A/N: The final chapter of the "Doux Rêves" arc is about to start. This chapter's mainly told from Neku's point of view because we haven't heard anything from him since part two. There will be new characters featured throughout this and there will also be a mini boss battle near the end of this chapter. I think that I'm starting to get better at writing fighting scenes so the battle should be at least decent. Alright, without further ado here's the conclusion of Day Four.

Disclaimer: Don't own the World Ends with You.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Week 1, Day 4-"Doux Rêves", Part Six: The Wrath of the Wallflower

Neku's POV-

Third Floor, "Doux Rêves"- August 5, 2009, 11:55 A.M. (August 4, 2009, 9:55 P.M. EST). One hour and five minutes remaining in the Mission.

"Michel?!" The door slammed. "Michel?!" Another door slammed. "Michel?!" Another door slammed. "Michel?!" And another. "Michel?!" And another! "Michel?!" Willow was driving me nuts! Since we left the Fourth Floor all he had done was look in room after room which is why we had only gotten one floor down. He swore that he was going to find his friend, Michel, no matter what but he had somehow gotten the idiotic idea that he would still be in his chosen bedroom. So we had to check all the rooms one by one, while every single other Player raced ahead of us down the staircases that led to each floor. I had hoped that by the time we had finally gotten done with searching a whole floor of rooms he would have realized that searching every room was only making us waste time, definitely not helping us find anyone. Madoka, Kazuma, and Rin were off God knows where, while I was stuck with a girly boy who seemed to be able to take nothing seriously and a weird man who's choice of style was wearing a freakin' magician's outfit and a creepy mask. Seriously, what the hell was Satori going for when he chose that outfit? The Phantom of the Opera meets Mr. Hyde?

Wait a second. Style? Outfit choice? 'Oh my God! My worst fear has been realized! Shiki's fashion weirdness has finally rubbed off on me!' I thought to myself. Then another thought popped into my head. 'Oh my God! Willow's damn distracting idiocy has rubbed off on me too!'

"Nope. Not in here." Willow was continuing on with his quest to annoy the shit out of me. He continued on to the next room and opened the door. "Nope no one in here either." Then he went to the next room and did his search, and then he looked back at me. "Hey Neku? I completely forgot that we're looking for your friends too. Can you tell me their names and what they look like?" He asked me this as he checked out the other rooms that lied beyond the room he had just searched.

I shrugged my shoulders and replied, "What does it matter?"

Willow chuckled at my answer. "Because silly, maybe if I yell their names out like I've been yelling Michel's we can find them."

I stared at him blankly for a second to see if he was actually serious. He was.

"Perhaps, you should let Young Master Willow try his idea, Young Master Neku," Satori said all of a sudden. "After all, what harm could come from it?"

I sighed in defeat. "Madoka is the first. She's this little girl with brown hair and lavender colored eyes that always wears this kitten knit hat. Then there's Kazuma. He has frosted black hair and green eyes and he looks like he's some kind of bad ass but really he's just a moron. And last but not least, there's Rin. He's got spikey brown hair and blue eyes and he wears an awful lot of black for a supposed genius."

Willow tilted his head slightly in reply to my descriptions and then he chuckled. "That's an interesting set of friends you have there, Neku. I bet Michel can top them in weirdness though." Willow raised his right hand high above his head. "He's a really big guy, and by that I mean tall. And he has fair-white skin, thinly shaped eyebrows and lips, short ash-blonde hair that looks sort of windswept and spikey, and dark-blue eyes that are completely frosted over. He's Belgian, but he'll be wearing an outfit that makes him look like he's from India or Egypt. And uh, oh yeah!" Willow brought down his right arm and brought up his left arm, and then he showed me and Satori the Ankh tattoo on his wrist. "He'll have a tattoo just like mine on his left hip."

I raised my right eyebrow at his friend's description. "Yep. You're right, he sounds like one weird looking guy. And more importantly, why do you have a tattoo? You're like what? Fourteen?"

Willow smiled and replied, "Thirteen actually."

I shook my head. "Probably not the best idea to have a tattoo when you're that young, don't you know it's permanent?"

"Duh, but I like it. It's a mark that Michel and I share so I wouldn't want it to go away even if I could get rid of it." Satori suddenly reached his right arm out and grabbed onto Willow's left arm, and then he yanked him towards him. "Ow! Hey, Mr. Matsuda? What are you doing?"

Satori seemed to be concentrated on Willow's tattoo, but it was hard to tell what Satori was thinking because of his damn mask. After he stared at the tattoo for a few more moments, he asked Willow, "Young Master Willow, pretell where did you acquire this tattoo?"

Willow gave Satori a strange look and then he replied, "Um, I don't really remember. It was about four years ago, I guess? Michel asked one of his old friends to put this on me; he said it was meant to be some kind of protection for me."

Satori looked up at Willow. "Do you know what the Ankh symbolizes, Young Master Willow?"

Willow looked confused. "Ankh?" he repeated.

Satori pointed to Willow's tattoo. "This mark. How can you not know what it means when you have it tattooed on your bare skin?" I could sense a little hostility in Satori's voice.

Willow shook his head. "I didn't know what it was. Michel just told me that it was for my protection so I let his friend mark me. That's all."

Satori turned his attention back to Willow's tattoo. "The Ankh is an evolved form of the Egyptian Hieroglyph for magical protection, "sa". It's known throughout the world for its supernatural properties. The "Breath of Life", the "Key of the Nile", "Crux Ansata". All these names point to the mark that was given to us by the Egyptian Goddess, Isis." Satori touched Willow's tattoo with his gloved right hand as he held onto Willow's arm with his left hand. "This mark is considered an apex in the world of magical protection charms. Which leads me to believe that your companion, Michel, thought something really dark was coming for the both of you." Satori looked back up at Willow's face. "What are you exactly, Young Master Willow?"

Willow had a creeped out look on his face, and I could understand what he was feeling. Satori was definitely starting to creep me out too. "Okay, that's it." I pulled Willow's arm away from Satori's grasp and then got in between the two of them. Willow cowered behind me and I faced Satori while I shot him a glare. "Stop it. Can't you see you're freaking him out?"

Satori placed his cane on the floor in front of him while he held onto it with both of his hands. He clicked his tongue in response to my question. "Young Master Neku, with all due respect, the supernatural is by the very definition, "freaky". It interests me, that' the only reason as to why I study it. And when something interesting comes across my path I have an incredible urge to study it. But you are right. I overstepped my boundaries." He tipped his hat off to me and Willow. "I apologize for frightening you, Young Master Willow. And I apologize for making you get involved, Young Master Neku."

Willow came out from behind me and then he looked down at the floor. "It's all right, you just caught me off guard," he mumbled. I could tell that he had become frightened of Satori, and I honestly couldn't blame him. That was more than interest that he had showed towards Willow. That was obsession. Pure obsession, but of what I could only guess.

I turned to Willow. "Hey Willow, in all of the rooms that you've checked did you see anything weird at all? Uriel said that there would be some Noise, memories, or even some secret passageways that we can use to get to the exit faster." I had to get back on track but I also had to help Willow get his mind off of what had just happened.

Willow shook his head. "The only Noise that I've seen so far was that big one that you and I Erased. No memories either, just a bunch of empty bedrooms. Well except for that one there." Willow pointed to a door two doors down from a door behind me, and then I turned to face it. "It was another bedroom but it wasn't empty. There was another Player inside but she didn't even seem to notice me so I just passed her off."

"Was she, Madoka?" I asked him.

"No, she wasn't your friend. She looked like she was around our age. Most likely yours. She had brown hair and she looked kind of depressed."

