Chapter 49:

A/N: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It is the property of Square Enix and the Walt Disney Studios. I do not own Tarzan, which is the property of Edgar Burrough's estate. I do not own Dresden Files, which is the property of Jim Butcher.

This is a creative work that I do not profit off of in any way, shape or form.

And here we are again, my dearest readers. Roxas and Axel and Xion's journey continues onward!

Roxas was running as fast as his legs could carry him. Oathkeeper and Oblivion were at his side, though he had not yet seen any Heartless. No Heartless, no Nobodies, no Unversed, no monsters of any kind. The scariest thing he had seen so far was…some sort of wild dog, about the same size as Pluto, but much scruffier and not at all friendly. It didn't look big enough to be a wolf, though, and one blast of lightning from Oathkeeper had been enough to keep it at bay.

"Does this look at all familiar, Jiminy?" Roxas asked as he looked around the jungle. There were trees as tall as the skyscrapers from the Dark City of the World That Never Was. So tall that Roxas could barely see the sky. He didn't like this at all. He'd been running for almost two hours and it felt like he was going in circles. On his shoulder, Jiminy Cricket looked right and left and right again.

"I'm sorry, Roxas," Jiminy sighed. "The fact of the matter is that I never spent much time with Sora and Donald and Goofy when they visited this world. I mostly stayed on the Gummi Ship. And the few times I did come with them, they mostly stayed in the trees."

"In the trees?" Roxas asked. "What do you mean, in the trees?"

"I meant what I said!" Jiminy nodded. "There's enough vines and sturdy branches up in that canopy that if you were so inclined, you could swing all the way across this entire jungle, without ever having to touch the ground…you have Sora's memories, don't you? Does it ring a bell?"

Roxas bit his lip. In order to allow Sora to awaken, he had had to return Sora's memories and what he retained and recalled from having them in the first place was often somewhat mixed. He remembered a lot of fighting in the tournaments in Olympus. He remembered a lot of the goings-on in Radiant Garden and Traverse Town, which had effectively been second homes for Sora in his journeys. Roxas thought harder…he remembered a very large treehouse, but other than that…there wasn't much to go on. Sora must not have spent that much time in this world.

"I'm sorry, Roxas," Jiminy said. "That was terribly insensitive of me…what we need to do, is find ourselves a river."

"River?" Roxas asked. "You mean, for something to drink? I don't know, Jiminy. We don't know what might be swimming in there. I still have a couple of Potions if you're that thirsty."

"What? No, no, no," Jiminy said. "Thank you, Roxas, but that's not what I meant. Rivers flow downhill, so it has to lead to a larger body of water. Like the ocean."

Roxas paused and put a hand to his chin. If the river did lead to the ocean, or at least a clearing, then there would probably be some people of some sort. Or at the very least, he could set up a little camp if there was a clearing nearby a river. And from there, he could have a place to actually use as a base when he went back to look for Axel and Xion.

Roxas's stomach tightened. He didn't like being separated from them. Not one bit. Especially the way it had happened. The Gummi Ship had been shaking so badly…and then Axel had said a lot of really bad words and Xion had started screaming and the next thing Roxas knew, he was in the jungle, and the only person who was with him was Jiminy.

"The only problem is," Jiminy said with a frown, "I can't see much of anything through all these trees. It might be harder to find a river to follow than I thought."

Roxas grit his teeth. The longer they were separated, the greater the chance it was that something bad might happen to Axel and Xion. He didn't want anything to happen to either of them, but especially Xion. The way she had looked at him, right before they had all been thrown from the ship. Her eyes wide with fright and she'd been calling his name, but at that point, the ship was shaking so badly, he couldn't hear her.

Roxas felt his belly seize up with rage and with a roar, he sent out twin beams of light from his Keyblades. None of the trees were knocked down, but a flock of grey parrots flew off cawing in alarm. Roxas felt a grim sense of satisfaction—at least his magic was still working. And there was a gash in one of the trees now…he could use that as a landmark to make sure he wasn't going in circles. It was hard to tell one tree from any other.

Roxas marched on, tightening his grip on his Keyblades. Oathkeeper and Oblivion…the chains for these Keyblades had once been Sora's. Or maybe they still were—Roxas couldn't remember where Sora kept all the little trinkets he had collected throughout his travels. Oathkeeper and Oblivion…for Sora, they represented his connections to Kairi and Riku. Curious then that Roxas had used these Keyblades while fighting Riku. His resolve to leave the Organization and set Kingdom Hearts free and bring Xion back so the three of them to be together again.

