Lotta irl stuff happening. This chapter was closer to being done than Ripples so thought I'd post for an update.

Also writing this chapter was like fucking crack.

Once we switch to Elle's POV reactions are in italics. I was tired of adding lines.

Elle likes to break things. Including people.

Happy Pride everyone! Here we fucking GO!

Chapter Three - Dominoes, Part One

"Elle, wait!" Makarov shouted.

Too late. They were gone.

"Damn it."

Enno ran in, panting, with Romeo in her arms and Nab on her tail. She decidedly avoided Macao's eyes as she turned to Makarov. "I heard Ellie-girl's back?"

"She is," Makarov said, before sighing. "You just missed her, unfortunately."

"Nah, we're good," Cana said, yawning and fiddling with her cards. "I hit Elle with a monitoring card when I hugged her. We can watch them now."

She flicked a card in the air and it formed a screen across the guild hall, before showing Elle and Laxus on an island.

"Where are we and why are we here?" Laxus asked.

"You don't recognize this place?" I asked.

"Am I supposed to?" he asked dryly.

I shrugged. "You probably should. It's Tenrou Island."

"So this is Fairy Tail's holy ground," Laxus muttered. "And why are we here?"

"I need to consult a friend," I said. "Come on."

"Why is someone living on the island?" Erza asked.

Levy gasped. "No way…"

"Who do you know who lives here?" Laxus asked as I pushed branches out of the way.

"I told you," I said, smiling at him. "A friend."

And then I stepped out from the branches.

"Hello, Zeref."

"HE'S STILL THERE?" Cana, Evergreen, Bickslow, Macao, Wakaba, Reedus and Makarov screamed.

Freed and Levy weren't surprised.

Freed shrugged. "Ella-sama would not waste time going if he was not there."

"I'm sorry," Gray said in a choked voice. "Did she say Zeref? As in the Dark Wizard?"

"Yes," they all said, their eyes still intensely focused on the screen.

Zeref stared at me.

"Elle…" he whispered, before starting to cry. "You're all grown up…"

"That's what happens over time, Zeref," I teased.

"This is the Dark Wizard Zeref?" Laxus muttered behind me.

"He's just a crybaby," Natsu waved it off. "What are you making such a big deal for?"

"Zeref created many things, all of which were extremely dangerous and caused a lot of damage," Erza said quietly. "The demon Lullaby was one of them. And you trust her, Master?"

"Don't you dare, presume!" Freed said, getting in Erza's face, Bickslow and Evergreen trying (and failing) to pull him back. "Ella-sama knows what she is doing, and we all knew he was there! I would trust Ella-sama with my LIFE. WE ALL WOULD!"

"I would too," Lucy said quietly.

They turned to look at her, and she was staring at the screen. "Besides, if she's there, she's there for a reason. If Zeref is still alive, after all this time, that means he's around four hundred years old. Who knows what type of knowledge he may possess?"

Levy and Freed's eyes lit up as they realized this, and they exchanged glances.

I crossed my legs and plopped on the ground, before turning to look at Laxus and patting the floor next to me. "Sit down, baka."

Laxus grunted but sat next to me.

"How have you been, Zeref?" I asked him. "Did you find anything in the library?"

Zeref shook his head. "No. Though I highly doubt that I would find the cure to my curse here, after all those years. Nothing in Mildian had any information."

"Mildian?" Laxus asked.

"What's Mildian?" Erza asked.

"Mildian Magical Academy," Makarov explained. "The premier magic school in the world, several hundred years ago. I never knew Zeref went there."

"Mildian was a magical academy in the X300s," I explain to Laxus.

Zeref nodded. "I was accepted into their school at the age of six…"

"Six?" Laxus asked. "Must not have been hard."

"SIX!" the guild shouted.

"Actually, I was a prodigy," Zeref said with a wry smile.

"You don't need to tell the story, Zeref, I know it must be difficult. I can tell him later, if you'd like," I offered.

Zeref nodded. "Thank you, Elle. I would…definitely prefer that."

I nodded. "Alright. Now as much as I'd love to visit for the sake of visiting, now isn't really a good time. There's a lot of things that happen within the next few days, and that's why I'm here. I'll visit again later, I promise, but for now I need your help."

Zeref nodded. "What is the problem?"

