Will and Testament (Part I)
Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form own the show Teen Titans, nor the various DC comics on which this fanfiction is based.
The first sensation to hit the women after their eyes adjust is pain.
Horrific, body-racking, mind-scorchingly white hot pain.
Jinx curls into a ball, clutching at her burning throat desperately.
She tastes hints of blood in her mouth, which she finds to be inexplicably dry as a desert.
Her breaths come laboured, the meta suddenly feeling as though her entire body is being compressed.
The edges of her vision go dark as the air refuses to come to her, but just as she nears passing out, the compression loosens enough for her to drag desperate gulps of air into her lungs.
Raven's muscles clench painfully tight at the same time, an inexplicable heat rushing through her entire body.
She gets the impression of incredibly heated, volcanic air pressing against her face, making the skin incredibly sensitive.
The demonling rolls onto her stomach and releases coughs that throw ripples of fresh pain through her sore body.
No matter how many coughs she releases, the taste of ash and blood refuses to leave her senses.
Hearing the noise, Jinx turns her eyes toward Raven, the orbs widening almost comically at the sparks of pink light being released from her lover's trembling form.
Before she can wonder on it too much, a sudden impact in her stomach makes itself known, the nausea making her pained body ache even more.
Just as the nausea begins subsiding, a blinding agony fires off in her forehead, her hands pressing down in a vain attempt at making the pain stop as quickly as possible.
Raven's head likewise flares with pain, the gem in her forehead glowing a dark obsidian.
Through her narrowed gaze, she notices large shadows bubbling into existence around Jinx, seeming to be trying to crush the meta.
Worried voices briefly register to her mind, but she quickly forgets hearing them as she forces herself to move closer to Jinx.
They'd gone into their trance tightly holding hands, but sometime along the way, they'd separated.
What would be a step or two is a Herculean effort of a crawl to close the distance as shockwaves of pain run through the empath's body.
Jinx whimpers and curls again into a ball, her forehead pressing to the cool stone of the floor with the hope of it relieving the sensations running through her.
Out of the corner of her slitted eye, she spots movement, and her arm blindly flails outward.
Her hand is suddenly wrapped in something warm and soaking wet.
An explosion of sparking light floods the magical bubble around them, black and pink mixing harshly.
Their bodies jerk as the energies flow around them, slipping through their bodies in a dance neither is aware enough to follow.
A humming sound not unlike a chorus of buzzsaws cutting into sheets of metal rips its way into their ears, both women cringing at the assault on their even-more-sensitive-than-usual hearing.
Just as they begin to black out from the vibrating feeling rippling along their brains, it stops.
So, too, does the pain, and twin sighs of heavy relief leave them as their bodies go utterly limp.
Raven turns her head on the floor to meet Jinx's eyes, finding the meta's face shining with sweat.
Her usually pale skin is even less colored than usual, and there is a slightly glassy quality to her bright, feline eyes.
The absence of the pain leaves them gasping for air, Raven slowly sliding her way across the stone until her body is pressed to the meta's.
"O… okay… f… fuck… the Dreaming," Jinx gasps.
Raven merely tightens her hand around Jinx's, finding the flesh disturbingly cold in her grip.
"Guessing… this was mostly… us," the empath offers with a poor attempt at a shrug.
"You… looked like… I was… attackin' you."
"Same… for you," Raven wheezes.
"This… why mixin' auras… is a bad… idea?" Jinx groans in response, her vision slowly clearing.
"One… of the… reasons…"
Raven's eyes slip closed, and her magic slowly rises to the surface.
Both of their bodies are coated in a slight, bluish glow, the empath's healing magic knitting their bruised bodies back to wholeness.
The pain remains even after the damage is entirely disappeared, though, both of them wincing when the healing magic dissipates.
"You will not easily mend those injuries, I'm afraid," a tinny voice states.
The couple slowly turn their gazes to the side, finding Doctor Fate standing over them.
As soon as they realize he's there, the bubble disappears from around them, cool air soothingly brushing across their sweat-soaked skin.
The acrid tastes remain lying on their tongues, though not enough to draw more pained coughs from them.
Raven slowly rises to a seated position, grimacing at the strange heat still flowing through her veins.
"I never want to dream again," Jinx mutters when she joins Raven in being upright.
