Chapter 8: The Bet

Her eyelids were leaden, her stomach was sore, her throat was dry and her limbs were numb. Feeling all of this misery Erza tried to wince but failed at that, she tried to open her eyes but in spite of the bright warm, soothing sunlight against her skin, the Titania was unable to lift a finger. Birds were chirping outside in the trees. Erza assumed that it was a wonderful day! At least from what she could smell from the open window it was. The mighty Titania could only feel the soft cool breeze on her face, apart from that her body seemed totally numb. Erza would have grunted form annoyance or sighed in defeat, but neither of the above-mentioned options was possible in her current physical state.

'I always clung to my life so desperately… I wanted to protect those dear to me, always! Then Natsu said that it won't make anybody happy, it will only make my friends sad. He asked me not to be so reckless… and yet… we have both done it again' she wondered in her slumbering. 'I hope he's ok…'

And Erza was already about to drift away into healthy sleep again when she heard a short snore and something shift. Her body still felt numb, but from the sound of rustling the scarlet-haired girl assumed that the hospital bed linen was being crumpled from somewhere near her lap.

'What the hell? If it's anyone but Lucy I'll punch his lights out!' she mentally cursed as the door to her ward opened and someone entered in brisk steps.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled irritated. "I thought I told you to get some proper sleep at home! What are you still doing here?" the blonde demanded.

"Oh, hey, Luce…" the pink-haired Dragon Slayer said in a weary voice.

'Natsu?'

"Don't 'hey, Luce' me, Natsu!" the gate keeper insisted. "Out, out of this ward you hear me!" and so Lucy approached her teammate and urged him to stand up from the chair near Erza's hospital bed.

"Hey, Lucy, what's the rush?" he tried to laugh the whole matter off. "I'm fine here, see? Just keeping an eye on Erza, no big deal!"

Mentally Erza's eyes widened as she heard a slash. Silence followed and in several seconds was replaced with a sob.

"Natsu, please… It's been five days…"

'Five days? I've been like this for five days?' Erza thought in awe.

"The doctors say that Erza may never…"

"The hell do I care what those bastards say!" Erza heard Natsu yell confidently. "Master believes she will recover! I believe she will recover! Don't tell you have lost faith… of all the people…" Natsu snorted.

"You're wrong! I also believe that Erza's gonna be fine! But…" the blonde lowered her voice. "I know why you're doing this, Natsu…" he growled and Erza perked her ears. "You're punishing yourself when you shouldn't be… What happened to Erza… it's not your fault."

"Yes, it is," was the sad firm answer. "She could have used Porlyusica's potion to heal herself, instead she used it all on me…"

'It was t save you, baka!'

"It was to save you, baka!" both girls thought and said simultaneously.

"I was the one to save her!" Natsu shouted and silence fell. "I just…" the boy continued after a pause, "if I had stayed in the Guild and waited for Erza… she wouldn't have taken up that mission… and none of this would have happened…"

"Then it's my fault that I didn't let her follow you suit and didn't prohibit her from taking up that mission," a third voice joined in.

'Master!'

"Granps?" Natsu sounded surprised as well.

"Yo, Natsu, Lu-chan!" was the ever cheerful answer. Mentally Erza imagined Master's grinning face and wanted to smile herself but could only do it inwardly.

"This is no time to be in a good mood, Granps!" Natsu said irritated. "Erza hasn't recovered yet."

"Well…" the old man rubbed his chin. "I have a feeling that that's gonna change pretty soon. So why don't you two run along get the enslaved Gray and meet up at the guild bar in two hours or so! I promise to bring Erza up and about, and we'll celebrate her recovery!"

"WHOA?" Natsu gaped. "You can do that? Like for real, Granps?" was Natsu's excited reply.

"Master?" Lucy shot Makarov a quizzical look. "But the doctors…"

"Doctors-doctors, who the hell needs them when I'm around," Makarov said in a sort of a tongue twister manner, showing the two teammates out the door. "Off you go, children!"

"B-but, Master!" but Makarov has already slammed the door in the girl's face.

Erza's heartbeat immediately quickened as she heard the sound of gradually approaching footsteps. Then they ceased and she figured that the Master must have climbed onto the chair in her ward. Still he was silent, and the wave of anticipation of a quick treatment that began to surge inside of Erza's alien body suddenly fell flat. She was not feeling anticipation anymore. She was feeling anxiety. What if she were incurable? What if she were to die in these two hours? Was this the reason why Makarov sent Natsu and Lucy away?

