One More Chance

By: Lakija X

Author's Notes:

I took the advice of WinterDistortion! Thank you for it. I was going to expound a little more eventually, but I wanted to make it so that Mio's empty feelings were realized. Did it work? Oh well, depite that, this chapter is definitely going to pull out all the stops on Mio's emotions though.

Mio:

Chapter Three: A Love That Was Mistaken

I walked along the forlorn path, where I'd seen the boy at first. The butterflies were leading me somewhere I'd been already.

The cemetery.

The white butterflies had led.

Come closer...

I was standing in front of the cemetery. The butterflies left. I was supposed to go inside, I guess, to meet this person.

My feet were carrying me toward the his location almost involuntarily. I just wanted someone to comfort me. I was soaked in jealousy. And now I needed companionship.

I looked around in the graveyard. It was quiet, aside from the ghostly murmuring of lost souls buried here. At least no one was attacking me. I looked around for the boy I'd seen earlier. He was not here. I sighed, lowering my eyes. I guess I could just... cry all the way back to Mayu... the boy wo;dn't stay put. Then, there he was. Like magic.

The boy, was on his knees. So many white butterflies were fluttering near the boy. He was looking down at his hands. A single white butterfly was in them. The atmosphere was so frightening, but his area had a certain warm glow.

Then the butterflies vanished softly.

I looked at him. I lifted my camera, going painfully slowly. He seemed so tranquil. And I was so miserable. But I'd seen plenty like him, who appeared calm. Then the next second, you're unconscious and freezing unbearably. I prepared to capture his spirit with my camera, but something happened. He looked at me.

"Hi... Mio."

I gasped. Mutsuki! I accidentally clicked the shutter.

He'd said my name.

Picture Two-----Mutsuki's Serene Wait
He did not seem to mind... at first anyway...

Silence...? Why was there fear in my heart? Mutsuki looked at me, his eyes trembling.

Silence. My eyes watered from the cold air. They were already puffy.

Silence... I rubbed them.

Then...

"Mutsuki. You are... alive."

Mutsuki's pale skin contrasted his black hair. His kimonos were a bit too big for him. His smile was too flowing.

His eyes looked so much like Chitose's. They glittered. They were so dark, that it was impossible to tell his pupil from his iris. I just saw the light bouncing off of his eyes. Like small white orbs floating in a black void. Sad eyes.

Then... staring at Mutsuki, who was pure poetry, my worst nightmares arose. So pensive.

He disappeared.

My heart dropped into my stomach. It was so sudden, and I didn't know what I was feeling. Was it because I took his picture? A tear escaped from my eyes. Then another. And another... I dropped my camera onto the ground. I sort of bounced to the grave in front of me. What had I done?

"Wait! I'm sorry... I didn't mean to... I mean... please come back."

Then... Mutsuki appeared behind me. I hiccupped. I guess he pitied my whining.

His arms wrapped around me so slowly. So softly, then they rested on my arms, holding them. I could feel his breath on my neck. His wispy hair touched my face. He was so cold. But... at the same time, I felt so warm.

His face touched mine. His chin resting on my shoulder. Fear struck me as his lips became dangerously close to mine. And all the while, I felt that I really knew him. As if... I'd felt his presence many, many times before.

"Mio..." he whispered. His eyelashes brushed against my face.

As I started to fantasize about what my friends at school would think about this (And I pretended that they were sooo jealous...), a ghost appeared before me. It was the Broken Neck Woman. She'd suffered so much. Now she wanted me. I whimpered, as I shot my glance toward the camera I'd dropped.

But Mutsuki's arms tightened around me. At first, I was frightened. I thought that he was trying to hurt me.

I shouldn't have been.

"Leave her alone..." he uttered, in the very least fear-provoking voice possible. But still, I felt a sure coldness in his tone. As if he wasn't afraid to kill her.

The ghost looked at him. She backed away. She seemed to be scared of him. The Sacrificed Alter Twin that was not a butterfly. He was a vengeful spirit.

Then, the white butterflies appeared.

She glanced at them, but cried out in pain. Her neck. She had twisted her neck to follow the fluttering creatures.

That must have hurted big time. She disappeared.

Mutsuki's embrace softened.

"Mio... I... wanted to come with you."

I gasped.

"Mutsuki?"

"Please. Don't speak yet. I have to tell you something."

