Hello again, everybody! Welcome to the next chapter, which may or may not be the second-last one in this story. That depends on how the chapter after this one turns out. But let's not worry about that right now. Right now, let's see how our heroes handle the next part of this suspenseful rescue mission…

Heart To Heart Moments

"I really hurt her that much?"

"Yes. The medics told me so. That they tried everything in their power, but it was no use. The booboo she received from when you accidentally squashed her earlier was so serious…she's…trapped in a deep sleep…that nobody…not even us…can wake her from…a sleep that will last…forever…"

"I'm so sorry, Objectiva. I never meant to hurt her! I didn't know she was even there when I…you know, when I…"

"Enough already…"

A vision of Objectiva along with Effie, Bongo, and Golias grieving over the seeming death of Wish-Trish was what Foxface and everyone who came into the fairy's head with her heard and then saw when they arrived at their destination. However, what they also saw was a large number of bushes with pink and purple lotus flowers on them that, despite not having been present for the memory being played in front of them, Foxface was pretty sure weren't part of the vision.

"Stay back," Boggs warned. "Those flowers could be poisonous." He then unclipped his blaster from his belt and shot at the bushes until they disintegrated into nothingness.

Hearing the racket, Objectiva turned and recognized most of the people who'd just come into her dream. "Oh, thanks the heavens you've come," she said. "Everyone that came for me before you did had to run deeper into my dream because of those flowers, which came from who knows where. I tried to go with them, but after my vision changed, I was forced to remain here, probably because of the bubbles surrounding me. The ones I cannot see, but that you and they apparently can."

"We have to tell you something," said Rue. "Clove and Bongo switched bodies at some point before you were brought out of the Capitol. None of us know how, but that's what happened."

Objectiva's eyes widened. "They did? But why didn't my intuition say so?"

"It is probably because you are unconscious," answered Foxface, pushing aside her surprise with the fairy's comment.

"Yes, 'tis probably it," Objectiva said. "Now…how exactly are we supposed to literally end this nightmare?"

"Just try your absolute hardest to think of a positive memory until it becomes too much for your visions to handle," answered Foxface.

"Since you can't walk, Soldier McLight, you can stay here and help her with that," decided Boggs. "In the meantime, the rest of us will track down Miss Bronzitt and the others."

"Even Geolo?" Foxface asked, skeptically.

"Yes, even Soldier Keyship," said Boggs. "Why?"

"If this is about my confidence problem, I can surpass it," Geolo told her. "I know I can do it because there was this one time when I would have overcome it, but—"

"No buts," Foxface interrupted. "Buts mean you cannot succeed in overcoming your lack of confidence."

"I know I can overcome it," said Geolo. "I just need to keep my mind in the right place, even when Clove's around. Please, just give me a chance!"

Foxface thought it over, and then sighed. She was very reluctant about obeying his request, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that this was the first time Geolo had asked to be given a chance like this. Usually he was apprehensive about this kind of thing, but…not this time. This time he wasn't convinced that his confidence crisis would interfere with him performing a task, and, possibly because of something Sonia had said to him while helping him free himself from the tracker jacker venom bubbles' influence, he actually seemed…ready. She couldn't deprive him of an opportunity to prove he was more confident. It was best to just humor him and let him come with everyone who was going to seek out Clove and those who were with her.

"Alright," exhaled Foxface, "you can go with them. But you had better honor your word."

Geolo nodded, and then followed Boggs, Rue, and Thresh as they walked forward, in search of everyone else that was in Objectiva's dream. Every few seconds they encountered one or two more bushes with lotus flowers on them, some of which would try to shoot yellow liquid at them. But every time this happened, the foursome would successfully dodge the liquid, and Boggs would use his blaster to shoot at the bushes until they disintegrated into nothingness like the first ones had. As all this transpired, Geolo thought hard about how he was going to help his allies, and slowly but surely, he began to formulate a plan. A plan that was risky and that involved some very serious acting in order to pull off, but that he had faith in after taking several deep breaths.

After about a minute of searching and bush-destroying, the group finally found Haymitch, Dial, Homes, and Clove, who were currently surrounded by a lotus flower bush that was much larger and stronger-looking than the other bushes. Homes was trying to shoot down this bush with his blaster, but unlike the other bushes, this one stayed alive and healthy no matter how much destructive stuff went into it.

"That's not the kangaroo!" Thresh hollered. "That's Two!"