"Brown hair?" I repeated. Then a thought came to me. "Wait, did she have brown eyes and a pair of glasses, too?"

"I'm not really sure," Willow replied. "She was crouched down in a fetal position on her bed. I asked you who you were looking for because I didn't know if she was one of your friends or not. Since she wasn't one of them, I just didn't mention her."

I ran to the room and opened the door without hesitation. I didn't know how to explain it but something in the pit of my gut told me that I had to see this girl with my own eyes. That feeling just made me think that this girl was, "Shiki!" I shouted her name into the room when I opened the door, hoping for some reply from her.

Rin's POV-

First Floor, "Doux Rêves"- August 5, 2009, 12:00 P.M. (August 4, 2009, 10:00 P.M. EST). One hour remaining in the Mission.

I kept my right hand to the wall as I walked down the pitch black hall of the first floor. And I'm not saying that to be snarky or anything, the hallway really was pitch black. The second and first floor hallways seemed to be dark for a very peculiar reason. A Player with a very powerful Psych was controlling the Mission for some reason which even "Data" couldn't comprehend. However, "Data's" upgrade had been very useful for this Mission; it gave me a map to the whole house that identified rooms where Uriel had set Noise or memory illusions. I didn't have time to waste. But I did make a pitstop at that office on the second floor; chances are that it belonged to the Creator when this Heirloom was still his. No useful information there though. I did however manage to unlock those sensitive files by entering Uriel's Heirloom so I suppose I should thank her for that when I get the chance.

But still, even though there was no doubt in my mind that this Mission was going to be cleared, but I was still concerned about the Player and her illusions. 'Who knew that when I found her she would prove to be such a troublesome girl?' I asked myself. 'Thankfully, Neku's probably going to take care of her. But if he can't convince her to stop her Psych then I'm afraid he'll have to finish the job. This will be a good exercise for him and show me whether or not he's capable of doing whatever it takes to win and take me to the top. If not, then I'll find some other way that he can make himself useful to me. A few sacrifices are fine, because when I become God I will make the world a better place for all people. And I will acknowledge the people who acted as my stepping stones to the top.'

A faint glow appeared behind me and I noticed immediately thanks to "Data's" peripheral vision. 'Like this idiot for example,' I thought to myself as I read "Data's" I.D. of my guest. Hideaki Ryuzora.

"I finally found you. All of the Players are here in "Doux Rêves" so I want you to tell me right now. Where is she?!" he exclaimed.

I turned around to face Hideaki and I saw that he had a small fireball in the palm of his left hand that he was using for lighting. "It's nice to see you again too, Hideaki. But would you mind refreshing my memory? Who's "she"?" I asked in a joking manner.

He grabbed the collar of my jacket with his free hand and pulled me towards him. "I'm not in the mood for your games!" he shouted right at my face. "Where the hell is Annabelle?!"

I clicked my tongue in a mocking manner. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You're really a hard guy to read Hideaki. The boy I see before me is the pure definition of a pyromaniac but he has made it blatantly clear that he will continue to deny his problem no matter how much trouble he gets into by using it. An honor student turned gang-banger of the horrid White Mask no less, the Color Gang that is actually said to have ties with the Yakuza. An idiot who saw the same girl every day when he was walking back home from his gang hideout, out there in an empty lot behind a little brick wall, messing around in her little garden." I could tell I hit a nerve when I mentioned Annabelle. "Remember, every day she would say "hello" to you, and every day you would give her a small smile and a simple wave of the hand. You knew…wait, correction…you know nothing about her at all and yet you're willing to go so far for her." I chuckled and then added, "I mean for crying out loud, you didn't even know her name until two days ago when I told you it."

"Shut up!" Hideaki shouted as he brought the fireball that he held in his left palm to the left side of my face in an attempt to scorch me. I didn't even flinch. Then Hideaki grunted and moved his fireball away from my face before it touched my bare skin, and then he let go of my jacket collar and backed up from me a little. Then he sighed and said, "I've been keeping tabs on the other three like you asked me to do."

I smiled. "Splendid, anything that you think you should report?"

"We didn't Erase any Players yesterday, Shatter said that she didn't feel like doing anything so she just walked off alone, and then the remaining three of us split up and went our separate ways since it was clear we weren't even bothering with the Mission. I haven't seen them since then."

I shook my head. "Your Team really isn't that much of an open one is it? Why did you even join up with them in the first place? You all clearly have nothing in common."

Hideaki looked down at the floor and didn't respond to my question.

I nodded in understanding. "Let me guess, your Record says that you've been in the UG for about a month so you didn't know how many other people were in the UG at first, and when you found the other three you thought that they were special just like you so you made the choice to stick together with them until you found out why you were stuck there. Now that what you do in the UG matters, working with people like them seems like it won't work out at all. Unfortunately, the only way to break a Pact is if one of your Team members gets Erased and among the four of you I think that Shatter is the only one who is capable of killing another Player. You three just stood by and watched her do it, didn't you?"

Still no reply.

I sighed. "She's on the third floor, but I don't think you'll be able to talk to her at all. She's kind of in her own world right now, and if Neku doesn't snap her out of it soon this darkness is never going to disappear."

That got Hideaki's attention. "Annabelle's doing this?"

I nodded. "As of now this hallway and the second floor hallway are caked in darkness that's even thicker than pea soup. The Players who haven't gotten Erased yet by "Doux Rêves's" unfriendly marks are all stumbling about in the dark, but I've got "Data" on my side so I've got a map to the exit."

"This is her Psych?" Hideaki mumbled to himself. "What's happened to her?"

"Her Entry Fee was a steep one indeed, so I'm not surprised that her Psych involves darkness." Then I turned around and continued walking down the hallway. "Now if you'll excuse me Hideaki, if Neku's going to be busy trying to save your girlfriend then I have to open up the exit and clear the Mission. Don't worry Neku should be able to save her, but you'll still need to keep up your end of the bargain and remain as my acting minion."

"Hey wait up! I can light our way there!"

I looked back at him and then I shrugged my shoulders and motioned for him to follow me. Even though he was an idiot in a lot of aspects, Hideaki still knew a valuable lesson. Keep your friends close and keep your enemies even closer. 'Oh well, as long as he's useful I'll keep him by my side.'

Neku's POV-

?, ? -August 5, 2009, 12:04 P.M. (August 4, 2009, 10:04 P.M. EST). Fifty-six minutes remaining in the Mission.

Instead of seeing the smiling face of my girlfriend, I was greeted with the sight of pitch black darkness. There was no bedroom behind the door; there wasn't anything behind the door. There was nothing but darkness. At that point I knew that this was one of the house's tricks so I tried to hurry and close the door but before I could something stopped me. A single light appeared in the center of the dark room, and there was a girl sitting on the floor with her head between her knees in the middle of the light. She had pasty skin and long brown hair that was tied in braids with white ribbons, but her hair color was dark brown. She was a brunette. Shiki had chocolate colored brown hair. This girl wore a green and white sundress and a pair of worn brown sandals. That wasn't Shiki's sense of fashion. Whoever this girl was, she wasn't Shiki. My hope was dashed almost as soon it was set up.

"You're depressed. Yet you seemed so excited when you were opening the door. You thought that I was someone else, right?"

I didn't recognize that voice. It must have been the girl's voice. I looked up at her again and saw that she hadn't moved an inch. How was she talking? Then I heard a loud creak and I looked behind me to see that the door was closing. "Neku?! Neku!" Willow shouted and then the door closed and muffled all sounds that came into the room pitch black room. Then the door just disappeared.

