Chapter V: A Discussion of Sorts

Later that night, Rita Loud woke up with an unsettling feeling that something was off. After eighteen years and ten pregnancies, her motherly instincts were impeccable, flowing through every fiber and filament of her being. Every single time the family went out, she was constantly counting heads and glancing left, right and even backwards over her shoulder to make sure everyone was there and in line.

She knew better than to ignore her instincts.

She slid off the inn's rickety bed, cringing as the frame made a loud creak that seemed to be amplified tenfold by the soundless night wind. She gazed down at the peaceful faces of her children, who were sprawled out into a messy pile of pillows and sleeping bags across the wooden floor.

Lori, the eldest and most responsible, was as still, flat, and silent as a log. She'd positioned herself quite wisely in the middle of the heap and was seemingly oblivious to the weight of Leni's head on her chest. The younger teenager hugged her pillow fiercely, stroking it lovingly in her sleep as though it were a puppy or kitten.

In one corner of the room, Luna had curled up tight with Lola and Lana, holding each twin close in one of her arms as she sang them a soft, tired lullaby. They'd been frightened to the point of being inconsolable by the scare they'd had earlier that evening, so much so that they could only tell the story through a curtain of tears and broken stuttering. Though Rita tried to hide her emotions for the sake of her children, she'd been terrified, too. If one thing had happened differently, she could've lost them both in the span of seconds. None of the little ones would be leaving her sight again anytime soon.

Next to Luna, Lynn Jr twitched jerkily in her sleep. Her fidgety legs kicked against Lucy's coffin several times, producing a set of periodically resounding thuds. Lucy, who always slept so paralyzed and pale that sometimes Rita would check her pulse to make sure she wasn't dead, paid it no mind. She continued to dream her darkest nightmares in complete peace, save for the occasional vocalized "Sigh."

Lincoln was propped protectively against the dresser drawer that had been pulled out onto the floor to serve as Lily's makeshift crib, supporting the weight of Lisa, who had nestled into his shoulder, her nose buried in his pajamas. The young inventor was typically very stoic during the day, but Rita knew all too well that she was especially clingy and affectionate at night.

Rita found these quiet moments where all of her children slept together to be one of the most calming (and adorable) parts of her day, but she still couldn't shake the thought that something was wrong. That something was missing.

She did a quick head-count, just to be sure. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten… where was number eleven?

As a panicked jolt of fear shot up her back, she turned back to her bed and shook her husband awake. "Lynn?" she whispered sharply.

"Mmm, Lynnsagna…" Lynn Sr murmured to himself, completely unresponsive.

Rita shook him harder, and when he dazedly lifted his head, she said, "I think we're missing one. I only counted ten."

He shot straight out of bed, landing on both of his slippered feet. The floorboards creaked so loudly under his sudden weight that Rita could see the still-spooked twins flinch. "Did we leave the baby behind again?"

"Poo-poo!" Lily cried out, obviously wanting to make it clear that she was still there.

"Lori, Leni, Luna, Lynn," Rita made note of every child she could see. "Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lily. Wait…where's Luan?"

"Luan?" Lynn Sr's voice betrayed that he was utterly confused. "She's not the type to sneak out at night. I mean, Luna I worry about sometimes, but not her."

By now several of the children had started to shift and stir. "Have any of you seen Luan?" Rita asked their disoriented faces.

All of them looked around, and then at each other, their eyes wide and shocked. There was not a half-asleep pun to be heard. None of Luan's clocks, which she often set to go off at random times throughout the night to give her family a good prank, had chimed at all. Even her yellow sleeping bag was vacant. She had completely vanished.

"M-maybe the robbers stole her," Lana whimpered.

"Dude, no way!" Luna comforted her in a sleepy voice. "What would a bunch of thieves want with Luan of all people? She'd probably annoy them so much they'd just let her go!"

"Not if they killed her," Lucy pointed out.

"That's not helping!" Lori complained, shoving Leni's head off her chest and ignoring the costume designer's startled yelp. She looked up, meeting her mother's eyes with a frightened expression. "Mom, I'm so sorry! This is literally all my fault! I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on everyone for you. I swear, if anything happened to Luan, I'm going to literally-"

"That's enough, Lori," she replied. "This is not your fault, and I can't have you getting all worked up." Rita pulled her coat off the coatrack and slipped it on. "Your father and I will go out to look for Luan, and I'm counting on you to keep your younger siblings safe while we're gone. It's all going to be okay, honey."

