Temper the Soul

Chapter 19

by zapenstap




Terese waved the pamphlet of papers at Audrey and gestured to the altar. "Everything will be drowning in candles," she said, turning in a slow circle to take in the rows upon rows of pews, the valuted ceiling, the massive spiraling columns, the stain-glass windows... "We'll have the columns fitted with holders, there'll be candle rivers along the rows, set on those shelves, covering the altar, everywhere. There will be electric lighting too, above the altar for the most part. Everyone will be able to see you."

Audrey nodded, crossing her arms as she swept the expanse of the room with her eyes. This sanctuary was radically different than the one she had watched Relena and Heero get married in. It was enormous for one thing. Empty except for herself, Terese and Relena, every sound they made echoed as if they stood in a cavern. The distance between the pews and the altar was a mammoth space alone. She and Damion would look like shruken figures before an audience way out here. She tried to imagine the church filled with people and was suddenly glad of the space between the altar and the seating. The building itself would easily house several thousand people. No matter how they arranged it, this would never feel small or personal. She supposed it was just as well. If one was to marry a prince, it might as well be done with all the pomp and grandeur such an affair deserved. Besides, both of them would also be crowned during the ceremony, and that ceremony needed to imspire a sort of reverence if it was to happen at all.

It didn't matter to her. She would have the rest of her life to be personal with Damion. The thought inflamed her heart, though she let nothing show on her face. She could endure these formalities. She might even enjoy them. Shivering, she hugged her arms to her body a little tighter. This was becoming unbearable. She wanted him back home where she could keep an eye on him.

Relena stood by the altar behind Terese, fingering the wood absent-mindedly. She had seemed half-distracted for several days now, ever since her last letter to her husband returned to her unopened. When the letter arrived, Relena flew into an enraged panic and called Lady Une to demand why her letter had been returned to her. Sally Po had contacted them later to tell them that Heero and the other gundam boys were in the field and had not been sent her letter. They were carrying valuable equipment, messages from the leaders of the nations to the people scattered in Gardiner's territory and could not be reached from outside. Meanwhile, headquarters was preparing for a frontal assault, an aggressive movement to hopefully crush Gardiner's opposition and trap him in his own territory, but Sally wasn't forthcoming about the details. All they knew was that Heero was in the field now with the others gundam pilots, unreachable, but if all went well he would soon be home.

Relena didn't say much about it. She didn't even seem that frightened or sad. She was just very quiet and kept to herself a great deal more than Audrey had known her to when she knew Heero was safe and sound. It was the strangest thing Audrey had ever seen. In these times, the Cinq Kingdom Princess had expressions that seemed to match her beloved soldier's down to the very crease of her eyebrows. As the days stretched out with no word from her husband, she grew more regal and more determined by the hour. Had she not known her to be kind and charitable, Audrey might have thought she was hiding a reckless desperation, even a dangerous one. It wasn't that she did anything particularly life threatening, but the way she did every little task with an almost mindless efficiency made Audrey think of a courageous martyr. Going on Terese's authority, that was very like Heero. In an intense situation they were remarkably similar. But Relena hadn't done anything foolish yet; she merely looked as if she wanted to.

Audrey wondered if she resembled Damion in any way like that. Beneath her melancholoy and his optimism, were they at all alike? She wondered, but she did not ask. The way both of them behaved to the outside world blurred the finer points of their personalities. How much of her love for him was brought on by his will and her consent? Did it make a difference when it was strong enugh to make her feel ill? Her heart ached thinking about him. She didn't want to worry like this. She merely hoped everyone was safe, and from Relena's flat and reflective expression, she felt a sudden and strong kinship with the girl just knowing she felt the same.

"Audrey? Relena?" Terese said impatiently. "I'm breaking my back over this wedding and I need you to focus."

Audrey nodded absently and shoved her concerns from her mind. She needed a distraction.

*****

"Well, Damion," Manny whispered to him quietly, trying not to be heard by all the other people in the room, some attending him and others attending his foreign guests. "That's it, isn't it?"

Damion nodded. The other leaders were beginning to withdraw. If all went well, in only a few days time, so would they. The lost soldiers had been addressed. The leader's speeches had been recorded and given to the finest scouts the peacekeeping forces had to offer. Damion knew that somewhere out in the field, Heero was walking around with copies of his tapes, giving them to his people...or so he prayed.

"Now we wait," he said with as much patience as he could muster.

