I now officially have no idea how this story will turn out anymore. Too many weird things happened last chapter! DX Yay for you since that means the story will be potentially even longer, but…seriously, what the heck. Can't this story give me a break? EVER?!

To Zangetsu50: Thank you so much! I'll make this next chapter as good as possible!

To treeofsakuras: I have finally surprised you. My purpose has been fulfilled. XD In all seriousness, thanks for your review. And I see you're still pushing for a sad ending. Have you no pity? :P Meh. Not like I'm in a place to argue.

To Justice Tokidoki: I've already commented on pretty much everything I wanted to, so you don't need me to remind you that this review was totally awesome. :3 One thing I forgot to address, though—the whole "mistaking-Natsu-for-the-killer" thing will be explored later—next chapter, perhaps. It's inevitable in a situation like this, anyhow. ^^

To KIKR15: I know I already replied to your review, but I'd like to thank you again for reading. I'll do my best to keep this story awesome. ^^

Ch. 13: Treading New Waters

By the time Erza returned to the guild, it was high noon. To our surprise, she was alone.

"Sting and the others have returned to Sabertooth," she'd explained. "They were understandably concerned for their guild's welfare after last night's attack."

She went on to say that she and the others had been unsuccessful in the location of the strange smoke, so she had decided to come back and give a report instead of wandering aimlessly (since, thanks to the suddenness of the situation, we had no communication lacrima on hand). She also said that since not much would be accomplished if she'd attempted the search on her own, we had to think of a possible destination for that smoke before heading out anywhere if we were to make any headway.

However, her main concern at the immediate moment was with Natsu's welfare. She asked me and Wendy about it, and we were at the very least happy to tell her that he wasn't dead…but there were a whole bunch of other things that we had to explain. She'd been just as floored as the rest of the guild had been when Wendy and I'd updated them on his condition and on what he'd told us, though she accepted it somewhat more quickly than the others had.

"Still, this is unbelievable," she muttered, shaking her head as she spoke before turning to us again. "Where is he, then? Take me to him."

We led her down to the basement, and Gray followed us out of sheer curiosity. When we got to the bottom, I was dismayed to see that he hadn't woken up—I hadn't expected him to, of course, but it would have been easier for the others to believe if he'd been conscious. He'd been that way ever since he talked to us for the first time before. We all gathered around the mattress.

Erza observed his sleeping form minutely before looking up at me. "So he's been like this ever since last night?" she asked for confirmation.

I nodded. "Yeah. It's only been almost nine hours since then, but…we're still kind of worried. He hasn't even twitched a muscle since he passed out."

"I see…" She gently brushed a stray lock of hair out of his face as she went on. "Even so, I'm still finding this difficult to believe…it's so strange. I've never heard of this happening before…"

"Yeah, I'm with you there," Gray said, staring at Natsu's face impassively. "Don't get me wrong when I say that I'm taking what I heard with a grain of salt, but…" He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "…I just need to see this guy awake before I can be sure of anything."

"I know all this sounds really out there," I confessed uneasily. "I mean, I'm still coming to terms with what happened myself, but…I don't think he was bluffing."

"I don't doubt that, Lucy," Erza said as she straightened up, "but it would be unwise to rely on blind faith in a situation like this. We need to be cautious and try to avoid causing unnecessary problems when we already have so much on our plate."

I stared down at my feet. "…Yeah. You're right."

Wendy then stepped forward. "Umm…if you'd like, I can get Carla to call you guys when he's awake," she suggested timidly. "That way, you can hear everything directly from him."

Erza smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Wendy. We'd appreciate that," she said. She turned to Gray. "In the meantime, we should go out and help the townspeople clean up and rebuild. Heaven knows they need the help." Then she looked to me and Wendy. "Don't worry; I'll make myself available on short notice. You two should stay here and watch over Natsu."

I stepped forward to protest. "But Erza, I want to—"

"You're better off staying here, Lucy," she cut me off firmly. "You're not in any condition to perform heavy labor, and Wendy can't stay here on her own. No offense to Happy and Carla, nor you, Wendy," she added, "but we don't want anything to happen to Natsu. If what you told us is true, then we must keep him safe at all costs. We can't take any chances."

