A/N: Hi everyone! I'm so incredibly sorry for the long wait. Life, my job and college slapped me in the face simultaneously and decided to prevent me from writing. But I'm back! :D
Disclaimer: I don't own either D. Gray-man or Harry Potter, nor do I own any sentences or descriptions from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Kanda had always been a very light sleeper. All Exorcists have to be if they want to stay alive (except for Allen; his eye warns him about any nearby Akuma). So he immediately awoke when he heard someone open the door and leave their dormitory. He opened his curtain to see who it was and, lo and behold, it was the boy they were supposed to be protecting. Kanda cussed profusely (though silently so as not to wake the other boys; he didn't feel like messing with any of them) and quickly began to get dressed. He considered waking Allen, but knew that at the very mention of breakfast the boy would make a commotion and wake their roommates.
He finished dressing and exited the dormitory much more quietly than Harry. He walked silently down the staircase to the common room, and slowly and silently opened the door. Harry was writing something on a piece of parchment. He then left the room, completely unaware that Kanda was watching him.
After the portrait hole closed, Kanda snorted and began to follow the boy. "He doesn't have the sense to figure out that someone could be following him. What an idiot."
He followed Harry up through the castle, where Peeves the Poltergeist was attempting to overturn a large vase on him. Peeves spotted the Exorcist, and Kanda drew Mugen, giving the Poltergeist a glare promising his death. Peeves gulped, quickly fixed the vase to its original position, and sped away through a wall. Harry, who looked confused by Peeves' sudden departure, shrugged his shoulders and continued walking towards his destination, which turned out to be the Owlery.
Harry entered the Owlery, obviously intending to send the letter he wrote in the common room that morning. Kanda stood beside the entrance, not wanting to alert Harry to his presence. He heard the boy first trying to wake his stupid bird, then trying to get it to even acknowledge his existence. Apparently the bird was mad about Harry's behavior towards her last night. Kanda shook his head, thinking how dumb it was that the kid was having to try to sweet talk his owl into doing her job: delivering letters. Eventually the owl agreed to deliver the message.
"Just find him, all right?" Kanda heard Harry say, "Before the dementors do." He heard the flapping of wings and, assuming the boy was finished with his business, quickly took the steps down the tower to find a hiding place in the castle. He heard Harry walk pass him and, using the shadows, beat the boy back to their dormitory. After feigning sleep while Harry woke Ron so they could head down to breakfast, Kanda woke Allen and they left for the Great Hall soon after Ron and Harry. On their way, Kanda informed Allen of what he saw and heard.
"Hm. He must have been talking about Sirius. That's the only person Harry would write to. But it's not very smart of him to use his own owl, which is pretty distinctive, to write to his godfather, who's an escaped convict that's being hunted by the Ministry, and who the Minister, among others, KNOW is his godfather," Allen muttered, thinking out loud to Kanda.
"Hmph," Kanda scoffed. "If you haven't noticed, none of these kids are very smart when it comes to being discrete. Hell, even when they try to whisper we can hear them."
"Yeah, but we're Exorcists. We've been trained to listen closely to everyone around us, whether they're whispering or not," Allen responded. They stopped talking as they entered the Great Hall, where they saw Hermione frowning angrily, Ron stuffing his face, and Harry wearing a somewhat worried expression. Harry tried to smile as Allen and Kanda took their seats, but they could still tell that he was worried about something. Kanda and Allen glanced at each other, silently agreeing to try and figure out what was wrong with the boy.
"Oh, hey," Harry said, turning to the two Exorcists. "Since tomorrow is Saturday, how about we take the both of you and Lavi down to the Quidditch pitch? Ron and I could teach you how to ride brooms and play Quidditch."
"Sure! That sounds like a great idea, doesn't it Kanda?" Allen said, turning to the older boy excitedly. Kanda just huffed, shaking his head at the younger boy's excitement.
"Fred and George will probably want to go too," Ron stated after swallowing a bite of toast. "Hey Hermione, are you going to come watch?"
"No, of course not," Hermione stated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I've got to go the library, I have loads of work to do. You do as well, though you don't care, of course," Hermione stated, looking at the two boys reproachfully.
"We DO care, just not when there's Quidditch to be played!" Ron exclaimed defensively.
