Author's note: Well, it's been quite a while since I last updated something... I've been SUPER busy lately with a combination of homework, extracurricular activities, and financial aid paperwork for college. I had this written a few weeks back when I finished Angel Beats! and wanted to make a continuation. This will follow the lives of Otonashi Yuzuru and Tachibana Kanade after they are reborn into the world. I will not reveal anymore, but I will say one thing. Dreams have such a strong power, don't they?

I hope you enjoy my latest release, Once Upon a Dream.

~TabiNoTochuu

P.S. Just a FYI, the beginning of the story (Chapters 1 and 2) may be similar to other ones on the site, but I will (hopefully) be writing a different path than them.

Book I

Chapter 1: Prologue

Yuzuru walked out of the gym where the "Graduation Ceremony" for the last few remaining members of the SSS just took place. Behind him was a girl with flowing silver hair, quietly walking, following his every step. Yuzuru stopped at the stairs leading back into the school and leaned against the side, looking up at the place where he had lived for a brief moment in time. The people whom he had met, had fought with, and created deep bonds with were all gone now, off in the world of the living, living out their lives. Though it pained him to have lost his friends, he knew that it was for the best. However, despite his thoughts, Yuzuru could not take one person out of his mind. "Hey... Kanade..."

He paused for a second, gathering the courage within him to say what he needed to say, his last hope for happiness in a world devoid of love. "Want to stay here? There will always be more people like Yuri and the rest of the SSS who will come here, right?"

Seeing Kanade's confused look, he quickly continued. "We can stay here and teach them how to love life, and help them graduate from this place with no regrets." He looked up at her, gently pleading with her to accept his suggestion. "Won't you stay here with me? If you're here, I can't be lonely, even in this world."

She walked down the stairs and over to where he was standing. "I might have said it before, but I want to walk forward with you. Because I... love you."

He walked forward and embraced her tenderly. The silence following his confession grew uncomfortably long, and he looked down at the girl in his arms. She seemed so fragile, compared to the times when he had fought against her. "Kanade... Why aren't you saying anything?"

She closed her eyes and leaned against him. "I don't want to." There was a brief pause. "If I told you my feelings, I would disappear."

To Yuzuru, it felt as if his heart had dropped down to his feet. "... Why?"

Kanade opened her golden eyes and stared out into the distance. "Because I came to this world to say thank you to you, Yuzuru."

Yuzuru stood there, transfixed by her words as she told him how she was able to stay alive in the world with the help of the heart he donated after his death. As she recounted her story, tears began to form in his eyes, as he realized that, in the end, though he himself did not realize it, he was able to do something with his life, that he was able to save someone's life, and that he was glad to have been able to meet the person he saved. The tears began to flow down his face as she turned to him, and made her final request.

"Yuzuru, say what you said to me earlier once more."

He staggered from the pain of hearing her words, and it hurt her deeply to see him refuse with tears running down his face and the fear and torment of losing someone he loved in his eyes. Kanade continued to plead with him, her own pain threatening to break free. "Please, Yuzuru. Let me believe what you have always believed; that living is a wonderful thing!"

He stepped forward unsteadily. "Kanade..."

Yuzuru embraced her tightly. "I love you, Kanade. Let's stay together, forever."

"Thank you, Yuzuru. Thank you for loving me. But above all, thank you, for the gift of life that you gave me."

With her last and final thanks, she had finally relieved the regret that had kept her in this world, and was able to disappear, heading for the next life. Right before she disappeared, she leaned in close to Yuzuru and kissed him firmly on the lips. "Believe strongly enough, and we may meet again in our next lives."

Yuzuru cried desperately, not wanting to lose the person he loved after all he had gone through, with only a slim chance of reuniting with her in the future. "Please, Kanade! Please don't disappear!"

She looked at him and smiled, tears running down her face. "Thank you, Yuzuru."

He stumbled as her body vanished into thin air. Yuzuru screamed as the pain of losing the one person in this world he loved disappeared. He sat back onto the steps and hugged himself, tears streaming from his eyes, as he whispered to himself. "Kanade..."

His tears slowly began to slow as he stood up straight and stared at the sun. I will believe, and I will hope, that one day, we will be together again. With his last hopes and wishes focused on that one single goal, he raised his eyes to the skies above and closed them. Inside himself, he accepted his life, and removed every regret that tied him to the afterlife. As he let his breath go, his vision began to turn white. Yuzuru smiled and said, in a voice filled with longing and hope, "I'm coming, Kanade."

As his vision completely faded, Otonashi Yuzuru left the world of the afterlife, heading to a brighter new future.

Author's Notes: Hooray for a rewritten recap! Ahhhh! It's just so sad! Don't worry! I will make things better in the next chapters! STOP CRYING! PLEASEEEEEE!

Thanks for reading, and please review or PM me suggestions. I really appreciate it and they help me write more (and better, for that matter.)

~TabiNoTochuu