A/N: Hey everybody! Sorry this update was...again...late. It was hard to write this chapter in terms of not giving anything important away and I couldn't find the right spot to stop which only made it later. So, this chapter is longer than normal. Thanks go to JohnstonGirl, NatureLoves, Loveina, SxEGirl, shotasayswhat, 15samcre, BlackDiamondDesign, Salimiome, pineapple lover (I love pineapple too!), Aquarius Youkai, musicluver707, fallenangel0632, Transformers' BABY, sianfaythe, and dvildead for following and faving.
NightHunterDeath: I was actually about to do that, but I thought, "Nah, years of disuse, your voice won't be exactly the same as it was before." So..yeah. Thanks for your understanding-ness (? *shrugs*)!
YuYuHakushoObsessor: Haha, yes my goal was to keep you guys guessing. Sorry again it took so long, hope you like it!
Gottaloveastory: *gives you rib-crushing bear hug* I MISSED YOU TOO I'M SUCH A HORRIBLE PERSON FOR KEEPING YOU BEAUTIFUL READERS WAITING SO LONG! (I have the world's biggest sweet tooth!)
Guest: Thanks so much! Sorry for the wait!
Zstar1: Here it is! Sorry! I had a fun time delving into Lorena's and Michael's back story as well, who knows, there may be more to come!
15samcre: Thank you so much, it means a lot to me that you enjoy my story so much! I will try my best to write lots and lots of fluff seeing as I've never written it before. Feel free to leave suggestions or something and I might use it, but it's fine if you don't want to. Thanks again for your patience and words of encouragement!
Day: Thank you very much for your kind words! Sorry again for the wait!
Transformers' BABY: So sorry for making you wait so long!
Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and any changes to the original story line.
"Do you wanna go walk on the beach with me, Rena-chan?" Haruhi invited, holding out a hand to Lorena.
"Nah." She replied, "I think I'll just hang out here-"
She was interrupted by Kyoya calling to her, "Rena-chan, why don't you come sit with me? I'd like to talk to you about something." Lorena just pointed at him while looking at Haruhi, as if saying, 'See this bullshit?' Haruhi just looked at her apologetically and helped her up. What she didn't know was that Kyoya had been recruited by Honey in his evil match-making schemes. After all, it would provide a great opportunity for more profits. Lorena took a seat to the right of Kyoya, in one of the white metal chairs. "So, Rena-chan," Kyoya began, moving his chair so he'd be slightly facing her as they talked. "Gotten any interesting business offers lately?"
She was about to spew some witty/sarcastic remark when she stopped, "Actually, I haven't gotten a single call or e-mail concerning business since Michael go here..." she trailed off. "Wait a minute!" She realized, "Did you have something to do with that?!"
"It was really all Michael-san's idea," he started with a smirk plastered onto his face, "consider it my birthday present to you."
She chuckled, "You sneaky son of a-"
"Water?" He offered, interrupting her before she could reach the end of that sentence.
"Sure, thanks."
She was just in the middle of a gulp when she heard Honey yell loudly to Haruhi, "Haru-chan! Wanna go hellfish shunting?!" That's when she began choking like Satan was strangling the life out of her. Quick to help a fellow human in need (psshhh), Kyoya leaned over to her and began patting her on the back firmly.
"Are you okay, Rena-chan?" he asked in concern.
Of course, Lorena was oblivious to the worried stare coming from Takashi. His attention found her when he heard her choking. Luckily, it wasn't serious, only water. He continued watching as she took another sip of what he realised to be Kyoya's water to stop choking. His eyes narrowed when he saw that Kyoya's hand lingered on her back, even when she was okay. Jealousy flared within him when they laughed at something Kyoya said, his hand-thankfully-moving away from her. But he didn't miss the scoot Kyoya made to get closer to Lorena. Then he quickly became ten times more jealous when Kyoya began touching her hair.
Thankfully, Michael went over around then and whisked Lorena away, carrying her bridal style, over to where he had some food and her phone. She stole Michael's hat from atop his head and placed onto her own, covering her face. He set her down when he reached the towel and umbrella he was at previously, and sat next to her, talking to her quietly. "You okay?" he asked worriedly, fearing she would shut herself down and not let him in.
"No." was her monotonus reply, laying down on the towel as she gave it. Despite this, he could hear the exhaustion and hopelessness in her voice.
