A/N: Wow! So many positive reviews! Thanks a lot everyone!

These chapters have gotten longer and will take more time for me to write. I may not preview well before posting, so if you see a grammar/spelling error, do let me know where it is and I try and fix it ASAP.

Again, thanks for everyone's patience!

Chapter 8: The End Of The World: A New World Awaits

"I miss you."

"A... A-Tan..."

He sat on his bed on this late night, as he held his phone close to his ear, hearing the subtle sounds of sobbing coming from a goddess on another side of the world.

"It's not fair..." Athena said. "Why are you around so many pretty girls while I'm staying alone...?"

"They're my house guests..." he replied. "It is my duty as the house butler to serve them."

"Lies!" she yelled loudly, enough for his phone to hurt his ear. "While in Athens, you seem to treat that Katsura girl really different from the others and she's not even your mistress!"

Hayate blushed. "It's nothing like that, I swear!" he said. "She has no interest in me whatsoever! I was just returning her a favor!"

"By laying on top of her on a cliff before taking her out for dinner?"

"Yes!" he paused for a second, realizing his idiocy with words. "W-wait, no! Not that first part! That was an accide-"

"Yeah! I bet it was!" she said.

"A-Tan...!"

There came a moment of silence in their conversation. He heard her sigh.

"I'm sorry I yelled," she said. "But I can tell when a girl likes someone. Hayate-kun, that girl is really onto you."

Hayate made a straight face. "A-Tan, that's not really funny," he said in a serious tone.

"Eh?"

"You shouldn't make jokes about a respectable student council president who's very popular with boys and even girls in academy, to even consider an indebted, nice-guy butler, who doesn't own any swag nor experienced ratchetness that attracts young girls like her."

Another awkward silence.

"Oh..." her voice trailed to the static silence of his phone.

"See?" he asked. "You have nothing to worry about."

Athena spoke. "Um, okay then. I believe you, I guess..." He heard some doubt in her voice, and something about not knowing 'what's a ratchet.'

'Although...' he thought. 'Hinagiku-san and I have been talking a lot recently...' His mind wondered to where this could lead. He quickly shook his head, unable to believe in such a fantasy.

"Besides, I'm sure that there are some nice men in Athens that have been seeking a lady like you," Hayate replied. "You probably just friend-zoned all of them."

"..."

"Hello?"

"Baka."

"Eh? A-Tan? What did I say?!"

"You think I want to find someone new?" she asked. "Idiot..."

He listened to her sob again.

"You're just saying that so you can be with her..."

Hayate blushed once more. He wouldn't believe in Hinagiku falling for him, yet he couldn't understand why that statement made him unable to reply.

"I still love you, damnit..." she said.

There he sat on his bed, recalling everything that has happened between him and his former mistress. From taking her hand upon meeting her in a field full of white flowers, to the fight where he almost sacrificed his life to save her from possession to take the King's Jewel, to their final goodbye where they've finally had closure, after all these years of heartache both had held over the years.

Tears suddenly rolled down his face without realizing. His hand holding his phone to his ear began to shake.

Hayate began to sob. "Why..?" he asked between his sobs. "Why must you tell me now?"

"I can't help it," she said, still sobbing. "I lied about having loved you and couldn't handle it. I still love you..."

"Damn you..." he whimpered. A sudden glimpse of a pink-haired girl came into his mind. "I was doing my best to get over you, and now you're telling me..."

"I'm sorry, Hayate-kun..." she said. Her sobs became more apparent. "I love you... say it back, please..."

"Y-y-you told me it's bad to cry like this..."

"Please Hayate-kun... I love you. I love you so much..."

He laid his other arm over his face, trying to wipe the limitless amount of tears rolling down his face.

"Hayate-kun..."

"Hayate-kun?"

He long stood in front of Violet Mansion as his mind wandered into a different world that had already ended.

"Hayate-kun!"

Hayate rubbed his temples, also shaking off the vivid memories before seeing Ayumu staring right at him.

"We're home," she said with a worried look, opening the front door for them.

"Ah, sorry..." he apologized. He went in after Ayumu and began his house duty.

'We haven't spoken the entire time walking,' she thought. She looked at the sad expression on his face as he left to the kitchen. 'The same behavior... when we all were in Athens...'

