Chuck: Hey all! I spotted a blooper in the last chapter. When P.M runs down the hall at the end, he remembers Yoh and him saying different things. Sorry bout that! It was from the original version I had typed a long time ago. Just try and ignore. Also, when I typed Yoh's death scene another song that I listened to was System of a Down - "Chop Suey". If ya have it try listening to it from the 2nd chorus - the end while reading from when P.M's talking to Tak - the end of the chapter. It goes in quite well, and helps to establish the mood.

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Chapter 14

A Ribbon of Scarlet

Mikihisa led the group as they traveled back through the strange world. He didn't know why the angel had took off the way he did, but he knew it involved Yoh. As they approached the portal, Miki collapsed feeling a strange pain in his chest.

"Miki!" Shizuka was the first by his side. "Daijoubu!"

"Nani? What's wrong with me." Mikihisa remembered his wife once telling him that she had something called 'Baby Spots, and that whenever something happened to Yoh or Hao, she always knew, even though Hao grew up away from the family. Even after the incident on Top of Star, Keiko told him that she had felt an unbearable pain, then she blacked out for a few hours. It was almost like a mix of empathy and 6th sense. Whatever it was, it was possible that this was what he was now experiencing.

Ren frowned. "We don't have time for this. What's the matter with you?"

"I think . . . Yoh's hurt." The Asakura rose to his feet, then looked to the portal. "I'm not gonna like what I see on the other side, am I?" His thoughts were interrupted when he received a sharp kick to the butt. "Hm?"

Horo was the perpetrator. "Let's get a move on!"

"Aa." As he lead the group, he prepared himself for the worst.

There was a rush of pain, then a mixture of cold and confusion. Was there tears? He couldn't tell. He couldn't hear, he couldn't see. He was alone in a world of icy blindness, the pain becoming more unbearable as each second passed. What had happened? Why was he feeling this, but by now it didn't matter, for he became lost in a freezing numbness that washed over his mind and body. Even the pain was fading. All that remained was a feeling of drowsiness. As he felt himself drifting he heard a faint sound in the distance. A voice. It was so desperate, yet so far away; clouded by a deafening silence, much like a child calling out in a forest, but the child remained lost, for no sooner after it was heard did it fade away, leaving the shaman in a state of silent peace. An eternal calm.

"Yoh-kun!" P.M ran to Yoh's side, then after rolling him over, began to gentle shake him while lowering his voice. "Yoh-kun! Yoh-kun! Please . . . open your eyes."

Yoh's color was already fading, leaving an ill, yet almost angelic look to the boy.

"No . . ."

P.M looked back, hearing Mikihisa.

Though he was wearing a mask, you could almost since the expression of horror he held. The rest of the group stood behind him, all in the state.

"You brought it on yourself, you know."

P.M caressed Yoh's face, ignoring his brother.

"If you had just let me take him, he could've been spared that pain." Yulin paused for a moment, then smirked as his brother's hand passed over Yoh's left cheek.

P.M froze seeing a large dark, blueish blemish.

"Of course, it seems that I wasn't the only one who caused him pain."

The angel eyed the bruise, remembering the fight from earlier.

"You''re beginning to sound like Hao."

Slap!

"You are a beautiful person, but your ideas can be very childish. This world can be an ugly place, and when it is, those silly beliefs can get you or others hurt."

He couldn't hold back his tears. "Gomenasai, Yoh-chan!" Drawing the boy closer, he began to weep as the group joined him.

"Yoh." Miki placed a hand on his son's, then after feeling how cold he was, hung his head in sorrow. All was silent during the few moments the group mourned for their friend, when the sound of Yulin's footsteps drew their attention.

He stood before them, sword drawn. "Give him to me."

P.M lifted his head in confusion. "What?"

"Yoh heard me. He's of no use to you anymore; now give him to me!"

P.M rested the limp body in Miki's arms, then rose to his feet. "You can't be serious. Haven't you done enough!"

"I told you that I'm gonna bring Hao back. I don't need that one alive in order to do it." Yulin liftd his hand, then P.M was suddenly thrown from the group. "So beat it, squirt." He began to approach Mikihisa.

P.M cringed. "Mikihisa-san run!"

The sword was swung, and Mikihisa barely dodged. Holding Yoh he began to run from the temple.

"Get back here!" With a blast of ice, Miki was thrown to the ground, then his legs were frozen. "Hmp!" The fallen angel lifted his hand once more, and began forming another blast of ice, when a sharp pain shot through his arm. He grunted then looked to his side. Lyserg had shot the dowsing pendulum through his arm. The young shaman smirked then the wire attached to the penetrated diamond began to wrap around Yulin's arm.

