Chapter Fifteen: Descent to Death's Domain

The sun hung low in the late afternoon sky, casting much of the Coliseum in shadowy half-light. Roxas grimaced. He usually loved sunsets, but not this one. The setting sun matched the dimming mood, and his Organization robes felt hot, especially around the collar. He clenched and unclenched his fists and exhaled sharply.

Xion trembled weakly, looking from the gods of Mount Olympus to the old farmer and his wife, the ones who had actually raised Hercules, to Phil and the lady with brown hair, Megara. She barely held her gaze to Axel and Isa, who was still stuck behind that gate. She wouldn't look Roxas in the eye. She had just finished explaining what had happened: how she and Hercules had gotten to Olympus without any problems; how Hercules had gotten his father to allow Harmonia, the goddess of harmony, to provide an antidote for Isa's curse; how everything had been going so well, only to come crashing down when Hades had attacked and despite Xion's best efforts, she had accidentally wounded Hercules which had led to Hades capturing the hero.

"I am so, so sorry," Xion said, so shakily Roxas had to strain his ears to even hear her. "This is all my fault."

"Don't go blamin' yourself," Axel said and his voice sounded husky, like he had a cold. "Xion, you said Hades teleported away from your shot and it got Hercules instead. It could have happened to any of us if Hades attacked."

Xion bit her lip and ducked her head down. She rubbed her arm awkwardly and winced in pain.

It wasn't her fault! Roxas's insides burned with rage. Every time something bad happened, every single time, Xion always blamed herself. And it was never her fault! Why couldn't she see that?!

"But it's Hercules…and he asked me for help and I hurt him," Xion croaked, her voice on the edge of breaking. She turned her head towards Zeus and bowed her head in shame. "Your son, your Majesty…"

"And I'm the one who should have been helping him. He's my son," Zeus chided gently. "You're only a child. This shouldn't have been your responsibility."

"Responsibility…" Xion nodded weakly. "Then it's my responsibility to fix it. I'll get Hercules back. Promise."

"You're not going in there alone!" Roxas declared. If Xion was going to do something, then he was going to help her, no matter what. "What's mordite, anyway? That's what you said that sword was made of Xion, but I've never heard of that metal before."

"Neither have I," Xion agreed. "Not even from Moogles. Hercules knew about it though."

"Rookie, you gotta be careful with that," Phil waddled over. "Mordite's an ancient metal and the weapons made from it have special powers."

"Like?"

"It's the only substance in this world that can harm a god," Zeus said. "If we're hurt badly enough, it's enough to kill us."

"It's how our son Hephaestus lost his leg," Hera added. "That was so long ago…Oh dear, I thought we had gotten rid of all the mordite."

"So had I," Zeus murmured. "Which makes me wonder who else Hades has aligned with."

Maleficent. Roxas inhaled sharply. This was it then—the fraying of the line between life and death. If Hades had gotten his hands on something that could kill a god…they had to get this sword and destroy it. Roxas wasn't sure what would happen to Hades, but they'd figure that out later.

"We'll get Hercules back, and we'll get rid of the mordite sword too," Roxas nodded at Zeus and Hera. "Piece of cake."

"Rookie, you're a strong one, I don't deny that," Phil shook his head. "But you're forgettin' something."

"What?"

"Two words!" Phil held up his fingers for emphasis. "The! Underworld! Curse! It drains your strength! And even if you had the Olympus Stone, which you don't, Hades is probably gonna be waiting for ya! It's a trap!"

Roxas chewed the inside of his cheek. He had forgotten that part. Most of the others present shared similar expressions of nervousness. Roxas glanced at his gloved hands. Because he'd nearly been tricked by those two little creatures, he hadn't gotten the chance to test whether or not a Dark Corridor could act as a counter to the Underworld Curse. And besides which, Hercules needed help now. Hades, and possibly Maleficent, were a threat now.

"We don't exactly have time to go all the way back up to Olympus and back to get the Stone," Roxas shook his head. "I don't think we have any other option. We're going in."

"You could get hurt!" Phil argued. "Or worse! Look, I'm not much for mushy stuff, but this is serious stuff! I don't want that to happen!"

"Mister Phil," Xion smiled, but the smile didn't match her sad eyes. "You've worked so hard training Roxas to be a hero, and Sora too. And it's wonderful that you want us all safe. But isn't that the most important part of being a hero? Sacrifice? Being willing to do whatever it takes to help others?"

