Ring.
Ring. Ring.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
RING.
RINGGGGGGG…
"HOLY CRAP, SARA, JUST PICK UP ALREADY!" Tadewi shouted, her eyes widening as the number Sara had given her to call just kept ringing and ringing and ringing.
…Still ringing.
"Still not picking up?" Esen asked, glancing over at the other harpie.
Tadewi shook her head, "I'm getting worried. She said she needed to talk to us, but now she's not picking up. I should be worried, right?"
Esen shrugged, "Probably, but we haven't seen Sara in a couple of years, Tadewi, she could be busy, or maybe she doesn't pick up her phone all that often. She could have it on silent."
Tadewi sighed, "I'll try one more time. If she doesn't pick up, we pick up the speed and make it to Tokyo as soon as we can so we can see if we can find her." Tadewi said. Esen nodded in agreement and Tadewi hit redial on her cell phone.
XXXX
Meanwhile, in a classroom in Tokyo, Sara felt her phone begin to vibrate again in her skirt pocket as she walked up and down between the aisles of desks, making sure her students didn't cheat on their tests. Having no other option, and knowing that the call had to be important if they kept calling and calling and calling the way the caller had been, she peeked out the door and into the next classroom, asking the teacher there if she could watch Sara's class for awhile.
The teacher nodded, telling her students to be good, and walked into Sara's classroom to temporarily take over Sara's job.
Thanking the teacher, Sara hurried down the hallway to the bathroom, walking in and shutting the door behind her. Then she pulled her phone out and answered it just before the person on the other line would have hung up, "Hello?"
"Sara! You picked up!" Tadewi's voice called from the other line, obviously elated.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm at work right now." Sara explained, "I forgot to tell you."
"That's okay. I was worried you were hurt for a bit there." Tadewi explained.
"Oh, no, I'm not hurt. I get on my lunch break in about… a half hour. Can I call you back then?" Sara asked.
"Sure." Tadewi said, "Esen and I are headed towards Tokyo now, so we wanted to work out details of where we'd be meeting you, and stuff."
"Oh, perfect! I'll call you as soon as I'm on my lunch break." Sara said.
"Okay! Talk to you then." Tadewi hung up and Sara did the same, happy she would be seeing her two harpie friends soon.
XXXX
Never before had Kiri wanted Elik to go back to work so badly. They had a plan to save Coco, they knew exactly what they were doing, but until Elik left, they couldn't do a thing. Kiri hated feeling defenseless, or incapable of something. She always worked to be able to truly do whatever she liked, be it saving a friend or something else, so knowing the only reason that she and her friends couldn't save Coco was because she couldn't break things off with Elik… it killed her. But she couldn't exactly do anything about it.
Aryl had already assured her that none of them blamed her. Aryl was the only one who knew that Kiri wanted to break up with Elik, but she still understood why Kiri hadn't yet. Kiri barely understood it herself, and yet Aryl, the one who was voted 'Most Likely to Scare a Future Husband' in her senior year of high school understood relationships better than she did. Yet another thing that Kiri didn't understand.
"Yo, Kiri, you around?" Elik's voice called from outside the door.
Kiri took a deep, calming breath and called out in a shaky voice, "I'm in our room, Elik!"
A moment later, her boyfriend walked in, sauntering over to the bed and giving Kiri a kiss on the cheek, "Hey, babe." He said, "Listen, I have to go back to work tomorrow, so I thought I'd treat you to a nice dinner, just you and me. How does that sound?"
Kiri smiled, "Sounds great, Elik. Lemme just get ready, then we can go." She said.
Elik nodded, "See you in a few, then." He left the room, and Kiri breathed a deep sigh of relief. Spend one night with her boyfriend, dinner, talking, then he'd leave for work the next morning and whenever everyone else in the apartment got up (granted, that could take awhile), they'd start the plan to save Coco.
Hopefully she'd still be alive when they got there.
XXXX
Sara walked up the roof once lunch started and pulled her cell phone out again, dialing Tadewi's number. The harpie picked up after a single ring.
"Hey, Tadewi." Sara said.
"Hey!" Sara could sense Tadewi grinning, "We're in Tokyo now."
"In the snowy part, or on the other side?" Sara asked.
"I see no snow." Tadewi answered.
"Good, then you're not that far from where I am." Sara said.
