-PLEASE SEE THE BOTTOM AUTHOR'S NOTE FOR MORE INFO. This is NOT the extended chapter, it is how the last chapter was SUPPOSED to be! Again, more info on the bottom!
Waking Dreams
"Badou!"
He continued to scream, his voice cracking as his outcry dissolved into body-numbing sobs.
"Badou!"
He knew the voice echoing in his head, and he grasped his temples in an attempt to get it to stop. His face was wet with tears, and his lungs hurt from the onslaught of weeping he'd done. Why couldn't it all just go away?
"God damn it, Badou! Stop crying!"
A pair of firm, and very real hands grabbed his shoulders, shaking him in an all too familiar grip. Cold fingers knotted in his sleeves, and his eyes snapped open. The world seemed to have spun out of the black, as the shadow threads that teased the edge of his vision faded away.
And there, standing right in front of him and holding onto Badou's shoulders like he would fall apart if he let go, was Haine. His ruby eyes were open wider than usual, confusion and concern etched across his face as he looked down at the Cyclops. His face seemed paler than usual, his already stark features accentuated by deep shadows of tire that clung under his eyes.
"H… Haine," Badou stuttered out, feeling childish for hiccupping. But he was still on the verge of sobbing heavily, but this time out of sheer joy and relief that his partner was okay. There was no blood, no collar, no Suma. The world existed, and he could feel the vague notion that was reality close in around him like a comforting embrace. All of it seemed to have been washed away in the gray twilight of the room, he pale dinge on the walls. All that remained was Haine and himself, and the world.
"You're okay," he continued weakly, looking at the albino's face as it jumped to surprise. Was that such a strange thing to say considering that the back of his neck had been torn open? Was it such a strange thing to be relieved about after having seen the man almost drown? Watched him die? A notion that seemed impossible?
"Me?" Haine asked, removing his hands slowly as he straightened up. As the albino drew further away Badou realized that he was laying down, and that Haine had been bent over him. He felt the soft plush of a bed cushion beneath him, and pushed himself up slowly, eyes still locked on the albino. "Of course I'm fine. I'm not so sure about you, on the other hand."
Badou blinked in surprise. "Why?" he asked quickly, making to stand before Haine pushed him back down. He looked up at the albino indignantly he sat looking up at him. "I just saw you get killed, and you think I'm the one that's messed up?"
Haine's confusion seemed to grow, and his face grew grave. He sat down on the edge of Badou's bed, which he realized belatedly was a hospital bed.
Why was he in the hospital?
"Badou, I didn't even hardly get hit. You were the one that took the tumble down the stairs, remember?" the albino said, slowing his words as if waiting for some light to go on. Badou's brows knotted together and a frown pressed on his lips. There was some connection he was missing but he just couldn't quite…
Stairs?
He looked over at his partner, his brows high and his eyes wide. He had fallen down the stairs. He remembered now; they had been on a job and he'd taken a tumble… but he'd just hurt his arm. Haine had had walked away looking like Swiss cheese, and they had thus parted ways. He remembered being sore the next day at Buon Viaggio…
"Haine," he asked suddenly, and he could tell that Haine knew something was wrong from the thin line of his lips, "what day is it, today?" He grasped at the albino's shoulders, and felt them tense beneath his fingers. "Please tell me."
"It's Saturday," Haine answered, and slowly Badou released his grip. "We had the job just earlier this afternoon, remember?"
He did remember, and he looked away slowly as he tried to re-gather his thoughts. It didn't make any sense… that job, it had been almost a week ago… It felt like it had been almost a week ago. He looked back to Haine, feeling some silent dread wash over him. "How long have I been out? Just for a few hours?"
Haine's snowy head nodded, his ruby eyes looking at Badou seriously. "Yeah. You hit your head pretty hard, and wouldn't get up. So I brought you here to make sure you…"
Badou didn't need him to finish his sentence.
He paused again, trying to put the pieces together. But now that they were all laid out, none of them fit together. "So, the poker game, TOSCA, the train, the river, none of it ever happened?" Haine tilted his head to one side, obviously not following Badou's references. Had he really not done any of those things? Had he really not spent a week mulling around in a living hell?
Had all of it really been just a dream?
