The party just lay on the ground for a long time. Finally, Ochako said. "That was horrible," and they all groaned in agreement. "I couldn't even tell what was happening, I just lost control," Deku said. "One minute I knew where I was, the next, I thought it was home." No one else wanted to share what they'd seen. "Why didn't it affect all of us though?" Mina said. "I guess I get Denki, because he's a bard, and Bakugo has that rage thing, and Ochako has her spells, but Momo and I don't." "There's no point asking, since we have no way to know," Momo said. "I really think we should just get as far away from those sailors as possible, if you all are ready to go." Her tone was still one of controlled anger, and no one wanted to argue with her, so they all got up and started walking. Some of them were sore from being knocked around. "Sorry I had to take you down," Camie said to Deku. "No, I'm grateful, really, and to you Bakugo," Deku said. Bakugo just grunted as if to ward off ruther acknowledgement. "Yes... thanks..." Ei said. "Though next time man, don't hit me so hard. I have a lump." "I'll hit you as hard as I have to if you're being an idiot, jackass." Bakugo snapped. He seemed to feel better once he could yell at someone again. Shoto looked at his left hand, and then at Momo. Kyoka was rubbing her arms and glancing sideways at Denki. "Look...uh...thanks," she said finally. "You saved me...again...so..." "Who's counting?" Denki said. "I mean, you've saved me a couple times...it doesn't matter. That's what friends do." "I owe you an apology for before, though," Kyoka said humbly. "I just didn't want to say it... but I shouldn't have said what I did." "No, you shouldn't have," Denki agreed, a bit salty. "But I get you were upset, so I'll try to forget about it... Anyway I got to shock the dickens out of you and say it was helping, so that kind of made it better." "Yeah, did you have to shock me so hard!" Kyoka said in a much less strained tone, shoving his arm. "I felt my teeth rattle! I'm still numb in some parts!" "Well next time I'll try to dial it down." Denki said.

"Aw, they're so cute," Camie said, watching them. "Disgusting," Bakugo said. "More surprised you noticed at all," Camie said, leaning her chin on his shoulder. "Hey, I'm glad you didn't dive off the boat." Bakugo turned red. "Is this really the time for that?" "Well, I dunno, but I just thought you should know you better not try to do something like that again, I thought my heart was going to stop," Camie said. "I can't explain it, but it's like I got attached to you or something. I promised your mother I'd look after you, you know." Bakugo looked up. "You what?" "Oops, that was supposed to be a secret," Camie covered her mouth. "Ah, she didn't want you to know she was worried, I'm sorry, please forget I said that." "When did you talk to my mother!" Bakugo said. "When we had that skirmish over land... and we called it a draw, you remember?" Camie said. "We only did that because I told her I might reconsider your offer." " I knew it! I knew that hag didn't just change her mind because she thought we couldn't win!" Bakugo cried. "Yeah... I'm really sorry that we didn't get to talk it out more..." Camie said.

"Uh, what happened to his mom?" Ei asked. "You never talk about your family man, but I know Princess Momo mentioned your mother before, what about your father?" Bakugo scowled. Camie sighed. "Well, we don't like discussing it... but both of them got taken hostage by the Dark Lord's forces about a year ago." "What?" Ei said. "Why do you think Bakugo's been clearing out of his territory?" Camie said. "The Dark Lord's minions told us they'd kill them if we didn't move off. The bandits didn't really have to, but my parents said we should support our brethren. I don't know why they wanted that territory so badly. It's a secret though, if the other tribes found out the queen was missing, they'd attack us. Bakugo's king now anyway, but he had to go on this quest, so it's better no one knows about that." "Well, I can't exactly tell anyone," Ei said. "But I'm really sorry that happened to you, man. I had no idea." "Ha!" Bakugo scoffed. "I ain't worried about that old bat. She's probably terrorizing the minions who are holding them, she and my father will tear them apart from the inside, but I'm going to show them up by destroying them from the outside first, and finally prove I'm stronger than them!"

Ei was not as fooled by this as he might normally have been. "Camie how did you know?" "My parents don't keep secrets from me," Camie said. "They told me to take my troop of bandits and start roaming around on my own, looking for back up, and gathering information. It must have been fate I stumbled on this quest. Meanwhile, they're holding down our turf back home. It worked out perfectly. Bakugo and I can both get what we wanted if we find the SOL, and prove we're just as tough as our parents." "I really hope you two get what you want," Ei said sincerely. "I wish I had a noble reason like that to be on the quest, I really just want to help my friends." "That's noble," Camie said nicely. "You're the best dragon we have." "Uh, I'm the only dragon we have." "Nuh uh, Princy has his wrist guards," Camie said. "Oh... oh, wow, thanks!" Ei grinned. Bakugo rolled his eyes at how cheesy that compliment was.

