A/N :: This is yet another rewritten chapter, but the material has changed significantly. The plot, however, is relatively similar and doesn't really change what will happen to Maya and the others. It just hints at what is yet to come.

Chapter Six :: The Turnabout Return

Darkness.

Endless Darkness.

Darker than the blackest cup of coffee.

And then it wasn't. Then it was a weird swirl of lights, colors, and even some strange sounds.

Godot awoke confused. "What?" He was so used to his cot that he recognized the strange feel of a tatami mat immediately. He looked around his surroundings in confusion. "Where am I?" There were shelves all around him, dripping with soggy noodles. Some of these noodles had been thrown together to make strange little . . . people.

Somehow, he had managed to sweep right over the girl who was occupying the room with him, and when she crouched down in front of him to say hello, he jumped and looked right at her. The girl wore a familiar purple kimono and had her hair up in an old fashioned Japanese style. She looked like someone he knew. Someone that he couldn't quite remember. But then again, the more that he thought about it, the more the room felt familiar as well. "Who are you?" he finally asked. "Where are we?"

"I don't really know where we are. Sorry." She shrank back timidly and he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. His visor wasn't exactly common thing and, in such an abnormal place, it might logically be cause for alarm.

He sighed and shook his head out of quiet frustration with his own appearance. As he looked away, though, a particular doll caught his attention. The doll wore a kimono that looked similar to the one that the girl had on, but her black hair was braided in a ring around the crown of her head. She looked to him like Dahlia.

No. Not Dahlia.

"This one looks like her."

"Looks like who?" the girl asked.

He opened his mouth to say a different name, but none came to mind.

A phone rang somewhere in the distance and the girl seemed distracted by it. "Look, I'll get that door open. Just take it easy for a bit," the girl assured him. He thought it was a little strange, though. Why would it be difficult to open a door? He studied the door and saw that there were a few non-noodle dolls sitting around a strange dark mass. It should have been frightening, but it really didn't surprise him. The girl shuffled back over to the dolls after retrieving a picture, ready to take on the puzzle.

Somehow, he knew that the dolls had to be removed in the correct order, according to the picture, to open the door. So he focused on it and noticed her reaching for the doll at the far right side of the photo.

"The other way," he said quickly, not wanting the dark essence to become any larger than it already was. "The one with the black bow first."

Wait. How could he possibly know that?

He mulled over the odd occurrence, but the girl followed his instructions without a second thought and both the dark mass and the dolls all vanished, allowing her to open the door with ease.

"I'll be right back! Stay here," she told him before running out and closing the door behind her.

As he found himself alone, he suddenly felt panicked. It was like he was forgetting something important. He had to tell that girl something. He had to help her somehow. "I have to go after her," he mumbled to himself, unsure as to why he had hesitated earlier. He stood up and tried the door but it wouldn't budge. "No! Please, I have to help her!" He wasn't sure why, but he couldn't shake the feeling that, if he didn't do something, something horrible would happen.

"PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE! YOU HAVE TO HELP MEEEEE!"

The sharp cry definitely didn't belong to the girl, but it worried Godot all the more. He slammed his shoulder against the doors, desperately trying to break through, and only gave up when he heard a phone ringing from behind him this time. It sounded like it was coming from under a shelf. Maybe he could use it to get a hold of the other phone somehow. He retrieved it and flipped it open to see the familiar image of a black cat in the city.

"Kitten. . ." He looked back at the sliding doors where the girl had gone and contemplated things. He knew her, but he couldn't recall how. He remembered the situation, but couldn't figure out why, and the painting of the cat on the phone pulled at something in his chest, but he wasn't sure what.

Suddenly, the sliding doors on the opposite side of the room slid open and a blinding light flooded the space. A soft voice beckoned him, begging him to step in. Something in him wanted to let go of everything and head right into the warmth, but he still couldn't shake the ominous feeling that came from the other doors.

