had to have had a Phoenix form!"

"He would have had to be in it for it to have worked." Ryo stated.

"Ryo, he exploded into flames! That wasn't an explosion, it had to have been his Phoenix shift! Only ashes were left!" Madoka exclaimed, running downstairs with a confused Ryo following close behind.

"And Setsuna carried them off carefully in a jar and hasn't returned…" Ryo muttered. "Perhaps Madoka is right and only Setsuna knew this. But wouldn't she have told us?"

"Gahh! Madoka, what in the world?!" Hikaru muttered sleepily as she was suddenly pounced on.

"Gingka could still be alive!" Madoka shrieked, waking up everyone else who was downstairs.

"What's going on up here?" Kyoya asked groggily, with most of the others behind him.

Madoka quickly explained.

"Madoka, that's great! And its totally logical!" Hikaru exclaimed.

Kyoya grunted. "Couldn't this wait until morning?"

"Kyoya, be nice." Hikaru said.

"If he did turn into a Phoenix just before he died, then he will be returning tomorrow at exactly the time he died." one of the older-looking shifters said.

"Setsuna must have known. That would be why she carefully gathered up the ashes and preserved them." Ryo said. "Guess i can no longer truly call myself the Immortal Phoenix."

Tsubasa chuckled, rubbing his eyes. "Guess so, if this is true."

"We'd better all get back to sleep." Dynamis said.

"Yeah, because now tomorrow can't come fast enough!" Madoka exclaimed, darting back for her room.

The others chuckled at her enthusiasm and went back to bed themselves.

The next day, the group headed off in the direction Setsuna had flown, with the humans riding on the backs of the shapeshifters. They soon spotted the shifter female, hovering cautiously over a large clear area around Wolf Canyon.

"Stand back!" She called. "Don't come any closer or you'll get burnt!"

"So he did shift to a Phoenix?" Madoka called.

"Yes, he did. He's about to return, at any moment now." Setsuna replied.

Madoka whooped in excitement and hugged the shifter she was riding tightly.

"There!" Ryo called, pointing down as a spark ignited itself into a flame down below.

The flame rapidly grew until it was a blazing pillar. Several of the shifters darted backwards to avoid the heat. The humans watched in awe as the flames condensed in midair, changing form rapidly into a large, fiery bird. An ear-splitting screech filled the air as a shockwave of fire rippled through it. Several of the shifters dove straight down, and all quickly became chaos and confusion as the humans struggled to maintain their seats while the shifters barely managed to escape the inferno above.

After a few minutes, the newly-revived Phoenix flew down to the ground and glowed white, shifting back to a familiar human form as the shifters landed.

"Gingka!" Madoka was the first to dismount, tackling the redhead nearly to the ground and burying her face in his shirt.

Gingka laughed and wrapped his arms tightly around the brunette as she began crying.

"Didn't i tell you i'd be fine?"

"You idiot… You big idiot."

Gingka frowned. "What, that's the greeting i get?"

Madoka pulled away and narrowed her eyes at him. "Would you rather me follow my first thought and slap you as hard as i can before calling you an idiot?"

"You wouldn't." Gingka grinned.

"Oh, would i?" Madoka raised an eyebrow and smirked, stepping closer to Gingka.

"No, you wouldn't." Gingka smirked, not backing down an inch.

"How do you know that?" Madoka asked, standing on tiptoe to make herself at eye level with Gingka.

"Because…" Gingka cut himself off as he leaned suddenly in and kissed Madoka, hugging her at the same time.

"You love me too much, and after thinking i was dead, probably the last thing you would do would be to- ow! Hey!" Gingka yelped as Madoka gathered her strength and slapped him.

"You IDIOT! Don't you dare do that to me again! I cried for days, DAYS! If you dare try to pull that again…"

Gingka looked helplessly at the others, who chuckled and shook their heads, watching as Madoka continued ranting on at the newly-revived redhead.

Hah! You didn't think i was really going to leave you with a sad ending, did you? XP I know, i'm evil...

Gingka:-tick mark- Hey! I thought you actually killed me!

Me: I did, but then i brought you back. Problem?-troll face-

Gingka:-sighs- I'll never get authoress logic...

Me: Whatever. Anyway, as i said at the beginning of this chapter, the last chapter was me saying, "Hah! You thought this would have a happy ending?" This chapter, on the other hand, was me saying "Hah! You really thought i was going to leave you with a sad ending?! Of course not!" XP