A/N: Hmmmm... Howdy! I think I did pretty good time on this one, right? Right? Anyways, tis the end! I am SOOOO thankful for all of my reviewers. You keep me going and let my artistic powers FLOOWWW! I am so glad all of you took time to read and review my work, and I can't say thanks enough! Plus, you're all always making me feel so good and happy! Hee! Anyways, so as not to spoil what I hope is a good ending, I'll be responding to reviews up here. Talky time!

Trying To Breakaway- Heya, heya! Welcome, new reviewer! Thanks for all that you just said about my writing technique! I know the love burns... And it'll burn a lot more in this chapter. Sorry, I suck at romance. And it shows. Welll, on the Karen thing. I think lots of people here think she's pretty (I see lots of JackxKaren fics and every website I go to, people are obsessing over her). Personally, I don't really care or even notice. Then again, that's just me! Anyhows, I just wrote her that way because... Um... It goes with the plot? I dunno. Sometimes I do see her as one of those beauty-obsessed people who are kinda snobby... But then I play the game and I'm like, "No she's not!". Yep, I added werewolves in. Because I can! And it's fun! Anyhow, thankies for reviewing and I hope you like this!

Moonlit Dreaming- Hi again! Thank you so much for your compliments and stuff! You're so nice! Here's the next chapter, so I hope you like it lots and lots! And thanks so much for reviewing all this time! I'm really gonna miss Exterior, though... It's fun to write.

Ekoaleko- First of all, I would just like to say thank you!! You've stuck with me throughout this entire story, plus most of Goddess! It's always really awesome to hear from you, and as usual, you flatter me lots and lots! It's totally okay that you forgot! I do it too, or I just forget altogether... Hee... Umm, anyhow! Yep, it is coming to an end... It's the last chapter!! WAAHHHH!! But I hope you like it! And thanks again for supporting me this whole time! You rock! WOOO! Multiple exclamation points!!

Okay. Um... Yes. It really is ending. I'm so sad! But there's another spinoff... As you can probably tell by the cliff-hanger ending (yes, folks, I did it again). I'll be writing the next story, which I believe to be called Left Behind or perhaps Solitude or something... Anyways, I'll be writing that and probably be posting the first chapter in a two months or so (once I update my other story, which, shamefully, I have ignored for a while). It's all about... Popuri!! Yay Popuri! I'm going to try not to write her as the amazingly sweet and cheerful girl, but instead as being more intellectual. Because I believe Popuri has been ignored in many a story. Anyhoo, if you're interested, please look out for it! Oh, yes. On to the next chapter, whereupon it gets kinda fluffy!! But I promise, we're back to suspense and stuff in the end. Ohhhh, and a surprise; Jill returns!

Exterior

8

One second, he was embracing her in his arms.

The next, he was falling.

Down, down, into a neverending black sea of silence.

Karen?! He screamed. Are you all right?! Karen!

There was no answer.

"Mr. Rick!" A little girl snapped his headband. A now solemn, terrified looking little girl.

One that wasn't really there.

And then he knew.

"...Karen?"

"Mmm hmm?" She sighed into his chest, relaxing against the sturdy, confident, wonderful man.

Her own chicken boy, that she loved.

"We'll get rid of him." His arms loosened, and she stepped back to look him in the eye. To smile at him.

Uncertainty overtook her.

'Why is he...'

But she silenced that voice immediately.

No. She would not listen to it any longer. She loved Rick- not the werewolf- and she was certain of that now.

"And then... We can be together, darling. Forever and ever. We'll get rid of my other half. We'll bring me into control. Everything will be okay."

Tears came into her eyes.

"I'm so sorry... For everything, Rick."

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"Yes, I did! I-"

"You did nothing wrong at all."

She threw her arms around his neck and buried herself in his shoulder.

"Thank you." A whisper.

He felt disgusted, yet pleased. Those little rats, the ones back in his mind, they were annoying. But at least they had told him what was going on. They didn't mean to assist him, he knew. The little one was taunting him, the older slightly afraid of him. But they had given him all the information he needed to be aware of his situation.

