Ira furor brevis est – Anger is a brief madness – Horace
Primo
Upon waking, what she heard first would always be the rustling leaves of the thorny roses.
Those tall boughs would always find a way to make their own music even without the urging of the wind. Through the flimsy, half-drawn white curtains in her room, she could hear their wordless whispers day after day, night after night, drowning out all other sound in this quite enclosure, a silent haven without the noise of traffic or even birdsong. Although she had been here for only a few days, she could already feel that soft murmur seeping into her blood, blocking out memory and thoughts. It was with her every morning as she laid in bed, her mouth slightly open, letting her breath tickle her lips to reassure herself that she was still alive. It was with her every night as she drowned in the emptiness that accompanies the few moments before the descent into sleep; as she laid there placid and alone, tasting the absence of thought in her oblivious brain.
It was no different this morning as she woke to the brilliant sunshine in her room, situated on the fourth floor of the Rosewood Institute East Wing. Like a never-ending ritual, the sound of the roses greeted her as she brushed the long strands of scarlet hair away from her eyes, then set about to dress herself in the plain white summer dress that was the standard of all female residents here. The coldness of the unworn fabric startled her numb skin, prickling her dull nerves even in this warm weather. The white clock on the white wall displayed the time as 7am. She had become accustomed to the rules of this place without even noticing it.
She washed her face and made the bed according to routine. Her pallid fingers, as white as the pristine blankets and bedclothes, worked at a steady pace. Leaning towards the windowsill, she picked up the steel hairpin that lay exactly where she had left it last night and rolled up her long fringe with it with well-practiced expertise, pulling it neatly taunt even without a mirror. Brushing the curtains aside, she cast a peek outside at the courtyard below, already bathed in sunlight. The rusty iron latch caught on the thin curtains and she reached out to unlock it. The latch rattled and opened no more than a few centimetres, just wide enough for a whiff of fresh air to tingle her nose. She had given up forcing it to open any farther. It was not made for that purpose.
After washing her face in the small bathroom, she opened the door and joined the quiet pattering of feet streaming down the stairs, arriving at the ground floor of the East Wing, and from there to the dining hall in the Central Wing. The corridors were already swathed in the white of the residents at this time of the morning. She walked in her usual pace, not looking anyone in the eye, and took her food tray. Then, she sped up and walked towards that one place where he was always waiting.
"Morning, Kiryu."
He lifted his head. Those golden eyes that she had grown to rely on in the past few days glinted with delight as he acknowledged her. He nodded towards the empty seat opposite him.
"Morning, Aki. Take a seat."
She sat down opposite him across the long narrow table and shifted to make herself more comfortable on the hard, wooden bench. He seemed to have gotten up much earlier than her and was poking at the last bits of the preserved vegetables left on his plate. The clattering of the dishes in this room briefly blocked out the ruckus of the giant roses. Nonetheless, most residents dined in silence. She lowered her voice as she started on her breakfast.
"You'll be working again?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Another long day."
A small frowned crept up his face as she watched. She lowered her eyes, not wishing to pick on his sore spot anymore. Seeing her troubled face, he diverted the topic.
"What about you, Aki? Going to start on your work today?"
"I don't know." She kept up the motion of cutting up food on her plate, not wanting to draw attention to their conversation. "I don't know if I'm up to that task."
"You've seen that patient, though." He shrugged, not arguing with her. "Did that help you make up your mind?"
She looked away.
"Sorry I didn't tell you everything yesterday, then." He grimaced. "I thought it might be him whom your matron was asking you to take care of. But even though we're allowed to go wherever we like in Rosewood, you still have to be careful in certain wards."
"I was expecting a nutcase." She replied in a low voice. "But he was so surprisingly calm and placid. Just who is he?"
He shook his head. "He called himself by the pseudonym that I told you about. No one else knows much more."
"He didn't even turn around to look at us when we were there." She sighed. "Is he –?"
"He's not deaf or mute, I think." He cut her off. "Just… a little locked up in his own head, you might say. Not that anyone here blames him for that. Who knows what might have happened to him. But he is indeed a little 'special' like what your matron said, I have to say."
"How special?" She narrowed her eyes.
Giving a quick look around them, he said to her in a whisper. "They say that he's a very, very powerful Psychic Duelist."
"A Psychic Duelist?" The expression on her face turned into a frown.