Startled to hear those words, Haymitch, Dial, and Homes turned to face the new arrivals, studied them for a second, and then turned back to Clove, a realization dawning over them. It was Dial who angrily said what that realization was: "Are you the reason why we can't get away from the poisonous flowers no matter how deep into the fairy's brain we go?"

In response, Clove clapped her hands together and then stepped back a little, smiling sinisterly as several thick vines came out from within the bushes, heading straight for her enemies. Thresh scooped Rue up and dove out of the way, but the others weren't so lucky. They tried to run or leap away from the vines, but the plants were too fast and managed to catch them.

"Stop!" Geolo screamed. "I'll do anything you want! I'll even kill the fairy while you watch! Just let me go so I can do it!"

Clove chuckled cruelly as she watched both tributes from District 11 turn to look at the boy in shock. "Oh, Genius. Did you really think I'd fall for a trick like that?"

"It's not a trick!" Geolo insisted, watching as he and everyone else that had been nabbed by the vines were pulled closer and closer to the bush. But really, it was. He just needed to lure her away from the others, to a specific part of Objectiva's dream…

"Really?" Clove asked him, clearly not believing what he was saying.

"Really!" Geolo said. "It's not a trick. I mean it." He then focused all his energy on one particular thought without letting it show on his face: Tally. His first best friend, and how sorry he was that she'd died all because he'd screwed up…the girl he'd let down immensely…and then, for what felt like the millionth time, his eyes welled up with tears. Perfect! Just what he needed to convince Clove that he wasn't trying to trick her.

The Career studied the boy's expression, and caved in at last. She then snapped her fingers, and the vine that was holding Geolo became weak and collapsed, releasing him in the process. "Okay," she said, "if you insist. But you'd better make it quick. The fairy's not the only one I want dead."

Geolo nodded. "Yeah, I'll make it quick. Quick, and good."

Next, he led Clove back the way he'd come. However, when she wasn't looking, he briefly turned back towards Thresh and Rue, and winked at them. Now for the most part understanding what he was trying to do, both tributes' surprise faded away, and they waited until the duo were out of sight and earshot before getting up and coming towards their trapped allies.

"Geolo's got a plan," said Rue. "He's not really going to kill Objectiva. I saw him wink at us when she wasn't paying attention to him."

"She's right," Thresh told the others.

"Are you sure that's the truth?" Haymitch asked. "He was crying actual tears when he said all that stuff."

"Positive," affirmed Rue. "He was probably thinking about something sad when he was telling her everything. And, well…I can take a pretty good guess of what he was thinking about. Or…who he was thinking about."

"Tally," murmured Dial.

"What?" Thresh asked.

"Nothing," Dial said. "Now come on, help us out of here!"

Thresh nodded and then grabbed the vine that had Dial trapped, and by mustering all his strength, he was able to rip the vine in half, freeing the young man from its powerful grip. Then both of them began tugging on the vines that held Boggs and Homes, hoping to free them next. Haymitch, meanwhile, lifted the magic dagger up and used it to cut himself free from the vine that held him.

Objectiva strained very hard, but nothing changed. Her vision of herself and her friends grieving for the loss of Wish-Trish remained present, and no amount of positive thinking could erase it from view.

"Oh, 'tis no good," whimpered Objectiva. "I simply cannot stop thinking about my worst memories!"

"You have to try," said Foxface. "It took a bit for Nessa to prevail, but she eventually broke free."

Nodding, Objectiva tried even harder. However, nothing she did could stop her visions from showing themselves, and making matters worse, a shadowy figure appeared before her at that moment, snarling, "Stop trying to resist the venom!"

Both girls gasped in fear, with Foxface cursing herself for not expecting something like this to happen after what she'd seen from Nessa's visions and Golias's visions.

"Who…who are you?" Objectiva inquired. "Why do you sound like my aunt?"

"That is not important," sneered the figure. "What's important is that you stop trying to resist the venom."

Objectiva shook her head. "No. I won't stop trying to resist it. And there is nothing even you can do about it!" She then strained harder still, but the only thing that changed was the vision playing before her. It was now a vision of the funeral that she, Wish-Trish, and her aunt Oonette had hosted in Starpoint's honor, which had been just as sad as watching her die had been.

"Oh man," Geolo murmured, arriving just in time to watch the funeral vision begin. He felt really bad that Objectiva had lost someone so close to her, a position he knew all too well.

