Final Authors Note:

Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed, it gave me so much confidence in writing this, though I am so satisfied now it's done. So satisfied.

And for the ending, I'm sorry to anyone who was disappointed or wanted it to end differently, but I really couldn't see it any other way - and had actually planned this for a while. I hope it didn't feel like a cop-out, I know some people can get angry when a story doesn't end happily and feel like it's a cheap pull for emotion. I pray this didn't seem that way.

Also if anyone's into listening to music whilst they read, I highly recommend 'the end to all our exploring' by Max Richter for the final two chapters. Aptly named, I guess.

Thank you, everyone, once again!