At her words, I backed off and bit my lips. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. I wouldn't be much help the way I was now, since I wasn't fully healed yet, but…still, there had to be something that I could do…

"Say, you need a hand with that?" a new voice interrupted.

None of us were prepared for that sudden intrusion—and we were all more than a little nerve-shot after all this mayhem—so we all flinched a mile high and immediately went into defense mode at the drop of the hat…which must've freaked Loké out quite a bit, because he flinched back himself and raised his hands in surrender at the sight of our likely hostile expressions.

"Or…I guess not?" he ventured cautiously. "Y'know, you can just say so. No need to go and bare your fangs at me."

I was the first person to realize who we were facing, and I snapped out of it when I saw who it was. "Loké! I cried in relief. "It's you!"

He sighed with the same relief as he lowered his hands to adjust his shades, and he shot me a playful wink. "Hey there; beautiful. Thanks for looking before shooting."

Everybody else eventually relaxed once they registered that he wasn't a threat.

"Geez, man; you nearly gave us all heart attacks," Gray complained. "Don't do that, okay? Not cool."

"Sorry about that," he apologized. Then he crossed his arms and smiled in a knowing way. "By the way, as I was saying…" He offered a hand. "…need a hand?"

Erza smiled in gratitude and took his outstretched hand. "You're a lifesaver," she said. "We could use all the help we can get to rebuild."

"No problem; sounds like a party." He looked to the stairs that led up to the main hall. "I was just up there asking questions and looking around, and I gotta say—things have really gone down to the dogs, haven't they?" He spared a quick glance at Natsu's sleeping form before going on, "I think I've got some of it figured out, but I'd like some first-hand accounts on what happened while I was gone. I don't want to jump to the wrong conclusion without proper evidence, you know?"

"You're the best, man," Gray said with a smile, holding out a fist for Loké to bump, which he accepted. "Looking forward to the help."

Loké grinned. "No sweat. You can count on me."

"Let's get going, then," Erza urged us, already heading toward the stairs. "We all have jobs to do. We need to aid the other guilds in the recovery operation."

Gray scratched his head with a disgruntled expression. "Yeah, guess we oughta. But it'd be a hell of a lot easier of they actually let us help them out."

"This is something that you should have expected from the start, Gray," Erza said. "Given what happened, it's all-too natural for people to feel resentment toward us. Branded or not, Natsu is still seen as a member of Fairy Tail, and the guild more than likely must take joint responsibility for its members."

My heart sank to the soles of my feet as I listened to their conversation as they departed. People were already jumping to the wrong conclusions. I wished that we could go out there and explain it all, but right now, helping people recover from this disaster was more important. As much as I hated it, we would have to wait to clear our—most of all Natsu's—name, and there was no guarantee that the citizens would believe us, anyway.

"Ignore what they say about us," I heard Erza say at the base of the stairs in response to a protest from Gray that I hadn't heard. "If we want to change that image sooner, we need to work for it. No more complaining."

Erza then grabbed Gray's ear and dragged him up the stairs, ignoring his yelps of pain. Loké stared after them for a moment, and then turned to me and Wendy.

"Well, I guess I should head out now, too," he told us.

"W-wait a minute!" I cried, stopping him in his tracks.

Loké turned around to face me questioningly. "What's up?" he asked, expectant.

"Listen, Loké….I—I just…" I cleared my throat before going on. "I just want to say thanks for showing up. I know I should've called you out so much sooner, but I—"

He held up a hand to stop me and smiled in reassurance. "No worries," he said. "I know that your hands were tied up with…lots of other things that demanded your attention. I know for a fact that no Fairy Tail wizard would ever do something this awful on purpose. Especially not Natsu…even if he still ends up causing the most damage."

I giggled in spite of the situation. "You're right there," I said.

"Yeah, so I'm sure that there's an explanation for all this. Unless I find reason to think otherwise, I'll trust when you say that it's not his fault. Alright?"

I nodded gratefully. "You're the best, Loké. Don't worry; I'm sure he'll come to and explain everything to everybody else soon."

"Looking forward to it," he said with a wink. "I'll see you later, then, Lucy."

He then turned away and headed up the stairs. I watched his retreating back until he disappeared from view, and I headed back to Natsu's bedside. Wendy had been sitting here the entire time, with Carla and Happy right on the mattress, looking on him in concern.

