Chapter 24
"Are they still following us!?" Choji asked.
Bone Dragon answered by smashing through a tree right behind them as it charged through the forest.
"Any more dumb questions, fatso!?" Ino shot back.
"I'm not fat! I'm just a little-AAAAAHH!"
Violent Melody had somehow gotten in front of them. With a short tune on its flute a massive wall of earth shot up behind it, rising until it was taller than even the titanic forest trees. The other Heartless came to a halt behind them, then they started fanning out like a pack of wolves encircling their prey.
"Where's Nick when we need him?" Kurenai wondered aloud.
"I'm right here!" Everyone looked up and saw Nick hovering a few meters above them. "And before you ask, no, I am not helping, I still haven't been paid!"
"Are you freaking serious!?" Sakura yelled at him.
"I can't run this suit on good intensions!" Nick shot back "That and there's like a forty percent chance you can handle them so..."
"Remind me why we brought him along again?" Asuma said angrily as he raised his trench knives.
All five Heartless charge the group at once, forcing them to separate. With the group divided the monsters started going after individual targets. Bone Dragon went straight for Naruto and Team Seven while Melody and Archer Spider followed Team Eight. Dark Hunger locked on to Team Ten, Choji in particular and Twin Demon followed Team Guy.
"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee decided the best choice was to go on the offensive and went straight for the smaller twin with his signature attack, which was instantly blocked by the bigger twins' massive arm, leaving Lee open to the small twins counter slash.
Neji had better luck, weaving around the monsters arms and hitting its exposed sides. When the smaller twin tried to hit him he quickly pulled back, then he jumped over the beast, landing another palm strike on the back of its head. Despite all this however the monster didn't even slow down.
"Damn it." Neji grunted "These things have no chakra network! All I'm doing is making it angrier!"
Sakura looked back up at Nick "Get down here and HELP!"
Nick simply shrugged his armoured shoulders "Sorry, news is on." A holographic TV screen appeared in front him showing what looked like an Egyptian mummy at a news desk.
"He is WORSE than a vampire" the mummy yelled angrily "he is, may Petra forgive me for uttering this word, an ELF!"
Sakura was about to question what the hell that was when the earth around her started erupting with vicious spikes of rock. She would have been impaled but someone swooped in at the last moment and saved her.
"Oh Sasuke" she began "you saved..." that's when she realised it had been Rock Lee who's rescued her. She instantly turned red with embarrassment and averted her eyes as he gave her his trademark hero smile and thumbs up.
The moment was broken by Melody's demonic flute creating a deadly line of giant icicles that nearly impaled the both of them.
"I have a plan!" Asuma yelled. "We can't hurt them but I bet they can hurt each other!"
"So what, we just trick them into attacking themselves!?" Shikamaru followed on.
Lee acted first, getting Melody's attention by kicking it in the face. The enraged monster used its flute to cast another ice spell, sending flying spears of ice chasing after him. Lee's speed kept him one step ahead of the ice. He ran straight a Twin Demon, sliding under its legs causing the ice to impale the Heartless instead. It wasn't dead yet but in its wounded state Kakashi saw the opening he needed.
He made a rapid series of hand signs, activating his Lightning Cutter jutsu, then he launched himself at Demon with incredible speed. With the larger entity disabled the smaller one brought up its arm to protect itself but Kakashi cut right through them, taking off the creature's head. It slumped, then evaporated into nothing. Kakashi's joy was momentary as the remaining twin flew into a rage. Black smoke billowed from its mouth as it charged at him on all fours, snapping its jaws wildly.
Team Guy weren't having much better luck with Melody. The team mainly relied on close quarters combat but the Heartless was using its magic to keep them at bay. Every time they got close it would cause the earth to erupt into deadly spikes, every time they threw a ranged weapon it called a hurricane wind to protect itself. Sensing a pattern to its attacks Neji moved in close to deliver a palm strike, only to find himself caught in one of Melody's claws. It looked down at him, brining its other claw up to strike.
That's when Guy struck its leg, bringing the monster to its knees. Perhaps in shock it released its grip on Neji, who took the opportunity to deliver two full force chakra strikes to its chest. This was the wrong thing to do as Melody simply used both hands to seize Neji this time, trapping his arms by his sides. It opened its mouth, ready to take a bite.
That was when Tenten leapt between them and threw a whole scroll full of explosives down its throat.
