It's been a week since I stayed with the Crystal Gems and while my first impression was a good one, the next wasn't. Obviously I had to show them my… 'collection' and boy were they pissed. The horrified looks they gave me when I handed the bag to Garnet and she dropped it in surprise, letting its entire contents spill out, more than enough to freak out Pearl and Amethyst. Steven was… alright, somewhat of the situation. I don't think he fully grasped the idea that I've killed 2 dozen gem creatures without batting an eye basically. Maybe it's because he's still so young. I should try to make sure I don't do anything too… extreme when around Steven. Don't want to be a bad influence after all. Technically, I'm going to be his teacher, or tutor, or something like that. I'm giving him pointers okay!

Anyway, after we went to sleep the first night, I showed them the bag and they had another huddle outside. I didn't want to but I may have read their lips.


*Flashback*

"We can't let a killer live with us!" Pearl exclaimed loudly. I didn't need to read her lips to know what she was screaming about. The glass isn't soundproof and her flailing arms were also an indication.

"We already agreed to let him stay with us, Pearl. It would be rude to take it back now and kick him out." Garnet tries to reason.

"Rude?! You saw his… collection." Pearl spats the word out, "He said he destroyed them. 2 dozen gems Garnet!"

"But I don't think its his fault, Pearl." Steven says.

"What?! What do you mean Steven?"

"I mean, he doesn't know how to bubble gems right? You guys can, and that's why we can stop our gem monsters from poofing back out. From what he said, he's been fighting monsters miles from here. Way far away from us." Steven tries to reason with the hysterical Pearl.

"Well, yes but-"

"Besides," Amethyst says while she sits on the railing, kicking her legs back and forth, "He seemed pretty cool considering he learned who we are. If he's as angry at gems as you think he is Pearl, I don't think he would have agreed to sleep with us."

"Maybe he's biding his time, waiting to learn our weaknesses before he strikes. Or maybe he wants to pick us off one by one." Pearl frantically says as she grabs her head with both hands.

"Pearl, your being paranoid. We can handle ourselves." Garnet says.

"I know we can but what about-"

"Steven. I know. He's had plenty of opportunities to hurt him. He slept not 5 feet from him and he's perfectly fine."

"Hm." Steven smirks with crossed arms in a macho-bravado sort of way.

"Yes but-"

"He only destroyed those gems because he was forced to. I don't know any other way to contain gems and its clear he can't bubble them. I had Steven look up anything he could about him or any other rogue gems that we may have missed. All he found was new reports pertaining to mysteriously destroyed locations and property with no clear possible answer to what caused them. He not only is able to take on any monster he finds, he did it and contained them without the humans getting none the wiser. Preventing unnecessary panic." Garnet explains.

"But-"

"And!" she cuts her off again, "If we can keep him here, not only will we be able to teach him what we know, we can make him understand himself better. Plus we still need a teacher for Steven." Garnet punctuates that by placing her hand on Stevens shoulder, who smiles in return.

Pearl looks to the tall gem in question, trying to come up with a reason to not let this violent person stay with them. But she fails in coming up with one. Garnet came up with such valid reason to letting him stay and why he's done what he's done. Her face remains still the neutral expression as always, Steven still looks happy to have him stay and Amethyst…

"Whoa!"

Fell of the railing. Looking over, they find her at the bottom, giving a thumbs up.

"Gah, Fine!" Pearl gives in finally. Steven lets out a whoop of joy and Garnet smiles. "But I'll be keeping an eye on him, not for a second."

"Fair enough." Garnet agrees. "C'mon back up Amethyst, it's time to eat." She calls down to the purple gem.

"Oh!" In anticipation, she jumps up and lands back on the porch."We can fry up that egg I got! Just imagine the omelet we can make with-!"

"Oh god!" With the Crystal Gems half through the door, they find Marcus at the fridge with the door wide open and yellow yolk splattered all over his shoes and socks. A look of horror is on his face as he stares at the mess, as well as the broken egg with half the shell stuck to the inside of the door. He looks at them, "Where do you guys shop?!"

Silence is their reply until Pearl looks to Amethyst, "I told you it wouldn't fit."

