It was a picture perfect day. The sky was so blue and clear with the sun shining bright. A cool breeze swept through the village and a patch of wild flowers. There a young girl happily tied the flowers together into a crown too big for her but just right for her father.

"Here you go Papa," Kana smiled, putting the crown on his head.

"Thank you," Hajime smiled.

Then Hajime gave his daughter a strong and warm embrace. She of course hugged him back. It was just the two of them, no Cain, no villagers, and certainly no shades. That perfect day, Kana smiled so warmly as if her sickness was a faint memory. He wanted this moment to last forever, not for his sake but for hers, so she'd never suffer again.

"Papa?" Kana asked.

"What?" Hajime chuckled.

"Will you always love me?" Kana asked.

"Of course!" Hajime didn't even hesitate. "No matter what I'll always love you."

"What if… I turned into a big ugly monster with fangs and claws," Kana said.

"That would never happen," Hajime said. "But if it did, you'd be the cutest monster for sure."

Hajime nuzzled her head causing her to giggle.

"I love you papa," Kana smiled up at him

"I love you too Kana," Hajime smiled back down to her.

...

"Get up!" Cain snapped.

"Agh!" Hajime jolted awake.

"Apologies, but it's time to go," Cain said. "Are you alright? You appear to have-."

"It's nothing," Hajime interrupted him as he swiftly wiped the tears from his eyes. "Cain why can't you wake me up slowly?!"

"I refuse to lick your feet or any other part like some common dog," Cain huffed.

"You said the same thing about sleeping on the floor," Hajime said.

"It's far more cozy than your puny mind," Cain said.

"Sure," Hajime rolled his eyes. "Let's go."

"What do you suppose the young boy looks like now?" Cain asked.

"I don't know," Hajime said. "It doesn't matter though."

They arrived at the manor in less than thirty minutes. Kirigiri stood before the doors awaiting their arrival. She looked a bit older, but no other substantial changes. Although she stood so firm and still one could easily mistake her for a statue.

"Welcome," Kirigiri bowed. "Makoto is waiting in the courtyard."

"What happened to referring to him as Master?" Hajime asked.

Kirigiri ignored him and proceeded to lead them into the manor. Of course nothing had changed here thanks to the petrification. Yet there seemed to be some more light inside than before somehow. Maybe Kirigiri opened some more curtains. Now that Hajime looked at her, he noticed Kirigiri was walking with a bit of a limp. He would ask, but she'd no doubt avoid answering the question.

Out in the courtyard, all the human statues were gone. If Hajime recalled, Makoto once told him through a letter how the shades had destroyed the statues. So even if they found the cure, only Natsumi could be unpetrified, unless they wanted Kirigiri to clean up the bloody mess of severed limbs. Shaking that image out of his head, Hajime looked over to see Makoto was sitting by the dried up fountain. He was definitely older like a teenager, but still rather small for his age. Hearing their footsteps, Makoto perked up.

"Hi Hajime, Cain," Makoto said. "It's good to see you, or I guess hear you."

"Same," Hajime cracked a smile.

"So what is the state of the petrification cure?" Cain asked.

"I think it's right under this manor," Makoto said. "We found a piece of paper in the library that showed the manor's blueprints. Right under it is some place called the 'The Testing Grounds'."

"Sounds promising," Hajime said. "So how do we get there?"

"Luckily I fell onto it yesterday," Makoto said.

In response, Makoto pressed three stones in the fountain. Suddenly the ground around the fountain opened up into a spiral staircase.

"Interesting," Cain said.

"We went down there before but some shades attacked us," Makoto said. "Kirigiri unfortunately twisted her leg protecting me. So that's why I summoned you two here."

"Lucky for you dear boy we have perfected the art of killing shades, or at least I have," Cain said.

"Hey!" Hajime growled.

"Makoto, please allow me to accompany you," Kirigiri said. "If anything were to happen to you…,"

"No, you're already hurt enough," Makoto said. "Just rest here. Hajime and Cain can protect me in your place."

