Chapter 36 – The Wish

Art shouted loudly and leaned forward. He was in his bed and it was morning. Everything was strangely quiet and peaceful. He put a hand to his head and thought carefully. Very slowly, everything came back to him. He remembered all the people he met, and all the Gate battles. He also remembered Lily and Molly. He controlled his emotions and carefully let go of them. After his mind found a brief haven of peace, he stepped out of bed and stared blankly at his drawers.

“What day is it,” he muttered.

“Art!” his mother shouted. “Come downstairs! You’re not missing another day of school again!”

Art thought for a moment and felt his heart race. He raised his hand, “Kiss of Darkness; Lilith—” He stopped. He slowly lowered his hand and stared at the ground. “She won’t come,” he whispered. “Not this time.”

Art walked to the door and turned the handle. The door swung open and he stepped into the hall. Lily’s door was adjacent to his. He looked at the uninteresting frame and stared. He heard his mother shout his name again. He went downstairs instead. The smell of eggs and frying bacon filled the air.

“It’s a good thing I woke you up,” his mother said with a frown. As Art went into the kitchen, he saw his father eating at the end of the table.

“Mom, where is Lily?” Art quickly asked.

“Who?” his mother replied.

Art swallowed. There was a bitter and disgusting taste in his mouth. “You know,” Art said, trying to laugh. “Your daughter, my sister, her name is Lily?”

His mother turned away from the stove. “Are you still dreaming Art? Wake up, sit down, and then eat your breakfast.”

“Dreaming…” Art whispered. “There’s really nothing left of it?” Art looked at his food. He never hesitated to eat eggs and bacon, but this time he didn’t have the appetite for it. He heard his mother sigh.

“But since you’re on the topic, why don’t you go wake up your real sister.”

Art thought for a moment. “My what?” He felt something brush against his leg and looked down. He nearly shouted a laugh. “M-Maki! I don’t believe it!”

“Huh, what?” Maki said with a yawn. She rubbed her eyes and wiped her hands on her small blue sleeping gown. “Can I go back to sleep?”

Art picked her up and laughed again. “I can’t believe you're really here!”

Maki smiled and put her arms around his neck. She laid her head on his shoulder and tried to go back to sleep.

“Art what are you talking about,” his mother scolded. She looked at Maki and put her hands on her hips. “Don’t put her back to sleep!”

Art put Maki down. “Maki, do you remember anything about Gates and games?”

Maki shook her head. She wiped her eyes and sat down at the table. Their mother put down a plate of food for her and pointed.

“Eat,” she commanded. She turned her head and looked at her husband. “Thomas, do something.”

His father looked up. “Art, if your mother hits me because of you, you’re grounded.”

She scowled and him twice. “Never mind, you’re useless.”

“Ok, I’ll let those hits slide,” his father said with a smile.

Art sat down and ate his food. There was a strange relaxation in the back of his mind. It felt like relief. He dressed and got his lunch. He waited at the front door for Maki. She came down the stairs in an elementary school uniform and ran ahead of Art. She laughed and ran to the edge of the driveway.

“Maki wait,” Art called. “Be careful!”

They walked to the next house over. Art asked Maki to wait as he went to the front door. He knocked but no one answered.

“There’s no one there,” Maki said. Art stared restlessly at the door frame and tried to look inside the windows. He couldn't see anything. For a while he stared with empty eyes. “Come on Art!” Maki shouted. Art slowly nodded and walked away. He glanced back at the door and stared.

They walked up the low hill, on their way to school. The streets and houses looked the same. Cars and trucks passed by infrequently. He wondered about the final moments of the game and remembered the last thing Lily said. Was this what he wished for? None of it really made any sense. He was still trying to understand how Maki turned into a little sister. As Art came around the corner, he heard a shout. Then he heard footsteps quickly running, and paused. He carefully looked around. The footsteps slid and Lilith suddenly appeared.

“Lili—” Art was knocked flat on his back as Lilith ran into him, not paying attention.

“Ow!” she cried, rubbing her nose. She looked down in tearful surprise and smiled. “Art! What are you doing on the ground?”

“You knocked me down,” he muttered. He quickly pushed her up. “Hah! You’re here too!?”

“Of course I am,” she answered. “If I ditch another day of school, I’ll get yelled at.” She was wearing the senior uniform for the high school.

“Why were you running?” Art asked.

Lilith gave a mischievous smile that made his skin crawl. “I switched the sugar bowl with salt. When Jezebel took a sip of her coffee—”

“Lilith!” Jezebel screamed. She was standing with a furious expression and seethed with anger. She saw her on top of Art and screamed again, “Ah! Get off of him!” She reached down and grabbed her from behind, squeezing her tightly. “And what did you do to my coffee!”

