(Just a note; sorry for how late this was. I started working on this chapter and then a chapter in the Fic that I'm co-authoring at the same timeand I sort of... had a brain lapse. Sorry, I'll try to remain diligent from now on! Anyway, now for the chapter that you've all grown bored of waiting for!)

A minute passed, and Jack, oblivious to what had happened, stepped forward with his milker in hand. He hummed as he walked to the edge of the gorge, and detatched the bottle containing Daachan's eyes from the rest of the milker. Unscrewing the bottle, he holds it upside-down and the eyes fall into the palm of his hand. He then closes said hand and holds it over the edge, a triumphant smile on his face.

"Goodbye, Daachan." He says, letting the two eyes drop from his fingers and down, down into the dark pit below. He keeps his smile on as he turns away, but notices Kate still lying on her stomach, her arms hanging limply over the side of the pit as she continued to look down it.

"What're you doing, Kate?" Jack asks, walking over to her. Kate doesn't reply to him. She doesn't even seem to notice him.

"Miro…" She says in a half-whisper, too quiet for anyone but Jack to hear.

"Huh? What about him? Where is he?" Jack asks, looking around and scratching his head.

"He's… not here…" Kate says, trying to contain her sadness.

"Yeah? Where'd he go?" Jack asks.

"He's… he's gone…"

"Okay, but where?" Jack persists, obviously not getting it at all.

"He has… left us…"

"What, did he need to go to the bathroom?"

"Jack, he's… as-ascended to a higher place…"

"Ugh, and I told him to stop playing with elevators…"

"Jack, he's dead…"

"…Oh, I get it!" Jack says, snapping his fingers. "This is, like, new slang that you teenagers are using! He's 'dead', meaning that he's not here! Okay, so when's he going to be 'alive' again?"

"He's DEAD!" Kate yells angrily, losing her temper and standing up on her feet, stomping at Jack. The whites of her eyes were nearly as red as her eye colour due to her crying. "He's checked out! He is no more! He's snuffed! He's cadaverous! HE IS DEAD!"

She then directed her anger to Lumina.

"AND SO IS HUGH, BY THE WAY!"

The rest of the group stood in shocked silence at this. Lumina gasped slightly and looked down, remaining quiet.

Jack finally gets it and looks over the side of the pit.

"Oh… darn, and we nearly got him back… I wonder if it's too late for me to go into monkhood…?"

"…You're-You're JOKING?" Kate yells, her fists clenched. She glared at Jack with incredible rage and looked about ready to toss him over the side to join his son. He probably wouldn't find it as funny then…

"I bet Miro did, too, before he fell." Jack replies, stepping away slightly.

Kate's hardened face lessened slightly, and he thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah… Yeah, he did…" She replied.

"Exactly. It's in the bloodline." Jack says. "In fact, the first words to come out of my mouth when Tak said that my Dad was dead were 'But the mortgage on the farm is paid off, right?'"

"…But weren't you sad?" Kate says, both stunned and disbelieving.

"Of course I was!" Jack replies. "Who wouldn't be? Once your Pop bites the big one, you're sad. There's no going around it. I'm just pretty sure that he'd want me to take it with a punchline. Sure, I grieved, and I'll probably grieve about Miro, but you have to look at the bright side."

"…Do you see a bright side?" Kate asks. "Your father and your son are gone, where is the bright side?"

"I still have a wife, a farm, and potential for more." Jack replies simply.

"…You are some kind of idiot." Nami says, beginning to walk toward him, her eyes narrowed. "There are a lot of reasons that parents protect their kids after having them, and one of them comes to mind for me really, really quickly. Do you know what fact about having kids has stuck to my mind most out of any other fact?"

Jack paused for a moment. Nami was right in his face at this point.

"Err… what…?" He asks timidly.

"It friggin' HURTS!" She yells, clubbing him with a sudden, forceful backhand. Kate had to dodge out of the way to avoid Jack's flailing body, and he then hits the ground, right beside the gorge.

"…So is that why you hurt me?" Jack inquires.

"Yes." Nami says. "And we still haven't reached a median. You still owe me 3,140 punches worth of pain."

"Oh, c'mon, that's an over-shot." Jack replies, not quite finding the need to get up yet. "Having one kid could not possibly hurt that much."

"Oh yeah? Have a flashback, Jack." Nami requests.