I bit my lip. "What do you know about Iced Shell?"

"WHAT?" Gray yanked himself off of the chair where he had sat sullenly, before he threw himself in front of the screen, staring intently. "WHY IS SHE ASKING ABOUT THAT?"

"SHUT UP!" everyone yelled, and Erza, for good measure, slammed her fist down on Gray's back. He plummeted to the floor and stayed there, staring at the screen.

"Iced Shell," Zeref intoned. "A spell wherein the caster's body turns to ice and forms a prison around someone."

I nodded. "And it can't be reversed?"

He shook his head, confirming what I already knew. "The only way would be to use Moon Drip to destroy the shell, and even that wouldn't reverse the spell, just set what was trapped free. The caster of the spell will turn to water, and that will be the end of it."

I bit my lip. "I have a theory. On how to save the caster."

Gray choked, and tried his hardest not to start crying. Save…Ur…?

Zeref perked up. Despite all, he still loved magic; a theory was something he could happily discuss. "Oh?" he asked.

I nodded. "In the end, the ice that was previously the caster turns into water."

Zeref nodded.

"I have a friend," I started. "And her entire body is made of water."

Laxus's mouth dropped as it sunk in. "Juvia…"

Zeref got up and started pacing. "Oh, interesting. So you wish to form this caster a body made of water?" He paused. "While interesting in theory, it's unlikely you'd be able to gather every part of her back into a person."

I smirked. "I also have a Seith Mage. With Figure Eyes."

Laxus's mouth dropped open more.

Zeref's eyes were shining. "Incredible! I would say it's much more likely to work, but…" he frowned. "You'd need something to tie it together…how do you feel about using Black Magic?"

I shrugged. "As long as no one gets seriously hurt, I'm fine with it."

Laxus was staring at me.

"What?" I asked him. "If I hadn't mysteriously disappeared for the last decade, then she never would've used Iced Shell in the first place. Anyway, the lady's daughter will be nearby, and even if I can't convince her to help, we can always kick Ultear's ass."

"Why does that name sound familiar?" Laxus muttered.

"She's on the Magic Council," I said.

"Elle, we can't just beat up people on the Magic Council," Laxus sighed.

"It's not like she's gonna let them know," I scoffed. "She's a member of Grimoire Heart right now, she knows to keep things under wraps."

Laxus choked. "There's a member of Grimoire Heart on the Magic Council!?"

"I literally just said that," I said, sighing.

"Master…are you okay?" Erza asked, looking at Makarov, who had turned white.

"No," he groaned. "Why did she have to come back?"

Freed huffed. "You know as well as I do that Ella-sama is helping. You can't pretend like a member of the council would stop being a member of Grimoire Heart just because you don't want to accept reality."

"Quit it, Freed, I'm grieving!"

"Anyway," I said, turning back to Zeref and taking out a sheet of paper. "So we got me and Juvia to make the water body, Bickslow to grab Ur's soul, Ultear to add the biological component. Laxus has his great grandfather's magic so he can shock her awake. If needed, I have healing magic, we can pick up the Sky Dragon Slayer, and Lucy has Phoenix, which means that she can help heal."

"Alright," Laxus said. "That leaves everyone else on our teams. You got a reason for them to come along?"

"Freed to make rune lines so we aren't disturbed, though he might even be able to write out an enchantment to help make Ur's new body. Gray needs to fight his idiot brother. Erza, Evergreen, and the other one can work on protecting us/taking down the rest of the crazy people involved."

"Why am I the 'other one'?" Natsu whined.

"Shhhhhh!" everyone hissed.

"I didn't know Gray had a brother," Laxus said.

"Eh," I waved my hand. "Kinda? He and Lyon were both trained under the same Master, Ur, who is, coincidentally, the lady who's spell we're reversing. Right now Lyon is kinda insane so Gray needs to fight him. Well, he needs to fight him and lose, and then fight him again and nearly kill himself by winning because he's an idiot."

"That…sounds about right," Laxus admitted. "Still, we can probably leave Natsu at home-"

"NO!" I shouted, but it was too late.

"Why don't you want to leave Natsu at home?" Laxus asked.

I sighed. "That wasn't it. I didn't want you to say his name."

"Why not?" Laxus demanded.

"Natsu!" Zeref whined curling up into a ball. "Natsuuuuuuuu!"