"Little runt!"

Yulin tried to pull away, but the younger shaman began to tighten the wire, causing the blast of ice to fade away.

"Get him now!"

On Lyserg's word, the group began to launch a series of attacks. With a great explosion, the attacks all made contact with Yulin's body. There was a moment of silence as the smoke cleared, then the group became stunned to find Yulin still standing in reasonably good condition, his eyes now glowing a soft blue.

"You just don't get it, do you mortals!" With a wave of his hand, the group felt as if they were being chocked. "I've been alive since before your ancestors were born. I'm not just some little shaman that can lose over soul . . . " Blue flames began to form around his hands, and his body began to glow a dark purple as the group stared in shock. "I'm a real demon." There was a deafening silence, then a blast of light. When all returned to normal, the group laid scattered around the temple. Even the spirits were unconscious.

"Mmm . . . uh . . . nani?" Miki slowly looked up and found Yoh laying a few feet from him. "Yoh. Hold on. I'm coming." Though he knew there was no life in the vessel, he could still feel that Yoh's soul was present; possibly trapped, but present. He began to crawl along the sand, when a black boot suddenly stepped in front of him.

"How sweet. Daddy still loves his little boy, even when he's stone cold."

Miki cringed.

"Funny though ; If you love him so much, where were you on Top of Star?"

"Shut up! You don't even know what happened!"

"Don't I?" The fallen angel began to circle the man as he began to taunt. "From what I heard, you're little boy went to Top of Star all by his little ol' self and got himself killed. Where were you?"

Mikihisa cursed under is breath, then began crawling toward his son once again.

"You're dodging. Well, who wouldn't? I mean, I wouldn't wanna go around talking about how one of my sons beat me up."

"Shut up! Hao was very powerful then! I tried to keep Yoh safe from him!"

"Then why couldn't you? As a father it's your duty to protect your children, isn't it?"

"Hao . . ."

"Hao did this! Hao did that! Whaa whaa!" Yulin knelt down. "When I said protect your children, I meant both of them. Why would you ever consider killing two innocent infants? I bet you can't even honestly say that you haven't looked upon him with nonacceptance." The demon suddenly froze Mikihisa's legs once again.

Tears began to weld up in the shaman's eyes. "Please . . . leave him alone. You've already taken his life."

"Now, now, Mikihisa. There's really nothing to fret about, for you see; I'm going to give him something that you couldn't seem accomplish . . ." Lifting Yoh into his arms, Yulin sneered at the man. ". . . true love," and with that the fallen angel left the man and entered the portal.

"Yoh . . ."

"Nani?" Manta sat up, now freed from possession. He found everyone else awakening as well. "Guys? What happened? It's all so hazy . . ."

"We got our asses handed to us, that's what." Ren brushed himself off, then helped Horo Horo to his feet. "Daijoubu?"

"I am now, Bendy Renny Pointy Poo!"

"Oh God." Ren sighed as Horo began to rub his cheek with his own.

Ryu helped Tamao, and Lyserg up. "Is everyone alright?"

"Mikihisa-sama!" Tamao shot to the man who laid still in the sand. "Mikihisa-sama? Daijoubu?"

"He took him."

"Nani?"

Miki slowly rolled over onto his back, then stared at the sky sadly. "Yulin. He took Yoh away. I was awake, and . . ."

"You mean he has him! Oh crap!" Chocolove began to painc. "That means he's gonna do bad stuff, and bring Hao back, and they'll both do bad stuff, and then . . ."

"Simmer down, Chocolove!" With a sharp poke to the nose, Ren silenced him.

"Yulin shall not succeed." P.M in ghost-ball mode floated up to the group, followed by the other spirits. "We shall go now and prevent him from doing any further damage."

Lyserg sighed. "You mean we'll try. If you hadn't noticed, we're not doing so good either."

Faust rose to his feet, brushing himself off. "It certainly goes against my opinion."

"Yoh would do the same." The group looked to Anna, who stood holding her beads tightly. "Yoh would go, because he would no it's the right thing to do."

The group fell silent, then Amidamaru sighed. "I really do want to go in and get Yoh-dono, before anything else bad happens."

P.M returned to his full mode. "He's got a pretty good head start. Mikihisa, about how long were we all out?"

"Uh, maybe ten minutes."

"Crap! Alright. We'll have to start right away. Manta, I . . ." P.M turned to his younger self and found the boy staring at him with dark eyes.

"You were careless."

"Nani?"

"You knew that Yulin wanted him, and you still left him alone."

