Chapter 38

In Somnis Veritas

Everything had changed.

That was the thought that greeted Tsukune as consciousness slowly trickled back into him, and despite the groggy haze still gripping him he smiled brightly up at the ceiling. So much had happened the previous day: his struggles to regain his memories, both battles against Thanatos, his reunion with the girls, and… The thought of the compromise they had reached filled him with a surge of tingling energy. He couldn't believe it; surely he had dreamed it all. No, no… he never could have imagined such a thing without 'reality' crashing down upon him. That sort of reality, it seemed, had less of a hand in his life than he had believed, or perhaps it was the girls who had the power to defy it. Either way… now that they had found their answer, had discovered a way to maintain their hopes and dreams, everything would be different. That notion warmed him, and he rolled over, pressing himself against the pillow as he decided to indulge in just a moment more of drowsy relaxation.

And that was when he found the girl sleeping beside him.

His eyes opened wide, all thoughts of slumber fleeing for the hills, Tsukune stared at the soft violet hair that brushed against his chin, unable to register what he was seeing. Hadn't this happened before? Why was Mizore in his- wait, stupid question. How did Mizore get into his room? He groaned quietly in his throat as he realized that he had been too tired to place the Seal of Screaming on his door the previous night. Actually, he hadn't used the seal the past couple of-

"Mmm." The snow maiden shifted, her arm sliding around his chest as she scooted even closer to him, burying herself in his warmth. A blush stole its way onto his cheeks as her head nuzzled against his neck, and despite his growing fear of discovery he allowed his own arm to return her embrace. "Morning, Tsukune," she mumbled against his skin, and he hugged her gently as a welcome to the world of the waking.

"Morning, Mizore. Get lost on the way to your bed?" he teased, still holding her to him.

She sighed indolently, choosing not to respond until she had enjoyed his embrace for a moment more, and finally raised her face towards his. Blinking away the dullness in her eyes, the snow maiden smiled wryly up at him. "Actually… this was for your benefit."

"Oh?"

"Mm-hmm. I noticed last night that you were limping, and your ankle looked swollen. Did you twist it when we were fighting Thanatos?" When Tsukune nodded, still confused, she let her grin grow mischievous. "Well, I figured that the best way to bring down the swelling and make it feel better would be to use a cold compress, but since I didn't know where we would have one, I compromised." Yawning, she moved slightly, and he realized that the odd numbness in his left ankle he had barely noticed had been due to the chill, smooth skin that had been pressed on either side of it. Under the sheets, their legs were intertwined, but the pressure was light enough to allow him to rotate his wounded ankle. Oddly enough, it did feel better, honestly.

Still, he offered her a mock-glare. "Mizore, I don't think that this counts as-"

"It's for your health," she chided, raising a finger to his lips to silence him. "Anyways, your bed is more comfortable."

"And if I offered it to you?" he suggested, knowing the answer.

"It's more comfortable because you're in it," she admitted, confirming his suspicions. With that said, she turned her attention back to cuddling him, pressing her body as close to him as she could manage. Chuckling, Tsukune tightened his hug, drawing an appreciative noise from her as he began to slide his hand up and down her back, gently stroking her spine.

While he had teased her about how comfortable his bed was, he had to admit that there was a great deal of truth in her statement: having someone to share it with did make it even more luxurious. It was almost enough to lull him back into his dreaming… but he could feel her hand against his back, pressing against him in short, needy caresses. It was apparent that sleep was the furthest thing from her mind, and when she pulled away and drew the sucker from her lips he knew exactly what she wanted.

Thus far, they had shared a single kiss outside of their dreams, and it had been gentle and comfortable. These kisses were nothing like that: hungry, passionate, pressing. Mizore had a lot of time to make up for, she knew, and she was determined to do just that. Her arms snaked around his neck, and his tightened around her back, pressing their bodies together as the whole world was consumed by their desperate lips- until suddenly, Mizore drew back with surprise in her eyes.

Tsukune blinked, not understanding as she scooted away from him slightly, gazing down at the space between them. "Good morning, Tsukune," she purred, delight beginning to light her face, and he quickly understood. Their kissing had only exacerbated his morning affliction, and- Tsukune blinked as he realized that Mizore had not worn a yukata to his bed like last time; instead, she was clad only in a long T-shirt, and the bare skin of her lower thighs suggested that she had chosen not to accompany it with shorts. Plus, the shirt was particularly baggy, exposing pale skin at her throat and the soft valley between… oh, this was not helping, not at all.

