Chapter 18

Winter 8, 2003

Several days has passed since Choco suddenly recovered from her illness. To everyone's surprise, Choco has made a full recovery, even though she was at the brink of losing her life. Yuki still has no clue as to what happened to her, or why did it happen in the first place. Fearing that she may suddenly fall ill once again, he has not taken an eye off of Choco since then.

It is now 9:00pm, Yuki has just tucked Choco in bed for the evening. But before he leaves her alone, he checks her temperature, asks several health related questions, and makes her take some vitamins. Choco feels happy that Yuki is paying more attention to her, but the constant smothering is making her feel slightly uncomfortable.

“Dad, come on! I'm telling you, I'm fine!” said Choco trying to get Yuki to calm down.

“Hey, I'm sorry. I'm just making sure. You know, I do get worried about you!” replied Yuki. He then continues to examine Choco for a while longer until he is completely satisfied. He then pats Choco on the head and says, “Okay, I'm going to bed now. If you suddenly feel ill, or anything happens, just yell.”

Choco nods, and then places her head on her pillow and falls asleep quickly. Even though Yuki said that he was going to his room, he remains next to her door for a bit longer in case something happens. But after 10 minutes without incident, he finally returns to his room, and throws himself on his bed.

Even though Choco seems healthy, the thought that Choco may suffer another strange fever keeps him awake. Between the overwhelming fear of Choco dying and the nightmares in his sleep, Yuki cannot sleep. When Choco was in danger, there was little that he could do to help her. He has no idea what saved her last time, and he is not even sure if it can save her next time.

Instead of trying to get some sleep, Yuki returns to the living room with his photo album in his hands. He grabs the phone and then says to himself, “I can't take this anymore! If I don't find out what caused Choco to suffer that fever earlier, I just might go crazy! The only person who can tell me would have to be her mother. So I'll have to try to find her all over again!”

Yuki opens the photo album to the first page. The first photograph of his family when he was a child causes him to pause and stare for a while. Every time Yuki sees that photograph of his mother and father, he becomes very emotional. But now that Choco is with him, he becomes even more sentimental looking at her mother's face that resembles Choco so much.

After a few minutes, he snaps out of his trance and continues on to the other photos of the years before he moved into Forget-Me-Not Valley. He calls every friend he knew, and asked about any possible women that he might have had an intimate relationship with. But after several dozen phone calls, every answer came out the same. Nobody knew of anyone that Yuki has ever dated or had any relationship with.

After getting past all the pictures of the distant past, he finds himself looking at some more recent pictures of his life in Forget-Me-Not Valley. Even though he knows that he is supposed to be looking for Choco's mother, but he is mesmerized by the memories he made in the valley. How he met each of his five female friends one by one, and how hard each of them tried to get him to go out with them.

He laughs as he relives his memories, and continues to flip through the pages of time. But as he flips the pages, he finds something unusual. One of his photographs of himself is missing from the photo album. The photograph was glued on, so there was no way that it could have fallen off by itself. And by the ripped page, he could tell that someone has intentionally taken it.

Yuki scratches his head and says to himself, “That's odd. . . Who could have taken this picture? Could Choco have taken it for some reason?”

Suddenly, Yuki hears Choco screaming from her room. What surprises him the most is that the scream sounds more like someone is attacking her, and she is calling for help. He quickly jumps out of the chair, and bursts into Choco's room to see what's happening. He gasps to find a young woman with dirty blond hair wearing a long cape inside of Choco's room.

“Who the hell are you!?” demanded Yuki. All the strange woman does is stare at Yuki with her red eyes, and grin wickedly. The wind from the open window blows the cape aside revealing Choco unconscious in her right arm.

“Choco!!” Yells Yuki, but there is no response from her. He then leers at the woman angrily and yells, “Let her go you . . . !!” Without finishing his own sentence, he charges at the woman in an attempt to rescue Choco. But before Yuki comes close, she waves her hands, and vanishes into thin air along with Choco.

The kidnapping of Choco devastates Yuki. He falls to his knees and panics. He is unsure what was more frightening, Choco's kidnapping, or the fact that a blond woman Yuki has never met appeared out of nowhere and vanished as quickly as she came.