"Well, where are you?" Tadewi asked.
"Standing on the roof of the school I teach at." Sara said.
"So, Esen can probably smell you, right?" Tadewi asked.
"It's possible. Is his sense of smell still as good as a few years ago?" Sara asked.
"Sara, not THAT much has changed since you last saw us." Tadewi laughed. "He's already got your trail. Says we're not far from where you are. We'll be there in a few minutes."
"Great!" Sara said, "See you soon, then."
"Yup!" There was a click, and Sara hung up her phone, leaning on the railing of the roof to wait for her friends to show up. It only took a few minutes, as Tadewi had said, for Sara to see the two harpies on the horizon, and moment later, Tadewi had tackled Sara to the ground.
Sara laughed, "Tadewi, get off me!" she said.
"I'm just so happy to see you!!" Tadewi beamed, "How have you been?!"
"I'll answer you once you get off me!" Sara laughed again.
Esen landed and grabbed Tadewi, pulling the harpie off of the mermaid.
"Much better." Sara said, taking the hand Esen had extended to her. Esen helped her out, before he and Tadewi dismissed their wings.
"So, answer my question!" Tadewi grinned, "How have you been?!"
"I've been okay, all things considered." Sara said, "But I do still need to talk to you two."
"About what?" Esen asked.
Sara pulled up the sleeve of her shirt, revealing the Topaz Princess's bracelet. "Uya's gemstone. It's… troubling me."
"What do you mean?" Tadewi asked, confused, and cocking her head to the side in wonder.
"Well…" Sara was about to explain, but the sound of the school bell ringing cut her off, "Damn it." She muttered, "I have to go back to my classroom."
"That's okay." Esen said, "Tadewi and I will hang out in town somewhere and we'll meet you back here later. When does class end?" he asked.
Sara smiled in relief, "At 3." She said. "See you then." She waved over her shoulder and hurried down the stairwell.
"Aww." Tadewi said, "I wanted to hear the story."
"You will." Esen said, "Come on, we should go."
"Alrighty." Tadewi said, spreading her wings and waiting for Esen to do the same. The pair of harpies flew off the roof and towards the downtown area.
XXXX
"Aryl, quit it." Lexia said, as she watched her friend throw a tennis ball towards the wall of Kiri's kitchen.
Aryl threw the ball again, "I'm hungry." She whined, completely ignoring Lexia.
"Make something then." Lexia said.
"Do you want the apartment to blow up?" Aryl asked, surprised at her friend for not remembering how horrible of a cook she was, "You know I can't cook to save my, or anyone else's, life!"
"Well, neither can I." Lexia said.
"You don't blow up normal water, Lexia." Aryl said.
Lexia laughed, "At least you have no illusions about your cooking skill." She said. "I wonder if Moiyu, Madison, Jay, or Caren can cook." She muttered.
"Let's go ask them." Aryl hopped up, forgetting she had thrown the tennis ball a moment before. It soared back towards the two warrior mermaids, and hit Aryl directly in the stomach. The girl lost her balance at the impact and fell backwards, falling right on top of Lexia.
"You know, Aryl, sometimes I wonder if you even have a brain." Lexia sighed.
Aryl laughed, "Sometimes I wonder that too." She said.
XXXX
Rilene had been reading a lot of magazines lately.
It wasn't that she liked the magazines or anything like that, she just… had nothing better to do. She would spend the majority of her time sitting in the guest room where she was staying with Moiyu and Jay, curled up in a chair reading the magazines she'd found lying around in various parts of the apartment. It helped her learn more about the human world as well, which she'd need if she was going to be living there.
Now, she couldn't exactly leave the room even if she wanted to, as she didn't like hats and therefore refused to wear them the majority of the time. And as long as Kiri's boyfriend was in the apartment, she was supposed to be acting human.
Yeah, Rilene acting human. That's a funny thought.
So, she was staying in the guest room, with the door shut, and one of the others had told Elik some lie about Rilene being incredibly shy around new people or something, so Elik hadn't even tried to greet her. Good for Rilene, but it did make her a little lonely. Sure, Moiyu would come and sit with her sometimes, but they didn't really have that much in common, besides both being water demons who had worked under Gaito at one point. They could swap stories based on that, but those conversations always seemed to go depressing very fast.
