Chapter 50

After quickly finding, and eating some cloud fruit, we found a little more, and I told her my plan.

"It does seem many people have taken the day off today." Ryuu said after I gave her the rough idea.

"Which is good. But, we have to get past them first." I held one of the juicy fruits in my hand, "Since the air only travels up, not down."

"Have you gotten used to the mask now?" She asked.

"Yes. It takes me only a second to switch... Though, it might be because I'm not well..." my borrowed tail tried to reach my nearest hand, so I met it half way and gave it a little pet. "Doing my best, but if I had to guess, my magic stat would be negative."

"It would be an interesting thing to see... But not the time." Ryuu and I shared a nod.

"So, first, we get past them." I touched the enchanted bit of metal in my pocket, "It seems Wiene has moved a little, but is still that way." I pointed towards the far wall of the eighteenth. "And my coat is down and a little that way. Moving slowly." It was hard to judge distance, but I got the distinct impression it was 'closer' than the other one.

"Very well. I will lead, I still remember the way."

"Haha, sure that thing hasn't stuck itself to your butt?" One Amazon commented, brushing her hand over the tail she was using as a belt.

"It'd be the most action I've gotten for a while if it did... I think I'd notice." The Amazon wearing Kodori's coat replied, looking behind her. "It's just tied there. Wanted to look convincing, you know."

"Think your little scare worked?" The one with the bite mark asked. "Though, it was fun to hear them scream..." She had a tail around her neck like a scarf.

"With this coat and the hood up? By now, I'm sure the ones we left alive are already telling the guild The Demon Fox has lost her mind." She looked at the blood stained gauntlets, "Have to say, I like these. But needs some spikes or something."

"Shin guards too, I mean, whats the point of adding metal when you don't put something sharp on it?" Another asked, a long black tail hanging from just behind her spear's head.

"Maybe she just liked that feel of contact, you know..." The last one had a tail hanging off her shoulder like a tassel.

"Hmm... Contact..." One of them snerked, "What did Dix say?"

"Needs time to prep." The leader said, "But now that we have a good idea where they are..."

"Kinda wish some of them would look at me, instead of some of those monsters..."

"Yeah... I mean, sure, if you can see past the fangs..."

"Or scales."

"Feathers too."

The dungeon chose that moment to sigh. Warm air from the lower levels rushed past, bringing with it the faint smells from below. Stone, moisture, monsters, dungeon grown vegetation, and something sweet.

"Huh. Smells kinda like a pantry. Was there one around here someplace?"

Standing by the entrance to the twentieth floor, Ryuu's blossom shaped cape fluttered and was still again. I was kneeling behind her, well clear of the little pit I had punched into the floor and filled with crushed cloud fruit. We had seen no other adventurers on this floor, and with the help of my tracking stone, stayed far out of sight of the one wearing my coat.

"One last thing." I said, taking off the mask and putting it on the ground.

"Hm?"

"Hold still." I said, reaching out to her and finding her shoulder with my hand. "Just making sure I'll know who you are if I can't see."

She giggled quietly, "If you wanted a hug, you could have asked. For luck, sister?"

"For justice." I replied, Haruhime's tail doing its best to join in, "Okay... Time to play the spider..." I took two steps back, knelt, and found the mask, put it on again, then removed my boots. "Don't loose these please? It's my last pair."

"Mama has scolded you often about how fast you go through them..." Ryuu chided, my senses sharpening, making her unique scent, mixed with my own and a little cloud fruit easy to distinguish from the rest of the dungeon.

"You'll know the signal when you hear it." I said with a smile, though it was hidden by the mask.

"Why does he even have us patrolling anyhow? I mean, we found them, why aren't we attacking yet?"

"Most of the others are out as well, like us."

"What? It's not like they just spawn all the time. I mean..."

"Besides, magic stones are magic stones."

"I suppose. It's just boring, that's all."

"Yeah, fighting, or fucking, that's what I'd rather be doing."

"Speaking of, the dungeon's been pretty quiet today."

Maybe, who ever put me here in the first place, was actually being kind to me today. Ryuu and I had to stop maybe a half dozen times to clear a path of monsters before we could proceed. Either that, or the Dungeon was just taking a deep breath before playing more of its dirty tricks.