"What have you gotten yourself into this time… child?" Makarov said sadly and put his old rough hand on her forehead. "Look at you all bruised like that…" he stroke her hair in a fatherly manner and Erza couldn't help but feel itching in her throat and nose. "I'm sorry I let it all happen to you…" the old man sighed. "But I'll make it all better now. I just hope those two brats aren't going to cause you any more trouble than they already did…" the guild master sighed. "That stupid bet! And I am a part of it…"

'Bet?' Erza thought taken aback a bit. 'What do I have to do with a bet between the two… could it be Natsu and Gray? Well, yeah, sure, who else could it be,' the girl mentally rolled her eyes.

"But it's all gonna be ok now, since I got my healing potion on me!" the old man said in a cheerful voice. "You did I a good job helping Natsu out. He wouldn't have survived that injury…" on hearing that Erza's heart took a painful leap and the memory of the Fire Dragon Slayer's limp body in her arms flooded the girl's memory like an avalanche; for the second time this day she wanted to cry and hated her body for disobeying her cravings. "But you on the other hand went through so much more…" the guild master mused sadly. "I thought you were gonna make it through on your own, but the doctors… khmp… Well, never mind them now! Up you go!" Makarov commanded and Erza felt her head being lifted up and something press against her slightly parted lips.

As the liquid began to flow inside, Erza experienced something like a lightning stroke throughout her entire body. Her brown eyes instantly shot open only to see the smiling face of their guild master, and although he tried to hide it, but Erza could still see traces of tears in the corners of the old man's eyes.

"Yo, Erza-chan!" he grinned widely and stretched out his palm out in a greeting gesture.

"Master…" she whispered with a subtle smile on her face and could finally let her tears flow silently.

"There-there child!" Makarov soothed. "It's ok now," and the old man reached out to hug her shoulders to what Erza didn't object. "How are you?"

"I'm fine now, thanks to you, Master," she smiled a little bit calmed down. "It was awful to be trapped inside my own body, unable to move, to open my eyes, to sigh even!"

"Whoa?" Makarov gasped. "So you've been conscious all this time?"

"Well, not all this time. But I've been conscious enough to hear something about some sort of bet…"

"Haha! Well, it's kind of funny you see… erm…"

"Master!" Erza growled with suspiciously glinting eyes.

x-x-x Meanwhile (in the forests near Magnolia) x-x-x

"Crap! This work is killing me!" Gray complained sweat pouring in streams down his back and chest as he climbed yet another mountain in search of that goddamned water-petal wild lily for Porlyusica's new healing potion. It has been five days since the four of them returned to Fairy Tail: Erza, Natsu, himself and the weird girl called Shikari. It appeared that those Three Siblings were not blood relatives at all, but they did suck out the energy out of small guilds to make themselves more powerful and attack light guilds. Shikari herself appeared to be a skilled mage and everyone else in the guild got their powers back. Gray heard Natsu and Shikari have a conversation with Master on some matter, shortly after which the girl took her leave, promising to clear up everything concerning Erza's mission, since it was fulfilled anyway, no matter the consequences, but the client must have figured it out by himself already, for according to Erza his own youth had been trapped inside one of the containers and since all of them have been cut open and all the magical powers returned to their respective owners, the client himself should be satisfied with the result. No matter the cost. That thought stung him like a poisoned bee right in the temple and then buzzing with delight made its way to his chest and wound its stingers in the soft tissue of his heart. The cost was Erza's life.

Gray couldn't remember much of the fight. He couldn't remember what the bad guys were after and why Shikari returned with them. But he remembered Erza crying holding Natsu in her arms; he could remember how she yelled urging him to live; he remembered how Natsu held her in his arms with shock written across his face as the three of them rushed back home, although Gray would gladly forget all of it. The other thing he would gladly forget was Natsu's firm denial of him keeping an eye on Erza. He wanted to forget the sight of the pink-haired boy saying some jokes and offering food to the unconscious girl on the hospital bed, for sometimes Gray would sneak up on Natsu wondering if Erza's ward might be empty so that he could at least stay for the night and watch her, come close to her, be near her… But Natsu seemed never to leave her side. Gray even wondered if the man ever needed the restroom or anything, for he seemed to be glued to the chair in the scarlet-haired girl's room. This unbearable torment lasted for two days. Then it was rudely interrupted by… Porlyusica-san.

