CHAPTER 15: Waking Up

"Himeno... Himeno?"

Himeno blinked her eyes open slowly. Sunshine warmed her skin and a gentle breeze kept it from getting too hot. Something wet was touching her toes, there and then gone only to come back again. She picked her head up enough see what it was. The ocean. She smiled and closed her eyes again, stretching out on the warm sand beneath her. It felt SO GOOD just to finally relax. This place was so peaceful. She didn't want to leave it, not ever.

There was was a brush of fingers against her cheek and she turned her head into it, opening her eyes again. Hayate sat next to her, hair blowing free. His knees were tucked up to his chest so she couldn't tell if the thin white shirt was completely unbuttoned or just partially. He smiled gently and continued to cares her cheek in softly. "You're finally awake," she heard his voice say. His lips never moved though.

Smiling back, she held his hand to her cheek, kissing his wrist gently. "Sorry, was I out long?" She wasn't sure if her mouth moved, but the words were there. How strange...

Hayate laughed softly, thumb running aliong her lower lip. "Not very."

Sighing, she snuggled in against his side. He stretched out next to her, using an arm as a cushion for his head. "Did we win?" she asked, mind touching briefly on the battle. She couldn't remember much of it. Everything was just so fuzzy!

"Yes, we won. It's all over now. Shimura's been contained, her army defeated. There's nothing left we need to do." His arm tightened around her waist, tucking her up against his chest. "We can stay here forever even if you want."

She smiled at the thought of just staying, with him, on this lovely beach. Sea gulls screeched over head, the ocean roared in the back ground. It was a perfect place... so why did she feel something was missing? "Hayate?"

"Yes?" He sounded almost as if he'd been about to drift to sleep again on her.

"Let's go back. I want to see Mawata again. And Blaise and Kei and Mannen and Hajime and Shin. I wanna see them all again and show them this place. Sete would love it here."

He sighed, sounding disappointed. "Are you sure? I'm exhausted and I can only imagine you are as well. Let's just stay here... and sleep a bit..."

Himeno slugged him in the shoulder, hard. "We can sleep at home! Let's go see the others."

Grumbling, Hayate opened his eyes again slowly. It took a little more effort, but he finally got to his feet. Together, they walked hand in hand down the beach. The distance faded away into the soft white light of the sun reflecting off of crested waves. "Do you even know where we're going, Tulip-head?" This time, his lips DID move when he spoke.

It was getting colder and colder the closer they came to the end of the beach. Grinning, Himeno nodded. "We're going home, dummy!"

No one moved an inch closer to the pair. Mawata was clinging to his blood spattered armor, sobbing and almost unable to stand. Kataru stared blankly at the two on the ground. Hayate was on his side with one arm limply draped over Himeno's stomach. Himeno lay on her back, head tilted toward Hayate. Neither one was moving. "Sete," Kataru finally croaked out, swallowing heavily passed the tears choking him. "SETE!"

Sete blinked tear filled green eyes. "Sir... the leafe... I-I can't without... without leafe to rebuild..."

He knew what she was saying. There wasn't any leafe IN them to heal. And if there wasn't any leafe... "Well, I don't like that answer. Try anyway."

"Kataru, there's nothing-," Kei began.

"I SAID TO BLOODY TRY IT, NOW TRY IT!"

Sete winced at the shouted command. Slowly she walked forward, Kei right behind her with a hand on her lower back to offer a little comfort. She knelt down, hands hovering over Himeno first. A soft green light formed under her hands. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting anxiously for some kind of miracle. After several tense minutes, Sete's hands dropped and her shoulders curled forward in defeat.

"It's no good," she whispered. Kei pulled her in, stroking her long hair back and kissed her cheek as she finally began to cry silently. He heard Shin's and Hajime's wails shortly before the two flung themselves on Himeno and Hayate, Shin screaming for them to wake up.

"Damn it, will someone get the little ones out of here?" Kei snarled, wiping angrily at his own eyes. It wasn't right for them to see their captain and Pretear like this! Hell, it was more than that. No child should see ANYONE they considered family like this.

Pasha and Ravijot stepped forward, Ravijot easily guiding Hajime away while Pasha quite literally fought Shin, prying his tiny fingers open from Hayate's blood soaked shirt.

Once they were out of sight, Kataru finally gave way and pressed the heel of his hand into his eye, sniffling. Mawata had fallen to her knees, still clinging to him and was crying almost as loud as the little ones had been. His fingers wound through her mussed up curls shortly before her hand found his and held it in a death grip. Clearing his throat again, he said, "We need to... we need to pick them up, get them out of the mud. Someone make a stretcher or two. We'll take them back to the Palace... give them a right proper..." He couldn't even finish it. That was his best mate, his brother, lying there looking so damn peaceful while covered in blood. It wasn't FAIR! It just wasn't... Shaking his head, Kataru lifted Mawata to her feet, guiding her away.

This wasn't how things were supposed to end! All those fairy tales about brave knights and princesses defeating evil... what bullshit! THIS was the reality! Himeno and Hayate had given everything they had to save them all... and THIS was how such a selfless act was repaid! Slowly, his guards filed in behind him as he continued walking Mawata away from her sister's body. It was unfathomable to refer to those two as 'bodies'. It wasn't right, it wasn't fair and he just didn't bloody LIKE it!

