Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with Yumekui Merry. All rights belong to Ushiki Yoshitaka.

Sorry for the long wait, but writers block is still being a pain. Anyway, on to chapter two.

Chapter 2: A Fatal Mistake - Part 2

Merry had watched the little girl try to awaken the boy with disinterest and no emotion at all. She did not know why he had not gone back to the Dream World as he should have. If he was truly a Dream Demon as she thought, then he should have gone back with the first punch. However, that was of little consequence to her now. This did not change the fact that Yumeji was seemingly dead, and now she had one last job to do: send the girl back to the Dream World.

Before she could even get close to the little girl though, Merry heard her scream out in sorrow, "JAMES!" The moment this happened, things started to get even weirder then they already were. The shadows began to twist and wreath, as if trying to escape the confines of their owners. Then, that is exactly what they did. All around Merry and John, shadows tore themselves from their points of origin, and even their own shadows joined in the fray, as they all headed toward Lisette. The shadows collected together, and formed a cocoon around her. This cocoon of shadow began to move and twist with darkness clearly visible around them.

Then, the shadow cocoon began to crack, and then exploded. All the shadows burst away and began returning to where they had come from. Kneeling in front of the seemingly dead boy was the same girl, but at the same time not the same girl. Her hair was now just barely darker, having a sort of ashy white color to it. Her dress had become dark purple and black in color, and her shoes had disappeared entirely. When she opened her eyes, instead of the gentle blue that had been seen in them before, they were now a harsh crystal green with slitted pupils. She then said in a tone filled with sorrow and heartache, "All worlds...will suffer!"

The moment those words passed the girl's lips, the entire world began to shake with power. John, who was still stuck in the ground, could feel something was wrong with his Daydream. He started seeing triple, and colors began to become distorted. All he could ask at that moment was, "Just what are these two? They claim to be humans, and yet have strength that no human could ever have. What is the truth behind this?"

John was not able to say anything else though, because suddenly the entire Daydream cracked like glass, and then the entire world blew apart. When John and Merry were able to see again, they saw something strange. John's Daydream had not disappeared, but at the same time it was not the same as it had once been. The entire sky was now a blood red color, and a red haze filled the area. There was clearly a dark presence in this place, but it could not be placed exactly. Then, when John looked into the sky, he was genuinely shocked at what he saw; hovering in the sky of his Daydream was a black moon. Underneath that dark moon was a black stone pillar, the moon resting on the tip as if it was a perfectly balanced ball, but would fall off from the slightest of things. Then, the ground started to shake violently. John and Merry turned their eyes to the tower, and watched as it began to crumble. Large pieces of black stone began to fall off of the tower and crash to the ground, crushing some of the buildings in the process. By the time it was over, only half of the pillar still stood. In that moment, a grey mist began to rise up and flow toward the black moon. The girl then started to laugh insanely before saying, "I won't allow this world, or any world, to exist without the one I love." She looked down at Merry, and then the girl's face was set into a small frown. She continued, "You killed my new love. You took him away from me not even a day after he had saved me and I became his. For that, you will get the honor of dying by my own hand." She then held out her right hand, and a green pentagram formed in front of her, the symbol rotating slightly. She then said, "I am Lieselotte Werckmeister, the immortal Witch of Babylon. And you...will pay for what you have done!"

(Lieselotte's P.O.V.)

I would not allow any world to exist after this. I had already lost one love (who had never actually loved me) when Verard was assassinated. I had spent the better part of 500 years alone after that, only to find new love in James. He managed to save me from myself, and stopped me from unleashing Hell Fall. When he had explained his origins, and his family, the Families of Light and Darkness, he had said that he could not be killed without items of extremely great magic power. Nothing short of a fragment of the Emerald Tablet, or a weapon infused with the powers of a demon, could actually harm him. Yet, this girl...no, this monster, had taken away my new love when not even a full day had passed after I had found him. To lose him so soon and so quickly...left me with a heartache the likes of which I never wanted to feel. And now, without him, I did not want to exist at all. I did not, and I would not, spend the rest of my immortal life alone again. I told this girl that she would pay, and I would make sure of it. Before the Hell Fall consumed this world, I would make sure that she suffered. When I was done with her, then I would make sure that this world, and every other world, would suffer. If there were others worlds then the one I knew, then it just meant that destroying one would be meaningless. No, I would have all worlds, and all possible timelines of those worlds, consumed by their own Hell Fall. Even if it destroyed me, I would make sure that no world remained when I was done.

