Mikau: Well, one more chapter to go. I really hate how I ended this one, but the body part of the chapter was pretty good. I enjoyed typing it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King.

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To Love Again

I ran as fast as my feet would carry me. Again everything was a blur, this time because of my cascading tears. My heart was broken, and it was draining out of me in the form of tears. I ran for a while and eventually found myself back in the park sitting on the edge of the small cliff overlooking the lake.

I sobbed to myself for what seemed like hours. 'How could I have been so stupid? He was Damien's BROTHER for crying out loud! You'd think I could take a hint that he was evil just from that alone. He was the Devil! How much more stupid can you get? I was such an idiot, and I paid for it with my sister's life. I let him trick me. I trusted him and he completely used me…. I was a fool…a complete and total fool for him, and he took advantage of me. I dropped my guard and fell in love with him. I was his toy. He played with me, and used me.' I swore right then and there to never love another man ever again. I completely sealed away my heart so that I wouldn't run the risk of getting hurt.

I looked down at the still surface of the murky lake at my tearstained face. I glared at the girl in the water. "You let him kill your sister! It's your fault that Thorn is dead!" And then I made up my mind to end my own life. I didn't want to live any longer with the guilt and sorrow of losing my sister. We were twins. We were born together, we lived together, and we would die together. I stood up and ran to the nearest office building I could find. I ran about a block until I found the perfect building. It was tall, but not too tall, at least 13 stories high.

I walked around back through the alley and climbed the fire escape. No one was on the roof, so I had the place all to myself. I stepped out on the ledge and looked down. The world seemed to start spinning when I realized at what a dizzying height I was.

The wind blew, chilling me. My hair fluttered about me in the breeze like a crimson halo. I brushed it out of my face and looked back down at the pavement. "The last thing on earth I'll ever see." I closed my eyes, spread my arms and got ready to jump.

"BOO!" Someone screamed from right behind me.

"AHH!" I lost my balance and fell.

"Shhh. It's okay; I've got you."

Backwards right into Lucifer's waiting arms. He smiled lovingly at me as he kissed the tip of my nose, taking advantage of my shock.

I soon got over that, and my senses came back to me. "Let go of me you murderer!" I thrashed about in his arms until he was forced to let me down. "You have some nerve, you know, coming after me after I specifically told you I never wanted to see you ever again. And just what do you think you're doing, scaring a person who is standing on the ledge of a roof?"

He smirked and pushed pass me to stand on the ledge himself. "I love you; I couldn't resist not coming after you." He turned away from me and looked out over the town. "What a lovely view."

"What are you doing here?" I grudgingly asked.

He openly laughed at me. "Wow Hoshi, I thought it was pretty obvious that I came here after you. You feeling okay? You're IQ seems to be lacking a few points today."

Blood boiled under my skin. "How dare you! You murdered my sister, you bastard! I'm suffering from grief and guilt from letting you get close to me to get close to Thorn!"

"So you think I used you?" The smile faded from his face, and he stared wistfully off at the horizon.

"Didn't you?" Something in the way he said it gave me goose bumps and made me question what I had thought before.

"I was at first, but only for a day, two at most." He sat down on the ledge and swung his legs around so that he was facing me again. That endearing little smile of his was back upon his face. "Soo…what are you doing all the way up here?"

I turned my back on him, still enraged that he would dare talk to me. "You're the one who's acting stupidly today; I thought it was painfully obvious that I was jumping."

"Phft! You don't have the nerve to go through with it." That was it. I had had enough of him and his mocking and cockiness.

I turned on him. "You know very well that I do, and I will. Move out of the way!" I got up on the edge next to where he was sitting and prepared to jump.

He too got to his feet and stood on the ledge, taking my hand in his and smiling somewhat to himself. "Then let's jump together."

I tore my hand away from his and stared at him incredulously. "What are you, mad? Get your own building to jump off of, this one's mine!" I got down and walked a few feet away, desperate to put some space between us. I held the hand that he had been holding to my chest. My heart was pounding. He was acting as if nothing had happened between us. It was unnerving at its least. "Besides," My voice was soft and unsure. "why would you want to jump anyway?"

"Well if you're jumping, I'm jumping. Living isn't such an appealing idea if you're not there beside me. I'd have no purpose. Besides, I'll follow you anywhere Hoshi; there's no getting rid of me that easily." Neither of us was looking at each other, but I could tell he knew exactly what my face conveyed to the rest of the world, all my fear and doubt, and I could tell he was smiling. That forlorn, ironic little grin of his that I loved.

My heart leapt in my chest, informing me that I hadn't buried the strong feelings I had for him like I thought I had. I turned slowly to watch him walk the length of the ledge, back and forth like a skillful tightrope walker. He smiled to himself again, looked back at me, and chuckled. "Did you know I'm terrified of heights?" He looked away, back down to the concrete below. "Scared stiff." He laughed bitterly at his own fear and kept walking back and forth.

After awhile of watching I found my voice. "Then what on earth are you doing up here walking back and forth along the edge of a roof thirteen stories up?" I glared at him, frustrated with his clear stupidity.

