(A/N): John and Houshou are in trouble, fa la la la laaaa la la la laaaa Sinead, get here on the double fa la la la laaaa la la la laaaa Colleague's coming, send some help please, fa la laaaa la la laaa laaa laaa laaa, Or even Ayako's sacred trees, fa la la la laaaaaaaa la laaa laaa laaaaaaaaaa!

Some festive (?) music to lighten the mood! (I'm sorry that was distasteful)

Chapter 32 and I think you're going to hate me after this. I apologise.

Anyway, just a note in preparation - I put in some jokes in this chapter, and they're a bit rude, and I apologise in advance if you find them offensive. (Wolfstadt thought they were hilarious)

One more day of school to go and then I've broken up for the Christmas holidays! Yaaaaaaaaaay! I really need a break, it's been a very tiring term. Is anyone doing anything good over the holidays? I'm just staying in myself, but what are you guys doing?

Oh yeah, for this chapter, I'd recommend Pray by Kodaline again, especially towards the end. Also, you may see some parallels in this chapter that correspond with my first chapter, and that was on purpose. You know, I've been waiting to write this chapter for so long - ever since I started writing this, actually, and I've had it all planned out so that there will be some similarities with the first chapter, as part of the effect.

This chapter was both awful and thrilling to write, and I'm not sure if I really enjoyed it or if I hated myself. Oh yeah, a few of you have been asking about Ireland, which I was very pleased about. Well, I'm afraid that I can't tell you yet about what happened there, but I will write about it in a later story.

Which brings me to my next question: should I carry on writing in John's perspective? Because the next chapter will be focusing a bit more on another character but because I would find it pretty hard to write in said character's perspective in 1st person, I'm not sure if I'll carry on having John narrate it partly or not. Hmmm I'm not sure. What do you think I should do?

Ok review answer time! Here we go:
To Good Anonymous: I'm afraid you'll be plunged into a cliff hanger again. Sorry. Also, I've been keeping up to date with the new Ghost Hunt story (it's taking ages to update) and so far John's priest problem hasn't been touched on. If Fuyumi Ono fails to explain what happened, I'll be very annoyed. I want to knooooooooooooow! And I hope we get a full in-depth story about John's past. And merry Christmas to you too!
To WhisperToTheWolves: Hi again! It feels like I haven't spoken to you in ages :) I am extremely honoured to find out that I'm one of your favourite authors :D And yeah, I haven't seen many stories that feature Ayako's tree powers, and I thought it'd be cool to write (which it was, I really enjoyed it) so I decided to include it.
To Powerpuff: It definitely was , and thanks for this information. Actually, I find that pretty strange, that you can request not to have your name shown...what if someone enjoyed your work and wanted to read more of you work, but couldn't because you didn't display your username? Hm, I don't know, I'm not familiar with the website. Either way, the Mysterious Phantom Plagiarist has disappeared, along with the copy of my story, and they haven't made a reappearance, which is a relief.
To myangelicladyofdarkness: Like I said, you'll have to find out :) Also, your review actually sent me into a panic as it was Ireland, not India, and I was scrolling through the story like "OMG DID I PUT INDIA DID EVERYONE SEE IT OMG" but it's fine. :P
To CatMaz: Merry Christmas! Heh heh thank you :) And yeah, if someone plagiarises my story again, I think I might scream, it's getting really old now.
To 14AmyChan: Thank you very much! I'm glad you decided to read it in the end, and I hope you enjoy it. Also, I see you are a beta reader, and I am very impressed :) Please keep on reading!
To NaginiFay: That's what I plan on! :)
To Lizzy: Thanks, and keep on reading!
To Ananas: Thank you, and I see you picked up the joke! Yeah, Sinead is from England, and a person living there, I can say this is a pretty true description. You have basically really cold and wet winters, then a few nice days in September and April, before in Summer it suddenly gets really hot (well we think it is but people from other countries laugh at us) and we completely freak out and don't know what to do because we're not used to it. It's worse down south, I think, although it's wetter up north and in the west. And funnily enough, the Romans, who didn't colonise in Ireland, used to describe the country in this way, which is where I got the inspiration. It's part of the reason why they avoided Ireland, I hear. And you'll find out about Ireland in maybe two stories' time.
To Raven's Shadow: Hahaha I agree with your description of Sinead! And, as you'll have read, I will write about Ireland eventually :)

