Chapter 32: A Dramatic Case of Irony

Mud shivered as she stepped out of the cab. She rubbed her hands together to try to keep them warm. Her breath condensed into wispy clouds of fog, drifting away into the sky.

"Shit, is it really this cold all the time? I thought Mantle had a heating grid or something," Mud muttered as she approached the apartment. She raised a shivering fist and knocked on the door. "Fucking Atlesians... why the hell would you build a city on a solid fucking block of ice?"

The door swung open, revealing Ivan still in what looked like his pajamas; at least, that was Mud's best guess. "Oh, Mud! You're out of the hospital already?"

"Already? Felt like I spent forever in there. Almost a week of sitting in bed and listening to doctors tell me what I already know," Mud grumbled. "Can we get inside? It's fucking freezing out here."

"Oh, sure. Sorry about that," Ivan said, stepping to the side. Mud quickly hurried inside, and Ivan closed the door behind her. "Do you want anything? I already had breakfast, but if you want, I could make something quickly and - "

"Nah, it's fine. Already ate on the way here," Mud said, looking around. "Where's Pearl?"

"She... she's in the guest room right now. Well, it was a guest room, I should say; now that she's living here, it will probably be her room permanently," Ivan explained. "After you checked yourself into the hospital, she dug through some of her - some of the old Pearl's unfinished project files. She's been working hard on one of them. Working through the nights, actually."

"Well, I guess you can do that when you don't need sleep," Mud muttered. She went over to the table and sat down, turning towards Ivan. "You got time to talk? I wanna ask you a few things."

"Oh, right. I remember you saying that you had questions for me the first time you visited," Ivan said, sitting down across from Mud. "The clinic doesn't open until later today, so I should be available for some time."

"Clinic?"

"Yes. After I... after I resigned and moved to Mantle, an old friend of mine reached out to me. He runs a clinic that focuses on developing and repairing mechanical prosthetics for people in need, and he said my expertise would be welcome. Ever since then, I've been helping him design and construct prosthetics."

"Well, good to see you found a job."

"Yes, I... I wasn't in the best state back then. I owe him a lot for helping me out."

"Yeah, uh... anyways, there's a couple of things I wanna ask you," Mud said, pulling a picture out of her pocket and showing it to Ivan. "You seen her before? Maybe about three or four years ago? Pearl told me she remembered her coming by here."

"That's... I remember her. That's Resina. Resina Stone," Ivan said, his eyes widening. "Who are you? What do you want with her?"

"I'm her sister, and I'm looking for her."

"Her sister? I... I remember her talking about her sister. That makes sense," Ivan muttered, looking down at the table.

"Some guy in Vale told me that she came up this way, looking for you. That's why I was headed up to Atlas in the first place. Honestly, finding Pearl along the way was a big fat coincidence."

"A fortunate one, I suppose. But I'm assuming you want to know about your sister?"

"Yeah. You got anything? Like where she went, what she's doing, any info like that? I can't find anything about her past this, and this was what, three or four years ago? Actually, why'd she even come up here in the first place?"

"It... it's complicated. But as to why you haven't found anything about her... I think I might know the reason."

"What?"

"The Resina Stone you knew, the one you've been tracking... her body is buried in the same cemetery that Pearl is in. In fact, it's been there for years. That's why your trail has run cold, I'm guessing."

Mud was quiet. She took a moment to process what Ivan had just said.

"She's in a grave somewhere up there?"

"Correct. I imagine it must be hard finding any relevant information about a body that's been in the ground for the past few years."

"You were weird with that wording. You said 'the Resina Stone I knew'. The one I've 'been tracking'. What's with that? Cause there's no way she just up and died. I know her."

"You're perceptive... but to answer that, we'll have to go back to what she asked of me. She said that she had something in her soul. Something that she wanted to get rid of."

"In her soul?"

"Yes. She described it as a curse of sorts. Something that passed down from her mother, who got it from her mother in turn. She was worried that it could pass down to you."

"To me? But I'm adopted. Then again, if it's some sorta curse with the soul, then I doubt it's genetic," Mud muttered, rubbing her chin in thought. "What was this... curse, anyways?"

"She described it as something that gave her a lot of power. More than what could be gained from one's aura or semblance."

"That's it? Doesn't seem like a curse to me."

"Pearl and I thought so as well. But your sister said that the downside comes not from the condition itself, but from those who come seeking the power she has."

