here is the very last chapter of the story. if anyone is upset on how i ended it...sorry. but i only wanted to make this a somewhat short story (which i failed miserabally at) so i figured that i could end it this way. dont like it...too bad! haha just kidding. but i hope you like this chapter and the end of this story ^_^ also, i have exciting news at the end of the chapter!

Lost Paradise

Chapter 20

Two days later

Takuya sat on the edge of Zoe's bed, using one hand to stroke his girlfriend's soft hair. In his other hand he held that day's newspaper, though his vision was too clouded with tears to read much of it.

"Mmmm....Takuya?"

The brunette looked over at Zoe, who was beginning to stir awake. Her back was was covered in array of thick white bandages, which in turn concealed the many stitches she had received. She had been released from the hospital the night before, groggy and stricken with grief. Although he had no serious injuries himself, Takuya had been advised to stay at the hospital for a few hours to make sure there was no internal damage.

"Hey," he said softly. "How are you doing?"

Zoe gave him a weak smile, slowly sitting up. "I'm alright I guess......"

Takuya nodded in understanding, turning his attention back onto the newspaper. "That's good."

"What's that?" The blond rested her head on his shoulder, then let out a somber sigh. "The paper I see...."

"Yeah...."

"Have you read it yet?" She asked him.

Takuya wrapped an arm around her, setting the newspaper in his lap. "No, not much of it."

"Well, we might as well do it right now...." Zoe told him, her voice trailing off.

The Shibuya Times ************************************************** November 14, 2009

More Than 500 Bodies Found in Hotel

Authorities are still rummaging through through the hotel located on the Cypris Islands. So far, they have recovered over 200 rotted corpses, as well as a few hundred skeletons, several of them intact. Although the island is not well-known, it was deemed as Cyrpis Islands, and was purchased by an unknown couple decades ago. The owners' apparent granddaughter, Rei Akiyama, 21, is the rightful owner since her grandparents demise. Her body was found horribly mutilated amongst the others. Though police are still investigating, it is obvious that Akiyama is responsible for the bodies found within the walls of the hotel. A laptop was found in her bedroom, where police discovered a letter being typed up by the young woman. By the looks of it, the letter was intended to be sent out as a 'winning entry' for a phony contest. The latest victims of the deadly scam included eight teenagers.

The only two survivors of the ordeal were Takuya Kanbara, 18, and Zoe Orimoto, 18. Their friends were not so lucky and the police have just shipped their bodies back to Shibuya. Amongst the victims were nineteen year-old J.P. Shibayama, and sixteen year-old Tommy Himi. The other teenagers, Kouichi Kimura, Kouji Minamoto, Jasmine Romero, and Sera Mitchell, all 18, were found horribly mutilated.

It has been determined that Akiyama was not alone in her devious scam. Ichigo Yamashita, 28, Mileena Sonders, 24, and John Bentley, 33, were all proven to be part of her scheme. All four of them were found dead, their demise met by the two surviving teenagers. Kanbara and Orimoto are currently discussing what had happened with local authorities. Although they apparentely had to fight for their freedom, the brutality of the deaths concerns police. The young couple refused to comment for the Shibuya Times for the time being.

Various tools were confiscated from the dreary hotel, as well as a collection of illegal drugs. The forensic scientists took several blood samples to the lab to determine some of the victims, as many of them are too mutilated to recognize. The familes of Shibayama, Himi, Kimura, Romero, Minamoto, and Mitchell have all been contacted.

Most of the bodies and remains were located inside the walls of the hotel itself, as well as the beach surrounding the building. It is believed that there are still several hundreds to be found. Police are now going through records of missing persons, hoping to give the victims' families some closure. Upon further investigating, John Bentley was discovered to be wanted in the states of Texas, as well as California, on two charges of rape and murder. Ichigo Yamashita is also a convicted murderer and rapist, wanted in half a dozen states, as well as Rome, Italy. He has a history of drug use, illegal weapons collecting, as well as several counts of necrophilia. So far nothing has been found by neither Akiyama, nor Sonders, other than one count of possession by Sonders.

