Inception: Rise of the Heir
After the murder of Hepzibah Smith, Tom Riddle disappeared for ten long years. He sank deeper into the Dark Arts & pursued knowledge that others could only dream of, consorting with the darkest members of wizarding society. With his eyes set on North America, he has no idea that the magic he so desperately seeks will shape his life & his inevitable future for years to come. TomxOC
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except for my o/c's and my own storyline.
"Well that was wonderfully insensitive of you to ask." Lyra scolded herself as she placed her head into her hands, staring out the small window to her right. "He's told you before he grew up in an orphanage. If he had a mother-"
She moved her hand above her eyes, shielding herself from the sun that had started to pour in from outside and continued to argue with herself. "-Yes, but it doesn't mean he had to leave in a huff...he asked you plenty of uncomfortable questions last night and you didn't storm away in anger."
"Where else could I have gone?" Lyra closed her eyes in frustration and let out a soft sigh. "Relax. This is only bothering you because you have no other distractions. Sitting, waiting for someone else to figure out what you couldn't is something you've never had to go through before."
Lifting her head up, she let out a soft growl of anger, knowing it to be true. She needed a distraction, something...anything that would keep her mind occupied, sitting in her room shrouded in a blanket of anxiety was exactly the opposite of what she should be doing. Her gaze flicked towards the small bookcase near the window, filled with discarded literature from her youth and narrowed her eyes at a small, dusty old book towards the bottom.
"The Alchemy of Stones: a magical guide to nature's treasures."
"Strange. I don't remember that book…" She sat up quickly and reached over toward the floor, picking it up gently from the stack and wiping the dust off it's surface. "It certainly looks like it hasn't been opened in ages…"
Prying apart it's stiff water stained cover, she recognized her mother's handwriting, her notes scrawled across the pages and smiled to herself, her fingers tracing the script. "One of mother's old books. I must have ignored it as a child or thought it pointless otherwise I can't imagine why I wouldn't have read it."
She thought back to Tom and grinned, tapping a finger curiously against her cheek. "I wonder…"
Making her way over towards the small desk, she pulled out the chair and sat down beside it gently, summoning a few pages of parchment and ink. Running her finger alongside the book's spine, she started to read, her eyes widening in excitement as she peered through the index, falling upon a subject she knew he would be quite interested in. Waving her hand quickly, Lyra watched as the pages flipped furiously before her, abruptly coming to a stop on the chapter she had sought.
"Although a widely debated and controversial object, The Horned Serpent's Gem is one of the most powerful and useful stones known to exist in the wizarding world. Known primarily for it's healing capabilities, it is also rumoured to have properties that grant flight and invisibility to those who can harness its true nature. So far none of these theories have been proven accurate due to statutes prohibiting wizards from hunting the near extinct serpent-more humane and viable healing ingredients have been discovered since its ancient use-but speculation still lingers and it's rumoured attributes are still continued to be considered a possibility by some. Due to the illegality of the stones presence in magical substances for the past few centuries, no potion or spell exists that details how they should be used or utilized if acquired…"
She tapped the quill against her lips in thought and frowned as she scribbled a note down quickly, flipping to the next few chapters in the book, murmuring to herself.
"Bezoar…Pearl...Moonstone…"
Compiling a list of hard elements, she drew a line next to each name and started to read up on each, jotting down how they individually were to be used in a potion, comparing and contrasting their properties. After some time had passed, her eyes now weary from reading, she had no choice but to place her quill down into it's inkwell, irately tapping her fingers against the page. Rubbing her eyes in frustration, she scoured her notes for anything she might have missed.
"For each of these to work, most of them have to be powdered down and added to a potion to be ingested. Only the bezoar can be ground up or swallowed whole to work...but it is the only one of all these listed that is the by-product of an animal, which makes it more alike to the Horned Serpents gem than any other-although I don't think the gem must be necessarily swallowed whole to achieve anything...it would seem almost wasteful due to how rare it is. I can hardly imagine a wizard putting an entire stone in one potion or shoving it desperately down their throat-no, I think a little would go a long way, otherwise it wouldn't have been sought after to the point of a creature's extinction. "
Lyra picked up her quill excitedly once more and wrote down…"Horned Serpent's Gem - To be used in an effective healing potion, must be broken down and powdered - amounts and measurements unknown."
