Disclaimer, Summary, ect.: See chapter one.
This chapter written by: Tigerwolf
Author's Note: Ok, I have the whole vision thingy worked out in my head, but it's a bit confusing, so bear with me.
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Chapter 6
Once Upon A Dream, Uh, Vision
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"I remember," Cordy says, her teary eyes meeting my own.
"What did you see?", I say quietly, gently holding her hand for support. Whether I'm supporting her or she's supporting me, I'm not sure.
"There was a whole lot of stuff that didn't make any sense," she said, wrinkling up her nose in concentration. I wonder if she knows how cute that is... Ok. This is so not the right time for this. Even though she did tell me that she loved me, she probably meant the best friend kind. Not the LOVE love kind. Well, that made no sense. I've spent too many years around teenagers, now I'm talking like them.
"I don't know if I can explain it," Cordy said, looking at me as if I could somehow make it clear. I wished I could. Then I had an idea. I looked at Lorne.
"Lorne, do you remember when you went inside Cordy's mind to see where those fake visions were coming from?" I asked. Continuing to hold Cordy's hand, I walked over to Lorne. This had the unintentional effect of dragging Cordy with me. She didn't resist, however.
"Uh, yeah," Lorne said, looking at me with a confused expression.
"Can you do it again?"
"Whoa there, Angelcakes. You lost me. This vision came from the Powers, I'm sure of that. So why do you want me to trace it?"
"I don't. I want you to put me inside it," I said with determination. "And I thought I told you to stop calling me pastries."
"Oh," Lorne said. Then his red eyes got really big. "Wait a minute! You want me to what?"
"You can do it, just touch me when you connect to Cordy."
"Who do I look like? Spock? Do I have pointed ears? Besides, what if I can't do it?"
Cordy let go of my hand and grabbed Lorne's. "Please, Lorne? It's a good idea, and I think you can do it."
Lorne's look softened as he gazed into Cordy's still tear-filled eyes. "Alright, Sweetie. I'll try." He looked at me. "Wanna do it in here or go up to a room?"
"Let's stay down here," I said. "I've been locked in a room enough lately." I looked at Cordy. "If that's okay with you."
"Fine," Cordy says, her eyes getting back some of the fire that I love so much. "Let's have a vision. And no Sound of Music references this time, okay?"
Lorne grinned. "Sure thing, Hot Cakes."
"What is it with you and calling people breakfast items?" Cordy said with a small smile.
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Ten minutes later, we were seated on the couch and almost ready to begin. Except for one thing: Lorne. He had to go to the "little demon's room", as he called it. So Cordy and I were alone for the moment. Hello, uncomfortable silence. Of course I had heard everything that Groo had said, but I didn't want to bring it up. I guess I accidentally went into "brood- mode" because Cordy reached over and gently tickled my ribs. Lately, that's been her way of getting my attention. I gave her a small smile, which she returned and added a hug.
"You doing better?" she asked, after breaking the actual hug but keeping her arm around my waist.
"'Bout as good as you would expect," I replied. "Considering my world no longer makes any sense."
She smiled. "Mine neither. Except for you."
"How do you figure? I don't even make sense to me."
"I don't know. It's just that sometimes you're the only thing in my freaky world that makes sense. That... fits."
I drew in an unnecessary breath. There was no way that she could possibly know that Buffy had once said almost the same thing to me. The unbidden memory caused a twinge in my stomach. Hrumph. If I had only known where the vision would take us, I wouldn't have let that memory bother me...
I must have looked upset, but Cordy's response totally surprised me. She leaned over and gently kissed my cheek.
"It'll be okay, you know," she said, hugging me again. "We'll find him."
I was momentarily embarrassed that I actually hadn't been thinking about Connor, but there was no need for her to know that. "Thanks, Cordy. I know we will."
I thought she was about to kiss me again, but Lorne chose that moment to return. "Ok, kiddies. Let's do this."
Of all the crappy timing, I thought to myself. Oh well.
Lorne sat on a stool in front of us and gently placed his hands on Cordy's temples. "Ok, Princess. You know the drill."