I held out my hand, and a green pentagram formed in front of me. Then, I said to her, "I am Lieselotte Werckmeister, the immortal Witch of Babylon. And you...will pay for what you have done!" A massive stream of fire then flew from the magic symbol. The girl merely raised her right hand, the keys on her little ring defying gravity and lifting up to meet my spell. She then looked up at me, and I could the emotionlessness in her eyes. I could see how she did not care in the slightest for what she had done. That only further fueled my rage. It only made me more determined to see her suffer.

As my fire spell raced at the girl, I was slightly surprised to see that she still regarded everything with that emotionless expression. I believed that she was simply acting brave and stupid, but then something happened. As the fire made contact with the keys, the spell was suddenly stopped in its tracks. It then burst into nothing and the magic dissipated into the air. I could only widen my eyes in genuine shock. Never in my life had I seen someone disrupt my magic so easily, or in such a way. It just wasn't possible that someone could have this kind of power to face my magic, and the magic of the Voidstone, with such ease.

It only angered me more.

So, I decided that for the time being I would fight up close, and take pleasure in ripping her head off with my own two hands. My nails grew into long, black claws. In the next moment I manipulated the cells of my body, and vanished before the girl's eyes. Only to reappear behind her. I began to laugh as I brought my hand down to rip her head from her neck, only to be met with a hand catching mine at the wrist. I was shocked at what had just happened, and was in fact so stunned that I did not even try to dodge when the girl turned around and swung her own fist into my chest, keys gangling as her fist made contact. I could feel the power behind that punch, which was a surprise in itself because she did not appear to be all that physically strong. I could actually feel some of the bones in my chest break, before the blow sent my flying into the wall of one of the buildings in this strange place that my Reality Marble had taken hold in.

It didn't take more then a few seconds though before I stood back up. The power of the Voidstone would not allow me to die for any reason, and so my body simply regenerated and I took to the air. As she looked up at me with those emotionless green eyes, which oddly made me think of a sheep, I simply began to laugh. "So, a little human with more power then she rightfully deserves? You will be no different then hundreds of others that I have slaughtered in the past." With that, I began to unleash several more fire blasts. I did not care what happened anymore. At this point, all I was doing was stalling for Hell Fall to be completed. Once that was done, it would be the end of everything in this world.

(third person P.O.V.)

As Lieselotte sent her fire spells to take down Merry, the Gatekeeper remained where she was, not even trying to dodge or anything. She simply said to herself, "I have no hopes, or dreams." Once again she raised her hand, and once again the fire hit her keys. They burst into nothing, just as they had done the last time, but this time Lieselotte was ready. As the fire magic vanished, she flew down at Merry with incredible speed, nails in the form of black claws as she tried to claw at the one who had taken her love away from her.

However, this time Merry did begin to dodge. She would move only fast enough to get out of the way at the last minute, almost as if she was toying with the Witch of Babylon, though it looked more like she didn't really care. This only infuriated Lieselotte more, that someone would fight her as if it wasn't even a big deal. It all added to the anger she felt from James's death, and made her more determined to kill.

After about fifteen minutes of fighting, Lieselotte managed to hit Merry. Well, she didn't hit Merry, but she did manage to claw off the white overshirt that Merry was wearing. However, this only confused Lieselotte. 'How is she doing this,' she thought. 'I've never met a human that could fight like this. Just what is going on here?'