Manny sighed and tried to cover it up by looking overly stern in front of the others. "I hope it goes well."

"Me too," Damion agreed. "If it doesn't, we'll just have to keep trying. But Heero and the others are out there. If anyone can get our message through, it's them." He smiled, excited in spite of his fears. "And then home, Manny. We can put all of this aside. It's kind of nice to get out of Taravren, but I'd rather go to the tropics than a battlezone."

Manny grinned. "How many letters have you got from Audrey now?"

"Seven," he replied. "And another tomorrow morning if God likes me. The things she says..."

"You don't have to tell me," Manny grinned. "I get my own letters."

Damion closed his eyes and smiled. Her letters began with descriptions of her day mostly, and he loved that, but her confessions of the heart were like an elixer. He had reread them all so many times, the creases were close to tearing. Some of the passages he had memorized, especially the end of that first letter.

You're so far away, I don't want you to have any doubts. I told you I loved you. I meant it. I know I have guarded my heart carefully, but please believe I have never cared for anyone as I do for you. I am afraid to say that at one time I thought you too good and too kind to do me any service. You must know it seems to me that you have everything. You get anything you want. I thought you might be too innocent and too optimistic to understand me, and I hope that doesn't offend you now. I thought I could not understand you, but I do. You are a Prince. Your world revolves around you. It has to. If in that you can prove to be as caring as you are, why should I mind revolving too? I see you for who you are, outside and within your obligations and though it terrifies me, I know you see me in and out of mine. I'm sorry for any pain I've caused you. I never meant to hurt you. Whatever my reserves in the past, know that I love you and I want you to come home. I will admit that I am nervous and anxious and even apprehensive, but when I once thought love could not be great enough to overcome my fears, I now think my fears can't be great enough to overcome my love. Would you think me vain if I write again that I love you? I've told you that I would love you as I could, but that I was not sure I could love you amorously. But I was wrong. The words do not sound right on paper and I do not know if I have the strength to speak them, but there are many reasons I want you to come home, fulfilling your promise to me not least among them. God help me if I don't want to have children by you.

And even if God thinks I'm a fool, I still find myself missing you.

Love,
Audrey

It was almost physically painful to have to wait like this.

Hurry, Heero. Everyone is counting on you.

*****


The heat of the sun blistered on the back of his neck as Heero knelt on the ground behind an outcropping of sandy rocks, adjusting the staps of the bullet-proof vest strapped over his tank top and checking the rounds left in his gun. His chest still heaving from his last dash, he soaked oxygen in through his nose and tried to clear his vision by focusing on the details of his boots and the little pebbles they had scattered. With his entire body coated in a sheet of grayish dirt, he looked like he had been wading through a dustbin. His skin was so dry he would have given almost anything for a long hot bath, anything except for a sight of his wife. But, of course, water had to be perserved and every drop he had was reserved for drinking.

The brown cloak that hung over his shoulders was like wearing a sauna, though in actuality it protected him from the heat of the sun. Still, it was a cumbersome garment, however it cloaked him in this terrain. Twisting, he brought the radio-comm on his wrist to his mouth and communicated to Trowa that he had passed through the outer perimeter and was within sight of the walls of the city.

"Is it quiet?" Trowa whispered.

"It is here," he murmured into his wrist. "For the moment. I've seen some rovers."

They had penetrated the border under a heavy rain of gunfire from small bands of Gardiner's patrols and troublemakers, what he referred to as "rovers." They were untrained men for the most part and he, Quatre, Wufei and Trowa had managed to slip past them without having to kill anyone. Three miles into the Amarat they were found by a group of their own, who recognized Wufei from a distance and put up their arms. Those men didn't want to know about the planned invasion at first. They wanted to know if they brought water or ammunition, life or death. Heero and the other pilots spared what water they could. Once assured of their allegiance, those men were supplied with copies of the tapes with the plan dictated by the leaders of their own nation. After meeting them, Heero knew why it was necessary. They wouldn't have believed otherwise. He even met some guys from Taravren, whose faces literally filled with hope when he handed them a tape made for them by their prince. The soldiers knew where and to who to take those tapes.

Heero estimated there were around three hundred individuals scouting for stray bands of scattered armies. In possibly as little as a day they would be gathering together, small groups that grew steadily larger as they joined forces on the western side of the Amarat. Trowa was with one of those bands now, using their equipment to make copies of the leaders' address and supply the other pilots with the intel necessary to get them in Camadrie. They hoped to find Duo there, gather the hidden forces in the city and hold their position until it was time.