"I don't know what kinds of dreams you've been having over the past few hours, Badou, but I can assure you that you haven't done any of those things in your sleep," Haine said, making to stand again. Taking a second to read between the lines, Badou was surprised to realize that what Haine had just said meant that he hadn't left his partner's side in the hours he'd spent in the hospital. It was just another show of Haine's subtle form of caring.
Having to accept the idea of not having actually experienced anything he thought he had done over the past non-week was a hard pill to swallow, but Badou put it aside for a moment, grasping at Haine's wrist as he stood up slowly. He knew that standing up too fast was a bad idea, so he did it slowly to keep from making even more of a fool of himself. Haine glanced back at him, seemingly unnerved by Badou's serious expression.
"Haine," he said, his tone a strange juxtaposition between demanding and desperate, "please, let me look at your collar." He felt a tear prick at the corner of his eye. He felt Haine stiffen, and try to step away, but he moved his hand to grasp at the albino's upper arm, preventing him from moving away.
"Please!" His voice raised to a near-shout as his desperation grew. He needed this one shred of evidence to know that the world was real. To know that, unlike everything he may or may not have just experienced, that this wasn't a dream. That it wasn't just another nightmare. Haine looked at him as if he were a deer trapped in the headlights, or a wild dog pinned in a cage, and underneath all the cold metal that was Haine's own façade, he could see the conflict in the other man's eyes. He understood the hesitance, understood the consent, but knew that he would have to give Haine a reason if he really wanted him to sway to his side.
"I need to know that this is real," he added quietly, and he saw the conflict in the ruby eyes seem to die. The albino loosened, and seemed to cease in his struggle to get away. But he made no motion to remove the bandages clasped around his neck, and looked away almost resentfully. Badou could see that Haine's hands were clenched into fists, and that the albino, in spite of his consent, still wasn't comfortable with the decision.
Badou couldn't blame him, and so reached up to pry away the first layer gingerly. He stepped halfway around the albino, facing the back of his neck as he folded down the other's high coat collar. Once the first layer was loosened the rest of the loops followed, pooling around Haine's shoulders as they slunk down to reveal just what Badou was looking for.
He'd never really taken the time to get a good look at Haine's collar before. Nor had he ever really gotten the chance to, considering the albino only showed it rarely, considering he wasn't exactly proud of the attribute. It was a stiffly cut piece of metal, with sharply hewn shape, scratched and scored over years of abuse. But there seemed to be a kind of symmetry to it, how the scars in the metal followed down onto Haine's skin. And Badou realized with a start that those were the only scars that Haine actually seemed to have.
Without thinking of what he was actually doing, Badou stepped behind the gunner and wrapped his arms around Haine's stomach, now fully behind the man as he buried his nose against the metal plate. He heard Haine growl low in warning, asking in a none too pleased voice just what the hell the other gunner thought he was doing.
The wholly honest answer was that Badou had no idea, but that somehow, with Haine so close, the fear seemed to go away. The uncertainty of admitting that he himself was still human was made less shocking by the fact that Haine, who was equally human in different ways, was so close. He closed his eyes, planting a ginger kiss on the other man's most sensitive area, sufficiently silencing him for the moment. He held the albino like that for a minute, and let the silence settle around them.
"I would go through hell for you, you know that right?" he whispered, his lips still brushing against the collar studded into Haine's neck. He watched the muscles in the man's neck move as he snorted petulantly, and how the goose bumps on Haine's neck made the white bristly hair at the base of his neck stand up.
"We live in hell, genius," the experiment griped, and Badou buried his face in the crook of Haine's neck. His arms tightened around the other man's torso, and he clenched his eyes shut. The bloody vision flashed before his eyes, and he felt his hands shake as he grasped at the other man's sides.
"No." He felt Haine still at the word. "This isn't hell."
The silence settled around them again, and Badou could sense that Haine was getting antsy when the other made no apparent intention clear that he was going to move. Badou didn't want to really, and so he didn't, totally satisfied with making sure that reality was actually at hand.
After a long time, Haine spoke again. When he did it was quietly; so quietly that Badou barely heard him. But because of their close proximity, he was just barely able to catch the ghosting words as they passed the other man's pale lips.
"I'd go through hell for you too, you lazy son of a bitch."
Badou smiled, satisfied with the reaction. He could hear the grudging tone in Haine's voice, but also caught the undertone that their statements shared: honesty. And even though Haine had never been one to really lie through his teeth, he had never been one to be overtly honest with everyone he passed by on the street. So, in Badou's meager books, it was a victory, and so he released his partner from his grasp.