'You have done nothing wrong,' he laughed inwardly. 'Nothing but turned away from me. Everything else- before you met that BLASTED woman- everything else was perfect. If only you had listened to your own thinking... And not your foolish heart.'

He would pity losing such a woman. She WAS beautiful... And he had almost had her. He had been so close. He had planned on turning her into a werewolf, like him. Perhaps even the whole town could have become them. But now, she would be unwilling. Love, the worst emotion of all, the only one more powerful than his own dark fuel, was enflamed in her.
The plan never would have worked anyway. More than three werewolves in one town might have attracted the attention of the higher gods, and surely would have attracted the attention of that other annoying little group. They had spies all over, and they would learn of his escapades soon enough.
He had no reason to spare her. She had been interesting to play with, yes.
...And his previous anger had been placed under cover as of now. He would play with this woman's heart a bit longer. Take a few kisses more and her life. The longer he strung out her death, the better. All the more pain for his other half to endure. And pain was one of HIS emotions... Such pain would make him much stronger than the so called "chicken boy" she adored.
And before killing her...

There might be a way to make her destroy his other half instead. She could take the bad feelings away, and he would be gone. She could reunite the horrible feelings with the good, taming the bad and heartening the good. And taking some of the pain and feelings from him would also help. But... These things weren't just a one way street. With a little persuasion, perhaps he could make his toy take all the good out of him.

Then, instead of him being gone, that fool human would be.

She gave him a loving glance as she entered the house, and he caught himself before smirking back.

"Bye, Karen."

On an urge, she suddenly whirled around, planted a kiss on his cheek, and words in his ear.

"I love you so, so much."

"And I you."

Her green eyes laughed, then she went inside.

The minute she was gone, he spat into the dirt, the vile taste of such loving words and feelings leaving him. They made him weak, and it disgusted him.

Humans. Such sad, pitiful little creatures. Yet amazingly annoying emotions resided within them. Again, he cursed the gods for their strange ways and choosings.

But soon enough, all that wouldn't matter any more. Rick would be gone, Karen would be dead, and he would be able to roam as long as he liked in this body.
It had been a work of genious. To be able to keep this form. But it had simply been a matter of the mind. If his partner inhabited this form, then why couldn't he?
He began to run, aggravated at first with the fact that he had to deal with running on two skinny legs, instead of his powerful four. But he grew to like it.
There was a certain way about man. That they balanced themselves teeteringly on two feet instead of one. It set them apart from animals, set them apart from everything. They considered themself strong enough at heart to do anything, and it showed.

But such were the ways of fools.

He passed house after house of darkness, some with candles shining in the window, others with nothing.

And yet, he had one more dilemma left to deal with.

"Rick?"

He froze.

Red eyes trained on him, locked in blissful innocence upon what she believed to be her flesh and blood, her protector.

He gave a barely audible growl.

Yet she heard. Her shoes clicked on the road's cobblestones as she stepped warily back.

"...Brother. I'm worried about you. It's one thirty in the morning. Where have you been?"

"Popuri." Little brat. Why did she have to be so invasive?! "...I was out."

"Like you've been 'out' for every night of the past week."

Those ruby eyes held a search for truth. And they were not going to stop until they were closed. He could see himself cinching his claws around her pale neck...

And he was stepping forward, arms out, grinning at her.

"Dear sister, come give your brother a hug."

Those annoying eyes widened, only aggravating him more.

"Rick-!"

She was moving back now, terrified at his wild look and voice, about to break into a run, to escape into the house. She was out in their yard now; the house was only a few feet away. She was about to make it-

But he was faster.

Her pale face met the ground, dust rising, coating her pink hair, making it turn the color of dusk. Annoyed, he realized he would need to transform to do any real damage.

He held one finger out, and the fingernail lengthened. His usually calloused, yet warm hands gained a grimy coating, his peach fuzz hair on his lower arm darkening to black.
The claw came closer and closer to her neck. He could see it now: the blood racing out, her body growing limp, those searching red eyes closing forever.
So delighted was he with the image that he couldn't even hear her screams beneath him.

