These are the reviews from A Method to the Madness!

To xXAnonumosXx- I hope you see this here! Bless your cottons! Thank you so much! ^_^ That's so sweet of you! :D I'd love for more people to read, but I have a damn good bunch of regulars and I'm so happy each and every one of you are here! Thank you!

To 8Ball3- Funky indeed! But yeah, sod the Titan, where's Storm? I'm still debating the title as I write this, I'm going to flip a coin :P

To Covid-20- If you sue a whole disease, you will be my new hero

To Anonymous Person Lucky 13- It's not the infamous fist-fighting a Titan! :3 I did a thing, but you'll have to waaaaaiittttttt. And it's just easier to go with Lou's logic, she's a nutcase :P

To propheciesandbluecookies- Nope, still not fist-fighting a Titan. I'm glad you and Anonymous above remembered that though! :D Chapter one of the Tower of Nero is up aaaaand here's the first chapter to Lou's sequel :D Enjoy! ^_^

To An-Unnamed-Goose- I would never!

If I missed anyone, just yell at me :D

Jessica Smith was thirty-two, an inch shy of six foot, with blonde hair yanked back in a messy bun- it was too early to be bothering with hair. Her blue eyes scoured the beach, picking at everything, jumping from blight to blight on the sand, inspecting each one. She enjoyed the morning after a storm. The air was cooler, lighter, the summer's heat not yet kicking in for the day. Everything seemed greener, the sky bluer. And the beach would be empty. She could walk undisturbed, gathering treasures and litter alike- humans were mucky, disrespectful creatures. If she had a quarter for every plastic bottle she picked up, she could sue all that dropped them.

She hummed to herself as she walked, stopping here and there to inspect a shell, a bit of trash- she found a bent clothes hanger, a bracelet tangled in shreds of seaweed and a rather mangled hairbrush- filtering the trash into one bag and the goodies into another, both attached to a belt she had adapted for this such purpose. She realised she was humming the Ninja Turtle theme song, quickly wondering where the hell that had popped up from. She hadn't watched any form of Ninja Turtles since she was a child.

Sea spray dashed her legs, prickling her jeans, she took a step to the right. Not the day to get soaked in salt water- she had a job interview at half ten, couldn't turn up looking like Ariel's evil twin.

She wandered along a little more, found some more litter and an old phone, water-sodden with its screen cracked. A Nokia. She stuck it in the treasure bag, impressed with whoever could break a Nokia.

Then she found the kid.

Her first thought was obvious. The kid was dead. No doubt about it. And there was no way Jessica was going to be able to put her in either trash or treasure. Her arm lay across her chest, clearly broken, soaked through, her hair and clothes melded to her skin. She was layered with wet sand, the waves washing over lower legs.

Jessica took a step forward, biting her lower lip. Casting a look around only affirmed that the beach was still empty, not even so much as a dog walker. Just her, with her bag belt and scraggly hair. She advanced another step, inhaling slowly through her nose, out through her mouth. When she looked again, the child was still there, definitely still there. A third step, squinting carefully. Was the kid breathing? Or was that just the wind messing with her clothes?

Something twisted in her stomach and she found her legs hurrying forward without her realising. Her heart thumped between her lungs, she stumbled to a halt beside the girl. Grazes on her face, pale, quite thin as though she had missed a few meals. Jessica dropped to her knees beside her, pressing her fingers to her neck without expecting much.

There was a tense moment, Jessica found herself holding her breath. A pulse bumped beneath her fingertips and she laughed, disbelief echoing across the wet sands. "Holy shit." She breathed, checking the pulse with her other hand, just to make sure. "Holy shit, you're alive." As if on cue, the kid coughed, spluttered. "Ooh, ooh, wait." Jessica carefully rolled her onto her side, onto her right to avoid the broken left. The girl groaned at the motion, stirring. Jessica leaned over her, a slither of colour appearing as the child squinted blearily- green? Blue? She was seven, maybe eight? Her hair was as dark as the night sky, so wild, it made Jessica's look professionally done.

What in the name of all that was holy was she doing here? Obviously having washed up on the beach, cradling her broken arm to her chest, injured and hungry and stuck between the realms of conscious and unconscious, Jessica could tell that much. But how? Why? When? Had she been caught up in the storm? Ship-wrecked? There was no ship, but it could be possible. Maybe. But it made no sense for a seven/eight year old to have a ship either.

Jessica reached into her pocket, punching the emergency number into her cell phone.

"Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?"

"Uh, yeah, hi, um… I've found this kid on the beach…"

Yeah, she wasn't getting to that job interview. She rang ahead, told them that she had found what had appeared to be a dead child on the beach only for her to be, somehow, miraculously alive. "So, yes, I won't be making it today. Sorry."

"I will say, a dead-not-dead kid is probably one of the most creative ones I've heard."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing, nothing. I'll let them know, see if we can rearrange for you."

"Thank you."

"Hope the kid's OK."

"So do I."

The paramedics had bundled their stuff onto the sand, hurrying over. Other than rolling the girl onto her side, to clear her lungs, Jessica hadn't moved her. She hadn't woken up either. The paramedics worked quickly, splinting her arm, checking her vitals, linking her up to an IV. Jessica rang her potential employer from the back of the ambulance, now grasping the phone in her hands. The girl looked so small on the trolley, with the paramedic towering over her, cleaning the grazes on her face. Something fragile had settled in Jessica's chest. She could have left the girl with the paramedics, could have carried on with her day. But that was not her style and this thing that swirled behind her ribcages- tentative determination. She had to stay with this kid, had to see it through and make sure she was OK. She bit the inside of her cheek, unable to offer herself any substantial explanation for this determined state. A wild thought span into her mind, one that flourished for three whole seconds- you were supposed to find her! You were where she needed you!

Jessica quietened that thought, her confusion only rising. Supposed to find her/where she needed you… it sounded like it was fate, like it was destiny. She believed in neither of those, simply having been in the right place at the right time.