"You pushed yourselves while in Dream's realm," Doctor Fate muses as he offers them a supporting hand. "Your bodies took the damage, even as your minds remained undamaged."
Something seems to glow in his gaze when they're both standing tall, seeming to scrutinize them heavily.
"Mostly undamaged, at any rate. It seems you may have altered your auras, somewhat."
Raven blanches, her eyes going unfocused as she stares at her extended hand.
Her skin turns even paler when she sees small, pulsing sparks of pink occasionally fading in and out of existence in the wall of black surrounding the limb.
Jinx, likewise, notices a flicker of shadow moving around the edges of her vision.
With her attention on her own hand, Raven misses the black lens that flickers overtop her fiancé's eye for a brief moment.
By the time she does shift her focus, the darkness is gone, though black speckling seems to dance within her left iris.
"I feel like I swallowed dust," Jinx groans.
"And I feel as though I were standing too close to a volcano," Raven agrees. "Were I to guess, I think what our minds experienced is now occurring to us."
She raises a brow in question at Doctor Fate.
The mystic nods in response, his expression remaining even more unreadable than his mask usually guarantees.
"It will go away soon enough," the empath guesses. "As it stands, we know we have some time, now. If we can set the others on my siblings, as well, they stand even less chance of succeeding."
Jinx nods, the weariness vanishing from her shoulders as she steps up to her lover's side.
"If we hurry, we might even be able to send bird brain in and have him deal with them in the library."
Raven raises a brow at the meta, drawing a blush from her.
"What? They're gonna' be weak as hell. You don't know the Titans can't take 'em right now! And even if they can't, they might not have to. If they get there and the Sons of Trigon are still down in the pit, they can move their unconscious bodies. That'll really throw them off, maybe even keep 'em out of commission entirely."
Raven nods, the logic sound to the empath.
"Let's head over to Gizmo. I don't want to have to repeat all this, and maybe we can get the Titans some extra help. My siblings may be out for the count, if they still are, but they have guards of indeterminate numbers."
As they begin to fall into a black portal, Doctor Fate raises his hand to pause them.
"When you've given the others their orders and warnings, you should return here. Your souls are not the most fortified at the moment, and staying in this tower's barriers while you prepare yourselves would be nothing but helpful to the situation."
"No place better," Jinx muses as they vanish into the floor…
…..
Raven stares at the monitor, several people staring back at her incredulously.
Drenched in sweat, with their hair tousled and eyes somewhat glassy, the others have obviously made assumptions from their appearances.
While the assumptions about what they'd been doing prior to their call would normally be amusing, and possibly true, it simply irritates the empath now.
"We got the information we needed," Raven says in greeting. "It isn't perfect, and there's still other possibilities, but this seems the best we're going to get."
With a sigh, Raven readies herself for the coming questions.
"The Sons of Trigon have gotten their hands on half of what they need to open the Hellmouth. We were misinformed, and were unable to stop them. As it stands, they're possibly going to kill themselves getting the other half, making all of this a non-issue."
She nods to Gizmo, and the map of the tunnel system beneath Gotham City appears on the screen, mirrored to the others connected to the call.
"If they manage to come back at all, the chances are incredibly high that they'll be opening the gateway beneath Gotham."
Her eyes shift to Nightwing, whose expression is grim.
"Let Batman know. Perhaps he can figure out where it will be, if it's an explored part, and if not, at the very least, he'll have advanced warning if his cave is suddenly crumpled in a way not unlike a tin can."
"He's not going to be happy about this," the former Boy Wonder groans.
"Undoubtedly, but better several billion dollars lost than the whole of the universe be at risk. Besides, he stands a good chance of figuring it all out."
"And the source for this information?" the Martian Manhunter asks.
Behind the green man, Raven sees several other founding members of the Justice League, all of whom are glaring at her.
"I… received the information from an Archangel and it was expanded upon by a pair of divinities with arguably more clout," she states.
The faces stare blankly at her, their doubt clear despite none of them making a sound.
"Looks like there's no holding the cards close here, Rae," Gizmo snickers.
Glaring at the inventor, Raven releases an audible sigh that releases the mounting tension in her shoulders.
"Alright, then. After I killed one of my brothers, John Constantine sent us on the trail of a piano bar, which is run by a man who calls himself Sam. Take that and my previous statement and make what conclusions you will."
While some continue staring blankly at her, others begin to catch on.
