Hello! This is a pretty long chapter but I hope you enjoy and you really read this. You might not see things coming.

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Now having Rosalina on our side, Akito and I were sure we could get Alexandra and Dominic to stop fighting and realize that I'm there to heal them. I was still questioning myself about Michael. Akito would probably kill him if he had the chance to, since he killed Maiko. I also had to keep that in mind.

The three of us left the cabin, hurrying to find the Alexandra, Dominic and Michael. We couldn't let anyone else get killed tonight.

We found Alexandra and Dominic standing near a building. The two looked at each other as they spoke quietly to each other.

“Don't say anything. Remember the plan.” I mouthed at Akito. Rosalina stepped forward, approaching the couple as Akito and I stayed hidden behind them.

“Guys,” Rosalina started. I heard Alexandra gasp in surprise. “Rosalina, you're okay!!” Dominic interrogated, “What did they do? Where did they take you?”

Rosalina stayed quiet for a moment before saying, “I'm fine. I escaped, but they're trying to look for me. Where's Michael? Did you two find him?”

Alexandra replied, “Yes. He said he was going to the apartment complex. Says he's gonna bring Akito's father and Rin when he finds her. Hopefully that'll bait Ritsuko and Akito to us.”

“That's too late!” I announced. Now that we knew what Michael was going to do, we could surround them. Akito came out behind me, pointing his gun at them.

Alexandra turned around, her eyes widening and getting that crazy look they got whenever she saw me. “They heard us!” Dominic growled, putting a vile of poison in his little drug gun.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you.” Rosalina said plainly as she brought one of her knives up to their backs. Alexandra suddenly looked shocked, “What the heck?” She muttered through her teeth. Her eyes slowly dragged back to her sister.

Dominic turned his head. “Rosalina.” He said in awe.

I couldn't help but smirk a little. “Drop the weapons, guys. Trust me, we don't want to hurt anyone.”

Alexandra then glared at me, “What did you do to Rosalina?!”

Rosalina answered, “They brought me back to reality, that's what.” Dominic aimed his gun at Akito, gripping it tightly. “You two did something to her, didn't you?”

Akito shook his head. “No, we didn't. All we did was talk to her. I suggest you listen to us before this ends badly.” Dominic chuckled, “And which side do you think it'll end badly for? The ones who almost killed you, or the weak side?”

Always a smart-Alec, huh? I smirked, “Well, I don't know. We did have a lot of chances to kill you, so….” I saw the irate look on his face as he scowled.

“Rosalina, why are you doing this?” Alexandra asked, this time not in a threatening voice. Rosalina moved up to her, but stayed back when Alexandra defensively held her knife to her.

The twin faltered and retreated a step.”Alexandra, no.”

“Tell me!”

“What?”

“Tell me what they did to you!” Alexandra snapped. “So I'll know exactly why I'm going to snap their heads off.” She glared coldly at us before looking back to her sister.

Rosalina reached her free hand out, “No! Don't hurt them, Alexandra! There's no reason to fight them.”

Alexandra argued, “I have a lot of reasons to fight them.”

Rosalina looked over Alexandra's shoulder. “Dominic, stop her!”

Dominic quickly reacted, grabbing Alexandra's arm. “Alexandra listen to your sister!” Surprisingly, she didn't show any anger toward him, “No, Dominic, I have to. I need to protect you.”

Rosalina shook her head, “No, you have to listen to us. I promise they haven't anything done to me.”

I interjected, “I'll heal you.”

“Liar!!!” Alexandra screamed, turning to me and jumping at me. This made me step backward into Akito. Rosalina grabbed Alexandra by the waist and dragged her back. “Stop, Alexandra! Stop!!”

The twins wrestled, none of them surrendering. “Let me go!” Alexandra tried to push Rosalina off of her. Akito and Dominic jumped in, putting their guns down. The two grabbed the sisters, pulling them apart.

Unfortunately, Akito had to hold Alexandra, who was trying to escape in every way possible. “You betrayed me, Rosalina! You betrayed me and now we're going to die!”

