Hello again, everyone! I'm back, and my first bout in a pit orchestra went wonderfully. Well, besides all the smoke. That wasn't fun. Did I mention it was outside? On the not so happy news, got a bit of a COVID scare last week. My crap thermometer recorded a temp 3 degrees higher than it ever had before so I figured I had a fever. Did a self brain stick (seriously, what the heck? That's like five times worse! Instincts prevent so much there!) and came back negative. Better safe than sorry. Anyway, this chapter... honestly could have been attached to last one, but I've set word goals/limits. Either way, here you go.

Ruby raised the standard issue XCOM ballistics rifle and looked down the sights. A targeting reticle appeared in her bionic eye, one of many things she was happy to have back with her Remnant built bionics. She fired a three-shot burst and all shots hit the target exactly where she wanted to. She held the gun out to her right side and the reticle moved with it. Another three-shot burst hit the center of the crosshairs. Ruby nodded to herself. That was all of XCOM's standard weapons calibrated to her bionic eye. Not wanting to leave the mag half empty, she brought the rifle close again and held down the trigger. The remaining six shots plunged into the holographic head of an ADVENT trooper.

"I ttttthhhhink tttthhhhat wasssss ovvverkill," a voice said behind Ruby.

"No kill like overkill." Ruby ticked the safety, laid the weapon down, and turned to face Nalia. The Bio Viper leaned against the door into the Avenger's firing range with her arms crossed. Those words would normally be backed by some form of amusement. Now, Nalia just looked tired and disappointed. "What? Ammo's the one thing we have no shortage of here."

"It'sssssss morrrrrning, Rrrrruby," Nalia said, her words coming from her mouth. "You'vvve beennn up all nnnnight."

Ruby blinked and called up the time on her bionic eye. Sure enough, it was seven in the morning. She left the briefing just after ten last night and woke up at six the previous morning. She didn't realize how tired she was until Nalia said it. "Oh."

Nalia hissed. "Gattttthhherrrr yourrrrr gunsss. You'rrrrrre drrrroping tttthhhemmm off and commmming back to tttthhhe rrrrrrroom." She slithered to the table with all the guns and started bagging them before Ruby got the chance.

"What's up, Nalia?" Ruby asked as she moved to do the same. "I'm the one that's lost sleep here."

"You arrre up." Nalia hissed again. She shoved a laser sniper into the bag and leaned away. "I'mmm herrrrre to mmmmmake ssssurrrre you mmmmake it wherrrrre you nnnneed to."

Ruby stared at Nalia and shook her head. "Okay, mom." She paused after she slid in another rifle. Nalia might very well have been sent by her mom. Still, what was with the concern? She'd had to pull all nighters before. She just needed to blow off steam.

The sniper crammed the last gun into the bag and slung it over her shoulder. She pushed past Nalia and started the climb to the armory. The Viper slithered right behind her saying nothing. The escort was a little much. When she reached the armory, Ruby put the weapons back in their slots and dumped the empty mags in a bucket. Whoever reloaded every one of those after every mission deserved a medal. After that, Ruby walked back to her shared room. She got a few looks in the common room but no one said anything.

Ruby pushed into her room and blinked. Everyone onboard from some form of Remnant or Alagaësia was crammed into the room. Her mom was the only one not leaning or sitting on something, though Orchid and Dahlia looked like they just woke up. "You were waiting on me, weren't you?"

"Yes, we were." Summer gestured at the open spot on Ruby's bunk by Orchid. "Take a seat." Ruby took the offered seat and Nalia squeezed in between Ruby and the wall. "Now, as some of you may know, the Commander has given me the rank of Captain and command of the newly formed Charlie Squad."

"Captain?" Yang asked. "I'm just a sergeant."

Summer shrugged. "Apparently what I've done while outside XCOM was enough to impress. Anyway, the squad consists of everyone here, with Orchid and Invidia acting as emergency reserves, along with my hacker Lieutenant Bob Davis, and the other elf Rayla. We've got seven active members, Alpha, Bravo, and Delta squad's all have six. And no, it's not a mistake our squad is made up almost entirely of people who aren't native to this Earth."

"Shouldn't we get the other three if this is a squad meeting?" Dahlia asked.