He tore his eyes away, only for them to be captured by the icy blue of her gaze. She smiled gently up at him, but he could feel fear rising in his throat as one of her hands slid from his neck down to his chest. "You know, Tsukune," she started, letting her fingertips trail down towards his stomach, "now that we have all come to an agreement, we don't have to worry about so much. You said you wanted to be with us forever, right?" He was doomed to nod, shivering as her fingertips brushed against his belly button, inexorably moving lower. Mizore stared at him intently, overcoming him with her desire. "Then there is no reason that we can't go ahead and-"

"Good morning, Tsukune!"

For an instant, Mizore and Tsukune's faces were mirrors of flat terror. Mizore's hand, just inches from its destination, twitched, and her sheepish smile bared her teeth. Tsukune swallowed loudly before raising up from the bed to greet Kurumu, who was staring in a mounting rage at the tangled pair. "Ah, good morning," he offered lamely, feeling sweat drip down his back despite the chill in the air.

"Kurumu, are you trying to sneak into Tsukune's… Kurumu, what's wrong?" asked a voice from beyond the door, redoubling the terror Tsukune felt. For Mizore, however, it was a cue to flee, and once more the blanket launched into the air towards Kurumu, leaving Tsukune awkwardly clutching at the sheets.

"Not again!" Kurumu snarled, batting the obstruction out of the way as she charged forward. The rattling of the balcony door announced Mizore's escape route, but with her attention focused on that destination the succubus failed to notice the platter-sized sheet of ice on the ground between her and it. One tumble later, Kurumu clambered to her feet, darting onto the balcony and searching the yard beyond for her rival. "Mi…zo…re!" she roared into the empty air, her prey already hidden from view.

On the bed, Tsukune watched the succubus rant at the open air, belatedly aware of the other girl approaching him. He turned to see Moka glaring at him, hands balled on her hips as she drew her own, mostly correct, notions of what had just happened. "Tsukune, how could you let her do this again?" she demanded. Despite the danger he was in, Tsukune noticed she didn't sound quite as angry as she would have only days ago.

"I… didn't?" he offered lamely, wishing that he had his blanket back; it was hard to tell which chilled him more, the cool air emerging from the balcony door that sliced through the thin sheet he clutched, or the emerald eyes demanding an explanation. A moment later, one of those ceased to be a concern as Kurumu closed the door and locked it with a flourish, though it was hardly the one he would have chosen to be saved from. Instead, Kurumu joined Moka in staring at him, her arms crossing underneath her chest. "I mean, I just woke up and she was there, I promise!"

"She got away?" Moka asked Kurumu flatly, ignoring his protests.

"She'll have to come back for breakfast," the succubus answered, dark menace in her smile.

Despite their exchange, the pair continued to stare at Tsukune, who could only offer sheepish grins and the occasional faltering attempt at an explanation, all of which quickly died. Tsukune could tell Moka was restraining her anger, barely keeping a scathing lecture in check, but as Kurumu began to fidget beside her the vampire glanced over at her friend. "Kurumu, what's the matter?"

"Ah, can I speak to you for a moment… over here?" Even though the words were directed towards Moka, Kurumu still stared at Tsukune. Somehow, though, her expression had shifted, now bereft of anger and full of an entirely different emotion. Slowly, with stunned disbelief, Tsukune began to realize exactly how much trouble he had gotten himself into.

The conversation just beyond the door to his room lasted several minutes, and Moka glanced back in to check on him several times, but in the end it was Kurumu who reentered the room, alone this time and closing the door behind her. Trying to quell his rapidly-growing suspicions, Tsukune offered her an inquisitive smile. "What's up, Kurumu? What did you have to talk to Moka about?"

"I was making a deal with her," Kurumu admitted, her wry smile letting Tsukune know that he wasn't entirely off the hook for the earlier chaos with Mizore. She stopped beside the bed, looking down at him with eyes that wandered slightly before finding his face.

"Oh?"

"I promised I would ask Mizore to do homework with me for a while after breakfast… and that neither of us would come up here during that time," Kurumu yielded, her smile waning a fraction, only to immediately recover as she plopped down on the bed beside Tsukune. As she did so, she let one of her hands rest on the closest of his, looking down at them with an oddly bashful silence.

"And in exchange?" The question was practically rhetorical, and he turned and let his other hand rise to her shoulder, rubbing it in mute apology for earlier as he let the fingers of the hand under hers slide apart, their fingers intertwining in a brief clutch.

