The Paths We Tread
Chapter 11 – One Act of Kindness
Racketing noise and faint flashes of light nudged Rogue awake from where she was still nestled next to a solid block of warmth. She shifted faintly, her head nuzzling closer into the pleasant heat. Heat radiated from below her cheek, a rumbling coming from it.
Rogue blinked her eyes open, lifting her muss of hair off of Gambit's firm chest. She moved slowly, the constant weariness weighing on her limbs like weights. She knew well how that felt; running through a training sequence while dragging massive weights had made her young calves as strong as iron. Her eyes found Gambit's face.
It was one of the few times in many years that she had liked what she saw as she awoke. She studied him, tracing every feature. He was so familiar and yet so distant. They had known each other since they were small children, but how much did they really know about each other? They had shared torture, but never pleasure. Rogue couldn't help but wonder what things would have been like if they had met outside of Hydra. She couldn't remember what little children did, but it must surely be better than what they had endured.
But as she stared at her oldest companion, something other than dependence stirred inside of her. She didn't know what it was; she didn't feel the same way about Archer or Genesis. A sudden compulsion that terrified her and excited her in equal measure took ahold of Rogue: she wanted, more than anything, just to touch him, feel his skin against hers. She had brushed against him multiple times in the past, but she hardly noticed it before her powers came around, and after that the awful absorption killed any other sensation than pain and confusion. But there had been that one time, the day she earned her powers. He had held her so gently and protectively when her face had been badly cut. It was one memory she didn't fear to look back on from her time as a slave. Now, her mind wanted desperately to relive that.
Hardly conscious of her actions, she slid a glove off of her hand and left the pale skin dangerously bare. Her eyes stayed trained on his face as her arm worked loose of their sleeping pile, and slowly moved it towards his face.
The long fingers stopped, hovering just over his rough jaw. She bit her lip, her mind still clouded with sleep. A voice in her head was hissing that what she was doing was dangerous and irrational, but she just couldn't resist the absolute need to feel warm, living skin against her fingertips. Concentrating on any semblance of control that she could have buried within, she lowered her hand and brushed against the smooth skin.
Nothing happened. Rogue silently exalted, spreading her hand to brush against his cheekbones, smiling faintly as he twitched and grinned in his sleep. Then her hand began to grow hot.
"Oh no," she whispered, jerking her hand away suddenly. She cast her eyes toward Gambit, hoping he hadn't been hurt as she rubbed her hands to get rid of the cold-burn of her powers. But it wouldn't stop. The icy burn was spreading up her arms, through her chest and neck, and into her head. She clutched her temples as the shards pierced at her skull, causing black spots to dance in her vision. Panic set in, and she cried out.
"What? This isn't suppos-AAAHHH!" Her sudden shriek awakened her friends, their eyes snapping towards her just in time to see her collapse to her knees.
"Chère!" Gambit cried out as he lunged to her side. Rogue was now writhing on the floor and holding her head in her hands, high-pitched screams grating from between clenched teeth. Genesis knelt down beside her, her eyes wide with fear for her friend. Without a word, her eyes clouded over as she entered her friend's mind.
She appeared on a dark, storming mindscape, nothing to be seen but raging clouds overhead. Genesis peered around, trying to find Rogue, when a hand landed on her shoulder. She whipped around, expecting to see the other girl, but meeting a pair of blue eyes instead. Carol's face was plastered with a grim expression as she seized onto the telepath's impression and began to pull her along across the black scape.
"Carol, what is going on?"
Carol's blue eyes flashed with fear and anger. "I told her not to, but the stupid girl wouldn't listen to me! Now she's set them loose!"
"Who?" Genesis asked, before sliding to a halt, her fear escalating.
Rogue was huddled on the misted ground, diminished and weak, her pale skin glowing like a sickly beacon in the gloom. Broken and rusted chains hung from her throat, ankles, and wrists, scars tracing across her skeletally thin frame. All she wore were black rags of shorts and a tank top. Branded on her forehead was a leering Hydra symbol, flashing a poison green.
Rogue cowered to the ground, whimpering in terror as shadows began to approach and encircle her, snarling like rabid wolves. Genesis stared in morbid fascination at the creatures. She knew what psychic impressions looked like, whole but also those badly injured; marks of a tortured and broken mind. These weren't anything like that. These psyches were more corpses than anything else, pale and grisly figures with knobby joints and claw-like fingers. Hair hung lank, skin draped loosely on bone, and sunken eyes flashed coldly as they converged on their jailer, the one who had ripped away pieces of their souls.