His voice caused me to obey.

"I want to come with you, but I can't."

"But..."

"Shh..."

I whimpered softly.

Mutsuki continued, uncomfortably. He hadn't meant to silence me so stiffly.

"Please leave this place. It isn't safe. You've roamed this village too long. Now that you have awakened the peace, sin cannot not exist in this soon to be purified place. Certain events will be omitted from history now that you have... well. found Itsuki again. So the darkness must end, one way or another. But if you do not leave before daylight is broken, you will stay living in this darkness forever. I however, must stay here for the long run."

I was silent.

I couldn't believe this. I didn't want to leave him here. He was... really the one I wanted. He had been with me or a long time, I knew it. Perhaps he used to love Yae...

I'd cried so much about Mayu and Itsuki. I couldn't get what I wanted. Ever. Now tears threatened to spill again. Poor Mutsuki, poor me.

"No Mio. Don't cry. Not for my misfortune."

I couldn't stop the silent grief.

"Mio, I..."

I whirled around to face him, forcing him to remove his hands from my arms. I balled my fists.

"Why? Why do you have to stay here? I don't understand. Why can't you come with me."

He did not speak.

"Please tell me, Mutsuki."

He looked into my eyes. His were so sad. His head hung. It looked like he was crying a little. I heard him too.

My hands unballed. What did I do that for? He was very sensitive. It made my stomach do a flip.

His voice was so soft. Just so fragile that it might shatter if I spoke a bit too loud. His timid demeanor was simply melting me.

He whispered.

"It's not so simple... to revive me like you did my brother. I was thrown into the Abyss. It can only release me if the Abyss is sealed. There's no way..."

I couldn't help but lean my cheek toward his.

I touched his hand.

"I didn't know that..."

So warm.

"Mio. I love you."

I looked back up. His eyes shifted to my hands.

I was clutching his hands. Tightly. My hands were clammy.

He wouldn't look up at me.

"What?" I hiccupped again.

"I've gazed at you so many times since you arrived... and I couldn't leave you to die here. I've been following you. Helping you."

I was so nervous now, standing in front of him. He was confessing his love to me. But something didn't add up.

"You were helping me?"

"Yes, leaving keys, and clues."

"It wasn't your brother then? Because I thought that... it was him."

"He was a confined ghost, living in an endless cycle. I am a free ghost, to roam the village, but not rise to the heavens. It's okay that you didn't realize. It's very much...a forgivable misconception, on my part."

So that was the missing piece. My face practically saddened by itself. I had mistaken Mutsuki for someone else. But now I knew. A tear escaped.

"I'm so sorry. Mio. But just know that... you're a very...caring person." He wiped the tear away, looking up at me.

"Mutsuki. I'm so sorry I didn't know. I just... jumped to conclusions..."

"That's alright. You're so special like a precious stone. All of the treasure in the world couldn't replace you. The way you take care of your sister... your bravery... You've tried to save your sister all of this endless night... I knew that you were sad about my brother, but your sister loved him. I suppose you feel better now that you have someone of your own to love you"

I blushed.

"I just mean that..."

Before he finished, the butterflies floated around my head playfully. They lulled me toward the boy's chest, until my hands were flat against it.

Mutsuki blushed, looking down at me. Our eyes locked.

We just stared at each other. Both of us scared to see what would happen. Then, Mutsuki broke down. His face softened, like glass being blown into a beautiful design. He melted me with those eyes, his smile drenched in honey.

"Your eyes... are so beautiful..."

My eyes watered. Then, like a magnet, my head leaned upward. He was tall to be so timid and sweet. He leaned forward.

Forward until his lips touched mine.

Then...

He kissed me.

A long sweet kiss that lasted forever. I kissed him back. It was inevitable. Passionate. A dream. His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me forward slowly. I put my arms around his neck. He kissed me so softly, that I could not back away.

"Mio... where are you?"

I heard the others calling for me.

Mutsuki did not pull away immediately. The kiss lasted a few moments longer...

"Let's check on Misono Hill!" I heard. They wre coming. To rain on my parade.

Then, Mutsuki's lips halted.

He began to back away slowly. I was so entranced that I was still in position. Mutsuki's hands straightened my face. So that he was looking at me again. A tear fell from his eye. I wiped it away. A lot of tears were escaping tonight.