"Very well," Kirigiri sighed. "But if they come back without you I will have to kill them."

"Kirigiri!" Makoto refused.

"Joking," Kirigiri grinned.

"Your sense of humor could use some adjustments," Cain said.

"I'll think about it while you're down there," Kirigiri said. "Good luck."

Makoto gave Kirigiri a sweet little goodbye hug and then the trio descended.

Down at the end of the lengthy staircase they found a big rusted metal door. It appeared to be locked, but one punch from Cain's tail fist knocked it right off its hinges. Behind it was a sterile white hallway covered by dust. Oddly the room was illuminated by the same lights that were in the factory. Clearly this place was from the old world. At the end there was another metal door, this one however has a large hole ripped into it.

"You didn't happen to visit this place before you lost your memory?" Hajime asked Cain.

"It's possible," Cain said.

"Ugh," Makoto held his head.

"Are you okay?" Hajime asked.

"Yeah, it's nothing," Makoto said. "Let's keep going."

Walking through the hole in the door led to some sort of medical area complete with multiple medical supplies and papers scattered about. One paper on a nearby desk caught Hajime's eye. Only parts of it were still readable

"I heard you all have doubts about this project and are wary about what we have to do, but it's imperative that we keep moving forward with the project. After personally witnessing the resurrection seed's power and almost dying from it, I knew I had to work to create a fail safe. That thing is too unstable and a close associate of mine has warned me how it's power is continuing to grow."

"Look over here," Cain said.

Hajime walked over to Cain who was standing before a raggedy curtain. When he pulled the curtain back he saw several pairs of hospital beds. On one were some bandages with dried blood. Smelling it, Makoto turned around and fled the room.

"We better find this cure soon," Hajime said.

"Didn't Makoto say this place was infested with shades?" Cain asked. "Where are they?"

On cue Makoto screamed and fell to the ground. Hajime and Cain rushed to his side to see countless snake shades of all sizes tangled together and slithering out of the air ducts. All of them moved as one led by the largest snake shade in the center. Just before it could attack, Cain dragged Makoto away by the collar of his shirt. Hajime swiftly helped him up to his feet and pushed the boy behind him. The center snake shade hissed prompting all the others to hiss in unison.

"Those are the shades that attacked us," Makoto said.

"The center one appears to be the leader," Cain growled.

"Then that's the one we'll kill," Hajime said.

Sensing his killing aura, the center snake shade hissed loudly. The snakes opened their mouths and shot out acid. Hajime carried Makoto out of the way while Cain distracted the beasts. All Hajime had to do was wait for Cain to get the shade in a vulnerable position. It was a tactic the two had perfected over the years. The snake shades lunged at Cain three times only to miss three times. On the fourth lunge the center snake shade lunged ahead of all the surrounding snake shades. All Hajime had to do was swing down his sword on its neck and send the head flying. Once the center snake shade was beheaded, the surrounding snake shades began to untangle and disperse. Most only slithered a few inches before being incinerated by Cain's fiery breath. The few small ones that managed to escape the flames were petrified by Makoto and then squashed by Hajime's foot.

"That takes care of them," Hajime said.

"You took it down so easily," Makoto said. "And here I was mostly hiding behind your back."

"It might've gotten away if you didn't petrify it," Hajime said.

"You're right," Makoto said. "My eyes are meant to protect others."

Moving past the bloodstain and burn marks, the trio found more hospital equipment and eventually another metal door with a large tear in it. Through the door was something rather unexpected. A large dusty playroom with decaying toys scattered around. The walls were painted like a forest and there was even the dried husk of a tree at the center of the playroom, but it felt anything but natural. Under the dead tree was another paper that read;

"Testing is going smoothly despite this being our seventh pair. By this point I've learned how to mix their medicine into candy. Although the thought of touching sugar makes me want to vomit, I'll admit it does help the children take their medicine. I guess I can see why my old friend took such pride in her confections."