Genesis growled, her animal side that had been nurtured to life by Hydra flaming up. Sweet and peaceable as she seemed, Genesis was an able killer, and had the potential for a ruthlessness incomprehensible to regular people. Her hand flashed as a golden psychic sword extended from her hand, the blade curved and wickedly sharp. With Carol beside her, she lunged forward. The sword swept cleanly between the ribs of one of the first psyches, causing it to howl ghoulishly before exploding in golden shards. Rogue, still hunched like a wilted plant in their midst, cried out in pain as the psyche was destroyed, but some color began to return to her nearly translucent form. Genesis tore her way through towards her friend, standing over her protectively and lashing at any psyche that dared to come close.
"You won't hurt her! Now back off, before what little is left of you is wiped out," the dark-skinned telepath threatened, brandishing the weapon fiercely. Carol backed her, silent but deadly as she glared at the zombie-like crowd.
They seemed to back away for a moment, before they parted and let one psyche step forward. Genesis tightened her hold on her weapon. Her own psyche, white hair whipping about her and eyes glowing an eerie garnet, prowled forward like a lion, licking black lips with a blue tongue. Genesis shuddered at this horrific version of herself, but held her ground even as the shade produced its own moldy-green sword from its hand.
The Genesis psyche screamed like a banshee before lunging at her, the energy sword hissing like snakes as it swung. The original Genesis ducked below the blow and thrust out, scraping the image with her own weapon. The swords crashed together, and two parts of the same person dueled viciously as Carol drove away any psyches trying to attack Rogue while the telepath was thus distracted.
Genesis raised her arm to strike when she heard a yelp from behind her, causing her to stall. The phantom-Genesis saw the opening and struck. Genesis screamed as the garish green sword ripped shallowly through her chest. She collapsed, just in time to see a suddenly furious Rogue lunging forward with new strength, her eyes glowing red and black. Genesis faded from Rogue's mind.
She came to in Archer's arms as he frantically begged her to wake up. Her blurry gaze found her distressed friend, who was sweating and tossing about trying to break free of the firm but gentle arm-lock Gambit was holding her in. His eyes were fearful as they pleaded the telepath for an answer.
Genesis moaned, holding her head as she sat up. "Something happened in her mind; the absorbed psyches have been set loose somehow. I tried to help her fight them, but I got distracted and taken down. I don't know how she can beat them; there were so many!" Pity mixed with desperation as she thought about how many people Rogue had been forced to steal life from against her will.
"What can we do?" Gambit demanded, his voice shaking ever so slightly.
"I don't…" Genesis was interrupted by another scream from the Southern girl as she began to glow, the light flowing into her hands and through the wooden floor of the still-rattling boxcar. That fuchsia sparking was only too familiar.
Gambit's eyes widened before he hauled Rogue up and threw her over his shoulder. "Time t' get off!" he yelled. One-handed, he pulled open the door to the boxcar, wind and stingingly bright lights whipping by at painful speeds.
Genesis seized Archer by the hand and pulled up to the door. The violent wind tore painfully at her hair and made her eyes water. She could hear the Cajun yelling at her over the roar of the tracks and the wind stream.
"Can your telekinesis stop us from splattering on de ground?"
"In all honesty Gambit, I don't know," she replied worriedly. The three glanced back at the boxcar, which was flaring with so much light that it appeared to be on fire already. They had little time before it really was.
"Guess it doesn't matter now petite. See y' on de other side." Gambit adjusted his grasp, keeping a tight hold on the now catatonic Rogue as he shifted his feet in preparation to leap. Genesis nodded, one hand grasped by Archer and the other at her forehead ready to catch them all. She was sweating with nerves and pressure. The whine of the massive kinetic charge behind them peaked into a squealing pitch that hurt their ears and heat reared up.
"Jump!" They hurtled from the train car, the wind current catching them and flinging them back through the air just as a miniature mushroom cloud exploded upward from the boxcar. Gambit flinched as the heat wave seared his back, the force of the blast propelling them forward even faster. The world was spinning out of control around and above and below him. All he could do was grip Rogue as tightly as he could and pray that Genesis could catch them.
