Chapter 10: Divide

The ReBoot Timeline used in this series is as follows: Day = decade/ Hour= year/ Minute=month/ Cycle=week/ Second=day/ Microsecond=hour/ Nano=minute/ Nanosecond=second

It took her three times to open his cell door. Pandora forced herself to breathe and relax. She'd barely slept and was jittery from the extra shot of straight energy she took that morning. That wasn't the only reason for her shaking limbs, no doubt. Excitement, nervousness... fear. All encompassed in one giddy little student.

A nano later she felt relaxed enough to enter his cell with at least moderate composure. The virus was sitting patiently on his bed, as usual. It looked unrumpled. Perhaps he hadn't slept much either. She smiled. "Ready?" Megabyte looked her over once. "What?"

"I know we're not following protocol here, but shouldn't the viral escort at least be armed?"

She shrugged. "You really think I'd stand much of a chance against you, even with a taser?" She walked over and took his arm, pulling him to his feet. "Way I see it, if you'd wanted to hurt me, you'd have done it long ago."

"Genuine straight to the core, aren't you," he said. "You know, I've found your honesty and sincerity to be such wonderful traits. They really are rare to see now a seconds." Pandora shrugged and smiled. They were quiet the rest of the way to the reformatting room. Inside, she raised the lights and moved to the console, powering up the system. "It looks different," he remarked from the doorway.

"Upgrades, remember?" She glanced at him. "Well, don't be scared. It's not going to hurt you."

Megabyte smirked at her and walked to the console. "Who did the upgrades? You?"

Pandora pressed another button and multiple VidWindows popped up around her. "Not at first. Enzo has been working this program longer than I have. I started doing more software updates in the last hour or so. He did all of the hardware updates." She looked around. "He changed the whole room to better accommodate our goals."

"Such as?"

"Multiple viral reformats, at one time. And I wanted to store the codes, so..."

"Store the codes?"

She nodded. "You can't study something that's been destroyed. Enzo and the Guardians didn't like the idea, but I convinced them the codes could help reverse infections if we could dissect the strain."

"Clever girl," Megabyte smiled. "So tell me how this process works again? It's been so long."

"You start over there," she pointed to one of ten identical circular marks on the floor. "The tube encloses you and protects anyone in the room from the electrical current that will locate and remove the strain." She pointed to a small pedestal on the console. A tiny vial rested on top, a thin cable connected to the bottom. "The strain will be deposited here and transferred to the vault," she pointed to a wall, "hidden inside there. That's also the lab where we study the strains. It's high security and contamination sensitive, so if a strain is released outside of the safety parameters, this area of the school goes into quarantine."

"And once the strain is removed, I'm clean?"

"You should be, but I'll run a scanner to verify nothing else of the strain remains before the tube is removed."

"How long will it take?"

She hummed to herself for a moment. "Depends, really. It can take between one to three seconds depending on the size of the virus, but it should be less than a second for you."

"And those ten discs mean you can reformat ten viruses at once?"

"Yep. Of course, we haven't done more than one at a time, but the potential is there. We could reformat hundreds in just a few seconds." She looked up at him and smiled. "Any other questions?"

"I don't suppose there's anyway to see the process before I live it."

Pandora's eyes softened. "Feeling a little nervous?" She shook her head and tapped on a VidWindow. "I don't see why everyone feels so threatened by you. You're not all that different from everyone else." She pulled up a file and opened a list of film bytes. "We record all reformats and all tests. Go ahead and watch what you'd like while I run the op-test."

"Thank you."

Pandora looked at him, the emotion in his voice catching her by surprise. He showed no sadness or inclination to cry, but his voice sounded deeper and softer, more sincere than she'd heard before. "For showing you a video?"

"For everything," he answered. "And I'm sorry for all the trouble."

Despite the seriousness of the moment, she laughed and waved him off. "Forget about it." She entered the code for the operational test and ran through the pre-reformat checklist. Green lights verified optimal performance until the last tube attempted to close. She frowned and glanced at the virus. He was watching Lavandos' procedure. She was surprised by his intense stare but held back from saying anything. He wasn't the same virus he had been, and maybe something about the process worried him.

She walked over to the circular mark and stood on the plate. She felt the disc dip slightly so there was no problem beneath. She stomped on it for good measure.

"The process seems so simple," Megabyte commented, "anyone could do it. And it looks like it's painless."