Rumor was strong that Abel Gardiner was in Camadrie. When the scattered forces within the Amarat were no longer scattered they would gather on the west side of the city. No doubt Gardiner's forces would come running to attack them as a group. That would be the real battle, a battle they had to keep fighting until Lady Une sent in the reserve forces of the combined nations in from the East. If all went well, Gardiner's people would be crushed between a rock and a hammer. The peacekeeping forces would take back the city, assassinate the leader, arrest the officials, scatter the remaining forces, restore peace and go home.

He hoped so anyway.

"Wufei should be on your right," Trowa told him. Heero looked out into the dusty plains, but he couldn't see anything. That didn't mean he didn't believe it. "You should meet up with him when you cross the next juction," Trowa continued. "There's a rock cropping about 300 meters from where you are. Make for that."

Heero crept to the edge of his present rocky cover, settling his gun in the palm of his hand. "I'm close to the city. Where's Quatre?"

"He's made it to the city walls."

Heero felt a flash of annoyance.

Trowa responded to his silence as if he read his mind, which was a little disconcerting. "He's had a lot of experience in terrain like this, Heero. Besides, you're not taking the risks you used to."

He couldn't see his wedding ring because of the black gloves on his hands, but he understood. "Fair enough."

Trowa chuckled. "I still can't believe you got married without us. Why didn't you wait? You wanted to have one last night before battle or something?"

Heero smiled to himself fondly, remembering, but that was never what occupied him when he thought of her anymore. "No. Nothing like that. I can't really explain it to you, Trowa."

He thought the other man might be smiling, but it was difficult to tell. After a moment, Trowa spoke again. "Wufei just checked in. Are you ready?"

Shaking the dust from his hands, he pulled the hood of the cloak over his head, sinking his face into the comfortable darkness of the interior. "Yeah."

Several agonizing seconds passed in silence. "All right. You're clear."

Pushing off the ground from the ball of his foot, Heero rose in a half-crouch and sped across the open terrain in a quick and efficient dash. He clutched the gun in his right hand, hiding the weapon beneath the open flaps of his coat.

Gun fire and shouts caught him halfway across the open fields. Damn!

"Heero?" Trowa's voice came fuzzily. "Heero!"

He hadn't the time to respond. He knew there were rovers! Dropping in the dust, he caught sight of his attackers before his knee hit the ground. Five shapes emerged from a fold in the ground he hardly noticed, all of them in a ragged clothing and cloaks much like his own. They bounded over the sand, shouting for him to raise his hands above his head and get on his knees. He debated doing what he was told and escaping later, but at the last moment he saw two of the men withdraw their own firing arms, not seeming to care if he was friend or foe. Heero's left hand mechancially cocked the gun in his right hand, but before he could bring the barrel out from under his cloak, shots fired.

He fell on his hip, the cloak falling half off his shoulders. Though he couldn't see it, he thought a bullet barely missed him by the hot wind that swept over his ribs. As he fell, he whipped out his own gun and fired two rounds, aiming messily and almost generally in the dust and heat.

Two of the men went down, one with a bullet through the brain, the other with one through his kneecap. The second screamed, clutching his leg and hobbling. His companions started in confusion, pulling back, separating suddenly. Heero targeted the one on the far left and fired again, this time more carefully. Blood splurted from his chest, near enough to the heart. Without wasting another hot breath, Heero struggled to his knees, raising his weapon again.

The remaining two men were quicker, guns in their hands and targeted on him before he had lifted his head from the earth.

He continued to rise knowing he was too slow and too late. Of course he thought of Relena. And Of course he didn't give up. As Heero was still raising his gun, both his assailants toppled, first one and then the other, shot in the back of the head. As they fell forward, Wufei's figure became visible. The Chinese warrior shot the man with the crippled leg and met Heero's eyes across the distance between them.

Without words, Heero rose and helped him move the bodies behind the rocky outcropping that was supposed to be their cover. He did not relish sharing the space with these dead outlaws, and only hoped they really had been enemies. Without the trust to communicate, they could not be sure, but it was not the first hostile such group they had seen.

It was still the first time Heero had had to kill in a long long while, though.

He put his gun away with steady hands. Wufei was watching him with sharp, glittering eyes. "Pull your hood back up, Yuy," he said gruffly, adjusting the knobs on his communicator. As Heero pulled the hood back over his head, ignoring the dust that fell down the back of his shirt, Wufei half-shouted, half-whispered into his wrist. "Barton! I thought you said it was clear."