"This isn't a squad meeting, though that will happen later today. Besides Dahlia, we all know some version of each other, but even she's high up in the Rider's ranks where she's from. I just called this meeting so we're all on the same page about our different timelines so there's no confusion between us, among other things." Summer's shoulders fell as she looked at Ruby and her face softened. "You once stepped down from being the Head of the Riders because you felt you were incapable of command. This was another one of those circumstances."

Ruby stared at her mom. "Excuse me? I'm perfectly fine."

"I don't think anyone here's seen you have a twitch before," Yang said hesitantly. "It typically happens when you… don't tell the full truth, among other times."

"We don't mean anything by it," Halcyon's voice came from somewhere. Yang picked up a tablet from the small table and turned it toward Ruby. Halcyon was on the screen. "Under normal circumstances, we would follow you into a volcano… and before you ask, Shen plugged me into the main computer. I'm only in non-critical systems right now… and anything anyone in here uses on a regular basis."

That answered one question, but not the big one. "Then what do you mean? I'm perfectly fine." Ruby felt her head twitch to the right.

Dahlia shook her head. "Split Soul Syndrome. Mild to moderate aggression symptoms."

"What are you talking about?" Ruby raised her voice. "We're fighting a war! We're supposed to be aggressive!"

"But since when have you wanted to kill people?" Nalia asked, her voice now coming from the translation button. Ruby glared at the Viper. "O'Donnell I get, Galbatorix I get. But you didn't even like fighting those drug cartels or even the Nevermores. You didn't even like killing the Forsworn. But back at Viki's camp, you said you wanted to go kill bad guys as casually as if you were playing a video game."

"Well maybe I should have enjoyed it! They deserved it!" Ruby opened her mouth to say more but she stopped as she realized what she said. That wasn't just rage. She could have sworn that.

"If what happened to you was anything like what happened to me," Yang started, "you saw me go ballistic on everyone wearing red in Urû'baen." She shrugged. "Both of us had our dragons somewhere."

"But I…" Ruby dipped her head and held it in her hands. She thought over her last few missions. Back on Remnant, she always felt some kind of remorse when taking someone's life… except for Galbatorix and Barry Price. Those two could rot in hell. But… foot soldiers? Their officers? Any of those scientists that might not have made it out? Did she enjoy doing that? She certainly executed the Viper King like a Grimm in a way she thought was particularly badass that would have made her smirk and pose if it was the last hostile around. ADVENT took away more than Cerise.

Ruby sighed deeply and nodded. "Okay. I see your point." She raised her head and locked eyes with her sister. "How'd you do it?"

Yang's shoulders relaxed and some of the tension in the room dispersed. "I cheated. Weiss could summon him every day. Other than that, well, you know how clingy I was. I won't hold it against you if you want to be the same. I think that's the same for everyone in here."

In response to that, Orchid wrapped an arm around Ruby and snaked her head and neck around the Rider's. She pulled herself closer and hummed. Ruby sighed and leaned into the Psi Viper. "Okay. Maybe I'll try it your way." Nalia leaned in from the other side and added her arms to the hug.

Summer smiled and nodded. "That's one reason I called people here." Her smile disappeared and she looked around the room. "Second order of business, Maidens. I believe everyone in here knows about them?" No one contradicted her. "Good. Now the Commander and Bradford do too. Someone else here needs to know. How they're going to spread the specifics of 'Code M' to all women aboard without them asking too many questions, I don't know."

"What'd they think about it?" Yang asked.

"They're not fans that I'm not going to show them my full power until I decide to. I'm not giving ADVENT a reason to come after us even harder. They like that Ruby's being held back even less. A weapon that's being held back for a certain time is much better than a weapon that's got a broken firing pin."

"What about Halcyon?" Nalia asked.

"No. That's not my place." Summer narrowed her eyes at Dahlia. "I know everyone's reason for knowing about Halcyon. What's yours?"

Dahlia blinked and looked at the tablet Yang held toward her. "What, that you're an artificial Eldunarí?"

The tablet gave a short growl. "There's nothing artificial about me… well, aside from the Relic of Creation being used to bring me back with the addition of cybernetics, but yes. How do you even know that word?"

Dahlia scratched the back of her head. "Uh, it was kind of by accident. I discovered it after examining x-rays of an injured dragon, and that led to discovering that the process of transferring a dragon's soul into an Eldunarí isn't entirely magical."

