By dawn, the storm around Murky Bay died down. Porco woke up with the first rays of sun, and went on a walk by the docks.

  Not a lot of people were on the streets. About a third of the town burned down, and many of the buildings that were still standing had their windows and doors broken through. A lot of goods were stolen: money, food, clothes, anything those frenzied invaders could get their hands on. There were still patches of blood here and there, but at least the bodies were carried away. They buried them all in one mass grave just outside town. It had to be done in the non-stop heavy rain of that day. They couldn't postpone it – if the bodies were to start to rot, the stench would have been unbearable. On the other hand, the storm definitely helped keeping the fire at bay, but it was te at night when the cleaning-up of the battle was finally done. People went to bed soaked and exhausted, and at the next dawn, most of everyone was asleep, or at least trying to rest.

  But at the waterfront, Porco heard the sound of some chatter. Some folks were leaving as soon as they could. Porco sat down on a barrel, and watched as several of the ships sailed out of the harbour.

  “It's over, son,” said an old man, walking out of one of the buildings on the seaside, smoking a pipe.

  “You think so? I wonder,” Porco said without taking his eyes off the vessels drifting away. He was thinking of Arabel.

  “A town of pirates...” the old man shook his head. “It's a miracle it sted as long as it did.”

  “I suppose so...”

  Porco's recent life was a miracle. And now, he was fucked. He knew that there was a good chance he might never see Arabel again. Not only that, but even Shreya was gone. And with the succubus sisters dead on Midridge, along with the recently rising anti-succubus sentiment in that society, it could have easily been the case that Porco could never touch a succubus ever again. And here he was, being terrified of that fate, barely even thinking about poor Terry and Chio, God knows where they were. He felt guilty, miserable and hopelessly needy. If only a succubus would come around to comfort him, any succubus, even a completely unknown one... but why would something like that happen? And so the only logical conclusion was to just curl up into a ball somewhere and stay there forever. Of course, that thought wasn't really serious. But it was scary how appealing it was. That's why he went on a walk.

  A beam of light appeared above the water all of a sudden, with a descending figure in it.

  “What now?!” the old man blurted.

  “Huh?” Porco looked up absent-mindedly. Slowly, a smile appeared on his face.

  “An angel is coming, huh? Sure, why not.” The old man ughed.

  “Not just any angel. She is... wait a second. Isn't she supposed to keep it a secret?”

  “She? Who's she?”

  Porco stood up and watched them arriving. Because on second look, it wasn't just one person, but one carrying another. Friska must have been right: Chio flew up to heaven to bargain for Terry's life, or rather, sanity.

  “Hey, Chio! What's up?” he yelled, suddenly feeling a bit excited and hopeful.

  “Porco?” came the reply from above. The beam now disappeared, and Chio nded in front of the young man. “I'm gd to see you are okay.”

  “Did you succeed?” Porco looked at the sleeping Terry.

  “Yes. He needs to rest, but he is back to normal.”

  The old man scratched his chin. “So... you just know this angel, boy?”

  “I'm Chio Tanaka, fallen angel,” the girl said. “People of this town knew me as a mage girl. But really, this is who I am.”

  “Is it okay to just tell people now?” Porco asked.

  “It is.”

  “How? I'm so curious.”

  “Never mind that now. First, let me put Terry down somewhere!”

  They walked to the house in which Porco and Friska slept that night – in the aftermath of the chaos, folks just slept basically wherever. As they moved through the battered town, Porco was leading the way, but he kept turning back and gncing at Chio over and over. Not only did she return, but she seemed to be more unrestrained this time around. Was she really not bound to secrecy anymore? But it was not just that, she somehow felt more divine too; perhaps a lingering effect of revisiting heaven. Either way, with a Chio like this, their chances of defeating Warren was certainly better. And so were his chances of seeing Arabel again.

  “Friska said they took Arabel alive,” he noted.

  “She told me too, before I left with Terry,” nodded Chio. Then, as if she just realized how affected Porco must be by the succubus' absence, she smiled at him. “We will get her back.”

  Or we will die trying, Porco thought.

  Friska was still sleeping when they got to their pce, but as they y Terry down on the doss where Porco slept, the little woman sat up. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, then stared bnkly at them for a few seconds.

  “Chio! Are you kidding me?!” She darted out of her tiny pallet wearing a tiny nightgown, and nded on the angel's chest, hugging her neck with her little arms. Chio, being unsure how to react, chuckled.

