Before you leave your keyboard today, you will know the fate of Heero Yuy. Shounen-ai 1x2, angst and suffering ahead. Rated R for language and mild gore.
A.N. All, I repeat, ALL of the text in italics, excepting single words in other people's dialogue, but including the dream/memory sequence, are Heero's thoughts. =^_~= Didja get all that? Good.
Disclaimer #1: I don't own GW...*cries*...but if I DID own it, things would be SO different, but then again if "ifs and buts" were candy and nuts, we'd all weigh 300 pounds, so there. =P
Disclaimer #2: I was an English major, so when I write, I write wordy. You have been warned. =P
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A jeep full of travel-weary adventurers retraced the route back to the cave. On this road, with the lives of the pilots at stake, the speed limit wasn't a measure of miles per hour, but how close the gas pedal could get to the floor. The jeep bounced and rolled down the mud track wildly with Noin at the wheel, the headlights only cutting a few yards through the rain before being blotted out completely. All four were soaking wet from the torrential downpour; each bolt of lightning and crack of thunder pierced Sally's heart, sending new tremors of worry through her very blood. She was concerned for each of them, but Wufei most of all; they shared an unspoken bond that neither had been able to take to the next level, and the idea that it might be forever too late threatened to crush what little hope she had. The dirt road ended suddenly and the jeep careened into the underbrush at full speed, tossing it's passengers about violently. Noin slammed on the brakes and halted the jeep at an ugly angle against a clump of berry bushes. "Alright, everybody out!" the driver hollered over the thunder, leaping to the ground. Sally helped Burt out, and the three of them surveyed the area, leaving Louch in the back of the jeep. A short walk away, still visible from the jeep's location, Burt showed them the entrance to the cave. Upon seeing it open, and not collapsed with rock the way they had left it, he stood gaping. "Is this it?" Noin shouted through the pounding rain. Burt was too confused to answer. "What's the matter?" "It wasn't open like this, it was all blocked up with rocks," Burt said sheepishly. "Could they have climbed out?" Sally exclaimed, head suddenly turning in all directions. "If they did, they could be anywhere by now!" "If they could make it that far, they could have made it back to the village, or at least to the road, and we didn't pass them," Noin decided. She shone her flashlight at the crevice, and then down at the ground. "Oh God...I hope they're not still down there..." Sally followed the beam of light to see what Noin sounded so frightened of. The surrounding land was a small valley, the lowest point being the cavern's entrance; a deep pool of water had collected in front of the gap and water was pouring down into the crevice. Noin pushed Sally towards the jeep. "Go get the half-inch rope and find something to tie it off to. I'm going to have a look at this..." She manoeuvered herself partway through the opening and shone the light down a long stretch of the rocky, unpleasant-looking climb. It was possible the pilots had escaped, but she had to be sure. Slipping and stumbling over the wet, mossy ground, Sally ran back to the jeep. She did her best to ignore Louch, who leered at her dripping form while she shuffled around in the slippery ropes. "Hey, sweets, you don't look half bad in a wet uniform." If Sally had been paying attention, she would have noticed that Louch was no longer gagged. She might also have realized that if the rain made the ropes she was handling so slippery, the ropes on Louch's arms might have eased up enough for him to wriggle out of them. Unfortunately, Sally was so absorbed with worry for her Wufei that by the time she realized all this, it was a half-second too late. Louch grabbed Sally's wrist, spun her around, and clapped a pistol to her head. **********Adrift in a peaceful slumber, Quatre's troubled soul was soothed by the warmth and kinship that engulfed him, all of them, in sleep. So deeply entranced in this euphoric cloud, he almost didn't notice when something cold and wet pressed lightly against his back, near the floor. He was lying on his right side with his back to the escape tunnel when a growing pool of chilly water reached his shirt and soaked it through. Quatre yelped and leapt up, fully awake in two seconds flat and grabbing at the freezing cold side of his shirt. He woke the others easily with his cry; Duo and Heero bashfully pried themselves off each other, having unknowingly wrapped themselves up in a tangle of arms during the night. Duo scrambled to his feet and quickly re-braided his hair. "What? What?" "There's water coming in!" Quatre shouted in a high-pitched voice. Everyone but Heero was on their feet staring at the floor. It was no mere puddle; a quarter-inch deep river was quickly covering the cave. It reached the backpack on which Heero's head still rested, and began soaking everything around