"That... that makes sense," Mud muttered. Her thoughts went back to the night when she had last seen her sister. "That's why she told me to run. That's why she said they were after her, not me. But why... why didn't she tell me?"

"Maybe she didn't want you to come to harm."

"Guess that could be it. So she reached out to you for... what? To get rid of this thing in her soul?" Mud asked, putting away the picture. "I guess that makes sense. Green Ocean does some soul stuff, right?"

"That's right. We hadn't seen anything like what we had seen in Resina's soul... it was quite an anomaly. So we scanned, took readings, researched her aura and soul however we could," Ivan explained. He pulled out his scroll and showed Mud a screen full of numbers, charts, and complicated diagrams.

"I can't understand any of this shit."

"I suppose you wouldn't be able to. It's quite technical. But to summarize, it's part of the report on our findings of your sister's soul and the anomaly within it," Ivan said, changing the screen to a new image. This one seemed to be some sort of diagram, with one circle enclosing another. "What we found was that there were two distinct entities within your sister's soul. The first was that of your sister. The second... well, even we couldn't quite understand what it was."

"So, what, she's got two souls in her?"

"Not quite. The anomalous entity... I wouldn't call it a full soul. The best way to describe it would be a mass of aural energy, but even that would probably be inaccurate. To be completely honest, I'm still not exactly sure as to its true nature."

"But were you able to get it out?"

"We... we tried. Auric stabilizers, surgery, even calling in specialists with semblances that could manipulate aura... nothing worked. It was as if the anomalous entity, the curse she wanted to get rid of, had embedded itself right into her soul."

"So what then? I don't see how this ends up with my sister's body six feet under."

"Mud, do you remember what I told you before? About how Green Ocean has machines that can transfer one's soul from one body to another?"

"Yeah, that's the thing you tried with Pearl. The thing that transferred the old Pearl's memories to the new Pearl's body," Mud said, thinking back to her first conversation with Ivan. "You said that it could successfully go from human to human, right? Is that what this is about?"

"Exactly. The theory was that if we transferred Resina's soul to a new body, there could be a chance that the entity that had latched onto her soul wouldn't come along for the ride. The end result would have been Resina's soul in a new body, free of the curse that once plagued her."

"So... I'm assuming you tried that?" Mud asked. "Who's the new body?"

"Sandra Ochre. A former third-year student at Atlas Academy. After a severe accident during training, she ended up in a coma and was declared brain-dead after six months in the hospital," Ivan explained, flipping his scroll to a new screen and pushing it towards Mud. It was an image of a girl a few years older than Mud, with light-brown skin and darker brown hair that went down to her shoulders. "Though her mind and soul had gone, her body was still in healthy condition. Because she had no living relatives, her body was requisitioned by the Atlas Military and donated to scientific endeavors. That's how Green Ocean managed to acquire it."

"So you tried to transfer Resina's soul over into this girl?" Mud asked, looking over the picture. "Did it work?"

"The procedure itself worked. Resina's soul transferred to the body of Sandra Ochre without issue. But when we took readings of Resina's soul in Sandra's body, the anomalous entity was still there, attached to her soul as strongly as before. At that point... we had no other ideas."

"So, what then? She just decided to stay in her new body? Is that why her old body's under a gravestone somewhere?"

"That's correct. She seemed to like it, actually. She said that she felt younger, and that a new body would help to throw off her pursuers for a few years," Ivan said. Mud chuckled slightly at the mental image of her sister parading around her new body. "She stayed with us for a few more days before leaving. However, she didn't tell me where she was going, so I'm sorry to say that I can't help you there."

"Don't worry, you've already helped me a ton. No wonder I haven't been able to find anything on her. She's been marching around in someone else's skin for the last few years," Mud muttered, looking at the picture of Sandy Ochre before turning up towards Ivan. "So all I gotta do is look for Sandra Ochre now, right? Can you send me that picture?"

"I can, but... looking for Sandra won't give you any leads. She was declared legally dead by the time Green Ocean received her body," Ivan said, taking his scroll and pushing a few buttons. Mud heard the ding of a received message from the scroll in her pocket. "When Resina left, she mentioned something about getting someone to forge papers and a new identity for her. If you're looking for her, I would start there."