Everyone stared at her. The only sound in the room came from the rumbling of the distant reactor and engines. That was news to Ruby. Judging by how Nalia and Orchid turned their heads to Dahlia, they didn't know it either. "Uh, what?" Yang asked.

"Yeah. Invidia and Velvet confirmed it. Arya told me she would have nominated me for the Belfry award if the Eldunarí were public knowledge. Instead, a bunch of elven Riders built me a solid gold trophy with a dragon at the top." Dahlia smiled. "In the absence of being recognized by the entirety of the medical community, I'll take being deferred to on medical matters by two entire species."

"All elves know?" Invidia asked, speaking for the first time.

"No, but they know the Riders all treat me like some medical genius, so they do too." Dahlia paused. "I'm assuming you didn't mention Aaron in the briefing because Ruby and Nalia have already said everything they know, but… you said you didn't know Ariana?"

Halcyon cocked his head on the screen. "There's a Rider from Atlas named Ariana, but I haven't seen her here."

"The silver dragon?" Dahlia said it like it was the most obvious thing ever. "Your mate?"

Everyone in the room stared at either Dahlia or the tablet with Halcyon. Ruby raised her eyes at the screen. This was also news to her. Much more important news. The golden dragon stared back at Dahlia. "My… mate?" Halcyon managed to say. "I'm alive where you're from?"

"Well, you got Reliced into an Eldunarí, but you've got a full-sized mechanical body that both Summer and Ruby built." Dahlia let her arms hang. "You're not mates?"

"No." An image of the silver dragon appeared on the Tablet beside Halcyon. "I've seen her around Mor'ranar Vera, but…" He fell silent. Yang shifted on her feet as she turned the tablet toward her and held it to her chest.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Nalia asked the medic. "I think everyone would have liked to know this before."

Dahlia winced. "Uh, sorry. Halcyon saying he didn't recognize Ariana kind of shocked me. I meant to, then… other people were mentioned."

"Halcyon," Ruby breathed. "You… wanted a mate?"

"I can't speak for the me you know, but yes." Yang turned the tablet around to face the room. "I've never said anything because I didn't want to have something no other Eldunarí could." Halcyon hung his digital head. "I really want hatchlings."

"Another version of you does," Dahlia said. "All three are beautiful. I've got pictures on my Scroll."

Halcyon's ears raised. "Thank you. I'll think about that."

Summer cleared her throat. "While I hate to break this up, I wasn't finished. I was going to mention that we don't know how stable Orchid's and Nalia's minds are in these Vipers. Dragons' brains are pretty big, especially dragons their size. I'm sure everyone would like to know how stable they are."

"Yeah, you're right about that…" Dahlia brought a hand to her chin and stared at the floor. Her eyes moved from side to side and slowly widened. "Oh, yeah. That's a big problem. I need to take these two down to the infirmary right away." She grabbed the two Vipers and pulled them, and by extension Ruby, toward the door. "I don't have time to explain the biobabble… Actually, I probably do but only Invidia would understand."

Ruby ducked out of the Vipers' arms and stayed in the room. "I'll let you-"

"Nope!" Dahlia released Orchid, reached forward, and grabbed Ruby's natural arm. "I need you for something different but just as important."

"O…kay?" Ruby tried to pull her arm free, but Dahlia kept her grip and held her all the way to the infirmary. Once there, she practically threw Nalia into the MRI machine and dragged Ruby to another machine the Rider didn't have a name for.

"Just hold still." Dahlia pulled two metal rectangles down from the ceiling and let them rest on either side of Ruby's head. "Stay here. I need to get Nalia and Orchid set right and stop the resident doctor from interfering." She stepped behind one of the rectangles and out of sight. Ruby started to call out but stopped herself and shook her head. She didn't think it would do any good.

A few minutes later, Dahlia returned with clipboard in hand. "What are you even looking for?" Ruby asked.

"Right now, I'm trying to get a better picture of what's in your head. Didn't have this tech back in the camp." At that, Ruby froze in place. Dahlia needed the clearest view possible. The doctor turned her head toward the entrance and smiled. "Ah, Yang. Here to volunteer to be the control for the dragons?"

"Uh, if you need me to," Yang said. She walked into Ruby's line of sight and crossed her arms. "You're not trying to fry my sister's brain, are you?"