It is unclear why four people would commit such a disturbing and heinous act of violence, and those who were unfortunate enough to fall into their trap met an untimely demise. Kanbara and Orimoto are set to appear in court two weeks from today to give their accounts of the hotel killings. They are not being held under suspicion, nor at they being accused of any charges. Futher details of the crime known simply as 'The Cypris Massecre' will be released once police uncover more evidence.

Takuya let the newspaper fall to the floor in a crumpled heap. He could feel Zoe's hot tears on his shoulder, as well as his own running down his dour face.

"I don't know even know what to say...." He finally said.

"Me neither." Zoe tried to wipe her eyes, only for more tears to spill out. "You should've seen the look on Mr. and Mrs. Himi's face when I told them about Tommy. They're never going to forgive me for what happened to him....It's my fault that he's gone...If I hadn't convinced them to let him go...he'd still be alive."

Takuya sighed. "Don't blame yourself. It's my fault they're all gone. If I hadn't been so fucking stupid and declined the stupid letter like I should've, they'd still be with us."

He rose, running a hand through his messy hair. His gaze went to the window, where fat raindrops were pouring from the night sky.

Zoe got up weakly, walking slowly to her boyfriend. She wrapped her arms around his waist, her sad eyes watching the drops fall from the heavens. Takuya gently encircled his arms around her, taking special care to avoid her injuries.

"I wonder when they're funerals will be," Takuya said sullenly.

The blond shrugged, wincing from the pain as she did so. "I don't know...I hope their families will allow us to go....It'll kill me if we can't be there."

"They're all devastated no doubt, but so far none of them have treated us any different than they normally would've....Mrs. Kimura just sat there and cried for almost a half hour after I told her. She said that as heart-broken as she was, she was still relieved that you and I managed to get out," Takuya told her.

"That's what Jasmine's parents said...as well as Sera's," she replied.

"The cops want me to take a polygraph test tomorrow to make sure I haven't been lying about things," Takuya said in a tired voice. "They might want you to take one also."

Zoe nodded mutely, her body shaking against his.

"The police may be stupid, but at least they don't suspect us of being part of that fucking slaughter..." he continued.

"My question is....why haven't they ever checked the island out?" Zoe's voice cracked and she struggled not to break down and sob. "Th-they knew about all of these people who have gone missing, yet they never looked into anything?"

Takuya's eyes narrowed. "Cops are fucking stupid and useless. They were probably too damn lazy to make an effort when those people went missing and just assumed that they had run off...."

He fixed the strap of Zoe's cami, which had slipped off her shoulder. His eyes never left the rainfall, and he could see flashes of lightning becoming more frequent. Zoe stared at the flashes, her eyes somewhat vacant.

"Well, you better get some more rest," Takuya told her after a long pause.

"But I just woke up," she protested.

Takuya finally looked down at her face, taking in her beauty. Her face was tear-stained and overcome with grief. He leaned down and gave her a kiss on her lips, brushing a strand of hair off her forehead.

"Just rest...For me..." He whispered.

Zoe wiped her eyes again, and nodded. She allowed him to pick her up and carry her over to the bed, where he laid her down gently. Zoe rolled onto her side, taking his hand in hers.

"Will you be here when I wake up?" She asked.

"I won't leave you...I'll probably head to bed with you pretty soon." He gave her another kiss, then pulled her covers up. "Be right back."

Takuya made his way into the nearby bathroom, not bothering to turn on the light. He turned the faucet on, and let the cold water splash into his face. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake the images of his friends from his mind and they seemed to haunt him everywhere he went. The lightning flashed through the window, briefly illuminating the bathroom. Takuya could barely see his distraught face before it disappeared into the darkness. For a moment he simply stood there, staring at the unseen image of himself in the mirror.

The lightning flashed again, this time causing Takuya to jump slightly. For a second, it looked as though his body was covered in blood, and he thought he could see the blood-stained machete clutched in his hand. As quickly as the image had come, it was gone. The next flash only showed what he had seen before; a heart-wrenched young man, free of bloodstains.

He sighed, rubbing his tired eyes.

"Takuya, are you alright?" Zoe called from her room.

"I'm fine. Be there in a sec," he replied.

