I don't own it, I'm sure you knew that…and by it I mean anything by Tamora Pierce; because obviously she owns it. It's hers. But I'm sure you already knew that…

Reviews! Yes!

Nativewildmage Whoo-hoo! I rule the realm! That's not a bad Idea really, Bow down, before your queen! Queen LiquidG! Just kidding. Anyways, please don't hurt me Nwm, I'm trying to update fast still. My Pre-Cal teacher gave me homework on my first day. Math teachers are mean like that; I know from experience, every year it's the same…

I can't help putting in humorous things. I think they are humorous anyways, and I'm glad you agree. This is why I don' write humor much, I'm afraid I'll be the only one to think thinks are funny…

Whatever, Please enjoy the chapter, and review!

Numair's Lover I'll try, though like I said, I can't promise anything. Thanks for sympathizing with school. I think I'd actually like school if it weren't for all that homework. I mean, that's what school is for! For school! Not for home! School is supposed to be like our work right? Most jobs, you do your eight hours and you're done (besides chores and things but kids have those, and school, and homework). I could rant about the absolutely shitty school system, both in the US and especially in California, but I won't; you don't want to hear it.

I'm glad you like the longer chapters; I didn't break my record, but it is a slightly longer one, (though most of that from long responses, ahh!), AND THANKS EVERYONE WHO REVIEW LAST CHAPTER! You all absolutely beat my former chapter review record of five into the ground by giving me a whopping nine reviews! Whoo-hoo!

Read and review again please!

Daine's Twin, german? Er…not that I know of. If it has any correlation to German, it's purely a coincidence. I just thought it up and I liked it. So I used it. And before anyone asks, it was also kind of a coincidence that the apple was there and Apfel's name is what it is, that is to say, very similar to 'apple'. I don't know what I was thinking, but I hadn't realized it when I was writing it down. Anyways, it's good to know it's german, that's cool, does it mean anything, do you know? I'd like to know if you do. Thanks for the informative review, and review again! I love to hear from you guys and gals.

Ivory Nightshade of course I looked for you're story! I've actually taken a look in at everyone who has me on their favorite's list's stuff. Everyone's. Although there's only fourteen of you, so I suppose I'm not that spectacular, (a lot of you haven't reviewed me before please do! Please? It would make me happy.).

And I love long reviews. And you separated them into paragraphs! Just how I like them! Thankies! Read and review again please!

Feifiefofum, of course I'm not doing it on purpose. And to my defense I was rushing to post it before I had to go to bed; I have to wake up at six AM now, for school. Truelove is one word, Microsoft Word scolded me with those malicious red squiggles when I typed them separately, and 'untilboth' doesn't show up as one word on my copy of the text; they are separate there, so you can hardly blame me for that. Yet more evidence that errors occur when you upload it. I don't understand why it does that and I don't hear of anyone else with the problem. It makes me angry! AHHH!

Is Gainel a guy? Just because he wasn't attracted to Apfel? I know just because Gainel isn't horny around every chick he sees like someone I know…just kidding. Actually I wrote that for a purpose. Here's the explanation:

EVERYONE WILL WANT TO KNOW THIS! IT'S PRETTY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND!

Why doesn't Gainel feel anything for Apfel—Well, number one, gods don't put as much store on appearance as mortals do. They have a sort of 'default' appearance that they can't change, but if they want to, they can appear to look different then they are. Secondly, though gods definitely have 'urges', as it were, (Gainel proved that one, eh? No, I'm not Canadian, I just like to say 'eh', is that so bad?), it's not usually near as bad as it is for mortals, that's why it was so unusual for Gainel to have them so badly for Lynn. Thirdly, what really turns a god/goddess on, is strong elemental affinity that corresponds with their elemental affinity. It's not everything, but it makes things more interesting, if you know what I mean; everything's enhanced. Fourthly, Gainel is heart-bonded/soul-bonded/truelove-bonded/destiny-bonded (they are all names for the same thing: an extremely powerful emotional and magical bond. This also really enhances feelings and that sort of thing; it's the purest kind of love there is. That's one reason why everyone wants one, but usually it doesn't happen very often. It takes a certain amount of power in both of the people involved, and a certain amount of an elemental affinity,) because he's bonded, he's never going to really feel much from any other woman. Fifthly, Apfel's arrogance is an absolute turn-off for Gainel; he hates arrogance. And Sixthly and finally, just how would everyone feel if, say, Daine started getting the hots for some random guy in a ficlet that's supposedly about Daine and Numair finally realizing the have loved each other desperately for so long? Not only would it defy the point, it would be just wrong! So there you have it.

