...why, hello there. It's been a while, hasn't it? (Sorry!! Sorry!!! SORRY!!!)

The Chapters of Life

Chapter Thirteen: Collide

Even the best fall down sometimes

Even the wrong words seem to rhyme

Out of the doubt that fills my mind

I somehow find

You and I collide

Howie Day, Collide

She had had many "Days", the kind that is always spelt with a capital D and is always spoken with either a longing sigh or a painful tear, she reflected.

For one thing, there was that Day when her mother had left her.

For another, there was the Day Toby was born.

For others – and there were countless of them –the Day she had entered high school; the Day she had said good bye to her childhood best friend who was moving away; the Day she met her new best friends; the Day her first pet died; the Day Merlin first came to her house…

To be sure, such Days were common. Others had them too, she was sure.

But she wasn't so sure that many girls other than her had Days like the Day she had first encountered the labyrinth and its denizens, the Day Jareth had come back on her eighteenth birthday, the Day – or rather Night – they had kissed for the first time…

Perhaps other girls had Days of their first kisses, but not many of them could have been with the goblin king.

A smile surfaced on her face as her fingers lingered over the golden bracelet that she wore.

"Williams, Sarah!"

But today was a Day that she'd been waiting for a long, long time… most Days came without warning, but not this one.

"Sarah Williams?"

She lifted her head, filling the heavyness of the blue hat on her head. "I'm here."

"All right. Wuthers, Terry?"

The boy behind her murmured a reply, and the person in charge of all the shifting and chatty graduates moved on.

It was the Day of her graduation.

God, she'd waited for so long for this… and now this Day – or rather, this evening had begun, complete with itchy blue gowns and stuffy waiting room and filled auditoriums, and her high school career was over. Yum.

By sheer luck, Francine was only two people away in line, but unfortunately, her every other friend had a last name that was nowhere close to W and were situated elsewhere. That was okay, though – as long as she got to celebrate, properly, afterwards.

Although she had more than good enough reason to feel slightly anxious about that, as well: Jareth was coming.

"You're coming to the graduation party I'm having with my friends," Sarah repeated, her eyebrows furrowed. Something was not quite right.

"Why not?" he asked idly.

Indeed, why not? She couldn't really think of a sensible reason, though there was a nagging thought at the back of her head – she'd always been alone with Jareth, after all, and really, how were her friends going to react to the fact that she seemed to have gotten a boyfriend without saying anything?

"They're going to kill me," Sarah realized darkly.

Jareth was looking out the window. "I wish I could make your last gathering as human as possible," he spoke. "I do. But time's running short, and I really do need to see the people around you."

Sarah frowned as she stopped her pacing. Something was not right. "What are you talking about?"

He sighed as he turned to her. "There are only a few days left, Sarah," he said, watching her as if apprehensive of how she was going to react.

"What are you –" her breath caught.

… at a certain time, that is, not before too much time has passed, under certain circumstances, you need to choose to be with me. I need to present to you the choice formally…

"The choice has to be made," Jareth said, softly, yet flatly. "I know you've already told me how you feel –" he reached out, caressing her cheek with his hand – "but a formal choice has to be made."

He was still avoiding the crux of the matter, Sarah realized with a sinking feeling. She tried to make her mouth work. "Jareth."

"Yes?"

Questions swirled in her mind – why did he need to see who was around her? – but there was really one that she had time and nerve to ask. "What really happens, after the choice is made?"

Silence.

She stepped closer. "Jareth?"

"We have to go through the labyrinth," his answer came reluctantly.

A hand was waving in front of her face. Sarah blinked to see Francince, who glanced at her then nodded towards the door. She looked.

There was a profound hush among the students. A teacher had finally entered the room, looking almost as nervous and excited as the students.

It was time.

J Y S

The Graduation Day was everything Sarah had imagined it would be.

There was the mandatory ceremony; the chaos of badly taken pictures, crying parents, half-crushed flowers, and hugging friends ensued not long after. After hugging her parents one last time, Sarah shrieked with laughter along with her friends as they began to rush along the streets, eager to begin their party.

The party, in turn, was everything they had planned.

There was the mandatory alcohol (whether they were all old enough to drink was ignored for the night); everyone talked over each other, more loudly than normal. Nobody wanted to be reminded that this just could be the last time, that this indeed was the Graduation Day, with a capital D.