Lori nodded solemnly. As the oldest, she had an important role to play, and Rita trusted her not to let her down. Rita grabbed her still-exhausted husband's arm and pulled him to the door, cautiously making sure not to let either of them step on any of the children's sprawled-out bodies.

Rita tugged Lynn Sr down the three long flights of stairs so quickly and roughly that she was honestly surprised he didn't trip even once. He matched her pace, feeling the same sense of urgency that she did.

She shoved open the exit door and looked out at the landscape of sprawling hills and shadow-coated buildings. The world suddenly seemed so big. Her lost daughter could be absolutely anywhere and she had no clue where to even begin. The best approach would be to split up, letting her husband search one area while she went off in the opposite direction. Rita knew firmly in her heart that she would never quit, would never stop searching until Luan was safe in her arms again.

Everything's going to be fine, Rita assured herself, trying not to think about all of the danger a fifteen-year-old girl could potentially get herself into. But if it turns out Luan's done something stupid again, I'm going to personally ground her until she's thirty-one.

…

Luan woke up at the very first rays of dawn. She'd always been an early riser; she'd instantly wake whenever the sky decided that it was time to get up. For a long moment, she stared blankly at the red fabric in front of her nose for a minute, trying to figure out where the heck she was. She couldn't hear any of her siblings snoring or complaining about the puns she'd probably made in her sleep, which alerted her pretty quickly that she was definitely not where she was supposed to be.

She sat up and looked around, conscious of the weight of something warm and heavy around her shoulders, as though she was wearing an extra cloak over hers.

A sea of gray greeted her tired eyes. Stone walls. Stone tiles.

As soon as she registered where she was, her heart sank. This was not good.

She'd fallen asleep at the Stone Castle, still wrapped up in Benny's blue coat. She hadn't intended to stay nearly this long, her original plan being to sneak out for a brisk walk and then return to the inn, leaving her family none the wiser.

Her family! They were probably panicking, wondering where she'd gone. And while she may have been lucky enough to avoid Lori's big-sister wrath the first time she'd snuck out, there was no way she would be able to evade the fury of twelve angry faces. Long story short, she was toast, and there was no way to make this situation any butter.

Her gaze swept across the floor, lingering on Benny's dark form. He'd curled up on the rug in front of the fireplace, where a few red-hot embers were still smoking. As she watched him, he twitched and whimpered in his sleep in a manner that was not too different from the way her dog, Charles, looked when he was having a dream about chasing rabbits. Luan wondered what kinds of things Benny dreamed about.

As she watched him fidget in his sleep, Luan recalled that she hadn't been the only one who'd gotten scared last night. In the moment when he'd nearly torn out her throat, he clearly hadn't been himself. The real Benny would've never dared to hurt her like that.

So what had gone on in his mind?

I'm going to figure this out, she promised, touching the yellow strip of fabric that bandaged the wound on her wrist.

Slowly, she slid off of the chair, walking over to the fireplace to blow out the last of the firelight, which was no longer needed. As she did, she couldn't help but notice how a few locks of Benny's dark, tangled hair had flopped rather cutely over his eyes, a few strands even brushing against his nose and making him sneeze. There were no traces left of the scarier side of him she'd seen last night. Instead of a menacing wolf, she only saw an adorable puppy.

She had a sudden, girlish urge to run her hands through his hair and perhaps fluff it up and make it even cuter and messier, but she quickly and unquestionably shook that thought out of her mind. She had more important matters to attend to.

She pressed her finger to his nose, just a gentle sign to remind him she was there and tell him that he'd better wake up soon and start explaining himself. At her touch, she heard the worried, high-pitched whines he'd been making abruptly switch to a deeper, calmer, purr-like sound.

For some reason that made her blush, and caused those weird but oddly delightful can't-seem-to-find-a-name-for-them feelings to cloud her head. She really needed to find a way to get them out of there, because she liked her brain much better when it was not all fluttery and loopy, thank you very much.

Regaining her composure, she looked Benny straight in the eyes, which had just started to open, revealing their warm brown hue. "Why did you let me sleep?" she demanded.

He pushed himself up into a kneeling position. "You looked tired," he said simply.

"You are aware that my parents are probably going to kill me, right? I'm going to have an awful lot of explaining to do."