Yes, Apfel is very arrogant and flaunts herself. She really thinks she's very funny, and cute, and that sort of thing; even though she isn't, necessarily.

Concerning Apfel and The Black God, yes he is 'the dark, silent type', so he has to have someone rather bright and loud to offset him. Also, with Apfel being his consort, it matches perfectly with his daughter being The Graveyard Hag (because whether any of you caught that or not in TEM, it's true), or at least I think so. Her elements of obnoxiousness and his of coldness mix rather well to make ol' Haggy's personality. As well as Blacky's death-ness and Apfel's curve for destiny and good fortune (and love) mix to make Haggy's element of chance and gambling (isn't love always a gamble?) as well as the watcher of graveyards. Her ugliness is also pretty comparable to Apfel's beauty and the irony is pretty typical of mythological pantheons of gods. Yes, I think a lot about these sorts of things.

And I don't think you're lame, although I think you like to nit-pick me just to get a response. And thank you for asking these philosophical-related questions, it gives me a chance to show off how smart and creative I think (key word there, think. I'm pretty full of myself, and intelligence and creativity are relative, so you might have a different opinion,) I am.

Well, read and review please. Toodles!

Kaito-Orenji, nope, she's not a canon character. I made her up! The fact that you had to ask is the best compliment ever! I really try to get my characters to fit in with canon.

And I'm glad you thought I did a good job describing chaos. That's only one part of it though, it's really crazy there, you'll see a little more of it in this chapter; tell me what you think!

Read and review, again! Please!

Allisarte, hey, you reviewed me! Yay! Did you know I have Unwanted Beauty on my favorites list? Did you look me up from there, or happen to stumble upon my little corner of Either way, you're a new reviewer! Thanks, about the summery, I don't think I'm very good at them; I tried my best. It's really hard to fit the essence of a story into about 270 characters (including spaces). And you're not such a bad writer yourself, it just takes practice, and reading five +500-paged books a month also helps, (yes, I'm a nerd,) reading helps your writing. Thanks for sympathizing with school, I sympathize with you're situation, I was doing the same thing, scrambling to get that last chapter up the Sunday night before school started.

Good luck with your writing, and read and review!

Colleen/WalkInDreams, every time I see your name I think of one of my best friends named colleen. It messes with me. You think it's really good? Yay! Thanks so much! Here's some more!

Ace Ryn Knight, don't worry about the reviews, this has been the best review turnout of all time! NINE! My best before was FIVE! That's a HUGE difference! To me anyways. You liked the 'I'd glare but I can't."? I'm so glad, I did too. The sad thing was, I kept saying all these jokes and conversations I could have them (and others) saying, for last chapter and future chapters, and my sister came in my room to tell me to stop talking to myself. The even sadder thing is that this happens all the time. I bet you know how I feel with school you've been back longer than me. You go to a year-round school? They start earlier, but you get more off for spring and winter break; so it's not too bad, especially if the school has air-conditioning. Mine does, mines traditional

Thanks for reviewing! Review again!

Finally, the story!

Providence Smiles

By LGR

Part III: Madness

COME TO ME

Lynn's nerves strained as her body began to move of its own volition. She found herself rising from the sand, her body not reacting to the buffeting storm, and she wasn't able to lift a hand to keep the sand from her eyes.

