So, here it is, after, what, three months of waiting? Damn, I need to get my act together.
So, yeah, Chapter 24 is finally out after a long ass wait and I'm so happy it's finally done. First off, I want to apologise to you all. I know a lot of you enjoy this story, and others enjoyed each of my Black Lagoon fics since way back when I wrote Wolf Den. Shout out to all of you guys and gals! But I understand many of you were probably waiting for this chapter, wondering if I was finished with this story and just forgot to change the status to "completed" or perhaps you thought I'd just abandoned it altogether. The truth is that a) personal life got in the way and b) I sort of lost interest in my own stories for a while there. I hope this chapter helps me get over what I can only describe as writer's block so I can get back into writing my own original stories. Head on over to FictionPress if any of you like my writing and want to read something that isn't fanfiction!
On another, more positive note, I just wanted to thank you all for sticking with me through these stories. I don't think I've ever had so much fun writing a series in my life, definitely not a fanfiction story, as I did while writing City of Ashes and City of Fire. It's been one hell of a ride, a ride I hope you all enjoyed as well. I found Black Lagoon back in May of 2015 when I saw bits of it and thought it looked pretty cool. I then watched it and discovered it wasn't 'pretty cool' and was, in fact, 'fucking amazing.' It has since probably become my favourite anime and one of my favourite works of fiction ever.
As shocking as this may be, I have never read the manga. (Blasphemy! BLASPHEMY! BURN THE WITCH!) After finishing the anime, I read issues 1 to 5 I think, maybe a little after, and I will read them all one day once I find the time. But I digress. Shortly after watching the anime, I started to get ideas in my head of characters and situations that had no real place in anything. Seeing as how I was in the middle of writing a couple of other fanfics at the time, I decided that was the most natural course of action. This might surprise you, but I initially wrote Wolf Den as a standalone story. It was going to be the one and only Black Lagoon fic I wrote and I sort of entertained the idea that if they ever did get back to making more episodes of the anime, Wolf Den would, in my head, be canonical and take place between Roberta's Blood Trail and the next story arc. That's stupid, of course, but what can I say.
After Wolf Den, I just had too much story left in me. There was still something I needed to write. I couldn't let Black Lagoon go just yet. There was still so much potential there and I loved BL far too much to just stop writing about it. This then led to Broken Saviours, the random and potentially confusing title I will explain in a bit. At some point, I decided the natural story of Wolf and the plights of Roanapur would form a trilogy and so The Final Hunt was born. It is, in my opinion, the best of the three, and the one I had the most fun writing. Coincidentally, it's also the most liked and reviewed(I think?) of my stories. I believe that has more to do with Rock going apeshit than anything else. It is admittedly awesome to see people play with the idea of Rock going bad.
As you can probably tell, I still wasn't satisfied with one trilogy and decided my stories and characters needed a bit more story. This lead on to the awful Lucille spin-off which I have grown to hate and then, at last, the piece de resistance, Dogs of War. I love that story a lot. The City of Fire trilogy has a special place in my heart. The characters, in particular, merge and function in a way that is far more appealing to me than in previous stories and the whole dynamic is just better in my mind. I love it to bits.
I also wanted to mention the few little easter eggs and references in my stories that many people might not have noticed. First off, a couple of my stories are based on already existing works of fiction. Broken Saviours, in particular, is very much inspired by the Dark Knight series of films. Kane, too, bears a startling resemblance to Bane, no? Even his fucking name. What was I thinking there? For the record, he's my least favourite villain. Perhaps my least favourite character entirely. Heh. Sorry, Kane. Moving on from this, there are several instances where I make reference to some of my other favourite forms of media throughout my stories. In case it wasn't already clear, I'm a massive Walking Dead fan. If you aren't, you can probably skip the following paragraph.
For starters, Lucille is obviously named after the baseball bat of the same name from both the comics and now the show. Not sure exactly how I decided on the name, but TWD is always on the mind so it may well have been impulse.
*On a side note, I wrote Lucille as an S.A.S. soldier long before I discovered that women, in fact, are not allowed to bear arms in the British Army. As well as this, there is not one single woman in the S.A.S. Because they're not allowed to apply for the special forces. That is bullshittery, let me tell you. I've since decided Lucille is just so much of a badass bitch that she's the only woman in history to be allowed join. Take that, England!
Her behaviour, too, and several chapter titles in both trilogies are references to a certain moment in the comics. This is also where I got the name for Broken Saviours. While three particular characters are the Saviours of Roanapur in that story, and are also 'broken', the initial idea for the title came from the group of the same name in the world of TWD. Which brings us onto the next massive source of inspiration from said comics. Y'all ready? He's gone unnamed so far, but I'm sure he's on most of your minds out there. Negan! He is literally my all-time favourite fictitious villain of modern media. And, if it wasn't obvious as fuckedy fuck, Hunter Woods is HEAVILY inspired by the character of Negan. Not only does he speak, behave(to a point) and dress almost the same, but I imagine he looks like Jeffrey Dean Morgan from the show. There was a point where Hunter was literally going to use 'eeny meeny miny moe' as a way of choosing who to kill when he had Revy, Wolf, Rock and Ulysses on their knees at the end of Dogs of War but that would have been too on the nose, not to mention he only really wanted one of them dead so it wouldn't have made much sense. There's a couple of other references in there, but I think I've pointed out the main ones. Any TWD fans out there won't be able to look at Hunter the same if they reread the stories he's in!
Other than this long, drawn out waste of time, I wanted to say a big, heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you reading this. If you took the time to read an author's note this long, it shows you really care. Even if you don't like my stories that much but took the time out of your day to read bits of them and/or this, THANK YOU! You are literally the reason I keep doing this.
On a sadder note, it may upset some of you to know that Dead Men Tell No Tales is my final Black Lagoon fanfic, probably for good. I know, I know, you were so eager to see me recycle the same story of a villain coming to Roanapur and getting wasted YET AGAIN. Seriously, why does anyone read the crap I write? But this seems like a good stopping point. I've wrapped up all the stories I started, I completed all the character arcs and to be honest, I just don't have any story left in me. Even over the last week or so, before I wrote the last chapter of DMTNT, I've been tempted to start another spin-off about Wolf. Because we all know how well those spin-offs do. Lol. Anyway, it probably won't happen, unless I think of some really cool story to write. (I've actually got some pretty cool ideas for it already, for fuck sake. It's going to be published before the week is out, isn't it? Goddammit.)
But once again, thank you all so damn much for your continued support. I hope my stories have served to make some of your days a bit brighter and perhaps allowed others to sate their appetite for Black Lagoon with no alternative. Except most other fanfics that are better than mine. Seriously, check out "The Puppeteer." It doesn't get updated that often, but it's going to be awesome when it's finished! Regardless, it's been an absolute pleasure writing these stories and I hope you all enjoyed.
Thank You,
Richard.