Yuki snaps out of his trance after a moment. Just kneeling in Choco's room will not help him get her back. He needs to find some way to find out who that woman is, and find out why she took her. The first thing he does is leave the farm, and run around the valley waking everyone up from their slumber. Just about everyone is annoyed that Yuki has waken them up so late at night, but seeing how frantic Yuki is, they don't make a big fuss about it.

Everyone gathers outside of Yuki's farm drowsy and no clue as to what is going on. But after everyone has gathered, Yuki takes a deep breath and announces, “Everyone, Please! I need all your help! A little while ago, someone has broken into my house and kidnapped Choco!”

Everyone gasps in shock. They all mumble at one another for a few minutes. They all have lived in peace for so long, no one is even sure as to what to do in case of this type of an emergency. Nobody in the valley could ever imagine that anyone could be capable of kidnapping a child in the middle of a small village.

“Do you know who did it?” asked Muffy concerned for Choco's welfare.

Yuki shook his head no and says, “I have no idea. I have never seen this woman before. She just appeared in my house, and escaped with Choco.” After he said that, everyone stares at one another, and starts mumbling. “What? Does anyone know anything that I don't know?”

Lumina was the only one who had the courage to tell Yuki. “Um, you said it was a woman right? Could it be that she was her. . . Mother?”

“No way!!” yelled Yuki. “There is no way that she could be Choco's mother. First of all, she doesn't look anything like her. And she looks even younger than me! About 20, maybe 21 years old tops! And I would never forget what she looks like! She has long blond curly hair, these blood red eyes, and she was dressed so strange. There is no way I could have met her before, and not recognize her!”

“How did she escape from your house?” Asked Nami.

Yuki hesitates for a moment. He knows that what he is about to say is almost too crazy to believe. But even so, it was the truth. “I don't know how she escaped really. I was about to stop her, but she just suddenly vanished from my house. Like magic!”

Everyone goes silent. Yuki knew that they would react the way they are now. A woman appearing in someone's house to kidnap a child, then vanish like magic is something a madman would say. But no matter how insane it sounds, he doesn't know what else to say to them.

But moving through the crowd, Romana comes forward. She the looks up at Yuki and asks, “Can you describe this woman in better detail? Like what she was wearing?”

Yuki takes a moment to think about his answer. He only saw her for less than a minute, but he remembers what she wore very clearly. “Um, she had this cape on that looks like it was made of animal skins, some purple tunic-like dress, and animal skin boots. Strange taste in clothing I would have to say.”

Romana nods and responds, “I know who took your daughter. It was the Witch Princess!”

“Do you know who this person is?” asked Lumina.

“Indeed I do. We first met when I was just a young woman. Back then, this was just an empty valley with the exception of a small hut resting on the hill. I bought the property where my villa stands today, and I was about to demolish that old hut. Little that I knew, someone lives in that old hut. A woman who time itself cannot touch, a witch!”

“A WITCH!?!?!?” everyone yelled together.

“That's right, a real witch.” continues Romana. “Even though she is a witch, I felt that she was harmless. So I decided to cancel the demolition of her home, and build my villa next to it instead. As time passed, more and more people came to live here in the valley. This upset the witch, but she made a promise not to harm anyone in exchange that I leave her home untouched.”

“But you built the villa 50 years ago.” said Lumina. “Why does she still look so young after all these years?”

Romana sighs and says, “She may appear young, but she may be the oldest living person in the entire planet. In fact, I did some research on her hut, and it seems like she's been living there even before the Witch Hunt. Meaning that she may be older than 200 years old!”

Yuki steps forward and asks, “Miss Romana, do you know where this witch is right now?”

“The only place she can hide in is the old hut next to my villa.” she answered.

Without hesitating, Yuki runs to the villa as fast as his legs can take him. The villagers then follow him, just in case they can do anything to help. As Yuki runs, he asks himself many questions in his head. Like, who is that woman? Why did she take Choco? Why is it that after nearly four years of living in the valley, he has never even seen or heard from this person who lived in the valley the whole time.

Yuki arrives in the villa in record time. He finds the old hut standing in the corner of the garden almost hidden by the night. Without wasting any time, he runs over to the hut, and tries to open the door. Because the door is locked, he breaks it down instead. His eyes widen almost in a terrified way as soon as he steps inside.

He finds the witch chanting some sort of language he cannot understand. On the ground, he finds Choco lying on the floor still unconscious. There are some symbols glowing out of the ground around where Choco lies. But as strange and wicked as things seem, Yuki walks in yelling, “Witch!!”