And when Jay sat with her, well that was a completely different story. He and Rilene could carry on talking about almost anything and it would lead to a full scale discussion on something completely different. Rilene liked it when Jay was in the room.
But then again, Jay had his own life, small as it currently was, so she couldn't expect the older water demon to sit in the empty guest room with her all the time. She looked up to him, though, not exactly as a mentor, but definitely as a role model. She had heard Kiri tell Elik that Rilene was "Moiyu and Jay's sort of adopted daughter", but she didn't look up to Moiyu like a mother. Sure, she respected Moiyu for going against Gaito and being the first captured water demon to make it out alive, but that was about where her respect ended. Jay felt sort of like a father to her, but… she didn't think Moiyu would ever feel like her mother.
Of course, she could have just been over thinking things. Rilene knew she had a tendency to do that a lot, and she had been told that it took her longer to come to easy conclusions than it did to come to really difficult ones. If a question needed a thought out answer, give it to Rilene, she'd figure it out in no time, but a really simple question would stump Rilene immediately, because the girl would look into every word of the voiced question to try and find the hidden meaning that wasn't there. And when she couldn't find said imaginary hidden meaning, she'd be stumped beyond compare, because she couldn't see what was right in front of her face.
She'd never been able to. Sometimes she wondered if she was raised that way.
XXXX
"Cook?" Moiyu echoed.
Aryl nodded. She and Lexia had begun to ask around the apartment, and so far had found no one with an ounce of cooking skill. They'd asked Madison, who had flat out said, "No, ask someone else. You don't want to eat my cooking. You might not be alive tomorrow, and we need everyone we can get to save Coco." Jay's response had been similar, but amounted to, "Wait, fire comes out of that stove thing, right?" Now they were asking Moiyu.
"Umm…" Moiyu shook her head, "I've lived underwater for the last few years. I've never needed to. I could probably pull something together, but I'm not guaranteeing it'll be edible."
"That's okay, Moiyu." Lexia said, "We'll go find Caren. Maybe she can."
"You should ask Rilene. You never know- she might be able to." Moiyu said, "I saw her reading some of Kiri's cooking magazines."
"Okay." Aryl grinned, "We'll go ask her after Caren!" Aryl skipped off and Lexia rolled her eyes, wondering how the girl could be so happy when she was also so hungry.
XXXX
If there was anything Tarou noticed about his class on that specific day, it was that it was quieter. Scanning the classroom to try and figure out why, Tarou quickly came to a simple conclusion.
Hanon and Luchia, the two loudest students in the classroom, both seemed to be very worried about something. Both of them were quiet, neither one paying any attention and both zoning out and daydreaming about something. But the looks on their faces showed worry and anxiousness, and Tarou questioned whether or not he should approach the friends about it. Luchia wasn't even getting any happier when Kaito talked to her, which was definitely a bad thing, as the blond usually lit up immediately if Kaito even looked at her.
Yes, Kaito seemed to notice as well, which didn't surprise Tarou.
Deciding against approaching Hanon and Luchia, Tarou turned back to the papers on his desk. It was their business, and if they were better by the next day, he'd pretend it had never happened. If they weren't, he'd ask them. He really hoped he wouldn't have the do the second option.
XXXX
"No dice?" Aryl asked Lexia, as she walked back into the apartment. Lexia shook her head. Aryl sighed. Lexia had found Caren outside on the balcony, staring into space, and so had gone out there. She had been promptly turned around and sent back inside, with Caren saying, 'Don't even ask if I can cook.'
"Damn it." Aryl muttered.
"Hey, there's still Rilene." Lexia said.
"True." Aryl nodded, and the pair headed off down the hallway to the guest room.
Lexia knocked on the door and Rilene opened it, "Oh, hey." Rilene said.
"Hey, Rilene, we have a question for you." Aryl said.
Rilene raised an eyebrow.
"Can you cook?" Aryl asked.
Rilene thought over the question for a moment, "Well, I've been reading a lot of cooking magazines." The young water demon said.
"Close enough!" Aryl said, dragging Rilene out of the room and down the hall to the kitchen. Lexia stopped only to shut the guest room door again before hurrying after her.
XXXX
Tadewi ran up the school gate, Esen not far behind her. Sara was there, making sure her students left the school okay. The orange haired mermaid waved, and once sending her last student off, gestured for them to come over. The pair of harpies ran over to her.