"Got it," Mud said, standing up. "Thanks. You've been - "

"It's finished!" Mud heard Pearl shout from her room. Looking over, she saw Pearl rushing out, an excited smile on her face. "It's finally - oh, Mud! You've been discharged from the hospital?"

"Yeah, just earlier this morning actually," Mud said, looking over at Pearl's room and then back to Pearl "What're you so excited about?"

"It's something for you! Come on!" Pearl exclaimed, grabbing Mud's wrist and pulling her back to her room. She looked back over her shoulder at Ivan. "Father, you should take a look as well!"

"Actually, I need to get changed into something proper. It's about time for me to head to the clinic," Ivan said, standing up and heading to his room. "I'd love to see it when I get back from work, though."

"That's fine!" Pearl said, shutting the door behind herself and Mud. Mud looked around to see that most of the room had been consumed by workbenches, tools, and mechanical parts. Even the bed had papers and blueprints piled high. It made sense; Pearl didn't really need it, after all.

"Fuck, did you just spend all that time while I was in the hospital just working?" Mud asked. "The hell's all this?"

"I, uh, remembered some old plans. Some things that I - that the old Pearl had been working on," Pearl said, rifling through the papers scattered across her bed. "There was one that I thought would be perfect for you. As a kind of, uh... parting gift."

"Parting gift?"

"You... you won't be staying forever, right? You're looking for your sister, after all," Pearl said, grabbing one of the blueprints and showing it to Mud. Unfortunately, Mud couldn't understand much of anything that was drawn or written on it.

"So, uh... what is this?"

"Oh! Let me grab the, uh, actual prototype," Pearl said, grabbing something off the workbench and putting it over herself. It was some sort of thin harness that went over her chest and shoulders; at least, that's what it looked like. Pearl fiddled with a few switches and buttons on the inside of the harness. "And... that should be good. Alright, Mud, uh... could you shoot me?"

"What? No! The hell are you - "

"The prototype still requires physical testing, so I need you to shoot me," Pearl insisted, pointing towards her chest. "Right here. Don't worry, I'll be fine. My body shouldn't have any problem with a pistol bullet, even if the prototype does fail."

"If you're sure..." Mud said, hesitantly pulling her pistol out and aiming it towards Pearl's chest. After a second, she pulled the trigger. A shimmer of light suddenly flashed over Pearl's chest, and the bullet clattered to the ground, having left not even a scratch on Pearl's metal surface. "Huh. Thought you didn't have aura."

"I - I don't. It's the prototype I developed for a reactive shielding system. It deploys a hardlight barrier in response to anything that may harm the wearer," Pearl explained, taking off the harness. "I suppose the most concise way to describe it would be calling it some sort of artificial aura field."

"Artificial aura? That'd be useful."

"Yes, though it's not without its flaws. The barrier only covers the user's torso, so your limbs and head would still be exposed. It's not nearly as strong or robust as natural aura, and it requires recharging once it's been spent, either through solar energy or manual Dust refueling," Pearl explained, handing the harness to Mud. "However, it's thin enough that it can be worn over or under your jacket easily and light enough that you shouldn't be bothered by it, so I thought that it would be useful to you, considering, well..."

"I don't got aura."

"Y - yeah. I don't want to see you getting hurt like that again."

"Well, this is nice and all, but you sure about giving this to me?" Mud asked, looking over the harness. "You said it was a prototype, right? It's not like you have any others lying around."

"I... I can always build another. I have the designs for it, after all. But if you don't want it, then..."

"What? No, I sure as hell want it. This thing'll be useful as fuck," Mud said, slipping the harness over her jacket. "Thanks a lot. This'll come in handy, I can already tell."

"You... you're welcome. It's the least I can do after... after all you've done for me," Pearl said with a smile. "So... are you leaving soon? You're looking for your sister, right?"

"Yeah. Got one more stop, then I'm probably heading out of Atlas," Mud said, adjusting her jacket. "Doesn't mean we won't see each other again, though. I'll stop by again before I leave. And who knows? If I come back up to Atlas for anything, I might pay you a visit."

"I... I'm glad to hear that," Pearl said as Mud made his way out of Pearl's room and to the front door. "I'd be sad if this was the last time we'd see each other."

"I mean, you can always call me. Your dad's got my number, and I doubt the CCT towers are going down anytime soon," Mud said, making his way out the front door. "Like I said, I got one more stop, then I'll come around here before I head out."