Here we are, chapter 32. If you want to see a sneak preview of chapter 33 guest written by Wolfstadt, check out the Ghost Hunt tag on tumblr (it's not a spoiler or anything it's just her reaction that she wrote while editing the chapter. Also, some of you may know this, but in the url, replace 'search' with 'tagged', as it makes things a lot easier) I'm excited to know what you think of the chapter, I've been waiting to write this for a long time!

Thank you for reading, following, favouriting and reviewing! Thank you all so much for your support and your compliments, it makes me so happy! I hope you have a fun time this December, and that the new year brings new good luck for you all!

Enter Chapter 32...

This was all my fault. We were going to die.

Takigawa had lost blood. He was pretending that he was fine, but I saw the pain he was in, how pale he was. If he didn't get it sorted out, if we didn't get the bleeding to stop soon, he was going to lose too much blood.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered. Try as I might, I couldn't stop myself from trembling, or my breathing becoming rapid. "This is all my fault."

"Calm down." I had no idea how Takigawa was managing to keep this collected. "It's not your fault."

I shook my head. "You were right. We shouldn't have come here. We're both going to –"

"John." His voice was soft. "We're going to be fine. Just take a deep breath, and calm down."

From the look in his eyes, I knew he was lying. We both knew it. But I took his advice anyway.

"…Ok." I got my breathing under control, although I still couldn't stop myself form shaking.

"Good. What do you think of the rope?"

I tested it once more. Beforehand, when Saburou had abducted me form the Church, he had used some sort of soft fabric – maybe so, if I escaped, there would be no ligature marks, and therefore no evidence, adding into the schizophrenia rouse. But this time, he hadn't bothered. Instead, he'd used strong cord. I couldn't get any play with it like before. The only chance we had was to cut it.

"I don't think I can get it loose." I spoke quietly. Saburou and three other men were close by, but not so close as to overhear us. They were watching us like hawks, though. They didn't seem to care that we were talking, but seemed to be watching our movements.

"We'll have to cut it. But…"

"…we have nothing to use." Takigawa finished.

I nodded grimly. "And even if we did, they'd be sure to notice."

Takigawa frowned, and thought about this.

"Plus, if we got ourselves free, they'd just shoot us. And Saburou can't feel pain."

"What?"

"He's got CIP. He doesn't feel pain, so we'd have no chance in a close-combat fight."

Takigawa fell silent as he thought about it. "Well…we'll think about it when we get there. First, we need to get through this cord."

I nodded. Finding something sharp might not be so hard – we were surrounded by hazardous debris. I could see various blocks with sharp wires sticking out, and behind me were the remains of a door. Before Saburou had tied me up, I managed to get a glimpse of it. The metal was rigid and jagged; no doubt it would be very sharp. The problem was, I wasn't close enough to try and free my hands, or if I tried to move towards the metal, Saburou would easily notice. Even if I was near the metal, it wasn't like I could do anything. Saburou was watching me too closely. He was scared. I had escaped too many times, I had become a persisting problem. And Saburou would get the blame for this. Somehow, from the way he looked so apprehensive, I was guessing that his life was on the line, and it depended on whether I escaped or was killed. He had failed four times too many, and now he was determined to make sure it did not happen again.