him. Wufei reached down and snatched up his black cap with the transceiver in the brim before it got soaked too. Quatre's cap wasn't so lucky. He and Trowa filled their pockets with whatever supplies they could out of Duo and Heero's packs, before they were useless. Duo picked up Heero's gun and tucked it into his waistband at the back; he jogged down the hall with a candle, and then returned quickly. "How bad is it?" Heero called out to him. "Bad," Duo said, the tension starting to show. "Shit, this is bad...it's almost a half-inch out there." "There was hardly any water when we first came in," Trowa pointed out, "and this can't be the first time it's rained here, so it must drain off naturally." "But the cave itself was an entirely different shape," Wufei said, studying the floor. "Hairline cracks that might have served for drainage in the past may be completely covered by now." Duo wrung his hands, thinking, then called an executive meeting. Four of them could still escape safely, but if Wufei was right and the cave was no longer draining properly, it was certain that Heero would drown. The water was already at his waist and gaining speed. Without further discussion, they threw themselves against the main boulder pinning Heero down and exerted their combined strength on it. While they strained and groaned at the bulky stone, Heero felt he was forgetting something important; if only he could drag his mind out of the muddy haze of shock-induced confusion long enough to remember... **********Noin frowned at the flooded crevice. "How far down is it?" she asked Burt. "Really far, but I don't know any numbers." Burt's eyes were tightly shut as he followed the sound of Noin's voice. The rain was falling in sheets down his face, but having his hands tied behind his back, he couldn't wipe the water from his eyes. With a slight sigh, Noin smoothed his hair back against his head and pushed off some of the excess water with her bare hands, enough so he could see again. "Is that better?" Burt blinked away the raindrops, looking surprised that anyone would do such a service to him. Louch certainly wouldn't. "Thanks!" Noin paced a few times. "What's keeping her? Sally!!" she called out. "Sally's not here right now, can I take a message?" a mocking voice answered. Burt and Noin whirled to face the voice; Louch was propping Sally up by the throat and holding a gun to her head. "Okay, nice and easy, everybody back away from the..." He saw the rocks had been cleared away. "What the hell happened!? Did you do that?" "It was like that when we got here, Louch, honest!" Burt whimpered. Louch dragged Sally closer so he could get a better look, then grinned when he saw the water pouring in. "Heh...if the blast didn't quite get them, I guess I can settle for pilot soup instead!" "Louch...look at me," Noin said quietly. She put her hands up in a submissive gesture. "They could be long gone for all we know. Maybe if you start looking now, you can catch up with them. It won't do any good to start shooting people, so just let her go, okay?" She hoped he would find the boys somewhere in the jungle; even with a weapon, he'd never stand a chance against all five of them. Sally cringed and shivered as Louch let the muzzle of the gun slide gently down her cheek. "I don't know," he mused with a wicked gleam in his eye, "I think I might keep her. She's real cute, and I don't think she's gonna hit me like you did. Nice and soft, and pretty, and easy to tame, just the way I like 'em." "Don't bet on it, jackass," Sally snarled. Louch tightened his arm around her throat and she couldn't help but let out a tiny cry of fear. She fought with herself to remain calm. Noin took a hesitant step towards them. "Leave us here if you want! Take the jeep and go! Nobody has to find out what happened here. You can walk away a free man." At least, until she got hack-happy Heero back to his laptop, after which time there would be nowhere to hide. If Louch hurried, he might buy himself a good ten-minute head start. "Just let Sally go, and it's all yours." "Uh-uh, YOU can stay here, but cutie-pie's coming with me!" Louch looked at Burt with his smile of false sincerity. "You can come too, Burt. I forgive you for squealing. No hard feelings. Get in the jeep." Burt shrank away. Louch snarled and pressed the pistol harder against Sally's head, making her wince. "Get in the jeep now!" Burt looked forlornly at Noin, then started slowly towards Louch's side of the jungle. Louch stopped him partway. "And while you're at it, grab some rope and tie that one to a tree." Noin hung her head. They had been so close with Burt, and now he was back under Louch's control. The huge, burly man was probably strong enough to lift the jeep over his head and juggle with it, but he had no sense of self, and was easily manipulated. On seeing Burt's puzzled expression and the way he jerked his hands around behind his back, Louch exploded again. "You idiot, how do you think I got out!? The rain made the ropes slippery! Just shake 'em off, already!" Burt blubbered, walking slowly behind Louch and back