Roxas felt a twinge of satisfaction as Phil's mouth fell open in surprise. The satisfaction turned to guilt almost immediately, since pretty much everyone else looked horrified.

"There's nothin' I can say that's gonna stop you, is there Rookie?"

"No," Roxas answered. Over Phil's shoulder, he locked eyes with Axel. "There's people in trouble."

xxxx

In his year with the Organization, Roxas had visited several worlds, and within Sora, he had glimpsed quite a few more. From what little he had seen, some worlds were rather interesting in their technological advances, others striking in their magical atmospheres. Twilight Town would always have a special place in his heart. By contrast, the Underworld would be a place he would go out of his way to avoid as soon as they got Hercules back.

The air was thick and heavy here. It wasn't like the humidity at the Destiny Islands where there were cool breezes of the shore. This was more like the air itself felt heavy. Roxas wondered whether that was just an effect of being underground—he hadn't spent that much time in caves so maybe that was a possibility. But he doubted many caves stank the way the Underworld did. It smelled wrong here—it was most similar to a batch of tofu Isa had made the month before that had wound up shoved in the back of the fridge.

The water was bad too, sickly green and thick like tar. A far cry from the striking blue of the waters off the shores of Destiny Islands.

It wasn't all bad though. Axel and Xion were with him—Axel had refused point-blank to be left behind this time. That was alright though. Roxas felt more confident with Axel by his side. There didn't seem to be anything the three of them couldn't face, even in the face of an Underworld Curse.

"Something feels off here…" Xion said as they walked down a steep path, ducking under low-hanging stalactites. "I'm not feeling any weaker…Roxas, are you feeling alright?"

"What do you mean?" Roxas asked. He felt fine himself, but that didn't necessarily mean much. Phil had mentioned there'd be a drain on his power. Roxas wondered about that. Before, in the Organization, Xion had siphoned his powers—completely unintentionally—mind you. Regardless, the end result had Xion draining him while making herself stronger. And Roxas had felt himself growing weaker and weaker all during that time. But he felt fine now. A little nervous maybe, but he'd felt a lot worse before.

Which…actually made him even more confused. Granted, they hadn't actually come across any Heartless yet—which was itself a little unusual—but Phil had been adamant about the existence of the Underworld curse.

"Yeah…I feel fine too," Roxas said. "Something doesn't add up."

"Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth," Axel said. "If we're all feeling fine now, we don't want to jinx it."

Roxas had no idea what a gift horse or why someone would want to look one in the mouth (wouldn't it bite?), but Axel had a point. Even if they didn't feel weaker, they were still at an inherent disadvantage—Hades knew they were coming.

"The question then is, how do we turn that around in our favor?" Axel said. Roxas blinked and Axel chuckled. "You were thinking out loud again, Roxas."

"Oh, oops."

"Don't worry about it," Axel smirked. "I got an idea. Listen up, and get this memorized…"

oooo

In the depths of the Underworld, Hades stood in his throne room. He would have sat down, but doing so would have made it harder to look his captive in the eye. He'd finally done it. After all these years, he'd finally captured good ol' Wonder-boy! Hercules strained against the chains binding him, but it'd be no use—specially enchanted to be completely unbreakable by whomever was bound with them.

"I have to say, I like that little raven," Hades sneered, scratching his chin. "What was her name again? Zero-on? Whatever. They must be pretty desperate to use that pathetic thing as a Keybearer. She can't measure up to Sora the Wonder-brat."

"Leave. Them. Out. Of. This," Wonder-boy growled through clenched teeth. Ugh, what horrid manners. He'd wreck his teeth that way.

"Little late for that, Jerkules," Hades grinned his toothiest smile. "If the Keybearers didn't keep making trouble for me, then I wouldn't make trouble for them. Tit for tat. They chose to come to this world, and get in my business."

Wonder-boy didn't look very surprised at that little reveal that his new "friends" weren't from around these parts. Figured. There wasn't exactly a shortage of glory hounds and posers who pushed their way pass the boundaries of their own worlds to fight in that stupid Colisuem. Wonder-boy would have had to meet at least a couple of them over the years, even if it weren't for the brats with the Keyblades.