"I need your help. . ." the voice pleaded. It clearly belonged to a woman, and she sounded somewhat distressed as well.

Godot sucked in a breath, tucked the phone away in his pocket, and walked into the light.

The doors seemed to lead outside into a pale forest. Just a little ways ahead stood a familiar woman in formal business attire. She glanced over her shoulder, right at him, but he couldn't make out her face. As he started after her, she walked away from him. "Wait!" Every step he took was labored, not because it was difficult to move, but because it was difficult to stay tethered to the ground. Keeping up with the woman was all but impossible.

Meanwhile, pale wisps drifted all around him, muttering things that he could almost make out. The whole place seemed calm and peaceful, but the thoughts of worry still plagued his mind.

Godot managed to refocus on the woman only to see her walking into a blinding light. He continued to go after her and the light consumed him briefly only to let him out at the entrance of a hospital with his lovely guide nowhere to be seen.

He decided to walk over to the counter to take a moment and consider things, but as he drew closer, he heard a soft but shrill sound that brought his attention to the empty waiting room chairs. No . . . wait, not empty. . . Sitting alone in one seat was a girl with her head down. She looked sad. Godot had mixed feelings of sympathy and loathing towards her that he had trouble keeping apart. She looked frail and even beautiful. Her hair was done in two perfectly symmetrical braids that started from the center of her forehead and went along at a V-shaped angle down just past her shoulders. It was like a soft halo . . . or were they horns?

Then it hit him. She looked just like the doll he had picked up earlier. But the whole hospital, girl included, seemed to be completely devoid of color.

Was she Dahlia?

Was she someone else?

He approached her, hoping to figure out just who she was, but she just faded away when he got close and the sound disappeared with her.

With all of the strange noises gone, Godot became very aware of how quiet things were. It was unnerving to be in a hospital that was more silent than the grave. He turned the corner slowly and saw that the hospital stretched out into a long hallway. He tried hard to see what was at the end of it only to hear faded sirens as a nurse and doctor wheeled a gurney through. Godot just barely noticed the purple kimono sleeve hanging off the side of the gurney as it drew closer, then he saw who he assumed was the girl from the waiting room seat step out of the way and caught a glimpse of the menacing smile on her face before they all vanished. Godot felt a chill. She had to be Dahlia.

Figuring that he had to find a clue about his whereabouts somewhere, he looked at the first room in the hall. Something about it made him nervous, like he just knew that something bad would happen in there. He chose to ignore it and moved on. Perhaps it would be better if he just looked for the beautiful woman who had led him there.

He continued down the hall until he came upon a stairwell and figured that there was nowhere else to go but up. Unfortunately, climbing stairs was even harder than just walking; each step felt like it would send him up to the ceiling if he wasn't careful.

When he finally reached the second floor, he was greeted by the sound that accompanied the woman and saw her down the hall a little ways, waiting for him. She turned away when he walked towards her and disappeared through a door. He went after her and walked into the room without hesitation.

That's when he realized that the eerie, abandoned hospital was more than just familiar. It was Kuromiya hospital: the place where he had been taken after Dahlia had poisoned him. In fact, now he was looking at his old hospital room. It didn't look as old as the rest of the hospital, and there were even people inside. He—or rather, the Diego Armando who had slipped into a coma—was lying in the hospital bed and two women sat in the room near him. One of the women was the one whom he had been following, the other looked just like Dahlia. But why would Dahlia be there in his room?

Godot studied the woman whom he'd been following closely, finally able to see her features better, and his chest tightened. He knew her. Her name was there, he just couldn't grasp it. Why could he remember Dahlia, but not this woman who clearly cared for him?

The girls seemed to talk about something, but all he could hear was some faint muttering. He wanted to hear them, but there was nothing that he could do. Eventually the woman intertwined her fingers with his younger self and he could almost feel her warmth in his own hand. She had to be important to him. How could he not remember her?