The only chance I had was to try and make him relax. When he felt he was in control, he became arrogant, and let his guard down. So, if I managed to make him feel comfortable, and certain I could not do anything, he would relax, and his watch would not be so intense. But the only way to make him drop his guard, it seemed, was to allow him to 'assert' his dominance. And the only way that happened was if he physically overpowered someone, or rather, beat them. It was fear that made him feel strong, and that was why he enjoyed creating pain in others. It gave him a feeling of power.

So if I was going to get Saburou to drop his guard, I would have to let him hurt me.

Would the other men feel more relaxed when Saburou did? I could only hope so. He was in charge, I assumed, so hopefully, they would.

I took a breath. How was I going to do this? I couldn't make myself. I didn't want to inflict it on myself. But if I didn't…

As it turned out, it was Saburou who moved first. He walked over to us – not sauntering like he normally did, but walked cautiously, almost creeping.

I didn't even glance at him when he stood over us. "What do you want?"

"I was just wondering what you were talking about." He told me snidely, but almost anxiously.

"Does it even matter? It's not like we can go anywhere." I pointed out.

"Oh, I'm not sure. You have a habit of being able to slip out of situations, no matter my precautions."

"Precautions? There are no precautions." He twitched in irritation, and I wanted to stop, but I knew I had to provoke him.

"…You just get lucky."

It was actually true. "Just keep on telling yourself that."

I saw his fist clench, but he kept a calm demeanour. "Whatever. I don't have time to be arguing with you. You can talk all you want, but you won't buy any time for yourself. The boss is coming, and when he does, you won't have much time."

"Colleague-san can do what he wants. I don't care. You're not going to get away with this. Too many people have found out now. You can't cover up what happened here anymore. That's all that matters."

"Really? Do you really think that?" Saburou crouched next to me, taking pleasure in this torment now, caution forgotten. "Because you're forgetting something. Your friend is here with us. And he's going to die too. In fact, when the boss arrives, we're going to have a lot of fun with you two. But who shall we start with? Who will have to watch the other die?"

He placed the muzzle of the gun next to my head. I tried to make my breathing steady, and I didn't close my eyes but stared dead ahead, trying not to look at Takigawa.

"How about I kill you first, and the monk will have to feel the guilt of never being able to heal your friendship? Or show you how sorry he is?" I glanced at Takigawa. He was staring at me. I couldn't quite place the look in his eyes – there were too many emotions.

Saburou grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. I tried not to cry out. He placed the gun on my neck. "How about I kill you first, and poor Takigawa-san will have to feel the guilt of another broken promise?"

"Stop it." Takigawa growled. His face had darkened, and he looked murderous. It was the mention of promises again. What did Saburou know? Takigawa had made a promise to me last night – was the car bugged?

Saburou grinned, and released me. He sat over by Takigawa now, and placed the muzzle next to his head. Although I inhaled sharply, Takigawa did not move.

"Or should I kill you first, and pretty boy over there can feel the guilt of knowing that he is responsible for the death of one of his closest friends? That he is to blame for this entire mess?"

I stared at Takigawa, knowing that Saburou's words were true. But Takigawa didn't look angry. He just shook his head ever so slightly.

Saburou removed the muzzle. "I'll let you think about that for a little while." As he began to walk away, Takigawa whispered to me,

"Don't listen to him. He's just messing with us."

I smiled weakly, and nodded. "Ok. You should remember that too. You're not to blame for this."

Takigawa nodded. "…Ok."

I flashed a smile at him. "Good. And don't worry about me."

"What do you mean?"

I didn't answer, and instead turned over to Saburou.

"Is that it?" I called over to him.

"John, what are you doing?" Takigawa hissed.

I ignored him. "I was expecting more than that."

Saburou paused, and turned back to face me. My heart filled with dread, but I knew I had to keep going.

"Excuse me?"

"What's the matter? Are you afraid I'm going to escape again?"

"Oh, you're not going anywhere."

"That's what you said the last four times. But guess what happened?"

Saburou scoffed. "Like I said, you just got lucky."