She passed Discord, who had been struggling to breathe a moment to go as Uusoae had cut off her ability to take in air. The goddess was now collapsed on the sand taking huge breaths of air with blood spilling from every orifice on her body. Lynn vaguely registered a blip in her senses, feeling Discord begin to heal herself.

Lynn fought with all her strength; she felt her head would explode from the stain. But Uusoae had a solid grip on her mind, and Lynn banged and pounded on the presence she felt, but it wouldn't budge. She would have screamed, but her muscles wouldn't do as she commanded.

She felt herself stumble. It seemed Uusoae wasn't particularly used to making others walk remotely; Lynn was staggering all over the place, jerkily moving her legs with odd muscle spasms.

A lightening struck the ground not a few feet away, and a tree sprung up suddenly and died, turning to dust and becoming one with the dunes. Lynn would have shrieked but once again she wasn't able.

Uusoae let out a sickening laugh that pelted through Lyn's brain.

THIS IS CHAOS, GIRL; THERE IS NO PREDICTING WHAT COULD HAPPEN.

Lynn finally lurched to within a foot of the Queen of Chaos, and she collapsed at the Goddess's feet, her power no longer keeping her moving and upright. Lynn felt the presence in her mind lessen and she was once again in control of her body.

Lynn gasped from the mental effort it had taken to try to remove Uusoae from controlling her brain. She sucked in some more sand and coughed as Uusoae appeared to turn her attention back to the now fully healed, but visibly shaken, Discord

YOU DISOBEY MY ORDERS. The goddess stated flatly, and Discord twitched violently at the mental sound of the voice, resounding in her mind.

"Mistress, please forgive your servant!" Discord begged, and flung herself to the ground next to Lynn, who jerked away hurriedly from the Goddess, scrambling crab-like, backwards across the sand; Lynn didn't want to be anywhere near either of them.

I GAVE THIS TASK TO YOU, BECAUSE YOU ASSURED ME YOU WOULD TAKE MORE CARE WITH THE MORTAL'S LIFE THAN VIOLENCE.

"The mortal angered me!" Discord spat vehemently, as she explained, "She INSULTED me—!"

THERE CAN BE NO EXCUSES, Uusoae's profound statement seemed to ring across the landscape, making the winds howl louder and more forcefully.

Discord whimpered and seemed and shrank away, but Uusoae didn't seem to notice; either that or she didn't care.

While this had occurred, Lynn had tried backing up some more, but once she went a certain distance, her muscles screamed and she couldn't go any farther.

She once again examined the mental presence after it still wouldn't give to her berating of its mental shields, and found that it as over the part of her brain that controlled muscle movement, but not over anything else.

Uusoae wasn't listening to her thoughts, and she wasn't preventing the use of her powers; however, Lynn couldn't transform, as it would reshape and move her muscles, which Uusoae had control over. Transforming would also be worthless; it wouldn't help to free her mind, or get away from chaos.

Lynn blinked. Phasing. Uusoae wasn't stopping her from phasing.

Her track record thus far wasn't very promising, she had yet to be able to phase dimensions on her own, but she could try.

If not for her sake, then for Gainel's, she had to get out of here; she wouldn't be Uusoae's tool.

Gainel, he was probably still trapped there. She hadn't been able to free him and he was in this mess because of her.

It's all my fault but still…Oh Gainel, I…I just wish we could be together. It seemed the most ridiculous place and time to suddenly break down over her situation, but she just felt like crying. She was in Chaos, the prisoner of Uusoae with no hope of getting out alive except for a power she'd never been able to use properly, probably no one knowing she was here except for Gainel who was trapped.