"Let's keep going," Jiminy encouraged. "I'm sure we'll find our friends soon. Why, I doubt that Sora was ever separated from Donald and Goofy for more than an hour or so…"

Jiminy trailed off, but that was alright. Roxas wasn't really in the mood for talking either. They'd already been walking for two hours—twice as long as Sora had ever been supposedly separated from Donald and Goofy, and Roxas wasn't sure that was true either, even if Jiminy had been trying to keep his spirits up.

They walked on a while longer and eventually the trees began to thin a bit. Roxas could see clearly in front of him now. He walked on and the trees grew thinner, eventually leading to something of a clearing. There were at least a dozen mounds of various sizes throughout the clearing. They weren't stone, but they didn't really look like wood either.

"Oh my, termite mounds!" Jiminy piped up. "I can say that neither Sora nor Donald or Goofy ever mentioned these."

"Well…it's something at least," Roxas said. "It's not a river, but I don't think there'd be a lot of clearings like this. We can use this place as a landmark and…did you hear something?"

Snap! Snap!

"Hoo-hoo-hoo!"

Out of the brush, three gorillas burst forward, running all all fours, as fast as their arms and legs could carry them. They didn't seem to notice Roxas but with their screeching, it was hard to tell to be honest.

Roxas grimaced and then looked down the path. There was more hooting and screeching coming from that direction.

"Jiminy, you better make yourself safe," Roxas said. "I don't know if you hop in a pocket or a hood, or what…but there's people in trouble down there. Or animals at least."

"That sounds awful dangerous," Jiminy said. "We don't know what might be down there. It might not even be Heartless at all."

"Whether it is or not," Roxas shook his head. "It's what Sora would do…"

oooo

Tarzan took the fruit in his hands. It was a large melon, with yellow rind and white flesh. One of his favorites. He tore it into two even slices and handed one to Moyo.

"Thank you, Tarzan," Moyo said. "You are very generous."

"You're welcome," Tarzan said. He took a bite slowly. "You deserve it, though. I saw you give those bananas to Momka and Teeka."

"They needed it more than I did," Moyo said quietly. "There wasn't a question of generosity to it."

Tarzan swallowed as he mulled over what to say next. While Moyo was not his friend in the same way that Terk or Tantor were, he was still kind. About a year and a half ago, Moyo had challenged Tarzan for leadership of their family. His intentions had been noble—he had genuinely believed that he would be a better leader than Tarzan. It had taken them working together to protect the family for Moyo to realize that he wasn't ready to lead the gorillas yet.

But that had been a long time ago…a lot could change in a year. Just three years ago, Tarzan had been the only human that any of his friends or family had ever seen. And now, he had quite a few human friends. Dumont at the trading post, with Hugo and Hooft. Markham and his men who harvested plants to make medicines and dyes. Basuli…though it had been a while since he had seen Basuli and the others of the Waziri tribe.

"Something's wrong," Moyo said sharply, turning his head west. "I can hear someone crying for help."

Tarzan pulled himself to his feet and looked to where Moyo had been pointing. Yes…there were screeches there. And that meant someone was in trouble. He grabbed a vine and started swinging. He would get there, and he would protect his family.

xxxx

"Lizard!" Flint wailed, darting up a tree, crying as if he were an infant. "There's a lizard! Help us, Tarzan!"

"All this?" Tarzan shook his head. "Over a lizard?"

"Aaaaaah!" Mungo shouted as he climbed another tree and hit his head on a branch. "It's a huge lizard, huge!"

Tarzan shook his head again. Flint and Mungo weren't very brave, but it took a lot to actually scare a gorilla. Even the largest of the monitor lizards would not get over seven feet long, and while dangerous to the babies, a fully grown gorilla should have no trouble with one.

"It's as big as a tree!" Flint wailed. "Absolutely gigantic!"

"The Professor didn't make a growth formula again, did he?" Moyo asked. "The beetles were trouble enough as it was."

"No," Tarzan said. "At least, he didn't mention it if he did, but the Professor's never been one who can keep a secret."