At that moment, white energy webs appeared and bound Lieselotte's arms to her body. The Witch of Babylon looked at her opponent, who was slowly making her way over to Lieselotte without much care at all. Once Merry stood before the immortal witch, she simply rose her hand and said blankly, "Now, die." Merry then punched Lieselotte right through the chest, her hand coming out through her back.

Merry pulled her hand out of Lieselotte's body, only to have a look of confusion on her face when the wound closed in less then a second. When she saw this, Merry realized she would need to unleash the fullest extent of her powers if she wanted to defeat this witch.

Suddenly, the sky began to crack, almost as if it was being forced open by something. Then, two doors swung open, and a massive gate appeared. Above the doors was a unique symbol that resembled that of a closed eye. This gate then began to emanate a sort of energy, as if it was trying to pull everyone and everything that did not belong in this world into it, passed the white expanse that could be seen behind it. However, the doors of this gate had missing pieces in it, almost as if it was falling apart. Even now, the doors were cracking apart more and more. It was the boundary between the Real World and Dream World: the Dream Gate.

When Lieselotte saw the Gate, she only laughed. "This is the true extent of your powers then? That gate looks like it could shatter at a moment's notice."

Merry disregarded the comment, then brought her fist up to attack; this time, she was aiming for Lieselotte head, preparing to remove it with one punch. However, before she even got the chance to do that, she felt something come down on her head. Her eyes were then shadowed slightly as a familiar hat was placed on her head. Her eyes remained emotionless for only a second, and then they began to regain the light that they had once had. As this happened, the Dream Gate began to fade away, and her second keyring began to break up, while three of the four keys on her remaining keyring also broke up. She turned around with a look of surprise visible on her face, and saw a familiar boy standing behind her. "I told you already, there is no way I would die without going through with something I've decided," Yumeji told her with a look of determination in his eyes.

Upon seeing Yumeji, Merry's eyes began to overflow with tears, just as they had when she thought he had died in the battle against Pharos Heracles. However, she did her best to save face and simply pulled her hat down a little before leaning against his chest and saying, "I told you...don't make me worry like that. I can't remember what I was doing, but I think it was just like what happened with the Lighthouse Man."

Suddenly, John Doe, who was still stuck in the ground and had remained silent for all of what had transpired since the strange change to his Daydream, said from a few meters away, "Once again, you never cease to amaze me, boy. No matter what happens to you, you always seem to get back up from the worst of blows."

Yumeji simply scratched the back of his head nervously and said, "Yeah, I guess that's true." He then grew serious and asked, "But, John, what happened to your Daydream?" He then looked up at the sky, and very nearly fell on his rear end in shock and slight fear. He was staring up at a massive black moon (which was now more then ten times the size it had been before), and that moon was only growing larger and larger by the moment. Yumeji asked in utter shock, "What the hell is that thing?!"

At this question, Lieselotte began to laugh once more. She broke free of her bonds with ease (now that Merry's power was gone), and floated up into the air. "This is the end of your little world. You took away the man I love after I had only just found him. He managed to save me from myself and stopped me from unleashing this upon the world. Now though, this world will pay the price for what that foolish girl has done to me. Hell Fall will consume everything, and then I will move on and destroy another world, and then another, and another, until all the worlds and all possible timelines of those worlds are destroyed." She then smiled a small, false smile and continued, "But, since you all seem so eager to face your end, I will spare you the horror of death by Hell Fall." She then lifted her hands above her head, and began to chant. As she did, wisps of dark magic energy gathered above her head and hands, forming a small black and red orb. As the dark energy gathered, the shadows around Yumeji and Merry began to rise up, and out of the shadows there came strange, blob-like creatures with black halos above their heads and blueish tentacles for arms. The creatures formed a circle around Yumeji, Merry, and a still trapped John Doe, closing off all their escape routes.

As Lieselotte chanted, the spell grew larger and larger, red lightning sparking from the orb. She was preparing an Omnium Principa.

(James's P.O.V.)