"Apparently, he was quite well-known in the underground duelling circles in the City," he continued explaining. "People say that he knew a lot about Psychic Duelists and the technologies and sciences needed to deal with such power, and that he even made some artefacts that can control or enhance a Psychic Duelist's power."
"What got him to come here then?"
"He lost control. It was the same thing that… happened to you, Aki."
She furrowed her brows, not willing to relive that memory. "Thanks for letting me know then. I didn't know… I didn't know that someone like him exists."
"Not exists, 'had existed'." He hushed her. "It's better to use the past tense here."
She bit her lip. She still couldn't manage to hear that comment without feeling an overwhelming anger. She forced herself to calm back down.
"I'll need to be going very soon." Although he let the silence last a while longer, she knew he was pushed for time. "So, Aki, will you be attending to him? If so, then I'll probably see you near his ward when I return tonight."
She sighed. He sure was persistent. "Yes, I will. I'll see you on the sixth floor tonight then."
With a reassuring smile, he dashed off, getting out of the dining hall just as the bell for the male occupant's gathering started ringing in the courtyard outside. She watched him, then tore her gaze away and settled to finishing her food.
Her name was Izayoi Aki. One week ago, she had been sentenced to be deported here, to Rosewood. Like everyone else at this place, her personhood no longer officially existed. This secluded haven was a prison like no other. No one here was innocent, but somehow, they have all been spared. In her case, she was certain that her father pulled some strings.
Why did he bother to save her after years of neglect? After years of fear and criticism? She did not know. Why did he not save her sooner? She did not know that either. She shut her mahogany eyes briefly, forcing down the sudden pang of anger and sadness that welled up within her heart. Regret and speculation won't change anything. She clutched tightly at the spoon in her hand and let the dull coldness of the smooth metal draw her back into reality. To distract herself, she took a deep breath and told herself to think about new memories, to think of him instead.
She met him on her first day here. She was fearful, confused. The judge had taken her aside after the ruling and quietly motioned for her to be led out through a side door, an entrance that she didn't see anyone use throughout the trial. His face was so stern that she was convinced that they were going to carry out her sentence right there. Thinking back, she surmised that she was probably drugged sometime during the trial, whether through that cup of water given her or the sickly sweet air that she breathed in the van, but the end result was that she promptly passed out soon after she was led out of the courthouse. The next time she came to, she was lying in a pristine and bare room in the middle of Rosewood.
The brisk introduction done by the nursing staff and Security went unregistered through her head. At that stage, she was too stunned to listen to anything they said. It was too overwhelming for her to feel any happiness that should have accompanied such a miracle. No, she did not feel blessed to be spared – rather, her heart sank even lower as she listened to the explanation of what kind of a life awaited her. At the end, she merely sat on her bed and spaced out. Probably used to such reactions from newcomers, the staff and Security left the room after they've finished and let her come to terms with everything herself. Had she been left uninterrupted, as they no doubt intended for it to be, she would have sat there blankly until they called her for dinner.
"Excuse me? Are you the newcomer on this ward?"
It was his voice that startled her back into reality. Lifting her head, she saw a golden-eyed young man with light blue hair peering in apologetically from the door that she left half open.
"Sorry, but you're the new girl here, right?" He gestured at the door. "I'm the guy who's supposed to change the name plate after you get here, Izayoi-san."
Seeing that she was just staring at him, he shrugged and put the plastic name plate he was holding onto the ground and set to work removing the old one, which had another person's name. She remained sitting there gazing at him. He turned towards her.
"It's quite a shock to be sent here, isn't it?" He started the conversation. "I was the same on my first day, but whatever, beggars can't be choosers here." Pushing the new name plate against the door to let the glue do its work, he nodded towards her. "Name's Kiryu Kyosuke. Call me Kiryu."
"Nice to meet you. I'm… Izayoi Aki." She clumped her mouth close in embarrassment. She really didn't want to reply, but those words of courtesy slipped out of her thanks to the etiquette that had been drilled into her since she was a kid.
"Upper class, huh?" He grinned. She bit her lip at that, expecting ridicule like she had always been faced with. But he only shrugged again. "Don't worry, it doesn't matter who we were once we get to Rosewood. We're all the same here." He motioned towards his face. There was a jagged Mark, that scar given to all criminals in Neo Domino City, traversing his face from the brow to the chin. The bitterness in his grin, which she had first taken as one of disrespect, no longer seemed to be the case. "Rather than thinking about what happened, you should concentrate on getting on with your new life here, missy."