I looked back at the girl and saw that she still hadn't moved. 'What's going on? Is that girl doing this or is it just the house?' I asked myself.

"Please don't go. I don't want to be left alone. I tried to tell the other boy that but he was too busy with his own problems to listen to me."

I didn't know what this girl's problem was but I wasn't going to get out of this trap unless I convinced her to stop it. "Hey listen? I don't know who you are, and you're right I did think you were someone else. I don't want to leave you alone but I have to go look for that person and my other friends too. So I need to get out of this room."

"No, you don't have to go. You can stay here with me. Why would you want to go outside anyway? It's dangerous out there."

"You're a Player too, right? Look, the Mission is almost over. We have less than an hour left to make it to the exit and we're stuck here on the third floor. If we don't hurry, we're going to be trapped in this house forever. Do you really want that to happen?"

"You don't understand. This place isn't part of the house. This place isn't part of the Game at all. This place is my world, it's my safe haven. Here I'm safe from the outside world, but I'm also very lonely. That's why you'll stay here with me, right?"

This girl wasn't making any sense. "What do you mean, this is your world?" I asked. I looked around the room, there was nothing to see except for the overhead light and the strange girl that was under it. She was still couching her fetal position. How was she communicating with me? "This place is nothing but darkness. Do you like living in the dark like this?"

"No. This is just how it looks to people who are busy."

"Busy?"

"This place extends as far and wide as I want it to. At first I thought that I could use it to find my way out of "Doux Rêves", or at least bring some people here so that I won't be alone. But it isn't working; everybody's too busy to see the light in the shadows. That's why all the hallways in the lower levels are pitch black, but people still aren't listening to me. They're just wandering aimlessly through the dark; they think that it's part of the house's illusions, when really it's my own."

"Wait, your illusion? You're doing that on purpose? Are you insane?! If someone doesn't get to the exit soon then no one will get out and it's game over for everyone!"

"You don't care about me either, do you? No one will listen to me. No one will listen, no one cares about Anna."

"Anna? Is that your name? Anna, look you've got to stop with the illusions. No one can find their way out because of you."

"Anna tries so hard but it's never good enough. It's never good enough. No one will be nice to me. Anna has no friends."

Her voice was starting to sound like she was crying. And she definitely wasn't listening to me at all. "Anna if you just come with me and stop your illusions then the both of us can get out of here and everybody else can too." I started walking closer to Anna in an attempt to get a better connection to her. "Anna it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, I swear." When I was only a few inches away from the light, I outstretched my right hand to her, hoping that she would look up and see that I just wanted to help her and all of the other Players.

"Why does Anna have to be so lonely? Why can't she have any friends?"

I smiled. "Anna, my name's Neku and I'll be your friend. All you have to do is stop this."

"Liar!"

I heard a thwipping sound and then all of a sudden I felt something blunt like a bat and sharp like a knife knock the wind out of me. I was knocked on my back at least twenty feet away from Anna's light, and whatever I got hit with hurt like hell. 'What the hell just happened?' I asked myself as I strained myself to get up and held onto my chest. I felt like I had a few broken ribs.

"You're a liar, Neku! You don't want to help Anna. You didn't even care about Anna a few minutes ago; you were too busy looking for someone else. This "Shiki" person. You only care about finding her; you don't care about what happens to me. You don't care if Anna is lonely. Why is everybody too busy for Anna?!"

I finally managed to get back onto my feet but I knew that I was going to be limping to get to her. "Anna that's not true. I did think that you were someone else; I thought that you were my girlfriend. I've been trying to find here the whole time that I've been playing the Game and that other boy you mentioned, Willow, he thought that you might have been her so that's why I came inside your room. The truth is that I am busy. I'm looking for her and my other friends, Beat, Rhyme, Madoka, Kazuma, and Rin." I was getting closer to her, just a few feet more. "You see I've played the Reapers' Game before and it was the worst time of my entire life, I understand what you and all the other Players are going through. You feel lost, scared, and you feel like you have this gaping hole inside you, like a piece of you is missing. I want to find my friends but that doesn't mean that I don't also want to help you."

"I don't want to hear any more of your lies!"

I heard the thwipping sound again and this time I felt the mysterious weapon bust my kneecaps. I yelped in pain and crouched down on the black floor.

"You don't care about Anna! I know you don't, Neku. You're just like the others. "Who cares about Anna? Anna's just an ugly outsider. She always says her own name like some weird manga character. All she ever does is spend time in her garden. She'll never get adopted because nobody likes her." I don't want to hear it anymore!"

It started getting brighter; the darkness of the room was disintegrating and the room was starting to come into full view. We weren't in her bedroom; it looked like we were in a giant dome greenhouse. The walls and ground were covered in all sorts of plants, flowers, and vegetation. 'Could this be her world? Her safe place?' I asked myself. I looked to the center of the room and identified the light source that Anna was under. A beam of sunlight that entered her greenhouse dome shined upon her and the thing that attacked me whenever I tried to get close to her. Anna was still sitting in her fetal position but now I could see that she was surrounded by a cluster of large thorny branches. The branches entrapped Anna like she was in a birdcage and they were also slightly moving around her, probably daring me to try and reach out to her again. I tried shifting my weight around so I could get back up on my feet and after a few struggling moments I succeeded. "Anna!" I shouted at her. "You don't have to do this; if you just come out of there then we can both leave "Doux Rêves"! We can complete the Mission and then we can finish the Game! Don't you want to come back to life?! Don't you want to see your friends and family again?!"

Anna's parents are dead. Anna's an orphan and she has no siblings. Anna doesn't have any friends either, but that's okay because I think she's realized something very important now. The only friends she needs are in her garden. Everyone else can just disappear.

I started to feel something shaking under the ground beneath me and then suddenly several roots appeared out of the ground and wrapped around me. It felt like several boa constrictors were squeezing the life out of me. I tried to keep on standing but the feeling of the roots crushing my ribs that were already broken was too much so the roots ended up dragging me back to the ground. Then even more roots came out of the ground and wrapped themselves around me. One root wrapped around my face and covered my nose and mouth so that I couldn't breathe.

Thank you, Neku. Just talking to you made Anna realize that she doesn't have to act this way. Who cares that she didn't have anyone who could love her in real life? Her garden is now her only world. It's her safe haven and all her friends live here. So she will stop casting her illusions to get the other Players to come here with her.

Before the roots covered my face completely, I saw Anna stand up off the ground and a friendly smile that spread across her face. I could make out her face now, she had pasty skin and a freckled face and beautiful lime green eyes. She was definitely foreign but definitely not ugly like she said. 'Who gave her this mindset?' I asked myself.

"I've made up my mind," Anna said with her actual words. "Anna doesn't want come back to life. And she's going to make sure that no one else will want to either. I'm going to give them the gift of living in their own worlds forever. Everyone will be as free as she feels. And Anna will let you, Neku, become the first," she said as she pointed at me. I could see that some kind of black mark was slowly going down her arms, legs, and face. It was enveloping her whole body. Finally, one last root claimed my eyesight and I was stuck in the dark.

Regular POV-

Nanazaki Shrine, Ginza - August 5, 2009, 12:12 P.M. (August 4, 2009, 10:12 P.M. EST). Forty-eight minutes remaining in the Mission.

"What the hell?! What's happening to my doll house?!" Uriel exclaimed as the two bottom floors of "Doux Rêves" started to become completely dark and then change into a sort of garden motif and become full of plants. Then the top two floors started to do the same thing until the whole house was like a garden.

Samael came around to her sister's side of the table to see what she was talking about. "Um, it's not supposed to do that?" she asked.

