WARNING: This particular chapter is one of the reasons this Fan fiction is rated T for Teen. You have been warned.

(It's not even that bad, but if you have a weak heart, you may want to think twice before continuing on. I don't know about you, but this really tugged at my heart strings. Turn back now if you feel so inclined.)

A/N: Here is the final chapter everyone. This one is a bit long, so take your time. I cried while writing this, and I hope it touches you like it did me. A New Enemy, A New Ally is drawing to a close, so enjoy…

Cybil Meyers accompanied the three on their die-hard mission. Back up was no problem, for it was the armed forces of Los Angles. The police were commanded not to interfere, but to be prepared to intervene at any moment if the scene called for it.

Cybil's only job was to make the calls if she felt the trio was in danger, follow through with the entrance plan if it were necessary, and to unlock the door at the front. Sure, they could literally break in, but to keep things calm, unlocking the door was smarter and it would draw less attention.

With a twist here and a turn there, the lock was open using a single, very strong bobby-pin. Cybil was highly experienced with situations like this, and her being there made the break-in that much more successful. The three quickly thanked her and rushed inside, splitting up. Derek would check for any injured people that Smith may had held captive, Victor would search for the virus samples etc., and Marie would of course search for her father. Within the span of 20 minutes, Victor and Derek had completed their parts of the mission. The tasks were far too simple, because all the guards had strangely taken off…

"I have some patients out here to treat, so you go in and assist Marie, okay?" Derek said as Cybil put one of the infected civilians under anesthesia.

"Right. By the way, good job Stiles," Victor complemented him. Derek smiled, and Victor returned it. Though stunned, Derek just left well enough alone and didn't question him about his strange behavior.

Cybil took the virus samples and loaded them into a cooler to be tested later. At this point, the mission would soon be over and they could all breathe a sigh of relief.

Victor reentered the building; quietly walking down the hallway that Marie had taken almost a half hour earlier. He prayed that she'd already eliminated her father and that they could go home, but he was almost counting on that not being the case.

Victor stepped into a dimly lit room and saw the brutal battle between the father and daughter. This fighting style was contrary to what had been told to him about neko tribes before, because these two were fighting using pure strength and physical blows to each others' bodies.

He didn't dare step into the middle of the two nekos, so he remained frozen at the door, helplessly watching them tear each other to pieces.

"Not… bad…" Jonas said, his chest heaving. "You're… a good fighter…"

Marie was also breathing heavily. She ignored his comment and glared at him. Her eyes blazed with hatred.

The battle raged on, neither of them giving in to the profusely bleeding wounds they received from the other.

"I won't give up… I'll kill you if it's the last thing I ever do!" Marie exclaimed, charging at him once more. She slashed his side open with her claws, which had once been divinely trimmed finger nails.

Victor could barely stand to watch. It was like two pit bulls pinned against each other, fighting until the will to fight had died out of them, and their life had ended. This fight would not end soon enough, and it felt like hours…

"Foolish child… You cannot win!" he shouted, ripping her cheek open in a flash. She cried out in pain. The wound was not large, but it was deep. It had nicked the bone.

"Marie, it's no use! You're evenly matched, let's just get out of here and settle with what we have!" screamed Victor. He couldn't bear to watch them any longer, and he didn't want the two to continue this purposeless fight. Neither side could win.

"This monster has haunted me far too long… I will not suffer any more from this unending pain!" Jonas declared at the top of his lungs, withdrawing a scalpel from his lab coat and proceeding to pierce Marie's heart.

Silence.

Victor held his breath, the blood draining from his face. He was pale within 30 seconds, and also in that time blood splattered across the floor, exiting Marie's mouth.

He struggled to scream, but nothing came out. The only sound that could be heard was Jonas' bellowing laugh as he witnessed his daughter crumple to the floor.

He loomed over her, laughing as a blood pool formed around her.

"I refuse to go to prison… That's the last thing I'd do… See you in hell, my daughter," Jonas Smith said, laughing hysterically as he took his own life. Those were the last words that ever escaped his lips. He was dead before he hit the ground, the jugular vain in his neck torn open by the scalpel. He fell with a large thud, followed by the falling scalpel that made a metallic noise as it collided with the tile.

Marie lay in the pool of blood, broken and gasping. Victor rushed to her side, dropping to his knees and lifting her limp body into his thin arms.

