Yay, the chapter before the last chapter. Man, I don't have the attention span to make a chapter this long, but I did it. I did it. And I should say before you read that I don't hate Kouga. But anyway, I am going on a trip for eighteen days, read my profile for more information, so I probably won't be able to update anymore then this for a while. And for this chapter, you can choose the path that Inuyasha took, or Kagome's. Or both. I don't really care. So anyway, go ahead and read.
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The story thus far (I took quotes from earlier chapters):
"Yo- You don't know who I am...?" He asked her slowly.
"Now what we need for ye to do, is for YE to break the spell, release the oracles, and save Kagome's lost memories."
"I said, that you are the reason Kagome's sick!" Shippo said defiantly and confidently, his hands furled into fists, even though he knew what would be ahead of him.
"Inuyasha... Shippo..." They both spoke at the same time, with an unusually calm tone, their voices echoing through the trees. "You have awoken us. Thank you."
Kagome was moving. He looked at her hopefully. It was only the roots that came to capture her. "What? No!" Inuyasha exclaimed, holding her tighter.
The roots took Inuyasha by the arms and dragged Kagome's limp body over to Syfence.
Kei continued to run and one of them struck out far enough and stabbed right through her chest . The world in Kei's eyes seemed to go frame by frame at every heartbeat that beat slowly. The root retracted, which was even more painful.
"I apologize. The one you are fighting... is a puppet. An invincible puppet. The real one, is... in the trees. And you must work together to defeat her. Only then will she be defeated."
Kagome nodded. "Even though I'm not entirely sure what she did, and why I should trust you, but she hurt Shippo..." She looked at the unconscious two laying on the ground, breathing, but limp. "And Kei. But I can't do it so you will have to."
Miki nodded and held her hands up, closing her eyes, then opening them again. They were shining white. "Inuyasha." Her voice echoed while she started up her power. "I cannot transport you, you will have to run. Syfence will know you are coming otherwise. She is in the trees. Catch her scent. It is full of hatred."
A blinding light shone and Inuyasha shielded his eyes. When it died, Kagome and Miki were gone.
Chapter 9: Dead
Inuyasha removed his arm from his face when he had shielded it and sighed, looking over to the village, where random parts of the village exploded when they got in the way of the rampage. He turned his nose to the air and tried to catch her scent. Nothing. 'It's gotta be the the puppet trying to confuse me with the smoke and destruction. I gotta get closer.' He thought.
He gripped the handle of his sword and looked back at Shippo and Kei. "We'll be back." He told them confidently. "We'll defeat the witch and be back to heal you. She will NOT get away with this." And with that motivation from his own words, he raced off into the forest, determined to kill the evil one.
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A bright flash of light flashed just outside the village. It flickered then exploded into a thousand strands of light. Shortly after, crossing her arms and releasing them, it appeared to be like an X across the air before the whole thing disappeared and Miki and Kagome were pressed against a house on the outskirts. "The hatred is overpowering the hope." Miki said quietly. "Where is the priestess?"
"Kaede? She's uhh... Oh Geez!" Kagome hissed.
Syfence's puppet walked over to the rubble that used to be a hut. She flicked her hands and the broken and splintered wood moved. There lay Kaede, blood leaking from her lip and from a gash on her forehead. Syfence looked at her and scoffed. "At least one of them wasn't a coward." She said and lifted her hand.
"Oh no, Kaede!" Kagome shouted and ran out into the open.
"No, Lady Kagome, she is the lure!" Miki cried.
"There you are." Syfence said and turned quickly, her arm still outstretched. An arrow flew out and shot right towards Kagome. Kagome yelped.
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Inuyasha shot out towards the village with the speed like, well, a demon. He leaped up onto a tree and sniffed for her scent. 'Ok, kill the witch, and Kagome'll get cured. Easy enough. So, where is she?' He thought. He sniffed again. 'All I smell is fire.' He growled.
Something crackled. He looked up, alert and ready to kill. Nothing. He looked down. It was a skinny little rabbit. He relaxed. The rabbit was scared of something. It took another timid step and screamed. Inuyasha jumped back, almost falling off.