She examined the locking equipment above but could see no interference. "It is," she said. "You have nothing to worry about."

"I didn't see any safety lock on the software, though."

"Safety lock?" She glanced at the floor and knelt down, close to the thin circular door where the tube would lift out of the floor. She moved her fingers around it, searching for anything that may be obstructing the system. "For what?"

"Experimentation."

"What-aha, there it is!-do you mean?" Pandora asked, her fingers digging at something glinting in the path of the tube.

"This process could be reversed."

"Finally." Pandora sat up on her knees and held up piece of a spoon. The tube extended up to the ceiling and the system beeped. She rolled her eyes and waved the offending object at Megabyte. "This is what I get for eating in here all of the time. Can you hit the release button on the screen?" she asked, her voice echoing in the tube.

Megabyte smiled. "Let me find it. Does this happen to you often?"

She blushed a little. "Actually, yes. I always forget to get off the plate when I'm helping Enzo with maintenance. The tube stays up when there's weight on the plate, implying a virus is being reformatted." She stood up and dusted off her knees. "Now what were you saying? An experiment?"

"Yes. What's to stop someone from using the program for new things, like reversed reformatting."

She frowned. "Reversed? As in undoing a previous reformat?"

He hummed. "Why, what a brilliant idea. If you can remove a strain, can't you then re-introduce it?"

"Megabyte?" Her voice was soft. "Please let me out now."

"Don't tell me it never crossed your mind." His teeth bared in a terrifying smile. "It's crossed mine." He laughed low in his throat as a he pressed a button and the program began the analysis phase. "As I said, I truly am sorry. For a sprite, I actually find you tolerable. I do hope you survive this little test."

Pandora's eyes widened in panic. "Wait, no Megabyte, what are you doing?!"

"Don't worry, my dear, it's not the whole strain. I need to save some for me," he chuckled. "Besides, the videos are quite detailed. I'm pretty sure I can make this work. And if it doesn't, well, there's plenty of other sprites here. I'm bound to get it right eventually." The empty vial on the pedestal was sucked down into the console, and a new vial from the vault, its center glowing bright green with infection, took its place. He ran a finger over the glass. "Oh, my old self. How I've missed you."

She began pounding on the tube. "No, please, don't do this!"

"But I must."

"Why?!"

Megabyte stared at her, his eyes glowing bright. "Because it's my format." He pressed a button on the console and the viral strain began to drain from the vial.

Pandora screamed.

Screams echoed around the room. Women applauded and men cheered as the athletic sprite dressed in a flashy two piece blue suit leaned across the table to collect his winnings. He sat back down and waved nonchalantly to the attendees, all decked out in their finest. He began stacking his chips into neat towers and leaned over to his companion. "You do realize that should have been your hand."

The tuxedo clad sprite grunted in reply. He ran a hand through his silver hair, pulled into a neat little ponytail at the back. "Well, this is your show."

Flash chuckled. "Yeah, but you can still win a Game, Bob. Really, I won't be offended. I encourage that whole little mend and defend thing we Guardians are known for." He caught the next deal.

"Oh, is that a hard and fast rule? And here I've thought it was a guideline," Bob said sarcastically. He received his next two cards, deliberately keeping his eyes averted from the lady's knowing gaze.

"Obviously."

Bob glanced up at the collected young woman across the table, her eyes focused on her newest hand. She placed her bet and took a delicate sip of her drink. "I'd like to get back to the Principal Office sometime this hour," Dot said, a slight edge in her voice.

"Get used to it, Dot, it's like this with him every game," Enzo called to her from the crowd, pulling at his bow tie yet again. He'd been struggling to loosen the thing since the User bumped him off the table.

"You can't rush greatness, Ms. Matrix," Flash said, ignoring Enzo's comment. "And this Game is all about patience," he said, throwing in some chips. The User raised the pot to 1.5 million dollars. The crowd whispered in anticipation. The User had some solid skills, nearly eliminating Dot and Flash in one hand, and the game had been exciting from the start. But it wasn't his opponent that had Bob concerned.

When Enzo sat down at the table shortly after Bob and Flash, the camaraderie was good. Then Dot joined them. Her floor length red dress brought back a memory Bob hadn't thought of in a while, and he'd wondered if she was there for vocal entertainment. When she sat down, her green hair softly curled and bobbing down the dress' open back, Bob knew there'd be trouble right from the first cool glance.