"Pssh, fine." Jack replies.

"Is she done yet?"

"No."

"Is she done yet?"

"No."

"Is she done yet?"

"NO!" Dr. Hardy finally snaps, looking at the window where Jack continually jumped up and down outside to get a good view through. It was a rather busy day at the Clinic; even Romana's bi-annual corn removal had to be denied today. Nami was busy going through the rather harsh procedure of bringing new life into the world, and Jack wanted to see. However, Hardy had denied him this privellege, and was now facing the almost equally harsh consequence of having to put up with Jack nagging him through the window.

"Well, when will she be done?" Jack inquires.

"It is hard to be certain…" Hardy says, trying to contain his frustration. "It depends on how smoothly the transition goes."

"Oh… How's it going, Nami?" Jack asks, not pausing in his jumping.

"…Bring…him…here…" Nami says through clenched teeth. Hardy sighs, nods, and walks to the door. Knowing that he would regret this, he unlocks it. Jack immediately bursts through it and rushes gleefully to Nami's side.

"So? How's it going?" He asks excitedly. In an instant, Nami had her fist clenched around the red bandanna that Jack wore around his neck, leaving his windpipe with very little room to let oxygen in. She pulled his face close to hers.

"This bastard has a huge head and you had better pray that he doesn't have pointy hair…" She growls at him, keeping a vice-like grip on his bandanna.

"Nami… larynx… crushing…" Jack chokes out. Nami lets go but then clenches onto the metal railing on the side of the hospital bed, which Jack was surprised to see had deep rivets where Nami's fingers had been gripping to it.

"So, Nami, when will you be done?" He asks. "Hardy doesn't know, so I thought you might."

"…I'd say… an hour and sixteen minutes… just enough time to pry this railing from the bed and break your legs with it…"Nami replies.

"…Oh." Jack replies, finally getting the message to shut up. This was one thing that made them a good couple. Nami was very direct with what she didn't like, which was good, because if anyone tried to be subtle with Jack, he wouldn't get the message.

"Jack… Hold my hand…" Nami says. Jack, realizing that this would hinder the time it took for Nami to pry that railing from the bed, agreed and put his hand out for Nami to hold. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about Nami's current strength and soon fell victim to one more of the many pains that he would suffer in his relationship. Nami gripped his hand with enough pressure to crush a CD into a marble.

"N-Nami… bones… breaking…" Jack says, wincing but not wanting to pull away because he would look uncaring. Nami ignored him and continued to grip his hand this way until it was aaaall over…

"…Oh yeah." Jack mumbles. "But, y'know, breaking my knuckles kinda hurt, too."

"Sure, 'kinda', but at least your knuckles didn't have to-"

The entire group quickly plugged their ears at this, not wishing to hear details of the event. Once they all thought it was safe, they fingers from their ears and continue to wait quietly.

"…True, but that's… in the design, right?" Jack inquires. "Knuckles aren't made to be broken."

"Maybe not, but you are." Nami grumbles.

Kate simply sat on the floor,looking down sadly and waiting for Jack and Nami to finish their conversation.

"Err… Maybe I am, but that doesn't mean that I should be…" Jack replies, finding little else to back up his side of the argument with.

"That is so pathetic. Jack, you are-" Nami begins, but she is cut off by a small voice. It spoke hardly loud enough for anyone to hear, and nobody could determine what it had said. Kate raised her head slowly and listened. Her eyes widened, and she rushes to the edge of the crevice again, looking down it.

Jack looked around, confused.

"Err, what was that?" He asks loudly, hoping that whatever it was could hear him.

"Hey, I think I stopped falling!" The voice repeats itself, still only barely audible.

Kate continued looking downward. Her eyes lit up as she recognized the tone fully.

"Miro!" She exclaims.

"Miro?" Jack repeats, going to the edge and squinting to see. He couldn't see him yet, but he was sure that it was him. "Miro, how did you stop falling? Did you hit the ground?"

"No, Dad, I'm pretty sure that I would be DEAD if I hit the ground!" The voice replies in an obvious, palpable tone.

"Then… what happened?" Kate yells down.

"I'm not sure… It's like I'm floating or something…" Miro says, also unsure. Matthew, who had been among the silent, staring group, looked around for any reason behind this. He found it, as well, seeing none other than the Harvest Goddess floating above the chasm, moving her hands as though she were reeling something in.