Kei watched numbly as two knights tied a cloak between two spears, another two working on the same make-shift stretcher not too far away. God... after all that... He couldn't believe it. There was a saying among the knights that being a team captain cuts your life in half, but being a Pretear cuts it down to a third. He'd always thought it was crap until today. It was hard imagining going back to the safe house now. Hayate had always been a calming presence, even when he was pissed off. They all stayed together because of HIM. And Himeno... not hearing her laughter, her shouting... eating her God-awful food. She was too young, far too young, to have died like this! He rocked Sete back and forth gently, her nails biting into his shoulders through the fabric of his shirt.

He buried his face against her neck and shoulder to hide his own tears. Another weight settled beside him and it took him a second to realize it was Feryn, eyes red as he fought not to cry. Kei scowled at him and snarled, "Stop trying to act like a man and bawl your damn eyes out already!" Feryn blinked in surprise before he offered a very weak smile, tears finally breaking free.

Knights were already carefully laying the bodies onto the stretchers to be taken back with all due reverence to the Palace. Kei refused to let Sete look, even when she struggled to push away. It had been completely unfair of Kataru to ask her to heal them, knowing full well she couldn't! Now she was going to feel guilty for being unable to save them. Damn that man! He was so focused on Sete's pain that he didn't notice the murmur coming from those still around them.

It took Feryn urgently shaking him to get him to look up. "For the love of God, what?" he snapped.

"Mon Dieu! Comment cela se fait possible?"

"What the hell did you just mutter?" Kei drew back from Sete, completely confused over the Frenchman's babbling. He frowned when he noticed how wide Feryn's eyes were. Whatever had him shocked to that he resorted to full blown French was behind him. That was when to murmurs of astonishment came to his ears.

"Ils etes vivantes! Kei, ecoutez!"

Sete sat up sniffling and wiping her eyes, giving Kei a bleary eyed glare. "Someone slap him or gag him or translate," she muttered.

Ignoring her, Kei, turned slightly to see what had gotten the Frenchman's attention. And then he very nearly fainted dead away. "Impossible! How is it possible?"

"That is just what I SAID," Feryn shouted angrily, shoving Kei roughly.

"Touch me again like that and I'm turning Sete loose on you!" Sete scowled at him before following his startled gaze. She gasped, sitting up and staring with the rest of them.

Not a person dared to breathe when Himeno's hand twitched again. That utter stillness was broken by a soft groan from Hayate. ANd then...

Everyone was screaming at once. Sete shoved her way through the people, already calling up her leafe to help stop the wounds.

"Someone, catch up with the Topaz Prince," Kei shouted above the noise. "And get some damn gauze as well! Sete can't take care of all of this on her own!" He continued issuing orders left and right, knights flying through the air, Pretears crowding close in case Sete needed help. All the while, one thought kept pounding itself through his head; Himeno and Hayate were alive! And was he going to let them have it for scaring the piss out of him!

Himeno opened her eyes slowly, puzzled by the fact she was no longer on that beach but in a soft bed. She was dimly aware of faint sunlight coming through curtain drawn around the bed, of a weight across her stomach, a warmth to her side... and of being incredibly sore! She doubted there was a muscle that didn't ache. Her hands had been wrapped in gauze strips, bandaids on her cheek and across her split lip. She reached up, wincing at having to move her arm, and peeled the plastic strip off of her lip. "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

The weight across her stomach tightened a little before the warmth shifted. Hayate's breath stirred the hairs of her neck as he snuggled in closer. She turned to him slowly, seeing him for the first time since the beach. Funny, there he didn't look this crappy. There was a deep cut above his eye that had been stitched up and gauze covered his entire upper chest as well as most of his arms. She couldn't see under the covers but could imagine they went well below his pants, too.

"Hey... Hayate? Are you awake?"

"I am now," he mumbled, blue eyes parting only a fraction to meet hers.

Himeno smiled, turning onto her side, hissing at the sharp stab going through her chest. "I think we survived."

"Hn... hurray for us. Can I sleep now?"

"No! I wanna talk. I had a really weird dream. It was good, but it was weird. We were on a beach-,"

"-And you wanted to show it to everyone," he finished, eyes fully open now and looking concerned.

Himeno froze, the warmth suddenly fading from her. That was just... "Creepy. We had the same dream." She shivered a little and regretted it instantly as it forced her back to move. Ouch! She felt like she'd been forced under a steam roller, blown back up and then slammed back down by an anvil!

"Yeah, that IS creepy," Hayate teased, kissing her nose before letting his eyes close again.

"Don't be such an asshole. Hey, Hayate?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think... do you think maybe we...?"

Hayate's eyes opened again to give her a thoughtful stare. She waited, wanting to bite her swollen lower lip but not daring to because of the cut. "I don't know. It could have been just the fact that we went down while still preted."

Smiling, Himeno carefully draped her arm over a spot that didn't look too badly damaged and sighed. "Maybe. Go to sleep now, Hayate."

"About time, too."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was seriously THIS CLOSE to killing them... but I couldn't bring myself to do it! And sorry if the French isn't super accurate. I'm a little rusty, hehe... anyway, just one more chapter and an epilogue and that's it for Sweet Dreams! WAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!