Everyone in the guild stared at Natsu, who shrugged. "Never seen him before."

Like a wave, everyone's heads turned back to the screen.

"Way to go, idiot, you made him cry," I said, rolling my eyes. "Zeref? Zeref."

He continued to whine, not hearing me.

I cleared my throat. "Zeref!"

Nothing. This was one reason I found his curse so annoying. I couldn't just hit him to get his attention.

"Why is hearing Natsu's name making him react like that?" Laxus asked.

I sighed. "You sure you're okay with knowing everything from the other timeline?"

"Yes," he hissed.

"Fine, but you fucking asked for it." I turned to Zeref, and, using my hand, made a percussion clap with wind before shouting. "ZEREF FUCKING DRAGNEEL, YOU STOP CRYING AND TALK TO ME RIGHT NOW OR I WON'T SHOW YOU ANY PICTURES OF YOUR BROTHER!"

The guild was silent.

"What?" Natsu asked. "But…what?"

Laxus stared at me. "You're…joking…right?"

"I am not," I said.

"Pictures?" Zeref asked, wiping away his tears.

"Pictures," I said, requipping a memory card and using it to show a full body picture of Natsu.

"He's so grown up!" Zeref cried, starting to cry again.

"Yes, Zeref, that happens over time," I repeated, rolling my eyes.

..."What?" Natsu repeated. No one said anything.

"I don't understand," Laxus said. "If Zeref is Natsu's brother, then how are they both alive? Even if Zeref is immortal because of his curse, there's no way Natsu could live over four hundred years."

I sighed, turning to Laxus. "Alright, story time. One day, when Zeref was out, a dragon attacked his home and killed his parents and his little brother Natsu. He managed to salvage Natsu's body and became obsessed with trying to bring his brother back to life. For experimenting with magic he shouldn't, Ankhseram cursed him with the Curse of Contradiction, which kills everyone in a certain radius the more they care about humans, which is why Zeref is currently on an island in the middle of nowhere instead of running his goddamn empire. He only runs it when he's crazy. Zeref has split personalities and can cut himself from all feelings for humanity; it allows him to actually interact with them without killing them. Good? Good. Since he was already cursed, Zeref continued trying to bring his little brother back to life. Along the way, he began to make the Etherious (his demons) in hopes of one finally being powerful enough to kill him and end his suffering. He managed to bring Natsu back to life, wiped his memory, and gave him to Igneel. Then a few years later, since the dragons were struggling against their war with Acnologia, the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, they decided to send all of their slayers to the future where there would be more Ethernano so they could get stronger. Natsu, along with four other dragon slayers you'll be meeting soon, are actually from the past. July 7th, X777 is not the day the dragons disappeared; it's the day that the dragon slayers arrived in this century, when Lucy's mom opened the Eclipse Gate. There, done, any other questions?"

Laxus was quiet.

The guild, also quiet, stared at the screen in shock.

I turned to Zeref. "Speaking of which, I actually have a theory. Natsu is by far the most childish and naïve mage I've ever met or even know of. I was wondering if his death and resurrection at such a young age might have stunted his maturity level."

Zeref put his chin in his hand. "I suppose it could be possible. I'll look into it. By the way, I forgot to ask, what was Iced Shell used on? Iced Shell should be able to drain the life of whatever is inside, but you might want to have firepower on standby if it hasn't been long enough."

I paused and thought, before nodding. "Right. I need you to write a note for me and seal it with your magic."

He paused. "Why? Elle, the only people who would recognize my seal's authenticity are dangerous."

Makarov groaned. "Elle, if the Dark Wizard is saying it's dangerous, then don't do it."

I flew a pad and pen over to him. "Keyes finally managed to properly reanimate someone. With lightning magic and healing magic, I'm planning on reviving that person."

"Keyes is dangerous, Elle," Zeref said, even as he started writing a note.

I rolled my eyes. "All of your dumb demons are dangerous. But Keyes is probably the most human-like. He also has a huge amount of curiosity and a love of stories. If anything, I can probably talk him into handing everything over to me anyway because it's interesting. Your seal would just make it easier."

"She's gonna get herself killed!" Macao said incredulously. Wakaba shrugged. "I mean, she's made it this far."

