Oh my god...I think this is it! This is probably one of my shortest stories, but it was sweet and I loved writing it. It made me soooo happy! I would like to thank a few people for various reasons. I'd like to thank Jade for believing in this story and never actually throwing her shoe at my head, for always being my number one fan, as I am hers! I'd like to thank Agent Kodama for never giving away the plot to others as she was the ground I tested this idea upon. We should all live in a little world where life and love are happy. And everyone is asexual, ne Agent Kodama? I would also like to thank everyone who reviewed this story, but most especially, I'd like to extend a special thank you to Ah-Young. You see, only two people reviewed the first chapter of this story, and since Jade reviews every chapter of every one of my stories, she already knows how much I love her. But Ah-Young was the first person to review this story at all, and were it not for that one review, I might have never continued. I also appreciate my other faithful reviewers, but Ah-Young is special to me. And of course, as I am narcissistic to no small extreme, I would like to thank myself for coming up with the plot of this story. Cause yeah, it was me. And I would like to thank Sarah McLachlan, who I listened to almost constantly when writing this story. She may never read this, but who cares! She deserves a thank you too. Now, with no further ado, the last chapter of this story...
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In The Arms Of The Angel
Part 6
*****
Spend all your time waiting
For that second chance
For the break that would make it okay
There's always some reason
To feel not good enough
And it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
Oh, a beautiful release
Let memories seep through my veins
Let me be empty, falling weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight
In the arms of the angel
- Sarah McLachlan Angel
Light crept over the room, coming in through the gap left between the white curtains, leaving a beam as it crawled over the beige carpet, up the side of the bed with it's haphazardly placed cream comforter. It left shadows as it crossed over the hills and valleys of the fabric, over a carelessly extended foot, and on up over a tangle of limbs that could only be a pair of lovers sleeping in an intimate embrace, their senses dead to the world that extended beyond that bed. Slowly, but with a fluid grace of one who was well rested and truly content, an arm stretched from it's resting place before finding it's way back around the waist of the woman still sleeping in those arms. Making a sleepy noise of protest at the advent of day, she moved closer to her lover, nuzzling her face in the crook of his neck.
"Mmm, what time is it?" she asked the man she lay with. He yawned deeply, holding her more tightly to him.
"Too early...I'm exhausted." and he sounded as though he could sleep for days and weeks and months, his voice was so full of sleep. But then, the woman woke so suddenly, nearly jumping from his arms and leaving him with no choice but to blink his weary maroon orbs up at her, wondering at her excited state. "What's...wait a second..."
"You...you're here still!" Hitomi shrieked, leaping back at him and tackling him into the soft mattress. "You're still here and it's morning!"
"What happened?" Van wondered, happy, but confused at this turn of events. Hitomi hugged him tighter, kissing at his throat as though verifying that he was really there. "How am I here?" Van asked. Then, as if on some secret cue, Hitomi's pendant rolled off the edge of the bedside table, hitting the floor with a soft thump. Hitomi lifted her head, tears of happiness still streaming down her face as she picked up the powerful charm, which swirled with a bright pink light and was warm to the touch.
"The pendant..." Hitomi's eyes grew wide. "I wanted for so long...I asked so many times for you to stay...why did it only work now?"
"Maybe...because it works on the power of people's emotions. It feeds on what we're feeling, and that gives it the power to grant wishes." he told her, sitting up and stroking the side of her face, looking up at her adoringly.
"So last night...with our love and our need to be together...we made it happen?" Hitomi's voice caught and she let Van's arms envelope her, pulling her body against his, helping her to see how truly real this moment was, how strong their feelings were, so thick she could scarcely breathe.
"Hitomi...I've wanted this for so long, but after I died...I never thought I'd see you again." Van admitted, choking slightly on the words. "Now that I'm here, I'll stay for the rest of my days, however long or short that might be."
"I hope it's a long time. I never want to say goodbye to you again, Van. I love you." Hitomi told him, moving against his body, letting him taste the tears on her face.
"I love you too, Hitomi. Always." He kissed her soundly, both of them ignoring the morning as they nestled into each other's arms, feeling each other and feeling a hope for a future that might not have been.
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"Mommy, mommy look!" a little boy with dark, unruly hair ran to his mother, climbing into her arms to show her the rocks he had found for her. "See? This one looks like a cat...and this one's red...and this one's pointy like a sword...and this one's smooth and dark!"
"Very nice, Van honey." the woman kissed his head, accepting the presents before he ran off to play in the garden again.
"He looks so much like your father, you have no idea." an elderly woman told her, smiling fondly at the small boy, her grandson.
"I wish he'd been able to meet dad." the mother sighed. "Mom, do you think that dad can see him...from where he is?"
"I'm sure of it, my dear." she patted her daughter's head, standing up with little difficulty. "I know that he sees us, and that he still wants us to know that he loves us all very much."
"How do you know, mom?" the woman asked. "I mean, how do you know for sure?"
"He visits me." she told her in a soft voice meant only for her daughter to hear. "As long as I carry him in my heart, we are tied together. As long as I have this..." the older woman reached to her neck, showing her daughter the pink stone she wore around her neck. "This pendant...it still has our love in it. When I forget that he cared for us, and that he wanted to be with us...when I think it's unfair he died so young, I look at this, and it reminds me to treasure what times I had, what times I may yet have when we're finally together again."
"Mom..." the woman was at a loss. She didn't want to call her mother crazy, and somehow, the words were reassuring. Maybe if her mother believed in it so strongly, it was true.
"Varie, I know you don't believe me, but it's true. Not a day goes by that I don't wish he was still here with me." the older woman sighed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go inside for a moment. It's too warm out here and my body is too old for this weather."
"Alright, mom." Varie smiled after her mother before turning her attention back to her son playing with pebbles on the ground. From inside, the older woman watched them through a window.
"They're so young, so sweet and innocent." she spoke to no one in particular.
"I know it, Hitomi." a male voice answered, and she turned to see a man who looked much younger than her.
"Van, I miss you. Varie misses you too." Hitomi smiled softly at the ghost. "If only you had not been so weak in your second life, you might be here with me still."
"I am here, my dear." Van told her, his ethereal hand brushing over her age wrinkled face. "And if I had to die young, it was worth it to spend the last of my days with you."
"When will we be together again, Van?" Hitomi asked him.
"I've told you before." he smiled at her. "In two years, one month, and six days."
"I wait for that time." Hitomi sighed. "It's useless for me to be here anymore."
"Don't say that." Van told her. "You can see our daughter and our grandson. You can hold them in your arms and feel their warmth. You can spend all this time with them, time I was never given."
"I know it, Van." Hitomi smiled at the ghost as it began to fade. "But I won't be happy until we're together. Until then, know I love you."
"And I love you. Always." Van's figure faded and Hitomi sighed, turning her eyes back to the small bits of family she had left. The only proof that Van had lived again and that they had loved each other so deeply. The only proof she needed, more proof than she could have wanted.
"Soon, my love." she smiled. "Soon I'll be in your arms once more."
*****
The End!