"Why would this be here?" Cain asked.

Thinking of the implications made Hajime's stomach turn. Imagining if his own daughter was kept in a sinister place like this just boiled his blood. His anger was distracted by Makoto crying in pain again, dropping a rusted birdcage he had picked up.

"Seriously Makoto, what's wrong?" Hajime asked.

"It's this place…," Makoto admitted. "It's making me remember things…"

"What things?" Hajime asked.

"It's fuzzy, but…," Makoto said. "I feel like I've been here before."

"Is it possible this facility is where you gained the ability to petrify?" Cain asked.

"It's possible," Makoto said, "let's go deeper so I can remember more."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Hajime asked. "This place doesn't exactly look like it'd make for good memories."

"That doesn't matter," Makoto said. "Natsumi's cure comes first."

"Can't argue with that then," Hajime said.

There were three other doors surrounding the playroom. Two of which were sealed by rubble and fallen support beams, leaving the door opposite the one they came in. Yet again there was a large hole in it allowing the trio to slip through and enter the sterile hallway on the other side. The hallway was wide yet reeked of a pungent alcohol smell coming from four rooms, two on each side of the hall. One of the four rooms had a crater for a door. Inside there was a burnt surgical table next to melted utensils and other equipment. It looked like an explosion had gone off. Even Makoto could sense the devastation.

"The other rooms could reveal what transpired here," Cain said. "Although it's quite clear children were experimented on here to the point one rebelled and created this mess."

"You're right," Hajime nodded.

The trio investigated the other three rooms. All of them were surgery rooms equipped with an assortment of sharp tools including scalpels and syringes. Within the third surgery room, Hajime found another letter.

"Both Naegi siblings have willingly decided to participate in our failsafe project, but just in case of death from our experiments, we have extracted and cloned their DNA. This should provide us with enough test subjects to refine the failsafe. The Future Foundation Chairman has signed off on these experiments; however, due to ethical concerns and the use of demonic element, we must keep them a secret from the general public, especially the refugees on this island and the cult of Lilith and Eve."

Right next to the letter was some sort of card with a grey haired woman in a mask on it. The name written on it was hard to make out but seemed to be 'Seiko Kimura'. Below her name was her title 'head of the testing grounds', so it was very likely she had written the letters long before they came here. He would have easily accepted that, but then he discovered two pictures stuck to the back of the letter. One was of a rather young brunette girl with green eyes. Just as the image reminded him of Makoto, the second picture depicted a younger version of him.

"Makoto?" Hajime asked.

"Yes?" Makoto said.

"What is your last name?" Hajime asked.

"Naegi," Makoto said. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious," Hajime said before putting the letter back where he found it.

"How is that remembering coming along," Cain asked.

"It's clearing up slightly, I just need one more push," Makoto said, "but I can feel there's a final room close by."

"Where?" Cain asked.

"Follow me," Makoto said.

They followed Makoto out into the hall. There Makoto started walking to the end despite there being just a sterile wall there. Suddenly, Makoto tripped on a loose piece of paper on the floor and fell head first onto the floor. Miraculously this triggered the wall to open revealing a staircase as Makoto appeared to inadvertently press all the necessary buttons in a precise order.

"Well I'll be," Cain said. "Either you are the luckiest or unluckiest man in the world to have found a secret passageway like that."

"At least I didn't fall into a fountain this time," Makoto laughed it off as Hajime helped him to his feet.

...

Descending down this secret staircase took longer than the previous secret staircase. At the end was one small metal door with several locks on it. Regardless, Cain stepped forward and burned through the door with his fiery breath. He barely made a hole big enough for Hajime, but the grown man managed to squeeze through. Just as he dusted himself off, Hajime noticed what lied in the cylinder room. Chained to the wall and pinned by several large spears and nails, was the fleshy skeleton of a beast he had only seen in myths and fairytales.

"That can't be...," Hajime said.

"A dragon," Cain finished his sentence.