Sarah lost herself in the revelry, and it was not until much, much later, when they finally collapsed onto the field in a park (not the one that Sarah was used to going; that one was on the other side of town), that she remembered, simultaneously, two people who were supposed to be there.

She half-raised herself off the grass, meaning to ask Thomas about Keith. She was more curious about Jareth – he had said he was coming, after all – but there was no way to ask her friends if they had seen a goblin king somewhere.

That was when she saw a dark figure from across the street, walking towards them. She watched it uncertainly, not hearing the swirls of half-drunk conversation that was around her, until the figure stepped into the light, stopping when he saw them.

It was Keith.

"There's Keith," Sarah said out loud, furrowing her brows. Had she seen him at the graduation ceremony? Everything had been moving so fast, and she had been so nervous, that she wasn't sure if she had thought to look for him or not.

It seemed to her that the blond boy had grinned. Then she heard him call out. "So here you were. Everyone all right?"

"That would all depend." Katherine had heard him. She raised herself as well, copying Sarah, glanced at him, then thumped back down.

Keith cocked his head. Then, just as Sarah was about to follow her friend, he called out, "Someone was looking for you, Sarah, a rather strange guy. I didn't know where you guys were, so I couldn't tell him."

Sarah bolted up. That couldn't be, could it? "When? Where?"

"Somebody you know?" Katherine raised her eyebrows at her. Sarah simply shrugged, stood up, and went across the street, leaving her friends behind.

"Tall, blond guy. You know him?" Keith asked when she neared him.

"I was expecting him, I guess," Sarah said. She glanced at him. She wanted to ask if he had been at the graduation ceremony, but felt it wouldn't be good if he had been there and she had just not noticed him. "Where did you see him?"

"Some way back. I'll walk you there," he volunteered. "Dark streets and all."

Sarah paused in the middle of starting down the street, faltering. "Um, that's okay, I'm sure I'll be able to find him." There wouldn't be much danger in this small town, and besides, Jareth would probably find her soon. More than that, though, she wasn't sure if she wanted him to see Keith.

"You sure?" Keith raised an eyebrow. "You know him well?"

"Yes," Sarah managed. She stepped back.

Keith looked into her eyes. A side of his mouth curled up. "Is there something you're hiding, Sarah?" he asked, in a velvety voice.

Sarah looked across the street at her friends. All of a sudden, they seemed far away, and she was acutely aware of every sensation in her body; the cold air, the boy standing so close to her, the end of her hair rising.

Her mouth was dry. "Not really." She tried to step back once more.

"Don't want your goblin king to see me?" he asked, a trace of mocking in his voice.

Time froze.

She stared. "What?"

He looked at her, serene and calm. "Goblin king," he repeated slowly.

Then he took a step in her direction.

All the paranoid feelings Sarah had experienced in her life, the feeling of suppressed air, of being watched, came crashing down on her. A chill ran down her spine. Stumbling, she stepped backwards, not taking her eyes off him.

In front of her gaze, his eyes began to change, until one was so unlike the other – until they were mismatched.

"Keith," Sarah said softly.

Without answering, he strode forward.

She jerked back, then did the only thing that her instincts were telling her to do: she ran like hell....

- Everything was a mumbled confusion, the lights that were passing by, the thoughts in her head. The strongest thought in her head at the moment was that she had to find Jareth.

…Immediately into a dark alleyway.

Her blood seemed to be freezing in her veins. Why is there – where am I?

"Wherever you wanted to be," a silken reply came from right behind her.

Sarah reacted with lightning speed. Her feet had left the ground, pounding away from danger, even before the words registered.

He was quicker.

Keith slammed her into the dirty brick wall, the darkness threatening to close around them completely. "Going somewhere?" he murmured, pushing her harder against the wall despite her wince of pain.

"Let go," Sarah bit out.

"Oh, Sarah." Keith leaned in, his cold breath ruffling her hair as he spoke the words in a relaxed, lazy way. "Sarah, Sarah. Don't you realize that everything you throw at me – every insult, every praise – is all reflected back to you?"

She did not listen – tried not to listen – even as his next words buried themselves into her brain. "Don't you realize that we're here, only because you wanted us to be here?"

"Please try to make sense," she answered, struggling against his strength. He tightened his grip on her, and she flinched despite herself. "Or let me go," she said in a strangled voice.