"Rick! Rick! No!! What are you-!"

He would silence those cries, just like he would silence his pitiful human...

And then he felt his blood run cold.

His body lurched to the side, his claw falling, useless, missing the bundle of pink and her neck. He could hear a screaming voice in his head, and coming from his own... From his own lips. And it was not his voice.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER! Don't you lay one HAND on her, you hear me?!"

His own mouth yelled the words, yet there was no rage within him. Well, no current rage.

It was his pitiful little other side.

Popuri scrambled up, sobbing, her hair a mess, her eyes rimmed with tears. She burst into a run- and he WANTED to reach out a hand to trip her- but he could do nothing but watch as she reached the door.

She glanced back at him, then.

His lips moved once more.

"Run, Poppy! Run!! Get inside, lock it! Don't let me i-"

He stood, the voice successfully silenced. For the time being.

"Little Poppy," he breathed. "Oh, yes. My little pride and joy. And source of pain, of course. Years and years of watching that jerk flirt with you. Years of watching you hide things from me. Hmmmm, Poppy? Perhaps you're one of the main reasons Rick has ME."

And though he knew she didn't have any idea what he was talking about, it felt GOOD to let that out.

So good.

A part of him that had boiled with rage at the idea of his precious little sister being swept off her feet by charming Kai softened, then went away.

'No. NO!'

He needed that rage; needed that power!!

She froze, now, hand on the knob, still debating about whether she should go inside or not.

He took one step, and she made her decision.

The door was yanked open, her pink head disappearing inside.

And he was alone again. Like he had always been, since Karen began avoiding him, since Popuri began dreaming of Kai constantly. Since even his mother started to sleep all the time, tired. His other side knew that the past two were not things to hurt them for.

But he was not his other side.

So he was alone.

"Karen Alexis Stone!!" Her arms crossed, Sasha paced the floor. "I truly cannot believe that you would run off with some BOY all night!!"

"Not just any boy!" Karen argued. "RICK! And, mom, I'm older now! I'm not a child!"

Sasha whirled. "Then stop acting like one!"

Karen bit her lip. She wanted to scream, to yell, to stomp.

But those words kept playing in her head.

'I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you.'

And somehow, she smiled.

"You're right, mom." She stood, and Sasha's mouth hung wide open.

"...I am? I mean, I AM."

"Yeah. Sorry about making you worry and everything. It was a one-time deal, though, I promise. No more running off with Rick in the middle of the night." Sasha broke through her confusion, her usually running mouth beginning to work again.

"That's RIGHT, young lady. Now, I trust Rick enough to let him go off with you, but I WOULD like to know where you two went."

She smiled.

"To the mountain, mom. We watched... the moon."

Sasha's lips, instead of rebuking her again, split into a grin.

"Ohh, Karen! That's too romantic!"

And then she was yawning, and patting Karen's head.

"Get to bed, dear."

Karen could feel her heart slow down to a regular pace. How had just remembering his smiling face brought all that to a peaceful halt? How? Usually, by now, she would be slamming doors, her father would be hiding under the covers for fear of getting dragged into the argument, and her mother would be screaming.
But instead, her father was asleep, her mother was probably doing the same, and she herself felt perfectly at peace.

A voice sang inside her.

'Such is the way of love.'

"Mrs. Harvest Goddess!"

A sprite saluted. "We are all ready for the festival this evening!"

Her green eyes flickered brown. "Wonderful. Just wonderful."

Her body was tired. Even merging into the water was painful now. But that would all be over. It would all end. Today.

"Jill?"

"Yes?" Uncertain, sad blue eyes came to rest on her.

"I feel as if there's something I'm... forgetting..."

Jill clutched her hands in her lap. "Everything is as should be..."

"Then why..."

A sudden barking from Jill's dog made the Harvest Goddess jump to her feet. She uttered a single word.

"Rick."

He didn't want to fight any more. He didn't want to fight at all. No. No longer.

A whisper of a child, a memory on the breeze, called to him.

"No... It's not over... Keep... fighting..."

But he buried his head deeper into the safety of darkness.

It's too late! He cried. It's too late!

