I guess I threw a few people for a loop last chapter hopefully this chapter will clear some mysteries up a bit.
A Dragon's Heart – Chapter 28
The man gave him a dazed look "Of course, we are all clones. The king is far too busy to take care of everything by himself. Who else can you trust but yourself?"
Clones.
The king had freakin' clones at his disposal. What the hell did that mean for them?
Natsume's mind was immediately brought back to the story Ji-chan told them about the death of Mikan's father. The old man had said that there was something not right about the fight. This clone had probably poisoned or crippled Izumi in some way so he was too weak to fight the other clone. And then there was the part where Ji-chan had said he was sure that he had killed him by sweeping him into the ocean and drowning him. Obviously the clone had died, while the king waited like a coward back at the estate.
Off to the side he heard his uncle call him. "Natsume." He whispered harshly. "You said there was a man who looked just like me at the estate. Could that have been another clone? Although I don't know how I could be cloned without my knowing it."
Crap, Persona! Why didn't he think of that? And the Goshima kid that the bear said smelled funny. Things were all starting to make so much more sense. They were all spies for the king. More they were totally trustworthy because they were a part of the king. He wondered how strong their connection to the king was. Was it like the bond he and Mikan shared or was it telepathic like with Aoi and Luka? Could the king see and know everything the clones knew? Gods, what did he say around that Goshima kid? Or Persona for that matter?
Narumi shook his head answering his uncle's question. "I don't think it was you that was cloned. He said 'who can you trust but yourself' which would suggest they all come from the king."
"But why would he go through all of this trouble if he had a bunch of clones at his disposal? Why bother hiding them at all?" Natsume speculated more to himself than the others. For all he knew, his grandfather could have an army of clones so why hide such a force? "Mikan, just what is Misaki's power like?"
His mate blinked at him in surprise. "Actually, it is almost nothing like this. It was just something about what he said about all being a part of the king that made me think of her and her power. But the copies she makes are nothing like this. There is a limit to how long they last and how many she can make. The more she makes, the harder it is on her, and the shorter the time they last. And no matter how long they last, they are still just an extension of her. This ability is more like cellular division where he is creating a whole independent being that lives on its own."
Natsume gave her an odd look at her explanation. "We need to know more about how this works, what they are doing, and how many clones we are dealing with. Making a clone might be harder than we are thinking." He gave a nod to the incubus to indicate he should continue his questioning.
Narumi turned his charm back up to maximum and looked at the prisoner who was not looking so good. "Are you sure you are a clone? You look far too special to be a clone. I honestly can't even imagine how the king even makes a clone!" he gushed exuberantly and his victim gave another drunken smile. He looked pleased beyond belief that he was able to impress Narumi and he was more than happy to continue to explaining.
"He is not actually trying to make us, he is really trying to stay young." The clone said in an excited voice. The smile briefly dropped off Narumi's face leaving one of horror before it was quickly replaced. Fortunately the clone missed it.
"Young?" he asked in a slightly higher pitched voice. The clone's head nodded eagerly, but in his current state, he looked more like one of those bobble head toys.
"When a clone is made he takes half of the years of the original."
"Half the years of the original?" Serio parroted voicing the confusion of the others. "So if the king was ninety years old, that would mean… ?" he trailed off.
"There would be a king and a clone that are both forty-five years old?" Natsume speculated, and Narumi took his cue to question the prisoner.
"So when he creates a clone, are he and the clone he makes are half the age he was originally?" Again the clone gave his bobble head nod. "So then how old is the king?"
"I think he is around six hundred and eighty. He has started to lose count."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, did he just say HE has lost count? Does that mean that the king knows everything the clones know and vice-versa?" Natsume asked frantically. That would be worse than a telepathic bond. Did that connection work both ways? That would mean that the king was already aware of them capturing his clone. Shit! If that Goshima kid was a clone in disguise, he could already know about the evacuation even with him unconscious! And depending on how well this clone was spying on them, he may already know about Mikan's stealing alice.
In the background he heard Narumi carefully fashioning his question. Natsume still did not like the incubus, but he had to respect the man's talent. By just adding the tiniest dose of flattery the clone was willing to spill his guts to him. "The king knows everything we know." The clone said in a slurred voice and started to list to the side. The marks from his uncle's alice started to reappear and seemed to be spreading.