"What did you say?" Clove asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, nothing," said Geolo. "Just wasn't expecting to see a funeral."

"Oh."

Recognizing their voices, Foxface turned around, and when she saw Geolo and Clove together with no sign of the others, she became angry, scared, and wary all at the same time. Was Geolo betraying the team? If so, then she should have seen it coming. He did, after all, feel overpowered by the Careers to the point of betraying his best friend. So who would put it past him to betray his allies? And herself?

Geolo carefully picked Objectiva up by her large circle-shaped pigtail, and took a deep breath. And another. Oh, this was crazy. He couldn't do it. But he had no choice but to do it…

As Objectiva stared at Geolo, starting to feel very nervous about what was going to happen next, Clove glared at the boy and said, "What are you waiting for? Kill her!"

The tribute from District 3 "casually" stepped a bit closer to Clove, and then inhaled deeply. It was time…so he lifted his free hand and, at first, aimed it at the fairy's head. But then, when the Career least expected it, he swiftly pressed Objectiva against her—well, technically Bongo's—chest, causing the tracker jacker venom bubbles surrounding Objectiva's body to multiply. In an instant, the clones of the bubbles were stuck on Clove, making her lose consciousness and collapse onto her back.

Foxface gasped at the sight of what had just happened. "You…you were not trying to betray us?"

"Of course I wasn't," assured Geolo, still trying to process the fact that he'd actually gotten Clove out of his allies' way to success. "Not this time. Like I said…I just had to keep my mind in the right place."

As she observed Clove lying on the floor unconscious, Foxface was unable to help it. She laughed, and admitted, "That was…that was very impressive!"

"You…you really think so?" Geolo asked, unable to help smiling.

Then, realizing how bizarre she was probably sounding, Foxface stopped laughing and forced herself to frown as she nodded. Objectiva then said, "Um…not to ruin the moment, but could you please let go of me?"

"Oh, yes, of course," Geolo said. He released the fairy, who then began to cry as her vision forced her to focus on its projection of Starpoint.

"Now go on," Foxface told her. "What is something positive you can think about?"

"I know what I need to think about," said Objectiva, "it's just very hard to think about it! Can you help me out a bit?"

Foxface sighed wearily, but sang the chorus of her "Optimistic" song one more time. "No matter the pain, you have to be optimistic! Fighting back when caught in a trap, and when you are defied. Yes you must be optimistic! So stand with us because together, we can succeed in facing the music! Even if it is the one thing we have always feared. For I know you, and the one thing you should never not be…is optimistic."

"Optimistic…optimistic…optimistic…!" sang Objectiva. She closed her eyes very tightly, doing her best to ignore the shadowy figure as it shouted, "No! Don't sing along! Don't you dare think about things other than myself and your visions!"

"Sorry, Shadow-copy-of-Aunt-Oonette," Objectiva bravely declared. "But I choose to dwell on my positive memories rather than my negative ones!" She then let out a loud, deep scream that was so intense, Foxface, Geolo, and even those who were farther down in the fairy's brain had to cover their ears. Then all the bubbles surrounding Objectiva popped, and after that, in the blink of an eye, Dial, Haymitch, Homes, Foxface, Boggs, Rue, Geolo, and Thresh all found themselves back in the District 13 cafeteria, with Objectiva now awake. Clove was in the cafeteria too, but unlike everyone else, she was still covered in yellow bubbles and unconscious.

"You're awake!" Wish-Trish exclaimed, zooming over to hug her cousin.

Objectiva gasped in shock and disbelief. "Wish-Trish?! You're…you're alive?" A big smile spread across her face, and she flew forward. The two cousins met up and hugged each other while still in midair, both overjoyed to be reunited at last, and to see that they were both indeed still alive.

"But…how?" Objectiva inquired. "The medics from District 1 said you were…you know, gone!"

"Well then they lied to you," said Wish-Trish. "They were able to save my life, and instead of telling you the truth, they decided to transport me to the Capitol to earn themselves an ill-gotten fortune. There, I was held prisoner by the Knife Witch, Clove, for some time, and then by President Coin, the ex-leader of District 13. It was then that I was rescued by Nessa's friends."

"Oh, I am so glad you're safe and alive!" Objectiva gushed. She then released her cousin and said, "Thank you ever so much for reuniting us, everyone!"

"The pleasure is all ours," replied Boggs.