"I don't know, I've had an awful lot of 'luck' recently. What does colleague-san have to say about that?"

Saburou froze. I had struck a nerve. The colleague really had threatened him, then.

"I'm surprised he hasn't killed you yet." I went on, dreading what was going to happen. "You've proven to be so incompetent, I thought he would've done away with you."

"Shut up." Moving a lot quicker than I expected, Saburou hit me with a force that made me reel. A searing pain flashed by my eye, and I realised he had cut me.

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you want me to explain what incompetent means?"

He grabbed me by my shirt and lifted me up, so that my feet dangled off the ground. I swallowed my fear.

"Leave him!" I heard Takigawa shouting.

Saburou stared at me vehemently. "What have I told you about being so cocky when you're about to die?"

I carried on regardless. "The way you try and prove your dominance over those weaker than you…I'm guessing you're incompetent in more ways than one."

"Oh?" He said, almost in disbelief.

"Yeah. How many women have you left sourly disappointed? Or even men, I'm not sure of your orientation. I wouldn't be surprised either way; you must be so desperate to get some action."

Saburou threw me to the floor, and I landed on my arm, making pain shoot up it. My side began to ache. Behind me, I could see the sharp metal. If he had thrown me any further, I would have landed on it and been impaled.

Before I could recover, he had moved over to me, and kicked me in the chest, hard. It was all I could do not to cry out. When he did it again, something metallic tinged in my mouth, and I coughed up blood.

"Stay away from him!" Takigawa shouted. Saburou ignored him, and placed his foot on my neck.

"You know, it could take me about 3 seconds to kill you." He told me with a snarl.

"Is that how long you last in bed, as well?" I retorted, trying not to cough up blood.

He stared at me, and grabbed me tenderly by the neck. I took a deep breath before he began to squeeze painfully, cutting off my air.

"Saburou!" Takigawa yelled. "Leave him alone!"

He didn't stop. There was nothing I could do. Beyond the thin curtain of red that was appearing in front of me, I could hear Takigawa yelling.

Then it was suddenly gone. Saburou had removed his hand. I gasped, taking in air rapidly, as my vision returned to normal. The metal was behind me, and I could feel it digging into my back.

For good measure, Saburou slapped me across the face one last time. I went limp, and hung my head, feeling blood dripping down my face from my wounds and from my mouth. My ribs were bruised, and everything ached. But it didn't hurt nearly as much as the way Takigawa was shouting my name desperately, to the point where he sounded like he was in tears. But I did not dare move, or my plan would be ruined. I had to pretend to be unconscious.

"John!" He was shouting. "Please answer me! Please!" I could hear Saburou and the other men laughing and jeering in the background. They wouldn't suspect me trying to escape now.

"John! Oh, God." Takigawa said in a strangled voice. "Please, don't be dead. Please." He whispered.

It took everything I had not to raise my head and answer him. But if I did that, then Saburou would be on guard again, and we'd never escape.

"I'm so sorry, John." He continued. "I'm so sorry. I let you down. I broke my promise. But please, please don't be dead. Please answer me."

"Oh dear. I hope you haven't been too rough now, Saburou." A new voice entered the mix.

My blood froze. I knew that voice…

Oh God. He had come. He had arrived.

"Who…who the hell are you?" Takigawa shouted.

"So this is the monk. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Who are you?" Takigawa repeated angrily.

"Me? I am the one you refer to as the colleague."

After a long time of standing by the river, trying to decide which direction to go in, Sinead was suddenly met with an answer. She could not explain how it came to her, and neither could she justify it, but with startling certainty, she knew that they needed to go North, towards the forest in the distance.

Conor had been saying something, something about technology and how they could overcome the connection problem, when the certainty overcame her.

"North." She spoke up quite suddenly.

"What?" Conor asked, bemused. The other officers listened in.

"We need to go north." The words that came out of her mouth did not feel to be her own, but she inexplicably knew them to be the truth.

