"Kieran, I know how you feel about this subject..." Añero started saying to Kieran, but Kieran interrupted.
"I don't want to hear it Añero. You can't justify what Seishin has done," he said in a flat tone.
It had been a month since Seishin had admitted to being the responsible one behind Anne Marie's death. She had an overwhelming amount of guilt laid upon her shoulder, and desperately wanted to make it up to Kieran. So, Añero had an idea to settle this tension between the two.
"No, no. I know she was wrong, that's not what this is about."
"I don't want to hear it Añero," he repeated a little more annoyed.
"Gosh dangit Kieran! This is for closure!" Kieran was confused and looked so.
"Añero what the heck are you--" he stopped midsentence and lost all the words in his vocabulary for a small moment. All but a name, "Anne Marie."
Tears came to his eyes as he reached out to touch her. But as he tried, his hand went through her transparent body.
"It might help if you--" Kieran cut Añero off.
"Sh."
"But I--"
"SHH."
"KIERAN LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE!!"
"WHAT?!"
"Do like me." Añero covered his body with magic and he was able to make contact with Anne Marie's ghostly figure. Kieran picked it up and reached out once more to touch her face. She smiled through her tears as she reached out to touch his face.
"My Princess." he said, voice wavering.
"Kier." she answered back with a little chuckle. They smiled and stared at eachother for what seemed like forever. Añero was feeling a little bit ornery and shoved Kieran so that the two were forced into a hug. One that they gladly held.
Seishin had tears spring in her eyes as she saw how happy Kieran was to see Anne Marie again. She quietly cried thinking nobody would notice her, but then she felt two arms wrap her in a warm embrace, something she had only felt once since she had died. She looked up at Añero unsure of how to feel about him hugging her. She slowly wrapped her arms around Añero and continued to cry. She didn't think she could have such a nice feeling after all the problems she had caused. She grasped Añero tighter and whispered in his ear, "Thank you Añero. Thank you so much." She said with her voice cracking slightly. "What are friends for?" Añero replied. Seishin, Kieran, Ashuri, and Anne Marie were his only friends in the world. They were his family. A small tear fell from Añero's face. It was the first tear that had come from his eyes since he was a small child and had to learn to live in the real world way before he should have had to. He held onto Seishin tighter.
"I love you, Anne Marie," Kieran said softly. "I really hope this isn't another one of my dreams."
"It's not. This is real. This is me. But, Kieran, I can't stay."
"What do you mean you can't stay? Seishin stays!" Anne could tell Kieran was getting upset, and he had every right to. But she couldn't stay and ruin a perfect relationship between him and Ashuri.
"It's not that I don't want to. Believe me. You're my very best friend, Kier. You always have been." She began to tear up again. "But I'll only hold you back. You need to say goodbye to me."
"No. No, no, no, no, no. Don't say that. You can't say that." Kieran said in a fearful voice. He pulled away from the hug, but kept his arms around her. He looked straight into her face to see if she was possibly joking. "Not now. I just got you back." He said with tears coming back to his eyes.
"The dead should stay dead Kieran. I just came back to tell you it'll be alright and that you should forgive Seishin." Anne Marie said hurriedly. She couldn't stay long. Not that she didn't want to, but she knew it was the right thing to leave Kieran's life. At least so that he could move on with his life and be happy in another relationship.
"Forgive her?! Forgive her for killing you? I couldn't even attempt." he said scowling down at the ground. Anne Marie understood where he was coming from, but she honestly believed Seishin did a good thing.
"I'm glad Seishin did it." Kieran looked at her with disbelief. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You knew me, I would have given my life to help somebody else any day. And it didn't just help Seishin, but Ashuri, Añero, and you. I was your only friend. I was all you paid attention to, and now you have friends. That makes me happy Kier." She lifted his face and they met eyes. "I love you, Kier. With all that I have left. But I have to go. Now you listen to me, and don't take this lightly." Kieran nodded. it was all he could manage. "You need to learn to love again Kieran. You need to feel things. There was a time when the word 'death' made you cringe. Be that Kieran. Be the Kieran I knew and loved." She finished. Kieran hugged her and they both cried as she left him with a kiss on his cheek. As Anne Marie vanished from Kieran's sight, he fell to his knees and sobbed into his hands.
By this point, Seishin and Añero had left to give them some privacy. Kieran was alone. He thought about his Anne Marie, he thought about Seishin, he thought about Añero, and he thought about Ashuri. He thought about what Anne Marie had said, and with her words fresh in his mind, right there and then, he forgave Seishin. It would definitely take a long time to speak to her again, but he knew he would eventually. He thought about Añero, and how he hadn't been treating him properly, like a friend should treat a friend, and he thought of Ashuri, and how he was feeling this new feeling with her. A feeling he might describe with the word 'love'. He knew he could learn to love again. He thought about how he had been killing killers, and then he realized how many people wanted to kill Yokai, his Ashuri, because she had killed. He knew he would be devastated if someone had gotten revenge on their loved one she had killed, and he cringed at the thought of killing, death, and murder. Especially at the thought of himself killing. He was back to his old self. But not completely. He was a new, older version of himself. He was no longer a normal guy with a normal life, he was a vigilante. He was there for his city. Yūki City needed him, the Hooded Hood, (a name he had learned to accept) Yokai, and the Black Phantom. They were, The ____________, and they had a new purpose, to keep Yūki City a safe place.
Kieran wiped his eyes and sniffled, and knew that he would be okay.