The Witch Princess looks up at Yuki and says, “Oh, hi there Yuki. I'm glad that you can make it.”

“Give her back!” demanded Yuki as he is about to sprint for Choco.

“I wouldn't come close if I were you!” yelled the Witch Princess stopping Yuki in his tracks. “This is a Philosopher's circle. It's a very powerful and dangerous type of Arcane Alchemy. If you get too close, it'll drain your soul, and you'll die.”

Just then, all the other villagers of Forget-Me-Not Valley enter the hut. As soon as everyone enters, they all look around the inside of the hut amazed that something like it existed in the valley. Old books everywhere, a large cauldron filled with some unknown glowing liquid, bones and other indescribable objects that can be seen as ingredients for witches brew all over the place. So dark and creepy, like in a fairy tale of the inside of a witch's house. Everyone wants to rescue Choco, but Yuki held his hand out warning everyone that it's not safe to go any closer.

“Witch Princess!!” yelled Romana as she passes through the crowd. “Return that child to Yuki this instant! We had an agreement!”

“Well well, if it isn't Miss Romana!” said the Witch Princess in a haughty voice. “Well, looks like time has been rough on you within the last 50 years. But I'm afraid that I cannot return the child, she belongs to me!”

“What are you talking about!?” demanded Yuki. “That girl is my daughter!”

The Witch princess then suddenly lets out a loud wicked laugh that puts chills in the bones of anyone who hears it. Even the children and several villagers steps away as she laughs her lungs out. As soon as she is done laughing, she stares at Yuki with an evil grin and says, “Dear me Yuki, you really are dumber than I ever thought you were.”

“What do you mean?!” asked Yuki.

The Witch Princess smiles and admits, “You see, this creature is not your child, she is not even human. She's a Homunculus!”

“A Homunculus? What is that?” asked Yuki.

“An artificially created humanoid being.” answered Lumina in a shocking tone.

“Looks like Romana's granddaughter has done her homework. Well then, allow me to explain how she was created.
You see, after learning your greatest weakness, I decided to steal a bit of your DNA and use it in my father's greatest experiment. After stealing a lock of your hair while you slept, I placed it in a boiling pot with the ingredients I needed. After the mixture was done, I created what my father called a Miracle Potion! I only had half of the required DNA, so I decided to drink the potion, and 18 hours later on Christmas day, Choco was born!”

This confession left everyone speechless. Everyone always wondered who was Choco's biological mother was. The whole time, she has been living right under their noses. Yuki can hardly believe it, the whole time he's been looking elsewhere. Learning that Choco's life is only a product of what everyone would call science fiction leaves him feeling frustrated and confused.

“It doesn't make any sense,”said Yuki in an angered tone. “You say that she was just born recently, but she's almost no different than a normal child. She says that she was born in Atland, my hometown. She knew so many things that not many people knew. She even knew what I look like before we even met. How did she know so many things!?”

“Well that's easy to explain.” said the Witch Princess. She then pulls out a photograph from a pouch she has strapped to her waist, and shows it to Yuki.

“Hey, that's my missing Photograph! You stole it!?” yelled Yuki.

“Yes I did. You see, after Choco was born, she started to grow rapidly in both mind and body. With that, she developed an incredible learning ability. Everything I showed her and told her, she believed it to be true. And in ten days, she grew ten years. During those ten days, I showed her your photograph so she could memorize your face. I recited everything you write in your diary, so she would know and mimic some of your interests and habits. And after she was ready, I erased all of her memories of myself, and sent her off to meet you.
It's a perfect plan if I say so myself.”

“Well what about all the back story she told me! The cherry blossom, and the picnics! All that never happened!” yelled Yuki.

“Oh that. Well you see, with very little time to educate Choco, I just read the back of one of Lumina's books. She took that as her life story, and told it to everyone else. But don't you think it's funny in a weird way? Lumina found the proof that Choco is not really your daughter some time ago, but she decided not to share it with you anyway.”

“Hey, I didn't know that this was the case!” snapped Lumina. “And besides, Choco can't be a Homunculus! I read in a book that a living Homunculus cannot be created because they are always born without a soul! But Choco ran, played, and lived like a normal child. How did you accomplish something that was considered impossible?”

“I didn't find a way to do it. My father was a master alchemist, and he found a way to give a Homunculus life. . . Observe!” She then pulls Choco's pendant out of her pouch and shows everyone.