She remained sitting there, head bowed, not answering. She heard him noisily picking up his tools. The quick footsteps that followed alerted her and she quickly looked up. He was standing in front of her, hand extended towards her in a casual manner.
"Would you like a tour of your new home, Izayoi-san?"
She looked at him incredulously. She was under the impression that this is just another form of a prison, a place where everyone was confined to their rooms.
"C'mon. It's not like we'll ever manage to escape." That twisted grin came up again. "I'll show you all the places that you need to know before dinner starts."
He was the first Rosewood resident whom she met. His twisted grin stayed in her mind. Now, days later, she had no doubt that she would be able to replicate the same expression. She came to know what caused that helpless expression when they took her to be Marked.
As if reminding herself of that memory, she reached up and gingerly touched the two long lines that were left on her face as an eternal reminder of her crimes. Like all other criminals in Neo Domino, those Marks burnt into the skin of her face planted a microchip in her flesh, which can be tagged by Security. No wonder everyone could wander freely in Rosewood. Kiryu was right; they could never escape.
They were residue ghosts bound to this place, free to do everything they would like except to be free. She flinched as one of her nails accidentally grazed her Mark. She didn't know if that pain would ever fade.
She remembered it was also him who first comforted her after the Marking. It was his sympathy that pulled her out of the despair which threatened to once again drag her into her hell.
Think of it as the Mark to end all the horrible memories in the past; he had told her that when she wept into his chest with tears of pain that night. Don't cry over the Mark. They can't do anything worse to us than the Mark; he whispered as he held her close.
She chose to believe him. She had to believe him. She had to believe in something in this place where each long day mirrored the day before it and the day before it, this cage where she must waste her life away. Yes, what had made her most afraid wasn't any potential danger or torment, but the prospect of being safely locked here forever. Anyone outside of her cage would've considered this fear as the trivial musing of a survivor – shouldn't she be glad that she had escaped death? – but this terror was, for her, very real. Very real.
"Izayoi-san." She jolted, unaware that the matron of her ward was standing next to her. "Izayoi-san, are you alright?" The middle-aged woman inquired again.
"I'm… I'm fine." She squeezed out a brief smile.
"That's good." The matron smiled her thin-lipped smile too. "Izayoi-san, have you considered our proposal with the special patient?"
"I have." She answered decisively, having made up her mind. "I'd like to help out with him."
"Good." The matron sounded much more relieved. "I was almost getting worried. Would you mind starting today? You can take his breakfast up after you're done."
She agreed to that easily. There was no harm in this job. Moreover, Kiryu had mentioned that man was a Psychic Duelist, so maybe she could even…
She shook her head to dispel that thought as she carried the tray of food up the stairs and towards that silent ward. She shouldn't be thinking about that. Was she not remorseful for what she did to Misty's brother? Didn't she cry to herself in the middle of the night, hoping that somehow, somehow, she had held herself back? Didn't she secretly swear to never use her powers again?
Now wasn't the time to think about those things. She brought back Kiryu's voice, telling her that she was here to face a new life. No matter what may happen in the future, his reassuring voice will always comfort her, and will always give her strength in the days to come.
Having arrived at that door, she tilted up her head and put on her best smile. Then she knocked gently on the door and greeted the resident in a clear voice, though she knew he would not answer.
"Divine-san, are you in there? I'm coming in."
-\-\-\-\-\-
Even with his modified engine, Crow Hogan knew he was pushing his luck. The front wheel of his D-Wheel had begun to wobble, and he didn't even want to imagine what the ominous shaking of his seat could mean. Nonetheless, he pressed on. Crow understood that with every moment, his chance of saving Fudo Yusei was growing even smaller.
His destination was the ruins of Rosewood. Yusei and his Securities must have already arrived. They wouldn't have taken the uneven back alleys of Satellite, in which Crow was currently navigating through with difficulty. As testimony to the bad conditions in this part of the world, his D-Wheel ran over a large crack on the tarmac and the machine threatened to wobble out of control. He gritted his teeth and wretched the steering gear back straight.
"Come on. Don't give up on me today, Blackbird."
He whispered as the machine finally became somewhat stable. He reduced the speed a bit. After all, he needed to take that thing out of his bag.