"I've just got to tell Tarou that I'm not going home with him, then I'll meet you here, okay?" Sara asked.
Tadewi nodded, and Sara hurried inside. A moment later, she ran back out.
"Okay, ready to go." Sara said.
"Who's Tarou?" Tadewi asked, "Is he your boyfriend?" Tadewi teased the girl.
Sara's face immediately lit up with a bright red blush, making Tadewi giggle, "He is! I knew it!"
"Stop acting like a five year old, Tadewi." Esen rolled his eyes, "At least until we get somewhere not so… public."
Tadewi stuck her tongue out at Esen, "Fine." She said. "So, where are we going, anyway?"
"The dock is usually empty at this time of day. I figured we'd head there." Sara said.
"Sounds good." Tadewi grinned. The three made the short walk to the dock, and once there, sat down, Sara making sure not to get wet, lest she transform into a mermaid on the wooden structure.
"So, you said Uya's gemstone was troubling you?" Esen asked.
Sara nodded, "Yeah." She pulled the bracelet off her wrist, keeping a firm grip on it as she showed them the gem, "Just touch it."
Tadewi reached out a hand and touched it gingerly with two fingers, pulling back immediately, "It's vibrating!" she cried.
"Pulsating, actually." Esen said.
"You know what's wrong?" Sara asked.
"No, not exactly." Esen said, "But I think I know someone who will."
"Who?" Sara asked.
"Her name is Rayza. She's a warrior mermaid- the emerald warrior. Avira is good friends with her. She should be trying to gather the mermaids together, like Avira did with the harpies, remember that meeting we had to go to?" Esen asked.
Sara nodded.
"There's something going wrong with the elements." Tadewi took over, her normally happy sounding voice now sounding very mellow and calm, if a bit troubled, "One is rising up against the others, two have gone into hiding, it's pure chaos." Tadewi shook her head, "Avira is afraid war is coming."
"War…" Sara repeated, "Do you think the fact that Uya's gem is pulsating could have something to do with the elements being out of balance?"
"It's possible." Esen said, "Rayza would know more than we do. You should try and get in contact with her."
"I would, but I don't know a single warrior mermaid, never mind one who knows Rayza." Sara said.
"Hmm…" Tadewi thought, "Well, we can call Avira. Maybe she'll know how we can get in contact with Rayza." She suggested.
"Worth a shot." Esen nodded.
The pair of harpies put in a call to Avira and quickly found out a very key detail.
"She's heading to Tokyo to find a few of her friends that are warrior mermaids. Kiri, Aryl, and Lexia, I believe their names are. Find them, and you can probably find Rayza."
XXXX
About three minutes later, Rilene found herself in the kitchen, with instructions to cook dinner for everyone in the apartment, and the mental image of the stove on fire if Lexia tried cooking.
Rilene made her way to the fridge to figure out what kind of food Kiri had in there, only to see a note stuck to it- "Hey guys, order takeout, okay? I don't want my apartment burned down before I get back. -Kiri." Stuck to the fridge with the note was Kiri's credit card and a number for a good takeout place. Rolling her eyes, Rilene grabbed the phone and dialed the number on the note. "Hello? Yes, I'd like to place an order…"
XXXX
"Mmm. It's official, Rilene, you are doing all the cooking for us when Kiri's not around." Aryl said, "This is awesome."
Rilene, once again, rolled her eyes, seeing as the food had arrived at the front door a few minutes earlier via takeout delivery guy, and Rilene had paid for it (while wearing a hat, by the way), scooped it out onto plates and served it.
She only had two weapons: Kiri's credit card and a fork. That was all she needed.
XXXX
When Kiri got home later that night, Elik at her side, she found Rilene in the kitchen attempting to fit various sized takeout boxes into the trash.
"Everything looks fine…" Kiri muttered, honestly scared that someone had harmed her apartment, since she knew everyone staying there easily had the potential to.
"Of course everything's fine, babe." Elik said, "Your friends aren't that destructive. I'm going to bed." He kissed her quickly, "I might leave early in the morning. Want me to wake you up?"
Kiri shook her head, "That's okay. See you when your game is done." She smiled, "Goodnight."
Elik nodded, "Goodnight," and walked off.
"Here, let me help you, Rilene." Kiri walked over and helped her fold up the takeout boxes. "How did everything go?"