"Well, I see you are all healed by now," the woman stated plainly. "So you must be ready to suffer punishment proper for a thief."

Sometimes Gray wondered if anyone else's voice on the planet could sound colder that his own ice. Sure Erza was a match sometimes, but she was never really serious about her threats, she was mostly scaring them. But Porlyusia-san was serious as hell. Gray would know. For the last two days he had been planting some weird looking seeds all day long. The sadistic female mage gave him a sack of about 10 pounds of tiny seeds with hairy paws and long green tails to plant. Yep, he lost half of the sack in the process, was scolded, had to retrieve the escaped seeds and plant them, which he did. And now he had to find this crappy gigantic lily – the second out of 40 ingredients for the goddamned flask he had stolen for Erza which was used to save the torch. That last part was the most annoying one. Still Gray couldn't do anything about it. He lost the bet. He lost Erza (not that she had ever been his, but still) to Natsu. Nothing could change that. Just as nothing could change or erase his memory of that look in her eyes and her tears when she pleaded Natsu to live.

"Gray-sama!" a female voice yelled at the bottom of the cliff.

"Jubia?" Gray asked surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Natsu and Lucy came to the guild bar recently, they said that Erza-san has finally recovered and that Master will come with her in two hours!" the girl shouted jubilantly.

Gray's eyes widened. "Erza… is fine?"

"Um!" Jubia nodded.

x-x-x Meanwhile x-x-x

"Natsu! NATSU!" Lucy shouted from behind the Fire Dragon Slayer. "Slow down, will you! I can't keep up!"

"Sorry, Luce, can't do!" he replied grinning widely. "I gotta go and tell everyone that Erza's coming round!"

"But we have already informed the entire guild! Who else do you want to share the news with?" the blonde cried out panting.

"The whole world!" he said somewhat dazed and Lucy had chills all over, thinking whether or not her friend had gotten mad from happiness. "But I can't do that, of course," he suddenly poked his tongue out at his teammate, "so Magnolia should do!"

"Whoa? Natsu, don't!" she tried to stop him, but he was faster.

Having reached the highest pole in the town, Natsu climbed onto it and inhaling as much air into his lungs as he could shouted: "Hey, everyone! Erza Scarlet, the top S-class mage of Fairy Tail is coming round! She's gonna be just fine now!"

People on the streets stopped, looked at the boy for some moments and then twisting their fingers at their temples went on to carry out their daily routines.

"Hey! What's that for a reaction? Didn't you just hear what I said?"

"Natsu! Natsu!" Lucy whispered from below. "Get your ass here right this moment! What do you think you're doing? Are you crazy or something?"

"But I just wanted to share the news…" he said with puppy eyes.

"Get. Down. Here. Now." Lucy hissed and Natsu obeyed in defeat.

"I don't get them…" the boy frowned.

"And I don't get you!" Lucy shouted.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Erza is our friend! OURS! Not their!" she pointed at the by passers. "They have no interest in our business unless it concerns their safety. And you… could it be…" Lucy wondered for a brief moment if she should bring the matter up or not, but then decided to take a shot. "Is this somehow connected to your bet with Gray?"

"Whoa! YOU KNOW ABOUT THE BET?" Natsu gaped at his blonde friend.

She didn't, but she bluffed. "Maybe."

'Bingo!' Lucy thought. 'Now if I play along right, I might be able to find out about the whole business!' the girl mentally grinned maliciously.

"How? Gray would never tell!" Natsu said in awe.

"Well, I remember Master telling something about it…" Lucy scratched her chin and raised her head up as if trying to remember something.

"Granps? I knew he couldn't be trusted…"

"So it is about the bet?" Lucy looked at the pink-haired boy and tried to hide the curiosity burning in her eyes.

"Aaa…" was the silent and serious reply.

Lucy had a worried expression on her face. He was so serious about this. It was so unlike Natsu. His facial expression was… well, even Lucy with her writing skills couldn't describe it. He was sad and not… it was like he was happy about some inner decision that he had made and unhappy at the same time, probably because of the same thing. That was probably the closest possible way to describe it.