towards the jeep, untying himself clumsily. "If the ropes are slippery, won't she get away?" "Not until we've gotten a good twenty miles away, if you can tie a knot properly!" Louch was paying more attention to Burt than Noin. She crept forward. "But...it's cold and wet out here, won't she get sick?" "Sick!?" Louch bellowed. "She almost landed us in prison and you're worried about her getting the sniffles?" Noin kept moving forward slowly, waiting for Louch's temper to boil over. She locked eyes with Sally and they seemed to communicate silently as the men bickered. The military trained them for all sorts of situations, some of which they never expected to be trapped in as they sat in the classroom. Noin prowled further ahead, waiting for an opening. Burt was almost all the way to the jeep and still indecisive. "You're not going to hurt Sally, are you?" That did it. Louch kept hold of Sally but twisted at the waist to point the gun at Burt instead. "Don't you fuckin' tell me what I can't do with this bitch!" Simultaneously, Sally pried his arm off her neck and dropped a half-second before Noin tackled Louch to the ground. **********There was no shortage of noises to listen to in the cave; everyone was in some degree of pain as none of the rocks in the wall would allow themselved to be moved. Four lithe bodies were wrenching stiffly against the immovable objects, pulling some muscles and spraining others. The water was a good three inches deep now, and filled with dirt, minerals, and all sorts of impurities. As the others splashed around, the water leapt up and licked at Heero's wounds, stinging his legs with a flood of grit and salt. Overexerting himself past the point of human endurance, Quatre cried out sharply and fell to the floor, clutching his right leg. Trowa was at his side instantly. Duo ran behind Heero and lifted his head above the tide Quatre created when he fell. "What's the matter? What happened?" he barked."I think I...tore a ligament or something..." Quatre sighed painfully. They all stopped working. Nothing would budge with four of them pushing, so they didn't have a hope in hell with only three. Nobody could bear to look anyone else in the eye; they had failed Heero miserably. As for himself, Heero barely heard them through the fog around his head. There were inky black tendrils on the edge of his vision, and it was getting harder to breathe, as if there were a heavy weight on his chest. Half sitting up, he leaned completely against Duo and stared at the candles they had jammed into several cracks in the wall. Duo held his head well above the rising water, stroking his forehead and whispering in his ear, coaching and praising him like a nurse preparing a child for his first needle. Trowa and Wufei bantered back and forth, looking for a short-term solution. "Can't we pile some of these smaller rocks in front of the tunnel like a levee?" "You couldn't fill every last crack, the water will still get through. It would be quicker to amputate if we could find the tools." "We'd have to knock him out before pounding on his legs with sharp rocks!" "It's too risky to let him fall unconscious while he's in shock." Duo shut his eyes and bit his tongue to keep from screaming. They spoke about Heero while right in front of him as if he was a piece of furniture that couldn't see or hear, but what angered Duo most was that it was almost true. Heero was less and less responsive with each passing minute, slowly slipping away as he stared lifelessly at the burning candles in the wall. He stroked his friend's soaking wet hair and kept talking to him, quietly. "Don't you die on me..." I can still hear you, Duo. I'm still fighting, I swear it. There's just something...about this, that I should remember...it's vitally important to you, and I can't find it! I can't think! Muscles aching, and sensing Heero's desperation, Quatre slumped forward, bracing himself on the watery ground beside Heero's legs and sending splashes of silt and mud into his legs. The new shock of pain jerked Heero awake with a cry, and Duo had to pin his arms down when they tried to flail about in agony. Quatre looked horrified and close to tears once again. "I'm sorry, Heero! I'm really...really sorry..." He wasn't just sorry for causing the pain, he was tearing himself apart inside because he had failed his friend. He leaned forward on his hands and wept openly. Trowa sat right down in the water opposite him, gingerly, on Heero's right side and was just about to say something meaningless and comforting when Quatre's expression changed. He stopped crying and looked blankly at the water, moving his hands along the ground, as it seemed. They were all staring at the Arabian now, as his brow furrowed and his fingers worked at something they couldn't see. He rose up off his heels and pulled at something below the water's surface. They watched as he winced and groaned, using the last of his strength, until his hands flew up with a splash that made them all jump with surprise. Quatre looked at the object in his hands, eyes gleaming. It was a piece of the floor. "The