Crow spared himself a sigh. He did not know that Yusei would act so quickly and in such a rash manner. He had thought the King of the City would be more prudent and would not risk a visit to Satellite himself. But then again, God knows what Jack had told him. Did he really tell Yusei everything about Rosewood? Including Aki?
No, no. Crow shook his head. Jack wouldn't know everything about Rosewood. He wasn't there. He didn't keep in touch with Kiryu. It was Crow who bore witness to it all. It was Crow. It was Crow who watched as his friends slowly succumbing to madness. It was Crow who did not stop them in time, and it was Crow who crumbled before their wishes.
In that, Jack was innocent.
Therefore, Jack could not possibly have warned Yusei of all the danger that Satellite posed for the young King.
And that was also the reason why Crow, who was one of the only living people to who know the truth of what happened in Rosewood, have decided to save a life against the hundreds that have been destroyed at that very spot.
With one hand, Crow carefully took out the Duel Disk that he carried in his bag and put it onto his lap. He had brought this as a safety measure. It had been a long time ago when he was given this Black Duel Disk by that man. Crow grimaced at his own changes in attitude. Once upon a time he had been reluctant to even touch that uncanny Disk, whereas now he willingly put it on in the name of self-defence.
He wasn't that much different from Kiryu and Aki, after all.
He drew out the top card from his deck, gave a look at the monster card he drew, and then summoned it without hesitation. He had learnt to never give her the incentive to do damage first.
"Black Lance Blaster," he commanded as he placed the card onto the Black Duel Disk, "your objective is to save Fudo Yusei from Rosewood. Get him out of there as soon as possible, especially if I don't manage to catch up to you."
His monster nodded and quickly flew off, leaving its master in the dust. Blackbird wobbled again when Crow tried to accelerate to catch up to his monster. Unwilling to damage his beloved vehicle, Crow settled at his current speed with a frown.
"Damn that woman. Izayoi, if you cause me to break my D-Wheel, I've got to settle this score with you on top of everything else."
On top of everything else? Man, Crow really has bad luck when it comes to friends.
It did seem to be that way, doesn't it? His childhood friends, Jack and Kiryu, have both somehow wandered off Crow's path. But Crow still dared to count himself lucky. Lucky in the fact that at least his crimes had a purpose, not the senseless destruction that so many Satellite inhabitants seemed to indulge in. But his luck ended there. Like every other kid here, Crow had also wished – if only once in a long while – that he was blessed to be born over the sea, in Neo Domino City, in a world infinitely better than his own.
A high and distant cry interrupted his train of thought, shifting his focus from the ground to the cloud-ridden sky. Crow squinted upwards. It sounded like a bird call, something any other man would have dismissed as a lost seagull. But Crow's heart skipped a beat. He recalled this familiar, eerie sound. It was the keen cry of a Duel Monster dragon, a creature that sprung from the illusion created by those Black Duel Disks, something that should not exist in this world.
"She couldn't have been that fast… right?" Crow had just enough time to utter words of bewilderment.
As soon as he finished speaking, the world fell oddly silent. The humming of his D-Wheel suddenly became to be unbearably loud. The usual noises in the Satellite neighbourhood, the barking of stray dogs and the creaking of old houses, all seem to have ceased. It was as if something had sucked away all sound in the world, and Crow couldn't help but shiver in this barren and lonely quietness.
Now he remembered for sure. This was the terrifying silence before that monster's blow, the few seconds of suppressed soundlessness when that dragon draws in its breath. Even though he knew her dragon must now be high above the air, he had no doubt that this was aimed at Rosewood, just a few blocks away.
"Damn it, Izayoi!"
The impact hit. A thunderous roar vibrated through the air, and he felt his eardrums could have burst. A black dust storm rose into the sky as the dragon's attack stirred up the age-old debris covering the streets and the rooftops. Pieces of small rocks danced maniacally on the road, bewitched by the shockwaves that shook the ground. Houses clacked and fabric tore, their staccato noises melting into the macabre whooshing of the air.
The D-Wheel literally bounced up and down on the road. Crow swerved sideways to keep clear of rocks rolling towards him, only to be greeted with a face full of dust when an old awing gave way. Disgusted, he spat and persevered forward, telling himself that this would all end soon. He tried to keep navigating towards Rosewood as the dust gradually settled and the wind slowed. He still could not see her dragon, although he imagined it must be near. Coughing, he maintained his D-Wheel on the road, and sighed with relief when he finally saw the silhouette of what he knew must be the ruins of Rosewood. He parked his D-Wheel on the road and ran across what was left of the front courtyard, use the still-dusty sky as cover, and quickly reached the rubbles of the main building.