"I didn't realize Bakugo's parents were still alive," Momo muttered, having overheard this. "I thought they died... Well, it's our duty to try to get them back also, but I'd better not let on that I heard that." "I can't believe he's in almost the same position as me and he never said anything," Shoto said. "You can't believe that?" Momo was still in an arch mood. "Well... no, I can believe he didn't say it, just not that it's the same.." Shoto said. "I'm... sorry about earlier, I don't remember it very well, but I know I gave you trouble." "Oh don't worry about that, it wasn't your fault," Momo waved it off. "I swear, I was so angry at those sailors, I didn't even think about the sirens anymore... but I'm glad you're okay. I got very scared, but that nice man helped me... I wonder why, if they were just going to let us die." "Perhaps not all of them were in cahoots," Shoto said. "Or he liked you, that would be reasonable." Momo reddened. "I'm sure that's not it." "I think you scared the captain though..." Shoto said. "I lost my temper," Momo looked embarrassed.

"I thought he deserved more than that," Shoto said. "You could stand to lose your temper more often... did I hurt you?" He looked at his hand. "Oh... no, no, my armor protected me.: Momo said. She was slightly singed on her leg, but it was minor and she thought it might be best not to mention that, it wasn't more than a slight pain. Shoto gave her a look. "Not a very good liar." "It's nothing, I barely felt it." Momo insisted. Shoto still looked grey. "I swore I'd never harm anyone with my fire... unless they were the Dark Lord's minions. I never use fire on ordinary people. I'm sorry." "But you didn't do it on purpose," Momo said. "And I hit you too... which I felt bad for..." "It was to save my life, who could complain?" "I didn't like it, though, let's not talk about it. It's not important," Momo pleaded. Privately, she thought it was lucky she was the one close enough to stop him, not many others could have successfully fought him off that long. But he didn't need to hear that.

Walking away from the channel and up into the flat lands of the North, the landscape darkened further, and looked like someone had set a torch to the whole countryside. The blight had eaten away everything. There was hardly a stump in sight, it all turned to dust. No one knew exactly where the blight started. From the North East, it had spread, slowly at first, taking years to do noticeable damage, people had said it wouldn't be a problem, then it had picked up speed, now it took weeks to show up in a new place, and hardly a month or two to destroy most of it. A year and it would look like this. Still, at least there were no monsters...at least at first. They began to notice holes in the ground like something had burrowed through it. They tried to give them a wide berth, but they got more frequent. It was still day time however, and most monsters would only come out at night, at least, normally, but who knew if the Dark Lands might change that. The very sun seemed dimmer here. Deku consulted his map. "Well... it should only take us a few more days together to the mountains around the peninsula," he said. "Then we'll be nearly there..." "The Mountain of Monsters?" Shoto read. "That sounds promising..." "At least we know what to expect for once..." Mina said. "There's more forest first," Momo noted. "It's not darkened, does that mean it's free?" Mina looked Oih, no, that's an enchanted forest." "I thought you were from the enchanted forest?" Camie said. "I am, the Ashido one." Mina said. "But this one is a bit more....uh foreboding. Humans call it the forbidden forest, if I remember right... you see, it's not the Dark Lord's exactly because...well, it has some of the more chaotic neutrals of the mystical world. They wouldn't really like anyone, they aren't controllable, they mostly don't speak to us more civilized ones." "Chaotic neutrals?" Deku said. Denki held up his fingers. "Listen, this is philosophy stuff, okay? Lawful good, that's us, we're trying to do the right thing, we have a plan, you know, nice people. Then there's Chaotic good...they mean well, but they're a little bit crazy and unpredictable, march to their own beat, they might end up harming more than helping sometimes, but we're kind of on the same page. Chaotic neutral, they aren't interested in good or bad, they just do their thing, sometimes it helps, sometimes it's worse than the bad guys. Then we have chaotic evil... you never want to meet one of those." "I think there are more parts to it, but for the purpose of this conversation, we only need to worry about the third one," Momo said. "Because if that's true, we'll have to tread carefully." "I'm chaotic good," Camie said proudly. "Me too, sister," Mina said, high fiving her. "Well, I think Mina and I would be okay," Ei said. "I'm sure they'd leave a sprite and a dragon alone, but I don't know... Can't we get around it?" "Not if we want to take the fastest route," Deku said. "Can we afford to slow down? It might take another week at least, if we ever could." "And that's another week in the Dark Lands," Shoto said. "I think our chances are better in the forest if we cut right through it in a day or two." "You may not say that once we get there, but I'm okay with it," Mina said cheerfully.