It appeared to be a wyvern type with bony wings for arms barely covered by a thin translucent lair or red skin. The back legs were shrunken and mangled so much they were practically useless, presumably leaving the long fractured skeletal tail to help keep its balance. Looking at its painfully skinny chest one could see and count every rib deathly still from lack of breathing. At the end of its long neck, no skin covered its face. All its fangs were laid bare and the two horns it had were broken no doubt by its creators. Most disturbing of all we're the empty holes in which its eyes would be.

"What in the name of all that is good created this?" Cain asked.

"She's… breathing…," Makoto said. "I can hear her heart…"

"She?" Hajime asked. "Do you know her?"

"Yes… it's been so long, I completely forgot somehow," Makoto said. "But this was- no, is my sister."

"Can't say I see the family resemblance," Cain said.

"She wasn't born like this," Makoto said. "We were just kids born and raised here barely knowing anything about the outside world. But the adults promised if we behaved and did what they said, one day we'd go outside."

Hajime recalled the papers he had read.

"Komaru was always the strongest between the two of us, so I guess that's why they decided to turn her into the failsafe and had me as her handler," Makoto spoke so softly yet sounded like he was on the verge of tears. "But why did we have to be born here? Why did we have to suffer? What was so terrible and dangerous about the resurrection seed that they needed to make seven pairs of siblings and turn them into monsters?!"

"I don't know…," Hajime said. "But you're still Makoto to us."

"Yeah, but now I know what I have to do," Makoto said before beginning to walk towards the dragon. "Thank you."

Sensing Makoto's presence, the dragon started to move and rattle its chains. Hajime was about to run and pull him away from the beast until Makoto raised a hand.

"If my sister... manages to completely consume me," Makoto turned to Hajime and Cain just as the skeletal dragon broke free and collapsed onto the floor. "I want you to kill me."

In the blink of an eye, the dragon lunged her head at Makoto and swallowed him whole. Hajime and Cain stood in utter horror watching a lump move down the dragon's throat and end at its stomach.

"Makoto!" Hajime raised his sword and charged ahead.

"No! I'm okay!" Makoto shouted from inside the belly of the beast. "Please don't attack!"

"He'd gone mad," Cain said before noticing Hajime lower his sword. "You too?"

"Like it or not he has a connection to this beast, it's his damn sister," Hajime said. "As long as it doesn't attack, we shouldn't either. Unless it kills Makoto."

"Then we'll kill it," Cain said.

The man and spirit fox watched as the skeletal dragon just laid there too weak to move. All they could do was hope Makoto would survive the encounter. Suddenly the skeletal dragon began to squirm and flail her head and tail. A blast of black energy burst from her stomach that turned into a spiraling energy ball and absorbed the rest of her body.

"Makoto!" Hajime shouted.

"Yeah?" Makoto responded from inside the energy ball.

"Are you alright?" Cain asked.

"I'm fine… I can feel my sister's power flowing into me…," Makoto said. "I can control my sisters abilities now."

"Yes, we're very proud now get out of there before you cease to be," Cain said.

"Agh," Makoto screamed. "No! Please… stop!"

"What's happening?!" Hajime asked.

"My body it's…," Makoto screamed. "Don't look at me!"

The energy ball grew smaller and smaller till it burst and was absorbed by the figure standing in it. Yet when the figure dropped to the floor and was fully revealed, it didn't look like Makoto at all. It was an anthropomorphic skeleton of a dragon with bones as pale as snow and not a piece of flesh on them. The figure was wrapped in a raggedy black cloak with a dark green scarf around its neck. When Hajime approached it, the skeleton shuddered.

"Makoto?" Hajime asked, causing the skeleton to wrap its tail around its body in shame.

The boy tried to hide his reptilian face behind his clawed hands to no avail. Although he vocally cried, no tears came from his hollowed eye sockets. Regardless, Hajime approached him, knelt down and embraced him.

"Welcome back Makoto," Hajime said. "You've been through a lot."

