AbhorsenSabriel87: Okie-dokie! Since I haven't been able to write all summer, I'm back with a vengeance and continuing to write my lovely little fic known as Second Chance!
Ser: …Very well. What shall Heather-san say, though?
Sabriel: Well, she's the one that forgot to come today.
Ser: --sighs-- As you say.
Sabriel: Everyone, this is Ser. He'll be a main character in a web comic I hope to post eventually.
Ser: For now, it is simply a novel/manga that she is writing with a friend of hers from school.
Sabriel: Yep. Now, since for some reason reviewer responses have been banned from the site, I'll reply to all of you personally if you send in said critique.
Ser: In the meantime, enjoy the story, as AbhorsenSabriel87 owns nothing but the plot and her own characters. And for your enjoyment, there are two quotes today.
Sabriel: Thank you, Ser. Now on with the fic!

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Hope is a waking dream.
-Aristotle

They say dreams are the inner workings of the soul…
-Henry Bromel

---To say that he awoke would not entirely be accurate. It was more like he dreamt of awakening, and so believed that he had, for when Hiei opened his eyes, there was a blue sky directly above him, his vision bordered by leafy green trees. Confused, he sat up, glancing around with the wary eye he was known for. There seemed to be no one around, just trees and the sky and the grassy ground beneath him. Casting his gaze downwards, he noticed that his clothes and body were perfectly unmarred, though his memory stated differently. What has happened? he wondered, standing while checking over his form. What is this place?

---"It is Purgatory for those of undefined faith," a familiar voice stated, coming from behind him. Though his eyes narrowed and his body tensed at the voice, he did not give into the impulse to turn about and attack. Calmly, he turned to face her, his red eyes locked onto her own.

---"Hello, Hina," he stated crisply, still angry at the woman who'd birthed him only to have him discarded from anyone who could have cared. "Are you a Virgil to my Dante, or are you here to torment me for eternity?" As I deserve…he thought, the ending drifting into the back of his mind and settling there.

---Hina looked pained when he said this, but he no longer cared. The only look of pain he cared never to see was one on his sister's face. That was the only thing in the world that redeemed this woman in his eyes, but she would never know that. Neither of them would.

---"My son," she said, her voice almost quivering with the unshed tears in her crimson eyes. "I do not have the right to ask for your forgiveness, but I ask that you please listen to me before you run out of time."

---"What time do I have left?" he asked coldly. "You've already said that I'm dead."

---"Not dead, just in Purgatory. Please, will you listen to what I have to say?" Hiei regarded her with his same apathetic gaze, trying to judge if she was trying to trick him. Seeing no evidence to support his thought, he nodded once, granting her permission to speak. Sighing, Hina took a deep breath and told him what he needed to know.

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---The door to the apartment opened with a slight swish and was then immediately closed again. Kicking off his sneakers, Horosha Kenjutsushi stepped into the living room of the apartment he shared with his ane-san, his elder sister Nakia. It was small, but it suited their needs, and neither ever complained about it, especially not what they had to go through to get it. Taking only a sweeping glance of the room, Horo retreated to the kitchen for something to eat before going to bed for the night.

---The kitchen was just off the living room, separated only by an unblocked archway. Taking quiet steps to make sure the downstairs neighbors didn't hear him moving about, Horo made his way to the fridge and peered inside. Deciding after a moment on the leftover yaki soba that they had last night, he pulled the container out of the cooler and popped it in the microwave for a few minutes. Agreeing with part of his brain that said he should be relaxing, he eased his way over the creaky floorboards and settled on the couch, waiting for his meal to cook.

---It took them so long to get out of there, to leave that place they once called a home. He still visited it from time to time, trying to remember something that wasn't whitewashed with pain. Fortunately, Nakia had kept him safe from most of it, by pure luck more often than not. He owned everything to her, and yet she asked for nothing at all, save his trust in her judgment. Though he'd always given her that, he couldn't help but feel that she was trying to shield him from the rest of the world, a world he knew of but was never allowed to aid her in visiting.

---The ding of the microwave snapped his thoughts back to the more pleasing present, and, smiling, he got up and retrieved his food. Glancing at the clock, he furrowed his brow in thought as he registered just how late it was, and he realized said sibling had yet to call him.

--- Didn't she say she was of at midnight?

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---"Though you are not dead, your trials are far from over. I will try to send you back, but please be careful along the way. You are alive, and shall stay as such for more decades to come, as long as you will it. Please, my son, live until you have gained the life I was never able to give you."

---Hina's parting words echoed in Hiei's mind as he walked through the Purgatorial forest, wondering if he was really doing something worthwhile with every step. He knew now that Kurama had become somehow attached to him, but he doubted it would take very long for the yoko to get over his death. And Yukina would never have to know just the kind of person her brother was…

---A great pain shot through Hiei's chest and forehead, akin to the sensation he'd had when the Mirror of Forlorn Hope has reflected Yusuke's Rei Gun into his back when they first fought. Why, he had no idea, but it was still so painful that he dropped to his knees, one hand grasping his chest and the other clutching his head where he could have sworn that bullet wound had been. Each second was agony, each throb threatening to tear his soul to pieces. Finally, it became too much, and he fell to the ground, once more in utter darkness.

---Exactly at that moment, Yukina awoke from a meditative sleep, gasping for air and clutching her head and chest. It was almost as if her soul itself ached with long hidden pain, stronger now due to many years of disregarding it. Tears brimmed at the edges of her vision, and she knew, somehow, that what she felt had to do with one of her closest friends.

---Standing quickly, she hurried from her room as fast as she could, keeping quiet so that Genkai would not wake to her footsteps. In only a moment, she reached the main room, and without hesitation she retrieved the pocket communicator Botan had given her years ago. Flipping it open, she immediately called up Koenma's office, certain that he would know what was going on. When he appeared on the screen, she didn't even give him time to respond to seeing her worried and pained expression.

---"Koenma-sama," she gasped, still trying to get some air because of the slowly subsiding pain in her chest and skull, "where is Hiei-san?"

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AbhorsenSabriel87: Well, it's a little short, but it'll hafta do until I can see how much people still like this fic.
Ser: --sighs-- And when shall you update it?
Sabriel: …Maybe in a week. I have to see what I can do for my other fics.
Ser: --sighs again-- Yes, my lady.
Sabriel: Anywho, please review readers!