"What? Did you expect me to let him drop?" She asks, noticing the looks on the other people's faces as they also noticed her hovering there.

Before long, Miro was visible, and was floating safely over the gorge with a neat, wavery, green light underneath him to keep him floating.

"Way to ruin the moment, Miro." Jack says, smiling. "I had just dished out all of these important morales and lessons, and then you turn out to be alive. Great going."

"Shame, isn't it?" Miro replies, lying out on his back in mid-air and placing his hands behind his head smugly. "It'll take more than Hugh, Daachan, and a deep, dark pit to get rid of me, thank you."

He pauses for a moment, and then remembers something. He looks over to the Harvest Goddess.

"Wait, but aren't you supposed to be neutral?" He asks.

"The fight's over." The Goddess replies. "Hugh fell down first, meaning he lost. But if you insist…"

The green light underneath Miro suddenly vanishes. Miro blinks, and then begins to fall again.

"HEYHEYHEYWAITIDIDN'TMEANTHAT!" He yells quickly. The Goddess shrugs and causes the light to appear again, once again pulling Miro back up. He was gasping and pale now.

"That was… friggin' close…" He pants. He looks to the Goddess again. "NEVER do that!"

"Oh, fine." The Goddess says, looking put-out.

"And please put me back on solid ground…" Miro continues. Nodding, the Goddess makes Miro float over to where the others were and let him gently land on his feet. Sighing in relief, Miro looks down and wipes his forehead.

"MIRO! YOU'RE ALIVE!" Kate yells enthusiastically, tackling him with a huge hug and causing both of them to fall over the edge.

"…Ugh." The Goddess says in frustration, once again using her powers to pull them back up. Quickly, she places the two of them back on the ground, a safe distance from the gap.

"Remember, kids, glomp safely." She adds. "Well, that's my job done. Bye now!"

And with that, once again, the Goddess vanishes in a brilliant flash of light.

"…Wait, what about William?" Ricca says, looking around.

"…Wasn't he fighting somewhere on the other side of this gorge?" Matthew adds.

"Well this stinks. How're we supposed to get to him?" Kai asks.

"I will find… my own way…" Comes a voice from the other side of the crevice. Unsurprisingly, it was William, who was staggering his way toward the edge on the other side, dragging Muffy and Celia behind him.

"Oh, you're better now?" Ricca asks.

"The wounds have healed over… but I am weak from blood loss…" William replies. 'Blood loss' may have been the wrong term for it, since he knew exactly where it was, all over his shirt and a good amount on his pants. A plus, however, was that his neato white hair had not been stained.

"…Okay, what did I miss?" Miro asks, after finally prying himself from Kate's grasp. "Why does William look like he got caught in a ketchup factory explosion?"

"He was, umm… perforated by that Muffy person." Matthew explains.

"Ooh… Sounds painful." Miro says.

"…It fits that description…" William replies. He shut his eyes and causes a bridge of land to form across the chasm. He then continues dragging the two behind him and, after a short time, reaches the other side. Once he had, Ricca walks up to him, smiling.

"…Jee, Ricca's smiling wider than usual…" Matthew says.

"I didn't even know there was a usual…" Miro adds.

"Your job's done, William." Ricca says. "So… you can go back to normal, right?"

"…Now is not a good time to do so." William replies. "My abilities are needed to carry these two off, and bring this group back home safely."

"I thought that getting us back home wasn't your real mission." Ricca says.

"It was not, but I am placing the duty upon myself now." William replies. "Since the demon is no more, I can use my abilities as I wish."

"…Well, okay." Ricca says, turning away and beginning to walk back, allowing William to follow behind. "Let's get going, there's no reason for us to stay now."

"What do you mean?" Miro exclaims. "This is the Place, I worked too hard to leave it now!"

"Give it up, Miro." Ricca says. "There's people waiting for us at home, and this mall hasn't been very good luck for us. It's a nice place, but if we lived here, it would get messy. After a couple of generations, everybody would be related and would have to resort to… inbreeding."

"Eugh…" Miro says, twitching. "But… but no! I'm not giving up after I had to pound Hugh to get it!"

"Miro, it's either here or home." His father says, walking to him. "You wanna live here? Fine. But I think that everyone else is going, including Kate. It's completely up to you where you'd rather be."

Miro looked over to Kate, who paused, but then nodded.