Zeref pursed his lips, considering my words, then added an addendum to the note and sealed it with a small black magic circle. "You won't approach him when anyone else is around, right? The other demon gates aren't really…"

"Reasonable? Sane? Able to interact with human society without acting like complete psychopaths?" I suggested.

Zeref rolled his eyes and sent the note back over. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I mean, it's not like she was gonna listen," Cana muttered.

I snagged it out of the air and looked at my list. "Alright, so we need to pick up Juvia…hmm. Laxus, you up for fighting a Wizard Saint?"

"Are you for real?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, standing up. "Jose probably won't let Juvia leave his guild without a fight."

"Unless…" I paused, and started to pace in circles. "Hmm…but I really want to kick Jose's ass…"

Laxus rolled his eyes. "What is it?"

I kept pacing, until the idea fully formed in my mind and I stopped.

"Alright, so we're going to pick up Keyes' dead body first. Hopefully he'll listen to us, but he might be stubborn and we might end up having to fight him."

"I thought the whole point of the note was to get him to listen!" Laxus said, looking at the note I requipped away and standing up to join me. Zeref remained seated.

"Oh, Keyes will listen. Not so sure how his puppet will," I said. "Anyway, since we need to pick him up so he can take care of Deliora, we might as well go there before Phantom, and he can help us get Juvia away easily."

"Deliora?" Zeref whispered, freezing. "Deliora is the one trapped in Iced Shell?" He sunk to his knees, falling on the floor. "How many?" he whispered as he began to cry. "How many died before that happened?"

"Ah, shit," I muttered, watching the air around him waver.

I grabbed Laxus and teleported away as his curse went off, killing all the trees around him. Watching it continuously expand, I teleported again, farther away and out of its range.

It stopped, finally, and I breathed a sigh of relief. We were already at the beach. Not that I couldn't move us above the water and keep us there, but I'd never seen one so big. A third of the island looked dead, the Tenrou tree standing strong and also barely being out of range of the Death Magic.

"Holy shit," Laxus muttered.

"No wonder he's on an island," Lucy said empathetically.

"Yeah, I've never seen one so big," I said, teleporting us back to the clearing Zeref was in.

His face held relief. "I'm glad you got out of the way." He looked around. "That's a bigger one than usual."

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

His face grew dark, and I saw the familiar tinge of red in his eye. "Kyoka….I told her to keep Deliora locked away forever. I can't believe she-"

I rolled my eyes and threw a coconut at him. It slammed into his skull and time seemed to freeze for a moment, before Zeref swayed and hit the ground.

Laxus stared at Zeref's unconscious form. "Did you just…knock out the Dark Wizard Zeref with a coconut?"

"Yep," I said, moving closer to Zeref and requipping out something.

"Is that our guild stamp?" Laxus asked.

"Yep."

"…..please don't do what I think you're doing."

"Nope. Not gonna listen!" I sang, raising Zeref's sleeve and pressing down the stamp.

It glowed and I pulled it back, leaving a dark Fairy Tail mark on his arm.

Lucy held out one of her newest keys. "Open, Gate of the Firebird! Phoenix!" Phoenix appeared in a flash of light.

"I know we haven't really made a contract," Lucy said apologetically. "But I'd appreciate it if you'd stay out and keep our Master safe? Ellie-nee's being herself again, and he doesn't look good."

Indeed, Makarov had turned ghostly white with his soul leaving his body, and his eyes and jaw gaping.

"No problem, Princess!"

"I can't believe you just did that," Laxus groaned. "Why did I miss you?"

"Oh, quit complaining," I giggled. "Could you imagine the Magic Council's face if we told them Zeref joined Fairy Tail?"

If possible, Makarov turned even whiter and he made a strange choking noise. Phoenix started using his magic and slowly Makarov's went from white to pale.

Laxus put his hand to his head. "…I don't think I realized just how crazy you were ten years ago."

I waved it off, looking back down at the stamp. "I was going for red, like Natsu's. But it ended up black…maybe it's his curse. Oh well."

I stood up and requipped out a giant lacrima.

"What the fuck, Elle?" Laxus asked, staring at it.

I rolled my eyes and lifted Zeref's unconscious body, putting it in the lacrima and sealing it up.

Grabbing Laxus's hand, I backed him up a few steps before I tossed some Venus at the lacrima.