He took one last look at the darkened mirror, then left the bathroom. The door shut and he cringed, reminding him of the sound when the chamber doors had been closed numerous times. However, a tiny smile twitched on his lips as he made his way back to Zoe's room. The smile had been caused by the memory of Ichigo, Rei, Mileena, and John...that is, their brutalized corpses...

You felt the coldness in my eyes,
It's something I'm not revealing.
Though you got used to my disguise,
You can't shake this awful feeling.

It's the me that I let you know,
Cause' I'll never show,
I have my reasons.
I hate to say that I told you so,
But I told you so.

There's blood on my hands like the blood in you.
Some things can't be treated so,
Don't make me,
Don't make me be myself around you.

Straight from your eyes it's barely me.
Beautifully so disfigured.
This other side that you can't see,
Just praying you won't remember.

Feel the pain that I never show,
I hope you know,
It's never healing.
I hate to say that I told you so, but I told you so.

There's blood on my hands like the blood in you.
Some things can't be treated so,
Don't make me,
Don't make me be myself around you.

Straight from your eyes it's barely me
Beautifully so disfigured.
This other side that you can't see,
Just praying you won't remember.

There's blood.
There's blood.
There's blood, blood, blood.

There's blood on my hands like the blood in you.
Some things can't be treated so,
Don't make me,
Don't make me be myself around you.

There's blood on my hands like the blood in you.
Some things can't be treated so,
Don't make me,
Don't make me be myself around you.

There's blood!

yay! im finally done with this story! if you thought the ending sucked...you're not alone! *sees Takuya, Zoe, Kouichi, Kouji, Tommy, J.P., Jasmine, and Sera all raise their hands in agreement that the story sucked* but you know what, i wanted to end this story a few chapters ago, so i wanted to just wrap things up. it wouldve taken another two or three chapters to talk about the after affect in detail so i said 'screw it!' now that this story is done, i can get on with my life and finally start the sequel to Bloodbath, which i originally wanted to begin weeks ago. so hopefully you liked this story...but if you dont then im okay with that. please review ^_^

and for the record, that was a shitty newspaper article....this is why i would never write for a damn newspaper...had no clue how the hell to make it sound okay....but whatever!

IMPORTANT NEWS!!!!!!!!!- I was talking with my good friend Kyosuke Nanbu, and he gave me some details of an upcoming story he plans on writing. So to spread the good news, I have decided to give you guys the info as well (with his permission of course) Story is Takumi by the way ^_^

*Takuya and the gang work at a bar, and located next the bar is a dark alley. One night, Zoe goes to take out the trash, alone. As she makes her way to the alley, to the dumpster, she stops dead in her tracks. Her eyes widen and her breath gets caught in her throat. In front of the dumpster, she sees a dark shadowy figure. The figure is hovering over a lifeless body, the person's blood dripping into the pavement.. As the figure pulls back, more blood drips, revealing him to be feeding on his prey. Horrified, Zoe slowly backs away, hoping that he has not seen her. However, she accidentally kicks a can, alerting the figure of her presence. Two glowing red eyes look up at her and seem to bore into her very soul. Zoe immediately turns around to run, only to come face to face with the same red, bloodthirsty eyes....

exciting, huh?! i cant friggen wait! *jumps up and down like an undermedicated psycho* not sure when it comes out, but i will be patient in the meantime....*begins to shake* when is it coming out?! *takes a pill* okay, im good. so that story is coming out sometime in the future, and as for me, im hoping to get the sequel to bloodbath started soon, after i finish the last chapter of Falling from Grace (which will be out by wednesday or thursday, i promise cuz its in the works). the sequel of Bloodbath will be called 'Red Rose' (again, thanks to Kyosuke's help cuz i cant think of a decent title to save my life) so yeah! anyway, i hope you liked this story-

Takuya: what was with the song in the end?

me: i thought it would be more dramatic =3

Takuya: no, it was stupid

me: who asked you?! be grateful that i didnt let you die in that chair! i couldve easily just killed you off

Takuya: okay, sorry...damn....

me: also, that song is 'Blood on my Hands' by The Used (good song to listen to if you're in a homicidal mood). the song was meant to show somewhat how Takuya was feeling at the moment and for what he has done. so until next time, see ya!