"Something is not right. My alice looks like it is spreading, but I did not use enough to do more hurt him a little." Serio said quietly. Natsume looked at the clone and could see something was definitely wrong with him. He was clearly getting weaker than the rot alice could account for. The only other thing that had happened was Narumi's seduction power which only made him act drunk, and the barrier around him that completely separated him from the king.
His connection to the king he thought to himself. Perhaps the clone needs his connection to the king to survive.
"Possibly this is not quite like cellular division. It might be more like a tree with branches. Where Misaki's copies are like a blossom that dies off quickly after they served their purpose, these might be more like a branch that is able to survive as long as they stay connected to the original." Narumi made an attempt to get the clone to respond, but his eyes had drifted closed and if he was not tied to the chair, he would have fallen off.
"We can't possibly have Shiki let up on his barrier. If the king knows what everything the clone knows, then he is already aware of the capture of his spy. We won't have much time before he attacks and wipes out everyone in the place." Serio speculated.
"No, he won't. We have something he wants more than any of the people here." Natsume said grimly, looking at his mate. Shape shifting and illusion spells to disguise the clones were easy enough to come by, but the stealing alice was probably where the clones got their extra powers. This clone using the half-demon Luna's soul sucking power, Persona using the rot alice, they were probably all from the cache that Mikan's mother Yuka had stolen.
Natsume shook his head. It was a risk they had to take. "We need to find out how many clones he has, where they are at, what they know, and why he does not look anything like the king." He turned to Shiki "Can you try to weaken your barrier a little? If something tries to break through on either side, increase your barrier at once."
Shiki gave him a less than friendly look, but must have followed his suggestion anyway because the clone started to look a little less like a corpse. His breathing improved and he raised his head feebly. Narumi took up his questioning again.
"How many clones are there?"
The clone's face scrunched up as if he was trying to remember something difficult. "Fiiiivvvee." He slurred, still sounding out of it.
"Are they all in Japan?"
The clone shook his wobbly head and made a mushy sound with his mouth that vaguely sounded like "phthrrreeeyyee"
"Was that three? There are three here right now?" and the clone's head managed a single nod yes.
"How quickly can the other two get here if needed?" Narumi asked but they never got the answer. Instead Shiki grunted in pain and doubled over.
At the same time the clone snapped straight back in his chair as if an unseen force had hit him. Natsume and Narumi took a cautious steep back from him while Mikan and Serio checked on the stunned Shiki. The clone's head was tilted all the way back to look up at the ceiling. They watched as he took a deep shuddering breath like he had just surfaced from being underwater too long. After a few moments, he sat up normally in his chair and glared hatefully at his captors finishing on Natsume.
"Tsk, tsk Natsume. You know what they say about curiosity and cats." The look on the clone's face was that same cold cruel look of his grandfather and he had no doubt he was talking to the old man rather than the vessel.
Natsume sneered at him "At least now I can see you for the coward you really are. You have never done anything for yourself have you? The power you have obtained has nothing to do with your strength, it was all your clones. You would send them in to other clans disguised as one of their own to learn their weaknesses and secrets. Then you would use what you learned to crush them without even lifting a finger. You're no dragon who fights to protect what is his. You are a worm that uses cheap tricks to steal what others have."
Anger flared briefly in the prisoner's eyes before it was controlled. "Bold words from a child who cannot even protect a handful of subordinates or his sister." Natsume felt the blow to his pride, but he did not let it show. The old man was not done taunting him yet though. "I will trade you your supposed mate for your sister."
Natsume gave and involuntary snarl "How about I kill you and take them both?"
"My, my, suddenly feeling brave enough to challenge me are you? Come then. I will welcome putting you in your place." He said smoothly. "I should have clipped your wings a long time ago." He finished, and something about the look in his eyes changed so that Natsume and the others were sure they were no longer talking directly to the king, but back to the clone now.
The clone gave an arrogant look around the room before his eyes grew impossibly wide and then he suddenly collapsed, dead.
Shit Natsume swore to himself. "The bastard must have had some sort of spell or hypnotic suggestion implanted in case one of his clones was discovered."
Narumi gave a silent nod of agreement. "Well, we found out a few things anyway. There are only three clones in the country right now and if we act fast, we might be able to get everyone away before the other two arrive. We know that one is disguised as Serio and this one is dead. Hopefully we will not run into the third one somewhere."
"You won't."
"What? Why?"