"He's right, Hermione," Harry said, smiling at the girl who was shaking her head in annoyance. "Besides, we're teaching them how to fly on a broom as well as about Quidditch. You should be proud that we're helping out our fellow students by teaching them."
Hermione rolled her eyes, but smiled at Harry's response. Allen smiled as well, while Ron chuckled happily. Kanda just scoffed and continued eating his soba. Allen said that they should go tell Lavi about their plans for Saturday, so he and Kanda walked over to the Ravenclaw table. Lavi was chatting excitedly with the dirty blonde they now knew to be Luna Lovegood. Lavi turned as he heard their approach and grinned happily. He jumped up from his seat and yelled loud enough for everyone in the Great Hall to hear "GOOD MORNING YU!" before wrapping Kanda in a bone-crushing hug.
Almost everyone in the hall laughed except the Slytherins, because they usually only laughed at someone when something bad happens to them, and most of the Gryffindors, who knew Kanda hated physical contact, anyone saying his first name, and Lavi. So the Gryffindors knew that Kanda being hugged by Lavi as well as having his first name shouted to everyone in the Great Hall meant one thing: an angry, murderous Kanda. Almost the entire Gryffindor table ran as fast as they could towards the door, while the teachers and other Houses watched them in shock and confusion. They realized why the usually courageous Gryffindors ran when they returned their gazes to the two touching Exorcists. Kanda's entire body was shaking with anger, and Lavi, finally seeming to realize this, was slowly releasing the boy, a look of pure dread and fear on his face. Allen was quietly backing away, gesturing to the rest of the Hall to exit the room as quickly as possible. While the teachers stayed, mainly out of duty, the rest of the students heeded Allen's silent advice and fled the room. They left just in time, as the moment the last student fled through the open doors, Mugen was drawn from its sheath and Lavi was running for his life.
Lavi ran as fast as he could through the Great Hall, apologizing profusely as he was dodging Mugen, jumping over tables, and ducking under spells that were aimed at the two Exorcists. Kanda was shouting obscenities at Lavi, and describing the many ways he planned to kill the stupid rabbit. Allen, meanwhile, was half-heartedly trying to stop Kanda from killing Lavi, but was mostly concentrating on eating all of the food in the Hall now that no students were there to observe him. The teachers were all yelling for the boys to stop, that this was not the proper behavior for men their age and for students of Hogwarts.
Finally, the chaos ended when Timcampy flew into Lavi's right leg and tripped him. Lavi crashed to the floor, and as he tried to quickly get to his feet to continue running, Tim wrapped his tail around Lavi's legs to prevent him from getting up. Lavi turned onto his back and saw a livid Kanda standing over him, Mugen raised to stab him.
"I'm going to enjoy this, stupid rabbit," Kanda hissed, his blade rushing down to deliver a fatal blow. His sword never reached Lavi however, as he was suddenly hit by about 15 spells, fired by the professors.
Kanda flew backwards, colliding painfully with the floor several feet away from the red-head. Lavi heaved a huge sigh, closing his eye in relief. His eye snapped open when he heard a groan from Kanda, who was sitting up very slowly. Lavi then looked at the golem who was still wrapped around his legs. He scowled at Tim, and reached for the golden ball, intending to beat the snot out of the creature for putting him in mortal danger. Before Lavi could grab him, Timcampy quickly unwrapped himself from the boy's legs and flew out of the Great Hall and through the open doors to the grounds. The professors surrounded the two boys, with Madam Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout attending to Lavi while the other professors gathered around Kanda, their wands raised.
"Are you alright?" Madam Pomfrey asked, checking the boy for injuries.
"Yes, of course. He never even touched me," Lavi chuckled. He turned to look at Kanda, who was now glaring at all the professors around him. After concluding that Lavi was indeed alright, Madam Pomfrey rushed to Kanda to check his health.
"How is he still conscious?" Professor Sprout asked in amazement, staring at the Japanese man. "He was hit by at least 10 spells! He should be unconscious for several hours!"
"Kanda's always been thick-skinned," Allen replied, walking toward the small group with his arms full of food. "It'll take a lot more than that to bring him down."