"Whoa, hold the damn phone," Zatanna protests while popping into view from Nightwing's side. "Like, the Samael kind of Sam? That was your source!?"
Raven's brow rises, her irritation caught by nobody but Jinx and Nightwing.
"Can you think of anyone who would be a better authority on Hell and what would be needed to open the Hellmouth than someone who walked right out of it?" Raven challenges.
Jinx steps up, more than matching Zatanna's glare.
"Look, we've hashed this out already. I ain't happy about it, either, bunny, but the info's on the level. He just boiled down to another referral, anyway, so you don't have to worry about it."
"She got a lead from-"
"I believe I once told you, when we were temporarily teammates, that you cannot argue with sources as long as the results are sound," Raven interrupts.
"Who, exactly, was this source of yours?" Nightwing demands.
"An Archangel named Samael. The name comes from the Talmud. Goes way back. Also known as the destroyer," Zatanna nearly hisses.
"I am not familiar with your planet's various mythologies," Manhunter states even as a few more behind him catch on. "There is an issue of some kind with using this… Samael… as a source?"
"You could say that. Say what you will about the Sons of Trigon, but as far as we know, at least they aren't working with Lucifer," the witch snarls.
The other members of their conference call stare in shock at the empath, who draws herself to full height before them.
"Zatanna, you may wish to put barriers up. Saying a proper name like that, while being a mystic, is not going to garner the attention of anything positive," Raven warns.
"I know how to handle myself. Though apparently not nearly as well as-"
"Also, they're working with a person vying to be the current leader of Hell," Raven quips in interruption. "And I am not working with the man. We were sent to him on Constantine's recommendation, and he, in turn, sent us somewhere else."
"I'm not really big on the idea of using information we got from a demon," a large man muses from behind Manhunter.
The Martian moves out of the way to give Superman the attention of their end of the call, the Kryptonian glaring at Raven.
"Fortunately, this factors into the grand scheme of the next several days approximately none. Also, he's an Archangel, not a demon, and complaints over ideological differences aside, he very much has the power and intelligence that comes with such a species. Further, he has a vested interest in keeping the universe balanced, and therefore keeping Hell locked tight, as any other being in this universe. Only the short-sighted fools that unfortunately share my blood would benefit, for the whole five seconds it would take for them to be annihilated, from opening the Hellmouth."
A long, painful silence stretches for what seems like an eternity.
"You, uh, said there was a pair of divinities other than… Sam?" Nightwing asks with a not-so-subtle cough.
"Before even the Lords of Order and Chaos were fully formed, there were beings known as the Endless, who will likely be the last to fade when this universe is eventually snuffed like a candle. Of them, we met two within the realm where dreams are formed, and they're where we got the actual information. The embodiment of death told us where she felt a draw in the universe, which will be somewhere within the tunnel system beneath Gotham."
"Somewhere? There's a whole helluva damn lot of somewhere's down there," Zatanna grouses.
"She did not offer exact coordinates."
Her eyes again lock with Nightwing's, her body tensing in preparation for the coming argument
"She also told us that they've left their bodies in the library. I cannot go there, obviously, but the Titans certainly could. If something were to happen to their bodies while they're in Hell, the slim chance they have of returning would become nil."
Cyborg appears from behind Nightwing, his eyes wide.
"The last time we went there, an army of fiery demons were swarmin' us to try to throw us off the stairs and end us. I'ma give a repeat performance of that a pass, if ya' don't mind."
"I did not have thoughts of going into the building," Raven muses. "However, even getting close enough to deal with it in a different matter would be too close for safety."
"You want us to just take down a building made of solid stone that's stood for at least a couple centuries?" Zatanna gasps.
"What's this library?" Superman asks with a frown.
"It's an old, stone library, built by the Church of Blood in Jump City centuries ago. There're all kinds of nasty magic around the place, which Raven activates by nearing. At the bottom, there's a portal," Nightwing explains.
"And I would crumple the building into itself, their bodies and all, if I could," the empath adds with a shrug. "It's an old building. You hit it in the right places, apply enough weight and force, and it will collapse on them."
She feels a multitude of stares leveled on her, though the first to speak isn't among the horrified.
"That's pretty cold, Rae," Cyborg muses.
