A/N: First, and foremost, I want to say thank you for the feedback I've received on the prologue so far. :) I'm excited for what this story might possibly unfold in the future too. And I can only hope we can all keep enjoying CC and Lelouch's journey as they go along.
And once again, my blanket disclaimer from the Prologue still stands. [More author's notes at the very end].
Chapter 1: The Assassins' Plight
Pendragon, Autumn of 1787
Lelouch stalked through the halls of the Assassins' Manor, dressed in naught but his nightshirt and a robe as lavish as CC's. Worse things had happened within the overtly covert fortress, and he knew full well that a meeting at the ungodly hour of two o' clock in the morning wasn't a big deal, but damn it, he was actually enjoying his slumber for once.
Well, the universe did have fanciful ways of biting you in the butt…
The other members of Arobynn's own small council were already present when he had arrived. Their faces ranged from boredom to complete annoyance at being kept waiting. Lelouch hid a smug smirk at their expressions.
Served them right for waking him up…
CC was damn lucky she was away on a dispatch mission, because he knew she would have complained vocally because of this.
And because he was feeling particularly peckish, Lelouch dragged his chair to the table before sitting on it, the scrape of wooden legs against rough hewn stone enough to agitate the other older members of the council.
Arobynn sat at the head of the table — as always, fingers forming a steeple beneath his chin. He would look unnervingly calculating to some as the tension in the chilly room gradually thickened. Thank god one of the older assassins, Todoh, bothered to set fire to the hearth.
"It's practically two in the morning." The seventeen-year old grumbled under his breath, barely suppressing a yawn.
Another man older than Lelouch, Asahina, turned to him with the fire light flashing in his eyes. "If you hadn't been up reading all night, you wouldn't be so exhausted." He snapped irritably.
Lelouch was gracious enough to ignore him this time, and instead resorted to studying the other men gathered around the table. There were seven members of the Master's small council (including him and CC). They were all male, except for CC, of course, and they were far older than the both of them. And from the lined and severe looks on their faces, Lelouch felt a chill that had nothing to do with the predawn Autumn race down his spine.
Face carefully set on neutral, he mentally braced himself for when the Master would speak. From the moment a servant girl knocked on his door to rouse him awake and tell him of this, Lelouch had known that the meeting was going to be important.
You don't exactly come knocking at someone's door at 2AM unless it was an absolute emergency.
Lelouch just hoped it had nothing to do with any of his friends away on missions — especially CC who had been deployed to a mission in the heart of Pendragon to seek out a Templar politician and his group of unruly activists.
"CC's been caught." And there it went when he thought and hoped too soon. Arobynn's face was grave when he finally broke the news. "The Templars were clever, and they've sold her to the Emperor as the one responsible for most of the deaths that occurred in Pendragon this year. She's in the Imperial dungeons."
Concealing his concern, Lelouch bit back the urge to lash out emotionally at these group of men. Another glance at the Master of Pendragon's Guild briefly clued Lelouch in on what Arobynn could be feeling.
Time and time again, the Master had deemed CC as a worthy investment (as if she were nothing more than one of his prized possessions, and in retrospect, she probably was), and losing one of the most valuable of his belongings didn't sit well with Arobynn. And had it been any other assassin from within the Guild, the situation would have been resolved swiftly — no need to call for council meetings at all. To do this meant that they were going to decide CC's fate.
Was it going to be death or a risky rescue operation?
"The Imperial dungeons, eh?" Tamaki, Lelouch's least favorite Guild member quirked an eyebrow at this new piece of information. "Well, she's not going anywhere, that's for sure." The assassin fixed his eyes on Lelouch as he leaned back on his chair, folded his arms across his chest, and spoke the next words that made Lelouch's blood boil. "Kill her."
"If that's all there is to it, then this meeting is nothing but a farce." Lelouch snarled.
Asahina spoke up and retorted calmly, as if he were speaking to a mentally challenged individual. "The protocol is simple. Send an apprentice to slip something into her prison food. No pain. Just a quiet and mostly peaceful passing. It'd be best to silence her now before she's forced to talk."