Pearl waved as Mud left the apartment. Mud waved back.

ATLAS, DISTRICT A. FOURTH STREET. ALLEY BEHIND BUILDING ON THE SOUTHWEST CORNER. OFFICE UNDER SIGN WITH MASK ON IT. GOES BY THE NAME "FACE".

Mud read over the message again, then up at the sign with the jester-like mask on it. After leaving Ivan's apartment, she had gone back to Atlas to have another talk with Claire Inkwell, this time concerning identity forgers that had been prominent in the city three years ago. Said talk had led her here, in a dark alley behind an office building.

"This is the place, huh?" Mud muttered, looking over the office she had been directed to. The curtains over the window had been partially drawn, enough to make it hard to see inside, and the door didn't have any designs or markings on it. She knocked on the door. No response. She went to knock again -

Thump.

What was that? Mud thought as she heard a quiet thump from inside the office. She tried the door handle and was surprised to find it unlocked. If someone was inside, then why didn't they answer?

Mud slowly pushed open the door and crept inside, keeping a hand on her pistol. The office was somewhat middling in size, with a relatively open space in the middle and a wooden desk near the far wall. Filing cabinets were scattered along the walls of the office; Mud guessed that they contained records of the forgeries that had been done here. She took a look inside one of the cabinets, and her guess was confirmed.

Nobody's here, but... something feels off. Despite not seeing anything out of the ordinary, Mud couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that was scratching away at the back of her mind. The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight as she searched through the office. Maybe someone's watching me? I gotta find what I came for and get out... but I can't shake that feeling.

Mud made her way over to the window and pulled the curtains apart, revealing the alley she was just in. She looked both ways, up and down, trying to see if anyone was looking back, but there wasn't a soul in sight. She sighed.

"Hm. Maybe I'm just being - "

That's when she saw it. Not in the office or out through the window, but in the window's reflection.

A figure behind her, with a gun pointed right at the back of her head.

BANG!

Mud ducked just as a bullet flew over her head and shattered the window. She turned towards her assailant - a girl about her age with dark skin and mint-green hair - and drew her pistol. However, her eye caught the girl's second gun in her other hand, and she dove away before another bullet pierced the air where she just was, rolling to the side and retaliating with a shot of her own. The girl sidestepped the shot.

"Who are you?!" Mud shouted, firing another shot at the girl. There was a flash of steel, and Mud heard the bullet strike steel as the girl unfurled one of her guns into a short sickle and deflected the shot into one of the nearby filing cabinets. With a flick of her wrist, the other gun transformed as well, and the girl charged straight towards Mud, who backpedaled and fired a third shot directly at the girl's chest...

...only for it to pass cleanly through.

What? Mud thought as the girl faded away into thin air. She only had a fraction of a second to notice that the girl had suddenly appeared next to her before she felt a kick to her side, sending her tumbling across the office. Before she even hit the ground, Mud reached out and pushed herself back to her feet before looking around. The girl had disappeared again.

Shit... maybe invisibility? But that doesn't explain her disappearing like that when I shot her, Mud thought, pulling out a yellow canister. Before she could pull the pin, she heard footsteps to her right and immediately fired her pistol in the direction of the noise, causing the girl to pop out of thin air and block the shot with her sickles.

"There you are!" Mud shouted, pulling out her shotgun and firing a blast directly at the girl. She dove to the side, but Mud was ready, already firing a second shot where she would be... only for the girl to fade away again.

Mud didn't have time to react when the girl appeared right in front of her, slashing her sickles across her chest.

"Urgh... shit," Mud groaned as she stumbled back, her jacket shimmering for a moment before going back to normal. The shield harness that Pearl had given Mud had taken the brunt of the damage, and by the time the girl went for a second swing, Mud had already brought her shotgun back up, blasting the girl straight in the stomach and sending her tumbling back.

"Dunno what kinda semblance you got, but I'm not gonna let you use it again," Mud said, pulling the pin on the yellow canister and throwing it at the girl as she hit the ground. The girl quickly pushed herself up, only to cry out in pain, cover her ears, and stumble back as the canister exploded into a blinding flash of light and sound. Mud didn't hesitate to follow up with another shotgun blast, then another, then another, the girl's aura shimmering each time until -

- she suddenly faded away.