"It's just so strange," I heard Wendy murmur as I drew closer. "How long is he going to be like this? You don't think that he'll stay like this until we get his soul back, do you?"

I sighed. "I don't know," I said reluctantly as I sat myself on a smaller bedside crate. "But there's probably a good reason for this happening. He'll probably explain that once he wakes up…if he wakes up."

Almost as if on cue, Natsu's eyes snapped open and he bolted upright with a startled gasp—it was so sudden that we nearly fell out of our seats from the shock alone.

"Natsu!" Happy cried jubilantly, leaping into his arms. "You're awake again!"

He stared down at Happy for a moment. "Happy…" he muttered, before he looked up to me and Wendy urgently. "What happened to me?" he asked. "Did I fall asleep?"

I nodded, growing uneasy at his panicked tone of voice. "…Yeah. It's been nearly nine hours since you passed out."

His pupils dilated in horror. "What?!" He then lowered his head and stared back down at his hands, his eyes filled with trepidation. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he muttered, "This is bad…that cursed demon…damn it all…"

"Wh-what's the matter?" Wendy asked worriedly.

Natsu lowered his hand, his expression betraying nothing but dread. "The demon was sloppier than I originally thought. It appears that it took a bit of his life force, too. I'm not as strong as I should be…which is bad for you on two counts."

"How?" I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer.

He exhaled sharply. "The limited time we already couldn't spare has gotten even more constrained. I've less energy than I should, which only means that the demon has more. More energy at its disposal to create its body.

Carla's eyes widened in horror. "Then—that means—"

"We're running out of time," he finished. Before we could stop him, he swung his legs over the side of the worn mattress and stood with surprisingly little difficulty. "We're going upstairs. Your guild and I need to talk." He turned to us with a sharp motion.

"And whatever you do," he ordered, "keep me from falling asleep again."

The scenario that played out once we went upstairs was about as predictable as it can get, so I will be skipping it. Long story short, they were all shocked, and the members out in the town were called back in to hear us out. We did manage to explain everything that had gone on—everything up to several minutes ago—without too much hassle, but most everybody looked like they were having a hard time taking things in.

"So…you're not really Natsu?" Gray asked skeptically. "And you'll die if we don't get his soul back in three days?"

Natsu nodded. "That's right."

Nobody knew what to say.

"This is unreal…" Loké mumbled, shaking his head.

"Geez, when are we ever gonna get our Natsu back where he belongs?" Jet sighed. "This really stinks."

"Well, he's gotta be telling the truth," Gray said at last, eyeing Natsu critically. "I mean, this is definitely not Natsu. He's too smart-sounding to be."

Natsu then frowned and scratched his head in a disgruntled manner. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think that was an insult," he said, sounding miffed. "Or am I mistaken?"

I elbowed Gray in the ribs, making him yelp. "Now's not the time for snarky comments, Gray!" I hissed angrily. "Don't make him mad!"

"I wasn't being snarky! It's the literal truth!"

"So what you're saying," Cana cut in right between us, hefting her barrel of booze, "is that we need to find this demon and kick its sorry behind in order to get Natsu's soul back. That means the first order of business is to figure out where the freak is hiding and kick it while it's down, right? If that's the case, then what are we still doing here talking about this when we could be out there tracking the demon down already?"

Macao shot her a warning glance. "Some of us are still reeling from this reveal, Cana. We need some time for it to sink in."

"That's just it!" Cana slammed her barrel onto the table in frustration. "We don't have that kind of time, Macao! Seriously—life itself pretty much told us that we only have three days to save Natsu, or else he dies! That's seventy-two hours, nine of them already spent! We can't afford to wait anymore!"

Here was where Natsu interrupted.

"Alright, first of all," he began, holding up a hand, "for simplicity's sake, just call me Natsu. Don't treat me as some sort of divine being. Second, you need to calm yourself down. Rushing headlong into this situation so recklessly could cause irreversible harm." He lowered his hand. "I understand that retrieving his soul is paramount in your agenda, but it will pose as another obstacle for your ultimate goal."

Now this confused us. What did he mean by that? Defeating the demon and getting Natsu's soul back was supposed to be a good thing. Right?

"It…it will?" I asked uncertainly. "But what does that…"

He rested a hand on his hip and stared at me in a firm way. "If I recall correctly," he said, "your true goal is to eliminate this demon for good in order to ensure that it does not torture any more innocent souls. And you already know how this can be accomplished, yes?"