Just as he saw concrete appear above him and he shut his eyes in preparation for the deadly impact, he felt a sharp yank around him. He hovered ten feet above the ground for a millisecond before dropping painfully onto hard ground. He twisted just in time to take the brunt of the fall on his own body, keeping Rogue shielded against his torso. Gambit gasped, trying to regain the breath driven from his lungs. His eyes found a comforting, concealing darkness, and he managed to pick himself and the unconscious girl up as well, staggering to relative safety.
He collapsed against the wall, cradling his friend while he tried to regain his bearings. Vertigo was still distorting his vision from the free fall, but he could tell they were sequestered in an alley. The noise of cars and human shouts reached his ears as he leaned back against the brick, trying not to be sick at the swirling in his head.
"Gambit," called Archer's voice. He turned his head and saw him making his way down the alley, Genesis stumbling like a drunk beside him, her eyes half-lidded and rolled up in her head. The moment Archer reached his friends Genesis slumped to the ground and started breathing deeply and shakily. Gambit glanced concernedly at her, but Archer waved his hand as he knelt and began to rub the exhausted telepath's back. "She overloaded her head she was concentrating so hard on stopping our little tumble." His eyes held care for the girl, but they then turned to Rogue. "Has she changed at all?"
Gambit shook his head, worry creeping back in and chasing the adrenaline from his bloodstream. "I don' know what to do for her Archer. Genesis is out cold, an' even she didn't know if we could help."
Archer's gaze was just as afraid as he brushed a lock of hair from Rogue's face, careful as always to not touch skin. Her face was drawn with pain and she trembled and twitched periodically. Faint moans escaped her locked lips. Blue eyes met red on black, each mirroring the other's concern. Then the dark-haired boy's head cocked to the side. He stood fluidly and sidled to the alley entrance. He remained statue still for a few moments before slinking back.
"We have to move. The exploding train brought a crowd, and it's too likely someone could find us here."
Gambit seemed indecisive. "We don't know if anymore movin' could hurt Rogue. Dere's nowhere we could go: hospitals are outta the question, an' we can't trust anyone else."
Suddenly Archer slammed his fist hard against the brick wall, his powers sending a ripple through the stonework. His eyes blazed with fury and despair, startling his friend.
"What are we doing Gambit?" His voice was angry and hopeless at the same time. "Look at us. Have we really escaped Hydra? We're always looking over our shoulders, we can't trust anyone, and we have no one but ourselves in this world! How can we live like this? We're not people, not mutants; we're animals trying to survive. What's the point of fighting if all life holds for us is that?" His voice had risen to a yell, and Gambit thanked their lucky star, if they could allude to have one, that the raucous crowd nearby was so loud.
Archer grew quiet, slumping against the wall and sinking to the ground, his shoulders sagging in misery. It was shocking because he had always been the most stolid, the one who kept his head in every situation. To see his friend breaking apart like this after so long holding onto hope, it wrenched something in Gambit's gut. He tried to shove back the feelings of doom creeping in him as he thought about the truth in Archer's words.
His eyes narrowed, he laid a hand on the other young man's shoulder. "We still fighting cause we can Archer. We give up an' dey win, they'll have broken us at last. We have t' keep goin', if only t' spit in Hydra's face an' say dat we won."
Gambit's voice was defiant, enough so that Archer nodded and crushed down his gloom enough to rekindle his determination. He took a shaky breath and stood up, the Cajun rising beside him. With a gentleness belying his former fierceness, he collected Genesis in his arms. The two mutants checked about them with their senses before fading down the alley.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Hours passed painfully slowly. Both girls were still out of it, but Genesis was beginning to look more alive. Rogue on the other hand, began to grow paler as the time crawled by. Their concern intensified every minute, but all they could do was weave in and out of alleys, trying to find some safety in the darkness.
At last they halted where there was little noise to be heard. Peering from the shadows the boys observed a street lined with townhouses standing side by side. Only a few orange street lamps lit the sidewalks.
Gambit leaned his head back in, returning to where they had laid the girls. He was pleased to find that Genesis had her eyes open, groggy but awake.
"You alright petite?"