"Marie, speak to me! Say something!" he pleaded, shaking her roughly by the shoulders. She looked up at him blankly, the ember of life in her eyes fading as they began to glaze over. They appeared ever so foggy, and Victor knew this as a sign of rapidly approaching death. It had all happened so fast…

"Marie, hold on! I'm going for help!" he shouted, rising to his feet. Before he could, she pulled him down and mouthed the word: Stay. "No, you're in deep trouble! You'll die if I don't go now!"

"V-victor…" she choked out. "You… were… a great friend… and… an even better… brother…" Her breathing quickened, getting choppier as the seconds slipped away.

"Marie…" he whispered, fighting back tears. "Don't talk that way!"

"Don't…forget me… okay…?" she said almost inaudibly, tears welling up in her eyes. She then placed her hand over his heart, and with her final breath, told him this: "Here… that's where I'll be…" Her eyes closed, and they did not open again. She exhaled, and her chest did not expand or collapse to suck in more precious air. Her body slowly lost warmth, and she was gone.

"O-oh, Marie…" Victor sobbed. "Don't go… I need you… You're my friend… Come back…Come back!" He held her lifeless body in his arms and cried for the first time in years, and he did not stop until he was taken away by Derek and Cybil. He screamed her name, losing all control of his actions. The murder was too much for him to take, and it took several minutes for him to regain his sanity and to calm himself.

His hands were covered in blood, as well as his clothing. He trembled, tears still streaming down his face. Derek's face also became tear-stained as he watched Marie's corpse taken out of the building, covered with a white sheet. It was a tragic night for all. The neko had saved them all, and was murdered in doing so. It was an injustice so great that not even the wise Victor could understand. He was then taken home by the police. He showered, crawled into bed, and cried himself to sleep. His sleep was haunted by terrible nightmares. Marie's face was all he could see, and he did not sleep well for that night, or any of the nights in the weeks that followed.

News had spread about the laboratory and the devastating event that had taken place there. Everyone at Caduceus that had known Marie wept, even the male staff that never expressed their feelings. Included was Victor, who had become very ill from the constant crying.

That afternoon, her funeral was held. Not a soul smiled. Everyone was bawling. Victor had no tears left to cry, but his unshaven face and uncombed hair was a sign of his mourning.

The preacher blessed her coffin and spoke of her in ways too deep for comprehension. Everyone listened, and yet they were wrapped up in their own thoughts. How unreal it was…

After her coffin had been placed in the ground and buried, everyone said a few words of farewell and cried some more. All dressed in black, the funeral party laid dozens of bouquets of flowers on Marie's grave, honoring her memory. They then spoke about all the great times they'd had, and all the wonderful moments of her life they'd been apart of while she was still among the living.

After some time, much of the party had departed and left to return to work where they needed to be. Victor, however, stayed behind.

Derek patted his shoulder, reassuring him that there was nothing that could have been done to save her.

"I still… wish I could have…" was Victor's reply.

Derek swallowed hard, choking back sobs. "Yeah… me too… but she's in a… better place…

"And I'm here for you, okay…?"

"Thank you, Derek…" said Victor, still attempting to hold back tears. He wanted the crying to end, because it hurt to cry in front of his colleague and to cry when there were no tears left to do so.

Derek Stiles left the premises, allowing Victor to recall the memories of Marie's short life alone. He also knew the man needed to cry. It was only respectful to leave him to sob by himself. That's how Victor wanted it.

It was sunset, and the wind blew softly through the abandoned cemetery. Victor was still there, at that lone grave, thinking. The wind blew his hair, but he took no notice of it. It also began to rain to make the scene more depressing and dramatic, and he felt like he should cry with the sky. But he didn't. He merely let the rain soak him, and he sat there in the cold in front of that headstone. He ran his hand across it, thinking about all the months he spent with the young neko girl.

He could not fight them back any longer. The tears fell, and he cried for a long, long time. How he missed his friend…

Night fell, and Victor still hadn't moved a muscle. He was shivering, wet and freezing. Small rain droplets clung to the ends of his hair, and he breathed in the fresh aroma of the fallen rain. Marie had always commented on how she enjoyed the rain, and this only made Victor hurt worse.

He pressed his hand against his chest, feeling pain reverberating through him suddenly. His heart was physically aching, and it was pain that was not familiar to him. It was a pain he couldn't alleviate, because it was deeper than that. It was strange, and it hurt worse than anything he'd felt before.

At this moment, he was nothing; he was dead and he was not Victor Niguel. He was only the being that suffered the immense and excruciating pain from his broken heart.

His heart was wearing out, slowly, from the stress he was under, and his mind was playing tricks on him, making him feel as if there was pain. It was only in his mind, but he wasn't aware. He couldn't think straight.