"They'll beat you," Wonder-boy growled as he strained against his chains again. "They're stronger than you realize. They're like Sora. If they believe with all their hearts, there's nothing that can stand in their way."

"Again with the Sora!" Hades flashed red in frustration. "I got news for yah, Wonder-boy! Sora's gone! Caput! Finished!"

"Liar," Wonder-boy spat. "I'm not falling for that, Hades."

"Eh, hey, nobody believed Cassandra and look how that turned out," Hades shrugged. "No skin off my nose, Wonder-boy. Point is, this is the night when you become ancient history!"

Hades turned his back on Wonder-boy—the yutz wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, so no need to be careful about that. He'd sent Pain and Panic off to grab that brat Roxas and they should be back any minute. Ah yes, Roxas. The Keybearer who'd been stupid enough to work for the Organization, all 'cause he didn't know better. An extremely powerful brat to be sure, but also the one who was arguably closest to Sora. For crying out loud, they had all the same letters in their names. So Roxas, being the closest to Sora, would probably be the most like him—a colossal pain in the neck, but also insanely easy to manipulate. Having Pain and Panic take the form of the Wonder-brat would be just the lure Hades needed to trap Roxas. After that, taking his life would be a piece of cake and Hades would have a Keybearer in his grip permanently.

"You're wasting your time with those two little losers," A voice Hades knew all too well called out. A moment later, Eris appeared from a cloud of green mist. She sat down lazily on his throne—hey, that was his throne! Eris needed to go find her own! And he didn't need her right now—she'd already gotten the tall, blue guy. Who should be killing the little raven any moment now. In retrospect, Hades probably should have killed her then and there, but making her live, for however short a time it'd end up being, with the knowledge that she'd doomed Wonder-boy was pretty sweet too.

"What do you mean I'm wasting my time?" Hades asked. He wasn't in the mood for Eris's mind games, "I'll have you know that those two have…well, they'll get the job done."

"If it makes you happy, you can keep telling yourself that," Eris retorted. "But when it goes south, and it will, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Why are you being so argumentative?" Hades snapped. "You were on board with this earlier!"

"Goddess of discord, I make strife wherever I go. It comes with the territory," Eris rolled her eyes. "And they should be coming into the chamber in three…two..one…"

"Boss! Pain blew the mission!" Panic shouted in his reedy little voice, scuttling up to Hades. "I had Roxas in a perfect spot to get ambushed, and then Pain messed it up.

"What?!"

"Me? No, no, no—it was all Panic's fault!" Pain yelled as he waddled on his short legs. "He's the one who flubbed everything! He's the one who blurted out Wonder-boy's nickname!"

"Well, you were the one who kept on talking after we were cut in half!"

Hades glowered as his two imps began to argue with each other in increasingly high-pitched voices. Pain and Panic were no match for virtually every other immortal being in this world, but in close quarters, they could be rather tenacious. They were more than a match for most of the underlings of the denizens of darkness Hades had worked with in the past. But of course, they couldn't handle leading a gullible Key-brat into his Underworld.

"I gave you one job and you two yutzes couldn't even handle that?!"

"Hehe," Wonder-boy chuckled from the corner. "Some things never change, Hades. Good always beats evil. Your minions can't do anything. And my friends will stop your plans, I believe in them!"

"Nobody asked you, Jerkules!" Hades flared up, the flames on his head turning orange in his rage. "I got a good mind to burn you up, here and now!"

It would be pretty simple to just off Wonder-boy now and be done with it, but Hades was never one for the simple stuff. There wasn't any glory in it. Besides, if he did that, then it would remove any and all reason for the brats to hold back against him. Which could be trouble, if they got their mitts on the Olympus Stone.

"I'm the leader!" Pain shouted, slamming Panic's face against the ground. "Say it! Say it!"

"Bug off!" Panic twisted himself free and charging towards Pain. Pain wailed in pain when Panic's horns imbedded into his flesh.

Yeesh, it was not like those two to keep at each other's throats like that! Hades could barely hear himself think with them going on like that! And wait a second! Hades squinted—on the back of Pain's head was a small, bright green circle. Panic had a similar one on the inside of his elbow. Eris…

"Why, may I ask, did you decide to shoot my minions?" Hades growled, flaring red. Eris didn't even look up. Hades was beginning to regret aligning himself with her—nobody had even died yet!

"I'm the goddess of discord, what can I say?" Eris shrugged. "It's not gonna last more than an hour on them and it amused me."