She was going to die. Either that or Chaos would take over and she'd probably still die along with everywhere else. She'd wanted to be strong for him, for Gainel, to show he hadn't made a bad choice of making her his charge, and then maybe they'd…

But she'd been strong, as strong as she could manage and she just didn't think she could take it any more. She had an ear-splitting headache, and the expression on her face that was half-way between the scrunched up look one wore when they cried and a look of pure terror was doing a number on the muscles in her face. She was so tense she thought she'd snap, and she ached in her muscles and bones in a way that couldn't be healed. It was the hurt of being world-weary and tired from stress, trauma and anxiety.

She thought she was going to break and cry until she realized she was crying, and had been for the passed few minutes by the amount of tears on her face making tear-tracked through the dust and sand coated on it. She didn't want to let any sound escape, but she had to keep her mouth open to breathe, her nose was swollen and running and her eyes were burning from the effort of crying.

Stop it, Stop it, STOP IT! YOU'RE BETTER THAN THIS! She screamed to herself but her sobs increased until she was sure that Uusoae and Discord, no matter what they were discussing, must be able to hear her. She was gasping for air between sobs as her throat started to close up as well; and her headache got worse and worse by the moment.

After a moment she realized she was laughing. I must be insane… she thought. The situation wasn't funny or ridiculous. She tried to stop. To stop laughing, to stop crying, to stop thinking, to stop caring…

Do I care if live or die? Would it really make a difference?

She couldn't think of anyone or anything that needed her. The more she thought, the more she began to believe that her whole life was a waste of space, time and effort. She hadn't done anything to help anyone; she didn't have a career or a life's goal.

She wasn't anything to anyone. Would anyone care if I were gone? She mused to herself. Her family perhaps…that was about it. She hadn't done any good for the people, she wasn't famous, she didn't provide any services…she was pointless.

Would Gainel care? Rikash said he had run away because he was afraid I'd reject him. ME. A MORTAL…How could I—how could ANYONE—say no to a God, especially Gainel…

She'd made her choice.

She opened her eyes, burning and bloodshot as they were without her transforming powers to help heal the effects, and saw that Uusoae and Discord were still speaking.

"Mistress! I won't fail you again, I wish to serve chaos!" Discord pleaded, now no longer on the floor, but in kneeling, with her head bowed to her knee and her right hand in a fist against her heart. Her black dress fluttered in the wind, still with stains of darker black and gold on the silky fabric.

SEE THAT IT DOESN'T HAPPEN AGAIN, DISCORD, BECAUSE THE PUNISHMENT SHALL BE SWIFT AND FINAL.

"Yes, Mistress! Thank you, Mistress!"

NOW, IT WOULD PLEASE ME, IF YOU WOULD TAKE THE MORTAL TO THE GATE. WE SHALL SOON BE READY FOR OUR DEPARTURE TO FREEDOM.

The hunger was easily distinguishable in her words as she mentioned freedom, and Discord nodded, still with her head down until Uusoae departed in a rippling of her image, and than she was gone.

The shield was gone; but before Lynn could react, she was knocked flat on the sand dune by a slap in the face; and there was a new shield, slightly less strong, but this one was preventing her from using her powers at all.

She mentally cursed. She been hoping she could somehow manage to phase away, but this put a kink in her plans.

She'd have to get out some other way; Lynn decided, because she had chosen to live; if for nothing else, for the sole reason that she had seen Gainel depressed beyond all hope of salvation, that morning when she'd dropped into his garden. She'd seen him, and the older and wiser she became, the more she looked back and saw how horribly he had truly felt. And she brought some small comfort to his life; she didn't want to take it away from him.

She had to live; she realized, it was her right to be able to live. She'd been born so she could make whatever she wanted of life, she had the freewill to choose for herself. Maybe she hadn't made much of a name for herself in the last few years of her life, but if she wanted to, she could change that.

Not that she cared about being famous or anything, but she saw that she'd been going through life in a daze, not really having much of a purpose.

A purpose.

Lynn smiled as Discord turned to her with a glare that would have put the fear of the gods in the most stubborn of religious-critics.

