Notes from the Author: Well, here we are, the final chapter. Originally, I really took a heavy hand to the melodrama in the last two chapters here. O_O But remember, think of this story as the Yu-Gi-Oh! edition of a soapy Christmas movie... I hope you enjoy the ending!

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Chapter 10: One Night A Year

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"RAFAEL!" The scream left Mai's mouth without her being aware of it. Her mind was racing in blind panic just like the rest of her body. She dropped to her knees on the cliff side, right between the shattered rails Rafael had just crashed through.

She barely had a second to catch a glimpse of his body splash into the ocean below, separated from the motorcycle, which was crashed far down at the bottom of the cliff side behind a boulder, and his leather trench coat, which was snagged on a thorny bush. Despite the height, she could still hear the faint sound of the splash as she saw the water explode when it swallowed Rafael.

"It's your fault." The words shouted in Mai's mind. "You caused this. If he's dead, it's your fault. Your fault." Without thinking, Mai did the first thing her panicked instincts told her: Jump.

With a deafening splash of her own, she landed in the swirling blue water, ignoring her dizzily spinning head and started swimming as deep as she could go. She spotted Rafael's unconscious body slowly sinking deeper toward the ocean floor.

She propelled herself forward and grabbed his arm, then wrapped one arm around his waist and held him at her side while she moved up through the water as fast as she could with her free arm and her legs.

Rafael's body weighed her down immensely as she struggled to move through the water. Her mind was a dizzying blur and it was getting harder and harder to hold her breath. But she kept on swimming faster and faster, as fast as it was possible to go.

As she started nearing the surface, her breath was desperate to come out, she couldn't hold it much longer. She was almost there.. her vision was fading.. a minute away.. her mouth was bursting for air... seconds.. her vision was rapidly fading.. the water was the whole world and reaching the surface was the only thing she was here for, the only thing that mattered in all of the world...

At last Mai and Rafael surfaced, Mai gasping and panting, letting the wonderful salty air fill her lungs. She paddled one-handed across the lapping waters to the shore. Carefully, she put Rafael down next to her and turned him over onto his back.

"Rafael?" she whispered, her voice small and weak, trembling not only with the soaking wetness of her clothes and hair, but also with the equally cold fear that had consumed her entire soul. "Rafael?" she whispered again, this time with an edge of panic in her voice.

"No," she thought, "No,he can't be.." A stray thought interrupted: Check his pulse. Immediately, she reached for his wrist, but as soon as her fingers made contact with his flesh, it felt cold. Freezing cold. She snapped her hand up as if she'd been bitten by an invisible insect. She felt the color and warmth flush out of her own face, her breathing became increasingly more pant-like than it had been seconds ago.

Her body seemed frozen with fear, yet, her mind was active, swirling harder than ever with panic, fear, guilt and most of all, the same words as before: "It's your fault. You caused this. If he's dead, it's your fault. Your fault." On and on it continued, repeating and repeating, mixed with the scene of Rafael crashing through the railing, angered from arguing with her about a trick she'd set up...Until.

Until a raspy cough escaped the lips of the person laying on the sand below her..

Rafael coughed again, louder this time, and a small spurt of water came out of his mouth. Mai sprang to his side. "Rafael?" she cried, hope strengthening her voice somewhat. He coughed again, then slowly opened his eyes.

Speaking in a raspy, barely audible voice, he said, "Mai.."

Mai nodded her head quickly to show she was listening. "I.." But before he could finish, he fell back into the dark realm of the unconscious.

Mai was still a mess of fear, worry, and guilt, but now the small glimmer of hope that had strengthened her voice a second ago lightened it somewhat, especially the panic. But still she knew she had to act fast, or the fragile life that rested in her hands would slip through her fingers...

All of a sudden, a noise sounded overhead. Distant at first, but it grew closer..the unmistakable sound of a helicopter, flying toward where they were...

Mai sprang up and ran to where Rafael's motorcycle was crashed behind a boulder. She leaned over toward the handles, frantically trying to turn the headlights on, hoping against hope that they would work..

A beam of white light, like the light of hope, like the light of Heaven she'd tried to replicate earlier, broke the darkness. Quickly, Mai propped the motorcycle up on the boulder so the headlight shone upwards, toward the helicopter. Mai waved both arms to signal it... "Please, oh please..." It was about to pass right over them, so Mai screamed and hollered as loud as she could.

