Gone Batty
Chapter 7: Marina
"I take it you two know each other." Marina hung above the two silverwings, with an amused smile.
"Yes, by the way." Melody separated herself from Shade with a curious expression. "How did you get here? I thought your colony was flying past the island and not toward it."
"Yeah...about that." Shade looked away sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "I sort of got separated from them." He hesitantly peeked over at his friend, almost afraid that she would start making fun of his small wings too. Instead of laughing at him, Melody was sympathetic.
"I'm sorry. The storm was pretty bad." She admitted, "Even I had to stop following you guys and turn around to land on the island."
"Wait...you were following us?"
"I don't exactly know which way is south." Melody shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Following you felt like the best idea at the time."
"Well, while the two of you are stuck here, how about I give you guys a quick tour?" Marina flew around them, looking more excited that she had company than she tried to seem.
Shade frowned at Marina, still rather upset at her teasing. "What makes you think we want one?"
"Shade?" Melody raised a brow at her friend, not knowing where he got this sudden sour attitude from. "What's with you?"
"Nothing." He grumbled, looking away.
"He's just pouting because he couldn't keep up with his colony, that's all." The other female explained before landing between the two friends, wrapping her wings around both their shoulders with an amused grin. "Come on. You'll need to know where my territory lies. Stretch out your wings a bit. Who knows, maybe they'll even grow out."
Oh. So that was why. Melody saw Shade tense up under Marina's touch, looking like he had a comeback, but was doing his best to keep himself from saying it. The other female bat didn't seem like she was trying put him down. It felt more like Marina was trying to get acquainted with him, but just happened to use the wrong approach. If Melody had met Marina around the same time as Shade did, she probably would have felt irked by her as well.
Realizing that she would have to be the one to say something to somehow lessen the building tension that was developing in her sensitive friend, Melody broke out in a cheerful smile. "Now that you mention it, my wings are very flimsy. Flying around would do me good."
That seemed to settle it for Marina as she flew up. "Great! At least with me showing you around, you won't get lost."
"Tch! Don't do us any favors." Shade muttered under his breath before flying off the ground. He paused for a second as he remembered something. "Do you need help?" He asked Melody.
She smiled humorlessly and shrugged. "Like always."
Shade wordlessly grabbed her by the scruff of her mane and began to pull her up the moment when she began flapping as well. "One of these days..." Melody grunted as she tried to get the air support she needed. "I will stop being so pathetic and learn to take off like a normal bat."
The boy bat gave a breathy laugh. "Where's the fun in being normal?"
"Point taken."
"Not that I'm telling you not to get stronger-"
"Got it."
"Hey! What is taking you two?" Marina flew back to them when she noticed that were lagging far behind. She blinked at the strange sight of Shade trying to help Melody to start flying. "What are you doing?"
"Remember what I said about my wings being flimsy?" Melody huffed, "I wasn't kidding."
Marina was quite bewildered at that. Then she sighed and made her way over to Shade, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Move over short stuff. It will take us until daybreak for you to actually pull her up high enough." She grabbed Melody's brown fur in her feet and with no warning, lifted her with so much more ease that Shade lost momentum next to her. "Whoa!"
"Ok, I'm good!" Melody smiled as the floor grew farther away. "You can let go!" Feeling their grip on her fur disappear, the brunette started off with a glide, letting the air puff up her wings before swooping back up. "Phew! Thanks!"
"What kind of a bat are you? You act as if you have never flown in your life before." Marina asked with a curious frown.
Melody laughed and flew over to the exit, "That's because I just became a bat not too long ago. I'm human."
"Sure…" Marina shook her head, not believing a word the other girl said before turning to Shade, "and what are you? A giant furry blue moth?" She didn't wait for his answer as she followed after Melody with a giggle.
"A moth?!" Shade growled angrily and muttered under his breath, "I am a silverwing! Who does she think she is anyway?"
"Oh!" The brightwing suddenly was in his face again with a smirk and he jerked back with a surprised gasp. She obviously had heard his muttering. "By the way, my name is Marina."
Shade watched as she slipped through the broken piece of wood in the wall before following after her and Melody. He quickly caught up to his friend and noticed her grinning at him. He wasn't sure that he liked that grin. "What?"
"She totally likes you." Melody bit her lip from bursting into hysterical laughter as Shade's eyes nearly popped out of his skull.