Today was the day.

The day they got rid of his werewolf side forever.

They had agreed on a time, and a place. But it still just didn't seem real to Karen.

To truly be rid of him. Forever. It was too good to be true.

And so it was.

"Rick, I'm here!" She waved, her excitement rising, her grin wide, her mind soaring.

Like it used to do, around the werewolf.

It was where everything had begun; and naturally, it was where it would end.

The Springs area. Where Rick had been bitten. Where Karen had realized her love for him. Where they would be rid of his other half, the terrible, cruel him. Where she would forever purify him of its dark influence.

"Are you ready?" He smiled at her.

Chills crawled up her spine. And once again, her inner voice began to cry.

'This is wrong, all wrong, all-'

'QUIET!' She screamed inwardly.

She wouldn't- she couldn't- doubt any longer.

"Yes."

He took her shaking hand, his own cool and unsweaty.

"Then let's begin."

The solid grip on her hand began to pull as he took one foot and plunged it into the Goddess Pond. Her morals began to scream. Everything she had ever learned told her that she was never, ever, to invade the Goddess' privacy. No sticking your hand into her lake. No throwing in dirt.

But he was actually inside the pond.

And suddenly, she was too.

With a cry, she fell into the water.

There was hardly a splash as she began to float. Beside her, she felt the ripples from another presence in the water.

The waves turned cold.

His hand still grasped her own.

"Karen. Take my other self from me."

Her green eyes widened.

From his hand, she felt one dagger of energy begin to make its way up her arm.

She wanted to scream, to pull away. But he would not let her.

'This is all for good,' her mind whispered.

But her heart told her otherwise.

More energy made its way up her arm. Faster and faster and faster.

"But the Harvest Goddess-" She weakly began.

"Is gone," Rick smirked.

One second, she was floating in the Goddess Pond, absorbing something out of her mind's comprehension.

The next, she was falling.

Rick's usually kind face contorted, his hair began to grow. He laughed at her. A chilling, heartless laugh.

"Rick?" She whispered. But he seemed not to hear.

Her vision faded to black, her grip on reality slipped. Her heart gave a wrench.

And then Karen knew.

"Rick, please. Don't give up. Please..."

"Yeah, yeah!!" Gail cheered.

But they knew.

They both knew.

That Rick had utterly failed. He had lost at a game that he could not lose; couldn't lose for himself, for Karen, for their future together.

But he had lost.

And Karen would pay for it.

That was the reason he refused to get up. Why he let himself continue falling, instead of letting himself hit the hard floor of his subconscious. Because he knew he could keep falling forever. Gail and Alyssa stood there, too. They weren't falling, yet they were always beside him. The subconscious really was a strange place.

"Riiicck!" Gail poked him.

And then he heard it.

Water. Rushing, pouring, torrenting water.

He knew he had no reason to fear- after all, you couldn't exactly drown in your subconscious- yet he did.

"Alyssa, what should we do?! What's going on?!"

Alyssa and Gail simply stood there. Rick looked up.

The downpour was coming from the sky, filling up empty space stretching for miles quickly. And suddenly, Rick was standing on the ground, water up to his knees. Alyssa picked Gail up, eyes wide. Gail's outfit, though it had previously been almost entirely submerged in water, was dry.

"There is only one reason why real-world water would enter the subconscious," Alyssa murmured.

"What?"

"We've entered the Goddess Pond. The Holy Water can get through anything, even the mind."

"Will we die? Will we drown?"

"No. That's impossible. But-" She silenced herself midsentence, her flickering eyes coming to rest on something in the sky.

Rick too looked again. At first he didn't see anything.

Then he wondered how he HADN'T seen.

His feet were running, but he knew he would never make it in time.

Karen hit the floor with a sickening reverberation. About twenty feet from him. If space even existed here. And... she glowed. Her presence there just lit everything around her. She was stunning.

Then Rick was beside her, breathing hard, though he knew he didn't have to breathe at all.

Helping her up.

She opened her mouth, tried to get her voice to work. But she had no vocal cords to reverberate. Because Karen wasn't there either.