"It was on our system. They must have been cloaked. Are you two all right?"

"We're fine. Just don't let it happen again. I don't want to be the one to tell Relena Heero's not coming home."

"Wufei..." Heero began.

"Oh, shut up," Wufei told him. "You picked a lousy time to get married, Yuy. The least you can do is complain when staying alive for that girl is any harder than it has to be." He turned back to his wrist. "Did you hear that, Trowa?"

"Loud and clear. How far are you from Camadrie now?"

"I can see the walls...and a lot of people."

Heero crept past Wufei and rose slightly, peering into the shimmering heat. The walls of Camadrie were old, stone and battered down in a lot of places. Like the last town, the buildings had sprawlled beyond the old walls a long time ago, but what had once probably been downtown Camadrie was a pile of rubble now. Such a city as this wouldn't be called a city in a lot of places, but out on this plain, it was the closest thing to. Though simple, it seemed to be rather large at some point. At least, it spanned across the entire horizon ahead of them and marched up into the hills behind. And there were people milling around the walls. Lots of them. There weren't any ordinary citizens moving in and out of the city, though, not unless they wore cloaks and carried guns. He's had noticed that a lot of Gardiner's men wore white bands of cloth around their forheads with a little insignia embroidered over their eyebrows. He couldn't tell from far away, but he guessed it was a probably a symbol for anarchy or anti-government. Most of the people he saw wore them.

"How did Quatre get inside?" Heero murmured in a monotone into his wrist. He had a few ideas himself, all of them dangerous, but he would do what needed to be done. "I don't think we can get around the city, Trowa."

"Just hold tight for a moment," Trowa said. "There weren't that many people there before. Quatre says they've been marching out of the buildings and gathering outside only recently."

"Are they going somewhere?" Wufei demanded.

"I don't know. Possibly. They could be making a sweep. They could be traveling somewhere. We'll find out after they leave."

Even as they watched, the people began gathering in a tight knot, listening to a grizzled, dark-haired man who was waving his arms about. Most of them were cloaked. Heero couldn't really see what was happening, but they all appeared to be carrying weapons. And most wore those headbands. They were beginning to get rowdy.

"They look like they're being incited," Wufei growled.

"Yeah," Heero agreed.

"They're going to fight somewhere," Wufei said, peering at them with narrowed eyes. "Trowa, they might be coming your way, or after the other groups. There's quite a lot of them."

"We'll remove somewhere else then. Wait until they go and head out as soon as it's clear."

"Roger that," Heero said.

They waited as the men gathering the front of the wall, maybe two or three hundred, began to move away, heading southeast. They would pass by Wufei and Heero in the distance, but not close enough to spot them well hidden.

"There's still got to be lots left in the city," Wufei murmured. "But the guard is small now. I think we can slip past them."

"Hopefully Quatre will be able to help us out," Heero muttered. "But we don't have Trowa anymore."

Wufei nodded. "Tell you what, Yuy. I think I can get to the walls without being noticed, but we might need a decoy."

"You want me to step out in front of gunfire." Not literally, but potentially.

"Do you see another way to do it?"

He didn't worry about it. He would do what needed to be done. "No, but let's get closer."

They both moved closer to the city together. Now that they were past the plain, the landscape was less flat and the small hills helped to conceal their movements. Still, at some points they had to practically crawl in the dust, hiding their faces and bodies in their cloaks and waiting at need.

Fifty meters from the outer walls they stopped, crouching behind what was barely a fold in the ground a few scraggly shrubbs. They exchanged glances and then Heero stood up, in full few of the guards at the gate. There had to be at least a dozen.

"Halt!" Guns were hefted, rifles and shot guns in the hands of men wild and weathered.

He walked forward, but raised his hands over his head. Without looking, he knew Wufei had crept off, slinking around the sidelines toward the walls. "I bring a message for Gardiner," he said loudly enough to be heard.

"Gardiner doesn't hear messengers," came his reply. "Drop your weapons!"

Heero removed his heavy gun and dropped it to the earth. He still had another tucked in his boot, but he wasn't about to remove that.

"Who sends you?"

Heero racked his brain for the best possible answer. If he could get these guys to escort him inside to see Gardiner.... "Damion Ravineere, Prince Regent of Taravren," he said clearly. He actually did carry messages from Damion, him among the other leaders, but they weren't for these guys. Still, it would serve as a bluff, and he knew enough about Damion to make-up a believable story.