He began stroking her hair in a comforting manner, "You can always go back to the beach house/mansion and 'take a nap' if you need to get away from everyone or something."
She made a whining noise in the back of her throat, "No, that'll just raise more questions. And knowing them, they're probably having some sort of birthday surprise being set up that I'd just have the perfect luck of walking in on. And...ugh." Michael hummed in understanding. "Just, lay with me?" She asked in a quiet and vulnerable voice. Michael didn't have the heart to say no. So, he laid down next her on his side (facing her). They stayed like that for a good fifteen minutes when Lorena's phone went off. They were smothered in the loud noise of the Doctor Who theme song. Lorena groaned loudly, burying her face in Michael's chest as her right hand blindly searched for her phone. She grabbed it and-even though she already knew who it was-looked at the Caller ID. Sure enough, it was her stepmother calling. The only good thing about this call was that she would be able to talk to her father for a couple minutes before being subject to more verbal abuse.
"Why do you even have that as the ringtone for her?" Michael questioned, also knowing who was calling, after all, he'd been with her plenty of times when she was called by her so-called "Gaurdian."
"Because when you hear this tune, you know shit's about to go down." She deadpanned, the still ringing phone clutched in her shaking hand. Michael grabbed her hand with one of his own, making her hands seem tiny and fragile in his large and calloused ones.
"It's okay, I'm here with you. You're not alone." he reassured, she nodded and answered the phone. He pulled her up to a sitting position with him, placing her in between his legs and circling his arms around her waist.
She slipped on her perfect emotionless mask, she rarely used it anymore, but she would definitely need it now. "Hello."
"Happy Birthday Lorena!" Two cheery voices sang on the other end of the line. The first one was her father, genuinely cheery. And the second, her stepmother, who only sounded cheery to fool her father into thinking she loved her. And he always fell for it.
"Thanks." Lorena replied, her cold and uninterested tone ringing in Michael's ears. He hated she had to be like this, but there was nothing he could do except be there for her.
"Come now, Lorena, don't be like that." Her father pleaded with her, his strong voice bringing relief to her. As long as he was there, nothing bad could happen. "Did you open the gifts we sent you?" He asked eagerly, sounding more like a father now than he had been in years.
"No, I'm not opening any gifts until after dinner."
"Darn... Well, when you do open them, tell me what you think, okay?"
Before she could reply, the sweet voice of her stepmother sounded, "Oh yes! I'm quite eager to know what you think of them!" While one would not place this voice with such a horrible person, it made Lorena clutch Michael's hand in fear. Lorena hated how she was so easily able to hurt her with just a few words, but it didn't help that it started when she was at her lowest and most vulnerable.
"Okay." Lorena managed to grind out with it still sounding like the rest of her responses.
"Oh, sorry Lorena, I have to get back to work now, they need me in some meeting or something. Happy Birthday again, I love you." And with that, he left. Leaving only Theresa on the phone with her.
"Well, now that he's out of the way...you." Theresa spat at her with disgust crystal clear in her voice. Lorena clutched Michael's hand harder and closed her eyes, quickly putting walls back up around her heart to keep from hurting again. "You know, I wish it was you who had died, not Jenna. She was always the better one." Pure rage filled Lorena. How dare she even mention her name to her. She had no right to bring her into this.
"Yeah, so do I." Lorena could hear the self-righteous snort, but before Theresa could continue, Lorena cut her off. "But you have no right to even utter her name. You cowered in a corner as she died. You didn't even try to save her. Not even as I held her there as she died in my arms. So you know what? Burn in Hell bitch." With that, Lorena ended the phone call and threw her phone as hard as she could towards the ocean. But they were so far away from it that it just landed in the sand a ways away. She sniffled and furiously wiped away stray tears that had managed to sneak out. Michael just hugged her, burying his face in her blonde hair, still in his position behind her. There was nothing else he could do.
Lorena stood up suddenly, plastering on a fake smile she held her hand out to Michael, "Okay, let's go see what everyone else is doing. Whatd'ya say?"
"Little Cub-" he started in a serious tone, knowing immediately what she was doing. She was distracting herself for long enough for emotions to be buried down deep within her again.
"Come on!" She insisted, ignoring the pity on his face. She grabbed his hand and forcefully dragged him up and began walking over to where most of the Host Club was gathered around Kyoya.