"What?!" Shade hissed in disgust, "That stuck up she-bat?! Are you out of your mind?"
"You know, teasing doesn't always mean belittling, right? She was probably trying to lighten up the mood considering that you were separated from your colony." Seeing no response from Shade, Melody frowned. "Give her a chance. She's actually really sweet."
Shade sighed before looking in Melody's direction. "Well...if it wasn't for her, I guess I wouldn't have found you again."
The girl smiled, glad that he was starting to lighten up. "Exactly."
"Hey slowpokes! Hurry up before I start thinking that I'm talking to myself up here!" Marina shouted back down at them.
Melody caught Shade's unconvinced look that clearly stated 'you still think she's sweet?' and giggled before speeding up over to Marina. The small blue bat let out a sigh before smiling a little himself, quickly following suit.
When Marina said that this was her island, she wasn't kidding. The three young bats had circled the entire place from start to finish, through the forest and along the sandy coast of the ocean bank. "From the barnacle covered rocks to the old cedar tree, that's mine. And from the waterfall to the north cove, that's mine."
"You have this whole place to yourself?!" Shade could barely believe his ears. Melody didn't blame him. Most people couldn't afford to visit an island much less own one. Of course, Marina was a bat so she had one free of charge.
"Pretty much."
"Man, what wouldn't I give to have an entire island to myself?" Melody scanned the entire green island with her eyes. It wasn't as extravagant or large like the Hawaiian islands, but it still was impressive. "No mortgages, no college classes, no part time jobs." Thinking about it, being a bat wasn't so bad after all. The only thing she would have to be concerned about is hunting and staying safe.
"I don't know what any of those things are...but yeah. It is pretty neat, isn't it?" Marina chuckled.
"Wow." Shade let out a breath in amazement, "We are totally surrounded by water!"
Marina rolled her eyes at Shade's lack of experience of the world. "Well duh! That's what an island is."
"What are those?"
Melody looked down to where Shade was looking to see a pod of black and white whales singing and surfacing to breathe. She had only seen such creatures in SeaWorld. It was still incredible seeing them in their natural habitat. "Those are orcas. I've never seen so many before."
Suddenly Marina gave an excited laugh and swooped down towards the marine animals. Not wanting to get left behind, Shade quickly followed after her. Both bats dodged a strong spray of air and water droplets from the blowhole of one whale. Melody however stayed back, keeping her distance from the animals. "Guys?" She called down to them nervously.
Neither Shade nor Marina heard her as they flew around the orcas. "Can't handle the pace, kid?" Marina quipped back at Shade who was struggling to keep up with her.
"What?! Huh. I was just- uh… getting my bearings." He panted. Shade wasn't going to let the brightwing best him. He was determined to show her that he was just a great flyer as she was. He was going to make her eat those words that she said about him before. Well- at least he hoped to.
"Look, you're obviously too small to make it back to the mainland, nevermind catching up with your colony...so…"
"I don't care. I'm not going back." Shade cut her off sharply.
"You and Melody can hang with me!" Marina finished cheerfully. Suddenly, Shade's words clicked in her brain and she backtracked with a start. "Wait- you don't care? What's that about?"
"We broke the law." The light blue bat answered reluctantly. "We looked at the sun."
Marina gave a horrified gasp and her green eyes widened in shock. She paused in the air, letting Shade fly ahead of her. In that moment of shock, Marina forgot to flap and began to fall before she caught herself and quickly caught up with Shade who made his way to a cedar tree and hung down off it's branch.
Melody huffed and puffed as she flew over to her companions. "Phew! You guys sure fly fast. Nearly lost me back there." She hung next to Shade who had a gloomy expression on his face and a bewildered Marina. The brunette blinked for a moment, not sure what happened during that course of time that she was trying to catch up to them. "What's eating you two?"
"You both looked at the sun?" The brightwing bat exclaimed, causing Melody to flinch back. "Oh! You're pulling my wing." Marina guessed with a laugh. "It's just like that joke you made with Melody being a human."
Shade and Melody looked at each other with guilty expressions before turning to Marina. "No, we really did." The boy bat insisted.
"And I'm seriously a human being. Well..was." Melody added with a mumble.
"The owls found out and destroyed our home." Shade explained with sad eyes. "And because Melody isn't a member of my colony, she was banished and now the owls are after her. And it's all my fault." He closed his eyes shamefully.