"Beansprout is right," Lavi nodded, turning back to survey the man they were talking about. Kanda was now standing with his arms crossed, trying to defend his actions to Professor Dumbledore while Madam Pomfrey fussed over him. Dumbledore was frowning slightly, but there was a glint in his eyes which suggested that the man was not really angered by Kanda's actions. "Yu has always healed quickly, too."
"Really?" Professor Sprout said. "How interesting."
"Regardless of how interesting it is," Professor McGonagall said, standing up "he should not have behaved the way he did. He could have really injured someone. I told Dumbledore to take that sword away from him, but he said that it was the boy's Innocence, and that he had to keep it. And you," she said angrily, turning to Lavi, who gulped. "You knew he would react like this, did you not?"
"Yes, he knew. He does it all the time," Allen replied before stuffing a roll into his mouth.
"Traitor," Lavi hissed under his breath, turning to look up at Professor McGonagall. "I was just happy to see my friend. He was the one who blew a gasket just because I said his first name and hugged him."
"Well, see that you do neither of those things in the future, Mr. Bookman" McGonagall said before walking towards Dumbledore. The crowd around Kanda had dissipated, and the Exorcist now stood alone with the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmistress. Allen and Lavi heard McGonagall ask about Kanda's punishment, and seemed to calm somewhat at Dumbledore's response. Kanda, however, bristled, and after being dismissed by Dumbledore, stalked out of the Great Hall.
"Damn. Kanda seems REALLY pissed," Lavi muttered to Allen, who nodded solemnly.
"Yeah. Maybe we should leave him alone right now," Allen responded.
"Uh, Allen, I hate to tell you this, but you have a class with him today. Unless he skips, seeing him will be unavoidable," Lavi said, smirking at the other boy. His smirk broadened when he saw Allen's eyes widen in shock and fear.
"I totally forgot about that!" Allen exclaimed. He pouted, unhappy that he would be forced to spend part of the day with a very angry Kanda. He sighed, accepting his fate, and said "At least I only have one class today." Lavi laughed, and the two boys walked up the staircase to their classrooms. Knowing that Allen would get lost, Lavi took the younger boy to his class before going to his own. While they were walking, Allen told Lavi about their plans for Saturday. Lavi happily agreed, and asked if Luna could join them.
"Sure, I don't see why not. Why are you inviting her?" Allen asked curiously.
"She doesn't have a lot of friends. Or any, really. I was hoping I could introduce her to Harry and the others so she would have someone after I leave," Lavi responded.
"Oh, that's sad. But I'm glad you're trying to help her Lavi. I'm sure Harry, Ron and Hermione will talk to her after you're gone," Allen said, smiling. Lavi agreed, and they began talking about what they thought Quidditch would be like until they arrived at Allen's classroom.
Allen opened the door to the classroom and sat down in his seat. Kanda's chair was vacant, and Allen frowned slightly. No matter how angry he was, Kanda would never sacrifice the success of a mission. He turned to look at Harry, who they were supposed to be protecting, and relaxed. "Kanda will show up," he thought, smiling inwardly. "No matter what, the mission comes first."
A minute or so before class began, Kanda entered the room and took his seat. He sat rigidly, and said nothing to Allen the entire class period. Allen did not attempt to speak to the older boy, knowing that he would be beaten to a bloody pulp if he did or said anything to Kanda when he was so angry. When the professor released them, Kanda quickly gathered his things and left the class, not sparing Allen a backward glance.
"Is he still upset about what happened this morning?" Hermione asked Allen as they left the classroom.
"I don't think it's what happened so much as the punishment he received for it happening," Allen replied, sighing heavily. "Kanda and Lavi do that sort of thing all the time. If they hadn't done it in front of the entire school, I don't think it would have turned out so badly for him."
"Blimey, what is his punishment? It must be bad for him to react this way," Ron said, trying to imagine what the long-haired boy was going to have to do.
"I have no idea. He hasn't said a word to me since it happened," Allen said. He stopped walking, and the three students stopped and turned to look at him.
"I think I'm going to take a walk around the castle. Kanda is going to need some time to cool off, and I don't want to get in his way," Allen said, smiling at his three new friends.
"Are you sure? You could come to the library with me," Hermione said, looking at Allen with some concern.
"Or you could come to the common room with us," Harry said, also looking at Allen concernedly.