As if playing a Game wasn't stressful enough.

A small cheer of excitement buzzed through the crowd as they reached the River. Flash had gone all in. Eight of Diamonds, Eight of Hearts, Seven of Spades, Eight of Spades, and Five of Clubs. Bob looked at his cards, Seven of Clubs and Nine of Diamonds. He could win on three of a kind, but then he'd eliminate another opponent against the User. "Fold." Dot did the same. The User called, and both revealed their hands. Flash had the Four and Seven of Diamonds. Full House. The User had the Ace and Eight of Clubs. Four of a kind. The better hand.

Some cheered and some bemoaned with disappointment as Flash put his head in his hand. "Thought I had it. Guess you've got that chance to win now, Bob."

"Gee, thanks." Flash shook hands around the table in graceful defeat and stood next to Enzo on the sidelines. The Dealer called a five nano break, departing with the User closed behind.

"No pressure, Bob," Dot said lightly.

Bob glanced up, surprised she'd spoken to him, but she was stacking her chips. "I'm not too worried about it."

"How's that? Because Mainframe isn't your system anymore?"

Bob shook his head. "No, Dot, I'm just a good player."

Her eyes locked on to his. "So I've learned."

Is this what we're playing now? Bob thought. All right. "If you'd like me to cash out, Dot, you're more than welcome to finish the Game yourself. You're certainly capable, and," he said casually as he leaned back in his chair, "Mainframe is your system."

Dot pursed her lips slightly. "So you know I'll protect her at all costs. Even if it means counting on sprites like you."

"Unbelievable." He shook his head and leaned forward. "You're unbelievable, you know that? In case you've forgotten, I haven't let you down on a Game once. Ever. I'm not going to start now."

"You're right. You haven't let me down on a Game." She sipped her drink. "Just on everything else."

Bob stared at her, Dot's own gaze unforgiving, until the Dealer and User returned to the table. Nothing else was said as the next hand began. Seven rounds later Bob survived, but Dot did not. She exited the table with only a small nod to the User. Bob took a cleansing breath. He needed to focus. He was in the lead, marginally. It was up to him.

The crowd applauded, watching the screens above as the next hand was dealt. The game continued with growing tension, the two remaining players giving and losing some with each hand. The Guardian needed to push a little harder, make his opponent sweat.

He peered at his new hand. Dual Aces. He called, throwing in two million to the excitement of the crowd. The User looked at his cards, at Bob, then pushed his chips forward.

"All in."

Bob's eyebrows shot up. After all the careful planning this User had shown, this move caught him by surprise. If Bob won this hand, he'd beat the game. If he lost the hand, he'd have barely enough to make the next call, and would be forced to go all in. Losing that hand would be bad. "Call."

The crowd cheered as both players flipped over their cards. The User leaned back in his chair, awaiting the Flop. Bob stood up and moved behind his chair. He looked behind him and got a thumbs up from Flash. Enzo looked nervous and Dot's face was a mask. Everyone understood the stakes.

The dealer put down the Flop: King of Diamonds, Nine of Diamonds, and Four of Diamonds. Bob looked at his cards. Ace of Diamonds and Ace of Clubs. The User had Ace of Spades and King of Clubs.

"Yes," Enzo cheered.

With the Turn came a cheer of excitement as the dealer placed a King of Spades.

"Aw, shift," Flash muttered.

Come on, Bob thought.

The River was dealt and the room erupted. Bob let out a breath. Jack of Diamonds. An Ace-high flush. Bob won.

"GAME OVER."

The cube ascended and Flash slapped high fives with Enzo. "Great play, Bob," Enzo cheered. "Just like old times, huh, Sis?" Dot smiled at her younger brother but said nothing.

"It was luck," Bob told the Cadet, "but thanks-."

"You son of a virus!"

There was no time to react. The colossal fist slammed into his face. Bob stumbled back, immediately bringing his hands up to block another blow.

"Matrix, stop!" Flash yelled, followed by Dot shouting his name.

The great renegade would not be held back, throwing Flash off him and shoving Enzo out of the way. He charged at Bob again and rammed the Guardian into the building at his back, driving the air from the smaller sprite's lungs. He pressed his face close to Bob's and hissed, "I don't know what the Dell you're doing here, but I'll delete you right now if you don't get out!"

"Matrix, let him go!" Dot yelled, grabbing her younger brother's arm and trying to get him off. "Matrix, not here-!"