He wouldn't get to...do this again. To love.

I dug my face into his chest deeply. He stroked my hair, then rubbed the back of my head. I was so emotional now. Heartbreaks that didn't exist and loves that were always there, all in this terrible day. It was so much...

Then he kissed my forehead, delicately.

"I love you so much Mio... I can't..."

"I love you too! I do! I always had!!!" I cried, squeezing him in an everlasting embrace. I moved my head side to side in a frenzy.

Mutsuki rubbed his head against mine.

"Will I see you again?" I asked, though it came out muffled, and my voice was cracking. He heard anyway.

"I..."

"Mio! Oh, I see her! Up there."

I looked at Mutsuki, startled.

"Please, don't leave me!"

He put his head on top mine, his tears now spilling down my face. I could hardly decipher his from mine.

Mutsuki spoke softly into my hair.

"Just remember Mio... that you are my precious Mio..."

"No, don't go!"

I hugged him so tightly, that I could scarcely feel my arms. He held me too. Strongly. He was strong. He rested his head on mine more lightly.

"My precious gem..." he whispered, though his beautiful voice was fading, sounding more muted. More static. More ghostly.

"Please Mutsuki! Stay... stay..."

I cried into his chest. Still holding on. I felt that I could make him remain that way...

"Stay, stay, stay."

I was holding on... So bracingly.

His tears had drenched my bangs, but now they stopped. His breath was not blowing my hair anymore.

Then I felt his body fading.

Fading...

Fading...

He kept fading until I was not hugging him anymore. Until I was hugging myself. The embrace between us had vanished. I stayed that way for a few seconds, until realization sunk in.

He was gone.

He was gone.

My heart burned. I had wasted so much time, not finding Mutsuki sooner. I blew it. I just let my arms hang in the air. My tears fell to the ground. Like... gems.

"Mio! Oh, what's wrong."

Mayu ran to me, limping all the way down the stone path. She tripped on a stray rock. But she kept coming until she was near me. She hugged me. My sister was comforting me. She rubbed my hair. This was my Mayu, the motherly, Mayu I knew at home.

"What's wrong?"

The tears were nonstop now. But my face remained stony. Emotionless.

"I... I...mean... nothing. I fell up here. And the ghost scared me so much."

I lied.

"That's okay. No ghost is going to get you. Mio, it's okay."

But in my heart, everything was not okay.

I was about to help Itsuki find the keys to escape the village when I saw it. Near my feet.

A faded red diary.

With Mutsuki's name inside the cover. It was dull as well.

In fresh red ink, my name was scribbled below it:

"To my Mio... this is probably the last aid I can give."

Inside, were four circular keys with jewels rotating around the center. All of which were required to exit the village. And my camera lay next to it. With my picture of my love. Mutsuki.

Mutsuki...

It was almost 4:45 a.m.

Sunrise... was a few hours away, I think.

We had plenty of time to leave... but...

I had to seal the Abyss...
Because maybe... just maybe...

I could end the dark. And spare Mutsuki.

"Um... is the love over yet?"

Mayu and I looked at Chitose. She smiled at me, winking her eyes.

I smiled, at her. What a tricky girl. But she was so innocent, I couldn't be mad that she didn't tell me about Mutsuki earlier. She knew that he wanted to meet me that way.

Mayu wiped my eyes. She wanted to know what was going on, but Chitose's smiling face was contagious.

She had everyone smiling.

Itsuki just raised his eyebrows as he smiled lightly. He looked so much like Mutsuki. His eyes I noticed, were gray. And I realized why I'd thought Mutsuki and he were so alike. Because they were so close. After I freed Mutsuki, I vowed to regain my sisterly relationship with Mayu.

I gave the keys to Itsuki.

"You guys leave."

"What?! But you have to come."

"No, I have to do something."

Chitose ran over to me.

"Yup! And I've go to stay with her as well!"

Of course, we argued about whether or not I would stay. I was bent on saving my Mutsuki from the Darkness. So I won.

And Chitose came along. She would prove to be very helpful.

Author's Notes:

That was rather deep, huh? Well, I hope you liked chapter three. It was good writing to me. Chapter Four will be on depending on the reviews! So Please leave a review!

Thanks you guys, for reviewing! You know who you are, I presume! Lol

Thanks for reading!!! -