Biting her lips once more, she re-read the passage containing the bezoar and frowned, comparing it once more to that of every other stone she had listed. "One cannot simply fly by ingesting a potion or ingredient. Levitate-perhaps, but unsupported flight would be near impossible."
A strange thought occurred to her and she furrowed her brows quickly, summoning another school book from off her book shelf.
"Perhaps in order to milk the stone of its aerial capabilities, something else would have to accompany the act of ingesting the gem...it would make more sense if it was used in a ritual of sorts…"
Flipping through her old school book, she came across a few pages, detailing some of the more common rituals known in the wizarding world-hard to perform, but not so troublesome that they wouldn't have been taught to those who were seemingly dedicated. Her delicate finger rested in between the book's bindings as her eyes continued to skim a particular passage of interest.
"An Animagus or Animagi is a witch or wizard-who after a time consuming ritual- is able to transform themselves from human to animal, back and forth at will. All Animagi are required by law in most countries to register themselves to their Wizarding Government, due to the trouble one could cause while in an unregistered animal form. The process of becoming an Animagus takes skill, practice and dedication in order to be successful; because of the complex nature of the ritual, problems usually manifest within the process, resulting in less than desirable side effects. Many witches and wizards do not pursue the talent, seeing the use of time needed in order to become an Animagi as wasteful, providing extreme benefit only to those who might have need of masking or concealing their identities from others. The steps in which one must take to complete the ritual are detailed and are listed as follows:
Step One: A mandrake leaf must be held in the mouth for an entire month without swallowing or chewing, the wizard or wizard may not take it out under any circumstance, it will be needed for the potion after this step has been completed. In addition to holding the leaf in the mouth for a month's span, a simple spell must be recited every day as follows: 'Amato Animo Animato Animagus'. If any part of this step has been fumbled, they must start again from the beginning.
Step Two: An Animagus potion must be brewed containing the mandrake leaf from Step One, a hair from the witch or wizard performing the rite, a silver teaspoon of dew that has not seen sunlight or been touched by human feet for several days and the chrysalis of a Death Head Hawk Moth. The leaf itself must be spit in a vial at the next visible full moon, within range of it's rays before adding in the rest of the ingredients. Once this task has been completed, the potion should be stored in a quiet and dark place.
Step Three: The participating witch or wizard must then wait for an electrical storm, in the meantime chanting the words to the ritual once more 'Amato Animo Animato Animagus', with the tip of their wands placed over their heart. When at last a lightning storm presents itself, the wizard must then move to a large and secure place, reciting the incantation once more before finally drinking the potion."
Lyra rolled her eyes at the ritual, remembering when she had first learnt about it in school and how bothersome it had all seemed. "Hardly worth any of the effort if you ask me, there are other ways to get what you want besides skulking around in the shadows pretending to be a pigeon."
She tried to stifle a laugh as she remembered what had happened when one of her classmates had tried to attempt the ritual on their own without permission, only to fail miserably-which resulted in him spending half the year in the infirmary with a beak instead of his nose.
"Poor boy was never right again…" She mused as she placed the book down and rubbed her temples. Resting her head against her palm, the original book she had been reading caught her attention once more, the detailed illustration of the horned serpents gem staring back up at her and she placed her fingers over it absentmindedly, trailing its circumference. "It looks so different in person...the drawings do it no justice at all."
Continuing to stare at the crude depiction of the stone, a slow string of thoughts began to enter her mind. "If one were to take a shard of stone into their body and perform a ritual almost like the Animagi, it could perhaps work...with a few changes of course." She bit her lip and twirled a strand of hair around her finger, thinking as to what steps would need to be doctored. "-replace the mandrake leaf with a bit of the stone-that's simple enough, but the incantation would also need to be altered-that's the biggest challenge...but what would be spoken and how?" She nibbled on the end of her quill, trying to think of the words the stone would need to hear.
She sat for a few more moments, wading through the recesses of her mind, when the echo of a strange tongue suddenly sprang into her head, reminding her of the serpentine language Tom had spoken.
"Parseltongue." She whispered softly, grinning to herself at how simple the answer could be. Lyra let out a soft laugh when she realized why no one else had been able to manifest the powers from within the gem-they had been unable to converse in the only language it understood.
Picking up her quill excitedly, she continued to scribble against the parchment, jotting her notions and ideas down on the page, detailing the ritual one would need to be able to harness the legendary stones power.