They made camp and selected people for the first watches, they weren't attacked for a while, but they had to scram in the wee hours of the morning because snakes came out of the holes and tried to eat them alive. Luckily, they used fire and it scared them, and Shoto's ice rendered them mostly immovable, so they were able to get away, not without a bad fright and some bruises though. Deku began to wonder if he was ever going to lay down without wondering if something would try to kill him before morning.

The following morning, they had a brush with some vultures that didn't seem willing to wait for them to drop dead before eating them... another problem, their water supply ran out. Shoto could make more ice, but it was question how clear it was in that air and dust, the water tasted of grit and it made them thirstier. This became the most miserable period of their journey so far. The animals even looked depressed. Denki tried to lift everyone's spirits by playing songs. He even wrote one to commemorate the siren incident so that they could warn people about it once they got home.

"Long I float on, shipless ocean, I did all my best to smile. Till your singing, eyes and fingers, drew me loving to your isle. And you sand 'sail to me, sail to me, let me enfold you, here I am, here I am, waiting to hold you

Did I dream you? Dreamed about me? Were you hare when I was fox?

Now my foolish boat is leaning, broken lovelorn on your rocks. For you say, 'Touch me not, touch me not, come back tomorrow, though my heart, thought my heart, shies from the sorrow.'

I am puzzled as the oyster, I am troubled as the tide, Should I stand amid your breakers? Or should I lie with death my bride?

For you sing, 'swim to me, swim to me, let me enfold you, here I am, here I am, waiting to hold you.' " (Song to the Siren, Eurielle)

"That makes me feel just like it, though" Mina said. "Denki, you're actually really good." "Why do you have to sound so surprised?" Denki said. "Just shut up and take the compliment," Kyoka muttered. "And that's eerie, I hated that experience." "Well the point is to let other people know what it felt like so they know better, so eerie is kind of what I was going for," Denki said. But the unexpected outcome of this was everyone bursting into tears quite suddenly. Deku said he was homesick, no one else cared to admit how they felt. Denki hastily started playing something more soothing, eventually they stopped, but they were kind of shaken up. "Bards are scary," Camie said.

That day's journey brought them closer to the forest in question, but they were not there yet. They made a barrier around their camp, but no one felt safe, there was a quiet over the camp. It was also chilly, since they were so far North now. Mina said Ei should turn into a dragon and be their live hot water bottle. Ei seemed to feel embarrassed about it. "My dragon form is just so...you know, ugly." "Who cares?" Denki said casually. Kyoka kicked him. "What?" he said. "What'd I say?" "It's not ugly," Momo said nicely. "Yeah, you're a good looking dragon," Mina said roundly. "Plus, it's more useful that way. Humans aren't good for much, no offense, except talking." "How is that not offensive?" Bakugo growled. "I didn't mean it in a bad way," Mina said innocently. "I guess Princy Shoto could always use his fire dragon instead," Camie said. Ei shrugged, "Well if it'll help you all, I guess I could." He transformed. Everyone sat up against him. It was much better this way. More secure too. "You guys all feel so small," Ei commented. "It's weird, like I'm your parent dragon or something and you're nestlings." "Aw, that's so cute," Camie said. "That's weird," Bakugo griped. "No one asked you," Mina waved him off. Momo sighed. "At least this way, we don't need to light a fire and signal our position." She leaned back and dropped off right away. Kyoka glanced around and noticed that their party had somehow started naturally sorting itself differently than before, when they first joined up, she and Momo had always gone off to the side. Deku and Denki and Shoto had grouped up, and Bakugo and Ei had gone off on their own. Then Camie and Mina had joined the girls, and now, Camie was with Bakugo, and Mina was between her and Kyoka, then Denki was on her other side, with Deku and Ochako next to him, and Momo and Shoto on the far side. No one had ever suggested this, it just happened on its own. Kyoka felt like it boded some change in the air. People were forgetting where they came from, and who they were before, and becoming a unit, a new group...and strangely, she didn't feel as uncomfortable with this as she would have expected, and that bothered her. The Sirens had lured her toward home, but there was no mistaking, that was also where she felt comfortable, secure, and sure of herself. But if she was starting to like being away too... what was she going to do when the quest was over? Of course, they'd have to survive it first.