"I'm fairly sure we have him. Before we came here my sister had been captured, so I sent my subordinates that he was talking about away. I'm fairly sure he has a spy with them."
"So other than the one that looks like Serio-"
"Persona." Natsume corrected.
"This Persona is the only one protecting the king."
"Not exactly. He still has his guards and supporters, but yes there is only one clone with him. If both of them were dead…" he left the thought hanging open for it did not need to be said. The king might disguise himself as Persona and Persona could disguise himself as the king, but if both were dead, chances are Japan would finally be free of him.
"You mean to really challenge him." Narumi gave him a grave look.
"This is my best chance, if I wait he might make a new clone or call the other ones back and then I would never know which one was the real one."
The incubus nodded at him. "You will not be alone."
"I don't need your help." He stated stubbornly and realized what a horrible lie that was. Heck, he needed a bloody army with advanced weaponry.
"I wasn't giving you a choice. That man has taken everything that was ever important to me. If he is going down, I am going to be there. I'll take Mikan-chan's spot."
"But I'm going t-" Mikan began to say but was cut right off.
"NO!" Natsume, Narumi, Serio and even the hunched over Shiki all exclaimed together.
Mikan gave them a mutinous look but stayed silent. He could tell by the stubborn set of her jaw that she was silently plotting a way to come, so he gave her something he knew she could not refuse. "I need you to go out and meet the evacuation group. Now that I know what I am looking for, I'm pretty sure that Goshima kid that is with them is another one of the clones. Currently he is out cold because that bear of yours attacked him, but I need you to explain to the others just what he is and what has happened."
"What do you want us to do with him?" she asked and Natsume was secretly relieved at her wording. She had unwittingly accepted the task he had given her.
"Keep him unconscious, but alive. If we succeed in killing the king, the clone should react so we will know if we have the right one."
"I don't like any of this. It sounds like a trap." Serio said, adding his own thoughts.
"Oh I'm sure it is, but hopefully it won't close shut all around us." The young red dragon looked at the dead clone. "He looks so familiar, yet so different."
Narumi nodded. "I have thought about that myself and I think I know what he has done." They all gave him a look to continue. "If you remember when Ji-chan saw this man he said he died a long time ago, and apparently the king is several hundred years old. I think to hide his lack of aging and his clones he has been 'fake dying' and changing his appearance to become someone new. It is likely that what we know the king to look like is not real at all. What you see here is probably what he really looks like.
You also asked before why he bothered hiding his clones and I think this here with us right now is the reason. If anyone knew he had clones, they would know to keep coming at him until they reached the original. The secret of his clones has kept him protected up until now."
It made sense. Knowing that the bastard had clones, so much about the king made sense. The way he was always five steps ahead of his enemies, the image that he was impossible to defeat, it all made so much more sense. A part of Natsume felt horribly stupid for not seeing it sooner. His mind quickly flitted through all the information he knew about the king and found so many points that could all tieback to his clones. Suddenly another big piece clicked into place. The psychics! The old man always kept psychics far away from the clan because they would probably be able to tell there was something odd about him and his clones.
But that doesn't make sense, what about Koko? He should have picked something up. The thought lasted for a few seconds and then he answered his own question. The mission he was sent on of course. The king probably used the mission as a way to test him. Not only did Koko pass, he was too badly scarred from that event to even dare to think about looking into Persona or the King's mind. Natsume was also sure that if he had failed, Koko would never have made it back from that mission.
"We need to get out of here and tell everyone what has happened."
"Do you think that is wise? It could cause a panic among the others."
Natsume thought about it for a second, but Mikan was the one who answered. "Yes we should." The others looked at her in surprise. "Think about it. For over six hundred years he has been keeping this secret and using this power to take advantage of others. This secret is his only edge, once people know about it, they know to be wary of it. If anything, you should tell as many people as you can and have them tell as many people as they can. If this trap does end up closing up around us, then at least others will be safe and forewarned. If everyone in the mystical world knew about his clones then sooner or later someone would get him."
Natsume felt a swell of pride towards her. Gods she was just too adorable! The red dragon was tempted to grab her and kiss her from hair to toes and back again but he obviously could not. Stupid grandfather and his scheming and politics ruining what should be the best night of his life!