"Wait, shit," Mud muttered as she heard rapid footsteps behind herself. She turned, only to see the door fly open as the girl fled out into the alley. Mud attempted to give chase, but by the time she had exited the office, the girl had already left her sight. "Damn. Well, hopefully she won't be back."

Closing the door, Mud turned and looked around the office. It looked much more messy, much more disheveled than before, and not just because of the fight that just took place. Papers were scattered everywhere, file cabinets were haphazardly moved around with their drawers out, and on the desk was... huh. A dead body.

"Wait, was this guy here the whole time?" Mud asked herself, stepping up to the dead body that was slumped onto the desk. She pushed it back up on the chair to get a good look. It was a man. Probably the "Face" that Claire Inkwell had told her about. His fingers were on a pistol, and his chest was full of bullet holes. The blood still hadn't dried.

"So that girl probably killed the forger... but why?" Mud muttered, looking over the dead forger's desk for clues. There were several files splayed out over the desk, but one in particular had bloody fingerprints on them. That meant it probably had been handled by the girl. Mud opened the file and her eyes widened.

Name: Sandra Ochre

Request: Full identity forgery, with papers.

Further details enclosed.

A picture of Sandra was included, and Mud brought up her scroll. They matched.

This... this is what I came here for, Mud thought as she flipped through the file. Everything was there. Sandra's - no, Resina's new name, her new ID, her new and probably fabricated family history, everything. But... why did that girl want this? What's going on? Is she... is Resina being hunted again?

"No use wondering about it here," Mud told herself, taking the file and leaving the office. "Got what I came here for, anyways."

Pearl sat down in front of the gravestone. Mud watched her from a few meters away.

"Hi, mother."

The gravestone didn't respond.

"I... actually, I'm not sure if I should call you my mother. I... I'm not sure what to call you. After all, I... after what I did to your actual daughter..."

"It should be fine," Mud said. Pearl looked over to her. "I don't know your mom, but if I were her and I knew what happened, I think I'd forgive you. And I don't think she'd mind if you called her your mother. You're basically her husband's daughter, in a way."

"If... if you say so," Pearl said, turning back to the gravestone. "Uh, mother... it's been a while, I guess. Since I - since the old Pearl visited you."

Pearl paused for a moment.

"Father's doing well. Apparently, he got a job at a friend's clinic. But you probably already knew that. He's probably told you that."

Another pause.

"I've started working on some projects again. Or rather, for the first time. I finished something for Mud just today."

"Oh yeah, that really came in handy," Mud said. "Helped me out in a fight today."

"Really? You've already gotten into a fight?" Pearl asked. She turned back towards the gravestone. "Oh, right, I should probably introduce you. This is Mud. She... she's helped me out a lot. If she hadn't found me, well..."

"Uh, hi, Pearl's mom," Mud said to the gravestone. She gave an awkward wave. "Your daughter's great. You got lucky, giving birth to the smartest kid in Atlas."

"You... you're exaggerating," Pearl said as she stood up. "Anyways, mother, I... I'm doing well. I hope you are, too. Wherever you are. I'll come by again soon. I promise."

"Like I said, I dunno your mom, but she's probably a pretty good mom if she managed to raise a kid like you."

"She... I don't remember too much about her, but I do remember that she was a great mother. I... I hope she's doing well up there," Pearl said, making her way to the next grave and sitting down again. She sighed, taking a moment to collect herself. "Uh, hello... Pearl. I suppose this is the second time we've met. Or more, considering you probably worked on this body quite a lot."

This gravestone didn't respond either.

"Your father's doing well."

Pearl went quiet for a moment.

"I... I'm sorry. It feels wrong. I killed you, I took your memories, and now... now I'm taking your place as Ivan's daughter. I'm sorry."

"That's not it," Mud interrupted. "You're not taking her place. You... you're not her. You're you."

"I... I suppose you could say that. But..."

"Stop beating yourself up about it. What's done is done," Mud said. She took a moment to think. "Maybe you could think about it as continuing her legacy. Keeping the old Pearl and her memory alive even after she's died."

"Maybe. Maybe you're right," Pearl said, turning back to the gravestone. "I'll make it up to you. I'll take care of our father. And I'll carry on your work. I'll make sure that every scientist, every engineer, every researcher in Atlas knows our name. So... while I'm doing that, I guess you can keep Mother occupied until Father and I get up there with you. If I get there at all..."

Pearl paused. She tapped her metallic fingers against her leg.