Hades scowled and turned his back. He'd have to think of something else then. With Roxas uncaptured, that left three brats to have to worry about. But that was alright, so long as the Underworld Curse was active. It would drain their strength, make them too weak to fight. Those so-called "heroes" would be "zeroes."

"Oh, come on Hades," Wonder-boy called out from the corner. "Why are you surprised? Everyone you ever try to get to work for you eventually betrays you. Or did Sora hit you hard enough you lost your memories of that?"

"Raaah!" To the deepest, darkest depths of Tartarus with glory! Wonder-boy was dying now!

Hades flared red and formed a ball of fire from his hand, pressing so much heat into it, he could feel it himself. Wonder-boy grimaced and Hades could practically taste his fear as he reared his arm back. At long last!

A beam of light shot out of the entrance of his throne room and blasted his fireball into pieces.

"Hands off our friend!"

Hades whipped his head around and snarled. All three Key-brats were in his throne room!

"Roxas, Xion! Let's get what's ours!"

oooo

Xion darted forward, gripping her Keyblade tightly, just as Hades gave an inhuman roar of frustration. He sounded like a wild animal and sent out jets of fire from his hands. His throne room was small, or at least cramped, with them crowding the entrance. The flames were on them almost instantly.

"Reflega!"

The translucent barrier emerged from her Keyblade, in front of Xion. In front of her friends. The ones she cared so much for. Hades's flames pressed hard against it, and Xion felt the heat of the fire through the shield. Beads of sweat flicked from her forehead. The flames against the shield made it hard to see, but Xion glimpsed a tall, regal figure with a green aura. Was that Eris, the one who had hurt Isa? And in the corner, she could see golden chains. Her view was obstructed

Hold the barrier. Don't let it fall. Everyone's counting on you. Hold the barrier…hold the barrier…hold the barrier…

Hades was shouting something, but Xion couldn't hear what it was over the roar of his flames. He cast another fireball and then another. They smashed hard against her barrier, so hard that Xion could see cracks begin to form. No. She couldn't let that happen. She needed to hold the line.

"Reflega!"

The second barrier formed just underneath the first, reinforcing the shield. Behind her, Xion felt Axel place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Knowing Axel was behind her, and from the feel of it, absorbing some of the heat from Hades's flames reassured Xion and fortified her strength.

"Now Roxas!"

Roxas pulled out Oathkeeper and Oblivion and shot twin beams of brightest light from the edges of the blades. The beams soared over Xion's barriers and then looped around one another. The twin beams clashed against the chains restraining Hercules and in a moment, the chains fell away. Hercules stumbled briefly—he probably hadn't expected the chains to vanish quite so suddenly, but then he was on his feet. And for someone so strong, he was very fast on his feet.

Hades roared in anger and sent a larger fireball than ever towards Hercules, who dodged it easily and threw a punch at Hades, smashing his face in. Xion gagged and took a step back. Hades had turned completely red, and the flames on his head were an inferno in their own right, and he directed a renewed burst of flame towards Xion's shield.

"You spoiled everything, you brats!"

"That's our job!" Xion shouted, grinding her teeth. The Reflect magic wasn't fool-proof. If something strong enough pressed against it, then the shield would break. And then…Xion forced the idea out of her head. She couldn't fail. She pressed a foot deeper into the ground, bracing herself.

"Raaah!"

Roxas slashed Oathkeeper and Oblivion, sending waves of light against Hades, knocking the Lord of the Underworld backward. Hercules and Roxas lunged behind her faltering shield. Hades sent out still more jets of flames and Eris was screaming something that Xion couldn't hear. A green arrow bounced harmlessly off her shield, but that was enough for Xion. And enough for Axel too—she felt him grip her shoulder and begin to steer her away from the throne room—most of which was smoldering, though not actually on fire.

The path immediately leading up to Hades's throne room had been relatively easy to ascend, provided one didn't look down towards the abyss that was full of the sickly green tar-like water. Walking down it was a bit harder, though this was largely due to Xion having to walk backwards. She wasn't nearly good enough at Reflect magic to keep a shield up behind her continuously.

"C'mon, let's get out of here!"