Ah, to hell with it he reached over and snagged his mate and dragged her to him giving her a hot kiss that probably made the other men in the room uncomfortable. He reluctantly pulled away and looked at them. "Well you heard her, gather your people and tell them everything that has happened and I'll meet you outside of our place in say…" he gave his rather irresistible woman an appraising look "an hour?" he suggested before dragging her out of Hime's place.
"Natsume I can't believe you just said that to them! Everyone is going to know what we are doing!" she yelled at him sounding mortified.
He paused long enough to pull her against him. "Mikan, love, I don't like explaining myself twice. Other couples get to have wedding nights, and honeymoons, but all we have is a few short hours and I don't want to waste any more of it." He clarified while scooping her up and running at top speed back to their place.
If she wanted to complain after this was all over he would let her go on for days if she wanted to, but right now he had better things to do. Much better.
The people in the community were quite panicked. Apparently they did not take the news about the king having clones or being spied on well at all. There was a wild, tense edge to the atmosphere and Natsume was quite convinced that if anyone burped too loud, it would send people everywhere stampeding in terror.
Currently he was waiting for Narumi and the others to finish organizing what they were going to do. A lot of people in the community stayed here because Japan was where their magical source was. Nature and animal spirits were usually tied to a specific location and many could not survive for very long away from it. They were currently trying to sort out a temporary location where they could go with Hime, Shiki and Misaki (the man) could hide them.
A few others wanted to offer their support to Natsume and Narumi, one of which included his uncle Serio. Rather surprisingly was that Ji-chan and Nobara wanted to join Mikan on her assignment. They had all tried to convince the old man to stay with the larger group, but he was adamant to stay with the last remaining sea dragon from the area aside from him. According to him, the lake, like the ocean, missed her sea dragons and longed for the birth Mikan and Natsume's babies. A statement that made the newly mated couple shuffle awkwardly.
They were still trying to shuffle and organize themselves when Mikan looked up at the pre-dawn sky. "Hime-sama, could you possibly let up on your barrier, we are about to have company."
The person who took the news that Luna was both a man and a spy for the king the hardest was Hime. She looked terribly worn out and had visibly aged over the past few hours. Natsume suspected that part of that was due to the soul-sucking ability that was used to control her, but he also knew part of it came from old fashioned betrayal. He could understand that. He did not feel so hot himself either. Many of the things he thought he knew to be true in his life were completely false. It can certainly shake a person's confidence.
Hime gave Mikan a tired nod and let up on the barrier. Unfortunately, they should have mentioned the newcomer to the rest of the people on the ground because many started screaming when a gold dragon with odd blackish marks on its hide appeared in the sky above them.
"IT'S ALRIGHT! IT'S ALRIGHT!" Mikan yelled over them. The dragon quickly changed himself into the form of a man with long hair and Mikan rushed in to hug him. "THIS IS MY UNCLE TONO!" She yelled by way of explanation when everyone stood ready to attack him. Eventually after many reassurances, everyone started to calm down, but no one was pleased by the fright they just had.
Natsume marched straight up to his mate and pulled her away from her uncle, draping a possessive arm about her shoulders. Her uncle Tono or Akira (apparently the nickname came from the alias he preferred when he was on a job although why they used his alias over his given name was still a mystery to Natsume) he was a long and lean man just like Mikan's father and Tsubasa with a handsome face. Although just like Tsubasa's tattoo, Natsume did not think much of the man's long black hair that fell past his shoulders. It made him look like a girl.
Tono's gaze dropped to the arm resting on his niece then to the surrounding crowd. "I see you have been having fun without me." He said with a droll look, using the same slightly accented Japanese Mikan and the others did. "So, what did you get into now and how many asses do I have to kick?"
"Well you probably already heard most of it from Tsubasa, but there have been a few new things that we have learned."
One black brow went up and he turned to look meaningfully at Natsume. "And he is?"
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mikan give him an awkward look. Through their bond he could feel her floundering for a way to answer the question. He would have been hurt by her reluctance to introduce him, but he could tell it was not because she was ashamed of him.
"Her mate." Natsume answered bluntly, and the other man's hostility went from nil to full intensity in less than a second. Come to think of it, this was the first air dragon that he had met from her family and he knew quite well how territorial air dragons were. And family was a part of territory.
Stalking up to a dragon and claiming mate status of a family member was just one step above announcing that he had stolen something of theirs and claiming it was his now. Not the best first impression for his new in-laws but his competitive nature and status would not let him back down either.