The beast actually looked surprised for a moment, then its stomach expanded violently. In pain it dropped Neji again, who quickly got out of its reach. Unlike the Heatless Neji didn't make the same mistake twice. As the creature staggered, belching clouds of smoke Tenten ran up to it and rammed two kunai into its yellow eyes.
The reaction was immediate. Melody screamed in pain. It was so loud Tenten swore she could feel her bones vibrating. The blinded Heartless went into a frenzy, slashing wildly with its claws and calling forth lightning spells.
Guy looked over at Kakashi, who was still running from the surviving Demon. "Kakashi!"
Kakashi looked over and instantly knew what his rival wanted him to do. Reacting fast he changed course and lead the berserk Demon straight at the blind Melody. Team Guy all got clear as he got closer, the Heartless chasing him was almost on him now. Only a few steps away from Melody Demon leapt forwards, arms outstretched to catch its prey. That's when Kakashi made his move. He pushed off the ground into a backwards summersault, sailing over Demons back and landing behind it. While this was happening Melody heard the noise of Demons approach and not knowing what it was launched the biggest lightning struck to could muster at the same time Twin Demon's claws tore through its body.
Demon faded away before it even hit the ground. Melody, having lost large chucks of its body dropped to its knees, then fell sideways. Its corpse bounced on the ground once, then vanished like its comrade.
Over with Team Eight Shino was holding Archer Spider in place with his bugs while the rest of his team tried pelting it with explosive kunai. This wasn't having too much of an effect. If anything they were just annoying it.
"Alright." Kiba muttered to himself "Time to try something new. Akamaru!" On his commanded his canine partner rushed to his side as Kiba prepared his ultimate justu. "Man-Beast Fusion!" In a plume of smoke he and Akamaru fused together forming a huge two headed dog. They charged right at the Heartless, knocking it off its feet. The monster fought back viscously, stabbing, biting and slashing at the fusion but the two ninjas persevered. The left head bit down on the Archer rider, tearing it off the rider half and ripping it to shreds, then both heads bite down on the Spider together, ripping it in half. With the Heartless dead Kiba's jutsu ended, leaving he and Akamaru exhausted and wounded on the ground.
"Ow." he groaned as his team rushed to assist him.
"Are you alright?" asked Hinata.
"Ha, I'm absolutely perfect!" Kiba boasted, unable to hide how out of energy he was.
"Don't worry" Shino reassured them all "they're both fine. I have some insects that can help with-"
Kiba sat up straight "Shino I swear if you put any bugs on me I'll-"
"SHIIIIITTTT!" Choji screamed as he ran from Dark Hunger. "Why are you after ME! I thought you things didn't even need to eat!?"
Suddenly several shadow tendrils shot up from the ground, grabbing Hungers legs and holding it back. Choji was stunned for a moment, then he followed the shadows to their source, Shikamaru.
"Well don't just stand there!" Shikamaru yelled, straining to hold the Heartless back. "Take you pills and kill it!"
Choji nodded and took the pills out of their pouch. Using them was a risk and he briefly wondered how many he should take, then the remembered the ball of teeth and death chasing him and downed all three. Instantly felt his charka level spike, all his fat burned away and a pair of huge butterfly wings made of chakra grew from his back.
Shikamaru couldn't hold it any longer. With a roar Hunger broke free and swallowed Choji whole.
"Choji!" Ino and Shikamaru yelled together.
Hunger turned to face them, then it staggered to the left, then right, then it jumped into the air, landing flat on its belly. More spasms followed, like something was trying to punch its way out. That was when Choji burst out of Dark Hungers head, flying up into the air as the crab Heartless died.
"Way to go Choji!" Ino cheered as Shikamaru just gave and approving smile.
Choji smiled back and gave them a double thumbs up. Which was when he ran out of chakra. His wings vanished and he ended up crashing into the ground while his teammates sighed in exasperation.
Only Bone Dragon was left now. In a rare moment of brilliance Naruto had sent a small army of shadow clone to cover the monsters body. It was now getting rid of the clones by stabbing them, and itself with its own tail. Most of the clones were gone now and Dragon just kept on stabbing.
"Stop hitting yourself!" Naruto yelled as it stabbed itself yet again. "Stop hitting yourself!"
"This is just sad." muttered Sakura.