"We want to play too~!" Honey exclaimed at something Kyoya had said. Kyoya quickly hid something behind his back when he saw Lorena and Michael coming over.
"I guess that means we're all competing. Of course, Michael-san can't play, you know already."
"Umm.. Okay?" Michael replied, not sure as to what was going on.
Tamaki was ranting angrily as Honey asked, "Hey, wait a minute! Where did you get those pictures Kyo-chan?"
"I have my sources, how about we just leave it at that for the moment?" He replied cryptically.
~Time Skip!~
"This is the place, it's the most haunted spot of Okinawa. The locals don't even come out here." Hikaru explained to the group.
Kaoru continued, "They say that the only time you can even find this cave is at low-tide. Evidently, many people have died down here from drowning. And their souls still linger~, taking revenge on anyone who happens to come inside!" Just as he finished, a dark figure with glowing purple eyes appeared above the group with a creepy laugh that only amused Lorena. The other girls screamed, Haruhi only looked at Lorena with a bored face.
A hand grabbed Haruhi's and Lorena's shoulders, "What's going on? Are you trying to freak me out?" Haruhi questioned calmly. They turned to see the culprit was Hikaru, Kaoru on the other side holding the fake ghost.
"What's wrong with you guys? I thought everybody was afraid of ghosts?" Kaoru questioned, the flashlight shining on his face.
"But I've never seen a real one." Haruhi explained.
~Time Skip~
"Haru-chan! Rena-chan! Can you come over here?!" Honey called to the two girls, a smile never leaving his face.
"What the-?" Lorena began.
"Are you sure it's okay to drive a truck like this on the sand?" Haruhi asked incredulously.
"Well, we're ready whenever you are, Private Police people~!" Honey informed the police people. "Please lower the door!"
"Yes sir!" They lowered the big door to the back of the truck, engulfing the three in darkness. It was silent for about two seconds before Honey started freaking out.
"It'sdarkandscaryinhereIfeellikeIcan'tbreatheIcan'ttakeitanymore!Waaahhhh~~!"
~Another Time Skip~
They stood there as Mori pointed the harpoon at them. "Ummm, Mori, you're my sempai, not a sentai."
~Fuckin Time Skips Galore~
"This game's harder than I'd thought it'd be." Hikaru complained.
"No joke, I'm totally bored with it already." Kaoru agreed.
"What kind of heroine is she? She's gotta be afraid if something, right." Hikaru continued.
"Rena-chan too for that matter." Kaoru interjected.
"Hua ha!" Tamaki exclaimed, digging around in the bushes. The twins turned to address him.
"What's up boss? What are you doing?" They questioned.
Tamaki held up a bucket full of snakes, "I found some rat snakes! Surely they'll freak out when they see these!"
"Anyone would think those are creepy, so it isn't really a weakness." Hikaru droned. "Hold on, I thought there weren't any rat snakes in Okinawa?"
Lorena saw Haruhi confront two creeps-that had obviously been drinking by them stumbling about the place-and she got up to help. She ran over and up the rock just as the one with a ponytail held Haruhi to the edge of the mini-cliff.
"What are you gonna do now, loser?" He taunted, the other jerk holding onto the other two girls.
"Hey!" Lorena shouted at them, her shout startling Ponytail. He pushed Haruhi off the cliff and whipped around, now facing Lorena. She moved on instinct, darting to the edge of he cliff, fully intending to jump off. She did so, but not without "accidentally" punching the ponytail douche in the face. As she looked down from mid-air, she saw Haruhi hit the water, back-first. She dove into the water, the salt in it stinging her eyes. She saw Haruhi about twenty feet away from her, almost unconcious. She swam quickly and hooked her right arm under Haruhi's arms and began swimming up again. Her lungs screamed for air, and soon enough they breached the surface. Lorena managed to carry Haruhi back to shore, though Haruhi was able to walk on her own just fine. But just in case, Lorena kept an arm around her shoulders.
"Haru-chan! Rena-chan!" Honey called out worriedly.
"Where'd they go?" Lorena asked, finally moving her arm away from Haruhi as Kyoya handed her a shirt. Lorena's shirt was-obviously-soaked and clinging to her skin.
