Announcement in end notes
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions
Edited by ToxicExotic
Chapter 54 - The Plan
With the lunch rush finally over, Yang let out a groan and leaned against the counter. Her back hurt from hunching over the sink washing up so many plates, cups, and utensils. It was always the part of the day she hated the most since the sink was a little too low for her due to Kali and Blake being shorter, but also because it was quite lonely. Though the lunch rush ended, people still came and went quite frequently, and that meant Blake and Ilia had to stay up front while she was in the back. It was impossible for her mind not to wonder while she performed her task though, and of course, it wondered back to her father.
It had been two weeks since she left, and she really did miss him. For all their fighting, there was something that felt wrong about walking into a kitchen and not having him greet her. It felt like a piece of her was missing, and the longer she went without calling him made that hole bigger. But she still couldn't find the courage to call, and she hated it. Why couldn't he just be sorry? Why couldn't he just see that being sorry didn't change how much he loved them? It was stupid.
But then again, he'd always been stupid. She remembered when he'd come back after rehab and spent every waking moment with them. He had refused to leave their side for a single minute, and gave into every request Ruby had. Playing games until two in the morning? Mhm. Sleeping on the couch? Frequently. Cookies for breakfast? He gave her a whole box. Yang eventually came to realise that he was just trying to make sure they knew he was back, and that he wasn't leaving; but she was so angry at the time. It felt like he was undermining her at every turn, and in turn, she felt like Ruby saw her as the bad guy.
When they stayed up till the early hours of the morning playing games, Yang would pull the plug and force them to stop. When she caught her sister sleeping on the couch, she would berate her for not going to bed. When he gave her a box of cookies, she would shout at him for letting Ruby ruin her teeth and get stomach aches. She'd worked hard for months to get Ruby into a schedule, to make sure she was always ready for school and not exhausted, and Tai had gradually broke that over the course of a few weeks.
Until she finally snapped. She screamed at him like she never had before, called him horrible things and told him that all he was doing was making her job harder. It was the first time she'd left home. She'd gone to Blake's of course, and her parents had gladly accepted her. It was only a couple of days afterwards that she realised that her dad hadn't only been doing things for Ruby, but for her as well. They weren't as big, or as obvious, but small things; like leaving a glass of orange juice on the table for her in the morning, arranging her homework, making sure her clothes were always warm by putting them on the radiator for a little while. She realised how much she missed those little gestures, and it was that realisation that had sent her home.
A long talk had followed, and she'd asked why he hadn't been angry at her for shouting at him and leaving, but he'd simply said that he understood, that she had every right to be angry with him. That it was his fault, and that he promised to be better. And he was better. The late night gaming stopped, Ruby returned to her bed and woke up for school again, the cookies became actual breakfast; but Yang knew he still slipped the younger girl the occasional treat.
From there it had been a long road for them. Fighting and making up was the norm around the house, but with each fight, their issues slowly worked themselves out. Or at least she thought they did. She could never have expected something like what had been said two weeks prior, that the man, who was so willing to change and make amends that he allowed her to be angry at him and rarely fought back, would say he wouldn't apologise for ruining someone's life.
And the other thing she hated was that she wanted to forget it. Though she claimed to be an adult, to have matured and grown up, there were still times where she wanted no-one but her dad. Two days ago she'd been scrolling through the television channels and stumbled across Tai's favourite film, a film she had always hated, but she sat and watched; simply because it reminded her of him. She wanted so badly to just forget, to call him and move on, but that wouldn't be fair to Raven.
While she had been careful, and tried not to get attached, that hadn't gone to plan; but Raven treated her how she wanted to be treated. She was always honest, never treated her like there was something she couldn't handle, and just like Tai had done before, she genuinely seemed to want to change things and mend the bridges that had been torn down. Every time Yang called, Raven picked up. Every text she sent was eventually replied to. If she said she would be available, she would be. Yang liked that dependability.
That didn't mean there weren't issues though. Though she was being honest, Yang could tell there was still stuff beneath the surface. A few times she'd seen the anger that was all too familiar burn behind those red eyes when a passerby annoyed her, an anger that she'd seen in herself countless times before, but the older woman always quickly calmed down and returned to normal. But despite it, she cared; and she couldn't have an honest relationship with her birth mother if she just let her dad's actions go. That wasn't who she was. It wasn't how he'd raised her.
"Yang!"