"Now is to the time, you two!" Lyserg cleaned off his dowsing pendulum, then looked up. "Let's get Yoh-kun first, then you two can have your little talk."

Manta lookd to P.M stubbornly, then after a moment, sighed and held his arms up. "Lets go."

Hao slept quietly, curled up on his side, when he suddenly felt the bed move. "Hm? Nani?" "Surprise, Anata."

Hao stared seeing Yoh laid next to him. "How . . ." His eyes than caught the site of scarlet. "You . . ."

"Gomen. I tired to bring him alive, but . . ."

The shaman stared at his brother in wonder. He stroked his face, and felt his hands.

"Hao-sama?"

The boy remained entranced for a moment, then looked up to Opacho. "Aa."

"Now that we have Yoh-sama, you can get better, right? No more pain?"

"We're gonna make him better than better. We're gonna resurrect him." Yulin picked Yoh up and hung him on his shoulder.

Opacho tilted his head. "Nani? What are you doing? Don't you just have to remove Yoh-sama's soul and place it in Hao-sama?"

Yulin helped Hao to stand while balancing Yoh on his shoulder. "To fully heal him will take more than just putting Yoh's soul into Hao. The two must fully merge, therefore a more complex procedure must be done." He led Hao into the larger room and helped him to lay down in the center circle. He then walked around and laid Yoh parallel, head to head. "I'll be right back." He left the room for a moment, then returned with a bunch of small white candles. He placed them around the circle carefully, then after a moment he drew a dagger from his coat. "I'll need to draw some blood, Hao-chan."

"Aa."

Opacho watched Yulin work quietly. Though he was glad that Hao was going to be alright, something troubled him. Would this 'resurrection' change Hao? The last time he had seen his friend join with Yoh, he became psychotic, but this was an entirely different story. Hao wouldn't just be gaining Yoh's power and abilities. Thoughts, memories, all would combine to revive the Hao from Yulin's time. The bodies and souls would become one. Yulin made a deep cut in Hao's right hand, then did the same to Yoh's left. He then placed his hand inside his jacket, and after a moment's search, drew a long white ribbion.

"What's that for?"

"The ceremony of course." Yulin took the ribbon and wrapped half of it around Hao's right arm, leaving the end hanging of the boy's hand. "Opacho, make sure the end doesn't touch the blood yet."

"Hai!"

After doing the same to Yoh's left arm, Yulin crouched down. "On the count of three, place the end of the ribbon on Hao's hand."

"Alright, Yulin-sama!"

"1 . . . 2 . . ."

Opacho squeezed his eyes shut. "Be alright Hao-sama."

" . . . 3!"

As soon as the ribbon touched the blood, the candles all lit themselves, scaring the small child; the fallen angel however took it much differently. His eyes seemed to lighten up with excitement, then he jumped to his feet and picked Opacho up. "You can't be in the circle with him." After placing Opacho down, he walked back over to wear the twins laid.

Hao looked to him with drowsy eyes. "What's happening?"

"Shhh. Daijoubu. Everything's going to be fine." Yulin pulled out a small glass jar, that was filled with a white substance. He began to walk around the circle, all the while scattering the substance around the circle.

Hao tilted his head. "Salt?"

"Aa. It will protect the area inside the circle, while containing the spell. Allow yourself to sleep now. It wont be long." Moments passed and soon the ribbon was almost completely stained. Yulin began to speak as the scarlet met. "Birthed in darkness, lost by light; let these two halves reunite. Let crescents full, let hearts be one. Through ribbon of scarlet, it shall be done. Mend the soul that was once torn, from two lives one shall be born. When scarlet meets let him receive, life beyond death. Let him breath!"

"Move it people!"

Ren frowned. "Give us a break, Manta! We're not all super angels like you."

"I'm sorry, I just want to get there in time." Manta led the group through the dark halls until they approached a familiar door. The angel swung the it open, only to become horrified at the site before him. There, in the center of the room stood his brother, embracing and kissing the shadow long since forgotten. His heart raced and he began to tremble. "Yoh-kun?"

His eye's now silver and his body now changed, the 19yr old looked over quietly, then with a soft smile placed his head on Yulin's chest and did a small wave. "Yo."

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Chuck: How was it? "The Shadow Long Since Forgotten". I know it's weird, but I couldn't resist calling him that. That thing with what Yoh felt when he died was actually written when I was half asleep, so if it may be a little weird . . . . yeah . . . Some of you may've noticed that this chapter had a lot Miki content in it. Hee hee hee. I figured he deserved some spot light. Sorry my updating's been kind of weak. As always, school work, chorses, etc. Well, Please R&R! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE R&R! (but nothing to negative of course -)