"For right now…" Kurumu released his hand and faced him directly, eagerness shining in her violet eyes. She leaned closer to him, her lips parted as her face tilted slightly to the side. "I get to have you to myself."

The kiss was slightly more reserved than he had expected, teasing and playful, and he could have sworn he felt the tip of her tongue brush against his lower lip. She drew back suddenly, leaving him pressing forward as if trying to maintain their contact. He blinked in confusion, but the anticipation in Kurumu's expression told him that she had no intention of ending their play just yet. Much the opposite, he would soon discover.

"It's my turn."

"Looks like everything is going back to normal."

The dark-haired man looked to his blond colleague as they walked away from the landlord's office and towards the street. His face tense, he raised an eyebrow at the other man, barely masking his disbelief. "How so?"

"The Coopers are going back to their home. In a few days, we're going back to the Academy, and the same with Tsukune. Everything is quiet on the Fairy Tale end, for now, anyways." Gabriel shrugged, leaning to the side to avoid a pair of kids running down the sidewalk. "You could almost forget that we lost this one, eh?"

On this occasion, the two men looked even more different than usual. Michael had chosen to wear his usual attire, sunglasses and black suit, though he had been forced to find a replacement for the jacket that had been slashed open by the traitor's surprise attack the previous night. Gabe, however, had opted to dress casually, battered jeans and a patched jacket and, inevitably, sunglasses just like his partner's. They were taking care of loose ends around town, and visits from men in black suits and sunglasses tended to make people entirely too nervous, Gabe had reasoned. Michael had always considered that to be the point.

"We didn't 'lose' this battle," Michael insisted harshly as the two men paused to cross the street, nodding towards where they had left their car. "We did precisely as the Hell-King asked of us. If Pestilence had gotten involved with the battle against Thanatos…"

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," Gabe conceded, but his frown made his doubt obvious. After a long pause, the two men neared their car and opened the doors, Michael sliding into the drivers' seat as Gabe glanced into the back to make sure that their cargo, magically hidden from mundane eyes and more stringent divination alike, still lay across the back seat. His eyes lingered on the death's head of Charon, and his grimace grew. "Still, if we had managed to capture Thanatos…"

"Then we still wouldn't have the phylactery. Trust the Hell-King. He had planned for this, I am almost certain." Michael stared resolutely beyond the windshield, pulling the car out onto the road and beginning their journey to their next destination.

'Almost?' Gabe looked at his partner for a long moment. "Well, at the least, Tsukune and the girls made it out alright. After all, it was bad enough, getting them involved in all this." He turned to the side, watching the scenery whish by with a growing smile. "Pounding Thanatos… I never woulda thought they would have it in them."

Now it was Michael's turn to pause, spending several seconds trying to decipher the best way to put his feelings into words. Grunting softly, he nodded, almost to himself. "I'm not surprised." Feeling Gabe's eyes on him, he hesitantly continued, "Something about that boy felt… familiar. I believe there was a reason the Hell-King has chosen him, beyond his ties to those girls. Even his face reminds me of…" Now the guardian fell silent, and it was clear nothing could force him onward.

Sighing, Gabe sank back into his seat and shook his head. "You know that means that he might get pulled back into this later, right?" Michael stiffened at those words, confirming that he had already given that some consideration. His suspicions answered, Gabe chuckled and turned once more towards the window. He could see, in the distance, the rise of the mountains beyond the city, and could almost pick out the one where the Resting Place sat. He smiled in that direction, feeling an odd empathy with Tsukune. "He gets to enjoy today, at least. In a way, that's all we can ever ask for." A random thought burst across his mind, and he blinked as he glanced over at his partner. "Hey, what do you say we stop for some ice cream?"

And the car drove on, carrying the guardians as they moved to do their master's bidding.

If this kept up, Tsukune knew he was going to die.

Moka rubbed her head gently against his chest, making a soft sound as she cuddled against him. Absent-mindedly, he stroked her hair, faintly dizzy and feeling his heart pound in his chest. The former came from Moka's brief post-breakfast snack, as well as from Kurumu's earlier visit. His thundering pulse, however, had resulted from the other part of Moka's visit: their kissing, shy and hesitant at first, giving way to a celebration of their mutual happiness. A faint blush stole onto Tsukune's cheeks as he remembered the look on her face as they had begun in earnest; that was another expression he had grown decidedly fond of.