She held her hands around her neck, looking up at him, so confused.

Rick felt the tears welling in his eyes.

Alyssa, beside him, clutched Gail tighter.

"Rick, it isn't your-"

But he stopped her.

"Why?" A single question.

"If she is to destroy him," Alyssa whispered, "She must absorb the darkness into herself, cleanse it with love. Then she must give it back to you for you to be complete."

"But why... is she... here?" Rick choked out. "He isn't locking her away... Is he? Is this some sort of imagery from my mind?"

He reached out one nonexistent hand to touch her shoulder...

And cried out, reeling back.

She burned. She burned him.

Karen's confusion was still there. She tried to speak once more, but to no avail. She didn't understand...

Alyssa set Gail down, the water level still rising, now above Gail's head. But it was as if she was still just standing there. Every once in a while, a current would blow her hair, like a wayward breeze. She acted as if nothing was different, nothing was strange.

But it was. Everything was. Karen gasped soundlessly, thinking she was drowning, waded over to the girl, and tried to pick her up.

Gail screamed.

Alyssa snatched her back.

"Mommy!" She wailed, burying her face into Alyssa's underwater neck. The water didn't even affect the sound. "It hurts," she whimpered.

Alyssa's eyes settled upon Rick, who was still staring at his hand.

Where fingernails should have been, nothing was. His hand where he had touched her...

Ceased to exist.

"She was sent here by the other Rick to absorb you." Alyssa began to tremble, the water around her moving slowly. "Anyone real in a holy, magical place where they don't belong will suck everything up. Destroy everything with their touch."

Karen's stood with her hands, firmly at her sides, her usual confident demeanor shattered, eyes filled with tears that leaked out into the water, floating up and beyond. He couldn't comfort her, or risk disappearance by being absorbed. But she was so afraid.

So afraid.

And Rick couldn't take it. He didn't know he was doing it.

He hugged her.

Rick ceased to exist.

She couldn't speak. Even moving was almost impossible. Moving was only when she moved accidentally, when she knew she was going to move, when she already saw herself doing the action. Like picking that little girl up.

Touching her had been...

Sad. Karen's heart burned with the new addition. A new addition from someone else.

Pure sadness, in child form.

But it shouldn't have been hers. That emotion belonged to someone else.

It was wrong.

And when he hugged her, everything had gone insane.

Absolutely insane. Her heart, usually so insignificant, was thumping loud, proud, strong. It felt alive.

Where her feelings for Rick used to reside, where her love for him had stayed, warm and bright, was where her heart swelled. More love than she could have ever dreamed of filled it. It was amazing. She could do anything, anything, ANYTHING!

The unnatural glow that had been hers since her vision went black with that cruel man, that cruel fake that had somehow been Rick, that glow spread. It widened, fingers of light creeping up the sides of walls of dark.

The millions and millions of light strands covered everything except for the two people in front of her, the mother and daugher. The whole place that had once been so surreal was suddenly...
REAL. Light shifted, light changed, as it turned millions of colors. Blue, waves of blue beneath her. Shining waters. Old brown slivers of light grouped together, making columns, then splitting out, green puffy lights gathering at the ends of the tiny columns. One group of light gathered in the shining water before her. Different colors, different lights, but all of them

Completely.

Dark.

Jagged and every which way, they stood out of the crystal wonderland like a rat in a bowl of sugar and bright candy.

They took shape.

And then she recognized the shape. She recognized all of the shapes.

Light brown boards, surrounding a tiny steaming pool. Trees and tree stumps. Rocks made of clusters of light. A blue sky that went on forever and ever.

And a werewolf Rick. A growling, snapping, terrifying monster.

How, how, how? How had she ever loved that thing? Now it was even more grotesque than before, because everything good was out of it.

Everything good that had been in it now resided in her heart. Rick. Rick's huge, undying love for her.

Karen's glow was gone. But her power, love, was not. It burned brighter than ever, just under her skin, waiting to be released and to overtake the werewolf.

The beast turned to her, smiling.

"Ready to die, darling?" He half growled, half crooned.

"Never. Are you ready to get out of my chicken boy?"