"Umm…how do you know?" Conor asked.

"I don't know. We just do."

The other officers cast each other puzzled glances, but said nothing. They were used to weird happenings after working with Sinead. Some of them had actually been with her in the temples in Mexico, and after the bizarre things that happened there, they did not question this.

With purpose, Sinead turned and got into the car. Immediately, the others did as well. They respected and trusted her – if she said they needed to go north, then they needed to go north. Swiftly, they drove along the river bank, towards the forest. Soon, they noticed they were travelling uphill. The forest was getting nearer. As they got nearer, something came into view.

"Stop the car." Sinead ordered suddenly. In a heartbeat, she was out of the car and striding towards the object.

It was a battered car. Frowning, she gave it a quick search. There was a first aid kit in the boot, along with a map and some other necessities.

Conor approached her. "What have we got here?"

"Oliver said that the monk was gone, along with his car. This doesn't look like it belongs to this colleague figure. I think it might be the monk's."

"…Wait a sec." Conor pulled a device out of his rucksack. Opening the car door, he crawled in, searching it around the place. The device began to beep rapidly, and he pulled something out from behind the mirror.

"…A bug." He announced. "I think you're right. Someone was spying on whoever was in here."

Sinead pursed her lips. This didn't sound good.

The officers approached now. She gathered them, while one of them checked the car again.

"We're searching for the ruins of what was once a psychiatric ward." She told them. "There is a high chance of us being met with hostility. Use force, but do not shoot on sight. We need people to question. However, they will be shooting to kill, so if necessary, use deadly force."

"We are looking for two people: John Brown and Houshou Takigawa." Conor passed around photos of the two people. "As soon as you find them, bring them to safety. They are our top priority. Do not bother with arrest until we find them." She took a gun, and checked the chamber. "After you have found them and brought them to safety…" She trailed off. There was that strange feeling again, washing over her like a tide. She shuddered, as it sent a chill down her spine.

"…Chief." An officer was leaning over the hood of the car. "This has been tampered with. The brakes are bust." She declared. "It was done pretty recently, I think. If anyone tried to drive this, it would crash sooner or later."

Sinead nodded vaguely, still struggling to understand what had come over her. "…Andy." She addressed the officer who had spoken. "Stay here with Winter and Eliot. The rest of you, with me."

Without another word, she dashed off into the undergrowth, moving at a surprisingly fast speed, and leaving the others wondering what had come over her, before hurrying after her.

"Sinead!" She heard Conor calling after her, as loudly as he dared. "Where are you going?"

But she couldn't stop. It was vital that she ran quickly. Why? It didn't matter, she just knew she had to. She did not stop. Not even the forest dared to trip her up as she ran.

It was only when the feeling had faded that she slowed to a halt. Panting, she looked around her. What was going on with her?

A strange cry caught her attention. Swinging her gun around, she turned to find something hovering in front of her. It was…snake-like, white and twisting. Sinead's eyes widened, and her gun slowly lowered as she regarded it in amazement.

What was it? A spirit of some kind? Even for her, this was new.

Uttering that strange cry again, the spirit twisted around her playfully, floating around her head, dancing in front of her, and Sinead found herself calmed, despite everything. She reached a tentative hand out to touch it, and found a pleasant warmth pulse through her. Then the spirit arched over her, and raced through the trees. For a moment, Sinead watched it go, slightly dazed. Then she began to run once more.

Takigawa stared at the man who sauntered up to them. He wore a black suit, as if he was at a funeral. As far as Takigawa could tell, he wasn't armed. But what scared him the most was the man's eyes. Although his face was plain, there was something about his eyes that made Takigawa shudder. Hands in his pocket, he regarded Takigawa with interest.

"I really think it would have been wiser for you to stay out of this." Colleague told him.

"Shut up, you bastard." Takigawa spat. "If you hurt John anymore, I swear I will not rest until you are dead."