"Oh…" Miro says. "I… I guess I've had enough of this place. Fine, let's go home."

"Good choice, Miro." Jack says. The group then began to walk away, toward the main doors. Jack stopped Miro a moment, though, and looked at him.

"Miro, I want you to have this." He says, reaching into his Rucksack and pulling something out. "Use it when you think you're ready."

Miro took the object and stared at it for a moment. It was a tiny, square, remote-control-like box with a single, unlabelled button on it. He nods and places it into his own Rucksack. They then proceed to follow the rest of the group down the hallway.

Once they reached the doors, they passed through them, some of the doors falling apart because of the sickle incident that had occurred earlier. As they walked out into the cooling, Fall air, many of the teenagers looked back at the Place that they had worked so hard to get to, and were now leaving for many different reasons, either because they came of age or didn't want to get in trouble or just because the notion of inbreeding was really, really gross… After a moment, however, they looked forward again.

"Well…" Miro begins. "We're in for a walk."

"Where should we go first?" Anna asks. "Our town or thiers?"

"Ours." Matthew replies. "More of us have to go there, anyway. Besides, I think they'll like to see it."

"How long will the walk be?" Kate asks.

"However long it took you guys to get here, I guess." Lumina says.

"Is there any good food there?" Miro asks.

"Some." Ricca replies. "There's a winery, too."

"No kidding…" Kate says, scratching her chin. "Is it just wine, or…?"

"It is based solely around wine." William states. "I have seen no evidence of any other alcoholic beverage in the boundaries of the Town."

"Aww, that's gotta stink." Miro says. "We have a Bar in our town, it has a huge variety of stuff."

"Not that we're allowed to drink it." Kate says, sighing.

"Speaking of which, Muffy helps with the bartending, so try not to knock her into too many rocks." Miro points out, looking to William. "Stack her on top of Celia or something."

Meanwhile, the adults were having their own conversation.

"Well, I'm glad that's all over." Cliff says, sighing. "I never want to see another swamp, forest, gorge, river, or teddy bear as long as I live."

"Well, we're going to have to pass through a couple of those things on the way back…" Gray says. "But we'll live."

"There's a really good shortcut we can take, don't worry." The hatted Jack says. "They took the long way."

"…Say, have you noticed how different Miro is now?" The other Jack says, looking to Nami. "He's more open than he used to be."

"Well, he's had a big experience." Nami replies. "Finding old friends, taking on huge odds, figuring out that Kate likes him…"

"Which would probably also count as 'taking on huge odds'." Jack points out. "But yeah, I see where you're going. Plus, y'know, he got to travel a bit. He got to see the world a bit, like you."

"Yep." Nami replies, moving her hand to pull a bang of hair away from her eye, but then remembering that there was none. She sighed.

"Of course, there's always a price…" She mumbles.

"Yeah…" Jack says. "But it'll grow back. And we could always patch up your vest."

"…Wait, you were the one that freaked out when those things happened," Nami recalls. "Why're you so calm about it now?"

"I got over it." Jack replies, shrugging. "Besides, it kinda makes you look punk."

"You think?" Nami replies. "…Yay, I'm a punk mother of a teenage boy."

"That's the spirit!" Jack replies, smiling. Nami smirks back, mostly just for his stupidity.

The chasm in the mall remained still and silent, without a breath of sound inside it. It was hauntingly dark inside, and quite an odd thing to be in a mall. Even though it was so big and empty-looking, it seemed to conceal a subtle fear. This fear revealed itself, as well, as a tiny red glow emanated from deep within…
As the groups were talking, they were cut off by a scream of rage from behind them. It was distant, but so loud it could be heard clearly. As they turned around to see what it was, they saw a portion of the mall's roof burst off in a shower of fire and debris.

"No…" The teenagers mutter, watching as a small figure was revealed in the smoke and dust. Although a bit too distant to determine fully, the red shirt and blonde hair showed who it was quite well. None other than Hugh was floating above the large hole he had smashed through the roof of the Mall, a red aura surrounding him. Most of them were confused as to how Hugh was doing this, until they noticed something. Daachan's red, shining eyes were placed in front of Hugh's own, supplying Hugh's body with the amazing power he had just shown.

"I'm back…" He proclaims, his voice warped demonically by the influence of Daachan's power. "And boy… am I… PISSED!"