"No thank you. I just want to explore the castle a little bit," Allen said, smiling happily at the trio. The three nodded and said goodbye, then set off. Allen began walking down a random corridor, trying to take in his surroundings. He smiled and greeted all of the paintings he passed, and nodded to the suits of armor who nodded at him. After walking the halls for hours, Allen had reached an area of the castle where there were no paintings or suits of armor. A few benches sat against the wall in the hallways, and a banner with the school's insignia hung in every hallway, but there were no other decorations.
"It has been a few hours since I started walking. Kanda is probably calm enough to have at least some sort of conversation with now. I should probably head back," Allen thought, and turned around to begin retracing his steps. However, after at least 30 minutes of walking, he still saw no paintings. The corridors were still bare, which prevented him from figuring out if he was walking in circles or not.
"Hm. Maybe taking a walk without Timcampy or someone to guide me was a bad idea…." Allen thought sullenly. Just then, his stomach gave a very large growl, signaling that it needed to be filled. "And of course, I'm hungry. What if I starve to death? Will anyone be able to find me? Will anyone even look here?!" Allen thought, beginning to panic. Suddenly, he heard cackling from behind him and turned quickly. Peeves was floating in the air above him, sniggering at the lost boy gleefully.
"What are you doing here, old man?" Peeves asked, grinning. "You lost or something?"
"No, I'm not lost, and I'm not an old man! I know exactly where I'm going…." Allen said feebly, his sentence trailing off into nothing. Peeves' grin widened, knowing that the boy was lying through his teeth.
"I could help you, you know," Peeves said sweetly. "I know this castle better than anyone. I could take you to the Great Hall. Would you like me to?"
"Yes, please!" Allen said happily. "I'm starving!"
"Alright then! Follow meeeee!" Peeves exclaimed, flying past Allen and down the corridor. Allen followed the Poltergeist, excited at the prospect of eating dinner. He continued following the Poltergeist for at least an hour before he stopped, his fists balled in anger as he glared at Peeves.
"It's been an hour! We should have seen some paintings and armor by now! You've just been leading me even farther into the castle, or in circles!" Allen shouted, frustrated that he had believed Peeves when he said he would help him.
Peeves laughed evilly, smirking at the white-haired boy. "You've figured it out! I'd hoped I could lead you in circles for at least one more hour before you realized what I was doing. You're smarter than I thought, old man!"
"Ugh! I knew I shouldn't have trusted you!" Allen exclaimed, activating his Innocence. He fully intended to beat the Poltergeist silly for causing him to lose his sense of direction entirely and, more importantly, for causing him to miss most of dinner. Peeves, seeing the weapon, gulped fearfully and flew through a wall.
Allen sighed and deactivated his Innocence, his stomach beginning to growl constantly. "What am I going to do?" he asked himself, sitting down on the stone floor in the middle of the corridor. "Tim isn't here to lead me back, and I can't contact Kanda or Lavi without him either…. Oh, wait!" He said, suddenly remembering where he was. "I'm at Hogwarts! A school for wizards and witches! And since I'm a wizard too, I have…a wand!" he exclaimed triumphantly, taking out said wand and holding it in front of him.
"Wait…just because I have a wand doesn't mean I have a spell to get me out of this," Allen thought, his sudden happiness fading because of this realization. He was going through the list of spells he knew in his head when another thought hit him: "If I can't find my way out of here…I can bring someone who can to me!" he exclaimed, jumping up from his spot. "I don't know if the summoning charm will work on Tim, since he's alive, but if I could take something from Kanda or Lavi, something they have on them at all times…." Allen trailed off, then smiled evilly. "He's going to kill me for this…but it's just too good. I HAVE to do it."
Allen lifted his wand, his evil smile still on his face. "Accio Mugen!" he shouted gleefully. He then sat on the floor, his legs crossed and a smirk on his face. He knew this spell would work, as he had practiced it with Lavi and Kanda in the Room of Requirement. Now all he had to do was wait. Allen's smirk widened when he imagined Kanda's reaction to Mugen flying through the air away from him. "He would be shocked at first. Then anger would take over. He would be trying to figure out why his Innocence is flying away from him, and who could be causing it while he's chasing after his beloved sword." Allen chuckled, and soon it turned into a full blown laugh. "I am so glad I got lost!" Allen exclaimed to the empty corridor.