"You're not going anywhere, Wonder-boy!" Hades shouted, storming towards them. In his grimy, grey hand, he clutched the blade of mordite. Even through her shield, Xion could see it. Her eyes narrowed. That awful sword had caused so much trouble already. Xion and her friends were halfway down the hill, on a larger plateau, when Hades vanished. Augh! He teleported! Xion tilted her head. Hades would probably jump up in front of them, but she didn't want to risk breaking her shield, and leaving them open to another attack from the back.

Clank!

"Hands off!" Roxas shouted, parrying the mordite blade with Oathkeeper and trying to stab Hades with Oblivion.

"I've had just about enough of you brats!" Hades shouted. "I am Hades, Lord of the Dead!"

"And I'm really sick of you!" Roxas snapped. "No wonder nobody in this world wants to die, if they get stuck with you!"

"Rah!" Hades shouted. "You think you're so smart, don't ya! Well, feel the heat!"

"Watch out!"

Hades sent pillars of flames shooting out of his fingertips of his left hand—the mordite blade still gripped tight in his right—but the flames arced over even Axel's head. That didn't make any sense, why would Hades not try to burn them up? Roxas and Axel yelped in alarm and Xion dared to turn her head. Hades had burned off a huge swath of the path, cutting off their escape.

"No!"

"Yes!"

Hades descended upon them, his yellow eyes wild with fury. Axel parried his first blow but Hades knocked him back. Roxas charged forward but Hades teleported again and Roxas was going too fast to stop. He yelled in alarm and Xion screamed as Roxas tumbled off the ledge, into the sickly green water, surfacing after just a moment.

"I gotcha!"

Hercules took a flying leap off the ledge and dove into the water after Roxas. He…didn't make any splash at all. But he was in the water with Roxas and if anything looked more confused than scared.

"Go on!" Hercules called. "We'll catch up!"

Xion lunged herself towards Hades just as he was about to strike Axel with the mordite blade. Without thinking, she grabbed the blade and gasped in pain. Aaaugh! It was so, so sharp. And it felt as if it were made of darkness itself. Tears obstructed her vision; it felt like the sword was alive, and biting into her hand, through her glove. Blood began to drip from where she gripped the blade. Owwww…

"Get off, you little schmutz!" Hades seized Xion by the throat with his free hand and lifted her up again. Xion squirmed but didn't let go of his sword—oh, it hurt so bad! All of a sudden, there was a peculiar fuzzy warmth on her hand. Like the kind she got from holding her Gummiphone too long. Hades's fingers tightened around her throat. And his breath was rancid. Xion began to choke and raised her Keyblade at Hades's chest.

"Blizz—augh"

Her spell fizzled, but it was still enough to make Hades loosen his grip. Xion gasped for breath and tried to wiggle free but Hades seized her again, roughly by her upper arm, pressing so tightly, Xion thought her arm would break.

"Tell ya what, little raven?" Hades snarled, hoisting Xion up by her arms, glaring into her eyes. "Let's see if you can fly!"

Xion hated the feeling of weightlessness as she flailed through the air. She caught a glimpse of Axel shooting fire out of his hands, tremendous flames that reached nearly to the ceiling of the cave. The heat scorched her face but it was nothing compared to the sharp piercing of her back hitting stone.

Crunch!

Falling was worse than flailing, Xion realized. Whatever cavern Hades had knocked her into opened up quickly and then led to a steep, steep drop. Falling was worse than flailing, but landing on a hard ground was worst of all. Xion groaned weakly as she struggled to get her bearings. She wasn't sure where she was exactly. Somewhere in the Underworld, and she hadn't fallen for that long, so she couldn't be too far from Axel. But she couldn't be sure where, exactly. The map she had bought earlier was only good for the city and the surrounding mountains.

She had to get to Axel. She needed to help. Axel was strong but Hades was still so, so dangerous.

Xion took a shaky step forward and winced. Painful, but not too bad. She could use a Potion…but it'd probably be a good idea to wait until later, if she had to fight Hades. It'd be a bad idea to waste any healing items early. Her hand hurt way more than her leg, and it was still bleeding. Xion hesitated only a moment before taking a Potion from her bag. She drank half of it and then poured the rest onto her hand. She winced as the cuts began to close, though most of the pain still lingered. It hurt a lot but Xion didn't have that many Potions with her. She should ration them until they were really needed.

She took another step and then another. Okay, this was more manageable. Xion still had no idea where she was exactly, but if she could keep walking, she could get back to Axel. Shame filled her insides at the thought of Axel facing Hades all by himself.

