Sorry if this chapter looks bad in the second half. It's been too long (3 and a half ish months is considered a lot of time, yes) since I wrote. I'm quite rusty. Scratch that, I'm very rusty. Give me some weeks and I'll hopefully be back from what I had before. Well then, here we go.

My hand and patience were tightly gripping the edge of the boat, almost tearing a piece off. I was losing my mind to a pair of babbling light bulbs. They argued about where they would sit, they argued about who should take the first shift; they basically argued about everything. Even Lizzie was biting her fingernails. For once, I missed Ripred's bone munching.

"Mareth, do something," I whispered angrily.

The seemingly calm veteran tried to feed them to distract them, but they just bickered about each other's table manners.

"Must you talk with your mouth full, Zap?" Photos Glow-Glow said. "It kills my appetite."

"This from someone who just sat in his milk!" Zap said, and apparently she had him there, because his rear end went bright red in anger, and he chomped on a mushroom in silence for at least thirty seconds. Thirty quiet blissful seconds.

"Are they always like this?"

"In truth, these two are not as bad as some others I have traveled with," whispered back Mareth. "I once saw a pair try to fight to the death over a piece of cake."

"They can't fight?"

Mareth nodded. "They are not very capable fighters, and they tire quickly. So they ended up accusing each other of cheating, and giving up. Then they sulked for several days," said Mareth.

I would love that, but to get to that result, I had to tolerate more hours of useless accusations. I wonder if threatening works.

"Can I k-- Do we really need them?"

Mareth's shoulders slackened; his serene facade broke. "Unfortunately, yes."

Apparently, Lizzie couldn't take it anymore and tugged on one of the male's wings, almost tearing it off.

"Listen, you overgrown light bulb, I need your rattling mouth zipped until I get home. Got it?"

She's that aggravated, huh?

He was both confused and offended. "I am he called Photos Glow-Glow and will answer to no other name!"

"It's an Overlander insult," I explained. It sorta was. "She can't pronounce Photos Glow-Glow right now."

"Well, then, I cannot understand her!" said the firefly.

"Allow me to translate," Twitchtip said, not even bothering to move. "She said if you don't stop your incessant babble, that big rat sitting in the boat next to you will rip your head off."

That shut him up for good; his light turning a darker shade of red. There was finally silence. My trust in Twitchtip rose, but not significantly.

We were far out into the Waterway now. The torches had been extinguished when the shiners arrived, and the fireflies' glow only illuminated the immediate area. Lizzie snapped on her brightest flashlight for a minute and shone it around. I followed her light. All signs of land had vanished.

There were waves -- which would be a disadvantage for me if they became heavier -- and a decent breeze. We sailed further. Mareth and Howard ran silken sails up the masts and were preoccupied with steering the two vessels. Our bats settled comfortably together and dozed off. I noticed that Ares didn't join them. Did they hate him?

I went up to him. "How long do you think this journey would take?"

"At least five days," said Ares. "If we flew, we could make it in less time, but it is believed that very few bats could make the journey. No one has ever tried it."

I scoffed. "Believed. Do you really take that to heart?You can break that myth." I meant it. Ares was impressively strong and swift.

"I have thought that I might try it someday, to see if I could accomplish it," he admitted.

'I', not 'we'. Means that he would do it alone. But who would bear witness to his feat? I bet he would be a legend if he did make it. The word 'legend' shifted my thinking to the Bane. The supposedly giant unbeatable white rat. I grinned gleefully.

"Can the rats swim?"

"Yes, but not as far out as we are. The rats cannot reach her here," he replied.

My grin slackened a little. Bummer. No thrill in that.

"Have you ever killed a rat by yourself?"

Ares shook his head. "No. Together with Henry, yes. I flew while he held the sword."

"Any tips?"

"The neck is vulnerable. The heart, but one must get past the ribs. Through the eyes to the brain. Under the foreleg is a vein that bleeds greatly. If you strike at the belly, you may not kill instantly, but the rat will likely die within days from infection."

"I see." So it was the same as humans. Our conversation ended there.

Mareth called a dinner break and passed around food. The fireflies ate with gusto, even though they had just been fed.

"Deep breaths. They'll only be here for now," said other me.

Right. Or they won't be if they 'accidentally' drown.

"You do know we need them, right?"

Fine... Til the end of the journey it is.

"That's the spirit!"