Tarzan thought for a moment. Lizard the size of a tree…and it was aggressive and attacking gorillas…

Dread filled Tarzan's insides. There was exactly one sort of creature like that. One he hadn't seen in three years. He had thought it had died and that it wouldn't return…but then again, there was always a chance…

"Moyo, get the rest of the family to safety! Tell them the Heartless are back!"

More gorillas darted past Tarzan as he tore through the jungle, grabbing vines and sliding down long, moss-covered branches. He could not allow this. He would not allow this. The Heartless—and Clayton—had nearly destroyed his family the last time they had been in this jungle.

He charged through the trees, preparing himself to bellow a battle cry. He had a knife tucked in his loincloth, which would buy himself some time while he herded the Heartless away from the family. He had spears placed in several trees between here and the nesting grounds. A knife wasn't much against a large Heartless, but if he could get ahold of his spear, it would be another story.

"Aaaaaa-aaaaaa-aaaaaaaah!"

There, a hundred yards ahed of him, Tarzan could see it. There was a massive Heartless. Just like before. It resembled a chameleon, only far, far larger, bigger than a dinosaur even. Maybe sixty feet long from the tip of its tail to the tip of its horn and shooting out beams of energy from its eyes. Unlike the first of the giant Heartless that Tarzan had seen, which had been a striking green with yellow stripes, this one was almost orange with brown stripes. If anything, it looked larger than the last one. Staring down the giant Heartless was…a boy, maybe fifteen years old. He wore a blue jacket and grey trousers and his clothes were lined with gold. And in his hands were two…Keyblades?!

"Sora?" Tarzan whispered. "Is that you?"

But no…it couldn't be. Sora had brown hair. This boy's hair was much lighter. And Sora only fought with a single Keyblade. This boy had two—one of them as black and jagged as a panther's claws, the other silvery-white.

"Ready? Here it comes!" The boy snapped. He charged at the Heartless, leaping impossibly high and sliced his weapons. Twin beams of light shot out of them and struck the Heartless directly in the eyes.

The Heartless roared in pain and lifted itself up on its hind legs. It brought its front legs down again, with such force that three trees were knocked over. The boy leapt backwards, far too high and falling far too slowly, twisting his Keyblades in his hands.

Tarzan swung down, an arm outstretched. This boy was very strong but it was foolish to try and fight a Heartless of that size without trying to get at it from a better angle. The boy turned and saw him coming and then leapt out of the way. The Heartless lunged forward again and the boy aimed his Kyblades at it.

"Fira!"

Two balls of fire shot out from the boy's Keyblades, striking the Heartless in the chest. A moment later, the boy sent out beams of light again, only this time, they became as tall as the Heartless was when it was standing up, if not taller. These beams of light were almost like trees or pillars and they blasted into the Heartless almost like explosives.

The Heartless fell backward, its chest pointed towards the sky. It began to fade away, and an enormous pink heart erupted from its chest before it too vanished as it drifted away.

The boy dropped down to one knee, breathing heavily. Tarzan nodded in sympathy. Fighting could be very difficult, even if it was necessary in the jungle. And to fight a Heartless of that size, almost entirely by himself? It had taken the combined efforts of Tarzan, Sora and Donald and Goofy to defeat the last giant Heartless.

"Thank you," Tarzan said to the strange boy. Now that the battle was over, he seemed far more subdued. "You saved a lot of lives taking on that Heartless like that."

"…"

"Are you alright?"

"Tarzan…" The boy said. "I need your help…I need to find my friends."

Some things never change.

"Were you separated?" Tarzan asked gently. "And…wait a moment, how did you know my name?"

"I…" The boy hesitated and ducked his head down. As he did so, Tarzan saw his eyes. Bright blue. "My brother told me a little bit about you…Sora…"

"Sora?" Tarzan smiled. "I've missed Sora. How has he been? Neither he nor Donald or Goofy have visited in some time."

The boy didn't say anything, but they way he looked…the way his eyes clouded over. Tarzan felt his own heart sink. Something very bad had happened to Sora then. Tarzan glanced to the side. He knew how the boy felt. It still hurt, even now, thinking about what had happened to Kerchak.

"It's nice to meet you," Tarzan said, clearing his throat and holding out his hand. The boy reached for it cautiously. Curious and curiouser…

"Roxas…my name is Roxas."

oooo

"Now, hold still dear. I'll be needing to clean this wound before I can dress it."