Rosalina shook her head, “Don't say that! I know what I'm doing. Ritsuko can heal us, she was going to heal me.”

Dominic stopped for a second. “She can?”

Rosalina swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes. She told me. She told all of us! But...we chose not to believe her. We chose to go on with this madness and try to get revenge for it.”

Alexandra’s resisting gradually slowed as she started listening to Rosalina. “She healed Asher. You two saw him, didn't you? He had two legs. Two real legs. She's not the one who killed him.” She exhaled forcedly, “He killed himself after realizing that Ritsuko still had the right to kill him and curse him so he could be damned to hell but instead chose to have mercy on him and fix his curse.”

It was as if she was speaking my mind. I had felt that way when he killed himself. I had the right to do any horrible torturous thing to him, but I chose not to.

“She spared him because of what her job was.” Rosalina faced her. “She'll heal us of our curses. We just have to let her do that.”

Dominic looked at me in disbelief. “Can you really heal us?” He let Rosalina go.

Alexandra looked at me hopelessly. I nodded. “I promise. I will heal you all. I just want to finish this and bring an end to this disaster.”

Akito sighed, releasing Alexandra. She kept her gaze on the ground, as if scared to look at me now.

We all jumped at the sound of something dropping. My eye caught sight of the poison gun on the ground, a few feet from Dominic.

His head was down, his fists were clenched. He seemed to shake in his spot, as if scared or cold.

“Dominic?” I asked. Dominic inhaled sharply through his teeth. “Why? Why don't you kill us when you have the right to? How can you even heal us?”

I shrugged, explaining, “It's not my place to hurt you like that when you've been through enough already. I’m meant to fix and heal curses, not destroy and hurt lives.”

Alexandra dropped the blades in her hands. “Ritsuko, I'm sorry.” she whimpered, looking at the ground. “I know sorry isn't even enough to cover it, but it's what I can do.”

I nodded. “It's alright. And listen, we can deal with this later, but now we have to find Michael. He's not gonna stop until we make him, if he even has the power to stop.”

Rosalina breathed out, “One more. Just one more thing and this will all be over.”

Alexandra tossed her arms, “He's the source of all those plans, all those murders, everything that we did. What if he tries to kill us?”

“Something tells me he's not gonna go down without a fight. We're going to have to do it by force.” I prompted, looking at Akito. “Whatever you do, don't risk it.” I warned him.

Akito nodded, trying to assure himself that he wouldn't as well. “I’ll try.” He answered.

Now it was the five of us, going to deal with the person who started it all; Michael. All of us were aware of the danger he was to people. He wasn't as innocent as he first seemed. He would be willing to kill just to see someone hurt. I had to remember that if I saw that he was too far to heal. Because even as a Despair Healer, there was despair that I couldn't heal.

Making it to the apartments, all of us entered. I saw Akito's face when he saw Maiko's corpse again. He had to look away and walk up the stairs immediately. The rest grimaced or tried to avoid the sight. We all knew Maiko was a sweet and harmless girl. Having to see her slaughtered like that scarred me.

We all went up to the apartment doors, silence took over as if it were a poison spreading throughout the whole area.

The only thing that could be heard were our quiet and light footsteps.

“Oh, Rin!” Michael's singsong child-like voice rang throughout the hall from my apartment. The door was cracked open, indicating he probably broke in. “I have a little surprise for you.”

Akito cursed under his breath, “She better not come out of that hiding spot.”

I peeked through the door to see Michael walking around. “I know they probably told you to hide from me, but trust me, there's nothing to be scared about.” If I didn't know the monster he was, I would probably be convinced with his tone.

“You see, I heard about what happened. They took one of my workers, now I'm just returning the favor.” Michael mentioned in a honeyed voice. “Please come out, otherwise Akito's father won't see tomorrow's sunrise.”

A gun clicked and I realized it was Michael’s gun. I turned my head to see Akito about to burst through. Dominic and I put our arms out to him to stop him. He hissed at us, “He's gonna kill my dad!”