"I know." Sasuke agreed. "They may be powerful but good god are they dumb."
"Remind you of anyone?" Sakura asked quietly, causing them both to smile.
Dragon was about to stab itself again when three huge Dark Bolts came out of the woods and tore right through it. As Team Seven watched the Dragon turned to oily black smoke which flowed over in the direction the bolts had come.
"Ut-oh." Sakura gulped.
"Devil Hunter." Naruto growled.
Devil Hunter was standing there, battered and damaged from his fight with Thorn but he seemed to be absorbing Bone Dragons essence to heal himself.
"Hello children." he grinned menacingly at them.
"You look like shit." Asuma commented as the ninjas gathered in a defensive formation. "Seems like Thorn's a capable fighter after all."
Devil's eyes narrowed.
Sometime earlier
Devil Hunter stood across from the giant sized Twilight Thorn. "Sort of poetic isn't it now." he started to causally saunter left and right as Thorn watched. "Two halves of the same person at war with each other."
"Just fuck already!" Yelled the real Hunter, who was stuck as a mental ghost alongside Fem-Hunter.
"They can't hear you." she said sounding almost board.
"Great. Well then what do you do for fun around here?"
She shrugged "When there's a fight I do a running commentary but most of the time I just make lewd gestures at people."
Devil Hunter, oblivious to their conversation, was still talking to Thorn, although it was proving to be a very one sided talk. "What, no counter-point? No half arsed pseudo-philosophical prattle?!"
More silence.
"Killing you...In a way is going to be like killing myself I imagine. Isn't it?" Devil raised his hand, conjuring a wicked looking axe. He gave his new weapon an experimental twirl. "Unfortunately for you there's no one I hate more than me."
He leapt forwards as Thorn surged to meet him. Devil swung his axe at Thorn's head but the massive Nobody was impossibly agile. It twisted and warped itself to doge, then launched its own attack, spiralling through the air like a drill and knocking Devil to the ground. He lazily got up and dusted himself off.
"This is going to get old fast."
As Thorn came round for another charge attack Devil loosed a storm of Dark Bolts, forcing his Nobody down a specific path, then when there was nowhere to go he fired a single massive bolt directly into Thorn's face, knocking him flat. Devil followed this up with a Thundaga spell, causing Thorn to spasm and twist unnaturally as the electricity coursed through him. As the spell ended Thorn just lay there on the ground like a deflated balloon.
Devil strolled up to him, hopping up onto his chest and making his way towards Thorn's face. "Poor show man. I don't know what more disappointing, you or those stupid power ranger clones."
Fem-Hunter looked at her male counterpart "Seriously why did you make five? You know that clones get weaker the more of them you make."
He gave her a surprised look "Since when?"
"Have you ever watched Dragon Ball Z?"
Devil was at Thorn's head now, raising his axe high "Goodnight sweet Loser. And a flight of Creepers sing thee to-Ommph!"
Devil's taunt was interrupted by a Dancer Nobody that caught him off guard with a flying tackle. The two fell off Thorn's massive frame and tumbled to the ground, the dancer wrapping its body around Devil like a python. Devil struggle of a moment, then he bent over and bite the Dancer, using his teeth to pull it off his body and filing it away. It tried to come at him again but he blasted it apart with a well placed Dark Bolt.
"God damn bitch." He muttered to himself. He looked up and saw that Thorn was now sitting up and was staring (presumably, he didn't have eyes) at the spot where the Dance had died. "What did I kill your girlfriend?" Devil taunted.
No response.
"Oh my God, I did didn't I. Hahaha! Oh that is just presh-argh!"
And there was the response. Thorn had seized Devil in his huge hands and despite not having a face he was now looking down at his Heartless very angrily.
"Ah." Devil began "Errors have been made here."
What followed was around five straight minutes of Thorn smashing Devil into every possible surface and object he could. The ground, rocks, trees. Everything.
Eventually Thorn threw his enemy high into the air. "You think this will stop me you stupid scarecrow!" Devil yelled. His anger vanished when he saw that his Nobody was coming after him, holding a massive ball of Dark Energy. "Oh snap."
The explosion was powerful enough to send Devil rocketing back a good quarter of a mile, leaving him battered and drained in a crater surrounded by broken tree branches. Thorn landed much more gracefully in front of him, raising his arms to create another Dark Ball.