"Watch it brat, you have no right to be looking at or touching my niece like that much less claiming to be anyone's mate." He declared, forcing Natsume's own hostility up. But before either one could do anything, Mikan stepped between them.
"Stop, both of you, Tono, this IS my mate, Natsume." Upon hearing that, her uncle looked at her with and incredulous what-have-you-gotten-into-now look. When he saw that she was dead serious, he dropped his face into his palm and shook his head. "You are just as impulsive as Izumi."
She gave him a small grin. "Like father, like daughter I guess." She said quietly and rounded on Natsume "And you! I was not trying to hide our relationship. It just suddenly occurred to me that only three people in my family have even met you but-"
"Four." Tono interrupted.
"Huh?"
"Four have met him. Tsubasa and Misaki exchanged oaths last night."
"Really?" she asked, then started clapping and jumping happily "Oh I'm so happy for them! It's about time too."
"I'll say. Did you really give this punk your oath?"
"Watch it grease-ball or I'll burn that hair off your head." He said and produced a small fireball in his palm.
Tono appeared mildly impressed by his use of fire at night, but mostly the look on his face was amused. "That is quite the attitude he has. You would think he would be more polite when meeting members of our family considering he thinks he is going to be a part of it."
Natsume really wanted to say something to that, but then chose to stay silent. The man might be annoying, but he had a point. Mikan really cared about her family and it would upset her if Natsume got into a fight every time he met one of them. He did shoot the man a resentful look though. Tono quirked an eyebrow that showed he was aware of his reluctant silence and looked almost impressed with his restraint.
"So what did I miss?" he asked and Mikan spent the next twenty minutes explaining and answering his questions. Unlike his younger brother, the long haired man went through and questioned every little detail.
"So when the clone changed into a dragon, did it appear to be an otherwise normal red dragon?" he asked again.
Natsume rolled his eyes and was wondering where the man was going with his questioning. "The size was comparable to mine. The color looked normal too, why?"
"Did he use any attacks on you?"
"Again, no he was trying to get away."
"Alright, then you should hold off trying to attack him until very late in the day."
"If I wait too long it will give him time to call his other clones to him. Or he might be able make another clone. More importantly he will expect me to attack him at night because that is when he is weakest."
"Exactly. Ideally he wants to fight you during the day when both he and his clones have their full dragon powers. I think he was trying to goad you into losing your temper and charging in recklessly. However, he is smart enough to factor in the possibility that you might show a bit of caution and wait until nightfall when you still have your fire power and he does not."
Natsume fought hard not to yell at this idiot and tell him to hurry up. Everything he was saying was something he already knew.
"The time when he would least expect you to attack is later in the day while he still has his power, but the time he has with that power is limited."
"What?" Natsume asked, not getting where the idiot was going.
"Because the time to use his fire is limited, he will want to try and take you out as quickly as possible before nightfall. With luck he will use and possibly exhaust his best resources that he would have normally saved for his nighttime defense. It will be hard, but if you can somehow last until nightfall, not only will he be weak, he will also be defenseless."
Natsume stared at the other dragon in shock. He tested the theory in his mind and although there were holes -like having the king anticipate such an attack- for the most part it was a sound strategy. He did not want to admit it, but it was better than anything he could come up with. He did not doubt this man probably made one hell of a thief with his clever mind.
At that point Shizune showed up looking very different. Her formal robes were gone and instead she was wearing plain non-descript clothes with a clipboard in hand and a pair of glasses perched on her nose. "Hyuuga-san, Narumi, we have sorted out most of the details of where everyone is going now and the sooner we go the better. Hime would like to know if there is anything more you need before we leave?" She asked in her fine, cultured voice.
Naru did not get to answer her though because Tono beat him to it. "Wow you look like a really smart girl and it just so happens I have a real weakness for smart girls. Smart girls are so hot. Hey honey, what do you say about you and I having our own private little evacuation? I'll keep you well protected. I'll shield your body for as long as you like."
Forget what Natsume thought about him ever being clever or a good strategist. The guy was an idiot.
Shizune did not appear too impressed either. She opened her mouth and let out a sound that made Natsume feel like needles were stabbing into his brain and had him seeing stars. Once he cleared his vision and his ears, he had found that the woman had left. Across from him Tono was looking about with an excited grin on his face.