"Wait- what?" Melody blurt out, looking extremely confused and equally disturbed. "What's that part with the owls being after me? I think I sort of missed that detail."
Her friend sighed and looked her in the eyes. She could tell he was going to have a hard time explaining this to her. "I'm sorry Melody. You see...um...The owl general stated that since you were banished instead of being turned over to him, you are now fair game to any owl that lays eyes on you."
Melody's jaw went slack. Well, that was just swell. Peachy even. "Great." Melody rubbed her temples with her fingers. "Two days as a bat, and I'm already banished and placed on the most wanted list. What else could possibly go wrong...GAH! No!" The other two bats stared at her with confusion as she began to spazz her wings about. "Forget that I said that! PLEASE forget that I said that! Murphy's law, please don't bite me in the butt for that!"
"What are you-" Marina began.
"It's a human saying." Melody explained dejectedly to her friends, playing with her brown fur. "What can go wrong, will go wrong. And I have almost jinxed myself by asking 'what else could go wrong.' It's like, the number one thing that a person should never say." Taking in a deep breath she tried to get back on track. "So...what started this conversation anyway?"
Marina decided not to dwell too long on Melody's random rant. The things she was saying just weren't making much sense. In fact, the lack of sense began to make the whole 'human' idea make sense. "Shade said that he wasn't going back to his colony."
"What?" The other female bat cried out, turning to Shade who avoided her eyes. "Why would you even say that?"
"The colony is better off without me." Shade replied softly. "I slow everyone down. I came up with the dumb idea of looking at the sun. Besides, I can't just leave you out here alone now that I found you again."
Melody didn't know what to say to that. She wanted to tell Shade that he was being silly and should not give up on himself, that it was just as much as his fault as it was hers, but the whole part of him not wanting to leave her behind struck her speechless. That was just about one of the nicest things anyone has told her. For a minute, no one said a word. The only thing that kept the night completely quiet was the sound of crickets chirping.
Feeling rather bad for both Shade and Melody, Marina thought to herself for a moment before landing on the branch upright below them with an encouraging smile. "Well...hey. It could have been a lot worse. You know...that whole…Mamphy's law or whatever you called it?"
Shade barely paid attention to her as his eyes caught the sight of her silver band shimmering in the moonlight. "You've got a band!"
"What band?" Marina instinctively hid her arm behind her back before quickly realizing that she already shared it with Melody, so it was rather pointless to hide it. "Oh, you mean this band?" She hesitantly took it out again and glared at the silverwing. "Yeah, so? Melody has one too. Got a problem with it?"
"No." Shade quickly rebutted, rather surprised that Marina would take offense about it so quickly. "Should I?"
"Don't you know? It's cursed."
"Wha?! C-cursed?"
"Huh?" Melody looked at her own band then back at the other two again. "No it's not." She faintly recalled Marina telling her about their curse yesterday, but she was too tired back then to argue against it.
Marina quickly changed the subject, "I'm hungry. Let's hunt." She took off first before Shade and Melody looked at each other with questioning glances and followed after her.
Melody was quite thankful that Marina suggested that they'd hunt. Her stomach felt like it was starting to devour itself. It also gave her the opportunity to learn how to hunt like a bat. Closing her eyes, she let out her echolocation which in return came back to her with a vivid colorful image of a tiger moth. She never did get to try one of those. Forgetting her initial distaste for insects, the brunette sped after it.
"Huh? Melody?" Shade blinked as he noticed her suddenly change course and fly after the moth.
"Does she even know how to hunt?" Marina looked over to Shade, "Tiger moths are no easy prey."
"No, I don't think she ever tried to hunt before." The smaller bat shook his head, he thought about lending Melody his help, but then decided that it would be best if she gave this her own effort. She would never learn if he kept helping her.
"Well, this is going to take all night."
Melody had completely tuned the entire world out. It was only her and the moth. She sped past the trees, never losing sight of the moth the moment she laid eyes on it. Was it instinct or just luck? The girl didn't know, but whatever it was- it was helping her close in on her prey. In fact, both Shade and Marina were flabbergasted to see her sneak over it and swipe down sharply at the moth with her wing, stunning the bug before grasping it in her clawed feet.