The sudden voice shook her from her thoughts and she turned to see Ilia looking at her with a small hint of worry.
"Huh?"
"You okay? You looked upset."
"I'm good," Yang sighed and stood up straight. "What's up?"
Ilia clearly didn't believe her, but she didn't press the issue. "I need to head up to get some stuff, Blake needs you up front."
"Gotcha." With a stretch of her back, Yang reached out for the towel and quickly dried her hands. "Has Kali called yet?"
"Yeah, said she'll be back in thirty minutes." She replied and moved towards the door that led upstairs. "Can't wait to relax in a nice, hot bath after that damn iced tea fell on me."
Yang suppressed a smirk at the memory, as it was Ilia's fault after all for not making sure the lid was on properly; though she had been in a hurry since Blake had forgotten to add it to the order, not for the first time either. But Yang considered it better that the drink spilled on her friend rather than the customer, who was wearing a nice looking suit. However, it felt like the perfect opportunity to ask what she'd been avoiding all day.
"Or, you could come over to the apartment and relax in the hot tub?"
"As good as a hot tub sounds, I would rather not spend my free time being a third wheel."
"Rather spend it with Ruby, huh?"
Ilia's freckles turned pink, but she shrugged her shoulders. "She's volunteering at the library today. Don't wanna distract her."
"Awww," Yang cooed and threw the towel at her. "But…" Yang paused and let out a deep breath, which caused Ilia's brow to raise curiously. "Please come over. Weiss has something she needs to talk to you about."
"Ugh, can't it wait?" The girl asked and put her hand on the door.
"No." Yang replied with a shake of her head. "Not really."
Ilia let out a deep sigh and pulled at her shirt to sniff under it. Yang knew the girl still wasn't too fond of Weiss, and she knew that would likely be worsened when they got back to the apartment, but Ilia did have a right to know what was going to happen before it did.
"Fine," Ilia groaned and pulled the door open. "But I'm ending my shift to shower now."
"No problem."
The girl disappeared through the door and Yang let out a deep sigh of her own. She wasn't looking forward to the girl's reaction at all, and she didn't really agree with the plan entirely due to what she knew it would do to Ilia. But Yang knew Weiss also didn't want to hurt Ilia either, and was only doing it because she had no other way. However, that was a problem for later, so she pushed it aside and made her way out to the front of the store to help Blake with the remnants of the lunch rush.
"Honey, I'm home." Yang grinned into the intercom as a disgusted groan issue behind her.
It took a couple of seconds, in which time Yang looked back at her friend and stuck out her tongue, but Weiss' voice finally replied. "Okay, just finishing up some emails and I'll be down."
"No problem, We'll be in the hot tub. Ilia won't shut up about it."
"You promised me a hot tub, I want a hot tub," Ilia shrugged. "Vale's too cold."
"It's been pretty warm lately."
"Brutes with more muscle than brain are always warm."
"Pfft please, I got better test scores than you." Yang chuckled and placed her jacket on the hook. Ilia did the same with her bag. "Anyway, the hot tub is this way. Do you need to cha… Nevermind."
Ilia had already begun to pull her shirt over her head to reveal the technicolor, one-piece swimsuit underneath. Yang got the hint, so she shrugged and made her way down the hallway. With the size of the apartment, it took them almost two minutes to reach the deck, but once they finally did, they stepped outside into the warm air of Vale; though Ilia quickly began to shiver. As Yang knelt down to fiddle with the settings, the girl's eyes flicked from the hot tub, to the nearby pool.
"I don't suppose you can heat the pool?" She asked curiously and dipped her toe in, only to quickly withdraw it and step away with slightly yellow hair.
Both the pool and hot tub were always set to be on standby so that they could be ready pretty quickly, but the pool still took a long time.
"Not unless you wanna wait a few hours." Yang chuckled at the wary look Ilia gave the large body of water. "Hot tub takes about ten minutes, since it has fancy heaters."
"Some upsides to being rich then."
Yang shrugged and hit the button for the hot tub to finish heating. She knew the cover would automatically retract when it was at the desired temperature, so turned back to Ilia and stretched her back, which was still sore from washing everything back at the store.
"So," Ilia said and pulled her shorts off. "What is this thing you need to talk to me about?"
"Better to wait for Weiss," Yang replied ambiguously. "It's her thing."
"And why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like it?" She scowled.
Yang didn't won't to lie, so let out a small sigh and shook her head. "Because you probably won't."
