Disclaimer: First chapter.

Author's Note: Alright, folks. This is the ultimate last chapter. I hope you enjoy it, and it's my Christmas present to all of you.

Just a note, though: The High Priestess is 26 years old in this story. The reason she can't read Lolo's aura is because her priestess will has been corrupted by darkness, which she has chosen to do so by being with Guntz. However, would she stick to her choice?

Read on.

"George, you don't understand!" Lolo cried as she was led away by the priest. "Please, let me explain!"

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble, Miss Lolo." The priest murmured gently. "There is no need to panic."

"I'm not panicking." Lolo pouted but shut up, for she knew there was no way to persuade the priest. It was unlikely that anyone would listen to her even if she'd spilled the beans about what really had been going on. As far as the three were concerned, she was a victim of attempted rape in denial.

Everyone would treat her like that now.

Ignorant, oblivious, pathetic idiots, she thought bitterly to herself.

One of the things about the High Priestess was that she was determined and resourceful at all times. It was no surprise that she had conjured a rope out of thin air with her powers and had managed to bound the struggling hunter's wrists barely a minute after George and Lolo left.

With the wolf bound partially, it was lot more easier to handle him, although his growling and snarling were somewhat off-putting. He'd attempted to kick the priestess off when the two were trying to get him down the roof. Eventually, the High Priestess grew fed up with frequent insults and obscenities being flung towards her direction, and threatened to throw him over the roof with her powers.

"Ha! Like you'd ever have the nerve to do that, Priestess. Or shall I say, Claire." Guntz sneered mockingly. "Your family named you after the Goddess and trained you as a priestess, didn't they? Shame I foiled all that."

"Be quiet, Guntz," The High Priestess replied bluntly, pretending not to hear. "Get walking. You're not getting away this time. Judgement Day is nearing you."

"Oooh, I'm shaking," Guntz smirked. "Judged by a bunch of Goddess-obsessed fools. Oh, my dear Claire-" He grinned, the moonlight shining on his sadistic expression, quite happily walking down the road as if he wasn't bound by a magically enchanted rope and nobody was guarding him. "'Say, you still remember the time I murdered a certain religious family in South Volk? Boxing Day it was, six years ago. I was only barely a teen then."

The High Priestess clenched her teeth, forcing herself to ignore his mocking words. Yet she refused to give him satisfaction by answering. She could have done so, though, because Guntz knew that he was already getting on to the woman's nerves and he hadn't even begun.

"They all screamed very nicely though, did they not? Sure it was very loud and grating, but it was certainly enjoyable in certain ways as well. Have you recovered all the pieces of their bodies yet, Claire? I dropped them everywhere for three miles!" Guntz grinned, not exactly waiting for a response. "You haven't? Oh, what a disappointment! Whatever would your parents think?"

"Just be quiet and walk, will you!" The High Priestess, namely Claire, said frustratingly.

"I think you felt guilty, my dear." The hunter chuckled. "How funny you were, crying in the corner of that room, blood everywhere, unable to save anyone even with your powers as I riddled the lot with lead. Oh, what a poor, frustrated, vengeful little girl you were then. The Sky Temple hasn't changed you."

He suddenly threw his head back, and started to scream with wild laughter, his eyes wide and dillated.

"That's enough, Guntz!"

"I bet you want to kill me, Claire!" Guntz shouted, still laughing. "But you can't because you've sworn never to kill anyone, it was extremely funny though, you screaming and crying. Your family gave me shit, you know! About me being a devil's soul! And with me young and scared and needing a little help too. I only ever asked for food and shelter for a few days - but then you, my dear Claire, you became judgemental. Your entire family threw me out and cursed me as a demon. Well, you know what? Shinigami Guntz doesn't tolerate shit from anybody, including religious families!"

"Stop it!"

"You're a real bitch, aren't you!" Guntz laughed. "Every single one of you were! I killed your mother, I killed your father and all your relations - you say I'm a demon, Claire, but you turn a blind eye to the fact that every single member of your family was one! Whatever happened to acceptance, Claire? What happened?"

"I'm warning you, one more word-" Claire's eyes burned dangerously.

"-I killed them all, I riddled them with bullets, and how I laughed, my dear doll! I shot them all one by one, blood spattering everywhere, shouting insults at every one of your family and how I laughed-"

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Claire screamed, hitting the hunter's face with all her might. Guntz stumbled, head snapping to the side by the force of the blow. He looked up at the woman whose family he had killed, her eyes burning with hate and fists clenched. He grinned nastily, even though blood dripped down his cheek and he had three long cuts down his face.

"That's one vow of yours broken," He smirked. "You're so much better than I am, aren't you?"

Claire ignored the other priest's shocked expression and roughly jerked Guntz up by his ponytail. She than shoved him forward.

"Walk."

Lolo crept into the room, finding Leorina in a distressed state. The latter looked wild and disoriented; she rushed towards Lolo, looking relieved and worried at the same time.