"If anyone asks, I cooked." Rilene said, "Here's your credit card back." Rilene handed the card over.
"Thanks." Kiri put it into her purse quickly, "What do you mean?"
Rilene explained the evening's events, and Kiri rolled her eyes much like Rilene had done several times that night, "Well, thank you for taking are of everyone, Rilene. I'll pay you, if you like."
Rilene laughed, "Don't worry about it. Though I am running low on magazines." She said.
"I'll go buy some more as soon as we rescue Coco." Kiri promised. "Geez, it's like you were the babysitter."
"The kids are all in bed and asleep, Ms. Cheung." Rilene joked.
Kiri laughed, "You know, for a 12 year old, you really don't act your age."
"I've been told that." Rilene smiled. "I'm going to head to bed, alright, Kiri?"
"Of course." Kiri said, "It's getting late anyway. I'll finish cleaning up in here and head to bed too. Thank you for all your help tonight."
"No problem." Rilene smiled, and walked off, pulling her hat off on the way.
Kiri turned back to the boxes and grabbed the last one, folding it up and putting it in the trash can before glancing at the dishes in the sink. "I'm too tired to try and do the dishes tonight. I'll load the dishwasher tomorrow." She said, grabbing the note from the fridge, crumpling it up, throwing it into the trash can and yawning. Once quick glance back to make sure everything except the dishes was in order, and Kiri left the room, going to change and join her boyfriend in bed.
XXXX
It was the next morning, and Tarou Mitsuki was not happy. He had come to class, hoping to see an improvement in Hanon and Luchia's moods, only to find the two girls just NOT THERE. They hadn't come to school, and no one had called them in absent.
He was now very puzzled, so after asking Kaito if he knew where the girls were ("No, sir, no idea. I haven't talked to Luchia or Hanon since yesterday; they rushed somewhere right after school.") he decided to make a stop by both the girls' current place of residence, The Pearl Piari, after classes were over to check to see if Nikora knew anything.
XXXX
"Okay." Moiyu pulled out the note that Myieli had sent her a few days previous the next morning, as she stood in front of the large group they had gathered that would help save Coco, much like Kiri and Aryl had done not that long ago, except Moiyu wasn't wearing a pan on her head or pointing at a colorful map of California. The group, consisting of Kiri, Aryl, Lexia, Madison, Jay, Rilene, Caren, Luchia, Hanon and herself, would be leaving in two hours to begin the plan that Myieli had created- the plan to save Coco. "Myieli said that she'll have the back entrance, the one we went through when saving Jay, open for us when we get there. From there, it's just a matter of getting down to the lowest basement and getting Coco out of her cage without alerting any guards." Moiyu explained.
"Well, that's easier said than done." Kiri said, "Didn't you say that Gaito increased his security after you escaped? I'm pretty sure he would have increased it even more since then, with us saving Jay, and Rilene disappearing."
Moiyu nodded, "Probably, but Hannah and Myieli are going to work to make sure no one hears or sees us." She explained. "Kiri, do you still have Coco's pearl?"
Kiri nodded, taking the pearl out of the shiny pouch she'd been keeping it in.
"Good." Moiyu said, "When we get Coco out of her cell, make sure to put that back in her necklace."
Kiri nodded. It was odd, for all of the mermaids, to be taking orders from a water demon, but they had all gotten used to it rather quickly. After all, there was a life on the line- a life they could not afford to lose, no matter what. They would all have to work to their fullest potential to make the plan work, or they were all doomed.
Moiyu continued to go over various less major details, all of which were still important, but wouldn't impact the mission as much if forgotten. Once she was finished, the group split off to reconvene in an hour and head out. Until then, they would rest, or do something to the equivalent of resting in Aryl's case, which was watching her soaps, which she'd been missing for quite some time.
XXXX
"Now, where is that apartment building?" Rayza muttered, walking down a street in Tokyo, scanning the apartment building names for the one that she had been told by John that Kiri lived in. John had found out from Adam, who had called his sister to ask. Once Lexia had been convinced that Adam wasn't trying to hunt them down or something, she'd forfeited the information rather quickly. "Ah! That's it!" she went to walk into the apartment complex, only to be stopped by someone calling her name. Silently cursing, thinking it was a fan, she turned around, only to see a pair of harpies running towards her.