"Wait! We can't celebrate yet!" Bongo cut in. "We still have to switch me and Clove back!"

"And someone should probably get to District 4 and tell the mentors there everything they missed," added Haymitch.

"I'll handle that," volunteered Johanna, "if someone can fly me over there."

"I'll take care of it," said the soldier from District 6; the one who had fixed that particular hovercraft so that Golias could fit inside of it.

Johanna agreed to this, and then she and the soldier left the cafeteria. Once they were gone, Homes asked, "So…what should we do with the magic dagger?"

"Magic dagger?" Objectiva asked, surprised. She flew away from Wish-Trish and toward Homes, asking, "What do you mean by that?"

Haymitch held up the dagger and said, "Bongo said that while you and him were on the island you got those amulets from, he found this. It's been trying to control him every time he holds it."

Objectiva examined the dagger closely and grew wide-eyed in alarm. "Haymitch, that's not just any dagger! That's La Dola, a dagger that is also capable of initiating body swaps!"

"What?" Wish-Trish inquired. "How is it capable of initiating body swaps? You only transferred your power to the talismans, the hourglass pair, and the fortune cookies at Pei-Pei's restaurant!"

"The dagger contains Starpoint's power, not mine," her cousin told her. "I will tell you more later." Then Objectiva gasped, realizing something, and suspiciously turned toward Bongo. "Bongo, was La Dola the reason why you and Clove, the Knife Witch, swapped bodies?"

"La Dola! That's what I kept hearing inside my head after she used that knife to give me a haircut!" Bongo said.

Objectiva nodded. "Yes, 'tis a typical symptom when a body swap is about to be initiated thanks to La Dola." She narrowed her eyes. "What were you thinking, bringing La Dola into the picture?"

"I just wanted to stop the Knife Witch," admitted Bongo. "I thought that, since she had magic powers, only a magic knife could stop her."

"The Knife Witch hasn't got any powers!" Wish-Trish told him. "Well, alright, she does now that she's in your body. But originally, she didn't have any powers!"

"Then why did you call her the Knife Witch?" asked Golias.

"Because we didn't know her name until recently, she was armed with a knife, and she is very cruel," replied Wish-Trish. "When people are not very nice, sometimes they are called a witch even though they have no magical powers."

"Oh man," groaned Bongo. "That means I brought La Dola back to Panem for nothing!"

"It's okay, Bongo," Golias told him. "You were only trying to help us save Nessa."

"It was still very dangerous!" Effie exclaimed. "What if something terrible had happened because you were being controlled by the dagger, Bongo?"

"You're right," mumbled Bongo. "I'm sorry I brought it to Panem."

"Alright, that is it," said Wish-Trish. "Objectiva, you must strip that dagger of its power! Hurry, in case Mother finds out what you've done to it!"

Objectiva sighed softly, then nodded and approached La Dola. "Wait!" Bongo said. "Uh, before you take the knife's powers away, can I use it to switch me and Clove back?"

"Sure," said Objectiva. "Just give her a haircut like she did to you, and the two of you should be swapped back. But beware, for the swap could result in you falling under the influence of the tracker jacker venom fog…"

"Yipes!" Bongo yelped. But then he looked at his body, thought about how much he wanted it back, and remembered how Nessa and Objectiva had been freed from the tracker jacker venom. Which prompted him to nod and say, "Alright, alright. Haymitch, give me La Dola. It won't control me this time, trust me."

Haymitch sighed, but gave the dagger to Bongo. "Be careful with this thing, okay?" he told him.

"I will," promised Bongo. He then walked towards a still-unconscious Clove and, very carefully, used La Dola to slice off the remaining part of his tuft of auburn hair. As this happened, the dagger's right eye glowed bright red again, but no whispering was heard. The body swap was immediately undone, and before Clove realized what was happening, Boggs had tackled her down, knocking her to the floor. He then yanked La Dola out of her hand and tossed it to Homes, who caught it right away. Next, Objectiva fluttered toward La Dola, closed her eyes, concentrated very hard, and transferred Starpoint's power out of the dagger and into herself. Once this task was complete, she exhaled deeply and said, "Phew…that should do it."

"But what about the dagger?" Cressida asked. "What should we do with it now that it's not magic anymore?"

"I feel that it's best to bring it back to the island Bongo found it on," said Objectiva. "It was impounded by the Blissfield police, and it should stay impounded."