"Brave words." Colleague acknowledged. "But pointless. You are going to die as well."

He walked over to John, who had not moved at all. "As for him, he is going to pay." He nudged him with his foot. John remained frighteningly still. "I will make sure that he suffers a most cruel death."

Takigawa glared at him as the colleague moved past John and went to Saburou. "It seems you haven't failed me, after all."

Saburou said nothing, but kept a firm grip on his gun.

"This is good news. For both me and you. I was afraid I was going to have to kill you."

Again, Saburou remained quiet. He stared at the floor. Even he was afraid of the colleague.

For a moment, they conversed quietly. Takigawa looked at John frantically.

"John! Please wake up!" He whispered. "Colleague-san is here, he's going to kill us!"

"…We'll wake him up." He could hear the colleague saying. "Then we'll have some fun with him."

Takigawa felt a surge of panic. He could see no way out of this situation.

The colleague walked back to Takigawa, hands together almost gleefully. He kicked John casually, who still did not move. Saburou passed him a small, black pistol.

"Now." He said, examining the pistol, almost curiously. "Who shall we start with?"

The spirit led Sinead further into the forest. She followed it tirelessly, not knowing where it was leading her, but somehow knowing that it was the right thing to do. Eventually, it slowed down to a halt. Up ahead, through the trees, she could see a vast field. And in the middle, a charred mess of building resided there. It was the Ward, she was sure.

The spirit called to her, but this time, it was not playful – it sounded urgent. Something bad was going to happen there, that's what it was trying to tell her. Was she too late? Had John already been caught? Was he already being killed?

Sinead tried to push the thoughts out of her head. Thinking like this was pointless. She had to help John, now. But what if she was too late by the time she got there, and found John? And the other officers hadn't even reached her, she had been running so fast. She couldn't go in alone; that would be suicide. So what could she do?

The spirit nudged the gun. Sinead stared at it. What did it want her to do?

Again, it nudged the gun, and then drifted up towards the canopy of the trees, before coming back down and nudging the gun again.

Wait…

Hesitating, Sinead raised the gun into the air. This would at least keep any hostilities preoccupied with the presence of another threat.

She fired the gun. The shot echoed loudly, and a small flock of birds bolted out from the trees, flapping their wings hastily and clumsily as they flew away, shrieking at the person who had disturbed their peace.

The spirit cried encouragingly. So Sinead fired again. And again. And again.

Small creatures bolted away from her, and the trees seemed to creak and groan in irritation. One last time, she fired the gun. The spirit seemed to nod approvingly, and then drifted slowly back into the undergrowth, uttering a cry of farewell.

Conor reached her first. "Sinead! Sinead, are you ok?!"

"Yes, I'm fine." She gestured to the Ward in the distance, just as the other officers reached her, all bearing guns.

"We're going in there. There will most probably be hostilities firing at us. Be prepared."

A shot echoed from within the forest. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, I moved. Looking up, I saw the colleague, holding a pistol. But he wasn't looking at me. Instead, he was looking towards the forest, frowning.

Then another gun shot fired. Then another. And again.

Everyone was staring at the forest. The colleague, Saburou, the other three men, even Takigawa…they didn't give me so much as a glance. Perfect.

I leapt, wincing, to my feet, a scrap of the sharp metal in my hand, and grabbed the colleague, placing the blade at his throat. With my other hand, I wrenched the pistol from him. He was too surprised to fight back. As the last gun shot fired, I backed away from Saburou and the other three men, now placing the pistol to the colleague's head. I threw the sharp metal down to Takigawa.

By the time Saburou and the other men realised what had happened, it was too late.

"If anyone moves an inch, I'll kill him." I hardly recognised my own voice. It was cold, vicious.

"John, how violent!" If the colleague was scared, he was hiding it well.

Everyone froze. They did not have their guns ready, so would not be able to shoot fast enough. Besides, the colleague was taller than me. They couldn't shoot me without killing him as well.