Something black creeped up its body and no matter how much it tried to run, it continued to eat at it until it couldn't be seen. Then the black blob collapsed and the black stuff left it, a corpse, nothing but bones. "What the hell?" Inuyasha snapped off a stick and threw it at the ground. The black stuff came out of the ground again and surrounded the stick, gnawed at it, but left it, bark picked clean.
"Ants."
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Kagome threw herself to the side and the arrow narrowly skinned her. Miki leaped out from her hiding place and shot at Syfence with Kagome out of the way. A beam of energy surged from her palm and fired at Syfence. Syfence pulled the pendulum in front of her and the energy was absorbed into the stone.
"Damn..."
Syfence shook it and it started to glow.
"Lady Kagome, get out of there!"
"What? No, Kaede!"
Kagome darted out, racing time, to get to Kaede, the grandmother she never had. (I wanted to say mother, but that wouldn't have worked)
Miki ran after her. Like a timer in the form of a heartbeat, the time seemed to go by frame by frame.
A huge explosion surrounded the village, destroying anything alive. Flowers wilted, fish died, deer and other animals collapsed where they were and began to rot.
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"Ants. Damn, she do anything to keep anyone from stopping her." Inuyasha grumbled. He had to move by the trees now. Nothing, save the trees, that didn't move at all, could get through to her, not by walking the earth anyway.
Inuyasha grinned. "Heh. What the bitch doesn't know, that this means I'm getting close."
He leaped from tree to tree, trying to avoiding anything that might break on him. A thick branch that was termite dead snapped on him and he went tumbling. He dug his claws into the trunk and fell down 5 feet.
6 feet.
8 feet.
Stop.
Inuyasha turned and saw the branch crash down to the ground, get devoured by ants. The termites that were still stuck in the branch died. "Man, that was close." He said out loud and climbed back up the tree.
He reached a dead end at a clearing. No trees for a distance he could jump. He sniffed again, trying to see if there was a different way he could go. There was more hatred in that direction. He sighed and looked for a way to cross. There was a huge boulder sticking out of the ground. Did that work? Inuyasha took a stick and hurled it at the boulder. It clacked across the hard surface and landed on top of it. Nothing moved. Sighing with relief, he leaped about 20 feet and landed on the boulder. Nothing happened.
Suddenly, Inuyasha heard something weird. It was the fluttering of wings mixed with a rushing sound that Inuyasha wasn't familiar with. He turned and saw a dark cloud moving towards him at an alarming rate. "What the hell is that?"
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They were alive. But only just barely. There was only a matter of time before mother nature and father time would stop favoring them, but it was not now.
Miki leaped forward, and using her powers, there was a white light around her hand and she pulled herself forward. She shot forward and pushed Kagome with her. They landed towards Kaede and Miki pulled up a force field like a dome the second right before Syfence's explosion occurred.
The dust cleared and Kagome, Kaede, and Miki were lying on the ground.
"What are we going to do? She's out cold and possibly dying."
"I'm not sure. I can't open wounds for myself to cure her, I need my powers to help defeat the hypnotist."
"What can we do?"
"Hm..." Miki gave barely a response. Kagome looked out through the dome that they were taking refuge in. No one was there. Nothing was alive. Huts were on fire and dust billowed around uselessly.
"It looks like she's gone." Kagome said, putting her hand up against the barrier. Miki was looking at Kaede, felt a spark of something passing her and looked up. "Lady Kagome!"
Kagome had fallen through the barrier and was looking up, scared and shocked. Miki's barriers can let people out on their free will, but they cannot come back in. It would be simple for enemies to break in. Kagome would have to fend for herself. Luckily, there wasn't any environmental dangers at the moment. Miki could give her assistance, but only a little. She had to stay with Kaede for the meantime, she was not fit to fight, move, or be by herself while there was a crazy person loose.
"Lady Kagome, I can only help you a little. Here." She said, lifting her hands. Kagome's hands shone and a curved line of energy appeared in her hands. A piece of flexible string connected the ends. A white bow now was held in her hands. "It should give you an unlimited amount of arrows. As long as my strength holds out. Pull where the arrow should be."