Dahlia's smile disappeared. "That's what I'm trying to prevent." She pulled out a computer on a sliding desk and typed some things on it. Ruby couldn't see the screen. "Oh, yeah. That's a much clearer picture." Her eyes flicked over the screen as she read it.

Yang shifted on her feet. "So… Halcyon has a mate and hatchlings."

"Yes. Laid about two years before the Battle of Salem with the youngest hatching about two months before the battle." Dahlia spoke in a low monotone, her eyes never leaving her screen.

"How is that possible if he's an Eldunarí?"

"When Weiss brought him back, he was just in an Aura containment device like a hard drive. After Halcyon asked you to make breeding possible, my team found a way to use DNA from his scales that you recovered to create viable sperm. Before the Battle against Salem, the Ruby I know used the Relic of Creation to turn him into an Eldunarí. After that, we altered the system to be compatible with his Eldunarí."

"So…" Ruby started, "artificial insemination or a body before the Battle of Salem?"

"He asked you and Summer to build him a body. I believe you asked him to swear to never implicate you or anyone else on the team to implicate you in any inevitable dick jokes."

Ruby blinked and slumped her shoulders. "Were any other Eldunarí given the same option?"

"All to my knowledge. Most chose to fly fighters, become a Jaeger's 'AI,' or occupy other vehicles that you built."

Ruby fought the urge to sigh. She didn't build or even offer Halcyon a full-sized body before because she didn't want to give Halcyon something few others could get. She only used the Relic of Creation to do so before the battle against Salem because they needed every dragon that could fly. At least some other version of her was able to figure out that problem. Maybe she should ask the Halcyon she knew about this. There weren't a lot of Eldunarí left to worry about protesting the decision.

Dahlia's eyes finally stopped and she nodded. "I've got good news, bad news, and... 'depends on how you look at it' news." Her voice retook its normal pitch. She backed away from her screen and crossed her arms. "The good news is I know how to remove that thing in your head." She held up a hand as Ruby gasped. "The bad news is I don't have the right equipment and I don't have the parts necessary to build it."

"But you built an entire clinic out of scrap! How can't you build what you need here?"

"It's not that simple. I was able to get a lot of stuff from area hospitals and clinics to help fill the place out. I can take apart outdated equipment and reuse it for other machines. But things to be used in brain surgery, well, what do you use to build Rider's weapons, fresh titanium or junkyard scrap?"

"The stuff I can forge from the beginning can lead to stronger and better stuff." Ruby nodded.

"The materials I need don't need to be quite as raw, but the principle stands. I'll get the Commander a list of things I need, and a machine that can do the job, if it exists here."

"And the other news?" Yang asked.

"Besides hacking the thing, which I barely understand enough of our code to program my machines, we might not need to surgically remove it."

Ruby straightened. "I'm listening."

"If I'm looking at this right, you might be able to overload it. Chances are something will be fried and could hurt your brain. With a little more examination, I might be able to-"

"Get Orchid down here and let's do this." Ruby gripped the lip of her seat. "I'll take any shot I can get."

Dahlia shifted on her feet. "This could fry your brain and cause irreparable damage if not kill you outright."

"I'll take any chance," Ruby swore.

Both other women winced. Ruby had a feeling Yang would have said something if she didn't go through the same thing with Halcyon. The two exchanged a look and both sighed. Dahlia walked out of Ruby's line of sight and the ship's intercom clicked. "Invidia, please come to the infirmary." Her voice came out of the ship's speakers.

Yang locked eyes with Ruby. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I swore it, didn't I?"

"Trust me, I know the feeling." Yang paused. "But you're the only one who swore that. If I don't like it, it's not happening."

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "You cheated before. It's my turn now."

"It was never at the cost of my life."

"My Yang told me she didn't know if the Aura transfer would kill Halcyon, or Weiss, or both. I'm only risking myself." Ruby relaxed her shoulders. "Besides, this way Cerise will know I'm alive too. I won't be the only one looking anymore."

Yang screwed up her face. "I stand by what I first said. If Dahlia or Invidia nix the idea, we're done talking about this. You're not my Ruby, but some Yang out there would be pretty upset if something happened to you."

Ruby grimaced and averted her eyes. "Yes, she would be."

A few minutes later, Dahlia walked back into Ruby's line of sight with Orchid slithering beside her. Dahlia, now with a pair of glasses over her eyes, crossed her arms. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

"I swore it, didn't I?" Ruby shifted where she sat. "What do I need to do?"