"Yes, just tired. And a headache. A major headache at that, but I'll live." He helped her into a sitting position, her hand at her head. Her golden eyes fell to Rogue, who was still shaking and mumbling. Genesis crawled over and knelt beside her.
"You strong enough for dis Theo?" he asked, relapsing back into the uses of their aliases.
She sighed, bone-weary. "I have to be. She needs me." Her face, though haggard, was determined so Gambit allowed her to close her eyes and enter Rogue's mind. The boys settled down to wait, their eyes consistently flicking back to the telepath and the ailing Rogue.
Gambit hadn't realized he had dozed off until he was jerked awake by a sudden pained wail from Rogue. He bolted upward and staggered over to her, where Genesis was panting, but still concentrating. He crouched down beside the southerner, holding tightly to one of her gloved hands. She was trembling violently now and whimpering frantically.
"C'mon chérie, y' strong and y' can beat dis." He allowed himself to squeeze his hand as tight as he needed to relieve some of his tension; after all, she was invulnerable and he doubted it affected her much.
She cried out again as she shuddered, her face twisting in pain as her body curled in on itself. Archer came over as well, until Rogue was surrounded by probably the only three people in the world who cared about whether she made it through the night.
Abruptly, Gambit's head shot up. A light had suddenly begun to stream into the alley from one of the houses on their side of the street. A shadow appeared in the square of light, before it moved away and began approaching the entry of the alley.
Gambit growled softly, like a wolf preparing for battle. "Someone's coming. Archer, we cover de girls."
Archer nodded, his blue eyes narrowing into slits. He pulled out his telescoping bow, leaving it collapsed but poised just in case. He cast his eyes to Gambit as the boys advanced, ready to fight.
"No one had better be smoking their crack back in my alley! You better get before I let loose on you, never mind calling the police!" The shadow that had entered the alley at last grew close enough to make out clearly. A middle-aged woman wrapped in a thick bath robe and toting a handgun with perfect ease, approached them. The wisps of mouse-brown hair mixed with gray falling in the woman's hazel eyes didn't distract her steely gaze from searching out the supposed troublemakers behind her house. No fear could be found in her face at the prospect of possible danger. But she abruptly stopped at the sight before her: two teen boys locked in battle stance, blocking her way towards two girls, one kneeling and the other unconscious. The woman stepped backwards, her eyes wide.
"Back off, if you know what's good for you," Archer threatened, his hand barely hiding his compacted bow behind his back for the moment. The protectiveness in his voice growled fiercely. The woman just stared in shock. These kids, whoever they were, obviously weren't lighting up weed. The gun lowered.
It was a tense couple of moments as the young group and the woman stared each other down. Genesis had retreated from Rogue's mind but was as stiff as a board, waiting to defend herself and Rogue in case the situation grew dire. The woman continued to stare, despite the darkening looks on the boys' faces the longer she lingered. At last she spoke, her voice as calm as anything, her eyes falling to Rogue.
"Why are you here? Shouldn't you take your friend to a hospital? She looks awful." The woman's voice was deeper than was usual, with a raspy edge that made it sound tough, but also calming in an abstract way.
"No hospitals," Gambit ground out between his teeth. His eyes were still covered by a cheap pair of sunglasses purchased back before the disastrous encounter in the train station, but it was obvious to those who knew him that his eyes must have been blazing behind the dark lenses. The woman's eyebrows rose towards her hairline, her bewilderment and suspicion morphing slowly into concern. She took a step forward, only to be blocked abruptly by two much taller frames. Her eyes flashed with exasperation rather than fear.
She growled, quite convincingly for such an average looking woman. "I just want to take a look at her." They hovered in front of the unconscious girl for a moment more before drifting aside, their eyes not leaving her for a second.
Brushing her messy bangs from her eyes, the older woman knelt down by the sheet-pale Rogue. The three teens subtly froze up and relaxed again as the woman took Rogue's covered wrist and checked her pulse. Her brow furrowed at whatever she had discovered, scanning the very pale face. Just then, Rogue groaned again and shivered. At that, the woman stood.
"She's not doing well, whatever this is, and being outside isn't helping. It may be summer, but it's chilly out here. Whatever's wrong with your friend would be better handled indoors. Come inside." She motioned before turning around and beginning to move towards the still pool of light at the alley entrance. She turned again as she realized that no one was following. She cocked her eyebrow. "Do you want to stay out in the alley all night?" The hostile stares continued.