Kagome did what she was told and pulled. When she touched the string, the tip flamed. As she pulled back, she found that it was the arrow's end. The string was stretched back and a shining arrow formed. She smiled. "Cool."
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"What the hell is that?" Inuyasha said out loud. He squinted his eyes. Whatever it was, it was coming for him. "The second level, huh? Just try to keep up." He said and jumped again to another tree. They were fast alright, but Inuyasha was faster. Every time when it seemed like they had gotten him, Inuyasha jumped out of the way to another tree or rock.
They disappeared after a while. Inuyasha looked back and smirked. "Heh, lost 'em." He aimed for another tree and jumped. This toppled over as soon as he touched it. "What the--"
The black cloud had gnawed at the tree that they predicted he would land on. Inuyasha fell, with no momentum to get back up and save himself. He flipped over and pushed against the tree. There was a new tree, closer to defeating the witch. He flew towards it and there was the cloud again. It was ravens. Inuyasha gasped and tried to change course. But you can't change course if you're already in the air.
He landed right into their grasp. They pecked at his flesh and ripped his clothes. But even as they tried to injure or even kill him, they couldn't hold his weight. He slammed into the tree and they continued to swarm him. Using his claws, he killed many of the bewitched Ravens. Their corpses fell to the ground and ants engulfed them and ate at their dead bodies. Inuyasha looked down in a blatant bit of fear. Wrong move. They stung harder and he fell. And this time there was nothing to hold on to. He fell and landed on his back against the ground with a yelp.
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As Kagome admired it, and a huge, thick cloud of dust blew itself behind Kagome. It grew thicker and thicker until it covered everything. Miki couldn't see, Kagome couldn't see, and the dust was filling into her lungs and she couldn't breathe. Using what breath she had, she fired a shot to ward off anything coming before collapsing to her knees, coughing and hacking.
The energy beam that was the arrow cut through the dust for a couple minutes. Miki, who wasn't blocked by dust, swore she saw Syfence, but couldn't tell. There was too much dust and her power of foresight wasn't coming to her as she hoped. She nor Kagome could hear Syfence's flutter of her cloak, or the chain of her pendulum clinking. There was too much confusion.
With Kagome still down, Syfence revealed herself and flew forward, grabbing her around the throat and more dust gathered and whirled around. Kagome couldn't breathe either way and Miki couldn't see anything. 'N-no one' Kagome thought, 'No one can save me now..."
"Come on... why is my power of foresight failing?" Miki asked out loud, moving around in the barrier. She saw Kagome for a brief 13 seconds but can't see anything now. There was too much dust. All she could see was a dangerous cloud of red and brown. You couldn't see in this dust, but you couldn't breathe either. Miki could just blow the whole thing away, she needed to know where to make the wind. "Is there no hope here?"
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There was the weirdest feeling that Inuyasha had ever experienced. There was a cold flash as something crawled into his skin, and almost felt like it was going in and under it. Then, it was the red hot feeling of pain. "Ah!" He yelped and looked down at himself. There were ants, thousands of them, crawling up him and gnawing at his flesh. Just like the rabbit. Just like the ravens and the stick he had thrown to them. And more then likely he was going to die.
Their movements advancing towards his marrow were killing his movements. Which was probably why the rabbit wasn't able to escape, fast as it was.
"Damn..." He muttered as the ants began to cover his face and tried to break at his throat. He couldn't breathe. He was definitely bleeding now. Even his demon powers weren't going to help him. But, maybe an object could.
Wincing in pain, he slowly reached over towards his sword and clamped around the handle. Having no flesh, the sword was empty except for a few ants that traveled over it. With the little diminishing strength that he had, he drew the sword, and the shining light of the Tetsusaiga and its power had the ants burn and fly off of him. He panted, cuts and dots that were bleeding profusely from the attacks of the ravens and the ants were all over his torso, arms, legs and a huge gash on his head. There was the same feeling in his feet again. These ants weren't going to quit. He slammed his sword against the ground to make the ants disperse and he jumped up into a tree. In a matter of minutes the ravens would be back at him again. He sniffed his hand. "Dammit." He muttered. "The scent of my blood is going to attract level three. And I almost got killed at level two."