Foggily, Tsukune wondered why his lips hadn't gotten tired yet. This was not to say that he wasn't enjoying himself; that was far, far from the truth. Still, today had been… busy. He had only woken up a few hours earlier, and even though his lips were not yet exhausted the rest of him certainly was. He doubted he would be able to keep this up for much longer.

This, of course, was a special occasion, and that was the reason the girls were being so… passionate, today. After everything they had been through, and after the conclusion they had finally reached the previous night, it only made sense that they would want to celebrate. Once things returned to normal, none of them would feel quite so desperate for each other's attention, and things would quiet down a little. He wouldn't have to maintain this pace for long.

Right?

Tsukune felt Moka clutch tightly to him, and followed the direction of her gaze to the clock on the wall. Only a few minutes remained of the time Kurumu had guaranteed her, he surmised, and so he returned her embrace with extra enthusiasm. "We'll have more time, later," he promised, and he watched the dismay on her face give way to a brilliant smile. Moka drew closer to him, kissing him one final time, before beginning to push herself up off the bed. She paused, though, and a glimmer of doubt darted across her face.

"Are you sure that you're okay with this, Tsukune?" she asked, worry in her voice.

"Me? I would think that you all would be more likely to have a problem with it," he quipped, but utterly failed to hide the fatigue in his voice. Despite that, he smiled to reassure her, shaking his head. "I'm happy, don't doubt that for a second."

Moka nodded in response, smiling back as she reached down to squeeze his hand. "I'm glad to hear you say that. So am I." They stared at each other for a long moment, feeling the magnetic attraction of their eyes draw them closer together once again. Perhaps one more kiss-

"Ahem."

Irrationally scooting away from each other and turning their heads, old reflexes kicking in once more, Moka and Tsukune pretended that they had not been caught red-handed. Quickly realizing the changed nature of their situation, Moka turned a heated glance towards the icy eyes peering around the edge of the door. "Mizore, how long have you been watching us?" Moka demanded indignantly.

The yuki-onna slid partway into the room, shrugging her shoulders, challenge gleaming in her eyes. "Long enough," she stated mysteriously, drawing a crimson blush from Tsukune. "Kurumu sent me to get you to help us with our homework. We have a couple of days to catch up on, you know."

"The days when you were taken by Thanatos? Surely they-" Tsukune began, shocked.

"It's math, for Mrs. Ririko." Mizore answered.

"Oh." The face of the lamia flashed before them, answering Tsukune's interrupted question perfectly.

"Coming," Moka assured Mizore, and the snow maiden scooted back into the hall, leaving the door dangerously cracked. Moka started after her, but soon paused, glancing back to Tsukune. "Oh… my other side wants to know if you will give her some time later, too."

Hiding his exhaustion with a warm smile, Tsukune nodded. "Sure." Moka smiled back at him gratefully before turning towards the hall.

"We'll be downstairs," she said as she passed through the door, grasping the handle as she went.

"I'll be down in a minute," Tsukune declared, stretching one final time before beginning to rise from the bed himself. As the door closed behind Moka, he paused, still wondering at how much his situation had changed. Who would have ever dreamed-

The rumbling of his stomach interrupted that thought, and he glanced down at it in surprise. There should be no way that he could be hungry; after all, he had eaten too much at breakfast. The girls had seen to that, placing a heaping plate in front of him as significant glances raced among them. Obviously, they thought he would need the energy. They had been more right than he had expected… perhaps a snack was in order.

With that in mind, Tsukune descended the stairs towards the kitchen, wondering what he would be able to find there. They would need to make a run to the convenience store soon, since he had been the last to go, and had only bought for himself at the time. Later, he could call for a cab, and-

The knocking at the door drew him up short just as he passed it, and with trepidation in his eyes he stared in its direction. Memories raced through his head as he looked at its wooden face; had anything good come of opening that door recently? Maybe he should just ignore it. A second knock made that determination waver, and swallowing loudly he stepped forward to open it, crossing his fingers that his luck had improved enough.

"Good afternoon, Tsukune!" Roy Cooper's voice boomed through the Resting Place, making the three girls in the common room freeze in place. When the same greeting was echoed a moment later by Mrs. Cooper, panic began to spread across their faces, Mizore's in particular. 'Oh, no,' they thought as one, looking towards the foyer.