"Well isn't that a sight." Thorn stopped immediately and turned to face the speaker, a man in a black coat. "Twilight fighting Twilight. Ha!"
Thorn reverted back to his human form "Lord Xigbar."
"*sigh* Always so formal. But hey, I'm not here to chat. Got a new assignment for you, straight from the Superior himself."
Thorn looked back at Devil Hunter for a moment, his face as expressionless as ever, then he returned his gaze to Xigbar. "At once my Lord." With that the pair vanished into their dark portals, leaving Devil damaged and furious.
"Get back here god damn it! I will not be ignored!"
"He just left?" Hunter was surprised to "Wasn't he just really angry at Devil a moment ago?"
Fem-Hunter shrugged "Guess he really doesn't have emotions after all."
Back to the present
Devil gave Asuma an evil looking stare and grumbled "I don't wanna talk about it."
"Hunter!" Naruto yelled "I know you're still in there!"
Devil rolled his eyes "The 'help from the inside' trope isn't going to work on me."
Naruto ignored him "We know what happened. You lost yourself, let the Darkness take over and it killed your family but you can still-"
"Pfffttt HAHAHAHAHHA!" Devil Hunter burst out laughing "Ohohoho I...I think you've gotten things a little mixed up there." He seemed to relax a little "OK kinds, what do you know about Darkness?"
"Basically nothing." Kakashi admitted.
"Ok, where do you think it comes from?"
Sakura said "Well negative emotions, obviously."
"And how do you think I got all that negativity."
"We're not going to like how this goes are we." Shikamaru guessed.
"See kids, when I first got these powers they were...well weak, my Dark bolts could barely dent a coke can. And that was because I was weak. I had lived a completely normal life; I had no really bad experiences to draw on. So I needed to make some."
"Oh no." Kureani said as she figured it out.
"Yep. I didn't kill my family because I was corrupted. I killed them to be corrupted."
Hunter said nothing, he just stared at his evil double like he'd just seen a ghost.
"When people think of Darkness they all think of the obvious emotions." Devil continued. "Anger, hate or lust but these things burn out and grow stale. Regret, now that never goes away. It infects your entire life, tainting every thought and decision you make." He spread his arms wide as he proclaimed "Regret never fades, and neither will I!"
His monologue was brought to a close when a missile struck him in the face. Devil was sent sprawling backwards as Nick slowly descended from the sky.
"You forgot I was here, didn't you?" he said as he touched down.
Devil got back up and casually dusted himself off "Ugh, no I can't be asked to deal with this." He raised his hand, revealing a summon charm dangling from his fingers. Before anyone could react the charm began glowing with an ominous purple light. "I summon the mighty Goat!"
Said Goat appeared in front of them a moment later, but it wasn't the same summon they'd encountered before. This goat had fur so black it seemed to be sucking in the light around it. Six large, curving horns sprouted from its skull, making it looks a little like a demon. Then it opened its eyes. They were glowing read like two hot coals. It tilted its head back and roared. Sound felt like it was tearing through them. The air became cold, the sky filled with back clouds marked by flashes of lightning.
"Oh shit." Nick muttered. The Dark Goat levitated off the ground, then flew right at him. "Oh shit!" Nick rocketed up into the air with the Goat following close behind.
"And now that he's out of the way." Devil raised his axe, pointing it towards the sky. "Dark Areoza!"
In an instant the breeze turned into a raging cyclone with Devil at its heart. Naruto was almost completely blind as he tumbled through the air, then all he felt was blinding pain. As his vision returned he got back to his feet and looked around for his comrades. Devil's hurricane had destroyed a large part of the forest they were in, gouges had been torn in the ground and trees had been uprooted. He took a step forwards.
"Oww!"
He looked down in surprise and found Neji. He had a few cuts and bruises but other than that he looked perfectly fine. As he helped Neji to his feet he saw all the others getting back up. Lee was clutching his left arm like it was broken; Choji was unconscious, being held up by Shikamaru. Ino was hurt the worst; a splinter of wood had gone through her leg. Sakura was already bandaging her up and from the way the pair was arguing it looked like Ino would be fine.
That was when Devil reappeared right in front of Naruto. Without even looking he knocked Neji aside with a backhanded smack, then he grabbed hold of Naruto's face and lifted him off his feet.