What was left of Rosewood had once again been tormented by fire. The crumbling remains had been reduced to a rubble-infested skeleton with barely a hint of the upper level's previous existence. Crow didn't dare to call out for his monster. He cautiously crept towards what used to be the giant complex's East Wing, hugging the wall for cover.
And it turned out to be just his luck. Through the dust, he glimpsed a shining spear tip poking up through a small mountain of rubble.
"Black Lance Blaster!" Crow gave a cry of surprise and rushed over. There was no mistake. It was the spear tip of his monster. It got here – hopefully on time, and hopefully after having rescued Yusei.
Crow looked down on the Black Duel Disk that he had put on his arm and contemplated whether or not to take the card off the Duel Disk so his monster wouldn't be crushed by the rubble.
It was then that the spear tip suddenly gave a violent jerk and pieces of rock around it began to fall. Startled, Crow took a step back. His monster was, for some reason, struggling to physically get out rather than waiting for Crow to save it.
Smaller rocks rattled and tumbled down as the monster stirred, and larger ones were simply heaved off like snowballs. Crow saw more and more of the spear and his monster's hand emerge, then its shoulder, back, then its neck and head. It was bent over something, something that it was shielding from the falling rocks using its own body. When his monster had fully emerged from the rubble, Crow could see the identity of that 'something' cradled securely in the monster's left arm.
"Fudo Yusei…"
Letting out a long breath, Crow peeked at the face of the person being carried by his monster. The City-born young man was breathing alright. He had probably just been knocked out when the building collapsed. Crow then peered towards the rest of the rubble, apprehensive of the fate of Yusei's Security retinue, but he had always known he could not save them.
He averted his eyes from some blood-stained cloth that he saw sticking out of the ruins. Yusei's deck box was hanging loosely of his belt, and Crow took it, just for safe keeping. He flipped open to check it, then put it away.
"Well done… and thanks a lot, Black Lance Blaster." Giving his monster a thankful pat on the back, Crow allowed himself a brief smile. At least he had made a start. He looked up into the sky, still apprehensive of Aki's dragon, his dice-shaped earrings swaying in the wind.
"All clear," he whispered. "Let's get out of here. I'll have to ask you to carry him to my D-Wheel, Black Lance Blaster."
"Not so fast, Crow."
Crow froze. Not now. Please, not when he was so close.
"I see that you've become rather familiar to that Duel Disk, Crow. You've put it to good use."
"Iza… yoi." He choked. He could feel that he was entrapped in her cold, emotionless look that she would wear. The sensation of that mask-covered face staring at him sent chills down his spine. Tilting back his head, the Marked young man gritted his teeth and fully turned around.
"I thought you'd have to get here on your D-Wheel… but I really underestimated you, Izayoi."
She didn't reply and only looked at him from on top of her dragon, her black cloak billowing on the wind, her carmine Duel Disk on her left arm. The bone-white mask that she wore as the Witch glinted in hazy, polluted Satellite sun. The two tear-streaked markings on the mask, mirroring perfectly the Marks on her skin beneath, made that pallid mockery of a face even more sinister.
She could well have been a dark, otherworldly spectre perched atop a scarlet dragon. Seeing no reins and such for her to hold on, Crow briefly wondered how she rode it all the way from the hills.
"It seems I've underestimated you too, Crow." She replied in a light voice. "I didn't think you'd actually turn your back to us."
"You knew from the start what I thought of everything." His hand crept to his deck on his belt, weary of any moves she might make.
"You also knew the conditions Uncle Goodwin gave you." She didn't back down. Had she not had the mask on, he imagined that beautiful face must be frowning coldly. "Why are you interfering with my prey, Crow?"
"Prey?" He spat out that word. "Tough words, Izayoi."
"Of course. That was my resolve, what I needed to do to achieve our communal goal." She replied without missing a beat. "But what happened to yours and the future you dreamt off?"
"My resolve? It was nothing more than duress." He growled. "And your and Kiryu's way of doing things annoys me. How many more lives are you planning to take? How far are you going to go down this road just to reach your goal?"