Almost as suddenly as they appeared, the people vanished into the nothingness that the hospital was so full of. "Why can't I remember you?" he wondered aloud as he exited. He'd gone only steps before he heard the shrill sound yet again. He looked just in time to see the faceless version of the woman go into the stairwell. He didn't need to ask where she was going. Something in him just knew that it was up.

So, he went up to the third floor, but as soon as he reached the new hall, the woman was already gone. "Well, that's just great." Figuring that it was as good a place as any to start, he went towards the first room in the hall. As soon as he reached for the doorknob, yellow cat eyes flashed across his vision and he stumbled backwards.

"What the hell was that?" he yelled as he tried to get his bearings.

"Down here, Cyclops." Godot looked towards the foot of the door and saw a small black cat with what must have been a red bandanna, much like the one in the picture on the phone that he had picked up earlier. "Hey. The lady definitely didn't want you going into the director's office."

A talking cat. This should have sparked some sort of reaction in Godot, but for some inexplicable reason, it really didn't surprise him. Instead, he looked at the placard by the door and scoffed. "This is the operating room."

The cat stared at him blankly for a moment before yelling, "I. CAN'T. READ! When will you people figure that out?"

"You people? Have you seen the girl in the purple kimono?" Godot wondered.

The cat pawed at its ear and looked up at him with a neutral expression. "Purple? Yeah, I've run into her once or twice. Not overly bright, is she?"

Godot couldn't really say, but the cat didn't seem to know her name either, so there wasn't much improvement on his memory of her. Still, he had no reason to listen to the cat. For all he knew it was just trying to steer him the wrong way. So he opened the door and was baffled to see a little Pomeranian chasing its tail on the other side. "Well this is different."

"Missile, you brilliant little mongrel! I've been wondering if I'd ever see you here!" Go figure, the cat knew the dog.

The little dog looked up and barked rapidly as it chased the cat up onto the counter. "Sissel! Hi there! I've missed you!"

The cat playfully pawed at the dog's nose every time that it hopped up close and, actually laughed. "So, do you have any idea why the lady didn't want him in the operating room?"

"What's an operating room?"

This creature was supposed to be brilliant?

This whole furry conversation was going nowhere and starting to try Godot's patience. He stepped past the critters and opened the door to the surgical surgery room. The place was just as old and empty as the rest of the hospital, but he didn't have much of an idea on where to go next, so he decided to step inside to investigate.

"Oh! The lady said not to go in there!" the dog barked out, but it was seconds too late. The door slammed shut and Godot spun on his feet to look back at it.

The words: 'THIS IS THE END,' were scratched into the door.

"No, it's not!" He pulled on the handle but the door wouldn't budge. "Hey! You guys still over there? Get me out of here!" He could hear the dog yipping non-stop on the other side.

He could barely hear the cat over the barking. "There's a, uh, scary presence in there with you. We'll be cheering you on from over here, okay?"

"What? What 'scary' presence?" Before the cat could answer, a vice-like hand grabbed Godot by the shoulder and forced him to turn and look directly at the face of a ghostly woman in a skirt and suit with a side ponytail. She shook him violently, her sharp nails cutting deep into his shoulders, and laughed maniacally, right in his face. He fought her with all his might until he was finally able to pry her off of him. She looked extremely upset that he'd gotten away from her, and she continued to scowl as she disappeared.

Godot's heart was racing and he had a hard time catching his breath. He wasn't as young as he used to be, and that was becoming increasingly apparent. He braced himself against the operating table. He'd probably have a heart attack soon. But, of course, the woman wasn't done with him yet. She reappeared quite suddenly and took hold of his arm.

"Oh no."

The woman continued to laugh as she hurled the man over her shoulder and dropped him flat on the ground. "Augh!" Godot was suddenly becoming very worried about his aged body. Not only was his heart pumping blood so fast that his lungs couldn't keep up, but now he was worried that his spine could be messed up. The woman vanished again and he struggled to even move himself. As soon as he sat up, she reappeared over him and put her hands around his throat.