"Ah, hello, Mr. Cooper, Mrs. Cooper," Tsukune managed, struggling to recover. "It's, good to see that you're back from your…"

"Vacation," Mr. Cooper provided, clapping the boy on the shoulder. "Our, um, mutual friends stopped by earlier to pay off the rent on the apartment we had rented, and told us that we could come back home whenever we wanted. Since we were in town, we figured that we pick up some groceries for you on the way." The older man shrugged, scratching the bald spot among his ring of red hair. "A sort of apology for our misunderstanding earlier, you know."

"I hope you don't mind, dear," Mrs. Cooper interjected, beaming at Tsukune. Something in her expression, an energetic compassion and almost motherly fondness, made Tsukune vaguely uncomfortable. "I'll go ahead and take this into the kitchen for you, if you'll help Roy carry the rest in." She patted Tsukune on the back as she passed him, humming brightly under her breath.

Profoundly off guard, Tsukune glanced towards Mr. Cooper, who subtly motioned outside with a jerk of his head. As Tsukune followed him towards the waiting car, the older man began to explain his wife's unusual behavior. "The past few days, we've talked a lot about the stories you told her back up at the pond. It seems that your situation was completely different than what we had expected." Roy chuckled deeply, reaching into the car to retrieve some of the bags and pass them to Tsukune. "Sorry about that."

"Ah, don't worry about it," Tsukune replied, confusion still in his voice.

"So Wendy, she got to thinking about it. Apparently, she has decided that you're the victim in all this, and, well…"

"I see." Tsukune nodded to himself, not quite certain how to react to this news. "That's good, isn't it?"

Roy straightened, clutching several bags, and offered the teen a perfectly-blank stare. "I wonder."

Moments later, they walked back into the Resting Place in time to witness the trio of girls walking very hastily back towards the common room from the kitchen with drawn faces. They were gone before he got the chance to ask them what was wrong, but their expressions left him fearing the worst. Nervously curious, Tsukune moved in the opposite direction, raising the bags of groceries to deposit them on the counter.

He froze as he saw Mrs. Cooper turn a terrifyingly-intense gaze in his direction. The second she realized it was him, however, her face immediately shifted back into its previous warm expression. "Why, thank you, dear. So kind!"

"It's not a problem; thank you for helping us with the groceries, Mrs. Cooper," he responded, forcing down the terror rising in his throat. 'Scary!' he wailed internally, but carefully masked that emotion. A moment later, Mr. Cooper passed him, placing his own burden on the counter before moving to help his wife unload the supplies.

"We'll take care of this. You go and rest!" Mrs. Cooper insisted benevolently. Tsukune nodded, moving out of the room before she could reconsider the wisdom of sending him to join his friends. At least she wasn't glaring at him anymore, but… was this really better?

As he stepped into the common room, he discovered that all of his friends, save one, had chosen to pack up their books to flee to the safety of their rooms. Kurumu stood off to the side, speaking into a cell phone. Apparently she had been the one to delay Mr. Cooper for that extra moment, needing to make a call but unwilling to risk facing Mrs. Cooper's wrath by using the phone in the kitchen.

"I can't explain exactly how right now, but we've fixed everything… yes, actually, how did you know-," Kurumu blinked as she listened to the response, and Tsukune could faintly hear the sound of Ageha's laughter coming from the phone's speakers. "Yes, I'm happy with this, mom." Kurumu glanced over at Tsukune, offering him a genuine smile. "Couldn't be happier." Tsukune returned her grin, then motioned towards his room, offering to leave her to her conversation. She waved for him to wait, however, as surprise wiped the smile from her face.

"Wait, why do you want to- No, no, mom, there's no reason you should need to tell him anything, everything is… Mom, really, do you have to-?" Visibly swallowing, Kurumu looked to Tsukune, and he could see the anxiety and fear she was feeling. "I guess so… one second." Moving the phone away from her face, she gave Tsukune a despairing grimace. "She wants to talk to you," she explained bleakly, holding the phone at arm's length in his direction.

There was no escape. Forcing down his desire to sprint for the stairs, Tsukune stepped forward to accept the phone, cautiously raising it to his ear. "H-hello?"

