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Some people have expressed confusion as to what's going on. Rin goes over his journey so far in this chapter. I hope it helps.

Rin POV

"Where am I?"

Three words. She only asked three words. She only asked three words. Things just got a hundred times less complicated, or a thousand times more.

I was reminded of the Christmas Truce of world war one. Neither of us wanted to be here, so why fight?*

"You're in, uh, I think this place is called 'Wakanda.'" Yeah, that sounded about right. I was pretty sure I'd heard someone call this place that. We certainly weren't in Kansas, that much I knew.

"Where?"

"Um… not Gehenna?" It came out more like a question. The toad blinked one great eye, one lid coming down and at least at least four membranes horizontally.

"So Assiah? I haven't been here in a bit."

"Actually, not quite." I said."We're not in Assiah as far as I can tell."

Her great head twitched and fixed me a stabbing look.

"What?"

I sat by the water, feet in the current, mud rinsing off. Kuro's small weight wat on my shoulder, peering up at the giant toad. Tiny flashes of silver tickled my bare feet, small fish eating the dead skin from them.

How was I going to explain this? I barely knew myself. I leaned back, wind a pleasant chill against skin soaked by sweat and river spray. Trees and underbrush rustled in the same breeze. Another stomach-wrenching squelch sounded and another plop as a fresh toad fell in the water. My tail twitched and I pursed my lip watching it bob downstream. We'd need to gather those up.

"What do you mean?" She repeated, one foot lifting and settling down a little closer to me.

"We're not quite sure," Kuro said, eyeing the toad mother, "this place seems similar to Assiah, but certain things are different."

"For one thing, either everyone here has a temptaint, or everyone can see demons." The mother opened her mouth. I answered her question before she asked it, "There's the other thing. Besides us, I haven't seen any demons."

"I've noticed. It's part of why I've been panicking." The toad mother said. I never would have known she was even upset. Then again, amphibian expressions were never my forte.

We recounted and compared the events of the last few months. We had hopped dimensions. Mama got here before me and stayed where she fell. I got a job, got attacked, maimed a two-headed bird, took a plane to Iceland, met a bunch of aliens and/or ancient Norse deities, met Amiamon's soul-mate, got a prophecy (yay), took a plane to somewhere in West Africa, and, of course, throughout this whole ordeal I'm having issues with my body sending signals I don't know what to do with. It's been a blast.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, absorbing the other's story. Kuro's paws kneaded my shoulder. He kept nodding off so I took him from the perch and put him in my lap. I ran my fingers through his fur dampened by riverspray, careful to keep my claws light. I let my hand -and arm because control is a &%* #- heat up and dry him as I pet.

"Ya do know yer gonna need to gather up those toadlings of yers, right?"

"Why?"

"Well, ye might not realize this, but yer babies spread disease." I looked up at her. She had no reaction but a single blink.

"What is your point?" She asked, cocking her head.

Now it was my turn on the confusion train. Didn't she realize… didn't she? If she didn't then, oh. Oh $#!&. My tail coiled around my leg. Kuro's concerned gaze lay light on my mind. I'd just cracked it. My mouth suddenly became very dry.

"Ya do know that humans aren't supposed to be sick, right?"

She froze. I froze. All was still but the river mist and rustling of leaves.

"What?" It was almost a statement. From what I'd learned of the whole "re-evaluate entire life" process, she was doing pretty well.

"Sick isn't normal for Assiahans." Judging by her blank stare she still wasn't getting it. Perfectly reasonable, all things considered. Actually pretty standard for someone who's entire worldview was just turned on their head. Yeah, sure, the only other example I knew was myself, but I vividly remember a lot of haze in the week after my perception of the world went up in flames.

Kuro shuffled on my shoulder, rubbing his cheek against mine in a comforting gesture. "It's dangerous for Assiahans to be sick." He added his two yen.

"But they at least like being sick, right?" Desperation tinged her tone.

I grimaced. "No. No one really likes being sick."