Lelouch knew Asahina never liked him or CC. From the moment they had gotten it into their heads to feed his mare candy when they were ten years old, Asahina had been swift to throw a knife at them — looking to hit any of the two. It had been CC who had snatched the flying projectile out of thin air and had hurled it back at the aggressor, slicing his right cheekbone open. And at this very moment, Lelouch was sorely tempted to lash out. If Asahina didn't shut up about killing his friend to silence her, he swore the dagger he had carefully hidden within the folds of his robe's airy sleeves would find a new home in his stupid mouth.
To everyone's credit, the other men seemed to stiffen at Asahina's and Tamaki's bold suggestion, and the dark aura emanating from Lelouch's glower. Every male who resided within the manor knew how much CC mattered to Arobynn and his puffed up pride, despite the insolence he and CC had committed this Summer.
And come to think of it, perhaps rendering Asahina mute would be fitting. That would be ample payback for restraining him two months ago as Arobynn forced Lelouch to watch while he beat CC unconscious because of a lost and failed investment they had both cost him.
He could vaguely recall himself screaming all sorts of profanities then. And the exclamations of mutiny that spilled from his mouth didn't go unpunished either. Arobynn had locked him in the manor's black cells and gave him two hundred lashes on the back for a month (fifty lashes each week).
The polite and mild-mannered assassin, Li Xingke spoke quietly, wary of how their Master would take his suggestions. "To be fair, CC did violate the third tenet of the Creed." The room seemed to still. "In getting caught, she compromises the secrecy of the Assassin Brotherhood."
"And we have no way of knowing if her actions led to breaching the first and second tenet either." Tohdoh pointed out.
All this for a stupid Creed they were forced to uphold.
Lelouch could hear the Master sighing through his nose — a sign of reluctant permission to carry out an order Lelouch dreaded. So before the verdict could be passed, the seventeen-year old shot to his feet, cold amethyst eyes reflecting the fire burning several feet away from the ornate long table.
Staring Arobynn down with defiance unbecoming of his current station, Lelouch barely recognized his own voice as he spoke. "Before you forget, this Guild hasn't recovered from this late Spring's mishap with the Templars from the green hinterlands. And while five assassins may be expendable to you, CC doesn't fall under that label!"
Seething, he forced his fists to clench if only to keep himself from pulling out a dagger to murder Arobynn. He wouldn't leave this room alive if he did.
"And for the sake of what we call a brotherhood," Lelouch nearly spat in rage, "CC's life matters because she is an apprentice directly under you. Do you hold absolutely no regard for any of your men? Her prowess in the battlefield is yet to be matched"
The Master's eyes were blank hard chips of cement gray as he stared the boy down — as if he were no more than a fly. "That so-called prowess does not make for much when she easily fell victim to a trap she could have evaded." He continued in an eerily calm voice that only fanned the roaring flames of Lelouch's wrath. "And after your actions have cost me dearly this Summer, the both of you have yourselves to blame for provoking me to rethink your value as my apprentices and this Guild's assassins."
Lelouch had no desire to resurrect an argument that was on the verge of dying, but he definitely wasn't going to sit on his ass waiting around for something that wasn't likely to happen. They were practically in favor of killing her. His best friend.
Growling, Lelouch's glare only intensified as he struck his bargain.
"Alone, it's near impossible to salvage a prisoner from the Imperial dungeons. But let me do it. Let me retrieve CC, and if I fail, let that be the end of me. I won't come out alive anyway."
There was a brief moment of silence that festered across the men. Lelouch took that for a good sign, because that means everybody — including their so-called Master — was weighing the pros and cons of this ridiculous bargain. Even Lelouch knew he had more to lose than to gain from this seemingly foolhardy task he had set for himself.
But then again, he was not Pendragon's most notorious and conniving assassin for nothing…
"You're a naive boy who's after a foolish errand that will do you more harm than good." Arobynn finally spoke. And when that feral grin stretched across his mouth, Lelouch knew he had won this gambling round. "But I suppose nothing else would be a more fitting lesson for insolent children such as yourselves."
Later, when Lelouch stepped out of the manor to make good on his promise, not a single secret killer stood in his path.
vVvVv
3 Days Later…
After spending hours on end, sleeping and practically living in a musty cell with manacles on her wrists and ankles, CC wasn't surprised when an Imperial guard roughly ushered her out of her holding cell into the ridiculously bright hallways of the Imperial Palace.
She'd wager enough of her hard earned money that she was about to be taken before the Emperor and his court, so a confession could be wrung out of her.