Benny brushed a few stray hairs out of his eyes. "You're pretty crafty. I bet you'll think of something." His gaze latched onto hers and she held it. "And if you have to tell them… everything… then, that's okay."

There had been kind of an unspoken social contract between Benny and Luan where she only told his secrets to people she trusted would help them to stay secrets, which at the moment was only two of her sisters, Lisa and Lucy. It wasn't necessarily because she didn't trust the rest of them (except Lola-she was physically incapable of keeping juicy gossip out of her mouth), but secrets among the Loud family tended to spread like wildfire. The smaller the number of people that knew about any of hers, the better.

But, they'd both seemed to be aware that the truth would have to come out eventually, and after Luan had unceremoniously gotten herself into a scrape like this, there was no way she'd be able to hide it.

Luan pulled her arms out of Benny's coat and handed it to him. As he took it, she realized just how cold she felt without its added protection and seriously considered snatching it back and hiding in it forever. She pulled the hood of her own cloak tightly over the back of her head and touched her hand to the doorknob, prepared to step back into the whirlwind of beloved, but chaotic noise and drama that was her family.

As she leaned against the door, she said hesitantly, "I know you're kind of shy about other people, but I bet my siblings would like to meet you." She turned her head to give him a wink. "All ten of them."

Benny crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Pssh. Yeah, right," he scoffed.

"Are you being doubtful about my having ten siblings or about them liking you?"

"Um, both of those," he answered.

"Nonsense. You're perfectly likeable and I'm being perfectly honest." Luan pushed open the door, the hem of her cloak starting to flutter in the autumn breeze. "I'll try to see you again very soon! Assuming I'm still alive by the end of the day, that is."

"That'd be great," he assured her. "And remember, if you ever need a warm place to stay, I'm never fur away." He ran a hand through his hair, perhaps trying to prove his point.

"Oh, you." Luan smiled. "Enough with the pointless fluff. I've got things to do."

"Don't go into the woods," Benny warned.

"Believe me, I'm not making that mistake again. Besides," she added upon seeing Benny's worried expression, "I've got a yellow belt in karate. I'm probably the most dangerous thing out here."

On that note she stepped out the door and pushed it closed behind her, catching the slightest glimpse of him shaking his head with an affectionate smile. She found it odd how reluctant she was to leave and how the fluttery-floppy sight of her unlikely friend filled her to the brim with jokes and puns.

Once again, Luan decided that feelings were way too complex for her silly little brain to ever begin to comprehend.

…

Lost.

That wasn't an emotion Luan had much experience with, since in a family as big as hers, there was always someone there she could try to connect with.

But right now, she could feel a shivering sense of lost-ness deep down in her chest as she wandered the empty streets, her normally sunshiny-and-smiley face cringing in fear every time she heard whispers or saw a dark shadow. There was definitely something going on in the alleyway, which made her worry that Lola and Lana really hadn't been making up the story they'd told earlier that evening.

It felt like far too much of a relief when she spotted the familiar rosy-pink tones of her mother's favorite jacket and sprinted towards it, wanting nothing more than to be sheltered from the darkness and from her sudden flood of emotions.

Two broken-up creatures became one again as they hugged, and things instantly felt safe and warm. The disoriented comedienne didn't let go of the soft comfort of her mother's hand even once during the trek back to the inn.

Needless to say, the solace didn't last long. As soon as Luan knocked on the door of her family's rented room (biting down hard on her tongue to keep from blurting out a knock-knock joke), she was greeted by Lori's glowering face. Her frizzed-up blonde hair and deep, wrinkled eye-bags suggested that she was in need of several hot lattes.

Luan dared to let the slightest hint of a smirk slip when she saw a flash of pure, sweet relief in Lori's eyes, then immediately regretted it when her oldest sister's dead-in-the-eyes glare deepened.

"Do you know how hard it is to look after nine sobbing and screaming children?" Lori demanded.

Luan merely shook her head.

"Of course not! The only thing you're responsible for is skipping around merrilly and annoying everyone with your stupid puns! After everything you've put me through, you're lucky if I don't snatch you up and contort you into a literal human pretzel! All I'm saying is you'd better have a really good story."

"Now, Lori," Luan tried to reason, holding out her hands in front of her with their palms up-the Loud family equivalent of waving a white flag. "Pretz-all be friends here. I can explain! Serious!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." After a quick roll of her eyes, Lori turned to shout to her still-tense siblings. "Family meeting in fifteen minutes! Outside! Be there or I'll pound you into the ground!"