The river splashed as she backed onto the bank, head shaking in disbelief. Her toes sunk into the mud with a wet squelch.

"The truth can hurt. I know that a bit better than most. It takes some getting used to." I flicked my tail to emphasize the point. Long minutes of stillness followed.

"So it's true then."

I nodded.

"You spent your hatchling years not knowing you were one of us."

Talk about missing the point. "Look, that's not what I was trying to get across. You just need to understand we're going to need to gather up yer babies before too long. Alright? "

She moved as if to speak again but stopped at a bit of movement on my shoulder. Kuro shook his head. "Don't… just don't. Don't go there. It's complicated, messy, and unrelated."

"But he didn't…"

My eye twitched. "Look, it really does not matter right now. We just need to gather yer kids and get home."

She shifted a foot back and let quiet overtake the area once more. Things I'd long since processed and put to rest rose from the depths of my mind. How much of my childhood issues were the result of not knowing my own body? Would knowing my heritage from the start have changed much? What ifs swam their old trails through my head, only ducking under my conscious when confronted by old answers.

I didn't need to confront old worries, didn't need the same quiet Mama did to cobble together a new worldview from the one I shattered. And yet, there I was, battling the same tired worries.

Kuro broke the quiet. "How did you get here anyway?" Bless him, always knowing what to do when everything becomes too much..

"I climbed." Her bulk shifted, revealing the crevice. I hopped to my feet and trotted over.

It went down, down, down. A gust from below blew my hair back. It smelled like death. Not like Mama, she was decay and disease. This was the scent of corpses. I wish I didn't know what those smell like. A shiver ran down my spine, fur on my tail standing on end in caution and something else.

Something moved.

My fingers itched. I'd never been scared of heights. I love them, seeing the world from above, the scents on the air, the wind through your hair. Depths on the other hand… you never know what's lurking down there.

I caught Mama's eye. She cocked her head. "What?" She said, a mother soothing an unknown fear of a child not her own.

"What's down there?"

"Big."

My face was somewhere between a grimace and silent screaming. My tail prickled, sparks popped as my nerves frayed. Something warm ran down my hand. Shards of rock cut my skin. I'd accidentally broken my handhold when my grip tightened in fear. I took a few steps back and shook the gravel out from under my nails.

Kuro and I exchanged a look. Whatever, whoever was down there, I didn't want to know. Yet, I was almost certain I was going to find out.

A splash caught my attention. Mama jolted up, fixated on something on the other riverbank. I didn't need anymore reason to get away from that crevice. I darted to her side for a better view.

"Who there?" I called.

"I'm pretty sure it's 'who is there' and it smells human." Kuro corrected me.

I raised an eyebrow and glanced at the demon on my shoulder. Since when was he the grammar police? I took a sniff. Nothing but rot and death. With my luck it was going to take a week to clear out of my nose. Yay.

A shape detached itself from a tree across the river. Natasha stepped out in the open, hand very purposefully not on her weapon. I cocked my head in silent confusion. Why was she here? I mean, there could be a bunch of reasons, but I wanted to know specifically. And how?

Of course, my slow processing meant she asked her question first.

"Rin? What exactly is going on here?" She said, hand on her hip.

The question took a second to sink in, and another few to unstick my brain, "Um… sitting in water?" She didn't know what to do with the answer. Honestly, neither did I. It was true, but probably not the answer she was looking for.

"What is that doing here?"

I jolted at Mama toad's booming voice. A flock of birds in a tree a few meters off chattered warnings and took to the skies. "She's probably looking for me. Maybe." I addressed the lady in question, "What are ya doing here?"

It was obvious Natasha was forcing herself not to roll her eyes. "Looking for you."

I blinked. Oh. Okay then. I glanced up at Mama. Something moved in the corner of my vision. I snapped to see it, catching the tail end of Natasha standing on our side of the river winding up a grappling hook.

She gestured to Mama, "Now care to explain this?"

"Uh… she's sorry?"

*The things this guy remembers…