He leaned in even closer, his eyes never leaving her face. His mouth lingered by her ears. "But you don't want that, precious," he whispered. "Everything I've done, I've done for you – everything I ever do, I do for you – I move the stars for you only, sweetling - all I am is a fulfilment of your very dreams."

I move the stars for no one…

Sarah's breath caught in her throat as she felt her body freeze in shock. But she'd been so sure, oh so very sure… she loved him – always loved him – he loved her back – not only because it was her wish, but because… because…

"And so you see," Keith's voice sliced into her shock, and she could only gaze at the face of the boy who had taken a step back, though still keeping his hands on her arms. "If this situation seems so cliched to you, then just know that you're the one who chose this, who wanted this – so badly – more than anything…" his last words were a purr.

Her throat felt constricted. "No," she breathed. "No. I don't want this – not this, not here, not you –"

"But you do," his voice was velvety, insistent. "You do want this. Not mornings of gold, not valentine evenings, not paths between the stars. You want a villain," he hissed the last word, roughly pulling her off the wall and towards him. "You want dark passion, obsession, the fantasies of the night –" His lips caressed her cheek, a feather-like touch, traveling down, down, down - darkness had consumed them, finally, and the world around her was falling, falling, falling.

And then she knew.

"Get off me," she hissed, ripping free of his grip – or had he let her go? - and swirled around, swearing, to face his laughing eyes. Why had it taken so long for her to realize it?

"I have no idea who the hell you are," she said hoarsely. "But that – you're good. Always quoting, always insinuating, always implying that you're someone else – "

"Sarah," he sighed, as if amused yet tired by her stupidity. His teeth glinted in his smile as he stepped closer. "Did you think that I was your goblin king?" he crooned.

She repressed the urge to snarl, or even better, hit him. "You're not," she said quietly instead. "You tried to pretend, make me think, that you were, maybe, but you're not."

Keith leaned back casually on the wall. The darkness was still so thick around them, and Sarah couldn't see anything beyond it and him. "Only because it was your dream," he purred. "I can make your dreams come true, Sarah." He pushed himself off the wall, took a step towards her. She took a step back. "I can make any kind of dreams, fantasies, come true, just for you, Sarah… Sarah, Sarah – "

She stumbled back, snatched her hand out of the way just in time to avoid his. "Get away from me."

"No – "

"Get away from her," a cold, yet furious voice cut through the darkness.

Sarah blinked. Suddenly, the darkness was receding, and she could see where they were, now.

Then she was swept up into an embrace from behind, the arms closing around her so suddenly, but with such familiarity, and she knew who it was.

"Jareth," she gasped, trying to turn around to see him, but his grip kept her still, and she twisted her head around to see his face – then recoiled, thrown off balance. He kept her up, but his eyes, blazing with hatred, were focused on the boy standing in front of them.

It was the goblin king in all his splendour, not the Jareth who shared his past history as they looked up at the summer stars, who had come.

Even before, Sarah couldn't remember ever seeing him so regal, so powerful, so goblin. The dark armour he had on was one she had not seen before, not big and ostentatious, but sleek and formidable, as was the sword on his side. His clock swirled around them both, cocooning her, protecting her and keeping her out of sight. But more than his clothes, it was the power emanating from himself, making it nearly unable for Sarah to see his face for its brightness, and the way he carried himself, the regal posture of a king.

"You stay away from her," Keith responded calmly. "It's time for her to make the choice, and you can't be closer to her than I am – unless you want me going there, getting so close to her –" A smirk.

Jareth kept his arms around her. "You?" he asked in disbelief. "You are the other choice? And," his eyes hardened, "how does a mortal like you even know about what's going on, I wonder?"

Sarah felt the shivers go down in her spine at his tone – the cold, inhuman voice of the goblin king, one she had not heard for a long time, for two years.

Still, she opened her mouth. "How do you know him?" she whispered, not taking her eyes off Keith. "How do you know about the goblin king? How did you know all that had happened in the labyrinth two years ago?" her voice rose.

"I'll tell you," Keith said, a glint in his eyes. "If you come here." He raised his arm, his palm up.

"Try to remember, Sarah…" He whispered, his eyes not leaving her. Hesitantly, he held out his hand, palm up, as if offering something.