Then suddenly, a beam of even stronger light came down on the sand. It passed over Rafael's unconscious form to the boulder with the motorcycle and Mai. Then, the whirring noise got louder and louder as it descended toward the sand below.

Mai ran over to it. The door opened and two policemen began to step out. "What's going on here, miss, what's happened to you?" asked one.

"Please," said Mai, half grateful and relieved, half growing increasingly worried over Rafael's condition, "It's a long story, I don't have time, or else.. he.." she found she was completely incapable of explaining, so she merely pointed toward Rafael.

The other officer raced over and checked him. "He's still alive, but we have to hurry if he's going to make it."

"Please, take us to a hospital, I don't want him to die.." Mai scraped out.

The policemen looked at each other, then back at Mai. "There isn't enough room in the helicopter-" said the first- "for all of us, so I'll leave Nakaba here, he can radio for help,and I'll take you two to the nearest hospital. Hurry now."

Relief washed over Mai like a tide. "Thank you so much.." she breathed.

The helicopter was small and warm inside, and the night sky rushing past would have been beautiful any other time, but tonight Mai was too overcome to even notice it very much. Every second that passed seemed like an hour to her.

Her relief at finding help was starting to be overcome with a rushed feeling that if they took even a second too long, it would be too late..

By the time the chopper began to descend at the emergency room, the feeling had increased to an overwhelming level. The second the helicopter was inches from the ground, Mai grabbed Rafael in her arms, and even though the chopper's blades hadn't even stopped spinning yet, she ignored the policeman's exclamations and threw the door open.

She dropped to the ground, her legs wobbling under Rafael's weight as she landed, and began going as fast as she could toward the ER door. She heard the policeman still yelling over the helicopter's overpowering whirring, but she didn't stop.

Exhausted as she was, she ran with Rafael draped about her, his legs dragging behind them. He felt oppressively heavy and slowed her, but she still ran. As she neared the door, she didn't waste time trying to open it with her hands, she just reached out with her leg and kicked the door open.

"Please, help me!" she cried loud and hoarsely.

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to the bedraggled girl in the doorway, supporting a young man much heavier than she. Nurses rushed over.

"Please, don't let him die.." she said, her voice growing fainter. All of a sudden, she dropped Rafael onto an astonished nurse and collapsed to the floor.

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Opening her eyes slowly, Mai found herself alone in a white room, lying in a bed. For a moment she forgot where she was and why, but then the name floated into her mind:

"Rafael."

Just that name seemed to bring her to her senses. She sprang out of the bed, threw the door open,and hurtled into the ER hallway. She didn't have a clue where Rafael was, but she felt that she had to find him. It was not a wish or a want: it was a need. Somehow, she sensed something, something that told her she must find him now.

She ran down the hall, searching so frantically she almost missed a doorway up ahead where one of the same nurses as earlier was emerging.

"How is.. he..?" Mai panted to her. The nurse looked at her. Her expression made Mai's heart freeze.

"I don't think he-"

Mai didn't wait to hear the rest. She threw the door open.

Just stepping into the room felt different, there was an unsettling sense of quiet and stillness after all the rushing she'd been feeling. She approached the bed slowly, her heart hammering.

When she reached it, she saw Rafael lying amongst the stark white pillows and sheets, his face almost as pale as they were. The heart monitor next to his bed was beeping slowly and sparingly, his breathing matched.

For a moment, Mai couldn't speak. Her voice seemed stuck in her throat. Finally, she whispered, "Rafael? C-can you hear me?" Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked up at Mai. His eyes were glassy and dim. Looking into them brought tears to Mai's own eyes.

"Mai.. come closer.." he scraped out raspingly.

Mai knelt next to the bed.

"I wanted.. to tell.. you.. I'm sorry..You were.. only.. trying to help me.. I.. acted like an idiot.. please forgive me.."

That snapped what little nerve Mai had left. "No, Rafael. It's my fault! I was the idiot!" she cried, tears streaming down her face, bringing her makeup with them. "It's my fault you're in this bed dying, because I had to play my stupid, stupid trick! It's all my fault! I'm so, so incredibly sorry for the stupid crap I said to you... "

"Don't blame yourself.." Rafael scraped out. "It's just.. as much..my fault..for not.. listening to you.." He stopped for a minute, then resumed, "I have something.. to give you... Here.." He reached into his pocket and extracted the delicate golden chain with the right half of a Christmas tree charm on it.