The time seemed to fly by as the discarded pieces of parchment grew beside her until finally placing her writing utensil down, staring at the paper in satisfaction. Her lips parted as she blew on the page gently, watching the ink slowly dry upon its surface. It was a shot in the dark, but judging by the fact that no one else had seemingly come up with anything better, her guess was as good as any.
"It's the least I can do to apologize for earlier…" Lyra thought to herself as she rolled up the parchment, sealing it quickly with the wave of her wand. She held the scroll in her hands, looking at it intently as she felt a wave of sadness roll through her body. "Perhaps he'll be able to complete it once he leaves…I know the stone holds some sort of importance to him."
Lyra tried to ignore her melancholy, pushing the unpleasant thoughts from her mind as she stood up from the desk and made her way over towards the door, opening it softly. "What if he refuses to see me?"
Walking into the hallway towards his room, she paused at the door for a few moments before raising her hand hesitantly to knock.
"Maybe I shouldn't." She bit her lip as she retracted her hand slowly, arguing with herself. "Don't be ridiculous. He'll have plenty of time for himself when he leaves... besides-"
She shook her head in determination and raised her hand once more towards the door, gasping softly at the sight of his face staring back at her in surprise. Tom frowned as he pulled back the door gently, seemingly confused by her presence.
"Lyra?"
"I-I came to apologize for my insensitivity earlier...I didn't-"
His face relaxed, smirking at her handsomely while he ran a hand through his dark hair. "It seems our minds think too much alike. I myself was about to do the same."
"Oh."
He watched a string of emotions tug at her face and moved aside, gesturing for her to enter his room. She nodded and walked past him cautiously, her eyes skimming the small quarters.
Lyra turned to face him and shook her head. "I should have been more delicate about the issue."
Tom closed the door behind them and let out a soft laugh, motioning for her to sit on the small bed as he took a seat opposite her, next to the stack of parchments and books he had left scattered across the desk.
"There's nothing you need to be delicate about at all. You have far more to worry about than insignificant things that happened a long time ago."
"Still...As much as I appreciate your apology, I understand how it feels to-"
"My mother died the moment after she gave birth to me. I didn't even know her." Tom said softly, the expression on his face unreadable as he spoke. "My father didn't care to be part of my life, he made that...perfectly clear."
Lyra's eyes softened as he continued.
"I came to terms with these dismal facts ages ago. I hardly even think of them now. Your question was inoffensive in every sense...it just caught me-off guard. It was wrong of me to act so abrupt."
A few moments of silence passed between them and she could feel his eyes watching her hungrily, waiting for her response. His apology had caught her by surprise and she was unsure of what to say, unconvinced the words that fell from his lips.
"It hurts him I think more than he would like to admit...but now isn't the time to pry into his past. It won't matter shortly."
She felt the soft crunch of parchment under her fingertips and was quickly reminded of the notes she had painstakingly written. Lyra stood up slowly from the bed and walked towards him, her heart beating in anticipation.
"Tom-while I was alone...I needed to find something to distract myself with, as you can imagine, I don't deal well with wasting time frivolously...so I thought that perhaps I could help you..."
Raising her hand, she laid the parchment before him softly and watched as he reached for her notes, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he unfolded them and started to read. She glanced over towards the books and parchment that lay scattered across the desk and grimaced, realizing that their time together was almost at a close.
"-I mean that is if you don't know where to begin..." She trailed off, watching an unreadable expression cross his face as he devoured her writing, minutes of silence passing between them before he responded and looked up at her carefully, his eyes narrowed.
"A Magical History of South America...Legends of the Amazon...I can see he's already figured out his next destination…"
He looked up towards her, his black hair hanging handsomely around his hollowed cheeks, his dark eyes staring into hers curiously. "You did this?"
Lyra stared at parchment, averting his gaze as she quietly spoke. "Yes...it's just a guess, but I thought-"
"Why?"
His answer caught her off guard and she was unsure of how to respond at first, his reply not entirely what she had expected. A ball of anger tore through her stomach as she tried to keep her composure and spoke, colder than she had before. "Considering we almost died for it, I thought the stone might be more useful to you if you knew how to use it, instead of it sitting idly in a case, but clearly I was wrong-"
Lyra bent down to grab the papers from his hands and felt her heart beat race as his hand suddenly grabbed her own, his voice soft and quiet.