"Hayate!" Nagi called, running to her butler in the kitchen. "Look, Hayate! I finished my latest chapter to my manga!"

Ayumu watched as his sad expression quickly changed into a happy one.

"You did?" he asked. "Nice! I'm excited to read it!"

She watched Hayate read Nagi's manga outloud. She slowly made a small smile.

'To be able to hide his sorrow from his master,' she thought. 'That's probably another reason why I admire you so much...'

"Well, dinner is ready everyone," Maria said, standing by the dining table. She looked at her proud work of seafood paradise laid all over the table. Crab legs, shrimp fried rice, lobster tails, and a tray of garlic bread all prepared. She notices a couple of seats still empty as Nagi, Kayura, Ayumu, and Chiharu all sat themselves down. Chiharu noticed at her looking.

"Hina-san will arrive shortly," age said. "I just got here not too long ago. She wanted me to finish student council-related work ahead of her, but she should be here really soon."

Maria looked beyond the walls to her side. "I just heard her walking in her room, so she must have arrived here already," Maria said. She turned to the butler. "Hayate-kun, can you please go and tell Hinagiku dinner that is ready?" she asked. She gave him a wink, turning the butler's face blush red. Chiharu saw the scene, so she also teased the butler and gave him a little smile.

"Ano.. ah.. h-hai..." he said as he nervously walked out of the dining room. 'What should I do?' he thought. 'I haven't even replied to her text because I was thinking too much!'

He walked to her door, opened it and went inside, right when he realized why he should always knock first. Hayate instantly closed his eyes upon realization.

"I'm so sorry, Hinagiku-san!" he shouted. "I shouldn't have walked in while you're changing again!"

"Ah, so that's what you always do..."

Hayate opened his eyes after recognizing that voice. His open eyes met the little girl with long ribbon blond hair who is now grown to a full-sized woman.

"A...A-Tan..." he muttered. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Surprise to see me again?" she asked. Hayate turned really red as he couldn't stop staring at her.

"Y-yeah..." he said. "Especially when you're wearing that." He pointed his finger at her clothing. Athena looked down to see her extremely tight, six-years-old-sized uniform wrapped around her developed curves. The long socks she had as a six-year-old were now ripped apart, revealing her long legs to the not-so-misfortuned butler.

"D-d-d-don't look at me!" Athena shouted, turning beet red as he stared at her. "I look like a stripper!" She quickly turned around, covering her entire front side.

Little did she know, she just revealed something else to the butler.

"A-Tan! Your skirt! It's too short! Now I can see your entire b-!"

Back in the dining room, while everyone else is eating, the girls all heard and felt a sudden impact coming inside the house.

"Was that an earthquake?" Maria asked.

"No, that sounded more like Hayate walking into Hinagiku changing again," Kayura replied while she ate her crab legs.

"Oh yeah, but that impact..." Chiharu added.

"It's only normal when they're in love," Kayura said.

Nagi and Ayumu both spit out their food at Kayura from what they just heard. "Whaaaat!?" they both shouted.

Kayura remained content as usual, despite the amount of rice and pieces of seafood all over her face. Maria made an anxious laugh as she wiped off the content on Kayura's face.

"Didn't you guys hear the noises in the kitchen last Friday night?" Kayura asked. "It sounded like fighting at first, but then it was actually them making up the whole time."

All the girls in the room remained quiet, all madly blushing at such a statement.

'Oh my...' Maria thought. 'They do it everywhere!'

The silence broke with a clang as Nagi dropped her spoon onto her plate.

"They did it in the kitchen?!" she shouted. She sat up from her chair, about to walk out of the dining room. "I'm gonna kill him for betraying me!"

"Uh, Nagi... I was describing their fight from a verbal manner," Kayura said. "Not a sexual one."

'Ah, of course...' Maria thought as she sweatdropped. 'They haven't done anything like that, I think...'

"... I'm still gonna kill him!" Nagi said.

"Wait, Nagi-sama!" Maria shouted. 'I will not let even Ojou-sama interrupt their youth!' she thought. She had an idea. "It was actually just me rehearsing a scene from Ruka-san's manga..." she said. "With Chiharu-san!"