"No it's not! "Doux Rêves" responds to the illusions created by the master of the house, I created every room of that house with my imagination and now it's turning into something completely hideous! How can my illusions break?!" Then Uriel slammed her fists on the table and started pounding away at it. "It's not fair! It's not fair!" The Player dolls started to be enveloped by minuscule roots one after another. Samael looked down in her hands to see if her Kazuma doll was unaffected and much to her relief it was.

"How could this happen?" Samael asked after Uriel had gotten some of her farce out of her system. "Someone has more powerful illusions than you, Sister?"

Uriel grunted. "As much as I hate to admit it that's the only way this could be happening. You're the one that's responsible for recording their deaths, quick which of the Players has an incredible mastery of illusion Psyches?"

"Hmm, if I remember correctly only three Players have illusion based Psyches but for them to outclass your Psych Energy I'm not sure how it could be possible."

Then Uriel's eyes widened. "Oh no, how could I be so stupid?! The mark! The mark!"

"What mark? You mean "Doux Rêves'" mark?"

Uriel nodded. "The mark possesses a direct link to my Psych Energy tied within "Doux Rêves"." She began rubbing her temples in frustration. "I guess one of the illusionists hacked into the mark and was able to use its power to cause a widespread illusion. Dammit, when Daddy comes back I'm going to have to have an intense conversation with him about that mark rule."

"So what now? Is the Mission Cancelled?"

Uriel shook her head. "The most we can have for one Reapers' Game is one Cancellation and we did that yesterday. And thanks to this widespread illusion, it's out of our hands. The Players will have to find some way out of this problem themselves. But if no one makes it out in time then we might have to start the Game over again." Then Uriel sighed and said, "I can't believe I'm saying this but…go Players you can do it! Win!"

First Floor, "Doux Rêves"- August 5, 2009, 12:15 P.M. (August 4, 2009, 10:15 P.M. EST). Forty-five minutes remaining in the Mission.

Pyros punched one of the roots that were trying to get ahold of him with his fist which he cloaked in fire. Then even more roots tried to grab ahold of him, but he managed to destroy each and every one of them because of his fire Psyches. When the roots stopped coming after him he started panting. "Why the hell is the house like a botanical nightmare now?" He was right, the hallways and rooms of "Doux Rêves" had all turned into miniature botanical gardens as plants and flowers blanketed all the floors and walls. Rin was a few feet away from Pyros. He was fighting off his own swarm of deadly roots and they each tried to grab ahold of his arms. However, he managed to easily pull them off of him due to his secret Psych which blankets the user's body in a sort of electric force field, frying anybody that the user finds a threat. So he was basically just pulling each root off of him after it got fried with electric shock. Pyros looked over to Rin and saw how easily he was managing things. "You and those damn jailbroken Psyches. How the hell did you learn to do that one anyway?"

"I used "Data" and the rest was simple mental power," Rin said like his accomplishment was nothing. A lot of other Players were out in other hallways as well, and they were also fighting against the roots like Rin and Pyros. Some of the Players however, were starting to get weary and when the roots found even the tiniest bit of weakness they would pounce like wild animals and wrap the Players up just like Neku. "And if you've got a problem with this new change of scenery then you should take it up with your girlfriend. She's the one who's controlling the plants."

"Annabelle wouldn't do this!" Pyros shouted.

Rin shook his head and replied, "That demented girl upstairs is not the Annabelle you knew."

Four other Players were further down the hall from Rin and Pyros. Team Tempo. Mayo and Yo-Yo were busy fighting off the roots while they protected Yuu and Madoka. Yuu seemed very scared and Madoka was still fast asleep. "Dammit!" Mayo swore, "That kid better appreciate everything that we're doing for her."

"Just shut up and keep fighting," Yuu replied as she tried to protect Madoka from the roots.

Inside the Ballroom. Second Floor, "Doux Rêves"- August 5, 2009, 12:17 P.M. (August 4, 2009, 10:17 P.M. EST). Forty-three minutes remaining in the Mission.

Shatter and the Rinnosuke Clone continued to dance together without a care in the world while an unknown source of music filled the air. They had continued to dance together even as the scenery around them changed into a garden based ballroom. No roots were attacking either of them, most likely because they were in their own world like Annabelle wanted. Then the unknown music stopped playing and they remained still for a few moments. The Rinnosuke Clone quietly said to Shatter, "You know, it's almost time for you to go. But please don't forget the time that you've spent here and please don't hold anymore grudges for Rinnosuke's sake. Promise me that?"

Shatter nodded as she smiled at the Rinnosuke Clone. "I promise, as long as you promise me something." Shatter took off the Rinnosuke Clone's glasses and held them in her left hand, and then she said, "Enough with these fake things already, you can see perfectly fine without them. And that goes for the contacts too," as she presented her open hand to the Clone. The Rinnosuke Clone nodded and then he slowly took out the blue colored contacts that the real Rinnosuke had always worn to hide his true eye color. He really had blue eyes that had an odd ring of brown around his pupils. Then the Rinnosuke Clone gave Shatter the contact lenses and she threw both them and the fake glasses on the ground. "Alright, promise me that you'll never wear those dreadful things again because I'm going to make the real you promise me the same thing when I see him again."

"My eyes aren't weird?" the Clone asked Shatter.

Shatter shook her head. "The other kids only said that you had weird eyes because you would always be together with that weird rich girl. And she had even weirder eyes than you did."

The Clone smiled at her. "I think her eyes are beautiful."

Shatter scoffed. "Freakin' kiss up." Then the music started again and they continued to dance.

Third Floor, "Doux Rêves"- August 5, 2009, 12:20 P.M. (August 4, 2009, 10:20 P.M. EST). Forty minutes remaining in the Mission.

Willow yelped in pain as he was knocked into the grassy garden wall. He had sustained multiple cuts and bruises on his face and arms and he was starting to cough up blood. He tried desperately to move but he was stopped when something collided into the wall next to him, making him stop struggling. It was the foot of Satori's cane. Willow stared at the cane with a look of fear in his eyes, his pupils were fully dilated and tears started to come out of his tear ducts. Willow desperately turned his head away from the cane and saw the rest of the hallway, those deadly roots were trying to get to him but his "Reflect Bubble" managed to keep them out. But Willow was still in danger from the person who was trapped inside the bubble with him. Satori pulled on Willow's hair and directed his head to turn near him. Willow stared at Satori face-to-mask. "You insolent little brat! You look at me when I am talking to you!" Satori shouted.

"M-Mr. M-Mat-Matsuda? Wh-why are y-you doing this?" Willow mumbled out of fear and pain.

Satori grabbed Willow's left arm with a vice grip and then he pulled his arm back so that Willow was able to see his left wrist up close and personal. "This Ankh. I knew that I had seen it before. It's identical to the tattoo that he used to wear on his left hip. I never knew his real name until now but thanks to you I know that he's still alive, or at least was still alive. The mute bastard!"

Willow's eyes widened. "Mute?" he repeated.

"I'd never thought that he would have the guts to take care of a child, but here you are, thirteen years later. It looks like that silent bastard made an excellent father. Though he probably should have taught you a little self-defense and made dress more like a boy. A weak child is dead child after all. How did the two of you die anyway, boy? Did one of his old rivals get to him and use you as bait? Or was it something much more gruesome?" Satori asked in a playful way.

"What are you talking about? Michel and I died when an elevator malfunctioned at Molco."