Sarah recoiled, only to find Jareth release her from his embrace. She turned around to see his face stony as he took a step back.

It's time for her to make the choice…

"What choice?" she whispered, watching Jareth. "What's happening?"

Before Jareth could speak – and he did not seem as if he was capable of doing so, just at the moment – Keith let out a short laugh, and her head whipped to the side to see that he had walked just a few steps closer, so that he was the same distance away from him as Jareth was.

You can't be closer to her than I am.

"You didn't tell her, Jareth? Well, I suppose it doesn't matter now…"

Keith turned to Sarah, who was now frozen in spot. She did not know which way to look – on one side stood the boy whom she had believed was mortal – on the other stood the goblin king whom she had believed she knew better than she apparently did.

"Sarah. The Game that your goblin king over there has initiated requires that you make a choice between two suitors: the goblin king himself, and a mortal. Him, and me."

Sarah blinked. Suddenly, Keith was no longer a feral villain, but a teenager who attended the same school as she did, staring at her a little vulnerably...

"You always ran from me in the end, whenever we talked." Keith reached out to her, his gaze intense. "But all I've ever done was to give you what you wanted. You wanted me to be mysterious, enigmatic, someone who made shivers go down your spine – you wanted magic, excitement. I gave them to you. I gave you your dreams."

His words confused her, his look of pain carving guilt into her heart. She shivered. But…

"Sarah…" The soft whisper of the goblin king. Jareth was looking at her, only her, and he himself looked so seductive, so alluring, as a fey king might, rendering all the legends of abductions by the fey wrong, for how could it have been abduction, when no mortal could have resisted the lure of a fey?

But…

There was something else in the goblin king's eyes, something that seemed to stop her heart – such a sad love…

A kind of pale jewel, open and closed, within your eyes…

And then she was moving, without any hesitation, without even conscious thought of what she was doing, towards him. "Jareth," she whispered. "Jareth – goblin king."

The choice was made.

Longing, triumph, love. A world of emotions seemed to swirl between them, as Jareth reached out for her, his hand only a few paces away, and she began to quicken her steps –

and everything seemed to slow for a moment, and her breath was stopped, completely, as she dimly felt something strike her from behind. The ground was speeding up to meet her, and she let out one tight breath of pain, as the horrified expression of Jareth's face registered – and everything caught up once more, and she fell, hard onto the ground.

"Sarah!"

Trembling, she barely pushed herself off the ground, her arms supporting her head and shoulders, her knees the rest, and saw that blood was pooling where her head had hit. A dizzying sensation hit her, and she bit back a groan. "What the hell-"

A dark cloak was suddenly enveloping her, and she found herself in Jareth's arms, supported by him, and had to bite back another groan of pain. Unsteady hands pushed back her hair as a pair of mismatched eyes stared down at her in horror. "Sarah –"

She tried to focus on him, but suddenly the world swirled around, and she gasped out loud, finally the pain from the wound in her head seething through her body.

Pale with anger, he stood up from the ground, lifting her up with him. Sarah felt the pain dull a bit, as a cool, refreshing sensation – undoubtedly Jareth's magic – began to seep into the wound in the back of her head. Her eyes slid close.

A loud slam startled them open again, and she twisted in his arms weakly to see that Keith was pinned to the wall by an invisible force, his face a distorted grimace in pain.

"You." The goblin king's voice was soft, quiet – lethal. "You, a human… the human choice…" Something flickered in his eyes, and Keith let out a strangled gasp and writhed once in pain against the wall. "How did you learn fey magic?" His voice remained icy calm. "How can you use it? How is it –" his entire body seemed to stiffen, and Sarah saw Keith grit his teeth against the pain – "that you managed to get yourself selected as the mortal choice, when I haven't seen you approach her alone, not once?"

What? Shock coursed through Sarah's body, the feeling that something wrong biting at her, and she struggled to stand on her own, the pain much lessened. Jareth let her down to her feet, but kept one arm firmly around her, pressing her to him. She licked her lips, her mouth dry, as she began to speak, almost afraid, "Jareth – "

"Sarah," he said tightly, not taking his eyes off the boy in front of them, "I've never let you out of my sight – or rather, my power. I marked you long time ago, with the bracelet that had my magic in it. That boy did not spend enough time in your physical presence to instill enough of an impression into your mind for the labyrinth to recognize him as the other choice. Yet it did. How?"