He recollected his thoughts, and her memories. He recalled the words he had spoken to her before the confrontation with Smith had occurred. He made it sound easy, like he just let go of the dead so effortlessly, and Marie did so in order to please him and to please her dead mother, if there was, indeed, an afterlife for nekos. But he found the task far more difficult than he had made it sound that day.

There was something in Marie that had gotten to Victor. Beyond her aura, he had gradually taken a liking to her because they were, in fact, both different. Deeper than that, they were opposites. Opposites, as they say, attract. This had been the case.

She understood him, she spoke to him, and she could always find the words to say to keep him guessing. To think that a young girl such as herself could fill him with questions greatly intrigued him, and so he was eager to learn from and befriend her.

When he had lost sight of what was important, she was there. When he was feeling down, it was her face that cheered him up. When he fell, her hand reached down to help him up. She had been there for him, always, and now he wasn't sure how to go on without her there.

The burden that hung over him was great, for he felt responsible and guilty that he had let her die. He not only missed her, but he blamed himself. What could he have done differently?

Thoughts raced through his mind, and his head began to ache with intensity equal to his heart's. Why did she have to die…?

"Marie… I'm so sorry… I… I'm so sorry I let you down…" he whispered, burying his face in his hands. The wind blew strongly, his jacket flapping violently with it. "Just tell me… Tell me what I'm supposed to do…"

There was no response to his plead, and he began to feel the pangs of loneliness tear him apart. He wished for someone to be there; someone to hold him up, to keep him from slipping into the hands of death. Suicide was on his mind…

He then realized it wasn't the answer. He had become someone of great admiration and he wielded astounding knowledge; he was needed by both patient and colleague alike. If he gave up, all he'd striven for would have been in vain. He couldn't afford to die; not when so many lives depended on his.

Marie's final words resounded in his ears. They had been of value; that was for certain. Those words, without a doubt, were another riddle. He puzzled and contemplated, relating these words with words she had spoken before. The genius of it was this: though seemingly unrelated, they came together, like a square puzzle piece that inevitably fits into a circular puzzle.

"I… think I understand Marie…" Victor murmured under his breath as if he were really speaking with her. "You're not physically here with me, but… your memories and your spirit never die… they will remain with me… in my heart…"

He was almost surprised at his words, because he was a man of science; the way he was talking was strange, for he was not one to talk of souls and the afterlife, or anything of that nature. It had all been the science, but science made death seem much more grotesque than it was. It was the flow of life. The high cost of living, as many called it. Victor, too, believed in this philosophy.

But he dug deeper. Marie believed in fate and believed that every living person had a soul, though by no scientific means, could it be traced. No life could be found in Marie now, but she was living in Victor. Why hadn't I seen it before?

He understood. Marie was with him all along, and he would never be alone. She would never leave him, and they would meet again, if there truly was an afterlife. And after all he had learned and experienced, Victor became a believer. There was no way it couldn't be true. He would see Marie again, and they would be friends forever. He promised this to her, and he swore that she would always remain in his mind and in his heart. If he ever needed her, he knew where she would be.

Her memories and life held importance and value. He would continue life, and until the time came for his departure, he would remember and reminisce all they had gone through on this long journey.

Everything added up in his head. He'd been circling the answer for hours and hours, but it had been within his grasp all along. He just needed to reach further, and that he did. He could finally leave and his mind could rest in a peaceful sleep.

He rose to his feet shakily; he was quite weak from sitting all day long. Letting a few more tears flow, he stared at the grave. In it lied Marie, the neko girl that had changed his life.

"Good night," he said, walking away. Though his heart was broken, he walked away with confidence. He would see her again… He knew it…

And at last, his questions could be answered…

Who am I? I am Victor Niguel, the head-researcher and developer at Caduceus USA.

Why am I here? I'm here to aid the surgeons working every day to save countless lives, and I'm here to cure the ill and destroy the killing.

What is it I'm missing? I'm missing a dear friend… Marie was her name. She was the little sister I never had, and she taught me who I am. She braved the storm with me, and I helped her overcome intense obstacles. We were a perfect team, never giving up on each other. She died to save us all, and she's a hero. I'll not think vainly of her death; she died with her pride intact and her soul was alleviated of pain. That is what I believe. I know I will see her again, if that is fate. Fate; it is not a man of science to believe in such a thing. But I am more than that. You showed me that, Marie. Thank you…

You will always be in my heart… Sweet dreams…