*sighs* So, how do I begin...?

Well... it's been a while, hasn't it, everyone? And I deeply, deeply apologize. *dodges well-deserved pitchforks and torches* Okay, before the mob attacks me, I can explain...

*warning: extreme rambling and potential typos ahead, though that's a given considering it's me*

*also, I apologize if it sounds like I'm whining. I was tearing up while writing this*

*also, since fanfiction net hates A/Ns, I"ll try to keep this as short as possible*

So, a few years back, my laptop broke, and, with it, I lost a lot of personal things - such as contacts, in-progress-but-not-yet-posted fanfic works, even the password for this account. And among these items were also all the chapters and the very outline I'd made for this story; basically, about half of what I planned for this work to be, as well as every single plot point, twist, and arc I'd mapped out.

Needless to say, it hit me hard. Very hard.

Out of all my stories, both the ones I've posted and ones I haven't, this one has always held a special place in my heart. It was my first major fanfic that I'd ever posted, and the first one I'd ever had the courage to post more than one chapter of. But what made it most special was everyone that read, reviewed, and followed. Your support, your words, your encouragement - it meant the world to me (and still does). All of you had given my insignificant little fanfic an almost life of its own, and, before I'd known it, both this story and its readers had become a dearer part of me than I could have ever imagined.

And then my laptop broke, and, with it, my "writing spirit".

I tried to rewrite that chapters that I'd lost and reform the structure of the story for some time after that - hoping that I could one day post the work under a new username - but nothing ever seemed right. The characters seemed wrong from how I'd been portraying them, I'd forgotten certain plot points that had connected the story, and every time I tried to put a sentence into words, it always felt as if it wasn't good enough. And, at the same time my [already-questionable] writing was hitting a wall, so was my personal life. Things in the latter regard have since gotten better, but, for years, the former has been bothering me. No matter what other things I tried to write - creatively or school-related - I couldn't pick up a pen or put my fingers to a keyboard without thinking about this story, and how I'd failed it, despite all my efforts. I even went back-and-forth about officially discontinuing this story with an announcement via a new account...

Or, at least, I did until last week... when I was cleaning my room and made a very interesting discovery. That discovery being a USB. A USB with a back-up of all the chapters I'd been working on for this story, as well as the outline for it.

Yeah... I might have cried. A lot. So much so that I worried my Brother and my Dad. But, after crying tears of joy for a long time, I immediately sat down at my new laptop to write and revise what I'd written all those years ago. And words cannot express how good it felt.

Yet, as good as writing this story again felt, nothing could've compared to the absolute joy that was logging into my fanfiction account for the first time in years and seeing that not only had everyone been reading my story since I went AWOL, but that some of you have even been doing so as recently as 2019 and 20-Fricking-20! I think it goes without saying that I promptly resumed my waterworks upon finding this out ;)

So, to summarize, I just wanted to post this "not-quite-a-chapter" to say:

This story will be continuing, and I absolutely do aim to finish it. No matter how many years it takes me, or how many USBs I have to back it up on.

Because this story means the world to me, and, even more than it, the readers - this fanfic family. Ones who have been with it since the start, those who found it in the middle, and those who just recently discovered it. I love you all (in a sibling-like way, of course!), and owe so much to you. I know a lot of you have probably lost interest in this story and this fandom by now, and whether or not you choose to read this from here on out is entirely up to you. But please know that you've changed my life for the better, and have given me more than I could have ever asked for and imagined. So thank you, thank you all so much.

I plan on updating no later than July of this year, in addition to revising some of the already-posted chappies in the meantime.

As for now, however... *surrenders* You may resume attacking me with all your virtual pitchforks and torches.

Ryuga: *picks up one of each* Yeah! We're back in business, baby!

Me: ^_^" I... probably should've seen this coming, huh?