"You may have gotten away with insulting me this time, but as soon as we're finished with you, there will be no escaping my wrath. A mortal is NOT the equal of a God; and I swear that I will prove it to you by the most violent and painful means possible…"

A purpose? Lynn's smile turned into a smirk at the goddess of Discord's promise. Well, if she needed a purpose, then for now, giving Chaos as hard a time as possible, hopefully getting free and humiliating Discord to no end, and eventually kicking Chaos's snobby ass, would due for now until Lynn found something she thought to be more rewarding.

But then again, who could think of anything more rewarding than having the evil-minded goddess of discord glaring daggers you because you didn't find her all together intimidating?

"You're so full of yourself." Lynn said calmly, and she thought she saw a vein spasm in the blond goddess's forehead.

"That's it, mortal, just keep pushing your luck, because one day you won't be so lucky…You won't have your powers or little Gainel to save you from, and I won't let the opportunity pass me by…"

"What did you say? I wasn't really paying attention…" Lynn said casually but despite the lack of physical reaction from Discord, Lynn knew that she was livid; the tension in the air and the vibes coming from her body were a dead give away.

Lynn decided that Discord had good advice, even if it wasn't giving it with Lynn's best interest in mind, she didn't want push her luck with the Goddess just yet…

"Walk mortal, we go to the Gate." Discord ordered harshly and grabbed Lynn's arm in a death-grip that threatened to break her bones. Lynn hissed at the pain of it, knowing she'd have a bruise there later, but didn't say anything otherwise.

Discord practically drug her through the sand, although as they continued, the landscape blurred and it felt like they were in a whirling tunnel, and not walking in the flurry of sand, dust and wind they had been but a moment before.

Despite the fact that Lynn's powers were impaired, she could still feel the subtle energy differences as the Goddess was phasing. Her own body followed, not reacting by thought, but by some automatic reaction for her body. Lynn tried to watch and focus on remembering the feeling so that she might duplicate it, without letting Discord know she was.

The tunnel disappeared and all around her was complete blackness, yet strangely she could see herself and Discord as if they were walking in very bright sunlight, which seemed to glare against the pitch of their surroundings; Lynn had to squint and raise her eyes to ward off the light reflecting off of Discord, but the light from her own arm made the effort pointless. It was dizzying her brain, because there was no distinguishable sky, sun, moon, star, or cloud; just flat black. And besides that, it was hot, Lynn was sweating profusely, it felt like a spotlight of fire was on her. For a moment she thought she saw smoke or steam coming off her and the goddess's skin.

Then a shadow seemed to pass over them and the glare dimmed, as if the light had been coming from the sun all along, though she couldn't see it, and she had the feeling they were going underground despite the fact that she had no reason to think this except that she now had the chills because of the sudden temperature change from extremely hot to very cold, and Lynn and the goddess of discord both looked like they were in dim light, yet they still seemed out of place in the infinite blackness.

Lynn was freezing cold as the visibility finally seemed to return to normal as it became so dim she lost sight of Discord's vice-gripping hand on her upper arm.

Lynn wasn't used to being unable to see; she'd always had her powers to help her, and as soon as she was six she'd begun to shape-shift, often switching out her human eyes for those able to make sense of lightlessness.

Her body was going into something resembling shock as she took the smallest steps possible, violently pulling it her foot back multiple times before she could make herself put it onto the ground. She was breathing heavily and the inside of her mouth was becoming dry as she left it open to get enough air to function. She felt her jaw rattling, she was shivering, although she suspected it was partly from the cold, most she believed to be from her fear of the darkness. She didn't realize she was whimpering until she heard Discord's snap, echoing from the depths of the blackness.

"Pick up your feet and stop sniveling, MORTAL," she snuffed, "You're ridiculous human notions are not of my concern." She said and the grip on her arm tightened further as Discord pulled on her even more, to bring their speed up to what it had been.