"An elevator malfunction?" Satori let loose a cackling laugh. "To think that one of the two people that I considered my equal in this world died in an elevator crash, at a mall no less." He continued laughing for a couple more moments and then he brought his cane away from the wall and turned it over in his hands, making sure that Willow could examine every inch of it. "He was always the brute strength type but I always preferred a little elegance when I was getting rid of garbage. I made this myself, it's a combination of an Irish Shillelagh…" he jammed the cane down onto Willow's left leg, getting him to scream bloody murder, "And a traditional Katana," he removed the brass part of his cane and showed Willow that it was the handle to a Katana. Satori slid the Katana out of his Shillelagh sheath and then brandished the hilt of the blade at Willow. Willow's eyes literally grew three sizes at the sight of the blade. "The sheath is the weapon of a gentleman and the blade is the weapon of a wanderer, I call it the "Bloody Gentleman"." Then Satori swung the Katana at Willow with such speed that Willow didn't even feel the cut that was inflicted on his right cheek until a few moments later when Satori retracted his blade.

Willow started shaking out of fear. "P-please don't, please d-don't."

Satori pointed the tip of his Katana at Willow's throat. "Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn't? I've killed many and this won't even be as gruesome compared to the rest because you're already dead. After I Erase you, you'll just disappear into nothingness. Who will miss you? Michel? Neku?" Satori scoffed. "They're too busy with their own goals to deal with a pathetic weakling like you."

"Please don't. Please don't," Willow repeated as if he was in some kind of trance.

"I'm not hearing an answer so I guess you're fine with having your throat slit." A whooshing sound filled the still air.

Someone with a masculine tone spoke, "We don't have time for you to satisfy your urges, Matsuda. You had your fun at playing with the others, and knowing you, you most likely found out nothing about any of the other Players' plans. Now the King wishes for all of us to be together." Satori looked behind him and saw two people who wore white masks like him. The first person had male attributes including tan skin and short dark brown hair. He wore a black hoodie with the hood down, a pair of blue jeans, white shoes, and a white mask with black lines across it and manufactured ears on top of it that gave it the impression of an animal, most likely a fox according to his mask's design. The other person was a female according to her long strawberry-blonde hair and her outfit. She wore a girly pink sweater with pom-pom strings, a red miniskirt, knee-high pink socks, red and pink shoes, and a white mask with red and blue lines that made an outline of a cat's face and manufactured ears that had a hint of pink in them.

Satori put his Katana back into his Shillelagh sheath and then he turned to face the two new arrivals. "Kitsune, you know very well that we should only address each other by our code names. There's no point in hiding our faces if people know our identities."

The girl with the cat mask giggled. "That's kind of nitpicky coming from you considering you deliberately told them who you were."

"If it makes any consolation, I didn't intend for them to exist for that long so a harmless mistake like that couldn't have hurt us," Satori replied.

The man named Kitsune said, "Very well, Mr. Gentleman, the King requests your accompaniment. But first, Neko," Kitsune said as he turned to the girl with the cat mask.

The woman named Neko nodded, "Right." Then she ran over to Willow's side and saw that he was still in a fear-induced daze. Neko crouched down next to Willow and then whispered into his right ear. "You're a real cutie, you know that?" and then she grabbed his right hand and some kind of yellow aura enveloped her hand. The yellow aura consumed Willow and started to heal his cuts and bruises at an incredible rate. Then Neko pulled her hand away from Willow and whispered in his ear again. "My name's Neko, and my e-mail address is "catastrophic51 ", give me a text sometime and I'll show you a real fun time. 'Till then, later cutie." Neko put her right hand up to her masked mouth and blew a kiss at Willow and then she returned over to Satori and Kitsune.

"Alright, let's get back before the King gets awful sore at us. He's not pleasant to be around when he's upset. Both of you grab on," Kitsune said as he offered both Satori and Neko his hands. When all three of them were joined at the hands there was another whooshing sound and then they all disappeared with a sort of ripple effect, leaving Willow alone in the hallway.

Willow looked at the outside of his "Reflect Bubble" and saw that the roots were still trying to penetrate its surface and capture him. 'It's been ten minutes, the bubble's not going to last that much longer. A couple more seconds at the most. I don't think I can cast another one, I just feel so tired.' Willow's physical wounds had healed but his mental wounds from the things that had just occurred to him were barely forming a scab. If Satori didn't do him in, than the roots would. Then all of a sudden the roots started breaking apart one by one. Willow looked around to find the source of the roots' destruction but his eyes felt really heavy all of a sudden. He heard the shattering sound of his "Reflect Bubble" breaking and then he saw someone approach him. It was a big man who wore odd clothing. There was no doubt about it. Michel and Willow had finally been reunited.

Willow's eyes closed and he fell into a deep sleep with a smile on his face as the black mark of "Doux Rêves" began consuming him. 'Neku, we did it. I found Michel so I'm sure you'll find your friends too. Let's hang out together again someday. Okay?'

Neku's POV-

Inside Neku's apartment? Annabelle's World -August 5, 2009, 12:35 P.M. (August 4, 2009, 10:35 P.M. EST). Twenty-five minutes remaining in the Mission.

You've probably had a nightmare at some point in your life right? How about one that you try with all of your might to wake up from but no matter how much you pinch yourself the dream just won't end? Well maybe that's what all the past four days had been to me. Nothing but a nightmare. I was here in my apartment. I had woken up from my sleep and everything was just as I remembered it. I got out of bed and checked my desk. The journal that my parents had given me was still there and so was the photo of me and Shiki on New Year's Eve. I looked outside the window and saw the familiar and serene setting of Sakuragaoka-cho, the sakura blossoms were in full bloom and were quite a sight to see when the wind plucked their petals and delivered them to the blue morning sky. Everything was the same. Nothing was different.

I thought about the past four days and nothing came to mind. I couldn't remember anything or anyone that I had come in contact with. It really was just a dream. Then I heard a knock on my door. "Neku, wake up! It's already noon and you already missed our date!" That angry voice. Shiki. I ran to my door to and unlocked the bolts in a flash but then I hesitated before I opened the door. Something wasn't right. There was more angry knocking on the door. "Neku, I swear to God, if you don't open this door right now I am going to kill you!" Shiki was really pissed off about our date. Why wasn't I opening the door?

Neku-san.

A little girl's voice popped into my head. 'That voice. Why is it so familiar?' I asked myself.

Yo, Neku.

This time it was a boy's voice. 'That one's familiar too.'

Hey Neku.

Another boy's voice. 'Who are these people?'

Don't let me down, Neku.

That one I immediately recognized. 'Josh?'

Sakuraba, if you turn your back on us I will never forgive you.

This girl sounded pissed off. 'What did I do?'

I'm counting on you and the others to make my dream come true.

Another guy's voice. 'Why am I suddenly thinking about the Reapers?'

Neku let's hang out together again someday.

A very girlish sounding male voice. 'Like Josh's?'

'Neku, what are you waiting for? Open the door and you'll be free.

"Anna?" a name just popped into my head and I said it aloud without thinking. Then something seemed to possess me, I ran to my closet and dug through my pile of dirty clothes. What was I looking for? Finally I found my old headphones buried under all of my clothes. 'Why do I need these?' I asked myself. Then I heard a buzzing sound coming from the headphones. Something was contained within the sounds. A voice.

"It's time for a Game! It's time for a Game!" I didn't recognize this voice but there was something about it that put me at ease.

Please, Neku. Just go outside and be together with you girlfriend again. Shiki, Beat, Rhyme, and Eri; they're your friends. Don't worry about me or the others. We're fine. So what if we're all dead? You're not. You can be different from us, you never have to leave this world. Nobody has to leave their worlds. We'll be safe forever.