Almost as predictably, Haine turned around to face him, his ruby eyes frustrated and questioning. But he could see that Haine was keeping all of his thoughts to himself, for now, and Badou could only guess that it was because the man was dog tired. If he remembered correctly, but in spite of the time that he had fathomed to pass, none truly had, Haine had been complaining before the job about how little sleep he'd gotten over the past week. And, thus, was more than overdue for a good night's sleep. Thus, he was too tired to fight, and too tired to ask questions.
Of which, for now, Badou was thankful. Because in all honesty he himself probably couldn't have answered all of Haine's questions, and he wanted… perhaps needed the time to himself to figure them out. Then he would share his musings with Haine, when he'd finally made all the puzzle pieces fit back into a picture again.
"Can I stay at your place tonight, Haine?" he asked, not wanting the questions flooding his head to be answered strictly within the confines of a dingy gray hospital room. And even though the horrid memories he still harbored about Haine's apartment, he knew that he would have to face his demons. And, with Haine alongside him, perhaps replace those horrid premonitions with new, far better memories.
The albino shrugged, readjusting his bandages as he seemed to gather himself. He walked towards the door, grabbing his heavy studded belt, which sat on a chair across the room, and slinging it up over his shoulder. The chain fell down his back, still connected to the guns in the holster. "Fine." He cast a withering glance at the red head. "But we'll have to take the trains back. We're still all the way across town."
Badou nearly cringed at the thought of going on another train, but decided that with Haine was better than without by so many miles that the comparison was barely valid. He nodded, realizing that throughout the entire endeavor he had been missing his eye patch. He was still wearing his everyday clothing, which wasn't a surprise considering he'd just bumped his head. The doctors must not have deemed him important enough to really hospitalize, otherwise he probably would have been far deeper into the hospital.
Retrieving it from the bedside and slinging it across his face, the blinked. It felt… strange, having it on. He could see Haine's vaguely raised eyebrow out of the corner of his eye, and returned the glance. Maybe that was why Haine had actually given in; he'd gotten to see Badou's scar. Thus, the least he could do was return the favor. The logic may not have been perfect, but it was enough for the smoker as he dug around his pockets for a pack. When he found one, he smiled to himself, tossing it happily in his hand and making to join the albino at the door.
"Let's go home."
By the time they arrived at the nearest train station it was already very late into the evening. The small hours of the night were drawing near to being early morning, and the few trains that ran at that late a time were very far apart indeed. But once they had boarded and were on their way to the other end of the city, Badou finally began to feel real again. People responded to their presence. He noted how many strange looks Haine got, even at that time of night. He noticed how some people, at the sight of them, seemed to disappear into the woodwork with unhappy faces. He had his reputation back. They had their reputation back, and it was a glorious feeling.
Feasible reactions were taking place right before his eyes, proving over and over to his newly acute mind that this was real. Haine was real. He was real. The world was real. Things made sense here. And he found himself smiling more than once offhandedly at no thought in particular other than how nice it was to feel the pavement under his feet, solid and cold.
When they boarded, the train's dim lights were barely enough to see across the passenger cab. So, he and Haine chose to sit side by side in favor of risking unfavorable company so late in the evening. And because Badou at that point was still too paranoid to opt for any other choice. They slouched against their seats, Haine's head almost instantly bowing in sleep as he trundled off to what would hopefully be a far less traumatic dream than the one Badou had experienced. But it was still a half-sleep, Badou noted, knowing that if the albino's fingers were twitching like they did every once in a while, that he wasn't actually asleep. He was just resting his eyes and letting his muscles relax. He'd fall dead asleep as soon as he was back in his own door, and knew he wouldn't have to whip out his weapons on a second's notice.
Whilst Badou on the other hand could still scarcely believe that none of the dream had been real. It seemed so strange, to go through a dream that made so much realistic sense, and yet none at all to in the end have not a grain of it be truth. It had been so real, but so fake at the same time. He shook his head, letting a sigh out through his nose as he glanced over at Haine, whose arms were crossed over his chest, even as his nose sagged against his collarbones, and his glove clad-fingers twitched against his arms.