"Quit beating around the bush and get to the point already," Gray grumbled.

"However," he continued, ignoring Gray completely, "the demon, as is wont to its nature, did not tell you the complete truth. An attempt to cause you more despair, no doubt."

Erza stepped forward, her expression tense. "What are you saying?"

He turned his impassive gaze toward her. "Once the demon begins the process of creating its new body with the stolen soul, it will be impossible to kill. Stabbing through that body's heart will do nothing."

What?!

"You can't be serious!" Gray exclaimed. "How the hell are we supposed to kill the demon now?!"

A tic was going in Natsu's forehead as he crossed his arms. "If you'd be so kind as to let me finish, then maybe you'd have a slight inkling of what you should do. Did that possibility ever cross your mind?"

I was surprised. I mean, seeing Natsu irritated wasn't anything new, but I never really expected what was pretty much the essence of life to lose patience with somebody. I had to stifle a smile at that, as odd as that seems. Even with most of his soul gone, Natsu was still Natsu at the core.

Wisely, Gray immediately backed off and shut up. It was probably safe to assume that getting life itself angry was not the smartest thing to do, even if he did happen to be speaking from Natsu's body.

"So, you were saying?" Erza prompted. "What will that mean for us?"

Natsu sighed and shot Gray a frustrated glance before turning his attention to her. "To continue, you can't kill the demon in that manner once it pulls itself out of its host's body. In order for make that possible"—he placed a hand over his heart—"I'll have to retake them all myself—both my soul and the demon's before its body is complete. Once I've done that, you can finish the job."

We couldn't believe what we were hearing.

"You want us to kill all three of you at once?!" Erza exclaimed incredulously.

"Don't put words in my mouth," he said solemnly. "I'm only telling you what needs to be done for you to accomplish your goal. I never said anything about wanting it to happen."

This seemed like too cruel a joke for life (or maybe the current Natsu…whichever) to play. Both of them had to stare death in the face if we were to get rid of the demon for good? Why couldn't the world take pity on us at least once and give us a break?

"Just when things started looking up," Juvia lamented sadly, "we have yet another problem that we need to deal with. How much worse can this all get?"

"No one said that you needed to deal with anything," Natsu said then, shocking everyone present—and I do mean everyone.

"Wh-what are you saying?!" Erza demanded in disbelief. "Are you saying that it makes no difference to you whether or not you live?!"

"I thought I told you not to put words in my mouth." He crossed his arms. "I am giving you this information that can help you save your friend from the demon. And you, being his friends, feel inclined to use this advice, which you are free to do—or not. Neither I nor anyone else is forcing your hand." His face then took on a disturbingly emotionless expression. "However, you can very easily choose to not do anything at all, and let me die. It would certainly be easier on you in the short run of things."

I felt cold with shock. I couldn't believe that Natsu was saying something so cold like this so matter-of-factly. It was something that never should've come out of his mouth…but by now, I should have expected that much from him. Especially considering that this wasn't the Natsu that we knew.

"How can you say something like this?!" Wendy cried. "There's no way Natsu would ever want that!"

"Death is just another part of life," he answered simply. There was no trace of sympathy in his tone. "Whether Natsu lives or not will make little difference to me. However"—he jabbed a finger at the lot of us, his gaze sharp—"what matters here is your role in all this. What is he to you? What consequences will come about following his death? And are you willing to suffer the repercussions of this action? If not"—he jerked his thumb toward himself—"how much pain are you willing to endure if it means that you'll save him? That is the big question that will influence your decisions following the information I am giving you." He lowered his hand and stared at us pointedly. "You know this. You say you need to save him. Yet, I can feel your hesitation as clearly as though it were mine—which it effectively is." His expression was cold and unfeeling. "Listen well, Fairy Tail. Don't misunderstand me. I do appreciate that you care about his life—care about his me—enough to even consider going through the inevitable pain in order to save it. In that, my behavior in the basement was no act. In others, however, don't mistake me for an unconditional ally. I am no one's friend, nor anyone's enemy. I am only doing my duty as the one who embodies life."

My heart seized up right then. I was getting this horrible hunch that we'd made a mistake.