"HELP HER!" the woman cried out between giggles. "HAVE TO HELP HER!"

Godot tried to push her away, but his strength was fading fast. It seemed like the end as his vision faded, but just when he thought that he couldn't take any more, she was gone again and his head dropped, hitting against the floor.

Everything went dark.

A single cliche thought crossed his mind: am I dead?

He tried to move his arms and could feel them sliding around on the floor, so it didn't take him long to figure out what had happened. He sat up and switched his visor back on. Definition returned to the world, and the violent woman was nowhere to be seen. He slowly made his way back onto his feet and tried the door again. This time it opened with ease and both the cat and dog were waiting anxiously on the other side. "Don't go in there, huh?" he asked rhetorically.

The dog whimpered and the cat cleared its throat. "I warned you," it mumbled. "But I don't think you want to hear that right now."

"You think?" This had to be the first time he had ever considered resorting to animal abuse. "You know what? I'll get through this without your help." Both animals looked down guiltily and stayed quiet as he opened the door back out to the hallway. He took a look back at the apologetic little fur-balls before he heard the soft sound that accompanied the beautiful woman. She was waiting for him just a few doors down. "Where were you five minutes ago?" he mumbled as he popped his back.

As usual, the woman walked through the door and left him on his own to check it out. He knew to trust her judgement over his or any talking animals that he might encounter, so he didn't even hesitate to follow her into the cafeteria.

The room was different. Like the treatment room, he saw his old self. This time, however, the young Godot was up and moving. This had to be before the coma. So many years had passed since he had been truly alive that he almost couldn't recognize himself. Sitting next to his younger self was the beautiful woman. She looked much healthier too, but that wasn't hard to do since, the last time he saw her face in detail, it was plagued by signs of crying and fatigue. They seemed to be arguing about something. The younger Godot looked unconcerned, but the woman looked frustrated. "Come on, man," Godot whispered. "Don't make a girl like that angry." If only he could remember who she was.

Suddenly, Godot noticed Dahlia walking by the other side of the table. She paused for just a moment and turned her head towards him—not the younger him, but him. She looked like the devil; her dark eyes glared daggers into him and her mouth twisted up into a grin that seemed to cut across her whole face. He wanted to warn the young Godot to look over at her, but it was like she had stolen his voice from him. When the his younger self did turn, Dahlia disappeared without a trace. He went on to pick up his coffee and downed the whole thing without a clue as to what he had done. Godot ended up watching as he clenched his chest and pushed the woman away. The chair fell and Godot finally felt the strength to move again.

The woman started to scream something over him, but her voice wasn't reaching him. Either of them.

Godot's heart was racing again. He knew that he couldn't stay there any longer. Reliving his own tragedy was doing a number on his mental state. "I have to get out of here," he rasped. "I can't be here." He turned and put his hand on the doorknob, ready to leave the whole horrific scene behind.

"DIEGO!"

His heart stopped. He knew that voice. How could he have possibly forgotten that voice? He looked back and saw the woman cradling his head in her lap and crying. His heart ached for her. He could feel the tears welling up under his visor, but he knew better.

"The only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over," he murmured, unable to look away.

He waited for the scene to play out and saw something that he didn't expect. Dahlia came running into the scene from the far part of the room and comforted the woman.

Only, it wasn't Dahlia. He knew that now. "Iris."

After he said her name, the whole scene faded and he was left in a deserted cafeteria. He slowly went back out to the hallway and heard a phone ringing at the far end of the hallway. He knew that he had to answer it. He couldn't explain why, but it felt like everything depended on whether or not he answered it. He followed the sound to the nurse's station at the far end of the hall and found an old office phone ringing. He took it off the receiver before it could go to the answering machine and slowly brought it to his ear.

