Hi everyone, it's TheSecretRoman here.

It's been…a while.

Although it's pretty obvious at this point - I would like to officially state that this fan fiction is now well and truly discontinued.

I would like to apologise to anyone that had been waiting for me to finish this story and would like to thank all of those that followed, favourited and commented over the years - it meant so much to me that there were people out there enjoying my writing.

I haven't quit writing and one day hope to share my original stories with some of you.

I had begun writing Chapter 9 not long after I posted Chapter 8 but never got around to finishing it.

The journey I had planned for Secret was taking her to new places that I wasn't familiar with and I was struggling to continue writing - then life got in the way and I forgot about it for years.

WHAT I HAD PLANNED TO HAPPEN:

I had wanted Secret to experience the LA BB Murder cases from a distance, find B and learn of his plan and come to terms that he wasn't the person that she thought he has been.

I then had planned for her to get involved in low level crime throughout her teenage years in an effort to survive and find her place in the world, eventually becoming involved bigger than she had wanted.

She would have met Rye again, who had become a detective herself, and acted as someone feeding information back to the police from the inside which would lead her to running into Near once more.

Secret would have then attempted to turn her life around, with the help of Rye and Near, but have been in too deep and struggled to do so, not knowing what's real and who to trust.

I wanted her to find links to her past in finding out her real name, Skyler Sullivan (no connections to real life people with this name), and learning of her parents' crime involvement and deaths - finding out her only living relative was her sister, but she was never able to track her down.

I thought that it would possibly end with her dying at the hands of one of the Kiras'.

I've decided to include what little I had of Chapter 9 for those still interested, please bare in mind that this was written in 2014 and I've haven't added to or edited it since:

CHAPTER IX

August 11th 2002

I could have been back in Winchester, the dirty streets all looked the same when you couldn't see two feet in front of your face, surrounded in all directions by metal bins that had been hidden away from view - it seemed a good idea hiding behind them. But nevertheless my mind knew exactly where I was sitting. Don't ask me how I got here, I'm not sure I could tell you, it all sort of went by like an unreal blur - but here I was: Los Angeles. All I knew at the moment was I'd lost half of the contents my makeshift suitcase (a pillowcase) in the street somewhere several blocks back, my hair was damp from a run in with a sprinkler and was pasted against my head, covering my face - it was probably just as well, every person I had run into didn't seem the slightest bit sympathetic towards me, some looked to be in a worse state than I was.

So as it was drawing to the end of the first day here I settled down in a back alley, facing a brick wall - in some hope that it was an act as a block both physically and mentally, maybe that way my mind wouldn't get very far when the dream voices would try to take it away.

I hoped so anyway.

I had A's blanket wrapped around my shoulders even though it was still quite warm, I just didn't want it touching the floor.

Closing my eyes seemed pointless, I knew I wouldn't be able to go to sleep, even if I wanted to, which I didn't particularly feel like trying to. There was so much rushing through my head, I knew I was running out of time - not just A's warning, something was happening way before then.

I'd travelled all this way to find B, but somehow that cloud hanging over my head - the one constantly raining down doubt and confusion was also telling me to give up, even after all I had been through.

The ambition was gone - and I didn't understand why.

Either way I felt like I needed a plan as soon as possible, well, I knew I needed a plan as soon as possible. But sitting here damp and alone didn't seem like the right conditions to be having a brainstorm.

I tilted my head back and let it rest on the metal bin that I had my back against. Something needed to happen. Anything really, I spent all my time worrying about getting here, but I still had no clue where B was and where I would go about locating him.

This need to do something is what led me to get up from my spot in a back street and to the stand at the corner of the street at dusk, it was still pouring with rain. I knew I was a complete idiot if I was to be completely honest with myself for once. But I didn't have time to be sitting around feeling sorry for myself at this moment in time – I only had a rough idea how much time I actually had left to find B in before something bad would happen and I knew that time to not be very long at all.

I took a deep breath and started heading up the street, not at all sure what was actually in the direction that I was heading. There was no way that my luck would let it be the right direction but I had to start somewhere.

The further up the street I got the more people I came across, yet again no one threw me a second glance. If I had been any weaker emotionally, I would have burst out crying at this point. I was on the edge of doing so myself, but I had to keep it together.

I finally came to somewhere that appeared to be full of life. Despite the time, people were rushing about in every direction. I looked around myself and realised that I had wandered into an area with plenty of shops and places to eat. Suddenly smelling the food cooking inside the restaurants my stomach rumbled and I remember I hadn't eaten at all today. I pulled a face to myself. I knew I wouldn't be able to go to any of the places because I would probably be kicked out straight away, but maybe I would be able to find somewhere else to eat. I took a deep breath then tried to hold my breath until I had got past the majority of the restaurants and their tempting smells.

At the top of the street I found one of those food truck things and, despite being tempted to order one of everything, I just ordered some chips…fries…whatever – it would be enough to keep me going for now and I needed to save the money I had the best I could.

I couldn't shovel the food into my mouth quick enough and before I knew it I was back to having no food, but thankfully I was a lot less hungry now.

I moved back down the street that I came from and headed back behind the bin I was sitting behind before – I think my head cleared after eating something, I'd start my search tomorrow.

Daylight was better – safer. Again, no one paid me much attention, which I was grateful for because I would hate to have to stick to moving about at night when there were less people about to think that I was suspicious.

I moved my way back to the street I had been on yesterday and it was still as busy as last night, if not more. I pushed my way through the crowds of people, grateful for my height for once because it made it easier to duck between people.

I finally got out of the crowds and into an area with fewer people. There were only about ten people here, it seemed to be a sitting area of some sorts. Admittedly it didn't smell very nice here so I'm guessing it was used far too much by the wrong sorts. There were a few people looking very down about something sipping coffee and one old guy sitting on a bench reading a newspaper.

I sat down and watched him. I wanted that newspaper.

I was there for what seemed like forever before he finally stood up. He looked like he was about to put the paper in his bag (which would have been 'back to square one' for me) but he shook his head and tossed it into the bin next to him. Yes!

I didn't even wait for him to be out of sight before I rushed over there and fished the newspaper out of the bin.

The newspaper was dated with yesterday's date, which wasn't too great because I wanted something that was completely up to date, but beggars can't be choosers.

I flicked through the newspaper, scanning it with my eyes for any of the key words that would link it to the murders.

POLICE STILL SEARCHING FOR WARA NINGYO MURDERER

That was it! I read the article and sighed. Nothing of use that I didn't already know.

So that's it.

Thank you so so much again for everything.

Goodbye! xx

- Roman