I shook my head and words just flowed from my mouth. "I was like you once, Anna. I lied to myself over and over again, saying that I was fine with just being alone. You're lying to yourself right now, Anna. A little while ago you told me that you didn't want to be lonely anymore, you told me that you wanted me and all the other Players to stay with you in your world. I know that you didn't say that to be selfish, you were trying to help us. But we don't need to be safe in our own worlds. A good friend of mine once told me that "The world ends with you." The world is what we make of it, the goal in life is to explore new worlds, to meet as many people as possible and expand your horizons. That's the fun of living." Then I frowned. "Are you really content with staying in your own world, isolated from everyone else? The world ends with you, Anna. The world is what you make of it. If you let me, I can show you just how enjoyable exploring other worlds can be. Please, let me help you."

But…I don't know if I can make it stop.

I shook my head again. "It's not your fault. It's this damn doll house of Uriel's. It's done something to your head, I know it somehow. So I'm going to save you, I promise. And then you can become a part of my Team. I'm sure the others would love to have you with us."

Anna doesn't want to hurt you again.

"You won't. I'm going to save you from yourself, no matter what." I put the headphones over my ears and a white flash enveloped me. Then everything started coming back to me. In an instant, I remembered everything about the past four days, all the people I'd met, all the things I'd done, and what I had to do next. I had to stop Anna from stalling the Mission and I had to save her from the power of "Doux Rěves". But one thought kept lagging in the back of my head. Would that be my last opportunity to see Shiki? I wanted to get my old life back but I didn't want to just ditch this world and leave the others alone, I didn't want to just do what Rin said I would do. I had made to many promises. There was no turning back for me now.

Inside Annabelle's Garden. Annabelle's World -August 5, 2009, 12:40 P.M. (August 4, 2009, 10:40 P.M. EST). Twenty minutes remaining in the Mission.

I was wearing my headphones for real now, I could feel them. I opened my eyes and I could see nothing but darkness, I felt constricted and crushed and then I remembered that I was still covered by Anna's roots. 'How can I get free?' I asked myself. Then I thought that I could use "Phoenix Glow" to burn away the roots so I could get out of the bundle of plant life. I tried to reach into my right pocket and fish around for the Pin I needed. 'Wait a second. One, two, three?' I felt three Pins in my pocket; even though I was sure I only had two, my Player Pin and "Phoenix Glow". But I couldn't worry about that now; I had to get free of the roots. I pulled out one of the Pins in my pocket, hoping that it was either "Phoenix Glow" or the mystery Pin. Then I closed my eyes and focused on transferring my Psych energy to the Pin. Then I heard a whooshing sound and light burst through the root cocoon that I was trapped in. I looked down and saw that there was something on both of my arms, they looked sort of like sharp blades except they were see-though and made out of pure energy. They also constantly changed color like a rainbow. These Psych blades just appeared out of the top of my wrists which was a weird sight to see, but I knew right then and there that these things were going to come in handy.

I cut the rest of the cocoon open with the blades and then I stood up out of it and found myself back in Anna's greenhouse garden. Then I saw Anna in the center of the greenhouse, still protected by her birdcage of thorny branches. She glared at me when I stared at her and then she shook her head while she frowned. "I tried to save you from this horrible contest and you repaid me with pure defiance and disrespect. Don't you get it you moron?! I'm happy here! I don't need you to save me from anything!" she exclaimed. I could see that the marks' black lines had almost completely covered her now. She reminded me of Minamimoto when he infused himself with Taboo Noise. With that thought in mind, getting her to come to her senses was definitely not going to be easy. I looked down at my right palm and got a glimpse at the Timer. Nineteen minutes left. The clock was ticking.

"Anna, I'm not going anywhere unless you come with me," I said defiantly.

"I'm not leaving! This is my world and I can make you disappear from it if I want!" she shouted as she raised her right hand in the air, making a giant green plant with pink flower petals spring out of the ground in front of her. I noticed the distinct markings on the plant that made it look like it was made out of graffiti, and then I saw that the face of the plant had a mouth that was grimacing at me. It was a Venus fly trap Noise. "Venus Flower, Erase!" The Noise shifted his weight around and ripped some of his roots out of the ground and swung them at me like whips. I dodged the roots while they were snapping at me and then when the Venus Flower was pulling them back, I chopped some of the roots in half with my Psych blades, making the Venus Flower roar in pain and anger.

Then the Venus Flower grabbed my left leg with one of his roots and hoisted me up into the air. The Noise brought me over its head and dangled me over its open mouth. Slowly, he loosened his grip until I was falling right into his mouth. Luckily, I grabbed the outside of his jaws with my hands and managed to hold them open with my Psych blades, making the inside of his mouth vulnerable. I swung around on his lower jaw and cut the roof of the Venus Flower's mouth, making it cry in pain. Then I jumped back down to the ground below, just barely dodging one of his big roots as the Noise gathered his remaining roots and spun them at me like he was a tilt-a-whirl. I jumped over the small roots and dodged and ducked the big ones, looking for some kind of weak point to use to my advantage. I gripped my new Pin tightly in my right fist as I slung my right Psych blade down and cut one of the jumpable roots, and then I ran in the reverse rotation of the Venus Flower's attack to cut off the other roots. The Venus Flower's rotation was getting slower and slower with each root I cut.

Finally, I cut off all of the Venus Flower's roots and it had grown dazed and confused. "Erase him!" Anna shouted as a black aura enveloped her and the Venus Flower. Then the Noise bore his teeth at me and forced his head down on me from above. I managed to keep him at bay with my Psych blades but I needed more power to get him to back off.

"Only one chance!" I exclaimed as I slowly took way my right Psych blade and pushed all the pressure of the Venus Flower onto my left Psych blade, making my left arm feel like hell. I grunted as I fished around in my pocket for "Phoenix Glow" while keeping my grip held tightly on my other Pin. Then I grabbed "Phoenix Glow" and forced more of my Psych Energy so I could use two Pins at once. Soon, the familiar purple and yellow aura of "Phoenix Glow" enveloped me and I gained enough added strength to push the Venus Flower off of me and force it back into the thorny branch birdcage that protected Anna. Then I ran up the Venus Flower's stem and inflicted blow after blow at his head while the pressure that the Noise was putting on the cage grew and grew. And finally after a long string of blows, the Noise flickered out and Erased. Then I jumped down onto the top of the thorny branch cage and cut off the connecting structure of the branches, making the birdcage come apart.

Using "Phoenix Glow's" heightened sense of speed and agility, I managed to get back onto the stable ground before the birdcage fell apart under me. Anna was defenseless now but she didn't seem fazed at all. Her glare only deepened and the marks on her body only grew and grew. Then she was completely covered in them, her skin had become black like a shadow and her eyes turned a dark shade of red. "You've sullied my garden with your disgusting humanity! Using this Player's power, I could have taken control of multiple worlds instead of just being confined in this one!" Anna's voice was different now, maybe that was because the thing that was in front of me wasn't Anna.

My eyes widened and I took a step back. "What are you?" I asked.

"I am the creature that lurks in the shadows of "Doux Rêves"! I am the thing that feeds off of the dark thoughts of the miniscule beings that are sent here! I am fear itself!"

I growled. "Let Anna go! And let me and the rest of the Players out of here! We've all had enough of your fucked up house of illusions!"

"Insignificant little bug!" The possessed Anna brought up her hand and shot a beam of pure darkness out her hands which knocked me back into the far off greenhouse garden wall. Before I could even open my eyes and walk off the attack, the possessed Anna appeared before me and grabbed me by my head and threw me across the room. "You dare have the gaul to challenge me!" She appeared before when I was flying across the room and knocked me up into the air and then she appeared above me and knocked me back down to the ground with a loud boom. Then she fired more of her dark energy beams at me while I was lying on the ground. Dust covered the area and left me in a large crater that was made by the shock of the impacts.