The Faunus' eyes squinted suspiciously as they tried to figure out what it could mean. Since Yang didn't want to be under that gaze for too long, she raised her hand to tap the girl's shoulder and gave her a quick smile.
"I'm gonna go get changed and grab some towels." She said cheerily in an attempt to lighten the mood. "You can jump in when the cover opens."
"Alright."
With a nod to her friend, Yang made her way back into the apartment, and to the bedroom where she quickly changed into a bikini she'd bought shortly after Weiss brought her there. Once she was changed, she made her way into the kitchen with a pair of towels and grabbed two sodas from the fridge. Before she could return to the deck though, she heard footsteps approach the room and turned to see Weiss standing in the doorway.
The heiress was wearing a pair of white skinny jeans, that highlighted her long legs beautifully, and a loose, blue t-shirt that matched her eyes. On her face was a smug grin and her eyes roamed hungrily over Yang's body. With a smirk of her own, Yang pulled a bottle of water from the fridge and sauntered over. When she was close, she handed the water to the girl and wrapped an arm around her waist.
"Like what you see?" She asked.
"Mmm," Weiss bit her lip and gave a short nod. "How could I not?"
"Well, you could always join us in the tub?"
"I would love too," Weiss smiled, though it quickly faded and Yang sensed a but incoming. "But Fletch just got back to me, and he seems in a good mood today."
"It's fine," Yang shrugged and placed a quick kiss on her. "How long you gonna be?"
"Roughly thirty minutes."
"Gotcha." She breathed and let her girlfriend go. "But you're joining me in there later, when Ilia is gone?"
"Well, you did heat it up," the snow-haired girl said with a chuckle. "How can I refuse?"
"Good." Yang replied, and received another quick peck in return. "Now I should get back to Ilia."
"Okay. I'll try to be quick."
"Take your time." Yang said with a shake of her head. "Work takes priority."
Weiss gave a simple nod of her head and made her way back to the main living room and up the stairs, while Yang made her way back to the deck. When she arrived, she saw Ilia was already in the tub and passed her a soda, the Faunus accepting it with a smile. After placing the towels on a nearby chair, Yang too slipped into the warm water and let out a relieved sigh as it instantly helped her back muscles relax.
Though Weiss had said thirty minutes, it was almost forty-five by the time Yang finally saw her step out onto the deck. In her arms was a folder, the same folder she had seen the night before when the woman detailed her plan. However unlike when she'd told it, the look of confidence was gone, replaced with a look of worry as she glanced everywhere except at Ilia. She could tell the woman was nervous about what was to come.
"Hey, beautiful," Yang said with a smile with the hope to cheer her up a little. "Finally done with the emails?"
"Yeah, sorry it took so long." She replied. "I'll be in the upstairs living room, when you two are ready."
"We'll be right up."
Weiss gave a short nod and moved back inside. Once she was back inside, Yang turned to look at Ilia and saw her brow furrowed in confusion.
"She doesn't exactly look like she wants to talk to me."
"More like she doesn't want to tell you what she has to." Yang breathed and climbed out of the hot tub. When she turned around, she saw Ilia climb out and open her mouth to ask a question. "Just… dry off. You'll find out in a minute."
Yang threw her a towel, which Ilia caught and wrapped around herself. "Fine. Where can I get dressed?"
Yang pointed into the hallway. "Second door on the left."
Without another word, Ilia went back into the apartment and made her way to the indicated bathroom. As soon as she out of sight, Yang let out a huge sigh and pulled her own towel around herself to quickly get as much of the water off as she could. When she was dry enough, she pulled off her bikini and put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Thankfully, Cane Tower was on the opposite side of the apartment, and with the apartment itself being the penthouse, she didn't have to worry about being seen by anyone.
Once she was dressed, she reentered the apartment and made her way upstairs to the living room that they rarely used. Due to the medium sized one being much more comfortable, they had pretty much been using that to most as opposed to the main one or the upstairs one, but clearly Weiss wanted the smaller space for their talk.
The snow-haired woman in question sat on the couch, one leg folded over the other while her finger nervously tapped the file in her lap. She was so zoned out that she didn't even turn to look at Yang as she entered, and even jumped a little when a hand was placed on her shoulder.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Yes!" The answer was a little snappy and Yang raised an eyebrow in response. "Sorry," She sighed regretfully. "I just… I don't want your friends to hate me."