"Congratulations!" Jerking the phone away from his face a moment too late to spare his eardrums, Tsukune winced at the elder succubus's enthusiastic volume. "I knew you all would find a compromise eventually! You should have listened to my advice sooner; you would have already had three days to celebrate, hmm?" Ageha's lustful tone brought blood rushing to his cheeks. "Still, it's about time. Only one problem remains-"

"Ah, one second," Tsukune interrupted, noticing Mrs. Cooper waving at him from the foyer. The red-haired woman motioned silently towards his room up the stairs, and then towards the nearly-empty garbage bag she held, obviously offering to clean up his bedroom for him. Covering the phone, Tsukune mouthed "Sure, thanks," to her, grateful that she would be busy somewhere very far from this uncomfortable discussion of his new relationship with the girls. Mrs. Cooper beamed another smile at him, glancing to Kurumu with a dark glint in her eyes before turning back towards the stairs. Beside Tsukune, Kurumu shivered at the menace she had felt from the older woman, wondering what they had done to draw her ire.

"Sorry, back," Tsukune mumbled into the phone, not really looking forward to Ageha's next words.

"As I was saying, there is still one problem left for you to handle." She paused dramatically, sinister humor in her voice. "You, Tsukune Aono, still have to make a choice."

"Choice?" The word came out strangled, mauled by his tightening throat. "Why do I have to-"

"You see, there still remains the fact that I, and Mrs. Shirayuki as well, I suppose," Ageha's begrudging admission of the other mother felt only moderately exaggerated, "still have certain… concerns, that we need reassured of. As you may well know, our races have been suffering from declining birth rates in recent years. Part of our push for you to get with our daughters has been because of that."

"I know," Tsukune assured her, scratching the back of head in slight embarrassment. "I mean, we're still pretty young, but I'm sure that eventually-"

"No time like the present, I say!" Chuckling as Tsukune spluttered into the receiver, the elder succubus waited just a second before sighing deeply. "You are still left with that problem I mentioned, however."

"What's that?" he asked, not bothering to hide to his apprehension.

"Well, in the long run, it isn't really important, but… to those girls, I'm sure something like this could become a point of contention. Especially for someone as prudish- I mean, as reserved, as Moka." Ageha let his mind began to race before giving him the answer he dreaded. "So, Tsukune Aono, your choice: Which of those girls will you be taking to your bed first?"

"I, we- that's not going to be an issue right now!" Tsukune protested loudly. Even as he shouted it, he remembered his visit from Mizore that morning, and the last thing she had been saying before they had been interrupted. No, he was wrong; it was going to be an issue soon, wasn't it?

As if she could hear his dooming realization, Ageha made a mirthful, noncommittal sound in response. "Just something for you to think about, my future son-in-law. It's been a pleasure talking to you." Without responding, Tsukune held the phone back out towards Kurumu, not noticing the pity in her eyes as she took it from him.

"Mom, what did you say to him?" Kurumu demanded, and once more Tsukune could hear Ageha Kurono's laughter. Turning, he began to trudge towards the stairway, heavy thoughts bombarding his mind. Could he convince them to wait? Did they need to have a group talk about this sort of thing? Oh, how awkward that would be. Maybe they needed new rules… no, those had a nasty way of getting broken in creative ways.

It was never going to get easier, was it? They would kill him yet, somehow.

"Ah, Tsukune, could I bother you for a moment?"

Tsukune snapped out of his mental fog, blinking as he regarded Mr. Cooper. The older man stood beside the stairs, clutching an envelope before him uncomfortably. "This letter," Roy started, lifting it up, "is supposed to go to the Headmaster. It's from our, um, mutual friends with the sunglasses?" Tsukune nodded to that, stepping closer to take the letter as Mr. Cooper held it out for him. "They asked me to have you send it through the Hellmaw. I don't quite know why it had to be you; that's all that they told me. Would you mind?"

"Of course," Tsukune answered, grateful for anything that could distract him from what Kurumu's mom had told him. He nodded to Mr. Cooper and walked towards the kitchen, moving towards the door that would take him out of the house and close to the shed.

As he walked, he glanced down at the envelope. He almost wished that he could add to whatever the Headmaster's guardians had written there; he certainly had quite a bit that he would like to tell the robed man that had sent him here. Tsukune thought of Thanatos, and of Mori Retsu, and of the strange books that he had been told to read. He suspected the Headmaster was, in some way, behind all of this, and he wanted nothing more than to get some real answers from the cryptic head of Yokai Academy.

Maybe someday that would happen, Tsukune mused bitterly, but he sincerely doubted it would be anytime soon.