'Ow, whatever wasn't broken before is broken now,' I thought to myself as I tried desperately to get my body to move.

The possessed Anna appeared at the foot of my crater and then she walked up to me and hoisted me off the ground while throttling my neck and shaking me like a rag doll. Her vice grip on my throat was so strong that I could barely breathe. The possessed Anna glared at me and then she let loose a fearsome growl. "So you're the one that he's so interested in, I have no idea what he sees in a weak and pitiful Mortal like you!"

'The one that he's interested in?' I repeated in my mind.

My thoughts were interrupted when the possessed Anna forced me back into the ground while keeping her vice grip around my neck. The pain that I felt at that moment was literally unbearable, I couldn't even think much less hold onto my Pins. My Psyches were finished. "I could finish you off right now with just one more attack, but that would be too easy! Instead let's see what makes you the person you are! What are you afraid of?!" Her eyes were hypnotic; I could see the things that I feared most in them. I saw my friends being Erased one after another, I saw a dead Shiki, a dead Beat, a dead Rhyme, a dead Eri, I saw Shibuya being overrun by Reapers and being destroyed, I saw Destros and felt his familiar chilling effect, and finally I saw a silhouette of some unknown person.

I didn't know who this person was but I felt like I was really close to him somehow. 'Him?' I thought, 'I know he's a guy? Who is this?' I still couldn't make out the person's face but whoever it was started smiling at me. It was a wide smile that you would expect to see of someone who experiencing pure joy. Then I saw something glowing next to him, that symbol. It was my Life Line, the mark that was engraved on my back on Day 1. 'This guy's the unknown messenger?' I felt really cold all of a sudden, I could feel it. This was what this black thing was talking about. My worst fear was happening. I was dying.

Neku!

That voice, it belonged to Anna. The real Anna. I saw an image of her in her possessed body's eyes. The real Anna was crying.

Neku, I'm sorry! This is all Anna's fault. Anna fell into the madness of "Doux Rêves" because she was afraid of being alone and she ended up dragging everyone down with her. And to make matters worse, now you're going to die for real. It's all Anna's fault!

She wept and wept, and with each tear that fell down her cheeks something grew inside of me. Something hot, really hot. So hot it was cold, I was angry beyond angry. At that moment I felt like I wanted to rip someone's head off. Thankfully there was one asshole that needed to be trampled right here and now. I placed a vice grip on my Pins again, but this time I actually thought I was going to break them from my grip. I gritted my teeth and I glared at the possessed version of Anna.

The possessed Anna cackled. "You're afraid of dying?! Such a trivial fear! You get even more weak and pathetic by the second!" She didn't notice that she was starting to lose her grip on my throat. "Phoenix Glow's" aura overtook me and I noticed that the aura started to change. It wasn't purple and yellow anymore; the aura was now a dark red and orange. I could feel more power than I had ever felt before coursing through my veins. This was the product of fury and Psych Energy. I grabbed ahold of the possessed Anna's arm and slowly pulled her off of my throat. That was when the possessed Anna started to take notice of me. "What's happening?! Why is it suddenly harder to pin you down?!" I forced my legs under her stomach, gaining a look of surprise from her.

"Time for round two, you evil bitch," I said softly as glared at her. Then I gave her a hard kick in the stomach with both of my legs that launched her high up into the air and I shot up into the air like a rocket to go after her. My speed toppled the possessed Anna's launched speed and I did a flip kick in midair to kick her back down to the ground below. But before she could be sent falling into the crater like I had done, she recovered in midair and flew back up towards me. She growled and unleashed an arsenal of those shadow beams of hers at me, which I was able to cut up with ease thanks to the combination of my Psych blades and "Phoenix Glow's" new power boost. When I had destroyed all of her beams, the possessed Anna looked at me with shock.

"But how?! How are you still able to…?!" I her off when I slammed into her and gave her a punch right in her face. Then I grabbed her by the legs and swung her around in midair until I threw her over to the one source of light in the whole greenhouse that came from the very top of the dome. "Ah, the light! It burns!" I flew over to her at light speed and grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up to the very top of the dome. The source of the ray of light was from the sunshine of the outside world that shone through a large skylight window. I stopped flying when we were directly at the skylight window, and then I pressed her face against the window's glass surface. She screamed in pain of the burning sunlight but I just pressed her face to the glass even harder.

"How does it feel?!" I shouted, "Because no matter what you say, your pain can never topple the pain that you put her through!" I had never been so angry in my whole life. "Let-her-go-you-damn-monster!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I forced her face against the window glass several times in an effort to break it. I finally broke the window after my outburst and I threw her up through the window and to the heavens above. She screamed so loud that I think her voice could have been heard across the universe. Burns and scorches started to appear on her body and then I flew up through the window and finished her off with a crossing-slice from my Psych blades. The darkness started dissipating little by little until it was like nothing more than a costume, and the actress preforming the role fell out. I caught her in my arms and observed her condition. She was in a deep sleep. "Anna," I whispered softly, "It's time to wake up." I stroked her sleeping face and then I watched as the last bit of darkness was consumed by the bright sunlight of the world outside Anna's greenhouse garden. The darkness would never hurt her again, not as long as I could help it.

Rin's POV-

First Floor, "Doux Rêves"- August 5, 2009, 12:52 P.M. (August 4, 2009, 10:52 P.M. EST). Eight minutes remaining in the Mission.

Annabelle's garden world and the roots and plant life that had appeared with it were starting to vanish from the first floor and, I assume, the other floors as well. I smiled. 'Neku actually pulled it off, he grows stronger and stronger by the day.' I reached around to the nape of my neck. 'No mark either, he completely destroyed the darkness. At a boy.'

"So is Annabelle safe now?" Hideaki asked.

I smiled at him. "She's in good hands. She'll be a lovely addition to Team Hikari."

Hideaki's eyes widened. "What?!"

I chuckled at his expression. "She's our little bargaining chip, remember? I'll look out for her and make sure the others will as well and in exchange you remain my loyal minion."

Hideaki glared at me and grunted. "Definitely not loyal. The first chance I get I will make you disappear." Then he walked away from me.

I chuckled again. "See that's why I like you Hideaki, you're always so truthful."

Then I heard someone shout in excitement. "Hey guys, she's waking up!" I turned my attention to the commotion and I saw three other Players that were also involved in the battle against the roots.

'Let's see.' I scanned the boy with blue hair and glasses. 'Mayonaka Yuugamine. Leader of Team Tempo.' Then I scanned the boy with white hair and rollerblades. 'Yoake Yuugamine. Member of Team Tempo.' Then the girl with the red hair and the beanie. 'Yuugure Yuugamine. Member of Team Tempo.' Yuugure was the one who shouted so I looked to her last, and that's when I saw Madoka bundled next to Yuugure. 'She must have been affected by the mark and saved by those three.'

Madoka had just woken up and was confused by the surroundings she found herself in. The Yuugamine triplets were leaning down over her with weird smiles on their faces. Madoka innocently asked, "Hello, who are you?"

Yuugure giggled and then introduced herself and her brothers. "I'm Yuugure but I usually just go by "Yuu". To my right you have my little brother, Yoake, who just goes by "Yo-Yo". And to my left you have my big brother, Mayonaka, but he just goes by "Mayo". We found you up on the third floor when you were in bad condition and we've kept you with us ever since then."