Kayura raised an eyebrow. Chiharu almost spat out her food in surprise, but instantly understood what the maid is trying to do.

"Ah yeah, Maria-san and I enjoyed Ruka's love comedy manga," she said, feeling anxious about lying. "I was impersonating the male character in the scene."

"Really?" Nagi asked. "Let's hear your male voice then."

Chiharu gulped, but decided to try anyway.

"Ahem..." she started speaking. "Ojou-sama, wake up! It's time for dinner!" she said in a perfect Hayate-like voice.

"Wow, that was good!" Nagi said, very impressed. "When you said that, I almost felt like Hayate was waking me up again!"

Chiharu, Ayumu, and Maria all sweatdropped.

"That was pretty good, I agree," Kayura said. "But then again, Hayate-kun does sound like a girl sometimes. What I heard really did sound like they-"

"Stop talking," Maria said, exposing Kayura to her lethal smile. "You shouldn't talk with your mouthful, Kayura-san."

Kayura gulped.

"You better not open your eyes when you get up," Athena said.

Hayate laid down on the floor with a big bruise smoking on top of his head.

"I.. Itai..." he expressed pain to himself. He slowly stood himself up with his eyes closed again.

"Well, aside from my original clothing," she spoke. "It seems that those three months of collecting Shirosakura's energy brought me back to normal."

'Hinagiku-san's sword...' he thought. He suddenly recalled his last scene with the fully grown Athena.

I want to tell you so much, but I have no more time...

"A-Tan," he called her. "What exactly is going on?"

He heard her footsteps coming towards to him. Hayate, with his eyes still closed, nervously stood still as the woman in a tight child's dress walked closer to him.

"I can't tell you," she said. Hayate felt her subtle breathes against his lips as she spoke.

"W..why?" he asked.

"We've gone way too far ahead of the actual chapters to know."

"What?"

"Nevermind!"

He felt a sudden presence behind him, as if the door had slid open by a little.

'A-Tan left?' he thought.

Proven wrong, he felt her weight press against his body. Hayate opened his eyes right when her lips was an inch apart from his. He froze as she waited for him to proceed, unable to move and not knowing what to do as a voice screamed into his head.

'You should be able to figure that out yourself!'

Athena waited for his action with her eyes closed, but it never came. She slowly opened her eyes to him and noticed his nervous expression. She let go of him and backed up.

"Sorry..." she mumbled. "It's... not right."

She looked at his innocent face turn away from her. She can see the guilt he must feel after rejecting her.

"It's okay..." she said. "You can agree that this isn't right. You should agree."

Hayate looked at her once more. He gulped. This time, he will not mess his words.

"A-Tan, I know that one day you will find someone," he said. "One who deserves you a lot more than I did..."

Athena chuckled. "You're just saying that so you can be with-"

"I am," he put it bluntly.

Her eyes widened at his sudden response. Shocked and hurt at the same time, she covered her mouth with her hand, which trembled uncontrollably

"That doesn't mean I stopped loving you!" Hayate said. "You'll always be my first love and I'll never forget that!"

Hayate looked at her tremble with tears. Whenever she cried, it would be because she would be angry at him. But this time, it's much worse.

He held her.

Athena sobbed into his shoulder, feeling the warmth of him like it would be her last time.

"Y-you'll..." she whimpered. "You'll always be my first, too!"

Hayate began to let go. Athena, failing to pull him back, had her arms raised, trying to reach towards him, seeking more warmth from him, seeking everything she has had with him.

"Don't leave me again..."

He smiled at her. Of course he doesn't want to leave her. "Then stay," he said. "You're becoming a crybaby much like me now."

Athena laughed a little. "Baka..." she muttered. She wiped her tears herself and sat on her bed inside of Hinagiku's closet.

"Can I have some time alone?" she asked. "For a few minutes..."

"Of course, you may," he appropriately answered. "I'll go ahead and bring you some tea in the mean time."

Hayate leaves the room. Before he closed the door, he looked at Athena one more time, watching him leave the room with a sad and concerned look.

He recalled an old memory of him and her like this. Somewhere, in a castle...

'Promise me that you'll come back! No matter what!'

"I'll come back here," he said to her. "I promise."

She smiled as Hayate left to the kitchen.

"Thank you..." she whispered.