“What does that have to do with anything. It's just a pendant!” said Yuki.

“That's where you're wrong! Using the forbidden Human Alchemy, my father found a way how to open a gate to the afterlife, and 'borrow' a soul. The soul is then crystallized and bound to the Homunculus giving the false image of life. As long as the stone has enough energy, the Homunculus will continue to live. In other words, the stone on this pendant is not an ordinary rock, it's a Soul Stone!”

“So that's why she was dying earlier. She was running out of energy?” asked Yuki.

“That's right! But someone had to interfere, and prolonged the stone's life. A spirit that was haunting your farm Yuki. A guardian angel if you want to call it that. That spirit was your father!”

“My father's spirit? His spirit is in my farm?”

“Well, not anymore. His spirit is now inside this Soul Stone keeping it full of life. I created Choco to only have just a year of life. But now that your father's spirit lives in this stone, Choco now has the lifespan of an ordinary person.”

Yuki stands there in front of the Witch Princess frustrated and confused. Everything now makes sense, but still unbelievable. He now knows that Choco is not really his child, but in the same strange way, she still is. He gathers his courage and asks one last question, “Why? Why did you have to do all of this? Why did you create a child for me? Why did you send her to me? Why did you just create a child I didn't ask for?”

The Witch Princess sighs and confesses, “You still don't get it Yuki. I guess I'm going to have to spell it out then. You see Yuki, I hate you! Ever since you came to the valley, you always pissed me off!! I hate you, your farm, and your stupid smile that cheers everyone up!! I did it to make you suffer!! I. . . I HATE YOU!!!”

At this point, there is a look of pain and trauma in the Witch Princess' eyes. Yuki can almost see years of torment, loneliness, and unhappiness all flowing out at one time. He almost feels sorry for her and wishes that he could do something to ease her suffering. But at this point, all Yuki wants is Choco back.

“Okay, fine.” said Yuki almost trembling with fear. “You win, you had your fun already. You caused me all sorts of trouble. I really don't know why you hate me so much to do this to me. But at this point, I don't care. Now please, just give Choco back already.”

“No way!!” yelled Witch Princess angrily. “I created her so that you can become emotionally attached to her. Then you'll lose her in the end. Your father threw a wrench in my plans, but now it's time to finish the job!”

“What are you going to do to her!?” demanded Yuki.

“I'm going to send her back to the place where I got her from, the afterlife!!”

Everyone gasps and starts to beg and plea that she stops her insane plan. But it's no use, Witch Princess places the Soul Stone on Choco's chest, and continues her chanting ignoring everyone's cries for her to stop. Nobody can help Choco because they know it's not safe to move any closer than they already are. As the Witch Princess completes her chant, something white and white glowing begins to come out of the pendant.

As Yuki watches the evil spell do it’s magic, he can almost hear a voice call out to him. Almost a cry for help coming from the soul being ripped from the pendant. Even though Yuki knows it's dangerous to try to save her, he doesn't care. Just before the Witch princess says the final incantation, Yuki jumps into the circle and grabs Choco’s body. As soon as he touches her, painful bolts of energy grabs on to Yuki. He screams in agony as his soul is getting ripped from his body. He tries to move, but his body is paralyzed inside the circle.

“Yuki, what the hell are you doing!” yelled the Witch Princess shocked that Yuki jumped in, despite her earlier warning. “Get out of there, or you're going to get killed!”

Yuki looks up at Witch Princess with with agonizing pain in his eye. She is shocked to see that look once again. The same look as her own father while he was dying. He sacrificed his life to save her a long time ago, and Yuki is trying to do the same for Choco. Even though Yuki cannot save Choco's life, he decided to die trying.

Frustrated at Yuki's actions she tries to reason with him again. “Didn't you hear me earlier!? She is not really your daughter!! She's a fake that I created with your hair! She is not a real person. Just leave her, and get out of there!”

“I won't. . . Do that!” struggled Yuki. “I know that. . . She isn't . . . My real daughter. . . So what? . . . I . . . Still love her. . . As if. . . She is my. . . Real daughter. . . So if you. . . Want to. . . End her life. . . Then you'll. . . Have to. . . Take mine too!!”