Melody took to a nearby tree and greedily bit the tiger moth's head right off along with its upper torso. Wow, Shade was right...tiger moths are delicious! She stuffed the rest of the insect into her mouth the moment the two other bats rested on both sides of her.
"Wow! Melody- that was incredible!" Shade exclaimed. "First try, and you landed a tiger moth! Only Chinook ever managed to get one when he first started flying."
"Quick thinking with using your wing to stun the moth." Marina couldn't help but praise the other bat. "That's actually a pretty neat trick! I hope you don't mind if I use that next time?"
Melody licked off her fingertips and gave a shrug. "Sure. Actually, I wasn't even certain that I was going to catch it. It was probably dumb luck."
"Perhaps, or maybe you are a natural."
"Yeah!" Shade agreed with enthusiasm. "Did you see how Melody dodged through those thick branches like it was nothing? That takes skill."
Melody blushed at the compliments and cracked a smile. "Well...at least I can do one thing right. I was starting to think that I was going to be a terrible bat."
Marina frowned slightly at that before hesitantly asking, "You…really are human. Aren't you?"
The other female bat let her smile falter before becoming perfectly serious. "Yes." There was an uncomfortable silence until Melody nervously broke it. "Does that bother you?"
"No!" Marina said quickly before her eyes involuntarily shifted away, "Yes? Maybe?" She gave up and sighed. Without looking at Melody she began to explain, "You see- I was out hunting one night, alone. Suddenly I was hanging in mid air, caught in this huge net!"
Melody's heart began to drop.
"Then- this giant hand reached in and...that's when they banded me." The brightwing hung her head, depressed.
"Then what happened?" Shade asked.
"I flew home. But when the other brightwings saw me with this band," Marina glared at the silver bracelet around her left wrist with contempt. "They banished me."
Melody felt horrible. While she was not the one who banded Marina, as a human and as someone who works with people who band bats, she felt responsible for what happened to the brightwing. She really liked Marina and did not want the other girl to hate her for what she was.
"Why?" Shade couldn't seem to believe that her colony abandoned her for such a reason.
Marina's voice grew cold, growing angrier as she talked. "When the humans tag you, you are marked for certain death."
"Death?" The light blue silverwing turned to Melody, and she couldn't tell if he was starting to have second thoughts about her or not. That put her in a slight panic.
"What? No!" Melody shook her head quickly. "That's not the purpose of the band at all!"
Shade's eyes softened at her with trust before turning back to Marina. "Are you sure, Marina? I know someone who-"
"No, you don't know!" Marina snapped.
"Let me finish. I-"
"I don't want to talk about it!" The brightwing cried out angrily. With that, Marina tore herself away from the two silverwings and darted away.
"Marina!" Melody called after her. When the brightwing refused to turn back, she worriedly looked at Shade. "Now what?"
Shade frowned in thought then nudged her gently with his shoulder. "Come on." The two friends flew after Marina all the way towards the beach again. Marina headed over to where the orcas were swimming again. "What the-?" he questioned, as a whale blew water out of it's blow hole.
"Hey short stuff!" Marina called down to him with a grin. "You see those holes on top of their head? They breath through them."
"Marina, we need to talk!" Melody breathed out, trying to get her attention. The brightwing ignored her and swooped down closer to the whales, causing Melody to lag behind in order to keep her distance from them. Marina flew over a blowhole and laughed as a powerful burst of air parachuted her upwards.
Quite impressed by her stunt, Shade grinned. "Awesome! Oh- I am going to try that!"
"Huh?!" Melody stared at him like he was crazy.
"Sure you can handle it? It takes skill and timing." Marina told him.
"Well, if you can do it, it can't be that hard."
That earned a small glare from Marina.
Melody flew between the two bats. "Shade no! Orca's are Killer Whales! If you get too close, you might get hurt!" Or worse...
"I can handle myself." Shade dove down after an orca.
"Yeah...sure," the brunette grumbled. She worriedly watched as he hovered over the blowhole before a puff of air sent him back upwards. He laughed from the thrill and even managed to add in a few somersaults in the air. The small bat chuckled as he caught up with the girls.
"Yeah!" He smiled smugly at Marina.
"Not bad." The brightwing shrugged slightly, "but your form could do a little work." The two of them shared a playful grin before they both shot downwards again. "Get ready!" This time both Shade and Marina were twirling in the air, laughing and squealing from the fun. "Come on Melody! Don't be such a chickenwing!"