As Lori yanked her outside, Luan could overhear Lynn Jr's grumpy voice muttering, "This early in the morning?"

…

Fifteen minutes and forty-two relieved hugs later, Luan sat in the middle of a grassy clearing in the lush courtyard overlooking the inn, surrounded by her entire family. To any passersby, the group looked more like an invasion than a family meeting, but then again, the Loud family did tend to have that effect on public places.

Around them, weeping willow trees moped, their green branches nearly touching the ground. Assorted flowers of every color bloomed on bushes and gathered in patches around the spiraling stone pathways. Many of the blossoms were already losing their petals as they prepared for their long winter hibernations. As Luan caught sight of a single yellow lily, which had already lost one of its petals, among a cluster of pinker ones, she couldn't help but think of a certain someone, unaware that her face held a faint smile.

Lola, Lana, and Lily had somehow found a way to squish all three of themselves into their unwitting comedienne sister's lap. Of course, this meant that the entirety of the lower half of Luan's body became numb from the weight within minutes, and it felt more than a little uncomfortable when one of them, and then another, would squirm or shift their position. However, the pleading look in all of her little sisters' eyes told her that they'd experienced quite a scare when they'd woken up and discovered that she wasn't there, so she begrudgingly let them stay. She may have even run her hands through Lola's hair once or twice as a comforting gesture.

Luan could feel her mother's unwavering eyes watching her closely. Somewhere in the tumultuous storm of her green-eyed gaze, Luan could pick up on glimpses of deep fear and genuine concern. It wasn't something she was used to seeing from Rita, who was usually very chipper and cheerful. Besides that, Luan had never really been the cause of negative emotions like this, aside from the occasional ill-spirited prank. To see someone's face look this bad and to know that she was responsible for it made Luan want to shrink. To hide away.

Wanting to look at practically anything else, she glanced around at the rest of her family, who were all sitting obediently in a ring on the grass. To her left, Lori had her arms crossed, her tired eyes looking expectantly at Luan. On her other side, Leni was working on patching up the runaway's yellow cloak, seemingly paying no attention to her surroundings. Luan admired the way she hadn't even had to ask for Leni's help; the moment her big sister had seen that Luan's garment was torn, she'd immediately pulled out her sewing kit, no questions asked.

Luna looked absolutely miserable. Being a night owl, the early hours of the morning were all but intolerable to her, and this was painfully visible in her drooping eyelids and slumped-over figure. Lynn Jr seemed bored, and pretty uncomfortable with the concept of sitting still for more than thirty seconds. Lincoln's worried eyes held the same expression as Rita's. Sometimes it unnerved Luan how much the boy took after his mother.

It was a good thing Luan couldn't see Lucy's eyes from underneath her dark bangs. Something told her that her spooky little sis knew exactly where she'd been last night. Lisa had her nose buried in a book, her brilliant mind always at work, but once or twice she glanced up at Luan, as if to check that she was still there. Lynn Sr just looked confused, but at the same time oddly protective. Even though he wasn't really sure what was going on, he understood that it concerned his family, and he was, as Luan knew, always ready to punch anyone who messed with his daughters or son on a moment's notice.

Lori pulled a judge's wooden gavel out of her coat pocket and lightly tapped Lynn Jr on the head with it. "Order in the court!" she said in a commanding voice. All that was missing from the oldest sister's display would be a white powdered wig.

"Why'd you bonk me?" Lynn Jr demanded, balling her hands into fists.

"I didn't have a wooden desk, so I figured I'd pound on the next-closest thing, " she explained, taking one of the acrobat's hands in hers and unfolding the tight fist.

"Are you saying I'm a blockhead?!"

"We're getting off-track. You," Lori pointed to Luan. "Explain yourself."

For someone so well-versed in improv performances, it was weird how Luan's mind suddenly went blank when she was put on the spot in front of her family.

"It's… oh, kind of a long story. It would take me pages to tell it all." When her family said nothing, their faces urging her on, she decided to start at the beginning when she'd seen a light coming from the seemingly-empty castle. From there she recounted all of the times she'd wandered off to meet up with Benny, and listed everything she knew about the castle's history and about the curse that had been placed upon its prince. Finally, she explained what had happened last night-how a simple late-night walk had turned into a fight with a wolf pack, and then into an impromptu sleepover.