water made it soft!" he shouted. "I felt a crack and I managed to get my fingers into it--" Before he could finish, three more pairs of hands plunged into the water covering Heero's legs. **********Louch had the wind knocked out of him as soon as he hit the ground, but he still had a deathgrip on the gun. Noin had one hand on his wrist and the other at his throat trying to make him drop it. Louch clawed at her and hit her, but she wouldn't let go either; she was definitely stronger than she looked. Sally ran to the jeep and grabbed a rifle out of the back, but in the pitch black and the pouring rain, she couldn't see clear to shoot. Instead, she dropped the rifle into the passenger seat, fired up the engine, and nudged the jeep swiftly forward, enough that the headlights illuminated the ongoing battle. The combatants tumbled around over rocks and plants, kicking and punching for control of the weapon. Louch slammed a fist hard into Noin's side, and she answered it with an elbow to the face that knocked out one of his teeth. Sally circled them, looking for an opportunity to help. Louch pinned Noin to the ground and Sally leapt on his back, but he bucked her off effortlessly. A fresh volley of blows was exchanged, but by the finish of it all, Louch was the one left standing. Noin looked up through the cascade of water. The victor stood feebly over her, reeling from internal injuries, but snarled in triumph. "I was gonna go easy on you, little missy..." He stood back and levelled the gun at her chest. "But you just pissed me off on the wrong day." Noin held her breath and Sally was shouting as he began to squeeze the trigger. A shot rang out that was only slightly louder than the thunder. Noin exhaled sharply and shut her eyes at the sound, expecting the world to go black at any moment. Half a dozen heartbeats passed, but the world didn't go away. She opened her eyes and felt frantically around her torso for a gunshot wound; she found none. Noin and Sally both looked up at Louch; he stood like a statue, eyes wide and trembling. He slowly looked down and touched his free hand to the front of his shirt. The hand came away covered in blood, seeping out of the fresh bullethole in his chest. Louch dropped the gun, then dropped to his knees. Noin looked at Sally, prepared to congratulate her, but she shook her head, and her hands were empty. They both stood and looked towards the jeep. Burt was holding the rifle that had been resting on the passenger seat. His face was alabaster white, and he was shaking when he finally dropped the rifle. Burt had never shot anybody before. As she walked up to the injured thug, Noin sized up his wound and decided he could wait in the jeep and bleed half to death while they took care of more pressing matters. He had earned that priviledge. Wringing rainwater out of her hair, Sally stopped Noin from delivering the final blow. Looking down at the pitiful figure, coughing and whimpering as the stain on his shirt grew, she remembered bitterly that this was the man who all but called her weak. Only one man had been afforded the exclusive right to call Sally 'weak', and it wasn't Louch. With an endearing smile, she spun around, landed a kick soundly across his jaw, and levelled him, just as Wufei had taught her. Noin raised her eyebrows in approval. "Not bad." They hauled Louch into the back of the jeep and dumped him there, taking the time to re-bind his limbs and slap a quick dressing on the bullethole. Burt was still standing at the side of the jeep, dumbstruck. While Noin tried to bring him around with an appreciative pep talk, Sally went back to work on the radio, trying to get through to the pilots' emergency transceivers. **********Down below, the water was rising. Duo had abandoned the digging to cradle Heero in his arms, his thin frame wraked with spasms as filthy water flowed around his exposed tissues. The miniature lake was nearly a foot deep, and Heero hardly had strength enough to keep his nose above the water level. The pain was worse now than it ever had been, but Heero was grateful for it; it was keeping him conscious and helping him think. I've got to remember...there's something about the water and the cracks in the walls... Trowa, Quatre and Wufei were hurriedly sloshing around at the base of the wall, breaking away chunks of the ground no more than an inch or two across. The floor of the cave wasn't pure rock as it had seemed, but an intricate web of rock and sediment, just enough sediment to absorb the excess water and soften the surface. Still, it was slow, tedious, and extremely painful work, for all of them. I can still feel my feet. The part of the cave behind this wall must not have caved in completely...why does it seem so dangerous? Am I delerious? The diggers couldn't pussyfoot around his legs any longer, and were forced to actually move the tangle of broken bones and torn muscles to reach the ground underneath them. Heero lurched back and screamed, all mental defenses gone. "Easy, guys!" Duo cried, wrapping his arms more tightly around his patient. Frayed tempers began snapping, and