Under different circumstances, Mai would've been absolutely floored to see the other half of the charm. But now, she barely registered it.

"It was.. Hana's.." Rafael continued. "I want to leave it..with you.. because.. I see.. now that.. you are just like..her...she.. was stubborn, too... Thank you.. Mai."

He gave one last smile before his eyes shut... The heart monitor suddenly started one unbroken beep.

The world seemed to collapse around Mai. This couldn't be happening.. "Rafael?"

There was no sound except the holding of the heart monitor. "Rafael?" Tears cracked her voice. "No..you can't die..You can't!" Still no movement. "You can't die.. I love you!" Sobs racked her body and a cloud of despair settled over her soul.

She let herself cry at last, freeing everything she'd held inside since she first saw Rafael crash through the railing.

Finally, she lifted her tear stained face from the bed and gazed at Rafael's silent form.

"Rafael.. I should have realized all along how strongly I felt about you... It was you all along,not Joey or Valon.. I just didn't want to admit it for some moronic reason..You might have even loved me back..but now.. I'll never know. I'll never forgive myself for that.. and for letting you die."

She stood up, still trembling and gasping, and reached into her pocket. Strangely, she wasn't surprised to find that the silver chain with the left half of the Christmas tree charm had survived the dive and the waters.

She took it out and carefully fastened it around Rafael's neck, then put the golden chain he had given her onto her own neck. She bent over and put the two charms together, so they formed a complete Christmas tree. They clicked right as the clock hit midnight.

Mai glanced at it. "Merry Christmas, Rafael.." she whispered. Her eyes clouded with tears, so she didn't notice the way all the little ornament gems suddenly glowed together, right at the same moment..

She hastily rubbed her face dry and unfastened the charms, then stood up and walked out the door. The same nurse as earlier brushed past Mai on her way out, but Mai didn't even notice her. "Well.. it's Christmas.. Merry Christmas, Mai.." she thought. But it didn't feel like Christmas at all anymore... instead, it felt like a nightmare.

"Now... now I understand how Rafael felt.."

Suddenly, Mai heard a shout come from behind her. It sounded like a woman's scream. Quickly, she turned around and saw a whole group of nurses crowded around the room she'd just exited.

She rushed over. "I'm not lying- he was dead a second ago!" the first nurse was saying.

"I heard the heart monitor!" exclaimed another nurse.

"It's a Christmas miracle! Right in our very own hospital!" another cried.

Then the first nurse spotted Mai standing nearby. "Miss!" she cried, beckoning for her to come over, her eyes shining excitedly. "Miss, it's a miracle! Your friend is alive!"

Mai edged her way through the nurses and into the room. Everything looked the same. The heart monitor was no longer beeping wildly. "R..Rafael..?" she asked, keeping her voice low in the calm silence of the room.

Rafael was lying exactly the same as before, except now, his hand was clasped around the Christmas tree charm. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and looked up at Mai. "You know, there's one thing I forgot to tell you.." he said. Then he smiled. "I love you."

Mai's heart filled with happiness. Immediately, she burst into tears of joy and threw her arms around Rafael's neck. The whole room applauded, many of the nurses crying, too.

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Later that day, everyone was at Anzu's house, opening presents and talking and laughing together.

Joey and Valon finally had heard the whole story, and they had found what had happened to Rafael and Mai incredible.

Though they would have liked to go out with her, they respected her choice. Mai had apologized over and over, until Joey had said, "All right, we get it!"

"It's not like we don't know what it's like to be idiots about love," Valon had added.

Everyone was having such a good time, no one but Mai and Rafael noticed it had started to snow outside, carpeting the whole outdoors with a blanket of pure white. And no one but Mai and Rafael noticed something appear in the window, just long enough to give a kindly, loving smile.

It looked for all the world like a beautiful brown-eyed girl dressed in white, shimmering a pearly glow as pure as the snow falling outside. It looked for all the world like an angel.

The End

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Afterword: Again, I'd like to thank all of the readers and reviewers that read, reviewed and favorited this story when it was first up, when it was awful. Thank you all so very much. I hope everyone is in the Christmas Spirit now! ^_^

I, too, love Christmas, that's why I wrote this story, and, lacking as it may be in sophistication, I hope every reader enjoyed it, too! God Bless you, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!