ooooooo
Kanda was walking swiftly back to the common room from dinner when it happened. After he learned that he would have detention with Professor McGonagall, he had walked around the castle a bit before he went to class. He had ignored the beansprout for the entire class, still pissed that he had gotten in trouble because of the idiotic and annoying rabbit. After class he went to the Room of Requirement to train. He needed to hit something, and since he would get into a shitload of trouble if he attempted to kill the rabbit, he destroyed 17 of the wooden dummies instead. Kanda had stayed in there all day until he realized that he was hungry. Dinner had just started when he arrived, and Allen, Harry, Ron and Hermione had not arrived. Since he had calmed down considerably since the incident earlier that day, he decided to wait for the four teens to arrive then leave with them. He had been looking for the beansprout all through dinner, wondering where he could be. "The idiot would never miss dinner. So where the hell is he?" Just as he thought this Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into the Great Hall, chatting happily. As they sat down next to Kanda, they looked around the table.
"Where's Allen?" Harry asked Kanda. Kanda shrugged his shoulders and said "I don't know. I thought he'd be with you."
"After class this morning, he said he was going for a walk through the castle," Hermione said, concern clearly written on her features. "He should have been back by now. Where could he be?"
"You let him walk around the castle alone?" Kanda asked in disbelief. "Timcampy was with him at least, right?"
"Uh, I didn't see him flying around like he usually does," Ron replied, confused at the older boy's reaction. "Why can't he walk around the castle alone?"
"Because he has the worst sense of direction ever," Kanda said, standing up. "I'm not kidding. Even though he'd been at our old school for years, he could still get himself completely lost."
"We'll help you look for him," Hermione said, jumping out of her seat.
"Yeah, come on Ron," Harry said, grabbing the red-head's arm and pulling. Ron seemed reluctant to leave without dinner, but at Hermione's look, he followed the others quickly and quietly. The group split up, and Kanda was sent to search the common room and dormitory in case Allen had returned while they were gone. That was when he was yanked backwards as Mugen began pulling him towards a corridor he had never been to. Mugen then shot out of its sheath and flew at breakneck speed down the corridor and around the corner. Kanda stood shocked for one moment before he growled and began to chase after his Innocence.
He went through many corridors and up and down several staircases. Although Kanda was extremely fast, Mugen was flying slightly faster, just out of his reach. Annoyed, he decided to simply follow his sword to wherever it was going. If it led to a person, he vowed to disembowel them, no matter who they were.
Finally, after what seemed to be 30 minutes or so, Mugen rounded a corner, Kanda hot on its trail. It slammed to a stop, which Kanda did not expect. He also did not expect for his legs to slam into something in the middle of the corridor and send him sprawling further down the passageway. He stopped after rolling several feet, and cursed loudly. He stood up quickly to see who or what had taken Mugen and tripped him. He froze as he saw someone with familiar white hair slowly pushing himself up from the ground. He was groaning, and seemed to be saying something about "stupid Kanda." Kanda simply growled and stalked over to the boy, who was now standing and holding Mugen in his left hand with a big grin on his face.
"It worked!" he shouted excitedly, looking at his wand, which he held in his right hand. He then looked up at Kanda, his grin shrinking slightly at the angry look on his friend's face.
"What the fucking hell, beansprout!" Kanda yelled, tearing Mugen out of the smaller boy's grasp. "Those three brats said you've been gone all day, and when I go to look for you, Mugen flies away from me and leads me to you! You should know better than to roam around a fucking castle by yourself!"
"I-I'm sorry, Kanda," Allen said, blushing slightly from both embarrassment and happiness. "You were looking for me?"
"Che, yes, you idiot. When you didn't come to dinner and they said you'd gone for a walk around the castle by yourself, I knew you were lost. Regardless of how big of an idiot you are, you're still an Exorcist with a mission," Kanda said, crossing his arms and looking away.
"Oh. So you only looked for me because of the mission…." Allen said, looking down at his feet.
Kanda turned back to the younger boy at the sound of his dejected voice and saw him looking at the ground sadly. He sighed and said "I was also looking for you because…I was…wondering if you were okay," he said hurriedly, looking at the brick wall that had suddenly become very interesting. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Allen's head shoot up, his eyes wide in shock. The boy blushed, and a happy smile appeared on his face. Inwardly, Kanda smiled at the boy's change in mood. Outwardly, he just huffed and asked "So how did you summon Mugen anyway? With the Summoning Charm we practiced?"