"All that magic and I didn't kill a single one of you? I call bullshit!" Naruto tried to kick Devil in his smug face but all he accomplished was hurting his foot. "Seriously, you've seen me shrug off ninjutsu but you thought somehow, through some leap of logic, kicking me would do something?" Naruto was about to tell Devil to go try to have sex with a cactus when he felt a white hot pain in his stomach. Devil removed his hand, letting Naruto look down and see what happed. Devil's tail spikes were sticking out of Naruto's shirt. He was impaled on Devil's tail.
Naruto reached down to grab hold of the spikes. Devil was talking; probably some kind of villain monologue but Naruto couldn't hear him. He looked back up and saw that Devil was laughing like he'd just heard the best joke of his life.
Devil abruptly stopped mid laugh and turned to look over his shoulder. Hinata was standing just a few feet away. Naruto couldn't see much past Hunters hand but she looked absolutely furious. He'd never seen anyone look that angry before. Then he saw the black aura starting to rise from her body.
Hinata screamed in rage and disappeared for just a moment in a dark pulse. When Naruto saw her again she had changed. She was now wearing the same dark suite she'd had when Hunter possessed her.
Devil threw Naruto away with a flick of his tail as he turned to fully face Hinata. Naruto was caught by Kakashi who, along with Sakura started applying first aid to his wound. As they worked Naruto tried to keep sight of Hinata and Devil.
"Oh come on." Devil's arrogance hadn't faltered it seemed "You're the weakest of this whole sorry bunch and even with a Darkness boost there's no way you can-humph!"
In the blink of an eye Hinata was directly in front of Devil, planting her fist in his stomach. She released a blast of Chakra mixed with Darkness that hit him like a shotgun blast. He spun backwards a good twelve feet before righting himself but Hinata was aback on him in an instant. Her next strike hit Devil's left knee with such force it caused his leg to break and bend at an unnatural angle. He screamed in rage and pain, swinging wildly with his axe. Hinata vanished, then reappeared on his left. Before he could react she grabbed his arm and delivered another palm strike to his elbow, causing his arm to bend and snap. She kept hitting the same spot with blinding speed over and over until finally she broke his arm off.
Devil reeled back in pain "YOU MISERABLE, INBRED, MUTANT BITCH!"
Hinata responded with an uppercut that broke Devil's jaw and launched him up into the air.
"How the balls is she doing that?" Fem-Hunter wondered aloud.
Hunter was just sitting cross legged with his back to the fight, staring at the ground. "Well, she's either unlocked her inner Darkness or she's been possessed by the spirit of Broly." He said with barely any emotion.
"So you have watched Dragon Ball Z."
Hinata threw Devil back to the ground. Enraged, he forced himself to his feet and yelled "Thunda-"
"Dark Watera!"
Devil was knocked off his feel by Hinata's spell, which was instantly followed up by another water spell, crushing him into the ground.
"Dark Watera!"
More spells followed every time Devil tried to rise. "Stop it! STOP IT! GAHH!"
"Is everyone else seeing this?" Sakura asked.
"This isn't good." said Kurenai "She's using the same power as the Sound Four. At this rate she'll suffer the same fate before long."
Eventually Hinata did stopped casting but Devil got no reprieve. She landed on his chest and started hitting him in the head with her darkness enhanced palm strikes, left, right, left, right then both together. Finally she leapt up into the air, raised both her hands and charged up a large Dark Bolt. Devil could barely move at this point, all he could do was yell in rage as Hinata threw the ball of Darkness at him. The ground shook and for a moment everyone's vision was obscured by the wind and dust. Once it was over, Hinata was left standing between her friends and a very large hole in the ground.
Devil lay at the bottom of the hole, looking directly up at the sky. Hunter's phantom stood on his right, Fem on his left.
"Is he dead?" Hunter asked.
Fem rolled her eyes "I think we'd know if he were."
Devil croaked "Is it bad if you smell burnt toast and everything looks like its underwater?"
"I think he has a concussion." said Hunter with a note of surprise.
While this was going on the ninjas were holding their ground, staring in amazement and worry at Hinata. She hadn't returned to normal yet and was just standing still, staring angrily into space.
Naruto took a step forwards. "Hinata?" he asked, weary and concerned in equal measure. Her head snapped in his direction and she aimed her arm at him. Naruto nearly took a step back but he forced himself to keep going. "Hinata, you've won. You need to stop now."