I had predicted the path of the Amazons, using the stone and the scent of moving cloud fruit. Ryuu had moved down another tunnel, making sure my escape path was clear. And, barefoot, I had walked up the wall of the small cavern I was in, and hung upside down from the ceiling, my toes clinging to the stone, grip unbreakable.

Glad for the extra warmth of my boxers, since the pleated skirt of my battle kimono was making me look like some kind of weird flower, I waited, listening, smelling, feeling.

I didn't want to switch to my sight yet. Ryuu had commented that it made me glow. And a spider didn't want to give anything away...

I heard the walls below be crack, blister, crack again, and with a sound like wet gravel hitting the floor, a pair of monsters hit the floor. To my ears, they sounded like those giant beetles, outer carapace and legs clicking as they found their feet and shook off the remnants of the dungeon birthing them.

"Oh, ya hear that? Might get some fighting done at least." I heard from down another hall.

"Spears first, swords to the side!" One of them commanded, the sounds of five pairs of boots stomping into the cavern under me, the two monsters roaring a challenge.

I waited still.

The clack of a spear. A second spear. One sword, a second one, then a sound of cracking carapace as someone punched one of them.

I switched the enchantments, the gold vision of my love's steel showing me the battle under me. Two spears, one for each of the beetles, two swords keeping the beetles shoulder to shoulder and limiting their movement, and the third wearing my equipment, smashing my gauntlets into the rear of one of them.

I waited still.

Then one of the spear women made to thrust her weapon into between the clacking mandibles of one of the beetles. I spotted my tail too, trailing behind the spear point.

I 'crouched', then pushed off as hard as I could, gravity and my own strength making me fall like a comet. Twisting in mid air, I heard the meaty 'chunk' of the spear striking true, just before my feet snapped the shaft.

Both feet on the ground, one hand behind me, fingers touching the fur of one of my tails, I looked forward into the face of the Amazon.

"You're the one who cut off my nose." I said to her, the metal of the mask distorting my voice.

Before anyone could react, my empty hand grabbed her face, fingers flexing slightly. My other hand grabbed my tail, and moving like a piston, I ripped my one hand back, and brought the other forward, ripping off her face, and then caving in her skull like a rotten fruit.

Then I ran. Switching my enchantments again, and following the scent of Ryuu, before the other four Amazons could disengage with the two monsters and chase after me.

Dix paced. And raved. His fellow Familia members saw him as leader, but only because, despite his apparent madness, he was very strong, and very smart.

Ikelos watched the man pace and mumble to himself. The god was well aware of this man's obsessions, but, he amused him. Dix, with his grubby battle cloth, cruel looking short sword, and smokey quartz goggles, was someone who couldn't help but 'do things'. Even if those things were by and large illegal in the city above.

"I hate waiting." Dix said, continuing to pace. His eyes trailing over to a row of mostly empty cages. "I hate delays." His eyes fell on to one of the occupied ones, holding what looked like a large serpent. "And I hate monsters."

The serpent twitched, and started to sluggishly move to the back of the cage, getting as far away from the man as possible. A thin feminine arm reached out from the scaled coils, and tried to drag itself faster towards its goal. The serpent had a female upper body, that was marked with cuts and bruises, but still, it tried to get away.

"Now now Dix. If you keep abusing them, you'll never sell them. "Ikelos chided as Dix picked up a spear, the head of the weapon cruel. Hooked and curved, this was no tool for hunting, but for inflicting pain. "OH! Huh... Seems one of our newest members just died."

"What?" Dix paused, spear raised to prod at the captive Xenos in the cage. "How, when, who?"

"Just now. Was quite sudden too. One of the Amazons" The God thought a moment, chuckling, "Didn't you send them on patrol?"

"I... Yes. After they told me about the camp." Dix said, putting the spear down and returning to his pacing. "Once some more of our patrols come back. And our teams come down from gathering supplies... Yes... We can sweep through and capture them all! All the ones that will sell, at least... The rest... Maybe... I'll curse them? A perfect distraction! Yes!"

Ikelos smiled as he sat lazily on a crate. Yes, this one was entertaining.

As planned, I ran away from the four confused Amazons. Still engaged in battle, they could either break away, and possibly have to deal with angry monsters behind them, or, finish what they started and go from there. As I ran past Ryuu, and she sent a burst of wind down the tunnel behind me, I heard no sound of pursuit.

"Success?" Ryuu asked as she caught up to me and we moved to a more secluded area.