"They're not going to hate you," Yang replied softly and sat down next to her. "Sure, Ilia will be mad, but she won't hate you."
"She already doesn't like me though."
"That's just Ilia. There are very few people she actually likes enough to show it."
"That doesn't help, Yang."
"I know," Yang sighed and shook her head. "Look, Snowflake, I don't entirely like this plan, but I know you need to do it. That there's no other way. Ilia will eventually see that too."
"I hope so." Weiss breathed and pulled open the file to show what Yang knew to be the mine Ilia's parents had died in. "I wouldn't bla…"
"Guys?"
Ilia's voice from down the hallway cut Weiss off, and the heiress quickly closed the file again. "Down here." Yang replied.
Ilia appeared a couple of seconds later, once again dressed in the clothes she'd arrived in. Just like with Weiss, there was a nervousness on her face, a sense of unease that turned her hair, and freckles pitch black. It was quite an ominous look, but Yang knew it was simply to indicate she was shy. As she stepped into the open space, her eyes, completely void of colour as they too had turned black, flickered back and forth between the two of them.
Weiss' eyes finally found her though, and while she didn't say a word, she did motion to the spare chair opposite them. It took a minute for Ilia to move, but she finally let out a sigh and sat down. As she did, Weiss took a deep breath and poised herself.
"Thank you for coming." She said in a business tone that took Yang by surprise. She hadn't heard it since their first date at the Beacon museum.
"It's… fine," the girl replied with no small amount of uncertainty. Yang didn't blame her, since Weiss' sudden shift in demeanor would have made anyone feel like they were sat in an interview. "What's this about, Weiss? Yang wouldn't tell me."
"I may have asked her not to," Weiss replied with a nod, and set the file on the desk. "And I probably shouldn't keep you waiting any longer."
Yang saw her girlfriend look at her for a brief moment, and gave her a smile of confirmation. As she placed a hand on the heiress' knee, Weiss pulled the file open and Ilia's eyes immediately narrowed on the picture of the mine.
"Nine years ago," Weiss began in a clear voice. "One of our mines collapsed and killed fifteen people, six humans and nine faunus. Among them were…"
"I know who was among them." Ilia said bluntly, her eyes having finally looked up from the picture to show they were tinged with yellow. A growing anger. "Why are you bringing this up?"
"Because I recently learned the full story, and you deserve to know it too." Weiss waited for Ilia to respond, but all she received was a silent nod. "Now, the official report says that it was due to worker error, that negligence with equipment caused structural damage which in turn led to the collapse."
"That's a lie." Ilia spat as her eyes glanced to where Weiss was pointing. "I remember my parents talking about how unstable it was. I remember how happy they were when they said an inspector was coming to look at it."
"It is a lie." Weiss said firmly, and the anger vanished from Ilia's eyes to be replaced with surprise. Whether that was surprise at being right, or that Weiss was admitting it, Yang didn't know.
"This woman, Carmine Esclados, was the inspector sent to investigate and report on the condition of the mine. She was supposed to have no contact with the company before the inspection since the council handles all of that. However," Weiss flicked through to a new page to show a print out. "While this doesn't show the conversation that took place, since my father isn't that stupid, it does show that there was some communication between him and Carmine. Which is strictly forbidden."
"He…" Ilia paused and the colour of her hair flickered between a wide array of colours. "He bribed her?"
"It wouldn't be the first person," Weiss sighed and turned over a few of the pages again to arrive at some Atlas records. "These are records that I requested recently from the Atlas council that show Miss Esclados was let go three years ago under suspicion of taking money to falsify her reports." Yang saw Ilia turn a deeper yellow, but Weiss continued. "Another person was let go alongside her, a Mr Bertilak Celadon, who just so happened to be the person who inspected the ruins of the collapse."
Weiss turned back the pages to her own files that Yang knew were taken from Jacques' computer.
"This is proof that more than one conversation occurred between my father and both of these people on more than one occasion, and all of these dates," Weiss quickly pointed to them and flicked back to more pictures of mines and buildings. "line up with other inspections of various other STC owned properties. Four of which collapsed within three years, two of those left some people hurt, and one… was the incident that killed your parents."
Silence filled the room while Ilia thought over what had just been revealed. It wasn't a surprise to Yang that her trait had finally firmly decided on yellow though. She had been angry too when Weiss had told her last night. The knowledge that the death of one of her best friend's parents could have been avoided was not easy to take, but for Ilia, Yang could only imagine how she felt. Though, from the way her hair was turning a brighter yellow and her fists clenched, Yang could tell she was taking it just about as well as expected.