"Yes, it is. It is also guaranteed to be effective. If they return to broken shells, their souls will have no tethers, and by the time they can come up with a resemblance of a plan to regroup, if they could at all, the angels will have the keys back in their possession and the Sons of Trigon will not be able to make another attempt."
"You're asking us to kill five people without any attempt at justice here. You can see why we're not thrilled, right?" Nightwing sighs.
Raven's brow rises in surprise.
The Titan frowns when Gizmo releases a choking sound suspiciously sounding as though he's attempting to not laugh at him.
"Something funny, Gizmo?"
The genius straightens in his seat, his amusement vanishing in the blink of an eye.
All eyes go to the smaller man, a harsh expression on his face.
"Just finding it funny that you still haven't grown up. I mean, I know you leavin' the Bat was all about not wantin' to be like him, but that shouldn't mean you've gotta' drown in naivety. I'm not exactly gung-ho and jumpin' for joy over the idea, either, because, really, who would be? But the whole justice thing? Yeah, that ain't happenin' here. They're demons tryin' to pry open the gate of Hell. They need to die, and there's no prettyin' that up here."
"There's always another way."
"Really? Always? Tell me what solution you have, then," Raven states.
Despite how quiet her voice is, the tone silences the others, the empath's expression becoming utterly unreadable as she locks eyes with her former leader.
He stares back, lips in a frown and stuck closed in his utter lack of ideas to voice.
"Exactly," the demonling quips before sending her gaze to all those connected to their call.
The Justice League stares in suspicion at her, while the Titans are a mix between disgusted and unreadable.
Steel stares from his office, entirely silent but seeming to be the most on board with their plan of everyone.
"At the end of this, my brothers are dead, or the universe is screwed. Five short-sighted psychopaths and a handful of cultists, or the whole of life. There is nothing complicated about this."
"They're still living beings. I get that they're horrible evil, but we don't get to play gods," the Titan growls.
"I assure you that there's nothing godly about what I'm going to be doing if you don't take care of it. And that is what it comes down to. If we don't stop them now, by which I mean anyone who won't set off a potential apocalypse by approaching them while they're defenseless, then I'll be the one to do it, after they've returned to full-strength. If you're looking for justice, kindness, or some kind of merciful conclusion to this, you'll want to take care of this before I get my hands on them. Because there is no mercy to be found in me for anyone who would attempt loosing Hell on the rest of the universe."
Taking a breath, Raven forces her muscles to relax once again.
"Two options, people. Either make their bodies in some way inaccessible to my brothers, so that even if they do return from their trip, they will have neither the bodies nor the half of the key they already procured. Kill them, drag them to the safe room in the Tower so their soul-selves can't reach their bodies, I don't care, really. But you'll be fighting the Church of Blood and the library's defenses to get to them, and that will take time, meaning that dropping the building on them is the most likely solution to work."
"And the other option?" Superman demands, seeming to be readying for a fight.
Raven and Jinx meet eyes, a silent conversation passing between them for several moments that no one watching can guess at.
By the end of it, a grim expression curves Jinx's lips, and she bobs her head slightly in an agreement of some kind.
Raven's expression remains unreadable, though her body is noticeably tensed once more.
"Then they escape the library with both halves of Hell's key. They will be on the run from the angels and demons alike that will hound them. You'll be subjecting them to days of torture, assuming they aren't caught, which will make for much longer. And, in the event that they get past all of that for the time needed to recover their shredded souls, then we will hunt them down beneath Gotham like dogs."
"And what happens if that is how it goes?" Cyborg asks with a clear reluctance.
"Then you all will need to take care of evacuating Gotham, because I'll slaughter them, no matter how much of the city falls in the process. We can not afford to hold back with them if we wish to live, and they certainly will not be pulling punches either. Nothing good will happen to any being caught in my path."
"We'll just stop the both of you," Superman shrugs.
Raven's brow rises, the only signal of her stifled laughter.
"I like your confidence, really I do. Truly, it's such a brilliant strategy."
"I think we could handle you just fine," he retorts with a glare.
"Do you? When I came to your group, telling you that Trigon would be coming to raze the Earth, you turned me away. When my father did come, I do not recall the Justice League being anywhere to aid in the fight. That would suggest that you all were powerless against him despite forewarning. And I defeated him. You didn't beat him, and he didn't beat me, and my siblings are at least powerful enough to get half the key to Hell from the handpicked guardians of the dimension. So, a simple question. What chance do any of you have between them and me?"