Cordy's eyes drifted shut and Lorne's followed suit. I watched in silence. Lorne's left hand suddenly left Cordy's temple and found mine. My eyes closed and suddenly, I was somewhere else. Somewhere I recognized.
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I opened my eyes and found myself standing in the courtyard of the old Crawford Street mansion back in Sunnydale. It was daylight, but I knew that this was in Cordy's head, so I was safe. Strange, though. I didn't think that Cordy had ever been to the mansion before, so how did she even know what it looked like?
Lorne was beside me and Cordy was on his other side. "Where are we?" she asked.
Lorne shrugged. "Your dream, Sweetie."
"So why do I know I'm dreaming?"
I spotted something. "Um, that might explain it."
"That" was another Cordy who appeared, completely unaware of us. DreamCordy was walking into the mansion through the courtyard door.
"Ok, am I the only one having a major wiggins?" Cordy whispered to me.
"Nope," I answered equally quiet. Though why we were whispering, I didn't know. The figments of the dream seemed totally oblivious to our presence. "I guess we should follow her." We did.
The mansion was just as I'd left it. Actually, it was better. It looked like someone was living there. Now I was really beginning to freak out. Thankfully, Cordy chose that moment to grab my hand, otherwise I might have grabbed hers first.
DreamCordy walked into the bedroom and we followed. What we encountered in there made me glad that my heart didn't beat, cause I believe it would have stopped. Standing in the middle of the room was someone I never thought I'd see again, and from the powerful grip that she had on my hand, Cordy agreed with me. There, plain as day, was Doyle. And he was holding Connor.
"Doyle," Cordy whispered, tears coming to her eyes. "Oh, Doyle."
I blinked back my own tears at the sight of our long lost friend. "We need to get closer, to hear what they're saying."
"Now now, Princess," Doyle said to DreamCordy. "Don't cry, the little tyke's okay. But there's another reason you're here."
"There is?" DreamCordy asked.
"Sure! If you want to get him back, you have to follow the past from the beginning."
"I have to huh?"
"Just watch." With that, Doyle gestured and Acathla appeared in the middle of the room. Wait, now we were in the foyer. And... Oh my God.
There was a flash and suddenly Cordy wasn't the only one with a doppelganger. A clang of swords announced the entrance of new players. Buffy, and Angelus. "Oh, shit," I whispered.
The combatants whirled around the room with inhuman speed, blades clashing as they fought for supremacy. Angelus swung his sword and Buffy jumped gracefully over the gleaming blade. Buffy spun and Angelus barely dodged a blow meant to disembowel him. It went on like that for what seemed like forever.
"It doesn't take much to change history, Princess," Doyle's voice said from somewhere in the darkness. "The timing is everything..."
Another image superimposed over the fight: Cordy, Willow, and Oz in a hospital room. A large open book in front of them and some herbs. An Orb of Thesula completed the picture. That image faded as the orb glowed and a small light flew out. Now the fight was clearly visible once again.
Suddenly, a figure moved in the darkness. Neither Angelus nor Buffy noticed the silent observer. It was that demon that had opened the portal that Holtz jumped into. Sahjhan. The small light that I knew was my soul entered the room through the wall, and Sahjhan caught it in his fist. Then he crushed it.
"In your timeline, Sahjhan was there, but he was too late to stop the soul," Doyle continued. "So he went back in time and stopped it, causing the timelines to diverge. Now we will see the differences that small matter of timing caused."
I recognized this moment. Buffy was about ready to kill Angelus. She brought her sword up and... he dodged. Buffy was off balance and he grabbed her, pulled her to him and vamped out. Buffy's eyes filled with fear and sorrow as he tossed her sword away and sank his fangs, my fangs, into her soft, warm neck. She lost consciousness. Angelus looked over his shoulder at the widening portal of Acathla's mouth, then down to Buffy. A strange look crossed his face, he almost looked upset. Then his yellow eyes widened and he slit his wrist with his fangs and forced the blood down Buffy's throat. Only my grip on Cordy and the knowledge that this was a dream kept me from attacking myself.