He stopped pacing and turned to face me still standing on the ledge. "I'm trying to think of what I could say to make you take me back." And he smiled.

With the sun behind him, surrounding him in a glowing light, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I had forgotten how handsome he was. I could just stare at him forever. I blushed and turned away.

"Of course, I'm no Casanova,"

'Yeah, that's your brother's job.'

"So this is proving to be a little difficult." He sat back down on the ledge, looking out at the city.

I too took my respective position standing on the ledge, ready to jump whenever the opportunity arose. "Tell me you love me." I barely whispered, so just he could hear.

"I lov—"

"—Only say it if you mean it, truly, from the heart." I emotionlessly cut him off.

"I love you, Hoshi." He said it so confidently.

"Now look me in the eye and tell me you weren't using me." I looked back at him stoically.

He stood, took me in his arms, and leaned in close so that our lips barely brushed each other. "I didn't want to hurt you." He slowly pressed our lips together. I forced myself not to kiss him back.

I pulled away. 'He's so…warm.' Before when I had kissed him, he felt like hot coals and sweet acid burning away at me slowly, but now I got more of an electric jolt when our lips met. He had been warm before, but now this was a different kind of warmth.

He whispered huskily, in a low voice and tone that scared me. It was as if we had never been lovers at all, and he was that awful devil again that I had first made a deal with. "I didn't want to resort to this, but I think I know what I have to do now."

I stepped back.

And he followed me. "We had a deal Hoshi, and you never repaid the favor you owed me."

This…thing…was not my Lucifer, but a demon using his form to torture and torment me. "Stay back! I'll jump!" I warned.

"Jump if you want." His uncaring tone cut my heart into shreds. "It won't do any good. You've tried this before with that knife; you know you can't die as long as you still are indebted to me."

"N-no…"

"Yes, and so in order to repay me, I'm asking you to—"

"—You use me, murder my sister, and then you expect me to do you a favor! Go to hell!" Anger unexpectedly flared up inside of me.

"You didn't let me finish Hosh." His voice was soft and loving again. His constant mood swings were puzzling me. "I want you to forgive me."

This confused me above all else he had already done. He looked at me expectantly. "Why are you looking at me like that? Like you expect an answer? Both you and I know perfectly well that if you want me to forgive you, then I have to. I have no choice." I turned my back to him and crossed my arms angrily.

"Hoshi, please don't be angry with me. I love you; I can't stand having you angry with me." His voice was pleading like it was before when he more or less asked for my forgiveness. It tugged at my heart.

'This must be his power over me, making me pity him and reminding me how much I still love him. I'm actually starting to forgive him. I can't stay mad forever. I love him. Even after all he's done to me…I still love him.' "I'm not angry, I'm just so confused…" I turned again to face him on the ledge, putting a hand to my head, hoping it would relieve some of the pain of the pounding headache that this was giving me. "I can't deny that I'm still hopelessly in love with you, and I do forgive you."

He looked back at the skyline, casually stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Do you really forgive me, or is it because of the spell I have on you?"

"I don't know if it's the spell or not, but something inside me says I have to forgive you because whatever you did, you had your reasons. I don't know if it's of my own free will or not, but I'm not mad at you like I was before when I ran from the hospital." I sat down on the ledge, my back to the city street with its cars and pavement.

"Hoshi," He got down and leaned against the lip of the roof, facing me. He laughed to himself and smiled. "there is no spell."

I stared blankly at him. "What?"

"You heard me. There is no spell on you. There never was. You forgave me because you wanted to." He kept smiling, and I kept staring.

"I'm afraid I don't understand…" I lifted an eyebrow daintily.

"The terms of our first deal were that I would do a favor for you, and then you would do a favor for me. I broke our contract first, so you have no obligation to follow through on your half. The contract is completely null and void." He explained with an impish grin.

I tried to follow, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't understand. "What do you mean? How?"

"The moment I cast myself, the deal was off. I didn't stick strictly to your list of people to cast, so after that, you were completely free."

It was a good thing that I was sitting down, or else I probably would have fallen over. "What…what does this mean for me? You? My sister?"

"Hoshi, Thorn's alive and well. No scars, no real pain. I've been planning this whole thing from the beginning. The day we met in the graveyard, do you remember?" I gave a nod for him to continue. "That day I told you about a complicated chess match that was going on under your very nose. I've been the one secretly orchestrating this entire plot in order to get Hao and Ivy, and Thorn and Akira together. With a little help from my brother and friends, it worked. Hao and Ivy are getting remarried, and Thorn and Akira are dating. No one's been hurt, and everything is going to be fine."

Again I tried to process what he was telling me, and this time some of it got through. Slowly, but through nonetheless. "My sister is alive?" He nodded, and I burst into tears. He took me in his arms and I cried on his shoulder. "Thank god. I thought you didn't love me, and that I was going to lose my sister and—Oh my god, Lucifer!"

I sobbed and sobbed and he gladly held me. "Hoshi?" He whispered softly, gently into my ear.