the boys started arguing over whose fault the last wave of pain was. Duo tried to overshout them to get them to shut up, but it only escalated until the cave was filled with raised voices. Heero was numb to it all, head lolling back weakly, praying to pass out from the pain. Suddenly, Wufei proved he was louder than all of them. "QUIET!!" Everyone froze and stared at Wufei. Offering no explanation, he held his hands out in front of him and seemed to be in deep thought. They held their breath; even Heero paid attention as they slowly became aware of a faint beeping. Wufei snatched the cap off his head and held the brim to his ear. "Is it the transciever?" Quatre begged. "Shh-shh-shh!" Wufei hissed. He made them all wait as he concentrated on the dots and dashes coming from the hat. A gleeful smile appeared on his face, a rare and beautiful sight. "It's Sally! Sally's here!" The clouds parted and sunlight shone from all their faces; all hurt was forgiven, all sorrow erased. Can you get a signal back to her and tell her where we are?" Duo asked excitedly. "It would be more likely to work if I was closer to the surface," Wufei replied. "She probaby has a larger radio battery than there is in this puny thing." "She might need help climbing down, too," Trowa suggested. Heero shook off the haze of fever and confusion and sat straight up, no longer leaning on Duo for support. They risked their lives to help me...it's about damn time I started helping them. He stretched forward and braced himself against the wall with one hand. Ignoring the lightning bolts of pain, he jammed his other hand into the crack between his shins and the floor. He strained inaudibly and ripped his hand away holding a chunk of rock twice the size of the ones the others had been able to excavate. He looked at the piece, as did the others. "Go contact Sally before she leaves the area. We'll finish up here." He didn't specifically indicate that Duo would stay behind because he knew there was no need; it was a given. They looked uncertain, wondering if he was being honest. "Heero..." Quatre said in a feeble whisper, "...are you sure?" Heero dropped the chunk of rock to the side and picked up one of Quatre's scraped and bleeding hands. "I'm coming with you," he whispered back. "One way or another." Quatre's eyes flooded with relief; he knew he was telling the truth. He threw his arms around Heero and hugged him. Duo watched, smiling joyfully, and knew that his horrible treatment of Heero had worked; he wanted to live. Trowa grabbed a candle out of the wall, then helped Quatre get to his feet and limp off down the tunnel, favouring his left leg heavily. Wufei followed, fiddling with the transceiver along the way. Fuelled entirely by adrenaline, Heero reached back into the crevice and began pulling out more chunks of rock; pain was irrelevant. The Perfect Soldier was back with a vengeance. After only another ten minutes, the water was up over Heero's waist. He needed Duo's help to reach the last pieces of stone holding him in place, and Duo had to dunk his whole head, braid and all, into the murky water to stretch that far. He came up for a breath, threw aside some rocks, and dove under several more times, untying Heero's steel-toed boots. There was no way he could be extricated while still wearing them. Heero felt it when the last stone was pulled away, felt what was left of his legs drop of few inches, felt the water rushing past into the other part of the cave. The water's movement set off an alarm bell in Heero's mind. He had been trying to remember something about the water earlier...what was it? Duo climbed back behind him, encircling Heero's chest in his arms and bracing himself as firmly as he could in the dingy pool. "Okay, ready?" Heero nodded and swallowed, hanging onto Duo's arms tightly. Duo began to pull with slow, even pressure, easing Heero's feet out of his boots as gently as he could. It was still monstrously painful, and Heero clutched his friend's arms in such agony that he'd have finger-shaped bruises for days. A few twists this way and that, some steady pulls, and finally one quick tug, and Heero popped free of his stony prison. It took a moment for it to register; he was free. Duo laughed and squeezed him hard, but Heero seemed to be lost in thought almost immediately. We've just opened a huge crack in the wall, and the water is draining to the other side, where the other backpacks are...oh, shimatta!! "We have to move, NOW." Duo blinked. Something about that sounded bad. "What's wrong?" "It's not completely caved in on the other side of that wall," Heero struggled, gasping for breath. "The packs with all the explosives are on the other side. The charges are waterproof, but the detonators aren't. If the water gets high enough and shorts out the detonators, they could send a false signal and--" "OH shit!" Duo leapt to his feet, draping Heero's arm over his shoulders and lifting him out of the lake. He barely made it to the tunnel before Heero's suspicions were confirmed. The water flooded the opposite chamber and soaked into the other