"I don't mean you any harm," she said, her husky voice suddenly becoming much softer. It was a bit of a shock for the teens. The tone of voice was unfamiliar to them, but the pleasant feelings it sent through them suddenly lifted the stones settling in their chests. The woman turned fully in the side door of her house, her arms crossed but her hazel eyes soft. "I promise that I have nothing up my sleeve. After all, do you think I could stand up against you three?" She gestured to the three powerful teens.
Archer stared into her eyes intensely. "Why do you want to help us anyway?" His voice still held a trace of the angry despair from his outburst earlier.
The woman shifted her weight, returning the pale blue gaze steadily. "I know that look in your eyes. I saw it in the mirror from age fifteen to twenty-two. Saw it again in my only daughter for a few years too." Her eyes flashed again, but this time in pain at old scars laid bare unexpectedly. "I know how it hurts, and I wouldn't leave people like you, without anyone to turn to, out here at night in an alley. So it's your choice: stay out here, or come in."
The three aware teens stared stonily at her. They didn't move.
Until Genesis stood up, lifting Rogue effortlessly.
"Theo?" Gambit growled as he saw what she was doing.
"Russell, I'm doing everything I can for her, but she's very weak. I know about… how strong she is, but right now her immune system's shot and if she gets sick she won't last long." Genesis' eyes were fearful and pleading. "Are you willing to risk losing her?"
Gambit's jaw snapped closed. After a few seconds he nodded, his tense posture relaxing somewhat. Relief flooded the girl's face, and she hastened toward the door that the woman held open for them. The older woman said nothing about the utter effortlessness with which the long-haired girl moved, even burdened with her friend's deadweight. The two young men were directly behind her, lined up like bodyguards as they entered the unfamiliar kitchen space. The room was bathed in warm light, and the lingering smell of stew permeated the air.
The woman motioned to the door leading into a darkened hallway. "The spare bedroom is two doors down on the left. If you need anything, let me know."
Genesis nodded, moving toward the doorway. She paused and turned back. "Thank you," she murmured before disappearing around the corner. The boys were left standing in the kitchen, eyeing their unexpected host warily. The woman continued to appear unconcerned at their stony silence, instead moving toward the fridge.
"If you're hungry I have left over tortilla soup from dinner and all the usual stuff for sandwiches."
Gambit and Archer threw perplexed looks at each other, maintaining their silence. They still couldn't quite understand why this woman was offering them shelter. They had been raised to finish an objective and survive. The only scenario for they knew that called for helping others was if it benefitted their masters directly.
Archer at last relieved the silence. "Thank you for your hospitality ma'am." It was polite, and likely wouldn't trigger any hostility or suspicion.
To their surprise, the woman waved her hand and motioned them toward the small table. "I won't have anything of that ma'am business; makes me feel old. My name is Fae, Fae Corbett," she said with a smile. "Now come and eat something. Growing young men like you shouldn't be as thin as you are." The extra tough demeanor displayed in the alley had died down somewhat, so she appeared almost motherly. She ushered them forward as she began to rummage about for a meal.
Gambit waved her off courteously. "I'm gonna go check on R-Darcy," he backtracked so quickly that Fae didn't notice the slight slip. She nodded and he exited into the hallway down which the girls had gone.
The door at the end of the hall was only slightly opened with light leaking across the hardwood floor. He entered to find Rogue laid out a bed, with Genesis sitting beside her in a chair. The conscious girl was pressing her fingers to her temples and biting her lip, a small bead of blood trickling down her chin. Not wanting to disturb what looked like a precarious situation, he sat down at the edge of the bed, watching the silent struggle intensely.
The room remained silent as time dragged by. After a while, Archer joined the silent group.
"Fae is making us something to eat. How are they doing?"
Gambit shrugged. "No change. I hate jus' sittin' here an' not being able to help."
Just then Genesis slid her eyes open with a groan, putting a hand to her bleeding lip. She waved off the sudden rush of questions from her two companions.
"Shh! My head hurts enough already," she moaned while grasping her head in her hands. The boys shut up immediately as they waited for their telepath to regain her focus. At last her hands dropped and she sighed.