"And... the reason you wanted this body was to leave your old, injured one, right? To go see the sights beyond home? To do things you couldn't do before?" Pearl asked the gravestone. "I... I'll do it all for you. Maybe not immediately, but I'll see the things you were unable to see. Do the things you were unable to do. Go to the places that you were unable to go to. And then, I'll come back here and tell you all about it. I... I think you'd like that. I know I would."

"If she's anything like you, I don't think she'd stay mad at you," Mud said. "And yeah, she'd probably like that."

"I'm hoping she will," Pearl said, standing up. "Thank you for coming here with me. My father's working right now, so..."

"No problem. I wanted to see the old Pearl's grave again before I left, anyways."

"Right. So... you're leaving?" Pearl asked, looking up at Mud. "For good this time?"

"Well, I'm heading off this giant chunk of ice y'all call Atlas on the next ship out, if that's what you're asking. Way too fucking cold. But like I said, you'll probably see me again. If my journey ever takes me back up here, you can bet I'll stop by."

"I... I think I'd like that. But still... it feels bad. To see you go after we traveled together for so long."

"Yeah, it's been... huh. Just about two weeks, actually," Mud said, rubbing her chin in thought as she counted the days in her head. "Felt like longer."

"But we did go through a lot together."

"Yeah, we did," Mud said, holding up the folder she had taken from the forger's office. "But I got what I came for, and chances are, my sister isn't hanging around Atlas anymore. Gotta continue the search somewhere else. Maybe back in Vale, or maybe in Vacuo or Mistral, who knows."

"I... I see. Good luck to you, then."

"Yeah. You too," Mud said, checking the time on her scroll. "Anyways, I got a ride down to Cape Calypso that's leaving soon, so I gotta head out. Take care of yourself, alright?"

"I... I will. And that goes to you as well. And Mud... thank you. For everything."

"You're welcome," Mud said. She started on her way out of the graveyard, but turned to wave back at Pearl one last time. "See ya later, hopefully!"

"Goodbye!" Pearl shouted, just before Mud turned the corner around the entrance of the graveyard and out of sight. As Mud made her way towards the airship station, she smiled.

She's a good kid... or robot. Whatever she is. And now, I'm one step closer to you, Resina. Or actually... who are you now? Mud thought as she opened the folder she had taken from the forger's office. She flipped through the documents in it, looking over the details of her sister's new identity and committing them to memory. Huh. So that's your new name? I like it. Suits you just fine.

Mud closed the folder and smiled.

I'm coming to find you, Resina, Or I guess I should say, I'm coming to find you...

Amber.

Journey of an Extra

Arc 2: End

A/N: And that's chapter 32! Pearl's settled back in with her father, and Mud's leaving Atlas, having gotten one step closer to finding her sister. But that name sounds familiar... doesn't it?

Finally, we've reached the end of the second arc! Thank you to everyone who's read up to here; it's exciting to make it this far. This arc has probably gone under the most revisions out of any of the arcs I've planned out. For example, in a previous iteration, Pearl was a genuine clone of the original Pearl in a robot body and had an actual aura and soul, rather than being a robot that thought it was Pearl, and the old Pearl died in an accident. And even before that, Pearl was genuinely the old Pearl, with no cloning shenanigans. It was actually only after I wrote chapter 20 that I decided to go full in on the "Pearl is a machine that thinks she's the actual Pearl but in reality killed the actual Pearl" thing, and boy, I'm glad I did.

As for the whole thing with Resina, one of the earliest concepts I had, even before any of these characters or stories were planned out, was about a character that was secretly Amber's sister. That concept took many forms (at one point, said character was an antagonist), combining with other character concepts I had (including "the mercenary that uses conventional weapons" and "the fighter who has little/no aura") to eventually become what is now Mud. I sprinkled quite some hints at this reveal in the past chapters; see if you can find them!

With all that said, thank you again for reading! Please let me know what you think of this chapter, and the arc as a whole. Did you like it? How does Pearl and her arc compare to Aqua and her arc? What do you think will happen in the future? If you've got any comments, feedback, criticisms, questions, or whatever, please don't hesitate to leave a review, and have a nice day!

Also, gotta send another shoutout to my beta reader Penrost for proofreading and giving feedback on every chapter. I appreciate the good work. And if you haven't already, please check out my new story, Chasing Eternity!