"Never, dear Karen."

He raised one paw, sharp claws on the ends, deadly and painful. Dangerous and scary. Everything that the creature itself was.

He moved towards her, but she wasn't afraid.

She stood her ground, watched as he raised it to her neck, dangling death in her face.

This is for you, Rick.
I love you.

"Don't worry, dear. I want to play with you. I won't kill you right away."

Blood blossomed, spread over his paw, the dark hair stained with life.

Karen smiled.

And the love within her broke loose.

I will finally get what I wish for. I will punish her for her ignoring me. I will punish her for hating me for the past years. I will make her pay for everything!! I will show her I'm not a coward, that I'm not weak, that I don't need her!
And I'll do it all by killing her!!

Emotions like hate, pain, suffering. Controlled and held in anger. Resentment. Unfairness. Everything gone wrong in the world that you can't help.
What emotion could combat all of these things? What could make them change?

There is only one.

Love.

And that is what Karen gave him.

It overtook him, it drowned him in its warm embrace. His essence was hate- it took that. His essence was pain- it took that as well. It engulfed everything, swallowed it all, filling up empty space with endless, selfless love.

There was no room in Rick's body for him any more. So he went to the nearest body. The girl's.

But even there, there was so much love. He settled, trying to ignore the warmth and peace. But he couldn't not. Slowly, his resentment turned to affection. His anger at unfairness became appreciation for efforts.

He was losing power, and he didn't care.

All of him became the essence. But he didn't merge with it. Because the love there was different than the love he was. He needed to go back to his own place.

And he did. The love that had overflowed it before was partly her love, partly his own.

His stayed, hers left, and he went into his own place. There were still some darker emotions. But the good restrained them; made them obey. And suddenly, Rick was Rick again, and Karen was Karen.

Rick was Rick. Not the werewolf.

Everything was over.

Karen burst into tears once more. But this time, she could cry into his shoulder. She could cry knowing that he would not- could not- transform into the beast and trick her again. He was truly her love, her chicken boy, her childhood friend. Rick. No matter what, he would always be himself. No matter his geeky and silly exterior, he would always be the same inside, be the same boy she loved.

There were no words needed between them. They knew their love for each other was real. That it was filling and powerful.

Behind them, the huge full moon rose. Nighttime had already fallen.

"Loving and lovely lady," he said, bowing. "May I accompany you to the mountain this beautiful night?"

She laughed through her tears.

"Yes. Yes, yes I will, kindly sir."

She took his arm, knowing that the full moon would be something different to them now. It wouldn't be romantic: it would be a sign of everything they had been through together. Their good times and their bad. Rick's two sides, and which one Karen chose.

Sitting beside Rick on the mountain, Karen was quiet. But not for long.

"Rick?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Two spirits slowly rose into the moonlit sky. One was large, dim, yet still there, still full of love and regret. The other was smaller; happy, yet so very sad at her life's troubles. They went towards a light. It wasn't the moon, but it was a light all the same, shining in the darkness, every ray full of hope and joy.

The two spirits held hands, comforted, braving themselves. They squeezed each other tightly, and let the light take them in.

And then they were gone.

"We DID it!!" Chef cheered. "...Two totally awesome things in ONE NIGHT!!"

If the other Harvest Goddess had been there, she would have rolled her eyes, and said, "Excuse me? You? Who wouldn't even go talk to her? Uh, NO."

But she wasn't there.

"They look very happy." The green haired woman, the Harvest Goddess, smiled. The black haired man beside her nodded and laughed, one arm around her, holding her closer.

"Everything is all right now," the black haired man said in a voice that rolled like the clouds in the sky. "Good work, everyone."

"I should go say hello to them," the Harvest Goddess murmured. "Congratulate them, tell them of what's to come. Tell them they're a part of each other now."

"Whattt?" Nappy said, eyes wide with admiration. "They ARE?"

"Well, some of her love is still in him. And some of his still in her. It didn't all get back to the proper body. So they'll understand each other better now." She smiled and patted the sprite's head, to which he beamed. "...And generally, since some of Rick's bad attitude got converted, he'll be even kinder now."