"But he did," Sarah said, staring up at Jareth, slightly worried that he would take offence at what she was about to say. "I met him, sometimes, after school…" she trailed off, feeling that nagging sense that something was wrong.

Jareth's grim expression seemed to prove that. "You never did," he repeated. "Even if I wasn't physically watching you, my magic was with you, always – you were fey-marked."

"Listen," a voice rasped, and both their attention was snapped back to Keith, who was breathing heavily as he pushed himself off the wall. His eyes blazed as he grated, "Listen, to me – for a moment –"

"Stay there," Jareth snarled, at the same time Sarah began, "Keith – "

"No." Keith ripped apart whatever magic that Jareth had left to restrain him – even Sarah could feel the violence with which the two magic battled – and Jareth pulled her a little bit closer.

"Stay back," Jareth repeated, coldly. "I don't know how you use magic, but I assure you, it cannot match up to that of a fey king."

Recklessly, Keith took a step forward. "Can't it?" he asked, his teeth bared.

Jareth pulled Sarah behind, so that he was standing protectively in front of her, even as she stared at the boy she had believed to be her friend, a human, a student she had graduated with. "Care to test it?" the words were clipped, icy.

Keith stood still for a moment, then suddenly magic rippled between them. Sarah felt a growl begin in Jareth, and instinctively stepped back.

"I'm not going to hurt her, goblin king," Keith rasped. His eyes moved slightly towards her, and his expression took on a hint of regret.

Jareth was unmoved. "You already did," he said tightly.

"How, goblin king?" Keith was suddenly screaming at him, throwing his magic in their direction, which Jareth caught with unerring ease. Sarah felt his body tense as he began to prepare to draw on his entire power –

then the goblin king faltered, his face going still, as his body went rigid.

Keith stepped back, his magic receding. "How, goblin king?" he repeated, more quietly. "How did I manage to even get close to her? Me, a half-fey, who by rights should not even be able to manage what little magic I have, and her, fey-marked and under the protection of a fey king? How could I even have thrown that little spark at her head?"

Panic that he refused to show was consuming Jareth. Try as he might, he could not draw on all of his power, the power of the goblin king that resided in the labyrinth. Desperately, he recalled the times that he felt a faltering in his magic –

He felt uneasy, as he turned his wrists, feeling just a bit sore. "I know the labyrinth enjoys being repaired thus, but I'm also getting strange, insistent throbs from it."

"Hmm." Harel looked sideways at him. "Forgive me for prying, but… you are in the middle of conducting a Game with a human girl, aren't you?"

"The labyrinth is getting impatient," Jareth translated for him.

But it wasn't the labyrinth getting impatient for the Game with Sarah, Jareth realized with a clenching of his heart. Something – something was blocking him from the labyrinth.

Then he felt the human girl behind him brush past him as she went forward, her body shaking. He instinctively tried to hold her back – it was dangerous for her to be standing in front of him – but she ignored any attempts. He realized that it was rage, not fear, that was making her body shake so.

"Half-fey," she hissed at the dark-haired boy standing in front of him. She took another step, regardless of the magic that was stirring once more. "Half-fey."

"I didn't think you would be one to discriminate against mixed blood, Sarah," Keith said slowly, watching her.

There were tears in her eyes, and she didn't care. "What was real, Keith?" she spat at him, advancing closer, watching him stand his ground, knowing that Jareth was becoming even more agitated behind her – and not caring. "All those stories? All those meetings? If you weren't there – then what the hell really happened?"

Keith took a step back towards the wall, though he wasn't sure if it was because of the fury in her eyes, or because he was afraid the goblin king was going to act if they got any closer. He needed to tell them now, he knew. It was already getting too late.

"Your dreams, Sarah," he said, quietly. "It all happened in your dreams." His eyes flickered back to the goblin king who was now walking towards them as if unable to help himself. "You asked me how I had magic," he said, almost desperately. "Listen to me, please – both of you – there isn't time."

Sarah felt Jareth at her shoulder, hovering protectively, but he did not pull her back, and for that she was grateful. She was too unsettled right now.

"I know, now," Jareth said, staring at the boy. "Dreamwalker. That magic, the ability to walk in others' dreams and control them, comes instinctively – I suppose that's how you've learned how to use the magic that you inherited – because part of it couldn't help but be used."

