Ellie stalked off the ramparts with a downcast look on her face. She didn't speak any further and just left without saying anything. Madison looked at her curiously. "New girlfriend?" she asked with a tilt of her head, making her look particularly cute.

Daz looked at her strangely. Madison had a curious and almost blank look on her face as she hugged Daz. "You really are very strange. But that's what I like about you."

Madison slowly raised her hands and held Daz's cheek. She took care to gently stroke his burnt and leathery face. "Rough texture. Looks cool. Badass Daz?" she asked with another tilt of her head.

'Ah... Now it makes sense, that's one of the reasons why I like Rimmy so much... Both he and Maddy do the same thing with their heads. All that titling and bobbing... It's pretty endearing, huh? I wonder if it's a conscious action or not in the both of them?' Daz thought to himself while he held onto Madison's waist to keep himself stable.

"How did you get here so fast?" Daz asked. The two were unnervingly close to one another and they could clearly feel each other's warmth that lay beneath the clothing they wore.

"Stole bike. Drove down. Out of fuel. Ran the rest." Madison gently caressed Daz's face and held his green ethereal arm with her free hand. "Weird. Like a ghost. Badass Daz?"

"Not as much of a badass as you, apparently. How the hell did you even kill that thing today?" Daz asked with wonder in his voice.

"Today?" Madison cocked her head to the side, clearly not understanding something.

"Daz, that was yesterday. You were out for a good twenty-six hours," Rose said from his side. Daz stopped hugging Madison and leaned against the wall's battlements.

"Twenty-six? I see...then Camp Waterford was destroyed, yeah?" Daz had a hint of sadness in his voice, but he'd be lying if he claimed to not be relieved at having that wildcard threat removed.

"Don't be stupid. You think I'd just let a golden egg like that get smashed against a wall? Naturally, after Crusher had healed, I sent her to save the camp since our fearless leader was two limbs shy of a full set and he was catching up on his much-needed beauty sleep," Rose quipped sarcastically.

Madison wore a scowl, marking the first expression her face had made thus far. "Daz. No make fun. Not his fault. Say sorry."

"Yeah yeah, you're right. It was Crusher and Ellie's fault. Bumbling idiots. It was literally a big lump of metal that was staying still. How did you nearly get us all killed by it?" Rose seemed frustrated, but she rolled away in her wheelchair to another part of the ramparts and started tapping away on her laptop.

"Thanks for sticking up for me, Maddy, but Rose is, like always, right. Anyway, I don't see Crusher anywhere. Is she still at Camp Waterford?" Daz asked after sighing.

"Maybe?" Madison tilted her head to the right, forcing her long golden hair to flop onto one side.

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"I see, well then, I really need a smoke and to create something to unwind after all of... this. Wanna join me, or will you be fine by yourself? I'll be leaving later to talk to the General. I need to fix things between us," Daz explained lightly.

"You go. Join when ready." Madison smiled before she leaned forward and kissed Daz one final time. The two parted and Daz hobbled his way down the stairs.

Daz had, like most people, forgotten how absurdly hard it was to learn how to walk. He was almost crawling on all fours, trying his best to accustom himself with his new limbs. A few people saw him and they either looked worried or like they were trying to not laugh.

He struggled and fought to refind his balance, and after crawling for about fifty meters, Daz finally managed to get on his feet again, his very wobbly and unstable feet. Just as Daz was about to enter the inner keep, a young man stopped him.

Daz searched his memory and remembered that this boy who looked to be the same age as him was called Carl. Dark cornrows adorned his head, his black skin was sweating a little bit from the sun and he was wearing a simple tracksuit. "Em, hey, Lord. I just uh, wanted to say thank you for everything you've done for us... I know you come across as a bit of a dick, but really, thank you."

"Eh? Oh, yeah, sure. Thanks, Carl," Daz smiled at the unexpected compliment. Carl returned the smile and strolled away to continue his day, whether that be by training, lazing about, or studying the system, Daz didn't know, but for some reason, he suddenly felt a bit more relaxed.

With slow and careful steps, Daz made his way to his rain shelter. As usual, Sandy was there, however, this time he was sat with his chef friend, Bobby. Bobby was, just like the last time Daz had seen him, wearing a pair of tinted sunglasses and he had his hair tied up into a ponytail.

The two men were happily chatting away and smoking on dutchman's pipes while Sandy was fiddling around with some sort of puzzle box.

"Ah, Kiddo! See if you can open this damned thing! I'm having no luck," Sandy shouted before he tossed the small metal box to Daz. He caught it with his fleshy hand and stumbled forward from the sudden movement.

Bobby got up and grabbed Daz to make sure he didn't fall. He then guided him to a chair. "Sandy, you're such an idiot at times."

"Sorry, I forgot the boy just got a new set of limbs, hahaha," Sandy replied a little bit sheepishly.

The three sat and talked for a while. Sandy and Bobby had enough tact to not ask about Daz's face or hand, but they would be lying if they said they weren't curious. Daz tried to solve the puzzle box for a few minutes before promptly ignoring it and focusing on trying to craft.

Needless to say, with his new arm, Daz was unable to put his dexterity or crafting skill to good use, but regardless, it was still stress-relieving for him. After thirty minutes of failed attempts at crafting anything, Daz decided to buy his own dutchman's pipe and he smoked with Sandy and Bobby while messing around with the odd puzzle box.

With a final click, the box opened up. "What? there's nothing inside?" Daz looked a bit confused.

"Ah, ye opened it? Good job, Kiddo," Sandy smirked.

"What was the point in that? Just for fun?" Daz asked.

Sandy took a draw of his pipe before explaining. "It's just a toy I bought from the system. It's supposed to test your intelligence while also increasing your understanding of how the box was made. I bought it to help me with my blacksmithing dream, but meh, it's pretty useless."

Daz reassembled the box and threw it back at Sandy. "Don't blame the box for your sausage fingers."

Bobby burst out into laughter at that remark and Daz smiled at Sandy's embarrassment. Feeling much more refreshed, Daz met back up with Madison at the outer gate. His walking was far more stable now. Much like with relearning how to ride a bicycle, while difficult at first, given enough practice, it was an easy skill to remaster.

Daz thought about everything that had happened over the past five days, and he sighed. These five days had been some of the shortest and longest days of life. He wasn't sure what would happen in the future four-day cycles, but with Madison by his side, he felt far more confident. His dream to become the ruler of the world was still alive, and Daz would try his hardest to see it fulfilled.