Amazingly, the guards lowered their weapons. They appeared to be conversing forcefully, gesturing sharply to one another. Heero kept walking forward, taking slow, measured steps, amazed that they let him. But of course, these men were not necessarily soliders. That didn't mean they couldn't fight hard.

When he was within 20 paces of them and the walls, two of the guards came out to meet him, one with a handgun and the other with a rifle, both raised and aimed for his heart. Heero kept his hands above of his head and looked straight forward, watching the expressions of the guards at the gate for signs of trouble. Like him, they had cloaks with hoods pulled over their heads, so it was difficult to see their faces.

"Give us your message," one of the guards near him said. "We'll see he gets it."

"I can't do that," he replied.

There was sudden movement by the gate. "That's Heero Yuy!" someone shouted. "He's a Preventor! Shoot him!"

Everything happened at once.

Reaching out, Heero grabbed the rifle of the man nearest him with both hands and pulled with a snapping force. The man's hands slipped as he let go of the gun, falling backward. Wasting no time, Heero shoved the butt of the weapon into the fellow's chest. He grunted and stumbled backwards. With a well-aimed swing, Heero used the firing arm like a gun, smashing the handle into the side of the guard's head. He crumbled at his feet.

During the exchange he saw Wufei leap out of nowhere and take down three guards with deft movements of his hands and feet before they even saw him. Abruptly, there was also commotion on the end of the line. A small brown-cloaked figure was moving quickly. Two guards on that end were down.

Heero ducked and rolled as the other guard who had come to take his message shot at him. He kicked the other man in the knees until he fell forward on his face, cursing, the gun dropping from his hand. Grabbing it out of the air by the handle, he swung it like he had the rifle, knocking the second man out with his own weapon.

Shots were fired from the gate. He used the gun of his attacker and ran forward, shooting at anyone in a white headband. He knew he was a target too, but it was still a shock when he felt a force like a tiny elephant hit him in the chest.

He didn't know how he ended up on his back, but he saw the sky and knew that's where he was. Sounds rang in his ears like bells and his head ached.

Abruptly Quatre's face appeared over him. "Heero? Heero, are you okay?"

It occurred to Heero that Quatre was the little guy on the other end of the line, blending in with the guards. He had probably gotten to the wall just when men started to gather there, so it would have been easy for him to hide among them.

Heero blinked as Wufei's face appeared beside Quatre's. Beside the blonde pilot's angelic concern, Wufei's expression could only be described as scornful. "Get up, Yuy."

He sat up, rubbing his head as his thoughts cleared. He had never worn a bullet proof vest into battle before. He had never actually been shot in the chest before either. It was enough to knock the wind out of him, no matter how tough he thought he was. There was a hole in his cloak, but he paid it no mind, looking around him instead.

All the guards were down, but not all of them dead. Killing them wouldn't help their cover. They would have to hide in the city and hope they weren't found. But he knew they wouldn't last long that way. No one out here was going to last long, not with that band of rogues roaming around armed to the teeth.

"Once we deliver the messages, call Lady Une," Heero said as he got to his feet. "Tell her to send reinforcements right away. We'll kill Gardiner tonight and deal with the rabble later."

Wufei and Quatre were quiet, but resolute. "I think it's best," Quatre said quietly. "With that small army on the prowl, if we don't attack first, they'll swallow us in small groups."

Wufei nodded. "Let's get inside first, do our job and find out where we can find Gardiner."

"Agreed," Heero whispered, and tried to ignore the sight of the bodies gathered under the walls.

*****

Relena curled her legs up close to her body on the sofa-chair in the lounge where the servants usually gathered in Damion's palace. She had no idea why she chose to sit here, except because maybe she was a little overwhelmed in the presence of the Council Lords and it was quieter here. Besides, she got to meet the staff this way and of course she also saw a lot of Terese. Being among friends and family was a great comfort in these times.

The room was empty except for herself and Noin, but Audrey and Terese were on their way. Noin was sitting by the window with a book laid face-down on her knee. She didn't seem to notice that she had stopped her reading. Her face was glued to the television screen.

"I thought they said they were going to release his picture?" Noin complained, her eyebrowss drawing low.

The news flashed scenes of the Amarat Plain by satellite and also gathered from some the footage taken by some very courageous cameramen. Milliardo said most of what the news showed was old, but Relena kept hoping to see Heero anyway, or at least to familiarize herself with where he was. It looked harsh and hot out there from what she could tell, but she didn't allow herself to dwell on it.