Witch princess knows that this was never part of the plan. She only wants to make Yuki suffer, not end his life. She doesn't want to be a murderer. All she wants to do is undo the alchemy she created in the first place. She watches everyone else watch helplessly as they watch Yuki die before them. She knows that if he dies, everyone will blame her for his death.

Rather than allowing it to happen, she takes a random ingredient, and throws it in the cauldron of glowing liquid which causes a massive explosion that cancels the alchemy. The explosion throws Yuki and Witch Princess in the opposite side of the room. All the other villagers evacuate the hut. Yuki still has Choco in his arms protecting her to the best of his abilities. The Witch Princess hits her head against the wall, and is knocked out.

Yuki, being as tough as he is, gets up and starts to walk towards the Witch princess to give her a piece of his mind. Everyone else in the hut is outside waiting for something tohappen. As soon as he gets close to her, he steps on something unusual. He moves his foot off the object, and sees a Soul Stone. But he opens his hand, and sees that Choco's Soul Stone is in his hand. Plus the stone on the floor is a different color than Choco's. Choco's stone is amber colored, while the one on the floor is yellow.

As Yuki is staring at the stone on the floor, the Witch Princess wakes up heavily while rubbing the bump on her head. It doesn't take long before she sees the second Soul Stone on the floor in front of Yuki. She quickly grabs it, and shields it as if her life depends on that stone.

“I see. . ,” said Yuki in a calm tone. After what he just saw, he feels that he may have finally understood why the Witch Princess has been suffering for so long. “So, you're a Homunculus too. Am I right?”

Without answering Yuki's question, she opens her hands, and stares at the stone. Her tears then begin to drip on the stone, she cannot hold her grief anymore. She then holds the stone tightly against her chest and admits, “My mother and father only wanted to have a child. They didn't want to do anything wrong, but it was the only way. . .”

Yuki kneels before the Witch princess and says, “You really loved your parents, didn't you.”

She then looks up at Yuki and shows him the pendant while saying, “They are right here, keeping me alive after all these years. They didn't do anything wrong, they just wanted to have a child just like everyone else. My father even gave his right hand, so he cannot practice alchemy anymore. But they still died for having to create me.”

“I bet everyone made fun of you. Treated you poorly because you were different. Am I right?” She nods at Yuki. Yuki then pats Choco on the head and tells Witch princess, “I don't know the details of your past, but I can tell that it's full of pain, anger, and loneliness. I guess the way you express your pain is to make others feel even a small fraction of what you've felt.”

Yuki sighs and then continues, “But things are different now. So many things have changed after so many years. People can now accept those who are different with open arms. Everyone who hurt you is no longer alive, we are in a whole new generation now.
And as far as Choco is concerned. . . Even if you don't want to accept it, but Choco is just as much your child as much as she is mine. She may be different, but I still want to raise her as if she is my own. And like our parents did for us, I will protect and care for her, because I am her father. Do you understand?”

The Witch Princess looks up at Yuki once again, then at Choco. “I understand.” she uttered to Yuki.

Now that everything is resolved, Yuki leaves the hut, and goes back to their homes. But before he leaves the hut, he tells Witch Princess, “Listen, since you are her mother, I'll allow you to see her as much as you want. But don't do anything like this ever again.”

And so with that, Yuki leaves the hut carrying Choco like a newborn child. As Yuki walks away, Choco regains consciousness. From the corner of her eye, she sees the Witch Princess sitting inside the hut feeling depressed about what she almost did. Before she was completely out of sight, Choco utters, “mommy?. . .”

Outside the hut, Yuki reunites with the villagers. They all want to go in and make the witch pay for her crimes. But Yuki convinces everyone to leave her alone. She has gone through enough and she promised to not hurt Choco. Yuki has all the answers he needs, and that is enough. The Witch Princess has been punished enough.

The Witch Princess cleans her hut after everyone leaves. Her mind is blank as she cleans, but she then realizes something important. Yuki told her that she can see Choco anytime since she is her mother. “I’m a mom?” said the Witch Princess. Not once did she ever see Choco as her daughter, mainly because she was never born to be a daughter. Only a tool she can use to torment Yuki for her own amusement. But hearing Yuki say that she is her mother makes her feel awkward. She knew that what she was doing is wrong, but she was about to end the life of a child that she brought into the earth herself. This makes herself feel ashamed. Anger and hatred for Yuki has clouded her judgment so much, that she could not see what she was doing the whole time.