"He's…"
"Going to pay." Yang said and went to reach out for her friend's hand, only for it to be snatched away. "Ili…"
"... a murderer." Ilia snarled and stood up. "A fucking murderer!"
"Ilia…"
"No, Yang." Weiss cut her off that time and closed the file. "She's right. My father is to blame for these deaths."
"You're damn right he is!" Ilia snapped as her eyes unfocused, only to refocus a second later. "We need to go to the police. We need..."
"We can't…"
"... to give them the file…"
"Ilia…"
"... and have him throw…"
"Ilia," Yang cut her off firmly by standing up herself. "Slow down."
"Slow down? Slow down?" Ilia spat as her eyes glowed like gold. "He murdered my parents!"
"Yes," Yang replied quickly, though her hand was smacked away again as Ilia gave her an incredulous look. "But we can't go to the police."
"WHY NOT?"
Yang knew those kinds of yells, knew those tears that sparkled in her friend's eyes. Devastation. The girl was distraught, and the volume was likely not controlled by her anymore, but her body acting on its own. She herself had been like that many times growing up, especially when Summer had died, she knew how that felt, and wanted nothing more than to pull her into a hug and tell her everything would be okay. But she couldn't. Not only because Ilia wasn't going to let her anywhere near her, but also because she couldn't do what Ilia wanted.
"We cannot go to the police because my father is too powerful." Weiss said calmly, so much so in fact, that Yang wondered how she was that calm. "While this certainly shows speculation, and even loose evidence to suggest he did these things, the evidence isn't solid enough. He will have it dismissed and not even see the inside of a station."
"SO YOU'RE JUST GOING TO DO NOTHING?" Ilia screamed as her colours blazed wildly.
"I didn't say that." Weiss replied quickly and looked the Faunus in the eye.
"Weiss has a plan," Yang sighed as she sat down next to her girlfriend. "It just doesn't involve the police directly."
"Then what is it?"
Weiss looked to Yang, and Yang could see that she was searching for support. Though Yang still didn't like the plan, her support was one thing Weiss always has, so she gave her a small nod. The heiress' eyes closed for a brief second, but when they opened, there was a determination in them as she looked back at the girl.
"While there isn't enough here for my father to be arrested, there is enough proof here to paint him in a very bad light. My plan is to take this file and send it to the one place he doesn't have control over." Weiss took a deep breath before she continued. "The news."
Of all the things Ilia likely expected, it was clear she hadn't expected that since her eyes flew open in surprise, and even the yellow faded for a split second. "You're what?"
"I will be leaking this to the Vale News Network tomorrow, and they should run the story by Tuesday." Weiss replied firmly. "It will be yet another controversy of his doing. Another thing to cast doubt over my father, doubt that I need to get him out of my company."
"Your… company?" Ilia replied, there was a venom in that question that matched with the yellow of her eyes. "Your company! You want to use my parents' deaths to get your fucking company?"
"Ilia, that isn…"
"SHE JUST SAID IT!"
"No! I did not." Weiss said firmly, and that time she stood from her chair and took a step towards the girl. "I said to get him out of it. I can't put him in jail, he's too powerful." A viciousness entered Weiss' voice that was scarier than Ilia's temper in just how calm it was. "But what I can do is make him regret the day he laid eyes on my grandfather's company. I will take everything from him for what he has done. Not just to me and my family, but to everyone. I will take his power, his wealth, his pride; and leave him penniless, scrounging in the gutter like the people he despises."
Her voice calmed after a breath, and she reached out a hand to place it on Ilia's shoulder. To Yang's surprise, Ilia let her.
"And then," Weiss' voice shook slightly. "to really piss him off, I will fix everything he has done, and set my company back on track. Back to what my grandfather built. But to do that, I need this doubt. I need the shareholders to question his position as CEO. I need him out!"
Yang was genuinely unsure of what Ilia would do, but it seemed the faunus was too. A rainbow of colours pulsed in her eyes to show her uncertainty, and Yang waited with baited breath. But Weiss held firm, her hand on the girl's shoulder as she waited for whatever response came. And Yang wished she could say the final reaction was one she hadn't foreseen, that it had been happy and understanding, but it wasn't; and her heart ached at seeing what Ilia finally landed on.