"Let's fast forward, shall we?" Doyle's voice came again. The scene around us blurred and sped up. Sights and scents and sounds washed over us so fast that I couldn't even separate them one from the other. Then abruptly, it stopped.
Sahjhan and Angelus were seated on what appeared to be thrones in the foyer of the mansion. Demons of various species milled around, bringing drinks and food. Buffy sauntered in, in full game face, fangs gleaming in the reddened light. My heart sank to the floor. "One of her worst nightmares was to be a vampire," I whispered. I didn't think that anyone heard me, but then I felt two reassuring hands. One rubbing circles on my back, and a larger one squeezing my shoulder gently. Cordy and Lorne.
Time sped up again, nearly sending us reeling from dizziness, then it became normal again. Now Angelus was yelling something in a demonic language that I didn't know, at Sahjhan. Sahjhan responded in kind and motioned behind him. At least sixty demons of indeterminate species came growling up behind him. Angelus shouted and nearly a hundred vampires, including Buffy, joined him. It was a stand off. A female version of Sahjhan came up next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. His mate, I guessed. She and Buffy snarled at each other.
Once again, time shot past us at a speed that would have made an Indy 500 car look like a snail on Nyquil. It stopped in a different room of the mansion, the same dark reddish light that seemed to be everywhere flooding the room. There, on the bed, was Sahjhan's mate. Eviscerated. Sahjhan walked in and froze, then he screamed as if his heart was being ripped out. Angelus sauntered into the room through another door. "Oops," he said in the language of snarls and growls that I had always called vampiric. "Guess she couldn't take the heat. Or, rather, the knife." Sahjhan roared and attacked Angelus.
Time moved forward again, taking us with it. History flew past us in rapid, slide-show-like succession. A battle between Sahjhan's demonic forces and a huge group of vampires led by Angelus. A siege on the mansion. A fire, engulfing vampires and demons alike. Buffy, exploding into dust on the tip of Sahjhan's stake. Angelus, attacking Sahjhan like a rabid dog. And blood, many different colors, but all blood. Then suddenly, we were back where we'd started. The battle between Buffy and Angelus frozen in the back ground. Doyle and DreamCordy walked out of the shadows.
"You see now, Princess?", Doyle said. "It's all about the timing."
"But what does this have to do with Connor?" DreamCordy asked.
"Everything. That's where he is."
"No. If he's there, then why didn't I see him?"
Doyle walked over and leaned against the frozen form of Angelus as if he were a statue in the park. "Sahjhan didn't come back here until after that. That's when he decided to bring Holtz through time. He's insane, Princess. Ever since he lost his mate at Angelus' hands, all he's been able to think about is revenge. He discovered Angel's son in our 'verse and figured that would be the perfect thing to complete the revenge. He's crazy, but he's smart."
"So how do we get him back?"
"Up to you, Princess. I'm just the messenger." He turned and began to walk off into the darkness. "Oh, and Princess?"
"Yeah, Doyle?"
"Just remember this: The beginning will bring about the end."
"But what does that mean?"
"I don't know. I just say what the PTB tell me to."
The frozen image of Angelus and Buffy faded along with the surroundings, except for one thing. Acathla stood there long after everything else went dark. Then he too faded, leaving us alone in the blackness.
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I opened my eyes and looked around. We were back on the lobby of the Hyperion. Lorne and Cordy were blinking and shaking their heads.
"Whoa," Cordy said. "That was intense. Not to mention a lot longer than my usual visions."
"Ok," Lorne said. "I don't think "intense" describes it, Sweetcakes. Remind me never to do that again."
"Until I ask you to," Cordy said playfully. Lorne smiled and headed for the kitchen to get a drink.
"Well," I said. "We got the message."
"Yeah," Cordy said. "Now we just have to figure out what the Hell it means."
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TBC...
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Author's Note 2: Thanks for waiting, everyone. And a special thanks to our favorite reviewers, Diane Weiss and Melohdramatic. We look forward to your reviews as much as you look forward to our stories. MissKitie's chapter will be up as soon as we iron out some plot problems. Keep on reviewing!