Superman blanches somewhat, several others following suit.
"You know how to put things inta' perspective, Rae," Gizmo muses with a soft whistle.
"Really? Think the same thing's true if someone like Etrigan or Doctor Fate were to step in? What if your girlfriend were to get in the way?" the Kryptonian finally returns after a stretching silence.
"Not an issue," Jinx quips. "They aren't stupid enough to take chances with this kind of thing. No mystic that's sane would do anything but help us. And I'll be fighting right with her, not tryin' to interfere. It ain't pretty, but Raven's right. They need to get ended, or all of us will, instead."
Troia appears in the Titans' feed, a loud cracking sound releasing from her knuckles as she presses her fists together.
"I'm with them. Don't know about my sis, but I know from experience that things tend to get ugly for everyone when myths meet modern times. The Greeks have their problems, their messed up things that torment mortals, but nothin' we got holds a candle to that pit. Stopping that from getting out of its cage is more important than whether it's squeaky clean on how we stop it."
"It seems to be a logical conclusion," Manhunter monotones from Superman's side.
"Is there a way to stop them without killing them?" Zatanna demands.
"You planned to mentally stunt me into being a brain-dead husk. A plan along those lines would also work, I suppose, but that would be far crueler than killing them… Actually, if that's on the table-"
"Okay, I get it," the sorceress interrupts. "Geez. I was freaking possessed. Let it go."
"Manipulated," Raven corrects. "Your will was still your own, as I explained. However, those truly are the options available. If we move their shells, their souls will not find them, and the bodies will die, likely in a slow and rather terrible manner. If we in some way manage to interfere with them using the key, their souls will be close enough to being destroyed that they will wish to be dead, since I can't imagine a recovery from that kind of damage would be feasible, much less easy. And if we kill them, they will, obviously, be dead. No matter how this plays out, that is the end."
"We don't kill," Nightwing growls.
Jinx shivers as the room turns cold, her lover's voice causing the sensation almost as much as her magic slipping free.
"You didn't have an inkling of a problem when you stood by and let me kill my father," Raven challenges.
"He was a soulless monster. You have a soul, therefore your brothers have a soul, so yeah, I have a problem with this," the Titan snarls.
"We don't have the time for this. If they wake up, things get much harder to deal with, and they get dead at the end no matter how we play this. If none of you will do it, then I'll take care of it myself," Jinx hisses, eyes narrowing in anger.
Raven gives her fiancé a warning glare, but the meta entirely ignores it.
"You've got a choice to make, and I'm not as into diplomacy as Rae is, and after the day we've had, I don't really feel like playing nice. If someone doesn't agree to go in there and get them, now, then I'll have Raven hop me as close as she's safely able to get to it. And I'll topple the whole fucking building on top of them, cultists and all."
Raven's face remains stoic, but the meta can tell she sees her bluff for what it is.
The meta, being completely honest with herself, can admit that a structure of solid stone and covering a huge cavern below the earth might be out of her league.
The others watching her, though, seem more than willing to buy her threat.
"That's a lot of death you'll cause," Superman growls.
"Yep! And I won't lose a bit of sleep over it, either," Jinx lies.
"Thought you were a thief, not a murderer," Zatanna challenges.
"I'm lots of things, including a realist. Anyone in there's nuts and dangerous enough to help the Sons of Trigon, and Raven's brothers are lookin' to unleash Hell. So you guys can go in, take them out in whatever way makes your conscience feel warm and fuzzy, and grab the Sons of Trigon so they can't find their bodies on the way back. Or you can be prissy about this, and I'll throw every bit of mojo I've got into crumpling the foundation of the library, and bring several metric tons of stone, wood, and magic down on the heads of everyone and everything inside."
"Can you do that?" Cyborg asks in surprise.
"Earth magic and bad luck, and a really old building. I'll manage. If I have to."
"Then why waste your time with this? Why not just go ahead and apologize later? You had to know we wouldn't be jumping for joy at the idea," Nightwing hisses.
"Because I don't want to make Raven get near there. Whatever her brothers are doing, it'll be made easier if they suck her in with the magic that library's got and use her. And I figured you'd want the option that doesn't involve a pile of corpses. But if you want to roll the dice with the apocalypse, then you're not givin' us any other options."