Glancing around the hazy train car, Badou tried to avert his attention elsewhere. At the rate he was spiraling, by the end of the night his statement to Naoto would be proven wrong.
Because, hell, if Haine kept looking so damnably… himself, Badou may just have to do something about it. He wanted some way to show Haine that he would never betray the trust that the albino invested. That he would never ignore him for favor of… something else.
He wanted a way to seal the deal, and knew that somewhere deep down, Haine did too.
But when his gaze settled on a vague figure halfway down the train car, he paused in his thoughts.
What had first caught his notice was the person's legs. They were long and lean, and stretched halfway out into the isle as they rested interlocked at the ankles. A lady's stance, he assumed, considering the rest of the vague curvature of the person's body. He squinted, trying to get a good look at their face before he stopped, nearly shedding his skin when he realized there were a pair of eyes looking back at him.
Electric blue eyes to be exact.
Suma's cold eyes stared back at him from across the train car, and he instinctively backed towards Haine with a sharp gasp rasping down his dry throat. His heart thundered up his throat, and he could feel the blood draining from his face as his ashen lips fell open. Her face was pressed into a smug grin as she leered at him from across the train, apparently more than pleased by his reaction.
But she'd just been a dream… hadn't she? She had just been part of the nightmare that his mind had fabricated from the damage done by a minor concussion, wasn't she? Everything she had done had been a fantasy, hadn't it?
The chaos seemed suddenly very much real in the world as it flashed by beyond the walls of the train.
In a slow motion she raised one of her pale hands, curling half of her fingers to her palm, and pointing the other two out to form a makeshift gun. She leveled her mock barrel towards him, cocking her thumb back like it was a trigger. But he realized after a moment that she wasn't aiming for him, rather, right beyond him.
Right where Haine sat dozing next to him, and the one eyed gunner looked at him, panicked.
His eyes whipped back to her, and she winked mockingly at him as the pulled her mock trigger, her arm cocking back as if in recoil. She smiled coyly at him, kissing her hand and blowing it to him as he sat dumbstruck. For a moment he just stood staring, unable to believe what he was seeing. But after a moment, she spoke. Her tone was low, and had he not watched her lips he would have missed what she said entirely.
"Next time, it's for real."
A bright flash of light burst through the windows, and Badou blinked in surprise. But the moment he opened his eyes again, she was gone. Her seat was empty, save for the bright light bathing it from the lights in the station. He sat staring for a moment, before he felt Haine stir beside him. He glanced over at the albino as the ruby eyes opened groggily.
"I guess we're at our station," Badou said quickly, hauling Haine up by his wrist and all but lugging him out of the train station like he was dead weight. Haine took back his wrist after a while, but only after Badou deemed it safe for him to let go. Haine didn't fail to notice the difference in his partner's disposition, but he must have decided that something that had his partner so obviously worried was worthy of his attention, because he asked about it perfectly seriously after he'd woken up enough to do so.
Badou paused on his mission to make sure that both of them made it to Haine's house in one piece, looking back at his partner with all the seriousness that they knew when and when not to share.
"I can't tell you everything right now," he answered slowly, feeling Haine's discontent with the answer, but appreciating the patient silence anyway. "But you have to promise me one thing." Again, the albino waited.
"Whether it's you in my sight or me in your sight, I don't ever want us to be out of each other's reach," he elaborated, and he watched Haine's pale brows kick up. "I know it sounds stupid, but… you just can't imagine the things I've seen, Haine." His voice stiffened, and he felt like, for the millionth time that day, that tears were right around the corner. "You really can't."
Haine stepped forward then, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket as he seemed to mull over what Badou had said. His confusion seemed to have died away, instead replaced by something Badou wasn't familiar enough with to read properly. But when the albino looked up, and their eyes met, he knew that Haine had been listening, and that, even for his lack of detail, he comprehended much of what was going on only from the intuitive instincts that followed him around like a shadow.
"Then why won't you start telling me, idiot," he said dully, still obviously tired but not tired enough to leave the acumen out of his voice. "That way maybe you can finally start making sense by morning."
Badou smiled, nodding and letting out a long breath. Well, at least he had somewhere to start. But, casting one last glance over his shoulder and behind the both of them as they made their way into Haine's apartment building, he realized that even if he did have a place to start, he also had a place to end. In spite of how much he hated to think about that end.