"I've done as much as I can, though I'm not sure how effective it will be. I know that her powers leave echoes of the people she's absorbed in her mind, but I always thought it was just some dormant telepathic aspect of her powers. I know now that's not the case. I don't know what happened, but these remnants she absorbed before are sentient somehow, and they started attacking her."
Gambit and Archer shot each other shocked and worried glances.
"How is that possible? And why would they start trying to hurt her now after so long?" Archer asked concernedly.
"I don't know," Genesis said. "My best guess is she had some kind of power overload, but I don't know how. She hasn't absorbed anyone recently as far as I know."
Gambit shifted, before he spoke up. "I t'ink she touched me, back on the train. I thought I felt her powers, but I was still sleepin', thought it was a dream. It would explain how she blew up de train," he commented, lowering his voice as he spoke. He didn't think that Fae, as welcoming as she seemed, would take kindly to housing fugitives of a freight train explosion.
"So how's she doin' now?" he asked, bringing the subject back to their main priority.
Genesis brushed a strand of hair from her eyes and glanced back at her friend. "Carol and I have been helping to subdue them. I didn't try to destroy them, because I wasn't sure what wiping them all out would do to her mind and I'm not a strong enough telepath to repair any major damage. So for now, we've just tried to lock them away so they can't hurt her. When I came back most of them were under control, and Carol will be working to contain the rest." With the conclusion of her report, Genesis slumped back in the chair, her posture showing her exhaustion. However, she shot right back up as the door inched open.
Fae entered, supporting several bowls of soup on a tray with a plate of dry toast as a side. She glanced sympathetically at the unconscious Rogue as she quietly set the meal down on the wooden writing desk in the corner.
"Is she alright?" she asked in a whisper.
"I think she will be," Genesis murmured, "but she'll probably be weak for a long while after this."
Fae nodded, before she spoke again. "Listen, I know you have no reason to trust me, but I have to ask if there's somewhere you should be. Will your families be looking for you?"
The rather stony silence that followed gave her the answer. She nodded in acceptance.
"I won't pry, but I'd like to help you if I can. If you have nowhere else to stay, then you're welcome to stay here until your friend is back to normal."
The teens looked surprised at the offer and threw glances at each other. Archer spoke up for them. "Thank you ma–Fae," he corrected himself. "We didn't expect such generosity."
She shook her head. "Then it's a sad world where helping those in need is a rare gift. Alright then, there are some additional rooms down this way, so if…"
"If'n y' don't mind Mam'selle, we'd rather not be separated," Gambit spoke up, sensing the joint anxiety spreading among their group. His secondary power, a mild empathy as Essex had discovered several months ago, had never been of much use to HYDRA, but he found it useful in ways that would have been pointless to the terrorist organization.
Fae paused before giving her assent to the arrangement. She disappeared for a minute before returning with blankets and pillows from the linen closet.Soon they were all settled into spaces on the floor, deceptively close in appearance to any average slumber party among friends.
"If you need anything during the night, it's alright to ask me. Goodnight then." The light was clicked off and Fae's shadow disappeared from the door. The room lay in peaceful silence for a moment before Genesis spoke, her voice sounding confused.
"I still don't really understand. Why would she help us when she doesn't even know us? We could very well be thieves or murderers, yet she treats us like her own children."
Gambit had been pondering this very thing ever since Fae had first shown them into her home. Of course he could appreciate the warmth and better security of having a roof overhead, but the generosity they received for nothing was making him antsy. Over the years he had come to the knowledge that both from his training and from his own nature, that he hated not understanding something. He didn't know why Fae had offered them shelter, but despite his frustration he couldn't help the pleasant feeling that was spreading through him. It was strong enough to quell any suspicion that remained, allowing him to slip into perhaps the most peaceful slumber he had experienced in many a year. His last whisper of empathy caught the same feeling of comfort radiating from both Genesis and Archer as they also began to drift off. As a matter of fact, it was the first time outside of their group of four that they had experienced compassion. For lost souls like them, it was truly something of wonder.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
A/N: Ay ay ay, these chapters are giving me some trouble. I rewrote this one perhaps five times before I got it to a point where I was reasonably satisfied. But I did finish this one. This is a big transition in the story and it's a little difficult, but I'll try my best to work faster on these. But I have at last given you an update; call it an Easter present, and an early birthday gift to Aurai Sophia Kiana Nyx Smith.
Here's hoping the next chapter will be faster than this one!