"But my…," Makoto sniffed. "My… body…,"

"Yeah, I know," Hajime said.

"I can't stand to be with you when I'm like this…," Makot cried.

"What did I tell you?" Hajime asked. "We're here for you, no matter what."

Makoto continued to cry as Hajime held him tenderly.

"Can you see my face?" Hajime asked to which Makoto lifted his skull head.

"You… you look just like I thought you would," Makoto said. "You look really cool."

"You do too," Hajime smiled and stroked the horns on the boy's head.

"Thanks," Makoto said. "I feel better now."

"Then we have a very important date with a certain foul mouthed hussie," Cain said.

Makoto got up, but when he did he hovered a bit off the ground despite his fleshless wings not flapping. Hajime just chalked it up to magic and didn't think much of it. Considering his partner for the last five years was a talking spirit fox it wasn't that shocking.

"I hope my appearance doesn't petrify Natsumi," Makoto said. "You know… in fear."

"She won't care," Hajime said.

"I doubt she fears anything," Cain said. "Let alone a puny dragon boy."

"I'm not that small!" Makoto protested

"I don't know, even after five years you didn't grow that much," Hajime said.

"Aw," Makoto whined.

...

Back above ground, Kirigiri had been waiting patiently by the fountain. Makoto sheepishly hid behind Hajime, but once Kirigiri saw him she ran to his side and put his hands on his boney shoulders.

"Makoto?!" Kirigiri asked.

"How did you know?" Makoto asked Kirigiri to crack a smile.

"What groundskeeper would I be if I didn't know the heartbeat of the one I protect?" Kirigiri asked.

"Oh," Makoto said. "So… how do you feel about my appearance?"

"It will take some time getting used to, but if this form allows you to see then I can't judge," Kirigiri said. "You can see now?"

"Yes," Makoto nodded his dragon skull.

"Good," Kirigiri said. "Now I assume this body is what will allow you to reverse the petrification so you'll be off to free Natsumi, correct?"

"Yep," Makoto said.

"Then allow me to go with you," Kirigiri said.

"No, your leg is still hurt," Makoto said. "You need to keep resting."

"Very well," Kirigiri sighed. "I can't argue with that."

Then Kirigiri knelt down and kissed Makoto's forehead and caressed his lower jaw.

"Be safe then," Kirigiri said.

"I will," Makoto said. "Especially with Hajime and Cain by my side."

With that, Kirigiri let them go on their way. Makoto eagerly floated through the halls and admired the paintings he had never seen before. When they came outside again they were just in time to see a flock of birds fly ahead. The dragon skeleton seemed to smile at them despite having no cheeks or lips to smile with.

"Komaru always talked about how she would sprout wings one day and fly us out of here alongside our pet bluebird," Makoto said. "She really wanted to see the world even more than I did when I was blind and now, through me, I think I can."

"I think so too," Hajime patted the dragon's head.

"You wanna know why I know?" Makoto asked to which Hajime nodded. "When I was inside her distorted body and when we connected, I could see her, the way she was when she was human."

"Perhaps it was one of those near death experiences," Cain said. "They tend to mess with one's perception of reality."

"Don't be so serious," Hajime said. "I believe you Makoto."

"Thanks," Makoto said, wagging his skeletal tail a little.

Out in the meadow, the trio ran, or in Makoto's case floated, as fast as they could. Along the way they were stopped by a horde of hybrid shades. Hajime raised his sword and Cain bared his fangs until Makoto gilded forward.

"I'll handle this!" Makoto said.

Makoto raised his skeleton hands and summoned a white circle of light around him and managed to turn it into arrows, one for each shade. When the light arrows were launched, all but one managed to hit its target in between the eyes causing its body to bleed and fade away instantly. The other hybrid shades charged towards Makoto causing him to panic. Hajime and Cain ran to help until they saw Makoto summon a protective force field around himself and his allies.

"I'm sorry, I thought I had them," Makoto said.