He wasn't human. He'd realized it by then. He was something else, and he didn't know what.

And he could only watch as his friends and acquaintances faded away with old age, while he remained a restless youth of twenty –

"Do you know?" Keith asked softly. His face contorted. "Do you really realize?" he hissed. "Think, goblin king, think… why the labyrinth is blocked from you, why you can't use it…why, goblin king? Why?"

Sarah turned her head, gazing at Jareth, but he did not show any kind of emotion on his face.

"Think," Keith implored. His eyes bore into the unmoving ones of the gobling king. "Think – who had access to your labyrinth, who besides you know its turns and twists, not the physical ones, but the magic?"

Then Jareth knew.

"A rather literal man, your father, wasn't he?"

Jareth glanced at the fey king standing on the hill, looking down at his labyrinth in morbid fascination. "That's one way to describe him."

And he felt his blood freeze.

Harel, his only friend among the fey kings.

Harel, the fey king who was like his father, who helped him come into his full potential as the king of the goblins after his run through the labyrinth.

Harel, his fellow fey king, with immense power and magic that were more experienced than his own.

Harel, the one who had delved deep into his labyrinth… because he had trusted him to.

"Harel," Keith said flatly. "My fey father who left my mortal mother a hundred and fifty years ago."

"I don't know," Jareth snarled. "I don't know if what they had was love, even fleeting, or just desire – or just lust on my father's part, nothing more. I rather suspect the last. What does it matter? I was just one of the many, just one who happened to get lucky."

Just another half-fey…

Sarah made a small noise. Jareth wrenched his attention back.

His lover had just chosen him, but the other choice had also turned out to be a bitter half-fey son of his former friend – a friend who in turn had been discovered as a treacherous fey king who was even now slowly cutting off his power.

He was going to kill.

And he didn't have much time left to do it. He and Sarah had to run the labyrinth before this day ended – and they couldn't do it when his labyrinth was jeopardized by Harel.

"Sarah." The goblin king swiveled the human girl around, so that he could see her face. She was shocked, yes, but she wasn't breaking down in tears, for which he was appreciative.

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Jareth?"

Suddenly his mouth was on hers, roughly, and only for a fleeting second. He drew back a little. "Thank you," he whispered softly. "For choosing me."

Then he was pulling away completely, and Sarah found herself trying to hold on – only to find a crystal pressed into her hand.

"Go," Jareth said, still staring at her face, as if trying to memorize its every line, every curve. "This'll take you to the castle," he said urgently. "You know how to use the crystals now – use it, and when you get to the castle, get out. Do you understand?"

"I don't –" Sarah tried to follow him, confused, but he stopped her with his hands.

"You'll find your way out in moments – you've gone through the labyrinth once, after all, and because you're not there to challenge it, the labyrinth will let you through. Once you get out, stay there, all right? Don't wander off my kingdom – as long as you're in it, you won't be harmed – but stay out of the labyrinth." There was still much left to be said – but there was no time.

"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked, staring at him.

Jareth stared at her. "Promise me you'll do what I said," he said, his voice intense. "Promise me –" he willed his words not to falter, and mostly succeeded – "that you'll stay safe. Stay out of the labyrinth, Sarah."

Sarah hesitated, then nodded. "I promise."

"And I – I promise I'll explain it all, later." If I can.

Her eyes widened. "But…"

"I love you, Sarah." He smiled for her, then, even as he felt something twist in his heart. Then he turned to Keith, who had been watching the whole thing with wide eyes, and grabbed his shoulder roughly.

She saw the crystal materialize in his hand, and, realizing what he was about to do, ran forward, screaming - "Wait, Jareth!"

He and Keith were gone, only air rushing in to fill the vacuum that had been left in their absence.

"Jareth!"

So...*nervous look around* Who still even remembers this story? *winces*

I'm sorry. I really am. I won't bore you with life stories (because I don't have a good enough one for such a long absence...) and excuses. I'm just offering my sincere apologies, and my promise - for what it's worth, I know my history isn't exactly great - for this story. I am planning on finishing this story; in fact, I want to upload the last chapter before the end of this year.

So... thank you so much for reading, I'm sorry for the long, outrageous wait, and please be on the lookout for this story once more! We'll just getting to the good stuff, as you can tell :)