"So, where are am I headed?" She asked nonchalantly, stealing a few glances at the man with his blue hair and ridiculously lavish cape.
He stood to her left. There were two guards to her right — all heavily armed, and there were three stalking behind her with their spears and thin lightweight swords strapped to their hips. It was quite an entourage, if she would say so herself. If she wasn't a deadly assassin, she would have found this fearsome. But in her books, it was actually quite flattering.
Six heavily armed men to try to keep her in line…
Though she was bone weary, CC couldn't help but smirk haughtily, lifting her chin just a little higher at the thought.
"This may surprise you, but I'm still a lady no matter how undignified I look right now." If her wrists weren't chained, she would have flipped her lovely hair.
The other guards were disciplined enough to ignore her preening, but the man to her left — their Captain, she assumed — acknowledged her the tiniest bit by giving her a sidelong glance. She would have goaded them some more had they not arrived before a set of giant wooden doors whose carvings were inlaid with gold.
After two polite knocks, and a mild mannered call to enter, they brought her in. And the sight from within this equally extravagant study tickled her curiosity so much, she didn't speak a word to ruin her chances. Let the Prince do most of the talking.
She was acquainted briefly with Schneizel el Britannia before — about a year ago, during one of her undercover missions to aristocratic soirees. The Prince eyed her carefully and gave her a tender smile, one that was quite ill-fitting for this situation.
"Who would've thought that the lovely young lady I had the pleasure of meeting so many months ago would be one of Pendragon's fiercest assassins?"
So he remembered her, after all…
There was a hint of hidden laughter in his pale gray eyes, and CC resisted the urge to flinch. Coming from somebody else, the word fierce used to make her proud. But for some unknown reason, when Schneizel said it, it sounded more like he was mocking her; not even taking her seriously.
Couldn't they just get to the point?
Resisting the urge to snarl, CC schooled herself to keep a leveled temper. "To what do I owe this honor, Your Highness?"
"You're quite mild-mannered." Schneizel complimented, eyeing her carefully as a muscled twitched in her jaw. "A far cry from what my adviser has told me."
Her annoyance was his twisted sort of pleasure, it seemed. She watched as the First Prince of Britannia flashed her a stunning smile, one that reeked of court-trained charm. In her defense, she wasn't above using the same tactic to mentally disarm an opponent before a fight, but charm only went as far as a person's gullibility. It was useless at times, and only ever truly worked if you were as naturally gifted with mind-numbing charisma like Lelouch. Honestly, that boy's sweet words worked on almost everyone. Almost. (They never worked on her — or so she'd like to think).
"I'm pleased your adviser gave you such a lasting impression of me." The sarcasm in her remark didn't go unnoticed. And a quick glance at the Captain of the Guard revealed that he was irked that such a lowly citizen such as herself would even dare talk down on Britannia's most-loved Prime Minister.
Schneizel's short burst of amused laughter made everyone nigh uncomfortable, but CC only snorted.
"I believe we are overdue for short introductions. I am Schneizel el Britannia, his majesty's humble son and daring enough to ensure His Grace's ambitions reach fruition."
So he was an Imperial lap dog, basically. How quaint…
"And you are simply CC — as you prefer to be called. One of Pendragon's — perhaps even the world's — greatest assassins. The Witch to the Warlock of Britannia." The Prince didn't even dare mask the faux reverence he had for that title.
To be fair, neither CC and Lelouch nor the Assassins' Guild came up with the name. If anything, it was almost a taboo term — shared and whispered among courtesans, harlots, merchants, mercenaries, and every other citizen within the walls of the Crown City.
The Assassins and the Templars were two secretly overt organizations cloaked in the normalcy of society. There were some who would even hazard a guess that the world's greatest events were triggered by either of the two factions (and they would be partly right). And because of that hushed notoriety, it couldn't be helped when certain identities would rise in prominence above the rest.
Hushed murmurs of Lelouch's popularity as an assassin began when he was fourteen. Report of a powerful Britannian noble known for his sleazy investments using citizens' tax money was found dead in his bedchamber by one of his man servants. The blame would have passed to someone else, but Lelouch had left a tell tale wound on the noble's left palm. A symbol — a phonetic letter — carved into the supple flesh with a dagger.
The arrogant boy did it for every dispatch mission afterwards, and even she had been surprised that Arobynn didn't discourage the behavior. It was a mark. It was Lelouch leaving one bread crumb for the world to find and puzzle over.