"Lolo, oh thank goodness! I've been waiting for you ever since the High Priestess went to find you!"

"What?" Lolo tried to figure this out. "Wait. You sent the group after me?" Leorina nodded.

"I'm sorry, I had to. I was so worried, I didn't even know where you were-"

"Oh, Leo!" Lolo sat down heavily, her hands clutching ther hair. "Thanks to you and your mouth, Guntz is captured and probably jailed!"

"Guntz?" Leorina looked shocked. "Shinigami Guntz? Oh God, has he-?"

"No, no, that's the point, Leo!" Lolo looked despairing. She was trying not to shout, Leorina could see that.

"I've been seeing him for nearly a month, idiot!"

Leorina gasped loudly. "Holy Lunatea! Have you been sleeping with him?"

"Yes! I mean, no! Not for long, and we were just getting started when the High Priestess came and pulled us off!" Lolo covered her face with her hands. "Oh Goddess - I've never been so embarrassed in my life!"

Leorina was silent for a while. Finally, she spoke.

"Well, was it nice?"

"Huh?"

"You know, Shinigami Guntz!" Leo looked highly interested and disturbed at the same time. "So, was he good?"

"Leorina!"

It had been some three days. Guntz sighed and rested his head against the bars of his outdoor prison. His trial would be held tomorrow, but that was hours away - so all he could do was to sit and watch the thinning moon as he waited for his judgement.

Even though some people believed otherwise, his powers didn't extend to transporting out of his prison without any ammunition or weapon. If he had one of his special bullets, he could try to cause friction and explode the prison, but he would blow up in the process. If he had a knife, or a file, he could have sawed his way out. But he didn't have any of those things. The only other thing he could think of was to cut his own wrists with a bit of sharp stone lying around the cell, and bleed to death before anyone got their hands on him. Not an attractive option at all.

He closed his eyes and sighed again, knowing that it had been a bad idea to get involved with the young priestess in the first place. But it had been so wonderful, surely the best time he'd ever had. Ah well, he thought to himself, it was worth getting caught - at least he got to see Claire squirm and lose control.

"Guntz?" A tentative, soft voice called him. Looking up, he could see Lolo walking towards him.

"Is that you, my dear doll?" The question was unnecessary, yes; but it was assuring. She sat down in front of the prison, fiddling with the lock with her hairpin. After a few minutes, it opened, and she ran inside, clutching the hunter, feeling his warmth once more.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, burying her face into his mane of fur.

"What for?" Guntz whispered, nuzzling her tenderly, his voice soothing.

"For getting you caught."

"Not your fault." He murmured, looking into her eyes. Lolo was stricken to see how gaunt the hunter looked; he hadn't eaten for days.

"Here, have some of this. I'll check for anyone else." She handed him a bag with bread and chicken in it, along with a flask of water. She ran back outside, holding onto his hand until the very last moment, and went back into the castle for a short while.

When she got back, she was holding his guns. Guntz had finished the contents of the bag, and was taking a long swig of the flask when she came back.

"That's..."

"Your guns, I know." Lolo entered the prison again, giving him his guns.

"... They aren't going to let me go for this, Lolo." He said quietly. "I've done too much. If I do escape, I probably won't be able to see you for more than a few minutes."

"I shall go wherever you go." Lolo stated calmly, looking him in the eyes, challenging him to say otherwise.

Guntz shook his head. "It's far safer to be here, Lolo. Far safer to forget me."

"Well, I can't." Lolo said stubbornly, thinking of the priestesses. "It's better if I go with you."

"Lolo..."

"Look, Mister Hunter." The girl said boldly, looking at him directly. "It's my turn to be bad now. I've had enough of this boring life. You'll never get rid of me, so just belt up and enjoy it when I'm here."

Guntz looked stunned for a while, but then he grinned - genuinely. "Well, I'll learn to live with you somehow, that's for sure."

"That's the spirit." She bent down to kiss his lips. When they parted, she smiled rather devilishly. "I plan to leave you here for a while, to be honest."

His grin turned sinister, quite evil in his moment. "And what exactly do you plan to do to me, my young priestess?"

"I'm sure I can think of something soon." Lolo smiled, stroking the hunter's cheek.

"And in the middle of the grounds of this Temple..." The hunter smiled softly and embraced Lolo. "My, my, Lolo... I think I am a bad influence on you."

Claire, or the High Priestess, was storming in her study. After all those years of fruitless searching, she'd given up revenge on the hunter, opting for a life of religious studies. And just a few months after she'd given up, Shinigami Guntz just had to show up and torment her again. Worse, he had tried to ruin another girl's life with no remorse whatsoever. She could do nothing but just storm around in her study, seeking a way to release her anger before she had to come face-to-face with the hunter again.

She turned and walked out of the room, inwardly telling herself that Guntz would be a good outlet for her powers to get rid of her anger. Normally she wouldn't have dreamed such a thing but this time she felt justified - and hoped that he would rot in hell forever, for killing her family, for causing destruction for so long - for every damned thing he had done.