"Put your guns on the ground." I ordered. Reluctantly, they did this.

"Now step away. Actually, stand over there." I gestured to an area that was far away from the guns. I did not dare move my gaze from them. The colleague did not try fighting back; he knew all I had to do was press the trigger, and it would be over for him.

"Houshou. Have you gotten yourself free?" My body ached, and I could hear Takigawa was in pain, too.

"Wait a…yeah." I heard him stand up.

"Go get those guns, and move them somewhere far from here." As he did this, I planned how we would get out of here. As soon as Takigawa was ready, we needed to run. I couldn't bring the colleague with us as a hostage – he'd just slow us down. So we'd have to run as fast as we could, and get out of range. The gun shots came from the south, but we couldn't run in that direction; Saburou and his men were standing there, and they'd no doubt try to stop us, and it was too risky to try and get them to stand behind me. So we'd have to go the opposite way, which was north.

Takigawa came back. "I've done it."

"Ok." I whispered, not taking my eye off Saburou and the three other men. "We're going to have to run. On the count of three."

"One." I felt my hand shaking.

"Two." Takigawa was shaking, too.

I swallowed, and took a deep breath.

"Three."

I knocked the gun against the colleague's head and he fell, wounded but not dead. Then I grabbed Takigawa's hand.

"Run!" I shouted.

We ran and ran. We ran faster than I thought we could. Behind us, Saburou was shouting, but we didn't dare look back. Instead, we just carried on running, jumping over debris, clutching each other's hands tightly. Takigawa was gasping in pain. I realised it was his shoulder. My own ribs were aching, and my head was pounding. But we didn't stop. We couldn't. We just had to keep on running.

By the time we reached the forest, a gunshot echoed out. Saburou had reached the guns, and was opening fire. Takigawa was beginning to slow, but I urged him on.

"We have to keep running! We can do this, we're at the forest now!"

He nodded shakily, and we ran through the undergrowth, tripping on roots and weeds. There were more voices at the ward, and lots of people were shouting. Who had arrived? That didn't matter. We had to escape.

Takigawa slowed to a halt. "I'm sorry." He gasped, clutching his arm. "I can't…I can't go on…"

I stopped and leant on a tree, coughing up blood myself. Wiping it from my mouth with my arm, I took his hand again and squeezed it.

"I'm not leaving without you."

"I'll just slow you down."

"I don't care." I gave him a weak smile. "We've gotten this far. We can carry on."

Inhaling painfully, he nodded. "Ok."

A voice resonated from somewhere close by. "Don't let them get away!" It was Saburou.

We hurried on, running anywhere, just as long as it was away from Saburou. Takigawa was tiring, as was I. We couldn't keep this up for much longer. And the voices were getting closer.

At last, we burst into a clearing. And my heart sank.

"No…"

A sheer drop faced us. A cliff. And at the bottom was a coursing river.

If we turned back, Saburou would catch us and shoot us, and we would be killed. If we jumped off the cliff, like I did before, then we would get killed – that's what happened last time, and no one would be there to revive us. There was no option.

We were going to die.

Takigawa stared mindlessly at the cliff face. He could hear the river down below.

The voices were near them now. There was no time to turn back.

John's face had drained of colour. He turned to Takigawa, horrified.

"Oh, God. I'm so sorry. We're going to…Oh, God." He was shaking. So was Takigawa. They were both going to die.

Unless…

No. John wasn't going to die. Takigawa promised to protect him. And that was what he would do, even if it meant Takigawa had to die.

As the voices got nearer, he and John edged further away from the forest, nearer to the cliff.

"John…" He looked down at his friend. His best friend. John was trembling uncontrollably now, as was Takigawa. They both had tears trickling down their faces.

Takigawa swallowed. "I'm so sorry. For everything."

"Don't be." John held back a sob. "I'm the one that should be sorry."