Tsukune stepped into the shed, closing the door behind him as he glanced towards the ceiling above him. Just last night, they had faced Thanatos there; today, he was here to deliver a letter, and would come back later to turn in homework. It was an odd feeling, a twisted blending of the mundane and the extraordinary, just like so much of his life since he had come to attend Yokai Academy. In some ways, he was getting used to that, whether he liked it or not.

Entering the next chamber, Tsukune grimaced as he stared at the demonic visage of the Hellmaw. That, at least, was something he would never get used to. The flames roaring in its mouth beckoned, and he inched closer, holding the envelope before him and praying that he could send it flying through on the first try. His prayers were answered, the letter disappearing into a hungry plume of fire, and Tsukune paused only to wipe the sweat from his brow in a gesture of relief before turning back towards the exit.

He had only managed to open the door when a clattering drew his attention back towards the menacing portal. Glancing behind him, Tsukune was surprised to discover that something had been sent back through the Hellmaw, and it lay just at the tip of the stone tongue protruding from the statue's maw. Mustering the courage to approach the portal once more, Tsukune stooped to pick up the item before quickly withdrawing. The object in question was a cell phone, he realized, but small dents covered part of its surface. It looked almost as if something had… bitten it. The sweat beading on Tsukune's brow now had little to do with the sweltering temperature in the chamber, and he remembered what Mr. Cooper had said long ago about the Hellmaw: "It seems that anything living that gets sent through the portal tends to arrive looking somewhat… chewed on." Apparently, though the cell phone hardly looked alive, something inside the Hellmaw had decided to test it anyways.

Before Tsukune could begin to wonder why a cell phone had been sent through the gateway in the first place, the phone began to ring, shocking him enough to almost cause him to drop it. Hastily flipping it open, Tsukune raised it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Ah, Tsukune." The voice on the other end was deep and slow, and the teen instantly recognized it as belonging to Yokai Academy's Headmaster. "It is good to hear from you."

"Surprised I'm still alive?" Tsukune asked harshly, finding it considerably easier to respond openly now that he did not have to face the man's unnatural eyes.

"Not in the least." The dark chuckling coming from the phone twisted Tsukune's lips into a scowl. "I may have high expectations of you, but you have yet to disappoint me."

"Well, in that case, why don't you reward us by leaving us out of your schemes for a while? We all almost died, or worse, this time!"

"If only I could." The note of genuine regret in those words made Tsukune blink. "I am afraid that you have no choice in this matter. Trouble will come to you, whether I interfere or not. If you are not prepared, Tsukune Aono, you… and all of your friends… will die."

"We didn't ask for this!" Tsukune shouted into the phone.

"No one asks for trouble like this. It finds you, instead." Silence poured from the speakers as Tsukune hung his head in frustrated agony. "Even now, our enemies are beginning to move. Even though Mori Retsu and Thanatos are defeated, the ones behind their actions will seek to redeem themselves. Soon it will be time for you to come back to school and face them head on. However…" Once more the Headmaster laughed quietly. "Perhaps, for now, you have enough on your hands." Something in his tone made Tsukune wonder exactly how much the man knew. "For that reason, I have decided to extend your stay at the Resting Place for several more days. Enjoy this vacation, free from outside interruptions, as much as you can. Savor the moment, Tsukune, for it is all we ever have."

A 'click' told Tsukune that the Headmaster had hung up, and he stared down at the phone for just a moment before flinging it disdainfully back through the Hellmaw. He couldn't quite overcome his irritation at what the other man had said. Even after all this, he still expected more from them? When would they ever get to live in peace, or at least not have to fight for their lives so often? Growling under his breath, Tsukune departed the shed, closing the door tightly behind him.

Still… there was some truth in what the Headmaster had said at the end, Tsukune mused, pausing as he turned to look at the Resting Place. The house seemed to shine in the afternoon sunlight, and he had to shade his eyes as he looked up towards the second floor. Maybe tomorrow would bring more battles, more chaos, but for now… they had today, together. They could enjoy their happiness, and fight to defend it when it was in danger, all in the hopes that their tomorrows would be a lot like today.

It might not be much, Tsukune mused as he stepped towards the Resting Place with a growing smile, but it was enough for him.

"Oh? What is this?"

Mrs. Cooper paused, gazing down at the crumpled slip of paper that had managed to slide halfway under the desk in Tsukune's bedroom. Placing the garbage bag on the floor beside her, she stooped to retrieve it, raising it towards the light. Insistent curiosity, or perhaps lingering suspicion, demanded that she open it, and so she allowed herself to uncrinkle the paper, glancing towards the door as she did so.