*End Flashback*


'Took me hours to scrub my socks and shoes clean. Who knew egg yolk was so hard to get out of footwear? I mean seriously, I know I've faced dozens of different types of monsters with varying shapes and sizes with many types of powers, yet how am I supposed to react to a GIANT FREAKING EGG the size of my torso in the fridge.' Anyway, they're still wary of me but tolerate my presence at least. I know I could have kept the shards a secret but I didn't want to take the chance of them finding out on their own. Hopefully because I came out and told them that I earned some points with them. Still, even though I'm staying with them, I need to be wary of the fact that I have weapons in the presence of a kid. He may be a gem but I still shouldn't take the chance of him being curious. 'Which means I can't rely solely on the combo lock the cases have built in, maybe install some padlocks that only I have the keys too.'

Yet I don't manage to dwell on it enough because right now there is something going that I must have the answer to.

"Steven, where are your pants?" the half naked kid in front of me has got me curious as hell because of it.

"I don't know. One minute they here, the next gone." He reply's as he continues to sift through his pile of clothes.

"Sooo, what? They just disappeared on their own or walked away? C'mon man."

*TapTapTapTap*

"The hell?" soft footsteps like noises catch my attention. Steven doesn't hear it but continues to rifle through his clothes. "Ah, maybe I'm being paranoid." I say to myself as I reconstruct my pistol.

"I know I had eight…" Another voice catches my attention. Racking the slide back, I see Pearl looking around the counter with seven light blue shards suspended in a bubble in her right hand. She turns to us. "Hey, Steven… Marcus," she says my name with a slight sneer. "Have you two seen a gem shard anywhere? It's very important."

"Nope, nothing out of the ordinary." I plainly say as I holster my pistol.

"No, have you seen my pants?" Pearl finally takes notice of Stevens lack of pants. "They're also very important."

"I'm serious, Steven. These Shards have a powerful partial consciousness that has been harnessed by Gems throughout history in order to create semi-sentient drone soldiers with the capacity to follow basic orders. Gems once created an army of these drones, but found their obedience waned as the shards overdeveloped inside their uniforms and turned on their commanders. You see, any shard imprinted by any sort of container could become a monster. That's why it's very,very important it's kept away from any kind of garment." Pearl explains these shards. My eyes are slightly widened at the potential these things can be.

*TapTapTapTap*

'Seriously?! Again?! Maybe I am getting paranoid.' I shake my head and look to Pearl.

"Wow, sentient drones. Cheap, quick, inexpensive shock troopers. A must have for any army more often than not." I sarcastically say the last part to myself. "Any idea where they could be?" I ask her as I stand up.

"Well, if you must know, I only need one more shard but the last monster attack, the one you almost killed," 'Starting to regret telling them.' "Shattered the gem and the animals of Beach city scattered them about." She takes off to the door and looks back to us, "Make yourself useful and help me find it. Steven, if you see it, bring it to me, right away. I'm going to check in town." Without waiting for a response she goes out.

"Crap, better go help her." I follow her out the door but stop to look at Steven, "Hey dude, you heard her right?"

"Yep!" He says with a smile. Somehow, I don't believe him.

"Alright then." However I don't have time to interrogate him. Jumping off the porch, I roll as it hit the ground and call out to Pearl, "Hey Pearl!"

"What do you want now?" She asks with a slight grimace.

"Anything I should know about the clothes that get possessed by the shards? Durability, strength, powers, speed, what?"

"Exactly. However it depends on what garment is possessed for all those factors to take place. The bigger that's possessed, the higher the possibility for a very powerful combatant." She explains.

Placing a hand to my chin, I start thinking, "Alright, possibility of it being… high armor output… massive strength probability's…" I mutter to myself. "Alright, I'm gonna go grab something from my truck then start looking in town." I say to her as I start running back to the temple.

"Hurry! The longer we wait the higher the chances of the shard possessing something." She calls to me then turns back to search the town.

I went ahead and parked my truck close to the steps of the temple so I would be close to it and grab what I need but also not close enough to the water so the rising tide would sweep it out to sea. Pulling the rear hatch of my truck down, I begin sifting through my cases until I find the weapon I'm looking for. "Aha!" I happily exclaim. Grabbing the case, I sit down on the hatch with it in my lap and put in the code.

"Hey Marcus!"

"Hey Steven." I nonchalantly reply as he greets and runs past me. Putting in the last number, I open it up and pull out its contents, a 12 Gauge Double barrel Sawed off shotgun with a strap for my thigh. Securing the thigh holster to me, I load up both barrels and grab 6 extra shells just in case. If the target can either be fast, tough, stronger or all three, I need something with spread to counter the fast and power to negate its strength and durability. Sliding it home, I jump off, put the case back where it was and close the hatch. "Alright, time to go hunting."