Madoka had a curious expression on her face and then she pointed her finger at Mayonaka. "Midnight." Then she pointed her finger at Yoake. "Dawn." And lastly she pointed her finger at Yuugure. "Twilight." Then Madoka giggled and said, "Your names are funny." Then Madoka frowned and said, "I'm sorry, that was rude. My name's Madoka and it's nice to meet you three."

Yuugure went into a sort of frenzied fangirl mode and pulled Madoka into a deep hug while squealing her head off. "She's just the cutest thing ever! She's not that old and she already knows Kanji right off the bat! She's just adorable!" Madoka appeared to be confused by what Yuugure was doing. Then Yuugure turned to Mayonaka and squealed, "Mayo! Can we keep her please! Oh please! Oh please!"

That's when I spoke up. "Ahem, hi there." I waved at them and got their attention. "I really hate to make you upset and all but Madoka is kind of already on a Team with me."

Madoka smiled at me and then she shouted, "Rin-san!" and ran over to me, escaping Yuugure's grasp.

I crouched down to her level and smiled at her. "Hey kid, didn't think I'd see you again in a way like this."

Yuugure groaned and then changed her mood into sad and depressed. "Madoka-chan already has a Team. It's not fair."

Yoake patted his sister on her back. "There, there, Sis."

Then Madoka turned back to face the Yuugamine triplets. "Um, thank you for helping me. I hope to see Twi-san and her brothers again, real soon."

Then Yuugure's expression perked up again. "Twi-san?! Aw, she even gave me a nickname! Oh God, she's so cute that I could just die!"

Madoka and I both smiled and sweatdropped at the scene before us. Then Mayonaka whistled at us and said, "Here," as he threw Madoka's kitten knit hat to her. "That belongs to you, doesn't it?"

Madoka caught her hat and nodded. "Yes it does." She placed her hat back on her head and then she bowed. "Thank you very much." Then there was a familiar clacking sound and the house's PA system turned on. Then Uriel's voice filled the house.

Regular POV-

Inside Annabelle's room. Third Floor, "Doux Rêves"- August 5, 2009, 12:52 P.M. (August 4, 2009, 10:52 P.M. EST). Eight minutes remaining in the Mission.

Annabelle was fast asleep on her bed while Neku sat down at the foot of the bed and watched over her. Then Annabelle groaned slightly and slowly opened her eyes. Neku craned his neck so Annabelle could see him and then he waved and said, "Morning sleepy head."

Annabelle jumped at the sight of Neku. "Neku!" she shouted and then she pulled him into a tight hug. "Anna's so sorry, I just can't control mah Psyches when I get scared and bein' isolated from everybody just made me kind of stir-crazy! Anna knows she needs to practice using her Psyches more and she knows that just givin' up when she hasn't even started playin' the Game is a bad thing to do! And Anna doesn't know why she's makin' so many excuses, but what she's really tryin' to say is…! (A/N: When Annabelle gets really excited or flustered she lets her Southern accent slip)."

Neku managed to calm her down when he held her close. "You don't need to explain anything to me. I understand what it's like to feel lonely. You felt so lonely that you wanted to hide your heart from the rest of the world so it wouldn't get broken again. I've done the same thing." Then Neku pulled away from her and continued speaking. "But just know that locking away your heart isn't the right answer. Making friends and exploring new worlds, that's the only way your heart can ever feel whole."

Annabelle frowned, "But Anna's not good at making friends."

Neku smiled at her and simply said, "Moron. I'm your friend."

Annabelle was shocked. "You are?"

"If I wasn't your friend, would I have gone to the lengths that I went to save you?" Neku asked.

She giggled and replied, "I guess not."

"Good. Now that's that settled, we're probably going to be trapped inside this house forever because we're so far away from the exit, so I guess there's nothing left to do but relax and go out with a bang," Neku said as he lied back onto Annabelle's bed.

Annabelle frowned. "You're going to lose everything and it's all Anna's fault."

"No it's not," he replied, "I was the one who chose to save you and everyone else, if just one Player can make it out of here then it will have been worth it."

"Well one would be kind of boring, but what about a hundred?" Neku and Annabelle turned to the left corner of the room and were shocked to see that a girl with long orange hair and a pink kimono had appeared in the bedroom with them. They didn't know but this was of course, Uriel.

"Who are you?" Annabelle asked.

"I'm Uriel and this is my doll house," she replied.

Neku glared at Uriel. "So you're Josh's sister? What did you come here to gloat that you beat me?"

Uriel put her finger to her chin to show that she was contemplating the idea. "As tempting as that sounds, it couldn't be possible since you completed the Mission."

Neku and Annabelle's eyes widened and then they exclaimed together, "What?!"

Uriel giggled at their response. "My little Players, don't you ever figure anything out on your own? The goal of today's Mission was to escape "Doux Rêves" and for a good chunk of the time limit you were both hanging out in little Annabelle's private world. Wasn't that place outside of "Doux Rêves"?"

"Holy shit. We won on a technicality?" Neku asked in surprise.

Uriel nodded. "Consider yourselves lucky I'm counting it. And thanks to Little Miss Illusion over there," she said as she pointed at Annabelle. "All the other Players that weren't already Erased by the mark when she took over the house win as well for being involved in her illusion's show." Uriel smiled at Annabelle. "You young lady are a natural when it comes to Psyches of the theatrical arts, with a little practice you might even be as good as me one day." Annabelle smiled at the flattery and then looked away out of embarrassment.

Then Uriel turned to Neku. "And I've got to say, you handled yourself pretty well out there. I think I can see what Meti and Joshua were talking about now. You've truly got the skills to pay the bills, Sakuraba." Uriel snapped her fingers and then a jar appeared in her hands. She showed the jar to Neku and asked, "Recognize anyone?"

Neku looked in the jar and he saw a dark black blob that was floating in the air contained in the jar. "Is that…?"

Uriel nodded and said, "Meet the culprit behind the marks and fear of "Doux Rêves". The Fear Feaster, he's one of Daddy's old pets. I personally hated sharing this place with him but Daddy made me because he thought he was useful, but when I tell him about all the shit that the little cretin pulled in his absence, I'll have space for a new roommate. Ooh, maybe Sam will move in with me, our power as sisters will be unbeatable." Then Uriel snapped her fingers again and the jar disappeared. "So, for getting rid of the pest, thanks I guess? Jeez, that word feels weird coming out of my mouth." Uriel clapped her hands together, "Okay, onto business. I'll make an announcement for the completion of the Mission so you two just stand there quietly and enjoy the thrill of winning one of the hardest Missions of all time. Sayonara," Uriel said and then she snapped her fingers again and disappeared. Then the PA system turned on again and Uriel's voice came on over the loudspeaker.

Congratulations Players. Due to a technicality caused by an illusion using member of your circle, you were able to escape "Doux Rêves" and enter another world. So please give a big thank you to Neku Sakuraba and Annabelle Greene the next time you see them. And it appears my prediction was spot on, one-hundred of you are left in the Game. Give yourselves a pat on the back for making it this far. But before the Day ends and you all get some much needed rest, a single announcement. Player #51, Kazuma Eturome has taken on a bonus Mission which will last three whole Days. So, to his fellow Teammates, you won't see him again until Week 2 begins.

"What?!" Neku exclaimed in surprise.

Unfortunately, we won't talk again until you guys reach my leg of the Game. Tomorrow, the crappy GM of Shibuya returns to making the Missions. When Week 1 ends, please for me, kick her ass. That's all I have to say. Now for the last time, Sayonara.

The world flashed white and Day 4 ended at last.

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed my longest chapter ever! Next time, Day 5 begins. Kazuma's out and Annabelle's in.