The silence that fell between the two was making the celestial mage feel very uneasy, so she decided to say at least something.

"Um… so about Erza…" but the girl never got the chance to finish her phrase, because her mouth was immediately shut by Natsu's palm, although the girl never intended to go on with the whole bet-thing.

"You can't tell her! If she finds out… You can't tell Erza!" he whispered fiercely in the girls ear.

'What?' Lucy was lucky to have said it mentally, because of Natsu's palm, because otherwise she would have betrayed her façade. 'Erza's not part of it? What the hell! I don't get it!' but the girl nodded nonetheless and could gasp for air.

"Good," Natsu said reassured, but inwardly he thought: 'I've got to tell Erza about it! Cause if Lucy knows, she WILL know eventually… So I should tell her myself. Yeah, that's what I'll do. Oh, God, help with this!'

"Erm… Natsu? You ok?" Lucy asked concerned about his daydreaming again.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" he smiled. "Let's hurry up to the guild bar, or we'll miss Erza!" the boy grinned returning to his energetic self and earned a nod and a genuine smile of relief from Lucy.

x-x-x At the guild bar x-x-x

There were no colourful decorations, no balloons or fireworks, no flowers and expensive tablecloths, there was simply no time to decorate anything to celebrate Erza's return from the hospital. And that's why everyone was nervous. The only thing that could be properly prepared was a big poster which read: WE MISSED YOU, Erza! GLAD TO HAVE YOU WELL AGAIN! And well there was the cleaning again… Even though Natsu has been sitting by Erza's side 24/7, and Gray was working his ass off for Porlyusica, there was still Gajeel… and Jet with Droy… and Kana… and well, everybody else, so the difference in the destruction rate was pretty much insignificant. And Mirajane always pointed it out to those who caused it and blamed Natsu for being so reckless. She felt that she needed to teach them a lesson, for what they caused to happen, and partially blamed herself, because she also scolded their pink-haired pot of joy and added to his misery. And so they all stood and waited.

Everyone was growing sick with anticipation. Especially a certain ice and fire mage who stood at a considerable distance from one another but still occasionally glared daggers. Lucy and Juvia who stood near Natsu and Gray respectively eyed them carefully. "It's not worth it, Gray." - "For you… maybe, but it has always been worth it for me." Lucy recalled their fight. Natsu's leaving the guild: "It's no big deal, popsicle! Remember the deal? The bet is off if I leave the guild, right?" - "You wouldn't…" - "Let's just part as friends, ok?" and the last thing he said today: "You can't tell her! If she finds out… You can't tell Erza!" Lucy remembered Natsu saying.

'Could it be..?' Lucy started to assume. 'That the two…' her eyes widened. 'No, freaking way!'

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted as the doors opened with a creaking sound. At first it seemed that only Master was in the doorway, but then as the light cleared, everyone could see… Erza, the Titania. Her hair was shining in the light with that special warmth only she could have. Everyone started shouting and cheering, and Lucy and Levy even couldn't hold back their tears. Makarov gave everyone a thumbs-up, but it seemed that Erza herself was thinking about something different altogether. She was distracted, and received all the greetings of her fellow guild members with a sort of polite smile, while her eyes roamed the room in search of… bingo! The fierce mage stomped towards Natsu with a serious expression on her face, took him by the scarf without saying a word, then went over to Gray, grabbed him by the collar and dragged the two outside.

'Well, that was fast…' was all Gray thought.

'I am so dead…' was Natsu's last thought, before the three were outside.

Near the threshold Makarov cried anime-tears: "Sorry, boys… She forced it all out of me…"

And while everyone at the guild was confused and Makarov was a little worried about Natsu's and Gray's destiny, Erza dumped the two by the river as if they were bags of potatoes.

"Talk!" she ordered.

"Glad to have you well, Erza!" Natsu tried, but only made her even angrier.

"Not that! I want to know about the bet! Master told me… but he didn't tell me everything," she looked confused for a moment, but then regained her sense. "But he did tell me that you two had a bet involving me! Now, talk!" she almost threatened and both Natsu and Gray knew she was.

Seeing that his pink-haired friend turned white from fear, Gray was about to open his mouth and spit the whole story out, when suddenly…

"I don't remember giving you a day off."

"Porlyusica-san?" Erza said in surprise.