"This sucks." An hour later, and still nothing. I looked everywhere I could to start off. Along the beach, under the docks, back alleys. When those didn't work, I started roof hopping and even checking the gutters as well as birds' nests in nearby trees.

I may or may not have pissed off a couple of momma birds.

Grumbling to myself I jump off a roof and move along the boardwalk while absent mildly rubbing my pecked left cheek. "Damn. Ow. Note to self: don't piss off birds."

"Marcus." Turning around, I see Pearl walking up to me. A frown is on her face. "Any luck finding the shard?"

"No. Nothing. And I'm guessing because you asked me, no luck on your part either." I ask her.

She shakes her head, "Unfortunately you're correct. Where could it have gone?" She asks as she looks around.

"*Sigh* I don't know. It's always the last item of a puzzle that eludes people." Looking around as well, I try to contemplate where else we could look.

"Maybe we could-"

"Aaaaagh!" A loud deep yell cuts her off.

We look at each other directly in each other's eyes, knowing what the scream means. "I think we found it." Without another word, she jumps high into the air towards where the scream came from. 'Damn that's cool.' Enough gawking at her moves, I tear through an alleyway heading in the same direction. I come upon the scene of the scream. A broken fry shack with the windows cracked and broken, an unconscious man on top of a kid with curly blonde hair and Steven. Pearl stands next to a broken upturned table.

"Guys what's going o- Holy freakshow!" I loudly exclaim as I materialize my swords and spot the large sadistically smiling fry creature with flailing frys on its head and very prominent veins.

"Steven! Did you put my missing shard in that fry costume?" Pearl asks him.

"Yes!" He reply's frantically.

"Didn't you hear what I said about the living armor and infantries and many, many deaths?!" she hysterically asks.

"No!" 'You know, I should have been thorough with him.'

"Oh Steven." Pearl says in a disappointed manner. Materializing her spear in one hand, she twirls it around and lands on the upturned table with grace. I move in to engage the fry monster. Pearl throws her spear and nails it right in its eye. While its distracted, I move forward ready to strike.

However it retaliates by spewing a highly concentrated hose of ketchup right where Pearl stabbed it. "Whoa!" I stop in my tracks and roll backwards under the stream. The fry has no control over the stream as it starts jerking all over the place. "Crap!" I yell and head back, avoiding the blast by vaulting over the table.

"Pearl!" Steven yells as he moves past me. Looking to where he's going, I see Pearl was hit with the first blast of ketchup, her entire face completely covered.

"Pearl!" I yell as well and move to her. "Are you alright?" I carefully pull her up and lay her against the table.

"Ugh, the ketchup! It's everywhere, I can't see!" she exclaims, looking back and forth with her eyes closed..

"Crap." I look around for something to wipe her face.

"Shards… Need!" Steven says and takes off.

"Steven!" I yell as I try to reach out and grab him to stop. I miss and he gathers the shards Pearl dropped and continues going. "Where are you-!"

*CRASH*

Something smacks against the table, moving me forward but knocking Pearl to the ground. Soon a yellow tentacle snakes over the table to try and grab Pearl. "Hey!" I yell at it and slice it off. I hear a loud squealing noise as the piece I chopped off whiters a bit before it stops altogether. "Stay here." I tell Pearl and jump over the table.

"Wha'?"

The thing looks especially mad now. "C'mon then." I challenge it with my arms spread. It takes the bait as I move it away from the blonde kid as he tries to wake his father, I think, up. I charge at it and dodge the tentacles and bits of fries sent at me. When I'm close, I stab both my swords into its chest. Unfortunately, that's a flaw. They instantly get stuck to the hilt and I can't pull them out. It grabs me at my waist with both its hands and slams me into the ground. "Cah!" Before I can retaliate, fries start pouring out of its mouth and onto me, almost trying to force-feed me them. I keep my mouth and eyes closed but trying to push him off proves pointless

'Damnit! Need some help here!' Suddenly, the costumes head jerks back, momentarily stopping its fry barrage. We both look to see… pants? 'The hell?'