"No!" Clove yelled, struggling to free herself from Boggs' grasp. "It's my family's dagger! It should stay with me!"

Geolo took a step forward, surprising himself with his apparently-increased (most likely formulated due to his success in defeating her back in Objectiva's brain) bravery. "You don't deserve to wield that thing, magic or not," he told her. "And you know what else? I'm done being your henchman."

"No you're not, Genius," Clove snarled. "Look at yourself! You're a weakling! You don't have the guts to stand up to me."

"I'm not a weakling," Geolo declared. "And you and I both know it. I mean, who was it that got you infected by those tracker jacker venom bubbles? While you were in a body stronger than your own, on top of that."

Clove glared at him. "Crybaby Tally's gone. It's too late to—"

"Don't call her that, Clove. She may be gone, but I've still got many friends left. And you're not one of them. We're done…and if by some miracle you see Glimmer again, tell her that nothing she does and nothing you do will or can make me change my mind."

Boggs nodded, and before Clove could say anything in response, he requested, "Leeg 1, Leeg 2, help me take her away."

The Leeg sisters nodded and approached the duo. Then, with Leeg 1 helping Boggs restrain Clove and Leeg 2 supervising closely, the trio of District 13 soldiers escorted the Career out of the cafeteria. As they left, Boggs told everyone else, "We'll figure out what to do with her as a punishment later."

Things became mostly uneventful after that. Golias, Yuri, Lili, and Matt volunteered to travel into Bongo's dream (which only consisted of him being stuck in a no-gravity zone, separated from Matt and unable to bounce), and through the power of song, led by Golias, they were able to wake him up and pop the bubbles surrounding him. As predicted, meanwhile, an emergency presidential election was held in the Capitol four hours after President Snow was confirmed to be dead, and as it transpired, Boggs was officially dubbed the new leader of District 13, to everyone's delight. His first move as president was to initiate a search mission for Rue's missing parents, which many soldiers including Homes and the Leeg sisters went on. Rue herself along with Twill and Patch also embarked on the search mission, which ultimately ended in success after they found both parents in the wilderness near District 9. With the parents were six more adults, one of whom Rue recognized—to everyone's shock—as Juniper Berryharvest.

As it turned out, when she'd heard that her daughter, Matt, and Yuri had snuck off to Panem using a hang glider, Juniper had taken it upon herself to go to Panem and get the kids back home before anyone working for President Snow found them and did who knew what to them. Her husband Felix had refused to let her go alone, and had decided to accompany her to Panem. Then, once they'd found out about all the details, Matt's parents and Yuri's parents had insisted that they go to Panem too, which Juniper had reluctantly allowed. Matt's big sister Nina, on the other hand, was forced to stay behind with a babysitter (as were Lili's baby brothers) for her safety.

The first place in Panem that the parents had searched had been District 11, but by the time they'd gotten there, Matt, Yuri, Lili, and Rue's siblings had already left in their rocket ship. Rue's parents had just gotten home though, and when Juniper had told her sister and her husband what was going on, they'd both agreed to help on the condition that they look for their own missing children while they were at it. A search that went on for well over 24 hours, with no results until the soldiers searching for them a long while later found them.

Rue, very excited to meet her aunt and uncle, wasted no time in telling them everything they'd missed as they were taken back to District 13, where Nessa and her team were advised by Boggs to remain until the Capitol's election was over. Then the hovercraft they were in arrived there, and each pair of parents were finally reunited with their children.

"Lili, what were you and your friends doing?" Juniper exclaimed. "Panem is a very dangerous place! Something terrible could have happened to you all!"

"We just wanted to save Nessa," said Lili. "She's my best friend…or at least was…and I didn't want anything bad to happen to her!"

"The Capitol could have hurt you, Lili," Felix told her, his tone gentle but still serious. "They could have hurt you really badly. I don't want to have to do this, but as soon as we get back home, you're grounded."

"Grounded?" Lili asked.

"It means you won't be allowed to have any playdates or go anywhere without us for a month," said Juniper.

"What?!" Lili gasped.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but we can't just not punish you for doing something so dangerous," said Felix. "We were very worried about you when we found out what you and your friends did. You have to understand that."

Matt's parents and Yuri's parents also thought they should ground their kids for a month. Rue's parents, on the other hand, took a different (and secret so as not to make Lili and her friends jealous) approach and decided not to punish their children, believing they'd been through enough and needed some time to relax rather than a punishment.