Xion frowned. What did that even mean to dress a wound? Did that mean to put a bandage on it? She looked at her leg. She'd cut it on a sharp rock, but that had been ages ago. She could heal it with magic, no problem.

The professor began rummaging around his little campsite, muttering to himself about iodine and moleskin. He was a short man—Xion wasn't sure if she'd ever met a grown-up who was smaller than she was before the Professor. Even in the Land of Dragons, the very short soldier Yao had a lot of muscles. But the Professor was also very slightly built, he almost looked fragile.

"Please sir," Xion said. "This isn't necessary. I can fix my leg myself."

"Oh no, dear," The professor shook his head, turning his back to continue his search. "No doubt infection has started to seep in. Nasty business I'm afraid. Now then, with Markham's iodine…now where did I put it? Dash it all. I'm Professor Archimedes Porter, I have made dozens of discoveries in my years here in the jungle…and I cannot find where I put my iodine. Or my spectacles, come to think of it."

Xion shook her head. She was wasting time. Professor Porter was nice—truly, he was very kind to be willing to help her like this—but she needed to find Roxas. She summoned her Keyblade. Kingdom Key, always so warm and comforting, appeared in her hand. The professor turned around when he heard the chime.

"Good heavens!"

"Cura!"

Her leg hurt, but not terribly badly. It was only cut, not broken. She wouldn't need third-level healing magic for this. And as the healing magic washed over her, Xion felt a little better. But she was still nervous—she had to find Roxas and Axel and do it quickly. She had no idea where they were, and worse, no idea where Maleficent or Pete or any of the other villains might be. And the idea that they could be somewhere, getting ready to hurt others, sent a chill down her spine. And the idea that Roxas and Axel might be hurt…

"How did you do that? That sword of yours," The professor began to ramble on. "It doesn't make sense, producing green orbs out of nothing! And lo and behold, your leg is healing, I can see the gash closing as I speak. It confounds all logic, I say!"

"Magic, Mister Professor, sir," Xion said, clearing her throat. "I do appreciate you helping, but I do need to find my friends…"

"In all my years of study, I've never seen anything like it. That sword of yours is far too large for you to carry in a bag, and yet, you didn't have it when Tantor first brought you in."

Xion shook her head. This wasn't working. Not at all. And she wasn't any closer to finding Roxas or Axel…they might need her help. She couldn't fail them…

You will…You're going fail them. You always fail...

"Xion!"

Xion turned around and her knees almost gave way again. Roxas was here…with a man about Terra's age, with muscles just as big, but longer hair and…no clothes. But Roxas was here. He was safe. Roxas was safe.

"Roxas!"

Xion ran as fast as her legs could carry her, ignoring Professor Porter's warning not to strain her leg. She flung her arms around his neck. Roxas took a step back and grunted but Xion didn't let go. She didn't want to let go. She wanted to…needed to know that Roxas was alright. That his breathing against her neck was real, that the heartbeat was real. That Roxas was truly real.

"Xion…you're alright."

Xion felt Roxas press his hand against her head. His fingers were gentle against her scalp. She leaned into the hug.

"So are you," Xion said. "Oh, Roxas…I'm so sorry."

"Sorry?" Roxas asked. "What, you mean about the…crash? This was just an accident."

"You were alone…" Xion mumbled into Roxas's shoulder. "You could have been hurt and I wasn't there to help you. You and Axel are always helping me…"

"And I always will," Roxas said, lowering his voice to a whisper so that only she could hear. "You're my best friend. Through all worlds and all time."

"You're my best friend too…"

Xion eased herself away from Roxas slowly, but didn't pull back her arms. Not yet. She still wanted to hold on to him. And she liked the way his hand felt against her head.

"Well, looks like we found one of your friends, Roxas," The man said. "I have to admit, I like it when it's this easy."

Xion's face flushed and it burned almost as much as fire. She had completely forgotten that they weren't alone. The tall man Roxas had come into the clearing…he looked familiar. And he was staring at them with an almost smirking smile.

"Ah, young love," Professor Porter chuckled. "Why, I remember once, quite some time ago now, when Jane's mother and I…well, that's a story for another day."