Covered in dust, blood, bone and a little brain matter, I held my recovered tail in my hand. It was moving too, sluggishly. "Yes sister... Poor thing needs to be brushed..." Haruhime's tail swished across my back lazily. "Yes, I'm sure once I return, there will be much brushing. And bathing..."

"Here." Ryuu said, snapping her fingers to indicate a sharp turn, "A dark spot."

"Perfect for us and our long ears." I said quietly, "Now... I only know how to remove one of these..." My free hand brushed the fur of my reclaimed tail and found the string that had tied it to the spear head. "Right, this end up..." I mumbled to myself, holding the severed end in one hand, sweeping aside the back of my skirt and finding the base of my borrowed tail. "Play nice now..." I said, making Ryuu laugh quietly, as she helped keep the fabric out of the way. "Maybe I just tou..."

When I was young. Like... Five years old or so. I looked at an electrical socket, and thought to myself, 'I've seen mom and dad put keys in a slot just like this!' Thankfully, I only suffered numbness, pain, and bit of a shock. As my returned tail touched the base of my spine, it was kind of like that. Except instead of my hand, it was my butt, and a lot more intense.

After I was done twitching, I felt the sensation of someone rubbing my back, and the dire need to bathe. "Oh that's... Embarrassing." I groaned as the feeling returned to my limbs. "Keep this a secret between us, sister." I mumbled, chuckling quietly, "A grown woman wetting herself..."

"Well... You are wearing a long skirt?" She said as I stood back up and removed my boxers, taking a moment to push the end of my reclaimed tail through the hole in the back of my kimono. "Have they moved on yet?"

Grumbling at once again going commando, I touched the tracking stone in my pocket. "Yes... And as planed, they are going down the other tunnel." I had flicked my bloody hand down the tunnel Ryuu and I didn't go down, hoping they would notice and try and find me in the wrong direction. "Seems she hasn't figured it out yet."

"And if she has?"

"I'm sure the two of us can take on the four of them... But only if it comes to that." I sighed, the metal of the mask making it sound almost like feedback from a speaker. "Oh... Hello..." I said as my recovered tail wrapped around one of my arms and hugged it. "Yes I missed you too..."

"You talk to them?" Ryuu asked, prompting the tail to visit her.

"Sure." I 'looked' inside myself, at the ember of my magic. It had brightened a little, but also changed. The golden spark now had a dark smoke trailing from it. "Urg... I'm going to have to re-learn my own magic... It's all... mixed up."

"Mixed up?"

"Haruhime tried her magic on me once. It's like my own, except, instead of boosting myself, she boosts someone else. I kind of... exploded." I explained, "This will need time we don't have."

"Don't stray from the plan then." Ryuu said. "The trap with the least parts..."

"Is the most reliable." I finished, touching the tracking stone again and sniffing the air, "Lets go."

"What the fuck was that?" One of the Amazons asked, "Was that her? How the hell was that her?"

Another one, crouching over the nearly headless Amazon, who was still twitching on the floor said, "Wrong tail... But right size." She picked up her spear again. "That mask... When I saw it I just... couldn't move."

"What we did to her... How could she recover so fast? Two days? Not even?" Another said.

"Yeah, we broke her... She would have needed a team of people to fix her, then... An Elixir!"

The leader nodded, tapping her chin, "Even if it is her, we can still beat her." She laughed, that broken laugh, "We've beaten her twice... Let no one say we leave a job unfinished. If she wants to throw her life away, let her." She looked at the one with the bite mark, "Still have that net?"

"Always."

"Good." She touched the 'Yang' half of the tracking stone.

I sniffed the air, as we took a route that was more or less two tunnels over from where the other stone was. "The smell is spreading out..." I mumbled, "I think the one with my coat remembered the stone."

"That's fine." Ryuu said calmly. "Shall I?"

"Trade you that last fruit for it?" I replied, offering her the 'Yin' symbol.

Fruit in hand, I waited. I'd covered the fruit with a bit of mud to mask the sweet smell, so it wouldn't confuse my senses as to where the Amazons were coming from. As per 'plan B', Ryuu was simply wandering around, using her own sense as an experienced adventurer and the stone to keep just out of sight. Meanwhile, I had tucked myself between what seemed to be roots of the great tree from the floor above.

My boot brushed something on the floor, and I knelt down to pick it up. Smooth, with a teardrop shape, the 'point' was wickedly sharp. It was a scale.