Every dispatch mission of his built a brand around a quick and clean stab through the heart followed by that symbol he would carve into their skin. And because the morbid representation resembled an ancient hieroglyphic image for the word 'warlock' in the old tongue, itwas what the elderly citizens began to call him, and it stuck.
CC's popularity, on the other hand, rose because of her biological gender. A female assassin with long hair tied in a delicate braid and wrapped thoroughly in ribbons of black silk.
"So, an assassin." Schneizel continued his conversational tone; as if they were discussing cake ingredients over afternoon tea. "A life of working in the shadows to serve the light." No, she didn't like the way he paraphrased that part of an Initiate's oath to the Brotherhood, either. But Schneizel either didn't notice she was peeved or he was deliberately goading her. "You will have to forgive my brashness, CC. But your chosen occupation makes me wonder. Do the scars in your body disappear back into the skin, or do they mark you for life?"
Eyebrows disappearing behind their bangs, her demeanor quickly shifted from bewilderment to impossibly mischievous. CC simply shrugged, testing how far the Prince would go. She had no idea why he asked about her scars, but he had a reason — obviously. You didn't exactly go around asking about these obscure things unless you had intentions involving them.
Schneizel appeared thoughtful before he gestured for the guards — other than the Captain — to leave, or wait outside the door. That was a bad idea. The peons followed without question, and when the door shut behind the last of them, Schneizel addressed her again.
"Turn around. I need to see your back."
CC frowned, but she obeyed. Through her peripheral vision, she watched as Schneizel squinted at what he could make out of her back through the torn scraps of her shirt. He must be having a hard time, considering the minimal amount of the light the chandelier above provided. It was evening apparently. (Yes, she just realized).
Schneizel moved and slowly circled her, stepping within strangling distance. He was practically begging for death if he was blatantly disregarding his safety like this.
"I suppose the scars can't be helped. You've led a life of a vigilante so far. What more could I have expected?" His sigh was almost melancholic. "I suppose we'll just have my brother Clovis' team of designers to tailor dresses for you."
The frown already marring CC's face deepened. "Dresses?" She cocked an eyebrow a him as she tried to ignore the way Schneizel was scrutinizing her; like she was some bug stuck in a jar.
His gray eyes scanned her face, and CC caught sight of the Captain of the Guard reaching for the sword strapped to his belt. She mentally applauded the man's line of thinking. Because the Prince really was in danger. She had half-a-mind to wrap these chains around his neck and crush his windpipe within seconds. But CC wasn't stupid, and she wasn't about to dig herself into deeper piles of manure that she was already swimming in — both figuratively and literally (the black cells were teeming with the atrocious stuff).
"Such livid eyes and a hateful face!"
She'd had enough. Anymore dallying, and she'd really follow through in her unbecoming plans. Her self-control was at an all-time low at the moment, and her temper was in danger of falling off of the edge of a cliff. If Schneizel truly recognized what she was capable of, he'd know to stop playing wordy cat-and-mouse games with her.
"I demand to know—" She barely took a step forward when a near bone-dislocating force yanked her back.
"You do not touch his royal Highness." He seethed, baring his teeth at her in a threatening manner. It didn't faze her; just piled on to her annoyance some more.
Stumbling, CC took a moment to glower at the Captain. "I wasn't going to kill him, you jackass!"
"Watch your mouth, before I'll have you shipped off to the mines!"
Her annoyance melted into a sly smile that irked just about anyone — especially Lelouch. "Oh, I don't think you'd dream of doing that."
"And what makes you say so?" The Captain narrowed his eyes at her, inwardly begrudging the fact that the girl was actually right.
Schneizel's amused face did them no favors as he leisurely strode to his waiting chair behind the study desk. When he was seated again behind the barrier of his desk like some coward, she tilted her chin upwards just the tiniest bit as she spoke.
"Because there's something that you want from me. And you want it badly enough to release me momentarily from my cell. I may have been foolish enough to commit the mistake of walking into a trap, but I'm not an idiot. Obviously, this is some sort of secret business. Otherwise, you would have brought me before the entire Britannian court to face judgment from the Emperor himself." The mirth glimmering in Schneizel's eyes matched the dangerous glint coming off of hers. "And because you summoned me here in the dead of night, then I believe I have the right to demand to know why. What do you want from me, since I'm obviously not destined for the gallows?"