"We took their ID cards and respectfully asked them to leave." Kyoya answered, handing a dry shirt to. Lorena as well. "The girls all went back to the hotel, and I've called a doctor." Lorena could tell Michael was pissed, hell, she could tell Takashi was pissed at her. "She should be arriving here any minute now." Tamaki thanked him.
"I'm fine you guys, I don't need a doctor." Haruhi protested.
"What were you thinking? You know, you're not like Honey-sempai, you're not a martial arts master." Tamaki began to lecture Haruhi, and partly Lorena as well. "Why did you confront them? What made you think that you would stand a chance? You against two boys?"
"But it doesn't matter that their boys and I'm a girl, I was there I had to do something, there wasn't any time to think-"
"That's no excuse you idiot!" Tamaki shouted, "Don't forget you're a girl! You too Lorena!"
"Look I don't understand why you're so mad at us right now, I don't think we did anything wrong!" Haruhi shouted right back.
Silence for a second, then, in a calm voice, Tamaki retorted, "You don't think so? Then, I'm not speaking to you until you admit that you were wrong!"
~Yep, Another Time Skip~
"I don't see why you're so mad at me, Michael!" Lorena exclaimed loudly, getting a change of clothes from her bag and shampoo/conditioner. She needed a shower.
"You don't?! Really?! You jumped off a freaking cliff into the sea, without knowing if there were sharp rocks or anything at the bottom! And you punched a guy in the face!" He shouted back, blocking the door to the bathroom that was attached to her room.
"So? You wanted me to do nothing?!" She yelled, her voice raised to match his.
"YOU COULD'VE BEEN HURT!" He shouted, shaking her by the arms as he did. He continued in a lower-normal tome of voice, "I was worried. We all were."
"I know." She whispered back, head bent down to look at her feet. "And I'm sorry, I just... I couldn't just watch something like that again... I had to save her, the way I couldn't for..." Her voice broke. He hugged her, completely understanding.
"It's okay, I'm sorry for pushing." She nodded into his chest. "Uh, I'll let you shower now." He left with that, Lorena calmed herself and went in to take her shower.
Sneaking around in the shadows, two red-heads snuck into the bathroom where poor, unsuspecting Lorena was showering. They grabbed the clothes she had placed on the counter and replaced them with ones they had picked out for her. They snickered silently to each other and snuck back out, successfully managing to get away with it.
~10 minutes later~
"Hey Takashi, will you go get Haru-chan and Rena-chan?" Honey asked cutely. Takashi grunted in the affirmative and left the dining room to go find the two girls. He didn't have to search long when he ran into them in the hallway. He led them back to the dining room, everyone else was already there.
When the doors opened, everyone turned to see Haruhi in a pink dress with a ribbon in front and Lorena in a red and black plaid shirt and high-waisted shorts with holes in them ( twins_made_me/set?id=119139097 ). The shirt Lorena was wearing was obviously Michael's. They were followed by Mori, who was determined to keep his eyes off of Lorena, he was still mad with her after all.
"Woah~!" Honey exclaimed.
"Haruhi, where'd you get that dress?" The twins asked at the same time.
"From my dad," she replied, "he must've repacked my bags when i wasn't looking. He's always trying to get me to wear this frilly stuff."
"That's awesome! Way to go dad!" The twins said, putting their thumbs up in approval. Lorena could see Tamaki looking at them from behind a pillar. "Rena-chan!" The twins chided as their attention switched to her, "that's not what we gave you!"
She narrowed her eyes in anger at them, "So it was you two." A dark aura appeared behind her, slightly scaring the two. "As if I'd wear something like that, I was lucky I snagged a shirt from Michael, there was no way I was going to wear just the top you gave me. But, since I know you're going to ask, I am wearing it." They smirked mischeviously. "But don't get any ideas. I'm keeping this shirt on, you're lucky I wore these shorts."
They shrugged, they had to agree with her there. And just as they thought she would, she looked amazing in them, even Takashi noticed.
Lorena sat next to Kyoya and across from Takashi. Next to Kyoya was Hikaru and Kaoru, then Michael. On the other side was Takashi, Honey, Haruhi, and Tamaki. They all sat in an awkward silence for a minute or so until Hikaru interrupted it. "Well this is uncomfortable."
"Yeah," Kaoru agreed with his brother, "this is really awkward."
Honey tried to relieve the tension by saying, "Let's dig in Haru-chan! These are the crabs we caught, I bet they're delicious!"