"You mean even more spineless," a yellow-clothed harvest sprite muttered smartly, biting down on a truffle.

The other sprites giggled. They may be thousands of years old, but heck. They're still little kids.

"That's not what I meant," the Harvest Goddess persisted. But she was smiling.

"You can tell them all that later." The black haired man chuckled. "Right now, my sister has something planned for us."

Standing, holding hands, they disappeared in a flash of light.

The sprites were left on the mountain, hidden behind a rock, watching the blonde and brunette below them.

"Soooo..." Chef got a mischievous look. "You think they're gonna...?"

"Kiss!!" Staid squealed.

And so the two humans below them were.

"Karen!" Sasha stood in the doorway of the back room, looking upon the two young adults before her. Karen's head turned.

"Hey, mom." The thing she was cooking in the pan burst into flame. "...Oops. Oh well."

"Are you... cooking?"

Rick smiled, confident and somewhat charming, in a sort of geeky way. His arm was around his cooking girlfriend's waist.

"We're going on a picnic."

Sasha took a note in her mind to tell the other ladies of Mineral Town what an absolute charming gentleman Rick was. He really had changed, from such an inoffensive plain little boy to the man he was now. Then again, Karen had changed a lot as well. Compared to her teenage years, she had calmed down immensely. Compared to even LAST year. She had mellowed out so much.

"I see!" Sasha turned her blue eyes upon the pan in her daughter's hand. "...Please tell me you're not eating that."

Karen scowled. "If you came in here to insult me, mom, then just leave." ...Of course, she was still Karen. And Karen was very protective of her terrible cooking.

"No, actually, I came in here to tell you that magazine you like is expiring. You want me to renew it, right?"

Karen shrugged. "You know what? I really don't care. I haven't read it in a while... It's not realistic or truthful."

Sasha smiled. "I'm so proud of you, Karen."

Karen rolled her eyes. "Okay, mom." But then she gave a genuine, happy smile. "I love you anyway."

Sasha absolutely glowed. "I love you too, dear. You know what?"

"What?"

"I'll make your lunch. Why don't you two go get the rest of the picnic supplies? It's my treat, in fact. I insist."

Karen opened her mouth to deny her, but Rick's warm arm around her made her stop. Reminded her that her mother was trying to offer her a kind deed.

"Thanks, mom."

They searched around in the shop a bit, gathering supplies, before she realized that they didn't have a blanket.

"I'll get one," Rick offered. "I'm sure we have one at my house."

"It's okay. We can sit on the grass."

"No, really." He planted a kiss on her forehead. "Be back in a bit."

Then he went out the door.

Jogging down the street, he was reminded just how much everything had changed. He still had some muscles from his time as a werewolf... Even though that had been last fall, almost a year ago. Today, in fact, was the second to last day of summer.

He was more confident in himself and in Karen. Especially her love for him, and his for her. Everything was falling into place. Everything seemed right.

Popuri, terrified by that one night where the werewolf tried to kill her, soon was apologized to and told that he was drunk and angry with Karen. He promised to lay off the alcohol and never drink again; which of course, he had been able to do, seeing as he had never been on it. She slowly warmed to him again, and he was once more her dear brother, always dependable and always caring.

He had told his mother that a fight with Karen had made him act strange. Karen had told her parents the same. Everything had been accounted for. The Goddess had been thanked in a prayer.

And now he and Karen were a couple, the most talked of in the town. Because everyone had been expecting it for forever, apparently.

All right, he had been expecting it too. But truly, everything was right.

Everything was perfect, everything was right, everything was in place.

He was passing by the road that led to the Inn and the Winery, still leisurely jogging, when he saw her.

It gave him such a shock that he couldn't realize why he hadn't remembered before.

Jill. Jill Green.

Standing there, in front of the Inn, looking troubled. Hands clenched at her sides, eyebrows turned down, worried.

He hadn't seen her since... Well, forever. The girl had never been social, at least with him. Or really, with anyone except his sister. But he had always heard them downstairs, chatting and laughing, like girls did and were bound to do. But she hadn't been around at all since...