Lilith squealed and tried to push Jezebel’s hands away. “S-Stop that! You’re squeezing my—” Jezebel moved her hands a little and then screamed again. “It’s your fault!”

She quickly let go and backed away. Lilith turned and looked at her with a flushed smile. Jezebel cried loudly and tried to run but was tackled to the ground.

“How does it feel when I do that huh?” Lilith laughed.

Jezebel struggled and cried again. “Stop it!” She moved loudly and began laughing. “Th-That’s not fair!”

Art stared at them with a red face. He slowly put his hand over Maki’s eyes and led her away. “We…we should go to school before we’re late.”

“Art! Help me!” Jezebel begged.

RJ walked around the same corner and looked down. His eyes sparkled with happiness. “A girl in trouble!” he shouted. “Don’t’ worry Jezebel; I’ll pry your sister’s grip from your innocent body! After all, it’s my duty as a man—” Candace hit him with a loud thwack.

“To forget you saw anything,” she finished for him.

“We’re all having so much fun this early,” Fay said, peering around the corner. “Good morning Lilith, Jezebel.”

“Oh, Fay,” Lilith said, jumping to her feet. “Did you do the math homework?”

Fay shook her head with a smile. “I forgot.”

Lilith twitched her mouth. “That isn’t something you should smile about.”

“Oops,” Fay giggled.

“Jezebel did it,” Lilith said quietly. “But she wouldn’t give it to me.” Lilith turned with a smile. “Jez—”

“T-Take it!” Jezebel shouted, still red in the face.

“Really! Thanks so much!”

Art followed the seniors to school, listening to their conversation. They didn’t mention anything strange or weird, and talked as if life had always been this normal. They reached the school and split up. Maki said she could walk the rest of the way herself. As Art nodded, the seniors walked off to their lockers. They saw Jennifer and she joined them. Royce and Marcus were standing together near the windows. Marcus greeted them but Royce folded his arms and pretended to ignore them. But as soon as Jezebel said hi to him, he smiled in embarrassment and returned the greeting. RJ waved to Paul when they passed him. Paul bowed his head slightly with a thin smile.

Art went to his locker and stood in front of it. He stared at the dial with a blank expression.

“Forgot your combo?” Isis asked.

Art picked his head up and widened his eyes. “Cat ears!”

Isis yelped and reached up to her head. “Oh, sorry,” she said nervously. She took off the fuzzy ears and smiled. “It was the cutest thing I’d ever seen, I had to buy it.”

“I…thought they were real,” Art said, feeling stupid. He slowly smiled and laughed. “They look good on you Isis.”

Isis smiled and put them on. “Thanks.”

“Getting friendly again I see,” Sarah said in a dark voice. She poked her head around the open locker beside Art’s. “But she is just the cutest thing. I love that headband thing Isis.”

“Hey Sarah how have you been,” Art asked.

“Great! Isis and I are going to the beach this weekend,” Sarah said. “Her father came back and wanted to do something nice for her. I was sure my parents wouldn’t let me go…but when I asked them, they agreed! They even wanted to come too!”

“That’s really nice,” Art said, feeling her happiness.

“Sarah,” Isis growled. “Why are you in my locker?”

“I forgot my science book,” she laughed. She took the one in the locker and ran off. “Thanks!”

“Wait! I need that too!” Isis shouted, chasing after her. They passed Hayate and Vanessa, almost knocking them both over.

“Careful!” Vanessa shouted angrily. She sighed and muttered. “Never mind.”

“Hayate!” Art shouted. He waved to him, but slowly stopped. Art remembered the Gate fight and hesitated.

“Hey Art,” Hayate answered. “How are you?”

“Good, I think,” Art answered.

Hayate patted his shoulders with a friendly smile. “I’m going to spend more time at the archery range. You’re welcome to come if you ever feel like learning the trade.”

Art smiled but shook his head. “I’m ok, but thanks.”

“What are friends for,” Hayate laughed. He bid him farewell and went to his locker. But as he looked at Hayate and Vanessa, he realized how happy they looked; hanging off each other’s arms. He grabbed a few books and went to class.

“If I could turn into a robot, I would so kick your ass!” Andrew shouted.

Kenta returned a sneer and held up a deck of monster cards, “I bet I would beat you if I could summon these monsters!”

Art slowly smiled and passed by both of them. “Hey Andrew, hey Kenta,” he greeted.

“Art! Who would win!” they both shouted together.

Art gave a wave and continued walking. He could still hear their heated argument. On his way, he saw Kevin sulking outside a room. Art laughed quietly and went to the next floor. When he reached his class, he went to his seat. But then he saw Kirose and nearly fell.

“You ok,” Kirose asked with a smile. She didn’t have a ponytail, but had long straight silver hair. She was also in a normal school uniform. There was a black headband on her head and she looked beautiful.

“Hey Kirose,” Art said in shock. “You look…like a princess.”