Momo woke up to Sight landing on her shoulder and pecking her face. The falcon must have seen danger. She sat up. "Kyoka..." she hissed. Kyoka stirred then blinked. "What is it?" "Do you hear something?" Momo asked. Kyoka put her ear to the ground. "I just hear this dragon breathing." Ei was breathing pretty deeply, smoke would puff out of his mouth every so often. Sight flew up and circled over the dry ground behind them, where they'd come from. "Something pretty stealthy if you can't hear it," Momo noted, standing up. She held up a bow and arrow. "Let's wake up the others then," Kyoka said. "We're already awake, nitwit," Bakugo growled. "All except Prince Shoto," Mina said, lifting into the air. "This feels like a running gag at this point," Denki said, looking at him. "Shoto," Momo said, tapping him. He jolted awake. "What is it? Are you hurt?" "No, no, someone's here...or something." Momo put a finger over her mouth. Denki nudged Deku "Are you hurt?" he mouthed slyly. Deku smiled nervously.                                                        For a long moment they still saw nothing, but then the shadows seemed to bend around something. "Mage," Camie said. Ochako shot some kind of light at it and the shadows fled, revealing...Hitoshi? And Mei? Mei was holding some device and fiddling with it, she glanced up at them. "Uh, I think they blew your cover," "Yes, darn mage," Hitoshi said. "You ruined my dramatic entrance." Ice blocked his path. "What do you want?" Shoto said darkly. "Last one up, first one to make a move, are you always this inconsistent, Prince Shoto?" Hitoshi said. "You're from his father," Momo said, "you're looking for him... that's why you followed us after you met the boys on the wharf...but why were you going to let us die then?" "Nice," Hitoshi smiled in a strange way. "And who said I was going to let the Prince die? You had that well in hand, but I was standing right there waiting to step in, it was more fun letting you do it for me though, the irons were a nice touch, gives a real air of capture to it." "But you let us go..." Mina said. "After those idiots blew our cover, I thought it was better not to fight you on a ship, with sharks around,"Hitoshi said. "I'm more of a stealth person, myself...I guess that's out now though." Mei shrugged. Shoto touched his wristband again. "What makes you think you can take us?" "On the contrary, Prince," Hitoshi said. "You're going to come with me, willingly. And your friends are going to let you, because after all, it's not their place to stop you if you go, is it? Your father is worried about you, you know."                                                                                                                                                 "If you know my father, you know that's an insult to my honor," Shoto said icily. "And I don't remember you." "Well, we're new. He called us after you left. I'm an expert tracker," Hitoshi rubbed his neck nonchalantly. "And my wife here can capture anyone, we're the perfect duo you might say." "Wait, you two are married?" Denki said. "Did you think we were traveling around together and not married? What kind of people do you think we are?" Hitoshi actually looked insulted. "His idea," Mei didn't even look up. "I don't care about convention, but marriage does solve a lot of problems. More people will buy inventions if it's a family business. And it's hard to get into taverns and get leads on our quarry as a single lady... Anyway, should I capture them now?" "Like I said, Pince Shoto will come with us willingly," Hitoshi said. "But if the bard or the warriors try to resist, you should restrain them." "Aren't you a little young to be married?" Deku said, still hung up on that detail though Denki had moved on. "No..." Hitoshi gave him a weird look. "If anything, we're a little old... Why is this what you're focusing on?" "I just don't get why you'd marry someone who's that crazy..." Denki said. "Hitoshi's not crazy," Mei said. "He's just really powerful, that's all. You novices don't stand a chance... plus, my babies will be more than a match for your pathetic magic!" "Stop provoking the madwoman!" Ochako hissed at the boys. "I wasn't trying to..." Deku said apologetically. "It's just my mom always said you had to be older to marry, and I was too young for girls..." "Dude, I hate to break this to you now, but your mom is a little overprotective," Denki said. "And you're going to get us killed." "You're the one who said more stuff about it!" Deku snapped.                                                                                                                                            "This is all amusing," Hitoshi said. "But how about Shoto gives us his answer? You coming willingly?" "I would never--" Shoto broke off suddenly. Then he said "I'll come." "WHAT!!!???" everyone else cried, even Bakugo. "All of you need to calm down," Hitoshi said. "Just let him come." "We would nev--" Deku began, then he broke off. "This is preposterous!" Ochako cried, but then she stopped too. "What the he--- is going on?" Kyoka said, before going quiet. "Uh oh..." Denki said. "What'd you do to them? You purple haired freak!" "Mei," Hitoshi said. Mei pulled a lever on what she was holding, and out shot a net, pinning Denki to the ground. Then she shot down Camie too, before Camie could vanish into smoke. Bakugo jumped on top of Ei, who was still a dragon, and Ei turned...but then he kind of froze too. "Hey! Stupid beast! Attack!" Bakugo stomped on his hide, which didn't do much more than tickle as it was. Ei completely ignored him. Momo looked scared, but she didn't speak. Hitoshi glanced at her. Then motioned at Mei, Mei shot Bakugo off Ei while he was distracted. "Well," Hitoshi said to Momo. "What are you going to do, Princess?