After everyone had eaten, Mareth lowered the sails in his boat and hooked the front of his craft to the back of Howard's with a towrope. "Howard and I will take turns sailing the lead boat while the rest sleep. But we need someone on guard and one shiner on duty at all times."

"Zap will take the first shift," said Photos Glow-Glow almost instantly. "My light requires more energy."

"It is a lie!" howled Zap. "I can only make one color, but the effort is the same. He only says this so that he will be given more food and less work!"

"Photos Glow-Glow will take the first shift," said Twitchtip. "Or I'll shred his wings into ribbons."

So that settled that. "Who wants to watch with him?"

"We are many and can switch guards every two hours or so," said Mareth.

I didn't want Photos to complain while I was sleeping, so I offered the first shift.

In the lead boat, Howard took his place by the rudder to steer. His bat folded its wings to sleep. Twitchtip, who had barely moved since they left Regalia, closed her eyes. Zap's soft yellow light faded out, and she began to snore.

Lizzie took out her life jacket and wrapped herself with a blanket in the stern of our boat. Ares perched next to her. Mareth stretched out on the floor, with Andromeda nearby. Photos Glow-Glow turned his bulb to a steady orange light and lit on the bow, a few feet in front of Mareth, illuminating the space between the boats.

I sat on the cushy pile of supplies and watched our surroundings. It was quiet, except for the lapping of the waves, soft breathing, and firefly snores. Perfect for echolocation. But it was hard to 'see' below the surface of the water, as it was constantly moving and too 'solid' for my echolocation to get through. Therefore, my eyes were always scanning the water, wary of any underwater creatures.

The sounds of waves increased slightly, almost cancelling out the snores. I eyed at the Waterway. Water. Too little and you'd dehydrate. Too much and you'd drown. The latter triggered a suppressed nightmare, so I distracted myself by continuing to think of ways to kill the Bane.

I closed my eyes to get a better picture of my imagination, but that was a fatal mistake. Something appeared out of the water and wrapped tightly around my ankles, yanking my legs towards it with absurd strength.

With lightning fast reflexes, I stabbed my dagger to hold onto the edge.

"Ares! A little help!"

Then a second yank forced me to lose my grip, and I plunged into the water. I could barely hold my breath. That shout had exhaled most of my air. I stretched an arm out above the surface, hoping that Ares would save me, as much as I hated help.

Right before my arm had completely sunken in, I felt a grab above and instantly knew it was him. A tug of war ensued, with me as the rope.

"Pull, Ares, pull!" I shouted after spitting out the salty water.

But Ares' strength wasn't enough. It was touch and go, with the creature dragging me deeper and Ares dragging me back out. Feeling irritated and impatient, I flung a dagger to the tentacle. It hit, and it's grip loosened. Just then, Ares gave a big heave-ho, and I flew out of the water. I dangled upside down a moment, my soaked shoes locked in Ares's claws, before he dropped me on the floor of the boat.

"Warrior!" I heard Mareth cry. "Can you fight?"

I took a good look at our situation. Tentacles were shooting up over the sides of the boat right and left, their suckers latching on to anything they came in contact with. The crew was fighting back with whatever they had -- swords, teeth, claws, pincers -- trying to sever the appendages from the ghastly creatures looming in the dark water beneath them.

"Hell yeah!" I whipped out my daggers, ready to slaughter. My head hummed. The throbbing pain on my leg dulled significantly. A tentacle lashed out for my arm. I slashed it down. Yes! I could control it, so far.

Photos Glow-Glow and Zap were blazing. But even without their help, I could see by the light of the water, which shone an unearthly phosphorescent green.

The three bats were in flight, diving down and ripping with their claws. Mareth and Howard were slashing away with swords. Twitchtip was a whirlwind of gnashing teeth.

"Warrior! The princess!" warned Ares.

I turned to see three tentacles coming straight for Lizzie, who was trying to use her extra life jacket as a shield with wobbly legs. I made a frustrated grunt. When will she not be the damsel in distress? I dashed and sliced the assailants easily.

"Mareth! Short sword!" A sword flew, and I caught it. It should be light enough for her to swing and long enough to at least chop the tentacles off in one hit. I showed her a demonstration through ruthless slicing of some incoming tentacles.

"Please tell me you know how to fight." I said, giving it to her.

She accepted the weapon with shaking hands. "Luxa taught me a few things."