She did choose to leave out a few specific details, however, such as how after the wolves attacked, Benny had turned on her and unexpectedly wound up nearly killing her himself. And, obviously, the fact that she found him sort of cute despite this.

After she finished, she looked around at her family, who were all staring at her as though she'd grown an extra head. It took a considerable amount of her willpower not to laugh at the absolutely stunned faces they were making (except Lucy of course-hardly anything got a not-blank expression out of her).

It was Lynn Sr who broke the silence. "You slept with a boy?"

Luan tried very hard to fix her flustered visage before anyone took notice. "What the heck?! No!" she sputtered, wondering if her cheeks looked as red as they felt. "I did not sleep with a boy, I slept at a boy's house. There's a difference! A very big difference!" She felt the need to make that as pointedly clear as possible. There was nothing like that between them.

…Was there?

Well, now she just felt all mixed-up.

Rita's concerned gaze fell onto Luan once again. "Where did you get those?" she asked as she pointed to the scratches on her daughter's arms, apparently noticing them for the first time.

"The wolves," Luan said as nonchalantly as possible. "It's really no big deal. I'm fine."

"It's a very big deal to me!" her mother protested, getting up from her spot on the ground. She moved over to kneel next to Luan, inspecting the damage. She tugged off the makeshift bandage on Luan's wrist, exposing the place where Benny had bitten her. It wasn't a grave wound in any way-his teeth had only barely grazed her skin-but it hurt nonetheless because the moment she'd received it, she'd thought she'd lost him for good. The mark was a painful reminder that something had happened to him, something that Luan still didn't quite understand.

"Is this a bite?" Rita asked, worry etched into visible lines on her face.

"Just a little one?" Luan shrugged, wishing her mother wouldn't fuss over her so much, but at the same time understanding perfectly well (and feeling a small hint of affection at the thought) that she would anyway.

"Did a wolf do this to you?" Rita gasped. "What if it had rabies?"

"Cool!" Lana piped up, snatching Luan's wrist to inspect the mark herself.

"No, not cool, Lana!" Rita argued, pulling nervously at a few strands of her blonde hair. "Are you dizzy?" she questioned Luan. "Feverish? Itchy? Do you have a headache?"

"Only when you ask me those weird questions," Luan answered with a grin as she pulled her arm out of Lana's curious grasp.

"Take this seriously, Luan!" Rita's tone was aggravated. "I'm trying to check for symptoms of rabies and you're not helping me."

"I don't have rabies, mom!" Luan was almost certain of that.

Did Benny have rabies? The thought made her mind worry. Should she be concerned about him? What might happen to her if she continued to let herself be around him?

The more she thought about it, the more she didn't think that was the case. And she felt confident in saying that he wasn't a werewolf, either. He'd mentioned that he thought what happened was in some way tied to his curse, which Luan was pretty sure wasn't contagious in any way. As long as Benny didn't lose control again, no harm would come to her.

Of course, there was the question of what would happen if he did lose control again. Luan wasn't really sure of the answer to that one.

But Luan had told Benny she wouldn't leave him, and that was a promise she fully intended to keep, even if it got her a few more scrapes in the process. She may have been a prankster, but she wasn't a liar.

"I'm fine. Really," Luan assured her mother. "And I've only seen the wolves at night. If I only go out during the day, there's almost no chance of them attacking me again."

"So you do intend to go back?" Lynn Sr inquired.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Uh, because you nearly died," Lucy pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm not sure that's the smartest or safest thing to do, honey," Rita agreed. "Is this friend of yours really that important to you?"

"Yes!" Luan shouted without hesitation. Once again, everyone stared at her.

Rita tilted her head. "Why?"

"Because…" Once again, words were hard when eleven pairs of eyes (as well as Lucy's hidden ones) were staring her in the face and demanding answers.

Luan tugged on the end of her ponytail. "Because he has no one," she answered. "The spell he's under has driven everyone else away and it's… it's not right to leave someone like that alone." She looked to her family for approval and spotted a few of her sisters nodding their heads.

"That's probably the most serious thing I've heard you say in a long time," Lynn Sr added.

A smile tugged at the corners of Luan's mouth. "See? I have my moments. Plus, it's nice to have someone around who actually laughs at my jokes instead of rolling their eyes at me." She pointed an accusing finger at Lori, who was indeed rolling her eyes as her sister spoke.