A twister whirled some distance behind him. "Crap!" He shouted and began jumping faster through trees. He just wanted to get it over with. "Man, and she calls me a coward."
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Kagome instinctively gripped Syfence's hand that held her throat. It wasn't helping at all. Syfence only gripped tighter. 'No one to save me.' Kagome thought. 'All hope is lost.'
"No Lady Kagome!" Miki looked about the barrier, trying to search for her. "Don't give up. Believe in hope. Please. I can save you if there is still hope here." Kagome couldn't hear her of course.
'She's going to kill us all. But... but then..." Kagome's thoughts flickered through her mind. Her heart fluttered about weakly.
Then, a white light shone from Kagome's eyes like in the beginning. Syfence looked at her strange and dropped her, and then growled. She knew what was going on.
The light from her eyes slowly disappeared and the first words out of her mouth were:
"Inu... Inuyasha... Inuyasha will come..."
Kaede's eyes opened but one one saw it.
"Damn you wench." Syfence snarled and forced the pendulum in front of her eyes, sucking the memories out of her again. But it was enough.
Miki felt it. She saw Kagome and Syfence. In a whirlwind of power, she scattered the dust and blew at Syfence and Kagome. Syfence's cloak was whipped back and Kagome saw her long brown hair and her evil look. Syfence glared at Miki, running as fast as she could towards them, her hand wound back going to attack again. "Go. To. Hell." Syfence said slowly and put the pendulum in front of her and a burst of power exploded out of it. Kagome screamed and picked up the bow she had dropped and shot one shining arrow at Syfence. Syfence's attack shot out like a beam towards Miki and hit her dead in the torso even as she tried to block it. The barrier never got to form correctly. It shattered and a blast erupted through her torso. Kagome's scream echoed through the land as Miki hit the ground on her back. Kagome's bow flickered and disappeared.
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"Man! This thing refuses to give up!" Inuyasha shouted. "What is it? Running on the power of the sacred jewel?"
No matter how much Inuyasha tried to outrun it, that twister continued to tail him. Until he had no choice but to turn and fight it. However impossible it may be. But, as he was prepared to try, and most likely fail, the wind ceased and there stood Kouga, on a branch of a tree, too fast for the ants to attempt to try and eat him. "Mutt, what have you done to Kagome? Her scent is scared and there is the scent of hatred and fire all around her. If I find out that you did something to her--"
"Relax wolf-kisser, Kagome is fighting off that bitch--"
"WHAT? And your running away? What the hell is wrong with you? No wonder she doesn't deserve you."
By now, Inuyasha was really pissed. "Listen crap for brains, Kagome's memories are gone! They are fighting a puppet! I need to kill the real thing before the puppet kills Kagome! And sooner or later, one of her minions are going to catch my scent of blood and--"
A loud, hideous roar echoed throughout the forest and almost unseated both Kouga and Inuyasha. "Damn." He cursed and ran, Kouga following behind him.
"Tell me what to do. I want to help!" He shouted after Inuyasha as he jumped to another tree and another heart-rattling roar screamed again.
"YOU want to help ME? Why the hell should I?" Inuyasha shouted behind him.
"Because! Kagome's hurt and I wanna help her! So do you!" Kouga responded, spitting the words out in anger at Inuyasha's refusal to listen. Inuyasha stopped. He growled and turned around.
"Ok fine! Listen, I know, where she could be. I need... help." Inuyasha had a hard time saying that. "I need to defeat all levels that she has thrown at me. There are ants..." He gestured at the ground. "That will eat you if you hit the ground. There are ravens, in the sky that will peck at your flesh and tear down anything in order to get to you. And now," Inuyasha started, but a huge clawed foot slammed down on the ground, crushing an unfortunate tree. "There's that."
It's fur was pure black. It looked like a lion but it's mane and tail was fire. It's two heads contained yellowish teeth were dripping with drool looked disgusting.