Today, she was watching specifically for an image of Gardiner. It was announced that his image would be released to the public during this broadcast, but the newscasters seemed to be taking their sweet time.

"Have they shown him yet?" Terese demanded, banging the door open. She brought in a tea tray loaded with tea and snacks and set it on the coffee table.

Relena took a cookie absently.

"No," Noin told Terese.

Terese grinned and flopped down on the couch next to Relena's chair, her hands curled around the end of the couch by her knees. She leaned forward, watching as mobs of people shouted and shook their fists on the screen. "God, it looks messy out there. I can't believe Damion is anywhere near it."

"He's not really," Relena said, munching on her cookie. "He's a good few hours away from where anything is really heavy."

"Well, there are Taravren soldiers out there, though," Terese said worriedly. "The whole situation is just sordid. It gives me the shivers. I can't wait until it's over."

"It should be soon with luck," Noin said. "Une told Zechs and I that the messages were delivered. It won't take long for everyone to gather together. There could be battling as early as tomorrow."

Relena bit her lip. "I hope Heero is okay."

"I'm sure he will be," Terese said dismissively. "That boy has to have been biogenetically engineered. He's invincible."

Relena smiled at Terese's effort to reassure her, but they both knew it wasn't true. She wished Heero had received her letters. It was a constant effort to remind herself that she could not jump on a plane and join him wherever he was.

Audrey came into the room as Relena was reaching for her second cookie. She took a seat next to Terese gracefully, seeming a little bewildered by her settings. It was likely Audrey hadn't been to this part of the Palace yet, which, though not really to her discredit, still made Relena smile. She had been like that once too.

"Oh, here it is, I think," Noin said. "Turn it up, Relena."

Relena used to remote to turn the sound up several notches. They listened as the announcer described the scene, zooming in a large rgroup of people surrounding a solo figure standing on top of a platform.

"That's him," Terese muttered. "Hey, he's not bad looking. No wonder he has so much appeal with crowds. What's he saying?"

"I haven't any idea. I can't hear," Relena said, evaluating Gardiner as objectively as she could. He was tall, fairly young, with reddish-brown hair and brown eyes. She knew she shouldn't hate him. Hate was not what would end the war, but she couldn't keep a biting sharpness in her thoughts. Heero's life was in danger because of this man. Crossing her arms, she looked at Audrey to see if she felt at all the same way.

Audrey's face was as white as a sheet, almost a sickly pale color. She didn't seem to be breathing.

Relena uncrossed her arms slowly, stunned. "Audrey," Relena said gently, worriedly, shaking the dark-haired girl's arm.

Audrey started, gasping and shaking her head. "Oh, God."

"Audrey, what is it?"

They were all looking at her now, questioning looks full of concern.

The woman didn't answer. Putting a hand to her forehead she stood up and paced once around the room, shaking her head in silence. They watched her in bewilderment.

"What is the matter? Do you feel sick?" Terese asked.

Audrey didn't seem to remember they were in the room. "It can't be. It's too much coincidence. I don't believe it." She paced more deliberately, not seeming to focus on anything.

Relena set aside her cookie and made to stand up. "Audrey...?"

Audrey stopped, her eyes widening. "Unless it isn't coincidence at all," she gasped, barely audible. She wrapped her arms around her body and for several moments stood perfectly still. They watched in breathless silence until she suddenly started into action, catching Relena straight in the eye. Her expression was wild. "Oh, God in Heaven! My heart misgives me. What can I possibly tell him?"


Thank you for sticking with this story!!!!!! It's been awhile since I've written action. How did it go? Please please please please please leave a review. I don't know who is reading unless you leave a review and reviews are the fuel that these stories run on. I am supposed to be studying for a test I have tomorrow morning. It is almost 2 am. Please make me feel like it was worth it, all right? Pretty please?

I'm the cusp of the actual action and drama I've been longing to write. The next chapter (I think) is the one I have been wanting to write since about chapter 5. I do not think I will be able to leave a note saying "please review" for it so please just remember and review, okay? I know some of you ALWAYS do and believe me, I KNOW who you are and I appreciate it more than I can say. For some of the rest of you, I know a lot of you too, and if you haven't reviewed for awhile I'm probably what happened to you, so please please please leave a little note. It will make my day.

Many many thanks. Keep reading!