But he thought then that perhaps the end he had seen would be different, somehow. Now that he had seen it and could with cognizant effort work towards a happier ending, perhaps the vision would change.
And, perhaps after everything, he would be the one holding all the cards. He would be the one with the gun in his hand. He would be the informant. He would be the shooter. He would be the schemer.
Following Haine into the quiet silence of his apartment building, rain just beginning to drizzle out from the black sky as they made their way inside, he couldn't help but wonder what exactly he was supposed to tell the albino without sounding delusional. He knew that he sounded pretty delusional to the albino most of the time anyway, but this was even beyond him a little bit. But as he followed after the albino's heels back to the secluded corner of his apartment complex, he realized that it really didn't matter all too much. What he said really didn't have much consequence; it was what he meant in the end that mattered.
So as Haine shouldered open his heavy door and ushered them both in, Badou turned to begin speaking. But as he watched the albino instinctively close and lock the door behind him, he lost his words again. Had it been anyone else, locking the two of them within the apartment could have been viewed rather questioningly. But Badou knew that it was just Haine being Haine, and that he was such a lazy ass when in his own house that he didn't want to deal with people barging in. That was it. No ulterior motives, no risqué implications, just a lazy guy wanting to be lazy while in his own house.
Thus, when Badou started to chuckle to himself at the thought, he earned a rather unsavory glance from his partner. His chuckles turned into a gentle smile, though the unsavory glance did not waver. If anything, Haine was a mix between confused, and a shade of thinly veiled frustration.
"What's with you lately?" he grumbled under his breath, shouldering past the gunner as he made for his small living room. Before the Cyclops could call it, Haine flopped unceremoniously onto his couch, covering his eyes with the crook of his arm. "You're even more of a nonsensical spazz than usual."
Badou merely shook his head, following after the albino and sitting down on the checkered floor. He looked around, the stark black and white pattern empty of the blood he had seen it stained with what felt not to be just hours ago. He closed his eyes, feeling his lips quiver and his stomach coil at the thought. He leaned against the front of Haine's couch, resting his head on the cushion by the albino's hip. His eyes were closed tightly, and he waited for the wave of emotion to wash away. He could feel Haine's eyes on him, but didn't have the guts to look back at him until he knew he wasn't going to cry.
But he realized then that such denial would do him no good. He'd been ignoring himself and his partner for years, and now was not the time to continue such habits, not after what he had just suffered through. So, glancing up at his partner's expectant, shadowed glance from underneath the crook of his elbow, he took a shaky breath. Haine's lips were pressed into a flat, waiting quazi-pout. Apparently he'd had more than enough of the one-eyed man's waffling, but was too tired or too polite (most likely the former) to comment.
"I saw you get killed," Badou started with a very strong stiff knife stuck down his throat. Or at least that's what it felt like. He could have sworn by the fact that it was there, because swallowing it hurt like hell. He felt the waves of almost amused disbelief rolling off of his partner, but shook his head.
Their eyes met again, and the subtle emotions died away, Haine's pout thinning into a flat expression. "I'm serious," Badou said, and apparently his tone of voice got through. "I… it was the worst thing I've ever seen… Worse than my brother's death, and I mean that."
Haine seemed stunned at that point, and Badou felt pleased with himself. He sat up a bit more, resting his elbow on the cushion where his head had been resting and letting his hand lay lax next to Haine's chest. The urge to touch was a hard one to ignore, but he resisted, knowing that waiting would be worth the reward at some point. "It's because of that," Badou said, feeling a cold shiver run down his spine at the thought of Suma's hollow laughter, "that I don't want us to ever lose sight of each other. I don't want… to lose you again."
Haine snorted halfheartedly, re-burying his face in his arm even as he spoke. But his voice lacked the conviction for malice that it usually had. "What, you don't think I can take care of myself? You my babysitter now or something?"
Badou grabbed hold of the other man's arm, prying it away from the alabaster face even as the albino looked at him in confusion. "No, you can't. Because you're human like I am, and we need other people in our lives to help take care of us. We need other people to make sure we stay alive just as much we need ourselves to know who we are."
The albino seemed outright stunned by the other man's words, and his pale lips were parted in surprise. But Badou could see in the wavering red orbs that he'd his something deep within the albino. Some deep dark place that hadn't been touched in a long time had felt the blow of his words, and Badou could almost see the man retreating into himself even as they sat looking at each other.