“I hope you’re not trying to hit on me,” Kirose said with a glare. Art blinked and laughed. He saw Tessa from the corner of his eye and looked at her. She closed her eyes and waved with a smile. Art waved back.

“Tessa, are you still busy today?” Kirose asked.

“Yeah, my brother is still taking me shopping,” she answered. “It’s getting colder out, so I need to buy a new coat.”

“Sounds kind of romantic,” Kirose said, nudging Art’s arm.

“Shut up!” Tessa shouted in embarrassment. “Besides, Alice is going to be there. So, the three of us will be together.”

“Alice?” Art asked. “The little girl?”

“Little girl,” Kirose sputtered. “How about beautiful woman. She’s been hanging out with Alex a lot lately. I bet they like each other.”

“He does not,” Tessa muttered.

“Aw,” Kirose giggled. “No one likes a third wheel.”

“I am not a third wheel!” Tessa replied.

Kirose folded her arms and looked at Tessa with an impish smile. “Who said I was calling you the third wheel?”

Tessa’s face became flustered and she hid it in embarrassment. “L-Leave me alone!”

The bell rang and the conversation stopped there. Art sat down and looked at Molly’s desk. But there was someone else sitting in it. He began feeling sick and put his head down. The teacher looked over the room to check attendance and slowly nodded his head. Art felt dizzy and raised his hand.

“What is it Art?” the teacher asked.

“I need to go to the nurse’s office,” he answered.

The teacher looked at him suspiciously, but waved his hand. “Ok, just don’t get sick anywhere.”

“Thanks,” Art said quietly. He stood up and walked toward the door. Kirose and Tessa looked at each other. Kirose smiled and pointed to the empty seat next to Art’s. Tessa shrugged but returned a similar smile.

Art trudged through the empty hall. He could hear the faint voices of teachers talking as they pointed to their boards, or presented slide shows. Art wandered until he could see the nurse’s office down the hall. He gazed out for a moment. He then turned and went upstairs instead. Art opened the door to the roof and put his hands in his pockets.

The roof was tiled white with its benches and potted plants placed in aesthetically pleasing locals. The sky was a brilliant blue with the sun still climbing over the horizon. Art walked to the fence and looked down at the empty school grounds. There were birds calling in the air, and moving cars in the distance. But he couldn’t hear them. Art squeezed the fence tightly and slid to his knees.

“This is where it all started,” he muttered. He looked sideways and thought about the time he gave lunch to Molly. “I guess its no surprise it ended here too.”

There were soft footsteps behind him. He slowly stood up and turned around. Directly across from him was Molly.

“Reminiscing?” she asked with a slight smile.

“Molly!” Art shouted, running toward her. She quickly ran and held her arms out. Art embraced her tightly and laughed. Molly also laughed and squeezed his shirt. “I thought you were gone.”

“I did too,” Molly answered. “But they told me it was ok to come back.”

“But what about this morning, and your desk,” Art muttered.

“I rode to school with Chester to drop him off early,” Molly cried. “And my new desk is right next to yours.” She giggled and then clenched her teeth from bawling.

“You…remember everything?” Art asked, still holding her.

“Yeah,” Molly answered. “I’m really glad you did too.” She shut her mouth and hugged him until her body began shaking. She suddenly cried out loudly, trying to hide her face. Art patted her back, not wanting to let go. When she calmed down, she stood with a dumb smile. “Sorry about that.”

Art smiled back and kissed her instead. Molly stared in astonishment, but slowly closed her eyes and leaned into him.

Watching from a distance, though not making any attempts to hide, were Louis and Lily. They were on a smaller, higher roof at the corner. Lily sat down at the edge and kicked her feet lightly. She had her elbows on her knees and rested her head on her hands. Louis looked down at the dreamy expression on her face and smiled nervously.

“You seem to be enjoying their private moment,” he said.

Lily looked up and frowned. “Either, I feel like a parent watching them grow up, or this is the end of a romantic movie,” Lily said. “Don’t ruin the mood.”

“As you wish,” Louis said, sitting down beside her. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. As he slowly flipped through them, all of the Gate cards appeared. Lily slowly glanced over and checked the cards in his hands.

“I still think I won,” Lily laughed lightly.

“How so?” Louis asked.

“My player didn’t die; yours did.”

“Then why did you let me get rid of a card and make a new one too,” Louis asked with friendly expression.

“It seemed fair I guess,” Lily answered. She reached into her pocket. “I’m glad we got rid of the King and Queen cards.”

“They look happy don’t they? The sisters, the little girl and the little boy…besides, as much fun as the cards were, they were a little troublesome.” He shuffled the cards together and held them out. “Pick one.”

Lily took a card near the far left and looked at it. There was a picture of a man holding up colored vials and beakers. There was a table in front of him with more colored flasks and bottles.