Please, please, please let him be alright. She never should have lowered her shield. She should have tried harder. If Axel got hurt because of her, Xion would never, ever forgive herself.

And what about Roxas and Hercules? They were stuck in that horrible green water, and who knew where the current would take them! Of course, Hercules was away from Hades now, so that was a big plus, but still, they weren't together. That being said, Roxas was so, so strong, and Hercules actually came from this world, so if they stuck together and didn't get separated, they'd probably be okay, at least for a while.

Focus. It's Axel who needs help most right now. Probably. At least he's the easiest you can get to.

As she neared a corner, Xion heard something growling. A Heartless, perhaps? She readied herself for a fight and took a deep breath. The breath died in a gasp as she rounded the bend.

It wasn't a Heartless. No yellow eyes. Staring back at her were three pairs of red eyes. Three pairs of red eyes for three heads. Three heads of an absolutely massive dog.

oooo

Lea roared in fury when Hades threw Xion across the cavern, smashing her through a wall. Xion's shrieks of pain and fear pierced his ears like nails.

This couldn't be happening. Not again! Why was it always Xion who was getting hurt by saving his neck? Lea summoned flames from his fingertips. Hades wasn't the only one gifted in Fire magic.

"Feel the heat!"

Flames shot out of Hades's hands and Axel responded in kind. The flames didn't even tickle, and if anything Lea felt like they increased his stamina and strength. Fire had always had that effect on him when he was part of the Organization. There was something almost comforting in it still applying now.

Unfortunately, while Lea couldn't be hurt by the flames, it appeared that the same logic applied to Hades. And as much fire and heat as Lea put out, even tossing Flame Liberator and then his chakams at the flaming god seemed to make much of an effect. Lea's eyes narrowed as he spied the damned mordite blade in Hadess' hand. The same blade that could kill a god. The same blade that Xion had sliced her hand open trying to block. Lea grit his teeth—oh, how he wanted Hades to pay for that.

He swung his Keyblade towards the damned mordite sword. Hades blocked it just in time and set another pillar of flame shooting out, towards Lea's chest. Naturally, it didn't affect him at all.

"Pain! Panic! Get out here and make yourselves useful!"

The two little…imps? Goblins? Whatever. The two little pests that had been in Hades's throne room came stumbling forward, manic glee clear in their faces. Lea morphed his Keyblade into his chakrams again and sent them, one after the other, at Pain and Panic. Who were hit dead center and knocked back and then into each other. Ugh. Lea had swatted flies in Twilight Town more menacing than them.

"Uggh…just you wait, Keybearer! I'll make sure you won't make it till morning!"

Hades glided back towards his own throne room, his disgusting yellow eyes blazing with hate. He yanked his two whatever-they-weres by their forked tails (wait, could those be demons?) and pulled them up with him. A moment later, the door to his throne room sealed itself shut.

Lea wasn't sorry to see him go but he wasn't sure what had exactly had made Hades retreat like that. Neither one of them had really shown weakness one way or the other. While Lea would have loved the chance to smite Hades, he still had some satisfaction. Sure, Lea couldn't hurt the smoky, immortal bastard either, at least not with fire, but hey, Hades couldn't ax Axel. Or Lea…whatever.

He had to get to his kids. Roxas was with Hercules. Hades hated Hercules, so Roxas was a sure target. But wait a moment…while Hades might go after him first, Roxas had backup with the hero. Where exactly the river went, Axel had no clue, but they were together. Xion, on the other hand, was all by herself. And probably hurt really bad—she had grabbed that damned sword with just her hand. Just like when she grabbed that damned Etheral Blade when Xemnas had nearly axed him back at the Keyblade Graveyard. How the hell hadn't her hand been burned to ash?

Right then, Lea had his mission. Find Xion. Give her a really big hug, and then they could go look for Roxas.

As soon as he figured out how to jump the gap that Hades had burned into the path.

Author's Note: A thousand apologies for the delay, my dear readers. This chapter took far longer to write than I thought. It was originally meant to be longer, but the scenes I left out can easily be transitioned into the next chapter.

With that said, read and enjoy it, my readers. Here's hoping the next chapter doesn't take as long to update.

Leave a comment if you're so inclined. I read them all!

I appreciate each and every one of you!