"Frybo!" Looking farther back, I see Steven with a fry in his mouth and… naked in only his underwear with his clothes surrounding him… all standing up? 'Wait, he used the shards to make his own army?' I smile. 'Clever boy.' He eats the fry, "Your move."

Frybo squeals again. It's move… slamming me into the ground again and sending its tentacles to Steven. "Attack!" He yells and his clothes do that. His jacket and pants get caught but his shirt, shoes and socks engulf him directly, forcing him to let me go to try and scratch off his attackers.

'Now!' Placing one foot on its chest, grabbing Pearls spear in my left hand, I grab my sawed off with one hand. "Frybo!" He knocks the clothes off and looks down at me. I place the barrels directly between its eyes. It crosses them to look at the barrels. "Eat this!" I pull the triggers.

*BOOOM!"

With a loud booming sound, making my ears ring in the process, both barrels unleash their payload, completely knocking Frybo off me a few feet away and tearing Pearls spear right out as well. Hearing only a loud ringing noise and covered in cheese and frys, I stand up and pop the chambers open on my shotgun, ejecting the shells. I smile as I see Frybo in half and lifeless. "Phew, glad that's over." I comment and walk over to the others. Steven and the kid smile while Pearl tries to wipe off the ketchup. Suddenly the kids tense up and so do the clothes.

"Marcus!" Steven points past me. Looking back, I see both halves starting to try and fuse back with fries.

"Oh I don't think so." I mutter to myself and stomp over to him, loading up a couple more shells along the way. With a satisfying 'snap' of the shotgun closing, I plant my foot on its top half and aim. "No." I firmly say and pull the triggers again.

*Boom!*

Without extreme close proximity, the ringing doesn't follow but the blast does stun Frybo and clears a path to the shard in a pile of cheese. 'There it is!' I think with eyes wide open. Before I can react, the cheese regenerates around it. "Oh no you don't!" I yell and slash the now regenerated cheese pile with Pearls spear. It handles like a dream and slices smoothly. With enough cutting, I catch a glint. 'There!' Jamming her spear in, I drop my shotgun and jam my hand into it, careful to not cut myself on Pearls spear. Digging around a bit as Frybo squirms under me, I grasp something hard. 'Got it!' With a heave, I pull back. The gem is clear as day in my hand but strings and strands of cheese and fry's latch onto me. "Grrrr! Enough! Raaaaah!" With a loud war cry, I slice the strands, sending me falling back and away from Frybo with my prize.

With a grunt of air, I prop myself up on my elbows as the costume wiggles around a little before stopping all together, then deflating. Breathing a sigh of relief, I flop onto my back. I look at my hand covered in cheese with the gem shard tightly in its grip. Slowly, I stand up using Pearls spear to prop me up.

"Marcus!" Suddenly I'm barreled into by an over-excited Steven. "That was so cool! You were so awesome the way you took Frybo on like that!" He says to me with stars in his eyes. I give him a tired smile and pat his head.

"Thanks man. It was… exhilarating." I comment and move past him. "Now put some clothes on. It was weird you hugging me like that." I move over to Pearl, giving the man who was unconscious earlier a nod as he moves to the remains of Frybo. I kneel before her as she continues to try and wipe ketchup off her face. Placing the spear and shard next to her, I tear off the blanket of the table. "Here. Hold still." I tell her.

"What?"

"Just… do it… please." I ask tiredly. She stops moving for a bit before finally nodding. Carefully, I use the cleanest part of the blanket I can and begin slowly wiping off the ketchup on her eyes and nose. Before long, her eyes are completely clean and she opens them to stare at me. We stop moving for a few seconds to acknowledge one another. Without another word, I continue cleaning her. Half-a-minute passes and I manage to clean her mouth. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asks, clearly confused.

"For what I've done." Before she can interrupt I continue, "I know you don't like me and I understand why. I wouldn't want to be friends with me either after what I've done." Cleaning one cheek, I move to the other. "But the fact of the matter is, I need answers. You and the others are the closest thing I've got to answers in about 5 years. It may seem insignificant to you but it means a whole lot more to me. You guys also need help when it comes to fighting these monsters and Steven needs someone who understands what he is or can be." I finish cleaning her face. I place my hands on my lap and look down. "I still don't know what it is we can become, but I know I'm a lot closer than he is." I look back to the subject and see him with the others and his clothes trying to pick up the remains of Frybo. Looking back to Pearl, I stand up, "You don't have to like me," I extend my hand towards her, "But I hope we can at least understand each other: you wanting to protect your friends and family, and me? I've been in the dark for far far too long." She looks at it a few times between me and my hand before making her decision. She grabs hold of my hand and I pull her up. Looking back down, I grab her spear and the shard and hand both to her.