Kouga smirked. "So its Ceniera."
"What?"
"There was once a three-headed demon dog named Cerberus who belonged to a God. Since this cat resembles Cerberus a little, we call it the next best thing."
"So... you've fought it before."
"Oh yeah. And the way to kill it is gruesome and deadly, so we just need to slow it down." A clawed paw slammed down on them and they flew to other tree trunks slamming themselves against the wood, splintering it and falling on trunks and branches.
"Heh, screw that, I'll just take it down with my Wind Scar." Inuyasha smirked.
"I'd like to see you try."
The Ceniera clamped down where the two canine demons were. They jumped out of the way and the demon cat disemboweled a tree and several feet after it.
"I say you watch, you ain't seen my Tetsusaiga on one of these things."
"And I say that your getting a little too cocky to an experienced wolf demon who has seen these things in action before."
Inuyasha didn't care. He did it anyway. Shouting "Wind Scar" a great power revolved around his sword and, sensing the aura where the two auras collide(or something like that), slammed it down, and a yellow explosion erupted from the sword. Kouga stayed behind him and the with a roar, the giant cat demon was swallowed in the explosion.
Inuyasha smirked and looked back at Kouga, grinning. Kouga gave him a look that said look-behind-you-you-idiot.
A clawed paw came out of the dust that erupted from the explosion and slashed at Inuyasha, causing a large claw mark on his back. Inuyasha went down.
"Stupid mutt. I told ya so." Kouga shouted and chased him, catching him before he hit the ground, kicked hard and flew up into the trees.
"I'm FINE." Inuyasha shouted. But he wasn't fine. He had a huge gash on his back to add to the other injuries that he had. Kouga dropped him at a sturdy tree branch and went out to attack the beast, kicking it swiftly at the side of the head. The huge cat demon flew to the side, and a tooth broke off.
Kouga went back to Inuyasha. Inuyasha was standing up. "How the hell do you kill it?" Inuyasha growled as the cat stood up again and roared its hideous scream.
"Its disgusting how you kill it. No one I know survived afterwards." Kouga said.
"It can't be that bad. Tell me!"
"You have to be ingested. The way to kill it is inside its gut. But its also were powerful poisonous gases are that even a demon can't survive."
"How does everyone know stuff when no one ever survived to tell the tale!" Inuyasha yelled.
"Cause! We dug up one guy out that didn't get dissolved that fast." Kouga shouted in reply.
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The puppet turned to Kagome, who picked up a piece of lumber from one of the wrecks and held it like a baseball bat. "Come and get me!" She shouted defiantly.
"Do you really want to die?" The puppet asked.
"You killed everyone I know and loved! Why not me?" Kagome shouted.
"Because, I have not yet killed everyone you love." She said. "He should be dead in a little while."
"Everyone is gone." Kagome yelled. "You have a dead shot for me, don't you?"
"You are that eager to die?" Syfence asked.
Kagome ran up to the puppet with the piece of lumber raised over her head. She approached Syfence and struck and missed. The puppet moved out of the way. Kagome struck again and missed. The puppet moved a little to right. Kagome tried once more and Syfence caught it in her hand. "Ah ah." Syfence said, wagging her finger like she was scolding a young child. "Is that how you treat someone who has helped you with your problems?"
"What are you talking about, you killed everyone! You MADE problems!" Kagome shouted and jerked back. Syfence did let go of the wood.
"I do not kill you..." Syfence started and crushed the lumber in her hand just by squeezing the wood. "Because I have already helped you." Kagome dropped the stump and backed up.
"I have no intention to kill you." She continued, advancing towards her. "Unless I have to." Kagome dropped on the ground, tripping over a spear that was there from one of the men that dropped it.
"But, if you want to die so badly, I suppose I'll be able to help you." Syfence said with that cruel gleam in her eye. Syfence's cloak was still down. Kagome could see every movement, every facial expression that was on her face. There was no mercy in her eyes. There was no regret or remorse in her facial expression. She was definitely going to kill her.