"You misunderstand me Lyra. These notes...they're extraordinary. You may have just uncovered something wizards have been trying to achieve for centuries...But what I meant was why did you do this for me?"
She felt her body relax and looked towards him, her mismatched eyes searching his, their depths full of a strange confusion that she couldn't understand.
"You're asking me why I would help you?"
He nodded and released her hand gently, watching as she sat down once more upon his bed. "I didn't need a reason. I did it because I simply wanted to."
Tom stood up from the desk and walked over towards the bed calmly, taking a seat beside her, his hand reaching for hers. "Lyra...I-"
A flush rose up in her cheeks as she felt his fingers upon hers and tried to ignore the soft burn that bloomed in her chest. Pulling her hand away from underneath his, she averted her gaze towards the floor and murmured. "Consider it a parting gift...You're leaving and I wanted to thank you for what you've done for me. I would have run into some difficulty making it this far without you. You'll still have to finish it, it's not quite complete-"
"I still have one more day." He said quietly, pulling his hand back into his own lap. "Lyra…"
"-Judging by the books and your notes, it seems you've already made up your mind on where you're going next." She interrupted him, trying to change the subject and gave him a forced smile, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"Yes."
"Why haven't you left already?" She said quietly, her eyes still focused upon the floor. "You've gotten everything you wanted, it would be silly to waste one more day, especially since you know where you're already headed-"
Tom let out a half laugh and sat up from the bed, walking over towards the desk. "-I'll decide for myself what to waste my time on."
"How perfectly vague." Lyra raised her eyebrow and let out a soft sigh. "It won't be the same once he leaves..." She grimaced as her memory took her back to when they had first met, how her suspicion and paranoia had made her second guess her decision, how his demeanor and reckless attitude had made her despise his company. But how quickly it had all changed...how his proposal to continue forth with him had made her heart ache...Lyra felt a lump form in her throat as she opened her mouth to reply, but felt relief flood through her when a small paper crane flew into the room, landing gently into her lap, interrupting what she had felt compelled to say.
Unfolding the stiff paper with her hands, it suddenly quivered and shot into the air quickly, forming a small set of lips. Sani's gruff voice could be heard as the mouth moved, his tone dark and alarmed. "Lyra, I need to see you now."
Tom watched as she stood up and gave him an apprehensive look, exiting his room quickly without a word. He glanced down at the parchment she had given him and grinned.
"Clever girl…"
"I feel hesitant to even tell you what it is I've found."
"I need to know." She hissed quietly, her voice bordering on anger.
"Some things are better left alone."
He entered the living room slowly, both of their voices a low murmur until Sani came to a stop, watching Tom take his place behind Lyra, placing his hand gently upon her shoulder.
"Young man, this is a private matter." Sani said in annoyance, his salt and pepper hair falling into his face as he shook his head.
"Sani…no." Lyra held her hand up calmly. "Anything you can tell me, you can tell Tom-I trust him." She motioned to the seat next to her, beckoning him to sit.
The old man gave her a disapproving look and sat back in his chair, staring at the both of them.
"So you were able to understand it." She leaned towards him, her voice shaking with excitement.
Sani looked at her in dismay and stood up, shaking his head. "Some of it, not all."
"Well then?"
He walked over slowly towards the liquor cabinet and waved his hand, waiting as a large brown bottle flew out of the cabinet and over towards the table, followed by three small glasses. He murmured softly as he made his way back over towards them, his expression fraught with concern,
"I'm afraid I need courage of a different kind to disclose the things that I read. You both might want to do the same."
"I'm fine." Lyra watched him carefully as he poured himself a drink, taking a deep sip before he spoke once more.
"Where did you say you purchased this book?" Sani asked her suspiciously, looking at it as though it were made of poison.
"A small bookstore in Salem...why is it you ask?"
"It is full of dark things...very dark and malicious things indeed." He took the glasses from off his nose and rubbed his eyes. "This book does not belong among shelves with other pieces of literature, it belongs locked away under the watchful eye of MACUSA, buried so deep below the ground that no one else could ever find it. I'm appalled that something as dangerous as this was carelessly placed somewhere where a child-"
"Why do you say that?" Lyra asked him quietly, her voice shaking in trepidation.