Then, to try and brighten the moment, Juniper and Posey Berryharvest revealed that they were sisters, making Lili part of Rue's family. Overhearing this conversation, Sonia apologized to Rue, knowing how it felt to be related to someone who'd at least tried to leave Panem twelve years ago. "Ever since my uncle took part in the first Panem evacuation, my parents and I were picked on by our district's Peacekeepers for no reason. I can only imagine how bad you had it."

"Actually," Posey Berryharvest then said, "myself and my family weren't treated that way by the District 11 Peacekeepers. We would have been, but I um…I made a deal too horrible to elaborate on…with the authorities shortly after my sister's allies were arrested."

Prostitution, Haymitch unhappily guessed in his mind. Yeah; it was a good thing Snow was gone. All he could hope now was that whoever won the Capitol's emergency election wouldn't follow in that creepy old bastard's footsteps.

"So, uh…um…" Golias said to Yuri's parents. He tooted his trunk, and then asked, "Am I grounded too?"

"And me?" Bongo and Nessa inquired in unison.

"Why would we ground you too?" Lili's father asked them. "You're not our kids."

"Maybe not," said Bongo, "but Matt and I live together! We never go anywhere without each other."

"And I never go anywhere without Yuri," added Golias. "Well, I mean until this adventure."

"Yeah," said Bongo, nodding vigorously. As for Nessa, she simply stared at the floor in sadness, as this conversation made her think of her ex-best friend.

The parents all turned towards each other and exchanged glances, before turning back toward the Big Big Friends. "We won't punish you," said Matt's mother. "It just…it wouldn't be right."

"We will keep an eye on you though," said Matt's father. "Just in case things get out of control with the magic I hear you gave our kids access to."

"Yippee!" Bongo cheered, pumping his fists into the air. "No punishment!" Then he noticed Matt's annoyed frown and said, "Okay okay, no punishment's not good."

Golias and Nessa couldn't help chuckling once he said that, and then the eight newly-arrived parents went to get something to eat and drink. As this happened, Lili approached the giraffe and wistfully said, "I really am sorry, Nessa."

Nessa sighed, her own sadness returning. "Can we talk about this in another room? Matt, Yuri, Bongo, Golias, I want you to come too."

"Okey-dokey," said Bongo, with the other boys nodding in agreement. They along with Lili then followed Nessa as she walked out of the cafeteria and into the nearest bedroom.

Once everyone was inside the compartment, she used her mouth to close the door before turning to face her companions. "Guys…I know we had some good moments together. But there were some bad moments too, and every time the bad ones happened, Lili, you were mean to me and you never said you were sorry. And the rest of you didn't do anything to help me. You were so busy thinking about your best friends that you didn't wonder how I was feeling."

Matt looked surprised and guilty to hear all that. The other three boys, however, only felt guilty, and Golias even said, "Oh, Nessa. We're really sorry."

"I know you are," she sadly told them. "But I'm worried that nothing's gonna change, even if you're sorry for what you did. And if things don't change…I don't think we can be friends anymore."

"Things can change," assured Yuri. "We promise!"

"Yeah," said Matt. "From now on, every time we do something with you, we'll think about you."

"Are you sure?" Nessa asked. She wanted to believe what he'd just said, but it wasn't easy to do so.

"Of course we're sure," replied Bongo, with the other three boys nodding in agreement. Lili, however, just stared at the floor, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Lili?" Nessa asked, worried. "What's wrong?"

"I can't change into a nicer person," the girl lamented. "I wanna change, but…I just can't! I thought I could at first, but when we had the talk we had in the super duper big hovercraft, I yelled at you…and that's when I knew I can't change."

"Oh, Lili," said Nessa. She stepped closer to her, but Lili stepped back, shaking her head no. "You don't have to try to make me feel better, Nessa," she told her.

"It's okay," Nessa gently said. "I wanna do it."

Lili looked up at her in surprise. "Really? But I did so much bad stuff to you!"

"I know. And I don't think we'll ever be able to be best friends again because of it. But…now you know what you did wrong, and you feel sad because of it. So…" she gave a small smile, "…come here."

Lili practically flew towards the giraffe before hugging her tightly, her tears streaming from her eyes. Since she couldn't hug her in return, Nessa bent down and curved her neck so that it wrapped around the girl's body, before Golias walked over and used his ears to hug both of them. Then Bongo bounced toward the trio and hugged them too, followed closely by Matt and Yuri. They stayed like that for a full minute, before the six released each other.