Syfence held out her hand and a sword appeared in her hands. "Now, if I don't make a clean shot, it'll be even more painful, so, don't move." Syfence lifted the sword over her head and slashed down on Kagome. Kagome screamed in fright.
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"No matter how much we strike it, it'll get back up again!" Inuyasha yelped, dodging another attack. "What do we do? You've fought it before!"
Kouga stared at the Ceneira with an expression that had a mix of dread and determination. His eyes widened when the scent of blood reached his nose. He growled and made a choice. "Mutt... Inuyasha... take care of Kagome." Kouga said.
"What?"
Kouga said nothing more. He ran full speed at the Ceneira and when it opened it's mouth to roar, jumped and leaped into it's mouth.
"Idiot!" Inuyasha shouted and followed him but a spray of blood from the Ceneira's mouth as Kouga sliced at the tongue going in stopped him. Inuyasha shook himself and coughed.
Kouga was only in there for two minutes before there was a rumble, and the Ceneira gave one last shriek, ran around like a blinded rat before slamming on the ground dead.
Inuyasha came over and used Blades of Blood to slice open the hide, spraying him with more blood. He dug through the cat and found Kouga, and threw him out of there.
Kouga landed on the thing's hide and Inuyasha has at it's side. Kouga smirked. "See. I told you it was gruesome."
"You idiot. You only had to slow it down, not kill yourself killing it." Inuyasha said.
"We needed to do it quickly. Kagome's injured." Kouga said. "Go kill the bitch. If you don't and Kagome dies, I'll haunt you for all eternity." He didn't say anything more. Ants ate through the hide and started to devour Kouga. Inuyasha jerked back in shock. He pulled out the Tetsusaiga and used the power over Kouga so that the ants scattered. He took Kouga's body and put it in a tree so nothing could get to it.
Feeling respect for Kouga for the first time, he patted Kouga's shoulder and leaped towards the real thing, more determined then ever to kill Syfence.
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Kagome gave it her all to avoid the sword's blade, and it dug into her leg. She screamed in pain and huddled in fear in pain, nursing her bleeding leg. Syfence lifted her sword again and struck down. Kagome winced.
An arrow shot out from nowhere and cut Syfence's hand off. Kagome looked over and saw it was Kaede who shot the arrow. She was still injured but she shot the arrow anyway to save her.
"Kaede, no." Kagome whispered. Now Syfence was pissed.
"Damn these intrusions." Syfence growled and her hand lifted up and attached itself back. She took out the pendulum again and shot an arrow at Kaede.
"KAEDE!" Kagome screamed and grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on, which was the spear she tripped over and swung at Syfence.
The arrow stuck Kaede in the shoulder and the pendulum shattered. The arrow disappeared but the wound remained. Kaede slumped forward.
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Inuyasha saw the pendulum shine and the scent of hatred was overwhelming. "Found you." He said to himself. "It's about time you paid for all the pain you have caused!" He shouted and took his sword from the sheath, swung and cut her head off.
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Smoke rose out of the puppet and exploded. Kagome shielded herself as a broken chain, strips of cloth, and a piece of paper that proved it was a puppet fell to the ground.
Kagome lifted herself up even in pain, and limped towards Kaede. Miki's wound shone and she opened her eyes. Even though she still had a wound, she was not dead.
Kaede breathed and grabbed her wound in pain that shone as well.
Inuyasha ran as fast as he possibly could back to the village. The hypnotic spell on all the animals were gone so he was safe to run on ground. He approached the injured three and hugged Kagome in happiness that she was still alive. Kagome pushed him away.
"Thank you demon. You aren't as bad as you seem."
"Demon?" Inuyasha was shocked. "Kagome? Do you know my name?"
"No I don't. Actually, could you tell me your name? Please?"
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-stretches- Ah yes, next chapter is the final chapter. Will it be a sad ending or a happy ending? -shrug- Dunno. But I have a pretty good vision of what will happen. I think I may have killed Syfence off a little too easily. Well, that's what the sequel is for I guess. Thanks for reading. I'll see ya after I go to Australia. Well... what else do I have to say... eh, can't remember. So, thanks for reading and please review. Good day.
Alena Rio