Xion's face burned more. She let go of Roxas's shoulders and brushed away an imaginary bit of dirt from her pants and skirt. She smiled lamely at Roxas, who smiled at her, and then his eyes went wide.

"Xion…what's that?" Roxas asked. "It's gigantic…wait, why isn't it attacking us?"

"You mean Tantor?" Xion answered. "Oh…he's the one who carried me to camp."

"Elephant?" Roxas said. He didn't really ask, but Xion could tell he was confused. And that was fair. Elephants were pretty weird looking. And apparently Professor Porter could talk to Tantor like he was a person. Come to think of it, the little girl Abby had done the same thing. Weird.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Professor Porter and the man who had brought Roxas to the camp look at each other. They looked…confused. Oh no, she and Roxas hadn't been that quiet had they?

"Oh, right," Roxas grinned. "Manners. Xion, this is Tarzan. He's…an old friend of Sora's."

Xion gasped and her hands flew to her mouth. Memories, faint and vague, but still present, returned to her. She remembered a very large wildcat attacking Sora but it was fought off by a man wearing nothing but a loincloth and holding a spear.

"Sabor…danger…"

"You…saved Sora's life," Xion whispered. "From Sabor, the leopard."

"Yes. That was how we first met. Sora was taken by surprise," Tarzan said. "He fought Sabor himself, and held his own. He even hit her hard enough for one of her fangs to get knocked out. That was something I've never seen again, and I've fought many leopards since."

"Oh," Xion cleared her throat. "Well, it's nice to meet you Mister Tarzan. Thank you for helping Roxas. I was very worried about him."

"You're welcome," Tarzan said. "But if anything, I should be thanking him and you as well. If you two had not come here, there may have been great danger. Roxas destroyed a very large Heartless."

Large Heartless…oh no…Axel might be in trouble…

"Mister Tarzan," Xion hesitated. "We have another friend, his name is Axel and he might be hurt."

"Yes, Roxas did mention that," Tarzan nodded. "Well, I'm sure that if we all look together we can—"

"Tarzan!"

Xion looked over her shoulder. She didn't recognize that voice. But out of the thicket, two men came running. One was very short, barely taller than her and Roxas, and the other was taller and thinner, but still much smaller than Tarzan. The shorter man had dark hair, the thin man had red hair like Axel's.

"Hey, Tarzan, ol' buddy, ol' pal! Finally found you!"

"Hugo, Hooft?" Tarzan asked. "What are you doing here? You don't usually come to this part of the jungle."

"What, a man can't come to visit his friend and most trusted fruit gatherer?"

"C'mon now, Hooft," The short man—Hugo—said. "You heard Dumont, we can't joke around this time. There's trouble, Tarzan. There's some strange strangers in the jungle."

"Strangers?" Xion and Roxas asked at the exact same time, in the exact same tone of voice. "What sort of strangers?"

"Well, we didn't talk to 'em," Hugo said. He spread his arms out as wide as he could. "But there was this big, huge, hairy guy, who looks bigger than even the biggest gorilla I've ever seen. And there was this woman who had greenish skin and horns and was…well, scary beyond all reason."

"Oh no."

oooo

"We're not alone," Maleficent said, stamping her staff down hard. "There is an intruder in our midst."

Pete nodded. A spy, huh? Well, he would make short work of him. Or her, if it was the girly Keybrat. He'd find them and tie them up with the new ropes he had bought from the trading post guy down at the docks. No time like the present to start using 'em. And Captain Pete could show that he hadn't been a steamboat captain for nothing.

He stomped into the jungle and looked left and right. He didn't see any weird colors, but them pipsqueaks could have switched back to their black coats. They'd be real hot in this jungle, but at least it'd be some sort of camouflage. Pete looked around some more. There was nothing but a fuzzy bushbaby in that first tree. And a parrot in that other tree. And a stranger crouched down in the bushes…a ha!

"Well, lookey what we got here," Pete said. He reached down one of his big, strong hands and grabbed the stranger. He wasn't a Keybearer. He had to be one of them local tribesmen…was were their name again? Wazeeri?

"Here ya go, Maleficent," Pete said, as he carried the man back to Maleficent and Queen La and the others. "Caught us a wee little Wazeeri."

"I am not of that tribe," he growled. "I bear no loyalty to any but myself."