"So this is where Bell found you..." I mumbled, tucking the scale away in a pocket.

If all was going to plan, and my sense of smell didn't deceive me, the three Amazons were getting close. Getting into a runner's crouch, I hid between the roots, and waited.

"You think this will work?" The one wearing the tail as a belt said. "She said to loop around, but where is she?"

Just behind her, the one wearing the black tail around her neck replied, "If memory serves, the next crossroad is where we wait."

The last one, wearing the tail wrapped around her sleeve said, "I'm still... Even with an Elixir... And how she killed..."

"Catch." She heard a metallic voice say.

Hearing them as they got closer, I tightened my leg muscles until they started to ache. My ears followed them, as the first, then second passed. Switching to my sight, I waited for my vision to fully form, seeing the third one just come into view of my hiding spot.

And I sprung. With all my might I pushed off, my right hand lofting the muddy fruit towards the second one.

"Catch." I said, a moment before my left hand grabbed the wrist of the one in the rear.

With all my speed, I could feel the small bones of her hand crackling under the pressure of my grip. I didn't stop though, even as I dragged her screaming away from the others like some kind of horror movie prop.

What was probably out of reflex, the one I tossed the fruit at sliced it out of the air, spattering cloud fruit juice everywhere. Even as I slammed the one I was holding into the opposite wall with a crack of stone and bone alike, I could hear her swear.

"You." I said to the Amazon's upside down face, as my right hand held her in place against the wall, and my left recovered my tail, "Liked breaking bones."

Coughing blood, she looked at me in horror, as I moved my right hand to her throat, pulled her off the wall, grabbed her leg with my left hand, and slammed her over my knee. I switched the enchantment back to heightened senses and 'stared' the other two down even as I heard the Amazon I'd shattered over my knee die, bone fragments shredding her heart as it beat in terror.

Prize recovered, I pushed the corpse off my knee and dashed away.

"We..." The two remaining Amazons ran ahead, spotting their leader, "We have to leave... Right now."

The leader turned, seeing only two of her team instead of three. "What are you doing here, the plan..." She touched the stone, feeling the distance grow, except in the opposite direction of the two who were approaching. "There's two of them..."

Then the dungeon walls started to crack.

I could hear the distant sounds of fighting as I reached under my skirt. Ryuu stood watch as I once again went into an electric shock spasm, and fell to the floor.

"Sounds like the dungeon is starting to take offence at us being here..." Ryuu said quietly as she rubbed my back again, my re-bonded tail looping around her arm, "Yes I'm glad you're back in place too." She said to it.

"See? Now I don't seem crazy." I coughed, my legs taking longer to recover. "Urg... I might need a moment longer... My magic looks like I just added syrup to white batter." I used a cooking analogy, for what I was 'seeing' inside myself.

"Relax... It sounds like they are having a hard time." She kept rubbing my back until I was standing straight again. "Are you able to continue?"

"Yes." I replied, taking a deep breath and slowly fanning my magic, trying to make sense of it. Having basically tripled my magic power in less than an hour, I had to do something with it, or I'd explode.

"Why! Damn! Get off me!" The one wearing the 'scarf' screamed as she desperately swung her sword. "Help me!"

Covered in cloud fruit juice, the monsters saw her as the tastiest in the room, and even with the other two fighting to thin the mob of sword bugs and killer rabbits, it was like trying to swat a swarm with a baseball bat.

"Get your back to a wall! Damn monsters! Get off her!" The one wearing Kodori's tail as a belt stabbed and kicked, working as best she could with the leader. Even with less than half their number, they were still the Berbera, Ishtar's best.

Blood was starting to flow now. In typical monster fashion, they fought without care for themselves, only wanting to get to the 'food'.

"I believe you have something I want." A deep metallic voice said from the tunnel behind them.

"Shit! That's her!" The belted one said, half in a panic. "We can not deal with this!"

"AH!" The one wearing the scarf screamed as a sword bug slipped past the other two, and slammed into her shoulder. Furiously, the bug started to claw and bite, the fruit flavoured skin gushing blood as it ripped through the leather armour.

Even after I called down the tunnel and heard one of them scream in pain, I took my time getting there. Not being covered in cloud fruit, like they were, I was fairly certain I'd be unhindered, or at least not as high up on the monster's list of things to eat. When I did get to the room, I could smell the black ash of monsters, and the bright metallic scent of blood. My ears picked up the sound of running boots and scuttling feet as the last two Amazons ran from me.