She takes both items, the spear in her left and the now bubbled shard in the other, and walks past me. She looks towards what remains of the enemy that attacked her and the others. "I suppose… I have been a bit too… critical with you. You honestly don't know how to bubble gems, right?" she asks without looking back to me.

"Yes."

"Then I suppose you had no choice. To prevent a gem from regenerating, to keep them dormant and locked up, you have to bubble them. Garnet was right, since you couldn't bubble them and had no idea we even existed, you were forced to stop them the only way you knew how," she turns to me, "By destroying them." I look down and away from her, more than a little ashamed at the potential lives that could have been saved. "I'll forgive you if you promise me one thing:" I look back up to her, "Promise me, that under any circumstances you will not break another gem as long as you are with us."

Silence follows as we stare at each other. She's more than likely in slight anticipation about what my response is. I see it in her eyes.

"I can't make that promise." I stop her before she retorts, "Life isn't in black and white and there is the chance where at some point in the future we will meet enemies that may defeat us and possibly force us to do things we may not want to do. In the end, I will do whatever I can to make sure that you, Garnet, Amethyst, Steven, as well as whatever else innocent lives I find… live. When it comes down to it," I take a step towards her until our noses are almost touching, "I'd rather have you live, than die." I bluntly tell her.

My father wasn't a good man and I've seen plenty of instances where innocent lives are destroyed by evil. I'm tired of it. The Crystal gems told me thousands of years ago, they defended earth because the planet was innocent in their eyes and lost lives to defend it.

I won't let their sacrifices be in vain.

We remain silent to each other.

"Hey guys!" We turn our attention to Steven, still in his underwear. 'C'mon man.' "We're going to give Frybo a Viking funeral! C'mon!" He waves us over.

"We're coming!" Pearl reply's. Steven nods and walks with his clothes as they carry Frybo. We look back to each for a second before I walk past her to get to the others.

"I can live with that." I stop and look back to her. She gives me a small smile in return.

With an immense relief off my shoulders, I smile back. "Thank you." With that, I jog over to the adult walking with kids, picking my shotgun up at the same time and holstering it. "Excuse me, mister…?"

The man looks back to me, "Fryman. Thanks for your help with Frybo." He shakes my hand.

"Oh, uh. Your welcome sir." I move over to Frybo and tear my swords out of him before making them disappear. "In any case, I wanted to ask. Did you want to set Frybo on fire, or should I? Because I think I got something that may be able to make it more authentic." I tell him.

"Oh, well I was just going to light him on fire with a lighter then just push him off, but you were the one to defeat him so the honor should go to you." He says with a smile.

"Thank you." I nod to him.

"Think nothing of it." He slaps my shoulder, making me cringe a little from his meaty hand. "So, what do you have in mind?"

I may have give off a smile and chuckle that some may perceive as possibly sadistic. "Well…"


"You were great, Frybo. The kids today just didn't understand. Now, they never will." Mr. Fryman gives his small sermon.

"Weren't people scared of it before he attacked them?" Pearl comments.

"Shhh." Steven shushes her.

"It's time to send him off." With a grunt, Mr. Fryman pushes Frybo on his boat out while Pearl uses the end of her spear to help. Stevens clothes help out as well. Soon before long, Frybo is far away from the beach. "He's ready!"

"Good." I finish tying the piece of cloth to the end of one of my arrows and place it on my compound bow.

"What are you doing?" Pearl asks curiously as I walk past her.

"Just watch." I reply as Mr. Fryman lights the cloth. He steps back as I draw the string back and take aim. Lining up my shot, I fire. All eyes are locked onto the flaming projectile as it flies high into the air and lands onto the boat. Before long, the boat is completely engulfed in fire.

"Dad?" The kid, now whose name I know as Peedee, talks to his dad, "Uhm... I'll, are you going to get another costume?"

'Oh god! I hope not.'

"I don't need another Frybo," Fryman places his arm around his sons shoulder, "I got the fry man." They smile at each other.

"Guys, I think our work here is done." Steven says as he poses in a heroic fashion.

