Ring

"Ring around a rosie,

A pocket full of posies,

Ashes, ashes,

We all fall down."

Chapter 10

~Len~

It was now summer. The days have gotten warmer, the nights shorter, and the mosquitoes biting the humans on every inch of their bodies just brought a small smile on my face. I have been entertaining children and adults alike for months now, and my strength could be that of Rin's, although she had a city to take care of and not a small town like mine. I wouldn't mind if it stayed like this forever though, it wasn't as much of a hassle playing with everyone since there were less people. But days could be boring.

Oliver had long since ended his school year and spent most of his free time with me, in his room, talking about things that we both had in common. Sometimes, it was a conversation that ended up with me talking about my life in the village three hundred years ago. And of course, since this was Oliver we were talking about, I couldn't even begin to refuse that one beautiful amber eye. He had even carefully explained to me what had happened when he lost his sight in the other one, and I promised that when I got the chance, I would heal him up completely.

That was months ago.

Now, he was healthy and didn't need to hide anything because there was nothing to hide. His knee and foot were un-scarred and his eye was a beautiful matching color as the other. He had thanked me over and over—in fact, if I think about it hard enough, he still does— and promised to make it up to me. I remember laughing and ruffling his hair, saying, "Go ahead, try your best," in the soothing voice that I knew a certain someone always loved.

I shared my powers over this town now. I didn't have too much of a responsibility anymore, but I spent the day playing with the kids while my partner spent the nights chatting with adults. I didn't complain; I liked kids, and they liked me. We would play—often times I found myself dripping wet because I was thrown into a nearby pool, and god would I start to shiver—tell jokes, and I would always see them off, telling them to get ready for the next day, which would hold even more exciting things.

I always, however, ended my days with Oliver. He was the closest human to me, and no one could ever replace him. He would stay up as late as he could, and at the first sight of an over-excessive yawn, I would shoo him off to bed. It's been like this since the middle of winter, back when that accident happened. Neither of us ever mentioned it, afraid to recall bad memories, but it hung in the air like some old, freshly dirtied laundry. And it hurt.

I flew over to Oliver's open window and noticed him sitting in his bed, a photograph in his hand. I landed at the foot of his bed, tapping it lightly with my foot. "You okay there, pal?" I asked softly, sitting myself next to him.

Startled, he turned to me and smiled. "I'm okay, it's just..." the photograph showed me, Oliver, and...Kaito, back when we had all been together. Kaito had tried to see whether or not a camera could capture me, considering I was a spirit, and I was surprised to find out that it could. "I miss him a lot Len."

I took his hand lightly into mine, squeezing it. "Listen, I wanna take you out with me tonight. I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise?" Oliver glanced over at the clock, then back to me. "This late at night?"

I nodded, and he set the picture down. I could see him physically trying to fight back tears, the way his body shook and all, and it saddened me. Kaito was a subject we never talked about. "Do you think he's okay...wherever he is?" the blond asked suddenly.

"I'm sure he's fine," I replied, showing him one of my famous smiles. "Wherever he is, there must be a lot of ice cream, and a lot of pictures of us together."

"Of us?"

"Well, yeah," I said, reaching up to awkwardly scratch the back of my neck. "Y'know, Kaito thought of us as the most important people in his life. He may have been through a lot, but we stuck with him through it all. He started smoking before the accident. But I was there and I told him to quit. I even snatched the cigarette he was smoking when I met up with him and the kids. For the last time..." I felt like crying. Hard. But I had to stay strong for Oliver. "We saved him plenty of times. And he cares about us more than you'd ever know."

Oliver let out a small sniffle and smiled up at me. "You're right." He stood up. "So, when are we leaving?" He looked about as confident as confident would get. I smiled back and grabbed his hand.

"Hold on tight."

I carried him to the forest that had all my trees littered about. A few were still more than dead while the others had sprouted completely to life, making everything look green. Twilight was finally upon us as I set him down on the ground and started walking forward. "This is my favorite spot in the entire forest," I said, moving to the side with a smile on my face as I let Oliver see the tree...and the person sitting calmly underneath it.

Oliver's eyes shot open as a hand quickly zoomed up to cover his mouth. "Oh...oh my god..." he murmured, new tears piling up in his eyes.

My partner's face lit up as he stood up, wiping the dirt off of his white clothes. "Hey there, Oli. Gosh, did Len really heal you? You look incredible...it's been a while," he finished with a smile.

I looked over to Oliver as he smiled back, and started running into the open arms of his friend. He beckoned me over, and I laughed, joining the group hug, and the reunion of our family. "Oliver," the blue-haired man said softly into the blond's ear. "Say my name."

"K-Kaito!"

Oh my god I finally finished this!

This all started after an idea sprouted to me in the middle of computer's class back in the beginning of second semester. At first, I had planned a whole thing where Len disappeared himself, but I wanted this to be short and sweet, unlike my other stories. I have to thank all my reviewers, even if there weren't many, for sticking with this story through thick and thin. I enjoyed writing this. Every time I sat at my computer—class or at home—my fingers would be itching to write this, and I would just feel and see the next scenes unravel in my head. Really guys, thank you so much.

Aaaaaaaaand this had to be the sappiest ending to anything I've ever written in my seven years of being an amateur author.

Did you like this? Read Say It For Me, my newest Len/Kaito story, which will be continuing now that this is finished! Also, check out my facebook page at Eternal White Rose!

So this is my final ArAndAr?