Taking a deep breath and changing the 'colour' of my magic, I could see again, in gold and black. There, against the wall, amid a scattering of magic stones, a dropped sword and still dying monsters, was one of the Amazons. Wearing one of my tails as a scarf, she wasn't moving. Carefully, I made my way across the room, using my boots to crush the head of any still twitching monster. When I made it to her, my gold flooded sight noticed a scar at her collar bone, barely visible from the blood that had spilled from her missing throat.

"Ironic." I said as I knelt down, "That you were the one who wanted me to watch as you fed my cut off bits to monsters." I reached for my tail, the amputated appendage sluggishly coming to life as my fingers brushed it. "Out of all of you, I have to at least say I'm sorry."

"Remorse, sister?" Ryuu asked behind me, her weapon drawn, even though the room was clear.

"She was the one I bit." I said, closing the dead Amazon's eyes, "That, I've always felt bad about."

"And the last two? I think..." She touched something under her robe, "They are heading up. If they get to Rivira, it may cause trouble."

"I overheard them say they'd pretended to be me, with my equipment and tail. If they were to go there, they'd be falling into the trap they made for me." I stood, then knelt again, picking up a neatly stored net that was hooked onto the Amazon's belt. "But, if they are going up, then that will save us time for the return trip."

"We can't go to the town."

"No... Damnit, and the nearest exit for us is on the far side of level eighteen..." The one wearing Kodori's coat said, "This shouldn't have happened! We broke her! No one could love something like that!"

"We have to wash this scent off us too! Wait, her tails! What if we just give them back! I don't want to have my face ripped off!"

The leader gave the panicking Amazon a sharp slap across the face, "And you call yourself one of the Berbera! We can run, but we do not 'give back' a trophy of war!"

"Then lets run! Please!" She replied, holding her reddened cheek.

"Yes, please, run." That metallic voice said from behind them, on the ramp down to level nineteen.

Ryuu and I spared no effort as we ran to catch up to them. Using the sightless enchantments on my mask, she was running ahead of me until I could hear their distant conversation. Switching back to my eyes, I sped up just a little, the two of us switching places.

"Then lets run! Please!" The one wearing my tail as a belt said desperately, holding her cheek with one hand, her spear with the other.

"Yes, please run." I said, "Or not..."

I must have done a really good job with the 'menacing' enchantment on the mask. Not for the first time today, I'd frozen them with a look. I could make out both their heartbeats hammering in their chests, and hear the reluctant movement of leather and scale as they tried to push past the fear.

Finally, the one one wearing my tail as a belt broke, her knees hitting the ground. With a brief noise of ruffling fur, something was thrown at my feet as I got closer. "Take it! Take it! Please don't kill me!"

Still 'looking' at the two of them, I heard the other swear, "Fucking rookie! Fine, stay and die!" There was a sound of impact, and a heavy thump as the one who surrendered was kicked prone. This was followed by a pair of boots making a hasty retreat.

I knelt slowly, my ears tracking the groaning body still on the ground. My severed tail found its own way to me, brushing against my hand and prompting me to pick it up. I shivered as it curled itself around my arm like some sort of furry snake, and I smiled under the mask. "You." I said, making the Amazon on the ground whimper, "Liked to hit me with those iron rods..." I got within kicking distance, and was about to bring my foot back to kick her.

"Sister." Ryuu said from behind me. "For justice?"

Sighing, I held my hand back towards her, and caught the 'Yin' half of the tracking stone. Holding it in my fist, I unhooked the net from my belt and kind of dropped it artlessly on the fallen Amazon. "Stay there, or I will be very disappointed when I find you again."

Uncaring whether she actually obeyed me, I sniffed the air and ran after my coat.

It had all gone so WRONG.

Panic and desperation fuelled her as she ran towards the entrance to Dix's caverns. She knew the keystone would let her in, and anyone not directly beside or behind her wouldn't be able to enter, let alone see the entrance. But first she had to get away.

Weaving through the forest, she found and crushed any cloud fruit she could find. As best she could in her haste, she emptied the pockets of the coat and tossed it aside. Next went the tracking stone. Then her shirt. She couldn't take off the tight scale pants without stopping, so she found one of the many streams, and did a shallow dive into it. The cold water almost made her muscles cramp up, but as she surfaced, she was fairly sure she had done enough to wash off what ever that damned fox was tracking her with.