I mouthed, “Not yet!” Before looking back at the door.

All of us remained silent. Michael chuckled, “Aw, I guess you really want me to put a bullet in his head, don't you Rin?” I heard the gun being taken off safety and that was when I reacted.

“That's not happening, Michael!” I pushed the door open. Michael did startle, pulling the gun back. He looked to me and gave me a smile. “There you are, Ritsuko. Thank goodness you saved your friend and Mr. Tanaka by sacrificing yourself. That means less innocent blood spilled for your sake.”

I eyed the unconscious Mr. Tanaka on the ground, tied by ropes and a cloth covering his mouth. “But that doesn't mean your blood won't be spilled. Seems you gave everyone a bit of trouble tonight.” He chuckled, “You're quite a fighter, Ritsuko. I do like it when people put up a little fight before I kill them. It just makes things so much more enjoyable.”

I stayed quiet, looking back for a second then back at him. He went on, “Kind of like how Maiko did. She thought she could try and beat me?” He laughed, reaching behind him and pulling out his bloody compass blade. “She was wrong. And she died for it too. She died for you, especially. I wonder how many more people will be killed to try and protect you. Right, Akito?” He tilted his head to the side.

I turned, seeing Akito walk in slowly. He looked at me then to Michael.

The blond approached us threateningly, wielding the weapon in hand, a gun in the other. I retreated a step. “It doesn't matter if he has to die to, Ritsuko. I'll have you one way or another.”

“No she won't.” Rosalina interceded, holding a knife in hand as she stepped forward in front of me.

I looked back and saw Dominic and Alexandra next to Akito, standing defensively too.

Michael seemed a little startled now, as if not expecting this to happen. “What happened to you? Alexandra, Rosalina, Dominic?”

Dominic shook his head, “The jig is up, Michael. You're outnumbered.”

Alexandra stepped up, “We know the truth know. We've been fighting for no reason. Ritsuko can heal us of our curses. She'll still do it.”

Michael asked, “Really? Even when she could've healed us before?”

“I never said I couldn't. I wish I could've healed all of you earlier, but I didn't. I’m sorry. Now I’m going to fix it, and I want to heal you.” I bit my lip.

Michael shook his head. “I thought I could've believed you. You lied to us about everything.”

Rosalina frowned and looked to me as Michael got closer. I could see the overwhelming emotion in his eyes when he glared at me. “You had the power to fix our lives, but you didn't do it.”

“Michael, I know how you feel. But you ruined your own life by doing this. Do you think I wanted you to do any of this? You've brought so many people down with you but it still doesn't help with the pain.”

“Shut up, don't you dare say that because you don't know what it's like. You don't know how much it hurts until I make you suffer.” Michael growled.

“You can take everything away from people and make them feel what you feel, but it won't fix your curse.” I countered, making slow steps toward him.

Michael grit his teeth. He suddenly ran at me. I reached back and took the knife from Alexandra, going forward. He trusted his arm toward my chest, so I stopped it by grabbing his wrist. I stabbed his arm which caused him to yelp and stumble back.

Blood started leaking from the wound. He looked down at it and turned his eyes to me. “I don't want to do this, Michael.” I inhaled, “But I will if I have to.”

His eyes were still full of anger and hurt, but I knew he was trying to keep it up. “I won't stop until you're dead!” He roared.

I backed up, feeling my leg go weak again. He charged, but I knew if I moved, I would injure my leg.

Suddenly, the twins came in front of me. Alexandra slashed his side and Rosalina kicked him back. He grabbed one of them and slammed her onto the ground.

The other made a move by kicking him in the side. He rammed his hand into her thigh, stabbing her with his weapon. I went in and leaned forward, shoving him against the wall. “Listen to us, Michael! We don't want to fight you!”

He struggled against me, surprisingly. “No, you're a liar! I would never believe you!!” He forced me back and I fell. He raised his compass at me, so I took the knife in my hand and levitated it. “You only feel that way because I made you think that. You're only doing all of this because you're terrified of being alone!!”