"Your hunting days are over, Guntz." She whispered as she walked to his prison. "Soon, the whole world will know what you have done. And when that happens, they will kill you."

She froze in place, however, when she got to the prison.

"Oh, Goddess, not again!" Lolo sighed exasperatedly, put off what she was doing as she caught sight of Claire from behind her shoulder.

"Just ignore her." Guntz growled quietly, nuzzling into her neck, kissing the young priestess everywhere. He grinned at the dumbstruck woman, still holding his young lover. "Hi, Claire. Like what you see?"

"Less talk, Guntz. The more action, the better." Lolo pressed against him fully, softly snuggling into his neck fur.

Guntz sighed quietly as the young girl buried herself in his fur. "I really do wish... that there was more room in this hell-hole of a prison."

It soon sank into Claire's mind that Lolo had been willing to be with the hunter that night, when the group caught them. She ran off, binding the prison door behind her, locking both Lolo and Guntz inside. She came back holding Leorina - She had been Lolo's closest friend, so it was naturally suspected that Leo was part of this conspiracy.

"What do you know of this, Leo?" Claire asked quietly, pointing to the prison where Guntz and Lolo sat side by side, looking totally unconcerned by the attention they were getting.

"Nothing." The girl replied blandly. Claire's eyes darkened, and she held Leorina firmly by her shoulders, shaking her.

"Leorina, your friend has been seeing this-" Here she pointed to Guntz, "-cretin for more than a week, possibly even longer! Don't tell me you know nothing of this, for if you are a true friend, how can you not know?"

"Because I don't!" Leorina shouted, finally losing her temper. "Why can't you leave them alone anyway? They're happy together! What right do you have to interfere in their matters?"

This shocked the High Priestess into silence. Taking advantage of this, Leorina turned to Lolo and Guntz in the prison who looked amazed and rather grateful at the same time.

"Lolo, despite what everyone said about you, you are a honourable, strong girl. You're happy with him, and trust me, you'll be better off with him rather than this hell of a Temple. And you-" Leorina smiled. "-well, you kind of inspired me, as well."

With those words, she tore off her priestess robes, revealing her new outfit beneath. It was a deep blue shirt and shorts, complete with gloves, long white boots and a long cloak she wore on her waist.

"Farewell, Lolo! I'm leaving this place!" Leorina shouted joyously, and Lolo thought that she looked happy, truly happy for the first time. Leorina was free now, and that was what really mattered.

"Feel free to visit us any time you want, Leo!" Lolo replied, and her friend smiled in response. With a nod to both of them, Leo turned and sprinted off into the distance, jumping over trees and bushes, disappearing.

"Time we were off too, Lolo." Guntz said, and without waiting for a reply, hoisted her up into his arms and stood up.

"Wait right there!" Claire pointed a shaking finger at them. "Treacherous.. never, in my life... has a priestess been associated with..."

"Yeah, yeah." Guntz replied in a mocking voice. "Shut up, Claire. You bore me to death. You'll learn to live with defeat." He grinned again. "It's fitting, after all."

"Tell the other priestesses whatever you want. I no longer belong with them anyway." Lolo added calmly, and dropped her priestess hat onto the ground.

"I shall seek you out eventually, Guntz!" The woman shrieked. "You shall be taken into justice!"

"'Out' is right." Guntz smirked. "We're out - out of this Temple! Come on, Lolo!" With that, Shinigami Guntz pushed past Claire and ran out, holding Lolo in his arms. The High Priestess could do nothing to stop them, and could only watch helplessly as the two vanished into the night.

The moon rises slowly every night in Lunatea, shining its silver light onto the houses and roads, causing dark shadows to form. It is raining, the droplets of water shimmering in the light. On top of a bike shed, two figures stand atop the roof, their silhouettes somewhat luminous against the brightness of the moon. They have no fears that they might be seen, for the priestesses and priests know not to go near, and everybody else is too busy living their normal lives.

They love each other, although they've never needed to say it out loud.

The girl, younger yet now nearly as tall as the male, drapes her arms around her partner and nuzzles into his chest. The male - better known as Shinigami Guntz - returns the embrace, kissing her lips softly, tender and gentle despite his ice-cold personality.

If one could look a bit closer, they would see two identical necklaces around the lovers' necks, each contrasting pendant shining in the moonlight.

The hunter gestures to his lover to come along. The two jump over the rooftops, unafraid, and eventually becomes invisible amongst the pouring rain, fading into the endless darkness beyond.

Whoa...

That was terrific. I really loved writing that. This story, despite handling difficult issues like corruption of innocence, dark sarcasm and several adult themes, is one thing I'm really proud of so far.

I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed. I couldn't have done it without your positive feedbacks - thank you. Thank you so much.

Also, I'd like to thank my beta reader, who goes by the name of Kim (same as mine!).

I sure do hope you enjoyed 'Nightmare', and have a Merry Christmas!

- Solitary Shadow -