Still in his underwear.

"Put your clothes on, Steven." Pearl tells him with frown.

"Thank you!" I loudly exclaim. "Seriously man, it's getting a bit too uncomfortable for me seeing you in your skivvies."

"Ohhh, alright." He pouts as he begins to gather up his clothes and give the shards to Pearl.

"And with that, I'm heading back to my truck. I need to put away from my stuff." I turn around and begin heading back until Steven moves in front of me to give Pearl the shards.

"Here you go Pearl." He hands them to her fully clothed. 'Thank you.

"Thank you Steven." She proceeds to start bubbling them.

"By the way, Steven," I ask him before I decide to take off. "Where did you find the shard in the first place?"

"Oh! It was in my pants." He answers.

I lift an eyebrow in question, "Wait, you mean the pants you were looking for earlier?" He nods back. "That's stupid. Then again it does answer for those noises I heard- Ow!" Before I finish, Steven kicks me in the shin.

"Steven!" Pearl scolds him for his brash action.

"Ow. Crap, crap, crap. Why man? Why you do me like that?" I ask him as I hop around on one foot qhile grabbing my assaulted one.

"I-I don't know! I-I-I didn't mean too! I don't- Oh!" A look of realization spreads across his face once hysterical and freaked out face. He reaches into his right pocket and pulls out another shard. "Here. I thought I forgot one."

I remain silent, silently brooding as Pearl bubbles the final one with all the others before sending them off. "Whatever. I'm too tired for this. Ow. I'm gonna stop by my truck then head to the temple to turn in. I'm done for the day. Ow, ow, ow." I limp in pain to my destination.

"Thanks again for your help! Your next meal at the Fry Shack is on me!" I wave back at the mans words.


"Aaaand done." I finish cleaning the last part of my sawed off on the rear hatch of my truch before reconstructing it again. With the last part in, I test fire it without the ammo.

*Click*

"Seems like a hassle for an overly complicated weapon." Looking to my left, I see Pearl standing there, staring at me.

I return a smile as I begin putting away my stuff away. "Maybe so but you can't argue with results." I say while pointing to the distant smoke trail.

"Hmm, I suppose your right. Can't fault you for that one."

"Yep." I finish locking up the shotgun and placing it with the others. "So, any reason you're here? Or did you just happen to see me while heading back to the temple?" I ask her while sitting back down.

"Well," she sits on the hatch as well, "As it stands I've always been fond of different types of weapons, especially swords." She says with a smile and a far off look.

"What you got a collection like me?" I ask while gesturing to my own.

"I do actually. I have collection of various swords in my room in the temple. Although Amethyst has a fondness for taking them every so often." She grumbles the last part. She turns to me, "Becareful when being friends with Amethyst. Otherwise she might take some of your collection." I look at my cases with a worried glance.

"Riiiiight." I turn back to her, "But I imagine you're not here to give me a warning about our ally?" she nods

"Correct, while humanity may still be so… primitive, I find some points of human technology interesting. I never did find out what made human weapons tick and considering you seem so proficient in human weapons…?" she leaves the question to hang in the air for me to catch.

I smile, "I see what you're getting at. Alright I'll teach you about them but in return…"

"Yes?"

"You teach me what you know on sword and spear fighting. You've had centuries of experience when it comes to melee combat and I've only been self-taught. I'm good, but I know I can do better." I extend my hand to her, "Deal?"

"Deal." We shake on it.

"Good. Let's get started." I happily reach back and grab one of the more longer cases.

"Right now?" she asks in surprise as I begin putting in the code.

"Just the basics. No time like the present, right?" I ask.

She chuckles a little before agreeing. "Alright then, show me what you know." She sits cross-legged on the hatch.

"Gladly." I say with a toothy smile and open it.

Things may have gotten off on the wrong foot but I can only hope things get better from here on out.

Not gonna lie, I came up with all this right on the spot. It wasn't supposed to be this long or emotion enduring for the characters when I first thought of the episode, but as I wrote I just started thinking and planning and well… here you go.

I don't know if this chapter is kind of the norm for how it is but damn do I feel good for coming up with this right then and there. I have no idea if future chapters will be this emotional, long or if I'll even be able to keep up with this consistency of chapter releases. Either way, I'm going to try and write as much as I can before school starts Monday.

Still pissed at myself for starting so late in the summer but I'll accept the consequences and make do.