-Tigerwolf
This chapter written by: Tigerwolf
Author's Note: Ok, I have the whole vision thingy worked out in my head, but it's a bit confusing, so bear with me.
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Chapter 6
Once Upon A Dream, Uh, Vision
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"I remember," Cordy says, her teary eyes meeting my own.
"What did you see?", I say quietly, gently holding her hand for support. Whether I'm supporting her or she's supporting me, I'm not sure.
"There was a whole lot of stuff that didn't make any sense," she said, wrinkling up her nose in concentration. I wonder if she knows how cute that is... Ok. This is so not the right time for this. Even though she did tell me that she loved me, she probably meant the best friend kind. Not the LOVE love kind. Well, that made no sense. I've spent too many years around teenagers, now I'm talking like them.
"I don't know if I can explain it," Cordy said, looking at me as if I could somehow make it clear. I wished I could. Then I had an idea. I looked at Lorne.
"Lorne, do you remember when you went inside Cordy's mind to see where those fake visions were coming from?" I asked. Continuing to hold Cordy's hand, I walked over to Lorne. This had the unintentional effect of dragging Cordy with me. She didn't resist, however.
"Uh, yeah," Lorne said, looking at me with a confused expression.
"Can you do it again?"
"Whoa there, Angelcakes. You lost me. This vision came from the Powers, I'm sure of that. So why do you want me to trace it?"
"I don't. I want you to put me inside it," I said with determination. "And I thought I told you to stop calling me pastries."
"Oh," Lorne said. Then his red eyes got really big. "Wait a minute! You want me to what?"
"You can do it, just touch me when you connect to Cordy."
"Who do I look like? Spock? Do I have pointed ears? Besides, what if I can't do it?"
Cordy let go of my hand and grabbed Lorne's. "Please, Lorne? It's a good idea, and I think you can do it."
Lorne's look softened as he gazed into Cordy's still tear-filled eyes. "Alright, Sweetie. I'll try." He looked at me. "Wanna do it in here or go up to a room?"
"Let's stay down here," I said. "I've been locked in a room enough lately." I looked at Cordy. "If that's okay with you."
"Fine," Cordy says, her eyes getting back some of the fire that I love so much. "Let's have a vision. And no Sound of Music references this time, okay?"
Lorne grinned. "Sure thing, Hot Cakes."
"What is it with you and calling people breakfast items?" Cordy said with a small smile.
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Ten minutes later, we were seated on the couch and almost ready to begin. Except for one thing: Lorne. He had to go to the "little demon's room", as he called it. So Cordy and I were alone for the moment. Hello, uncomfortable silence. Of course I had heard everything that Groo had said, but I didn't want to bring it up. I guess I accidentally went into "brood- mode" because Cordy reached over and gently tickled my ribs. Lately, that's been her way of getting my attention. I gave her a small smile, which she returned and added a hug.
"You doing better?" she asked, after breaking the actual hug but keeping her arm around my waist.
"'Bout as good as you would expect," I replied. "Considering my world no longer makes any sense."
She smiled. "Mine neither. Except for you."
"How do you figure? I don't even make sense to me."
"I don't know. It's just that sometimes you're the only thing in my freaky world that makes sense. That... fits."
I drew in an unnecessary breath. There was no way that she could possibly know that Buffy had once said almost the same thing to me. The unbidden memory caused a twinge in my stomach. Hrumph. If I had only known where the vision would take us, I wouldn't have let that memory bother me...
I must have looked upset, but Cordy's response totally surprised me. She leaned over and gently kissed my cheek.
"It'll be okay, you know," she said, hugging me again. "We'll find him."
I was momentarily embarrassed that I actually hadn't been thinking about Connor, but there was no need for her to know that. "Thanks, Cordy. I know we will."
I thought she was about to kiss me again, but Lorne chose that moment to return. "Ok, kiddies. Let's do this."
Of all the crappy timing, I thought to myself. Oh well.
Lorne sat on a stool in front of us and gently placed his hands on Cordy's temples. "Ok, Princess. You know the drill."