Melody was not amused. "No thanks. I choose life."
"Suit yourself."
The ex-human sighed and watched the two bats fool around. Shade even perched onto the dorsal fin of the orca and rode it like a surfboard. Maybe she was overthinking things. The whales barely paid much heed to the bats as they lazily swam along. Perhaps there wasn't much danger after all. That was...until a killer whale began to close in behind Marina with it's jaws wide open.
"Marina! Behind you!" Melody shrieked.
Shade screamed out her name as well, but by the time Marina looked behind her, it was already too late. The only thing she could do was cry out in horror as the orca clamped its jaws over her and dove underwater.
Melody and Shade scanned the surface as they searched for the whale. In their panicked haste, they bumped into each other. "Ah!"
"Do you see it anywhere?"
"No." Shade shook his head and continued searching.
Melody was getting really scared. Was Marina dead?! One moment she was there and now she wasn't! It was terrifying how fast someone could just disappear like that. To her delight, she spotted a dark shadow rise closer to the surface of the water. "Shade! Over there!"
The blonde turned to where Melody pointed and they both gave chase after it. When the whale surfaced for air, Shade looked over to her. "They breath from the top of their heads right?"
"Yeah. But what does that have to do with-oh." She caught on as Shade flew down to the blowhole. He covered it with his furry small body, and clung his claws into the Orca's rubbery black skin.
"Let her go!"
The lack of air caught the orca's attention and it narrowed its eyes at Shade with annoyance. It began trying to shake him off by rolling from side to side, getting the small bat all wet. Suddenly the whale jumped into the air, intending to dive underwater to get the unwanted pest off.
"Hold on!" Melody called down to him, trying to keep up after them, her wings already starting to tire out. Soon the orca jumped back out again, and this time its movements were getting sluggish. "You got him, Shade!"
Indeed. The orca had enough and opened it's mouth to take in a breath of air. In that moment, Marina burst out of it's mouth, all covered in saliva.
"You did it!"
The killer whale huffed in agitation and used its newly intaken air to blow off Shade from its blowhole. He screamed as he shot up into the sky before he managed to regain his balance.
Marina flew up to him with a grateful smile. "I owe you."
Melody caught up to them, completely out of breath. "What...did I say? Killer whales! Not...fun!"
After the whole orca fiasco, the three adolescent bats roosted below a totem pole. "You two saved my life!" Marina stared at Shade and Melody with bewilderment.
Melody grinned and gently elbowed Shade. "Nah. All the credit goes to this guy here. He's the one who threw all rationality out the window and rushed to the rescue."
"Ha, it was nothing." Shade looked rather embarrassed. However his expression turned serious as he addressed Marina. "Although…"
"Although what?" She tilted her head in curiousity.
Shade paused for a moment before continuing. "You didn't let me finish what I saying about the band."
"Oh...that."
"Frieda- our elder, has a band just like yours."
Surprise swept over the brightwing's face. "An elder? Banded?" A smile slowly began to grow as she looked at her own band. "Like me?"
"Well, maybe not exactly like-"
"And she's old?" Marina cut him off, getting excited.
Shade chuckled, "Practically ancient." He flew onto the top of the totem ledge followed by Marina...and Melody decided it wasn't worth the effort and just hung beneath them.
"Then maybe the band doesn't mean certain death." Marina mused.
"That is what I was trying to tell you all." The girl down below called up to them.
"And that Orca didn't get you, did it?" Shade added.
Marina put her fingers to her chin in thought, looking very pleased with the idea that came to her. "Maybe it means I'm meant to be an elder too!"
"Elder Marina." The smaller bat chuckled, "I like the sound of that." He knelt over the edge to look down at the bat who hung below them. "What do you think, Elder Melody?" He asked teasingly.
"Oy! Do I look old to you?"
"When do we leave?!" Marina blurt out, looking happier than ever.
"Leave?" Shade raised an eyebrow at her.
Marina nodded, "Yeah! To join your colony so I can meet this Frieda!"
Every bit of enthusiasm left Shade in an instant and he turned his head away. "I-I can't. I can't face my colony. Not after losing Tree Haven."
Marina hopped over to him and placed her hands on his shoulders gently. "Come on Shade. Don't be so hard on yourself. At least your colony didn't banish you."