His black magic welled up, but it didn't escape, and Zeref appeared behind me. "What the hell, Elle?"

I turned and glared at him. "Quiet. You were turning into crazy Zeref, and I didn't want you to. You know as well as I do that you either care for humans and can't control your Black Magic, or you don't care and you can control it. You were getting angry, and if you get too angry, you stop caring."

He looked down. "So…you…"

"I put you in the lacrima because the crystal will keep you kept in place and frozen. Your emotions shouldn't change too much because you're essentially frozen in time. It should keep you regulated. No more crazy!Zeref."

"But…" he looked at the lacrima. "I don't feel like a Thought Projection."

I smiled, coming closer to him. "That's because you're powerful enough to make it corporeal."

"Elle, what are you doing?" he asked, panicking. "You can't come near me!"

"Oh, hush," I said, coming closer and giving him a hug.

He froze, as if waiting for me to die, before he untensed and his eyes began to well up. "I haven't had anyone touch me…in...so long."

"Yeah, it's okay, Zeref," I said, hugging him and rocking back and forth as he began to sob on my shoulders.

"God, could you imagine never touching someone ever again?" Levy whispered in horror.

"What?" Natsu shrieked. "No way!" He turned and grabbed Lucy, hugging her tightly. She seemed a bit surprised, but otherwise, used to it. "I'm not giving this up!"

"No one said you would, Flame-Brain!" Gray yelled, still on the floor and frozen in shock.

"Well, what if it was genetic?" Natsu asked.

The rest of the guild sweatdropped.

Laxus cleared his throat as Zeref stopped crying. "Wait, I have a question. Is your last name really 'Dragneel'?"

"Yeah. Why?" Zeref asked.

Laxus shrugged. "I guess I always thought Natsu made it up. You know…Dragneel? Dragon and Igneel?"

"That is, essentially, where it came from," Zeref admitted. "Our family was under Igneel's protection, so we took his name, partly. Most people did similar things if they were protected by dragons."

"Speaking of…" I turned to Zeref as we all sat down again. "Irene."

"Yes?" he asked.

"Now that you're able to actually interact with the world, I need you to do a few things," I said. "One, you need to talk to Grimoire Heart. They've got some weird ass idea that killing a bunch of people will bring you back to life or something. You can probably talk some sense into Master Hades, though."

"That's the guild master?" Zeref asked.

"Yeah, though you know him better as Precht."

Makarov's color regressed in seconds, turning back to a ghostly shade as he choked. "Precht? Master Precht is running Grimoire Heart?"

"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen someone cause this much panic," Phoenix said, looking back and forth between the screen and the man he was healing.

"Precht. Precht…" Zeref frowned. "You mean Mavis's friend? The one she left the guild to? He became the Master of a Dark Guild? That's so strange, he was very kind when I trained him."

"Yeah, well, you also introduced yourself very dramatically by carrying Mavis's body back to the guild and dumping her on the ground because you shut off your feelings when you accidentally killed her."

Zeref winced. "I'd...forgotten about that."

"When he what?" Erza asked. "How would he have even gotten Master Mavis's body in the first place?"

"They had a relationship, keep up," Levy said absently, the rest of the group in the know still staring intently at the screen, and paying no attention to the shock the revelation caused.

"Anyway, he's nuts right now so if you could try talking some sense into him, that'd be great," I said. "Let's see…You might as well come with us as we meet up with Keyes. Afterwards you should go back to Tartaros with him and calm the others down. Maybe seal them back into their books if you need to."

"Tartaros? Another third of the Baram Alliance?" Laxus asked, semi-sarcastically. "Is Oracion Seis gonna show up soon?"

"No, I already visited them," I said absentmindedly.

Laxus choked.

"Anyway, Tartaros is made up completely out of Zeref's demons, so he should take responsibility for that," I said, glaring at Zeref.

He sweatdropped. "Yes, ma'am. So I talk to Tartaros and Grimoire Heart. Anything else?"

"Yeah. Irene. And the other two. You're going back to Alvarez and taking care of your goddamn empire."

"It wasn't supposed to get so big," Zeref whined.

"Wait, what?" Laxus asked.

"Zeref founded the Alvarez Empire. He's currently their Emperor, even though he's not actually doing anything," I explained.