"How do I explain-My dear, that is no book. It is not a literary work of art, nor a chronicled account of history-"
"I don't understand."
"It is a book of shadows...and a damned wicked one at that."
"A book of shadows…" Tom murmured quietly as he recognized the term. Long ago, before witches and wizards had formed communities or schools for their youth, they had been solely dependent on their own spells and kept a book that had been handed down from generation to generation for their own family to use and educate their own families from. The modernization of the magical community in recent centuries had since dispersed the need for any such book, standard spells were made available for public knowledge, potions were broadly documented and published and the dark arts had been reduced to nothing more than a hushed whisper, forbidden from being practiced in most law abiding communities. The need for them had been extinguished.
"The fact alone that this book has survived-" Sani took a sip once more and shook his head. "A text this old should not exist, let alone have remained in such an unadulterated condition…"
"What was written within the pages? The language-"
"Language indeed!" Sani interrupted her. "More of a set of stolen and scrambled words and phrases in multiple Native languages that were strung together so incoherently…" He closed his eyes and paused for a moment before continuing. "This book was not written to be referenced. It was written with the intention of only one person ever understanding it, the original author. I could translate a few pages of the book, but it took me almost the whole day-and still it mostly remains guesswork at best."
"And what was translated?" Lyra quickly cut him off, her eyes looking towards the pages of parchment at his side hungrily.
Sani grimaced, his voice growing dark. "Numerous abominations to magic. A ritual of regeneration, made from blood, bones and a few more gruesome items that I don't care to repeat. A vile potion using the blood of a newborn babe-spells that would cause more pain than any of the forbidden curses combined...This book is nothing but the musings of a depraved and malevolent soul. I would immediately destroy it if it could-"
"You tried to get rid of it?" Lyra hissed at him, angry that he had almost ruined the only clue she had.
"See for yourself." Sani said gruffly as he separated his notes from alongside the book and quickly tossed it into the roaring fireplace besides them.
"No-" Lyra jumped up and looked towards the fire, her head tilting in confusion at the book, the flames having no effect against its pages.
"It will not burn-" Sani waved his hand towards the book and waited patiently as it flew out from the embers, landing perfectly unharmed in front of him. "-it will not tear, it will not take any kind of damage to its form."
"How is that possible?" She asked breathlessly, staring at the book in disbelief.
"Bewitched I would think...or perhaps something far worse-I don't know." Sani leaned back into the couch.
Tom narrowed his eyes at the book, his mind racing. "Interesting…"
"It doesn't surprise me." Sani said, peering at the book once more. "After all the bindings and cover are equally as grisly as it's contents."
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up at his last phrase, unsure of what he meant. "Grisly?"
She spoke, her voice skeptic. "I hardly see how aged leather could be as ominous-"
"The leather in question is not from a beast Lyra."
She looked towards him sharply, her insides knotting and twisting. "You don't mean-"
"I do. The cover on that book is made from the skin of a hu-"
"Enough!" Lyra stood up quickly, covering her hand over her mouth in revulsion and walked over towards the wall behind her, placing a hand against it to steady herself as she tried to ease the churning nausea that rose in her stomach.
Tom remained silent for a moment, his mind transfixed on what the old man had translated. "Regeneration?..." It was something he had never considered or thought possible, yet there it was before him, another had already done the work he thought he would need to pursue himself.
His thoughts were broken at the sight of Lyra rushing from her chair in disgust, trying to regain her composure. He spoke quietly and tried to ease the tension in the room.
"Do you have any idea where this book might have come from?"
Sani frowned and shook his head. "I'm afraid I have no idea. The mixture of languages is bizarre. Some of these dialects aren't even from this part of the country, let alone used anymore. It's anyone's guess as to the authors place of origin. It was done this way on purpose I believe."
The old wizard sighed and looked towards Lyra once more, her face starting to return to it's rosy color. "Lyra. I need to ask why this book is so important to you. All of this concerns me greatly."
Lyra closed her eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before returning to her chair. She reached over towards the brown bottle Sani had placed upon the table, pouring herself a small amount of firewhiskey and drank from it deeply, her fingers turning white as she gripped the glass.
"There's a reason I haven't come to see you for two years-There's a reason I had to leave my job at MACUSA-" She continued to sip from the glass slowly as she stared off into the fire, her eyes distant and forlorn. "-and there's a reason why I needed to know what was inside that book"
Tom noticed her face, fraught with hesitation and he leaned over towards her, slowly taking the glass from her hand, placing it down on the table before them. He rested a hand on her shoulder reassuringly and gave it soft squeeze.