"From now on we'll think about how you feel, Nessa," said Matt. "Just give all of us one more chance."

"Okay," answered Nessa. "Just one more chance."

"Great!" cheered Yuri. "Now let's go back to the room everyone else is in."

Golias smiled. "You guys go ahead. There's something I wanna talk to Nessa about…um, alone."

"Oh," said Yuri, surprised to hear that. "You don't even want me to be here?"

"Just for this one time," Golias politely told him. He chuckled nervously, and added, "Sorry."

As an understanding Yuri said it was okay and then followed Matt, Bongo, and Lili out of the room, Nessa perked up in surprise, her heart fluttering. Golias had never asked to be alone with her before. What could he want to talk to her about? Did he want to tell her he wanted them to be more than just friends? Oh, that would be so awesome!

Once their friends were gone, Golias used his trunk to close the door before turning around to face Nessa, who asked, "What did you wanna talk to me about?"

"The stuff you saw in my bad dream," replied Golias.

"Oh," she said. She frowned. "What did you mean by us having to be too busy being Big Big Friends to like each other?"

"Well," explained Golias, "before I went to the magic swirling tunnel that took us and Bongo to Brasília for the first time, Oonette took me into her castle and told me something important: she wasn't just letting us go to Brasília to see what it was like. She was also doing it because she thought it would be a good way to um…'bring more goodness into the world.' Then I got to meet her daughters and niece, who were Wish-Trish, Objectiva, and Wish-Trish's sister Starpoint, and they told me what she meant."

"Ohhh," said Nessa. She then frowned. "What did she mean?"

"Well, they said not all of the humans in the world are friendly. There are some humans, especially in Panem, who are kind of unfriendly, and it's Objectiva's job, Wish-Trish's job, and until two months ago because she got put under a spell, Starpoint's job, to help as many people as they can stay on the path of goodness, and the way they do that is by making them switch bodies with others. But not everyone who gets upset with others makes the only kind of wish they can grant. So Oonette decided to start the special Big Big Friend event every August the 17th, which would secretly give any three animals who left the magical kingdom we came from the right to be called Big Big Friends. Which meant we wouldn't just get to learn about other areas in the world. It would also be our job to move in with someone who 'needed help staying on the path of goodness.'"

"Oh, okay," said Nessa.

"But Oonette told me that I couldn't tell anyone that part," Golias confessed. "She said anyone who didn't have a Big Big Friend wouldn't be able to see and hear us, and if they did, they might lock us up in the zoo forever and ever."

"So that's why Lili's mom and dad never talked to me!" Nessa realized. "They didn't think I was there!"

"Yeah," said Golias. "Anyway, ever since we saved Lili from the island she moved to, I knew you um…you like me. And, um…uh…" he tooted his trunk, "I like you too. But Yuri and Lili need us to help them stay good, so we can't um…you know…"

"Actually, I don't think they need us," stated Nessa. "Did you notice Lili never knew she wasn't being nice to me until I said I didn't wanna be her best friend anymore? I don't like saying this, but…I think me not being her best friend anymore is helping Lili be nicer."

Golias stiffened. "Do you think me not being Yuri's best friend anymore will…help him be nicer too?"

"No, but you being his Big Big Friend shouldn't have to stop us from being more than just friends. I mean, it didn't stop you from being nice to me. And Lili and Matt and Bongo."

The elephant took a few seconds to process this, and then said, "You're right. It didn't. And I do wanna try thinking about you first more often…so…"

"So…what?" Nessa asked.

Golias responded by leaning closer to her and giving her a kiss on the side of her neck. As soon as she felt that sensation, Nessa's ears each twisted into a braid shape, and as they untwisted themselves, she leapt into the air, shouting, "You want to be more than just friends?! WOO-HOO!"

Laughing, Golias pulled Nessa into a hug, and she happily gave him a kiss on the forehead before chuckling herself. This moment, to her, felt like a dream come true. Golias liked her, and now they were together as more than just friends. And on top of that, he along with Lili, Matt, Yuri, and Bongo had learned from their mistakes and promised to treat her better. It was the best day ever…and she loved it.

Well, that's that! Another chapter complete. Be sure to stay tuned for the next one ;)