boys' backpacks, shorting out one of the detonating devices. A ferocious blast shook the cave, not as badly as the original explosion, but bad enough to knock Duo off his feet. A long series of quakes kept him from getting up again, as charge after charge of dynamite was ignited on the other side of the wall. Duo fought to keep Heero above the water, but pieces of the ceiling were breaking off and falling all around them. One fairly substantial nugget hit Duo in the head, and he collapsed into the water, unconscious. When the rumbling stopped and Heero opened his eyes, Duo was nowhere to be seen. Only one candle remained lit and stuck to the wall after the blasts, but it gave enough light to see that Duo was gone and the water was almost completely still. Heero sloshed around in the water with both hands, terrified. He found a thick, squishy rope and latched onto it, dragging Duo up by the braid. "Duo! Duo!!" He leaned on one arm and hoisted Duo's soggy head up to his shoulder, shouting in his ear. He was out for the count. Heero berated himself for sending the others away. If only one of them had stayed... Pull yourself together! You don't have time for useless things like guilt and regret. You have a mission to complete! Feverish, shaking, dizzy, nauseated, and every nerve screaming in anguish, Heero tucked one arm under Duo's shoulders and started dragging him down the tunnel. The soldier's training he had cursed only a few hours earlier helped him block out the sensation of his exposed bones scraping along the ground, but he still overestimated his stamina. His frail, beaten body had taken too much punishment. He began to slow down. I'm not giving up on you...on us...we're getting out of here. He pulled them forward a few inches at a time, wondering if the others had heard the explosion and were on their way back. His pace slowed even further as the symptoms of shock became more insistent. No...can't stop...should have listened to you...should have...fought harder... Heero's arm gave out underneath him and he had to stop and lean against the wall, shoulder-deep. They started slipping down the wall. We can't have...gotten this far...only to... The tunnel was twisting and lurching all around him. He couldn't feel his legs or anything else now, except the weight of Duo's head on his shoulder. He had to stay conscious or they were both dead men, but even that was too much, too difficult in his wretched condition. I won't leave you...we die together, Duo. He couldn't feel himself breathe. He fell and seemed to keep on falling forever. Cold water engulfed him and filled his ears. Silence turned to muffled buzzing. The sensation of death was most unusual indeed. Then, just before his senses shut down completely, he was vaguely aware of pressure on his arms, and cold, stale air on his face. He felt someone's lips pressing down on his, forcing his mouth open, but they felt different than before. Rhythmic compressions were applied to the center of his chest. Warm air was forced down his throat. Everything hurt. Heero's body became aware and responsive, but most of his brain shut down for the night. He felt about four years old, and simply let the strange impressions wash over him, his body seeming to rise and fall in an odd pattern for quite a long time. Later, he felt water upon him once again, scattered, falling water, like the ceiling of the cave dripping down from a thousand points at once. Pleasant rumbling noises rang off his water-logged eardrums. For an immeasureable amount of time, he was barely aware of anything except two times when he felt his ears pop. He drifted in and out of a beautiful dream where Duo held him, and kissed him, and told him everything would be alright. Duo's voice got steadily louder. A bright light surrounded Heero, and he wondered at the back of his mind if the stories he'd heard about the afterlife being a very bright place were true. Duo felt closer than ever now; it must have been heaven. "Heero?" he sang lightly. "Wakey-wakey..." His head throbbed at the sudden onslaught of light and sound; opening his eyes and squinting against the brightness, he eventually focused on Duo's face. He glowed like any angel should. Duo smiled as he was studied, but Heero saw something that puzzled him. The boy sported a bandage over his right eye. That didn't make sense...angels couldn't cut themselves. He forced his tired eyes into focus and gave a good long look at his surroundings. The Great Beyond was full of doctors and smelled of lemon Pine-Sol. Heero would deny for many years to come that he laughed out loud. |
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Let me say one thing about this: He's not out of the woods yet!! (Well, he's out of the jungle, not out of the highly symbolic woods.) I hope this chapter was worth the wait I put you all through!! =^_^= Arigato for reading this far, and now I'm gonna go out on a limb and make you a promise. WITHIN THE HOUR, as in before 4:45pm EST, I will post the FINAL CHAPTER. Gotta tie up those loose ends...and there's a nice ending I think you'll love... =^_~=