"And there goes my luck..." I mumbled. I eyed at her life jacket. "Take that off. It'll hinder your movements."

"No."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, whatever. Make sure you don't die." A tentacle whipped out at her. Lizzie sliced. It went limp in a few seconds. "Good. Just like that."

She giggled. "Thank you. You're nicer than I thought."

A memory triggered via those words. I could see my youngest brother's face on her.

My face darkened. "No. I'm not." The face put on a frown and vanished. I couldn't help but add in more words in spite of myself. "Don't always expect me to save you. I'm not your brother." And with that, I left her, forcing her to fend for herself.

I spared a glance once I was a few metres away from her. A tentacle came forth. She dodged, then slashed it down. Its remains twitched for a few seconds before becoming lifeless. The classic tactic of reverse hit and run. The Queen taught her the coward way, huh? To be honest, it kinda suited her.

Thankfully, I was distracted by several big tentacles all targeting me. I smirked. Such eagerness. My head buzzed. My control was slipping. I dug my fingernails in to hold on. But this time, it didn't work. I was flickering in and out. Damn. Have to make this quick.

This time, all of them came at me simultaneously, aiming straight for my limbs.

Ooh, feisty. My favourite.

I readjusted my stance. Right arm up, left arm down; both bent towards the opposite direction. At the last possible second, right when the tentacles thought they could reach me, my arms spun around, demolishing them.

Is this seriously their best? How disappointing.

Right after I finished those thoughts, multiple tentacles erupted out of the sea. My boat was much more surrounded than before. My head buzzed, stronger this time. I saw the shocked faces of everyone. They had stopped fighting and were just staring at them; their mouths gaping open as if they had seen the end of the world. Mareth even released his sword.

Most of the tentacles started to grip the ends of the boat, trying to rip it to shreds with its huge suction cups, while some of them were on the lookout, wary of attackers.

Adrenaline pumped in my veins, surging throughout my entire body. I hadn't experienced any risk greater than this before. It was... quite exciting, actually.

With a mighty roar, I charged towards the nearest tentacles and sliced them clean off. The ones beside them hissed furiously at me and assaulted. They were so slow. They were dead in milliseconds.

I continued my attack, decapitating them more and more. Heads were rolling left and right. I could hear screams coming from them. I was drenched. Soaked by the blood of my enemies. It was so easy. Too damn easy. Did I mention how easy this was? My god, it was easy.

But they weren't enough. This wasn't a challenge at all. No difficulty. I suddenly felt pissed. Angry that they didn't prove their worth. I wildly swung my daggers at the final one with a battlecry, purposely cutting shallow wounds so that it would suffer like how I was feeling inside. The sound of agony by the creature was music to my ears. It was bliss.

So useless. A waste of time. Mood killer.

Someone called my name and tightly locked my arms and legs. He shouted at me, screamed at me as if I was a spoilt child.

"Stop shouting!" I shouted, equally as loud as him. I tried to pry away from his muscles of muscles, but two jabs on my wrists made my hands limp. My beautiful, glistening daggers were out of my hands.

"Put him out," commanded the fat slab of arms.

A blurry figure I didn't notice was in front of me. Something was shoved into my throat. Then a slosh of warm liquid. I swallowed out of reflex. The thing went inside. Its effects kicked in. So did I. In the knee. Or was it on? I didn't know. I do know I landed a hit, however, judging by the groan.

My body felt violated. Numb. I was losing it. My consciousness. It was fading away. Fading to white. A blank state. I fought it, but it was useless. No amount of determination would be able to get me out of that. I eventually stopped fighting and let it ravage. Overcome my every cell.

Slowly, my body relaxed, and I passed out. A voice managed to crack in before I did.

"Sleep well, Warrior. You'll need it."

And there that. Chapter 7 complete. Whew. Finally.

Should I apologize again? Yeah, I should. Sorry. I don't think any would be worth the time you all had waited, but I'm sorry. I really am. One of the many regrets I have was this. Not having consistency. I'll try. At least, I hope I do.

Anyways, now that's out of the way, feel free to kill me off with critical criticism. Point out the flaws I have and had made. I deserve it. See y'all next time. Probably next month. Ugh, school. How thrilling.

Question time. In which paragraph did Ryan start to lose control of himself, excluding "flickering in and out"? It's quite subtle.