"I laugh at your jokes!" Lynn Sr protested.

Lori looked at Rita. "Are you seriously buying her story? I mean, magic spells and cursed old castles? Literally, no way. This is clearly just an elaborate prank designed to lure us into the castle. I bet she booby-trapped every square inch of it!"

"Hey, I'm not that clever!" Luan retaliated as Lynn Jr and Lana giggled, undoubtedly at Lori's usage of the word booby-trap.

"The hocus-pocus-y bits do seem a bit far-fetched," Rita reasoned. "But this sounds like it's important to Luan. And I'd like to meet this friend of hers." She turned to Luan. "Would tomorrow be ideal?"

It was a good thing Luan wasn't drinking anything at the moment, because she definitely would've spit it out in surprise. "That soon? Well, I'd have to go over and tell him and I-"

Rita nodded. "You have my permission to do that. But, I don't want you going over there alone anymore, especially with what happened last night. I have to go to a town meeting and your father has to watch the kids since Lori's completely checked-out." Rita gestured to Lori, who was trying to stifle her thirty-fourth yawn. "I want you to take one of your older sisters with you."

Luan lifted an eyebrow. "Do I get to pick which one?"

"That seems fair," Rita said, oblivious to the sight of Luan rubbing her palms together like a scheming evil genius. "I'd feel better if you carried a weapon, too."

"She can borrow my baseball bat!" Lynn Jr said, pulling a brown bat out of what seemed to be thin air.

"Have you gone batty? What's a baseball bat going to do against a wolf?" Luan questioned.

"Don't underestimate what ol' Betsy can do." Lynn Jr swung the baseball bat, narrowly missing Lola's head, before handing it to Luan.

As the rest of the family started to get up, the conflict having been resolved, Rita held up a finger. "One more thing!"

Luan blinked. "What's that?"

Rita put her hands on her hips. "I need to punish you for sneaking out."

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that."

"I didn't. The last time Luna snuck out, she had to do extra chores for a month."

Luna, having already stood up to leave, bent down to give her sister a hollow-eyed stare. "Those were dark days, brah."

"It's only fair," Rita said as Luan shuddered. "Make sure you're back before sundown this time, or I will ground you, young lady."

"Yes, ma'am!" Luan waited for the rest of her siblings to leave before tugging on the sleeve of the only one that remained. The one who had paid practically zero attention to the conversation at all. "Come on, Leni. We're going on an adventure!"

…

A lot was happening in the town that morning.

In the shadows and alleyways, an ever-growing band of thieves skittered and schemed, whispering plans that the Loud family, most of whom were just returning to the cozy familiarity of the inn, knew nothing about. On the walls of several buildings, the bandits drew tiny marks in white chalk. They sent messages to far-off places by both carrier pigeons and ponies, looking for even more recruits.

The few villagers who managed to catch sight of these newcomers all came to the same conclusion: something was going to happen soon. Something big.

However, most people were discussing a very different subject. Namely the sight of the peculiar young performer in the yellow cloak who left many mornings to visit the recently-abandoned castle, the one formerly owned by the presumed-dead former king, queen, and prince.

Was it truly empty? If it was, then why did this funny girl keep going back day after day after day? Despite all of the rumors of curses and monsters, some of the villagers debated whether they should investigate the Stone Castle for themselves. Who knows, maybe there were still some gold bars and diamonds there waiting to be looted.

A lot was happening, indeed.

So much so that no one stopped to notice another person slipping off to peer into the windows of the Stone Castle. One with glittering green robes.

...

A/N: Well, there goes another chapter. Wow, time really does fly when you're having a good time!

I just want to say thank you again to all of the readers who've given me support thus far. I was (and still am some days) hesitant to post something for this fandom because I've seen that there are a couple of trolls that leave very mean and hateful comments on some other stories (immature young people, amirite?). But the review section on my story has so far been filled with only lovely people who leave very respectful notes on what they like, what they think will happen next, and what they think I could improve on. It kind of sucks that I have to say this, but thanks for not being jerks! :)

An extra-big thanks to the little group of people who leave reviews on multiple chapters. You guys are for real the sunshine to my yellow lilies, and definitely worth getting cursed for. (Yes, I'm aware that sounds cheesy, but I'm going to say it anyway.)