The knife went into his stomach, he took a few steps back and a familiar red liquid start to leak out of his mouth. I panted hard as I stood. He looked at me, dropping his weapon.

Alexandra looked at me while she was on the ground and I nodded approvingly. She then proceeded to take Michael down onto the ground.

Dominic and Akito ran over to help pin him down. He fought them like a struggling animal caught in a trap, but he wasn't able to free himself.

“You okay?” Dominic asked Akito. Akito nodded in response and held Michael down.

I walked over to them and looked at Michael as he struggled helplessly. “Michael,” I began. He looked to me, breathing hard. He stopped resisting, but Akito and Dominic held on. “I know you did all this to fix what happened to you, but I also know it didn't help at all. Your curse is still there.”

He furrowed his eyebrows and whimpered. He knew it just as well as I knew. “Michael, is this seriously what you want to do with yourself? Hurting people and killing them? Do you really think that it'll fix anything? Please, I want to help you. I'll heal that curse and you won't have to hurt anymore.”

Michael seemed to calm down, but I saw tears starting to well up in his eyes. “You're only making yourself even more lonely.” I sighed. I looked at Dominic and Akito, nodding to tell them to let him go.

The two warily looked at me and took their hands off of him. Michael got on his hands and knees. I saw a clear liquid drip down onto the ground right in front. “I'm sorry, Ritsuko.”

I frowned then turned to see Rin come out of my room cautiously. I nodded in confirmation that everything was okay.

Rin smiled a little with tears in her eyes. Akito nodded to her and she came behind me. I struggled to my feet and took the Flower of Despair out from behind my coat where I kept it.

The four cursed ones all stared at it in fear. I looked to Akito, who understood. He sighed and walked out with Rin following.

I took a deep breath and gazed at the Flower. This is it. I'll finally finish this and complete my mission. The Flower was still in good shape, surprisingly. Alexandra and Rosalina knelt down in front of me. I sat down in my position and held out the Flower.

Dominic was reluctant to sit down while Michael followed what the twins did. I looked at each of them. “Grab one of the petals and don't let go.” They did so and looked to me. The red substance started coming out on them, appearing like blood.

Closing my eyes, I started connecting to the Flower and the curses. I opened my eyes to see the substance forming into another mark. I saw the twins’ marks glowing and absorbing into the substance. Dominic's mark was fading away as well.

I noticed the mark on Michael's heart starting to disappear from its spot. I almost lost focus with the building happiness I felt.

Then, as soon as the curses disappeared, the Flower stopped glowing. I guessed it was finished and looked up at them. They all looked at me as if a burden was taken off of them. They didn't feel the curses, I could tell.

I smiled at them and pulled the Flower back. It was still in good form, which seemed a little weird to me. Usually when they absorbed curses, the petals would shrivel up and die.

Alexandra chuckled, wiping her eyes as Rosalina hugged her tightly. Dominic sighed in relief, covering his face in his hands. Michael just stared at me. “Thank you, Ritsuko…” he whispered with tears streaming down his cheeks.

I grinned and nodded at him.

Suddenly, Dominic bowed, face to the ground. “Thank you, Ritsuko.”

The twins and Michael followed suit, repeating the same. I was honestly taken aback by this. I didn't expect them to bow to me in gratefulness.

I felt so relieved and exhausted, I almost started crying as well. Now it was over.

Thud! I jumped in shock. The four lifted their heads startled as well. “Akito!” Rin screamed from behind the door. I gasped and froze in utter horror. Don't tell me. Please don't tell me. I thought as I got up.

The others stood as well. “What’s wrong?” One of them said. I turned to the door and ran over to it as fast as I could. My leg was in horrible shape, but I didn't care then.

I just wanted to see what happened. Now there was only thought going through my head.

Akito.

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Just when everyone thought they could relax. This chapter was one of my hardest to write. I hope I did well. Thanks for reading! Bye!