Hey! I haven't updated in over a MONTH! I know, Lo ciento, lo ciento! Pardona me! Por favor! Anyways, Here's the 2nd to last chapter, I think. It's a bit spooky, but it ties things together. It will mostly make sense from here on out! And my list of htat yous to my patient (or maybe not so patient readers:

To Clarinet Chick: Sorry about the long wait! I hope you love this chappie!

To: lucifers angel666: I have no idea how people in 1946 talked. Oh well! lols, it must be so strange!

To RuRi-RuRi 728: Yay! I got it accurate! (YES!) Lol, I'm a nerd. And if you liked the last 2 chapters, I think you'll like this one!

To JyouraKoumi: I think I like the original crests better... everythings better before it gets translated. :)

To absolutgirl: well, It's a bit late for that, but HAPPY V-DAY! (even though it's lame if you're perpetually dateless) lol.

To Sakura Ai: I love your name... it's very pretty. Anyways, wow! You're a freaking mind reader! lols, this chapter will make everything make sense. :)

To PaochiCute: Hey! Thanks! Anyways don't worry, I wouldn't let her die and make Matt suffer his whole life because he lost his love! I watch Lifetime! lols.

To -Glittery-Bubbles-:Wow! 3 reviews! wheee! Wow, I'm flattered! Again! If that's spamming, bring it ON! Haha, thanks! I hope you love this chapter!

To lazygirl: Nah, I'm sure fried Mimi doens't taste that good. Besides, I'm a vegetarian! lols Wow... am I really that obvious? I've had people guessng right and left about the plot. oh well!

To Kikyotheevilmayden: once again, am I really that obvious? lols, anyways,nah, she ain't gonna die. Matt will save her! Why? Because he's MATT of course! He can do anything! Well, except maybe fend off June... lol

To Eat.Me: i know, this one was slow. hopefully I'll actually find time to type this time

To luvisgood: yep, you guessed it! I won't kill Mimi! Read on:)

To Mimato25cutielicious: yup, here's the next chappie... hope you like it!

To Princessstephanie: I think it was you who wanted the shirt ripping off action! Well, I hope I don't dissappoint you:)

Mrs. Ishida presents...

Chapter 13

Matt POV

Why did I think it was a good idea to leave her in that cabin? What if she stays in the cabin? And what if she follows me out too late? My heart is pounding and the sharp intake of this cold air is making my lungs ache sharply, but that doesn't make me run any slower. My legs are carrying me so fast through trees and over rocks and mounds that it seems like just a blur. I'm running so hard that my head is starting to go light from the lack of oxygen. But I have to keep on. I have to find her. I will not let her die tonight just because of something stupid that I have done. I know I'm getting close because I can start to smell the smoke, can hear the burning over the sharp howls of the wind, and can see a faint orange and red glow up ahead. This must be the section 4 he was talking about. My legs, feet, chest, AND my head are all killing me. I'm about ready to collapse.

But I've got to keep running.

I run up to literally a wall of fire and stop, wanting to have time to think but knowing that it may only take a few seconds to make the difference between her living and dying. I can hardly breathe through all this smoke and start coughing and hacking, but I press on. I move around the wall, and look all around me... it seems to have formed a circle, and is starting to pread, rapidly, but I think I made it in time.

Maybe not.

Just as one of the flames comes down for a split second, I can see something in the ring. Something keeps reflecting the light of the fire. Then, I see the wavy sillouhette of a person. A girl. With brown hair, just like Mimi. It tkaes me a second to react to this.

"SHIT!" I yell quite loudly, and without thinking, rush through the fire. I don't know how I did it without getting burned, but I did. I'm in this ring of fire (A.N: and it burns, burns, burns.. lols, sorry, I had to do that.) with Mimi, lying on the ground, unconscious. Immediately I scoop her limp body and bag up in my arms. Oh god, please let her be alive. I take one last look at her before preparing to get out. She had a small smile on her face, like she was thinking something before she passed out. The fire around us was getting so hot that one side of her was starting to develop blisters and burns. I've gotta get her out of here... but how? There is no way out! Panic starts to set in, despite all my attempts so remain calm. Panic will just make the situation worse. I already can't think, and can hardly breathe... but I've got to do something, or before i know it, I'll end up like Mimi and we'll both die out here.

That wouldn't be so bad...

NO! I can't let my rational thought slip away! I've got to keep thinkng clearly!

But then again, It IS late out... I'm so tired too...

Snap out of it Ishida! Make a run for it! You got yourself in here, and you can get yourself out! I look up for a spot in the fire and before I can jump, over a new low spot I see... a person? Just standing there watching me... am I hallucinating?

No time to decide that... JUMP!