"Did you see that? That a real siren!" he said excitedly like he had just found something he had been looking for his whole life "Oooo and she is feisty one at that! Did you see which way she went?" he asked Mikan, who was the only one unaffected by the woman's sound. Personally Natsume could not see the appeal of a woman whose voice could melt your brain, but Tono clearly had strange tastes.
"Hey babe, where did you run off to? You don't need to be shy for me!"
Make that very strange tastes. Natsume touched his ears to make sure his eardrums were not bleeding. That voice of hers was vicious. He would have liked to ask her to come with him and help, but the idiot probably scared her off.
Mikan looked at her uncle in disgust and rolled her eyes. "Come on Natsume, now that his thinking has dropped below his waistband, he will be completely useless." They moved away from Tono who began actively looking for his missing siren.
"So are we agreed? We will wait until late afternoon or early evening?" The incubus asked.
Natsume and Serio nodded and an idea came to the young red dragon when he looked at Mikan. "Since it is not even dawn yet, does anyone have a problem with going part of the way with the others?" They were already all going in the same direction anyway and it would give him a chance to make sure Mikan was alright. They could stick with them until just past the estate then double back to attack from the other side.
The other men had unusually bland looks on their faces and shook their heads. They were all completely aware of his reasons for wanting to stay with Mikan but thankfully none of them was going to make an issue of it. With a little more shuffling, they were off before the sun had broken through the horizon.
Because they knew where they were going this time, the trip out of Hokkaido moved along much faster than going in. The group broke up quickly with Hime's group breaking into smaller groups and choosing to move along land where their group snuck into a quiet little fishing town and Narumi used his influence to hijack a fishing boat to move southward down the coast line.
Surprisingly and much to Tono's pleasure (or everyone else's annoyance depending on your point of view), Shizune agreed to come along and use her ability to help.
It would not have been such a bad trip if they were not all stuck on the same boat while Tono spent the entire time hitting on the siren. "You know with your brains and my looks our kids would be amazing!" Ugh, uncle or not, if the creep uttered one more pick up line, Natsume was going to kill him. No wonder Mikan had difficulties with intimacy; she had the most bizarre family.
Mikan and Ji-chan escaped listening to Tono by slipping overboard into the water, Narumi, Serio and Nobara claimed the small area below deck to catch up on their sleep which left him with a lusty pervert dragon and a cranky siren to pilot the boat. Lucky him.
Not that he could sleep anyway. He was way too tense worrying about what the day would bring. It was strange to think that by this time tomorrow, everything would be done. Either the king would be gone, or… they would be. Gods, he wished he could have had more time with Mikan. He wished he could have started a family with her, but now the chances of that depended on the outcome of today.
He didn't tell her, but when they were organizing to leave he had arranged to have her parents things shipped to the place she was living in California. At one point, he had opened a box and had found a handmade mobile for a baby's crib. He had recognized the artistry belonging to his dad, Kaito Hyuuga immediately but it was the decoration that caught him.
On the two ends of one arm there were tiny hand painted green and blue sea dragons swimming. On the ends of the cross piece, was a red and gold dragon in flight. It was obviously made for Mikan so she could look up and see the four dragons endlessly flying and swimming above her. The harmless thing sent a hard pang through his chest and he hoped that one day his own children would see it.
An enormous blue-green head coming up over the edge of the boat brought him out of his worries. "Hey gorgeous." He said affectionately, caressing Mikan's large wedge shaped head. With a magical surge, she was suddenly there on deck, sopping wet.
"Are you okay?" she asked, looking worried.
"Yeah." His voice was a little rough with emotions he did not even have a week ago. "I guess I'm just…"
"Nervous?"
"Uneasy. I don't know what will happen today."
She took his face into her hands and looked at him. Through their bond, she poured loving support and showed some of her own worries. "You will be careful right?"
"As careful as I can be."
She made a face at him. "Can't you just lie and say 'yes I will be perfectly fine'?"
"Yes I will be perfectly fine." He said with a small grin before pulling her closer. He had to be fine. He had so much to live for now.
tbc
Ick. I'm really sorry if this feels like a filler chapter, but I needed to help iron out some explanations and I did not think it felt right to just jump into the fight. But having said that, THE END IS COMING! Rejoice! There is a light at the end of this tunnel of never ending story. I just know I'm going to be horrified when I finally add up how many words and chapters this will be.
Now it is time for battle.
Dun-dun-dunnnnn