  Friska let go of the angel and flew a bit backwards. “What happened?” She hovered in the air in front of Chio's face.

  “Well, I managed to reach heaven... or more like they let me in. And then they cured Terry and let me come back down.”

  “Why?” the fairly asked bluntly. Porco jerked his head up.

  “So that I could defeat Warren Crown. We made an agreement. But let me ask you first...”

  “Chio, there is obviously a big piece of your story missing. Come on, I gotta know!” Friska argued.

  And Chio, who's vibe somehow felt more divine and confident to both of them now, reddened and lowered her gaze.

  “It's okay!” Porco said quicky. “I'm sure she has a lot of questions to us too.”

  The girl shook her head and looked up. “They cured Terry and let me back down to save Arabel and to defeat Warren, and allowed me to use my powers freely, without having to hide myself. In exchange, after I'm done with all that, if I even succeed, I'll be gone from this world.”

  Everyone fell silent, even Friska's buzzing wings stopped, and she nded on a broken-legged chair in the corner of the room. Porco gulped.

  “It's going to be all right!” Chio said. “It's all I could ask for at that point, I'm in peace with it. I have to say, I really love you two. And Terry, of course. I'm sorry that I will be gone.”

  “You don't have to apologize for something like that,” said Friska.

  “We gotta do what we gotta do,” said Porco. “I get it too, Chio. So let's do it!”

  The girl put her arm on the young man's shoulder, which he didn't expect. They looked into each other's eyes deeply, if briefly.

  “Uhm, I wanna show you something...” said Porco, “or more like someone.”

  “Oh, good idea.” Friska flew back to her sleeping spot and began to change into her day-clothes. This time around, she didn't even care that the other two are seeing her naked.

  “Porco managed to capture one of Warren's girls,” she chattered. “They were all quite feral, and they preferred to fight to death over giving up, but Porco found one lone little girl he could hold down. He really has some special talents, this guy.”

  “Oh, come on!” Porco blurted.

  “Where is this girl?” asked Chio.

  “Locked up at Goliath's pce.”

  The girl really was small, and she looked depressingly young. Curly bck hair, round face, slim build, ft chest. She had fresh clothes – a white dress that was a little rge for her – but she had a bck-eye and many visible bruises on her skin. They kept her in the basement of Goliath's house.

  Goliath lost two fingers and broke a toe in the battle, but he was otherwise okay, although he seemed sort of depressed. No wonder: the fate of this town was quite important to him as its unofficial leader.

  Although he said he isn't sure if there is much point to it, he led Chio and the others to the basement door, and Chio walked down the stone stairs alone. There were some slim windows near the ceiling of the room, letting in a bit of daylight. The pce was mostly empty, except for the girl in white lying on a stack of hay, just waking up from sleep.

  “Let me go!” she yelled, jumping to her feet.

  “Hi there! Don't worry, I'm here to help you. What's your name?” asked Chio calmly.

  But the prisoner didn't care to answer her or communicate with her at all, just as Goliath predicted. She attacked Chio, who had to restrain her with her power, pushing her back. The girl looked surprised for a moment, but she still tried to press on. Her whole upper body leaned forward as she was pushing against the force, as if Chio was holding her back by pressing an invisible hand against her forehead. Her face got more and more red, and she screamed in frustration, looking up at her oppressor with a desperately hateful expression.

  “Okay, okay! I'll let you out,” the angel conceded, stepping aside. The girl fell forward and face-pnted on the ground. “Oh shoot! Are you okay?”

  The girl sat up with a bleeding nose.

  “I'm sorry... I think it's better if we talk outside. Come!” Chio extended a hand towards her.

  The girl flinched like she was afraid of being touched. She looked suspicious and angry still, and she walked around Chio without taking her eyes off her, then suddenly ran up the stairs. The angel ran after her. Goliath and the others, who watched from the top, stepped aside, and looked at Chio questioningly as she passed by them.

  Stepping outside, Chio got startled for a moment, almost thinking she lost the one she was chasing already. But she caught a glimpse of white as the girl was jumping into an alleyway on the opposite side of the street. The angel dashed in her direction and caught her with her power, pulling her back, then pushing her down on the stone street. “Wait!”

  “Let me go!!!” the other screamed.

  “What for?”

  “Just... let me...”

  “What for? Talk to me! Tell me where you want to go!”

  “To my master!”

  “Why? He is a horrible man, don't you know?”

  “I have to! Please!!!” she was now squirming on the ground powerlessly.

  “Why?”