He thought.

Fall. Last fall. That was when he had last seen her.

And suddenly, he found himself curious. His hand raised in a wave, his mouth opened.

"Jill!"

She didn't turn.

"Jill! Jill Green!" She didn't respond at first. But then, slowly, like somebody coming out of a dream, she jerked to reality.

She turned to him. "Ah. You were calling for me."

'Yes,' he thought. 'I was calling for you. I was calling your name, wasn't I?'

"Yes."

"Rick, have you seen Popuri?"

That was strange.

"Have you checked our house? She should be helping Mom get up. It's about ten thirty right now."

Jill's eyes- strangely green, not blue, which he had always thought of them as- turned to the direction of the sea, east.

"She's not at your house."

Her statement wasn't a cause for worry. "All right, then. She'll probably be at... Oh, I dunno..." He frowned. "Check for her at the beach. She's probably saying goodbye to KAI. Although I told her not to."

Jill shook her head. "She's not at the beach. I've searched everywhere, Rick. I don't think she's standing anywhere on the island."

Standing on the island? She had certainly gone a little crazy while she was away...

"Where have you been, Jill?" He asked, curious.

"That's not important right now, Rick." Twenty feet from them, Won rounded the corner, scowling and waving his braid about. Jill's eyes jerked to him. "Won!"

Muttering, probably a curse, he came up to her.

"Hello, bad lady customer. I rang your doorbell MANY time in past year, and yet you still didn't come?"

"I have not been inside my house, Won." She was getting aggravated, Rick could tell. She gritted her teeth and pushed on. "Won, where's Popuri?"

"How should I keep track of cotton candy girl?" Won let out a growl, flipping his braid behind him arrogantly. "Everyone is so, so, soooooooo rude to Won. You, pirate boy, that ship driver man... Well, at least they're both gone now."

Jill gave a gasp. "WHAT?"

"The ship just took off. Why? Do you like the ship driver? Because I have here a special apple you can give to him to express your-"

Before Rick's eyes, Won was literally shoved up against a wall.

By nothing.

Jill's outstretched hand was glowing.

"Won, you will tell me RIGHT NOW whether Popuri was on that ship."

"Why would Popuri be on the ship?" Rick asked in confusion.

But his stomach flipped, and a chill crawled up his spine.

"Crazy lady!" Won shrieked. "I didn't see!"

Jill seemed to control herself. "...Very well. I apologize, Won. You will forget what I just did."

Won blinked, then opened his mouth. "I have here a special apple you can give to him to express your feelings."

"No thank you, Won." But Rick could hear something in her voice.

Jill was worried. Jill was very worried, very upset.

But why?

"Rick, hurry!" She grabbed his arm and began to lug him towards the beach with some sort of strength. His own, even with muscles, was no match. Farmwork must have been incredibly hard.

"What is it?!" He panted. "Where are we going? And WHY are you hauling me off?!" He paused. "I have a GIRLFRIEND, Jill."

"And I have a husband," she rounded off on him. She wasn't perspiring or even looking tired. "Which I hopefully will not have to get involved in this." Her eyes, which had been hardened with determination, showed deep worry.

"At least tell me why we're going to the beach!" And they were. They were in Rose Square now, turning towards the road. "I'm not going to say goodbye to Kai, if that's what you want!"

They entered the beach, and Rick could see the boat carrying Kai disappearing into the distance. Good riddance.

Jill dropped to her knees in the sand, defeated.

"No. No, no. Not out there. Oh, please no. Don't let her be..."

"What IS it?!"

Jill breathed out her nose, angry. Her eyes began to fill with tears.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Jill pointed one finger to the boat on the horizon.

"Rick, we need to do something."

"What? Why?" He was becoming increasingly confused. This entire day had just spiraled downwards. From preparing for a picnic with his girlfriend to long-lost Jill appearing out of nowhere, now wed to a mystery guy, and slamming Won up against the wall with who-knows-what psychic power, then falling apart on the beach...

One tear rolled down her cheek as she trembled with rage.

"Because Popuri has been kidnapped."

Fin