"Don't run away from me now," Badou said, reaffirming his grip on the other man's arm. Now he was the one shaking the other out of a distant reality. And he knew now that he and Haine shared yet another thing; they both knew the depths and breadths of the pain one could feel.
Haine's upper lip curled, and he leaned forward, looming over the gunner as pain stabbed across his expression. He was hurting just as much as Badou, but he'd been hurting for far longer, and his scars were far deeper than the Cyclops had originally thought. "Do you know what happened to the last person I let "help take care" of me?" he snarled out, his voice wavering with what Badou realized with more surprise than was probably necessary were tears. "I tore her in half. I murdered her. Don't tell me that I need someone to take care of me, Badou, because I sure as hell-"
"Need one," Badou interrupted, speaking just as strongly. He hauled himself up onto the couch, sitting next to the albino and leaning over him, it being his turn to loom. "And do you know what happened to the last person I let "help take care" of me? I watched him die, and got half-blinded in the process. But I wasn't just blinded physically; I let myself be blinded emotionally because I didn't ever want to hurt so bad again in my life. I was so wanting to avoid that pain that I let myself become inhuman. And what I saw, over the past few hours or over the past week, whichever, made me realize that it was never going to help me. Trying to run from that pain was never going to make it go away." His expression softened, and he noted that Haine's emotional scowl had died away.
"It only made it worse, in the end, I ended up losing more because of it." He wasn't sure exactly how he was supposed to continue, or on what train of thought he was supposed to be going, but he continued anyway. "It made me realize that the risks are worth the rewards…"
Kind of like what he was trying to pull right now. If Haine so much as smelled something fishy along the entire way, Badou knew that he'd be up the creek without a paddle, but he had to risk it. He had to show the albino that he meant what he said. That all of his implied words had a solid, valid meaning, even if they didn't necessarily sound like it. That the purpose of his hellish dream had not been for naught in the end.
So, against his better judgment, he leaned down and let his lips grace the wrinkled skin of the albino's forehead. He then rested their two foreheads together, feeling Haine's scowl rather than needing to see it. All he could see at that moment were the ruby eyes staring back up at him. He grinned goofily in spite of himself, hoping to lighten Haine's mood just a bit before it turned around and bit him where it hurt. "So what do you say, Haine-chan, how about you and I at least take that risk together?"
For a long time Haine didn't answer, and Badou was left grinning sheepishly, hoping that the wolf pinned under his forehead wasn't going to kill him. It was a valid fear, knowing his partner. But he could only hope that all of their exchanged words that day had come to do something in the albino's mind to change it. That there had been some meaning discerned from his nonsensical babble, and that Haine at least got the gist of some of what he was saying.
Finally, the albino let out a long sigh, letting his tired eyes flutter closed. Badou's smile widened as he recognized the show of consent, and nearly hugged the albino for it. But he waited, wanting to hear it from the albino's mouth before he made any incorrect assumptions.
"God damn it," was enough for him, and that was all that Haine said anyway. Thoroughly pleased he rubbed the tips of their noses together, a strange show of affection he'd seen wooing couples and loving mothers do. He didn't really understand the meaning of it, but he liked the idea anyway. His smile was etched onto his face, and Haine's once more opened eyes were probably filled with it.
"Good," Badou said, straightening back up just enough to get some distance between their faces, but not nearly enough to indicate his leaving Haine's vicinity anytime soon. "Now, with your permission, I'd like to seal our little deal."
-Okay, so I am sooo sorry for those of you that read this the first time without knowing that it wasn't completed. Probably some major WTF moments for most of you. For some reason my computer's version of Word crashed on me in the middle of this chapter, and there were about two thousand words missing from the draft that was posted. I am terribly sorry for the confusion, and also because it cut off at probably the most awkward point in the chapter. Please forgive me; it was NOT intentional. Also, for those of you seeking updates on the "extended" chapter's status, it's a bit delayed because I had to rewrite this one anyway, and because I'm a bit of a prude and am finding that I don't quite have the stomach for it. If any of you want to give me help on this, I would REALLY appreciate it. If no one steps up, I may just not do that chapter and mark this fic completed for good, and that will be the end. So, please enjoy the complete version of the last chapter of Gilded Silver, and look for updates on it on my profile.
8-90s love,
crypto