"Yes, here!" he snapped at Dot. "He leaves now!"

"Matrix, stop, let me explain!"

Enzo threw himself at Matrix. "Get off him!" He tackled him sideways to the ground. The two Matrixes rolled around on the street. Despite his smaller frame, Enzo gave Matrix a run for his money.

"Enzo, don't!" Flash and Dot pulled at the younger boy when a flash of aqua joined the fray.

"Matrix, let go!" AndrAIa pulled at her boyfriend, trying to get him to calm down. When the two were finally separated, Dot stood between them, her arms up.

"Matrix, please, go back to the Principal Office-."

"Are you out of your mind?!" the renegade shouted as his younger self. "How could you protect him?!"

"What is wrong with you?! How many times has he saved your life?! Ungrateful dipswitch!" Enzo shouted back, straining against Flash's strong hold.

Matrix exploded. "Ungrateful?! After everything he did to this system, to us?! After he nullified Dad and destroyed the Twin City and left those viruses here to thrive?! And we should be grateful?! How basic can you be?!"

Enzo broke free and charged. Matrix did the same and the two brushed past Dot to collide in a flurry of vicious punches. When the two were pulled apart again, Bob stepped in front of Matrix.

"If you want to fight someone, Matrix, fight the sprite you're mad at."

"With pleasure." The renegade cracked his knuckles. "I've been waiting hours for this."

"No," Enzo stepped next to Bob, ignoring the blood running from his split eyebrow. "I can handle him."

"Enough!" Dot stepped between her brothers. Flash and AndrAIa moved by Matrix, their arms up and gesturing to him to calm down. "No one is fighting anyone! This stops now!" She looked at Matrix. "If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me. I knew he was coming." She took a breath. "I gave you that mission so you wouldn't see him."

Matrix stared at Dot, his chest heaving slightly. He took a breath and looked at Bob. "You have no right to be here," Matrix fumed. He pointed at Enzo, "And you're a fool following him."

"Log off, Matrix, you're nothing but an angry, unhinged brute," Enzo snapped. "And he didn't destroy the Twin City. That was an accident."

"We don't know that. For all we know it was part of his experiment."

"Experiment?" Enzo looked at Bob and back at Matrix. "What experiment?"

Matrix stared at Enzo for a nano then snapped his gaze to Dot. "You didn't tell him. Did you."

Dot's face said it all. "It wasn't the right time-."

"What experiment?" Enzo cut in.

"His reformatting program," Matrix glared at Bob. "His radical, unrestricted, unsupervised, and unaccountable reformatting program."

Enzo looked at Bob then Dot. Her eyes moved back and forth between them and the young Cadet knew something was very wrong. He challenged her and she took a breath.

"I wanted to tell you, Enzo, but I didn't know how. You love the Academy so much, and you've always wanted to be just like Bob-."

"Dot. What. Is. It?"

She sighed and dropped her head. "We were archiving old security tapes when found the footage from the holding cells. Of a conversation between Bob and Turbo. They talked about an experiment to find a way to cure viruses, in a contained system that posed little risk of affecting other systems." She looked at Bob. "We know now why you let the viruses survive for so long. It wasn't just against your beliefs, it was to fulfil your own agenda."

"But it worked," Enzo said, drawing Dot's eyes to his. "The reformatting worked. The program works."

"And that justifies the shift Mainframe went through?" Matrix shouted. "Megabyte should have been destroyed from the start! Instead, he nearly married my sister! Or did you forget that? Do you have any idea what he could have done to Mainframe if we hadn't stopped him, again?!" He ignored the Cadet's reply and stalked towards Bob, shoving him. "If you'd just done your function in the first place, you wouldn't have ruined everything! You wouldn't have come into our lives, and we wouldn't have suffered because of your love for those viral bastards!"

"Matrix, don't!" Dot yelled.

The renegade looked at her before stepping back and turning on Enzo, staring hard into his younger eyes. "Now do you understand? Everything that happened to us, everything, was because of him. The Guardians allowed him to keep viruses alive in our system just so he could put his name in the history books! And if you can still stand by him, after he lied to us and nearly destroyed us over and over again then you don't deserve to be here either."

"That's enough, Matrix!"

Enzo stared up at his larger self, unmoved by the fierce glare. He glanced at Flash and AndrAIa, their bodies tense and faces shocked. He turned and looked at Bob who met his stare with a closed expression. The Guardian didn't acknowledge the accusation.