I don't know how long I laid on the ground. Be it only a few minutes or several years, I just didn't know. But, eventually, I began to regain consciousness. As I did though, I could not help but groan in pain. I had just experience the power of the Gatekeeper of Dreams; the power of Merry Nightmare. I just couldn't believe it, and yet that is exactly what had happened. Lisette and I had been accused of being Dream Demons, and Chaser John Doe had taken us to his Daydream so that he could fight us. I was prepared to kill him for attempting to hurt Lisette, and then turned that rage onto the one I knew was Yumeji Fujiwara when he tried to protect John. I realized too late what I had done, and had paid the price for it.

After a few minutes, I managed to get over the major headache I had developed. It was painfully clear to me that Daydreams functioned similarly to Reality Marbles, as I had been hurt when inside John's Daydream. If I ever ran into more Dream Demons, I would have to be especially careful.

Once my vision had cleared up though, I was confused. I expected to be back in the Daydream, but that was not the case. Instead, I was facing a massive stone wall. I turned my head, and found another wall behind me. I was in a hallway that stretched in two directions, so far that I could not see the ends. After a few more moments, my eyes widened in horror at realizing where I was. "No," was all I could say. "No. No. No! No! I can't be back here! Not again!" But no matter how much I wished it, I knew I was in the last place I would ever want to be. I was in a place that none could escape. A place in which the walls were ever changing and shifting. A place I had only ever been to once before, and only just barely managed to escape. I was in the inner reaches of my mind.

I just slumped against the wall behind me with my head in my hands. Most people don't even know the true inner reaches of their minds. Without the proper knowledge, you would not even know that your mind is a place in which you are safest, and a place in which none can cause you harm. But, that is not the case for me. My mind, is an abomination. After sixteen years of changing forms, my mind has become an unstable place that none should be able to escape. My mind was once a blank expanse, with nothing in it but a stone floor that stretched infinitely. However, with every time I change form, a wall would spring up in the expanse. My mind slowly became a maze. A living maze at that, for the walls would shift and move, changing position with ease and making the odds of escape only that much lower. The first time I was here was on my thirteenth birthday. I had simply lost consciousness without warning, and ended up here. According to my mother and father, I was in a coma for almost three months, though it felt much longer to me. In that time, I learned the true nature of what my mind was, and it still scares me.

However, that is not even the true horror of my mind. This maze, is a prison. It is not a prison for me, or for any other unfortunate soul who might end up here. No, it is a prison for a much darker creature. A creature who would love nothing more then to destroy the world with the powers of the Families of Light and Darkness.

This creature, is me, and yet not me. It is my inner madness, born from my changing of forms and growing more and more insane with every second. It wanders the maze, searching for the exit so that it can consume me and destroy everything. I swore to myself that nobody would ever learn of this, for fear that they would try (and fail) to kill me. My parents never knew what their union and my birth brought upon the world, and I will be dead before I ever let Lisette or Lieselotte know just what I am, as I do not want them to worry about me over something that cannot be stopped.

But, once I started thinking about Lisette and Lieselotte, my head snapped back up. What would they be thinking right now? They were probably devastated, and thought I was dead. Once that thought crossed my mind though, something strange happened. The air in front of me rippled, and suddenly I saw Lisette shaking something, which I soon realized was my body, and shouting, "James! Get up! You can't be dead! James!" Then, after a while, she just stopped. She slumped a little in what was obviously sadness, and I could see her shaking and tears running down her face. Then, she screamed out, "JAMES!" When this happened, I watched as a cocoon made out of shadows began to form around Lisette's body. When the cocoon broke, I was completely shocked with what I was seeing. Lieselotte had broken free of my seal. The last thing I saw was her crystal green eyes looking down at me, sorrow and heartache clearly visible in them. Then, the air rippled again and the scene disappeared completely.

I just sat there for a moment, completely shocked. My seal had failed, and Lieselotte was free again. But, something about the way she had broken free of the seal didn't seem right. Only I should have been able to undo the seal. But then, a thought came to my mind. 'What if...her grief is allowing her to free herself?' When that thought crossed my mind, my eyes widened in shock and horror. 'If that's the case, then she could go crazy again, just like when Verard was killed. I have to get to her and calm her down before she completely destroys this world. I have to get out of here!' However, that would be easier said then done. My mind was a maze that seemed unsolvable. Regardless, I had to help Lieselotte and Lisette now, before it was too late. So, with a deep breath, I stood up and turned to the left, before running off in that direction.