“I call it the Alchemy card,” Louis said. “The player can manipulate matter. How about it?”

“I like it,” Lily said, putting the card back.

“What did you come up with,” Louis asked. Lily reached into her pocket and held up the card she made. “I thought of it when I was in a library, using those fascinating machines called computer terminals.” The card she held had a picture of a half a person’s body appearing bright white. The other half looked like a combination of coded numbers, as if being digitized. “It’s called the Hacker card. The player can manipulate machines that use any form of circuitry.”

“That’s very interesting,” Louis complimented. “This after all, is why we play the game. So the winner can discard an old card in favor a new one. The times are changing I guess.”

“I think its fine,” Lily answered. “We’ve been doing this for thousands of years. We can do nothing else.”

“But the games are fun,” Louis said. He took Lily’s card and shuffled it into the deck. “So how long do you want to wait this time?”

“I really liked the last game,” Lily answered with a playful smile. “It was really interesting in its own way.” Lily stood up and brushed her legs off. Louis also stood and tilted his head. “We should do it again real soon.”

“I can agree to that,” Louis answered.

Lily looked back to Art and Molly, sitting near the edge of the fence. They were quietly talking to each other. “Goodbye Art,” Lily whispered. “I’m really glad you got your wish after all.”

Art picked his head up and looked toward the corner of the roof. There was no one there.

“What is it?” Molly asked, looking in the same direction. She slowly picked herself up and brushed off her skirt. “We should go back to class. I bet we’ll both have detentions this Friday.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Art answered. Molly helped him up and they both walked to the roof exit. But Art glanced back one last time at the corner. He could have sworn he heard Lily’s voice. He smiled and shook his head.

A/N: Aww, don't tell me you guys didn't see that coming. You know I'm a sucker for happy endings. Actually, this ending reminded me a lot of Evangelion. You guys remember the special Rei ending where everything is all happy and she's a student in school who actually smiles and is really friendly? It was one of the possible endings to the Instrumentality thing? Err yah, so I dunno. This ending is so happy its kind of gay. But I like it. All the characters got their wishes after all! And suprise! Even Lilith, Jezebel, Maki, and Chester had a little place of their own! Vitz and Senith were like golems so they weren't actual people. I was going to turn them into action figures, but as funny as that would sound, it would be really random.

So, the story is done! Yay, pat yourselves on the back for reading all the way through! And if you didn't, you're probably confused by reading this A/N. Like always, please please please leave a review of some kind. I'd really like to know who was actually reading this story and what you thought. Who your favorite character was, what could be done to improve the story, little things like that. Well I guess those would be major things.

I'd like to give a shout to Unwanted Empathy though, you are quite possible the most fanlike fan I've met and thanks so much for dropping me all those teeny revs and PMs. I really enjoyed what you had to say. I'd also like to thank Lady Allaria, Moss Riversong, Insanity Lord, and Draco (though you probably don't read this anymore lol). Please leave a final impression for me so I know how this story did. And for all of you haven't reviewed, thanks a bunch when you get to this point.

One thing I'd like to point out is this story's last chapters. Did it feel rushed? I guess I made everything happen pretty quickly and abrupt to try and keep the realism. I mean, if all of a sudden students died in or near your school, it would get shutdown right? Police would be everywhere and there would be a lot of chaos and news. So I made everything happen all at once to cut out those kinds of things. Did it work? I wasn't really sure how else to try and solve realism issues like that. I hope it didn't seem rushed, there were lots of action right?

Ok, sorry I'm shooting my mouth off and you all probably want to get on with your lives. But I will give a little teaser. I was thinking of writing two more GAT stories. The first one would be a prequel which would take place in a fantastic medieval like setting. For those that were paying attention this would be the same story that Lilith and Jezebel kept hinting at (the one with the King and Queen who tragically lost one another) but the story would be from the viewpoint of a upstart hero who is a runt but wants to make a name for himself since no one believes he can. There would be the usual cast of cards but with major twists. The story would focus on the hero and a small band of Gates while they work to fight this great evil. Like usual, Lily and Louis would be controlling all of it, or try to anyway.

The other story was going to be a sequel to the GAT Club. It would take place about 10 years down the road (Lily and Louis weren't kidding when they said real soon) and might be the children of some of the original players. Basically the Dream Eater got sorta glitched and is now running amok, making a slightly different kind of game. Lily and Louis are powerless against it and this game's Gates will have to try to find a way to stop it. Of course, the wish will still be going so they'll have to decide to either work together to defeat the Dream Eater and end the game, or stab each other in the backs to get the wish and end the game that way...that is if the Dream Eater lets them. You can be sure to see reappearances of a majority of the original cast.

Ok, so those were both ideas and I haven't actually written anything on either of them. But I probably will write the Prequel version, since I really like the idea for it.

I'm sorry I'll shut up now.