"Godot! It's Iris. It'll be okay this time. I promise."

CLICK.

The phone fell from his hand as memories hit him like a wave against a cliff. The noodles, the girl, the dolls, the light forest, the cat, and even the ghostly hospital. He knew what to do next.

He ran back down to the second floor, completely ignoring the strange gravity problem that had been bothering him the whole time that he was there. He flew down the stairs and went straight back to Room 204 where he threw the door open.

The room looked different again. This time it looked clean and fresh, just like he had left it after waking from his coma. Sitting on the bed where he once slept was something that hadn't been there before. He picked it up and found that it was a picture of him and and the woman, back when she first joined his law firm. They both looked so happy. "Kitten. . ."

Godot pulled out the cell phone he had found at the noodle house and dialed her old number without even thinking about it. It rang twice before, to his surprise, someone actually picked up.

"Diego. . ."

There was no mistaking it. Mia.

"You shouldn't have come back. . . But I'm glad you did. . ."

Hearing her voice made his heart sink and he could feel tears welling up beneath his visor again.

"Mia, I came back for her," he said in a shaky voice. "But I wanted to see you. I wanted to speak to you."

"I know. . . Sorry for all the trouble. . ." she went on. Her gentle voice enveloping him in a soft embrace.

Godot smiled and light filled the room. He could feel her warmth all around him and he knew that this would be his last chance to tell her.

"I love you, Kitten."

There was a brief pause on the other line before he heard the sweetest words in all the world.

"I love you too, Diego. . . Thank you. . ."

Tears finally spilled over and leaked out of his visor. He smiled and let the light take him in.

For just a moment, he could feel her arms around him.

And the world faded into that gentle light.

A/N::

Shikola Krasno::

And thus ends my one and only repeat chapter (sorry Melody!). I must say, repeating Godot's story wasn't much of a drag. Of course I don't describe the actual foot dragging that seems to go on during that whole part of the game. I just loved finally giving him the closure that he deserved with Mia. Unfortunately for him, his actions during this chapter won't have much hold on whether or not things will end well. It just hints at the key player who wasn't really a part of the first go around (by the off chance that you can't guess, I won't say any names). I truly wish that Godot could have had a happier ending in his game, so at least this way I've given myself some solace.

Oh! But there was one new ghost introduced this time around! It's a little hard to make her more familiar when he never met her, but she will return! In case you didn't figure it out, who's the girl that Apollo met when she threw a police officer at him? Athena! In fact, she's taking the place of the crazy nurse lady, Nurse Hina, so we've been calling her: Nurse Thena. Much as I love her spunky attitude, she was one tough chick. So making her an insane ghost known for laughing in your face led to making her the most violent ghost encounter yet! I'm only sorry that Godot, the oldest of our protagonists, had to suffer through her first.

And I also got to prove just how unhelpful Sissel and Missile are whenever they're needed most. Godot was just the only one to openly acknowledge that (though Edgy often wonders). And Sissel thinks that Missile is brilliant because, well, let's just say that the bundle of joy is a big part of Ghost Trick (definitely recommend that one).

Anywho, up next is another Edgy chapter! Hope you're not too tired of our repeat chapters. Edgy is all new so enjoy!

Melody Canta ::

I always think about how much I love these chapters, and then I remember playing this part of the game . . . and spending a full minute getting up the stairs. This was my least favorite chapter to play and probably my favorite to read. I love this rewrite. Possibly my favorite thing might be having Sissel and Missile in the same scene, but . . . hey. Shikola knows I'm biased.

Ah, Nurse Thena. Nurse Hina is truly a frightening lady, and I'm a bit disappointed I never got to write an Athena encounter. Poor Godot though. I don't envy him, having to face her.

The delay in this chapter is my fault; we'll try to get these chapters up pretty quick. I'm preparing to move overseas in two weeks, so I'll do my best to get things done quickly and efficiently as possible!

We're getting nearer to the end!