Hey guys and welcome to yet another teaser for the next chapter in the form of a poem. I don't really know why I kept doing these, but sometimes I just get the poetry (or something resembling poetry) bug and I can't stop myself.

So, I wrote this without really having a structure to it, as I'm sure some of you'll notice. Just really put words on paper and this is what I got. Freeform poetry, I guess. Now, I just need a bongo playing in the background and I can complete my transformation into a complete hipster asshat, but that's more IRL stuff than anything else really.

Also, you've all had questions about Haise Sasaki and this'll help shed some light on his situation in Remnant. It'll also help build the mood for the next chapter, like, a lot. More than you know. Well, everyone other than FineChyna, my beta-reader, who gets to read bits of the next chapter long before anyone else…

I'm just going to leave you all on that…

-Poetry Interlude: Conflicts-

I found myself sitting all alone,
In a world that would've let me rot.
Been beat, beat, and beat some more,
Yet, up high, do I keep my chin.

Reasons were few and unjustifiable,
So I found my solace in pretty words.
Words that could only help mask the pain,
With escapism, based on other's grieving.

So, with hope, I looked to the sky one day,
Found myself staring at a pretty little bird.
Wondered idly what that little thing meant,
Then, as quick as it came, it disappeared.

Every day, I found myself looking for it,
Waiting to see what those wings would do.
It puzzled me, every time my eyes found it,
I wondered why it would hang around here.

This place of exiles, this land-bound island I took root in,
Such ugly skies for a pretty thing to fly.
Despite that, it circled this place, up so high.
Never once indicating that it would descend.

One day, as my skin changed colors under forces out my control,
That admirable little thing descended,
To save a pitiful thing, such as myself.
A laugh would've escaped, yet it didn't.

I myself fell that day, not from the sky, no.
I fell deep in the clutches of love, or some semblance of it.
Actually, now, I know it wasn't love at all.
Just reliance, masked by the skipping of a beat.

From that day onward, the bird flew in my earthbound shadow.
Watching me, perched up in that unreachable plane of existence.
It stayed close, and yet, I knew it could leave,
Anytime, anyplace, and I would be left where I began.

So, I yelled at the bird, a question plaguing my mind,
And it decided to squawk back an answer.
The same words I feared I would hear,
Yet expected all the same, came out of her mouth.

After a moment or two, that bird flew away from me,
And I wondered, in its brief absence, if it would ever come back.
Despite my reliance, I didn't give chase as it flew.
My eyes just watched in agony, as I cast out any sense of self.

I don't matter, not as much as that bird does.
What I feel is irrelevant because, for a few fleeting moments,
That bird allowed me to forget about my own incompetence,
And allowed me to see something beautiful in this ugly island.

Then, as I resolved myself to that miserable fate,
From the sky, I heard another bird call out to me.
Its feathers shone as dark as the deepest night,
And it watched me as it flew, unnerving red eyes tracing as it did.

It told me it saw the exchange and yet, asked me no questions.
Only flew down and perched itself upon my shoulder,
It whispered things into my ears, not things I wanted to hear,
But knew were true from the depths of my heart and, for some reason, I found comfort.

That bird stayed with me and whispered those things for what seemed like hours,
It told me it would return and help me with my problem,
And for the first time, I didn't look to the sky for a pretty little thing,
I looked for the bird that comforted me with those harsh whispers.

The next time the night bird showed itself,
It told me of a way to fix my problem like it said it would,
Told me of a way to negate those words and I listened.
Not out of desperation, but because it continued to speak the truth.

So, out of preparation, I kept myself away from the beauty of my life.
Soon, the distance became apparent and the beauty flew to me.
I gave it a lie, the same that kept the tall trees from encroaching on me.
The pretty little thing saw past it, I know it did, and yet it said nothing.

Days passed while I worked with the truthful bird to fix my crutch,
For hours and hours, until my very soul felt tired.
The pretty bird, after weeks, confronted me about it.
Its wings flapped angrily and the resulting winds buffeted my skin before it flew away.

My body felt empty, my soul felt heavy, and yet I still did not give chase.
Then, the truthful bird sunk its claws into me and took my motionless body away,
To a faraway place with plenty of room for me to grow.
It was beautiful and I did indeed grow, but those two things were still present.

While I grew in deceitful bliss, I met others and I grew close to them.
Never as close as that pretty little thing, but close nonetheless.
I lived my life there for years before fate spat in my face once more,
Bringing me back to that land-bound island due to circumstance.

What I found was yet another oxymoron.
Something I expected, yet shocked me all the same.
I felt responsible for the incursion of that conflicting event.
And so, I made it my responsibility to solve it as the blackbird before me.

More years went by and I eventually found that pretty little thing again.
Again, it was just another spit in the face by circumstance.
That pretty little thing became tainted, both inside and out.
In my quest for redemption, I allowed that ugliness to taint me as well.

It was my fault after all…

-Interlude End-

Done! Got about five-thousand words done on the next chapter and that's my absolute minimum word count. So, unless I suddenly die from an onset of cholera, expect the next chapter within the span of one and a quarter months. 'Til next time people I'll most definitely hit with a cliffhanger next chapter!