I'm back, and I'm very sorry! I meant to update last week and come out of my haitus, but I lost my jump drive! Unfortunately, it has all of my writing on it and I can't update without it...

I cannot believe the positive response this story has received! I appreciate every review, follow, and favorite, especially since we are coming to the end of this story (which really should have been updated sooner. Again, so sorry!). I will likely update again tomorrow or Sunday if I have the time. If not, expect an update Monday!

Moving on, then. Welcome back, ImaginaryFlower! Now shut up so the readers can, well read.

There was a ruckus outside. Miku hadn't been paying an extreme amount of attention to what was going on outside that cage. Hell, she had hardly taken her attention away from her cellmate, who also redirected herself to the growing noise outside.

"What is that?" Miku asked almost fearfully. Not knowing what was going on can really cause panic in a person, especially when they're so close to hitting rock bottom.

"I can't tell from here, but my best guess is that the monsters have been whipped into an excited frenzy. Sacrifice is a very important thing to many of them," Lily explained. "I hope it won't be too presumptuous of me to ask, but could you help me up and to the bars? I'd like a better look."

"I can do that," Miku agreed, standing with a snap of bones and the sudden ache of muscles. She offered her hands out to the older woman, who took them and stood slowly, leaning against Miku for support. The woman couldn't have been older that twenty-five. Why was her body so weak?

The two of them peered between the bars, eyes squinting through the dark and around furry, hulking shapes in cages. In the distance, Miku could see the chaotic movement of shadows and nearly gasped aloud when she heard Mikuo's voice.

She flung herself against the bars, her hands closing around the scratchy, aged metal weakly.

"Mikuo!" she shouted, but her voice was weak and her throat was dry. There was no way she could be heard over the noise in the distance.

"So, it's a breakout then," Lily said softly, sliding back to the ground. She looked relieved and the rush of breath from her encouraged that idea.

"What gives you that idea?" Miku demanded, still straining to see what exactly was causing that chaos.

"Len's here."

Miku's eyes widened and she glanced down at Lily, who looked exhausted. "What? How do you know that?" Miku asked her forcefully.

Lily shook her head softly, a gentle smile on her face. "It's… a feeling," she replied. "You'd best get ready to leave, Miku. It's lucky you weren't here long."

"What do you mean?" Miku was having a hard time following her. How did she know Len was there? Lily couldn't give her false hope like that! It was cruel, to say the least. And what was this about leaving? "Aren't you coming, too?"

Lily shook her head. "While it may be possible to save you and your brother, it isn't possible to save the rest of the sacrifices. The mass sacrifice will happen, and when it does you certainly don't want to be around me."

"But you'll die in here!" Miku exclaimed desperately. "What about Len? Don't you miss him?"

"More than anything. He's all I have left," Lily replied. "But I should have died a long time ago. It's fine. Honestly."

Miku was speechless. She barely knew Lily, but her look of absolute defeat and her connection to Len, who was dear to her, made her heart ache. What had happened to this woman to make her this way? Miku didn't even want to imagine.

…Wait, had she just decided that Len was dear to her?

"Lily," Miku said softly, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder. Lily looked up at her and smiled reassuringly.

"Please take Len with you. To your world. It's where he belongs, anyway," she told Miku in a strained voice. "Humans aren't supposed to live in solitude. They turn into monsters themselves before long."

"Len is no monster," Miku interrupted. "He's…" She couldn't think of what to say. What was Len? Irritating, for one, but he was also brave and he had helped her on this journey. Now, he was probably putting his life in danger to save them. So he was something. But what was he? What was Len Kagamine to her?

Miku jumped and turned her attention back to the bars as she heard a clanging. It turned out that the boy she was expecting to see wasn't there. Instead, a girl with familiar, intense golden eyes was unlocking the door, the sword at her waist clanging against solid metal armor plating on her legs. Her face was bland and Miku couldn't tell what the girl was thinking.

"It's you!" Miku exclaimed. "I made a deal with you!"

"And now we're carrying through with it," the girl replied dully, grabbing Miku by the wrist. "Come with me."

"No!" Miku shouted, trying her best to yank her arm away. It was no use. This girl was obviously strong enough to snap her arm and Miku didn't doubt that she would if she didn't cooperate. So Miku allowed herself to be dragged from the cell, shooting a look back at Lily, whose pale face looked even more stricken now.

"Who are you?" Miku demanded as her worn shoes scuffed across the stone floor, trying to keep up with the pace the girl kept as she was dragged along the outside of a giant cavern filled with cages and huge beasts.

"I…" the girl seemed to pause for a moment. "He calls me Neru."

"You already told me what your name is. I want to know who you are and what you're doing with him. And what does that mean, anyway? 'He calls me Neru.' Is that your name or not?" Miku said, hoping that would slow the girl. It did significantly, their rapid footsteps slowly to an even walk.

"It's… I'm Artemis," the girl said. She sounded hesitant, as though the name was unfamiliar.