Takigawa wiped the blood from John's face. "I'm so glad I met you."

John inhaled raggedly as he cried, and reached out to Takigawa's face, wiping a tear from his eye.

"I am, too. I'm so glad I spent this time with you."

"Goodbye, John."

"Goodbye, Houshou."

Takigawa embraced him tightly. John hugged him back, sobbing. Takigawa took a deep breath, and kissed him lightly on his head.

The undergrowth erupted. Saburou charged out, followed closely by another man. They both raised their guns.

Takigawa ignored them. Instead, he let himself relax. He stopped trying to stand upright. He leant back.

Instead, he began to fall.

Time seemed to stretch out as they both fell from the cliff, down towards the river below. Takigawa still held onto John tightly. His back was to the river. He would hit the water first. John would be sheltered from the blow by his body. Maybe he would survive. That's what Takigawa hoped.

But Takigawa knew that he, himself, would not.

He closed his eyes.

The water engulfed them.

And everything became still.

Water surrounded me, dragging me down, trying to claim me. The current thrashed me about like a ragdoll. All I knew was chaos, tossing me around in the dark, so that I did not know which way was up or down. I wanted it to stop, stop, stop…

…then I was out, gasping, out of the water, breathing in sweet, sweet air. The current grabbed at me and tried to bring me down again, but I fought it. Wiping the water from my eyes, coughing up the liquid as it seeped down my throat, I tried to make sense of what had happened. The cold bit me savagely, scattering my thoughts. What was happening? What was…

Houshou.

Where was Houshou?

I looked around. Where was he? He was with me, and then we fell, and then…

Oh no.

"…H-Houshou?" I called out shakily.

No one answered me.

"Houshou?" I shouted, feeling panic well up inside of me.

Still no answer.

No. It couldn't be. Please no.

I dived back into the water, searching, straining my eyes against the force of the water. I could not see him.

Surfacing, I took a breath, then dived again. Still, I could not find him.

Once more, I surfaced, gasping, before diving back down into the water.

This time, I glimpsed something. Something dark. Something surrounded by red.

I reached out, and grabbed him under his arms. Then, with all my force, I pushed myself up, dragging him up with me.

We surfaced together, and I breathed deeply. Houshou was limp in my arms. The only warmth in him was from the sickly blood that was pouring out of his shoulder. With all my strength, I dragged him to the river bank, praying he was alright.

With effort, I pushed us both onto the bank, almost slipping back into the water as I did so. The light air gripped me with ice cold talons as the water began to evaporate off me, but I ignored it.

Houshou was not moving. I rolled him onto his back carefully. His shoulder was bleeding, badly. His face was pale and ashen.

"Houshou." I shook him gently. "Houshou. Can you hear me?"

He did not stir. I tilted his head backwards, and placed my head near his mouth, listening carefully.

Nothing.

He wasn't breathing.

I felt his pulse.

Nothing.

His heart had stopped.

Biting back panic, I began CPR. I placed the heel of my hands over his breastbone, with my other hand on top. Using all of my weight, I pressed down repeatedly.

One, two, three, four, five, six…

He wasn't stirring. Oh, God.

…twenty four, twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven…

"Please wake up." I whispered. "Stay with me."

A minute had passed, and I had reached one hundred. He remained deathly still.

I tilted his head back again, held his nose, and tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. It didn't work. I tried again, forcing my air into him. It didn't work.

"Oh, God." I went back to chest compression. One, two, three, four, five, six… "Oh, God. Please don't let him die. Please let him live, God. Please don't take him away from me."

Another minute passed. I went back to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. It didn't change a thing.

"Don't leave me, Houshou." My attempts at chest compression were getting weaker.

"Stay with me. Don't die."

Still nothing.

"Someone help me! Please!" I shouted, not caring who I attracted. But no one was around.

Houshou was very cold now. I held back a sob, and whispered,

"Please, don't leave me. Please."