Hinata looked dazed, like she was about to fall asleep at any moment. "I need it." She breathed, then with a little more conviction "I need it!" The black aura around her seemed to grow more intense.
"That's what he thought!" Naruto pointed at the hole where Devil was still lying. "He thought he needed it so much that he killed everyone!" Hinata seemed to falter as Naruto got closer "You're not like him yet! You still have people who love you. Kurenai-sensai, Kiba, Shino, me, Neji, your sister." Naruto was right in front of her now.
Hinata stared at him and muttered "You...love..." The black aura weakened, then died. Her dark outfit followed soon after, disintegrating to reveal her regular cloths. That was when she fainted, collapsing into Naruto's arms.
A second later Neji was by his side, making sure Hinata was alright. He said nothing, he just gave Naruto a reassuring smile and a 'good job' nod.
"No!" they bother looked up to see a badly damaged Devil getting back up and hobbling towards them. Neji instantly got back to his feet, getting into a fighting stance as he hobbled closer. "You can't just throw Darkness away like that you can't you..." Devil raised his arm, pointing his axe at them, then he stumbled and had to use the weapon as a crutch to stay upright. "W-what...? Huuck!" Devil threw up, leaving a mess of oily black liquid on the ground. "What...why don't you mend?" His severed arm and broken leg seemed to be trying to fix themselves but something was clearly going wrong.
"What did you do!?" Devil looked at the still unconscious Hinata "What did you-GAHH!"
Nick swooped down behind him and impaled hi with his sword "Surprise motherfucker!"
"You...the goat..." Devil croaked out.
Nick smirked under his helmet "Thing about summons is they time out. That's why you don't send them off on their own genius!"
Devil readied his axe for a backwards swing when he was impaled again, this time from the front by Kakashi's Lightning Cutter.
"Jesus!" Nick yelled in surprise as he dodged the lightning chakra. "A little warning next time!"
"That would be counterproductive!" Kakashi fired back. As the chakra faded Kakashi found that his attack had failed to kill it target and his hand was now stuck in Devil's chest. "Oh shit."
Devil tried to swing his axe again, this time at Kakashi but Might Guy came to his friend's aide and grabbed hold of Devil's arm. With both arms out of commission Devil tried to use his tail, which suddenly sprouted from his lower back.
"Tail tail tail!" Nick yelled.
Asuma was already on it, stabbing it with his knives while Kurenai grabbed hold of the tail to keep it from moving.
Kakashi planted his foot on Devil's chest as he tried to pull his arm free "How his he still alive!"
Devil took an incredibly slow and pained step forwards as everyone strained to hold him back.
Naruto heard someone calling his name and tore his eyes away for a moment. Sasuke was standing next to him, looking at their teachers fighting the monster.
"I have an idea. Do you have any chakra left?" he asked. Naruto nodded. "Ok, then we both hit him with everything we've got at the exact same time" he looked down at Naruto "If that doesn't stop him now then nothing will."
As Sasuke ran over to his position Naruto got up, handed Hinata over to Neji and started charging up a rasengan.
Once Sasuke was several meters behind Devil he began charging his chidori and yelled out. "Nick, move!"
Nick looked from him to Naruto and got the general idea. The other ninjas realised the plan too, but unfortunately so did Devil, who started fighting back even harder. With no time left Naruto and Sasuke ran straight at the group.
Sasuke hit first, his chidori slamming into the back of Devil's head, knocking him forwards until a second later when Naruto's rasengan hit him full in the face. The next few seconds seemed to drag on forever, Naruto had put all that was left of his chakra into this, and combined with the pain in his chest for a moment the thought he would fail and pass out.
"GAHHHHHHHHHH!" Devil gave a final scream as his head warped and distorted, then it disintegrated altogether.
There was a tiny shockwave that threw everyone back. They all landed on their feet, save for Naruto who fell flat on his back. He got back up just in time to see the rest of Devil's body fall and fade away to nothing.
Breathing a massive sigh of relief he fell back down again and relaxed for what felt like the first time in days. "He's gone."
"Is now a bad time to talk about my pay?" Nick asked.
"YES!" everyone yelled.
It has been waaaay too long but I've returned. Hopefully this one was worth the wait, I feel like I dropped the ball a bit with the last chapter.
Anyway, there won't be any long waits for the next chapter, I plan on finishing this story by the end of the year (I say hopefully).
TTFN