But he didn't deny it either.

"Enzo," Dot called to him. She stepped closer to his side, her eyes and voice soft. "I didn't want you to find out like this… but it's true. Everything he said is true. Good intentions aside," her eyes glanced to Bob, "there were a lot of choices that could have been made differently. And we're not mad at you. You understand, right?"

The cadet nodded, then stepped back, closer to Bob. "I do." He looked away, took a breath, and said, "But you don't. I wasn't there for the War." He glanced at Matrix, "I didn't experience the Games. I know Dad left, but we got him back, and he wasn't gone that long for me. I didn't feel your pain. I didn't know your suffering. And maybe if Bob had never shown up, you'd all be happier. And I… I wouldn't exist." His eyes met the renegade's once more. "And maybe you'd be happy again.

"But I do exist… because of Bob. And I do believe in his cause, because Hex believed in me. She wasn't all bad. And you know what? Neither are those viruses I've saved. I can't change your past, but I can change our future. The program is going to work, and the violence will end. I'm going to do that… with or without your support."

"Enzo," Bob said softly.

"If you want Bob out, I leave with him. And I won't be coming back."

"Good. We don't need you." Matrix waved them off.

"No, Enzo, please don't say that" Dot begged.

"I love you, Dot. I love Mainframe. But maybe this isn't my place anymore. Maybe… it never really was. There's somewhere else I belong." He looked at Bob. "I want to go home now."

Bob stood quiet for a moment. After a nano, a single nod.

"Bob, don't!" Dot moved towards him. "Please don't take him away from me again."

She regretted the words instantly. He could see that. But it was too late to take them back. Nothing could be taken back. Not again. Not now.

Bob didn't answer her plea. He pulled out his zipboard and Enzo did the same. "We leave in the next microsecond."

At the Principal Office, Bob entered the code and the door slid open to the recently designed portal generator room. It wasn't his first time in it, but it would his first time using it, and he liked the safety features involved preventing stray unstable tears from breaking free in Mainframe. He especially liked the privacy. To deny inadvertent access, the door could be locked from the inside until the portal closed.

Things were already bad enough. Having to watch his family beg for him to stay was more than Enzo needed. Of course, his mind seemed pretty set. So was Bob's.

He leaned against the console and fumed to himself. He knew it'd been a mistake to come back. He just knew it for the wrong reasons. If Dot had only told him what she'd known from the start, he could have explained. More importantly, he could have apologized. And he would have meant it. Because Matrix was right.

By the User, Matrix was completely right. And Dot…

"What in the Net happened to you?" His head shot up, his mind so engrossed he failed to hear Mouse enter the room. She was already by his side, a patch kit in her hand. Clearly, he hadn't been stealthy enough with his arrival. "It looks like someone used you for batting practice." She pressed an ice pack to his eye.

"Ah, that's cold!"

"It's ice," she dead panned. "It's supposed to be cold. No, no, hold it there or your eye is going to swell shut." She dug around in the kit for some painkillers. "So what happened?"

"Matrix came home."

Mouse paused. "What?"

Bob lowered the ice pack only to be forced to hold it up again. "Matrix. He's overjoyed to see me."

"Dot said he wouldn't be back until after ya'll left."

"Surprise."

Mouse shook her head. "Unbelievable. I mean, all of us were miffed you were gone so long, but for him to attack you over it? That boy needs some serious therapy."

Bob sighed. "He's not mad I was gone. He's mad I came back."

"Why?"

"It's a long story."

"You've got another cycle here," she reminded him.

"Actually, we've got about thirty nanos."

Mouse stared at him. "Come again?"

"Mouse, I really appreciate this, but this isn't a good time. Trust me, talk to Dot and she'll fill you in on everything." He handed her the ice pack in exchange for the drugs. "Enzo and I are going back."

"I can't believe you're running away again."

"Call it what you want," Bob replied as began preparing a tear. "The decision's been made."

"And Enzo's okay with this?"

"Enzo decided it."

"What?!"

"Mouse, you need to talk to Dot, and I need to get in touch with the Supercomputer." He stared at her for a moment, the hacker unfazed. "Privately."

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Fine!" Her finger went right in front of his eyes. "But if you screwed this up again, I swear, I'll delete you myself." She turned and walked out. Bob imagined if the door could slam, she would have knocked it off its hinges.