"F-fucking monster..." She mumbled, shivering slightly as she oriented herself again, and started running once more.

"Funny." I said as I stepped out from behind a tree in front of her. "I was about to say the same about you."

"What?! How?" She stopped short, her feet sliding on the grass as she nearly tripped.

"I simply found high ground, and waited." I pointed over her shoulder to the little plateau I had fought and nearly killed Moldo, on. "Once you chose a direction, I simply jumped."

She was naked to the waist, with only a belt, a pouch, sword and my gauntlets. I knew where my coat was, so finding my last tail wasn't an issue, the tracking stone was simple too. I had turned my sight back on, so she wasn't as slow to react as I took a step forward.

"You should have just let Ishtar have you!" She shouted at me, drawing her sword.

My borrowed tail swished lazily back and forth, while my returned ones went still, like a cat ready to pounce, "She offered an empty love, fill of lust, but empty of substance." I took another step, readying myself, both hands open.

"How would you know? You rejected her! If you hadn't come, Haruhime would have died, and we would have overthrown Freya with the power she granted us!"

I didn't even bother to reply to that, instead I said, "You know, I should have just left you in that building to burn. After you tortured me like that, I really should have. But, the love of a friend stopped me from becoming something I hate."

She roared incoherently at me, leaping and swinging her sword. It wasn't a bad swing, but it might as well have been sent by mail.

Dodging, I continued, "It was the love of Haruhime, my Goddess, my Familia, that put me back together after you tortured me again."

"SHUT UP! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF LOVE!" She screamed at me.

"You broke me. And you even cut out my tongue so I couldn't kill myself and end it." I slapped the sword out of her hand as she got sloppy trying to stab me. "But, even as I was being put back together, I could feel the love of my Goddess, holding my memory close and praying for me."

She was beyond words at this point as I used hard trained skill and what was at least a level and a half of difference to simply dodge her increasingly clumsy attacks.

So I ended it. Drawing back my fist, I slapped her next punch away with enough force to spin her around. Her back to me, I very deliberately punched her as hard as I could, grabbing her shoulder to brace her for the full impact.

I looked over her shoulder, as she looked down at my bloody fist. Opening my hand, I said into her ear, "Oh, I guess you don't need a magic stone, to be a monster." Obviously unable to reply, I let her fall, shaking her once to help her fall off my arm.

"Sister?" Ryuu said beside me as we walked back to the surface.

I had used the net to carry my coat and pants, as well as what ever else the last Amazon had. It was slung over my shoulder, five of my tails curling around it, the last one visiting Ryuu. "I will deal with it later." I said, looking ahead of us to the Amazon who surrendered. "You."

Acting oddly for an Amazon, but considering the day she almost had end abruptly... She stopped in her tracks, her spine straightening like someone had run ice down it. "Y...yes?"

"Can you wash dishes?"

"...Yes?"

"Cook?"

"A little."

"Laundry?"

"I always have clean socks?" Her nervousness was slowly becoming confusion.

"Really, sister?" Ryuu asked me, though she was smiling slightly.

"Best place I know for women who need a place to start over." I replied.

"What...?" The Amazon started.

"You are going to tell who ever the Guild sends, everything. Then, you are going to work, and stay the *swat* ... Heck out of the way of what ever mess is going on." I looked behind me, the golden tail swishing back and forth amidst the other five tails. "Understood?"

"So you're not going to kill me?" She asked.

"No. You proved to me you weren't just a mindless monster." I looked to Ryuu, the golden outline of her face nodding to me, "Once you start working however, I'll be the least of your problems if you step out of line."

I looked to Ryuu, took a half step over to her, gave her a hug, that included all but the shorter gold furred tail, and stepped back, "Sister. I leave her in your care. I have to get home."

"Wait until tomorrow, at least, before you ask her." She said, making my face heat up under the mask, "Be well, I'll visit soon."

"Be well." I replied, gripping her forearms, then letting go and running.

Notes

*ahem* So yes. An appropriately bad end, to an appropriately bad group of people? Did I make my ULTRAVIOLENCE rating? Is there even such a thing?

I'm sure you can guess some of what happens in the next chapter, but well, keep reading anyhow? Please? :)