Lynn couldn't see her hands and she flailed her hands everywhere to try and locate the griping hand, her whimpers turning into small wails as the Goddess pulled her painfully along.

"Be silent! Except your fate!" she screamed again. The shape-shifter vaguely felt Discord trying to reinforce her verbal command with a mental compulsion, but Lynn's mind wasn't responding to it. The compulsion spell broke a part, not even calming or coercing Lynn in the slightest.

Lynn's flailing hand hit the Goddess's dead on, the vibration of the two's strike sending a fizzing-numb feeling streaking up Lynn's bone. She heard Discord hiss, maybe in anger or pain, but she other wise only repeated her same demands louder.

"Help me HELP ME!" Lynn shrieked hoarsely, her voice straining, tears running down her eyes for the third time that day. Her nose was running and a salty tear ran into her mouth.

Gainel, help me! She thought wildly and that too, was added into her verbal pleads and Discord took up a harsh dialogue, shouting at her how much Gainel hated or disliked her, that he'd never come to her rescue, even if he weren't constrained himself, but Lynn wasn't listening and her own blood-curding screams drowned out anything Discord could manage at the moment, with the effort of dragging her, even using magic to hall the girl, her essence was easily resisting all of her attempts.

Lynn, her mind racing, fought at the invisible hand madly, screaming no as the goddess was forced to grab her with both hands and the new object coming from seemingly nowhere sent Lynn into even greater hysterics. She couldn't tell if her eyes were open or closed, and she felt claustrophobic as if the blackness was a solid object, trying to smother her. Her screams reached a peak and the Goddess's mind struck at Lynn's rendering her immobile. Lynn felt herself falling and she felt dizzy and nauseous as the scenery didn't change but she felt the power of gravity pull her down to some unseen floor that Lynn had been trying not to think about.

It felt like she was falling forever: she didn't hit the ground. It was then that she realized she hadn't been falling at all, she was now walking even more gawkily then she had as Uusoae was controlling her.

But the fear wasn't gone: the fear of the darkness, the fear of the unknown. In fact, not being able to express it was sending her consciousness into temporary insanity.

Discord was straining to keep the girls mind in check but it wasn't working, the dark seemed to have unlocked some phobia, making her mind erratic and hard to control.

The mortal's conscious pounded at her own, almost knocking the goddess unconscious as she tried to hold it at bay. Discord lost enough control that Lynn was able to shriek herself raw once more, her screams barely understandable because of the straining she was putting her vocal cords through.

A bolt struck the goddess and she temporarily heard the mortal's thoughts blaring in her mind:

!GainelNoNoDarkHelpMeHelpMeNoGainelDarkGainelGainelHelpMeDarkDarkNoHelpMeNoGainelNoNoNoDarkHelpMeNo!

The force of the thought made her flinch and she tried to shove it away from her, but the girl's fear was so strong and she shattered Discord's control and she felt the girl's mind move off along with her screams until they could not be heard.

No matter, the goddess thought. They had been almost upon the border between the dark ocean and the small little area of land where the Chaos Gate rested, and all the paths of energy converged.

The mortal would find her own way, and Discord could have some peace and rest before Uusoae arrived with the rest of the thousands, millions of chaos-gods, -creatures and -constructs. She just hoped the girl didn't get to lost, and even that she got out very soon; not because she cared for her, but because to risk her mental stability would mean worse than death to the goddess; Uusoae had promised her that.

Though she told herself she was calm, that the girl's mental strength was of no import, the gatekeeper was shaking tremendously; a mortal had broke through her control as if it were nothing. Granted she was going into hysterics, and fear always enhanced ones powers, it was still unnatural and unnerving. Discord continued through the blackness to the Chaos Gate.

The turn of events was shocking as The Balance swung back and forth between the two opposing forces swiftly and erratically; and Providence wondered if perhaps more to the situation than even such a one as he had perceived…