"I see, you're all well, Erza. I think I'll pay the old geezer a visit later and check how's my potion…" the old mage said and Gray already had the chills she was giving him again. "Now, Gray, you still have a lot of work to do. You have no time to waste. Water-petal lilies only blossom three days a year and today's the second day. So come on," and with that she turned to leave.

"I… er… Erza?" Gray shrugged his shoulders in defeat.

The red-haired sighed. "Go on. I guess this can wait till tomorrow," and she herself was about to turn around, when she felt someone grab her hand.

"No."

"N-Natsu, wha..?"

"No, this can't wait till tomorrow, Erza!" the Salamander said firmly looking Erza right in the eyes, while Gray silently left without turning around.

"Ok," she blinked several times and then looked questioningly at their interlocked hands. Natsu caught her glance and let go of her hand slightly blushing as was she.

"S-sorry, about that…" he said silently.

They were averting their eyes from one another, until the situation became too awkward. 'What the hell! I'm not supposed to feel awkward! I'm supposed to be pissed! The two bastards bet on me and I don't even know why!' The thought made Erza snap out of it and look at Natsu sternly yet again.

"You… erm… were about to tell me about the bet," she finally said and saw Natsu wince, somehow it pained her, but she needed to know. She found out she had deep feelings for the reckless idiot, she needed to know! "Natsu," she urged quietly.

"You better sit down."

Flashback

"Torch!"

"Popsicle!"

"Fire-ball!"

"Pervert!"

The two boys were fighting tooth and nail yet again for no reason as always. They were about eleven years old, so they could already bruise one another, so they went to the river bank, so that no one could stop their recklessness.

"I'm gonna punch your lights out! See the irony, torch? Haha!" Gray shouted lunching an attack wearing only his dark blue underwear.

"I don't know who's Irony, but I see you and I'm ready!" Natsu cried balling his fist.

"Enough!" and with a sudden flash of red, there she was between them – Erza, the Scary Girl with the Braid. "Seriously, don't you ever get tired of this?" she scolded, while the two of them set on the ground stroking their cheeks from the collision with Erza's palms.

"Erza!" Levy cried from afar. "Elfman is challenging Wakaba again!"

"Tch!" the girl grunted. "I'm coming, Levy!" then she turned to the duo before her. "Now you two behave!" she pointed her finger at them as if being a school teacher (the role she would have definitely been one of the beat at), and marched off to stop another silly fight.

As soon as the girl was far out of earshot…

"Stupid Erza!" Natsu grunted.

"You're one to talk," Gray snorted.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean, pervert?"

"Oh, you wanna fight again, huh?"

"N-no… not now…" Natsu whispered.

"Huh? Why not?"

"Erza. She could be nearby. She's sooo scary…"

"No she's not." Gray protested.

"Huh?" Natsu's eyes widened.

"I-I… I mean her character is scary, but… she…" he stumbled on the words.

Natsu's eyes grew wide as saucers and then shrunk and gave way to a vicious smile and a Happy-like conclusion: "You liiiiike her."

"No I don't!" the ice mage protested, but his red cheeks betrayed his emotions.

"Oh, my gosh!" Natsu exclaimed seeing proof of his thought. "You DO like her!"

"I don't! I don't!"

"Gray likes Erza! Gray likes Erza! Graif…." He was silenced by the brunette's palm.

"Shut up, you idiot! If she hears this I'm so dead!"

'So if Erza finds out about Gray's feelings, he's gonna get it? But if she doesn't, he's gonna be nervous, he's gonna suffer!' Natsu thought, a plan forming in his mind. The boy motioned for his friend to let him go, which Gray reluctantly did.

"Let's have a deal!" the pink-haired boy suggested.

"What deal?"

"If you beat me, you get to ask Erza out on a date!"

"Whoa?"

'Good,' Natsu thought, 'now he'll be reluctant to win! Hehe!'

"But if I win…" Natsu held a pause to make his statement more dramatic, "I'll ask her out!"

Gray dropped his jaw. This was the stupidest deal in the world.

'But he's so afraid of Erza that he'll choose not to win!' Gray thought. 'This is too confusing!' the boy ruffled his hair.

"So what do you say, popsicle?" Natsu asked stretching out his hand. "Bet, or I'm telling everyone you like Erza," he grinned maliciously again. "Or should I go ask Erza out, and steal her from you, boooo…" he teased and it worked.