"Artemis? Artemis as in the god?" Miku asked shocked. Neru, or Artemis it seemed, nodded. "Why in the world does he call you Neru then?"

"I think… It was my name before," she confided. Why Miku was being told anything was beyond her but it wasn't like she was complaining. She was stalling and now she knew the gravity of the situation. If this man who had captured her had a god as his underling, then just what kind of power did he possess?

"Before? Before what?" Miku asked, feeling the girl's grip slacken considerably.

The girl seemed to realize what she was saying. "I can't tell you. He'd kill me," Neru stated, her old grip suddenly restored. Miku's skin felt hot and painful under those fingers, which were strong and confident.

"Tell me," Miku urged. "Make the dumb human learn something. Don't gods like to teach us lessons?" She didn't know what she was doing at this point, but considering how likely it was that she was going to die, stupid questions didn't matter at this point. Neru hadn't picked up on what she was trying to do, at elast.

"No. Gods do not like that," Neru replied. "Monsters do."

"I don't see a difference from here," Miku told her bitterly. Suddenly, Miku was pulled to a stop, and Neru was looking at her dead on.

"I am not a monster," Neru hissed. "I'm trying to survive, something a human like yourself can't possibly imagine suffering through. If I have to sacrifice my own free will and kill others to make sure my master doesn't kill me, then that's just what I'll do."

"Monster," Miku repeated. "That makes you a monster."

Neru's hand was at her belt and she looked livid. But before she could draw her sword, she stopped, and golden eyes glowed in the dark as she looked at Miku quizzically. What was up with that?

"I am," she agreed. "I know I am. But how did you?"

"What do you mean?" Miku asked. "It's obvious. People who kill other people are monsters, no exceptions."

"I'm not people."

"That makes it worse," Miku said. "If you have power that us mortals don't, then you should use it. There are creatures and people about to die because of your master. You can't tell me that a god like Artemis is okay with that?"

"I'm his hunter," the girl said. "I don't have power unless he gives it to me."

Miku continued, ignoring what she had just said. "You don't seem okay with it. I see the looks of pity you sent and I can tell you'd rather be doing anything but this. So what are you doing?"

Neru paused. She didn't have a response. Saying something like 'trying to survive' wasn't right. At this point, she wasn't sure if she even wanted to be alive. That nagging little voice in the back of her head might say she wanted to be alive, but since the incident that had led her current position, she couldn't tell which thoughts were hers anymore. Truthfully, she had no idea what she was doing. She hated all of this so much. Hurting people, following Leon, and for what? What was all this darkness doing for her?

Nothing. Because in the end, she knew she would die anyway.

"What's your name?" Neru asked.

"What?"

"Just answer me."

Despite being caught off guard, Miku replied anyway. "Miku Hatsune," she said.

"Good. I'd just like to know the girl I'll be dying for," Neru told her. Miku was shocked and for a moment she couldn't process exactly what had been said. But she was snapped back to reality by an intense burning on her wrist, the one Neru currently held tightly. The girl's grip was suddenly gone from her arm and Miku was left to rub the red mark on her skin. It looked like a mild burn, which left Miku wondering exactly what Neru had just done to her. In the dark, she couldn't properly examine in, unfortunately.

"Go. Len is probably looking for you by the cell you came from," Neru told her. "Leon will come looking for you when I deliver the news that."

"What news?"

For the first time in years, Neru smiled. "I quit," she said simply. As soon as the words had left her mouth, Neru was gone, walking silently in the direction they had been heading. Miku was left standing there, her arm stinging as she watched the blonde girl retreat.

She was startled to life again by a familiar male voice coming from the maze of cages she stood by.

"Miku!"

She glanced around, trying to forget the girl's concerning words as she looked for that blond head of hair she knew so well by this point. Even in the dark, a certain amount of light always seemed to bounce off of it.

"Len?" she called, looking directly down the aisle she stood next to. Around metal bars and limbs and gaping, hungry maws, she saw Len standing in a crossroads of stacked cages, his chest heaving from all the running and fighting he had undoubtedly just done.

She took off running, ignoring her sore legs and her stinging wrist and every instinct that was always yelling at her not to get anywhere close to Len Kagamine. She rushed at him, meeting him halfway between their points and crashing into him. The hug was tight and full of relief. In the back of their minds, both had known full well there had been a possibility that they would never see each other again.

"You're alive," Len sighed.

"You, too," Miku replied, burying her face in his clothes. They were both gross after days in the labyrinth and the last little bit of running around, but neither cared very much. They were just relieved.

Miku pulled away, not bothering to feel embarrassed though she did make a point of drawing a good distance away from him.

"Where did IA go?" she asked.

"She's with your brother. We found him and got him out," Len informed her. "He's safe."

Miku could have cried. Just knowing he was alive was enough. Being alive herself was a bonus, but now that she knew Mikuo was safe for the moment, she could calm her aching heart.