"Sorry, Mouse." He turned back to the console and opened up a private comm line to Turbo's office. The connection refused to make. Bob frowned. He tried a separate link to the Prime Guardian's emergency line. The line appeared to be busy. He attempted Turbo's secretary, and again, was unable to make contact. "Glitch, scan all available comm lines to the Academy."

'All lines are up, but no lines appear to be receiving,' his companion beeped after a nano. 'Most likely cause is a viral drill.'

Bob hummed to himself. In the event of an attack, the Academy went on lock down, preventing any communication in or out except through a few select locations and designated personnel. "Can you access one of those lines?"

Glitch's response was immediate. 'No. All keytools would have been transmitted the open lines. In a drill, those points are not in service.'

"Well, did you receive a message alerting you of the drill?"

'…No. But in the event of a drill that should occur. It's protocol.'

Bob took a breath. "Ok. Could there have been an accidental lockdown initiated? Like a false alarm?"

'It's not probable, but it could happen. All keytools would have received a message to disregard any calls for assistance and further instructions would arrive at a set time.'

"Have you received any calls for help?"

'No. I haven't received anything in the last second.'

"Contact Flash. See if he's heard anything. Get him here." Bob went to work trying to open a comm line to the Academy, and then the Supercomputer. All lines failed to receive or appeared to be broken before the call could transmit.

"Bob, you can't reach the Academy?" Flash asked as he walked quickly into the room, Enzo close behind.

"Or the Supercomputer. Have you heard anything, any kind of drill or training or system test?" Flash shook his head. "How about Guardians in other systems? Heard from any of them lately?"

"I haven't heard of any infection, if that's what you mean."

"I just mean communication. It's too soon to call it infection, if the Academy procedures haven't gone into effect yet."

"Unless something spread that fast," Enzo said.

"Nothing spreads that fast," Flash said.

"Daemon did." Both Guardians looked at the cadet and knew he was right.

"I'll reach out to the other systems," Flash said.

"I'm going to try and reach Pandora and my classmates," Enzo chimed in.

Bob said, "I'm going to open a portal to the Academy."

"That's a bad idea," both Flash and Enzo argued in unison.

Bob nodded. "I know what you're thinking, but I'm going to send a probe and seal the portal before anything has time to come through."

Enzo and Flash shared side long glances. They began working their tasks while Bob put in the final calculations. The tear was already being released, the door was locked tight, and there was no arguing with the Guardian.

"All right. We need a portal to the Supercomputer, preferably Turbo's office if you can lock on. Then immediately release a mine sweep and place a containment field around the portal until we can get a reading back. Got it?"

'Ready.'

"Bob." Enzo's voice was calm, his eyes were anything but. "I can't reach Pandora, and I can't hail any of the professors or students who stayed behind during the break."

"When was the last time you talked with her?"

Enzo shook his head. "A few seconds ago. She's been really busy with prepping for the Board."

"I don't have anything promising, either," Flash said. "None of the Keytools we reached received any word about the Supercomputer or the Academy, and no transmissions were sent to any of the Guardians."

Bob nodded, took a breath and pointed Glitch at the tear. "Here we go," he said. A beam shot out and the tear was incased in gold light. The light evaporated and the Supercomputer shimmered in the bubble. A miniscule black dot fired toward the portal. It shattered upon impact.

"What?" Bob looked at Glitch. "Glitch?" Another probe fired at the portal, this time pinging off the bubble and rocketing into the wall where it exploded. The portal collapsed.

"What the Dell was that?" Enzo asked, his eyes wide as he stared at the burning mark on the wall.

"A failed probe," Flash remarked.

"No," Bob said. He turned to them, his eyes focused on Glitch's spinning face. "Worse. The portals are locked. The Supercomputer is sealed off." His eyes lifted to theirs. "And no one's calling for help."

A/N: Well, hi there! Happy late Independence Day! I wanted to bad to get this out yesterday, but it just wasn't quite where I wanted it. I hope you are enjoying the story as it begins to reach its climax. Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed, and reviewed, and thank you dearly for the well wishes for my daughter. Can you believe she'll be 11 months in a week? Where has the time gone?! The good news is now I'm able to better schedule time for writing, and my darling fiancé has been so supportive in letting me get back into the art. So let's hope this writing streak stays strong through to the end!

Until next chapter!