"The hell you will!" the ice mage shook his friend's hand, and only then realized what he had just said. "If you let it slip to anyone, just anyone, I'll…"

"Chill, popsicle," Natsu reassured. "I'm not telling. There's just one more thing…"

"What?"

"The deal will be cancelled on one condition then."

"Huh, what condition?"

"If I win but leave the guild, everything will be cancelled."

"Whoa! But you will NEVER leave the guild, torch!"

"My point exactly, popsicle!" Natsu said grinning and poking out his tongue at Gray.

Gray just sighed. "You don't make any sense, you know that?"

"Who cares, until it's fun?" the boy smiled and Gray smiled in return. "Now, where do we find someone to break it?" he wondered aloud looking around only to see Master Makarov strolling a few hundred meters away.

End of flashback

"Of course Master wouldn't break the bet until we told him what the deal was, so we did…" Natsu said ending his story.

To say Erza was shocked was to say nothing. She was outraged and confused… but more than that she was pissed. How dare they bet on each other's feelings? How dare they bet on her? Did she have no right to choose for herself?

"How could have Gray gotten into this?" she mused aloud in a whisper.

"What did you say?"

Natsu's voice brought her back to reality and it was going to be a painful reality for one pink-haired mage.

"Your arrogance has no limit, has it?" she snapped.

"Erza… I…"

"I mean I understand Gray's reasoning now, but you…" she said with pain in her voice, she cared for him so much, and he… "Why?"

Natsu braced himself. It was time to tell her the truth. "At the beginning I just didn't want Gray near you…" he wondered if he should tell her why exactly, but then opted for 'honesty is the best policy', hell, he was going to get it today, might as well spit out everything, "…because I thought that he shouldn't be with you… 'cuz you're scary and all that…"

"So that's it?" she interrupted him. "I should have known," Erza stood up from the grass and was about to yell at her teammate, when he also stood up and held her shoulders.

"Why don't you ever let me finish? I'm not done!" he was getting angry himself.

"Because I already know what you're going to say!" she retorted. 'That's it, big scary Erza. Who can fall for her? Who can dare to admit his feelings? She'll kill them! Stupid men!'

"No you don't!" he shouted.

"Yes, I do!" she yelled, trying to break free.

"Erza, I love you!"

Silence. Dead silence. He was serious. She was surprised. She was no longer trying to break free, but he was still holding her.

"At the beginning I didn't want Gray near you, because I thought he won't be happy with you. But then I didn't want him with you, because…" he leaned in and hugged the wax girl, whispering into her ear "…I wanted you for myself," he felt her shrug and stiffen. "I left the guild, because… I felt I was unfair to Gray… I mean, no matter how childish it sounds, he loved you first, but then… I couldn't stop thinking of you," she shuddered again. "I saw you with Gray at the inn…" Erza gasped. "I thought it was best for you to be together, but then you came to save me and… I'm so selfish… but I couldn't let him have you, I'm sorry… if you choose him, I'll understand, just please…" he snuggled even closer to her, "…don't cast me away."

The world stopped. The time stopped. It even seemed to Erza that her heart stopped. Tears were biting at her eyes, nose and throat. She wondered if all of this was a dream. Erza even wanted to pinch herself, but then thought that she never wanted to wake up. So she brought her hands up to hug the pink-haired lad back.

"Natsu… I love you too," she whispered, and the next thing she knew, he pulled her away wide-eyed clutching her shoulders.

"Y-you do?" he yelled surprised.

Erza didn't quite know what to say, so she simply said. "Yes!"

Shock was replaced with a wide grin. "Then I can ask you out, right?"

"You can try," she teased.

They both laughed. It was a warm comfortable laughter. And when Erza agreed to go out with him, Natsu tried his luck for the last time that day.

"Then I can kiss you, right?"

Erza's cheeks flashed red. "Y-you can try."

And he did.

THE END

So sorry for keeping you waiting! I won't try excuses, they're lame and unnecessary. Apologies are necessary, so I'M SORRY FOR KEEPING YOU WAITING SO LONG! There, that's better)) I'll probably also make some corrections to Chapter 7… but maybe not… although I should, still this is the final chapter, and I hope it had some expected romance.