Her friend's hair, freckles, and eyes turned a deep, navy blue and tears rolled down her cheeks. No sounds escaped her as she pushed Weiss away, into Yang's waiting arms, and took off down the hall. Chasing Ilia down was never a good idea, so she let her go. It was only a couple of seconds later that she heard a hand slam against the elevator buttons downstairs, and another moment later, when the sniffling stopped, she knew Ilia was gone.
She knew how much it was going to hurt the girl over the next few weeks. To see a reminder of her parents' deaths on the news everyday as they exposed what Weiss was going to leak would suck, and that was the part of the plan Yang hated the most. Knowing just how much it was going to hurt her friend. But she also knew Weiss was right about Jacques not even seeing the inside of a cell if they just went to the police, and that the shareholders would simply hide it to preserve the company image if it was taken to them. So the news was the only option.
"You okay?" Yang asked gently as her girlfriend rubbed her shoulder where Ilia had pushed her.
"Yeah," The woman replied with a deep sigh. "I am doing the right thing, aren't I?"
Yang gave a short nod and pulled the heiress into a hug. "You are. And it's risky for you too. You said it yourself, that your company's stock will plummet."
"That is nothing compared to what Ilia will be having to deal with."
"I know." Yang breathed and pulled them to the couch. "But she'll understand in time that you are right about this. It just might take a while."
Another sigh escaped the heiress as they sat down. "I hope so."
Since there was no television in the room, they simply sat in silence. Just as Yang knew that the news had been hard for Ilia, she knew it was also hard for Weiss to tell it. The girl was still trying hard to fit into the friend group, and stupidly trying to show she was worthy of being her girlfriend, so to have hurt one of them so deeply weighed heavily on her. Thankfully, Yang knew her friends, and though they wouldn't be happy about Ilia having to go through what she will, they would all also understand. It was that very fact that she knew she would be whispering to the woman she loved repeatedly that day to reassure her that everything would be fine.
Announcement
Starting from chapter 56, the upload schedule for this story will be changed from every 10 days, to every 14 days. This is just to ease up on the pressure a little, so I hope that is still okay with everyone.
A/N
Hello everyone. So I finally got to reveal Weiss' plan xD It has been so, so, so long since I planned this chapter out. Like, almost the very beginning. It's been such a long road to get to this point, and I am so happy to have had you all along with me for the ride, and hope you continue to enjoy this story.
Now, from this point on, you can probably tell the story will get a little heavier. I'm going to make sure there is still plenty of fluffy moments, but we have now broken into where Weiss is finally starting the war against her father. It will be a big thing for the story, so it is going to take some precedence. However, the main spotlight of the story is still on Weiss and Yang.
But yeah, Ilia was very tough to write this chapter. I found using her colour swapping really helped me convey her emotions the best, and I have laid out what her colours mean in this story if you need to refresh yourself, but they should be obvious from the chapter itself if I have done my job right. As for Yang, I tried to make it clear she is going along with the plan, but also that she doesn't like it. I won't say too much of what I'm trying to do, but I hope you are able to pick it up and that I am at least doing it right.
Anyway, that's it from me. I hope you enjoyed, and remember that any and all feedback is appreciated.
Chapter 55 - Parents, will be uploaded on the 23rd.
Reviews
Once again, a huge thank you to Evilshruw, Oerba-yun-vex, crazyringo, Zoro50, The Keeper of Worlds, Borgert, and OneTrueSith for all the incredibly kind words. They really do mean the world to me.
Cutover (Guest) - Hello there, I'm happy that you think my stuff is good enough to follow for that long xD Thank you so much for being understanding on this matter. I really would love to keep the 10 day schedule, but I so need to reduce the stress on myself a little as I have taken on quite a bit recently :/ The quality will hopefully improve a little, since I write better when not stressed xD
But most importantly, I love that you love this story so much. I'm still so surprised by all the kind words, because I always read my own stuff and think I could have done better, but the sheer amount of support I have received is amazing. I write to just give something fun and enjoyable to read, and whether only 1 person, or 1000 people, like it, that is enough for me. It makes me especially happy that you love the characters so deeply that you look forward to each chapter, even more so that you consider it one of the top three things to have touched you :D
Never worry about long paragraphs though xD You could leave a comment just saying 'Awesome' and it would mean the world to me :D I really hope I can continue to write a story you can continue to love :)