Cordy's eyes drifted shut and Lorne's followed suit. I watched in silence. Lorne's left hand suddenly left Cordy's temple and found mine. My eyes closed and suddenly, I was somewhere else. Somewhere I recognized.
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I opened my eyes and found myself standing in the courtyard of the old Crawford Street mansion back in Sunnydale. It was daylight, but I knew that this was in Cordy's head, so I was safe. Strange, though. I didn't think that Cordy had ever been to the mansion before, so how did she even know what it looked like?
Lorne was beside me and Cordy was on his other side. "Where are we?" she asked.
Lorne shrugged. "Your dream, Sweetie."
"So why do I know I'm dreaming?"
I spotted something. "Um, that might explain it."
"That" was another Cordy who appeared, completely unaware of us. DreamCordy was walking into the mansion through the courtyard door.
"Ok, am I the only one having a major wiggins?" Cordy whispered to me.
"Nope," I answered equally quiet. Though why we were whispering, I didn't know. The figments of the dream seemed totally oblivious to our presence. "I guess we should follow her." We did.
The mansion was just as I'd left it. Actually, it was better. It looked like someone was living there. Now I was really beginning to freak out. Thankfully, Cordy chose that moment to grab my hand, otherwise I might have grabbed hers first.
DreamCordy walked into the bedroom and we followed. What we encountered in there made me glad that my heart didn't beat, cause I believe it would have stopped. Standing in the middle of the room was someone I never thought I'd see again, and from the powerful grip that she had on my hand, Cordy agreed with me. There, plain as day, was Doyle. And he was holding Connor.
"Doyle," Cordy whispered, tears coming to her eyes. "Oh, Doyle."
I blinked back my own tears at the sight of our long lost friend. "We need to get closer, to hear what they're saying."
"Now now, Princess," Doyle said to DreamCordy. "Don't cry, the little tyke's okay. But there's another reason you're here."
"There is?" DreamCordy asked.
"Sure! If you want to get him back, you have to follow the past from the beginning."
"I have to huh?"
"Just watch." With that, Doyle gestured and Acathla appeared in the middle of the room. Wait, now we were in the foyer. And... Oh my God.
There was a flash and suddenly Cordy wasn't the only one with a doppelganger. A clang of swords announced the entrance of new players. Buffy, and Angelus. "Oh, shit," I whispered.
The combatants whirled around the room with inhuman speed, blades clashing as they fought for supremacy. Angelus swung his sword and Buffy jumped gracefully over the gleaming blade. Buffy spun and Angelus barely dodged a blow meant to disembowel him. It went on like that for what seemed like forever.
"It doesn't take much to change history, Princess," Doyle's voice said from somewhere in the darkness. "The timing is everything..."
Another image superimposed over the fight: Cordy, Willow, and Oz in a hospital room. A large open book in front of them and some herbs. An Orb of Thesula completed the picture. That image faded as the orb glowed and a small light flew out. Now the fight was clearly visible once again.
Suddenly, a figure moved in the darkness. Neither Angelus nor Buffy noticed the silent observer. It was that demon that had opened the portal that Holtz jumped into. Sahjhan. The small light that I knew was my soul entered the room through the wall, and Sahjhan caught it in his fist. Then he crushed it.
"In your timeline, Sahjhan was there, but he was too late to stop the soul," Doyle continued. "So he went back in time and stopped it, causing the timelines to diverge. Now we will see the differences that small matter of timing caused."
I recognized this moment. Buffy was about ready to kill Angelus. She brought her sword up and... he dodged. Buffy was off balance and he grabbed her, pulled her to him and vamped out. Buffy's eyes filled with fear and sorrow as he tossed her sword away and sank his fangs, my fangs, into her soft, warm neck. She lost consciousness. Angelus looked over his shoulder at the widening portal of Acathla's mouth, then down to Buffy. A strange look crossed his face, he almost looked upset. Then his yellow eyes widened and he slit his wrist with his fangs and forced the blood down Buffy's throat. Only my grip on Cordy and the knowledge that this was a dream kept me from attacking myself.