And Haruhi did just that, she snapped a crab leg in half and began eating vigorously. One after the other, she ate and ate and ate until her plate was lost under the pile of crab shells. Everyone else ate in relative silence, not really knowing what was going to happen next.
"Don't you think you've had enough? Give it a rest!" Tamaki commented.
"I'm sorry? I thought you weren't speaking to me." Haruhi retorted, voice dripping in sass.
"Okay fine. I get it, it seems you refuse to admit that you were wrong. I'm going to bed. Kyoya, will you show me to my room?"
"No problem. Well, excuse me everyone." And with that, they left. Haruhi then stopped eating, looking regretful of her decision.
"Maybe he's right, maybe I do need to learn a way to protect myself."
"So that's it, he got to you huh?" The twins said simultaneously.
"Well, it wouldn't hurt you to learn martial arts or something." Hikaru started.
"But it's not like we're going to force you to learn it." Kaoru continued.
"Besides," they said at the same time, "that's not the real issue here. To be honest, we were all a little worried, about how recklessly you acted."
"What do you mean? I didn't cause you guys any trouble or anything." Haruhi questioned, completely missing the point. The twins just sighed and shrugged at each other, as if saying, "What are we gonna do with her?"
"That's not true Haru-chan." Honey piped in, "I think you should apologize, 'kay?" He smiled at her. "You too Rena-chan!" He said quickly, not allowing her to think she had gotten off the hook. "You made us all worry, especially Tama-chan. I think you need to apologize to him the most."
"So you..were worried about me? But why?" Haruhi still didn't quite understand. Everyone at the table sighed, all thinking the same thing, "She's hopeless." "Guys, I'm really sorry." Haruhi apologized.
"Awww, apology accepted you little mutt. You're so cute, we forgive you!" Hikaru said as everyone hugged her, to cute to not forgive. Somehow, Lorena and Michael had also been pulled into the involuntary group hug. "What about you Rena-chan?" Hikaru eyed her.
"I..guess..." Lorena sighed, "I'm sorry for worrying you guys as well." They hugged her tighter. Then Haruhi started to look really sick. They rushed her to the nearest bathroom.
Since there was nothing Lorena or anyone else could really do for Haruhi, they went their seperate ways. Lorena was walking back to her room with Michael when he left to go to his own room, they decided she would open her presents back home. Soon enough, Lorena was joined by someone else in the hallway.
"Ah, Takashi-sempai, is there something you need?" Lorena asked, tilting her head. He thought the head tilt was adorable and watched as her blonde hair slipped off her shoulder when she did that.
"What did they make you wear?" He was straight to the point, as always.
"Ah," she said, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment, "it's just a black cut-off top with long sleeves. It ends about here." She put her hand up to about two inches below her chest. She continued as he imagined how she'd look with that on. "Of course, paired with these shorts, I thought it was just way too revealing, you know? Luckily Michael stopped by and I managed to rob him of this shirt." He grunted in response, but didn't turn to walk away now that his question had been answered, he just stood there. "Ummm, I was just gonna change real quick, then i figured I'd go check up on Haruhi. I'm worried about her because it's storming so bad outside and she's afraid of thunder and lightning." She stopped to consider her words carefully, "Would you mind terribly if you waited for me? This place is really big, and with my luck I'd get lost in it. I won't take long, promise!" He nodded and followed her the rest of the way to her room.
Lorena opened the door and went into her room, making sure to close the door properly. She unbuttoned the plaid shirt she was wearing as she walked over to the bed where her bag was laying. She tossed it on the bed and was about to open her bag when she saw something. It was an envelope. On the front was her name and address in cursive. She ripped it open, recognizing the cursive writing as Theresa's. There was a note and a picture inside of it. The note read, "I found this when I was going through some old boxes, figured you might like it." The picture was of a much younger Lorena, about seven years old, smiling widely at the camera. A few of her teeth missing and some dirt on her face, it was obvious she was not afraid to get dirty or hurt. Written on the back of the picture was, "Lorena promised Jenna she'd always protect her when she caught Jenna from falling out of a tree. A picture to always remember it."