(third person P.O.V.)

James ran for what he thought was hours, but really he had no idea how long he had been running. He would turn corners and take passages at random. He knew that there was no way to know if he was going in the right direction, because the walls never betrayed a secret to solving the maze. On his first trip here, James had tried to leave marks in the walls so as to make sure he didn't end up going in circles. It didn't work. The maze almost seemed to think for itself, and it had shifted so that no matter where he went he ended up doubling back to where he had been. The maze seemed to know that he wanted out, and so its walls would always change; one moment the way may have been clear, but the next time he returned to that particular chamber a passage might have disappeared.

So it was now, three years later. The maze was just a random mess, with no rhyme or reason to it at all. It had no pattern, and it had no secrets or tricks to figure it out. It was seemingly alive, almost as if it could detect the desperation in him to escape and save the ones he loved. Of course, that wasn't entirely false either. The maze was, in a sense, alive. However, it wasn't trying to keep James in, but rather it was trying to keep his madness from getting out. James had met his madness once, when he first entered his mind those three years ago.

It had nearly killed him. He ran and ran, but no matter where he went in the maze the madness would always find him again. The madness was trying to kill James, because he was the last barrier that would keep it from truly escaping. Should the madness escape, James's own soul and consciousness would be able to restrain it for enough time that the maze would close around it again. However, if James's consciousness were to be consumed, then the madness would only have to escape the maze once and then it would be free. Unlike James, who was limited to using the powers, abilities, and skills of each of his forms during a certain time of day, the madness was not limited in this way. During the day it could use magic, and at night it could fight in a physical battle. It was an ultimate and unstoppable killing machine, and it wanted blood.

That was another reason why James had to escape again. If he didn't, the madness would destroy his consciousness that now resided in the maze and searched for the exit so that he could return to his body and save Lieselotte.

After what felt like four hours of running though, James had to stop and catch his breath. Even in his Day form, James could not simply run endlessly, no matter how much he wished he could. He leaned against a wall, breathing heavily in exhaustion from all his running. However, there was only one thing that he could think at the moment. 'I have to get out of here...and save the ones I love.' However, he knew that was easier said then done. He had no idea how long it would be before Lieselotte unleashed Hell Fall, and he could not allow her to destroy this world over his 'death'.

So, after only a minute of waiting, James once again began running. He ran through corridor after corridor, turned left and right so many times until it was impossible to know where he was going anymore. It was said that there was a trick to mazes and labyrinths: always turn left, and only turn right when you had no other choice. He knew this would not work for his mind, for he had already known of this trick before coming here the first time. The maze learned, so as to make sure his madness could be trapped forever. Everything he knew, the maze knew, so that way it could plan for all possible means of escape from the madness, as it also knew all of the tricks for escape that James knew. He was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. He had no idea where he was going, and he next to no hope of escape.

After stopping again to catch his breath, James just punched the wall he was leaning against in anger. "Why? God damn it, why?! Of all the places I could have ended up in, why did I have to come here? Damn it, I'll never make it out in time to save Lieselotte from unleashing Hell Fall." James was so distraught and angry at himself, he almost felt like just lying against that wall and crying until he died. 'It isn't as if I have any other options,' was what he thought to himself as his pain began to make him stop caring about trying to escape. He had spent three months in here last time, and had only escaped by pure chance. What hope did he have of finding the exit now?