Dahlia sighed and looked at Orchid. "Take your position." She gestured to Ruby's side.

Orchid narrowed her eyes at Ruby as she took up her position. "Why are we doing this again?" She turned her head toward Dahlia.

"She swore she'd take any chance, so she's going to do something stupid sooner rather than later. Might as well make sure she's around us."

Orchid hissed and glared at Ruby. "Didn't we just go over this?"

"Yes." Ruby stared into the glare. "My triple S was hurting others. Now it's only hurting me."

Dahlia gave her a look. "You and I both know that's not a healthy way to look at this." She shook her head and pulled what looked like a wired shower cap out of a drawer. The doctor hooked that up to a cable and brought it to Ruby. "I'm going to put this on your head to monitor your brain activity. Might as well get some valuable data if you survive this."

"You're not exactly filling me with confidence," Yang growled.

"Blame your sister." Dahlia gestured at Ruby. She searched through the drawers in front of her and pulled out a pair of scissors. "For now, try to frost these over." She gave them to Ruby. She started typing at her computer with her eyes occasionally flicking to her patient.

Ruby dipped her head and focused on the scissors. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The Maiden focused her Aura, or at least tried to, and sent it to the scissors. At first, it was only enough to frost just the scissors. The intended output grew to the point where she normally could have covered the entire main room of her home in the mountains in a thin layer of snow. The metal refused to even get colder. Ruby felt something but it was more like a weird form of constipation. "Are you reading anything?"

"The part of your mind that controls Aura flow is incredibly active," Dahlia breathed, sounding amazed. "Why have I never looked at a Maiden's brain like this?"

"And the blocker?" Yang asked.

"Power is flowing exactly where I expected it to. It's using her Aura to increase its power to constrain her Aura. Efficient. Keep increasing power."

Ruby did as told and tried to increase her Aura flow. She tried the amount to fill the house with snow, then the amount to create a massive pile of snow outside the house, then a localized blizzard around the mountain. She started to feel the strain from the effort, but only the amount expected from the same effort back on Remnant. Dahlia said that more of the same was happening. Ruby grit her teeth and put everything she had into it, enough to bury most of the city of Vale in a foot of snow.

The metal on the scissors lit up a bit. Those around Ruby gasped. The scissors fogged up and ice crystals began to form. Ruby let the power go and panted. She raised her head and looked around. Everyone had dropped jaws with all but Dahlia's aimed at her. "Well?"

"You did it," Yang breathed. A little hope shined in her eyes.

"With no problems." Orchid licked the side of Ruby's face.

"How… didn't you explode?" Dahlia shook her head then faced Ruby. "I've got to get my version of you to do this when I get back home."

"If you're willing to tick off everyone within ten miles," Ruby sighed. "I take it the thing in my head still active?"

"Yes." Dahlia returned her attention to her screen. "Looks like there was a minor overflow. The system just couldn't keep up. Unfortunately it doesn't look like you did much damage. You'll have to put out that much power to do that same thing again."

Ruby shook her head. "I can't sustain that for long. Anything else?"

"Hmmm…" Dahlia brought a hand to her chin then pointed at the screen. "I think this is for magic," she murmured. "Yang, Orchid, you're both telepathic. Try to get in her head. Ruby, try to get in one of theirs." She glanced at Ruby. "I'm probably going to regret saying this, but if you break through, you could probably feel Cerise."

Ruby widened her eyes then grabbed Yang's head and pulled her forward until their foreheads met. "Break in!" she ordered. "Do whatever you have to, just break in!" She launched her own mind at her sister's, or at least she would have if the thing in her head allowed her to. She had a similar constipation feeling to before.

"You got it, Ruby." Yang grabbed her sister's head as well. "Break out. Feel your dragon again." Her eyes narrowed like she was in extreme concentration.

"I'm with you, too." It felt like Orchid leaned her head into Yang's right hand.

"Whatever you three are doing, keep it up," Dahlia said. "You are definitely pushing this thing."