Makarov's breathing returned to normal as Phoenix's magic settled in. "If the people of Alvarez worship Zeref, many of their actions make more sense now," he said quietly to himself.

Zeref pouted. "You're so mean to me, sometimes."

"Anyway, you need to pick up August, Larcade, and Irene and bring them to Fairy Tail."

"Why?" Zeref asked.

"For one, when was the last time you saw Larcade?" I asked.

Zeref waived it off. "I dunno, awhile. Why?"

"Why? He doesn't know he's an Etherious, dumbass! He thinks he's really your son and that you're the world's most absent father!"

Another bonus of the lacrima was that I can actually hit Zeref when he annoyed me.

"Ow, stop hitting me!"

"No! You're going to get that boy and bring him to Fairy Tail. August, too. When you guys all return and you've done everything else I asked of you, we'll de-age them to children and you'll raise them properly."

"Why are we de-aging August?" Zeref asked.

"Because he actually is your son, baka," I sighed.

"Impossible, I've never had sex," Zeref said.

Laxus choked behind me.

The guild repeated his action.

"Yeah, still not sure how he exists, but he's a magic baby you and Mavis somehow had. When Precht realized Mavis was pregnant, he took the baby and left it somewhere since he felt unequipped and because Mavis was unconscious in a lacrima coma."

"He's our son?" Zeref asked, frozen.

"Zeref, you literally named him August because he reminded you of Mavis and that's the month you spent with her."

"Oh yeah," he muttered.

"Anyway, Irene will also be de-aged pre-dragon transformation. I believe she'll get feeling in her limbs then."

"Hmm...Interesting theory," Zeref hummed. "It does seem likely."

"Irene Belserion was the person who came up with the idea of dragon slayers," I said, turning to Laxus. "She was very good at enchantment magic, at imbuing items with magic, and had the idea of imbuing people with a dragon's magic. However, she ended up turning into a dragon, and her kingdom turned on her."

"Kingdom?"

"She was a queen. Anyway, she was pregnant at the time and trapped as a dragon. Zeref found her after four hundred and pseudo-transformed her back into a human. She walks around as what seems to be a human and finally gave birth, but she can't feel anything or taste anything."

"That's horrible," Laxus muttered.

"Anyway, Belserion was the dragon that she was imbued with, and she took his last name later."

"I see," Laxus said.

"I'm assuming you're trying to reunite Irene and her daughter?" Zeref asked.

"Partly, but I think Irene just deserves a chance," and maybe I can stop her from becoming a psychopath, then. Like, she really got handed the short hand of the stick, and seemed perfectly reasonable pre-betrayal from her husband and country. And in the end, she still couldn't hurt Erza.

"Yes, but do you have any idea where Erza is? When Irene gave her up, she never gave her a last name. Besides, we checked around the village we left her at and it was burned to the ground years ago."

"What?" Erza gasped, standing up.

"Yeah, the village was kidnapped by some crazy cultists of yours who tried to rebuild the R System to 'bring you back to life'," I said. "Erza lead a revolt, accessed her magic, and eventually made her way to Fairy Tail."

Laxus made another choking noise. He'd been doing that a lot.

"Oh, that's convenient," Zeref said.

"My mother's…alive?" Erza asked, still shocked.

"She's also a dragon, Erza, that's so cool!" Natsu shouted excitedly, some flames leaving his mouth.

Lucy ignored her partner and squeezed Erza's hand reassuringly, and Erza relaxed a bit.

"Anyway, that's your mission; we'll go take care of Keyes, then you go visit Tartaros and Grimoire Heart, and then go to Alvarez and bring them back to Fairy Tail. I'll wake Mavis up and you guys can raise your kids together."

"Uh, you know that I can't see Mavis, right?" Zeref asked. "I just know she's there."

"Yeah, well, I made you a member of our guild so you should be able to see her now," I said, gesturing to his arm, where he looked at the mark. "I was trying to go for red like Natsu's but I think your curse defaulted it to black. Anyway. While you do those things, we'll pick up the ex-Phantom members and then go make a body for Ur and destroy Deliora and Gray can confront his past."

"I changed my mind," Laxus said, still very pale. "I don't wanna know any of this stuff."

"Too late," I said, getting up. "Now, the three of us will go pick up Wendy, the Sky Dragon Slayer, and then we'll meet up with Keyes. Let's get going!"