  “You lied to me! You said you'll let me go, you lied to me!”

  Chio, with her palm extended towards the girl, closed her eyes for a moment, then she materialized her wings, and dashed up into the sky, picking up the girl with her. Goliath's jaw dropped as he watched with Porco and Friska by his sides.

  “Yep, she is a fallen angel,” Porco stated.

  “I knew there is more to her than meets the eye...” the dwarf muttered.

  The angel flew up and up, dragging the other girl with her above the ocean, still without touching her physically. On their upward trajectory, they also circled around each other horizontally. Two delicate, feminine bodies both covered in white cloth, a pair of fpping feathery wings, a dance of an angel and an unwilling human. The human girl kicked and screamed in the air, until Chio suddenly dropped her. Of course she dashed after her and caught her again with her power, stopping her just a meter above the water, holding her there gently. The girl was now breathless, her muscles loosened, eyes half-closed. She seemed to be on the border of passing out.

  “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,” said Chio, raising her up again and holding her in pce right in front of her. “But I will save you. I will. You have no choice. You are mine now.”

  They nded at the waterfront, where they had a bit of an audience now, a smaller crowd that gathered around and spectated them silently – at least they were silent after Goliath yelled at them to stay put. They kept their distance from the angel, who was sitting on the cobbled street with the girl's head resting in her p. The beat-up girl was still awake, but unmoving. Chio held her palm over her head and started radiating that yellow light, and the bruises slowly disappeared from the girl's face. And then Chio gave her forehead a kiss. “I'm an angel. You are safe with me now. You don't have to serve him anymore, you can be free again. I promise you it's all right.”

  Tears ran down the girl's cheek, and her whole body began to shake in catharsis. Chio healed her all over her body, letting her energy touch every part of her through the white dress.

  “He will kill everyone!” the girl cried suddenly. “My father... old Billy... John... If we won't serve him, he will do horrible things!”

  “I will stop him.”

  “I'm so sorry! I just wanted to...” she began sobbing uncontrolbly, making her words inaudible.

  “Let it all out! Good girl!” Chio whispered.

  “I needed their cocks!” the girl sighed, her whole body shaking with the exhation. “I needed his whips... I needed to be plugged... I needed to beg... he used knifes... he punished them when we were bad... I had to kill for him... I had to beg to be given a chance... I had to... I had to.”

  Chio too was crying now. She touched the girl's head physically with one hand as she kept healing her with the other, caressing her hair and face. In a few minutes, the girl was fast asleep.

  A few hours ter, the girl woke up in a bed, one of the most comfortable ones they could still find in the town. She freaked out for a moment, but Chio was sitting besides her, and so was Friska. The angel's touch calmed her down, and she was given a herbal tea to drink. Her name was Suzy, she was fifteen, and a maiden before Warren's attack on Newchance. The pirates killed anyone who fought back, but captured the majority of the town. Most of the youngish women were trained to be sves like her, everyone else were prisoners used to motivate them. The more obedient the girls were, the less badly the prisoners were treated. She couldn't really say more, as she was beginning to sob again. Chio and Friska comforted her, telling her she said enough.

  They spent the next few hours with her, talked a bit about their own lives, and brought her some food. Suzy then fell asleep again, passing out with a fever. Chio felt like that's a good sign – her body was finally letting her go through it all, she probably needed it. She soothed Suzy to sleep with her radiant healing ability, while Friska let herself be grabbed by the half-asleep girl, being held against her chest as if she was her pet cat.

  “You really have gone a long way,” Chio smiled as they got out of the building, leaving the sleeping girl alone.

  “What you mean by that?” Friska asked.

  “I feel like you used to be a little more self-conscious around big people.”

  “Fairies should be self-conscious! But yea, I guess you're right. I just felt so sorry for her.”

  “Of course, of course.”

  Then came a gathering by the docks, organized by Goliath. Pretty much everyone who was still in town was present, and the big dwarf stood on top of a barrel (the same one Porco sat on earlier).

  “Yesterday, Murky Bay has received a big, unexpected strike. Many of our mates have died, more suffered. Throughout this day, more then half of the ships anchored in our port have left, and there are only a few hundred of us still here. Fear and lethargy can easily get a hold of us at times like this. I know many of you were invested in this pce, where even our own kind could have had some stability, a pce to belong to. A shared base for us seafaring outcasts. We had our issues, but Murky Bay stood proudly for decades now. Are we really fine letting this be the end of it? Are we really okay with giving up when the first serious challenge comes our way? No! We are pirates, we don't kneel to no one! We forge our own destiny, and we find a way! And we are not alone: a literal angel has came to our aid!”

