Author's note: Yes, I'm still alive! It took me quite some time, but here is my new story: an alternate ending for the anime Mirai Nikki (Future Diary). Something quite different than the Mass Effect oneshots I previously uploaded to this site, but I hope you'll enjoy it regardless.

This story starts near the ending of the anime and the first two chapters will closely follow the original story, to set the stage for the part where I started changing more things. That's mostly going to happen near the end of my project, so don't be surprised if what you're reading at the start of my story seems familiar.

Finally, reviews are always appreciated. I'd love to hear your thoughts and read your constructive criticisms!

July 27th, 2012

"I love you, Yuno."

"Me too, Yukki."

Those words were spoken in the softest way possible, when the couple was laying together on the futon in a dimly-lit room. They were still processing what happened earlier: Yukki finally agreed to Yuno's advances and asked her to take a bath together in the small barrel in her garden and afterwards, they finally became one. It was the day before the world was supposed to end, but it nevertheless felt like the ending of a fairytale. The part where the lovers would live happily ever after.

They turned their faces to each other and smiled, slightly blushing because of their intimate time together.

"We took a pretty long way to get here," Yukki said to break the silence, "but I think this was meant to happen from the very start."

"Yukki…" was the only thing Yuno, the pink-haired girl laying next to him who overflowing with happiness, replied. Before she could speak further, Yukki continued talking. Something else had been on his mind for the past few days and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring it up.

"So Yuno…" he spoke reluctantly, "I want you to tell me the truth."

The girl's eyes widened, her lips parting slightly when she let out a short, surprised sound. Although Yukki's voice still had a happy tone because of what happened earlier, she felt he wanted to discuss something serious, which wasn't a habit of his.

"Why did you lie to me about dad and mom coming back to life?"

No… Not now… Her eyes widened even further after hearing what he had been thinking about for so long and quickly reached under the futon with her arm. She feared this moment would come and prepared for it, even though she had hoped to end the day in a happier fashion. Her arm instantaneously found what she was looking for, grabbed it and swung towards her lover, while she never broke eye contact with her target.

Yukki heard metal moving over the floor, followed by a flash when the object in Yuno's hand reflected the light emitted by the lamp next to her. He closed his eyes in fear, then instinctively jumped back to dodge the axe which was hurling towards him. She's going to kill you too! he remembered, the warning spoken as one of Akise's last words before Yuno killed him. But he didn't believe him back then, when Yukki murdered the few friends he had. He didn't believe them because he knew Yuno would never do that to him. Yet right now, that was exactly what was happening. No, she can't be doing this…

"Yuno!" he cried while trying to dodge the weapon, "Yuno!"

Instead of feeling pain when the weapon penetrated his body, the sound of cracking wood could be heard. Yuno had slammed the axe in the floor next to her side of the futon, instead of the place where Yukki laid. He sat upright and looked at the weapon he thought would kill him. "Yuno…" was all he could say, this time in a much softer voice.

The girl's hair was moved and now partially covered her face after what she pulled off with the axe. "I'm sorry, Yukki," she said with a voice which was exceptionally soft for how she had just reacted to his words. After a small pause, she continued. "I was lying to you. I said that everyone would come back to life if you became god. I wanted to cheer you up. Whether bringing people back from the dead is possible or not was the first thing I asked Deus when the game started."

Yukki could only stare at her in surprise, puzzled about how she could be so calm after practically threatening to kill him. A grim reminder of the double nature of the person he was dealing with.

She reopened her eyes and seemed to desperately stare at the ceiling and tears started to well up in her eyes. "I'm already plenty happy. So kill me, Yukki."

Now his astonishment grew even bigger. "N-No! If I kill you, I may become god, but you won't come back to life."

"But you will live," she said, showing how badly she wanted him to survive.

"No! If I have to kill you, then I choose not to become god!" Yukki replied. "I'll die with you!" He had seen too much bloodshed, too many lives had been lost in this survival game. He couldn't bear to add another casualty to the already long list of lives who had been lost after it started. Not only from the participants, but also of innocent people like his parents, or his friends, who tried to keep him out of harm's way for so long.

Yuno looked up to the ceiling. Her crying had stopped, but the desperation hadn't left her face. If anything, it only seemed to have grown stronger.

"So you're going to say that again…"

Yukki broke eye contact with her and looked forward. "But I'm glad," he said with a faint smile. "Now all my worries are gone." He closed his eyes again, bowing his head. "Other than that strange message from Akise-kun."

"Message?"

"It was a strange message. It's impossible."

If Yukki had looked to the girl at his side, he would've noticed the desperation had finally lifted from her face to make place for a different emotion. Now Yuno looked anxious. Not that she was purely fearing that Yukki had learned the secret she tried to keep from him with all her might. No, it was the type of fear one had before going into battle. Before needing to battle with someone dear to you. "What did it say?"

But Yukki didn't look at her and continued talking. "On Akise-kun's cellphone, he'd written about you. He wrote that you'd already become god once. That this world is actually a second one, replayed by going back in time."

Yukki was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear steel being pulled from the floorboards. He didn't notice the small flash of light, caused by the object reflecting the light of the small lamp in the room. He didn't see the object being raised high into the air. But he looked back at Yuno just in time to see it coming down at him. Identifying the threat, he closed his eyes and squeaked, and instinctively jumped back. He timing was just right. This time, Yuno's axe didn't hit the floor next to the futon. This time, it was going for the kill.

"Yuno?!" he shouted, frightened by her quick change of temper.

"It's too early, Yukki," she said, slowly pulling the axe out of the pillow it had ripped open.

"What's wrong, Yuno? What's going on?"

"I wanted… I wanted at least this one day to be a happy one with you."

Her head was tilted down and again, tears were escaping from her eyes. Yukki, who was now laying against the wall, was terrified and watched her in silence. Yuno stood up, only wearing her purple lingerie. She pointed the axe towards her lover, as if she wanted him to prepare him for her next strike.

She attacked again, swinging her weapon at Yukki, who could barely dodge the incoming blade. He felt how it brushed against his hair while he jumped back. Before Yuno could attempt a third attack, he jumped through the door and fled through the hallway of her house, unsure what to do next. I have to get out of here… He knew she would probably beat him in any form of combat, so he needed to flee away as far as possible and think of a plan. He heard the wooden floor creak behind him. Yuno was coming. It gave him incentive to flee even faster.

Just a moment ago, she was so…so… happy and peaceful. What the hell changed?

He instinctively opened the first door he came across, only to stand at the edge of the hole in Yuno's backyard. There was nowhere he could go, he was finished now. "Why, Yuno?" he desperately shouted trough the hallway. Turning around to face her, he felt two hands firmly pushing him. He fell into the pit and made a hard landing. Then, everything turned black.