I run through the fire again. Not so lucky this time. I can feel my arm and one side of my face get burned, but I'm alive. We're alive! At least I hope she is... And then I start running again. My head is now pounding 20 times worse than before due to all that smoke inhalation, and my lungs are protesting by refusing to stop coughing. But somehow I manage to keep on going. It's amazing what you can do when you really have to. I don't remember how long I kept running. My legs were getting stiff, my back hurt, the cold air was starting to sting my arm and face and dry my throat, and to top it all off, I nearly trip when I run into a branch. As I stumbled and nearly dropped the unconscious girl in my arms, my shirt gets caught on the damn branch and rips right off. (A/N: that's to the person who requested it. :D) But I have no time to worry about that... where the hell am I going? Oh crap...

Why didn't I think of this before? I'm completely lost! I have no idea where I'm going, and have no clue what to do! All I can see around me is dark forest and nothing else. It doens't look like there's anything around for miles! What if I'm going around in circles? What if-

"Hey, are you lost? We told you it'd be safer to stay in your cabin," A familiar voice says behind me, making me jump. The two park rangers that came to our cabin... what are they still doing out here? In the MIDDLE of the forest? No truck, car, anything to tell me how they got here.

"Thank god... where is the station? I came out, she followed me-" I started, but didn't get to finish.

"We know about that," the ranger, I think his name was T.K., interrupted me, as placid as can be. How the hell can they be so calm at a time like this? I'm starting to think they're on pot or something 24/7. Can't they see the half dead girl in my arms? And how do they know about our argument? What the hell is going on? Before I can ask that, he continues, "We will point you to the station,"

"Great! Where is it?" I ask quickly, panicking. But they show no signs of panic. At all. Just calm, cool, collected. the girl smiles that creepy little smile, and points to a spot behind me.

"What? I already looked arou-" I say turning around.

But there it is. Lit up and everything. How is that possible? When I ran out here, there was nothing. Zip. Nada. And now there's the station. Huh? this isn't fair. My brain doesn't have enough energy right now due to lack of oxygen to clearly string 3 words together. How am I supposed to process this?

"How did I ge-" I start to say and turn around, but they've disappeared again. How do they keep doing that? And who are they? Well, no matter now... there's the station! I've got to get Mimi some help right away! Wo knows how much smoke she breathed in before I came to get her! I do't even know if she's still alive! My feet scream and scream for more running, but it's so close... I can't stop now! Just before I get there, the old man in his jeep pulls up. I can hear him talking to another ranger.

"I found him, and we were looing for the girl, but he took off around Section 5," he explained, once again hopping out of the jeep.

"Section 5? You left him all the way there?" the other ranger asks in shock. I run up.

'Hey! We need to get her to a hospital! I just found her, in the fire!" I start yelling and yelling on my run oevr there. They look at me in utter shock, appearing to not have heard a word I had just said.

"How... How did you get here so fast?" the old man asks in awe. Why is that so important?

"I caught up witht hese two other rangers... they led me here..." I explained, not understanding what was so amazing about all of this.

"When you ran away, we were in section 5... son, do you know what section of the park this is?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at me.

"No..."

"Section 12... over 7 miles away." the other ranger gasped.

""There's no way you could've gotten your friend and ran back over 7 miles before he got here in the car!" We all stand in stunned silence for a moment. Wait a minute, what about Mimi?

"It doesn't matter! We've got to get her to a hospital! Now!" I say exasperated.

"I'll call for the doctor," the younger ranger says and dashes inside. The old man slowly makes his way to me.

"Son, what's your name?"

"Matt," he smiles a little.

"And Matt, what did these two rangers look like?" I don't see what this has to do anything, but ok.

"One boy and one girl. The boy had black hair and brown eyes and was shorter than me, and the girl was shorter than he was and had brown hair and black eyes. They were really pale too. But the weird thing was they never introduced themselves. They just came by, told us to stay in the cabin, and left. We didn't even hear them leave. And they were really... calm... not worried at all about the fire," I explained. He looked off in the distance as if he knew something I didn't.

"You've done it again, Redwood," he said quietly. Before I could even ask what the hell he was talking about, the other ranger came out of the cabin.

"Why are you still standing out here? Come inside, he's on his way,"

The inside of the cabin was so warm. I was exhausted, thirsty, sore, burned, hungry, and all I wanted to do was curl up in my bed at home and sleep for a few days. I set down the bags I was carrying on the floor, ser Mimi on the couch, and sat on the floor in front of her. the older ranger handed me a bottle of water, which I took grtefully and sucked it down like a camel. About 10 minutes later, there was a knock on the door. A younger man stepped in, looking tired, but ready to get to work with a overstuffed black bag in hand.

