Priestess Aishisu: I should really just cancel this fanfiction. No one's reading it anyway. I was going to make this really long, but since I just got one review for three chapters, this is the last one. You heard me—this is going to have four chapters. So deal with it :P

No one spoke. No one knew how long they had been kneeling there, staring at the corpse in Chad's arms. It seemed so serene, lying there, it didn't seem dead at all. The scars stood out sharply against the chocolate skin, but the face was peaceful and perfect.

At last, Hoagie whispered, "Is she...dead?"

Chad nodded, tears beginning to fill his eyes. Cree's skin felt stunningly frigid against his flesh, while her lips had felt very warm when she had kissed him. The amulet which had been glimmering so brightly was dull and dead. How could see be dead? They had been fighting together, she had been pulsing with energy, and suddenly she had seen something in the mirror and...

A single tear hit the amulet, and suddenly the silver crystal blazed to life. Everybody gasped as the light spread gently through Cree's dead body. Each scar shimmered and vanished, and slowly the light pulled in and returned to the amulet.

Everybody held their breath, and even the chirping grasshoppers were silenced as everybody watched Cree. For a moment, the night seemed to stand still.

Then Cree's eyes fluttered open.

"Cree!" cried Chad, hugging her so tight she probably couldn't breathe. "You're alive, you're alive, you're alive, you're alive, you're alive, you're alive, you're a–liiiiiiiiiiiivee!!"

She made choked sounds, and he let go of her immediately. "Um, what's going on?" she muttered as she rose up, and gasped when she realized her hand had touched the ground and it hadn't hurt.

He got up and said, "I'm not really sure—let's see...you were alive, then you were going to die, then you were alive, then you were dying, then you were dead, now you're alive...what did happen?"

Cree paused and gasped, remembering. "Chad—I was the goddess! The woman who healed me—that was me, from the future...well, I guess it's now the past again." She frowned, touching her forehead as if she had a headache. "I'm confused."

"Uh...Sis?"

Cree glanced down in surprise at the sound of her sister's voice, and from her expression it seemed as if she hadn't remembered the Kids Next Door where even there. "Yes?"

Abigail smiled a little sheepishly, but her eyes were very bright. "Numbuh Five forgives yah, Sis."

Cree smiled also, but suddenly her eyes rolled back and she crumpled against Chad. He panicked for less than a second—he could feel her heart beating against his chest.

"Sleep well, goddess," he whispered, touching her hair and turning to leave.

"Wait," said Abigail, and Chad turned again. This time, there was no sheepishness in her smile. "You better take care of Numbuh Five's sister, or Numbuh Five gunnu kick your butt."

"Don't worry," said Chad with a tiny smile. "I'll take care of her."

"Abigail, do you really expect me to believe that?" sighed her father, shaking his head at his daughter's story. It was just as ridiculous as a four-year-old Abigail's teary claim that Cree killed her mother.

"It's the truth!" cried Abigail defensively. "Numbuh Five even has a strand of Cree's hair to prove Numbuh Five's telling the truth!" She held up the long black hair.

Her father sighed again, sounding old and tired. The Bill Cosby-clone had seemed to lose his will to live when he lost Cree, and seemed to be sighing like that a lot lately.

"That's your hair, Abigail. Cree's hair was never that long."

Abigail ground her teeth in frustration, not even speaking in third person. "I told you, Cree's hair grew like four feet when she was healed by herself after the fire! Haven't you been listening?"

Her father didn't even reply.

"What did you pack in these things, boulders?" Chad whined as they walked up to the door, carrying suitcases. Very heavy suitcases, I might mention.

"Big baby," muttered Cree, rolling her eyes. Then she turned away from Chad and stared at the lock. There was a nearly imperceptible click and the door swung open.

Tentatively, Cree stepped in. "Dad?" she called. "Abigail?"

The next thing she knew, she was being half-crushed by hugs and relieved cries from both her sister and father. "Can't...breathe. Too...much...love..." She groaned in relief as they let go and slumped against the wall, gasping for breath.

"Well, hello, son!" said her father to Chad, suddenly bright and chipper again now that he knew Cree was alive. He stuck out his hand with a disturbingly huge grin. "Who are you?"

"I'm Chad," he replied, shaking the hand and glancing at Cree uncertainly. You have a weird family, he said mentally, wondering if she would be able to hear it.

Tell me about it, Cree replied with a roll of her still-cerulean eyes. So she had heard. He wondered if it was unreasonable to feel this pleased with himself.

"Well, Chad, thanks for helping my daughter. I think it's about time she got herself a boyfriend!"

"Dad!" Cree shrieked, her cheeks turning red. Chad suppressed a giggle as she pounded her dad until he ran right out of the hallway. I am so glad she couldn't do that to me.

"Ugh," muttered Cree, glaring at the door her dad had sprinted out of. "That's worse than the time he told Abigail's friends I had a bra and they thought it was a weapon and tried to wear it."

Chad cracked up, but she silenced him with a glare.

"There," grunted Chad, dropping the suitcase onto Cree's bed. It was a nice bed, all light blue. The entire room was light blue and lilac purple. "I think that's the last of them."

Cree chuckled with amusement. "Um...Chad?" she murmured, feeling uncharacteristically timid because she didn't usually say what she was about to say.

"Yeah?" he said, turning to her questioningly. She was so adorable when she was shy. He forced himself not to blush at the thought. Wasn't he allowed to admire his girlfriend?

"Um...thank you."

"For what?" he replied, pretending to be puzzled.

"Y–You know what," she sputtered, clearly not sure whether to be embarrassed or angry. She didn't bother to brush away the hair that had fallen in her eye.

"O-oh. You mean saving your life twice, breaking my arm for you, helping you get home, and helping you with your bags despite the fact that I only have one usable arm?"

"Well, what did you think I meant?!" she cried, her expression priceless and her dusky cheeks tinged pink. He almost laughed at this—the great Cree was blushing!

However, he chose to refrain for the sake of his personal health and reached out with his good hand to tuck the stray hair behind her ear, which only served to make Cree blush harder.

He smiled at her and traced the curve of her cheek with his knuckle. "It's all right," he said. "You don't have to thank me. After all, time heals all burns."