"How else do you think it can be done?" She rebuked, still calm as ever. "He's my target. Back off, Crow. Otherwise I would have to consider you as my enemy."
His hand moved, but she was quicker with her words. "Don't bother resisting. My dragon can destroy anything in your deck."
"Really…?"
He didn't miss her small flinch when he held up the cards in his hand. "As I thought, Fudo Yusei's ace monster is your natural enemy."
He grinned, holding up Stardust Dragon, which he had just picked up from Yusei's deck. Right next to it was his own card, Black Feather – Armed Wing. "I knew you wouldn't like it if I summoned these two together. You're right, I've mastered the psychic Duel Disk. It's not like the game. I can summon any monster I want without meeting summoning requirements. You should know that best, Black Rose Witch.
"Tch!" Her hand quickly drew a card from her deck, and she slammed into her Duel Disk after a rapid glance. "I activate the Trap –"
"Dust Tornado, activate!" Crow activated his own card, which he had already placed into his Duel Disk before he left. "Don't bother, Izayoi. I've loaded up my Duel Disk. You can't win with your Magic and Traps today either." He grinned. "Maybe it's your turn to withdraw. You can't beat me today. Not this time. And I have no intention of handing Fudo Yusei over." He paused. "Let's not make this difficult for each other."
"You…" She was visibly taken back. "Do you no longer share our dream, Crow?"
"Not that." He frowned. "But –"
"Even if no one in the City acknowledges your sacrifice?" Her voice was much softer, and he could almost see that red-headed sensitive girl whom he had met three months ago, and those empty, sad eyes. "They won't thank you for saving their lives. They would probably despise you more for having a Marked man meddling with their paradise. You'll gain nothing this way, Crow. But if you turn back to be with us again – "
"Sorry, Izayoi." He interrupted her this time. "I'm doing what I believe to be the right thing. I won't agree to you and Kiryu again."
She was silent for a long time, then her voice snapped. "Fine. Go then, Crow. Go and leave. You win this time. Get out of here. I won't attack."
"Sorry for not trusting you, Izayoi, but I'm summoning my monster for assurance." Crow placed Armed Wing on his Duel Disk. She didn't respond.
He turned to leave but paused.
"Izayoi, are you sure you still want to believe in Kiryu and Goodwin?"
She still didn't reply. He sighed.
"Guess that's a no then. Later, Izayoi."
And within minutes, Crow Hogan was speeding away. He carried Yusei behind him on his D-Wheel, while Armed Wing pushed Yusei's D-Wheel after them. She knew where he was headed for, and yet the Witch remained sitting on her dragon, not moving. Not for the first time did she feel angry with her own inability to punish him, for her inability to bring down every obstacle in her determined path.
"I'm also doing what I believe to be right, Crow." She spoke out loud towards his diminishing figure, although he was too far away to hear. "There's no need for you to keep trying to change me. You should know by now what I desire."
"Although I do wonder… if the reason you rescued Yusei is because you're feeling guilty again?" She gave a small laugh. "Don't be. I should thank you for setting me free, for creating this Witch in which I can live to the full. I wouldn't have been able to do anything without your help back then. I own you one… but not Kiryu or Uncle Goodwin."
Bending down, she patted her dragon soothingly. The beast, which was getting rather agitated, lowered its head obediently.
"So, Crow-san, don't forget the deal you made with Uncle Goodwin, and don't try to pull stunt like this again while you're in Satellite." She narrowed her eyes. "Because the other two are not going to be as lenient."
Sitting up, she grabbed onto her dragon's thorns. She could roughly feel its prickliness through her leather gloves. Feeling that they might be on the move again, her dragon perked up. She smiled understandingly at it as if towards a dear pet.
"Let's get back. We can fly slower this time. Don't worry about being seen by other people." Looking up at the sky, she sighed. "Because for us, they are as insignificant as falling leaves."
That was a long time without updating. Had a particularly busy semester… really far too exhausted to do anything else.
As you may have gathered, this story isn't written in pure chronological order, so I hope you weren't too confused with the sudden time jump. I've also going to do some odd timeline experiments with this work, so do keep up with timeline and the different sections I'm splitting it up into!
Won't really be updating in the next fortnight, although the next chapter is taking shape in my phone. Sometimes, writing relieves my mood, but sometimes it's simply far too inconvenient. Why can't we ever balance chores with our desires?
See you next time.