Kai woke up the next morning to the loud sounds of the forest. Birds were shrilling happily and the sun was peeking through the trees. Kai was grateful that he didn't have any dreams last night - he didn't sleep deeply enough - for he knew that he would have had terrible nightmares. He sat up, wincing as his shoulder throbbed painfully. He scanned his sleeping group of friends. Shintaro looked exhausted, along with Linda, who was sleeping against the tree that Shintaro was leaning against while he slept as well. Gabriel was lying on his back next to Linda, and Abby was close to Kai, sleeping on her stomach with her arms folded under her head to serve as a pillow. Chase was awake, sitting the farthest away from everyone, and staring at the tiny doorway with a grim expression. 

Suddenly, Kai's stomach rumbled. He flushed in embarrassment as Chase heard and turned his head to look at Kai. The younger boy shuffled uncomfortably as Chase smiled a little but didn't say anything. He turned his head back to stare at the doorway with a small sigh.

Abby slowly sat up, stretching her arms and yawning. Her blue eyes blinked open, and she rubbed them a few times to clear away the sleep. She pushed her blond bangs out of her eyes and looked around her. Her eyes fell on Shintaro, and she crawled over and sat next to him. 

Gabriel rolled over, and Linda grunted as he accidentally kicked her. She lifted her head and blinked a few times, taking in her surroundings. She woke herself up completely by swatting Gabriel's foot away from her with a roll of her eyes. Gabriel mumbled something and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

Chase turned his back to the door, greeting Gabriel with a small nod. Abby smiled a little at her brother, and he returned it without a word. It was too quiet, and Kai didn't like it. He wished someone would say something, but then again, he didn't know what he would say if he were to say anything.

Finally, Abby said something. She asked the question that everyone was asking themselves: "What are we going to do now?" 

Linda shook her head. "I'm not sure. I don't think Shintaro is up to traveling just yet, but we have to get going, otherwise Moon and her companions may find us. I'm surprised they haven't already," she added under her breath. "I could contact someone through my telepathy, but it might take a while... considering how far we are from actual civilization." She turned to her friend. "Gabriel, how far do you think we are from your town?" 

"How should I know?" Gabriel said back. "I've never been here, and I don't even know where 'here' is. We were three days away before the Darks found us, and I have no idea how far their base is from the village; so the least I can say is probably a week or more." 

Linda sighed. "Yeah, looks like our best bet is me trying to find someone near us. I don't know how well that will work, however. Don't pester me about it. I can't stand that." She rubbed her forehead then popped her fingers. "Someone should find food while I'm doing this. Anyone who can, that is." 

Gabriel raised his hand a little. "I can find us something, I guess. The rest of you stay here." With that, he stood up and started walking off. 

"Be careful," Abby called after him. She sighed and smiled a little when Gabriel held up a thumbs up without looking back. Then she shook her head. "I wonder what happened to Komakii. He was such a cute wolf. I hope they didn't kill him."

Komakii, Kai thought. He remembered that the wolf had tried to protect Chase when a Dark was getting too close, but soon Kai lost track of him and didn't see him again. He honestly hoped that Komakii was in the woods again, living life as a normal wolf. That would be better than him dying for no reason. 

But Darks were that cruel, so Kai wouldn't have been shocked if the found Komakii somewhere in Moon's place, dead and used as a coat or something. Moon was definitely a person who would do that. It was easy to picture her with wolf skins adorned on her shoulders.

Chase gave a little nod at Abby, sympathizing with her, but again said nothing. 

Shintaro suddenly jumped awake, his eyes opening quickly. Linda bit her lip but didn't open her eyes. Chase leaped to his feet and hurried over to kneel beside his father. Finally, he said something that Kai didn't hear. 

Shintaro looked up at his son and took a deep breath. He shuddered, once, twice, then relaxed. Chase obviously smiled at him, because Shintaro gave the tiniest of smiles back.

Kai moved over to Shintaro's side and sat by his knees. He offered Shintaro a wave, and the white haired man smiled a little again. "How do you feel?" Kai asked quietly, hoping he wasn't disturbing Linda.

"Terrible," Shintaro said in a hoarse voice, "but I'll get over it." He still had a little smile on his face, and Kai almost broke down thinking about how that smile would be gone the moment that he was told about Luke. 

Shintaro obviously saw that something was troubling Kai, because he put his hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "Kid? Are you alright?" When Kai looked up, he saw that Shintaro's eyes were full of concern, but they were also swimming with fear, worry, and confusion, but mostly pain. There was so much pain that Kai felt tears prick in his eyes once more. He really was tired of crying.

"No," Kai mumbled, looking down at his hands. "No, I'm not alright. I don't know when I will be, Shintaro." He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut to block the tears from sliding down his cheeks. 

"What is it?" Shintaro said softly, sympathetically. 

Kai opened his mouth to say something, to say anything, but nothing came out. His words caught in his throat and stayed there. Tears blurred his vision as he opened his eyes to stare at the grass. Luke's smiling face flashed before him, and he shook his head again. He heard Abby sniffle slightly and was sort of glad that he wasn't the only one crying.

Shintaro looked from Kai to his daughter. "What?" he said firmly. "What is it?"

Abby made a small squeaking sound, as though she was trying to speak but couldn't, like Kai. Chase was still staring at his father, but his shoulders sagged when Abby sniffled again. 

Shintaro shook Kai a little. "What's going on? Why are you both crying? Chase, what's with that look? Where is..." He trailed off and went still. Abby let out a little sob and leaned into her father's shoulder. Chase shook his head and looked away from Shintaro.

"Kai?" Shintaro said so softly that Kai thought he was just hearing things. But Shintaro said it again, and Kai realized that he was being spoken to. "Kai, what happened?"

"I'm sorry, Shintaro," Kai said quickly, the words that had been stuck spilling out out of his mouth hurriedly. "Luke went after Moon to knock her out. He said he would catch up, but he never did. I went back... Shintaro, I'm so sorry..." Once again, Kai collapsed into sobs. He hated that about himself. He couldn't stop himself from crying, and it was humiliating.

Shintaro was too quiet. Kai glanced up, looking through the tears in his eyes, and saw that Shintaro was crying as well. Not very openly, just staring at Kai with tears slowly running down his face. 

Abby looked up as well, saw that her father was crying, and hugged him tighter. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I'm sorry." 

Chase shook his head and rested it on Abby's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around his sister and took a shaky breath. "We couldn't have done anything, Dad. It was Moon. Don't worry, she won't get away with it." 

Kai covered his face with his hands. He couldn't watch that anymore. Shintaro always seemed like such a strong, tough man who showed almost no emotion - other than anger and determination. But it appeared Kai's view of him was wrong. Even the fiercest warriors had emotions. Shintaro may have hardly let them show before, but Kai knew he couldn't stop himself this time. Shintaro was breaking, and so was Kai. 

~

THIS IS CHAPTER FORTY. IT ISN'T THE END YET, YOU GUYS. NOT YET. I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M SO CLOSE, THOUGH. I THINK I'M GOING TO MAKE ONLY ONE OR TWO MORE CHAPTERS. I THINK I MIGHT MAKE IT ONE. I DON'T KNOW. MAYBE.

ARE YOU READY FOR THE END OF THIS, Y'ALL?!?!?!

Tell me, did you guys like Luke? What about Moon? If you did, thank my sister for Moon. She was all my sister's idea. Luke was mine, but I'm thanking my sister for helping me with this book without even trying! 

Thank you all, too, for reading, commenting, and voting! I love you all so much!!! 

Until the next... and possibly last... chapter!!!

Peace!~~