"No…" Shade looked down where Melody hung, "but they did banish Melody. I can't just leave her behind."
"..." The brightwing couldn't argue against that.
The light blue bat sighed, "I just wish you could have seen Tree Haven, Marina. It was the biggest hollow oak ever!" He gazed up at the large silvery moon as he told her about his home. "With the gnarliest roots and all kinds of chambers and roosts and…"
Melody snorted. "Gnarly." She blinked innocently as Shade glared down at her.
"Come on." Marina opened her wings and took off, smiling at the curious glances from her new friends. "I want to show you guys something."
They flew through the forest, not sure where Marina was taking them. "Where are we going?" The boy bat asked Marina.
"Just a little further." She sang.
"You said that ten minutes ago. Just how further is a little further?" Melody groaned.
"Like- right over there." The brightwing nodded her head toward the clearing. Right in front of them was a short, hollow, bare tree.
"Woah!" Shade gasped, not believing his eyes.
"So?" Marina grinned down at the two silverwings who were quickly cheering up. "What do you think? It's big, it's hollow it's gnarly-"
Melody snorted back another laugh. That word just tickled her.
They flew around the tree, inspecting it from all sides. Shade was particularly joyful as he explored inside it, slipping easily through the holes. "Wow!"
"This is amazing!" The brunette peered into one of the holes, it was filled with spacious chambers and everything that a bat would need to call home. "Shade, just think!" She exclaimed as he flew out of one of the holes. "This could be your new tree haven for your colony!"
"It's perfect!" Shade agreed with her wholeheartedly. "Alright!"
After calming down and roosting in a tree, Shade had changed his mind. "I've got to let the colony know about this! Looks like you'll get to meet Frieda after all."
"But Shade," Marina gently grabbed Melody's hand in her own. "What about Melody?"
"Huh?" Melody quickly retracted her hand and smiled. "Oh don't worry about me. The silverwings are headed south right? My home is in the south as well...that is…" Her carefree tone slowly dulled down. "Um...Florida is pretty far. I don't know how far hibernaculum is, but-" She shook her head, trying to pry away from the angsty thoughts, "What I mean to say is that my home is in the same direction. I'll help you find your colony on the way."
Shade nodded slowly, looking worried at first before lightening up with a soft smile. "Yeah. And when we reach hibernaculum, I'll help you get home too."
"You don't have to go that far-"
"It's a promise." The boy interrupted her and reached out his hand. "I promise I won't leave you behind until you are back home and human again."
How would he be able to keep that promise? She didn't even know if she'll manage to turn back! "But-"
"I promise." He insisted firmly, his blue eyes not straying away from hers, determined to show her how serious he was about this.
Melody hesitated for a moment but then she sighed and clasped her hand with his, shaking it. "Alright. I promise too. I will do everything in my power that you find your colony again."
"Great!" Marina cheered, "Then it's settled! We'll all head for the mainland." A hidden promise of her own lingering in her words. "Together."
"Uh...which way?" Shade asked.
Marina pointed with her clawed finger in the direction of the ocean, southward. The distance seemed to have no bounds.
Melody gulped. She had her work cut out of her.
A/N: Alright! That took me forever to write. The beginning of classes in college sure did not help much. I also have a confession to make. This wasn't my favorite chapter to write, nor was it my favorite episode either. The good news is that I managed to finish it! Now I can focus on the more exciting parts! Yay! I'm also taking a creative writing course this semester, so hopefully this will manage to polish my writing skills. I am currently learning about adding description in my writing, which is something I'm desperately trying to add in here. But with a show that has a lot of dialogue, it's easy to have a hard time adding that in. But I'm still learning and I plan on getting better.
mchap1154: Thanks! I loved writing that part with Shade glomping Melody. I hope you enjoyed this chapter more than I enjoyed writing it. xD
QueenStorie: I suppose you'll have to read and find out. (:P) But if you have any predictions about what will happen, you are more than welcome to tell me.
RandomReader: Yay! I'm glad you like it so far. :)
Carlisle Fan 22: Aww, shucks. You're making me blush! Heehee. I honestly wasn't sure how this story would turn out, but I'm glad that I seem to be going in the right direction. Thank you so much!
Thank you everyone for reviewing, faving and following! I'll see you in chapter...uhh...hold on. 8! Wow! I'll see you all in chapter 8. Stay tuned!