Suddenly, a small, child-like voice could be heard, laughing. James's head snapped up at this, and he turned his attention to the voice. Walking up to him was a little boy. His hair was peppered black and white, with streaks of both colors running through his hair randomly. His was only about 5'2" and not too muscular. He wore blue jeans, a brown silk shirt, and was completely barefoot. However, there was one feature of the boy that set James on edge: the boy's eyes were a pitch black, like voids that sucked in all light. The boy just continued to walk toward James's slowly, still laughing his little insane laugh. Upon seeing the boy though, James's eyes widened in horror. He quickly got back on his feet, and then began to run again. 'No,' he thought frantically as he ran away from the child. 'No, not him. Anything but him.' James just kept running, knowing he needed to escape, lest he be consumed by the boy. However, no matter how fast he ran, he could always hear that sick laughter bouncing off the walls of the maze. He needed to escape now, or else his madness would destroy him.

(James's P.O.V.)

I ran frantically to escape my madness. If it caught me, it would destroy my consciousness. If that were to happen, it would basically have a free ticket to cause as much havoc as it desired, and I couldn't let that happen. He would never stop killing, never stop destroying, and just never stop in general. I feared that 'thing' because it help the promise of death and destruction. On top of that, the power I felt from it rivaled that of the Ancients, the five oldest and most powerful members of the Family of the Darkness. If he got free, nothing short of the Great White God would be able to stop him, and a part of me felt like maybe even He wouldn't be able to do it.

As I kept running though, I suddenly heard his voice speak, almost as if he was right behind me the whole time even though I knew it was not the case (I hoped). It sounded like a mix of knives grinding against stone and the screech of some poor, dying animal as he spoke, "Little James, why do you run? You know it is only a matter of time before I escape. One way or another I will find a way out of this infernal maze, and then make it past your own consciousness. Oh, I can already smell the blood, and can already hear the screams as the innocent people run for their pathetic lives. Won't it be wonderful, little James?"

I did my best to ignore my madness. I couldn't let him get to me, because if I did then he would be able to kill me. But, as I knew that I would never be truly safe until I escaped my mind. That seemed hopeless though, given that I was running randomly through the maze with my madness slowly following me, and I could have sworn I had run past at least one of these corridors twice now.

Suddenly though, as if someone was taking pity on me, I saw a bright white light. All I could was continue running, but with a small surge of joy as I shouted, "Oh thank merciful God!" Maybe the maze was taking pity on me, or maybe I had actually found the exit. Either way, I just kept on running toward the light, knowing from the last time I was here that this was the exit. I would have been concerned with my madness escaping, if it weren't for the fact that it had suddenly stopped laughing, almost as if it knew that it had lost its chance to kill me. Whether that was true or not, I didn't care. All I wanted was to leave this horrible maze, and never return. So, I dashed into the light. For a moment everything was white around me, and I couldn't see anything else. Then, I woke up.

(third person P.O.V.)

Slowly, James managed to open his eyes. When he did, the world seemed to be spinning. After a few minutes though, everything finally managed to come back into focus, and that is when he realized what was going on.

He could tell he was back in his Night form for one thing; his link to his magic core now stronger then it was before. However, when he looked up at the sky, his face slightly paled; the sky was blood red and a black orb was growing in the sky, getting larger and larger by the second. Then, he heard the laughing. James's looked above him, and could see the familiar black and purple dress of Lieselotte. When he looked at her though, he could see the black and red orb of magic power that was growing in her hands: an Omnium Principa.

Upon seeing the forbidden Larvae spell, James knew he needed to get to her and help her. If he didn't, then things would not end well. James closed his eyes for a second, and then suddenly all of the rubble that was keeping him pinned to the ground levitated off of his body. He pulled himself up, dusted off his brown robes, then summoned his rod to his right hand and his staff from his left hand, drawing them from the magic storage that he used to keep all his magic tools and instruments close at hand when he needed them, but not being overly cumbersome.

As James was about to fly up to try and speak with Lieselotte to get her to stop, he heard a familiar sound. It was a sound like a fog horn, but was a lot louder and seemed to induce slight fear. He turned in the direction of the sound, and saw the forms of several blob monsters, larvaes, surrounding the forms of the people he knew were Yumeji and Merry, as well as the form of John Doe, who was still in stuck in the ground from when James used his Earthen Shield. James just sighed, then pointed his staff at the creatures and shouted, "Begone!" The creatures turned to regard him, but only for a split second before the sigils on his staff flared with a bright white light, and the creatures burst into black dust.