Lorena's heart cracked, tears poured out of her eyes as the pain clung to her like an old friend. She suddenly pushed the lamp off of the nightstand, hearing shatter when it reached the ground. She didn't feel any better. She hadn't been able to keep her promise. She'd let Jenna down, and she'd been paying the price ever since. She dropped the picture, not noticing when it fluttered to the ground as she hugged herself, willing the pain to stop. This familiar old pain that always felt new. There was no ignoring or getting used to it. Life always had a way of shoving her to the ground. How many times had she gotten back up? How many times would she still be able to get back up until she couldn't? She didn't know.
She did, however, notice when a deep voice called out to her, "Lorena?" She whipped around, and there he was, Takashi.
He waited outside her door as she changed. He wasn't standing there for more than thirty seconds when he heard a crash from inside the room and breaking glass. He rushed in without a second thought, fearing she was hurt. He was about three steps into the room when he stopped. The lamp lay on the ground in pieces, but that's not what he was looking at. Lorena had apparently taken off the plaid shirt, leaving her in her shorts, Adidas shoes and the black top she had told him about. And damn did she look good in it. But that's not what he was thinking about at the moment, no no, his attention was fixed on the large burn scar that wrapped around her left side and reached to her spine.
When she whipped around to face him-she hadn't heard him come bursting through the door-she had inadvertently revealed to him the other scars on the front of her torso. She stared at him in shock for a second. Then she realized what she was wearing-or more importantly, what she wasn't wearing-and quickly grabbed the plaid shirt from on her bed and held it in front of her abdomen, as if he hadn't seen. But he had. It was too late, he knew, and now he would never want anything to do with her again. Who would? She was scarred and disgusting. There was the word that she knew all too well, disgusting.
There it was, the pain she knew would assault her when he found out how ugly she really was. She knew weeks ago that she would get hurt if she let him-and everyone else-into her heart. And yet, she still did it.
"Takashi..." she mumbled, trying to find the quickest way to get out of there. She could lock herself in the bathroom, though he would definitely be able to break the door down and she'd be even more trapped than she already was. She could try to use her smaller size to get around him and out the door, but that ran the risk of running into someone else. She could jump out of the window, but she'd surely break a leg, then she wouldn't be able to run away.
Running away, that's what she was best at. Running away from her feelings, problems, family, anything really.
She decided her best chance of getting away was running past him and slipping through the door. "I..I have to go." The words tumbled out of her mouth quickly, almost sounding like one long word. She rushed past him and had just made it two steps out the door when he snagged her by the waist, dragging her back into the room, his other hand over her mouth in case she thought about screaming or something.
"Why are you running?" He asked the girl in his arms. She didn't answer him, still trying to wiggle out of his grasp.
Seeing as she was getting nowhere, Lorena stopped struggling. Her eyes burned from the unshed tears, but she refused to cry. She pulled his hand away from her mouth so she could speak. "Y-You just startled me is all." She lied through her teeth. "A-A-A-And I was really flustered because this outfit is really...revealing."
"That's not it." He countered, not believing her lies for a second.
"What do you mean? How would you know what I feel?" She chuckled nervously, trying to sound as convincing as she could.
"There's something else." Takashi insisted, determined to get the truth out of her. "You were scared of something, and hurting." He wiped away a tear trail off of her cheek from earlier to emphasize his point.
That was it, there was no point in trying to fool him. He knew her too well. "You think I'm disgusting, don't you?" She whispered, he almost didn't hear it, almost. He was about to ask why she would believe such a ludicrous thing when she continued. "I get it, okay? So just let me go! I'll...I'll leave, okay?" Her voice cracked, tears running down her face again. This was her punishment, for even daring to think she could have friends again...To be even just a little bit happy.
Without thinking, Takashi spun her around in his arms and hugged her tightly. He was angry and sad at the same time. How could she think that about herself? Did she really think so low of him? Of everyone? Did she really not trust them at least to be decent human beings? He noticed that Lorena had wrapped her arms around him, returning the hug. Going by the growing wet spot on his shirt, he knew she was crying. But, she was oddly silent, and her shoulders barely shook. Last he checked, typically when you cry you make noise and your whole body moves. He decided not to question it for now. He began walking backwards towards her bed, intending to get her to sleep. Dragging her along, he pushed her bag off of the bed and got under the covers with her.
They both fell asleep within two minutes.
A/N: So? Thoughts? Did the link work? Please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors that may have occurred. And let's just assume that I won't be updating regularly for a while. I hope to finish the next chapter this week, but who knows what'll happen.