Ruby tried to force even more of her mind toward Yang, enough where it would probably hurt her sister. Judging by her expression, she was doing the same. They glared daggers directly into each other's eyes but not out of any malice. Ruby grit her teeth as she increased the strength of her mental attack. From what she remembered, she was approaching the level of her strongest mental attack she had ever done. While mental combat was always silent, this battle felt even more so without the sound of other combat.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Dahlia yelled. "Stop! St-"

Before Ruby could react, she felt burning pain inside her head. She widened her eyes and opened her mouth to scream…

…Then the remnants of her mental attack trickled off to a breeze. The pain took out nearly all of the force to it… But Ruby felt Yang's mind. She felt Orchids. Dahlia's too, if that nearby scared presence was the doctor. But those three were poor comparisons to the one outside her current range. She couldn't feel her in her as if they were in the same room, but she knew the feeling. A part of her head that had been missing for months was now filled.

Somewhere out there was her dragon. Cerise was alive.

Ruby knew that before, but it was something else to feel it. She stretched her mind out as far as she could. She felt Nalia, her mom, Invidia, and everyone else on the ship. She felt the trees, bushes, grass and all the animals within several miles of the Avenger. But still no Cerise. That wasn't a surprise. If she was anywhere nearby, someone that still had telepathy would have told her.

Then all that disappeared.

Ruby gasped in air, but nothing filled her lungs. Going from everything to nothing was so much worse than she thought it would be. She scrabbled to feel her sister or Orchid, but nothing revealed itself. But worse yet, Cerise was gone again.

After she didn't know how long, Ruby started acknowledging her senses again. She was laying down now with a light hanging above her. A dull throbbing pulsed in her skull. Frantic voices yelled all around. She tried to move her limbs, but all felt like they were encased in concrete.

Something clamped down on Ruby's left arm and Yang's panicked face appeared over her. "Just stay down, Ruby. Just lay still."

"Cerise is alive…" Ruby whispered. Her lips formed a smile of their own will.

"Yeah, yeah, it sounds like we knew that already." Dahlia shoved Yang out of the way. "Damn failsafe! How didn't I notice that?" Something pinched Ruby's arm.

The Rider's eyelids suddenly felt heavy. "Now… she knows… I'm alive." Everything faded to black.

Cerise gripped the dead-wood-table in front of her with her not-her-toes with a death grip. She breathed hard, sucking in life-giving-air as hard as she could. Despite that action, it didn't feel like she was getting anything.

There was no mistaking it. She just felt her Gem. Her partner of her-heart-and-mind. Her soulmate. Her Ruby. After months of believing her Rider dead, after having given up long ago, after fighting this no-Aura-Grimm enemy without purpose and alone, her Rider was alive!

And then she was gone again.

Even while trying to brace herself from the pain again, she knew this situation wasn't right. Two-legs didn't just die and live again. When Rider-sister-Yang was ice-sleep-frozen, her mind was still there. Halcyon didn't break. Fire-soul-Yang was alive. Cerise had felt this loss and reunion before. In that… evil-Grimm-friend-lab.

The dragon-in-snake's-body growled, sounding much less threatening than she was used to. That hellspawn suppression collar. She gripped the strong-wood-table so hard it splintered under her grip. ADVENT was keeping her Gem alive with something that broke the unbreakable bond between dragon and Rider.

Something roared behind her. Cerise whipped her head around to look at the broken door to this nest-stack. A pink skinned, green armored brute stepped inside. It locked eyes with Cerise, and that was the last thing it did.

Cerise grabbed her two claw-sharp knives from where they lay and pounced on the alien. She plunged one knife into the front of the creature's neck and one into the back. She pulled the knives in opposite directions, effectively severing the thing's too-muscled-neck. Before the death-user-gun could destroy itself, Cerise grabbed it and shot the two faceless-black-soldiers with green-fire-arrows. The gun killed itself, but it barely hurt Cerise' hands.

She scowled at the corpses and walked back into her temporary room. She picked up the KA-58 look alike she'd been using since she arrived and all its small-but-deadly-arrows. ADVENT may have separated the dragon from their Rider, but they could never completely kill the bond they shared. What they did was worse than killing one of them.

Soon enough, they would only wish they would have killed Ruby Shadeslayer. Cerise Longtail had joined the fight. Nothing would stop her until she found her partner-of-her-heart-and-mind.

Like I said, more of the same from last chapter, but needed.

Anyway, football's back! NDSQBU put on a great show in the primetime game last night! Hopefully my Bison look better than the Vikings are looking!