"I have a proposition for you." Schneizel explained.
And at his words, CC could feel her chest tighten. Surely whatever proposition a Prince of Britannia could offer would be as good as gold. Who knows, it might even be enough to pay off the debts Arobynn forced on her as she grew up? And if it wasn't going to be money, then it would have had to do something with freedom in exchange for a favor. And the heavens knew how much CC had been longing for the taste of freedom for years.
CC cocked an eyebrow, her entire demeanor changing into a well-behaved and proper young lady — despite the grime and the dirt. "I'm listening."
vVvVv
The morning that followed the explosive argument in the Assassins' Lair brought Lelouch stalking through the heart of the city under the disguise of a stable boy taking the time to stroll in between his working shifts. On a normal day, he would have dressed properly, but during those moments, his thoughts were focused solely on CC. And for once, even his plans for overthrowing the Emperor of Britannia were at a standstill until he retrieved his irritating friend who had gotten herself in trouble. (Not that she had a choice).
Within his three day period of watching and biding his opportunity, the Warlock of Britannia had bribed his way for decent information, and stalked the edges of the palace walls' outer gate, watching the guards as they switched shifts thrice a day — dawn, noon, and evening. Scaling the tops of noblemen's houses and the edges of the outer gates taught him which entrances and exits to conveniently take. He had found his main path to the dungeons on the second day of scouting thanks to a milkmaid telling him the way when he had gone undercover. He had lied about bringing a message to the jail warden then.
Three days had been more than enough time to properly prepare. A simple-minded and impatient fool would have grabbed at a cheap chance to commence the retrieval operation, but Lelouch knew where he stood. He was going to be alone with no backup and had a slim chance of surviving the fatal consequences if he was caught. Only one shot, and he had to do it right. He could only pray that CC hold on just a little longer and not be too mad at him for taking extra measures to make sure all the conditions were cleared.
Thus, after much planning and stalking, Lelouch finally found himself waiting and wandering close to the outer palace walls at twilight. Dressed in the sleek form-fitting gear he reserved for high-profile missions, the assassin waited in the shadows between the outer keep and the outer gate. Darkness eventually settled, torches were lit, and as the guard atop the first lower parapet turned his back to let the night watch do their jobs, Lelouch slipped past.
His fingers easily found purchase in the minute crevices in the walls that he had studied yesterday. In less than a minute, he had landed soundlessly back on the ground, careful to disturb the scattered straws of hay at his feet. But then again, the guards in these parts of the castle were far too complacent. They hadn't seen war in the homeland yet, so they were as lax as training dummies.
It was almost a joke; the way he slipped like wind past them all. Even the brightly lit torches failed to illuminate his presence when he finally made it within the inner walls, past the training grounds where the Crown's squires and pages practiced during the day, and finally into the first floor of the dungeon — where most of the jail guards' quarters were, and where the warden spent most of his day time hours.
The second floor prison cells were for petty criminals waiting trial before the Emperor's court. If found guilty, they would be either shipped off to Euro-Britannia to serve out their lives in prison or the mines in the far east — in Britannia's newest colony.
The last prison floor, however, was for the sole purpose of containing the Crown's enemies, rebels, and other dangerous people that posed a threat to the royal family's well-being. At the thought of the royal family and CC being strapped down on one of those infamous cells, Lelouch could feel the bile stirring in his gut.
How was she? The moment they leave this place, he wasn't going to take her anywhere near the manor. His hidden apartment in the city would be sufficient enough to house her and keep her safe as she healed from yet another set of injuries. Even the servants he had encountered and spoken to casually the days before tonight knew and speculated about the horrors that went on in the Black Cells. Perhaps the most exaggerated, but not entirely impossible, of stories was the dismemberment of certain body parts to wring a confession out of the prisoners.
Lelouch conveniently skipped the the second tier prison, because, in all truth, it would only house the common robber, the thief, or somebody cheating a noble at gambling. No, CC's failed mission spoke volumes on the crime she would commit. It was murder. They had to have housed her in the Black Cells.
Inaudibly, he made his way through the narrow stone stairs so weathered he would have slipped if he weren't agile. The passageway opened up into a hall of decent size but lit with only two torches. The lights were also situated far enough from the actual cells that it left the rest of the room cloaked in pitch black.