"Lyra. Tell him. It's what you came here for."
She pursed her lips at his words and looked at Sani, an apprehensive look in her mismatched eyes as if she was wondering how to begin.
"You see, I haven't been myself in awhile...due to unseen factors I can no longer control...and I was hoping you might be able to give me some insight."
"Unseen factors? Speak plainly girl, what are you trying to say?"
Lyra frowned and waved her hand, waiting as a few scraps of paper flew out from within her room up the hall and landed into her open hand. "It seems that there's something that resides within me-for how long it's existed I don't know….but now it's awake. I thought I could control it at first, I didn't want to believe-" She closed her eyes for a moment and continued. "It's getting worse. I do...things-things that are far worse than you could imagine, and there's nothing I can do to stop it anymore."
She placed the newspaper clippings on the table before him and leaned back in her chair. Her mouth pulled into a tight grimace as his eyes skimmed the headlines.
"STRANGE DISAPPEARANCES IN MULTIPLE CITIES."
"REOCCURING NO-MAJ DEATHS A MYSTERY, WENDIGO OR WIZARD?"
Sani looked up at her darkly, his eyes full of concern. "The newspaper is always making up all kinds of ridiculous stories...they must have had a few slow news days that's all." He tried to dismiss it with his hand as she shook her head and spoke firmly.
"These stories aren't fabricated."
"You mean to tell me-"
"Yes."
"Lyra, I don't understand-"
"Perhaps it'll be easier if you start from the beginning." Tom interjected softly as he looked towards her, urging her to speak.
Sorry I'm so behind on updates! I literally rewrote this chapter twice and had a hard time ending it, nothing felt quite right. Lots to unpack here, so we'll start at the beginning. In the books we know that Voldemort was the only wizard capable of unsupported flight (besides Snape who he shared that knowledge with at some point) and the Horned Serpents gem was rumored to have powers of flight so I decided to have it play a huge part in the story. Of course Lyra came up with the theory, we'll have to see in the future of it holds any weight after Tom's done tinkering with it. (Lyra isn't a parselmouth so the incantations are beyond her comprehension.)
We know from various points in the original books that Voldemort did let certain people know tidbits about his past, (I personally think he picked and chose who to tell what to, I don't think his followers discussed much of what he told them due to their arrogance, I would assume they would be rather snide about the information, considering themselves perhaps special that he would entrust his secrets to them and would keep his secrets under lock and key, not only for their own personal pride but also slightly out of a subconscious fear of his wrath, should they betray his trust.), using it to give himself a way to win them over, giving them a way to feel as if he could relate and empathize with them, that their challenges were also his. (ie: Barty Crouch JR who he appealed to I think because they both had terrible fathers.) I don't think it would be OOC for him to try this same method with Lyra because they both parallel each other in certain ways. Her weaknesses, her vulnerabilities are his gain and Tom does nothing better than manipulate and exploit others.
Onto the book now, which is definitely something out of a horror movie (yikes.) It's gruesome, it's disgusting and not at all what anyone was expecting. Although Tom seems to be quite enamored with it ;) . To me it would make sense that ancient wizards would keep personal private spell books before the modern age and whoever owned this one definitely wasn't a person you'd want to run into on a bad day. Let's hope that Sani has some answers for her and that he is truly trustworthy instead of repulsed by her actions, he's already wary of the person she's grown to be.
Anyway thank you to all the new followers who added the story, it's a real motivator. I checked the stats recently and I was truly blown away by the amount of people who are reading the story, did NOT expect this story to be getting well over a couple hundred reads a day or get into the thousands with visits. So even if you don't review (although I always look forward to responses or feedback), I just want to say thank you! To all my new guys, please remember to add this story to your favorites, follow & review!
KiraCalico- thank you for the review and your wonderful compliment on the story's background construction. I always knew where I wanted this to go, I mapped out my story before writing, a few things have changed BUT any and all loose ends will be tied up in the next few remaining chapters.
Hopefully I'll be able to update again in a week or so, life has been crazy so please bear with me if the updates take a little longer than a week. These last chapters are going to be packed with all kinds of fun stuff and I don't want anything to be left out! :3