"Yeah," Allen said, grinning at the taller boy. "It took me a little while to figure out a way to contact someone. Then I thought of the Summoning Charm, then about you and Lavi, and decided I could summon Mugen and you would follow it to me."
"Che. Idiot beansprout. If you hadn't walked around the castle in the first place, you wouldn't be in this mess," Kanda said as he began walking toward the way he came. "Why did you take a walk, anyway? And why didn't you summon Lavi's Innocence? He could remember the way back better than I could."
"I thought you might want some space, and I didn't want Harry, Ron, Hermione, or anyone else in school to ask me about what happened," Allen replied, clutching his relentlessly growling stomach with both hands. He blushed again, lightly this time, and said "I summoned Mugen because, um…I thought you would get here faster," he said, the lie obvious to both of them.
"Che, idiot…." Kanda said quietly. Allen had gotten lost in the castle and was now starving because of him. Well, mainly Lavi because he caused the incident in the Great Hall, but whatever. And he refused to tell him the true reason he took Mugen instead of Lavi's Innocence. "Before we go back to the common room, we're taking you to the kitchens. You need to eat something so your stomach will shut up."
Allen nodded quickly in agreement, and both boys picked up the pace. Curfew would be in effect soon, and neither wanted to be caught out of bed by the prefects or Filch tonight. Allen ate his food in record time, and they were back in the common room just in time.
"There you are!" Hermione exclaimed when she saw Allen walk through the portrait hole. "We looked all over the place for you! Where have you been? Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine Hermione. I'm so sorry I made you worry. I get lost really easily, and I forgot Tim wasn't with me," Allen said apologetically as Tim circled his head before settling into his hair.
"How did you find him?" Ron asked suspiciously.
"I summoned Mugen using the Summoning Charm. Kanda chased after Mugen, and it led him right to me," Allen said, smiling happily at Harry, Hermione and Ron.
"Oh, that was a great idea, Allen," Hermione said, smiling. "But why didn't you just use the Point Me spell?"
Allen looked at her for a moment, then face-palmed. "I am such an idiot…." Allen said, shaking his head in exasperation. Harry, Ron and Hermione laughed, and Kanda just smirked at the embarrassed Exorcist. After a moment, Allen began laughing too.
"So mate," Ron said, turning to Kanda. "What sort of punishment have you been given?"
"Detention with Professor McGonagall," Kanda replied, crossing his arms and huffing in annoyance.
"Well, that's better than being in detention with Snape," Harry said, spitting out Snape's name with hatred. "Being in his detention is hell."
"He's right, McGonagall is better than Snape," Ron said. "When do you have it?"
"Monday evening," Kanda said, growing more irritated as the conversation went on. Sensing Kanda's mood, Allen steered the conversation in a different direction. Kanda gave him a slight nod in thanks, and sat there listening to the other four's conversation. The group finally headed off to bed around midnight.
As the four boys were crawling into their beds, Ron said excitedly "I hope you two are ready for Quidditch tomorrow! I have a feeling the both of you are going to enjoy it."
"I think you'll be good at it, too," Harry added, grinning at the two. "You seem like the sort who are good at everything they do, especially physical activity."
"I hope you're right," Allen replied, smiling at the two boys' excitement for tomorrow. "It sounds like fun. I just hope I don't fall off my broom."
"Don't worry, if you do, one of us will catch you before you hit the ground," Ron said happily.
Kanda rolled his eyes and closed his curtains. Allen just chuckled and told the boys goodnight before closing his curtains as well.
As Kanda drifted off to sleep, he had one last thought: "Holy shit. I'm going to ride a fucking BROOM tomorrow. Why does this shit happen to me?"
A/N: Ta-da! Chapter 10 is FINALLY done. I am sooo sorry you guys had to wait so long. It'll probably be a while before the next update too because of freaking college. BUT I have some good news: Hopefully, we'll get to the GOBLET OF FIRE in one or two chapters! If the length of chapter 11 is longer than I plan, then chapter 12 will reveal the champion. I am SO excited to reveal who it is! I hope you guys will like him! :)
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, followed, and stuck with this story. I hope I'll get to update again soon!