When the monsters suddenly burst into dust, Yumeji and Merry were very confused. Then, James said, "You know, you two really don't know what you have just unleashed, do you?"

Both Yumeji and Merry turned to face James, but both of them were confused. Yumeji asked, "Who are you?"

Merry then asked, "And what's going on? What's with the black moon that's getting bigger?"

James just sighed, then looked up at the growing black moon. He then told them, "I am known as James Mellenor, and that black moon will destroy the entire world if I don't get Lieselotte to calm down." Before either Yumeji or Merry could reply to that though (as they were both still very much confused), James immediately took to the air, flying up to Lieselotte. As he got closer to her, he called out to her, "Lieselotte, stop this! Stop this now!"

Lieselotte stopped laughing, then looked down. For a moment she couldn't seem to register that James was flying up to her, and was in his Night form. But, after a few moments, her eyes widened in shock. She broke her chant and asked in shock and hope, "James?"

When that word passed her lips though, the Omnium Principa above Lieselotte's head suddenly exploded due to her chant being broken. James was sent spinning through the air by the shockwave, while Merry and Yumeji were pushed against a nearby building and John just stared up at what had just happened with interest.

When the smoke cleared, Lieselotte could be seen still in the air, completely fine despite the fact that her forbidden spell had basically exploded right above her, but her eyes tearing up at the sight of James.

James then slowly flew over to her, and placed a hand on her cheek, trying to calm her down. All she could say though was, "B-But, you were dead. Your heart stopped."

James just gave her a gentle and loving smile and shook his head. "No, my love, I am not dead. The attack that knocked me out simply sent me within my own mind. It took some time, much more then I would have liked, but I am back. I am fine, so please stop this."

Upon hearing James's explanation, Lieselotte was silent for a few moments. Then, tears began to fall from her eyes in even greater amounts. She quickly wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug and cried on his shoulder in happiness that he was still alive and hadn't left her alone.

As she cried, there was suddenly a sound like screaming. While Lieselotte cried, James turned his head to the black moon, and could not help but smile in relief. The grey mist that had been flowing into Hell Fall was now pouring out, making the spell shrink and lose its power. Once the black moon was back to a much smaller size, there was suddenly a massive shockwave that ran through the ground. James watched as several pieces of black stone floated up off the ground, and began to lock into place, rebuilding the partially collapsed tower. After about two or three minutes, the tower was finished in its reconstruction, the point of the tower striking the black moon so that it appeared as a perfectly balanced ball once more.

Then, slowly and steadily, James began to float back down to the ground, Lieselotte still holding onto him as if he would disappear if she let go while she continued to cry. Once they were on the ground though, James, still using his magic to remain in the air slightly so that he was eye level with Lieselotte, began to softly stroke her hair and whisper soothing words to her. "Don't worry Lieselotte, everything will be fine. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

Lieselotte sobbing slowly came to a stop, and she lifted her head off of James's shoulder. Then, faster then he could have reacted, she slapped him across the face quite hard. James was shocked beyond comprehension, his cheek stinging slightly from the pain of the slap. Lieselotte then said in a harsh tone, "You'd better not make me worry like that again." Before James could reply though, Lieselotte crashed her lips onto his in a hard kiss filled with passion.

The kiss lasted for all of a minute before it was unfortunately interupted. Someone could be heard clearing their throat nervously. James and Lieselotte broke the kiss, only to see Yumeji, Merry, and a still stuck John Doe staring at the two in surprise, confusion, and in John's case, interest. Then, Yumeji asked, "Okay, what the heck is going on here?"

And there you have it. Chapter two is finished at long last. Again, I apologize for the long wait, but this writers block is a pain in the ass. I will try to get over this as soon as possible, but until then the bi-monthly posts are still going on.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and please leave a review. They make me feel like I'm doing something right.