"If you are to even have a ghost of a chance of saving your friend," he went on, his voice even colder than before, "get rid of this spinelessness in your attitude. You are doomed to failure as long as you harbor this reluctance and doubt, no matter what you tell yourself."

He might as well have sucker punched the lot of us with that tirade. He'd just dredged up all our insecurities and shoved it into our faces.

He shrugged carelessly. "But then again, what are the chances of that? You may as well just give up and let me die. You can't save your friend the way you are now, regardless."

He was making our helplessness plain as day. We had no idea how to respond, and we were dumbstruck for a full minute.

"Fat chance of that happening, you bastard!"

I flinched at the sound of Gray's sudden infuriated shout. Everybody else looked shocked, too. Even Natsu blinked in surprise.

"Gray…?" I said slowly, turning to face him in shock.

"I won't stand here and listen to this bullshit anymore!" he snapped, storming toward Natsu in fury and proceeded to jab an accusing finger into Natsu's chest. "Listen, you!" he went on furiously, ignoring Natsu's unimpressed expression. "I don't give a crap about who the hell you think you are, so you sure as hell don't get to decide whether we should give up on him or not! We don't care if you're not gonna help out—he's a member of our guild! He's family! That's why we'll save him our way!"

Gray's fiery defiance acted as the catalyst that we'd been waiting for. We all started to step up and defend our position.

"Gray's right!"

"We're not abandoning him like that! He's a member of our guild just like anybody else!"

"Natsu wouldn't ever give up on us, so we won't give up on him, either!"

"We'll do whatever it takes!"

I couldn't believe the sudden surge of energy. It was like everyone had been injected with a huge dose of confidence. Just watching and listening to them was helping my own resolve mount up by the minute.

To my dismay, though, Natsu still looked unconvinced. It was like our renewed vigor just wasn't good enough for him. What was he trying to accomplish here, anyway? I figured that I might as well try to find out.

"You're lying to us, aren't you?" I asked quietly.

That shut everyone up. They then started murmuring things like What did she just say? What was that about lying?

Natsu turned his head and gazed at me steadily, his narrowed eyes gleaming with cold curiosity. "Is that so?" he asked bluntly, his voice deadly quiet. "Tell me, then. What makes you think I'm lying?"

His tone of voice unnerved me, but I'd already opened my mouth. I couldn't take back what I'd just said, so I plunged on.

"If you really didn't care about whether Natsu lives or not," I said firmly, "you wouldn't have told us how to save him. You wouldn't even have wasted your time with us at all. No matter what you say, I know that you still want us to get Natsu's soul back. All that talk about how you're on no one's side and his death wasn't going to mean anything to you—that's the biggest lie of the bunch! It's clear that you want the demon gone just as much as we do! And—and your behavior in the basement wasn't an act, either! You wouldn't have cried like that if you'd really been conning us!"

There was a collective gasp at my retort, like they couldn't believe that I'd had the nerve to just talk smack to life. I honestly couldn't believe what I'd just done, either, and I had no idea what was going to happen now. But if I was going to go down here, I wasn't going to do it looking like a coward. I'd had enough of feeling like a liability. I wanted to be useful in this endeavor for once. Calling out life was just going to be a start.

For a moment, nothing happened. Natsu just stood there with a mildly surprised look on his face as I stood there breathing hard after finishing my rant. Everybody in the guild hall was staring at the two of us, tension practically palpable in the atmosphere, wondering which bomb was going to go off first.

All of a sudden, Natsu burst out laughing—shocking all of us. Needless to say, nobody had been expecting that.

"Wh-what the heck are you laughing about?!" I retorted frantically, feeling freaked out and self-conscious at the same time. "I just—"

"You lot—you're definitely something else—!" he chuckled gleefully, pinching the bridge of his nose like he could barely handle the ridiculousness of this situation. I was afraid that he'd actually fall down in that fit of laughter. "I honestly wasn't expecting something of that scale—this is just too perfect!"

My brain was on the verge of being fried. "W-wait a second. What?"

"Yes!" he cried suddenly, throwing his hands up into the air in exultation and nearly giving me a heart attack from the abrupt movement. "Yes, this is it! I couldn't have asked for a better response! Wonderful, just absolutely wonderful!"

"What is the meaning of this?!" Erza cried in desperation. "I don't understand!"