After figuring out some more information on Rayza's whereabouts, Sara, Tadewi, and Esen had split to look for her. When Sara had to go to work the next morning, Tadewi and Esen had taken over the search, and had found her.
"I'm sorry for calling out to you like that." Tadewi apologized, "We're here on behalf of an idol mermaid friend of ours. She has an important question to ask you."
"Oh." Rayza said, "Well, where is she?" she asked.
"She's at work." Tadewi explained. "Is there any way you could meet with her later?"
"Sure." Rayza said, scribbling her phone number down on a piece of paper she'd ripped off of the sheet John had given her with Kiri's address on it, and handing it to Tadewi, "Tell her to call me; I'll meet with her anytime. How important is this question?"
"It involves a warrior mermaid's gemstone." Tadewi said.
"But you just said she was an idol mermaid." Rayza said, not quite following.
"Yeah. She is." Esen said.
"But she has a warrior mermaid's gemstone?" Rayza asked.
"Yes." Esen said.
"Okay." Rayza said, now thoroughly confused, "Just have her explain it to me when she calls."
"Okay!" Tadewi said, "Thanks again, Rayza!" With that, the harpie ran off down the street, her partner running to catch up with her.
Rayza rolled her eyes and turned back to the apartment building in front of her, "Why do I have the feeling I've just dug myself into a hole?"
XXXX
Kiri stood up as she heard the doorbell ring, walking over to the door, and swinging it open. "R-rayza!" she said, shocked at the woman's sudden appearance. Aryl peeked her head out of the living room.
"Hiya!" Rayza grinned, "I heard something exciting was going on over here and I came by to see if I could help."
Kiri would have been shocked enough at the appearance of the pop star if the girl wasn't showing off the bracelet on her wrist- a bracelet that clearly held the emerald warrior gemstone.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Does this chapter totally make up for the past few being short? I really hope so, as it's REALLY REALLY LONG, compared to the others. No, not really really long. REALLY REALLY LONG.
Haha, anyway, it's the anniversary of the day I posted the prologue of this fic! July 8th 2007 I posted the prologue and now, a year later, I'm posting chapter 20! I find this highly amusing, and totally worth giving out virtual birthday cake to any and all reviewers.
Seriously. I've never had a fic that I was still working on diligently a year later. Some of my fics have been up for a year, but how many do I still update? Only this one. This is a proud accomplishment for me. But, I digress.
So, this is the longest chapter I've ever posted on this story. It took me a month to write it, but I was really busy with the end of school, and we're in Maine right now, not my normal state, so my internet connectivity is limited. I had to get on to post this chapter though. You already know why.
It's also past 1 in the morning as I type this author's note. Not as I post the chapter. I'm typing this note a few days early, but you didn't need to know that. I normally post the chapters immediately after writing them, but I'm holding off/held off on posting this one purely for the whole anniversary thing. It's only the 5th as I write this. (But barely! It's still just past 1 in the morning, you know.) Hey, maybe I'll get working on the next one now! I'll probably go to bed, but it's still a possibility, I had 4 cans of iced tea today, not to mention the two glasses of peach iced tea at that restaurant and the two glasses of raspberry iced tea from that pitcher in the fridge. What? I have a caffeine addiction; I'm not afraid to admit it!
So, let's see. As a treat for the anniversary chapter, what should I do?
Oh, I know. I wanna start a mini contest. I've already told you that the warrior mermaids have spawned from characters already created in the very much more confusing version of this universe, right? Well, if not, I just told you. Haha.
I wanna see if you can guess which minor characters were made for this story and not just developed from other characters.
I have a prize in mind for the person that gets the most right. Choose 5 characters you think I created for this story and review with them. (Sorry, I wanted to get people's attention, so I bolded that.) I'll tell you where you were right and where you were wrong (if you're wrong) and when I post the next chapter I'll notify the winner. I do have a prize in mind, so please guess! It won't hurt, and it only takes a few extra seconds!
Next chapter: Sara finds Rayza, the crew heads to Gaito's castle to save Coco, Tadewi trips an innocent person and Aryl swings from a chandelier! Just kidding on those last two. Or am I?
Now, this author's note has gone on long enough, so I'll let everyone get to guessing now. See you when I post the next chapter, and Happy Birthday, Secrets!! I feel very much like a dork now. Haha.