"Thank god," Miku said quietly. "Is he hurt?"

"Not anymore," Len assured her. "But we can talk about it more once we leave. I'm sure more of the minions will be around at any moment. I couldn't take care of them all.

Before he could run off again, Miku grabbed his sleeve.

"Wait! There's someone else we need to go get," Miku said urgently.

"We don't have time, Miku," he replied, glancing around to emphasize how anxious he was about the situation. "We really have to go!"

She shook her head. "Trust me. You'll want them safe, Len," she assured him. "Let's go."

Hoping she wasn't going to get them lost, she turned in the direction of the cell Lily still occupied and pulled Len after her.

"Hello, Neru dear. Where's the girl?"

Leon's throne room had been fixed in the past few hours. Instead of a drab stone room, it was now the ideal place for a sacrifice. The purple flames of a fifteen-foot bonfire leapt at the base of his throne, casting the man's reptilian face in an eerie light.

Neru knelt before him respectfully, bowing her head and avoiding those intense eyes. She could do this. It was too late to back out now.

"I didn't bring her, sir," she said.

Leon's response came back quickly and sharply. "What do you mean by that?"

"I decided that I didn't want to bring her to you," she repeated. She heard her master stand and almost raise her head. Neru forced herself not to shake, not to show a single detail of the bottled up fear she was holding onto. The distinct sounds of feet on stone echoed back around crackling flames as Leon walked carefully down the short staircase from the platform that held his throne.

"Oh, Neru, dear," he said and he sounded genuinely apologetic. It was unnerving. "I wasn't expecting such treachery from you. Not when I've given you so much."

"I'm not Neru."

She was proud that her voice was steady and low, not giving away how terrified she was. She had never imagined herself in this position. Facing Leon was worse than anything else she had ever done in her life. But she had to. Even if she begged, Leon would not forgive her now.

"Pray tell, who are you then?" Leon's mocking question made her blood boil. And it was then that she permitted herself to look up, golden eyes flashing confidence that Leon did not like to see there.

"You know who I am," she said.

Leon's face grew a smile, all fangs and rage locked behind pale cheeks and dry lips. "Of course I know who you are, Artemis," he said. "It's thanks to me you have a body at all."

Neru stood now, her shoulders squared and eyes fixed on Leon, who was right in front of her and so much taller and so much more powerful.

"It's thanks to you Neru Akita lost everything," she said. "It's thanks to you that we're stuck in this cage that doesn't fit properly. And you knew."

Leon's smile didn't waver a bit. "I knew," he said. "You were never worthy of a goddess."

With supernatural speed, Leon lashed out and shoved the girl backwards, pushing her into the raging purple flames. She didn't have a chance to scream before she was burned down to soft ash and dust.

His smile falling and a hard scowl replacing it, Leon brushed a hand through the flames, absolutely disgusted he had touched something like Neru.

"Why is it I always end up doing everything myself?" he wondered aloud, walking past the leaping fire. That girl wouldn't get away if it was the last thing he did. And it certainly wouldn't be if he had anything to say about it.

"Lily!"

The woman turned to look at the pair as they approached. Through the bars and the darkness, Miku could see blue eyes widen and she struggled to turn the rest of the way around, her hands pulling at the bars as she settled on her knees, staring at them as the halted in front of the cell.

"Len?" she asked, a hand reaching out to catch his. Len looked just as shocked as her and Miku couldn't read his expression. Was he relieved? Was he happy? What was going on in his head?

He bent down on one knee, clasping her hand tightly and bringing it to his mouth to kiss her knuckles gently. "I… I didn't know you were still alive," he whispered. "You've been here for years and I didn't-" His voice broke at that. Miku could tell he was about to cry.

"It's okay," Lily told him gently, reaching her other hand between the bars to stroke his hair softly. "It's okay, Len."

"It isn't," Len murmured. "After Rin died, I just…"

"You were a child," Lily reassured him, continuing the gentle stroking of his hair. Miku felt like his was intruding. But what could she do? Leaving them would be dangerous. So she had to stay. She had to.

"You can't come, can you?" Len asked.

Lily smiled sadly. "No. I can't," she said. "You were always a smart boy, Len. You figured it out."

Miku was burning to ask what they were talking about and why Lily had to stay, but she held her tongue as Len leaned down to kiss the woman's forehead.

"I understand," he said. "I… I love you."

"I love you, too," she replied. "But you have to go. You can't be caught."

Len let go of her hand, turning to Miku, who looked between the two.

"What? She's seriously staying?" she demanded. "Why?"

"Just… Don't ask," Len told her. She shut her mouth when she saw the tears clumping his eyelashes together.

"Goodbye, Miku!" Lily called after them as Len took her hand and started running again. "Take care of my boy!"

Miku couldn't even think to confirm her wishes before they were gone, back into the chaotic darkness.

I would be lying if I said I remembered what happened in this chapter. Thanks for reading! Review if that's your thing! If not, see you again soon!