  At that point, Chio took wings and flew up theatrically into the sky.

  “Warren Crown was defeated once before. So let's get him again! Who is with me?”

  And the crowd began to cheer.

  At night, Chio, Goliath, Friska and Porco had a private meeting. Chio learned that the fire-arrow shooting scorpions that Warren set up to he west of town worked automatically. There wasn't a living soul around them at first, but as Goliath and Shreya started to break the siege weapons, they got ambushed by a smaller force, that's where the dark-skinned succubus was captured. Friska said that these Scorpions were surely working with some kind of magic, and that this must be a power of Warren. Something to keep in mind.

  As for what next, they decided to wait here for Carlos Wayne. According to Little Borg (who was gone from town, nobody saw him since he warned Chio that day about Warren's attack), Carlos was going to come back here once he was done with his pn at Scalehide. To have the best chance of defeating Warren, having Carlos around only made sense. Until then, they pced guards around the town at all times, and the next day, Chio and Friska was going to fly towards the west to scout out the fate of Newchance, whether Warren was still there.

  Terry finally woke up just as Chio and the others returned. He was confused, had little memories of the recent events, and none about being in heaven, of course. As the others told him what happened, he seemed rather embarrassed with himself, even if Chio insisted that he did nothing wrong, and that it was just an unfortunate accident. And when he learned that Chio has sort of gave her future up to save him, he seemed devastated. He hid his face from them, then left the building, muttering that he is going on a walk at the waterfront. The angel almost followed him, but Porco held her back. “Give him some space!”

  Chio nodded, but a minute ter she still walked outside. The sky was clear now, the temperature pleasantly chilly, and the moon was big and bright, energizing her. She just sat down on a log by the side of the house they stayed in, and looked up, taking some deep breaths. Soon, she heard footsteps, and saw Porco approaching her.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Chio moved a bit to the side, making room for the man to sit next to her. They sat with their legs touching.

  “I feel bad for Terry,” she said.

  “Sure. And aside from that? How is it to be back?”

  “I am more or less okay. In a weird way, I feel at peace now. That's of course not the only thing I feel, but... life really is wonderful, you know. I keep thinking about how lucky I am to be able to love the people I love.”

  “You really love Arabel more than anything, right?”

  “She has a special pce in my heart.”

  “I'm in the same boat now... well, I suppose it's not quite the same.” He sighed. “I really am an addict.”

  “I've been there,” the girl smiled.

  “To be honest, I'm scared. Not even just about the danger of Warren, but this... this pull... it's like it's never ending.”

  “I know, right?”

  “It must have been so brutal for you. For a girl like you to turn into a futanari. I bet you never could have imagined.”

  “Of course not.”

  Bugs were chirping in the distance, and they could hear the sound of the ocean too. Chio grabbed Porco's hand.

  “I miss her so much! I miss her so fucking much!” the man blurted. “I want to fuck her some more. I want to touch her orange hair, I want to stare into her eyes, I want to smell her. It's been only a day, and I can barely think of anything else. I'm ready to freakin die for her if I have to, nothing else makes sense but to try and reach her. What's wrong with me?”

  “Nothing.”

  Porco ughed. “Right.”

  “Really. She allowed you to be like this for her. She liked it, and so did you. You are in it because you are in it, and there is nothing wrong with that,” said Chio.

  “Even if this all ends well, will my life always be centered around her now?”

  “Probably. Is that so bad?”

  “I don't know. Am I lucky? It's like I'm losing myself.”

  “You are a man with a strong mind, and she likes that too. She would always help you stay sharp, I know it, she wouldn't let you just melt into a puddle. She is a good person, that's why I can say that it's okay for you to just follow her pull.”

  “Right. Thank you, Chio.”

  The girl abruptly lowered her gaze. “God, I hope Terry is okay!”

  “He is somewhat simir to me, isn't he? Even if his love isn't a succubus.”

  “And we just told him that I will be gone forever...” she jumped to her feet. “I think I'll go after him now. I have to.”

  “There he is,” Porco pointed at the figure walking out of an alley.

  The boy stopped as he noticed them, and while Chio had a strong urge to run up to him, she stood still watching him, trying to look welcoming. Porco stood up, nodded at Terry encouragingly, and walked back inside, leaving the two of them alone. Terry suddenly ran forward and hugged the angel, his body shaking as he sobbed silently.