"Yes?" I smiled and whispered back, still resting my head on his shoulder with my eyes closed.

"Will you marry me?"

I opened my eyes slowly and looked up at him. "W-what?"

He smiled that charismatic grin of his and took a ring case from his pocket, opening it to reveal a pentagram of topaz embedded in a field of sapphire. It was gorgeous. All I could do was stare and mutter, "Oh my god…" over and over again, smiling like an idiot.

Lucifer raised an eyebrow curiously at me. "Is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?"

"Yes." I replied breathlessly, throwing my arms around his neck and passionately kissing him.

He smiled and happily slipped the ring onto my finger. "I love you." He kissed my forehead. "It looks magnificent on you; I knew it would."

"It's beautiful…" I muttered, holding my hand up to the light and admiring it as it glittered. A devastating thought hit me. "I'm only sixteen and a half…I'm too young to legally get married. And my dad is going to have a fit when he finds out I'm marrying the Devil…"

"Don't worry about it, we can wait until after college to get married, and about me being the devil…" He paused and bit his lip, as if mauling it over in his mind how he would tell me this. "Well…I'm not. Not anymore. This morning when I went to speak with my brother about Thorn, I also talked to him about this. I knew it would be difficult for you marrying the devil, so I decided that I had to make a few adjustments to my life so that we could be together, and…well…" He was nervous, rambling and speeding through parts. It was adorable.

I took his hand in mine and lightly squeezed. "What is it?"

"I decided that in order for us to be married, I had to become…human. Well, shaman I guess, but it's the same principle. I'm like you now. I still have some of my powers like poofing around places in my red smoke, and I can still control some of my fire powers, but other than that…" He smiled lamely and shrugged, awaiting my approval or rejection.

Again I launched myself into his arms and held him tight. "Thank you Lucifer." And I kissed him again. "Let's go visit my sister; I want to check up on her."

He nodded, taking a firm hold of me, and in a red poof of smoke, we were in the hospital room yet again. Hao sat on the edge of Ivy's bed, the two of them laughing and jabbering on like the pair of idiots they were. On the other side of the room were my sister and her boyfriend laying in bed just talking quietly.

"HOSHI!" Thorn would have jumped out of bed if she could have when she realized I was in the room.

I ran to her and threw my arms around my little sister. Tears streamed down my face like banners in the wind. "Oh my god Thorn, I thought I'd never see you again! I was so sure that you were going to die."

"Hoshi, I'm fine!" She reassured. "But if you keep holding on to me like that, you're going to strangle me. I can't breathe."

I let my hold on her go a little more slack, but not by much. "I'm so glad…" I held her and cried. We were twins. We weren't meant to be separated. Ever. I would be lost without her.

"I see Lucifer proposed." My twin motioned toward the ring on my finger.

"Uh huh." I nodded and smiled. "Isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

Akira rolled his eyes and got out of the bed so that I could sit down. He moved over to stand by Lucifer.

Thorn cast her gaze downward and looked sad all of the sudden. "Yes, the ring's lovely. Congratulations."

I picked up instantaneously on my sister's change of mood. "What is it?"

Her dark eyes met my ice blue ones. "Will you be leaving us then? Get your own house and everything?"

I hadn't thought of it like that. Lucifer and I would be getting our own place…wouldn't we? I looked to Lucifer, then back to Thorn. "I guess so…"

"Oh…" My twin's face conveyed a great deal of pain at her loss. Pain that I too felt. It made me reconsider marriage. I didn't want to leave.

I tried to console her and myself. "We're just engaged now…. We're getting married after college, so we still have a good five or six years…"

Behind us, Hao and Ivy had been whispering conspiratorially. They shared a glance, and then Hao spoke. "You know, the mansion is four stories with more than enough room for Ivy and myself, Thorn and Akira, and Lucifer and Hoshi to raise good sized families in. It's not like we're cramped for space or anything, and there's plenty of room for privacy."

Thorn looked overjoyed. "That means you can stay with us Hoshi! We'll never have to be torn apart! What do you say?" My younger twin seemed ecstatic.

I looked to my fiancée. "Would you like to move in with us?"

He shrugged and answered back with a smile. "It would make you happy, wouldn't it?"

I nodded. 'More than anything…'

"Then I'd love to."

And he did. Yes, things were indeed looking up, and my once dismal life didn't seem so bad anymore. I finally had a chance to be happy. We were all happy. Hao and Ivy had their occasional fights, as did Thorn and Akira, but we were more or less content.

I smiled and hugged my sister again. "Yes Thorn, we're a set; you can't have one without the other. We'll never be separated. I won't let that happen."

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Mikau: Thanks to all my reviewers, and I'll see you in the Epilogue!

Thanks To: Lady Valandario, Perfectly Imperfect, isa18, thoughtless dreamer, D, HAO-Addictive, yo wuz up, DarkPisces33, RainAngelSong, MiStraLL, Strawberry, Ayume Yamashira, Andrea Nefisto, demon thing, and KaZuYa MiNeKuRa.

To Strawberry: Great to have you back!

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