There was a myriad assortment of smells too; ranging from iron to a more pungent combination of smells. He was wearing a thick black mask across his nose and mouth, but even he wouldn't lie and say the stench was absolutely overpowering. It made plenty of sense for the Black Cells to be in this condition — give as much discomfort to its heinous prisoners.
But to think of CC somewhere in here…
Not even bothering to calm the thundering beat of his racing heart, Lelouch made quick work of the first few cells he could shine a light on. They weren't empty. There were darker smudges along the floor, rats, cockroaches, and clumps of dirty hay all over the cells. There was even one where a bucket of human filth was collecting flies and maggots. And of course there would be human bones in here.
From one cell to the next, each sight more stomach-turning than the last, but he couldn't find her…
Part of his mind drifted to the useless bone remains of a human being in one of the cells, but that couldn't be her.
She'd only been here for a few days. She couldn't have decayed that quickly if they killed her.
Unless they used a solvent powerful enough to rid the bones of her flesh. Unless they were mindful enough to pick her out clean after they killed her.
Unless they burned her alive…
Eyes wide with panic, Lelouch genuinely felt himself sway on the spot. And for a brief moment, he considered surrendering himself to Britannia's own disgusting brand of justice just to die. Because he had failed her…
There was a long moment of silence in his own mind, where he could have sworn he just literally shut down.
But no. When he came to his proper senses again, Lelouch only realized he had been staring off into the stone ceiling lined with cobwebs for maybe a minute or two — like a lack-wit. In the brief expanse of a mental breakdown, his mind had worked to conjure the most heinous manners of death.
But shouldn't she have a trial first?
Britannia's justice was rotten, but even so, they liked to make spectacles of themselves before the public, proclaiming that they were right and good. It doesn't matter if the masses were being cheated or if people were being forced into slavery or discriminated and oppressed. Britannia was always right — would always be superior. Britannia will always strut around masquerading as an angel of light when her rulers were the source of darkness.
It wouldn't be impossible to deem CC guilty and leave her for dead…
But then again…
Regaining himself for a moment, Lelouch closed his eyes and focused on inwardly stepping back from the clutter of his muddled mind. Objective reasoning was what he needed right now.
They could also have had her sent to Europia, or the Far East.
But first thing's first… He needed an assurance that she was alive.
And since he couldn't very well stride into the Palace Court and demand for his answers, he realized he would have to play detective for a while.
That meant returning to the sight of her last mission and seeking out the men who had captured and sold her to the Emperor.
Objectively speaking, there is a possibility of her being dead at this very moment. But when looking into things wisely, he really had nothing to lose if he sought her out anyway. CC's death was the failure of his self-imposed mission, and going back to Arobynn empty-handed with words of a failed operation (especially if said operation wasn't even official, and was one simply made for the sake of proving a point) could only entail something far worse.
So he could either presume she was dead, mourn for her, move on, and consequently ignore the other possibility of her being still alive. Or he could work quickly to uncover the truth now, so the perpetrators could pay for the death of his dear friend.
Two options…
And because Lelouch never really was one for accepting something unless he had all the proof in his hands. Dead or alive, he was going to find her.
It was time to pay Chief Templar Ruther Stadtfeld a visit…
A/N: So... Kallen's father's name. It's never mentioned in Code Geass. I had to make one up.
Review replies:
Shiranai Atsune: Thank you! I'm glad that you think so. I'll work hard to make sure it's as interesting for me and for everyone until the end.
Patjeeson: Yes, Lelouch was seven when Arobynn found him. He and CC are the same age.
FataLInfluence0: Haha! I was actually going to follow through with this story wondering if anyone would recognize Sarah J Maas and her ingenious characters. And you won't believe how thrilled I was when I read your review. I love Throne of Glass too. It's a masterpiece! *0* And yes, you can rest assured that Lelouch won't be like Sam at all. He'll be fine. ;)
Also, side note: I honestly didn't want Arobynn Hamel anywhere in here, but for the life of me, I couldn't think of a single Code Geass character who would perfectly fit Arobynn's characteristics, and the role he plays in CC's and Lelouch's life. But anyways...
A large THANK YOU to everyone who put this story on alert and for leaving reviews.
As always, chapter 2 will be up when it's ready. See you~