As she speaks, Jinx realizes her threat is quickly becoming less of a bluff.
A cold certainty begins taking form as she realizes that, if needed, she really will follow through and kill however many people she needs to if it stops Raven's brothers from succeeding.
Raven seems to notice as well, and Jinx fights a startled jump when she feels the empath's cool hand on her back.
The touch calms her suddenly racing heart, and Raven gives the meta a small nod.
"I'm up for a fight," Troia muses with a small smirk.
Several people behind Superman seem to agree, though are no more happy about it than the Kryptonian.
"Sounds like you're going to do whatever you think is necessary," he sighs.
"It's not thinking. This is the fact of the situation," Raven nearly growls.
"I'm done with this. I'm heading out," Troia adds, already on her way to the door. "See whoever's helping when I get there."
Raven notices Zatanna staring after the Amazon, indecision on her face.
The witch slowly nods, seemingly to herself, and turns away from the camera.
"Hang on. We'll get there faster if I'm teleporting us," she sighs before quickly catching up.
Nightwing stares after her in surprise, and Zatanna tenses when she notices.
"Face it, Dick, they're right. We can't let this happen, even if we have to kill to stop it."
Before the Titan can respond, a cloud of black smoke wraps around the women.
Cyborg says nothing as he leaps into the smoke, a flash of gold and red joining him as they leave.
From behind Superman, the Manhunter begins to fade from view, several others grabbing onto his shoulder before he completely vanishes.
"You just turned heroes into killers," Superman growls. "When this is over, we're going to have a long talk where you'll need to convince me not to force you out of this dimension."
Raven stares blankly at him, though the whitening of her knuckles as her hand closes to a fist doesn't go unnoticed.
"If we survive this, I'll add you to the list of people who'll be after my head. It's a long list, so you might have to wait a while."
His retort is cut off by Gizmo shutting his feed off, Nightwing's ending simultaneously.
Steel fills the screen, his expression grim.
"I'll get approval from Bones. You need anything, you let me know. A team, weapons, a damn missile, I don't think he's gonna' be overly picky right now. Get it done," he grunts before vanishing as well.
"You know the Kryptonian was serious, right? Pretty sure the Bat calls him a boy scout for a reason, and I'm bettin' he'll be tryin' to banish your ass when this ends," Gizmo states into the silence.
"I'm sure. He'll be fighting it out with the Fae, a plethora of people at the Oblivion, and any number of demons. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll get so caught up in vying for my head that they forget what they're arguing over."
Jinx stares at the empath in worry, unable to hide her frown.
"How often are you lucky?" the meta sighs.
She blushes when violet eyes lock on her, a slightly amused smirk curving her lips.
"It does occasionally happen."
"Raven, I know shit's going down, but we really need to make some plans. When we get this all done, and we will come out of it okay, that could get really ugly. What if they tried to send you back to Azarath?"
"Well, it wouldn't work, right?" Gizmo asks while spinning to face them.
"It most certainly would not," Raven agrees.
"Because there ain't an Azarath anymore. Just a burned island in the middle of a pocket dimension. If you pop through, who knows what the fuck could happen to you? Is the dimension even still there without the city? You could end up pressed into the inter-dimensional walls and reduced to dust in space."
"We will discuss this at length later, Jinx," Raven says in a softened voice.
"We need to-"
"We can't worry about it at the moment," her fiancé interrupts. "We need to plan for what we do in the event that they screw this up."
"You're kiddin', right? It's a ton of superheroes versus five unconscious guys and some nutjobs. I think they can handle it. They won't even have to deal with the demons and shit, without the Gem nearby, right?" Gizmo asks incredulously.
"And only one or two magicians among those who went. Sebastian, if he's there, will also be a handful. We can't simply expect it to go off perfectly, when nothing in this case has thus far."
"Well, when you put it like that…"
"Gizmo, keep us posted. If they come out of the library with my brothers, fantastic. If not, we need to know immediately."
Gizmo simply waves at Raven as the couple disappears in a vortex of darkness…
***************************
Author's Notes:
Another long chapter. Things are coming to a close, people, and I hope you're all enjoying as much as I am. Given that this is my final week left to work on my project, chances are pretty good that the next chapter will be delayed, though it hasn't happened yet despite my previous worries, so who knows?
As always, I look forward to thoughts both positive and negative, and I'll see you all next time!