"Let's fast forward, shall we?" Doyle's voice came again. The scene around us blurred and sped up. Sights and scents and sounds washed over us so fast that I couldn't even separate them one from the other. Then abruptly, it stopped.
Sahjhan and Angelus were seated on what appeared to be thrones in the foyer of the mansion. Demons of various species milled around, bringing drinks and food. Buffy sauntered in, in full game face, fangs gleaming in the reddened light. My heart sank to the floor. "One of her worst nightmares was to be a vampire," I whispered. I didn't think that anyone heard me, but then I felt two reassuring hands. One rubbing circles on my back, and a larger one squeezing my shoulder gently. Cordy and Lorne.
Time sped up again, nearly sending us reeling from dizziness, then it became normal again. Now Angelus was yelling something in a demonic language that I didn't know, at Sahjhan. Sahjhan responded in kind and motioned behind him. At least sixty demons of indeterminate species came growling up behind him. Angelus shouted and nearly a hundred vampires, including Buffy, joined him. It was a stand off. A female version of Sahjhan came up next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. His mate, I guessed. She and Buffy snarled at each other.
Once again, time shot past us at a speed that would have made an Indy 500 car look like a snail on Nyquil. It stopped in a different room of the mansion, the same dark reddish light that seemed to be everywhere flooding the room. There, on the bed, was Sahjhan's mate. Eviscerated. Sahjhan walked in and froze, then he screamed as if his heart was being ripped out. Angelus sauntered into the room through another door. "Oops," he said in the language of snarls and growls that I had always called vampiric. "Guess she couldn't take the heat. Or, rather, the knife." Sahjhan roared and attacked Angelus.
Time moved forward again, taking us with it. History flew past us in rapid, slide-show-like succession. A battle between Sahjhan's demonic forces and a huge group of vampires led by Angelus. A siege on the mansion. A fire, engulfing vampires and demons alike. Buffy, exploding into dust on the tip of Sahjhan's stake. Angelus, attacking Sahjhan like a rabid dog. And blood, many different colors, but all blood. Then suddenly, we were back where we'd started. The battle between Buffy and Angelus frozen in the back ground. Doyle and DreamCordy walked out of the shadows.
"You see now, Princess?", Doyle said. "It's all about the timing."
"But what does this have to do with Connor?" DreamCordy asked.
"Everything. That's where he is."
"No. If he's there, then why didn't I see him?"
Doyle walked over and leaned against the frozen form of Angelus as if he were a statue in the park. "Sahjhan didn't come back here until after that. That's when he decided to bring Holtz through time. He's insane, Princess. Ever since he lost his mate at Angelus' hands, all he's been able to think about is revenge. He discovered Angel's son in our 'verse and figured that would be the perfect thing to complete the revenge. He's crazy, but he's smart."
"So how do we get him back?"
"Up to you, Princess. I'm just the messenger." He turned and began to walk off into the darkness. "Oh, and Princess?"
"Yeah, Doyle?"
"Just remember this: The beginning will bring about the end."
"But what does that mean?"
"I don't know. I just say what the PTB tell me to."
The frozen image of Angelus and Buffy faded along with the surroundings, except for one thing. Acathla stood there long after everything else went dark. Then he too faded, leaving us alone in the blackness.
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I opened my eyes and looked around. We were back on the lobby of the Hyperion. Lorne and Cordy were blinking and shaking their heads.
"Whoa," Cordy said. "That was intense. Not to mention a lot longer than my usual visions."
"Ok," Lorne said. "I don't think "intense" describes it, Sweetcakes. Remind me never to do that again."
"Until I ask you to," Cordy said playfully. Lorne smiled and headed for the kitchen to get a drink.
"Well," I said. "We got the message."
"Yeah," Cordy said. "Now we just have to figure out what the Hell it means."
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TBC...
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Author's Note 2: Thanks for waiting, everyone. And a special thanks to our favorite reviewers, Diane Weiss and Melohdramatic. We look forward to your reviews as much as you look forward to our stories. MissKitie's chapter will be up as soon as we iron out some plot problems. Keep on reviewing!
-Tigerwolf