To her disappointment, the paper held no sinful secrets: only strange scribbling in a language she could not understand, and an odd adhesive quality to its back side. Shrugging indifferently, she returned the paper to its balled shape before dropping it into the garbage bag. If it was wadded up like that, it couldn't be anything important, she reasoned.

Mrs. Cooper smiled as she went about her cleaning, blissfully ignorant of the grave importance of her actions. She had no way of knowing that she had just condemned Tsukune to a dozen arguments, and an equal number of close calls. She would be shocked to discover that she had inadvertently handed the three girls endless chances at having Tsukune to themselves, private time that never went to waste. Knowing what would come next would have left Mrs. Cooper in a blind rage, and she would have definitely taken it out on Moka, Mizore, and Kurumu.

Fortunately, she did not, would never, know.

Humming under her breath, Mrs. Cooper glanced over the room one final time, nodding to herself in satisfaction at how clean it looked. Tsukune's bed was made, his books stacked on the desk. It had hardly been messy in the first place, save that the blanket had somehow ended up on the floor. "Such a good, nice boy," she commented proudly, then turned to open the door, flipping off the light off behind her.

And all was quiet, if only for the moment.

Author's Note: And so ends the final chapter of Into Dreams. Check back soon for the epilogue; while it will be very short, it is something that I am greatly anticipating. I do, after all, so enjoy my teasers and cliffhangers…

As some of you may have noticed, I am quite fond of patterns and traditions. That's why it was like pulling teeth, convincing myself to use In Somnis Veritas for the title of this chapter instead of the epilogue (Memento Mori was the title of the previous epilogue, and this Latin-based convention something I intend to carry on through the next four stories). However, I have decided to uphold the habit of saving the final Author's Note to explain my naming traditions, and so I shall use this one for my closing thoughts.

I cannot speak for how much you may have enjoyed reading this, though I do hope you may do so instead. I can, however, discuss how much I have enjoyed writing Into Dreams. This story has consumed me for over a year now; I released the initial chapter on Halloween of 2009, and finish it now just in time to celebrate the anniversary of the day I first began writing fanfiction a dozen years ago. There have been many hang-ups and delays, including my entry into two jobs and loss of one of them (and consequent unemployment), and all the chaos of learning to be a teacher. Still, this story has been my refuge, your kind reviews my dose of encouragement and self-satisfaction, and my desire to see this finished my constant ambition. And so it ends. It's almost bittersweet, really.

Or, would be, if I didn't have another story coming immediately after this one. Heh.

To that end, yet another tradition, a preview of the (rough) blurb for the next story:

Rosario + Vampire: For Better or Worse

Another Lesson: Conflict – When a war about humans threatens to break out at your school, the best thing to do is: A. Give peace a chance. B. Hunt down those responsible for starting the trouble. C. Go down fighting.

I hope this serves to pique your interest about my upcoming work. For now, though, it is time to conclude this one, and allow me to do so by offering my thanks to all of you. In my opinion, Into Dreams has been pretty successful, beyond my own joy in writing it: I've started getting a few hundred visitors every release day, and quite a few of you have honored me by favoriting this tale. I've even gotten a fanfic recommendation on TVTropes; that made me giddy for a day, let me tell you! (My thanks to pr0pms for that.) Therefore, allow me to voice my deepest gratitude to all of you, my readers, and to some of my most vocal reviewers in particular (working my way forward from the early chapters): GrrDraxin, NefCanuck, Lord Slayer, paul16, Paosheep, Kaozbleeds, Wispr, josh148513, Shadowsoffate, Appreciative Fan, Ghfghf7, Savaris, Artful Lounger, Grinja, a fan of many works, KonIsMyName, Grandliucharde, The Layman, EternalConflict, Nghtwng77, LordAderickBrogan, Anzer'ke, and Rialga. If I have somehow missed someone, I humbly beg your forgiveness, I'm quite tired. ^_^;

And so, I leave you for now. I should, if all goes well, return at the beginning of January 14th with the epilogue. Until then, let me hear your voices: have I left you contented, irked, eager, disappointed, wanting more? What would you like to see in the tales yet to come? Are you pleased with Into Dreams?

I eagerly await your answers, and your opinions of this final chapter. To give myself the strength I need to bring this to its final conclusion, however, perhaps I should turn to that which this story has so often taken from me: sleep. Time for a different sort of dreams…

~Wynn Pendragon