"It's okay, you just need practice," Hajime said. "We can take care of the rest."

"Okay," Makoto nodded.

Once Makoto lowered the force field, Hajime and Cain sprang out and killed two shades with their sword and fangs. Together they easily dispatched all the hybrid shades just like they did on their way to the manor. Upon their victory, the trio wasted no time continuing to hurry back to the village.

Inside the village, the trio ran so fast they hardly noticed the people around them. Hajime did hear a few screams in response to his transformed companion, but it was not important at the moment. All that mattered was they get to townhall and free Natsumi from her petrification. They wanted it so badly they nearly knocked the main doors clean off their hinges when they bursted in. An old man had been reading, but upon the trio's entry, dropped his book and hastily left townhall, leaving it all to the trio. Cautiously, Makoto approached the statue before summoning a ring of black light around him. Within a flash of black light, the statue chipped and cracked. The stone fell apart revealing the blonde woman underneath free of stone and shadow limbs. Makoto helped the unconscious woman down to the floor and looked down at her.

"Natsumi?" Makoto asked.

Suddenly the head of the sea serpent shade lunged out from its five year prison. Before it could slither out the door, Cain grabbed it with both his tail fist. The spirit fox easily squeezed the life out of the shade until blood bursted from its orifices. Just to be safe, Cain kept squeezing the shade until it's shriveled body faded away.

"Good riddance," Cain said.

He turned to see Hajime had already rushed to Natsumi and Makoto's side. Natsumi was still unconscious but not dead.

"Natsumi?" Makoto asked. "Wake up!"

"Come on, you're stronger than this!" Hajime called out alongside him.

"You have to stay alive!" Makoto shouted. "Stay alive!"

"Ugh," Natsumi moaned.

"Natsumi!" Makoto said.

"Uncle?" Natsumi twitched.

"Come back to us!" Makoto shouted.

Slowly Natsumi began to open her eyes revealing her olive green irises. When she opened her eyes completely she stared at the scarred man, spirit fox, and skeleton dragon looking down at her. Surprising she didn't flinch and didn't even show a slight gasp.

"What…?" Natsumi asked.

She sat up with Makoto's help and looked at him. Makoto turned his skull head away until Natsumi placed a delicate hand on his cheek bone.

"Makoto," Natsumi smiled. "You were the one calling me alongside Hajime."

"You still… recognize me?" Makoto asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty obvious it's you," Natsumi said.

"Thank you, Natsumi," Makoto said, wagging his skeleton tail like a dog. "Are you sure you're not scared of how I look."

"Glad to have you back,"

"No. I've seen freakier shit, just look at Cain," Natsumi said

"Oh goodie, there's that wit of yours again," Cain said.

"And there's your snobbish tone," Natsumi grinned.

"Glad to have you back, Natsumi," Hajime said. "We missed you."

"Ugh you're such a girl sometimes," Natsumi said. "Let's just end this sappy reunion before one of you starts crying."

Cain chuckled at her remark.

"So how long have I been on display in this library?" Natsumi asked.

"Five years," Hajime answered.

"Shit, that's a long ass time, but hey at least it wasn't ten I guess," Natsumi said. "Were you able to find Kana?"

"No," Hajime sighed. "We've looked everywhere."

"Our only choice is to find Abel and his master the beast king," Cain said.

"You're gonna kill them on sight I bet," Natsumi said before grinning. "Then count me in."

"Are you sure you don't want to rest?" Makoto asked.

"I'm fine," Natsumi said. "Nothing a good meal and run can't fix."

"In that case I know an inn that has the best beer and turkey in the village," Hajime said.

"Sounds good to me," Natsumi said. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

"I don't doubt you could," Cain said.

The group had a laugh until Chihiro entered the room. Carefully he tapped Hajime on the shoulder.

"Um… Hajime," Chihiro said. "I need to talk to you."

"What?" Hajime asked.

"Let's discuss this in my office," Chihiro said."

"Okay?" Hajime said.