"She's over here," the younger rnager led the doctor to over to Mimi. He pulled out several items out of that bag, still leaving it overstuffed, and examined her for a few minutes. Every few seconds he'd nod his head and say "Mmmmhhmmm" "ohhh," "Mmmmhmmm. After a few minutes of this, I wanted to punch him. All those "mmhhhmmm"s and no answers were driving me crazy.

"So?" I finally asked, breaking his concentration. He gave me an annoyed look, but explained.

"She's fine, jsut a bit of smoke inhalation and a few minor cuts and bruises. Nothing serious," he said as he re-packed his bag

A few hours later

Mimi's POV

"Is she really going to be ok?"

"Yeah, you heard what the doctor said... she should be awake within the hour."

"Thank god"

Silence

"So... how long have you loved her?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. How long have you loved her?

Silence

"The old guy didn't tell you, did he?"

Laughter

"No, he didn't tell me. It's fairly obvious. Well, from what I hear, to everyone except her,"

"For years now... we've been together, then we broke up because I was an ass and couldn't find time. But I'd really like to tell her.. I just don't know if I can..."

"Why not? If she loved you before, I'm sure she'd love you again,"

"I don't think so... she pretty much hates me... but I don't know what I would've done if I lost her. I don't know how much longer I can pretend not to still care about her... and I...

Silence

Nothing but black, strange dreams of things that make no sense, flashback memories of fire, darkness, and running, and a disguting taste in my mouth and throat.

I break out in coughs. Did I hear what I think I heard? It sounded like Matt and someone unrecognizable. But Matt just stopped in the middle of his sentence. And where am I? I cough several more times and finally open my eyes, to see sunlight jsut coming through the windows and Matt at my side. I make an attempt to sit up, but he gently pushes me back down.

"Just lay back Mimi... You've had a rough night... how are you feeling?" he asks softly, in a tone that sends shivers down my spine. Not because it's cold, just to hear that tone again, the same tone he used when he loved me. I lay back down and shift to my side to face him.

"I'm fine... my throat burns and so do my eyes and I'm sore, but otherwise I'm fine... Matt, what happened?"

He tells me all about what happened last night and how he found me unconscious, and ran back to the station.

"You forgot about the rangers" a voice said from behind Matt. I stretched to see who it was. It was a ranger, an old man, and he was grinning.

"Oh yeah... those two rangers who came by... they found me in the middle of the forest with you, told me where the station was, and I was there. It was really creepy,"

I scrunch my eyebrows trying ot think of who they could be. While thinking, I look around the room, and my eyes stop on a big black and white enlarged picture on the wall.

There's no way.

I gasp.

"What?" Matt asks, surprised. He turns around and follows my gaze, straight at the picture.

There in the picture, are two rangers, a girl and a boy. They have they're arms wrapped around each other. The girl had brown hair and black eyes, and the boy had black hair and brown eyes. The two rangers. But this photo had to be taken... years ago...

"Ahh, I see you've found the park guardians," the old man chuckles.

"Park... guardians?" I ask, amazed.

"Yes. You see, this photo was taken waaaay back in 1945... that's my sister and her boyfriend, when they were 16. the youngest rangers of the park,"

"T-that can't be... they were the ones who came to our cabin and warned us and led me to the station," Matt managed to get out. The old man jsut smirked even more.

"It is possible, young man, because that is my sister Kira and her boyfriend Takeru (A/N: again, coincidence)."

"Takeru?" I ask... Takeru, Takeru... shorten that, and that's... T.K.!

"Of course. T.K. and I must be leaving soon, though." That was the ranger in the picture who told me that. The girl. The strangely calm girl.

"How.." I trail off.

"You see, my sister Kira and the other young ranger fell in love here when they were only 17. Before then, they were great friends. You could always tell they were completely crazy about each other. One night, on a night quite like last night, a fire started and spread rapidly. Kira was out in it radioes for help. We all told Takeru it was crazy, but he insisted on going out to get her. They never returned, and they're bodies were never found. I've been working here since I was 17, and every year we get reports of the same 2 rangers, warning campers of fire dangers and leading them to safety when they're lost. We called her Redwood because that was her favorite tree; she wanted a whole grove of them when she grew up." he finished. There was dead silence. I was too spooked ot even shiver.

"So... you're sayin that the two rnagers who helped up... were ghosts or your sister and her boyfriend? They died in the fire and..." Matt started but was cut off.

"But never got a proper funeral. In my belief, they died together, so they watch over the park that they loved so much in life, forever. Don't you ever wonder why there have almost never been any deaths due to fires here in this particular forest?"

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Whoot, I love good paranormal stories! Not saying mine's good, but I still love 'em! I'm kinda spooked... how I came up with this plot, I have no friggin' idea. lols. Anyways, I think just one or two more chapters should do it! Yay!