I half-wondered if I was actually seeing this, but I could swear that Natsu had a vaguely familiar mischievous glint in his eyes. Outwardly, there was nothing weird about that. But we knew that this was anything but normal.

"Were you tricking us?!" I cried in disbelief. "Did—did you seriously think that—"

He still had that look in his eyes as he told us, "Calm yourselves down. It was no trick."

There was still so much that I wanted to say to him (in a really unladylike way), but I managed to hold myself together and do as he said…albeit barely. I honestly couldn't believe it. He couldn't have been pranking us this whole time, right? He didn't seem like the type who would do something like that—at a time like this, of all things. If that turned out to be the truth, people going to see a side of me that they'd never want to see again.

And I wasn't the only one with that assumption in mind, apparently—most of the people around me were looking shocked, offended, or a mix of both, waiting with bated breath for Natsu's explanation.

"I apologize," he finally said after another moment, sobering up, "but there was no way I could work with a group this half-hearted to accomplish something of this scale. I felt that I probably should kick you into gear, as you would say."

…Okay, so he hadn't exactly been tricking us, per se—it sounded more like he'd been trying to provoke us into action and see our response. That didn't appease us very much, though.

"So it wasn't a trick," Gray said incredulously, "but a test?"

"Put in perspective, yes." He then lifted a finger in warning. "Even so, you shouldn't assume that I didn't mean everything that I said to you. I still meant every word. Natsu himself holds no importance to me. I am neither friend nor foe; simply an entity doing its duty." He then rested a hand on his hip as he sighed resignedly. "That said, I would be lying if I said your love for him didn't move me even slightly. It's definitely an odd feeling." He then raised his gaze toward all of us as he declared, "Well, then! Now is your chance to prove it to me beyond a shadow of a doubt. You've convinced me of your determination. You are aware of all the risks, so take the information I gave you and rescue your friend at any and all costs. If anyone will be able to stop that demon in its tracks, it will be you, Fairy Tail."

Most everybody calmed down at his words, and simultaneously I could feel the energy building up in the ruined hall. Nothing could stop us if life itself was endeared to our camaraderie. Gray still looked a bit miffed, but I really wasn't surprised about that—and I knew that he'd grow out of it soon, anyway. He was more mature than that.

"So, question," he said, still sounding irritated. "Where do we even begin looking for this demon in the first place? We've got no leads at all."

"Oh…but we do, Gray darling," Juvia said in an attempt to placate him. "I saw the smoke back then—it flew toward the north. It's not much, but it's still something."

"That's perfect!" Levy suddenly cried for the first time this discussion. "I can give you guys places to at least start looking by taking that and everything else we know about the demon into account. Will you lend me a hand, Juvia?"

Juvia looked slightly taken aback, but she nodded quickly. "O-oh, yes; of course!"

Levy looked to me eagerly. "Say, you can help us, too; right, Lucy?"

I was surprised. I pointed to myself questioningly as I asked, "M-me?"

"I know that you've been through a lot lately," she said apologetically, "but…that's why you know more about what the demon is like more than anybody else here right now. I'm sure this won't be easy, but you need to tell us everything you know about it in order for us to get a good lead."

I couldn't help but blanch a little at the prospect of dredging up all those horrible memories again, but I knew being a spineless scaredy-cat wouldn't help matters. I steeled myself as I nodded and answered, "You got it! Whatever it takes!"

Levy beamed and gave me a light hug (to avoid aggravating my burns). "You're the best, Lu! Let's do the best job we can, you guys!"

I balled my fists in determination. We could do this. We had to believe that nothing was impossible—and that Natsu would pull through in the end for our sake.

This is the dumbest chapter I've written for anything ever. I can practically taste the cheese. XD But I love it anyway. Funny how that happens.

…Oh, hi; everybody else in Fairy Tail. Where've you been this whole time?

This is a short one, I know. But you know something; I don't care. Chapters are allowed to be short.

Well, the gang's all caught up in the situation, so all that's left is tracking down that demon and getting Natsu's soul back. Then again… :P Heh, I'm such an evil person; I just keep finding more and more ways to make things worse. I'm surprised you guys still enjoy this, honestly.

And I decided to make this Natsu narcoleptic. 'Cause…it makes sense. …Yeah.

Um, anyway, look forward to the next chapter, everybody! :D