"Do not lie to me," Queen La said. She knelt down and cupped the man's chin. "I am of the tribe from ages long ago. Know that you attempt to deceive Queen La, of Opar!"

The man's eyes widened and he bowed to Queen La. Pete raised an eyebrow. Was he being hypnotized? Didn't really look like it—there'd been no glowing lights or anything like what Maleficent or Eris used when they wanted somebody to do something for them.

"Your Majesty…" The man cleared his throat and then clenched his teeth. "I am Muviro. I was banished from the Waziri tribe, some time ago."

"Banished?" Queen La asked. "But whatever for? You are a strong man, one of the strongest I have ever seen."

Flattery. Ah, they were going the route they'd taken with Riku again. Still, an extra set of hands was an extra set of hands. Pete grunted. He knew all too well what it was like to not have enough hands on deck. The number of times that stupid, runty little King had ruined his steamboat services…

"I was banished because I dared to try and uphold traditions and did not want them sullied by the presence of outsiders," said Muviro. He grit his teeth again, so loudly Pete could hear them shift. "And I sought the hand of a beautiful woman, who rejected me in favor of a man who has never had to struggle. A man who has had everything come to him with no effort. Basuli."

He spat the last word with such venom, that Pete took a step back. Huh, he could see where the guy was coming from. He probably wouldn't survive very long—Maleficent would take what she needed from him and then move on—but he could still be useful in the meantime.

"Join us," whispered Queen La. "Join us, Muviro…and I will make you my king. So many times, I have known rejection. And I have watched as this jungle I once ruled has lost its way, from people who do not belong here…outsiders…"

Given that Queen La only had a body right now because Maleficent had helped her, Pete thought that wasn't very fair, but that might be the point. Maleficent stamped her staff down again and a second, smaller pillar of flamers appeared. And out of it, came a rod, or a staff. It was a little bit smaller than Maleficent's and it was gold-colored. And the handle thingy looked like a leopard's head around a big, round ruby.

Pete grimaced as Queen La raised her weird leopard-headed wand above her head. She had power, she had tons and tons of power to be sure, but there was something about her that gave him the creeps.

"And now, Opar will rise again, to its former glory!" Queen La shouted. "And this time, it will be for now and forever! A-ya!"

The ruins around the field they were in began to glow and then they began to shake. Pete was convinced it was an earthquake at first. And he wasn't the only one who thought so, since the Big Bad Wolf began howling about having to duck and cover. Even the shrimpy Seifer seemed a bit surprised. The other guy, Muvrio, didn't look surprised at all—more like, he'd been struck by lightning.

Huge pieces of stone began flying up, as Queen La sent waves of red light out of the head of her leopard staff. Pillars got back up that had fallen over. Fountains began to flow out water again. More carvings and statues emerged. Stones that paved streets erupted up from the jungle soil. The city was returning…and Queen La was chanting.

Pete had seen a lot of spooky stuff, but someone with the power to restore broken buildings like that could come in handy. Them Keybrats were always breaking down whatever place they were using as a base. There weren't nothing they wouldn't break if it meant fighting 'em. The little circus that the Coachman had run was burned to ashes. Hades's throne room was ruined too. And then there was Oogie's mansion, though that one had been Sora's fault. And that shiny castle in the World That Never Was had gotten wrecked too.

"And now…" Queen La said, "I believe my forces need to be replenished."

"We sent a Heartless into the jungle," Pete said. "And where there's a big one, there's usually more that can sprout up by themselves."

"No, no…I need my men…my Leopard Men."

A/N: I recognize that this chapter is a bit shorter than the last, but at the same time, this was a great spot for a cliffhanger, so there we go. God knows I love me a cliffhanger.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, my dearest readers. I certainly enjoyed writing it.

A couple of things to clarify—the reason that Professor Porter is in this arc, when he was absent in the game is simple. He was doing some research and wound up getting stuck in a tree during the events of Kingdom Hearts. This is set roughly three years after the events of Kingdom Hearts as far as Deep Jungle is concerned, which gives ample time for the events of The Legend of Tarzan to have occurred. By God, was that an awesome television show.

Queen La, Muviro, Moyo, Markham and his crew, Dumont and his workers, Hugo, Hooft and Momka and Teeka were all in at least one episode of The Legend of Tarzan.

Thank you for reading, my dear, dear readers. I appreciate each and every one of you!